Yet Another Year In Pop: 10

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Flo Rida bags the number one spot with a Dead or Alive sample, the Saturday's Comic Relief effort has to settle for second place.

[Poll #1362347]

Lower reaches watch: dudes have finally realised that the version of Beggin' on that advert isn't by Madcon at all and have accordingly bumped up the Frankie Valli version up to #47; Ladyhawke, Annie Lennox and Red Light Company are all hovering just outside the top 40.

Comments

Don't Like Any

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

Flo Rida: 5 (not so bad on it's own terms but this beat is DEAD not alive DYS)
Saturdays: 3 (not bad for a charity record but still pretty poor)
Chipmunk: 5 (vocal mannerisms just too offputting)
Lemar: 2 (BAN LIGHT PIANO BALLADS)
KOL: 1 (ads for their album on Spotify really make me want to pay-subscribe so i will)
Beyonce: 4 (BAN LIGHT PIANO BALLADS)

[carsmilesteve.livejournal.com]

every time i hear the KoL song i hope he is singing about r@velry and every time i am disappointed...

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Also further down the chart is the new Will Young single which has another awesome (but unembeddable) video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&v=_11TP-DbS1A) - Will is a SUPERHERO. Good choice of song as well, I'm glad he didn't go for one of the funk tracks...

[koganbot]

That video is terrific! Superhero in his mind, life doesn't cooperate, he tries to adapt.

(The song hadn't hit me on the album: the chord changes seemed to acquiesce too easily, turned this into a nice song while the voice was trying to do something sadder. The video delivers what the music couldn't alone.)

[koganbot]

Good job acting, precisely accurate as the would-be boisterous drunk, flashes of jollity and rage, ultimate defeat, while the bouncers are giving him the old heave-ho.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

I hope an embeddable version crops up soon so I can do an extended TVAA post about it :)

[sm-woods.livejournal.com]

A semi-enthusiastic tick for Beyoncé, which I prefer to the similar-sounding (but to my ears somewhat awkward) "If I Were a Boy" (I think the "boy" thing is what always threw me off there, coming as it does from Beyoncé; not sure if "guy" would have been as singable, but "boy" just sounds weird to me from her, can't explain why). I can already imagine myself getting a bit tired of "Halo," but it sounded pretty bracing in the car on the weekend. However, I strongly disagree with the idea that it is a "light piano ballad." It's pure bombast all the way!

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

AAARGH I am never going to root for a grime MC to cross over ever again. WTF is that Chipmunk track? It sounds like the sodding Kooks or some landfill indie shit like that. Why do grime artists do this? Why? Wiley sampling Daft Punk and working with Mark Ronson, Dizzee allowing Calvin Harris' spoor on his record, Tinchy releasing really cheesy electro, and now this.

Elsewhere: hammering an obvious sample into my head over and over again does not a good song make, and there's nothing else to 'Right Round' at all; never liked the original 'Just Can't Get Enough' anyway, but the Saturdays could probably make even the best track seem pale and pointless; Lemar and KoL as zzz as ever. Beyoncé saves the day! 'Halo' isn't my favourite Sasha Fierce ballad by any means - it's really obvious in its desire to be Beyoncé's own 'Bleeding Love' or 'Umbrella', and I find myself less moved by it than eg 'Disappear' or 'Hello', but at the same time, even though its power may be completely contrived, it's still got a ton of it.

[sm-woods.livejournal.com]

Yeah, "Halo" is totally "Umbrella" part-whatever (as in massive single word hook songs about things you wear over your head, etc.). Problem for me is, I don't like the "Halo" concept much, as object of sarcasm or praise or whatever (not that I've paid close attention to what she does with it); I initially thought the chorus was "Do you hate love?" which I prefer.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

The Pussycat Dolls' 'Halo' works the concept much more interestingly I think - Scherzinger in the role of fallen angel is definitely preferable to imagining Jay-Z with a halo.

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

I like 'Chip Diddy Chip,' it is a good song for getting out of bed in the morning.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Flo Rida - good (ie sparing) use of sample IMO, though the schaffle on the verse sounds a bit dated. Flo Rida's rhymes fit it pretty well? I think I would dance to this in a young person's nightclub so TICK. Also YO WARNERS what up with not allowing any of yr Youtube videos to be viewable in the UK? But it's ok on Myspace for some reason? Way T.M.F.D.

Saturdays - the other day a trendy dude (maybe late-20s early 30s?) sat opposite me on the train home was listening to this on repeat on his leaky earphones. He seemed to be listening very seriously and carefully, memorising the words as if his life depended on it. TICK

Chipmunk - apparently this should be Chip DIDDY Chip, soz like Chipmunk. OH DEAR the video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6pMD1qhedE) has Tim Westwood as the TEACHER in Chipmunk's school :-O Hmmm, Chip's vocal is way more interesting than Flo Rida's but his beats are weaker. Borderline tick maybe?

Beyonce & Lemar - bof, this is one of my least faves off I Am... and Lemar can bugger off.

