1. Katy Perry f/ Juicy J - "Dark Horse"
The whole weird saga of this song becoming a surprise hit is funny because the song actually now fits the definition of the phrase "dark horse" better than the way it's actually used in the lyrics. It just hit #1 barely a month after Katy Perry's label reluctantly released "Dark Horse" as Prism's third single, because radio stations had started picking up on it while the second single was floundering (in fact, the real story may be how much people hated "Unconditionally," which missed the top 10 after she had nine consecutive singles in the top 3). In a weird way this song is the new album's equivalent to "E.T." except that song was awful and Kanye's presence on it was depressing, whereas it's just kind of crazy and awesome to hear Juicy J on a chart-topping pop song. His verse is mostly pretty generic romantic stuff, but there's little moments of Three 6 morbidity creeping in here and there (the Jeffrey Dahmer reference, "She can be my sleeping beauty, I'm gon' put her in a coma"). Also this list kicks off my favorite 2014 singles Spotify playlist.

2. The Band Perry - "Don't Let Me Be Lonely"
On my year-end albums list, I said that "No album in country, or perhaps in any genre, had as good a trio of hit singles this year as Pioneer's first three tracks." But I only put the first two in my 2013 country singles list, because this ended up really hitting its chart peak in 2014, so here it is. I love all the twists and turns of this melody, really is great to sing along with in the car.

3. Phantogram - "Fall In Love"
I don't know anything about this band, and in general I am wary of the kind of quasi-indie synth pop acts that have been creeping onto mainstream alternative radio the last couple years. But holy shit, this song bangs, just a huge, ominous sound, the string samples slithering around the fuzzy bassline, really kinda looking forward to this album.

4. Fat Trel - "She Fell In Love"
I've never listened to a lot of Fat Trel but he initially seemed like an odd fit for MMG when his signing was first announced, beyond him being from the same city as Wale. This song makes it seem more understandable, though, it's basically one of those Rick Ross-style overweight lover tracks, except it's ruder and funnier and more entertaining than any of the ones Rozay has done in a long time, if not ever.

5. Snootie Wild f/ Yo Gotti - "Yayo (Remix)"
I was going to say that this guy sounds like Kevin Gates but doing something more lightweight and then Noz came with the hilarious dismissal "Finally someone made a Kevin Gates record with the intelligence of a Rich Homie Quan record." This song knocks, though, I remember a few weeks ago I heard it in the car and had to Google at a red light to figure out what it was (my phone might have Shazam, I have no idea). And then I got home and Jordan Sargent had just heard it and started talking about it too.

6. Robin Thicke - "Feel Good"
I've been doing these Monthly Reports since 2009, and in five years Blurred Lines is the first album that I've listed four singles from in this space (the closest I've come in the past was Jeezy's Thug Motivation 103, but one of the advance singles, "Jizzle," ended up not on the album at all and another, "Lose My Mind," was only a bonus track). Anyway, it's an awesome album full of really enjoyable tracks, and it's kind of a shame that people got so stuck on the title track and for the most part haven't given the follow-up singles much of a chance.

7. Fantasia - "Side Effects of You"
The title track to Side Effects of You is also the only song on the album not produced by Harmony Samuels, but was written by a couple of other Brits, Emeli Sande and her producer Naughty Boy. I didn't even realize Sande wrote this until I looked it up just now, but it totally makes sense now that I listen for it, and it's fine with me, I liked a couple of her singles that got some play in America. Anyway, great album, although there's not quite anything that would've made a perfect follow-up single to "Without Me."

8. The 1975 - "Chocolate"
This band is kinda hard to get my head around, they're British but otherwise have this glossy '90s Third Eye Blind kind of aesthetic. The part of me that thinks Spymob made one of the best albums of the last decade should be all about them, but it's really taken me a long time to warm up to their album, mainly because of the singer's completely ridiculous voice. This song is kind of a jam, though, no matter how many times he says "petticoat."

9. Sick Puppies - "Gunfight"
Sick Puppies are largely famous for being an Australian band who sound like they should be some kind of metal band but mostly have had hits with slick power ballads. This is the first song I've heard from them that sounds like it would be by a band called Sick Puppies, though, and it's absolutely insane, with some kind of warped attempt at social commentary that includes a verse opening with the phrase "Here's a little story 'bout Kevin Bacon."

10. Britney Spears - "Perfume"
This is a pretty good Sia-written song that was kinda wasted on Britney's voice, but there's something about the whole feeble affair that I enjoy. Also maybe it was a bad idea to use the phrase "mark my territory" so much, makes it sound a little like piss is her cologne.

The Worst Single of the Month: Lorde - "Team"
I'm sick to death of "Royals" and never really liked it to begin with but whatever, I get that people like it, I'm okay with it to some extent. This song, though, oof. It's weird when someone's second single seems almost like a parody of their first. It's like someone created a Lorde lyric generator to come up with phrases like "not very pretty but we sure know how to run things" and "I'm kind of over getting told to put my hands up in the air -- SO THERE." And lemme just say, the way she and some of her supporters have decried any criticism of her as 'adults picking on a teenager' is getting old -- if she's old enough to win awards and sell tons of records, she's old enough to get negative feedback too. She seems like a smart person (not going to condescendingly say a 'smart kid' or a 'smart girl') and her voice has some appeal, but for the time being, the music is really not doing anything for me.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 02, 2014 at 10:31 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.