ARTIST: Allison Iraheta
TITLE: “Friday I’ll Be Over U”
WEB DEBUT: Oct. 5, 2009
ONE-LISTEN VERDICT: The first single from American Idol‘s magenta-tressed fourth-place finisher starts off with a spiky guitar line that’s straight out of the Le Tigre back catalog. (No, really.) But it’s sort of distressing that once her vocals come in, “Friday” could be a kiss-off anthem from any spunky young starlet out there. Why saddle a young woman who has undeniable pipes with so much ex post facto processing? To hedge bets? To “blend in” with the increasingly virtualistic pop-radio landscape? To make Allison sound like she could break out into a “Party In The USA” cover at any moment? It’s a good thing the riff is as propulsive as it is—it almost-singlehandedly saves the song from its drowning in cheese.
WHERE TO HEAR IT: PopEater has the officially sanctioned stream, although in their infinite “wisdom” Jive decided to cut it off just as the song hits the bridge. I guess it’s to stoke some sort of Pavlovian effect that will result in people proceeding directly to iTunes, but still, gah.
Yeah, kind of disappointing. Not what most of her fans over 13 are going to be into.
After spending a couple days with it, I definitely approve. Her voice is probably tweaked a little, and the playing on the track is so clean it’s almost robotic, but the chorus is great (favorite Max Martin creation in a long while).