Well, Christmas is over, and I'm back and ready for more list.
#50: "Classic" by MKTO
MKTO is a duo. The name comes from the initials of the two artists, Malcolm Kelley (who played Walt on Lost, by the way)andTerrell Owens Tony Oller (who had the role of Henry in The Purge).
Well, that's a nice music line. It reminds me of 80's R&B, with an upbeat guitar line. It's high energy, and a lot of fun to listen to. Vocally, both of the artists compliment each other quite well, and show some quite solid singing skills. Malcolm has a rapping solo, and he does it...quite well, actually. He's a pretty dang good rapper and singer. Who knew?
This song is about a girl, because R&B. The singers are complimenting the girl, using similes and metaphors comparing themselves (and her) to older acts such as Michael Jackson and Sinatra, while saying they were born in the wrong decade, because she's so classic.
I am quite pleasantly surprised by this song. I had no real expectations going in, but this song delivered on all fronts. The music was fun to listen to, and went well with the theme of the lyrics, both of the singers did well, and the rap solo fit in surprisingly well, and the lyrics are just the right kind of cheesy. I think this song is this year's "Treasure". It is a solid song if you take each part individually, but together, it is a lot of fun. More songs should be fun.
#49: "This Is How We Roll" by Florida-Georgia Line feat. Luke Bryan
Double repeat artists!
Interesting music. The intro riff sounds almost like a countrified version of the guitar riff from Lenny Kravitz' "Are You Gonna Go My Way". The rest of the music is a bit more of a standard guitar line, but it still sounds pretty decent. The singing is not bad, but a little too overdramatic for my tastes. There is one syllable in "roll", not 5. That said, the singers are on key the whole time. The rap solo...actually works surprisingly well. It's basically what you'd expect to hear if a rapper tried to do a cover of a country song, and did it well. As for Luke Bryan's guest verse, not only does he do well, but he is distinguishable from Florida-Georgia Line, showing that my statement of all country artists sounding the same wasn't entirely accurate.
Look at the title of the song. If this was a rap song, you wouldn't have any doubt what the lyrics are about. Well, this is a country version of that. Pick-up trucks instead of Cadillacs, "baby" rather than "*****" or "ho", you get the idea.
This song shouldn't work. You shouldn't be able to just take a bragging rap song, change around some of the words, and make it a country song. And yet...this song sounds like a genuine country song. Florida-Georgia Line arguably deliver their strongest performance here Luke Bryan has a good guest verse, and the music line is new country in a good way, and the lyrics are worked out carefully to give that "down-home" country vibe rather than the standard rap bragging. I have no idea how this song works, but it works great.
#48: "The Man" by Aloe Blacc
Aloe Blacc is an American singer-songwriter. He's had a few hits internationally, but here in the U.S., this is his first solo hit, although he provided uncredited vocals to Avicii's "Wake Me Up!"
That's not a bad intro. It opens with a piano and horn line that sounds triumphant. The main music is drum driven, with the piano and horn kicking in for the chorus. It works pretty well with the lyrics. As for the singing, Aloe Blacc doesn't do too badly there, but he doesn't show a lot of range, at least until the second verse. He does have some nice emotion to make up for the parts that are lacking, and he just connects with the listener.
This is a half-inspirational, half-bragging song. Basically, life's given him some hard knocks, as it does to everyone. However, he didn't let it keep him down. So he's telling a girl that she can tell everybody that he's the man.
This song was...not bad. The lyrics were a bit of a mess, though. You can't tell if he's bragging (as he is in the chorus) or trying to inspire (as he is in the verses), so it gives the song a bit of a disjointed feel. That said, the music was pretty nice, if a little bit sparse, and the vocals were pretty good as well. It may not have been the most consistent message, but it still connected with me a bit.
#47: "Ain't It Fun" by Paramore
Paramore is a band. This may surprise some people who think it's "Hayley Williams and whoever she wants to work with, really."
Well, the music is different. You don't hear many pop songs that have a xylophone intro leading to a more standard guitar. There's also a keyboard line. The music's not bad, but it does seem a bit too much in the chorus, nearly drowning out the singer. As for those vocals, this is the Hayley Williams I like. She sounds more like a rock girl here than she did in last year's "Still Into You". I like it.
