Posts Tagged ‘Avril Lavigne’

Hot 100 Roundup—7/23/11

Wednesday, August 17th, 2011

Frank Ocean—-”Novacane”
#82
Reviewed in Bubbling Under, 6/18/11

J. Cole—”Work Out”
#85
You can’t blame Kanye West for rappers acting like self-obsessed, shameless assholes, but he certainly popularized the idea. The difference, of course, is that West is both pleased and appalled by his behavior, whereas Cole is only pleased. This makes Cole less threatening, but also far less interesting. It also makes him an even bigger jerk.

Josh Turner—”I Wouldn’t Be A Man”
#92
Reviewed in Bubbling Under, 6/4/11

Avril Lavigne—”Smile”
#94
Reviewed in Bubbling Under, 7/9/11

Don Omar—”Taboo”
#97
Reviewed in Bubbling Under, 5/14/11

Foo Fighters—”Walk”
#100
Strange. The song isn’t bad, and Dave Grohl sings as well as he ever has, but the production is so clean it robs the track of any dynamic force. Even the distortion sounds clean, if such a thing is possible. Maybe they tried too hard to make it perfect. Wonder what the demo sounds like.

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Bubbling Under—7/9/11

Monday, August 15th, 2011

Blaire LeVoir—”Digital Kiss”
#106
The idea for the intro is stolen from Prince (not from a song, but from a segue between songs), the sound from David Guetta or RedOne or some other garish electro producer, and the theme of technologically-assisted passion from, uh, Gary Numan, if not Lost In Space. I would say the lyrics sounded like the fantasies of a sci-fi obsessed twelve-year-old if most twelve-year-olds didn’t show far more understanding of technology than LeVoir ever does. Sex, too.

Avril Lavigne—”Smile”
#114
There’s nothing inherently wrong with Lavigne making teenpop in her mid-twenties. She helped invent the current strain, after all, and many people before her have done the same, and many will after. All the same, this record is inexcusable. There have been lots of songs about women who love men who mistreat them, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard one that sounded as slick as a laminated Hallmark card before, or as clueless. She thinks it’s cute when he slips her roofies. Unhealthy at, or for, any age.

Ledisi—”Pieces Of Me”
#115
Ledisi is a respected jazz singer, but this is cocktail soul at best, and the theme song to a discussion show on the Oprah Winfrey Network at worst. If she were white, her phrasing of “Fo’ sho’” would be derided as minstrelsy. I’m not sure it isn’t.

Kellie Pickler—”Tough”
#119
Even when she was on American Idol I though Pickler had more talent than people gave her credit for, or that she even gave herself credit for, and I still do. Her phrasing, obviously modeled on Dolly Parton, is wonderful, and the song, though not great, isn’t bad either. But Pickler doesn’t seem interested in doing anything but entertain—maybe she doesn’t believe she’s capable of anything else—and her self-doubt show’s through even when she’s acting tough. The result is a record that sounds like it should be fun but never delivers, and that you never once believe.

Matt Nathanson—”Faster”
#124
This is fast, at least for adult-contemporary, and Nathanson’s sense of craft makes it bearable. But when I hear a guy who’s been in the business for nearly twenty years sing about his girl tasting like “sunshine and strawberry bubblegum”, I figure he’s a middling careerist who’s had a lucky fall into a decent hook. The blaring horn arrangement confirms it.

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Hot 100 Roundup—5/7/11

Monday, May 16th, 2011

Luke Bryan—”Country Girl (Shake It For Me)”
#22
The intro, especially that throbbing guitar line, shakes pretty well, but after that it’s all by rote. If Bryan actually demonstrated some honest lust, his sexism might be forgivable, but instead he goes on automatic and gets progressively duller.

Beyonce—”Run the World (Girls)”
#33
Based on a Major Lazer sample (aka Diplo and Switch), this is essentially an M.I.A. track with all the third-world references and atmosphere removed, and that loss of texture makes a huge difference. The bare bones sound is as bald and uninteresting as Beyonce’s well-meant lecture on sexual politics. Since this song makes explicit what has been implicit in almost every record she’s made as a solo artist, I assume Beyonce is either running out of patience or running out of ideas, probably both. Either way she’s beating us over the head with a message that was more powerful when it was partially hidden and presented in dramatic terms. “Irreplaceable” is a far greater feminist work than this preachy bore.

