Music Review: Chris Brown "Fine China"

Chris Brown

FineChina

Album: X

Year: 2013

          Chris Brown pushes a young woman to go out with him in the oily “Fine China.”

            A swaggering guitar opens the single, setting a foolish tone. He’s learned her shift as a server starts at11 am. He usually gets there by 10:30 am and waits for her. When she sees him, she waves and will talk to him in between her tables. She’s told him about her boyfriend and will rant to him about some of the customers she gets. Today, though, she tells him, he’s coming in to visit her. She adds he would really like him. When she walks back to the kitchen, he presses his fork into his spaghetti, the teeth letting out a loud screech. During her break, he decides to say something. He asks her if he satisfies her in bed. He explains to her that with classes and work, she has to be wise about her time. She can’t spend it being around people who aren’t good enough for her. He says he’ll take her out on a date tonight. They know each other really well by now and there isn’t any need for pleasantries. (“Baby, does he do it for you?/When he’s finished, does he step back and adore you?/I just gotta know 'cause your time is money and I won’t let him waste it/Oh no no/Baby, just go with it/'Cause when you're with me I can’t explain it/It’s just different/We can take it slow or act like you're my girl, let’s skip the basics, whoa, no.”)

          In the pre-chorus, he adds her boyfriend is forgettable. He enjoys it when she flirts with him. She wants him but is too shy to say anything. He solved that problem. (“He’s so replaceable/You're worth the chase you're putting on.”)

          In the chorus, he notices her fidgeting in the booth, her eyes darting around. He pats her on the hand and says he doesn’t have any intention of physically harming her. Once they are in a relationship, he tells her she won’t have to wait tables anymore. He’ll take care of her. She’s unlike anyone else. (“It’s alright/
I'm not dangerous/When you're mine/I'll be generous/You're irreplaceable/A collectible/Just like fine china.”)

       She’s sitting at the edge of the booth, his hand still on hers. He squeezes it, telling her he requests her all the time. There aren’t any women at his job or that he meets at friends’ parties who interest him. He will go out with her one day. It will happen. (“Favorite/You're my favorite/It’s like all the girls around me don’t have faces/And the saying goes/"Life is just a game" but I'm not playin', whoa.”)      

       The pre-chorus is sung again.

     The chorus is sung twice.

        In the bridge, she managed to get her hand from out underneath his and stand up. He stands up in response. He says he’s been waiting to meet someone like her. She likes him but she hasn’t realized it yet.. He’ll be right there once she comes to her senses. (“Took me awhile to find your love/Ain't no amount of time in this world/Save me a lot of time and just love me/Feel it, baby, feel it in your soul/Are you ready?/I know your heart's been telling you you belong to me.”)

The chorus is sung once to end the single.

Brown’s smarmy, slippery vocals skid, turning his words to whichever way to get what he wants. After it doesn’t work, he pulls dead center in front of her, not allowing her to get away. To him, she’s something he can’t have that he wants. Once he does get her, she will be a trophy for him, only allowed to speak on special occasions.

        The pressuring “Fine China” cuts off the circuation, leaving an escape route as the only viable option.