Top 10 Albums of 2007

I'm positive that my top 10 albums and movies will change over the next couple months, as I finally get fully caught up with 2007 stuff. But that's life. I was going to do all 3 of these in one post but I'll split them out to pad my post count.

Top 10 Albums of 2007
1. Britney Spears - Blackout
2. Miranda Lambert - Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
3. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
4. Aly & AJ - Insomniatic
5. Fall Out Boy - Infinity on High
6. Blake Shelton - Pure B.S.
7. Avril Lavigne - The Best Damn Thing
8. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
9. Jordan Pruitt - No Ordinary Girl
10. Kelly Clarkson - My December

Where is?:
Amy Diamond - Haven't absorbed the album enough to place it yet. Possible top 10 material, a step down from Still Me, Still Now.
Little Big Town, They Might Be Giants, Girls Aloud - Haven't heard
Tegan & Sara - 100x better than I expected, still not quite good enough. Late cut.
New Pornographers - I thought this album was extremely disappointing
Hannah/Miley - Just too much filler
Hilary Duff - Never got into it. Aside from "Play With Fire", nothing on here that grabbed me as especially memorable.
Rihanna, Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Great hits, too much filler
All indie albums except Spoon and LCD - I don't like indie music
Any rap or R&B - Just how it turned out this year. I loved Ciara last year and will probably love Cassie next year.

Comments: The Britney album stands up as extremely solid start to finish. Not only is almost every track very good (it tails off in the last few tracks), but it has a real personality as an album and it all adds up well. My favorite album since Come and Get It. I really thought Miranda would be my album of the year as I love every track on it, but it just doesn't have enough personality to push it over the top. I still think it's great.

LCD and Spoon are the indie favorites I really loved this year. Spoon especially is my favorite indie rock album in the last few years, much better than anticipated. Both are packed with great pop melodies. Is it possible to love an album and be really disappointed with it at the same time? That's my reaction to Insomniatic, where I love most of the tracks & the album so much better than I thought I would, but I don't love it in the way I'd hoped from Aly & AJ. Nothing here comes close to packing the emotional punch of "Rush" or "Not This Year", but it's great pop music anyways.

Fall Out Boy is a great pop album overlayed with electric guitar and sung by a great emo singer. Blake Shelton is hit or miss male country, but the hits ("The More I Drink", "She Don't Love Me", "This Can't Be Good") more than make up for the misses. Avril's album is my favorite by her yet, very fun. Jordan Pruitt still has an amazing singing voice and I still like the teen angst lyrics and the music is still blah. Kelly Clarkson was disappointing but very unfairly treated and still a very good album.

Album Review: Jordan Pruitt - No Ordinary Girl

I make no promises for swift updates and new content over the near future, as I am busy with work and other things. I will continue post when my muse strikes, but don't expect the posting frequency to increase any time soon. It should stay about where it's been for the last month (8 - 10 posts a month or so). (Whoops, I did just make a promise so ignore the first sentence!)

I've written a lot about these individual songs before, but how well does it all work together as an album?

Jordan Pruitt - No Ordinary Girl

I've been a big Jordan Pruitt song ever since I first heard "Outside Looking In" in July of last year, in the context of the film Read It and Weep. I expected and hoped she would be a confessional savior. And in a lot of ways, she is, even though very little of the album is in the traditional confessional musical style of "Outside Looking In". Most of the songs feature an R&B tinge to them, but all feature lyrics about teen concerns and are thus confessional in that context, plus they feature fairly traditional confessional style melodies and song structures.

It's obvious that the lyricists on this album (Jordan herself with a few others, most notably Robin Scoffield) put a great deal of effort into crafting lyrics that not only outline teen concerns but that could conceivably have been written by a teenager and that can be easily understood and interpreted. All of the lyrics take on a very conversational tone, and are extremely frank and to-the-point about their topics. The work that they put in really pays off here, because they are, in large part because of this not despite this, excellent lyrics that generally have all sorts of interesting things going on. Songs take on topics such as popular girls, waiting to get physical until the relationship grows deeper, loneliness, and inevitably breakups. But there are only 2 traditional breakup songs on here, which is greatly appreciated. The topics addressed are in addition largely dealt with all the excessive drama that the teenage years bring. For example, the title track "No Ordinary Girl": we might try to guess based on the title is about how she's special and great. However, the song states that she's "No Ordinary Girl" in the sense that she wants to wait until she knows the guy better and has true love before she gets physical. This has the perhaps troubling implication that most high school/middle school girls want to get physical before having a romantic relationship, which may or may not be true, but remember that this is a TEEN who overdramatize everything (contrast, though, with the similar triumphant kissoff song "Later"). It always seems like the whole world is against you at that age. In fact, the feeling of the whole world being against you and of loneliness and of being an outsider permeates this entire album, though it's only explicitly addressed in "Outside Looking In".

When the lyrics get to meta, and become explicitly concerned with the trials and tribulations of teenage years, they tend to falter. I greatly prefer the songs like "Outside Looking In" and "No Ordinary Girl" and "When I Pretend" that take very general and universal feelings and put a distinctive teenage/conversational spin on them. When a song like "Teenager" or "Who Likes Who" or "My Reality" though, concern themselves directly and explicitly teenage matters, I think the lyrics tend to become less on the mark to me, maybe just because I'm well above the target age for the album though.

This is a minor complaint though; the album has first rate lyrics all the way through. The other genuinely first rate aspect of the album is the singing. Jordan Pruitt is one of the best new singers I have heard in a long, long time. It's not just that she has a beautiful voice (which she does), but she's a truly gifted interpreter and performer, and she really knows how to sell the drama of the song, and how to let her voice amplify the concerns of the song. On a song like "No Ordinary Girl", her voice sounds forceful and assured, but listen to the absolutely heartbreaking twang to her voice on "Outside Looking In" or her lifting, lilting voice on "Jump to the Rhythm". This girl is a real pro, and I anticipate/hope that this is far from the last we're gonna hear from her.

