Listening to T-Pain's new single "5 O'Clock", which samples Lily Allen's "Who'd Jave Known" to great effect, is there to remind us how much we lost when Lily Allen gave up her recording career. Two years and counting and not a peep.
When the bad girls of mthe UK -Lily in the pop world, Amy in soul, nearly five years ago, they set a standard that those who followed in their footsteps, including Adele, haven't managed to match. Both of Allen's albums are as good as it gets, and the one time I have seen Lily in person, at T5 in 2009, I was near the stage and she kicked off her shoes and danced up a storm.
But I haven't heard or much thought of Lily in awhile, so listening to T-Pain's "5 o'Clock" brought me up short. The song is more than a sample of Lily's song, it's a auntotuned re-write with Wiz Khalifa taking over a verse and T-Pain not just rapping to the thythm, but singing different lyrics to the song, weaving his voice around Lily's. It's a beautiful thing. T-Pain's best since his "Can't Believe It Remix" with Justin Timberlake. Actually, it's his best since his Taylor Swift duet, "Thug Story".
T-Pain enters the song for some early morning nookie, T-Pain adds a good drums in the background, and captures the melody and Wiz joins thw to other verses and it is really a beautiful thing. Good to have T-Pain back again.
Grade:A-