Posts Tagged ‘Darius Rucker’

Early Rounds: Hot 100 Roundup—2/2/13

Tuesday, February 5th, 2013

Something of a blah week, which is probably why it took me so long to get around to it (my apologies). It has, in fact, been a very slow year so far, even though there have been more records entering the chart than your average January, and one of them was from Justin Timberlake. I thought it was going to be a weird year, but now I’m beginning to wonder. So far it’s been tepid. I’m starting to get the feeling that in the future we’ll look back at 2012 as a year full of promise and then wonder what the hell happened in 2013. It’s still early, though, and that’s just a hunch. No predictions yet.

Lil Wayne featuring Drake & Future—“Love Me”
#53

Mike Will Made-It is the hottest producer in rap right now, and the beat here helps to make Lil Wayne sound alive for the first time in months. Doesn’t sound like he’s thinking much, though: his raps on “Love Me” consist of one tired, unfunny sex joke after another, usually with a bad pun attached, and as you might expect he sinks into misogyny before he’s finished. Future provides the hook, and it’s a good one—wish they’d let him rap on it, too.

A$AP Rocky
“Wild For the Night” (featuring Skrillex & Birdy Nam Nam), #82
“Long Live A$AP”, #86

As much as I like the idea behind the A$AP crew—breaking down regional barriers and mixing and matching styles—the reality doesn’t yet live up to the hype. The Skrillex-produced “Wild for the Night” has a great vocal hook, and the chorus moves with a propulsion that’s rare in rap, but the repetitive synth squiggles are weak and corny, and they get worse as the track goes on. As for “Long Live A$AP”, all it proves to me is that the crew has been listening to Frank Ocean (the falsetto chorus is even built around the same word as the chorus of “Thinkin’ ‘Bout You”: “forever”). But everybody’s doing that, and this sounds more like cash-in than homage. Rocky raps well on both tracks, but doesn’t have anything special to say. A$AP has got a promising concept, but they may need a genius to pull it off, and I’m not hearing one on these records.

Olly Murs featuring Flo Rida—“Troublemaker”
#87

“Troublemaker” is as readymade as they come, but it works. I hated Murs’s last single, which was so generic and soft focus it barely registered, but this is catchy and bouncy, with just enough personality to stick in your head. Flo Rida, who knows better than anyone how to jump start a hook, adds a little edge to the proceedings; it’s one of the few cases where a rap improves a record rather than making it worse.

Darius Rucker—“Wagon Wheel”
#96

“Wagon Wheel”, which has been bouncing around Nashville for years, isn’t a great song, but it deserves better than this. Rucker’s only appeal is the gruff but friendly quality of his voice; he seems incapable of expressing emotion, or of knowing how to get at the root of a song’s meaning. He knows the chorus is about sex—at least I think he does—but capitalizing on that appears to be beyond him. I don’t know whether he doesn’t get it or he’s too tasteful, but whatever the case the song is stolid from beginning to end. The music doesn’t help: there are spots where the entire record seems so listless it’s almost dead.

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Who Says Folk Music is Dead?

Thursday, January 31st, 2013

The wonderful story of “Wagon Wheel”, from Big Bill Broonzy to Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup to Bob Dylan to Old Crow Medicine Show. What this article, written in 2011, misses is the latest twist on the story: Darius Rucker turning the song into a mainstream country hit. This is how retromania used to work, back when they called it tradition, and I guess it still does.

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Hot 100 Roundup—10/1/11

Wednesday, October 12th, 2011

Coldplay—”Paradise”
#16
Whenever these guys try to make a major statement they always fall back on arty cliches that mean a lot less than they think they do. Since this one is called “Paradise”, it opens with slightly distorted church organ and muzak strings, and throws some glockenspiel into the arrangement along the way. Since the lyrics make no mention of religion, they probably think they’re being subtle and ironic, when all they’re really being is pretentious and obvious. Speaking of pretension, it’s worth pointing out that this sounds more like the intro to a concept album than a single, but I prefer not to think about that if I can avoid it.

