Four Points on New Music

Four thoughts on new music, none of which deserve their own post.

1. Lucas Grabeel - "You Got It"
Comments: WHAT THE HOLY HELL???? This was on the Radio Disney Top 30 countdown. But they didn't seriously play it on the radio did they? This song is so insane, and it's not at all what I would have expected as the debut single of a High School Musical artist. It's 20 seconds of music stretched over 4:30! It's definitely not good, but it's just as definitely really interesting. I just can't get over how insane this song is. No rating.

2. Vanessa Hudgens - "Sneakernight"
Comments: Her debut single from her second album, as recently released to Radio Disney. And I have to say it's really generic. It's like a bad version of Kat McPhee's "Open Toes". I guess generic isn't too bad if it's catchy enough or if the vocals are good enough, but it sounds to me like she's phoning it in and there's no hook to speak of. This song is just kind of boring, and actually I think it's kind of bad. There's still hope though. I didn't really like "Come Back to Me", but I ended up liking her first album just OK, and I absolutely loved/love "Say OK" (it ended up being my #16 single of 2007, but easily could have been top 10). Still, this is extremely disappointing, and she's capable of a lot better.

3. Cassie - "Official Girl"; "Thirsty"; "In Love with the DJ"; "Turn the Lights Off"
Comments: OMG, 4 of the 6 or 7 songs that have leaked from the Cassie album are completely amazing, and the others are pretty darn good too. But seriously, whichever of these four songs that are released as singles will contend for top 10 singles of the year. "Turn The Lights Off" and "In Love with the DJ" we all knew from last year. "Thirsty" and "Official Girl" both were released/leaked this year as far as I know and I'm amazed to say they are just as good! In fact, "Thirsty" is probably my favorite song of the year to this point. There's a decent chance this album will rank as my album of the year if it is in fact ever released and assuming all 4 of these songs are all on it.

4. Ashlee Simpson - Bittersweet World
Comments: As it stands right now this is the best album I've heard this year, and by a pretty fair margin. I'm thinking now it's a lock for top 5 of the year if not higher, but who knows how it will age over time. I haven't put a ton of work into listening to most of the lyrics yet, but the music is so awesome . I love the way the songs bounce effortlessly from bouncy fun ("Outta My Head") to R&B stormer ("Boys") to hilarious send-up ("Rule Breaker") to confessional masterpiece ("Little Miss Obsessive") to beautiful ballad ("Never Dream Alone"). It bounces and it bops and it dances and it makes you dance and it makes you think and it makes you cry. The way it bounces along from song to song in a completely bonkers but also completely real way is just incredibly impressive. Ashlee loves to experiment, apparently, and a vast majority of the experiments work. The only songs I don't love are "Hot Stuff" (very funny, but I don't dig the music) and "What I've Become". "Little Miss Obsessive" is right up there for my favorite single of the year so far (either that or "No Air" or "Official Girl"), and "Never Dream Alone" seriously made me tear up the first time I heard it. I was driving in my car at the time and almost had to pull over. I could and maybe will write a whole post just on that song. Anyways, I love the album and highly urge my readers to check it out.

JustMuxtape

Since the "muxtape" site is popular right now, I decided to make a muxtape for one of my friends who just listens to a lot of indie and alt-country. So basically it's a mix of indie friendly pop. I figured I could post it here, and since this is my blog I'll include commentary. The muxtape is here: http://miserlou22.muxtape.com/. Just click on a song title to listen to the song.

Track List:
1. Amy Diamond - "Domino"
Comment: This my favorite song off of the semi-underrated third Amy Diamond album. And since "Stay My Baby" was just outside my top 10 last year, that means I like it a lot. The album wasn't that good, and it was far inferior to her second album, but it had a few really good tracks, including this driving up-tempo number with a killer chorus. I also like the main instrumental riff a lot.

2. Dido - "Hunter"
Comment: Ah, pleasant, sweet-voiced female music. Will your charms ever cease to grab me? Although I'm not generally a big Dido fan, this is one of my top 5 favorite songs in that "genre" of this decade, and it's definitely my favorite Dido song. It's really pretty and catchy and I like Dido's voice. Basically, it's a better version of "White Flag", which is a pretty good song as is.

3. Natalie Imbruglia - "Intuition"
Comment: I've previously written about this song. It's not my favorite Natalie (it's probably not in my Natalie top 10), but it's really good, and it's the one that fit in best on the mix. The problem is that Natalie's style is so distinctive that she doesn't fit well on a standard mix. It's so sunny! Natalie is usually best in desperate, pretty longing mode, but this is one of her better relentlessly upbeat songs. It's kind of cheesy but I love Natalie and I love this song.

4. Blake Shelton - "She Don't Love Me"
Comment: One of my 10 or 20 favorite songs of last year, but I haven't really talked about it because it was never a single. I really like the central lyrical conceit, and the chorus is very catchy. Plus, Blake gives a great vocal performance.

5. Sheryl Crow - "Can't Cry Anymore"
Comment: This is a standout album track from her first album, Tuesday Night Music Club. The stuttering guitar and rambling, talky melody in the verse makes the song roll along nicely. The song doesn't go anywhere necessarily but it floats into the background, and the lyrics are really weird!

6. Rachel Stevens - "Funky Dory"
7. Darren Hayes - "Crush (1980 Me)"
Comment: I'd imagine that almost anybody reading my blog would already know these two songs. But, I'm sure my friend Rich doesn't know them, and they are two of my favorites of this decade. "Funky Dory" is very sleek and "Crush" is just so unabashedly poppy and catchy. I have found that "Funky Dory" holds up better than any other Rachel Stevens, excepting "I Said Never Again (But Here We Are)" and "Sweet Dreams My L.A. Ex".

8. Miranda Lambert - "Guilty In Here"
Comment: Like the Blake Shelton, this is a superior album track from 2007. Actually, I included it on my top 10 songs of the year list to Poptimists. This was one of the most acclaimed tracks of last year, and I don't have much to add to the acclaim. Miranda is a great singer, and the lyrics to this song are really good. It was the best country song released last year, and one of the top 10 of the decade.

9. Connie Francis - "Stupid Cupid"
Comment: I guess there wasn't really any reason to include this on the mix. But, it's one of my favorite 1950's hits, and I think it sounds really modern compared to most of the stuff that gets played on oldies radio. It has one of the best all time melodies and awesome lyrics! Any pop fan should know this song, it's one of the early songs that set the template for pop music to come.

10. that dog - "Every Time I Try"
Comment: The purpose of this mix was to provide indie friendly pop for my friend to enjoy, but I threw him a bone and included a genuine indie song. That dog were the first band who I ever saw in concert, opening for The Wallflowers, and I loved them when I heard them. This album was one of the very first I ever bought and was one of the first pieces of music I really loved. It's a key part of my musical autobiography. So, obviously I have a very personal connection to it, and I love this driving, pretty ballad. It's probably my third favorite song on the album, behind "Retreat from the Sun" and "Minneapolis" (which is probably my favorite indie rock song of all time). But it's very poppy and has really good piano, even if the indie guitar does get a little tiresome.

11. Jaci Velasquez - "On My Knees"
Comment: I've slowly been reacquainting myself with my past of listening to contemporary Christan music. Most of it wasn't that good, but I've previously repped for a couple ones that hold up (Point of Grace - "Circle of Friends" and Amy Grant). Other than the very best of Amy, this testament to the power of prayer is probably my favorite contemporary Christian song. It's really pretty and Jaci is a really good singer. When she lets her voice loose at the end it's awesome! I love the way the pre-chorus builds up into insanity, and then it flows into the more subdued chorus. But then the chorus gets crazy too! This holds up with the best ballads of Celine and Mariah, and if it wasn't a Christian song I think it would be similarly remembered today.

12. Third Eye Blind - "In The Background"
Comment: I decided to close the mix with my favorite Third Eye Blind song. It's very simple, but, like the title implies, it fades into the background nicely and is pretty and pleasant. I realize that these may sound like insults to some people, but I like those qualities in songs! This is one of the best rock ballads of the 90's.

