ashanti - "happy"

"it's the world's most talented record label!"

for some reason when i heard this maybe the fourth or fifth time, everything about ashanti suddenly made sense, even her man-brows and erratic fashion sense (don't ask me to explain how they make sense in this new light!). "happy" follows a very particular lineage which probably began with the mary jane girls' "all night long" - squidgy, cartoony drum hits (can drums be light hearted?!); bittersweet tinkly melody; swoony, aching vocals and a subject matter which makes me sad because of course how long could ashanti remain this elated about being in love? making the lyrics so single-mindedly positive can only highlight any doubts about the future/love/obsession which remain unspoken. (yes, i don't know what the fuck i expect from a song called "happy" either.)

all this can make ashanti's blank style a virtue - if she had genuine presence i might not be able to project so many feelings onto this song! gotti was working pretty much the same textures on "i'm real", which is really good too, but this fits together so nicely that i'm hearing all murder inc tunes differently, and even enjoying the relentless whooshy gloop fx shrouding all the recent hits. (especially the backwards-cymbal-building-to-first-snare-hit effect at the start of "down 4 u" which is the best thing ever!)