Altsounds - Sliimy - Wake Up [Single]

Today I spun the single ‘Wake Up’ from Sliimy. I will confess, when I looked at the cover, the tutti-frutti / 80s color scheme, the face make-up, the hair -- well, I’ll just say my expectations were low. The music was as bright and sunny as I expected. It has an airy, bubble gum Pop feel, but here’s the weird part... it’s good. The simple, tooting keyboard sound and innocent lyrics he delivers in a breathy alto overcame my prejudice and won me over.

Sliimy is a nickname Yanis Sahraoui adopted for his blog and he continues to use it as an artist. He was signed by Warner Brothers about the time he was getting his high school diploma. He has been compared to Prince. I get the comparison physically. Musically not as much. To me, the biggest difference is Sliimy has all the raw sexual energy of Mr. Rogers.

Still, I visited his MySpace page and listened to a few tracks. I liked them. I read a review of a live performance he gave in New York. The reviewer called it “Amazing.”

‘Wake Up’ is the single from Sliimy’s debut release “Paint Your Face,” which already went to #2 on the French album charts this summer. Two versions of his cover of Britney Spears’ ‘Womanizer’ have combined for over 1 million views on YouTube. Sliimy seems an unlikely success, but I am going to order his album and check it out. At the very least, I’m certain my daughter will like it.