1. Muse - "Madness"
The whole existence of this band as a hugely successful thing is pretty hilarious to me, but I also feel like when they're on, they're really on. I loved "Knights Of Cydonia" and "Hysteria" and now I really think this is just kind of fantastic, they're on their Zooropa swag right now. I guess this is the one that there is ubstep-day talk about but I don't really know what that is, this just sounds like another one of their weird synth pop numbers to me. I dig that it sounds like it's gonna explode into a big power chord thing but never does.

2. Ne-Yo - "Let Me Love You (Until You Learn To Love Yourself)"
Almost every star in R&B has been doing some uptempo dance crossover stuff in the last couple years, and have all taken some heat for it from fans, but increasingly I feel like Ne-Yo deserves a pass to just do whatever he wants with it (even though he's basically renegging on his promise a year ago to not do any dance stuff on the next album). For one, he seems to approach this stuff as a Michael Jackson fan more often than not and it makes sense in that context, and he has such a big, clear voice that just works well with dance music (Maura wrote a thing recently that ties into this). Also, he did "Closer" years before these kinds of tracks became standard and it was amazing. And his hook on "Give Me Everything" was great too. Sure, that ignores that he's done some pretty shitty dance songs ("Beautiful Monster," the Calvin Harris song, the one on the last T-Pain album, the Timbaland joint on the Step Up soundtrack). But man, "Let Me Love You" is a joint to me, despite the weirdness of him singing a song (written by Sia!) with the same title as the first big hit he wrote for Mario. And most importantly, it's way better than the R&B single for this album, "Lazy Love."

3. The Cataracs f/ Waka Flocka Flame and Kaskade - "All You"
Waka doing dance pop tracks sounds way more wrong on paper than Ne-Yo, but he really just fits on this track really well. I even kind of like "Get Low," the joint on his album with Flo Rida on the hook. I just with the whole Cataracs EP was this good.

4. Driicky Graham - "Snapbacks & Tattoos"
There's something so sad about one hit wonders whose one hit doesn't even get that big -- I thought this song would at least get Kirko Bangz/Ca$h Out level big but it just stalled on the R&B chart at #23, maybe because he signed to E1 Music for some reason instead of going with a major. I thought of putting it in my column of underperforming singles but never got around to it. It's so bizarre to me that making a big deal about wearing a ball cap that's not fitted is now some kind of fashion statement in hip hop. Great beat, though.

5. Future - "Turn On The Lights" 
I love the Future album but the AutoTune ballads aren't as big a component of the appeal for me as I think it is for some people, it's an enjoyable part of the whole package but not a big deal in and of itself. This song has really grown on me as a single, though.

6. Tamia - "Beautiful Surprise"
I'm happy that Tamia's back, "Officially Missing You" is such a classic to me. The drums on this are even kinda reminiscent of that Fabolous song.

7. Lil Chuckee - "Da Wop"
This is the better than a single from the less popular of Young Money's two kiddie rappers has any right to be, mainly because of a completely ridiculous Little Richard vocal sample running rampant over the whole track, which is basically a transparent knockoff of "Otis" that works way better than "Otis."

8. Mack Maine f/ Lil Wayne and Talib Kweli - "Celebration"
The half-forgotten dregs of the Young Money roster are more interesting to me than the big stars at this point. Nothing about Mack Maine has ever made sense, especially the fact that he spits an endless FORTY-EIGHT BAR VERSE at the end of this otherwise tepid club banger which for no apparent reason has Talib Kweli on the first verse. It's also kinda remarkable that this song is on Spotify but is only the 40th most popular track if you search for Mack Maine, behind various songs with Wayne and Birdman.

9. Jana Kramer - "Why Ya Wanna"
This song is kind of whiny but really catchy, has grown on me over the last few months. Kind of the same sentiment as another current country hit, Jake Owen's "Alone With You," but I like this one better.

10. T.I. - "Go Get It" 
T.I.'s career is in such a strange spot right now, basically the same place it was in the lead-up to King Uncaged before he got arrested again and it became No Mercy, except to be in that spot again, with presumably no more legal troubles or Paper Trail-style comeback on the horizon, it's just all so dull and inconsequential now. And yet I think he still raps pretty well and came make decent songs here and there, and as he lobs out single after single after single, waiting for one to hit while telling interviewers that he's such a perfectionist and the album just isn't "ready" yet, as if it's not the label keeping him on the shelf.

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 09, 2012 at 11:28 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.