The business end of 2010.
20 - "Rude Boy," Rihanna
19 - "Whatcha Say," Jason Derulo
18 - "All the Right Moves," OneRepublic
17 - "Do You Remember," Jay Sean featuring Sean Paul and Lil Jon
16 - "Whattaya Want from Me," Adam Lambert
The second half begins with Rihanna. In spite of the title, to my ears, she's being the rude one, asking her lover frank questions like "Can you get it up?" and "Is it big enough?" However, given the questions that the male denizens of the pop charts have been asking, I think she's more than entitled to that information.
Miamian Jason Derulo is here with his debut hit with a song about wanting another chance with a girl. It's basic modern R&B with lots of keyboards and AutoTune. Nothing special
Next are OneRepublic, sounding a little more awake than on their previous hits. But unfortunately, that doesn't make them any more interesting. Honestly, Ryan Tedder's better off just writing for other people.
Then it's Jay Sean's second appearance of the week. This time, he teams up with dancehaller Sean Paul and crunk king Lil Jon on a simple "let's get back to the way things used to be" song. It's all right, but I'd probably like it with a less busy background, and with Lil Jon involved, that's not going to happen.
This section is anchored by Adam Lambert, who rose to fame as the flamboyant breakout star of the eighth season of American Idol. The entire season, he seemed like the sure winner, but was beaten in the final voting by the safer, blander Kris Allen. Was this due to the "open secret" that Lambert was gay? I don't know. What I do know is that this, his biggest hit to date, is an attiude-laden pop-rocker co-written by Pink and Max Martin, and is exactly the kind of earwormy pop you'd expect from those two. And I enjoy Lambert's voice, at least as a change of pace from the other male voices on modern radio.
15 - "Baby," Justin Bieber featuring Ludacris
14 - "Replay," Iyaz
13 - "Breakeven," The Script
12 - "Live Like We're Dying," Kris Allen
11 - "Sexy Chick," David Guetta featuring Akon
We lead off with our first encounter with one Justin Drew Bieber. Hailing from Stratford, Ontario, he first gained notice when videos of his versions of R&B hits became popular on YouTube. This attracted the attention of music industry reps, and eventually Usher, who helped launch his recording career. His first U.S. Top Ten was this simple song about the end of a first teenage romance. He sings it well with his pre-cracking voice, and Ludacris' rap is entertaining and age-appropriate. Honestly, I'm not familiar enough with most of his music to really judge him as an artist, but this is a solid bit of teenybop fodder.
Iyaz, a native of the British Virgin Islands born Keidran Jones, had his first and biggest hit with this song that compares his girlfriend to a defective iPod. And yes, that's a compliment. It's more romantic than it sounds, but not much.
Next are Ireland's The Script with their biggest U.S. hit to date, a gentle soft-rocker about how sometimes one party in a breakup takes the separation much harder than the other. It's sorta snappy, but not something that really sticks with me.
Then it's Kris Allen, the clean-cut Arkansan that saved America from having a gay Idol. However, America then turned around and bought twice as many copies of Lambert's album than Allen's. Go figure. Anyway, this was his only hit, a cover version of a song by none other than The Script. It's a meh pop rocker about seizing the moment and such. Nothing great, nothing terrible.
Last in this bunch is French DJ David Guetta with his breakthrough U.S. hit, a catchy bit of technodance featuring Akon singing about a hot woman like he usually does. I have a feeling I'd like this better if it was an instrumental. That's the best way I can describe this song without being disrespectful.
Before the cream sets out too long, you must Top Ten.
10 -"Blah Blah Blah," Ke$ha featuring 3OH!3
Raised in L.A. by her songwriter mom, Kesha Rose Siebert added a dollar sign to the spelling of herr name and became a pop star whose styles of singing and dress can be describelld in many ways, but for now, I'll go with "distinctive." Her second hit, on which she's assisted by electronic group 3OH!3, sees her telling a would-be suitor that she doesn't want to spend any of their time together talking. Or in her words, "Don't be a little bitch with your chit-chat, just show me where your dick's at." She's a classy one, she is.
9 - "Need You Now," Lady Antebellum
This country group (only one member of which is an actual lady) had their biggest pop crossover hit to date with this midtempo ballad about a separated couple who still often feel the need for each other's company when they're alone late at night, A little too polished perhaps, but a classic country topic tackled very well. Maybe not quite George and Tammy, but I have it well above Kid Rock and Sheryl.
8 - "Carry Out," Timbaland featuring Justin Timberlake
This similarly-named duo team up on a song that compares asking for sex to ordering takeout food. And no, this isn't more romantic that it sounds. But still fun in a silly way.
7 - "In My Head," Jason Derulo
Derulo's second hit is a much catchier, more beat-driven track about trying to win a girl by visiualizing her being with him. I'm not sure if this has anything to do with that Law of Attraction/The Secret stuff, but anyway, I like it.
6 -"BedRock," Young Money featuring Lloyd
This teamup of Young Money Entertainment rappers Lil Wayne, Gudda Gudda, Nicki Minaj, Drake, Tyga and Jae Millz is basically a variation of a cheesy old Fred Flinstone-based pickup line, featuring a hook performend by singer Lloyd Polite, Jr. I like this in spite of myself.
5 - "Imma Be," The Black Eyed Peas
These guys at their worst. Annoying track, terrible rapping, horrible lyrics like "Imma be ya bank, I be loanin' out semen." Even a midsong tempo changes can't make this anything less than a hunk of tuneless garbage. An epic fail, as the kids say.
4 - "Bad Romance," Lady Gaga
The Lady continued her run of hits with this dark, snarling track about craving affairs with men who aren't good for her in the long run. As usual, hard to get it out of your head once it's in there. "Rah, rah, ah ah ah," indeed.
3 - "According to You," Orianthi
Greek-Australian guitarist Orianthi Panagaris began attracting attention from major industry players in the mid 2000s, and in 2008 was tapped to play lead guitar for Michael Jackson during his planned 50-show residence in London. Those shows never happened, but Orianthi did attract attention with her appearances in This Is It, the movie compilation of footage from rehearsals for those shows, and she followed it up with a hit of her own, this song about how a new love likes all the things about her that her ex didn't. It's cool, semi-tough chick rock, and she displays her guitar chops on a solid solo. She hasn't done anything on the charts since, but she has landed on her feet as the touring guitarist for Alice Cooper. But I hope she gets some acclaim and success with her own future work as well. She seems like a talent that should be more than just a one-hit wonder.
2 - "Tik Tok," Ke$ha
Her breakthrough hit was noisy techno that features her singing horribly off-key even with the help of AutoTune. It's a weird song, in that it sounds like there's a catchy tune in there, but it almost sounds like the recording is defective., or the tapes were left out in the sun or something. I get how this was a hit, and yet at the same time I don't. And I don't think any dentist would recommend Jack Daniel's as a toothpaste alternative.
And the biggest song in the USA three years ago was...
1 - "Telephone," Lady Gaga featuring Beyoncé Her Gaganess got some help from another superdiva on this party-starter about not wanting to be bothered by a suitor while one is out clubbing with the girls. The woman just was just hitting all the pop sweet spots, and was rewarded accordingly.
Next time: 2011. We're almost home.
No comments:
Post a Comment