Five Seconds Later Kanye, Rihanna, and that Beatles Dude Fade From Memory

It's lovely to notice how Kanye West and Rihanna have some respect for an elder. If you have to spread the love on someone you could do worse than turn in Paul McCartney's general direction. In the video for "FourFiveSeconds" he appears engaged. Nobody handed him a check and said this will make whatever statement you think y'all are making work out justifiably in the end. To be frank Paul's the color portion of a number that amounts merely to Kanye and Rihanna getting to clown around in the studio with a legend. Like it or lump it this song's likely to come across as an excuse to print their own money. That's the thing about legends. As the years pass they become like the gold or platinum used to construct the certifications for units sold...their market value becomes astronomical. Paul dutifully strums while his black brother and sister get frank about what's darkening their lives lately. Rihanna's never lacked for candor. From her duet with Eminem ("Love The Way You Lie") to her peak drinking hour rave up ("We Found Love") the girl's always had her laser hot gaze set squarely on her would-be buyers. As for Kanye, his social brashness essentially hasn't been in doubt since the golden days when he interrupted Taylor Swift's MTV award acceptance speech to get one last plug in for rival Beyonce's video. Note to Kanye. I think Queen Bey's doing fine without you putting in your notion of what a good word is. Back to the single on the dissection table. Rihanna on deck first, declaring the obvious truism that she's no different than numerous other people in regards to how alcohol is the match that lights full scale disclosure. She's been stung thanks to her kindness which others mistake for weakness. For the looks of things Rihanna's expecting jail time for a particularly physical outcome to her being labeled weak. Kids today. Such a big hurry to be so the drama while not giving much justification for the hostility. In her defense how many platinum records do any of us lesser creatures have? Goose egg city as I thought. What's "wildin'?" Possibly slang for "going wild" "busting out in party mode". You learn something odd every day. It's truly wonderful to be alive. At the second hook Kanye and Rihanna join forces as Sir Paul plays it too cool in his backup capacity. Only difference is now both of them are singing the hook refrain. Still "FourFiveSeconds from wildin'." Tuesday's inconvenient. Wednesday's hanging around being useless. Thursday's the warmup act for you guessed it...FRIDAY!! Paul works the acoustic angle to the letter. Modest shadings of tone, depth, and intensity result in what might have been, if this outing was in service to a band, you know, the classic guitar drums tonsil flasher set up a likable sprig of parsley on the mouth watering main course. There isn't a real fleshed out use for his being present except maybe to prevent Kanye and Rihanna from ending up in a capella territory. Take away the lyrics and guitar and you've got emptiness. "FourFiveSeconds" leaves little to excite the senses. Kind of like a tiny spritz of perfume at Bloomingdale's doesn't exactly leave you begging for an entire flask. Water with a tad of discernible stimulant. Outside of that I can't easily say much to endorse "FourFiveSeconds" as a piece of music that's going to leave you wide eyed and amazed. Late in the game, Paul spins this homeboy ride into a gospel flavored part of the neighborhood. Doesn't excuse words that don't speak volumes. Paul's a gracious guy. Probably got a kick out of mixing it up with the whippersnappers. Having served his function as the experienced third of a titans of radio three way tag team match he can go back to calculating his Beatles' royalties. Kanye can go back to reminding himself not to piss anybody else off. Rihanna can go back to picking out some other hip-hop bad boy to play rough with. No harm no foul. "FourFiveSeconds" exquisitely sums up the amount of time it's going to take you to forget the song ever graced ear canals everywhere.