Sabrina Washington – ‘OMG (Oh My Gosh)’
Guest Reviewer: Kay Smith
According to theUrban Dictionary site, the acronym OMG is “possibly the most irritating piece of chatroom vernacular in existence”, and is most commonly used by “teenage girls who find it depressingly hard to type out an entire word”. It also “reinforces assumptions that humans seem to be getting dumber from generation to generation”.
Oh dear.
Perhaps I should save myself now and pretend that I can’t stand the song and that it’s clearly a crass attempt to jump on the buzzword bandwagon – hi Usher! – in order to sell records. I should say that it attempts to engage a fickle reality TV-style ‘of-the-moment’ audience, and is an example of how a throwaway culture is reflected by throwaway music.
I am actually saying that, because I believe it to be true. But I also think that the song deserves some credit, because it’s really not that bad.
(Here’s the video. How many numbers are on that phone? Hundreds and thousands!)
The question is: is Sabrina only in the music industry to make some more money before her I’m a Celebrity-fuelled reincarnation runs out – or is this is her serious comeback?
Judging by the video, I’d say the latter. I just can’t help but wish she’d picked another song title, especially as Basement Jaxx have already nabbed the definitive version.
But maybe I’m taking this too seriously. After all, Sabrina knows that representing what is cool now is going to make her cool, now. If she wanted to choose an acronym that would still be around in ten years she could have picked ‘BLT’, but then that probably wouldn’t work as well. Tasty, yes. Cool, no.
Anyway this piece of electro-charged R’n'B / pop is a catchy, fun ladies’ anthem, and has the added bonus of the Snap! ‘Rhythm is a Dancer’ sample, suggesting maybe Sabrina isn’t such a fan of throwing music away after all.
Best of all, ‘OMG’ has just enough Mis-teeq to keep Sabrina’s old fans happy – and more than enough fashion for her to earn some new ones.
Download: Out now
CD Released: April 5th
www.sabrinawashington.com
BBC Music page
(Kay Smith)
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