A Peek through the RD Top 30

I have not listened to Radio Disney in several months. Checking the top 30 I noticed many songs I haven't heard. Let's see what I'm missing...

1. Jonas Brothers - "When You Look Me In The Eyes"
Did I Already Know It: Yes
Review: Actually, this song has generated some airplay on one of the local top 40 stations, and is slowly climbing up the Billboard Hot 100 (currently #27). And I have absolutely no idea why, cause it sounds pretty damn boring to me. Actually, you know what it sounds like? A teen pop Rascal Flatts. And I don't think anybody needs that. 3/10

2. Miley Cyrus - "See You Again" <--Still no official video! Did I Already Know It: Of course. Review: Yeah, I like the song. 10/10

3. Aly & AJ - "Like Whoa"
Did I Already Know It: Yes
Review: This is a superior track from Insomniatic, which was one of my favorite albums of 2007. There's a few other tracks on the album that I like more ("Potential Break Up Song", "Division", "Like It or Leave It"), but this is still a fun and catchy song. Also, I like the video. It's really sassy. This will contend for top 25 of the year. 8/10.

4. Chris Brown - "With You"
Did I Already Know It: Yes
Review: This was a Billboard Hot 100 number one hit, and it has crossed over apparently into Radio Disney. This strikes me as a basically mediocre R&B ballad. I dunno why anybody would listen to this over, say, Ne-Yo or "No Air". But it's not bad I suppose. 6/10.

5. Miley Cyrus as Hannah Montana - "Rock Star"
Did I Already Know It: Yes
Review: I think this song is pretty good, though not as good as it could be, but the fact that they've gotten this far means that maybe they've dipped a bit too far into the singles well on the Hannah Montana 2 soundtrack. I mean, this is, what, the 8th or 9th single from it? Some songs were just destined to be pretty good album tracks. 7/10.

6. Sara Bareilles - "Love Song"
Did I Already Know It: Yes
Review: People who know my tastes will not be surprised at all to hear that I love this single. It's just that type of sweet piano based female BS that I always seem to go for. And what's more it's one of the best songs of its type in this decade (behind some TashBed and "Breathe (2AM)" and maybe "Whie Flag"). But it's pretty and catchy and has good lyrics and even though it's been ridiculously overplayed it still hasn't really diminished for me. A possible top 10 of the year entrant. Awful video though. 9/10.

7. Taylor Swift - "Teardrops on My Guitar (Pop Remix)"
Did I Already Know It: Yes
Review: I've never been as big a fan of this song as some other people are, and I like the pop remix even less than the original mix. I'm glad it's catching on on pop radio, if that's a sign that it's OK to play country on top 40. But as an actual song it's kinda boring, and the plainly emotional lyrics kinda go nowhere. A little too weepy for me. 6/10.

8. Selena Gomez - "Cruella De Vil"
Did I Already Know It: Yes
Review: This is at least the third cover of a "Cruella De Vil" by a Disney actress that I know of (the other two are by Hayden Panettiere and LaLaine). And hey this one's got a little edge to it! I like her singing and the arrangement is pretty catchy. This is a lot better than I thought it was going to be. Still, they should have released a full version of the (totally awesome) theme song to Wizards of Waverly Place first. 7.5/10.

9. Mitchel Musso - "Lean On Me"
Did I Already Know It: No
Review: OK, this is the first song on the countdown I have not heard before. And I assume it will be a cover of the classic Bill Withers tune. What I did not expect is that the nerdy kid from Hannah Montana would release a RAP single. And he is a terrible rapper. Holy crap, what a bad idea this was. Not only is this awful, I don't see how anybody could think that it is not awful. This is an embarrassment. 0/10.

10. Miley Cyrus - "Start All Over"
Did I Already Know It: Yes
Review: This was my #25 single of 2007, and if anything it was underrated there. Yeah, energetic and catchy and totally shallow. I really like the instrumental riff that plays below the chorus. Really good video too! 8/10.

11. Emily Osment - "I Don't Think About It"
Did I Already Know It: No
Review: So this is the fifth single so far out of eleven that is by a star of Hannah Montana. Like the Mitchel I have actually never heard this song. After one listen I'm convinced that it was an outtake from the Hannah Montana 2 recording sessions. It's not bad but it is highly reminiscent of a decent Hannah Montana track, and Emily's voice is not nearly as good as Miley's. Also, the track is incredibly repetitive. Despite all this, it's a decent track thanks to its catchiness. 6/10.

12. Jonas Brothers - "That's Just the Way We Roll"
Did I Already Know It: No
Review: This one is certainly upbeat, and I tend to like the uptempo JB songs more than their ballads. And this is supposed to be some kind of band theme song or something? And is that a Hanson bash I hear in the middle? Weird lyrics and pretty lame guitar riff, but the song is catchy and the vocals are decent. I have no desire to ever hear this song again. 5/10

13. Corbin Bleu - "Run It Back Again"
Did I Already Know It: No
Review: Generally, I have liked the Corbin Bleu solo career a lot more than I thought I would. And, whoa, this is a dance track! With dance-y vocal effects and everything. This is from that time travel Disney movie starring Jason Dolley that I've already forgotten the name of. But, man, this is not what I expected at all and it's pretty good. Even though I historically have bashed Corbin, his run of pretty good singles continues. Maybe I'll actually listen to his album. 7/10.

14. Raven - "Double Dutch Bus"
Did I Already Know It: No
Review: Ugh, I am not looking forward to this at all. This is a pretty standard R&B/rap song these days, with the exception that it has horrible vocals, apparently no hook. Man, it just noodles on and on with no content for minutes. I admit that I wanted to hate this song going into it, but the song does a pretty good of making me hate it on its own merits. Still it is marginally better than the Mitchel Musso track. 2/10.

15. Jordin Sparks - "Tattoo"
Did I Already Know It: Yes
Review: This was an inescapable radio hit for a few months there, and I've really really grown tired of it. There's not much to the melody or production and, yeah, Jordin's vocals are good but that doesn't go very far any more after 100 listens. It's not the song's fault that it was so overplayed, but I have to call it like I see it. And the way I see it this is a very mediocre track. 4/10.

Part 2 to come later.

Number Ones

My dad asked me to make him a CD of my all time favorite Billboard Hot 100 Number 1 singles for his birthday. I thought I'd post the tracklist here, with a touch of commentary. Note that the list skews pretty old because, well, I'm making it for my dad. If I were just listing my true favorites I'd probably swap out a least 3 or 4 of those 60s/70s tracks for 90s and 00s ones ("In Da Club", "Genie In A Bottle", and "Get Busy" seem promising).

1. Tennessee Ernie Ford - "Sixteen Tons" (1955): A great working class song and country classic. Really ahead of its time and it still sounds great today.

2. Domenico Modugno - "Volare (Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu)" (1956): A really pretty melody and unlike a lot of the great 50's pop classics this one isn't killed by cheesy production. It maintains a nicely understated musical backing and just lets Domenico let fly with that great melody.

3. The Shirelles - "Will You Love Me Tomorrow?" (1961): Another track a bit ahead of its time. Not included here because of any influence or anything, I just love the melody and the lyrics. I like the desperate neediness a lot, it really comes through in both the lyrics and the vocals. This has been one of my favorites my whole life.

4. The Tornados - "Telstar" (1962): Well I had to include an instrumental on here, and I never seriously considered anything else, though there are several other instrumental number one songs I really enjoy ("Love Is Blue", "Happy Organ", "Romeo and Juliet"). Just so futuristic and amazing. All about the melody on this one too, like I've said several times before I'm really a melody guy. Replay value is huge!

5. The Beatles - "She Loves You" (1964): I debated for a long time which Beatles song to include. For a variety of reasons (stylistic and era diversity, mostly), I ended up going with this one, my favorite of their Beatlemania period. Really underrated lyrics on this one and great vocals. And this one doesn't have the best melody of the Beatles tunes ("Hello Goodbye" is better, so is "Paperback Writer" and a few others), but it's just so happy! And the music on this one is great.

