Doubletake Duos

Has anyone else noticed the delightfully odd new R&B trend?

I know, technically it takes three instances to declare a trend "official." But...fug it, consider it declared. Besides, it's the music industry. We already know that if it works for one artist, all the labels will be doing it in short order.

So, you heard it hear first.

For some reason, R&B artists are hooking up to sing. They aren't duets in the tradtional sense - more like a new twist on the remix.

It came to my attention when I was watching Young Joc's video for First Time. Both Marques Houston and Trey Songz - the sixth man of R&B - are in it. Trey came out during the windstorm that was Chris Brown and Ne-yo's debut and was instantly left in the...well, wind.

Now, he's trying to make a righteous comeback by playing "right time, right place." And it may work, because I like the track.

I don't get why Young Joc needed TWO R&B singers. But it worked for him.

Marques Houston pretty much owns the bulk of the song. But Trey does his thing, too.

Then, Omarion remixes Icebox by adding, not a rap segment, but Usher.

Huh?!

An R&B singer remixing his own song by adding another (wildly popular) singer?

Hmm...weird.

Me likey!

I wasn't that keen on Icebox. Seeing Omarion perform it live at the Scream Tour 5 didn't help matters any. Think, way too much music and not nearly enough quality vocals.

But I like the joint with Usher mixed in. Not sure if O knew this, but Usher has a level of smoothness to his delivery that he lacks. Still, if it keeps the thing on the charts a few more weeks, I think that's an ego blow Omarion is willing to take.

I think this new duety-remix thing has a lot of potential. Here are a few hook ups I'd like to see:

Ciara & MJB
The Queen of Hip Hop Soul and the new Aaliyah (sorry, couldn't resist)...I think this would be hot! They would need a producer who's really good at melding sounds though. Dear God, not Diddy! Maybe Pharrell.

Chaka Khan and Erykah Badu
Erykah Badu sampled a Chaka song, once. It was only the underlying beat. But she performed it live on Dave Chappelle and that joint was fire! So I could definitely see the two of them getting down.

Erykah Badu and Jill Scott
Okay, I cheated. They collaborated when Dave Chappelle filmed his Block Party movie. Oh.My.God. I would buy the DVD just for this performance. Seriously. It's them on that Roots track, You Got Me. And there's history there. Apparently, Jill Scott was the original artist on that track. But the song came out before Jill was known to the public. Badu was already out. So someone - the label I guess - encouraged/made the Roots go with Badu for the track. So having them perform it live, together...whew. Nice!

Usher and Justin Timberlake
Look, let's all the Usher fans and JT fans make peace. Yes, yes, Usher came out first. And yes, JT's style is somewhat similiar. But let's be serious. Usher was begat by Michael Jackson who was begat by James Brown. So get over it. If you're an artist, there's almost always someone out there who influenced your style.

I'd like to see them do something along the lines of that Paul McCartney/Michael Jackson, The Girl Is Mine - a friendly duel within the song.

Ne-yo and Stevie Wonder
Ne-yo is fast becoming the songwriter to go to. Stevie Wonder has a catalog that can reach from here to Kalamazoo. With the right producer, I think they could make a really interesting love song.

I could go on. Bottom line, the key to these duos working is in the production.

But there are plenty of really good producers out there, right now.

So, I think someone needs to be on the horn.

Come on guys, have your people call their people and give the people what they want!