Billboard Hot 100 Top 10 for May 4th

1 P!nk - Just Give Me a Reason (ft. Nate Ruess)

P!nk has gotten on my bad side from time to time, but she never fully goes into my ignore pile.  This song is very solid.  It has an 80's ballad feel, which is a nice change from the end of the world, eurotrash, dubstep pop songs from pretty much every other female pop star. P!nk is a solid enough singer here, and Ruess works well within the confines of his voice.  If I heard this over and over on the radio I'm sure I'd hate it, but because I don't hear it with anything but self inflicted frequency I'm still enjoying it.

2 - Macklemore and Ryan Lewis - Can't Hold Us (ft. Ray Dalton)

One hit single, and he's feeling himself.  I'm for confidence, but this type of boasting usually comes with album number two, not song two.  Why is this a near chart topper?  Macklemore sounds like he's having fun rapping, and we haven't heard that in commercial hip-hop in a long time.  The exuberance he exhibits spitting is matched by a fantastic beat.  The horns and "oohhhooo"s seem to scream for a guest verse from Cee-Lo (in his Cee-Lo Green is the Soul Machine era). 


3 - Macklemore and Ryan Lewis - Thrift Shop (ft. Wanz)

Macklemore has fun and shops where you shop.  In small doses, this song is great fun.  I really like the beat, and guest vocalist Wanz nails the hook.  There has been praise and scorn alike heaped on this track, and this late in the game I don't have anything new to add to it.


I just have to say as an aside, Macklemore feels a bit like he ripped his style from Houston MC Playdough.  A white guy rapping about thrift shopping? Playdough covered that awhile ago.  Go check him out.  As a Wu-Tang fan, I recommend the Red, White, and Wu mixtape.

4 - Bruno Mars - When I Was Your Man

Another retro 70's throwback track from our modern crooner.  When Bruno first starting hitting the charts I really enjoyed the throwback to another era.  Earnest (if slightly corny) love songs were a nice change of pace from the dreck on the radio at the time.  That was a few years ago now, and Bruno is still churning out the same style of song.  That wouldn't be an issue, except that he hasn't grown as a songwriter (or maybe his songwriters are stale.  I don't know if he writes his own music, and at the moment I'm too lazy to go to wikipedia and look it up).  Overall it's not bad, just boring.  If this were a debut track from a new artists, it wouldn't be charting.

5 - PSY - Gentlemen  

Proof that lightening doesn't strike twice! Gangnam Style was silly, but the silly abandon and goofy video made it a global hit and earned PSY millions.  Gentleman lacks the innocent silliness of Gangnam Style.  Instead in the video we're treated to scenes of PSY being a jerk.  I guess the money has gone to his head.  Since I don't speak Korean, I think the video is more fun to watch and pretend that PSY is Kim Jong-un, and no one does anything to stop him from wafting farts into people's faces because they know that dissent equals death.  This is only charting because people are checking out the YouTube video.  This is gone from the charts in just a few weeks, max.  Good riddance.

6 - Rihanna - Stay (ft. Mikky Ekko)

Four minutes of plodding, monotone piano, a no-name guest vocalist, and Rihanna's singing.  The Rihanna name pretty much equals hit for the past few years, and I'll say that a song from her that doesn't mention her rampant partying and drug use is nice.  It's not an especially great track, but now that video views count in chart positioning, this track is going to be better than it would have otherwise.  There's lots of dudes (and chicks) who will watch the video to see Rihanna in the bathtub.  Sex still sells.

7 - Justin Timberlake - Mirrors

I did an album review and covered this track.  Go check that out.

8 - Justin Timberlake - Suit and Tie (ft. Jay-Z)

Second verse, same as the first.

9 - Pitbull - Feel This Moment (ft. Christina Aguilera)

What do you get when you misappropriate a "Take on Me" sample, drop in the same boastful verse from Pitbull, and let Christina Aguilera phone it in with a weak hook?  This song!  Pitbull makes music for drunk college douchebags.  He's not exactly talented.  Christina can sing, but doesn't show it here.  

