It started with this:
It grew even bigger with this:
http://www.hilarious.net/dear-sister-snl-digital-short/
And then, this finally happened:
From the OC to Saturday Night Live, to endless YouTube spoofs (I mean literally endless. There are way too many spoofs for me to even get started. Just look up Dear Sister and you’ll see what I mean), the Imogen Heap song has completely cemented itself in post-millenial pop culture with Jason Derulo’s Whatcha Say.
Intergrated over a sample of Imogen Heap’s Hide and Seek, the song shows a man pouring his heart over the loss of his girlfriend after he made a terrible mistake in judgment, begging her to come back, insisting he never meant to hurt her, for now on, he’ll make sure she knows she’s appreciated everyday.
How does Whatcha Say compare to the original? The original is a haunting, heartbreaking song where the lyrics incenuates a terrible loss of a loved one and the torment over the unknown person’s grief over his/her responsibility in the loss. Derulo’s song is straight r & b pop, this year’s Beautiful Girls, only with a less incessant, blantant ripoff of the classic. Points are shaved for Derulo cutting corners by using an already popular song’s beat to sell his song. He will far be the last to sample a popular song, hip-hop will continue to do so, and sampling has become so infused in hip-hop zeitgeist, it’s normal for hip-hoppers/r & b-pop singers to use a popular song to let people know they’re cool, they’re with it, they know what’s in, what’s popular. But at least try to come up with an increment of your own composition. Derulo is content just to ride on the coattails of a soap opera climax song.
That doesn’t mean the song isn’t catchy because it is and Derulo is smart enough to use that song to get listeners hooked in. The song is honestly fun and enjoyable and you can’t help but try to sing along. Whenever the Imogen Heap chorus pops us, I can’t help chiming in, “What did she say?” However, unlike the original, which has subtle, nuanced meaning, Derulo’s version as light and breezy as a sip of Coca-Cola. Delicious and you love how it fizzes on your mouth, but it has no residual value.
In the end, Derulo’s song will last long enough to climb the radio and download charts but I’m probably not going to remember it in ten years, except in corrlation with Imogen Heap. And that’s what honestly defeats the song from having an impact. Derulo is so intent on scoring a hit, he cheapens the song by burying it in the score of another. Whatever lyrical content is in his song is lost because it will be remembered as little else than that song that used that other song from the OC.
In case you missed it, here’s the full Imogen Heap original (and it is much better than how it is used in the OC.):