Adele—”Turning Tables”
#63
This woman knows how to sing (though not this time), but she doesn’t know how to write a song (or arrange one). When the strings come in you realize her real stock in trade is melodrama, not emotion.

Glee Cast
“Turning Tables” (featuring Gwyneth Paltrow), #66
“All By Myself”, #87

Bridget Mendler
“Breakthrough”, #88
“Somebody”, #89
Two more songs from the Lemonade Mouth soundtrack, and though neither is as good as “Determinate” (which is quickly turning into my favorite pop song of the year), both are far better than one would expect from Disney. It would be easy to say that this is simply Disney doing a better job of keeping up with pop trends than they have in the past, but the fact is that in the last few years it’s pop that has been moving closer to Disney rather than the opposite. Now that Glee has taken over the High School Musical audience (who are, after all, five years older) and Nickelodeon is chasing the latest tweeners, Disney moves on to high school pop-rock, tracking close behind Kelly Clarkson, Katy Perry, and Avril Lavigne, and downplaying the showtune cheeriness that spoiled so much of their earlier music. It’s still derivative as hell, but it’s also right on track with the times. And catchy. Don’t forget catchy.

Jennifer Lopez—”Papi”
#99
Though there’s nothing to indicate it on the credits, this sounds like something Lady GaGa may have cooked up for a b-side and then decided to give away instead. With GaGa singing, this might stand a chance to be both sexy and defiant. Lopez, instead, sounds cheerfully submissive to her man—which is her idea of being sexy—and invites every other woman in the world to join her in her self-degradation. She should ask Luke Bryan to appear in the video—he’d feel right at home.

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Hot 100 Roundup—3/26/11

Friday, March 25th, 2011

Glee Cast
“Landslide”, #23
“Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)”, #57
“Animal”, #62
“Kiss”, #83


Eli Young Band—”Crazy Girl”
#59
I like the sound of this, especially the steel guitars, which go for timbre and intensity rather than the usual sentimental effects, but it isn’t much of a song, and Young isn’t much of a singer. There are times when this reminds me of a male Taylor Swift, oddly enough, but that’s more a matter of melodic construction rather than theme or approach. I’ll be interested in whatever they do next, but I don’t hold out much hope.

Wiz Khalifa—”The Race”
#66
The background here is astounding, with a late 80s/early 90s synth-pop influence like nothiing I’ve heard on a rap record before, and the groove it establishes goes a lot further in justifying this record’s length than anything Khalifa has to say. Though the music suggests emotional depth, the lyrics are pretty much the same as any other rapper you’ll hear. Maybe he’s just mellowinig out a little.

Lupe Fiasco featuring MDMA—”Beautiful Lasers (2 Ways)”
#70
Fiasco has something to say, his anger, intensity, and intelligence shine through, and I’m glad, after all his wrangling with Atlantic Records, that he finally got his album out. Unfortunately, none of that changes the fact that record is both overwrought and derivitave. If he’s going to employ vocal effects, he should find ones that don’t make him sound so much like Kanye West, and the metal guitar solo at the end is just dumb. Which doesn’t mean I won’t give the album a good, hard listen.

Seether—”Country Song”
#74
Since these guys apparently think lyrical vagueness is a sign of intelligence, I can’t quite pin down what this record is about. The title and the country sound are, I assume, ironic, and there are lyrical hints that suggest this is intended as an attack on tea partiers and such. To identify such things with country music as a whole, however, is stupid in all sorts of ways (just ask lifelong democrat Toby Keith), and the fact that the country influences end up making Seether sound smarter than they really are may be the biggest irony of all.

Snoop Dogg featuring T-Pain—”Boom”
#76
Back to bragging about his dope and his women, just like he was born to do. He doesn’t do it with quite the flair he used to, though, and T-Pain, who seems to have lost his talent for hooks, doesn’t help at all.

