Yet Another Year In Pop: 42

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Bumper crop of new entries this week, led by Ms Burke who beats Robbie to #1.

[Poll #1473227]

Nominations for 2003 begin tomorrow!

Comments

Ooo-way, ooo-wah

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Good on yer Alex! I still love this song v much. However Robbie = rub-bie :(

No way!

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

Agree on Ms Burke, but not on Robbie. I don't know how he does it, but he has the knack of always pushing my buttons with his singles. Another solid effort in a long line of tickable hits IMHO.

Re: No way!

[caramel-betty.livejournal.com]

I like Robbie's single, but the performance on the X Factor was a bit ropey. (I saw something on digitalspy or somewhere that he got thrown by the door not opening, though.)

[meserach.livejournal.com]

Everyone should check out the Medina track if they don't know it.

[redcommieapples.livejournal.com]

medina track is much better in its original danish - there's something tacky about the new lyrics.

[bengraham.livejournal.com]

And the Deadmau5 remix is also worth checking out.

The Triumph Of The Grammarians

[koganbot]

Alexandra Burke f. Flo Rida "Bad Boys": There are two types of songs featuring Flo Rida, those so strong that he can't reduce them to tedium (e.g. Jessica Mauboy's "Running Back"), and those not strong enough. This makes a valiant effort, but Flo Rida kills it. BORDERLINE NONTICK.

Robbie Williams "Bodies": Medieval Europe and mid-something Asia unobtrusive in the background, while this launches into electro-farts, and for half a moment sounds like *NSync's three-minute New Jack Swing era, though not as good, and it goes to a middle eight way earlier than the middle, unless that's the chorus. I can't tell. What a strange song, and I actually did research on this one, checked the lyric page and looked at the Jukebox commentary (Chuck points out that Robbie's "Bodies" and the Sex Pistols' "Bodies" each mentions a tree [presumably not the same one]), and I'll affirm that "All we've ever wanted is to look good naked" probably does mean something, though it's hardly true, or even interesting (dust to dust and naked to naked and all that), and um... pieces parts are OK, but nullify one another. NO TICK.

Michael Bublé "Haven't Met You Yet": The guy is a virtuoso of normal everyguyness, and he doesn't push it on us, just sort of is. Means that any track of his could be a grower, but this one has yet to grow for me. NO TICK.

Lostprophets "It's Not The End Of The World But I Can See It From Here": They've got a long history I know nothing of; this sounds like pretty mid-'00s emo-pop, the singer not all that distinctive but the roar of the chorus just getting this over the line. BORDERLINE TICK.

Mr Hudson "White Lies": Does a humble version of pomp, by which I mean that he can go over the top without seeming to exert himself. This song doesn't have much top to go over, unfortunately. NO TICK.

Editors "Papillon": I find the dramatic voice more amusing than off-putting, and I like the pretty sweep of the synth; but this needs more prettiness in its tune. NO TICK.

Black Eyed Peas "Meet Me Halfway": Slow sadness with a fast dance beat layered on top, then Fergie joins in while stapled to the beat, giving this its pleasure and its hook, while Will.I.Am plays with sounds, and all the boy Peas play with accents. Not jelling much better than the Robbie, but enjoys its sounds more, and so do I. BORDERLINE TICK.

Big Pink "Dominos": I'm guessing that the lyrics are meant to suggest the pain of serial disconnection rather than the triumph of love-'em-and-leave-'em, though I wouldn't bet the farm on this interpretation. The syndrome is clumsily described anyway, though the drums and the phrasing are appropriately dogged, the chorus doing a good job of having a hook without breaking the sound's obsessiveness. I won't tick this, however, since I can't imagine wanting to hear it very much. BORDERLINE NONTICK.

Jennifer Hudson "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going": What's this doing here? It's almost as old as "4ever." I presume a reality show or advert or something. In any event, the track is a soul-show melange that's as incoherent as BEP and "Bodies," the show-stopper climaxes seeming to come at random. A good dance stormer occasionally asserts itself, but sorry, this is ridiculous, at least out of context of Dreamgirls, which I've never seen. NO TICK.

Medina "You and I": Sounded more sweetly sad when it was the Danish "Kun For Mig," I'm not sure why, but it's still the only track this week that truly moves me. I'll admit that I spent the first 1:07 in suspense as to whether "you and I" would be grammatically correct as the subject of a sentence, or incorrect as the object, and er, well, though she and he are no longer a couple, "you and I" is linked to the subject of "there is no longer you and I" by a copula (I just looked that word up in Wikipedia), hence is correct. So the grammarians have triumphed, for once. The term "predicate nominative" may also be relevant, though I refuse to commit myself.

Re: The Triumph Of The Grammarians

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

yes, that's why "It's me" is technically incorrect -- "to be" doesn't have an object, it has a complement (or something)

Re: The Triumph Of The Grammarians

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

I think the Dreamgirls song was sung on X Factor last week.

Re: The Triumph Of The Grammarians

[koganbot]

"You and I" is a TICK, by the way.

Re: The Triumph Of The Grammarians

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

Actually, I've never really understood its place in Dreamgirls, either -- the play still isn't sure at this point whether it wants to be an integrated (break into song and dance spontaneously) or backstage (following performers) musical and this song kind of stands out in a spotlight, not particularly changing anything in the narrative or commenting on what's come before. My suspicion is that it was stuck in to be the one song that would possibly have legs as a single or something outside of the musical, though have no idea how it was written or ultimately distributed.

[askbask.livejournal.com]

Yes, the Medina track is better in Danish, but it survies the translation and I regularly listen to both versions. There's something about it.. both bass-y and dancefloor-filling and tragic, but not in the usual "melancholic electro"-genre that's getting more and more crowded. It's rawer, something between t.A.T.u and Burial, a kind of unpretentious no-nonsense "life can be shitty, drinks and clubbing takes me out of it" way. One of the big ones of the year.

(Also, she's remarkable to look at in that english video.. captivating and mystical)