Whether as a solo artist or as one half of Gnarls Barkley, the Georgia native filters age-old pop conventions through his own eccentric personality, and they come out fresh. Moving further away from the Southern hip-hop sound he helped pioneer in the early 2000s, “The Lady Killer” (Green’s first solo joint in seven years) is steeped in ’60s pop, all tuxedo-dapper strings, loungey piano, John Barry horns and backbeat-heavy rhythms. And yet, he never sounds like a revivalmonger or nostalgist.
In fact, as “The Lady Killer” makes clear, Green’s just an artist with an idiosyncratic approach to pop music — and a lot of music history stored in his mental Rolodex. That can compensate for many shortcomings (a limited vocal range, an overreliance on high concepts), but it also elevates lesser material, including the blanks-firing “Love Gun” or the head-scratching murder mystery “Bodies.” His boldness lets him get away with stuff that other singers couldn’t pull off. From any other artist, the lead single, “F*** You,” would come off too caustic to be enjoyable, but Green manages to position it in a long line of old soul hits, from “Tracks of My Tears” to “Gold Digger.” He’s emoting in the tradition of Smokey Robinson and Kanye West, but doing with almost comic bluntness to evoke the pain of a newly broken heart.
Committing himself to the happiness of one special woman on “Satisfied,” Green crafts the best Prince hook in 20 years, then gives it to his back-up singers. He admits his own shortcomings on “Crybaby,” berating himself for being careless “just like all the other guys.” By the time he gets around to covering Band of Horses’ “No One’s Gonna Love You,” he’s decided that love is both salvation and damnation. His version of the indie-rock anthem is wobbly, and the sentiment is so common in pop music as to be threadbare. But Green manages to sell both on sheer force of personality alone.
Written by Express contributor Stephen M. Deusner
Photo by Kai Regan
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