1. 2 Chainz - "I'm Different"
Just last month I was saying that "Birthday Song" was at least a moderate step in the right direction from "No Lie" as far as what 2 Chainz singles should sound like, but I soon after realized that "I'm Different" is pretty much the ideal single for him. Insanely catchy hook, cool to hear him on a faster tempo than usual and just totally killing it.

2. Bruno Mars - "Locked Out Of Heaven"
Bruno Mars is a talented, versatile guy who's always got a 50/50 chance of doing something completely horrible in a really thorough, high quality way, which makes him easier to resent than admire, but still, half the time he's pretty good. And I gotta give him credit for throwing a slight curveball with the lead single, with a live band-sounding Police knockoff at a time when even actual bands like Maroon 5 are running away from guitars and drums.

3. T.I. f/ Lil Wayne - "Ball"
Although I have no real expectations for Trouble Man and there's something undeniably underwhelming about T.I.'s existence in 2012, I feel like the album's endless parade of advance singles has gotten progressively better, from the forgettable first two or three to the well produced "Love This Life" and the moderately catchy "Go Get It" and now "Ball," which may or may not have staying power but at least has a lot of energy at the moment, pretty fun to hear a new twist on the "Triggerman" beat on the radio. There's something kind of funny and twice removed about Wayne referencing his own "Walk It Off," a 2006 mixtape track over an old UNLV song, instead of something from an actual old school New Orleans song or even just a first wave Cash Money hit.

4. Matchbox Twenty - "She's So Mean"
It's so odd to hear a band finally sound like they're having fun, 15 years into their career. This sounds like a mid-period Elvis Costello track, completely with the wonky Mitchell Froom-ish production wrinkles.

5. Kacey Musgraves - "Merry Go Round"
Usually when I hear some song on country radio that I find really striking, I go look it up and realize it's been a big hit for months, but a while back I heard this late one night and realized the station was probably playing it for the first time and trying it out and it really got to me. It's a little trite in how cynical and unvarnished it is, but that's a rare kind of trite to encounter on country radio so it's still pretty refreshing.

6. AWOLNATION - "Kill Your Heroes"
"Sail" was such a great weird breakthrough hit that it's almost kind of a buzzkill to hear AWOLNATION's continued radio domination with more upbeat conventional songs like this and "Not Your Fault," but this one in particular has grown on me. Also, at just under 3 minutes it's refreshingly brief compared to most other 4 and 5-minute slogs on rock radio.

7. Ellie Goulding - "Anything Could Happen"
I didn't much care for "Lights" at all, mainly because Goulding sounds to me like an Oliver Twist orphan trying to become Bjork, but I guess my issue was more the song than the singer because this one really won me over.

8. Grace Potter & The Nocturnals - "Stars"
The way VH1 seemed to try way too hard to make this band happen. to the point of even giving them a "Storytellers" special, always made them seem vaguely pathetic to me. But one night the local pop station played this and it really stopped me in my tracks like "damn, who is this?" The kind of big, schmaltzy ballad you don't hear on the radio much anymore, and potter's voice really is pretty impressive when in service of the right material.

9. Pink - "Try"
The first Pink single without a Pink co-writing credit since, jeez, maybe "Get The Party Started," had me anticipating something bland and label-mandated, but this has a beautiful yearning to it that her voice really suits, the kind of song that I like more every time I hear it -- although I haven't heard it much, since it seems to be doing really poorly on the charts.

10. Linkin Park - "Lost In The Echo"
This is just a good old fashioned cool synth noises and power chords Linkin Park banger, not as good as "Faint" or anything but at least in that mode, which is my favorite type of Linkin Park song.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 15, 2012 at 11:24 AM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.