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Over on Tumblr I called for an Antonina Armato & Tim James top ten, since that pair have been consistently among the best writers and producers in teenpop for years, probably the only really reliable ones in the Disney stable. They certainly deserve critical recognition and analysis.

This is in response to Maura's referencing them in regard to Disney's recent Shake It Up: Live 2 Dance compilation LP and her pointing out that back in the day Armato had co-written Brenda K. Starr's "I Still Believe" and the Glenn Madeiros/Bobby Brown "She Ain't Worth It."

Haven't relistened to the Armato-James catalog, but these five would likely make it into an ARMATO & JAMES TOP TEN, at least into mine:

Miley Cyrus "See You Again"
Selena Gomez & The Scene "Naturally"
Hoku "How Do I Feel (The Burrito Song)"
Aly & AJ "Not This Year"
Aly & AJ "Potential Breakup Song"



If you have choices of your own, or want to endorse these, you can do so on Tumblr, where they could actually get noticed, or here on my lj, if you'd like.

(To avoid confusion, in case someone actually participates in this: Armato & James didn't write Bella Thorne's "TTYLXOX," the track from Shake It Up: Live 2 Dance that Maura embedded.)
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OK, now that I've admitted finally that Lea Michele is a talent, is there anything you guys want to tell TV-free me about her, or Rachel, or the show? What's she like as an actress? Does she need freeing from the theatah?

In the meantime, Miranda Lambert's "The House That Built Me" is digging in around 30, neither climbing nor falling much, while at 47 "Pray For You" by Jaron And The Long Road To Love seems also to be crossing from country to pop, at least in a minor way. The guy's obvious in his sarcasm, but he's more fun and less of a fuddy-duddy than Aldean or Turner, at least this song is.

Miley Cyrus )

Glee Cast )

Glee Cast )

Mike Posner )
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Ke$ha holds off Artists For Haiti, a result that some people have qualms about, but not me. After all, there are far more avenues for getting money to Haiti than for getting money to Ke$ha.

Artists For Haiti )

Josh Turner )

B.o.B )
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From June 6 to July 11 the number 1 song on Billboard's adult contemporary chart was Taylor Swift's "Love Story." From July 18 through October 24 it was Miley Cyrus's "The Climb." From October 31 through December 26 (which hasn't happened yet, but Billboard can read palms), it was/is Taylor Swift's "You Belong With Me." To put this in perspective, number 1 right now on Radio Disney's Dot Com request line is Iyaz, who's 22 years old, making him a couple of years older than Taylor and five years older than Miley. Taylor, by the way, turned 20 last week; does this mean her reign as an adult contemporary queen may be in jeopardy?
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New week, little change, and I apparently missed that Disney's green charity track first entered the 40 last week, so really there's only one newbie.

Disney's Friends For Change )

Jason DeRulo )
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Miley and Jay-Z storm the charts but can't beat the Peas.

Miley Cyrus )

Jay-Z, Rihanna, and Kanye West )

Jessie James )
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Black Eyed Peas stay on top but Drake emerges as a challenger. And I'm four days late as I rehabilitate my shoulder and deal with the weirdness of embittered strangers.

Hannah Montana )

Mariah Carey )

Boys Like Girls )

Jason Aldean )
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The excellently strange and riveting "Boom Boom Pow" holds on at number one, while some minor movement in the 30s barely ruffles the otherwise smooth surface of the top 40. Two of the newbies are from Hannah Montana: The Movie.

Miley Cyrus )

Plain White T's )

Soulja Boy Tell 'Em )

Taylor Swift )
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Fairly nondescript week that manages to run the table. Meanwhile, "Stanky Legg" breaks into the Top 50, and the U2 album displaces Taylor, w/ Kelly waiting in the wings.

Miley Cyrus )

Beyoncé )

Darius Rucker )

Maino f. T-Pain )
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Was just alerted to the fact that Miley Cyrus's "These Four Walls" is a cover of Cheyenne Kimball's "Four Walls." However, Miley's "Full Circle" isn't a cover of Cheyenne's "Full Circle." But Miley's co-writers on "Full Circle" (Scott Cutler and Anne Preven) were Cheyenne's co-writers on "Four Walls," so everything comes full circle.
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Billboard was late posting the Hot 100 yesterday, so this was pushed back a day.

This week, an onslaught of singles from Camp Rock, most of which will fall off the charts after the initial download flurry, since they'll get little airplay beyond Disney. Results are middling: lyrics are rote self discovery with no discernible character, a contradiction I don't find charming, especially given all the Taylors and Alys and AJs (not to mention the Ashlees and Britneys and Lindsays who used to dominate the genre) who do have character and are much more deserving of attention. Demi Lovato has potential as an actual Avril Lite, if she were given better settings, and I prefer "Our Time Is Here" to the charting singles. The Jonas Brothers had a fine moment several years ago where they turned "Anarchy In The U.K." into Hanson-style bubbleboy pop, and they're generally not terrible but haven't matched that moment since. So, a lot of tracks are on the borderline this week. Oh yeah, and buried amidst all this is a song I've currently got penciled in as my number three of the year and that could rise, by someone who's not much older than the mediocrities hanging out at Camp Rock.

Miley Cyrus )

Demi Lovato & Joe Jonas )

Rihanna )

The Jonas Brothers )

Joe Jonas )

Cast Of Camp Rock )

Flo Rida f. will.i.am )
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As we wait for Billboard to post this week's Hot 100, confirming the ascendancy of the loathsome Katy Perry, many of you are probably wondering to yourselves, "What does Frank Kogan think of Metro Station's 'Shake It'?" Many more might now be asking yourselves "What is Metro Station?" No matter. Enquiring minds want to know, and the rest of you will find out anyway, assuming you click on the lj cut.

What Frank Kogan thinks of Metro Station's 'Shake It' )

(Perhaps a motive for this post is that the comments on my only continually successful google-bait thread - see Bµsted Vs. The J0n4s Brothers - are unrelentingly tiresome, and this post may be an opportunity to find out if Hannah-related web commenters can do better.)
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My Top 20 Country Singles for 2007 )

EDIT: I've posted MySpace links for most of these (correcting about 10 of my posting errors; apologies if you tried links that went nowhere), linked the vids for the ones that either weren't on the MySpace page or were only there in abbreviated versions. Linked both for "Nothin' Better To Do" because I especially like the vid.

Will possibly post commentary in the comments as the day goes on.

BIRD REPORT: You should know that one of these singers flips a bird ("The One In The Middle," duh) and one of them gets the bird flipped on her ("That Kind Of Day"). Add Craig Morgan's "International Harvester," and that's three bird flips I've heard in one day.
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Latest column.

The Rules Of The Game #25: Country Music WTF?

I write a lot about Eric Church and a little about Miley and Taylor and Kix and Ronnie and Jason and Brad and John and Johns (I discuss her fingers).

What do you guys think of these performers? For those of you who foolishly believe that the Miley song being so disco-pop makes it not country (this was Chris Willman's opinion over on the rolling country thread), just listen to the melody when Miley sings "I can't wait to see you again" and notice the similarities to Jace Everett's "I wanna do bad things with you." Both melodies come from template number six in How To Write Rockabilly Songs.

Links to my other Rules Of The Game columns )

Hannah Montana )

Hiatus )

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