Want You Bad – A.D. Smoove

A.D.Smoove is an artist whose music seems to fuse a little bit of the very classic rhythm and blues sound from way back when, with something of a more simplistic, perhaps even retro production style. The music, the backing track, has a little touch of trip-hop in there, and alongside of this there’s a piano line, and the intermittent addition of other instruments that add notable moments to the mix. Separate elements aside, the song on the whole has a soulful and fairly memorable melody and hook. The artist’s leading vocal is the main thing you take away from the track after listening, there’s a smoothness to the voice that carries the melody and the concept very well – it has a tone to it that is gentle and relevant to the desire discussed in the lyrics, and the performance style also fits in well with this theme and this ambiance.

There are moments, particularly towards the end of the track, where the vocal could perhaps have taken a step back – the music could have been used to build intensity, rather than increasing the vocal performance part, as the latter half of the song develops – there’s plenty of instrumentation there to work with, as mentioned, and this could possibly have been utilised more effectively. The vocal has more strength in the opening half of the track, where there’s more space within which to appreciate it. The gentler side of the singing style sounds lovely, very passionate and soulful, and this moment in the mix really allows listeners to relax and enjoy the good vibes of the music – which is what this genre and this style is generally all about. The song has a smoothness that works, and the artist covers this genre and this type of mood well.

By Rebecca Cullen

Rebecca is a Musician and writer from Manchester, UK, with an MA in Song Writing.