What if there was such a thing as a guaranteed hit record? A mathematical formula that dictated what concoction of beats, melodies and tones would stand the best chance of achieving mass appeal. Without contracting a company — Platinum Blue, for example — that provides exactly that kind of "Music Xray," to verify my gut feeling, I think you'd be hard-pressed to come up with a better blueprint than Sean Kingston's "Beautiful Girl." The song is based on the Ben E. King hit "Stand By Me," one of the most recognizable melodies and musical vamps of all time. The production is kind of hip-hop, kind of pop and kind of savvy in that it that can be a hit at nearly any mainstream format except country and rock (unless it gets covered or remixed). The singer is Sean Kingston, a 17 year old crooner from Jamaican, and the subject is "Beautiful Girls," a subject as universal as it gets. Add it up and it's obvious: Resistance is futile. It's a hit. Your mom will love it, the kids will love it and you will fall in line. It will be inescapable at all summer and will probably live on in the children beauty pageant circle for years to come. Anyway, as for the video, it perfectly capitalizes on the nostalgia inherent in any track that faithfully pays homage to a song from 1961. Kingston performs at a diner where he and his fellow teens alternate between being from the malt shop past and the hip-hop present. --> watch "Beautiful Girls" in the Musicbox Flash player, Quicktime or Windows Media
Sean Kingston "Beautiful Girls" (Beluga Heights/Epic/Koch)
Marcus Raboy, director | DNA, production co | Ketil Dietrichson, DP | Jarrett Fijal, editor