6. Nancy Sinatra - "These Boots Were Made For Walking" (1966): So awesome. What attitude on this one! Not much of a melody to speak of here, but really amazing vocals and that bass line. "Truthin". One of the most enduringly popular 60s songs, and a karaoke staple, this one is almost impossible not to love.

7. Rolling Stones - "Paint It, Black" (1966): My favorite of the Rolling Stones songs to hit number one, this one was a no-brainer to include as there was no way I could leave off the Stones. It's unfortunate that my favorite of their number ones is probably not one of my 5 or 10 favorite of their songs overall, and I do wish "Jumping Jack Flas" or "Under My Thumb" had hit number one, but what are you gonna do.

8. The Four Tops - "Reach Out, I'll Be There" (1966): Definitely the best song Motown ever produced, in my opinion. I really wanted to include a Supremes song on this, but I just like this song and the Shirelles too much more than any Supremes single, so they got bumped. Note that "Be My Baby" and "The Tracks of My Tears" never hit number one, though I may well prefer this song anyways. Amazing melody. Even better than "It's the Same Old Song" (which never hit #1).

What an utterly absurdly good year for number ones 1966 was. In addition to the 3 on this mix, there's "96 Tears", "Wild Thing", "Last Train to Clarksville", "Paperback Writer", and "Good Vibrations", all 5 of which were seriously considered at some point. And one of which ("96 Tears") was the very last song cut.

9. The Turtles - "Happy Together" (1967): One of my favorite songs of all time, and an easy inclusion. Fun and summery, beats the British Invasion bands at their own game. Yeah it's cliched, and overdone, and etc., but I still love it.

10. The Box Tops - "The Letter" (1967): Classic melody and lyrics and great scratchy vocals. This one is kind of throwaway, but it manages to pack a good punch in 2 minutes, and it's the one #1 most prone to get hopelessly stuck in my head for hours. ("Crimson and Clover" was too long to include on the mix, and I figured the downgrade from that to this was less than the cost of deleting another song entirely).

11. Shocking Blue - "Venus" (1970): This one is my silly inclusion. It's a personal favorite, and I even like it more than the Bananarama version, but I'm not going to pretend to objectively defend it. It's got ridiculous, mannered vocals, but I think they work for the song and they melody/music are undefeatable.

12. Charlie Rich - "The Most Beautiful Girl" (1973): A slick country/pop classic, that I suppose gets noted as a country song 'cause of the slightly twangy guitar. But it's just a really pretty and sweet love song. Probably my favorite song on Charlie's country classic Behind Closed Doors and probably my favorite true country #1, so it sneaks in.

13. George McCRae - "Rock Your Baby" (1974): Such an amazing midtempo ballad. Once again, there was no point where I even considered not including this. Fun fact: I don't know a single other George McCrae song.

14. The Bee Gees - "You Should Be Dancing" (1976): I really wanted to include a disco song on here, in deference to it's chart domination, and this is definitely my favorite Bee Gees number one. While that would seem to make it a slam dunk, I debated seriously between this and "Don't Leave Me This Way", and I'm still not sure I made the right decision. In any event, really nice chorus here and some real powerhouse instrumental hooks make this an amazing song.

15. Kim Carnes - "Bette Davis Eyes" (1981): Awesome, underrated power ballad here. This is the slot that really should have gone to "Total Eclipse of the Heart" (i.e. power ballad, scratchy throat female singer, drama), but man I just like this song more. Plus this came first!

16. Human League - "Don't You Want Me" (1982): Not impossibly one of my 10 favorite singles of all time. And, yeah, my dad prolly won't like it, but damnit I left "Genie in a Bottle" off for his sake and no way and I leaving both this and Xtina out. Plus it feels just wrong not to have an 80's upbeat synth song on here.

17. Prince - "Let's Go Crazy" (1984): Another easy inclusion. Like I'm gonna leave Prince off here. I really wish "Little Red Corvette" had made it to #1, and it was some debate as to whether include "When Doves Cry" or "Let's Go Crazy", but this song was picked due to a surplus of 80s ballads already otherwise included.

18. Wham! featuring George Michael - "Careless Whisper" (1985): Frickin' awesome ballad and George Michael is a really underrated songwriter. George Michael has several of my favorite number ones of the 80s but this one, with a killer downtempo melody, a powerhouse instrumental hook, and great heartbreaking lyrics is an all-time classic and a personal favorite.

19. Roxette - "Listen to Your Heart" (1989): Like "Venus", this is another silly personal favorite. But I love Roxette's female vocalist, and the music and melody is amazing on this song. This encapsulates why Roxette is one of my favorite singles bands of the late 80s/early 90s, and it's their best single to boot.

20. Mariah Carey - "Emotions" (1991): Once you get past the 80's, it's really unlikely I'll find a number one my dad will like, but it seems wrong to leave out the 90's entirely. This one is retro-sounding, which is good for my dad, and frickin awesome, which is good for me. That it's done by one of my 10 favorite artists of the 90's is just a nice added bonus. I thought picking out only one nineties hit would be hard, but this was a surprisingly easy choice.

21. Beyonce - "Irreplaceable" (2006): I've written plenty about this song on here before. I felt like the mix did need some 00's R&B representative, since I do love the genre so much, and of all my favorites, this one is the most dad friendly, so it's a pretty good default choice. Not to mention I'm loving this song more and more the more I hear it. Still hasn't gotten old.


Shocking omissions? Inexplicable inclusions? Comment, and I will defend myself!

New Pop

I heard them too late to be on my singles list, but they'd contend:

Carrie Underwood - "So Small": The debut single off of her new release, this song is a dramatic, sweeping country ballad, along the lines of "Jesus, Take the Wheel". Now, we'd all like to hear more poppy stuff like "Before He Cheats" out of her, but let's not forget that "Jesus, Take the Wheel" was a completely brilliant single as well. And, oh yeah, so is this one. The production on this is a bit cheesy and so are the lyrics, but she's an amazing singer and what an awesome melody! The type of song that can really sweep you up and carry you away, if you let yourself give into it. It's a really pretty song, and I'm so pumped for this album. [8.5 out of 10]

Girls Aloud - "Sexy! No, No, No": My favorite GA single since, oh, 2004 or so? It's a lot harder and more electro than most of their singles, and a bit less based on melody and more based on music. Those usually portend ill for me, as I tend to love songs with strong melodies, but the propulsive rhythm and vocal/musical effects make this their most infectious single in a while. It's fun, and I'm sure it would be a great dance song! I wish the clubs in America would play this song, but that's clearly never going to happen :(. [8 out of 10]

Natalie Imbruglia - "Glorious": A really pretty acoustic ballad from Natalie. OK, all of Natalie's songs sound kinda the same -- that's true, and this will win her no new fans. But I'm a previously declared fan of Ms. Imbruglia, and I really, really love this song. It's so pretty and summery! It's got a very catchy melody, and Natalie continues to be one of my 3 or so favorite vocalists in pop music today. This contends for her best non-"Torn" song. Really fun and amazing. [9 out of 10]

Potential Break Up Song

After 6 weeks of not posting, only Aly and AJ can hope to stir me enough to get a-writin' again.


(Have not yet seen Nancy Drew, and I guess I'm not alone in that. Have seen several bloggable movies lately, so maybe a compendium post or something.)


Aly & AJ - "Potential Break Up Song"

Review: Starts up with a pounding pulse that never lets out. Aly & AJ give what is, by a good margin, their best vocal performance ever. There are three melodies in this song (verse, pre-chorus, chorus) are strong enough to carry a pop song on their own. It even features some pretty neat non-vocal hooks. And yet, none of these are the best part of the song. What great lyrics! They are so evocative and emotional and they tell a real story and a sad story and they do it in a really funny way. Gut punch right from the start "It took too long for you to call back, and normally I would just forget that except for the fact it was my birthday, my stupid birthday". Brilliant! Then how after a whole song of bashing the poor guy, there's the twist at the end: It's not just a potential break-up song, it's a potential make up song too!

