Monthly Report: December Singles
1. 30 Seconds To Mars - "Kings And Queens"
I’ve been thinking a lot about how ambition, or at least the act of loudly proclaiming your ambition, has become kind of a commodity in and of itself, to the point that sometimes it feels like just saying you want to be big and important is enough to be big and important. Lady Gaga certainly doesn’t make the absolute best pop music, Kanye certainly doesn’t make the absolute best rap music, but they’re at the center of conversations about either because they’re very effective attention whores. And it makes a certain kid of sense that Kanye is on the new 30 Seconds To Mars album, because they’re definitely working from the same playbook of just making big ridiculous ambitious videos that aren’t necessarily good but stand out by virtue of so few of their peers doing the same (although in terms of mainstream rock, Muse currently have them beat in terms of big stupid ambition trumping all else). Anyway Jared Leto and his band are completely terrible, but they’re grand sweeping gestures do have an undeniable appeal, and it ups the comedy value that their best single to date climaxes with him screaming “WE ARE QUEEEEEEEEEEENS!!!!!”
2. Chris Brown - "Crawl"
I hated Chris Brown with a passion before I had any reason to, other than his screechy vocal style, his overrated dancing and his completely obnoxious and smug public presence, so you can guess how I feel about him now that the world knows what a disgusting scumbag he is. But he has made a couple songs I really love, including “No Air,” so the best thing he could’ve done to melt away some of my renewed hate is make a song that sounds exactly like it, which this does. I still can’t stand the dude and the video for this is one of the most infuriating ones he’s made yet, with his stupid glasses and Cassie's hideous haircut, but I’ll sit there and watch it because the song is catchy as fuck.
3. Snoop Dogg - “I Wanna Rock”
I’m aware that this was received as, and probably conceived as, an attempt to chase the ‘jerk’ trend. But fact is, Snoop has been rapping over those kinds of swinging snares and open hi-hat beats a lot in the past few years (on “Life Of The Party” and “Hollywood Divorce” in particular) and sounds great on them, so I think of the song in those terms. Plus this is better than “You’re A Jerk” or whatever because even at his laziest Snoop can actually rap and sound comfortable on a record, which those kids just fucking can’t.
4. Michael Jackson - “This Is It”
I know this has been out for months, and I heard nothing about it that convinced me I needed to hear it, but really this is a lovely little tune, people are really sleeping on it, and I say that as not always the biggest fan of Mike’s sappy midtempo numbers.
5. Young Dro f/ Yung LA - “I Don’t Know Y’all”
I only just like this song, but I love the video. More than that, I love that there’s a rap video with a really fresh visual technique out that wasn’t just ganked from some indie rock video that already did it first, Kanye-style.
I’ve been thinking a lot about how ambition, or at least the act of loudly proclaiming your ambition, has become kind of a commodity in and of itself, to the point that sometimes it feels like just saying you want to be big and important is enough to be big and important. Lady Gaga certainly doesn’t make the absolute best pop music, Kanye certainly doesn’t make the absolute best rap music, but they’re at the center of conversations about either because they’re very effective attention whores. And it makes a certain kid of sense that Kanye is on the new 30 Seconds To Mars album, because they’re definitely working from the same playbook of just making big ridiculous ambitious videos that aren’t necessarily good but stand out by virtue of so few of their peers doing the same (although in terms of mainstream rock, Muse currently have them beat in terms of big stupid ambition trumping all else). Anyway Jared Leto and his band are completely terrible, but they’re grand sweeping gestures do have an undeniable appeal, and it ups the comedy value that their best single to date climaxes with him screaming “WE ARE QUEEEEEEEEEEENS!!!!!”
2. Chris Brown - "Crawl"
I hated Chris Brown with a passion before I had any reason to, other than his screechy vocal style, his overrated dancing and his completely obnoxious and smug public presence, so you can guess how I feel about him now that the world knows what a disgusting scumbag he is. But he has made a couple songs I really love, including “No Air,” so the best thing he could’ve done to melt away some of my renewed hate is make a song that sounds exactly like it, which this does. I still can’t stand the dude and the video for this is one of the most infuriating ones he’s made yet, with his stupid glasses and Cassie's hideous haircut, but I’ll sit there and watch it because the song is catchy as fuck.
3. Snoop Dogg - “I Wanna Rock”
I’m aware that this was received as, and probably conceived as, an attempt to chase the ‘jerk’ trend. But fact is, Snoop has been rapping over those kinds of swinging snares and open hi-hat beats a lot in the past few years (on “Life Of The Party” and “Hollywood Divorce” in particular) and sounds great on them, so I think of the song in those terms. Plus this is better than “You’re A Jerk” or whatever because even at his laziest Snoop can actually rap and sound comfortable on a record, which those kids just fucking can’t.
4. Michael Jackson - “This Is It”
I know this has been out for months, and I heard nothing about it that convinced me I needed to hear it, but really this is a lovely little tune, people are really sleeping on it, and I say that as not always the biggest fan of Mike’s sappy midtempo numbers.
5. Young Dro f/ Yung LA - “I Don’t Know Y’all”
I only just like this song, but I love the video. More than that, I love that there’s a rap video with a really fresh visual technique out that wasn’t just ganked from some indie rock video that already did it first, Kanye-style.
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