Darius Rucker—”I Got Nothin’”
#84
Reviewed in Bubbling Under, 8/2/11

Tony Bennett and Amy Winehouse—”Body and Soul”
#87
Bennett is still Bennett, and the craggier his voice gets the more emotion it reveals, but then, nobody is buying this for him, are they? Winehouse was in great voice, but there’s nothing daring or challenging about her vocal—it’s essentially a well done Dinah Washington impersonation, and she’s obviously trying, either out of fear or respect, not to show up her host. A worthy final performance, but hardly a memorial.

David Nail—”Let It Rain”
#95
Reviewed in Bubbling Under, 8/2/11

Ace Hood featuring Chris Brown—”Body 2 Body”
#98
Reviewed in Bubbling Under, 8/27/11

Sean Paul featuring Alexis Jordan—”Got 2 Love U”
#99
Sean Paul hasn’t had a major hit since he helped to turn Rihanna into a superstar (either that or she helped him to keep his top-ten career going a little longer). He sounds the same as ever, and Alexis Jordan isn’t bad, but this won’t do anything to revive his career.

Brantley Gilbert—”You Don’t Know Her Like I Do”
#100
I have to give Gilbert a certain amount of credit: he knows that most of this song is cliche, so he does his best to highlight the few non-cliche moments. There’s something off about putting melodramatic emphasis on a line like “She’s my best friend”, though, and tricking it up with a false ending and an extended coda only makes it worse. And all the rest of the song is still cliche.

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Bubbling Under 8/20/11

Saturday, September 3rd, 2011

Victorious Cast featuring Victoria Justice—”I Want You Back”
#108
This is pure karaoke—the only thing that sounds different from the original is the vocals—but it’s a world away from Glee or the worst of American Idol. Still, it’s a well-crafted curiosity and nothing more. It helps that Justice doesn’t try to do Michael Jackson. More and more, in fact, she reminds me of Katrina Leskanich. I await her version of “Walking On Sunshine”.

Darius Rucker—”I Got Nothin’”
#109
After the warm and sleep-inducing paeans to family life on Rucker’s last album, the bleak desolation of this record comes as a surprise. What may be even more surprising is the way Rucker sings it: there isn’t a trace of country phrasing. If anything, he sounds like a grunge singer dabbling in a different genre (if you ever wanted to hear Eddie Vedder sing country, this may be as close as you get). Not a great record, but better than I would have expected.

David Nail—”Let It Rain”
#115
One of the things that makes country so fascinating right now is the sense of growing stylistic openness; more and more it sounds as if they’re willing to try anything. This may be desperation in the face of imploding sales, but it may also have to do with the broadening of the country audience not just beyond the south (which has been going on for decades), but from a rural and suburban base to one more urban. So now you get more traces of urban styles, even touches of hip-hop and urban soul, besides the obvious blues, southern rock, and easy-listening pop. This record, good but not great, features pumping organ as it’s rhythmic base, along with background vocals that suggest both black gospel and the sophistication of Fleetwood Mac, plus the unfortunately de rigueur power ballad climax (when is someone in country going to fight the loudness epidemic? they, of all genres, should be leading the charge). It doesn’t veer far from the basics, especially in the vocals, but it’s enough to make it sound fresh, and to make you wonder just where country is going to be a few years from now.

Skrillex—”Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites”
#24
The sound of an early-twenties DJ/producer with a love of not only techno but heavy metal, playing at fun and games in the studio (or on his laptop). In other words, nerd music, but with a twist. It’s no surprise when near the end the relatively unfiltered vocals sound as wimpy and wan as Death Cab for Cutie or Owl City, but Skrillex isn’t interested in emphasizing his sensitive side, he’s into creating alter egos that reflect multiple aspects of his personality, even the nasty ones that aren’t that pleasant to listen to. Right now the dichotomy is obvious, jarring, and somewhat off-putting; if he should ever manage a synthesis, though, he could be something.