The song represents a significant stylistic shift from Aly & AJ, and I loved their old style, but how can I complain? Actually, I'm still a touch skeptical, but whatever, this one is good. Aly & AJ still continue to work within the strict confines of the Disney environment and expand and deepen it. I mean, seriously, compare this to other Disney fare. Compare it to other Disney fare that I truly love, like "Say OK" or "I've Got Nerve" or "Breaking Free". Diz is perfectly capable of, as in those three songs, producing a staggeringly brilliant melody and producing nicely uplifting lyrics. But this song is on a different planet from those. The level of complexity and depth in the lyrics, the level of sophistication to the music and melody are just well beyond any other Diz fare.

OK, OK, I don't want to overstate my case here. This song is no more impressive or brilliant than any of Hilary Duff's best work, but the Diz formula has changed since then and it's heartening to see that it can still produce works like this. Plus, Wikipedia lists Aly and AJ as the sole writers on this song, and if true I'm just insanely impressed that at their young age they can write such brilliant melodies and lyrics and deliver such a heartbreaking and powerful vocal performance. And a great acting job in the video!

This is a song of sweeping, stunning brilliance, and there's a pretty good chance I like it even more than "Rush" and a pretty good chance that it will be my single of the year. 10 out of 10. (I wussed out and gave this song a 9 on the jukebox).

Studyin' Orphans

Reviews of Avril, Hilary, and Miranda Lambert are forthcoming. Just need a few more listens. Meantime, here are some orphan song reviews. Songs that got me through the tough studying:

1. Point of Grace - "Circle of Friends"
Review: From 1996 through 2000, when I was in high school, I was heavily involved in my local church's youth group, and so was thus exposed to a crapload of Christian music. I was never huge on it then, and some of it is just embarrassingly bad looking back on it now (Michael W Smith - "Friends"; Avalon - "Testify to Love"). Recently, though, I've been re-examining some of the songs that we used to listen to, and there's two aspects of Christian music I'll still rep for: early Amy Grant and this song (er, counting only CCM and not genre Christian music, e.g. "Jesus Take the Wheel", or hymns). Early Amy Grant I've talked about before, so I'll talk about Point of Grace. They're a tightly harmonized, airy voiced trio of female singers who do lite-pop, definitely the Christian Wilson Phillips. And while that's not my favorite genre, this is a kicking, snapping little song that has nice lyrics which don't beat you over the head with Christianity, and great hooks in the chorus and pre-chorus. The girls are good singers and have good harmony. The whole song is an airy, floating song, like a cloud. It rolls along, washing over you without ever grabbing you, and just gently opening up. It shows a great restraint in both the melody and chorus. If all Christian songs were this good (I'm looking at you, Steven Curtis Chapman) the genre wouldn't have such a bad name today. [8/10].

2. The Hives - "Hate to Say I Told You So"
Review: Man, is it just me or does this song hold up REALLY well. When it came out, it was one in a sea of jangly pop-rock tunes in the vein of The Strokes and The White Stripes and The Vines and whatever. They all blended together in my head and I never really particularly paid too much attention to this song. And anyways, it really isn't as good as "Last Nite" or "Fell In Love with a Girl", which probably caused me to underrate it at the time, but those are two excellent pop tunes. Which means this is pretty danged good too. The fuzzed out jangly guitar creates a propulsive beat that drives the entire song forwards. There's not much of a melody, and the guy isn't much of a singer, he's basically just talking the words. But the rhythm of the verses fit right in with the propulsive beat of the guitar and bass and push the song way forward like a charging train. The song doesn't rock particularly hard, and it doesn't have a very fast tempo, and it doesn't REALLY drive that hard, it just gives the impression of driving hard. Which, it turns out, is good enough. [8.5/10]

3. Blue October - "Hate Me"
Review: A modern rock song, in the vein of more classic, growly rock. The singer's got a kind of whiny voice and the chorus is a classic annoying emo shouting chorus. But good god does this song inject a ton of emotional wallop. What are the lyrics about? I'm not really sure, it sounds to me like he's got one incredibly messed up relationship with his girlfriend, but Wikipedia says it's about his mother, which is just crazy! For a big, manly, growly rock song, the singer and melody sound like they are about 5 seconds from completely breaking down and falling apart. It's teetering right on the edge, which is a dangerous place to stay, but it deftly rides it the entire time. Song makes me wanna cry. Uh, yeah, so what I'm saying is that it definitely should have made my top 50 singles last year. Whoops. [9/10]

4. BBMak - "Ghost of You and Me"
Review: Well, BBMak were like a 3rd tier boy band. Actually, they PLAYED THEIR OWN INSTRUMENTS and so WERE NOT a boy band, or so the marketing went at the time. Whatever. The most notable thing about them was their guest appearance in an episode of TCR favorite Even Stevens. And their biggest (only?) hit, "Back Here" was a limp, boring little number that never went anywhere. But this minor followup hit was, I think, a far superior song. It's actually probably my favorite boy band ballad (OK, maybe "Shape of My Heart"). Most boyband ballads just ride on airy harmonies and hope that they can just let the beauty carry them, when really the singers usually have too weak a voice to make something interesting out of a limp ballad. And on first listen, that's what they are doing here. But the verses cascade into a beautiful, flowing melody in the chorus that lift the song above generic boyband drek and into something a little more. The singers aren't anything special, and there's nothing to the lyrics, but it's all about the melody here, boys. [8/10]

5. Katharine McPhee - "Home"
Daughtry and McPhee both have songs called "Home" on their debut albums? Whatever. McPhee's is way better. This is an extremely pretty song without much of a melody, but unlike BBMak, Kat DOES have the vocal strength to knock it outta the park. It's a love song, with lyrics that aren't groundbreaking, but feature several very nice turns of phrase. And the plinking piano line underpins the song with a touch of class and keeps it from going off the rails. A very light drum kicks in on the chorus, adding a slight beat to the whole affair. The instruments slowly build up throughout the chorus and in subsequent choruses until eventually the entire song is soaring and kicking. It's very lovely one it's all kicked in, and rather than beat you over the head with it right from the start, they build it up gradually, almost imperceptably. And before you know it it's kicking around under the vocal line and adding power to her declaration of love. Katharine has a great voice. American Idol ballad is never a good sign, and it deservedly has a horrible reputation of being treacly, over the top, and cliched. Cliched I'll give you but this is very nicely restrained and Katharine knows better than to inject too much emotion into the vocals (if anything, the opposite is the problem). A superior ballad. [8/10].

Just five songs for today folks. Gotta get back to Hilary, Avril, and Miranda! (all 3 are great).

Random Notes

This is a Cure For Bedbugs homage post, it contains stuff that doesn't need its own post:

1) NEW KELLY CLARKSON NEW KELLY CLARKSON NEW KELLY CLARKSON!!! Yes, that's right readers, my current favorite musical artist, Kelly Clarkson, has released the debut single from her new album, titled "Never Again" (one question, anybody know the songwriting credits on this?). Thoughts: the normal kind of rockin, liberated, breakup lyrics we've come to expect from Kelly, but this is lyrically below some of the stuff on Breakaway (say "Behind These Hazel Eyes" or "Hear Me"), because it covers really familiar ground here. Unlike Breakaway, she's not tearing herself out of a co-dependent hole here, she just hates her ex's trophy wife. From a musical standpoint, the chorus is, I hate to say it, a bit comparatively weak. It could stand a bit more punch and power, though it is catchy. The verses are amazing though and I will be shocked if 2007 produces a better musical moment than the incredible bridge. After a few listens, my initial impression is that this is right up there with "Babies" for my favorite single of the year so far. This will presumably be huge and if rock stations had any brains in their heads they'd be playing the heck out of it. It fits on them more than it fits on top 40. Cannot wait to hear the rest of the album. [9/10 or so is my initial gut reaction.]

