I’ve already reviewed about half of these songs, but their reviews are included for the sake of completeness.
1. Lady GaGa—Bad Romance
December 5, 2009. #2. Still on the charts.
The greatest musical instrument there is is the human voice. Now, a good opening riff will get a song noticed by me, and many songs on the list are there in part because their opening riffs are fantastic or unique in some way. (e.g. Go All the Way, by The Raspberries, 1972). But with this song, Lady GaGa uses her voice as the instrument for the opening riff (I’m talking about the part where she goes “Ra-ra, ah-ah-ah. Rama, rammamma, GaGa Oolahlah). Best use of nonsense syllables since Mmm-bop (1997).
The melody is one that sticks in your head, and you don’t mind. The harmonies make one wonder if she is singing with the voices in her head. To an electronic musical background, as she gets into the meat of the song, she explains exactly what she wants: she wants to be united with the object of her obsession by love, and also by revenge against a common enemy (the object’s ex?).
The line “I want your ugly, I want your disease” is either the most beautiful expression of commitment I can imagine, a counterpart to a line in the Moody Blues’ Never Comes the Day (1969) “If only you knew what’s inside of me now, you wouldn’t want to know me somehow.” In this world, we have to be very careful who we trust with the ugly parts of ourselves; she is not shying away from that in her object; she wants the ugly, because it’s a part of him. The line is either that, or, on the other hand, she wants to find out the ugly parts so that she has a lever to get him to do what she wants. While the latter possibility hangs in the back of your head, you hope it’s the pledge of commitment. She might be insane, and she might destroy you, but you want her anyway.
2. A.R.Rahman & the Pussycat Dolls f/ Nicole Scherzinger—Jai Ho! (You Are My Destiny)
Marc h 14, 2009. #15.
This musical composition does not have a flow to it so much as a geometry. If I were to sketch it out it would end up with something looking like a mandala. The four verses are circles at the four corners of the mandala. The bridge is two circles, a smaller one at the center and a larger one near the perimeter of the mandala. The chorus is a roseate pattern in the middle. The phrase “Jai Ho!” is Ashoka’s wheel stamped throughout.
I know none of this makes sense in the context of music; and you can’t map something one-dimensional but dynamic (like music) into something two dimensional but static (like a painting). But that’s what it evokes.
Let me put it another way. Rahman’s playing and vocals (he does the Jai ho! part) plant you in a culture that is foreign to my American ears; the Pussycat Dolls are our tour guides through that world, they push us through the boundaries of the mandala until we are meditating in the center of it.
3. Green Day—Know Your Enemy
May 30, 2009. #28.
This is the song that made me a Green Day fan. I’d enjoyed some of their previous work, particularly the “American Idiot” trilogy of ‘American Idiot’, ‘Holiday’ and especially ‘Boulevard of Broken Dreams’. But for me it there is a difference between liking certain individual songs by an artist and wanting to hear everything they’d ever recorded. I went and bought the album this came from, called 21st Century Breakdown. It’s at least as good as American Idiot.
But I’m here to review the song, not the album. What can I say? It’s a great rock song, killer riff hooking you in, catchy tune, meaningful lyrics. The Enemy that we are supposed to know is, if I understand the anthem, complacency, and inaction in the face of injustice. The Enemy is also everything that promotes such complacency. “Silence is the enemy against your urgency , so rally up the demons of your soul.”
Plus, it’s excellent for air guitar.
4. Boys Like Girls—Love Drunk
July 25, 2009. #22.
This was the most fun song of the year. It starts off with “nah-nah-nah”, which is usually a good sign. And then the band starts to really rock. I almost said “seriously rock” but they are not at all serious about this. That would spoil the fun, you see.
Two great titles for songs that have yet to be written are in this song (song-writers take note): Forever Is Over; and, Say Hello To Goodbye. Great lines, whole songs have been written around lines like that, but the band just throws them in there as if they weren’t important. And they’re not. It’s all about the Rock and Roll.
5. Demi Lovato—Here We Go Again
August 8, 2009. #15.
2009 was the year of the Disney Princess. I don’t mean Snow White or Cinderella, I’m talking about those teenage girls whose singing careers were given a huge boost because of their working relationship with the Disney Company. Miley Cyrus is far and away the biggest and most recognizable name in this group, the “Crown Princess” if you will, but there are others. Selena Gomez, Ashley Tisdale, the Jonas Brothers (I suppose they would be “consorts” in this extended metaphor). Miranda Cosgrove can sort of be included in this bunch even though she works for another network. And then there is Demi Lovato.