KoL - not going to bother listening to this one.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Actually, I need to counter the awfulness of 'Chip Diddy Chip' by drawing attention to Chipmunk's previous brilliance. UGH why is he releasing that when he could be doing stuff like:

Fire Alie - his biggest banger so far! That beat is unstoppable (love the "bay-beh" vocal samples) and Chipmunk absolutely kills it



Mr Myagi - a beat like knives being sharpened, fantastic hissing flow on the chorus, but there's something faintly cartoonish about that tiptoeing melody too - the tension between genuine and comic menace is really superb here



League Of My Own - surprisingly delectable G-funk, of all things



64 Bar Statement - Chipmunk's flow at its best, he's so versatile and confident here - calls himself "the Harry Potter of grime" (maybe he should get together with Nicki Minaj, who calls herself Hermione on 'Can't Stop Won't Stop', though tbh she'd probably eat him alive), love the sudden injection of menace at "I can run rings round any MC" and the line "If I get signed I will stick to grime/Help out the youths that's stuck on the grind/I won't do a Kane or a Dizzee/Leave my friends in the ends, are you dizzy?"



Beast - a street single from last year, a slower, dubbier grind - the imagery of a monster seeping up from Tube tunnels into the streets really works, the balance between that achingly pretty guitar melody and the grinding bass is excellent too. Really like the video too, simple but effective (unlike the school uniforms of the 'Chip Diddy Chip' video, which is just a horrid cliché).



4 Minutes - that bombastic beat really was made for rapper freestyles, I'm surprised more didn't appear last year. He sopunds like he's having an absolutely great time tackling it, esp as it gets to its climax and then starts singing along

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

Three words: HIGH. SCHOOL. MUSICAL. Grime goes teenpop! It's brilliant! Even though it just sounds semi-OK enough for a borderline tick!

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

Y'know, this song benefits immensely from ignoring the video and cutting out the awful skit in the middle. It might be weak for grime, but it's strong for kiddie-rap! Which is what this basically is -- much better flow in a different context. Standing on the shoulders of midgets.

Gnostic, Nordic, Nonnative, Genetic

[koganbot]

Flo Rida f. Kesha "Right Round": Dull Flo Rida galumphs all over this galumphing rhythm, blatant hairball bitch shows up occasionally to squirt in a little bit of actual energy, whole thing is a big ugly mess. NO TICK.

Saturdays "Just Can't Get Enough": Tries to turn this classic into the sugar melt it should have been in the first place; the rhythm signifies dance but has no swing or sway. NO TICK.

Chipmunk "Chip Diddy Chip": Teenybopper grime? Well, it's not grimy, but what is this rhythm? Music throws fuzz balls at his feet, he juggles 'em deftly. I like this. A lot. TICKETY TICK.

Lemar "Weight Of The World": Chorus is pretty, but the voice treads more heavily than it intends; song title is unfortunately apt. BORDERLINE NONTICK.

Kings Of Leon "Revelry": Faux blues mumble-voice, drums dance backwards in heels, like Ginger Rogers except she's good and this isn't, and once the gears shift to forward this just trips all over its own clutter. NO TICK.

Beyoncé "Halo": She goes into smooth jet engine overdrive while managing to suggest turbulence. TICK.

Livejournal's spelling suggestions for "NONTICK": NON TICK, NON-TICK, NONSTICK, ANTIC, BENDICK, NOONTIDE, NOONTIME, GNOSTIC, NORDIC, NONNATIVE, KINETIC, MONADIC, MONODIC, NOMADIC, NANTUCKET, NANOOK, PHONETIC, QUINTIC, FANATIC, GENETIC, LUNATIC, NANAK, NUNKI, NONAGE. OK, let's see: Flo Rida is phonetic, Saturdays are nonnative (really, music is not their native language), Lemar is monodic, Kings Of Leon are quintic (they're fifth on the list up top).)

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

Nearly ticked all of these, except I don't like Halo (CONTROVERSY WARNING, etc.) due to my continued lack of appreciation for Beyonce's squawking and mewling.

I find the Lemar strangely listenable but think that might be because have only heard it once. Still, ticky.
Kings of Leon's current album is really very sexy so although 'Revelry' is one of the weaker songs (release 'Closer' you b4st4rds) it gets a tick.
Chip Diddy Chip is fvcking brilliant and if you don't agree you are WRONG. TICK PLZ.
The Saturdays murder a song I never liked to create something I find pleasingly fluffy so TICK.
I ticked a Flo Rida and I liked it.

HURRAH.

Bronco Byronic Bionic Bayonet

[koganbot]

I think the mewling makes Beyoncé more accessible than she'd been back in the Destiny's Child days. She'd been sleek and in control and always ran the obstacle course with ease. Now she pushes harder, shows trouble.

Mind you, I'm not saying the DC days of command weren't just as good. But she brings a lot more heat now.

(Beyond, Bronc, Bronco, Byronic, Bellanca, Bianca, Blanca, Belong, Bayonne, Bayonet, Bionic, Yong, Bong, Bonk, Baying, Buying, Bubonic, Buoyancy, Benji, Bannock, Bongo, Bianka)

Re: Bronco Byronic Bionic Bayonet

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Buoyancy might be an even better nickname than Bouncy.

basically, Switch with Annie and Grimmy rulez

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

Chip Diddy Chip is fvcking brilliant and if you don't agree you are WRONG. TICK PLZ.
^IAWTC

I ticked a Flo Rida and I liked it.
^and this one

Re: basically, Switch with Annie and Grimmy rulez

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

Thirded, and when "Sugar" comes along, I'll tick it even harder.

[jel-bugle.livejournal.com]

Saturdays own this poll!