The music on the album is the (relative) weak point. They do "beautiful" extremely well as "Outside Looking In" and "When I Pretend" and "Waiting For You" are genuinely beatiful songs in an absolutely heartbreaking way. All three of those songs kinda make me tear up (but then again I am a softie). The music to the song also appropriately scores the lyrics in an appropriat light, in for example, the bouncy fun melody of "Who Likes Who" and the more edgy music in the chorus of "Over It" and the pretty low strings in "Outside Looking In". So from that perspective, there's not much to complain about. I'm afraid my concerns about the music are much more shallow than that: the melodies just aren't catchy enough. All of the songs have some catchy hooks and melodies, but there aren't any of the just knock-you-over catchy melodies that, for example, several Hannah Montana or Hilary Duff songs sport. For this reason, the album lacks a true standout, a real like top 10 single of the year contender (even though I think I did kinda underrate "Outside Looking In" in my year end singles list last year [#34], there's no way it makes top 10). Then again, all the melodies are at least good enough to drive the song into pretty good territory, even on my two least favorite songs "Who Likes Who" and "My Reality". A lot of the melodies and musicmanship tend to be rather generic on this album too. But that being said, even if it lacks a genuinely outstanding song, it is a consistently very good album. There are plenty of catchy hooks on here...if you can listen to "No Ordinary Girl" or "Later" without getting them in your head I admire/pity you...but there's not enough consistency there. On several of the songs (such as "Over It" or "Teenager") I actually prefer the verses to the chorus, which isn't generally a good sign on a pop song, as it usually implies the chorus falls kind of flat (which they, in fact, do on those two songs).

Final Rating/Comments: It's not worldly and intelligent like Ashlee, and it's not heartbreakingly deep like Kelly, but it's not going for those things. It's overdramatic, and it's conversational, and it's shallow, and it's deep, and it's generic, and it's a big ol lyrical mess, but that's what being a teenager is like. It's a shockingly accurate portrayal of teen/pre-teen life, the most accurate one I've ever heard. These songs could have come straight from a 9th grader's diary (well, a 9th grader who was a great writer) (in a good way!). And Jordan is such a great singer. If it just had more consistently great melodies, this would be a lock for my top 10 albums of they ear. As it is, 8/10, and it may well contend for my top 10 anyways. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts here. This is so close to being the genuine confessional classic I was hoping out of her in the wake of "Outside Looking In" and I'm now more convinced than ever that there's something like that in her future.

I Am So Totally "Over It"

Today's new brand of smart, confident, self-assured solo teenpop female artist isn't bogged down by guy issues. Maybe the guy strung them along or hurt them at one point, but by now they are completely over it. How do I know this? They can't stop telling us! All three of the major solo female teenpop albums this year (maybe I'm missing some, but these are the only three I know of) contain songs called "Over It": Katharine McPhee by Katharine McPhee (in fact, "Over It" is the lead single on this album), Headstrong by Ashley Tisdale, and No Ordinary Girl by Jordan Pruitt. In this post, I will review all 3 songs.

KATHARINE MCPHEE - "OVER IT"
The Artist: Katharine McPhee, runner up on season five of American Idol, whose debut album Katharine McPhee, featuring lead single "Over It", was released in January 2007.
Songwriters: Josh Alexander, Billy Steinberg, Ruth-Anne Cunningham
She's Totally Over...: The pain she felt over a guy who leads her on while not ever really having feelings for her.

The Song: Alexander, Steinberg, and Cunningham were the exact same trio who wrote Jojo's "Too Little, Too Late" (my #14 single of 2006), and it's good to see them branch out into new and different things. Because this song is totally different, and nothing at all alike that Jojo hit. OK, clearly, as even the most casual observer could tell, the two songs are very, very similar. Kat was my favorite on American Idol 5, and not JUST because of her looks, I thought she was a great singer too. Her voice sounds a bit lifeless and generic on record, which is disappointing, and it's shrouded in electronic effects in the chorus, which I wish they hadn't done. Nevertheless, it's got a great melody, and that "Too Little Too Late" formula just works so well that it can drive at least a few more great songs. Lyrics are a bit generic, actually somewhat like a toothless Kelly Clarkson lyric. But there are some good lines in there. It's the type of song I'm a sucker for, in any event, because rather than go for a bitter "You suck and I'm over you" vibe, it goes for a subtle, wistful "I'm over THE PAIN" vibe, that has a lot of melodrama to it. Now it doesn't quite hit that lyrically, but it definitely hits it musically, which is close enough for me.

Convincingness That She Is, In Fact, Over It: 5/10. She doesn't seem to be singing with very much conviction, and she seems a bit too wistful talking about the old days. Needs a little more time.
Final Rating: 8/10
Listen: Katharine McPhee - "Over It"


ASHLEY TISDALE - "OVER IT"
The Artist: Ashley Tisdale, who was in The Suite Life of Zack and Cody and then, famously, High School Musical. Her debut album, Headstrong, was released on February 6th, and was surprisingly good. I will post more on the album as a whole later.
The Songwriters: Michael "Smidi" Smith, Ashley Tisdale, Bryan Todd
She's Totally Over...: A cheating boyfriend.

The Song: The song has extremely simple pop accompaniment to it, and is one of the less R&B and more bubblegum songs on Ashley's album. It's also one of the better songs. The central problem to this song is that the verses, bridge, and production are all rather boring without much going on. But, it's got a great chorus, great biting lyrics, and features one of Ashley's best, most assured, vocal performances on the whole album. Lyrically, it's an extremely simple account of ditching a cheating boyfriend for the web of lies, etc., but it does the job and has the right amount of bite to it. OK, but while McPhee's song is about being over the PAIN of being in a bad relationship, Ashley's is about being over the relationship itself. A subtle but key difference. Wimpy lyrics go well with the wistful melody of McPhee's song while the confident melody of this goes well with confident lyrics, so all is right with the world.
Convincingness That She Is, In Fact, Over It: 8/10. Not much doubt here that she's going back to that guy. Whereas I get the impression that McPhee would go running back if that guy ever could show he really can commit, Tisdale doesn't seem to want to go back at all. But, the vocal performance is the slightest bit weak and wavering, so it gets less than full marks.
Final Rating: 7/10. Could have been great, if they had spent more time fleshing the whole thing out.
Listen: Ashley Tisdale - "Over It" <--- For a limited time only! JORDAN PRUITT - "OVER IT" The Artist: Jordan Pruitt, a particular favorite of the TCR, whose initial album No Ordinary Girl was released on February 6, 2007.
The Songwriters: Keith Thomas, Robin Scoffield, Jordan Pruitt
She's Totally Over...: The boyfriend who broke her heart and now wants her back. Not unlike "Gone"