Lyrically, this song can be summed up as "Moving out is not as great as it sounds". The title is meant to be taken sarcastically, saying "Ain't it fun, livin' in the real world?" Hayley Williams admitted that she wrote out in a bad place, having moved to L.A. from Nashville to try to get away from the fallout of two of the band members leaving. In her words, "I took off for L.A. as if it was going to be some kind of paradise or saving grace. I got there and realized that my problems were following me."
I like this song. Mostly. The lyrics are a fair bit of fun, even if they aren't the happiest lyrics, and Hayley Williams has a great voice for delivering the sarcasm. The main issue I have with the song is the music. It's fun for the most part, but that chorus is so badly produced. When you are nearly drowning out Hayley Williams, you have a problem. Overall, I did like this song.
#46: "Roar" by Katy Perry
Repeat artist!
Well, that's exciting music. Basically, the verse is driven by a piano line that sounds like two keys being banged repeatedly in rhythm. Oh, and the piano is low in the mix. A guitar line kicks in for the chorus, giving the song a bit of energy, but even then, the guitar is so generic, it doesn't really do the job well. Vocally, Katy Perry is as good as ever here. I mean, she doesn't do badly on the verse, and she restrains herself enough on the chorus to not really need autotune.
This is a "girl power" song, with Katy Perry talking about how she is a champion, and you're going to hear her roar louder than a lion, that sort of thing.
I didn't like this song last year. I don't really like it too much this year. I mean, she's trying. Katy Perry is trying to put the power in her voice to sell the lyrics, but Katy Perry just doesn't have the right voice to sell a "girl power" song, even without factoring in the other songs she's done like "California Gurls" that are anything BUT girl power songs. The music line doesn't help either. In essence, the main failing of this song is a lack of energy. For a "girl power" song, that's a huge misstep.
That could have been worse.
Previously: #55-51 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.867654-2014-Billboard-Top-100-55-51]
Next: #45-41 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.868231-2014-Billboard-Top-100-45-41]
#50: "Classic" by MKTO
MKTO is a duo. The name comes from the initials of the two artists, Malcolm Kelley (who played Walt on Lost, by the way)and
Well, that's a nice music line. It reminds me of 80's R&B, with an upbeat guitar line. It's high energy, and a lot of fun to listen to. Vocally, both of the artists compliment each other quite well, and show some quite solid singing skills. Malcolm has a rapping solo, and he does it...quite well, actually. He's a pretty dang good rapper and singer. Who knew?
This song is about a girl, because R&B. The singers are complimenting the girl, using similes and metaphors comparing themselves (and her) to older acts such as Michael Jackson and Sinatra, while saying they were born in the wrong decade, because she's so classic.
I am quite pleasantly surprised by this song. I had no real expectations going in, but this song delivered on all fronts. The music was fun to listen to, and went well with the theme of the lyrics, both of the singers did well, and the rap solo fit in surprisingly well, and the lyrics are just the right kind of cheesy. I think this song is this year's "Treasure". It is a solid song if you take each part individually, but together, it is a lot of fun. More songs should be fun.
#49: "This Is How We Roll" by Florida-Georgia Line feat. Luke Bryan
Double repeat artists!
Interesting music. The intro riff sounds almost like a countrified version of the guitar riff from Lenny Kravitz' "Are You Gonna Go My Way". The rest of the music is a bit more of a standard guitar line, but it still sounds pretty decent. The singing is not bad, but a little too overdramatic for my tastes. There is one syllable in "roll", not 5. That said, the singers are on key the whole time. The rap solo...actually works surprisingly well. It's basically what you'd expect to hear if a rapper tried to do a cover of a country song, and did it well. As for Luke Bryan's guest verse, not only does he do well, but he is distinguishable from Florida-Georgia Line, showing that my statement of all country artists sounding the same wasn't entirely accurate.
Look at the title of the song. If this was a rap song, you wouldn't have any doubt what the lyrics are about. Well, this is a country version of that. Pick-up trucks instead of Cadillacs, "baby" rather than "*****" or "ho", you get the idea.