Now, I don’t mind if a singer gets a boost from TV. The audition process before one gets to be a Disney Princess has to be as gruelling as any other way of “paying dues”. Whatever the process, 2009 produced some amazing results. Here We Go Again was the best of them. Demi has a talent and range (both emotional and vocal) that got her a singing career started before she got her own TV show. Keep your eye on this one; so far she’s been kind of under the radar, but she is going to be around for a long time.
6. Jordin Sparks—Battlefield
August 8, 2009. #10
Driving drums pound throughout the song. It’s almost a capella, just Jordin and the drums—and one other thing. There’s a rising whoop whoop noise that pushes the song from being just really good to being great.
One thing that Jordin Sparks is really good at is projecting emotion into the song that she’s singing. The lyrics, by themselves, could be taken as sad, but Jordin makes them angry. She’s not sorrowful or apologetic, she’s mad, even resentful, about the fact that the unnamed sin has started a huge fight, as if she’s saying “I said I was sorry, why are you making such a big deal about this?”
It’s not the first time this has happened, and she’s mad enough to spit nails. “Why does love always feel like a battlefield? (BOOM) A battlefield! (BOOM) A battlefield! (BOOM)” is the repeated chorus. She can’t get past this question.
7. Flo Rida f/ Wynter—Sugar
May 23, 2009. #6.
Flo Rida is doing more interesting things musically than almost anybody else producing hits right now. “Sugar” is his follow up to “Right Round”, and again he borrows a hook from an earlier song and makes it his own. Or, at least, Wynter makes it her own. When she sings the dum-dabo-dee-dabo-dum, dabo-dee-dabo-dum, her voice sounds, to quote the song “sweet like sugar.”
The ‘Da Ba Dee’ hook was originally written by Maurizio Lobina for the song “Blue (Da Ba Dee)” for Eiffel 65 back in 2000. When Wynter gets ahold of it, it sounds like an angel’s ring tone. Flo Rida also does some rapping on the record, but that’s not why I’m listening to it.
8. The Pussycat Dolls—I Hate This Part
January 31, 2009. #11
Harmony is not a major element in current pop music. So when you do hear a song that is carried along mainly by the harmonies of the best girl group in the business right now, you notice it. The lyrics are strong and poetic, and made stronger by the harmonic choices that the Dolls make.
The scene is, he and she are driving. The atmosphere is tense. She knows she’s about to break up with him. “The world slows down but my heart beats fast.” Then the harmonies come, subtly at first, just to underline certain phrases: “I don’t want to try now. All that’s left’s goodbye, to find a way that I can tell you. I hate this part right here.” She knows he’s going to want to keep going, or at least pretend, but “I see sunset in your eyes.”
But I gotta do it, she repeats to herself, I gotta do it. I hate this part, but I gotta do it. Then the chorus starts up again and all the voices in her heart come together as she repeats to herself the reasons this breakup is necessary. And at the end she freezes. “I hate this part right here. I just can’t face these tears.” And the record ends. We don’t know what happened next.
9. David Guetta f/ Kelly Rowland—When Love Takes Over
August 1, 2009. #76.
This is one of those blink-and-you-miss-it songs that was on the charts briefly and then disappeared. Personally I was disappointed, I had hoped that it would climb higher up the charts. Destiny’s Child alumna Kelly Rowland delivers an amazing vocal performance that could stand favorably alongside bandmate Beyonce’s best stuff. Guetta produces the best dance track of the year to go along with Rowland’s vocals.
The song itself uses the dance track as a metaphor for falling in love. It starts out contemplative. “It’s complicated” she says. But when the narrator decides to let loose, right when she starts the chorus “When love takes over”, the singer and the band lets loose. By the end of the second verse, they have pulled out all the stops and just going for it with abandon.
On the bridge, the narrator is contemplating the idea of “when love takes over.” Is this what she really wants? The band pushes her to her final answer. Yes. And love takes over.
10. Owl City—Fireflies
November 7, 2009. #1 (for 2 weeks). Still on the charts.
This song got a little bit of airplay and shot straight to number one. While this is not unheard of for a previously unknown band, it is fairly uncommon. Why did they do so well? Well, the intro is reminiscent of Del Shannon’s Runaway (1961), albeit softer, more mello, as Del had a “relax” switch on his synthesizer. Adam Young’s tenor vocals are of a timbre that we haven’t heard for awhile. It reminds me of White Town (Your Woman, 1997), although you might not have to go back that far. More importantly for it’s popularity, I think, Fireflies fit the role in 2009 that Viva la Vida held in 2008, a song with intriguing lyrics that you want to listen to over and over until you understood them. It’s an unthreatening daydream, almost a lullaby. An ode to the dusk, when the firefiles dance in the air as our narrator drifts off to sleep.