The Song: Like I've come to expect from Jordan Pruitt's songs, this has a nice lyrical content that's a bit more dense than it might seem on first glance. The first verse details the normal problems with the relationships (boyfriend not invested, lying, etc etc), and as that passes and they get into the chorus ("I've had enough and I'm not looking back/I'm over it, I'm over it") it seems very similar to the Tisdale song, a casting off of a bad boyfriend. But in this case, it adds a separate wrinkle, first hinted to in the chorus with the line ("You broke my heart/Gonna break yours back"), which just hints at what's to come, but leaves you wondering. Great line. Then, as the song continues on, they go into how the boyfriend wants her back, and since she's had time to reflect and now realizes he was a crappy boyfriend she's not gonna take him back. You go girl. So once again, it takes a simple concept, complicates it a little, and fills it with great lines. And Jordan is a really great singer, one of the best teenpop singers I've heard in a long, long time. The problem is, as always with non-"Outside Looking In" Thomas/Scoffield/Pruitt songs [EDIT: Actually this one is a Thomas/Kipley/Pruitt song, not Scoffield], with the melody and musicality of the song itself. It's just uninteresting and unoriginal musically. There's a great album inside Jordan, an album full of "Outside Looking In"s, but she needs to unleash it. Else, she'll just be releasing a bunch of near great, songs with great lyrics and performance to them, like this one.
Convincingness That She Is, In Fact, Over It: 10/10. The guy blew his shot. Jordan says so.
Final Rating: 6/10. Not a bad song, by any stretch, but still a bit disappointing
Listen: Jordan Pruitt - "Over It"


I will, of course, keep you apprised of any future female stars who are over things in the future. (Avril has a song called "Get Over It", but it's not exactly the same, and that's a few years ago anyways. Actually, now that I think of it, "Get Over It" and "Over It" are almost opposite titles).

Thoughts on Jump In!

I'm not going to do a full, formal review of this because there'd be almost no point, but here are some general thoughts on the newest DCOM Jump In! in no particular order:

1. Corbin Bleu, as annoying as he may be in Flight 29 Down and as little as he may have brought to the table in High School Musical, has a great deal of natural, easy charm. Keke Palmer, as expected, did a great job with the material she was given. They didn't have a crazy amount of on screen chemistry or anything, but then again they didn't totally fizzle either. They were cute together. Corbin is incredibly easy to root for as a main character, no matter how thin his character is written.

2. Having a real life father and son play father and son in a movie can be a good thing if it creates a realness to their interactions and allows the actors to be more comfortable with each other. See also Hannah Montana where Billy Ray and Miley Cyrus are both at their respective bests when working with each other.

3. You expect a certain amount of cheese and over-sweetness when watching a DCOM. And yeah, this did have some of it, but I do believe this was the least saccharine Disney Channel Original Movie that I've ever seen. There was a true sincerity and earnestness to this that is rare from one of these movies and was kind of refreshing. Even among my favorites, Life-Size was one of the silliest, cutest movies I've ever seen, High School Musical had not a single sincere or earnest bone in its body (which was its appeal in many ways), Read It And Weep certainly had some sincerity to it (probably not as much as I implied in my initial review), but was also packed with over-the-top, ridiculous comedy. Jump In! had about as little saccharine-ness as a completely cliched DCOM can have.

4. Main character is well known for doing one thing. But he really wants to do something else. He starts to secretly do it, but it's detracting from his primary skill! He must make a choice, oh no! Will he go with his friends or his heart? I'm really glad there was a DCOM with this general plot because it's so, so rare to see one.

5. I really underrated the music for this before, whoops. I took it off the hates list. "Push It to the Limit" is a good song and "Jump to the Rhythm" is just as good as the rest of the non-"Outside Looking In" Jordan Pruitt songs. Robyn Johnson and Kirk Fitzpatrick (who wrote "Jump to the Rhythm") are legit songwriters, and I'm so glad to see Diz going outside its stable of songwriters for a change (Not that Matt Gerrard and Jamie Houston aren't legit songwriters, of course). Anyways both of the songs are really catchy, 7/10 type songs. The Keke Palmer song isn't bad either.

6. The choreography in the jump ropes scene was fun.

FINAL COMMENTS/RATING: Despite an incredibly cliched plot and thin, one-dimensional characters, winning and charming performances from the leads, fun choreography during the jump rope scenes, and an overriding sincerity and earnestness make Jump In! eminently watchable as a movie. 6.5/10 and one of the better DCOM's. But below the upper tier of the movies, which still consists just of RIAW, HSM, and Life-Size as far as I'm concerned.

Final Year End Listamania

Year End Miscellany:

Contrary to previous posts I've decided to forgo a top 10 albums list this year. The reason being that I am laughably behind in album listening this year. By the time I get around to processing all of the albums there's a good chance that I'll like from this year, it will be well beyond the point at which it would be reasonable to release a 2006 year in review list. There are about 5 albums this year that I am pretty confident will make my top 10 this year, when I've finally processed all the relevant albums. They are, in approximately this order, Amy Diamond's Still Me Still Now Marit Larsen's Under the Surface Gothic Archies' The Tragic Treasury Paris Hilton's Paris and Ciara's The Evolution. You could call that a top 5, I guess, except that there are in all likelihood at least one (maybe more) albums I have yet to listen to that might make the top 5, and I'm still processing Ciara, and she might move up. I'm pretty confident in declaring Amy Diamond's Still Me Still Now as the album of the year, at this point. Top 5 artists of the year: Aly & AJ, Miley Cyrus, Dr. Luke, Amy Diamond, Fergie. Fergie, not because she made the best music of anybody not above her, but because she managed to shatter my previous extreme hatred of her prior to this year, which was a remarkable accomplishment. I'm counting Miley's TV work, which may be unfair, but it is what it is. And it's better for Aly & AJ overall if I don't count Cow Belles. I do count Aly's work on Phil of the Future because as explained I consider that to be a key part of their image, but it doesn't matter because they'd rank number 1 without it anyways. And like I said before I didn't even see 10 movies this year, but my favorite movie that I DID see was, of course, High School Musical with The Departed being the best real movie that I saw.

So congrats to Lillix, The 4400, Amy Diamond, Aly & AJ, and High School Musical for winning all the TCR awards this year.

Top 11 Things to Look Forward to in 2007

OK with all year end content out of the way, let's look forward instead of backwards and see what we have to look forward to in 2007. Unlike all the prior year in review stuff, I will confine this to the theme of my blog. So it's solely things in the entertainment media that are in a broad sense relevant to teen culture. This is for entertainment purposes only, I'm just basing this on what I know for a fact is coming out in 2007, with little research to figure out what else is gonna be out. TV and movies, for whatever reason tend to take me by surprise more than music, so there is more music on this list than the other two. OK, with those caveats, here goes:

11. Ashely Tisdale
Coming out with a new album in 2007, starring in High School Musical 2 and The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, 2007 looks like it may be an even better year for The Tis than 2006 was. She was always my favorite of the HSM stars, and while her new singles aren't outstanding, they are pretty good, and I'm certainly looking forward to seeing what she has in store for us in 2007. Her acting will, I'm sure, be excellent as always, though wasted on the cesspool that is The Suite Life

10. Jordan Pruitt - No Ordinary Girl
The full album by Jordan Pruitt promises to be a good one, as I've enjoyed all the songs she's released so far, though to varying degrees. I can only hope they are going more with the confessional sound of "Outside Looking In" than the R&B sounds of her other songs.

