So I just stumbled upon some new stuff from Goapele. Kinda new, cos it looks like these songs have been around for a couple of months now, but I hadn’t seen them anywhere until now. Firstly she released a new single on iTunes called “Don’t Be Shy”, which is signature Goapele – smooth, soulful, jazzy. Listen and buy below:

Secondly, she was evidently commissioned by LG to write a song for their new Chocolate phone. This is available as a free download – see below. It was produced by Amplive. Now while I hated that Dwele did that McDonalds ad I’m NOT hating Goapele for this LG track. That might seem hypocritical but maybe it’s because I just hate the way McDonalds have jumped on every musical trend bandwagon in recent years in the hopes of appealing to an “urban” audience. And then they had the nerve to come out with the recent parody of an R&B song. I say they have some nerve only because they have been so shameless about co-opting other trends and doing it in such a clumsy and cheesy way, that the parody element of this is lost – it’s just too close to their other “serious” ads. If another brand had used this concept, it may have worked better.

But back to Dwele. So he’s basically contributing to the shamelessness of McDonalds advertising dept. And more importantly, Goapele’s “Chocolate” track stands alone as a quality song in its own right. If you didn’t know it was commissioned by LG, you would be none the wiser.You can read the lyrics on her Bandcamp page. In contrast, Dwele’s song, with its overt namechecks is  little more than a glorified jingle – not something I want to rock on the ipod. Ok I’m getting off the soapbox – check the track below.