Point of trivia: Before this , the biggest hit song about a non-lepidopteran insect was Bo Weevil, Teresa Brewer, 1956.
11. Sean Kingston—Fire Burning
July 25, 2009. #5.
If “When Love Takes Over” was the best dance track of the year, this song was the best call to the dance floor I’ve heard in a long time. “Somebody call 911!” is certainly in the same league with Paul McCartneys “One, two, three, FAW!” at the beginning of the Beatles’ “I Saw Her Standing There”, the first track of their first album.
The rest of the track continues the call, varying the tempo at times, till everyone comes out there. And why should everyone come out? Because there’s a ‘shawty’ dancing on the floor that you have got to see.
12.Gloriana—Wild at Heart
August 12, 2009. #53.
Six months ago, I predicted that “Love Story” would be the best country song of the year, at least of the ones on the pop charts. Sorry, Taylor. Your song made the list, but this one was more fun, more exciting, maybe not as emotionally stirring, but definitely as poetic.
Except for the versons, the band harmonizes almost through the whole song, as if the rebellion that the song glorifies is a group activity. “I’m going to go crazy,” the song seems to say, “who’s with me.” And the harmonies sound fantastic, even over complicated lines like “That rebel moon is shining, those stars burn like diamonds hell-bent on chasing down that greasy spark.” That’s what makes the song wild at heart.
13.Kanye West—Heartless
February 21, 2009. #2
“The Coldest Story Ever Told.” In many songs we will be transported to that moment when two hearts become one. In ‘Heatless’, we’re transported to that moment when, sadly, coldly, one heart becomes two. The reasons this happens seems to involve gossip and deception, but we aren’t told the details. Kanye’s Everyman blames “the woman so heartless” but it’s clear from that she blames him just as vehemently.
“How could you be so Dr. Evil?” he accuses, while protesting his innocence. “How could she be so mad at me for? Homey, I don’t know, she’s hot and cold.” He’s ready to give up., although she seems to think there’s something worth salvaging. “Talk and talk and talk and talk. Baby, let’s just knock it off… you just gonna keep hating me, and we just gonna be enemies. I know you can’t believe we’re just gonna leave it wrong, and you can’t make it right. I’m gonna take off tonight. Into the night.”
In the night, I hear them talk. The coldest story ever told. Somewhere far along the road, he lost his soul to a woman so heartless.
14.Flo Rida f/ Nelly Furtado—Jump
August 22, 2009. #54
Again, Flo Rida is a choosing excellent collaborators to help carry his song. Nelly Furtado’s harmonies on the chorus are dazzling, and you wonder how she did that.
15. Miley Cyrus—Party in the U.S.A.
August 29, 2009. #2. Still on the charts.
Miley’s best chart showing to date, peaking at #2. It could have been #1. It should have been number one. But it was not made available on Napster until the album was released after the new year. Not available at all, not even for preview. I would have bought the song; in fact, I wanted it for a CD I was compiling for my daughter. Not that my purchase would have pushed it into that #1 spot (admittedly, this was during the Eternal Reign of the Black Eyed Peas), but my situation could not have been unique. Or does everyone else just give in and register with iTunes when they can’t find a song they want on Napster. Was it even available there? ARE YOU LISTENING, DISNEY PEOPLE??!
Anyway, the song. The idea is, Miley is as star-struck as anyone would be with sudden fame, sudden acceptance into the fraternity of celebrities. Nevously arriving at a Hollywood party, the DJ plays “her favorite tune,” a Britney Spears song. And all the external circumstances melt away, because the music is the same everywhere you go in the U.S.A. I think that’s the idea, I just can’t figure out what “nodding my head like yeah” means.
16.Kelly Clarkson—My Life Would Suck Without You
May 2, 2009. #1
The verses are at level 1 energy, which gets cranked up to level 5 energy, when Kelly explains “You’ve got a piece of me, and honestly, my life would suck without you.” No other way to put it, really.
I confess it was the title that intrigued me. I was looking for another Kelly Clarkson song and I noticed this track called “My Life Would Suck Without You.” I must not have been the only one who noticed the title, because a week later the song had jumped from #97 to Number One.
