Music Review: Lidell Townsell "Nu Nu"

Lidell Townsell

Nu Nu

Album: Harmony

Year: 1992

          Lidell Townsell is smitten with a neighbor in the  cold “Nu Nu.”

              A ticking drum machine and “bah dah pow” open the single, setting an aged tone. He turns the lawn mower around and sees his pretty neighbor from a couple blocks over. He stops the mower and corners her once she reaches him. He made some comment about the heat and introduced himself. He mentioned that he’s seen her and wonders who she was. She walked over the grass to move past him and continued her walk. (“When I saw her walking down the street/She looks so fine, I just have to speak/I asked her name, but she turned away/And she walked, all that I could say was.”)

             In the  chorus, he salivates at the back of her body in that skimpy halter top. He figures she’s new to his life. He has to give her a nickname, “Nu Nu.” (“Mmm-hmm yeah yeah, mmm-hmm yeah yeah/Mmm-hmm yeah yeah, all that I could say was/Mmm-hmm yeah yeah, mmm-hmm yeah yeah/Mmm-hmm yeah yeah, all that I could say was/Oh-wo, Nu Nu, I can't get you out of my mind/Oh-wo, Nu Nu, I can't get you out of my mind.”)

            He wonders why she thinks he’s a creep. He really has no reason to become attached. He looks forward to seeing her, memorizing her routine. (“Nu Nu tells me why you treat me so?/I don't know you, but I can't let go/You're so fine with your sexy ways/My heart sings, and it sounds this way.”)

          The chorus is sung again.

           In the bridge, he hopes she will get past her stereotype of him. He really does like her. He’s not some pervert. Every day he hopes will be day she starts a conversation with him. (“Just give me a chance, and I will show/How much I want you, oh how I want you so/Nu nu, if he's been sometime, sometime would be today/You make me want to sing, sing in a special way.”)

         An extended chorus ends the single. (“Mmm-hmm yeah…Oh-wo, Nu Nu, I can't get you out of my mind/Oh-wo, Nu Nu, I can't get you out of my mind/Oh-wo, Nu Nu, I can't get you out of my mind/Oh-wo, Nu Nu, I can't get you out of my mind.”)

               Townsell’s standoffish vocals care more about the beats than putting an emotion into the lyrics. It’s the simply being made to dance to, no thinking beyond the catchy beat. Austin Mahone did a great job in his unofficial cover, making it as fun and entertaining as possible while updating the same beat. In Mahone’s version, there’s a sense of an actual human behind the microphone.

             The repetitive  “Nu Nu”  sells the genre short.