Eve - Let Me Be
The second pop monster on the soundtrack for The Klumps is this fab new track from the Ruff Ryders' First Lady, Eve. "Let Me Be" is her most chart-friendly release yet, all melodramatic strings and rousing, angry but smooth choruses. I don't know if Swizz Beats is still producing for her, but this track actually sounds like a Dre production, combining the futurist flair of "Forgot About Dre" with the insouciant groove and tinkly Kraftwerk-like harpsichord synthesisers of "Still D.R.E." to maximum crowdpleasing effect.
The result is similar to the still-stunning "What Ya Want" in its contrast of agression with sleek seductiveness, and its "you can't touch this" message renders it that track's thematic sister as well. While "Let Me Be" is nowhere near as startlingly off-center as "What Ya Want", it's good to see Eve regaining that balance of soft and brittle which was so crucial to the latter's success. "Let Me Be" is at once both brash and sleekly chart-bound, and the existence of both these factors prevents Eve from sliding into either the mob mentality of her album or the sunny irreverence of "Gotta Man". And Simon Reynolds is sure to get a kick out of the line about ecstacy.