10 - Drake - Started from the Bottom

Watching Drake prance and strut in this video makes it all the more obvious that he is playing a joke on the public and laughing all the way to the bank.  He seems to be in as much disbelief at his success as the rest of us.  He was in the public eye as a teen, and doesn't seem to have known any real struggle.  Even his lyrics in this song don't reflect anything like hardship.  

Putting out his mixtapes he did show some real hustle and initiative, but then he hooked up with Lil Wayne and that seems like putting your career's success on autopilot.  

Lyrically it's booorrring.  "Started from the bottom now we here" repeated over and over.  The hilarious thing is his cries of not wanting any fake friends, and then having a video filled with groupies and folks who clearly only care to be around Drake and his homies because of the money.  Way to not have a video that matches the lyrics.

The low-key beat is fine, but it sounds more like an album interlude than a full blown track.

Billboard Top 100 part 5 (80-76)

Number 80:

B.o.B. - So Good

B.o.B., rap kinda wunderkind.  Briefly heralded as a breath of fresh air, he seems to have slipped into a bit of obscurity.  It's too bad, he shows some real pop-rap chops here.  This isn't a particularly memorable track, but the hopeful beat and B.o.B.'s sing-songy flow make this a nice, chill track.  If I had a convertible, this would have been one to play with the top down in the summer, singing along to the "na na nas."

Number 79:
Rihanna - Birthday Cake (feat. Chris Brown)

Nauseating. Irritating. Feel free to supply your own adjective.  Without Brown's verse, this was a throwaway snippet on the Talk That Talk album.  Not enough substance for a real song, just Rihanna trying to stir a birthday cake into a cauldron of sultry lust.  With Brown's verse it's a gross reminder of an awful guy beating a young woman who turns around and reunites with the abuser.  There's nothing attractive about it.  Brown classes up the joint by starting his verse by saying "I want to f*** you right now."  Gross.  The controversy of the on again, off again nature of the couple is the only thing that drove it this high on the charts.

Number 78:
Kirko Bangz - Drank in My Cup

I previously had the pleasure of reviewing Kirko Bangz previous track What Yo Name Iz?, and Mr. Bangz hasn't changed his formula.  He profits from the fact that people will ignore lyrics for a decent beat.  Take a moment to listen to the words.  The song is about a woman who continually cheats on her significant other with Kirko here.  It's a tired, old story of borrowing a woman and having no strings attached sex.  This passes for entertainment?

Number 77 :
Trey Songz - Heart Attack

First impressions: opening of the song sounds like an NES game.  Then Trey starts with his so-so singing, an also ran R&B dude.  It's incredibly nondescript.  This could have been sung by anyone really.  Like a lot of current songs, it's not bad per say.  It's just boring.

Number 76:
Kenny Chesney - Come Over
Schmaltzy "I miss you" country.  Blah.

Album Review: Justin Timberlake - The 20/20 Experience

By request, I'm reviewing the nearly platinum selling new album from one Mr. Justin Timberlake.  It been a long time since we've heard any music from the man, he took a break from music to star in number of mediocre to okay movies.  Personally, I kind of dug Timberlake's two prior albums.  Solid production from Timberland and The Neptunes helped him churn out solid tracks that pleased pretty much everyone.  She might not have done it when you were around, but I bet your own mom knew SexyBack.

I'm coming in to this review totally fresh.  I haven't even heard Suit & Tie, aside from a snippet on a Bud Light Platinum commercial.

We start out with track 1 "Pusher Love Girl," continuing the "love is like a drug" theme from the last album (ex LoveStoned).  Unimpressive lyrics and a chorus sung in Timberlake's falsetto, leading to a snooze of a bridge.  This is an unimpressive start to the album.  The production is nice, but it's kind of dull.  It also clocks in at a self indulgent eight minutes long.  That's approaching Mars Volta song length.  Around five minutes it switches up and sounds a bit more... fun, but it's still nothing special.  This is the loop that the live band plays as they're being introduced near the end of the concert before they break into their little solos.

