Dressing up the cheeseballs

As I type, Jessica Mauboy, Demi Lovato, and t.A.T.u. are in a three-way battle to see who made the eighteenth-best album of 2008, and I'm busy coming up with further reasons why I might not write any Pazz & Jop comments this year and why I won't respond to Geoff Himes' desperate plea for us to submit more country critic comments for the Nashville Scene poll.

( Come on guys! Ashton Shepherd is a total CHEESEBALL! )

( Danitys in Ashlee clothing )

Another Year In America January 1, 2009

The Billboard Hot 100 welcomes the New Year by adding exactly zero new songs to its top 40. (Re-entries are David Archuleta "Crush" [TICK], Paramore "Decode" [borderline TICK], and Secondhand Serenade "Fall For You" [NO TICK].) So as a special treat for steadfast, stalwart, and intrepid readers of A Year In America, we inaugurate Another Year In America by doing what poptimists hasn't yet found within itself the fortitude to do,* which is to look at new entries to last Sunday's U.K. charts.

( 50 Cent )

( The Saturdays )

( Kanye West )

*Check here for updates.

( Special footnote from Frankie )

Top 25 Albums 2008

To sum up my previous commentary: Scooter go for transcendence, Ashton is a cheeseball, and Ashlee and Danity play dress-up. 1 through 10 are the same as on Pazz & Jop so they're under the cut. And in the two weeks since my Country Critics ballot, Taylor jumped Jamey and Ashton jumped Heidi.

( 1 through 10 )

11. Ne-Yo Year Of The Gentleman
12. Taylor Swift Fearless
13. Keak Da Sneak Deified
14. Marit Larsen The Chase
15. Jamey Johnson That Lonesome Song
16. Lil Mama VYP Voice Of The Young People
17. Jordan Pruitt Permission To Fly
18. Jessica Mauboy Been Waiting
19. t.A.T.u. Happy Smiles
20. Lil Wayne Tha Carter III

21. Demi Lovato Don't Forget
22. The Knux Remind Me In 3 Days
23. Karina First Love
24. Ashton Shepherd Sounds So Good
25. Krystal Meyers Make Some Noise