Yet Another Year In Pop: 39

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Taio's still on top, meanwhile new Sugababe Jade ties up the loose ends of her solo career.

[Poll #1463533]

Reminder 1! You are encouraged to go back and vote in any of this year's chart polls. If you've changed your mind about something or have only just realised how awesome it is, click on 'Poll #12345' then 'Fill Out Poll' to change your vote.

Reminder 2! You've got until tomorrow lunchtime to vote in heat #4 of 2002, where Nelly is running away with things as expected, but there are only two votes in it between No Doubt, The Rapture, J-Lo and Liberty X for that vital fifth place.

Reminder 3! This Friday it is POPULAR, a special Poptimism where the playlist consists of All Number One Records All The Time! Free entry, 7-late, upstairs @ Horse Bar in Waterloo. If you ask nicely we will play the first 30 seconds of 'Spaceman' by Babylon Zoo!

Comments

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

Yay 100% don't like any (as I type this). Actually, I thought Basshunter was OK for him. May yet tick. Jordin and Dizzee are just bein' lazee however. No tick.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

I like the Dizzee! It's beefed up the Stevie V sample into something way more banging.

[genie22.livejournal.com]

Dizzee's album is wikkid. Thou MUST beg/borrow/steal it.

[daisychain-xx.livejournal.com]

My brother repeatedly plays the Basshunter track, so it's grown on me more than I would have liked.
It disappoints me.

[koganbot]

Dizzee Rascal "Dirtee Cash": Finally, a Dizzee pop experiment works unequivocably for me. Song and rap lock perfectly, Dizzee's rhythm propelled by the song's, his voice giving purpose to the beats and samples. TICKEE TICK.

Basshunter "Every Morning": Every morning she makes him a cup of coffee! With a smile on her face! He wants her to stay in his life! Even if she cries he is still by her side! This is so hopelessly simpleminded that I want to find a way to like it, but the tune's just not very catchy - not even annoyingly catchy. NO TICK.

Example "Watch The Sun Come Up": More sound 'n' pop experimentation, washed-out harmonies leading unexpectedly to a fast rap. This is opposite to the Dizzee, in that the elements run counter to one another. I'd like to like it for its disjunctions. The guy raps well enough, but the rest is simply bothersome: bad singing, pale harmonies; overall, it feels like a bad mashup. NO TICK.

Jade Ewen "My Man": Rote r&b-dance amalgam, the tune in the chorus good enough to provide average thrills or potentially something more, but instead the track just wears itself out in sameness. NO TICK.

Jordin Sparks "S.O.S. (Let The Music Play)": "Let The Music Play" is perhaps the greatest track in history to equate Dance As Yearning with Dance As A Religious Faith; this rewrite totally misses the point, layers a worthless "don't let that bitch take your man" story onto it, the result being total ordinariness, a bitch just being a bitch, a dance just a dance, and who cares? The track is probably good enough to create a tad bit of dancefloor adventure and merit a marginal tick, but I can't do it. NO TICK.

[ijgrieve.livejournal.com]

I've never heard a Basshunter track that isn't any good at all, but this one is weak (and it could have been so good so easily, which is even more annoying). Only just ticked.

Jordin Sparks is no classic, either, but a serviceable club track with a reasonably catchy chorus.

The less said about the others the better, though Example did have a nice concept video.

[ijgrieve.livejournal.com]

BTW, what is with coming on here and filling in this poll only to tick 'Not Heard Any'? Seems a little pointless.

[koganbot]

Is a good way to measure the international malaise.

Also, we encourage people who haven't had a chance to listen to tick this because it balances out the scores, prevents a song on a slow week from ending up with a higher percentage than a more popular song on a busier week. And we figure that any participation is better than no participation.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

What Frank said (thanks Frank!). I should probably put up an FAQ somewhere...

[http://users.livejournal.com/xyzzzz__/]

"If you ask nicely we will play the first 30 seconds of 'Spaceman' by Babylon Zoo"

you say 30 but its more like 12.5 right?

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

We'll just slow it down a bit

[blue-russian.livejournal.com]

All of Dizzee's recent big hits *almost* do it for me, but not quite - I wonder if they're the kind of thing that unlock under the right circumstances (i.e. on the dancefloor). This one has a very early 90s sound, the female vocals kind of make this into a frothy day-glo Soul II Soul track for me

I agree with Frank on basshunter - I want to like it but can't quite

Whereas with Example I think the exact opposite of Frank: I would quite like were it not for the rapping.

Jade lost me with the "ominous" synth intro.

Jordin - part of me likes the attempt to recontextualize the song, but mmm no, does nothing for me. Just another C-list singer trying to booststrap themselves into the pop charts.

I guess I'll tick Dizzee since I'm feeling generous.