Matt Palmer // Blog

As a 22 year-old about-to-be college grad, many friends of mine think pop music is only for the tween-aged and below, and I couldn’t disagree more!  Pop music is for anybody who can find the beauty in an incredible chorus and flawless production.  For anyone out there who’s still skeptical, try to write a song that could be in heavy rotation on your local Top 40 station because it’s definitely not as easy as it sounds.

So every week on this blog, I’m going to explore some incredible pop artists out today, and anybody more legit than Miley Cyrus (sorry Miley!) is fair game.  Just come in with an open mind, and you might find someone who hate out of principle isn’t ACTUALLY so bad!

The-Dream, writer of Rihanna’s “Umbrella”

I suppose The-Dream’s solo material is more R&B/Hip-hop than pop, but the man had a hand in writing Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It),” Mariah Carey’s “Touch My Body,” and Rihanna’s “Umbrella,” so he’s definitely more than a little pop.  While I could write for days about the greatness of each of these pop gems, I’ll focus my attention on “Umbrella” because stylistically it represents The-Dream and producer Christopher “Tricky” Stewart best, and that song single-handedly made Rihanna a superstar.  What made this song so incredible at the time was that in a world of speed-singing and sparse tracks, The-Dream’s writing was spacious and melodic, while Tricky’s moody production was lush and electronic, mixing the electro-grind of Justin Timberlake’s FutureSex/LoveSounds with an R&B love ballad.  And then there’s the hook – you know it – those “ella ella ella eh eh eh”s were blaring out of every stereo system circa summer 2007 and that’s something many will never forget.  Blatantly hooky, if you weren’t already singing the song by the melodic chorus, the post-chorus/hook section is the definition of an earworm.

As for his solo material, his two CDs are far more explicit and lyrically quirky than his songs for other artists.  Not many people can pull off saying “her love’s baked up like Pillsbury cookies” in an R&B song, but The-Dream can no problem (and the song in question, “Playin’ In Her Hair” is excellent!).  While his solo releases LoveHate and Love Vs. Money have produced several hits, “Umbrella” is still The-Dream’s biggest song (and Rihanna’s!) and I think it’s going to take a long time for him to top that one.

Other standout tracks from The-Dream: “Playin’ in Her Hair,” “I Love Your Girl,” “Fancy,” “Right Side of My Brain.” Listen to his latest album on iMeem now!