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Cali Swag District vs. Gwyneth Paltrow

Friday, March 25th, 2011

If you ever wanted a capsule example of everything that’s still wrong with the record business, despite the fact that music sales seem to finally be going up again, nothing sums it up quite as nicely as the story of Cali Swag District. “Teach Me How To Dougie” was one of the breakout singles of last year (it was also one of the best). It never got very high on the Billboard charts, but it was ubiquitous everywhere else, especially on YouTube, where various versions of the song garnered over 50 million hits. The single itself has sold something over 2 million copies (and those are just the legal downloads).

Signed by Capitol, the group immediately went into the studio and recorded an album, Kickback. The first single from the LP tanked, though, and the album’s release date kept getting pushed back, until it finally settled into the limbo known as “coming soon”. It’s an old story, and has happened to a lot of hip-hop and r&b artists lately—just ask Amerie.

But it’s worthwhile considering their story in light of Billboard’s conjectures regarding Gwyneth Paltrow’s recent signing to Atlantic Records for a reported $900,000. How, Billboard’s Glenn Peoples asks, in the current sales climate, would Atlantic get their money back? To make up the $900,000, Atlantic would need to sell around 700,000 copies of her album (or seven million individual tracks), not an impossibility considering Paltrow’s pre-existent rock connections and success on Glee (the less said about Country Strong the better).

But that would just pay back Paltrow’s advance. There would also be promotional costs involved, and this is where the story gets interesting. Billboard’s estimate is that Paltrow’s album would cost about $300,000 to record, which would be paid out of Paltrow’s advance. But promotional costs, which include videos, advertising, singles promotion, etc. would be nearly seven times more than that. Meaning that Atlantic would need to make back over $3 million in order to turn a profit on Paltrow’s contract, hardly a sure thing (Peoples’ comparison of Paltrow to Darius Rucker, by the way, is ridiculous: Paltrow may be famous, but she’s not famous for making music, the way Rucker was).

Which brings us back to Cali Swag District. Their album is finished (and I bet it cost a lot less than $300,000), they’ve gotten their advance, and Capitol is now assuming all the risk for releasing the record. They’ve no doubt already made some of their money back on “Dougie”, maybe all of it. But any costs that accrue now—meaning the costs of promotion, advertising, etc.—are the record company’s alone. So why take the risk if the follow-up single to “Dougie” has already tanked and nothing else on the album, from Capitol’s point of view at least, stands any better chance of being a hit?

The fact that it would cost the label virtually nothing to release the album, especially if they went download-only for the initial release, is apparently beside the point. Releasing an album without promotion, according to the thinking of the major labels, is roughly the same of throwing it in the garbage. Even though that self-fulfilling prophecy has already been disproved by “Dougie” itself, not to mention “Crank Dat”, a batch of jerkin’ records, and now Rebecca Black’s “Fridays”, nothing will ever convince the heads of the major labels otherwise. And now that Cali Swag District is signed to a label that refuses to release their record, they’re stuck. They may very well be one hit wonders, anyway, but it’s still hard not to sympathize with them. Besides, the way Capitol is acting, we’ll never really know, will we?

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Hot 100 Roundup—10/24/10

Friday, October 29th, 2010

Taylor Swift—”Back To December”
#6
The problem with most pop and country ballads isn’t that they’re slow and lugubrious (though they often are), but that they’re so damned predictable. You can see every turn in the melody and lyric (if there are any turns, which is another problem) coming before you’ve even gotten through the solemn piano intro. Not this one. Almost effortlessly, Swift generates the drama a good ballad is supposed to contain. She can pack more words into a line without sounding like she’s overdoing it than anyone in the business, and the melody, which bounces up and down like a heartbeat on the chorus, goes places no other country balladeer would ever consider. She constantly comes up with lyrical details that sound lived in rather than looked up, and unlike most of Swift’s previous records, the ending is ambiguous and avoids another fairy tale conclusion. Though how any man with sense could say no to her is beyond me.

