A New Decade In Pop: Week #18

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

A bumper week for new entries sees Roll Deep go straight in at the top.

[Poll #1560099]

Other stuff: There's still time to vote in the Pop World Cup over at FT, and don't forget POPTIMISM is this Friday!

Comments

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Adam and Alicia are absolutely cracking singles: Alicia is probably a contender for my top 10 of the year, and I don't even like her voice! Also I have been humming Adam constantly since the track got used for a montage in last night's snooker coverage. It's very 'I Kissed An Girl But I Didn't Like It' but Adam pulls it off better than Katy IMO.

[graciousviv.livejournal.com]

Am so glad Ms Keys ha released this one. Has definitely grown on me.

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

That Alicia song is SO GOOD. I keep meaning to write about it but work insists on being there.

[askbask.livejournal.com]

The Alicia song struck me as the best ever the first 10-20 listens, but it's sort of lost its impact. It's very very pretty but also a little too much on the slick side for the love to last. Still, it should be a big UK hit.

[koganbot]

Everything seems old this week, not even mentioning the Billy Joel, which is officially old. But then so am I, and am sorta lazy-on-the-wrong-side-of-the-bed in my ratings.

Roll Deep "Good Times": Rote Eurohouse, pretty enough, seems to have a rap as well. BORDERLINE TICK.

Glee Cast "Like A Prayer": Pretty enough, consecutive karaoke, and even though it lacks personality, the arrangement rolls it along. But I don't see any point in this outside the context of the show. </Frank's generic Glee review> BORDERLINE NONTICK.

Marina And The Diamonds "I Am Not A Robot": Her style's a big tease, "Am I going to let down my hair down or not? Or am I perpetually going to just play around with these stylizations?" Glimpses of spark and fury. As I said, a tease. Gets to me. TICK.

Lady Antebellum "Need You Now": Drunk dialing and sinking into emotions, this song just layers you in its liquid, has been doing it for nine months now. IT'S A QUARTER AFTER 1:00 I'M ALL ALONE AND I TICK YOU NOW.

Alicia Keys "Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart": The nervy young woman who touched me with "Fallin'" seems long gone. This feels like an exercise, perfectly executed, and it reaches me anyway, but I'm not going to be always in love with it, won't stick with it right 'til the end. TICK.

Alexandra Burke "All Night Long": Pretty enough, but I'm not feeling much, just an abstract pretty enoughness, so maybe not pretty enough. NO TICK.

Train "Hey Soul Sister": Comfortingly mediocre. (Not that it comforts me, but I'm just visiting here from a different galaxy. Don't mind me.) NO TICK.

Jason DeRulo "Ridin' Solo": Pretty enough. Well, not quite, gets lost in the Kingston Iyaz DeRulo Jay Taio sugar glut. NO TICK.

Adam Lambert "For Your Entertainment": The thing about Adam's ebullient Idol personality was that it wasn't much of a musical identity; he'd often ham things up with his volume, his actual best performances came from restraint, but beyond that, what's his style? The studio doesn't help him on this track, which is just a subpar Luke song with Adam hitting the notes. Wonder why they even tried releasing this in the UK, with "Whataya Want From Me" waiting in the wings. NO TICK.

[matterbuggy.livejournal.com]

Alicia and Lady Antebellum just both capture that intense yearning and middle of the night hollowness so brilliantly. Two of my favorite songs so far this year.

"I Am Not A Robot" is growing on me but there's still something about Marina that I just can't connect with.