1. Jamie Foxx f/ T-Pain – “Blame It”
This is a little ridiculous since my #1 last month was the Jamie Foxx single that I was belly-aching should’ve been an official single instead of this, but “Blame It” soon after took over my brain, much like it has since taken over R&B radio. If not for "Chopped N Skrewed" this would be the best T-Pain hit in a looooong time (in accelerated T-Pain time, I mean), every second of it is a fucking blast, from that weird wonky intro to the verse melodies and goofy lines like "feeling on your butt what" to the ridiculously catchy stuttering chorus. Even though I've warmed to The-Dream a little (more on that in a minute), I still hate "I Luv Your Girl," but the riff on it in T-Pain's verse totally justifies its existence.

2. The-Dream – “Rockin’ That Thang”
As I said recently, this is the first single by The-Dream that I've actually genuinely really liked (although I've warmed up to "Shawty" and some of the first album stuff over time), he's still a terrible vocalist and a so-so songwriter, but Tricky Stewart is at the top of his game and the weird variations he pulls on that remix are even greater.

3. Ciara f/ Young Jeezy – “Never Ever”
Ciara isn’t the only superstar having trouble launching an album right now, but it’s kind of hilarious how badly her whole project is being mismanaged: a terrible multi-disc ‘alter ego’-themed concept (hot on the heels of I Am…Sasha Fierce no less), tons of unintended leaks, and a confused singles campaign. “Go Girl” with T-Pain was always doomed, but I had pretty high hopes for this song, given that it’s a sweet slow Polow Da Don production pretty closely in line with my favorite Ciara song ever, “Promise,” even if it doesn’t scale the same heights. I don’t even know if I really like this song that much, and Jeezy sounds a little out of place, but that delicate little guitar melody just kills me (even if Polow probably lifted it from a software demo). I never really liked all the crunk’n’B dance tunes, so as far as I’m concerned Ciara can keep doing wounded ballads forever. But exactly a month after this song was sent to radio, the label decided it wasn’t rising up the charts fast enough and rushed out a (lame) new single with Timberlake, so I guess that’s it for “Never Ever.”

4. Coldplay – “Lovers In Japan (Osaka Sun Mix)”
I realize that Coldplay are kind of this big unavoidable thing that a lot of people have kind of gotten used to actively disliking, but it really kind of irks me when people act like their new album is as bad as X&Y when it's by far the greatest (or, if you're being less charitable, most tolerable) stuff they've ever done. And one of my favorite parts of the album has always been "Lovers In Japan," and I'm glad they finally cut it down to the best parts for a single, even if it seems to have come and gone very quickly in between "Lost!" and "Life In Technicolor," at least in the U.S. That polyrhythmic tack piano is something I never thought Chris Martin had in him, even Coldplay's good piano songs like "Clocks" are usually kind of big blocky riffs, even when they played this song in a dumb montage on the Oscars the other night I got chills.

5. T-Pain f/ Chris Brown – “Freeze”
More and more it looks like Chris Brown’s career is over, or at least is never going to be at the level it was just a few weeks ago. But it’s hard to measure the immediate effects of recent events, or how much all that talk of some radio stations boycotting his music is true, since he doesn’t have a recent solo single out right now. The one major current single featuring CB, though, “Freeze,” has actually risen up a few spots on most charts since the Rihanna incident, which in a weird way makes me happy, since it’s a pretty fun song and it’s be a shame if it immediately got tossed off the radio because of bad timing.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 25, 2009 at 12:02 AM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.