some of the worst of the 00s, negativity and cynicism-wise:
this one is also responsible for some shit and now unavoidable vocabulary. this is what i mean brittle. it has that noise-music tactic of hitting you with sharp frequencies. and relationships as negative addictive affect.
same kind of thing, aren't they both timbaland beats? same kind of sharpness. music against the audience - hostile beats. you can start to hear the disembodied copy and paste voice, voices almost natural but being cut up and with a quick attack. there's a section in the middle of this one which is about four overlapping voices chopping in and out. you get the porn thing and the sexy/violence pairing which obviously is an old thing but this is where it rears up into the proper mainstream.
same kind of thing again. i like this tune but it's a sex tune that's about glorifying power. the drums are almost taking the piss out of you, has a childish thing going on. you start to get that bleak self-awareness of all this stuff in this one, you can hear it in vocals, the kind of sex/money/power/dissatisfaction combination which in the end drake and then the weeknd would end up crystallising
this is by the end of the decade and by this point the computer drums are totally standard. i liked this at the time coz eminem is basically only good when he's doing emotional honesty. it's a tangle though coz he's offering up the internal world of beating up your girlfriend and rihanna is justifying it as well. partly it's something honest but partly it's again that sex and violence thing
at the same time US indie rock becomes really wet. sopping wet. almost a yin and yang thing going on with the above. more the sound of giving up rather than cynicism. there is at least more ruffness to the 90s equivalent - as you get into the 00s it becomes very earnest. it's getting beaten up music. paved the way for arcade fire, pitchfork and the absolute comprehensive demise of anything good coming out of this kind of world. guitar distortion becomes part of the furniture rather than angsty or really conveying anything much except that his is an indie rock tune and it's just normal to use guitars, it's really tamed, it has none of the wavering string + electronics chaos that is the point of guitar distortion. you start to get that coldplay thick production on the vocals as well, the same thing that dido does
lots of the woke thing gives the impression that it's kicking back against ancient injustices and partly it is but a lot of it is responding directly to how cynical popular culture got in the 00s and 2010s i think. trying to reclaim some idea of earnestness, establish some more rules, some parameters of acceptability
