Monthly Report: March 2013 Singles
1. Demi Lovato - "Heart Attack"
I do a lot of teleprompting work around D.C., and occasionally work with famous people, but mostly just politicians. Now and then there'll be someone whose movies or music I've enjoyed, and now and again you work with them for a whole afternoon and get to build some rapport, but usually it's pretty impersonal, which is fine by me. A few months ago I was working on a bunch of PSAs with celebs that happened to be at an event, so they'd just come in for a few minutes, read the script, and then go, so I worked with Demi Lovato for a few minutes but wouldn't really say I met her. It was kind of funny, though, none of the rest of the crew really knew who she was, and I had a hard time admitting in front of a bunch of other 30-somethings and 20-somethings that I like Demi Lovato's music and consider her first album a minor classic. Probably good that I didn't get a chance and try and tell her that, I also worked with Mandy Moore once and felt like a gross old dude, and she's much closer to my age. Anyway, glad that Demi's career is doing well and her new song is pretty good. Follow along at home with the favorite 2013 singles Spotify playlist, by the way.
2. Little Big Town - "Tornado"
This is the follow-up to "Pontoon," my favorite country summer jam of 2012, and it takes the similarly modern, almost clubby production style (those synths!) in a totally different, more foreboding direction, which works out well.
3. Rihanna f/ Mikky Ekko - "Stay"
A year and a half ago, I wrote a Radio Hits One column about Adele's "Someone Like You" becoming the first piano-and-vocals-only ballad to ever top the Hot 100, at a time when ballads and slow songs in general had been virtually banned from the upper reaches of the pop charts. At the time, I pointed out how some of pop's biggest stars, like Rihanna, seemed virtually incapable of pulling off ballads, and that "Unfaithful" was pretty much her worst hit. So while I'm not surprised at all that we've now got some major stars following Adele's lead with piano ballad singles, I'm pretty shocked that Rihanna's is really good. In fact it's far better than the Bruno Mars one that's also out right now -- and it's been pretty weird lately to look at the top of the Hot 100 and see those two songs alternating with Macklemore and Baauer's wacky YouTube memes. "Stay" sounds like it probably could have, and maybe should have, been Mikky Ekko's solo single, but even though Rihanna sometimes sounds a little silly singing his Anglophile lament, her voice is pretty beautiful on it, she's really gradually grown as a vocalist over the years.
4. Miguel - "How Many Drinks?"
When I put "Do You..." in this space a while back, I noted how that song had kind of gotten lost in the shuffle of the enormous, unprecedented radio domination of "Adorn" (which now hasn't left the top 3 of the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart for about 7 months, and recently returned to #1). And the song that I predicted would be the next single has in fact been picked, with a Kendrick Lamar remix of "How Many Drinks?" slated to drop soon as the official radio/video version. I'm somewhat wary of how Kendrick will sound on the song, but I love it as is -- it's obviously a shrewd pick for radio, and the most sonically similar song to "Adorn" on Kaleidoscope Dream, but it also feels kind of appealingly langorous in its length, which over a minute longer than the previous two singles off the album. I especially love the way the 'rap' section drifts into this great bridge and all the melodic embellishments on the final single, just a great vocal performance.
5. Raheem DeVaughn - "Love Connection"
Speaking of "Adorn," the latest entry in Raheem DeVaughn's increasingly desperate career is major label R&B's first official attempt to brazenly copy that song. Although in DeVaughn's defense, I could totally see him waiting his whole life for an excuse to do a "Sexual Healing"-type song. And it's not bad, even if those drums are totally shameless. I also like how the "good love and affection" hook also recalls Mario's "Let Me Love You," which in a way is also a close cousin to "Adorn."
6. Ke$ha - "C'Mon"
It would figure that the first Ke$ha I actually like is her first to totally flop and miss the top 20, after seven consecutive top 10 singles. But all in all I'm glad her career is on the decline, even if this song deserved better. It's funny how Ke$ha is the first person to jack Nicki's "Super Bass" flow.
7. Tyga f/ Rick Ross - "Dope"
Tyga is someone else I find completely reprehensible, who now and again is able to stumble onto a hot beat. It's interesting to hear a "Deep Cover" sample, that bass-driven G-funk sound, retrofitted to a rickety clapper track, like it's this strange top-heavy construction that actually works.
8. Bridget Kelly - "Special Delivery"
Bridget Kelly is a Roc Nation second stringer who would sing the "Empire State of Mind" hook when Alicia Keys wasn't available. This single hasn't really gone much of anywhere, I think it actually did better in the UK than here, but it's really good.
9. Kelly Rowland - "Kisses Down Low"
Mike Will Made It's domination of urban radio at the moment is pretty incredible -- 5 of the top 15 records right now. So it's very likely you could listen to a station for an hour and one in three records would be his, no exaggeration. This one may not be my favorite of the pack, but it's been growing on me. And it's just kind of funny to hear the chorus to T.I.'s "Top Back" rewritten to be about eating out.
10. Beyonce - "Bow Down / I Been On"
I really hated this song at first, and still am not wild about the sentiment. But after being afraid of it being another obnoxiously aggressive and trend-jocking Beyonce single in the vein of "Diva" or "Run The World," it's starting to look like just a quick teaser single, more a statement than something for the radio, like it's her "Stupid Hoe," and I like it more in that context. Plus there's all these little harmonies and vocal subtleties in the first half that always seem to crop up on Beyonce songs that initially seem like they're not really about melody.
Worst Single of the Month: Swedish House Mafia f/ John Martin - "Don't You Worry Child"
Lots of people complain about the crossover US hits by European dance producers like David Guetta, but those usually feature American stars who do something decent or palatable at least some of the time, the Swedish dude singing on this is just torture, like why would anybody ever choose to sing like that.
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