9. Natasha Bedingfield - Blank Canvas
Her first album, Unwritten, is not impossibly one of my top 10 albums of the 2000's, and it spawned several great singles. Including the title track, which was one of my 10 favorite singles of 2005. I have no particular reason to think that this one will be inferior to her debut, but for whatever reason I am not super psyched for this release. Still, for all my (possibly unfounded) doubts that this one will rise to the heights of her debut, I'm obviously looking forward to this release by one of my favorite current British pop stars (probably my second favorite, behind Rachel Stevens. [Hey when's her comeback gonna be?])

8. New Brie Larson Album
Contrary to the above, I'm actually not 100% sure that this is coming out in 2007. But I'm listing it anyways because I think it is and I love Brie Larson. Anyways, even though her last album wasn't great, the three tracks she's since posted on her Myspace ("Coming Around" [Greg's #28 single of the year], "Stilts and the Titanic" and a cover of "A Day in the Life") have all been better than any of the songs on her first album. This, plus the great writing on her blog, makes me extremely excited for the full new album to be released.

7. Hannah Montana
New season of the show and new songs? Awesome! I guess I'm not 100% sure that new Hannah Montana songs will be released in 2007, which is why this doesn't rank higher, but it's probably a safe assumption. The new season of Hannah Montana, presumably featuring the return of Jake Ryan and showcasing improved acting talents from the kids, promises to be superior to the first year of the show. My number 2 artist of 2006 may well by my number 1 artist of 2007 if she is able to keep up.

6. Nancy Drew
I've hardly seen a movie with more disparagingly negative comments about it prior to its release. Everywhere that I've read about it has been an attack on the proposed casting of the roles. Apparently they are cast too young or against type or whatever. I don't know and I don't care because I never have and never intend to read a Nancy Drew book. Mystery movies and books bore me. BUT, this movie stars Emma Roberts as Nancy, and Kay Panabaker and Amy Bruckner as her best friends, so I'm extremely excited for it. Kay Panabaker doesn't have much to make me excited for 2007, just this movie a mediocre looking horse movie called Moondance Alexander (that I surely will nonetheless see on opening day) and a likely straight to DVD release of an update of the Prince and the Pauper starring the Sprouse twins. A fairly weak slate, but she plus Emma make this movie one that I am marking in my calendar.

5. New Hilary Duff album
Hilary has yet to release a consistently great album, and I have no reason to think that this will be the one. But she has been a consistently great singles artist, and her two albums so far have all featured several excellent songs. Even Most Wanted had a great original ("Wake Up") and a pretty good original ("Beat of My Heart"). "Play With Fire" was amazing, "With Love" sounds pretty good, and there's no reason to think there won't be at least a couple other songs on this new album that I will absolutely love. I can't wait.

4. High School Musical 2
Well, I have my doubts that they will be able to re-capture the magic of the first movie, but how could I not be really excited for this film. Will it be as effortlessly enjoyable as the first movie? Will it spawn another single as great as "Breaking Free"? Who knows! Like I said, I have my doubts, but I certainly hope so, and I'm certainly looking forward to finding out. The whole main four of the cast is great, so if nothing else, I'm sure they will salvage entertainment out of the film.

3. Season 3 of Unfabulous
My favorite teen/tween TV show currently on the air returns for a third season this year, delayed way too long since the end of season 2. Season 2 ended on a high note with Addie and Jake getting together. I hope they can run with that and produce a season even better than they've gotten so far, propelling this into the list of the truly great shows of its type, such as Phil of the Future. OK, maybe that's not very likely. But as long as it's got Emma Roberts on board it's gonna stay one of the most entertaining shows on television.

2. New Aly & AJ album
You know what, I think I've finally written enough about them. Please though let this be their first consistently great album.

1. New Kelly Clarkson album
The number one slot on this list was a lock before the list was even drawn up. Breakaway remains, as I have noted several times before, my favorite album of the decade to this point (Come and Get It is close). The new songs that she's debuted on tour, including "Maybe" and "Anymore" have been absolutely amazing. So, I'll conveniently ignore that the most recent song she's released, a song called "Go" written for Ford, was completely mediocre. There is not a piece of entertainment media that I have ever looked forward to as much as I am looking forward to this.

Of course, I'm sure most of my favorites by year-end won't be represented on this list, but that's part of the fun! We can check how good my predictions were later.

Top 50 Singles of 2006

I said I'd wait until 2007 before I made another post, but, hell, I'm sitting at home sick and don't really have anything better to do.

Here is my list of my top 50 favorite singles of 2006. So thus, it had to be released as a single this year, and though there are some with questionable eligibility, there is no out-and-out cheating. So, no "Not This Year" et al. Maybe later I'll make a post on the songs of 2006 that would have made the top 50 but for lack of eligibility. This considers all singles in 2006, teenpop or no, so let's just set aside the blog's theme for now. Presented with minimal commentary. If you're really curious what I have to say about a song with no commentary you can noodle around the blog and you'll probably find it. Or else leave a comment or email, of course.

I want to say that this was an excellent year for singles (much better than 2005 and 2004, less strong at the top than 2003 but just as deep). I really had to squeeze to get it down to 50, and I left some great stuff out. So if a song's not listed here that doesn't mean I don't like it. Pretty much every song here is ranked lower than I feel it should be, but that's the way it is in a deep year.