This song shouldn't work. You shouldn't be able to just take a bragging rap song, change around some of the words, and make it a country song. And yet...this song sounds like a genuine country song. Florida-Georgia Line arguably deliver their strongest performance here Luke Bryan has a good guest verse, and the music line is new country in a good way, and the lyrics are worked out carefully to give that "down-home" country vibe rather than the standard rap bragging. I have no idea how this song works, but it works great.
#48: "The Man" by Aloe Blacc
Aloe Blacc is an American singer-songwriter. He's had a few hits internationally, but here in the U.S., this is his first solo hit, although he provided uncredited vocals to Avicii's "Wake Me Up!"
That's not a bad intro. It opens with a piano and horn line that sounds triumphant. The main music is drum driven, with the piano and horn kicking in for the chorus. It works pretty well with the lyrics. As for the singing, Aloe Blacc doesn't do too badly there, but he doesn't show a lot of range, at least until the second verse. He does have some nice emotion to make up for the parts that are lacking, and he just connects with the listener.
This is a half-inspirational, half-bragging song. Basically, life's given him some hard knocks, as it does to everyone. However, he didn't let it keep him down. So he's telling a girl that she can tell everybody that he's the man.
This song was...not bad. The lyrics were a bit of a mess, though. You can't tell if he's bragging (as he is in the chorus) or trying to inspire (as he is in the verses), so it gives the song a bit of a disjointed feel. That said, the music was pretty nice, if a little bit sparse, and the vocals were pretty good as well. It may not have been the most consistent message, but it still connected with me a bit.
#47: "Ain't It Fun" by Paramore
Paramore is a band. This may surprise some people who think it's "Hayley Williams and whoever she wants to work with, really."
Well, the music is different. You don't hear many pop songs that have a xylophone intro leading to a more standard guitar. There's also a keyboard line. The music's not bad, but it does seem a bit too much in the chorus, nearly drowning out the singer. As for those vocals, this is the Hayley Williams I like. She sounds more like a rock girl here than she did in last year's "Still Into You". I like it.
Lyrically, this song can be summed up as "Moving out is not as great as it sounds". The title is meant to be taken sarcastically, saying "Ain't it fun, livin' in the real world?" Hayley Williams admitted that she wrote out in a bad place, having moved to L.A. from Nashville to try to get away from the fallout of two of the band members leaving. In her words, "I took off for L.A. as if it was going to be some kind of paradise or saving grace. I got there and realized that my problems were following me."
I like this song. Mostly. The lyrics are a fair bit of fun, even if they aren't the happiest lyrics, and Hayley Williams has a great voice for delivering the sarcasm. The main issue I have with the song is the music. It's fun for the most part, but that chorus is so badly produced. When you are nearly drowning out Hayley Williams, you have a problem. Overall, I did like this song.
#46: "Roar" by Katy Perry
Repeat artist!
Well, that's exciting music. Basically, the verse is driven by a piano line that sounds like two keys being banged repeatedly in rhythm. Oh, and the piano is low in the mix. A guitar line kicks in for the chorus, giving the song a bit of energy, but even then, the guitar is so generic, it doesn't really do the job well. Vocally, Katy Perry is as good as ever here. I mean, she doesn't do badly on the verse, and she restrains herself enough on the chorus to not really need autotune.
This is a "girl power" song, with Katy Perry talking about how she is a champion, and you're going to hear her roar louder than a lion, that sort of thing.
I didn't like this song last year. I don't really like it too much this year. I mean, she's trying. Katy Perry is trying to put the power in her voice to sell the lyrics, but Katy Perry just doesn't have the right voice to sell a "girl power" song, even without factoring in the other songs she's done like "California Gurls" that are anything BUT girl power songs. The music line doesn't help either. In essence, the main failing of this song is a lack of energy. For a "girl power" song, that's a huge misstep.
That could have been worse.
Previously: #55-51 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.867654-2014-Billboard-Top-100-55-51]
Next: #45-41 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.868231-2014-Billboard-Top-100-45-41]