Wednesday, January 2, 2013

New Music: Stefano - "Yes To Love"



Former American Idol finalist (Season 10) Stefano Langone has announced that Hollywood Records will be releasing his second single, "Yes To Love", in February. His first single was the ridiculous, club-douche track, "I'm On A Roll" (perfectly befitting of his self absorbed 'tude), and garnered just marginal sales and airplay.

To say he's fortunate to be given a second shot would be an understatement.

Anyway, since Team Stefano provided us the official studio track via YouTube (see above), I figured I'd check it out with an open mind and see if there's any reason to believe it'll fair better than his first go around.

Unfortunately for him, I don't see it happening. At least "On A Roll" was over-the-top douchey, and had a bit of an edge. This is about as forgettable as it gets.

Stefano has actually performed "Yes To Love" live in past promo gigs (check here), and though I'm not a big fan of pop ballads I could at least appreciate it's tender, simple, melodic piano and smooth vocal. It was organic, had substance and feeling, and seemed to have real potential to become a hit. However, this version got synthed to the max, was slapped with a fresh coat of overproduced douche beat, and was gutted of all its authenticity.

It's as if Fano attended Bieber 101, was asked to turn in all his originality, and came out of class with the same bland, generic, boy-band single all the other pop star wannabes are handed straight from the studio assembly line.

Now, admittedly, I've never been a fan of Stefano's girly, high pitched voice, douchey style or narcissistic attitude (i.e. bashing Phillip Phillips, talking trash about Pia Toscano, letting Haley Reinhart get thrown under the bus, etc. SEE: Phillip Phillips Punks Haters). However, even if I never heard of him before, I'd pan this dreck. I don't like this style of music, don't like the overproduction, don't think the lyrics fit the beat, and find it almost creepy that a grown, 23 year old man is making tweenage girl music. 

Kenny Poo Meter: Giving this tedious fluff 1.5 stars out of 5. The shame is, if he'd released a version like the stripped down original I'd have given him a solid 3 stars.
 

~Kenny Poo

5 comments:

  1. First of all, how can you make so many negative assumptions about a person you really know nothing about? If I recall correctly, you thought Stefano was a pretty stand up guy up until the whole Haley/W Hotel massacre broke the media. Haley clearly likes to keep her personal life private, so how can you tear him down for not publicly commenting on something that would basically confirm their (probable) relationship that they've desperately tried to keep secret? Haley very well could have told him not to comment on it. Can the guy come off douchey at times? Absolutely. Everything he said about Pia was completely out of line, and I won't defend him for that. But the Phillip Phillips comment? C'mon, man. That's the truest statement I've heard all year. AI is a singing competition. Is P2's album great? Absolutely. It's great that he's has so much success. But, do you honestly think that if you had thrown Phillip into the top 24 of Idol Season 1 that he would have made it past the top 23? Never. Idol isn't a singing competition anymore, and it is what it is. Phillip is talented, there's no doubt about it, but I couldn't stand him on Idol. If he hadn't released such a quality album, I still wouldn't. Jessica was miles ahead of him when it came to singing. As I've already said, Idol is a singing competition. Stefano had every right to voice his opinion, just as you and I did every week on Twitter. Why should he get such harsh criticism for just being real?

    About the song, is it that great of a song? Probably not. It's 100 times better than I'm on a Roll simply because his voice is the main focus, though. And he sings the song beautifully. Also, you have to recognize the label that Stefano is signed to. Hollywood Records is probably giving the guy zero artistic freedom. Their artists are known for pumping out bubble-gum pop bullshit. Give him the benefit of the doubt here. He's probably doing the best that he can. Signing with Hollywood was probably the best and worst thing Stefano ever did.

    It's fine that you don't like the song, everyone has different taste. But criticizing the guy for things that you don't know the story behind just isn't right. I like Stefano, obviously, but I stan for Haley. All of this just kind of reminds me of the situation with Idol and everyone thinking she's a total bitch simply because of how she was portrayed on television. It's just wrong. Has Stefano said some things he shouldn't have? Clearly. But I like it because he's real and doesn't sugar-coat anything. He speaks what he feels and there isn't anything wrong with that.

    I hope you know that I don't mean any disrespect with any of this. I like the guy, and I guess I just felt the need to defend him just like any of us would do if an article like this was written about Haley.

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    1. American Idol isn't a JUST singing competition. It's about finding an IDOL, someone with the "it" factor, superstar quality... A Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Justin Timberlake, (not an ai idol, but an true idol,Jason Mraz, Bruce Springsteen, list could go on an on. Jessica didn't have the "it" Phillip DOES, he is the real deal, the total package! He just happened to be a WGWG, but he is so much more than that. He has more talent in one finger tip then compared to the talent Jessica has in her whole body! BTW who Stanfo, don't answer that... I don't really care!

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  2. Great blog, though. I always enjoy reading what you have to say. :)

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  3. Anonymous,

    Thank you for your comments, glad you enjoy reading my blog, but I stand by every word I've written. :)

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  4. YOUR QUOTE: '...and find it almost creepy that a grown, 23 year old man is making tweenage girl music.' - Sorry, and YOU'RE HOW OLD blogging about 'post-tweens' stating lashes like this?...Curious because it's kinda (well, really) creepy to be posting blogs about recent 'post-tweens' and their music when you obviously are twice their age...No disrespect: I think highly of both Stefano and Haley Reinhart (especially Haley), but don't diss when the same is coming from you my friend :) - I mean that with respect...I'm a 35 year-old man who loves these two twenty-something singers for their music and appreciate their personal choice for their own endeavors - whether it's tween-pop or Grammy stuff...Just an observation :)

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