Music Review: Ciara "Get Up"

Ciara

Get Up

Album: Ciara: The Evolution

Year: 2006

         Ciara gets hit on while at the club in the brittle “Get Up.”

          Scattered beats open the single, setting a dazed tone. Ciara’s at a table with her girlfriends, watching people on the dance floor when a guy approaches. He introduces himself (though she can’t remember his now) and asks her to dance. She takes him up on his offer and he leads her to the dancefloor. She lets him know right away she makes the directions, not him. After a few songs, she noticed his breath was fast and drips of sweat on his face. However, he was going to impress her and show her he could keep with her. (“He said 'Hi, my name is so and so/Baby can you tell me yours?/You look like you came to do/One thing (Set it off)'/I started on the left/And I had to take him to the right/He was out of breath/But he kept on dancin' all night.”)

           In the pre-chorus, she catches him from the corner of her eye checking out her hips and legs. But when she looks right at him, he focuses on a showy move. (“You trying, admit it/But you just can’t fight the feeling inside/You know it/And I can see it in your eyes/You want me/You smooth as a mother/You're so undercover/By the way that you was watchin' me.”)

        In the chorus, she says that although guys like him try to pick her up every weekend, there is something about him she likes. To him, she pretends it’s only a night of fun. However, as long as the DJ is playing and he’s with her, she’s going to stay by his side. (“Oh! Uh/The way you look at me/I'm feelin' you, uh/I just can't help it/Tryin' to keep it cool, uh/I can feel it in the beat, uh/When you do those things to me, uh/Don't let nothin' stop you/Move, ring the alarm/The club is jumpin' now/So get up!”).

       The DJ begins to play a song of hers, she gets excited and announces it to the people around her. Her guy, fully aware of who she is now, takes to the the middle of the floor and begins to breakdance. She claps and cheers him on. (“I said 'Ciara's on your radio/Everybody turn it up'/Spicy just like hot sauce/Careful, you might burn it up/You can do the pop lock/Rag-top, don't stop/That's the way you gotta get/Get it, make ya body rock.”)

        The pre-chorus and chorus are sung again.

        In the bridge, once he’s done breakdancing, she wraps her arounds him and whispers to him for him to be her partner for tonight. (“Ooh, I love the way you vibe with me/Dance with me forever/We can have a good time, follow me/To the beat together/You and me, one on one/Breakin' it down/You can't walk away now/We got to turn this place out.”)

       Chamillionaire, in his rap, has the point of view of the guy. He says he has luxury cars and the police are always stopping him for speeding. He usually goes to the club by 9 pm to hang out a bit before everyone really gets there. Ciara got his attention with her beautiful curls. She’s at the club often and among the male regulars, she’s talked about. He thinks he has a chance. He has a lot of money and dresses well. (“It's the kid that stay ridin' big/The one the police tried to catch ridin' dirty/In the club before eleven o'clock/Like I'm trying to catch a dime kinda early/Lookin' thick her hair brown and curly/She love the way my ride shining pearly/City boys say she fine a pretty/In the country boys say she fine and 'purrty'/My pockets thick as green, it's curvy/And the ladies know soon as they see my jewelry/If bein' fresh to death is a crime/I think it's time for me to see the jury.”)

       He continues to say he doesn’t bother her that she’s a famous pop star. He has enough money of his own and he doesn’t need hers. He compliments her on her dancing  and tells her won’t pull the cliched lines she probably has heard a dozen times every weekend. (“They know Chamillionaire stay on the grind/A hustla like me is hard to find/I ain't really impressed, yes/Unless it's about some dollar signs/Ain't really no need to call you fine/I know you be hearin' that all the time/I'm watchin' you do ya step, do ya step/
Yep it's going down.”)

     The chorus is sung twice.

     At the end, Ciara has fallen for him and says she has to date him. (“I got to have you baby/Uh, I feel it
I got to have you baby/I got to have you baby/Uh, I feel it/I got to have you baby.”)

  Ciara’s limp, timid vocals curve into a faint screech during the pre-chorus and then droop again, exhausted at the bit of exertion. Chamillionaire, however, runs alongside the beat and keeps up the pace.  He’s a pleasant surprise as he makes the beat bump to his voice in the last part of his section.

  The feeble “Get Up,” lumbers around with heavy breaths, unable to muster any steam.