TCR TOP 50 SINGLES OF 2006:

50. Toby Keith - "A Little Too Late"
Most (all?) of Toby's previous great singles have been uptempo rockin' ravers ("How Do You Like Me Now", "As Good As I Once Was"), but this is a catchy ballad! Good work Toby.
49. Kelly Clarkson - "Walk Away"
My least favorite single off Breakway, but still a great song. I would have preferred "Gone" or "Addicted"
48. CSS - "Let's Make Love and Listen Death From Above"
A really great pop song that edges out many other top 50 contenders because of its originality. For a pop song, it's not catchy enough and doesn't have good enough lyrics to merit a higher spot than this. That being said numbers 38 or so to 50 are incredibly tightly bunched.
47. Peter Bjorn & John - "Young Foks"
Sometimes the indie crowd IS right after all. That being said, this song is worse than it could be (Kogan terminology: The band is at war with their talents). I wish a proper pop band would do a cover of it. Could be rated too low by me here, but despite the great chorus + whistling, the verses and production don't seem to go anywhere really. Nevertheless I'm liking this more and more the more I hear it.
46. Aly & AJ - "Chemicals React"
Not the last time A&A will show up on this list. Lyrically below a lot of the rest of their material, but it still has plenty of evocative imagery and good lines, and of course one hell of a catchy tune. The girls can rock! Probably Aly & AJ's worst vocal performance though.
45. Jessica Simpson - "A Public Affair"
"Push Your Tush" shoulda been a single! This is a really fun song.
44. Young Joc - "It's Going Down"
May be kicking myself in a few months for putting this so low, but this is where it feels right at this time.
43. Hannah Montana - "If We Were a Movie"
Hannah in love. How cute.
42. Sara Evans - "Coalmine"
Kinda like a second rate version of "Suds in the Bucket", but "Suds" is one of my top 10 singles of the decade to this point, so...Anyways, I have a huge blindspot for Sara Evans, admittedly, so this placement may need to be taken with a grain of salt. But why was "You'll Always Be My Baby" a single over, say, "New Hometown" or "These Four Walls"? Those would both rank above this, though this is a fun song.
41. Shakira ft. Wyclef - "Hips Don't Lie"
By my estimation, the fourth best number one single of 2006 (in America). It was a good year for number ones. Now bubble with anticipation as to which three will rank above it. I'm not a big fan of Wyclef's or Shakira's voices, but they work for this song. It's all rather ridiculous, but it does work. Great horn sample.
40. Paris Hilton - "Stars are Blind"
So out of place on the album! One of several great songs on the album, there's a few non-singles that would rank ahead of this one (say "Screwed" or "Jealousy"). The pop-reggae stuff is maybe getting a bit played out, but this is pretty, and Paris' personality-less vocals actually work in its favor, I think.
39. Nelly Furtado - "Maneater"
Nelly F. reinvents herself to great results. Well to the results of a few great singles and a bunch of filler. More Nelly F. to come. This song started out much, much higher but has been falling all year. Not a whole lot of replay value. I think this is about its floor.
38. Montgomery Gentry - "Some People Change"
"Hey Country" is better, but not a single. I like the lyrics to this song, plus the chorus is a genuine powerhouse.
37. LeAnn Rimes - "And It Feels Like"
A Europe-only release, for whatever reason. Totally not country, but really good. I do like some of her country releases this year too. "Some People" was a late cut from the top 50.
36. Christina Aguilera - "Hurt"
A pretty ballad. Probably worse than "Beatutiful", but not by much. Possibly my favorite song on the disappointing Back to Basics album ("Candyman" is good too).
35. Ciara - "Promise"
Possibly ranked way too low, but I just heard this song for the first time a couple weeks ago and don't feel comfortable rating it higher at this point. Thems the breaks. Not a top 10 single of the year in any event.
34. Jordan Pruitt - "Outside Looking In"
I did half of a post on this song here.
33. Rihanna - "SOS (Rescue Me)"
I don't mind the blatant sample. They make the sample feel like a natural part of the song, which is hard to do, and plus the song has a lot more going for it than just that sample. Very catchy.
32. Meg and Dia - "Monster"
"Indiana" would be much higher, but this is the second best song on the album. And that's probably one of my top 10 albums of '06 (whoops, spoiler alert!) A great, extremely dramatic and original song. You can have your Grizzly Bear or Hold Steady or Band of Horses, these girls do indie rock better than any of them.
31. Amy Winehouse - "Rehab"
A great song on an album full of consistently great songs. Luv the lyrics and the melody. This would (probably) have been top 20 in 2004 or 2005. When it comes to modern day updates/revivals of old R&B sounds, I'll take Amy Winehouse over the Pipettes any day.
30. The Research - "Lonely Hearts Still Beat the Same"
Stylus fave is also a Greg Fanoe fave. Great lyrics and a pretty melody. The female vocalist is not a great singer, though.
29. Aly & AJ - "Greatest Time of Year"
One of the great Christmas pop songs of recent times. Of all time, really. 9/9 cutoff. All the songs ranked below this on this list are rated 8/10 (I'm a big ol softie of a grader).
28. Brie Larson - "Coming Around"
I fully admit to being an absolute sucker for this type of song: Pretty, acoustic instrumentation, cute and sweet melody, and a good female singer on top of it. Pretty good, though pretty generic, love song lyrics. Better than anything on Brie's first album. Questionable eligibility. For some reason I decided this song was eligible and "Stilts and the Titanic" wasn't. Both would have made it if both were eligible. This is kind of included to represent both, I guess. So even though neither song is individually higher than an 8/10, I cheated and moved this song higher than it really deserves. Not to say I don't love this song, because I do!
27. Hannah Montana - "The Best of Both Worlds"
Still more to come from my favorite singles artist of the year. (Aly & AJ would be very close if not ahead were "Not This Year" a single).
26. Nelly Furtado - "Promiscuous [Girl]"
A consensus seems to have developed that this is the best song on the Nelly F album, but I actually have one other rated above it (among the singles at least).
25. Morningwood - "Nth Degree"
Their best song ever, by far, and I have my doubts they'll ever make anything else so good. But yet this is great.
24. Julie Roberts - "Men & Mascara"
Nashville country song of the year. There are actually 3 country singles rated above it but they are either not country or were on albums released last year. I love Julie's voice, plus it has a really sweet, pretty melody. Like I said I'm a sucker for it.
23. Hannah Montana - "This Is the Life"
Still sad that this flopped on Radio Diz.
22. Teddybears SHTLM ft. Mad Cobra - "Cobrastyle"
Very original and awesome. I prefer it to the Robyn version, personally, though I'm not a huge Robyn fan in general.
