Formulas are essential to getting it right in pop, as much as some critics like to take artists to task for revisiting the same scheme over and over. Ronnue is a musician who has found something that works for him, and while you might think his deciding to exploit said formula for everything it’s worth isn’t doing much to explore the depth of his musicianship as a whole, it doesn’t stop the new single “You Got Me Open” from feeling like the funky slab of R&B I didn’t know I wanted to hear this January.
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Where others are intent on pushing the envelope as much as possible when they get into the studio, constantly trying to evolve into something that may or may not work for their collective artistry, this is a man who knows exactly who he is and what he’s good at making – which is why the straightforwardness of “You Got Me Open” holds as much appeal as it does. This is a transfiguration-obsessed generation in pop music if I’ve ever seen one before, but in Ronnue we get a purist who wants to live like it’s the 1990s regardless of whether or not anyone else cares to join him in the fantasy.
Pushy grooves are leading the way in this single and all of its different mixes, and while the vocals are more isolated in the versions that feature guest players (one with J Esq and the other with D08, both of whom put it together really well in their individual performances), this doesn’t interrupt the flow of the beats at all; truth be told, I think it inspires a little more fluidity in the music than there would have been otherwise.
The instrumental “You Got Me Open” supports this statement, and although I like the arrangement of the beats and the melodies as we’re greeted by them in this version of the song, it doesn’t feel the same without Ronnue anchoring the microphone – and the track – from the helm of the studio. He’s got a lot of charm when he’s present in a song, and this is how he’s been able to sustain a career amidst so much competition from artists both half his age and twice as well-funded.
In “You Got Me Open,” Ronnue is showcasing his blueprint for making quality beats, and whether you approve of his approach or think he’s a little too eccentric for what the modern world of R&B consists of, he’s making a statement here that is worthy of a few headlines in the underground. I like Ronnue’s moxie and what he’s been able to do with it in the last half-decade, having been someone literally no one had heard of before he dropped his 2019 LP, and if he can expand his reach outside of the northwest to a music scene that has a little more variety and choice when it comes to collaborations and concept works, he’s going to find even more success in the near future.
Heather Savage