This month I thought it would be interesting to look at music in a different way. I was listening to a song the other day and I thought to myself ‘if this was the first song I had heard of this band would I like them and be a fan or listen to more of their tracks?’

So, for this month, I thought it would be interesting to look at a number of different bands and whether certain songs, if i had heard them first would of pulled me in to want to listen to more of that bands music. Now, that is not to say that any of the songs are bad, it is all personal opinion, but it was just a little thing that stuck in my brain and I wanted to explore. Each week, I will be exploring a different genre and looking at different tracks at different times in the musicians career to discuss the impact it would of had on me. This week we are looking at the genre of R&B and a few musicians.

Destiny’s Child

Jumpin’ Jumpin’

This was one of the first songs that I heard from Destinys Child and I really liked it – I was in Primary School and a group of girls in my year made up a dace routine for this track and since that day it made me like this song (and also jealous that I wasn’t part of the dance as at that age it was pretty cool.) I like this track as it is really catchy and very different to other r’n’b music that was around in the late nineties, early noughties. Even these days when I hear this song I can still remember parts of this dance routine that they made up in school.

8 Days Of Christmas

To be fair, I like a lot of Destinys Childs music but if I had to be honest about one that I am really not a fan of then I am going to have to turn to this Christmas track. I find this song quite irritating and everytime it comes on at Christmas I am very swift at changing the channel or the song. I do not know why I do not like it, maybe it is because I did not like the song in the first place but if I had heard this before all their other tracks I think I would not of been a fan.

Jason Derulo

Watcha Say

Right from the first single, Jason Derulo had addictive music, songs that would get stuck in your head and would not leave. It did help that the song that this track sampled had been very big with The OC Fans as it was used in a very poignant scene in season 3. This song sort of really put Jason Derulo on the map and I was eventually a fan and I say that because I was not sure at first if I liked this track. However I saw it for what it was and grew to like it.

Savage Love with Jawsh 685

I think it is a very different time and world to find Jason Derulo in these days – when he first started he was just a new musician that had a new single, these days he is a social media viral star and Tik Tok is one of the websites that are leading the way in his popularity. That is how most people came across Savage Love – a little dance that you would put on videos. When he released his own version and remixed it, I was not a fan and I know that if that was the first track I had heard from him I maybe would of liked it for a little while but I would forget about him very quickly. I find that some social media creates ‘throw away’ artists and music and I feel that this song is one of those, it had it’s time but will not stand as one of the iconic tracks by this singer like Watcha Say.

Fergie

London Bridge

I remember the time when Fergie from Black Eyed Peas decided to become a solo artist because her first track was so unique and different to anything else that she had done. This song was one of those tracks that you had to listen to more then once to really embrace and it ended up being so catchy that you would always get the chorus stuck in your head. I think this song was a great track to kick of her solo music It wasn’t until years later that I realised that the guy talking at the end of the track is none other then Lee Ryan from Blue,

M.I.L.F $

As soon as I heard this song I hated it, personally I found it such a bad song and it was such a change as to what the Fergie music style used to be. I think if this had been the first song that I had heard of Fergie’s I do not think I would of made the effort of listening to any more of her tracks. I am not a fan of the repetitive beat and find the song at times really annoying.

Pussycat Dolls

I Hate This Part

This is not the first song that I liked by The Pussycat Dolls but I think this is the first track that I listened to and really loved. I liked the dance tracks that came before but this song really stood out because it was slow and emotional. I enjoy the chorus to this track and really like the use of the piano throughout.

Beep feat Will.I.Am

I was never a fan of this track because I didn’t like the way they sampled another track and the way that the chorus was remixed with a beep. I found the track incredibly annoying and that it felt like one of those tracks that just never got started. The laughing throughout absolutely drives me insane and I hate the fact it is half spoken and sung. I find that as a single it is pretty forgettable and when you think of this band this is not a track that you think of. I know this is all personal opinion but just think if this was their first single instead of Don’t Cha – would they have had the same success, i am not so sure…

…and sometimes it goes the other way

Sometimes you are not a fan of a musicians songs until you hear one track a lot later that changes your perspective.

Akon

Lonely

As soon as I heard this song I hated it, it was the high pitched voice that sung the chorus that I found incredibly annoying. The problem was, this track went to number one, so it was played a lot on the radio, on the television and everywhere else. There was no real way to escape it, when I hear it these days I do not have an issue with it but back then there was no escaping the chorus of this track.

Smack That

I think in some ways Eminem was the reason I started to listen to the odd song of Akon’s – this song was really catchy and at the time I really liked a lot of Eminem’s music and this was a great addition to his music catalogue even though he was only featuring. I think even Akon part of this song is good and I started to appreciate his music after this song – and yes I know the lyrics are maybe probably not as appropriate these days but still a catchy electronic sound to it.

Willow Smith

Whip My Hair

When I first heard Willow Smith’s music I was not a fan, I found this song incredibly annoying and the worst thing is that it got stuck in your head when it got to the chorus. After hearing this track it was a very long time that I decided to give this musician another try as I just couldn’t get over this track.

Emo Girl (featuring Machine Gun Kelly)

When Willow Smith started to turn towards punk pop rock music I think it was a wise choice as it really suits the persona and the music styles. It was only with tracks like this one featuring Machine Gun Kelly that I started to appreciates Willow’s music.