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.
No comments:
Post a Comment