Selena Gomez & the Scene—”A Year Without Rain”
#35
I’m rooting for Gomez, but this doesn’t work. The song is too ordinary, the techno background doesn’t swell and highlight the melody the way it should (possibly because there is no melody), and Gomez’s teenage voice can’t quite negotiate the song’s not-that-subtle sexual metaphors. Her Disney material had more oomph to it, and nothing can disguise the fact that this is an ordinary power ballad dressed up as a dance track.
Waka Flocka Flame featuring Roscoe Dash and Wale—”No Hands”
#45
Essentially a remake of Dash’s “All the Way Turnt Up” with more, and less interesting, rapping. Even if I could take Flame seriously (I can’t type his full name more than once; it gives me the giggles), recycling one of your guest’s hits barely two months after it left the chart doesn’t seems like the best way to launch a career. A real career, at least.
Michael Buble—”Hollywood”
#55
I didn’t think much of Buble’s last record, “Haven’t Met You Yet”, but I may need to give it another listen, because this is catchy, intelligent, subtly sarcastic, and only occasionally sentimental. It’s full of wonderful musical jokes: the intro’s echoes of Glee; Buble’s phrasing, which somehow reminds me of Billy Crystal’s old Fernando character; a guitar part lifted straight from “The Bitch Is Back”; the background vocals on the third verse. The “find the truth in yourself” advice at the end is a bit of a downer, but otherwise this is almost perfect.
Rihanna—”Only Girl (In the World)”
#75
Rihanna has said that her next album will be more straightforward dance music as opposed to the gloomy half-rock of Rated R, but if this single is any indication, all that means is that the beats will be straighter. In its way, this is even darker and more forbidding than her last few singles, possibly because the beat is so straightforward and machine-like. It’s sex as a battlefield, where power means more than passion, and a proposition sounds more like a dare. This dramatic change in direction is fascinating to watch, and this isn’t a bad record, but it isn’t a great one, either. After what happened I can understand her stance, but she’s either overplaying her reaction or her loss of innocence has thrown her for an even greater loop than people realize.
will.i.am & Nicki Minaj—”Check It Out”
#78
I’m sure a lot of people will hate this on principal, so it’s probably useless to point out that this is the best thing will.i.am has done since The E.N.D. Whether Minaj convinced him to hold back or he’s finally figuring it out for himself, this is less overdone than most of his other records, and he’s perfected the art of isolating his hooks for maximum effectiveness (he also finds/steals great hooks). As for Minaj, she may or may not have anything interesting to say, but her vocals, and the way she shifts timbre and rhythm with pinpoint accuracy, are truly amazing.
Sean Kingston—”Dumb Love”
#84
Having spent a couple of years fiddling with brash electro, straight reggae, dancehall, and even a duet with Justin Bieber, Kingston makes the second best record of his career by going back to his “Beautiful Girls” roots and finding an ancient but undeniable hook—courtesy of The Del Vikings’s “Come Go With Me”—to build his adolescent fantasies around. He also makes the smart move of having the Smeezingtons (aka Bruno Mars and friends) put it together for him—or at least asking them if they had any spare hooks lying around. This could never be as much of a surprise as “Beautiful Girls”, but it’s a pleasant little jolt all the same. And here everybody thought he was a one-hit wonder.
Nick Jonas—”Introducing Me”
#92
From Camp Rock 2, where Nick is apparently learning how to be a member of Plain White T’s. I like the jokey tempo shifts and the grammar lesson, but this is essentially a vaudeville turn for sincere singer-songwriter types, and if you’re trying to impress by spitting out a million words at a breakneck tempo, those words need to be witty. 90% of these aren’t
Florence + The Machine—”Dog Days Are Over”
#93
Her voice is impressive (even more impressive live), but I have no idea what this arty loud-soft, loud-soft is about, and I don’t want to know. Of course, since she doesn’t enunciate much—she’s like a mixture of Annie Lennox and Natalie Merchant—I needn’t worry about it.
