译Pitchfork评10年代200首最佳单曲第103名：Erykah Badu: “Hello” ft. André 3000

翻译：thesweetescape

Erykah Badu’s 2015 mixtape But You Caint Use My Phone reimagined other artists’ telephone-based songs to delve into the nature of long-distance communication; landlines connected people, she mused, while smartphones more often create distance. The tape’s origin may have been a “Hotline Bling” thought experiment, but its logical endpoint is “Hello,” a dreamy Isley Brothers interpolation (by way of Todd Rundgren) that musically reunites Badu with André 3000, the father of her eldest child. She coos sweet salutations into the receiver, he untangles verses about the terrors of opening up—be it the digital fear of unlocking your phone for a snoopy lover or the analog fear of sitting by, waiting, and having to bear your soul when the phone is finally answered. It feels like two people figuring things out. Roughly half of American households don’t have landlines anymore. But here, the joys and anxieties of twirling a cord around your finger while sinking into a lengthy call aren’t yet antiquated. –Sheldon Pearce

Erykah Badu的2015年混音带《But You Caint Use My Phone》重构了其他艺术家的电话主题歌曲，探索异地恋的本质。座机联结人心，她若有所思道，然而智能手机却时常疏远人心。混音带的出发点可能是“Hotline Bling”式的思想实验，但深思熟虑后的最终答复是“Hello”，一首（经Todd Rundgren之手）重现艾斯里兄弟（50年代乐队，具有多重演唱风格）风格的梦幻歌曲，与长子父亲André 3000再次合作。她对着听筒轻语呼叫对方，而对方却逐渐坦白对回复来电的畏惧。无论是为了满足爱人的偷窥癖解锁手机，或是呆坐在电话旁，等候，在电话交谈中不得不敞开心扉。如同两人在解决感情问题的过程。大约一半美国家庭都不再使用固定电话。但在混音带里，指缠电话线的欣喜与焦躁，彻夜长谈的通话尚未过时。–Sheldon Pearce