TRAINWRECKORDS: "Paula" by Robin Thicke

This is really one of the best videos you've ever released. The chronological PR-cycle of the album, combined with you flipping through each track and putting it in the context of the album, really paints a picture of what was actually going on in 2014 and why this ended up flopping so hard. Plus your evaluations of Thicke's overall career have some really funny lines that aren't just cheap shots.

James Lefkowitz

Christian music is like you said but every now and then one band doesn't suck. P.O.D.

Maybe it's because Bruno didn't make his first big pop impression with a song like Blurred Lines.

It's the whiter, more pathetic, somehow-even-more-douchier version of Gaye's "Here My Dear", so yes its practically guaranteed to develop a cult fanbase.

Jasper Phua

The comparisons to Bruno Mars are fascinating. Both competent R&B songwriters with a cocky, douchebag vibe. But Bruno was able to parlay all of that into becoming one of the decade-defining artists. More charisma and swagger I guess? More consistently better music?

Franco del Rosario

I watched this video and immediately became a patron. I just couldn't keep consuming such great pop criticism without throwing some money your way. It's not much, but #gradschool

Andrew Hitzhusen

If people can look at Lauryn Hill's "Unplugged 2.0" years later and say it was "good" instead of an utter disaster at the time, the same can happen with "Paula".

Steve

Yeah I think Miley definitely got way too much hate, if she gave a performance like that today there would've been lots of progressive thinkpieces defending it and rightfully so.

RedBedroomRecords

Part of me was imagining "___ Days Gone" subtitles every time you mentioned the date of a milestone in the album cycle

big bird (not that one)

I don't know, I think it's just because the series is shorter. There's definitely some themes emerging - hubris, creative turmoil, cocaine - but I think you're right that there's more of an emotional range to Trainwreckords.

Matt Cramp

Agreed.

Pooga

I just love Trainwreckords as a series. Always such great material for Todd to make fascinating and hilarious.

Entering high school in 2013, I remember Blurred Lines being everywhere which included playing at my homecoming dance that fall where I danced to this song with a senior girl. I also remember all the controversy the song got from the music video to the lyrics to the infamous VMA performance which looking at it in hindsight was pretty overblown. As for Paula, I remember vaguely about Robin Thicke's separation and that he made an album about it that tanked hard but that was about it and since then I hadn't heard much about Robin Thicke. From watching your video, the biggest takeaway from Paula for me is that if you're going to make an album about your personal drama, be a big enough star to make people care about it instead of a bubbling under artist who just had a big hit with a song that causes a lot of controversy and makes you look bad. And of course not rushing it out helps a lot too.

I vote for Metallica next, yeesh St Anger let me down big time and even as a young kid who knew nothing about album production, even I knew drums weren't supposed to sound like someone banging garbage can lids and the lyrics just got embarrassing, whether it's defending Lars Ulrich's ill-advised attacks on Napster in "Shoot Me Again" or the pathetic Nu-Metal esque angsty whining on "Invisible Kid", "Dirty Window" and "My World". Plus like "Be Here Now" it's one of those albums where all the songs are way too fucking long for their own good, Metallica have done long songs in the past unlike Oasis so that didn't have to be a bad thing, but none of them justified their length unlike their previous long songs(and having too much filler wasn't a new problem for Metallica either as Load and Reload were both 80 minutes long each with more then half of the tracks being filler) and unlike with Be Here Now which at least sounded decent on the radio with the songs cut down to a reasonable length, St Angers sound bad no matter what as the lack of solos really sticks out like a sore thumb and cripples this album. Plus watching the Some Kind of Monster documentary makes it's failure hurt even worse knowing how much effort the band put into the album and it turned out to be all for naught. Metallica winning a grammy for the title track is baffling until you consider that it's more than likely the Recording Academy's way of making up for their infamous snub for Metallica in the 1989 VMAs where the band were thought to be shoe-in to win "best heavy metal album" only to lose to Jethro fucking Tull of all people(kind of like how people thought Al Pacino wining for his role in the dreadful Oscar Bait film "Scent of a Woman" was to make up for the Academy's snubs of the far better performances he made in the past) which has to be the single biggest blunder in the history of the VMAs(aside from giving Steely Dan the award for best new album instead of Eminem).

RedBedroomRecords

I think Ice Ice Baby is a decent song and the rhymes in it sound better then anything by overrated rappers like say Logic. I didn't find Ice obnoxious personally, I actually felt bad for him since his career mainly went down because the asshole execs at his record label SBK made up lies about him(as a result of him refusing to go into detail about his personal life in interviews due to being a very private person) in an unauthorized autobiography and then the media stupidly blamed him for it instead of the execs that made up the lies in the first place which resulted in his career flaming out. Unlike Thicke, Ice actually produced some damn good music after his success("Hard To Swallow" is a damn fine Nu Metal album). As for Affleck, I always thought he got way too much undeserved hate(most of which seemed to be more for his failed relationship with Jennifer Lopez as opposed to his actual acting ability).