Eric Church—”Homeboy”
#86
So much for the easygoing dope smoker. Easing back with a joint on a Friday night is one thing, but actual teenage rebellion? Church isn’t putting up with any of that. He isn’t above the crassest emotional manipulation, either, as he assures his little brother that their parents are on their deathbed because their hair is turning grey (why, they may be almost fifty!). The mainstream country audience will no doubt be reassured by this self-superior rant, even if the drums are too loud.

Kenny Chesney—”Live A Little”
#94
Reviewed in Bubbling Under, 10/10/10

Keith Urban—”Without You”
#95
Reviewed in Bubbling Under, 3/19/11

Jennifer Hudson—”Where You At”
#96
Reviewed in Bubbling Under, 2/21/11

Easton Corbin—”I Can’t Love you Back”
#97
Reviewed in Bubbling Under, 3/12/11

Avril Lavigne—”Wish You Were Here”
#99
If Lavigne has to make ballads, this is probabaly the way she should do it. At least it’s better than that soundtrack crap she was putting out a couple of years ago. Not that much better, though.

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Compare and contrast

Friday, January 28th, 2011

Although I welcomed the arrival of Popdust, I’ve been a little put off by the reality—a little too jokey and snarky, a little too concerned with trivialities. Any new endeavor needs time to find itself, though, and the site has taken a big step in that direction this week with a correspondence between popduster (and former Idolator) Maura Johnston and LA Times music critic Ann Powers comparing the new videos from Avril Lavigne and P!nk, and the message the two artists are sending to young women (Johnston’s opening post is here; Powers’s reply here). It’s somewhat unfair—Lavigne has always been a bit of a fraud, and P!nk has certainly never kept her feminism a secret—but it’s good to see nonetheless. More of the same sort, please.

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Welcome to product placement hell

Wednesday, January 26th, 2011

Wouldn’t it have been more honest to just string together commercials with the song as a soundtrack? Yuck.

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Hot 100 Roundup—1/23/11

Monday, January 24th, 2011

Britney Spears—”Hold It Against Me”
#1
I agree with those who say the middle-eight is the best music Spears has made since Blackout, but that’s not saying much, and it’s the merest echo of tracks like “Piece of Me”. The problem isn’t just that Spears is repeating herself, but lack of context. “Piece of Me” was about something that only Spears could understand, and her anger and desire to make others see what she had been going through was palpable. Now that the crisis is over and other pop stars are taking the public heat, she has nothing to do but make her presence known and do her best to assert her sense of continued importance. Except now, just as at the beginning of her career, she doesn’t really have anything to say and does nothing but repeat the usual romantic and sexual tropes. The resulting music is as blank as her message.

Avril Lavigne—”What the Hell”
#13
This one is growing on me, I admit. The middle eight is great, and though it has more than it’s share of dumb bits, it holds together as a decent piece of modernized girl group silliness. Not as good as “Girlfriend”, mind you, but not bad. I just wish Lavigne wasn’t so intent on making herself sound like she’s still a teenager. There’s something unsettling in hearing a record about the desire for casual sex that sounds like the most virginal Disney pop.

Kanye West & Jay-Z—”H*A*M”
#23
Is this intended as a parody of the cult of personality or the start of one? When two superegos meet, is a ghastly music echoing the dreaded Carmina Burana the only thing that can reflect their monstrous self-regard? Are the mediocre opera singers supposed to be Sirens luring our heroes to their doom, or just the white supermodels who give West such good head? Is there a single genuine idea behind this overblown piece of shit? And if there is, would anybody give a fuck if they figured out what it was?

Cage The Elephant—”Shake Me Down”
#78
I liked this band’s last single, “Ain’t No Rest For the Wicked”, which was self-deprecating and philosophical without being heavy. This is all heavy, every last alt-rock-pastiche minute of it, especially the parts that sound like Oasis. What a jumbled mess.

Garrett Hedlund & Leighton Meester—”Give In To Me”
#79
This is a good song, but it’s another cut from Country Strong, and it suffers from all the negatives that most movie soundtrack songs share: the arrangements are too studied, and the singers, though technically fine, sound too much like actors. I’d love to hear a couple of real country singers take a whack at this, though.

