Worst Lyric of the Week – Feel This Moment

Feel This Moment – Pitbull feat. Christina Aguilera 

Even for Pitbull that is a terrible pick-up line.

Stooshe – Slip

‘Slip‘ is the incredible new track from soul girl-band power-trio Stooshe. PopSlutz are huge fans of Stooshe, but their cover of TLC’s ‘Waterfalls’ gave us cause for concern. After their terrific debut ‘Love Me’, followed by the Brit-nominated mid-tempo ‘Black Heart’, had Stooshe lost their way with a re-run of a very dated 90s ballad? Fear not, the girls are back with as much sass, attitude and vocal acrobatics as before.

Supremes-esque backing vocals add retro vibes to ‘Slip’. Production is superb (hats off to Future Cut here) : bluesy organ riffs and fat horns combine with a grooving bassline. The chorus is catchy, toe-tapping and joyous while the hand-clapping middle-eight section polishes off this 4 minute pop song very nicely indeed. Above all, what makes this song great is the lyrics: Stooshe’s delivery has all the elements of girl-power without reverting to a Spice Girls 90s cliche.

The track was written by the band’s writer and manager Jo Perry, with Mo Brandis and Future Cut – who also took care of the production. Brit songwriting/production duo Tunde Babalola and Darren Lewis of Future Cut also have production credits on ‘Love Me’ as well as Olly Murs and Little Mix.

The album has been pushed back because, according to a band statement “a late rush of creativity has seen them write some of the best songs of their career, Stooshe have decided to delay the release of their debut album…so they have time to record these songs for inclusion on the album.” . If this is true, and ‘Slip’ is the result, then their forthcoming album is well worth waiting for. With collaborations with the likes of Ed Drewett (The Wanted), Chris Braide (Lana Del Rey, Sia Furler) and more, the release date of May 27 can’t come soon enough.

Q&A with Cathy Dennis

Last week, PopSlutz attended a Q&A session with Cathy Dennis, hosted at The Institute with BASCA. Cathy Dennis has 8 UK and 2 US number one singles to her name. Here’s what she had to say.

Is it true that you have always been self-taught?

From the beginning I taught myself to programme. I spent my money from my advance from Polydor on a studio and I taught myself everything. Nothing can stand in your way. You have to make to make it happen. I just think that everyone will find their own niche, you don’t always have to walk down a path that’s been walked before. I never felt threatened by the fact that I couldn’t read or play very well. I always felt that I was able to interpret my own ideas and that playing wasn’t really stopping me, you know, I could hear melodies in my head.

When you were starting out, how did you fund things?

I was constantly in debt, it’s tough. After getting my advance and spending it on equipment I had three years of trying to make ends meet before I released a single – I even worked in Miss Selfridge in the cloakroom for a while. You just have to do whatever it takes, it is hard. It’s difficult to make a steady income, it’s not that kind of job. It’s a risk, but at the end of the day we’re lucky because we’re doing the kind of thing that we are really passionate about, so when it gets painful, remember that.

There aren’t many female famous producers, you obviously took no notice of that whatsoever and forged your own path. Did that come about from your relationship with technology?

I was never setting out to prove a point. I felt that technology had a role to play in my desire to be successful. I never felt I wanted to be a producer, it was a creative thing, I can hear a song, and I can hear how I believe it should sound. I needed to show people that.  It’s very difficult to let other people come in when you believe you hear something so strongly. That was always very hard for me. I won’t name names but some producers came along and… I will use the word ‘butchered’.

Have you found in your experience that there are more female songwriters around now?

I think that there’s a new confidence that is really helping. There’s a domino effect, seeing other women having success, that makes a difference. It is a great time for female songwriters, and it’s a shame that production for women is so hard. You have to be really, really good if you want to break through, you have to bring something different.

Was it a conscious decision to move from being a performer to being a songwriter?

No. I had a strange epiphany, I was not sure if I wanted to carry on as an artist, I couldn’t do it anymore, but I couldn’t be an insurance clerk either. So I knew that I could write songs that I didn’t necessarily have to identify with. It’s kind of selling your soul a little bit, but I knew I had a talent and if I didn’t use it, you know, that would really be a sin.

How did you feel about going from writing songs for yourself to writing songs for others?  

I actually found that I was good as a vocal producer too. That really was a surprise, because I can sing, but I’m not a really great singer, and somehow I was able to really pull out good vocal performances. And I gained the trust of some pretty high-profile artists that way. But yeah, it was a completely different skill. Sometimes it is a lengthly task, vocals don’t always come in a day. I was luckily enough to be able to do the vocal production on ‘Toxic’, and that didn’t come immediately. But when you get a great result it’s worth it.

How long does it take for a song to evolve, form idea to final product?

It varies. Every song is different. ‘Can’t Get You Out of My Head’ was four hours, and I always feel really bad that it was so successful! And then Toxic was seven days, seven full days of making it, re-making it. So every song is different.

Do you write in isolation or with others?

I usually co-write with one other person. Over the years, I have come to specialise in melody and lyrics. Although I started out producing, so I still have ideas about how best to present the song. Co-writing, it’s an interesting game. It’s about the relationship you have with the other person, you have to try to understand what your co-writer is trying to do. It’s about how can you can best twist what you do to push them. I like to make sure I’m working with people who are constantly pushing me too. It’s important that you’re not writing something that an artist has already done, because there’s no appeal in that, you need to write something that might surprise them. I do like surprises.

Your lyrics, where do they come from?

I mean some of them are obviously autobiographical, others or not, some from my imagination.  Usually when songs become autobiographical, they are inspired by emotions that you feel from chord changes. I kissed a girl? That was co-written with Katy Perry, I think she was the one that kissed a girl. Lyrics come from all different places. Sometimes it’s a case of, “ok, i’ve got this many syllables” and it’s very sterile, and there’s the other one which is gushing, and that is usually inspired by chord sequences.

With those songs, the melodies that we hear, are they how they started out or do they change a lot?

No they change. It’s my worst habit, picking things to pieces. It’s a disease, the more you do it, the more you need to do it, you can’t leave it alone. It can take a hold and become a monster, editing can become a monster. Sometimes you just have to trust that your instinct is good and take a step away. A good example is, there was a song called ‘LA Ex’, I said to the guy that I wrote that with, “I don’t like that chorus”. I wrote a whole other chorus, and I said let’s just present both choruses to the manager, and they can choose. They chose the one I didn’t like, of course.