2) I guess it's been out for a while, but this is my first listen to "Me and My Imagination" by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, whose "Catch You" I previously loved. Much more disco than that previous effort, and it lacks the originality of the hook, but it's another great single by her. Initial reaction is that it is at least almost as good as "Catch You". One of my 10 favorite singles of the year to this point.

3) Now this is REALLY treading on C4B's terrain here, but this article on The Onion AV Club really pissed me off. MULTIPLE CHOICE TRIVIA TIME: Which is the most heinous assumption in this article: a) worthwhile, good popular music is only created by formerly indie artists, b) more recent fans of a band are inherently less worthy than longtime fans of the same band, c) the fact that a song was once covered on American Idol reduces the artistic merit of that song, d) it is a good and desirable thing to make blanket, overarching statements about the characteristics about all the fans of an obscure band, e) music likers listen to popular music, music LOVERS listen to obscure music.

That's right readers, the most heinous assumption is, in fact, e). Listen, I don't wanna pick on Steve Hyden, he makes some good points in the article and by all means seems to be a genuine guy. He brings up an interesting topic of debate. But assumption e) is one that underlies a lot of music writing that I've seen, and as a MUSIC LOVER who also loves pop music more than indie music I'm starting to get danged sick of it. Listen, I spend a lot of time thinking about music. I spend as much or more time seeking out new music now than I did back when I WAS indie. I think there's probably a slight positive correlation in the mass appeal of a song and its quality. I'm willing to bet I was as excited about the release of new Kelly Clarkson music as most people are about release of any music. I pay attention to lyrics, and love songs or hate songs based on their lyrics. Yes, I am a pop music lover and I wish people would stop implying that that makes me a lesser music fan, or that I achieve less emotional connection to music, than a fan of obscure music. Thanks a lot.

Why does it have to be about the social implications of what you like? Why can't it just be about the music? I could clearly and succinctly explain what it is I love about Hilary Duff or Kelly Clarkson or Fall Out Boy and why I think they are better than The Fiery Furnaces or Modest Mouse or whoever. I could explain why I think "Everywhere" is the best song of the 00's. Does this make me a worse person? Clearly, I have extremely selfish reasons to rebel against the social implications of liking certain music ("You like teenpop and the Disney Channel and Hilary Duff? You pedophile!"), but it is something that really bugs me.

4) OK, just 3 points today I guess. Haven't been watching much TV lately and no movies at all, so that's why I haven't posted on them in a while. Still anticipating new Unfabulous which has been pushed back about a million times now and it makes my blood angry to even think about it.

Random Orphaned Song Reviews

Not much time for posting, so random dump of song reviews now. Upcoming post on Scatman John.

I couldn't fit these in any other post:

2gether - "The Hardest Part of Breaking Up"; 2gether - "U + Me = Us (Calculus)"
Review: 2-gether was the "fake" boy band produced by MTV. They starred in a TV movie that was all the rage when I was in high school. It was funny, or at least it seemed so at the time. In any event, they released two songs that were hits on MTV, in an example of blatant and shameless cross-promotion that far precedes the Disney Channel's exploitation of the same. Anyways, since they were in a movie that's a parody of boy bands, I guess that makes them a fake or parody boy band, but these both sound like pretty awesome boy band songs to me. The lyrics are just a bit sillier, but these would both fit pretty well in the Backstreet Boys catalogue, for example. Anyways, "U + Me = Us" is their ballad and "The Hardest Part of Breaking Up" is their uptempo tune, and both are good songs with funny lyrics! In any event, I can't think of another song about an ex-girlfriend stealing all of your stuff when she leaves, and it's a pretty good conceit that's handled in a funny way. They've got the boy band look and dance moves and looks down so pat, and they play it so straight faced that it begs the question of where the line between reality and parody is crossed. I guess they are a parody, but they had substantially the same audience as the actual boy bands, and it was pretty genius of MTV. Boybands dominated MTV to an almost nauseating degree at this time, and they capitalized on it. They made their own boy band, but they couched it in "parodying" or "making fun of" boybands, like they were too good for that whole boy band thing. That's a gesture I find inherently distateful, but when it works it works. [8] and [7] respectively

Roxette - "Fading Like a Flower"
Well Roxette is only like, what, the best pop band from 88-92? That's an absolutely fantastic run of 8 singles or so spanning 2 albums, maybe the best set of singles from 2 consecutive albums of any band. Well Madonna or Prince or Michael Jackson or somebody would probably be ahead of them, but anyways it's still excellent. They really deserve their whole post and maybe they'll get it someday, but for now this will suffice. Roxette particularly excelled at writing absolutely massive ballads like "Listen to Your Heart" (my favorite) or "Spending My Time", but this one is uptempo and awesome. There is, of course, the famous dance versions and what not of this track, but I love this song in it's original form with the cheesy 80's pianos and guitar and drums, but it all works. Roxette is all about the spectacle and this is their most spectacular: it's all over the top and crazy and great. And one hell of a catchy chorus. Song starts out with piano, crashing into guitars and piano. Leading to a verse bubbling with tension, waiting to bust out. It breaks out into the big chorus with a sense of great freedom and triumph, and then it just fades out. One of those truly soaring and triumphant choruses like "Breaking Free" and it doesn't even need to be that massive to achieve it! It just soars by contrast to the tension set up in the chorus. Then it just fades away, too soon. Like a flower. [10]

Garth Brooks - "Papa Loved Mama" (not online as far as I can tell)
What can even be said about Garth Brooks? I decided this year that I wanted to start listening to some of the big modern country artists, and Garth was the obvious starting point. So I picked up the hits collection. I already knew only two of the songs, due to my complete ignorance of country until 2005-ish, those two songs being "Friends in Low Places" (clearly the best karaoke song of all time) and "The Thunder Rolls", both of which I love. None of the other songs on his greatest hits really hit the level of those two, but this rollicking and rolling honky tonk type number about a husband killing his wife grabbed my attention on first listen. It's weird to listen to the hits collection though, stripped of all the GARTH-ness of it all. He was massive and great, and he knew he was massive and great and he was a phenomenon and he was the man. But listening to a nicely crafted little fun tune like this, it's impossible to hear any of that. In fact, it's impossible, listening to this greatest hits collection free of context and free of swagger and free of boasting, to fathom just how he became as massive as he did (wasn't until I listened to the live album that I understood that). It just sounds like a good little disposable country number, albeit one that makes an immediate and long-lasting impression. The music to this stands in very stark contrast to the lyrics. Compare to another popular country song about domestic abuse, "Independence Day". That one soars and flies and stays low and sad and just conveys importance from the first listen. The song sticks with you from one listen, and the lyrics match the soaring and the crying and the sadness and the massiveness perfectly. This one sounds throwaway and silly. It sounds like a song that should be about fishin' or drinkin' with the good ol' boys or something. It sounds like a karaoke number, like all Garth's songs do. I sure as hell ain't gonna do karaoke to a song about killing your cheating wife. Upon further listens, it doesn't really stand up as one of the better songs on Garth's greatest hits collection, and it doesn't stick as well as it should, but it's interesting to consider. [6] ---Note to Stylus writers: Somebody do "On Second Thought: Garth Brooks - Double Live." Ripe for the picking.