Glee Cast
“Lucky”, #27
“River Deep, Mountain High”, #41
“Happy Days Are Here Again/Get Happy”, #48
“Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”, #50
“Sing!”, #87
“Le Jazz Hot”, #94

Nelly featuring T-Pain and Akon—”Move That Body”
#54
Since Nelly has already made his comeback I can’t call this “three attempted comebacks on a single record”, but that sure is what it sounds like. Nelly is all right, and Akon is Akon, but T-Pain has never sounded duller, auto-tuning the only thing that makes him identifiable. Live by the plug-in, die by the plug-in.

Sugarland—”Little Miss”
#80
Sugarland suffers from what I’ve always thought of as Jackson Browne Syndrome. Crafty, catchy, and intelligent as they obviously are, too often their music seems totally detached from their lyrics, and on a song like this, when the lyrics aren’t clear, it’s virtually impossible to discover what the damn thing is about. Feelings, I guess, nothing more than feelings.

Darius Rucker—”This”
#83
Another ordinary celebration of the ordinary from the king of same. Though it’s possible to admire his consistency, if it isn’t a rut it sure ain’t a groove.

Trace Adkins—This Ain’t No Love Song”
#100
Reviewed in Bubbling Under, 10/17/10

Bubbling Under:

T-Pain featuring Rick Ross—”Rap Song”
#103
It’s probably unfair to compare T-Pain to The-Dream—The-Dream is a kind of genius, whereas T-Pain is a guy who had one brilliantly inspired idea and whose inspiration is fading fast—but if I’m going to listen to a song about making love to other people’s music, I’ll stick to “Kelly’s 12 Play”. Aside from a clever, if somewhat aged, Kanye joke, and the tasteless suggestion of having sex to Straight Outta Compton, this contains nothing to distinguish it from a lot of other auto-tuned slow jams. And has Rick Ross ever sounded more out of place than he does here? Did they just lift his rap from another record and stick it in?

Lloyd—”Lay It Down”
#105
Lloyd’s made some strong records over the last couple of years, but unlike Trey Songz, who was in a similar position until he finally broke a few months ago, Lloyd hasn’t been as lucky on the charts. And now it sounds as if he’s getting desperate, because this song is seriously insane. Vocally it’s all over the place, crooning here, yelping there, auto-tuned and stretched like a rubber band in the chorus, and ending, God help us all, with yodeling. He sounds like he’s having a great time, but the rest of us are left scratching our heads. It gets your attention, but where exactly is this all supposed to end? And will anybody else be around when it does?

My Chemical Romance—”Only Hope For Me Is You”
#106
This is strong and catchy, but it goes on too long and gets dangerously close to Linkin Park territory. There’s such a thing as coming on too strong. Trust your sense of humor, guys, it hasn’t failed you yet.

The Black Keys—”Tighten Up”
#110
Danger Mouse’s production makes this more than just a late-’60s funk/rock homage, but not much more, and the vocals and lyrics take you right back to Grand Funk Railroad territory. And if there’s any band who’s reputation doesn’t need a positive reassessment, it’s Grand Funk Railroad. Queen was bad enough.

Big Time Rush—”Til I Forget About You”
#111
Catchier and more mature than their first single, but still nothing to get excited about, even if you’re thirteen. In fact, they may have matured just enough to put themselves into demographic limbo.

Hannah Montana featuring Iyaz—”Gonna Get This”
#112
Despite the credit to Hannah Montana rather than Miley Cyrus, this is not Disney pop. Disney pop doesn’t exist anymore. Partly this is because Disney pop has become more mature and up-to-date, but largely it’s because pop music itself has taken a giant step in the direction of Disney. There’s now no noticeable difference between the two. No doubt this was Disney’s plan all along, though it does make you wonder how they’ll distinguish any stars they try to create in the future from the mass. As for this record, it’s pretty good, nearly as good as anything Miley Cyrus has put out under her own name, though not as good as the best stuff she did as Hannah Montana. Since there’s no real difference between the two anymore, I suppose it’s as good a time as any to end it.

