Review - Flo Rida - Wild Ones

Unless you’ve been living under a rock FOREVER, you are already very familiar with the two lead singles off of Flo Rida’s new album “Good Feeling” and “Wild Ones” featuring the until-recently-somewhat-obscure Sia. I mean, the two songs have been everywhere, and you can’t escape them. But that’s ok, because you wouldn’t want to even if you could.

In true Flo Rida form, the rest of the mini album ‘Wild Ones’ (a name that was quickly changed from ‘Only One Rida [pt. 2]’) keeps up pace, never letting the party stop for a moment. If you enjoyed the first two songs released, you’re going to really like pretty much everything the 9-track LP has to offer.

Flo has been very generous as of late, releasing essentially every track on the album for our ears before the album comes out. The album comes out July 3rd, but already he is on his 4th single. Isn’t that a bit much? When you are a single-driven artist like Flo, maybe it isn’t.

Third single “Whistle” didn’t fare too well in the US (it has thus far only made it to #58), but it was a smash worldwide, even charting higher than “Good Feeling” and “Wild Ones (ft. Sia)” in most territories (#2 in the UK, #1 in Australia, #2 in Canada, etc. etc.). It is still growing, so we’ll give it a chance.

Fourth single “Let It Roll” sees Rida playing the same game he has always played, but with his current twist. Flo Rida is an extremely unoriginal artist, with most of his singles borrowing heavily from past hits. Think “Right Round” or “Sugar (ft. Wynter Gordon)” and how you could instantly recognize where the samples or interpolations came from (and they weren’t subtle, either). Nowadays, he is doing the same thing, only he is looking into the annals of music history to find “inspiration”. Etta James’ vocals on “Good Feeling” lead the way for the Freddie King-sampling “Let It Roll”. It’s exactly what you think it is, but not quite as good as “Good Feeling”.

The rest of the album is static, with big beats and songs about money, girls, and drinking. Each one as catchy as the last, but for a few standouts. “Run (ft. Redfoo of LMFAO)” is one of my favorites, by the way. Look for it to be on the radio as a sixth(?) single, right after “Sweet Spot”, which features Ms. Jennifer Lopez.

In the end, the album is what we’ve all come to love Flo Rida for – party songs that stick in our head and won’t pry loose. I’m not calling it “good”, but you won’t hear me complaining.

Curious note – on the same day Flo released a “video” for “Run”, he also released the buzz track “Hey Jasmin”, which is strangely not even on the album? Why bother writing, recording, and filming a music video for a song that you’re not even going to make available?

Listen to: “Good Feeling”, “Wild Ones (ft. Sia)”, “Whistle”, “Let It Roll”, and “Run (ft. Redfoo of LMFAO)”

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