One Track Sunday: Ariana Grande Debuts R&B Single Baby I

In a week where Katy Perry’s “Roar” is dominating YouTube with both plays and advertisements, there aren't a ton of new music videos popping up all over the Internet. Today, Coldplay released the band's new song for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire soundtrack and Nickelodeon actress and singer Ariana Grande also put out a new music video for her single “Baby I.” The ‘I’ may not go a long way to differentiate the track from a similar Bieber lyric, but her vocal capabilities and her costume changes do.

The costume choices in the “Baby I” video inlcude some bright, urban costumes and even a few acid wash jeans thrown in. The nineties references are a little weird for a gal who was only ten when the decade ended, but the singer recently told Billboard she wanted to recall the “breeziness of early 90s music videos” with her new track. The video is certainly ‘breezy,’ featuring the singer skipping around to different locations in order to dance and have a good time.

She’s helped in the task by some fabulous back-up dancers, but the star of the video is Grande, who is vocally a little reminiscent of Mariah Carey and belts out more than a few vocal thrills to make the song an R&B delight for anyone who, well, likes vocal frills. The Victorious actress has frequently been compared to Carey and other diva Whitney Houston, and while her vocals don’t totally blow us away, the 20-year-old does have a pretty voice and is trying to bring back R&B in a pop-dominated market.

Grande also recently put out her debut album. It’s called Yours Truly, and it’s full of songs that are similar to “Baby I” in their uninspired titles. As this single shows, we shouldn’t judge a song by its title. The album is expected to sell between 110,000 and 120,000 copies this week, and just may debut at #1 on the charts next week. We’ll keep you posted, either way. Until then, don’t let this gem of a track fall by the wayside due to its youthful singer and the fact the song has been buried a bit under the might Katy Perry’s.

You can order Yours Truly over at iTunes, or check out some m other One Track Sunday videos, here.