I learned about Arin Ray after my daughter added his song to a playlist she created for me on Spotify. After hearing it, I decided write a new music review on Arin Ray since I enjoyed it so much. I even created an instrumental version of one of his songs, which is up on YouTube.
If you haven’t heard of him before, Arin Ray was a contestant on X-Factor in 2012. I don’t watch X-Factor since I don’t have cable, but I know what the show is about. If you find him on YouTube, you’ll see his performance under Brittany Spears. I didn’t really like the choice of songs she gave him, although he did a great job.
Fast forward to now, and you’ll hear an entirely different singer. Let me tell you what caught my attention: The music isn’t the typical latest trap or sample song. It actually has traces of real instruments and some arrangements. His melodies aren’t typical either. He seems to be able to take the notes into realms that are pleasantly unexpected. He adds harmonies that enhance the mood, and bring a bit of nostalgia into each piece.
I say this carefully because he’s got a ton of experience writing for Chris Brown, Nicki Minaj, John Legend, and others- but the things that I believe could be improved on, and may get better with more time and life experience: The lyrics are sometimes a bit basic. He uses a good amount of slang to keep it street, sometimes swearing more than needed. Those might work for Chris and Nicki, but overall the content of each song doesn’t give me any profound feelings. With the depth of his music and melodies, I’d like to see something more along the depths of Anderson Paak, or Thundercat.
Arin, raise your lyrics up to a higher level! Your voice and your music are there!
And now for a new music review for Arin Ray. I’d like to find something tangible, but gone are the days of albums. Alas, the single. His latest single, Change, features Khelani, another very talented and upcoming singer. This song has a 90’s feel, reminding me a bit of Blackstreet I think.. Ah there’s a melody but I can’t recall which song it’s from.. Yes it’s 112 Only You.. , “‘Cause thinkin’ of you, it’s all I do, honestly I might go insane…”.. This is a good throwback song which I hope will do well.
One of my favorite songs of his is “Communication” featuring DRAM. (Please beware that the lyrics are explicit) This one has a nice groove, and I love the guitar lick throughout. It gives it a Sade type of vibe. The melody in this song is perfect. Just right to set the mood.
I like “We Ain’t Homies” despite the explicitness of this too. The music sounds rather happy and comforting, but the lyrics are about old acquaintances who come around now that he’s doing well, trying to fit in by pretending to know about his private life. He put the phrasing down very well, although, I would have preferred less swearing. I think I’m going to have to accept that this is the trend these days. So, I’m focusing on the melody, overall content, and music. When creating the instrumental, I enjoyed figuring out the chords in the bridge. Nice surprise. I just wish I had more time to really add the variety of strings in the background. Hopefully, it comes in handy for those Karaoke aficionados.
I’ll end with one last song although he’s got so many more. I love “Stressin“. It starts with a nice bass guitar and nylon acoustic (sound nylon). Then comes in with a mellow hip hop drum beat with the old record effect on it. Again, wish he could write without the swearing, but ok. He’s talking about how stressed out his girl seems, wondering what’s going on.
One more- there is a song with Babyface which is also great called “Always“. This one has a typical Babyface sound to it. Great old late 80s early 90s chord progression, and lead sounds. The drums are interesting. I would have done something different, but this choice does make it annoyingly unique. I don’t care for the double snare, or the snare sound, but it is something I might try and get discouraged by everyone from using it. Nevertheless, anything with Babyface is a great song to me. 🙂
I could keep going, but I’ll end it here, and encourage all of you to please join me for future posts. I don’t have many posts yet, so I look forward to getting to know you as more people hop on this journey to Design Our Peace.