It's that day of the year, once again on Song of the Week! We've got one love-donning song just for the occasion, although its roots don't resemble a lovey-dovey affair at all...
Savage Love
| Game | Genre |  |  |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AC Nijiiro (Y3) |  | ★2 77 | ★3 111 | ★4 167 | ★6 272 | - |
150
savagl (Savage Love)There's no hiding the fact that people love their share of love songs across the ages, something reflected even in oldass pop-culture polls citing a 40% general appreciation of love song and a 50% of sad love songs. Sure, that same completely-legit survey also lists a 4% preference for songs about mothers and a 46% for teenage songs with catchy words like Yabba-Dabba-Doo and such, questioning its fidelity when the aggregated percentage goes beyond one hundred percent, but bottom-line is: we surely do NOT risk to be in shortage of love songs to cover, even in Taiko! And so, for our second Valentines SotW feature (no really, we got our only other one in like, 2015 where did the time go) we've going for something whose upbringing surely veered in the other direction, despite the title!
What began its digital distribution as Savage Love, in fact, was actually built off a sample of another song which was released on YouTube the year prior, in 2019: the full-instrumental Laxed (Siren Beat) by New Zealand music producer Jawsh 685, art name for Joshua Christian Nanai. The original song was made in about the 4 hours as a way for Jawsh 685 to pay homage to his Samoan heritage, in form of a tune that can be played with assorted sirens as a siren jam, in line with the country's "Siren kings" youth subculture in the quest for the loudest and clearest beat achieveable. With the song being created after a regular day of school, Jawsh 685 went on record for saying that he felt 'relaxed' while making the song, as it took more time to think of it than actually to write/record it, hence the "Laxed" part of the title. It even became a Tiktok trend for a while, with victory dances being held in traditional costumes while the song played out.
On May 11th, 2020, American songwriter Jason Derulo has uploaded online a teaser for a vocal song by the name of Savage Love, sampling Laxed (Siren Beat) while not crediting neither the track in question nor its original creator, fanning an online backlash by listeners asking to give credit to where it's due. The situation had happened in a where where Jawsh 685 was contacting multiple artists to remix his Laxed (Siren Beat), including the same Jason Derulo who first came in contact with via Instagram while nothing had been finalized on the permissions side, with the rushed release looking to anonymous close figures to the case as a way for Derulo to earn full rights for the song while leaving Jawsh 685 as a 685 as its producer. A ful month after the 'Savage Love' teaser, the Columbia Records label released a statement on how the two talents have "put aside their differences" and the use of the sample was authorized, on the condition of the Samoan tenaager being credited not only as its lone producer but also as contributing artist and co-writer, with an official title that would attest the creation to both artists, as 'Savage Love (Laxed - Siren Beat)'. This was for both artists their first top-ranker across digital music charts for several countries (mainly Canada and European ones), a fate also shared by the remix from Korean band BTS in their home soil. Eventually, the calls of bad waters between Jason Derulo and Jawsh 685 would quell with the issuing of other joint musical projects, including 2024's Make Me Happy among those.
While it's rare to spot a playable reggaeton song in official Taiko channels, its charting style for Oni mode is anything but, with 1/12 offbeats leading the way. As usual, musical notation can be nasty at the very end, so keep an eye for it!