Toby Keith - "I Love This Bar"
By contrast, this is a song that sounds like it should be about drinkin' with the good ol' boys and it really is about drinkin' with the good ol boys. Another all-time great karaoke song, due to the lyrics being about drinking and bars and the naturally singalong chorus. It's slow and it rolls along, and it's easy to sing and it's laughably simple musically. But Toby's a great singer and he's just got a natural charm to his voice, even his recorded voice. The lyrics are kinda silly, about how much he loves his local bar, but damnit, they're right for the song! It's big and it's massive and it's got natural swagger and charm and it does all of that with no outside context at all. It does all that without even seeming like it's trying to do it. It's the type of song I assumed Garth's catalogue would be filled with, but it really wasn't. It's nothing revolutionary, and it's not nearly as good as the extremely similar "Friends in Low Places", but it'd slide right into Garth's greatest hits collection with great ease. [8]

Anna Nalick - "Breathe (2AM)"
This is acoustic, piano based girl pop, like Sarah McLachlan or Dido or Vanessa Carlton or something. It's not a world away from something like Natalie Imbruglia or Natasha Bedingfield, but somehow I feel oddly disconnected to it and oddly cold towards it and, it's ironic for me to say this, I feel like it doesn't speak to me because I'm not the target for it. (Ironic because it's not like I'm the target for teenpop either). It just feels like sophisticated music for sophisticated people, the type of music that has no dialogue with pop at all and would be offended by being called pop. The genre that just has nothing in it that speaks or appeals to me. But there it sits, on my list of the top 10 singles of 2005, sticking out like a sore thumb amidst the peppy pop songs ("I Said Never Again (But Here We Are)", "Wake Up", "LaLa") and the country ("As Good As I Once Was", "Kerosene"). "Unwritten" stands on the list as well, but that's about 100x sunnier and poppier than this one. To be honest, in fact, I've listened to the whole Anna Nalick album and didn't really care for the other songs. But this song is perfect. It find a genre and sticks to it to the letter and just perfects it, just like that. The lyrics provide insight without being big or cliched or uplifting. I remember when I first heard this song, in mid 2005 on the local top 40 station. I instantly filed it away in the Dido category. But as the song went on, and I heard that amazing, soothing, catchy as hell chorus, I started to get worried. "Hey," I though, "this is a really good song". I learned to embrace it. OK, but WHY is it good?

Anna's voice is nice and kinda generic and forgettable, but she's a good singer and she's got great phrasing. The verse rolls along with a nice little groove to it, into the pre-chorus, which feels like it's leading to something BIG and TRIUMPHANT. Something like "White Flag", some declaration of freedom or some kind of big catchy melody. It leads instead, in a nice bit of misdirection, to a flowing, fading harmony. Friend calls her having troubles. She details all the crap she's going through. Anna tells her, well you've gotta live life, there's nothing you can do about it. So cradle your head in your hands, and...do what, go out? Solve your problems and be proactive and have fun and make the best of it? No, just BREATHE. Just sit down and take stock of the situation. And there's a light at the end of the tunnel and you'll keep making mistakes so what's the point in getting so upset. And it flows through and fades away from the building melody, dropping into a beautiful breathy harmony. A relaxing, soothing harmony. Something that just makes me smile. It doesn't have to be so bad. [10]

Avril Lavigne - "Losing Grip"
The song encapsulates all the problems I have about Avril and all I love about Avril. It's bratty but vulnerable and it's got a melody that's simultaneously catchy and annoying. It's angsty. It's sung with Avril's trademark thin voice that's not strong at all, but instantly conveys the angst and tension that's inherent in most of her lyrics. It sounds like a "real person"s voice. The song is overdramatic about 10 times over, with its huge bombastic melody and it's breakup song lyrics. Dig the lyrics: "Why should I care/Because you weren't there/when I was scared/I was so alone/You, you need to listen/I'm starting to trip/I'm losing my grip/and I'm in this thing alone". Losing grip on what? Her sanity? Her emotions? It's all left vague, and I have no clue what's going on in this song, other than that the dude emotionally devestated her. It's not Avril's best songs, it's probably not one of her 5 or 10 best singles, but it's interesting, and it's probably the single song that best encapsulates her career. [7]

Blink 182 - "All The Small Things"
I don't have much to say about the song here, which hit huge when I was a senior in high school. It was seens as the "antidote" or "alternative" to all the "processed pop" that was out there, though this song shared much of its audience with the fans of those processed pop singers. It's an OK pop-punk song, but not nearly as good as "Dammit" or "What's My Age Again" (or for that matter "The Middle" or "Basket Case" or "Don't Call Me White", etc.). What upset me though was that after remembering the song and seeking out the video, I can't remember what videos it's parodying! I thought I was fairly knowledgeable on this, but clearly my memory is fading. At the start, they are on a plane runway then dancing in front of a group of adoring fans. This is clearly a parody of "I Want It That Way". Then they are in a brick room with combat gear. What the hell? Presumably some boyband video but my memory has faded. It cuts back and forth between these barely distinguishable boy band parodies (maybe they are not parodies of specific videos but just the style?) Then at about 0:30 they are in colored silk pajamas in front of a colored blue silk sheet, which is apparently a parody of "Creep" by why would you parody that??? Boyband and "Creep" parodies continue, then they are on a beach in black and white (at about 0:50). I initially thought this was a parody of the "Survivor" video, but since this video predates that one it can't be the case. That bothers me because I was certain it was a parody of "Survivor". Cutting around, then at 1:10, he looks through a telescope to see a dog biting a man at a beach? This cannot possibly be a parody of a music video, can it? Next new scene is at 1:24, a parody of "Genie in a Bottle" that I could identify in my sleep. Then, one of the band members dresses up as a blonde and runs on a beach holding a red ball? They run naked on a beach next, in a callback presumably to their "What's My Age Again" video. Obvious parody of "Living La Vida Loca" at 1:50 when the girl dumps candle wax on the frontman. At 2:00 we get a brief clip of the singer in a white shirt and a big gold necklace with water dumping on him, that I don't recognize at all. Then is a scene of him dancing in front of a tour bus being washed, which is I think a parody of a Limp Bizkit video though this seems like it predates them too. That's the last new parody in the video. Please provide help if possible. [4]

Career Retrospective: Natalie Imbruglia

Today's post will discuss Natalie Imbruglia, who is key in my autobiography of a music fan (as will be later explained) and who remains one of my favorite pop stars.

My first introduction to the music of Ms. Imbruglia was "Torn", as was everyone else's. I was 15 when it was released and it was a revalation. Unlike many music critics and especially one would presume most pop music critics, I did not grow up listening to music at all. I never listened to the radio and was entirely not cognizant of pop music at all, until high school. Oh, certainly I "liked" some songs, like "Losing My Religion" and "Motown Philly" and "Under the Bridge" but only because my older brother liked them and I was trying to fit in. For my 13th birthday, in 1995, my parents bought for me a CD player. It went unused and gathered dust for well over a year. In high school though, I was introduced, via a couple of friends, to They Might Be Giants. Flood was the first album I bought and I quickly purchased the rest of their catalogue. I started listening to 80's pop. My older brother listened almost entirely to modern rock radio (99X forever y'all), and I enjoyed listening to some of the poppier modern rock hits of the day. I even bought some albums, albums I probably still have around but am now rather embarrassed about, like Radish and Cowboy Mouth and Monaco. In short, I was a pop music fan who knew nothing about pop music and so didn't like any current pop.

Anyways, I was 15 when I first heard "Torn". I first heard it when I saw the video on VH1. I was transfixed. (It remains to this day probably one of my ten favorite music videos of all time). My friends had introduced me to artists, and I had liked bands my brother liked, but this was a pure pop explosion, and I loved it. It opened my eyes to the world of pure pop bliss. It was my first favorite song, and I found out about it all on my own and loved it all on my own. I had first heard it a bit before it absolutely broke out into a smash and never listened to the radio anyways. All I knew was that none of my friends liked it and my brother didn't like it. Music had been kind of a social thing to this point, but this was all mine and I loved it. I guess my entire history as a music fan can, in some ways, be attributed back to this song. (Not to be too melodramatic though, if it hadn't been this song it would have been something else, like "My Favorite Mistake" or "Steal My Sunshine" or "...Baby One More Time").

So, yeah, in America at least, Natalie is the ultimate one hit wonder. "Torn" ruled the US airplay charts for 11 weeks (though it wasn't allowed to chart on the Hot 100 until well after it had peaked, thanks to Billboard rules at the time which eliminated airplay only singles from charting). The followups "Big Mistake" and "Wishing I Was There" more or less failed to make any impact at all, though "Wishing I Was There" was a minor hit. Any discussion of Natalie has to start with "Torn". It's lovely and it's poppy and it's sweet and it's beautiful and I can't possibly be objective about it but I love it to pieces. I've heard it a million times now (quite possibly more than any other song) and I still haven't gotten tired of it. And yeah, it's a cover of an indie song, by a band named Ednaswap, but it's about 100x better than the original. Ednaswap, who had written the song, somehow felt the need to bury that beautiful lifting melody behind layers of distortion and instruments and fuzz. But the point is, while any discussion of Natalie's music has to start with "Torn", by no means does it have to end there.

