RICKY MARTIN - "SHE BANGS"
ricky martin: in this latin-pop world of enrique iglesiases, marc antonys, son by fours, and, now, christina aguilera, did you forget about "the latin elvis?" did you think that the singles he released after "livin' la vida loca" achieved a modicum of chart success more on the strength of that single than on the strength of those singles? and could that duet he did with madonna be any worse of a single than, say, "private emotion"? if you answered yes to any of those questions, well, ricky martin's returned to smack your fat ass with a phat new single.
"she bangs" has already kicked up a bit of controversy with its "racy" line about a girl who "blew [him] off" getting the thumbs down from british censors. based on that, one would wonder what american censors would make of the that possibly "risque" title -- until one realizes that, in this country, we understand that ricky martin is sexless enough so as to not mean anything more by the phrase "she bangs" than an action along the lines of "she moves."
so, i'm happy to say that in this land of the free, i've heard "she bangs" in all of its unexpurgated glory and i can report that it's, well, good! its rollicking beat serving as the perfect antidote to the studied "cool" of "la vida loca": in fact, the first ten seconds or so lead you to believe that he's going to break into "shake your groove thing." "she bangs," with its carefree piano licks and percussion redolent of earth, wind & fire's "serpentine fire," also has the distinction of being the first english-language song of his that i've heard that actually contains latin elements! take that jennifer lopez!
this being ricky, though, the tune, despite an 'a' for effort, lacks charisma and is not nearly as catchy as "la vida loca." its arguable that what success the single meets with will be attributable to the fact that he's the "la vida loca" guy or to the "steamy" new video which features a half-naked ricky being manhandled (hmmm...) by a bunch of scantily-clad young women. the video seems to scream, "am i straight or what?" and is a big-time riposte to his detractors. if he does turn out to be gay, this video is right up there with george michael's "i want your sex video" and elton john getting married to a woman in terms of gay male repression, but that's neither here nor there. what i'm saying is that "she bangs" is a marked improvement for martin and a fun little single to let into your heart.
(c) 2000 - fred solinger -
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