21. Charlotte Church - "Moodswings (to Come at Me Like That)"
Charlotte Church's debut pop album had 2 great songs and this was one of them. Seems to me to be a totally underrated single. I didn't realize until the very last minute that this was even eligible this year.
20. Natasha Bedingfield - "The One That Got Away"
Questionable eligibility, but it did have a chart life on the dance charts this year, so I declare it to be eligible. One of my favorite tracks off of one of my top 10 or 20 albums of the decade to this point. Rated based off the original, spare instrumentation and not the dance remix that charted on the dance charts and is included on the album. Cheating, perhaps, but I like the original mix better!
19. Britney Spears - "And Then We Kiss"
Europe only and questionable eligibility, but a great song. Why didn't this get an American release? Whatever, it makes me really look forward to her new album (if ever made). Possibly underrated, but I didn't hear the song until really late in the year, and this is where I feel comfortable ranking it right now.
18. The Veronicas - "4Ever"
Maybe the chorus of the year, but it doesn't seem to have much else going for it. The verses, production, and lyrics don't seem to be adding anything to the song for me.
17. High School Musical - "Breaking Free"
The TCR was, of course, far from immune from the HSM phenomenon this year. This is the best song from the film by far. I love the "Stick to the Status Quo" number in the movie, but it feels oddly lifeless on record. Rated too high because I also love the movie? I dunno. But come on, isn't "We're breaking free/SOA-ring/FLY-ing" one of the great moments in pop this year? I believe it is.
16. Fergie - "Fergalicious"
Like the Morningwood, this is the only song by this artist that I really love. Actually I hated it at first (I have a long history of hating Black Eyed Peas and Fergie, and I hated "London Bridge"). But one day as I was listening to it on the radio, it just clicked for me for whatever reason. Anyways, I still think the general sound/lyrics Fergie is going for is uninteresting, but she's perfected it here. Best music video of the year, as well. Musical acts with only one great song: Morningwood, Fergie, Anna Nalick ("Breathe (2AM)"), Sixpence None the Richer, Delta Goodrem ("Electric Storm").
15. T.I. - "What You Know"
Rap single of the year in what seems to me a pretty weak year for rap music. Like all of the other songs rated 11-16, it really pains me to leave this out of the top 10.
14. JoJo - "Too Little, Too Late"
JoJo has a breakthrough success with an R&B song with teen confessional lyrics. This makes me very happy. The album was a letdown, and "Leave (Get Out)" is still better.
13. Nelly Furtado - "Say It Right"
From the first time I heard Loose, this pretty ballad was my favorite song on it. My opinion has yet to be swayed on this, and I'm thrilled it's caught on with radio like "Maneater" never did. I bumped this out of the top 10 at the very last minute.
12. Camera Obscura - "Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken"
This was in my top 10 for most of the year until some better songs pushed it out. "Let's Get Out of This Country" was a late cut from the top 50. This is the indie band of the year. At least, defining "indie" in the way it is commonly used.
11. Texas Lightning - "No, No Never"
My favorite Eurovision entry this year by far, and my favorite in years. I wish their album had more original songs, or at least that the other original songs were this good. Anyways, German country music! This plays as almost a pastiche of country music, but it works to me, because of the pretty melody and good vocals.
10. Hilary Duff - "Play With Fire"
Hilary rips off Rachel Stevens and Greg rejoices. Hilary has now had one of my top 10 singes of the year for at least 3 years in a row ("Wake Up" in the bottom reaches of the top 10 in 2005 and "Come Clean" number 1 or 2 in 2004). I say "at least" because in 2003 "So Yesterday" would be close but that was such a great year for singles I think it would probably be left out of the top 10. But it would get top 10 consideration. The nearly spoken-word bridge is my favorite part of the song.
9. Paris Hilton - "Nothing in this World"
The best song on Paris' album. Dr. Luke proves himself again to be a genius.
8. All-American Rejects - "Move Along"
Rock song of the year. Fun video. I don't know or understand why "Dirty Little Secret" was a bigger hit, because this is a much better song. Good work AAR. This is the 10/10 cutoff, P-Hilt gets a 9 (would be a 10 but I don't like the "da da" part. And realistically it's like a 9.5). This 10/10 cutoff is incosistent with a previous post, but I decided I was rating too harshly there.
7. Carrie Underwood - "Before He Cheats"
The best song on her debut album, by far (though I like the album). So awesome. Proves that American Idols can flat out rock better than any Chris Daughtry song ever could. A genuine surprise, given that she did almost all country ballads on the show. This is one of the very few American Idol contestants I like better off the show than I liked on the show (though I also liked her on the show).
6. Hannah Montana - "I Got Nerve"
Possibly my favorite melody of the year, and Miley's a great singer. But it doesn't have much going for it lyrically and the production is nothing to write home about. But seriously, I could just listen to this melody all day long.
5. Marit Larsen - "Only a Fool"
2-5 are so awesome and so close in quality (at least rated based on how much I like them). I spent way too long sorting them out. It's nearly a coinflip as to the order of the songs. I really hate to rate this number 5, but I don't like it better than any of the above songs and it lost out on tiebreakers. Would have been comfortably number 2 in 2005 (not as good as "I Said Never Again (But Here We Are)", but well ahead of anything else released that year). Country song of the year.
4. Beyonce - "Irreplaceable"
Beyonce's best single. In a year full of great R&B ballads, this was the best. Tiebreaker for this over "Only a Fool" is lyrics. Though I like the lyrics to "Only a Fool" too.
3. Aly & AJ - "Rush"
Frank et al have convinced me that it deserves eligibility this year. Whatever year it's counted in, it's amazing. Tiebreaker over "Irreplaceable" is my fasciation with/love of Aly & AJ in general. Plus bonus points for "Not This Year"s non-inclusion. Oh plus I love the first half of the first chorus.
2. Amy Diamond - "Don't Cry Your Heart Out"
When 2-5 are absurdly close, as they are here, a good tiebreaker to move this to the top of the heap is that this is probably the song that I have listened to the greatest number of times in 2006. When I've heard a song that many times and still love it so much, that means something.
1. Lillix - "Sweet Temptation (Hollow)"
I've said numerous times that this is my favorite single of the year, so maybe that takes ome of the surprise out of this selection. A discrete chunk above the 2-5 cluster as the single of the year. My top 3 this year were all teenpop songs, which strikes me as odd, but that's just how it played out.


