Why Black Eyed Peas is getting so much flak

Why are the Black Eyed Peas (BEP) getting so much flak these days? I say this is mainly because they are now one of the most successful groups in pop music history and there are sour-grapers around eager to pull them down. That will be difficult to do as they have now sold over 50 million albums all over the world and are still selling more.

What about former fans saying they have sold out the ideals of hip-hop. Maybe true as recent albums show a variety of music forms mixing, connecting or changing into something else. But I say this is simply because will.i.am, Fergie, apl.de.ap and Taboo are active artists whose works are evolving and their music can therefore go anywhere.

The live performances are becoming mechanical as in how they failed to wow the fans at the XLV Super Bowl. I do not think anybody can hold diehard football fans enthralled with a few songs unless you do a wardrobe malfunction number like what Janet Jackson did a few years ago. Ditto with the BEPs set at the FIFA World Cup last year in South Africa where the soccer fans were bigger fanatics.

Speaking of football, please let me digress a bit. Congratulations to our Azkals for three great goals against Bangladesh. My hopes are now very strong that I will see a Filipino team at the World Cup in my lifetime.

Back to the Peas. What about at the Oprah Winfrey Show? Didn’t Charice do better with her Pyramid? If you mean the one with the 20,000 dancers grooving to I Got A Feeling, then I heartily disagree. I thought that was fantastic. That was the power of music in full force. As for the American Music Awards, I believe that was more of mechanical trouble with the production than anything about the performance.

As for the hit single Time that has been getting bad reviews and is said to be nothing as good as early BEP works like Where Is The Love or Shut Up. I know it is perhaps more MOR or middle-of-the-road than usual. But I do not really care because I love the song. Okay, maybe I am saying this because I am a girl of the generation that can still imagine themselves dancing and leaping into Patrick Swayze’s arms.

Still this is another example of how powerful old songs can be. The Peas also had some experience with this when they sampled the Rock That Body line from It Takes Two by Rob Base in their album The E.N.D. but then The Time turned out to be the bigger hit.

The sample comes from (I’ve Had) The Time Of My Life that was recorded by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes for the soundtrack of the memorable coming-of-age film Dirty Dancing in 1987. That one featured incredible dancing by lead stars Swayze and Jennifer Grey. Incidentally, Grey was the recent winner of the celebrity TV show Dancing With The Stars, which strangely enough, despite all those dance shows we now get, is not seen on local TV.

Anyway, the song is the first big hit out of The Beginning, which the BEPs say is their sequel to the eleven million selling The E.N.D., which has yielded several big sellers. Boom Boom Pow, Meet Me Halfway, Rock That Body, Imma Be and I Gotta Feeling. Maybe The Beginning will also bring them several.

Just Can’t Get Enough is the new and second single. This is an entirely new work and does not sample the Depeche Mode song from the New Wave era. The song is off to a good start although the excitement was dampened by the recent disastrous events in Japan where the Peas shot the video. The single was launched during the group’s appearance at American Idol two weeks ago and they have since dedicated the song to their friends in Japan.

 Just Can’t Get Enough is now No. 5 in Billboard Magazine’s Hot 100 list. The Top 20 is as follows: Born This Way by Lady Gaga; E.T. by Katy Perry featuring Kanye West; S&M by Rihanna; F**K You (Forget You) by Cee Lo Green; Just Can’t Get Enough by the Black Eyed Peas; Loser Like Me by the cast of Glee; F**kin Perfect by Pink; Look At Me Now by Chris Brown feat. Lil Wayne & Busta Rhymes; Grenade by Bruno Mars; and Down On Me by Jeremih feat. 50 Cent.