Song #752: "Unbelievable" by EMF

Date: July 20, 1991
Weeks: 1

This song is unmistakably 90s, and unintentionally hilarious, especially when you watch the video.

The 80s New Wave influence over the vocals creates hilarious contrast as the singer tries to take a whispery, light, British voice and sort of half-sing, half-rap. It kind of sounds like they're trying to rap but won't commit to it, lest they alienate anyone who doesn't like rap. I'd like to say that it took rock music a long time to incorporate rap music successfully, but Run-DMC was doing that in the 80s. So let's just say that this was a bit experimental.

The music is easily the best part of the song. The bass and guitar are quite good. I liked this song a lot when I was younger, and I still have affection for it, and I definitely think it's because of the guitar and bass lines. Unfortunately, there's a lot more going on here. The drum line, in particular, is almost certainly a drum machine, and it's very regrettably basic and uninteresting. Then there's a lot of background vocals and voice samples. Apparently the "oh!" sample and the "it's unbelievable" sample are from Andrew "Dice" Clay, who is himself a largely forgotten part of the early 90s.

As for the lyrics, they're pretty obnoxious. The singer thinks that the person he's talking to is a snob, and he's figured out that this person is being snobby just to feel like they are better than other people. "The things you say, your purple prose just gives you away." So the guy thinks the person he's talking to is pretending to be better than they are by talking fancy. Of course, the term "purple prose" is pretty fancy, too, so I detect a bit of hypocrisy in the lyrics here. And to think I always thought that "you're unbelievable" was supposed to be a compliment in this song, when in fact it's a criticism.

My verdict: Don't like it. I definitely have a nostalgic affection for this song, and I still think the guitar and bass line are enjoyable. But there's too much else going on here that's pretty bad, especially the lyrics. It is much more ironically enjoyable when you add Tom Jones.