Mann featuring 50 Cent—”Buzzin’”
#95
The featured sample, Nu Shooz’s “I Can’t Wait”, of all things, makes me think that someone should start a betting pool on which white one-hit-wonder producer J.R. Rotem will appropriate next. Quarterflash? Modern English? Spanky and Our Gang? Other than that, the only notable thing about this record is that the old school bass line has prompted Mann to echo old school vocal rhythms, as well. Just wish he went all the way with it. Then this might be a welcome breath of retro air, rather than a curiosity.

The JaneDear Girls—”Wildflower”
#98
The cutesy double pun of their name will give you an idea of how hard they’re trying (too hard), and why it’s probably best to avoid them. Not terrible, but ordinary.

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The year so far

Thursday, July 22nd, 2010

According to almost everyone, 2010 has been a great year in just about every genre: alternative, country, hip-hop, techno—great records have been popping up everywhere, from both new and old artists, with a full schedule of promising releases to come.

But if that’s true, and for the most part I think it is, not much of that greatness has been showing up on the pop chart, or if it has it’s come and gone so fast it’s barely been noticed. At least four of my favorite records this year, “Super High”, “Love King”, “I’m Single”, and “Reverse Cowgirl”, disappeared from the chart after a week or two. Others, such as Jay-Z’s “On To the Next One” struggled to climb into the top 30, and then dropped quickly once they reached their peak.

Mind you, if what you’re looking for is party music, you can’t do much better than most of the records that made the top ten this year. Straight ahead rhythms uncomplicated by any sense of hesitancy or messy emotion have dominated the market, with only top drawer sellers like Rihanna and Eminem daring anything that requires much thought on the part of the audience. I like a lot of the records that have made the top ten so far this year, but I can think of only one or two that will have any long lasting effect. Party music is designed to be ephemeral, so that’s hardly a criticism, just a recognition of the way things are, and are likely to remain for some time.

Most of what I consider the best of the year so far comes from a little further down the charts, though of course that’s no guarantee of durability. Even I was surprised, though, that my number one would turn out to be the darkest record to make the charts this year, a record so full of bad feeling that it dropped off the charts after a single week and has been ignored by just about everybody. Who’d have thought I could feel alone in praising a Lil Wayne single?

As for the worst, it should be pointed out that this list does not include any of the Glee Cast singles, which are not only terrible but should never have been released in the first place. If I had included them, they would have occupied all ten places and then some. At one point, I considered making “Ice Ice Baby” both the worst and best single of the year, but that was just cynicism. I feel better now, honest.

The Best So Far (in approximate order of preference)

1. Lil Wayne – I’m Single
2. The-Dream – Love King
3. Cali Swag District – Teach Me How To Dougie
4. The Black Eyed Peas – Rock That Body
5. Rick Ross featuring Ne-Yo – Super High
6. Selena Gomez and the Scene – Naturally
7. Jay-Z featuring Swizz Beats – On To the Next One
8. Miranda Lambert – The House That Built Me
9. Jay-Z featuring Alicia Keys – Empire State of Mind
10. T-Pain – Reverse Cowgirl

The Worst (in alphabetical order)

1. Alpha Rev – New Morning
2. Artists for Haiti – We Are the World 25
3. Justin Bieber featuring Jaden Smith – Never Say Never
4. Dirty Heads featuring Rome of Subllime with Rome – Lay Me Down
5. David Guetta featuring Fergie and LMFAO – Gettin’ Over You
6. Avril Lavigne – Alice
7. Muse – Neutron Star Collision (Love Is Forever)
8. Christina Perri – Jar of Hearts
9. Mike Posner – Cooler Than Me
10. Shiny Toy Guns – Major Tom

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New this week—3/14/10

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010

Justin Bieber—”Never Let You Go”
#21
The most irritating thing about Justin Bieber may be something over which he has no real control: all his records sound the same. He may have talent, but he either possesses such a narrow emotional range that his handlers don’t dare let him express himself, or they have such a narrow idea of what a pop record should be that they can’t take advantage of whatever talent Bieber does possess. The first is a possibility, but I lean toward the second explanation: this is such an obvious retread of Chris Brown’s “Forever” that you wonder if anyone in Bieber’s camp has a single original idea.

