The E.N.D.
Black Eyed Peas
So The Peas are back and from the sound of the album are going to be riding this one long enough to be played at California’s next legal gay marriage. The End has been lounging atop the Billboard charts since its release, alongside its first two singles, “Boom Boom Pow” and “I Got A Feelin’,” and prompts the question, “What’s wrong with selling out when it generates this kind of success?” To hear songs like “Rock That Body” or “Missing You” composed entirely of electronic beats and simple dancey hooks, you can almost forget their 1998 debut “Behind The Front,” when they looked and sounded like they were separated at birth from A Tribe Called Quest and used unique, independent vocalists like Esthero and Les Nubians to sing the occasional chorus against their otherwise sans-melody beats. But that’s progress, and while the purist would say that the purpose of music is to communicate and express what people are feeling, the music industry will always counter and say the purpose is to make money. And that’s what they’re doing, and very aptly. Collaborating this time with House Music legend David Guetta instead of the latest Urban influences, The Peas create a purely dance pop album with just enough Hip Hop edge to remind you they’re not Eiffel 65, but not by much. The cover art is a clear homage to the unfeeling, mechanized imagery of Kraftwerk’s 1986 Electric Cafe album, and functions as the telling face of what lies beneath—futuristic, auto-tuned and more processed than a Twinkie. But it’s perfect in every way, the slick hooks are memorizable after one listen, the beats and samples are delicious and the lyrics are written in such a way as to feel relatable to everyone and alienate no one. Expect these tracks to be dominating your public social life.
