Single Review: N.E.R.D – ‘Squeeze Me’
2 min read
I never thought that one day I’d be associating the return of N.E.R.D with Spongebob SquarePants, but after a 5 year hiatus, the hip-hop/rock/whatever they wanna be hybrid band featuring global mega star Pharrell Williams, are back and helping out their favourite sponge in providing a track for his new movie.
If you were looking forward to a return to rock from the band you may have to wait a little longer, as new single Squeeze Me looks to reggae to form the basis of the track. Its teasing bass-line jauntily skips along, while childlike backing vocals accompany lyrics urging ‘everybody enjoy yourself’ and asking the listener to ‘squeeze me till I pop’. It’s fun, it’s silly, and therefore perfect to accompany a SpongeBob Movie – hell it even samples the riff from the cartoon series.
The track has Pharrell’s recent love of finding a rhythm that’ll get stuck endlessly in your head (look to previous single Happy), but it doesn’t seem to have the same charm – it’s lacking in that something special.
Whether the band will be going in this direction on a new album is yet to see, but to me I think they’re testing the waters to see what kind of reception this gets. Personally I would love to see a return to early album rock/hip-hop, but it’s also good to see something out of the bands – if not Pharrell’s – comfort zone.