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New this week—7/25/10

Tuesday, July 27th, 2010

Usher featuring Pitbull—”DJ Got Us Falling In Love”
#19
When I saw this I figured that Usher would be overshadowed by Pitbull—and he is, barely—but I didn’t suspect they’d both be left in the dust by producer Max Martin, who owns this record, for better or worse. It’s not great, but it’s a lot more fun than anything else Usher has released lately, and it’s certainly a step up from “OMG”. Pitbull sounds a little lost, though, as if he’d suddenly found himself transported from Miami to a Swedish disco and was trying to bluff his way out.

Darius Rucker—”Come Back Song”
#67
Easygoing country is in fashion now, and Rucker is it’s king. This is so easygoing, in fact, that you don’t believe a word of it—if he really wanted his woman back he’d come up with a better apology than “My bad.” He loses me, though, on the very first line: “I woke up again this morning…” Yeah, I hate when that happens, too.

New Boys featuring Iyaz—”Break My Bank”
#71
They still possess a certain amount of charm, but their jerkin’ days are over. For one thing, no matter how young the artists are, jerkers don’t make little kids stuff, which is apparently all that Iyaz is capable of. What a disappointment.

Auburn featuring Iyaz—”La La La”
#74
More kindergarten hip-hop, this time from producer J.R. Rotem, who essentially invented the genre with Sean Kingston and Iyaz. Catchy and irritating in equal measure; a whirlpool of inanity and overproduction designed to suck you into the void.

Chiddy Bang—”Opposite of Adults”
#90
Despite their dis of Asher Roth, these guys work close to the same territory. Their beats are denser and more “authentic”, their rhymes more clever, but their snotty twenty-something persona is right out of Roth’s playbook. When you compare yourself to a Will Ferrell character, you’re tagging yourself in a way that’s going to be damn hard to shake off. I remember when rappers used to make fun of posh snobs, not play them.

Hannah Montana—”Ordinary Girl”
#91
Terrible record, but I find it interesting that Miley Cyrus’s alter ego says straight out what Cyrus can never manage to say herself without tons of costume and make-up. The only thing they get wrong is the humility. I don’t think Cyrus thinks of herself as an ordinary girl at all.

Monica—”Love All Over Me”
#94
Maybe it’s just my own dirty mind, but the obvious double entendre of the title line and Monica’s intense sincerity in the rendering of it make me laugh every time I hear this song. Good thing for her it’s a ballad, or every rapper in the country would be freestyling all over her as well.

Easton Corbin—”Roll With It”
#98
Corbin has his charms, but this is a very ordinary George Strait rip-off minus Strait’s sense of moderation and taste. Though it does confirm my growing belief that the real test of country authenticity is whether or not you were conceived in the back of a pickup truck.

Rob Thomas—”Mockingbird”
#100
“We can’t move on/We can’t stay here”. Is he talking about the 80s?

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New this week

Friday, October 30th, 2009

Glee Cast
“Sweet Caroline”, #34
“Bust A Move”, #93

The cover of Neil Diamond’s hoary old chestnut does a pretty good job of puncturing Diamond’s self-importance, if only because the singer is incapable of the sort chest thumping fullness of voice that Diamond was born to. But as to whether the joke was intentional or not, I have no idea. As for “Bust A Move”, it’s their most surprising cover yet, but it’s also easy, and stinks of demographic as opposed to satiric or comic intentions. I mean, if they really wanted to play against their white bread atmosphere, why not “Mama Said Knock You Out” or “Fight The Power”?

Adam Lambert—”Time for Miracles”
#50
As ghastly as every other movie soundtrack ballad, only, as befits a movie about the end of the world, even more over-the-top. I would love to know who’s responsible for the string arrangement, which hovers between mindless overkill and stunning self-parody.

Snoop Dogg featuring The-Dream—”Gangsta Luv”
#57
I was expecting this to be another of Snoop’s biennial greats like “Drop It Like It’s Hot” or “Sensual Seduction”. Instead it’s a very ordinary jam from The-Dream (who’s become almost as bereft of ideas as Jermaine Dupri), with Snoop sounding even sleepier than usual. He really doesn’t care, anymore, does he?