Jason DeRulo—”Ridin’ Solo”
#33
Did anybody involved in this record notice how irritating DeRulo’s voice is on the chorus? Did they think it would serve as a kind of hook? Or make up for the fact that nothing else about this record is even vaguely interesting? If so, they were wrong.

Usher featuring Nicki Minaj—”Lil Freak”
#43
Somehow I don’t think Stevie Wonder ever imagined anyone using part of “Livin’ for the City” as background music for an orgy, but I guess we should give Usher a break—he’s got to get over the grief of his divorce somehow.

Avril Lavigne—”Alice”
#71
I long ago resigned myself to the use of Alice in Wonderland as a Rorschach blot for anyone low on ideas who needs a little creative boost, but that only excuses Tim Burton. This is straight cash-in and a terrible record by any standard. The only notable thing about it is that it definitively marks the moment when Lavigne gave up on doing anything new and decided to copy those who have followed in her wake—in this case, Paramore. Even another soppy ballad would be better than this.

Kenny Chesney—”Ain’t Back Yet”
#73
If you define country as music based on the nostalgia of people in their thirties to mid-forties for the pop music of their early teen years, then this is a country record. But even by those standards it isn’t a good country record, just a loud one (with horns, to boot). Gossip hounds, however, will eat up the apparent reference to Renee Zellweger in the last verse.

Godsmack—”Cryin’ Like A Bitch!!”
#74
The exclamation points in the title tell you everything you need to know about this record. Think of them as sudden bursts of guitar and you can pretend you’ve already heard the song without the painful experience of actually listening to it.

Three 6 Mafia Vs Tiesto with Sean Kingston and Flo Rida—”Feel It”
#78
If the artist lineup didn’t tip you off to how desperate these guys are for another hit, the music sure would. Most egregious moment: when Flo Rida comes on, the beat switches to an approximation of “Low”. Even worse, that’s the only part of the record that makes any sense. The rest is a confused mess.

Danny Gokey—”My Best Days Are Ahead of Me”
#78
I never saw Gokey on American Idol, but it’s easy to understand why he was voted off—the only thing thinner than his voice is his material.

La Roux—”Bulletproof”
#92
With all the Eurodisco influence on the charts it’s nice to see the real thing making some headway. Already a number one in the UK, though I doubt it will make it as far here—it’s not brash and straightforward enough for American tastes. I find it a trifle thin and stiff myself, but it’s still better than about 85% of anything else on the charts.

Chris Young—”The Man I Want to Be”
#98
As shameless as self-pitying country gets, this is essentially the male version of Carrie Underwood’s “Jesus Take the Wheel”, only worse, because you can’t help suspecting that all Young really wants is his woman back. What he should really be praying for is better material.

Steel Magnolia—”Keep On Lovin’ You”
#99
Because Lady Antebellum just isn’t enough Sugarland for the country/pop market.

Eric Church—”Hell On the Heart”
#100
Church is the kind of guy who believes old-fashioned things like simple, catchy melodies, short songs (this one clocks in at 2:45, shorter than both his previous singles, only one of which is over three minutes), and strict stereo separation. He also gets better with each record. But he isn’t that good yet. Cliches keep popping up in his lyrics, and thematically there’s nothing that separates him from a few thousand other good ol’ boys. He also has a tendency to sprinkle his interviews with references to how much better he is than everybody else. I like this record, and I hope he gets better, but I’m not holding my breath.

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Leave me alone, Avril

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

An answer record to Lavigne’s “Girlfriend” from Art Brut’s Eddie Argos (under the name Everybody Was In the French Resistance…Now!). Playing both sides, Argos also provides a more positive reply in the form of a sort-of cover on the band’s MySpace page. The album, which I haven’t had a chance to hear yet, is apparently all answer records, a genre sadly in need of revival.

Think of it as the practical application of this idea:

Go get ‘em, Eddie!

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