Explaining some exclusions:
Cassie, Scissor Sisters, Knife, Pipettes - All very meh to me. I still fail to understand the appeal of The Knife. "Your Kisses are Wasted on Me" is the only Pipettes song that received even the barest consideration, and even then it was a pretty early cut.
Justin T, Gnarls, Killers, "LDN" and "Who Said" were all late cuts but I like the songs.
"Not Ready To Make Nice" is not one of my 10 favorite Dixie Chicks songs. It's one of the better songs on their album, but it's probably my least favorite of the Chicks 4 major label studio albums. The love of the song, methinks, depends too strongly on factors external to the song itself. Not that it's inherently bad for the song to exist in an outside context, but the song itself doesn't do anything for me. I don't like the chorus at all and, yeah, the lyrics are good but if the music doesn't grab me, what's the point. And now I'm trying to be told this is the career masterpiece by a band that has "Travelin' Soldier" and "Goodbye Earl" in its catalogue? Puh-leeze.
"Kick, Push" will probably ultimately make my top 50 of the year, but I only just heard it for the first time a day or two ago and didn't feel comfortable including it right now. Not sounding like top 20 material at this point (too repetitive), but I like it.

I just realized that this list only has 10 songs with male vox on it (not counting Morningwood)! And only 9 if you half-count "Breaking Free" and "Hips Don't Lie". But whatever, I'm not going to shove in male vocalized songs that I like worse just to force an artificial balance. Still, it does make me think.

Have a Very Merry Teenpop Christmas

Jordan Pruitt and the TCR wish you all Happy Holidays.

Day 13 of the TCR Christmas Extravaganza (final day)

Well, this is it for me this year. My blog is going on a break until the new year, whence I will commence with brief year-in-review content, then go on to my usual blatherings. To close it out, I will present the OFFICIAL TCR TEENPOP CHRISTMAS MIX for all to listen to.

Not much commentary because it's basically composed of all the songs I've written about plus a few bonus tracks.

Very Merry Teenpop Christmas

1. Ali Lohan - "Lohan Holiday"
2. Hanson - "Everybody Knows the Claus"
3. 'N Sync - "Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays"
4. S Club 7 - "Perfect Christmas"
5. B2K ft. IMX - "My First Christmas"
6. Mariah Carey - "All I Want for Christmas Is You"
7. Cheetah Girls - "Five More Days 'Til Christmas"
8. Girls Aloud - "I Wanna Kiss You So (Christmas in a Nutshell)"
9. Aly & AJ - "Greatest Time of Year"
"Not This Year" is a better song, but it does have anti-Christmas lyrics. This is a happy album! Plus this is a great song too.
10. Hilary Duff - "Santa Claus Lane"
11. Christina Aguilera - "This Christmas"
12. Crazy Frog - "Jingle Bells"
Not the best song, but it wouldn't be a teenpop Christmas album without a cover of an extremely inane Christmas carol, now would it!
13. Skye Sweetnam - "Why Doesn't Santa Like Me"
h/t Cure for Bedbugs
14. Wham - "Last Christmas"
So frequently covered it had to be included, plus it's a good song. And Wham! was a teenpop band back in their day

No "Santa Don't Stop" because I couldn't find the mp3 to download anywhere! Boo! Of course, it would certainly have been included on this album (and would have been one of the better songs) if I had been able to find the mp3.

More Christmas Leftovers

Day 12 of the TCR Christmas Extravaganza

Last post covered the leftover albums, this post covers the leftover songs.


Britney Spears - "My Only Wish (This Year)"
I like Britney's work a lot, of course, and I've noticed a few pop people talking this up. I had high hopes for it. But dear God this sucks ass. Really cheesy lyrics & cheesy melody. Not that there's anything inherently wrong with that, but the lyrics are almost a direct ripoff of "All I Want For Christmas Is You" (only worse), and the melody just isn't catchy enough. Needs a little bit more oomph to the melody, or a better backing track or just SOMETHING more than what it has. As it is, it's just barely there. One to pass on.
Youtube: My Only Wish (This Year)

Crazy Frog - "Last Christmas"
I've noticed that "Last Christmas" is a pretty common cover fodder for this teen/tween bubblegum crew. But I've yet to hear a really essential version of it (including the Wham! version, actually). This one certainly doesn't qualify. It's basically the normal song sung by a disco/Europop singer, with with a disco/Europop beat behind it. Random Crazy Frog interjections throughout the song. Very half-assed.
Youtube: Last Christmas

'N Sync - "Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays"
This is a very upbeat song, and not a ballad as I expected it to be. This was the debut single off of their Christmas album, which was mostly mediocre. This, however, is a pretty good song. Not the best 'N Sync single, not by a long shot, but not a bad song either. The main hook in the chorus is good. Extremely generic lyrics, like the title would imply, which hurts the song but not irreparably so. References to snow, Santa, bells, family, "wonderful feeling", God, "gifts under the tree". Features a gospel choir towards the end. So yeah, like I said quite generic, but the hook in the chorus is good enough to justify the existence of the song, if not to make it a classic. One of the better teen pop Christmas songs.
Youtube: Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays

Hanson - "Everybody Knows the Claus"
This was the main original track off of Hanson's now forgotten Christmas album Snowed In, which was released in late 1997, right at the height of their popularity. It's your typical quick cash in album, featuring a rather uninspired slate of 8 covers and 3 originals, only one of which I was able to track down. The covers, of what I heard, are pleasant enough, though rather generic. Where Hanson's originals are concerned, I of course like "MmmBop" and I still have a soft spot for "Where's the Love". This doesn't stack up to those, but it's not BAD per se. This song is very much in the style of Hanson's other hits, and is an obvious grab at recreating their popularity. But like most of their tracks it's got a nice guitar sound and a nice melody in the chorus. The melody in the chorus does fall a bit flat, but it's still enough to get stuck in your head. And you can say what you want about the lyrics, but they certainly aren't generic. The lyrics are about how Santa loves food and is fat. Sample: "Don't you smell the cookies he's bakin'/Can't you see that belly, its shakin'/Don't take a cookie off of that pan/You don't want to mess with this man." A fairly inspired idea for a song, and the execution makes the lyrics quite silly. So while the song doesn't really seem to go anywhere in particular, it's a worthy entry into the teenpop Christmas canon.
Can't find anywhere to listen to it for free online.

Hannah Montana - "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree"
For the Cheetah Girls, Aly&AJ, and Hilary Duff, they went the route of doing a full Christmas album filled with catchy original tracks. The original tracks on both of those albums are right up there with anything else they've done. For Hannah Montana, apparently, they are just doing one single cover song, rather than a whole album. At least for this year. They are going for a really rocked out arrangement on this, it's far more rock than anything that's on HM's album. To be honest, while I love HM's voice, it's not very well suited to this type of singing. I wish they would stick with the mid-tempo to up-tempo pure pop songs, because man does her voice sound amazing on those. But when you get a song like a dance song or a rock song that requires her to inject a bit of edge to her voice, in my opinion, she lacks the strength of voice to pull it off. Not only that, but the song itself isn't one of the best Christmas songs out there. Hopefully this will quickly fade away & be forgotten so that Miley can move on to what she can actually do well at. Nice electric guitar sound on the production though.
Youtube: Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree

