Yet Another Year In Pop: 38

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Yo Taylor, imma real happy for you, but Taio Cruz has the best selling single of the week...

[Poll #1460443]

Reminder: You've got until tomorrow lunchtime to vote in Heat #2 of 2002, where Nelly & Kelly are tied for 5th with Garbage (closely followed by Stush, Pink and the White Stripes), and the Cheeky Girls are yet to break their duck. THIS IS LIFE.

Comments

[strange-powers.livejournal.com]

Empire State of Mind crackles with power and passion, and is appropriately towering. It's one of the most joyous records I've heard all year.

Cliff

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Is this actually a new song then? I know they're doing a reunion tour...

Re: Cliff

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

An old song, but newly recorded by Cliff & The Shads.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Whoops - honestly didn't mean to have 'DONT LIKE ANY' as the subject title! Blame Monday morning copy + paste for that one - now changed.

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

Accurate description tho, frankly.

[rechabite.livejournal.com]

Taio Cruz – I fear the bad old days of the early noughties are back with us where there was a different number one every week and most number ones were out of the entire chart after a month. I suspected with “Mama Do” that the wrong turning had been taken and seem to have been proved right; any situation where a single can go from 73 to number one in one week and then drop back to number 6 the following week is not a healthy state of affairs. Once again major label hype rules, the passing fancies of a few thousand consumers easily swayed by who’s got the biggest billboard space, rather than the foundation of future classics.

I’ve barely heard “Break Your Heart” being played on the radio at all and it certainly isn’t a worthy number one. Moreover it indicates to me a rerun of 1982 where all the spring promise was undone by autumnal complacency and ambulance chasers. The song sounds like the wheels have finally come off the Club Banger wagon; at least Tinchy has the personality and purpose to make this sort of thing sound interesting but really this could be anybody and anything. It makes zero impression, and wow, he’s going to break all your hearts, ladies. What a guy. Bland, insultingly average and totally forgettable. NO TICK

Madonna – Whereas she just sounds….disconnected. The single cover looks like Beginner’s Photoshop Class Fail time or maybe she just got the kids to do it. Purposeless, arthritic, forgettable even while it’s still playing – what’s the point of this record other than to allow Madge to be Madge for a few extra furtive minutes? Does she even remember making it? NO TICK

Paramore – Can’t think of a strong argument for my buying anything by Paramore (sitcom cut to author buying Paramore record) but this sounds fine for what it is; marches up and down quite purposelessly, not my thing but not bad at all. TICK

Jay-Z/Alicia – Huge, HUGE record; inspirational, playful, moving and a more than worthy future number one. TICK

Paloma Faith – Another song about New York and necessarily at one remove but it’s a good song and she sings it ravenously well. Probably got a lot more going for her than Pixie L in the long term. TICK

Pitbull – Bit of a lunkheaded record, the sort of thing Frankie Vaughan would do if he’d been 50 years younger and into Club Bangers, but it rips along agreeably enough and the “Rappers’ Delight” rip, if a touch overstated, is a nicely indecent touch. TICK

Taylor Swift – Finally gets into our Top 40 after months of hanging around in the suburbs (did it really take Kanye to do it?). Terrific song, superb singer, no front whatsoever. TICK

Jay-Z/Mr Hudson – I never heard the Alphaville original (here in the UK we only got the dreadful “Big In Japan”) but this was seriously spine-shiver-causing on the bus home last night. Astonishing and, once again, a more than worthy future number one. TICK

Cliff/Shads – Initially I thought Fearne n’ Reggie were being ageist mean fading this after approx 70 seconds on the chart show but I’ve heard the whole thing and realise they were merely being charitable. WTF has happened to his voice? Is he going for the Paolo Nutini where’s-me-teeth sound? Or did he leave his teeth in the glass at home and forget to bring them to the studio? It’s most distressing – equally as disturbing as the question of WTF has happened to Whitney’s voice. Maybe if he quit pursuing the “Thank You For This Gold Watch” Commemorative Medal route he might stand a chance of getting to number one again. Only the slimmest chance, mind. The Shads? They’re getting paid and think they’re Status Quo. Which, in 2009, they might as well be. NO TICK

[rechabite.livejournal.com]

Oh, and "Singing The Blues" is the old Guy Mitchell/Tommy Steele song, revived as flag bearer for exciting 50th Anniversary Of Cliff N' The Shads album where, um, they re-record their old hits (for Special Stereo Enhancement no doubt).

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

The Jay-Z & Mr Hudson did nothing for me on first listen, but otherwise Marcello very much OTM.

