This is the first in a new feature on The Vine, where we listen to the latest #1 single and analyse it to death so you don't have to.

Brian McFadden
'Just Say So'

This week's new number one single in the ARIA charts is “Just Say So” by Brian McFadden (and featuring Kevin Rudolf, who produced the song). It's knocked Train's “Hey, Soul Sister” off the top, and is the first song to debut at #1 in the ARIA charts since Vanessa Amorosi's “This Is Who I Am” in October last year. It's also McFadden's first #1 single on his own, though he had a number one in 2005 duetting with that android woman who seems to be on every second TV ad. What was her name, again?



Anyway, as you'd expect from a #1 single, the song is catchy. In fact the verse of the song is, unusually, catchier than the chorus. Approximately 55% of what (one presumes) got the song to #1 is the vocal melody on the last word of each line in the verse (“mi-i-i-i-nd, mi-i-i-i-nd, yeah”), which instantly got stuck in my head. The chorus is ok. Catchy repeated enough to get drummed into your skull quite quickly, but it's the verse that is king here. Otherwise, there's little distinctive about it; it has the same sleek '90s-sounding disco feel as much of the rest of the charts (e.g., “Sexy Bitch”, “Just Dance”).

Perhaps the most remarkable thing about “Just Say So” is the extent to which it seems to be devoid of humans. Playing and singing I mean. Recently, a synthy sound has been almost mandatory if you want to get to the top of the pops – the only #1 song in the last year not coated in synths, was “Hey, Soul Sister” by Train. So it's not very surprising that the backing music on “Just Say So” sounds almost entirely synthesised; synth drums, synth bass and synthy keyboards. The AutoTune vocal effect on McFadden's vocals is so prominent that it not only destroys anything distinctive in the voice, but also makes the lyrics hard to hear. Kraftwerk wish their music could sound this mechanical.

The lyrics in “Just Say So” describe a relationship going wrong (“we complicate things every time we fight”), and McFadden mostly seems to be complaining that the other in the relationship is indecisive about whether they want it to continue. Combined with the mechanical nature of the music, he comes across here as passive aggressive and aloof - he seems broadly unconcerned whether the relationship falls apart or not, and isn't offering to make any changes to help salvage it. It's kind've an odd tone for McFadden when set against his upbeat public profile (most recently on Spicks And Specks), and the song is worlds away from the motivational piano balladry of “Like Only A Woman Can”.

Recently, chart pop has often taken a lot of its meaning through celebrity gossip – Justin Timberlake's “Cry Me A River” is very much about his relationship with Britney, for example, and the video of that song is explicit about this. Because there isn't much to go on musically in “Just Say So”, one suspects that a lot of the meaning in the song is implied, based on one's knowledge of McFadden's engagement to Delta Goodrem (as “Like Only A Woman Can” was). Is the song about his relationship with her getting rocky? Is their relationship actually rocky? Is it wish-fulfillment? Exploring the ego? Whether or not the song is actually about the couple, the song will get interpreted as such by a fair chunk of its fans. Such is their profile.

A lot of what makes a song get to #1 isn't how good it is, or even the amount of marketing behind it (though it helps), but whether people want to include it in their lives. Research shows that people are more likely to like a song if everyone else likes it. This isn't necessarily a conscious thing, but teenagers, especially, are under a lot of pressure to conform. Music taste is an expression of identity, so it's not very surprising that there's some conforming going on. Of course, the conformity of music taste is not always so cynical; a lot of what makes us enjoy music is being about to talk about it with friends, sing it and dance to it. Which this song - if judging by its sales - is quite good for.

Tim Byron