On to track 2, "Suit & Tie."  I could do without the first 45 seconds of the track.  Slowed down vocal samples are tired.  Getting past that, I can see why it was picked as the first single.  This is an enjoyable track.  Very Robin Thicke, which is ok by me, since Mr. Thicke has been carrying on the mantle of blue eyed soul since Timberlake disappeared.  Jay-Z's verse isn't great, he sounds kind of bored and the lyrics sounds recycled from other verses he's dropped.  I guess an appearance by a rapper is a requirement these days, since Justin has to show he's still "down," especially after the whole Janet Jackson Super Bowl debacle.

"Don't Hold The Wall" is the first track that has hallmarks of the classic Timberland sound in the beat (in this case, his voice appearing as part of the beat).  This track is a style departure from the prior two tracks, with a cool drum and Indian female singing sample that give it a nice feel.  Right until around 4:45.  The song should have ended before the "How do you like it" voice samples cuts in.  I think I'm going to see a trend of these songs just going on for too long.  These tracks average out to around 7 minutes apiece.  I'm not against longer songs, but on an R&B/pop album, I'm looking for concise tunes that don't wear out their welcome.  These track so far have made me want to hit next around minute 5.

Track four is "Strawberry Bubblegum."  Starts off wasting 45 seconds with a pointless intro, before heading into a track that threatened to put me to sleep.  There's nothing interesting here.  It's a great track to catch a nap to.  Like I predicted, at minute 5 it breaks into an organ jam that sounds like it belongs to another song.  Wikipedia says this album was put together in 20 days, and it sounds like it.  Maybe shave some time off of these tracks, turning the extra 3 minutes tacked on to the ends of these songs into other songs so it looks a little more substantial time wise.

"Tunnel Vision" sounds like an update on the Timberland/Timberlake team ups that shot Justin to solo stardom.  Why isn't THIS a single?  This is the first track I actually like, though it too could stand to be cut off around the 4:30 mark.  These extended length songs don't show off any singing or songwriting prowess.  They seem like the producers screwing around and trying to show off.

The track "Spaceship Coupe" has a smooth synth line underneath the tired space metaphor.  Timberlake isn't screwing aliens like Katy Perry, but he's playing with this trope.  If any track was crying out for a rap guest first, I think it is this one.  Trite lines seem to be a comfortable lane for most popular rappers today.  I can see this being a single after "Mirrors."  Like every other track though, it needs around 2 minutes chopped off at the end.

Now we come to the shortest track on the album "That Girl."  Now this truly sounds like it could have an extra two minutes granted to the rest of the tracks and it would have been welcome.  A joyous, old school horn section blows over a jangly guitar riff.  This track sounds like summer.  A definite stand out.

We're finally approaching the end of the album with "Let The Groove Get In."  While I'm a fan of the beat, the opening minute and it's repetition kill the buzz it creates.  Timberlake is polite enough to ask if I'm comfortable, but doesn't seem like he really wants to hear my answer.  For the record, the answer is no. I'm not comfortable with the faux shouts on your chorus.   This far in, I want to rename this album to "The 2 Minute/ Too Long Experience."

"Mirrors" is the second single off of the album, and I don't see why this was picked over "Tunnel Vision."  It sounds like a leftover from Justified.  It's not bad per say, it just sounds... dated.  I can see a shortened version being popular at weddings.  Again with the self-indulgent, padded tracks that don't need to be as long as they are.  Too many of these tracks overstay their welcome.

"Blue Ocean Floor" closes things out with a spacey, rambling track that, minus Timberlake's vocals, wouldn't be out of place in a trendy indie game.  It sounds like an overextended interlude, not the ending track on a disc that is supposed to be a long awaited return to music after a hiatus.

There are a few good tracks here so I wouldn't say the album is bad, I'd just say it's skippable.  There's nothing exciting or great here.  It's a collection of mostly too long tracks, and Timberlake isn't exactly the greatest vocalist or lyricist.  Enjoy the singles on the radio, but save your money.  I think after week one sales, this one is going to fall pretty hard sales wise.

Like the album?  Buy it from Amazon!
The 20/20 Experience [+digital booklet]