Pazz & Jop predictions thread

[koganbot]

I really have no clue this year. Remember that last year "Rehab" beat "Umbrella," so these people are not to be trusted, but also it was clear that the four tracks likely to compete were going to be "Umbrella," "All My Friends," "Paper Planes," and "Rehab" (which was the order they finished on Idolator).

Anyway, being clueless, I think Santogold could win both album and single, but then I also think Beyoncé could win single, since she always polls high in that category (though I don't like either "Single Ladies" or "If I Were A Boy" as much as "Crazy In Love" and "Baby Boy"). As for albums, something awful like Fleet Foxes or something that I'm ignoring like TV On The Radio will probably place high, and beyond that I can't think of any. Well, Kanye will place, but I don't know where. Scooter won't place. I really don't know about Ne-Yo - not top 10, I don't think. Vampire Weekend? As for singles that do well on poptimists, "Closer" could get in the top 20, "No Air" I don't know, probably top 40. "American Boy" will do reasonably well, "Wearing My Rolex" will probably be lucky to get top 40. "A&E" will do well. Lil Wayne is the wild card, since his album ought to place top 5, and I'd guess the same for "A Milli," but I really don't know. There's probably some mainstream respectable prestige item like last year's Plant & Krauss that I'm not remembering. And a lot that have slipped my mind.

Comments

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I think I'm overestimating the extent to which critics live in a bubble of critic-music, really! Among critics and hipster types, 'Paper Planes' was already "everywhere" in 2007 (by which I mean in conversations, on blogs, in clubs, on our ipods). The frequency with which I randomly encountered it in the wild actually decreased as it climbed the chart. (Obv, I understand that most people don't live in this bubble, but I assumed most critics did, certainly to the extent that 'Paper Planes' would have had its impact on them in 07.)

[chuckeddy.livejournal.com]

I don't go to clubs (though I do like bars on occasion), don't own an ipod, don't remember having a single conversation or reading a single blog entry about "Paper Planes" in 2007 (at least in part because I avoided reading M.I.A. conversations in general, which I assumed would bore me.) Did think it was a standout album track on *Kala*, though. But again, not until 2008 did it strike me as anything like a single (even if it technically was one by the time 2007 ended -- which, if there was a promotional video, I'd say it probably was.)

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it was definitely an 07 single - I actually bought a couple of the remixes off itunes when it came out. My Kala stand-outs are still 'Bamboo Banga' and 'Hussel'.

[chuckeddy.livejournal.com]

Plus, I think it's possible (and perfectly legit) if, even for some critics who *may* have found "Paper Planes" ubiquitous in crit/hipster circles in '07, they may have thought the song was validated as a single by reaching so many people *outside* of crit/hipster circles in '08. (I sort of felt that way myself -- when I heard it coming out of my Wu Tang-fan kid's computer this summer, I knew M.I.A. had arrived, somehow.)

[koganbot]

And of course it's also legitimate to change one's mind after hearing something an extra 50 times (or even not having heard it an extra 50 times). I rated "Outta My Head (Ay Ya Ya)" number 20 on my 2007 singles list and put it number 2 on this year's Pazz & Jop.