Tim McGraw—”Southern Voice”
#61
Another country list song, distinguished only by the weirdness of its choices: the first verse starts naturally enough with Hank Williams, and then moves through Hank’s grandson to Chuck Berry, William Faulkner, Aretha (not from the south, but what the hell), Dolly, and Rosa Parks before ending with Scarlet O’Hara. Although he namechecks “Hickory Wind” he doesn’t mention Graham Parsons by name, and he makes sure to keep his Christian audience on board by mentioning his gold cross and ending the list with Billy Graham. He manages to sneak Pocahantas on there, as well. This may set some sort of record for how many demographics can be genuflected to in a single song.

T-Pain—”Take Your Shirt Off”
#80
I was put off by this at first—I generally prefer my T-Pain more subtle (as subtle as he gets, anyway), and this struck me as a mindless Lil Jon knock-off. Except Lil Jon never managed tracks as frenetic or musically complicated as this, and though he can get ruder he’s isn’t any funnier. Where crunk jumped up and down in place, this motivates forward at high speed, stops and jumps up and down, and then motivates again. As party music it’s just about perfect, and party music seems to be all that anyone wants these days.

Trey Songz featuring Drake—”I Invented Sex”
#90
In overall tone, this follows along in the tradition of “Bed” and “Birthday Sex”, only this is more sophisticated and less funny, and also, to my ears at least, a lot sexier. This version, featuring Drake, tops Drake’s version, featuring Trey Songz. Songz voice has just the right vulnerable, self-effacing quality to get over, whereas Drake sounds a little full of himself, a bit crass. Even on a song as excellent as this, I like him less everytime I hear him.

Carrie Underwood—”Temporary Home”
#92
This is why a lot of people hate country music—sticky and sentimental, with a religious message tacked onto the end that, instead of adding a level of hope, cheapens the suffering of the characters in the song. Come to think of it, this is why a lot of people hate religion, too.

Owl City—”Vanilla Twilight”
#95
If this isn’t the vanishing point that indie infantilism has been moving toward these last few years then I’m Winnie the Pooh and his jar of honey too. “Pour me a cup of atmosphere”, the singer (who’s also the band) whimpers in a voice that would make any intelligent five year old squeamish, and you’ll excuse me for wishing he’d choke on it. And from what I’ve heard, all the indie crowd, when faced with such damning evidence of the hole they’ve been digging themselves the last few years, can come up with in way of defense is “He’s just ripping off The Postal Service.” Exactly.

Darius Rucker—”History In the Making”
#99
I appreciate Rucker because unlike most male country singers he doesn’t waste a lot of time whooping it up and overplaying his love of God and country or treat his voice like some sort of icon whose every shift of timbre and craggy intonation is designed to make women quake in their Daisy Dukes and cowboy boots. He’s just an ordinary guy singing about ordinary things in an at times very ordinary way. He’s nothing to get excited about, but he isn’t an irritant, either. If that sometimes makes him dull, as it does here, then so be it.

Rihanna—”Russian Roulette”
#100
I’m unsure what to make of this record. Even if you assume it’s meant as a metaphor for abusive relationships, on first listen the song is as terrifying as it was no doubt intended to be, metaphor or no. But on repeated listening the effect not only lessens, which is to be expected, but drains away almost completely. The problem, as always, is Rihanna’s voice, which conveys no real feeling or emotion—she barely sounds as if she has a life to lose. That could be part of the point, I suppose, but it creates a distance in the song that becomes impossible to breach and ultimately deprives it of any meaningful impact. And impact, I think, was exactly what she was looking for.