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

also the spoken word bit in the Madge song makes me cringe every single time (and I've heard it a lot - Radio 2 have been caning it)

[koganbot]

First half:

Taio Cruz "Break Your Heart": Like Jason DeRulo's "Whatcha Say" this douses us in immediate prettiness and from there devolves into dull competence. This one does the competence better, the prettiness is less pretty, and both songs depress the fuck out of me as being emblematic of What Is Wrong, whereas a few months ago they'd just have been minor disappointments. NO TICK.

Madonna "Celebration": A small dance-pop number, Madonna's voice having less pizzazz than it should have, but this feels like a small victory anyway, a bread-and-butter tune that finishes up before the tunefulness wears out. BORDERLINE TICK.

Paramore "Ignorance": Marcello beat me to the punch; I've been mildly liking Paramore for a couple of years and just this second realized I had no idea what the singer's name is. (Hayley Williams; thank you, Wiki.) It's not necessarily right to blame my inattentiveness on the band, since only by concentrating does one notice the unexpected, usually. This track is bright, punchy emo-goth with angst instead of ice, Hayley sounding lither and less demanding than Lacey Mosley or Megan McCauley or Amy Lee would on similar material, which may be why I remember their names but not hers. BORDERLINE TICK.

And here's a touching Paramore cover of a Kings Of Leon song I thought I didn't like:



Jay-Z f. Alicia Keys "Empire State Of Mind": This references several different New Yorks within a couple of seconds, from Jersey Italian to orchestral street funk, but Jay-Z sounds uncommonly subdued. Is a mood piece, and the mood may take a hunk of listens to seep in, but I'll start with a BORDERLINE TICK and hope for higher.

[koganbot]

(But I do have the same reaction as Jeff to the spoken-word bit in "Celebration.")

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Me too - hearing Madge play the greasy lothario kinda spoils what little enjoyment there was to be had in song to begin with :(

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

I'd been tempted to get Blueprint 3 after hearing DOA (awesome), but 'Run This Town' was v underwhelming and these two aren't brilliant. Unlike this, which is GREAT:

OH GOD JEBUS WTF

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Has Pitbull really sampled The Nightcrawlers?????

*weeps into copy of Dance Mania '94*

Re: OH GOD JEBUS WTF

[koganbot]

Yeah, seems to be, unless that was sampling something else, though in my mind I confused it with N2Deep's "Back To The Hotel," which really doesn't sound similar; I think I was influenced by "Hotel" in the title. The clarity of this man's obviousness makes him stand out from the surrounding clutter on the r&b stations.

[koganbot]

Paloma Faith "New York": A hard little twist in her voice that I welcome but have trouble penetrating. As the song rises she doesn't catch hold. There's something here, and I want this voice to prosper, but I don't think it's found its milieu yet. BORDERLINE NONTICK.

Pitbull "Hotel Room Service": Bits of early Bay Area gangsta sampled in with Pitbull's ho-hum ebullience. This man seems perpetually juvenile and is suddenly lucking out because he's the only rapper on the charts right now who's nailing people between the eyes. I appreciate that he does it and can sound riveting counting to four, even if I have trouble caring. TICK.

Taylor Swift "You Belong With Me": martinskidmore was right over on the Jukebox that the sociology here doesn't get beyond cliché, but Jonathan Bradley is more right in showing how Taylor's attention to the details of the people who live that cliché make this something special. And meanwhile this charming, smart, poised, engaging good girl who underneath it all seems to live in a bomb of anger and pain manages with co-writer Liz Rose to construct a careless-seeming ditty - notice that little doubled-up four-note motif out of which they create the first half of the verse - that's perfect for how Taylor can use it to play with the edges and flaws and frailty of her voice, achieving unexpected exuberance. A sunny day for a cloudy girl. TICK.

Jay-Z f. Mr. Hudson "Young Forever": I liked Hudson and Kanye a while back, but the quavering here just sounds uncommitted. The feeling of the tune's not bad, but it evaporates into space. NO TICK.

Cliff Richard and the Shadows "Singing The Blues": Singer overshadowed by band, ha ha. Seriously, his voice is stiff but those sleek little guitar fills are gold. BORDERLINE TICK.

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

re Paloma Faith: whenever it gets to the "I, I, I, I, ..." bit I keep thinking she's going to break into "whoa-oa-oa/ What's love got to do/ Got to do with it?" et cet. And then am disappointed.

Taylor Swift

[ijgrieve.livejournal.com]

Anyone else think this sounds like 'Girl All The Bad Guys Want' by Bowling 4 Soup in parts?