Music Review: Fefe Dobson "Stuttering"

Fefe Dobson

Stuttering

Album: Joy

Year: 2010

              Fefe Dobson breaks up with her boyfriend in the attention-seeking            “Stuttering.”

             Stagy strings open the single, setting an overwrought tone.  Tonight she’s going to confront him. While he was off talking with his friends, he was telling them his dreams – none which included her. She would find him, put her hand on his back and join the conversation, not realizing he changed the subject right away when she arrived. However, on the way home, she would talk to him and he wouldn’t even answer. (“There's a whole lotta things that I will forgive/But I just can't take a liar/I was by your side till the very end/Till you pushed me in the fire/I tried to believe you but something is wrong/You won't look in my eyes tell me what's going on.”)

                  In the pre-chorus, he promised her that they were a team. However, he’s only out for himself. (“It's you and me against the world/That's what you said, that's what you said/If you can't be honest with me/Then I'm afraid this is the end.”)

                In the chorus, he tries to explain but he’s stumbling over his words. She rolls her eyes. It’s what she expected. (“Hurry up, hurry up/If you ever really cared about me/Tell the truth, give it up/You're still guilty cause you're stuttering/Yeah you're stuttering/Yeah you're stuttering.”)

                 She asks him the question again. Nothing. Five minutes has gone by and he contradicted himself several times. He has a great memory. He can remember what they bought last week at the grocery store. She knows his tells. (“Now the seconds turn into minutes now/But you won't give me an answer/You can tell me this, you can tell me that/But don't say you don't remember/‘Cause I know you better than you know yourself/So don't say I'm crazy, I know very well.”)

                The pre-chorus and chorus are sung again.

                  In the bridge, he apologizes over and over, saying he didn’t mean it. She tells him she already knows and right now, he’ll be better off telling her everything. (“I don't don't wanna hear your sorry now/The best thing you can do for me is just spit it out/I don't don't wanna hear your sorry now/Stop stop stuttering your words/It's only making you look worse.”)

              The chorus is sung again.

              In the final section, she eggs him on. (“Keep on stuttering (yeah you're stuttering)/Keep on stuttering (yeah you're stuttering.”)

                   Dobson feeds into the drama, overenuciating every word. All that missing are her classmates watching in the hallway, posting their reactions online and placing bets on when the next fight will happen between them.

                 The affected  “Stuttering” has got it take down a couple notches.