Tiesto Flips Pink's What About Us Into Chill House Gem

Full disclosure, when I first listened to Tiesto's AFTR:HRS remix of Pink's What About Us, I was convinced I was listening to his remix of John Legend's all of me. The background piano is strikingly similar, which isn't a bad thing at all. The common thread between the two remixes is a stellar vocal performance. And yes, Pink shined so bright that she deserves to be in the same conversation as John Legend.

Like Tiesto has been known to do, he channeled the emotion of the original and flipped it into another chill house anthem. The remix treads a rare line between mellow and powerful, which isn't an easy thing to do. In addition to the obvious Top 40 appeal, I could see it igniting a festival crowd too. Credit to Tiesto for taking the track up a level, but it couldn't have been done without the emotional tone that Pink created in the first place. Cop it on iTunes or Spotify if you dig it as much as I do...#WhatAboutUs



Pink - What About Us (Tiesto's AFTR:HRs Remix)

"We Can Do Revenge, Revenge, Revenge, Together"

Nothing like a playful song about making someone feel the same type of pain they made you feel. Conjured up by two of the most fierce, emotional artists in music, Revenge straddles the fence between spiteful and funny. These three bars by Pink sum it up quite well, "Sue you, take your dog, take your house, Take your shoes, take your heart, And now here comes that singin' part."

As for Eminem's verse, he doesn't hold back on his favorite derogatory female descriptors, but his tone is far from serious. There's an interesting harmony in both Pink and Eminem's verses that encourage retaliation too. The back and forth comes off as more of a game, adding to the playfulness of the vibe. The song emerged as one of the 13 songs on Pink's new Beautiful Trauma album that dropped yesterday. I haven't given the album much of a listen yet, but you can bet it'll contain at least a few chart topping singles. One thing that stood out to me is the lack of features on the album. I guess when you get to be as big as Pink, there's less of a necessity to pull in other artists to make great music. More power to her, looking forward to picking a few favorites from the album...#Revenge

Pink feat Eminem - Revenge (prod by Shellback and Max Martin)

"I Got You Keeping Me Afloat, When I'm in Your Waterfall"

I've been writing about Stargate tracks dating back eight years ago when they were producing tracks for the likes of Brandy and Beyonce. The Norwegian production duo have a discography that would put 99% of producers to shame both on the number of collaborations they've pulled together and the star power they've worked with over the years. Just in case you forgot about them, they just released another new noteworthy single with vocal help from Pink and Sia. It's every bit the power duet you'd expect from two of the best vocalists in the game, but the slow and sexy Dancehall vibe is why you'll keep hitting play. It may have taken them years, but Waterfall is the first time Stargate listed themselves as the lead artist on a track. They must like playing the behind the scenes, supporting role because their music speaks for itself. Hopefully they'll put a whole album together so I can continue to speculate why it's taken them so long to play the Batman role...#Waterfall



Stargate feat Pink & Sia - Waterfall

"Party Crasha, Panty Snatcha, Call Me Up if You a Gangsta"

"We will never be, never be anything but loud

And nitty gritty, dirty little freaks"

I'll give it to her, lately Pink has been bringin' the heat on tracks like Won't Back Down with Eminem and even going back to that party starter she had in '08 titled So What. Fitting she decided to drop her most pop culture term laden, emotionally charged club hit on her Greatest Hits So Far album due out on Nov 16th.

It's upbeat enough to dance, llello addictive lyrically with a slew of funny ad libs about getting drunk to go along with an rock the f out vibe that is as rawkus as it is brash and in your face. It's the epitome of a party starter. Funny how pop culture has really taken off with the act of toasting, between this and @kanyewest'strack Runaway.

This one is on a crash course headed to a #1 single, so please consume it before it gets consumed by radio. Give it a listen...
Pink - Raise Your Glass
| iTunes

"Gotta Shake That Ass Like a Donkey With Parkinsons..."

In short, this one had me at hello all Jerry Maguire style. Other than being his second single off Recovery, the track features one of my favorite producers (pictured above in the banner far top right corner) DJ Khalil. In case you're not up in his works of art, give Slaughterhouse - The One, Fabolous - Imma Do It, Clipse - Kinda Like a Big Deal, Jim Jones - Love Me No More. Side Bar: That Imma Do It beat is probably my favorite out of the bunch, but that may also be due to the fact that Fab pulls a lyrical jack move all over the beat.

This beat most closely resembles Slaughterhouse's The One and Clipse's Kinda Like a Big Deal with the rock/guitar sample over the upbeat Khalil percussion-fest, providing the perfect canvas for Em's schizophrenia. This track spotlights the night and day creativity difference between his new material off Recovery compare to whatever the hell that was on Relapse. Seemingly another no-holds barred assault on whatever pops into his mind with quoteables like...

"I cut my toes off and step on the receipt before I foot the bill,
Listen garden tool, don’t make me introduce you to my power tool,
You know the f'ing drill"

"I gave Bruce Wayne a Valium and said,
Settle ya f'in ass down I’m ready for combat-man,
Get it calm batman?"

"Gotta shake that ass like a Donkey with Parkinsons,
Make like Michael J Fox in the jaws playin’ with a etch-a-sketch"

"Does a bird chirp, Lil Wayne slurps syrup til he burps and smokes purp,
Does a wordsearch, gets circles wrapped around him like you do when I come through"

"Fork was in the road took the pyschopath
poison ivy wouldn’t have me thinking rash"

That Bruce Wayne combat man/calm batman pun was creative, as was the get circles wrapped/wordsearch rap double entendre. Side Bar: Interesting how OSU's own MZ of The Smoking Section called shenanigans on Jay-Z's triple entendre line off his collabo with Drake on Light Up. Not gonna lie the line about Michael J Fox, whom you may have read has Parkinson's disease, and the etch-a-sketch was little out of bounds...but after the making fun of Christopher Reeves' disability, his mockery truly knows no bounds?

On a humor note, I definitely felt like an idiot at the 3:31 mark in the track where the sound on the track does a quick fade for the beat to recover (no pun intended) with Em yelling TURN ME BACK UP! I'm serious I had it on the iPod in the shower and I was like WTF!! who is in here turnin' my music down!!...crazy how even 2 sec fade can be so noticeable when you naakkkeedd.

While everyone has been quick to negatively judge Drake's new album, which sprung a leak this week, I'm reserving judgment for a few weeks because I've only begun to soak in his deeper than people thought debut album. Despite that, I'd definitely give the nod to Eminem whose first two singles (Not Afraid and Won't Back Down) are better than Drake's (Over and Find You Love). We'll see if Eminem can continue this regained sense of vitality with his rhymes and overall effort on tracks...I'll say one thing, with these two tracks he's turned me from a half decade long hater to a believer all over again..

Give it a listen...
Eminem feat P!ink - Won't Back Down (prod by DJ Khalil) | Download