Album Review: Pitbull ‘Global Warming’

Calling an album like this Global Warming is like a statement of intent, either to destroy the world of pop music or– more likely– to heat things up a few kelvins on the dancefloor. It’s certainly not going to be an environmentally conscious album, because with an artist like Pitbull you kind of know what you’re going to get ahead of time. He could have called it Additional Songs from Pitbull, and it would not have made one lick of a difference.

Knowing exactly what you are going to get is not necessarily a bad thing, because people seem to like a lot of the Pitbull they’ve had before. When it comes from a man who openly, even proudly, treats music as a commodity there can be no shame left in simply increasing production. There are so many samples in play on this record that you really begin to understand what Pitbull means when he says he is a businessman; He’s not an artist, he’s not a musician, but a businessman, through and through. Why bother creating a new and unique sound when you can buy the license to a loop people already know and slap a beat on top of it? Time is money, and this is more economical.

The album starts off with a pressing danger not related to the title, but the threat to bring back the “Macarena”, except it is done completely without irony. “Global Warming” is just an intro, and he stands down rather quickly, but you can certainly tell he means business in every sense of the word. It transitions into the first full song, “Don’t Stop The Party”, which is a party track because basically every track is going to be a party track. We already knew that.

The next song is the first to break expectation, so perhaps I was wrong to think I had him pegged, even if it is done a little gingerly. “Feel This Moment” has a real soul behind its beat, and it’s pretty successful as a collaboration with Christina Aguilera, who sounds great. Pitbull’s own contributions are still almost entirely about admiring his own reflection in golden coins as he swims through his money bin, but relative to the rest of the record this track is totally deep.

Pitbull’s collaborations are always strong, which is good because almost all of Pitbull’s songs are collaborations. Some featured performers fade into the background a little, but Afroman makes a real attempt to keep the album interesting, while big-name pop stars dance their ways across the stage like Mr. Worldwide is reading a shopping list of potential business acquisitions. Usher and Enrique Iglesias both make what feel like redundant appearances, while J. Lo’s track seems almost requisite at this point when she stops by to promote alcoholism and single mothers, though probably not alcoholic single mothers, on ‘Drinks for You (Ladies Anthem)’. Chris Brown even twirls into center stage on ‘Hope We Meet Again’ and joins forces with Pitbull, creating a virtual hurricane of arrogance for anyone foolish enough to be left standing in the danger zone.

The songs are all very quick, and they feel that way, with only two tracks passing the four minute mark. Even then, only just. It’s difficult to judge this album much on the merits of its artistry, and that wouldn’t be fair anyway, but it is energetic and highly danceable the whole way through. This music is all about a good feeling and a fun time, and if you tune out the lyrics it should be able to provide you with as much of that as you can stomach.

While fun, there is a surprising lack of innovation here, or even any interest in shooting for a little diversity. The samples provide a bit of distinction from one track to the next, but when it comes to the beats and the bass things are pretty much being played as safely as possible. You would think that dubstep, at least, would be commercial enough at this point for some form of twisted exploitation, but the only real attempt at it comes at the end of ‘Back In Time’ and lasts a few short seconds. This album probably wouldn’t sound much different if it came out five years ago, which is a long time in EDM years.

‘Last Night’ seems to be an attempt to cash in on ‘Gangnam Style’, sounding very similar in places, while ‘Have Some Fun’ increases Pitbull’s repertoire for borrowing music by cribbing a few words from Sheryl Crow’s ‘All I Wanna Do’ but leaving the sound out of it, just to keep things fresh. The song briefly goes 8-bit in its dying breath, giving chiptunes about the same gusto as the album’s dubstep aspirations.

The most interesting moment for me on this entire record comes on ‘Tchu Tchu Tcha’, when Pitbull sings, “give me a piece of that ass / I can see it in your eyes” and it totally sounds like he’s saying “I can see it in your ass.”

The final track is ‘I’m Off That’, in which we are treated to a long list of things Pitbull doesn’t like very much, such as skateboarding and Instagram. It doesn’t make sense as a closer in the context of this album, and some of the words just don’t make sense in the context of the song itself. When he lists communism and dictators as things that he is off he doesn’t seem to understand that “I’m off that” is an existing phrase he did not invent and it implies he used to be into them.

At the end of the day you can dance to this record, and that’s probably all that matters here. I tested it out for you and just about broke a lamp worth several dollars. Just as I knew what to expect before I played it, you likely had a good idea of whether or not you were going to buy it before you read the first sentence. My full review should have simply read: There is nothing especially wrong with this record.

Release Date: November 19, 2012
Image Courtesy of RCA