The word “suck”, meaning to be really bad, pleasant, or unfair, was slightly taboo in my youth (early 80’s), and I’d never seen it in the title of a pop song before. The title itself did not seem to generate any controversy at all, so I suppose it’s not a bad word anymore. (Not that pop music seems to be worried about bad words.)
17. Maino f/ T-Pain—All The Above
March 21, 2009. #39
T-Pain sings “I’ve been through the pain and the sorrow; the struggle is nothing but love.” The chorus answers “NOTHING BUT LOVE!” T-Pain continues, “I’m a soldier, a writer, a ghetto survivor, and all the above.” “ALL THE ABOVE” the chorus echoes and repeats in response.
Maino is in the process of working his way out of the ghetto. He’s “still grindin’, still hustlin’,” but he’s gotten past the worst of this, and he is, justifiably, proud of it. So far, nothing unusual for a rap song.
What makes this record unique (at least I’ve never heard it before) is that the aforementioned pride manifests itself as a strong black male chorus. Their harmonies are so tight and so powerful that’s almost religious. It’s been a long time since we heard men singing this beautifully and this powerfully.
18.Miranda Cosgrove—About You Now
January 17, 2009. #47
A teenager has just messed up her first relationship. Contrite, she tries to mend things. She didn’t realize what she had before, she explains, but she knows how she feels about him now, and she wants to just erase the mistake and move forward. That’s some serious, emotional content, and Miranda is up to the challenge.
19.Lady GaGa—Paparazzi
October 17, 2009. #6. Still on the charts.
2009 was Lady GaGa’s year, with two albums that produced seven hits. She created her own genre, which I would call Sweet Creepy. In Paparazzi she is singing very sweetly about very creepy behavior, and it works. “I’ll chase you down until you love me,” she says. Hearing the voice, you are ready to give in and let her catch you.
20. Kristinia deBarge—Goodbye
June 20, 2009. #15.
In 1969 a band called Steam put out a single called “It’s the Magic in You, Girl.” One DJ happened to flip the record over, and play the B-side, called “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye.” He got requests to play it again. Long story short, it became a #1 record. Played in stadiums for the next 40 years, it became one of the most familiar choruses in Rock and Roll.
A common practice in major league sports is, when the visiting team is so far behind that they will not catch up, the crowd will start taunting them with ‘nananana, nananana, hey hey, goodbye.” Kristinia captures this taunt and throws in her ex’s face, as she gleefully informs him, “Just in case your wondering, I’ve got that new I’m-a-single-girl swag. Running with my girls, and we’re singing it ‘Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey, goodbye!”
A lot of records these days sample and borrow from older songs, and that often works. But ‘Goodbye’ takes the original Steam song, not as it is (the record is not actually sampled), but what it has come to mean in American culture, and it becomes Kristinia singing about singing a song at her boyfriend, just to make sure he understands it’s over, and she’s happy about it.
21-40.
21. Miley Cyrus—The Climb (May 2. #4)
22. Flo Rida—Right Round (Feb. 28. #1)
23. Beyonce—Sweet Dreams (Nov. 7. #10. Still on the charts.)
24. Adam Lambert—For Your Entertainment (Dec. 12. #61.)
25. Weezer—(If You’re Wondering if I Want You To) I Want You To (Nov. 21. #81)
26. Taylor Swift—Love Story (Jan. 17. #4)
27. Britney Spears—3 (Oct. 24. #1. Still on the charts.)
28. Timbaland—If We Ever Meet Again (Nov. 28. #98)
29. Bon Jovi—We Weren’t Born to Follow (Nov. 28. #68)
30. Ester Dean f/ Chris Brown—Drop It Low (Oct. 31. #38. Still on the charts.)
31. Michael Franti & Spearhead—Say Hey (I Love You) (Sept. 19. #18)
32. Brad Paisley—Welcome to the Future (Nov. 7. #42)
33. Sugarland—It Happens (May 23. #31)
34. Glee Cast—Don’t Stop Believin’ (June 6. #4)
35. Toby Keith—American Ride (Sept. 26. #35)
36. Timbaland—Morning After Dark (Dec. 19. #61)
37. Green Day—21 Guns (Oct. 3. #22)
38. Linkin Park—New Divide (June 6, #6)
39. Selena Gomez & the Scene—Falling Down (Oct. 17. #82)
40. Miranda Lambert—White Liar (Nov. 28 #38. Still on the charts)
Filed by listmeister at 10:29 am under Uncategorized 