Music Review: Can't Remember To Forget You

Shakira- Can't Remember To Forget You ft. Rihanna

Good god almighty, how this is not considered pornography I am yet to understand, quite hard to take a song like this seriously when you're throwing away soggy tissues, you definitely remember it though. The song is meant to be a little bit different from your average pop song with elements of reggae but as far as I can tell it still seems like a standard pop song apart from maybe five seconds from the beginning. This style has been compared with The Police which I'm sure is another way of saying boring or that it's a pop rock track, I'm sure John Lennon must be turning in his grave.

I can't seem to understand the title, it doesn't make sense. She can remember to forget him as she's singing about it and you don't remember to forget someone because that would just be remembering, not forgetting, just confusing really. The song is obviously about a guy that Shakira still loves even though she hates him, a theme that has been taken from a list of about a million songs, so nothing different there. Shakira herself said "I think every woman has been through that. This song is not exactly a reflection of my personal life right now." What this probably means is that we're going to get a very stereotypical pop song with shallow lyrics because it isn't something personal to the singer. It would be like me making a song about the currency of Norway, I don't care about that, it's not a personal issue or interest and so it's almost certainly going to be rubbish and lacking in any creativity.

To be honest the song actually starts out very well, it's definitely something a little different from the usual pop songs of today. The beat is good and the verses set up what should be a very good chorus. Unfortunately they don't quite do this as the chorus is terribly constructed and only consists of wailing and repetition which really isn't good. The change in tempo isn't necessary either and it quickly dies down into another decent verse after another. I'm not really sure why Rihanna is needed in this song, I'm not saying she's bad but her appearance doesn't really seem necessary and I'm pretty sure Shakira could of writhed around the sofa with very little clothing on just as well on her own. I just feel Rihanna is there to boost the sales, which she almost certainly will. If there's one this song is it is underwhelming, the star power on display should combine to create a better song this, it just seems a bit safe, nothing special as the lyrics will now demonstrate:

 I left a note on my bedpost
Said not to repeat
Yesterday's mistakes
What I tend to do
When it comes to you
I see only the good
Selective memory
The way he makes me feel, yeah
Gotta hold on me
I've never met someone so different

Leaving a note on your bedpost, yep unless your lover is a stalker or a burglar then they are going to have no idea of your intentions, but that's women for you. She only sees the good, must be why she left him, I mean women often leave men because they're too good, it does mean her opinions of him are going to be biased throughout the rest of the song which is always a good sign.

  Oh here we go
He a part of me now
He a part of me
So where you go I follow, follow, follow

Oh, so much of this not repeating crap, she's now bloody following him, that's women for you.

Oh, oh, oooh, oh
Oh, oh, oooh, oh
I can't remember to forget you
Oh, oh, oooh, oh
Oh, oh, oooh, oh
I keep forgetting I should let you go
But when you look at me
The only memory is us kissing in the moonlight
Oh, oh, oooh, oh
Oh, oh, oooh, oh
I can't remember to forget you

Jesus, just write it on your hand, then you won't forget, although you obviously do remember as you're singing about it. This is just about a women living in denial, quite tragic really. Rihanna now begins:

I go back again
Fall off the train
Land in his bed
Repeat yesterday's mistakes
What I'm trying to say is not to forget
You see only the good, selective memory
The way he makes me feel like
The way he makes me feel
I never seemed to act so stupid
Oh here we go
He a part of me now
He a part of me
So where he goes I follow

(Chorus)

Landing in someones bed by falling off a train, impressive, he must live in a field or something, I mean why doesn't she just wait for the next station, you can get seriously hurt falling off trains and I would never want anything like that to happen to anybody, especially Shakira. Rihanna also has a speech impediment as she can't say a simple phrase, even if she can't say it it still means she REMEMBERS, this isn't making any sense. Rihanna also seems to have the mating ritual of an angler fish, as the male becomes conjoined to the female and eventually they form a single organism. There's a nice fact for you, thank me later.

I rob and I kill to keep him with me
I do anything for that boy
I'd give my last dime to hold him tonight
I do anything for that boy (x2)

(Chorus)

Well this has taken a dark turn, fuck me she's a maniac, if I was that boy I would get the hell out of there, but as long as she's giving her last dime to me then I really don't care what she does.

Matt Negyedi logged onto Amazon to say:
"masterpiece from Shakira. unique, new and amazing. The album called Shakira is out on the 25th of march. buy it."
Well this certainly isn't a masterpiece, not even close. I guess you can say it's unique, I wouldn't necessarily praise it for that though seeing as it is quite similar to most other pop songs in the charts at the moment, but it definitely does stand out. New, yes because that makes everything brilliant, here's some of my feces, freshly made this morning. Thanks for the plug but I definitely won't be buying it, especially since it's free on the internet.

Keith Murphy reviewed the song on Vibe, commenting:
"it takes on a surreal energy with the likes of Rihanna handling the reigns. When she follows up Shakira’s helpless plea with the ironic lyrics, “I go back again/Fall off the train/Land in his bed/Repeat yesterday's mistakes,” you are instantly reminded of her turbulent love affair with Chris Brown. It’s a reality that gives “Can’t Remember to Forget You.” 
Energy, guess I must have missed something, it was quite plain to me. Irony is a comedic device and so it doesn't really belong in what is essentially a serious song, especially when murdering is involved. It was the Chris Brown affair that made me loose all sympathy with Rihanna and therefore I have no sympathy for the person in this song, it's not reality it's someone being a twat.

Overall I can't help feeling a little underwhelmed by this song, all the signs were there and I did predict that it would be poor from the start but with the star power on display I expected something extra, but in the end all I got was two very attractive ladies flaunting around on a bed. It does try and be something different, and for that I will give it credit, but it still can't escape that standard pop feeling with its generic lyrics and nothing to really separate it from the rest of the crowd. A nice try but I expected a lot more from these two.

Final Score 4/10 **