S Club 7 - "Perfect Christmas"
Like the Hannah Montana single above, this was basically a bonus track for the fans, not on any of their actual albums, and not on a Christmas album of any sort. Unlike that track it's an original track, and not a cover. They've gone for a slow ballad for this take, sung mostly by Rachel and Jo, two of the females in the group. The vocals of the males in the group can barely be heard on this, even on the big harmonized chorus. Like a lot of the other songs I've reviewed (too many, if you ask me) this isn't a Christmas song, so much as a love song that mentions Christmas in the lyrics. So yeah, like "All I Want for Christmas Is You" it's about how she really just wants to spend Christmas with her beau, and the lyrics are rather generic and unremarkable. But, it's got a really great melody, and overall it's a rather pretty song. Catchy chorus, with very nice harmonies, and Rachel & Jo really nail the verses too. The instrumentation is rather spare, but I like what they've done with the percussion and strings a lot. A good pop ballad.
Youtube: Perfect Christmas

Jordan Pruitt - "Santa Don't Stop"
Well, I like Jordan Pruitt a lot, as previously stated, especially "Outside Looking In". I even like her cover of "We Are Family". So when I heard that she had a new Christmas song out written by the same team who wrote "Outside Looking In" and (the also good) "Teenager" (and "Jump to the Rhythm" too), I was very excited to hear it. The lyric to this song describes how Jordan's boyfriend has wronged her, and thus doesn't deserve any presents. "Someone's been a really bad boy this Christmas/Someone's been acting more naughty than nice/Santa don't stop to give him toys/Someone's been a really bad, a really bad boy". The verses go on to explain how he broke her heart, etc. Good lyrics, and a lyrical concept that I don't believe I've ever heard in another Christmas song. I'm starting to really like Robin Scoffield as a lyricist. That being said, I'm slightly distressed to see that this continues along the R&B lite track of "Teenager" rather than the confessional track of "Outside Looking In". Though it's not out and out R&B like "Jump to the Rhythm" is. That doesn't mean it's a bad song, because it isn't, but just that I was hoping Jordan Pruitt was gonna be the new confessional savior, which it's now clear she won't be. I guess "Outside Looking In" was a one shot deal. Nothing really Christmas-y about the production, either. Anyways, despite the previous, good lyrics, a very catchy chorus, and a nice guitar underlying the production make this the best Christmas teen pop song reviewed in this post yet (OK, maybe "Perfect Christmas"). I was a bit let down by "Jump to the Rhythm", but I'm starting to look forward to that album more and more. Very similar to "Teenager", actually (although I think "Santa Don't Stop" is better), so if you liked that one this is definitely one to check out.
Myspace: Santa Don't Stop

Jordan Pruitt/An Open Letter to Nick

Two ideas that weren't long enough to merit their own posts, so they are being combined into one post, in an unholy alliance.

1. Some discussion of Jordan Pruitt on the teenpop thread, and I'll repeat here what I wrote there: I am really loving her song "Outside Looking In". In addition to a really nice vocal performance by Jordan Pruitt, and a nice laid-back melody, I really love the lyrics. It deals with the issue of teen rejection/loneliness (which isn't all that different from adult rejection/loneliness) in a way that totally works, and I don't think I've quite seen used in another song. Rather than attempting to paraphrase, let me quote directly from what I said on the teenpop thread:

"...one thing I really love is the "You don't know how it feels..." aspect to it. Of course, the reason the song works is that EVERYBODY knows how it feels to be on the outside looking in. But that feeling of loneliness can, in my experience, create a kind of self-pity, "Nobody has ever had to face this before me, I'm all alone" feeling. So not saying you don't know how it feels in an accusatory way (a la Tom Petty's "You Don't Know How It Feels to Be Me") but in a self-pitying way. I would guess this feeling is especially prevalent in the more self-centered teen world, which is why I think it works better as a teen pop song than it would in other genres."

Even though the verses have a really accusatory feel to them, like I said that's not how I interpret the chorus. I interpret speaking directly to her tormenters, the ones who are rejecting her, "YOU don't know how it feels..." in a way that feels just so real and raw. Not in a way of trying to blame them or make them feel bad, just trying to show them how much they've hurt her, and self-pitying as I say in the quoted passage above. I think this song is so great because virtually anybody can probably relate to the song, not just as the speaker, but also as the accused. Who here has not felt rejected/alone or made other people to feel rejected/alone? Not only that, but Jordan totally sells the vocals. Jordan's only 15, and her album comes out in early 2007, written entirely by her and her two co-writers on "Outside Looking In". I'm looking forward to it.

Jordan, on her Myspace, also streams a cover of "We Are Family", which seems to be a pretty original and pretty good one to me. In addition, she recently has started streaming a new original song, "Teenager". Definitely really different from "Outside Looking In", as it has a bubble-R&B sound rather than the confessional rock sound. Given my well documented love of the confessional rock sound, I'm obviously not too excited about this, but I still like the song. I do dig the interesting instrumentation in the chorus. Mild bonus points for featuring a totally WTF phone call bridge.

[Ethics force me to reveal I first heard "Outside Looking In" in the Panabaker film Read It and Weep.]

[Also read the reviews of "Outside Looking In" on Myspace which say the same thing I'm trying to in more poignant ways. E.g. "Hey jordan I love your song last year i went though the same thing for your song outside looking in", "i cry every time i hear it... your talking about me".]

2.
Dear Nickelodeon Executives,

Hi, my name is Greg. At the age of 24, I am aware that I am most likely above the typical age of the audience that you are targeting with your programming. Nevertheless I felt compelled to write in to express my discontent with your current programming decisions. I've noticed that you currently have four live-action original series, those being Drake and Josh, Zoey 101, Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide, and Unfabulous. I also noticed that other than Unfabulous, starring the incomparable Emma Roberts, all of these shows are terrible. The reason I'm writing is the distressing current trend that all three of the other shows, other than Unfabulous, receive daily repeats from between 5:30 to 8:30. (Please note that Zoey 101 does not repeat every weekday, just most weekdays). However, distressingly, I have yet to see a daily repeat of Unfabulous except for their weekly Sunday night airing. There are many possible reasons for this that I can think of. Perhaps since Unfabulous is an older show, you want to promote your more recent shows that have not had as much time to build up an audience. Perhaps Unfabulous has been losing viewers and is now just not as popular as the other shows; hell, maybe it was never as popular. Maybe it's because Unfabulous isn't currently airing new episodes whereas Ned and Drake are (I admit that I don't know if Zoey is currently airing new episodes). In any event, I don't really care what the reason is. I just humbly request that you air more repeats of Unfabulous in an attempt to pacify one single 24 year-old fan of a network that is self-proclaimed as a network for kids. I can also make additional programming decisions for you, if you desire.

Lots of love,
Greg