Hot Chelle Rae: Tonight Tonight

Posted August 14, 2011 by J Matthew Cobb in Reviews 1.0

Tennessee pop band discovers the buzz in their non-alcoholic summer anthem

“Tonight Tonight” is a fun summer song that mixes the peachy fun of Katy Perry’s Friday night free falls with a tight rhythmic display of tambourine action and Maroon 5 disco-pop. It comes from a group on the brink of stardom. After dropping their first album in 2009 on the Jive label, Hot Chelle Rae has been hustling trying to find their big break in the music world. But it seems as if they have found their stride with 2011’s “Tonight.” Helping court the song into its pop appeal is a sweet coat of whizzy synths, pushing the contemporary gospel flavor into a more polished pop. Factor in the transition from the gloomy lyrics in the opening (It’s been a really really messed up week/Seven days of torture, seven days of bitter…”) to the rush to the dancefloor (“We’re going at it tonight tonight/There’s a party on the rooftop top of the world”). It does have a teeny-bop Disney-meets-Glee feel to it, with its obvious giddiness layered across the grooves and the sing-a-long chorus, but the get-down feel of the jam is sure to cross all aisles. It’s a shame that Disney Radio found the lyric about “the white kids” offensive. There’s bearly an offensive bone in this song’s body.

J MATTHEW COBB