RedBedroomRecords

Maybe he'll do what Mike Posner did to regain his fame-do a song about how depressing being famous and then losing it all is.

RedBedroomRecords

I kinda like the way “Get Her Back” starts. There’s potential in that groove. It’s just that it goes absolutely nowhere, like it’s a kernel of a full song that just doesn’t pop.

Wyatt

Sheesh.... those sales are depressing... and yeah, I don't think he'll ever get back the Hot 100... You kinda have to feel bad for the guy in terms of the failure of this record. I don't think the album deserves as much... pure ignoring as it got. (Also, You Oughta Know is the better song)

YouCanCallMeXodi

It’s hard to even think about this album with being extremely depressed, hell, even Todd sounds so out of it through out the entire video. That’s not to say it’s bad, talking about this album in a more animated way must be extremely difficult. This video ruined the rest of my day, but I weirdly thank you for it

Nick Kovacs

Just want to say as someone who's been watching for pretty much a decade, I think Trainwreckords is your best series yet. Pop song reviews and OHW are great, but I feel like I like this more than OHW particularly because a lot of those band end up flopping for similar reasons (dicked around by the label, limited talent range, fluke hit here but huge in native country), the fuck ups by these proven stars are all so uniquely stupid, it leaves a lot more to talk about.

Anthony Pierre Coco

It's a testament to Todd's prowess with music criticism, in comparison to most other YouTube channels that review music, that he can make a video like this that has very few notable jokes to speak of yet comes out this compelling. Looking forward to the (presumably inevitable) Trainwreckords episodes on The Beach Boys, Genesis, and Terence Trent D'Arby

Jack Rosen

You know, it’s telling when Fantasia is going on tour soon, and Robin Thicke, a guy who had the #1 song in the country for a while, is one of her opening acts. Yea, he’s opening for a former American Idol Winner. Not to knock Fantasia, who’s pretty talented in her own right, but that’s quite a ways to fall.

Tom Carter

You Oughta Know even though I have my issues with the overexposure of Alanis Morissette, “Ironic” being the grand shark jump. Criminal by Fiona Apple isn’t bad by any means though, but it doesn’t match the punk energy of Alanis’s first big hit.

For what it's worth, I don't think it's unproblematic and I said as much in the video, but in hindsight it seems clear to me he was trying to say "mixed signals," not "dubious consent." The fact that there's any confusion about this speaks to some stupid carelessness in the songwriting, and just the obnoxiousness of Thicke's personality, but I do think there are degrees between "pushy vibe" and "rape anthem". In any case, I regret wading into the topic mostly because it's so tedious--almost certainly the worst Discourse of the '10s, only matched by Meghan Trainor Discourse and Macklemore Discourse

Todd in the Shadows

It's a little "In-a-Gadda-da-Vida"-ish

Todd in the Shadows

What do I recognize the bassline of "Whatever I Want" from? I can't name it and it's killing me.

protondonor

Missed opportunity to play “Hey Paula” by Paul and Paula over the credits. I am old.

Terence

In Australia not only did Paula sell just 158 copies, it was kept off the album charts by a greatest hits album from Blondie (which was also half an all-new record) that sold 159. I was hoping Todd would mention that. The only worthwhile thing we got out of Blurred Lines was the Weird Al parody. Even if this album gets vindicated by history it's amazing just how fast Robin Thicke rose to superstardom and then immediately flamed out. Guess people didn't want him around after people really started to hate those Blurred Lines.

The real life "Can I Borrow a Feeling."

maruhkati

Oh man this is a recent one. I'd figure most people would wait before saying a career is ended but having seen the episode I can see it's a pretty safe bet. So your 10th anniversary is coming up in October. Got any plans for a celebration show? Top 10 all time best pop hits of the last decade? Top 10 most incorrect predictions? Top 10 guilty pleasures? Top 10 opinion changes? Top 10 songs that should have been hits? Or since top 10s are a lot of work, maybe a new Then vs Now series that compares music today vs music from 10+ years ago?

Adequately Sized Dog

‪i’m trying to listen to paula but im dummy thicke and the sound of my pathetic groveling at my ex-wife is drowning out the music‬

There's something funny that the career that got a long-term boost from "Blurred Lines" was Emily Ratajkowski.

Sean C.

Holy shit, that was a fuckin saga. Well done, man.

Well, now that I know you’re willing to do albums released this decade, may I recommend “The Beginning”. Also, their careers are not over yet, but I’m gonna bet my money “MANIA” and “Origins” are going to ruin Fall Out Boy and Imagine Dragons’ careers/relevance

Christina Kelley

Great video, I never knew I wanted to hear about this story.

this plays like a investigative documentary and i am here for it

You outta know is a classic angry rejection song hard to beat

Stupidgravity

Fantastic work as always.

Christian Samples

Gotta do "The Big Day"

Oh, hot dog, this should be a good one!