[Music Review] R2Rick - Stay Tonight |Being Lost On Greatness

Growing up in a Christian family, i have been exposed to music since i was a baby. The sounds of the musical instruments in church, the lovely voices of the choir & the joyous Christmas carols nurtured my love for the worlds most famous language-music! It was also in church that i learnt to play an array of musical instruments that include the guitar, bongo, drums, tambourine and maracas. Although i enjoy various genres of music, i have only reviewed them verbally to my close friends and family. I never thought of writing a blog review on a piece of music until i was contacted by R2Rick for his song "Stay Tonight" :)

The song that i will be reviewing in this blog :)

Truthfully, i never heard of R2Rick before (pardon my lack of knowledge) but when i first heard the song "Stay Tonight", i was like, "Oh, another American artiste" but i couldn't have been more wrong! Ricky Leumas (Stage name: R2Rick) is a Malaysian aspiring singer/composer. He recently left his career of being a Japanese concert organizer to follow his dreams of becoming an international artiste. The release of his debut EP early this year marks a major milestone for this project which Ricky started a year ago. For those who are wondering, 'EP' stands for Extended Play and is a musical recording that contains more music than a single, but is usually too short to qualify as a full studio album or Long Play (LP). Did you know that the first EP which helped kick start his music career was funded solely by himself and a few friends!

In case you missed his first EP, thanks to the Internet, you can hear the songs using this link. If you are Apple product users, follow the iTunes link below to download 2 of the songs from the previous EP:

1) Pow-Pow https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/pow-pow-single/id908198554
2) The Right Time https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-right-time-single/id907813597

His first EP

Please be reminded that the above songs are considered to be somewhat mid standard in production quality as it was self-produced. Since that release, he has grown in knowledge and experience as well as in contacts; especially in gaining new professional producers to help him make better music. I quick look at his upcoming EP shows collaboration between foreign and local composers and producers namely; Shirley Goines & Christina Meyers from USA, XYZE from Egypt, Tommy Den Helder from Holland and local label "Pulse Soundworks" producer Madan "Psytrus". This will surely add more colour and enhance the overall music as well as produce an infusion of R&B, Electronic Dance Music & Pop! whoa...exciting yo!

The first single for the second EP - "Stay Tonight" was recently released and was immediately signed by record label Semitrance Records the very same day they received it. This will be the track that i will be reviewing today :)

This is the link to the track – Stay Tonight (Feel free to play it in the background while reading)

The review will be divided into 4 areas - Music, Lyrics, Vocals & Music Video. An interesting fact about this song is that it was locally produced and the vocals was recorded at Pulse Soundworks, Subang Jaya, Malaysia!

Music
There is 2 versions to this song. One is the original while the other is the radio edit. The original is longer with additional electronic dance music added in the intro and the end. The music is very well composed. Even after hearing it a few times, it does still has a good feel and its definitely something you and I would love listening in any occasion. It's a unique feel.

Lyrics

Verse

If I could see you in this light,

Would you want me to be different inside?

If you could change me otherwise,

Would it be an answer to a certain lie.

Chorus:

Stay Tonight,

Live our lives

Coz its you I want tonight x2

Stay tonight x3

Personally, i think there is some room for improvement in the above lyrics. Although the verse seems to indicate a reflection on personal experiences of being in denial / false acceptance, the chorus seems to go the other way. Perhaps the lyricist could have added another verse to emphasize on the reality. Nevertheless, a good attempt as the words do touch on something we all can relate to at some point or the other in our lives.

Vocals
Apart from the music, the voice felt very in place in the song! It was sung very well and i must admit that it sounded very American to me! A few of my friends whom i introduced the song to said it never crossed their minds that the singer is a 100% Malaysian when they listened to it...hahahah! The vocal and the vocals jived extremely well in the song (assuming no auto-tuning were applied to the sounds..lolz)

Music Video
There is no official music video released yet for the song when this review was written. However, there is an official lyrics video. For a lyrics video, i find it very impressive. This is because lyric videos tend to have a static coloured background or some pictures with the words running on screen. This particular lyrics video had animation and also made good use of the font and colours. Do view the video below and see for yourselves :)

Overall i find this track impressive for someone who is a newbie to the music industry. Good job on the music and vocals. There is room for improvement in the lyrics section and looking forward to the official launch of the second EP!

My Final Ratings: