Carly Rae and Owl City: Pop’s Perfect Collab?

Released just last Tuesday, the ‘Good Time’ video has already gone viral. Receiving 3 million youtube hits before the end of it’s premiere week, the collab between Adam Young (Owl City) and Carly Rae Jepsen headlines Owl City’s up-and-coming release of album number 4, ‘The Midsummer Station’. So, with all this big attention-seeking kafuffle, it should be pretty good right?

WRONG. In fact, I find it hard to concentrate on the fake-smiles, to laugh at the malfunctioning orange slushy machine (you can get orange slushy?!) and to find any ‘connection’ with this video at all, because the track itself is so annoying. (Although I will say I’m grateful the production team didn’t go for the typical ‘good-time-at-a-club’ theme; a party in the woods, frolicking through fields, a random girl holding a butterfly on a stick…strangely refreshing for Pop!) Take away it’s awful auto-tuned keyboard intro, the overlaid and over-filtered ‘Woah-oh’ vocal, the same repetitive structure, and you’re left with nothing. Or as good as nothing.

Alongside Mr Bieber’s ‘Baby’, this is the perfect example of the songwriting skill in the current Pop chart. Or lack of. Lyric writing has officially lost credentials; friends of Entertainment Cocktail, withhold:

‘Woke up on the right side of the bed, what’s up with this Prince song inside my head?

Hands up if you’re down to get down tonight ’cause it’s always a good time!’

Personally, I don’t even think mentioning Prince does the song any favours to showcasing the available songwriting talent. At least, I know Prince doesn’t deserve the connection. As for the ‘hands up’, ‘get down’ combo, I suppose creativity is no longer a necessity in the pop scene.

It continues:

Woah-oh-oh-oh Woah-oh-oh-oh
It’s always a good time
Woah-oh-oh-oh Woah-oh-oh-oh
We don’t even have to try, it’s always a good time.

…for almost the entire length of the song. Amazing!

But let’s not focus on the negatives! Um…positives…yes…Well, I suppose it is insanely catchy and you won’t be able to escape it this summer, even on holiday. In Antarctica. Yes. Inevitably, ‘that‘ summer song has arrived. Listen with guilt-free care while you can! (It won’t last long.)