Critic's Notebook

Cee Lo Green, Rivers Cuomo, and “Anyway” Reach a New Low Together

It has been nearly 15 months since the runaway success of Cee Lo Green's "Fuck You." The song netted him a third Grammy and turned out to be the added punch a lot of movie trailers in the intervening months needed. The song came from the Goodie Mob/Gnarls Barkley founding...
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It has been nearly 15 months since the runaway success of Cee Lo Green’s “Fuck You.” The song netted him a third Grammy and turned out to be the added punch a lot of movie trailers in the intervening months needed. The song came from the Goodie Mob/Gnarls Barkley founding member’s excellent third solo album, The Lady Killer, which is now getting the typical preholiday bonus-material push on December 12.

And thus, the songwriting collaboration that no one was waiting for between Green and Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo (and Ross Golan and Wallpaper) is here! Just like the song that got us here in the first place, “Anyway” debuts with an official “lyric” video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sp3AavMefAs

Topicwise, this discoish track ready for Lite-FM rotation expresses his appreciation for a loved one who sticks by him even if he’s stingy with his money, her pops is not impressed with him, and he’s regularly tardy. And that leads into the edgiest thing about this track, the line, “There’s no one else like this that would put up with my shit.”

Here’s betting that the average Cee Lo fan isn’t going to put up with it, even if something in their gut pulls at them at first. Given the increasingly distant pop glories of Weezer and the very recent happy moments found throughout The Lady Killer, there was a shot at something combining the offbeat silliness of the former and the soulful rigor of the latter. Instead, we’re stuck holding a bag of record-label-mandated poo (if you apply a couple of power chords, it’s a Raditude b-side), and it’s hard to decide which door to leave it in front of before applying the flames.


Follow County Grind on Facebook and Twitter: @CountyGrind.

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