The weird thing about "Torn" is that it's not really typical of Natalie's music at all. Natalie's music, for the most part, is characterized by oddball, spare instrumentation and very simple melodic lines. These aren't hook filled acoustic pop songs like "Torn", but they generally sport interesting instrumentation, nice (though generally fairly simplistic) lyrics, and one big central hook. Oh, and Natalie is a first rate singer. Her phrasing is outstanding and it turns very simple melodies into amazing ones. What's ironic about Natalie's music is that all of her songs sound like pop covers of grunge/modern rock songs except "Torn", which is her only song that actually is a pop cover of a grunge/modern rock song.

Right from the time I bought Left of the Middle, one track stood out in my head, in addition to torn. "Big Mistake" builds up slowly, with rather spacey instrumentation and not much melody during the verses. But it explodes in the chorus, which is rather rockin. Anyways, at the time that was my favorite non-"Torn" song on the album, but one song that I might now like even more than "Torn" is "Smoke", which IS rather typical of Natalie's career. It's a very, very pretty ballad, well sung and with nice lyrics and with a chorus that's way catchier than it seems like it should be. The lyrics are rather imagery based, about feeling pain and hurting. And the piercing "Whyyyyyy" in the chorus just cuts straight to the heart. It's achingly beautiful and it makes me want to cry every time I hear it. Thanks to "Smoke" and "Torn", this is one of the few albums which have multiple 10/10 songs on it. The actual followup, in America at least, is "Wishing I Was There", which is sunny pop along the lines of "Torn" and which is probably one of the weaker songs on the album, though the verses are great.

It's not just the singles on the album, pretty much all of the songs on the album are at least very good (heh, except "Impressed"). Personal favorites are "One More Addiction" which is probably the most alt-rock songs on the album and features psychadelic guitars in the chorus, which is possibly the catchiest on the entire album; "Pigeons and Crumbs" which is another very pretty ballad like "Smoke", although it's got more busy and more oddball instrumentation behind it, although the melody never really goes anywhere; and "Intuition" (even better than Jewel!) is very mid 90's, but it's got a nice sunny alt-rock sound to it and the melody is extremely strong throughout (warning: will get stuck in your head).

Natalie followd this album up with White Lilies Island, which is a much more downbeat affair entirely. Most of the songs are co-written with Gary Clark, and you can tell because it's all a bit same-y. Though very good nonetheless! This is a whole album of "Smoke"s and "Pigeons and Crumbs"s, gone are the sunny pop numbers like "Torn" and "Intuition" and "Wishing I Was There". The closest to it is "That Day", unsurprisingly a single from the album. The main guitar hook is nice enough here but what really makes this song is Natalie's performance. The verses are basically spoken word, but remain extremely catchy, due to Natalie's phrasing and wordings. It all leads up to a chorus which not much above spoken word itself and which features musical background that is substantially similar to the verses. The whole song plows ahead like a charging rhino, barely going up for air and just showing a hint of vulnerability. Like most Imbruglia songs, the lyrics are extremely imagery based and don't necessarily tell a complete narrative. As far as I can tell it's a breakup song, but clearly the lyrics are conflicted. The conflict in the lyrics though, is belied by the confident and charging vocals, which makes for an interesting contrast. The other single from this album is "Wrong Impression" , which has a very catchy chorus but isn't really as good as some of her better work. In any event, the album is good, though due to the saminess it's the worst of her three albums.

Other than the singles particular highlights: "Beauty on the Fire" rolls along with a very laid back melody into a prechorus. The song seems to die off right after the prechorus, and I start to lament that she hasn't taken it far enough. But just when it seems about to fade off back into the verse it blows into the chorus which really works in the context of the song. More of the odd spacy instrumentation though. "Satellite" is an acoustic pop song, though it doesn't soar like "Torn", it just kind of rides along sweetly and is very pretty. A great love song. If I could play guitar I would totally cover it. "Talk In Tongues" is a very simple song with not much of a melody at all, but it's very low and sad. And it's catchy enough anyways.

I feel like a broken record here which I guess hits to the main criticism of Imbruglia, which is the similarity of it all. Basically spoken word, very melodically simple verse building up into a big catchy pop chorus, is the basic Imbruglia song structure and most of her songs fit the bill. But the pop hooks are good enough and the verses are pretty enough and her performances are charismatic enough to overcome it all. To me at least.

The singles on her third album are "Shiver", which is a nice ballad that has a good catchy bass hook. The melody on the verses is very classic Imbruglia (one Imbruglia criticism: the verses all sound kinda alike), and it builds up to a pretty standard rock ballad chorus but is catchy. "Counting Down the Days" contends for my very favorite non-"Torn" Imbruglia song, with "That Day" and "Smoke", as it's very pretty and very catchy! It's a song about regretting a breakup, and it probably sports the best lyrics of any Imbruglia song in her catalogue. The production adds a lot to the song too. And it's a hundred times more lively than anything on White Lilies Island.

She only turns to Gary Clark for 2 songs on this album, "When You're Sleeping" and "Sanctuary", and you can tell because they sound exactly like the songs on her second album. Gary Clark is apparently kind of a one trick pony here, but when he does the one trick well enough I'm kinda willing to overlook it. I'm glad she's decided to work with multiple co-writers here though, because it adds a bit of new life to the album. She even turns to Kara Dioguardi for two songs, "Starting Today" and "On the Run", which are two of the particular highlights on the album.

Anyways, the music isn't as relentlessly hooky as most of the stuff that I talk up on here, but if you are in the mood for some more downbeat and pretty pop music, Natalie Imbruglia is one of the finer purveyors of that form. Her songs are a bit soundalike, especially on White Lilies Island, so that means it isn't going to be for everybody. But if you find that you like some of the singles that I linked, definitely go out and buy Left of the Middle and Counting Down the Days. She's just finished up a new album, and apparently it will be released in "Spring 2007", which would be any day now.

Back from the Grave

Just wanted to bump that damn American Idol post off the top of the page, staring and laughing at me. In reality, I haven't had internet connection at home for the past 10 days, which explains the lack of posts. I've had a couple ideas for posts in the interim, so expect some action over the next few days. I won't make any promises, per se, because I've made enough failed promises on this blog already. OK, to steal an idea blatantly from Frank K, here are my top 10 singles of 2007 thus far (an attempt to redeem this post slightly):

1. Natasha Bedingfield - "Babies": Completely mental lyrics, the "Babies, babies, babies, babies" part is completely bonkers, the main hook is "mm mm mm mm mm mm" (Crash Test Dummies!) and the whole thing never really comes together. But it's still brilliant! Good misdirection to the chorus (lyrically), where it seems like it's gonna be a simple declaration of love. Lyrics are funny and great.

2. Toby Keith - "High Maintenance Woman": Hilarious! "A high maintenance woman don't want no maintenance man". Great vocals, as always. Toby Keith has shown a remarkable knack for writing lyrics with funny lyrics and extremely catchy melody, and this goes right in that vein (erm, "As Good As I Once Was", "I Love This Bar", et al). Main hook can get stuck in your head for days, but in a good way! Right up there with Toby Keith's best work. If he can combine great hit singles like this with the remarkable consistency of White Trash With Money perhaps we can get a great album from the guy.

3. My Chemical Romance - "Famous Last Words": It starts out fairly standard, but ends up being nothing short of a genuine rock epic, weaving about 3 or 4 different, equally big, parts together with a great deftness, and all 3 or 4 parts are great, especially the main chorus! It sneaks up on you, but once it hits, it hits hard: emo-rock has met its peak with this song.

[The top 3 songs are all so close in quality and so different that there's no meaningful separation between them. I've listed them like this, but I keep changing my mind! In any event they are all equal, and will likely all be in my Top 20 or close to it.]

