Ugly | 3 to 5 BOPS

Ugly: 3 to 5 BOPS No. 29 (2023) [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; Alistair from Pixabay]

Ugly: 3 to 5 BOPS No. 29 (2023), features musical BOPS courtesy of Fantasia, Jason Derulo, Nas, Perfume Genius, and $uicideboy$. 

Ah, you know what time it is! It’s 3 to 5 BOPS time – WOO! On 3 to 5 BOPS, it’s all about brevity and sweetness… for the most part! There’s a theme/topic, 3, 4, or 5 songs, and a blurb – two paragraphs or less.  3 to 5 BOPS, hence, is a mini playlist that shouldn’t take much time to consume.  In the 29th edition of 3 to 5 BOPS (2023), we select songs that are associated with UGLY in some form or fashion. The BOPS arrive courtesy of 🎙 Fantasia, 🎙 Jason Derulo, 🎙 Nas, 🎙 Perfume Genius, and 🎙 $uicideboy$. Okay, let’s get into it!

via GIPHY

1. Perfume Genius, “Ugly Season” 

💿 Ugly Season • 🏷 Matador • 🗓 2022

“I’m hideous / Raving / Feeling my fantasy.” 🎵 “Ugly Season” arrives as the sixth track on 💿 Ugly Season, the sixth studio album by 🎙 Perfume Genius (🎙 Mike Hadreas).  Hadreas hits differently on this experimental, avant-garde highlight. Musically, “Ugly Season” has a quirky, reggae vibe. The record feels dirty and horny intentionally – incredibly left of center. Furthermore, it feels very queer (nothing wrong with that).  Hadreas serves up a performance that is unrefined and not concerned with elegance, finesse, or pitch for that matter. One must listen closely, ideally with the lyrics in front of you, to fully comprehend what he is singing. Early on, as the first verse suggests, the ugliness is front and center. He follows up with an even more sus pre-chorus, asserting, “Turned from God / Sick with rot / Thick as Vaseline / Knee deep and filthy.” Woo! “Bitch, it’s ugly season,” he asserts in the chorus, “And I love it.” “Ugly Season” is utterly fascinating. The post-chorus is the section to beat, with its ear-catching lyrics. Furthermore, melodically, it serves as the most tuneful section of the record: “Notice the tongue / Notice the shape / Don’t look away / Notice the tongue / Split, black, pit / Notice the tongue.” “Ugly Season” thrives from its experimental vibes and queerness.

Appears in 🔻:

• Perfume Genius, “Ugly Season”: LGBTQ Bopz 🌈🎶 36 (2022)
• 14 Exceptional LGBTQ Songs from 2022
• 50 Best Songs of 2022

2. Fantasia, “Ugly”

💿 The Definition Of… • 🏷 19 Recordings / RCA • 📅 2016

“Now skinny jeans and Maybelline / Make pretty girls do crazy things / Teenage tears and bathroom mirrors / Will stick with you throughout your years…” 💿 The Definition Of… was an uneven album for 🏆 Grammy-winning R&B artist, 🎙 Fantasia, as much as I hate to say that 😔. The 2016 LP had is moments, but as a cohesive album, it left more to be desired.  Regardless, the world did get a change of pace from the versatile singer with her single, 🎵 “Ugly”. “Ugly” was written by  🎼 ✍ Nicolle Galyon, renowned for her country songwriting skills, and 🎼 ✍ Audra Mae, known primarily for her pop songwriting.  So, with a country songwriter and pop songwriter, the result is a country/pop ballad, who sound is further executed by the production of 🎛️ Ron Fair.  Again, surprising, and perhaps, an attempt to see if Fantasia could crossover, but it sort of works.  The lyrics, as excerpted above, are beautiful. When Fantasia lets loose, awakening her natural soul tendencies towards the end especially, she’s at her best.

“So Gimme a rusty old rain silo

Gimme good food that sticks to my bones

Thank you for that good, good man who loves me

With dirt on my hands and scrapes on my knees

The feeling at night when I wash it all clean

I’m telling ya girls, it’s a beautiful thing

Trust me, it’s far from ugly.”

3. XXXTENTACION, “Ugly”

💿 Bad Vibes Forever • 🏷 Bad Vibes Forever / EMPIRE • 📅 2019

“I seem out of it / The dream I had about her in my head / It seems I won’t forget / Am I insecure? I’m not really sure…”  Indisputably and undeniably 🎙 XXXTENTACION was a controversial, polarizing artist during his lifetime. Regardless, his murder at age 20 was unfortunate. Jahseh Onfroy was on an upward trajectory as far as his commercial success despite his offstage life being troubling to the n^th degree.  In his short career, Onfroy moved beyond rap, hence why 🎵 “Ugly,” which appears on the posthumous album, 💿 Bad Vibes Forever, should be associated with rock or alternative music.  Brief at just a minute and a half, it is an emotional track that samples the song 🎵 “Invisible” by 🎙 Grouper.  Untouched by his producer and manager upon posthumous release, clearly this is authentic XXXTENTACION. He continues, singing, “It seems I fought less / Crying a river, miss me or deliver.”

4. $uicideboy$, “Ugliest”

💿 Long Term Effects of SUFFERING • 🏷 G*59 • 📅 2021

“Death addict, my mathematics you can’t add up / So tragic, my baggage comes with no back-up.” WOO! The beat on 🎵 “Ugliest,” the penultimate record from $uicideboy$’ album, 💿 Long Term Effects of SUFFERING, recalls the 90s.  It’s dusty and old-school, which sounded refreshing in 2021, when the album arrived. In the context of the LP, jazz-rap vibes return for the first time since an earlier highlight,  “5 Grand at 8 to 1.” There are only two $uicideboy$, cousins 🎙 Scott Arceneaux Jr. and 🎙 Aristos Petrou, who embrace various personas on their projects.  In the case of “Ugliest” the listener gets a mix of personas: Northside Shawty (“Devilish sins, devilish grins, got motherfuckers like ‘Here we go again, this motherfucker Scrim’”), Oddy Nuff da Snow Leopard (“I’m still the fuckin’ same, covered in spots, not stripes”), and Lil Waaaaaa (“Soulja by the lake-lake”).  Those $uicideboy$ are LITERALLY characters.

5. Jason Derulo, “Get Ugly”

💿 Everything Is 4 • 🏷 Warner • 📅 2015 

“Baby, I’ma tell you some’ only ‘cause I love ya / People all around the world sexy motherfuckers.” WOO! The 🎙 Jason Derulo single, 🎵 “Get Ugly,” confirms why his 2015 album,  💿 Everything Is 4 earned that infamous parental advisory label. Of course, that mf-bomb adds to the character of this fun, infectious, and irresistible joint. On “Get Ugly,” there is a blend of pop, hip-hop, and a dash of, dare I say, Michael Jackson influence 💪.  The production (🎛 Wallpaper.) is laser sharp, filled with a grab bag of modern pop tricks.  Honestly, there is NOTHING ugly about this record, with its sexy lyrics (“Chinga-a-lang-lang… / Jeans so tight I could see loose change”) and unforgettable chorus (“Diddily, diddily, diddily, diddly / You’re too sexy to me, sexy to me / …Diddily, diddily, diddily, diddily / Damn, that’s ugly”).

Ugly: 3 to 5 BOPS No. 29 (2023) [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; 19 Recordings / RCA, Bad Vibes Forever / EMPIRE, G*59, Matador, Warner; Alistair from Pixabay]