There’s a phrase that whenever someone starts off a statement with the words “No disrespect” the disrespect is surely to follow.
No disrespect but it’s time we give Tevin Campbell’s “Can We Talk” a rest for a bit. Cancel me. I said what I said.
It started with a tweet in 2018 just checking in on a beloved R&B singer we remembered fondly.
Then in 2020, rapper Jeezy surprised his then girlfriend now wife, Jeannie Mai, with a Tevin Campbell singing “Can We Talk”. I’m not sure if this was the catalyst but I’ve noticed it has since sparked every man, woman, and gender non-conforming R&B lover to sing along off- key to “to our loooooooooooooove, love, love, love”.
The song is a masterful melody written by Babyface specifically for Tevin Campbell. When Babyface wrote that song, he put his heart, soul, magic fairy dust, palo santo and crackrock on the track. R&B lovers know it, which is why we hear it and will play it in pertuary.
While I was at a music battle/ singalong hosted weekly by an Oakland DJ, it dawned on me that it’s time we put the R&B favorite back in it’s crate. Not forever, just for a while. I feel like I’m hearing it more now than I did at {redacted age} when the song first came out.
After three years of “Can We Talk” at every wine down Wednesday, R&B brunch or any place where people get drunk and sing along to songs from our formative years, maybe my problem is, I miss being surprised by hearing it. The constant barrage of sing along has stolen the thing that made hearing it special.
The familiar and simplistic piano keys in the first two seconds used to have me delighted in the grocery story aisle soft humming to myself as I contemplated cheese in the deli section. Now, I’m deep sighing as someone belts it out everywhere. EVERYWHERE! I
Summer is almost here, we’re heading into deeper recessions and we need as much joy to hold on to as possible. Maybe we collectively remember the words to “Tell Me What You Want Me To Do”, “I’m Ready” or “Always In My Heart” ? Shit, I’ll take “Round and Round.” But give it a rest.
I don’t want to get tired of it but I’m starting to.