After the Keri Hilson original, an early demo featuring a session singer, and a nearly-there demo leaked earlier this week, it’s finally time to hear the real, polished version of Nicole Scherzinger‘s second single from her upcoming solo album (cross them fingers!): “Don’t Hold Your Breath.”
As you can plainly hear, Nicole Scherzinger’s “Don’t Hold Your Breath” is fantastic for all of the following reasons:
+ It features a lovely, swelling undercurrent of atmospheric electronica, piano and strings, as well as screechy synthesizers, a pounding beat and electric guitar riffs. This is what is known as a “pleasant cacophony*.”
+ It’s kind of sad sounding, yet decidedly uptempo. Pop fact: This is always a winning combination.
+ It’s a ‘grower,’ which is to say that it sounds better when aroused than when flaccid. Okay, that’s a lie (maybe), but play it three times–you’ll see that the experience gets better each time.
+ “Ha-ha-ha.” As you can hear, Scherzy Baby is very clearly demonstrating the act of exhalation for us, as if to further the stress the overarching theme of the song–that is, to refrain from holding one’s breath.
+ Literally ten times more listenable than the oft-grating, occasionally brilliant “Poison,” which is always a good thing.
In summary: “Don’t Hold Your Breath” is pretty amazing, but more importantly, it’s the kind of song that is pleasant, re-playable and catchy enough to make the casual music listener (your mother) finally say, “Hmm, yeah–alright. I’ll have a taste of whatever Nicole Scherzinger’s cooking.”
*In my head.