4. Vanessa Hudgens - "Say OK": A beautiful ballad. After "Come Back to Me" I had basically, unfairly, written off her entire musical career, but this song knocked me out. A great vocal performance from Baby V here, as her piercing voice just adds a lot of beauty here. Not much going on in the lyrics here, but I can forgive it for the catchiness and prettiness.

5. Hilary Duff - "With Love": It was hyped that the new Hilary Duff album would be more Eurodance, but this sounds like a pretty standard American R&B song to me. Hilary’s voice is filling out as she gets older, but it’s still remarkably thin. But in any event, it’s a super catchy song with a great and original melody, and that forgives all manner of sins. Markedly inferior, however, to “Play With Fire”.

6. Sophie Ellis-Bextor - "Catch You": This sounds appealingly like an electro cover of a great Blondie song that never was. Nice lyrics/music synergy here as this song just SOUNDS like the soundtrack to a high-energy chase. The catchiest melody and music of the brief year to this point and great stalkerish lyrics make this a refreshingly original pop tune that puts a good start on 2007, after British pop's rather weak 2006. (Kickass video too)

7. Ashley Tisdale - "He Said, She Said": Ashley's not a very strong singer, which does hurt this song a bit, but the production and main hook are so catchy they can overcome it. Ashley's album was really inconsistent, but the best of it is quite good indeed. And this is her best effort.

8. Christina Aguilera - "Candyman": Normally I don't go much for the retro sound, but I dig the crazy lyrics here a lot, and that plus the hook are enough for me. And the video! So, yeah, it's rather simplistic and maybe even a bit annoying, but it's my second favorite song on Xtina's last album, and this is one of her best vocal performances ever. She totally sells the ridiculousness of the song.

9. Katharine McPhee - "Over It": The song has the same songwriters and the exact same general sound as Jojo’s “Too Little, Too Late”, which makes it easy to dismiss. But it also has a great melody, conveying the sadness of the lyrics very well. Alas, the lyrics and vocal performance aren’t quite up to the wistful beauty of the music, but they are still pretty good and that “Too Little, Too Late” formula just works so well that it can drive at least a few more great songs. Still the best "Over It" of the year.

[All songs above this comment are 8/10 or better...songs 1-3 are 9/10 and will strongly contend for top 2o singles of the year, songs 4-8 are 8/10 and will strongly contend for top 50 singles of the year. What really separates the 8/10 songs from the 9/10 songs here is lyrics.]

10. Avril Lavigne - "Girlfriend": I want to like it more than I do but the whole thing bugs me. I like the lyrics a lot, but the main hook is kind annoying and I dislike the video so much that it is seriously hampering my enjoyment of the song. Well below the level of Avril's best work ("Complicated", "My Happy Ending", "He Wasn't", et al). But obviously, I still like the song, or else it wouldn't be up here.

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).

Songs That I Have Been Listening To...

As always, the early part of the year is a rather dire time for music. In a couple of weeks, Jordan Pruitt's and Ashley Tisdale's albums will be released. Soon enough Hilary Duff will release the full single version of "With Love", and a debut single from Kelly Clarkson's album is probably not too far off in the horizon. So, the dry spell will not last long. But, for now anyways, I've been listening to a bunch of older music in order to pass the time.

Jimmy Ray - "Are You Jimmy Ray?"

Frank Kogan over on the teenpop thread says it defies easy categorization. Jimmy Ray is a 50's throwback himself, but this isn't. And he's kinda rapping but kinda not. xhuxk says it sounds like George Michael's "Faith". Both are right. It's like a weird "Faith" mixed with awkward white rap or something. In any event, it's absolutely great, just an incredibly catchy song. Funny self-referential lyrics add to the quality, although they are rather silly. Jimmy was a one hit wonder in the late 90's, so I don't know how any of his other songs are, but this is a winner. 9/10

Aqua - "Lollipop (Candyman)"

Thanks to Frank Kogan, I recently rediscovered this great followup to "Barbie Girl" by Aqua. "Barbie Girl" and "Tubthumping" (by Chumbawamba) were both novelty hits around the same time, and I loved and still love both. That being said, this followup single is just as good as either of those. Of course, having been branded as a novelty act forever, this song had no chance of success, but it totally deserved it! Again, very catchy, though slightly annoying, as all Aqua songs I've heard are. The man's voice and woman's voice are both initially jarring and they sound nothing alike, but I still think they sound good together, in an odd way. "Oh my love I know you are my candyman" has to rank as one of the catchiest hooks of the entire decade of the 90s. 9/10

A*Teens - "Floorfiller"

This song comes off of A*Teens' second album, which is generally inferior to the first, but it's probably my favorite A*Teens song. A truly great song about going to the club and dancing, and indeed it does have a nicely danceable beat. Not only that but it features one of the catchiest vocal melodies I've ever heard in a song. The whole thing is a bit juvenile, and the lyrics aren't anything great: "A bomb diggy drum coming at me with the groove" -- ugh. But it makes up for that and more with the incredibly energy and catchiness that permeates the whole thing. And the kids, as always, are great pop singers. Everything great about being a kid encapsulated in one song. One of my 10 favorite singles of the decade to this point. 10/10

Martina McBride - "This One's For the Girls"; Martina McBride - "Independence Day"; Martina McBride - "When God Fearin' Women Get the Blues"

Three of the greatest country pop songs of all time. I absolutely cannot stop listening to them because they are so catchy and awesome, but yet all three fairly different. "When God Fearin' Women Get the Blues" is probably the most musically original. Lyrically it is of the middle aged women going out and getting crazy and having fun segment that is fairly prevalent in country pop. The lyrics are nothing special. "Indpendence Day" is the real showstopper. With really powerful, sad (but also really great) lyrics about domestic abuse, and a truly soaring and powerhouse chorus, this is one that'll bring tears to your eyes. But it's also really catchy and upbeat too! "This One's For the Girls" is pure fun. A standard, completely unoriginal, but completely awesome country pop songs that stands out for it's great pro-grrl power lyrics and catchy melody. None of the other Martina McBride songs I listened to were up to this level, and none of her albums seem consistently great, but this is a top 3 songs that contends with most other artists in music history. All 3 are 10/10, and right now I'm inclined to rank them 1. "Independence Day" [probably one of my top 10 singles of the 90s], 2. "When God Fearin' Women Get the Blues", 3. "This One's for the Girls"

Sheryl Crow - "If It Makes You Happy"; Sheryl Crow - "My Favorite Mistake"; Sheryl Crow - "A Change Would Do You Good"; Sheryl Crow - "Leaving Las Vegas"

Other than Martina, the other artist I've been really loading up on lately is Sheryl Crow, who released two truly great albums in the 90s, Sheryl Crow and The Globe Sessions that I have been listening to just nonstop. The more of her songs I listen to, and rediscover, and put on repeat over and over, the more inclined I am to say that she is at least a contender for the best singles artist of the decade of the 90s. Not even sure who else would compete with her for that, though I'm sure I could think of one if I tried. Mariah, maybe. Anyways, all 4 of these songs are awesome, and all for different reasons! "If It Makes You Happy" is just a high energy song about a messed up relationship, with a real edge to it. A great shrieking chorus. "My Favorite Mistake" is much more standard musically, but still a great melody and guitar, and it has excellent codependent lyrics. "A Change Would Do You Good" sort of like a cross between the last two, like a "My Favorite Mistake" but with a more screwed up relationship and more of an edge. "Leaving Las Vegas" is the pretty ballad, and I love it. All are 10/10, and I'd rank them as listed in the outset. "If It Makes You Happy" and "My Favorite Mistake" are contenders for top 25-ish singles of the decade.

OK, that's all I have time for tonight. Hope you enjoyed. Just because I mentioned it for "Floorfiller", I recently compiled a list of my top 20 favorite singles of the 2000s so I maybe will post it here soon, though maybe I won't too. I'll follow my heart. "Everywhere" is number one.

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.