1. Lady Gaga f/ R. Kelly - "Do What U Want"
Already put this in my year-end top 10, so it goes without saying that I fucking love this song, although even with the R. Kelly controversy flaring up I was a little shocked to be one of only 3 people that voted for it in Pazz & Jop. And now there's that lame new version with Christina Aguilera that was just released, maybe because of the Kells thing, or maybe because the song hasn't done great on the charts or maybe just because of the general excitement over the Gaga/Xtina duet on "The Voice." And because Xtina's verse just follows the vocal melody of Gaga's verse, you completely lose the different vocal melody on the R.'s verse, which was one of the best things about the song. The original holds up, though, incredible track. This will be the last  Monthly Report I add to my running favorite 2013 singles Spotify playlist, although the month-by-month playlist is not the same as the big definitely top 100 playlist.

2. 2 Chainz - "Used 2"
It's crazy that 2 Chainz made a 2nd album so much better than his 1st, with singles that are almost as good, and is suffering such a sophomore slump, this song needs to be so much bigger than it is. Or at least, it never charted high (didn't get into the top 30 of the Hip-Hop/R&B Airplay chart), but it seems to be on every time I get in the car anyway, maybe they're just feeling it around Baltimore and D.C.

3. Jay-Z f/ Beyonce - "Part II (On The Run)"
I touched on how this and "Used 2" both used Juvenile's "Back That Azz Up" flow in my recent Complex article on borrowing flows, but it just trips me up how 2 Chainz and Jay-Z both had singles out at the same time using that flow. Or at least, this song was starting to pick up steam right until B dropped that album and "Drunk In Love" blew up, which kinda bums me out, because I like this song way more.

4. Ariana Grande f/ Big Sean - "Right There"
This is such a transparently deliberate sequel to "The Way," with the Big Pun beat swapped out for a Lil Kim beat, and I think all the '90s samples on Ariana's album almost distract from how good the singing and the songwriting on it is, but whatever, this is dope. I generally don't like Big Sean, but he can be good in small doses on songs like this, and it makes sense for him to be on Ariana's record since her hilarious performance of "Guap" was basically the only thing good about that song.

5. Babyface and Toni Braxton - "Hurt You"
I've been so ready for Babyface to do something major again, especially after his work on Ariana's album, so this duet project with Toni is right on time, I'm really looking forward to the album. Seems like they found a good aesthetic middleground where it doesn't sound like their old megahits but it's not straining to sound modern.

6. Tamar Braxton - "All The Way Home"
Even with Toni coming back strong, 2013 was definitely her baby sister's year, and Tamar kept the hits coming. The production is really something else on this track, love the groove of those drums, just a hypnotically listenable song with a huge vocal hook.

7. Pearl Jam - "Sirens"
After "Mind Your Manners" had me primed for the new Pearl Jam album, the second advance single "Sirens" initially felt like a big letdown. But I think I was just so bummed out in the past when they released 6-minute ballads with acoustic guitars as singles that I almost assumed I would dislike this song as much as "Nothing As It Seems" and "Off He Goes," but I don't. In fact, once it started getting heavy airplay, it really grew on me. The opening refrain is a little cheesy, but by the end the whole thing builds

8. Robin Thicke - "4 The Rest Of My Life"
This song has been out since shortly after "Blurred Lines" and always felt almost like a perfunctory bone Thicke threw to his core R&B audience while he was taking over pop radio, not on the level of past quiet storm staples like "Lost Without U" or even "Love After War." But it just kept going and eventually hit #1 on the Adult R&B chart, and has grown on me. But then I'm a sucker for songs where old married people get romantic about being together for decades, that shit is inspiring to me.

9. Rihanna - "What Now"
One of the byproducts of Rihanna churning out an album every 12 months for almost every year of her career is that she hasn't had those really prolonged singles campaigns most huge chart stars get where 5th and 6th singles hang around forever and they get to really milk the album. So her finally taking a year off in 2013 meant that Unapologetic got to breath a little bit and songs like this came out, which really grew on me even if it never became a big hit (and got kinda steamrolled by the Eminem single she's on). There are some points when she still seems not quited suited for the song (what the hell up is the way she pronounces "mirror" in the pre-chorus?) but the way she belts out the chorus is killer, one of the few 'dubstep waltz' power ballads that has really worked for me.

10. Janelle Monae f/ Miguel - "Primetime"
I've kinda gone back and forth with this song, because even though they're kinda similar artists in some ways (and often sport the same pompadour), in my eyes Miguel can do no wrong and Janelle Monae can do no right. I mean, she's not terrible, but the stagey, contrived quality of her persona and her blank, passionless singing just leave me cold. I worked with a crew that did PSAs before the "Christmas In Washington" concert a few weeks ago, and Monae came in dressed like some kind of old-timey constable, and when the script said "I hope" she said "I do hope" to make it sound more like Mary Poppins or whatever she's going for (I guess it could've been worse, she could've said "I'm ever so hopeful"). Anyway this song is kinda dope, I'll give her props for this one.

The Worst Single of the Month: Lupe Fiasco f/ Ed Sheeran - "Old School Love"
Last month, I was on my way to a holiday party and a show my band was playing that night when I checked my phone and my Twitter mentions had exploded. I had just published a Short List in which I made a joke about Lupe Fiasco's career decline and recent run-in with a tomato, and he saw it himself and tweeted to his million followers "Al Shipley at Baltimore city paper is kind of a dick" (Lupe's tweets are private, but a screencap of his first tweet is my Twitter avatar, such is my amusement at this whole incident). I responded, there was a little back-and-forth (his main response was "fuck you too"), and I got the inevitable insults from his stans. It was great fun. But lemme just say, if my Short List comment or my tweets were immature, I stand by the general sentiment that Lupe's music has been going down the tubes for a long time after a promising start (I even had Food & Liquor in my 2006 year-end list for the City Paper, although I had already started to cool on the album by the time I saw him live the next year). He's already openly disowned half his hits, so why should we even think for a second that he believes in songs like "Old School Love," which sounds like he had to fight off Travie McCoy to get? The idea that Lupe being smarter or more talented than the average MC absolves him of the detached cynicism of so much of his music is what makes me, y'know, say dickish things in print about him. 

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