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New This Week

Monday, May 25th, 2009

Eminem—“Beautiful”
#17
The recent interview with Eminem in the New York Times confirms two obvious points about Relapse: one, it came out of a period of intense confusion, depression and self-doubt; two, the Slim Shady stuff was done more from a sense of duty to fans than any real desire to resurrect the persona. Which explains why this record, where Eminem speaks pretty much as himself, is so much superior to the Shady-oriented material that preceded it. I have my doubts about the power ballad intro and outro, but this is a great record. Even clean and sober, though, Eminem finds himself in a difficult position. The Slim Shady stuff is old hat, but he can’t, and shouldn’t, build the next phase of his a career out of down-tempo raps about depression (leave that to the indie kids). He needs something new, something that will probably alienate large sections of his audience. As much as I respect his desire to please his old fans, he may find that they’re another dependency he’ll have to wean himself from. Are there twelve-step programs for adulation addiction?

Jordin Sparks—“Battlefield”
#32
I’ve liked some of Sparks’ earlier records, but the bombast here is too much, with whatever personality and charm she possesses overpowered by thundering drums. Note to songwriters and producers: “Umbrella”-inspired songs with choruses that consist of nothing but the title repeated over and over like an echo are old and overdone. Time for a new trick, please.

Jonas Brothers—“Paranoid”
#37
Critics, and the Brothers themselves, are attributing the darker tones of this record to “maturity” (why, they’re almost a year older than they were when they made their last album!), but it probably has more to do with spending the last few years on the entertainment industry hamster wheel. Since I assume these clean cut boys don’t ingest any substance stronger than caffeine, their paranoia is probably the result of sleep deprivation more than anything else, which would explain why the change of tone is lyrical rather than musical; their machine-tooled pop-punk is as bouncy as ever, and just as unoriginal. If I can be excused an untoward comparison, they’re in roughly the same place The Beatles were in late ’64/early ’65: exhausted, but still game. In the Brothers case, though, I don’t think there’s an equivalent to Rubber Soul waiting around the bend, and not just because they don’t smoke dope.

Cobra Starship featuring Leighton Meester—“Good Girls Go Bad”
#76
Coming on the heels of Lady GaGa and 3Oh!3, this single suggests a new trend: bombastic electro-influenced records about women losing (or intentionally throwing away) their inhibitions. This one includes an appearance by a member of the cast of Gossip Girl, which should cement the idea in the minds of culture watchers nicely. If this becomes a hit, there should be a piece in the New York Times Style section before the summer is out.

The Fray—“Heartless”
#79
I’d be more than willing to ignore The Fray if they saved their self-indulgent warbling for their own material, but this act of desecration forces my hand. Say goodbye to Hinder and Nickelback, because these guys are now officially the Worst Band in the World. Question: Does this mean “You Found Me” would sound good if Kanye sang it? Answer: No.

Jessie James—“Wanted”
#87
Many people, including me, complain that country is still lost in the late ’70s, or maybe the early ’80s, but this roaring piece of female raunch is as modern as it gets. That is, it’s main influences aren’t the Eagles or John Mellencamp, but Kelly Clarkson and, especially, Katy Perry. This may sound horrible to you, and it certainly isn’t what most people would call country, but Nashville professionalism and attention to lyrical and musical detail make it more interesting than most of Clarkson’s and Perry’s stuff. Sexier, too–and a lot dirtier.

Darius Rucker—“Alright”
#91
Rucker’s first two country singles possessed the lyrical specificity and detail that makes up for a lot of rote arrangements and fruity singing in Nashville. This one doesn’t. He sounds almost as vague as Hootie.

The Pussycat Dolls featuring Nicole Scherzinger—“Hush Hush”
#96
A terrible record, and when it shifts into “I Will Survive” you can feel the desperation take hold as the Dolls slide back into the oblivion from which they came. The only thing that keeps this from being the worst single of the year is the existence of The Fray.

Trey Songz—“I Need a Girl”
#100
Chris Brown having sabotaged his career, Trey Songz steps into the gap with the oldest trick in the pop book. He needs a girl, and ladies, you could be the one. All you need to do is hollaback, preferably in the form of buying this record, the album, concert tickets, and associated merchandise. Not a bad song, but the blatant pandering is a bit much.

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