14 DAY TRIAL // Even before Chris Brown pled guilty to assaulting girlfriend Rihanna in February 2009, not few were those who said they believed his career as a singer was over. The backlash would inevitably put an end to everything he ever dreamed or planned to do, and fans would soon forget he even existed. “I Can Transform Ya,” Brown’s first single since the incident, has been released and it’s already getting more airplay than countless recent releases.
This, in turn, can mean only one thing: he may still be a despicable person for acting the way he did towards his girlfriend, but, as a musician, Chris Brown can still command plenty of attention. In all fairness, it’s hard not to do so with a track that is so catchy that it’s almost impossible not to find yourself humming it after a first listen, as several music-oriented publications point out. “I Can Transform Ya” off the upcoming “Graffiti” album is, indeed, here to remind the world why Brown was such a huge star in the first place.
“Over a frenetic Swizz beat featuring pounding drums and a synthesized guitar riff, Brown sings about introducing a young lady to the high life. ‘I can transform ya, I can transform ya/ Anything you want, I got it, I can get it for you/ You my baby girl, so you know I get it for you,’ Brown sings on the hook, before Swizzy joins him for the latter half of the chorus. ‘Shoes, you got it/ Bags, you got it/ Cars, you got it/ Money, you got it/ I can transform ya, anything you want, I can get it for you.’” MTV says of the release.
Initially called “Transformers,” the track is heavily influenced by Michael Bay’s two films, as its name also implies. In fact, it’s the synthesized guitar – and not only the lyrics that speak of Optimus Prime – that most remind one of the blockbuster film, while also being one of those sounds that continue to play in one’s mind long after they’ve done so on tape. All in all, critics and music insiders agree, Brown has a hot hit on his hands, even if the lyrics are not exactly a Shakespeare sonnet.
“I can turn you from a human to a Carter/ Take you off the bench, turn you into a starter./ Then I take you home and put you on a charter/ Then my car turns into a charter/ And we can fly to wherever you never thought of/ I take you to where it’s warmer and then dress off like it’s a warm-up.” a bit of “I Can Transform Ya” goes. This aside, Brown launched the single on his webpage, Mechanical Dummy (see here to listen to it) – minutes after doing so, it was already playing on radio and was available on other sites.