Monthly Report: February 2013 Singles
1. Tamar Braxton - "Love And War"
It's been generally depressing to watch aging rappers and R&B singers try to revive their careers with reality TV shows, and even more depressing when it actually works, like Joe Budden recently having that terrible new single become his biggest radio hit in the nearly ten years since "Pump It Up." So when I heard one of Toni Braxton's little sisters from "Braxton Family Values" do a radio interview and premiere her new single a few months ago, I figured they were just playing it as an act of charity for her TV promo run. But it sounded pretty good, and it made the iTunes sales charts, and then it started making the airplay charts, and now it's a bona fide hit. And now Tamar is finally going to get to release the album she announced in 2004 (I wonder if she just called the album Love And War for all these years and then recorded this song later, or if it was around in some form this whole time?). As I mentioned in the last Monthly Report, both this and Keyshia Cole's "Trust And Believe" were produced by DJ Camper, and both feature lots of the same production flourishes. But both are good enough that I don't totally mind hearing them side by side on the radio. And in the past few weeks "Love And War" has deservingly pulled ahead as the bigger of the two songs. Tamar has a pretty great voice, with a little of Toni's low range on the verses but a plaintive soar on the chorus. By the way, I've added all these songs to my running Spotify playlist of 2013 singles.
2. The Band Perry - "Better Dig Two"
Their big breakthrough hit a couple years ago was "If I Die Young," so it's almost a little too on the nose that the lead single from their second album is another love song about graves. I think I like this one more, though, it's a little more morbid and a little less saccharine. Apparently they initially started recording this album with Rick Rubin and then ended up doing it with a different producer, which puts them in company with a long list of bands (U2, Weezer, CSN, Velvet Revolver, Hot Hot Heat) who abandoned sessions with Rubin, supporting my theory that the guy seems to take a lot of money to not really do anything.
3. Ace Hood f/ Future and Rick Ross - "Bugatti"
I already said a lot about this song (and amused myself a lot with this), but I will say that this really feels like it's quickly becoming one of the big rap songs of the year, which I'm not really mad at even though it could've (and should've) just been a Future song. Ace is a good fit for the beat, at least, but Ross is kind of a buzzkill -- does he ever end verses well? I feel like by the 15th bar he just totally stops caring and just mumbles something and moves along.
4. R. Kelly - "When A Man Lies"
I'm not a huge fan of R.'s last couple albums as albums, or as an aesthetic statement or career statement. But like any other phase of his career, it's inevitably yielded some good singles, and this is probably the best besides "Love Letter." It was a standout for me when Write Me Back came out, so I'm glad they finally released it.
5. Young Jeezy f/ 2 Chainz - "R.I.P."
Another one I already blurbed, and I do still wish it was as good as "I'm Different," but I'm digging this cultural exchange of Atlanta rappers on very Cali-sounding DJ Mustard beats. Jeezy's still kind of hit-and-miss with writing hooks, though, it's kind of the weak link of this track.
6. Little Mix - "Wings"
One of the oddest radio stations I listen to is 95.5 WPGC, the Washington R&B/hip hop station that for ages had pretty much interchangeable playlists with the other two big urban stations in D.C. and Baltimore, and then in early 2012 started incorporating pop radio hits into its playlist, without any other real changes in format or aesthetic. So you'll get a bunch of Juicy J and Keyshia Cole and then every 4th or 5th song is something vaguely out of place like Bruno Mars or Calvin Harris. It's ostensibly a shrewd move in the current climate but I don't know how much it actually benefits them or broadens their listenership. Anyway, lately they've been playing the hell out of this song, from British girl group that won "X-Factor" over there. "Wings" was a U.K. #1, and apparently it's starting to get worked in the U.S. but it hasn't charted here at all and its heavy rotation on this one station in D.C. seems to be an anomaly. It's pretty good, though, the production is pretty closely traced back to Beyonce's "Single Ladies" but feels kind of distinctly British in how sugary it all is.
7. Rita Ora - "Radioactive"
Rita Ora is another British act who's big over there and not here, but they keep trying to work her in the U.S. since she's clearly Roc Nation's attempt to make another Rihanna. Her U.K. hits are terrible, but this one doesn't really seem to be popular anywhere, which is a shame since it's easily her best. I love the stuff Greg Kurstin has been doing with artists like Pink and Tegan & Sara, but he should do more straight up dance pop stuff like this.
8. Toby Keith - "Hope On The Rocks"
As I noted recently, this is Toby's fourth consecutive drinking-themed single, and those are frequently his best songs. This would be my 2nd-favorite out of the recent run, but I dunno if it'd make his all-time top 10, just because he has so damn many. Hope he never goes to AA and I have to feel bad about enjoying these so much.
9. Silversun Pickups - "The Pit"
I regard these guys as a kind of uninspired pest on rock radio, even among so many uninspired pests that at least have some kind of ruthless middle-of-the-road appeal. This is the first song of theirs I've really cottoned to at all, partly because the Depeche Mode vibes kinda come out of nowhere and work better than they have a right to. But even the synth pop bits I guess can only encourage Smashing Pumpkins comparisons.
10. DJ Drama f/ Tyga, Wale and Roscoe Dash - "So Many Girls"
I wrote last year about how the last DJ Drama's album was surprisingly good, while also having some catchy soft batch R&B stuff that made the title Quality Street Music ironic. This was a standout song on the album and I'm glad it's finally a single -- really all the songs off this album that have gotten radio play ("We In This Bitch," "My Moment," "Bitches & Bottles") have been pretty dope, better than anything off the last Khaled album. This song is really remarkable just because the lineup makes it looks like it would suck, too. I've warmed up to Roscoe Dash a lot, though, even "Marvin & Chardonnay" and "No Hands" have grown on me since their ubiquity, it's pretty messed up that he's never had a big solo hit or album or anything.
Worst Single of the Month: Drake - "Started From The Bottom"
I have remained a pretty staunch Drake hater in the face of his near-universal acceptance, but I try not to be kneejerk about it -- I could easily name a dozen hits he's been on that I enjoy, even some where his hook or verse is actually one of the best parts of the song. Those are usually features, though -- aside from some early hits ("Successful," "Fancy," "Miss Me") I still generally don't fuck with his solo singles. This may be the all-time worst besides "Headlines," though. I mean, if melody is one of his big strengths, then it kind of holds him back to have the verses and the chorus in the same super-simple sing-song flow, going around and around over and over. Maybe that was the lesson he learned from listening to "Love Sosa," another song I hate for similar reasons, hundreds of times.
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