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koganbotB.o.B bobs up to the top and also has a new entry in the top 20. And I actually enjoy listening to a couple of Glee tracks. A surprisingly pleasant week, though the music doesn't have a lot of surprise in it.
B.o.B ft. Hayley Williams "Airplanes": Airplane as both distance and connection, as business and flight from business, as routine and renewal, the daily grind and a new start. Second single in a row where Bobby Ray Simmons is treating his life as full of wrong turns and traps. Hayley's voice is used for sorrow, B.o.B's for sincerity, nothing new or ingenious in any of this, but nice prettiness from Hayley and nice niceness from B.o.B. BORDERLINE TICK.
Christina Aguilera "Not Myself Tonight." I don't think Christina has ever known what to do with her talent, or quite come up with a self; her deciding to scrunch her voice down to the width of a groove isn't what I was expecting, it avoids her dexterity altogether, but she's got the force for it, and a truncated freestyle riff in the back adds feeling. TICK.
Lady GaGa "Alejandro": GaGa steps out of a movie still, discos throb along the boulevard, beautiful blips flash across the night sky. Gripping start, but the tune itself doesn't live up to the atmosphere surrounding it. It is enjoyable as a somewhat hulking attempt to invoke "La Isla Bonita." TICK.
Glee Cast ft. Lea Michele "Gives You Hell": Thin, high-twisting weirdo actressy voice is just right for this song's cheerful, equivocal malice. She beats the All-American Rejects in commitment and presence - first time ever that I've preferred a Glee cover to the original. BORDERLINE TICK.
Glee Cast ft. Jonathan Groff and Lea Michele "Hello": Goes to prettiness without falling into sap. The male voice doesn't come within miles of the richness of Lionel Richie, but the piano arrangement fills it out nicely without lathering it up. That said, given Groff's inexpressive man-off-the-street singing, this doesn't really have any reason to exist outside its role on the TV show. BORDERLINE NONTICK.
La Roux "Bulletproof": I'm clueless as to why this went Top 40 after all these months, but the music holds up - the chintzy electro and the unrelaxed vocals prevent this little pop thing from falling into bland prettiness. I'm curious how Lea Michele would sound on it. TICK.
B.o.B ft. Hayley Williams "Airplanes": Airplane as both distance and connection, as business and flight from business, as routine and renewal, the daily grind and a new start. Second single in a row where Bobby Ray Simmons is treating his life as full of wrong turns and traps. Hayley's voice is used for sorrow, B.o.B's for sincerity, nothing new or ingenious in any of this, but nice prettiness from Hayley and nice niceness from B.o.B. BORDERLINE TICK.
Christina Aguilera "Not Myself Tonight." I don't think Christina has ever known what to do with her talent, or quite come up with a self; her deciding to scrunch her voice down to the width of a groove isn't what I was expecting, it avoids her dexterity altogether, but she's got the force for it, and a truncated freestyle riff in the back adds feeling. TICK.
Lady GaGa "Alejandro": GaGa steps out of a movie still, discos throb along the boulevard, beautiful blips flash across the night sky. Gripping start, but the tune itself doesn't live up to the atmosphere surrounding it. It is enjoyable as a somewhat hulking attempt to invoke "La Isla Bonita." TICK.
Glee Cast ft. Lea Michele "Gives You Hell": Thin, high-twisting weirdo actressy voice is just right for this song's cheerful, equivocal malice. She beats the All-American Rejects in commitment and presence - first time ever that I've preferred a Glee cover to the original. BORDERLINE TICK.
Glee Cast ft. Jonathan Groff and Lea Michele "Hello": Goes to prettiness without falling into sap. The male voice doesn't come within miles of the richness of Lionel Richie, but the piano arrangement fills it out nicely without lathering it up. That said, given Groff's inexpressive man-off-the-street singing, this doesn't really have any reason to exist outside its role on the TV show. BORDERLINE NONTICK.
La Roux "Bulletproof": I'm clueless as to why this went Top 40 after all these months, but the music holds up - the chintzy electro and the unrelaxed vocals prevent this little pop thing from falling into bland prettiness. I'm curious how Lea Michele would sound on it. TICK.
