With Beyoncé atop the Billboard 200 Albums chart with new album 4 and Kelly Rowland having just wrapped a two-week penthouse stay on R&B/Hip-Hop Songs with “Motivation,” fellow Destiny’s Child alum Michelle Williams has grabbed her “Love Gun,” aiming to make similar impact.
Happily, the buzz single shows Williams isn’t departing from the musical path she first traveled down for 2008’s criminally overlooked Unexpected. Her first non-gospel album birthed two club hits, “We Break The Dawn” and “The Greatest,” though neither crossed over to the mainstream. “Hello Heartbreak” was also a standout, deserving wider attention.
Obviously a bit early to the party with a pop-dance sound that’s now totally embraced by Top 40, I think Williams is wise to simply reload and take another shot. After all, with Rowland keeping things mostly urban on her upcoming album (preview Here I Am) and Beyoncé back to a ballad in search of a hit single (premiering a video for “Best Thing I Never Had” yesterday), upbeat tunes like “Love Gun” could help Williams hit the target that has eluded her thus far. (Though, to be fair, Robyn has been mining a similar sparkling synth sound without breaking through. So frustrating!)
The middle part of “Love Gun” sounds like ABBA’s “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight),” which Madonna famously sampled to great success for 2005’s “Hung Up.”
Free download of Michelle Williams – “Love Gun” via Arjan Writes.