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koganbotFar East Movement's "Like A G6" is number one on the Hot 100. Beyond the song being good music, I hope its success helps the chartability of club music qua club music. Also, maybe this'll open a few musical doors in the U.S. for Asians and Asian Americans. (Bruno Mars, whom the Far East Movement displaced at the top, is of part Puerto Rican and part Filipino heritage, but my guess is that to most Americans he'll be seen as Latin American rather than Asian, just as Tiger Woods is generally seen as black, despite having more Asian than African ancestry.)
Taylor Swift "Back To December": This has a warm and pretty setting, and it's sung by the most skillful singer I know of, who can deliver nervousness without seeming weak. But I'm wanting more event from the melody, and words that give us something beyond uncomplicated, heartfelt remorse. Taylor spends a lot of time on what the breakup must have felt like for the boy, a new perspective in her lyrics; but actually, the words would have been better with less attention to the boy in his dashed hopes and more attention to Taylor analyzing herself, at a distance not just of time but of self, maybe looking back on her actions as if it were now a movie: "Who was the girl who did this?," which she never really gets to. Song still trounces everything else this week. TICK.
[To come: thoughts on the absent Liz Rose.]
Pink "Raise Your Glass": A tuneful rouser from the reliably tuneful Martin & Shellback that's a lot less grating than the equivalent would have been two years ago. It hardly seems necessary or interesting, however; and, surprisingly, Pink makes nothing of the potential for uneasiness in the line "Raise your glass if you are wrong in all the right ways." Is totally overshadowed by Ke$ha, who'll rub our nose in all the smelly wrongness. BORDERLINE NONTICK.
Glee Cast "Lucky": The award-winning original by Mraz and Caillat - which I'd never heard of until just now - has a nice swing and rollick, slight as the thing is. The Glee version is pleasant, less swinging and rollicking but with singers who relax nicely into it. BORDERLINE NONTICK.
Mike Posner "Please Don't Go": A weird alliance between a gentle, friendly pop melody and hard, nasty electrobeats. Doesn't work, but I continue to be interested by my inability to peg this guy. NO TICK.
Yolanda Be Cool & DCup "We No Speak Americano": This sells itself as a creaky, silly novelty, but the real exploit here is the hard dance beats coming in and seizing the song. TICK.
Darius Rucker "Come Back Song": Chorus elicits a pang, this being solid pop-country, but Rucker's dull throatiness drags it down. NO TICK.
Taylor Swift "Back To December": This has a warm and pretty setting, and it's sung by the most skillful singer I know of, who can deliver nervousness without seeming weak. But I'm wanting more event from the melody, and words that give us something beyond uncomplicated, heartfelt remorse. Taylor spends a lot of time on what the breakup must have felt like for the boy, a new perspective in her lyrics; but actually, the words would have been better with less attention to the boy in his dashed hopes and more attention to Taylor analyzing herself, at a distance not just of time but of self, maybe looking back on her actions as if it were now a movie: "Who was the girl who did this?," which she never really gets to. Song still trounces everything else this week. TICK.
[To come: thoughts on the absent Liz Rose.]
Pink "Raise Your Glass": A tuneful rouser from the reliably tuneful Martin & Shellback that's a lot less grating than the equivalent would have been two years ago. It hardly seems necessary or interesting, however; and, surprisingly, Pink makes nothing of the potential for uneasiness in the line "Raise your glass if you are wrong in all the right ways." Is totally overshadowed by Ke$ha, who'll rub our nose in all the smelly wrongness. BORDERLINE NONTICK.
Glee Cast "Lucky": The award-winning original by Mraz and Caillat - which I'd never heard of until just now - has a nice swing and rollick, slight as the thing is. The Glee version is pleasant, less swinging and rollicking but with singers who relax nicely into it. BORDERLINE NONTICK.
Mike Posner "Please Don't Go": A weird alliance between a gentle, friendly pop melody and hard, nasty electrobeats. Doesn't work, but I continue to be interested by my inability to peg this guy. NO TICK.
Yolanda Be Cool & DCup "We No Speak Americano": This sells itself as a creaky, silly novelty, but the real exploit here is the hard dance beats coming in and seizing the song. TICK.
Darius Rucker "Come Back Song": Chorus elicits a pang, this being solid pop-country, but Rucker's dull throatiness drags it down. NO TICK.
