Arts: Top of the Pops: Flo Rida ?Whistle?

Now playing: Slate V, a video-only site from the world's leading online magazine. Visit Slate V at www.slatev.com.
Brow Beat Top of the Pops: Flo Rida "Whistle" By Jody Rosen Posted Monday, Aug 20, 2012, at 04:50 PM ET The whistle in Flo Rida's chart-topper "Whistle" is a literal whistle. It's also a figurative whistle—which is to say, it's a penis. Strangely, the actual whistle-whistle—the whistled eleven-note refrain, the song's big hook—is cruder than the oral sex innuendos. ("Can you blow my whistle baby, whistle baby / Let me know / Girl, I'm gonna show you how to do it / And we start real slow / You just put your lips together / And you come real close" etc. etc.) Whistling has been big business in recent pop; in last year's Slate Music Club, Carl Wilson predicted "It'll be a while yet before pop's pucker tuckers out." But Carl didn't count on that lumbering literalist, Flo Rida. When this man takes a trend into his python embrace, he is liable to squeeze the air out of it, kill it dead. "Whistle" is whistling's apotheosis and, at least for the foreseeable future, its swan song. It's catchy, too, which is not quite a virtue when it comes to a song this insipid. "Whistle" will test the faith of the most zealous poptimist. There is some pleasure to be taken in the song's airy bounce. The long sleeve tie-dye that Flo Rida wears in the video exerts a horrible fascination. Otherwise, it's a long three-minutes-and-fifty-four-seconds. Flo Rida is a puzzle. He's a huge hitmaker with no discernable charisma. As a technical matter, his rapping is serviceable. His ... To continue reading, click here. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Todd Akin's "Legitimate Rape" Comment Was Not a Misstatement. It Was a Worldview. Where We're Going, We Need Roads Where's Mitt?	Advertisement
Manage your newsletters subscription: Unsubscribe | Forward to a Friend | Advertising Information
Ideas on how to make something better? Send an e-mail to slatenewsletter@nl.slate.com. Copyright 2011 The Slate Group | Privacy Policy The Slate Group | c/o E-mail Customer Care | 1350 Connecticut Ave NW Suite 410 | Washington, D.C. 20036