Music Review: Chris Brown "Don't Wake Me Up"

Chris Brown

Don’t Wake Me Up

Album: Fortune

Year: 2012

    Chris Brown dreams of the perfect girl in the strange  “Don’t Wake Me Up.”

          Quiet synths open the single, setting a  Brown’s dream girl begins the song.  Apparently, she doesn’t realize she is only a figment of his imagination. She asks to continue to be with him. (“Dearly beloved, if this love only exists in my dreams, don't wake me up.”)

            It’s about 8 am and the sunlight is shining through his bedroom window. Every night, he’s been dreaming of the same girl.It’s the relationship he’s always wanted.  His girl fades into his memory. Rubbing his eyes, he goes to the kitchen and makes himself some coffee. He wishes she were real. She was vivid and he the image of her soft, red lips are still in his mind. (“Too much light in this window, don't wake me up/Only coffee no sugar inside my cup/If I wake and you here still give me a kiss/I wasn't finish dreaming about your lips.”)

         In the chorus, he only wants to sleep (“Don't wake me up,up,up,up,up/Don't wake me up,up,up,up,up/Don't wake me up,up,up,up,up/don't wake me up/Don't wake me/Don't wake me up/Don't wake me up/Don't wake me up yeah/Don't wake me up,up,up,up,up/Don't wake me up,up,up,up,up/Don't wake me.”)

             The city is decorated with lights which are keeping him up. He hasn’t been able to get a good night’s sleep in a while. He longs for some rest. He’s so tired that he’s hearing fluffy pop songs in his head. (“So much light in the city you won't believe/Been awake for some days now no time to sleep/If your heart is a pillow this love's the bed/Tell me what is the music inside my head.”)

        The chorus is sung again.

      He’s reached the point that until she exists in reality, he doesn’t want to sleep. (“I don't  wanna fall, fall, fall, fall asleep now/I don't wanna fall unless I’m falling for you/I don't wanna fall, fall, fall, fall asleep now/I don’t wanna fall unless I’m falling for you.”)

        The chorus is sung again.

     Brown’s metallic, automated vocals have enough tin in them to coat the steel of an entire line of manufactured cars. He’s as real as the girl he’s been dreaming about.

     There isn’t a clear narrative. The single switches between him wanting to sleep (first verse) and then wanting to be awake (second verse and bridge). The first verse at least makes sense with the chorus.  However, in the second verse, is he trying to say he misses her when he’s awake? In the bridge, is the fact she's only in his mind bothering him? With the focus simply on the chorus, it's difficult to tell.

    The single at least builds to its dance beat, starting slowly with a frantic synth. But in the middle of the chorus, the beat has grown burly, smashing into everything in its path.

      The nonsensical “Don’t Wake Me Up” gorges itself on synths and Auto-tune while barely even touching the lyrics.