Song #779: "Weak" by SWV

Date: July 10, 1993
Weeks: 2

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I was filled with a sense of dread when I saw this song coming up. I remember hating this song when it was popular. Listening to it now, my opinion has softened a bit.

There are two different songs happening here. The first song is the one playing during the verses, and it's terrible. The lead singer handles all the singing during the verses, and there's something about the whiny quality of her voice that just drives me up the wall. Her voice is thin and lacks any power. The music during the verses is equally thin. Light percussion, occasional keyboard chords, and a tiny bit of bass punctuation. The music is trying to stay out of the way of the voice, but the voice isn't interesting enough to carry the song.

And the lyrics in the verses aren't even that clever, which makes the singer's voice that much more grating. When I'm listening to a voice I don't like and that voice says things as mundane as "I can't figure out just what to do when the cause and cure is you," and "Your love is strong it keeps on holding oo-ooo-on," it just makes my skin crawl. These verses are awful.

The chorus, on the other hand, is a breath of fresh air. The group is called SWV, which stands for "Sisters With Voices," and that plural is the key to their talent. Their vocal harmony during the chorus is charming and appealing. The music also ramps up, with more actual drums in the percussion line and a decent bass line. If the entire song was like the chorus, I might like it.

I think someone spent more time writing the lyrics in the chorus, too. They're simple and effective. The singer is overcome with the emotion of new love and feels "weak in the knees." "Your love is so sweet it knocks me right off of my feet." It's a classic and universal sentiment. There's a fine line between simple and mundane, but this song manages to find its way onto both sides of that line.

The last part of the song is the bridge, which falls somewhere between the verses and the chorus. And the bridge really highlights what I pointed out above: that the song works when all the members of the group are harmonizing and doesn't work when their lead singer goes it alone. She's just not that talented.

My verdict: Don't like it. When some parts of the song are catchy and stick in my head, and other parts are annoying and bad, it almost makes me dislike the song more than when a song is just all bad. And I think that's what made me dread this song so much. I'm glad I could work out why this song bothered me so much. Thanks for reading my therapy session.