Music Review: Iggy Azalea & Jennifer Hudson "Trouble"

Iggy Azalea & Jennifer Hudson
Trouble
Album: Reclassfied
Year: 2015
     
     Iggy Azalea wants the excitement and drama that comes with dating a bad boy in the routine  “Trouble.”

                A pious piano opens the single,  setting a spiritual tone. He’s gotten really difficult to reach. He doesn’t have a good word to say about his parents. She should run. She should out on the date with her best friend’s cousin who has always liked her forever. However, there seems to be more to him than the green vines around his arms and cockiness in his voice. The last guy she was interested was the stereotypical good guy type. Until, she realized he was only wanted her for sex. She isn’t looking for anything serious and he’s perfect right now for her. (“Right, I shoulda known you were bad news/From the bad boy demeanor and the tattoos/Cuz most guys only want one thing/But I'm undecided, tryna figure out if that's you/Either way though, I think you're worth a test drive/Cuz (ooh) you're so much better than the next guy/And a little trouble only makes for a good time/So all the normal red flags be a good sign.”)

            In the chorus, Hudson knows it’s going to end terribly. She’s going to get hurt. There is nothing but pain and heartbreak. (“Don’t you come here thinkin' you ballin' (oh nah)/Ain't down for it/You seem like trouble to me/I can tell by the way that you lean/And the way that you kiss your teeth/And you turn up so fresh and clean/Smells like trouble to me.”)

              She tells him she has classes. He never graduated high school. But she thinks she can reform him and make him want better for himself. He’ll learn to appreciate her and not want to see her with another guy. (“Opposites attract, I guess this it that/Good girl, bad guy what a perfect match/And if we ooo, you're gon' want to pay back tithes/Cuz when you finish you gon' feel like you was baptized/See baby now you fiendin' for a test drive/Cuz you don't wanna lose your ride to the next guy/And baby trouble only makes for a good time/So all the normal red flags be a good sign.”)

            Hudson sings the chorus again.

             She told herself not let herself fall. However, it happened anyway. Now, she’s wondering why he wasn’t called in a while. She’s heard a rumor he’s cheating. But she’s kissed another guy while she was dating another. For her to complain would make her a hypocrite. She’s restless and has no interest in trying to be the good girl anymore. (“I got it bad for him in the worst way/Dear Lord, how'd I get in this position and/I shoulda have never got involved in the first place/But second place never get the recognition, hmm/See what he doin' to me make have to shout it out/Got a hold on me, that's without a doubt/So clear now that he's a trouble starter/But I ain't a saint neither and these ain't no still waters.”)

              In the bridge, whenever they hang out, girls are always around, flirting with him. It’s like she isn’t even there. But she doesn’t pay attention. Azalea repeats part of the first verse. (“Just cause all the girls are falling at your feet/Don't mean no thing to me/Till you show me where it's at/Smells like trouble to me/I shoulda known you were bad news (oo oo oo, knew you were bad news)/From the bad boy demeanor and the tattoos (oo oo oo, all of the tattoos)/I shoulda known you were bad news (oo oo oo, knew you were bad news)/But I'm undecided tryna figure out if that's you (oo oo oo, trouble to me.”)

                Hudson sings the chorus again to end the single.

           Azalea has a bit of wild streak in her. But not enough to do anything lawbreaking. She’s experimenting and will go back to her usual types once she gets him out of her system. She talks her way through. The words don’t match the rhythm.

           Hudson is the angel on Azalea’s shoulder, trying to get her away from him as possible. She gets down on the pew and prays for the girl. But Izalea won’t listen.

        The square   “Trouble” like Izalea’s previous singles: provide a launching pad for other performers who actually need the recongnition. It’s about time Hudson crossed over into Top 40.