Songs
"We Need a Resolution" depicts a dilmma between discordant lovers over push-pull rhythms. The song leaves its hook unresolved, and its music plays backwards after Timbaland's rap, with a reversed loop of the vocal "where were you last night" echoing the female protagonist's sentiment. "Loose Rap" features subtle Neptunes-styled electronica, aquatic sounds, and velvety harmonies by Aaliyah, who declares "it ain't just rhythm and blues." The song is titled after the slang phrase of the same name, and its lyrics dismiss romantic admirers who use corny pick-up lines. Static mumbles the song's hook. "Rock the Boat" has a slick R&B production, sexual and nautical imagery, and breathless vocals by Aaliyah, who instructs her lover on how to please her sexually and equates her erotic high to a drug high.
On the empowerment-themed, club-influenced "More Than a Woman", Aaliyah sings with an emboldened delivery over harsh guitars and aggressive synthesizers. "Never No More" mixes classic soul with modern hip hop, with live strings by producer Bud'da. It is about a defiant woman who decides to leave a physically abusive relationship. "I Care 4 U" features sibilant wind chimes, reverberating synth chords, and lo-tech vocal percussion. The song's narrator comforts a broken-hearted friend, but is distressed by her own unrequited love for him. The key-shifting "Extra Smooth" addresses an enthusiastic courtship, and ranges stylistically from hip hop and funk to drum and bass. It developed from a conversation between Aaliyah and Static about how men try to act suave. "Read Between the Lines" is a rhythmic digital samba, with Latin percussion, and lyrics that deal with infidelity.
The funky "U Got Nerve" features multi-layered, staccato vocals, and electronic blips. A baroque romantic concerto, "I Refuse" opens ominously with sounds of a rainstorm and distant horse hooves. It features melancholy piano and symphonic flourishes, including guitars, minimalist percussion, and strings that progressively build to a dramatic climax. "I Can Be" is about an adulterous man's mistress who wants to be his foremost girlfriend. Alex Macpherson of The Guardian writes that "Aaliyah's blank, numbed delivery" on the song "makes being the other woman seem like an emotionally masochistic form of self-medication." "Those Were the Days" dispassionately dismisses a male lover. Both "I Can Be" and "What If" have 2-step and rock elements, with the latter song drawing particularly on Detroit techno and industrial rock. "What If" angrily threatens an unfaithful lover and by extension other men of that ilk.
Read more about this topic: I Refuse
Famous quotes containing the word songs:
“We who with songs beguile your pilgrimage
And swear that Beauty lives though lilies die,
We Poets of the proud old lineage
Who sing to find your hearts, we know not why,”
—James Elroy Flecker (1884–1919)
“When we were at school we were taught to sing the songs of the Europeans. How many of us were taught the songs of the Wanyamwezi or of the Wahehe? Many of us have learnt to dance the rumba, or the cha cha, to rock and roll and to twist and even to dance the waltz and foxtrot. But how many of us can dance, or have even heard of the gombe sugu, the mangala, nyang’umumi, kiduo, or lele mama?”
—Julius K. Nyerere (b. 1922)
“So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit, as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
—Bible: New Testament, Ephesians 5:17-20.