Adam Lippman – “Wasted”
Adam Lippman – “Wasted” – Single Review
Can you write about a song that’s about a Friday night on a Sunday? Are there any rules on that?
So…alright…there are some things that I really like about what I hear on Adam Lippman’s “Wasted” and a few spots where I can hear that he’s still got opportunities to evolve even further with his craft overall.
As his new single begins, I feel like the man’s straight-up audibly charming. The music has got this playful sweetness to it that I’d certainly assume will have most people onboard fairly quickly. He’s got this whole mix of pleasant & humble sound goin’ on at the start, and I feel like that’s going to get a lot of people listening to “Wasted” – collectively, en masse, we the people, can be pretty much counted on to always enjoy inoffensive vibes. From the moment you hear the guitar start up, I feel like Adam has given himself a great shot at being listened to, and his opening three lines in the song in the vocals really keep the streak going strong as “Wasted” continues to develop. There’s quality in the production, I like the spacing you’ll find between the drums, guitar, bass, and vocals combo…these are all the main positives. The solo moment around the 2:35 mark is a stellar highlight too without a doubt – Adam’s got what I’d say is exactly what the song is calling out for – nothing ridiculously complex, just something that fits the vibe he’s working with. That’s way better than a bunch of pointless noodling coming outta nowhere.
Where he’s got the opportunity to evolve, in my opinion, is revealed a little in the vocals, lyricism, and instrumentation – which I suppose you could argue all fits under the bigger umbrella of songwriting to a degree, but there are a few performance aspects that could probably be tightened up a bit as well. I’ve been talking a lot lately on these pages of ours about the use of short words in a rhyme scheme and how using them can make things feel a bit choppy and be slightly distracting on the listening side of the speakers, because our ears tend to notice it a bit more. I’ll admit, that’s not usually my favorite thing to find in any given song, and generally suggests to me that there’s more space to sing things in a more colorful or drawn out way that’ll enhance the actual words and take that choppy feeling away. But I tend to mind that more in tunes where I feel like those same short words don’t feel like the right words, and that we’re just rhyming for the sake of rhyming rather than saying what we really wanna say – make sense? Adam doesn’t really have the latter problem when it comes right down to it…I’d say that “Wasted” still seems like he’s getting to the heart of what he wants to say, even if I might be tempted to argue there could be more illustrative words to say it, or more tangible imagery. Those are places he can still evolve as an artist in his songwriting craft, again in my opinion – but also in my opinion, we should always want to have a few of those, otherwise there’s nowhere left to go but down. The drums, which are the only part he didn’t play as far as I know, they’re alright, they hold the fort, but they do also feel a bit on the cold side of sound and a little disconnected from the rest of what he’s got goin’ on – no big deal though, they still work, they still fit. Vocally, I felt like Adam’s got his own signature deal happenin’ – and the reality of uniqueness is that some folks will get it, others won’t…that’s just the nature of how that translates to listening ears. I heard the first three lines of “Wasted” and felt like the focus I wanna hear was there, and subsequently after that it felt like Lippman drifted off a bit from what was making the performance stronger at the start. Again, not a massive deal breaker by any stretch of the imagination – that strength we hear at the start is somewhat replaced by the personality he brings to this single, and I could argue that for half the listeners out there, having personality play a starring role in any tune is a really effective route to take as well. My advice would be to caution him against changing horses mid-stream is all…pick one or the other and lean right into it, lest we feel that drift from one method to the other. That being said, it’s really the personality that continues to carry “Wasted” more than most of its elements. I enjoy the sound of the music for the most part, but I’d definitely say that the song’s main hooks are missing that spark we really need to keep on coming back to it, you know what I mean? It’s almost like Adam goes into a low-key spin on “Let’s Spend The Night Together” by the Stones as we head into the chorus…but even beyond that, I just never felt completely convinced that he tapped into the right energy at that moment to get people excited enough about “Wasted,” though it still sounds pleasant enough to listen to.
As I’ve also said many times to other artists and bands on these pages of ours, now it’s all up to Adam to decide whether or not ‘enough’ is what he’s striving to be – or if there’s a different way he’d be looking to have his music described, you feel me? The actual use of “Wasted” works well, but I’m not as sure about the build up to get there. The vocal melody of the verses felt like he’s got the right idea, but the chorus seemed to drift towards something a bit more typical, and that was also where he really needed to push himself more to bust outta that flatness in his voice and carry his song to the next level where you can hear he wants it to go. Some folks can do it, some can’t, and there are still a vast many out there that carve out a career without making any changes to that whatsoever. I think of artists like Matthew Sweet as somewhat of a comparison…dude’s a decent writer and a decent singer too – and there are plenty of moments in his melody that expose rough edges that could easily be polished up with a more confident performance, more patience, or more objectivity. Didn’t ever hold the guy back though – he’s got tons of albums, a recognizable name, and a huge audience that responds to what he does in the way that he does it, myself included. So don’t get me wrong – I can hear that Adam Lippman still has something solid to offer us with “Wasted” and I have listened to this tune several times over this past week & can vouch that his oddly humble sound & charm does continue to grow on us as we listen.
Having said that, he’s still got plenty of room to accelerate his growth as an artist by making a few tiny tweaks here and there…and it’s completely up to him as to whether or not that’s what he wants to do.
Find out more about Adam Lippman from this handy multi-link right here: https://linktr.ee/adamlippman
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