Flo Rida’s backroom boys have taken one of the most catchy and recognisable pop hits of recent decades, Dead or Alive’s ‘You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)’, and used it as the foundation on which to build Flo Rida’s ‘Right Round’.
Using such a cheesy, upbeat and popular song means that most of the hard work is done. The tune is bound to lodge in people’s heads, and because it’s loaded with retro-cool and nostalgia value, it’s bound to get a favourable reaction.
The original is given a fair bit of a facelift, with altered lyrics, a male-female harmony, and a whole lot of modern-day production values. In between choruses, Flo Rida does his part with bouncy, energetic rap verses.
What he’s saying is the same old stuff: he’s in a nightclub, he’s watching women dance, he has lots of money, he’s has to spend said money on said women, et cetera. If commercial hip-hop was banned from using the phrase “the club”, then the whole genre would sink.
But, to his credit, Flo Rida’s performance is outstanding – he mixes up tone, rhythm and pitch in innovative ways. Many of his raps are half-sung, there are plenty of sly rhymes and his rhythmic variations are unexpected and, at times, ingenious.
The cranking Dead or Alive chorus ties the track together time and again. Combined with a rapper at the top of his game, the song can’t miss. It will be a deserved dancefloor classic for many months to come.
Flo Rida: Right Round is out now on Warner
Copyright : MTV Australia
