Note: I plucked this off my former blog and migrated it over here (a little late for a 2011 list, but it's something worth reading, I think). It's not fresh content, but it's probably new to you!
Everybody makes a list of their “best” songs of 2011, and that’s all and good, but how many people actually listened to their favourite song of the year the most? I’d place bets that many didn't. In fact, I’m one of them because if I had to say so, I think M83’s Midnight City is the most creative and interesting song of this year — but it’s not my most played — gadzooks!
Everybody makes a list of their “best” songs of 2011, and that’s all and good, but how many people actually listened to their favourite song of the year the most? I’d place bets that many didn't. In fact, I’m one of them because if I had to say so, I think M83’s Midnight City is the most creative and interesting song of this year — but it’s not my most played — gadzooks!
Instead, I’m letting an invisible computer tracker show you what I listened to most this year. Granted, songs released later in the year didn't get the advantage of time to rack up extra plays on my iTunes, but I think this list provides an amusing insight into my guilty pleasures and even missteps in 2011.
The bottom half of the top list appears to be largely a collection of my guilty pleasures from the year. Maybe you’ll find a few you enjoy yourselves…even if it is secretly.
20. Gym Class Heroes - Stereo Hearts (Feat. Adam Levine)
Say goodbye to the mainstream because this is about the last time most of you are going to recognise a track on this list for…well, quite some time. Infectious, diverse, optimistic and the return of Adam Levine to the vocal glory he deserved this year (which was quickly followed by the surge of popularity of that Jagger song).
19. Kimberly Caldwell – Desperate Girls & Stupid Boys
The former American Idol contestant flopped with this song, but I think her growly voice is unique and the rock/pop grrrl power angle has been overlooked lately.
19. Oh Land – Sun of a Gun
The pulsing sexuality of this song made it an instant appeal to me. Then the snapping. Then the full blown chorus. There’s a minimalist approach to the sound of this track, even when it’s full blown percussion, and that tension underneath just makes it sizzle.
18. Andy Grammer – Keep Your Head Up
Rainy days and solemn evenings always got a pick-me-up when this song came on. It took a good eight months after release for this fearlessly upbeat song to catch on, and if anything that serves as an extra reminder that sometimes persistence leads to success. It also proves that once people learn the words, they’re more than willing to sing along if it feels right.
17. Britney Spears – Selfish
Once the shock subsides, I’ll confirm that Britney somehow made it onto my list, even though I wholly resent her as an “artist” or whatever you call her. But it was hard for me to deny her this year when she was full-on airhead in Selfish, a bonus track from her latest CD, ridden with lazy cliches and bad songwriting that was just too delicious to let go. Think Showgirls for the pop world. Anyhow, I couldn't resist singing disastrous lines like “boom-boom baby, pick you up in my Mercedes.” Like really, somebody wrote that down and thought it was OK? Consider this an extreme guilty pleasure that is best enjoyed with a stripper swinging on a brass rail. I still can’t get over the fact she sounds like she’s singing “sailfish”…
16. The Dears – Omega Dog
Forget the Beibers and the Lavignes, the Dears need to find some more success outside of Canadian rock radio. Sure, they've had the critics in their grasp for years, but their most recent album had some real gems on it, including the simmering eletro-rock intensity of Omega Dog, which feels like at least three different songs in the span of five minutes — all of them solid tracks.
15. Theophilus London – I Stand Alone
Theophilus made waves (at least in my books) in 2010 on the Penguin Prison remix of Ellie Goulding’s Starry Eyed, but he’s a very unusual rapper that I knew from the start the mainstream wouldn't know what to do with. Take in case the video for I Stand Alone, a wholly competent rap/rock track that has him dressed in a cowboy hat and furry jacket. Immediately he wasn't looking to be like everyone else, and so it was, the song fell by the wayside. Too bad really.
14. Aqua – How R U Doing
I have no one to blame but myself for this one. The song came out, I was excited that Aqua had a new track and I listened to it a whole lot. It’s incredibly dumb, and with lyrics like “we gonna pop what’s in the bottle, gonna rock what’s in the shottle” I should shrug my head in shame. There is something infectious about this song, but it’s comparable to gonorrhea.
13. Ultraviolet Sound – Girl Talk
Man, the shame just continues. Still, I find a lot of fun in the stories told in this relentlessly pop-electro track. It’s the kind of song you either get or you don’t, and I can’t really blame you if you’re on the latter end.
11. Jedward – Lipstick
Anyone who knew me this year learned time and time again how obsessed I was with Eurovision, and while many of the tracks made their way onto my Top 30 for the year, most of them lingered in the 20s (thank god). All except this one, perhaps the most embarrassing of them all. Jedward is from Ireland and the teenieboppers there love their over-the-top theatrics and lack of music skills. Of course, they’re also from one of those TV talent shows from several years ago where they were panned by everyone, but they've managed to keep the interest of the public, mostly because of performances like the one above, at the Eurovision finals.
All right, now that I've sweated it out through these, I’m proud to tell you that the Top 10 list that will appear here soon features songs I am entirely proud to tell you are some of my favourites of the year — no guilty pleasures!
The bottom half of the top list appears to be largely a collection of my guilty pleasures from the year. Maybe you’ll find a few you enjoy yourselves…even if it is secretly.
20. Gym Class Heroes - Stereo Hearts (Feat. Adam Levine)
Say goodbye to the mainstream because this is about the last time most of you are going to recognise a track on this list for…well, quite some time. Infectious, diverse, optimistic and the return of Adam Levine to the vocal glory he deserved this year (which was quickly followed by the surge of popularity of that Jagger song).
19. Kimberly Caldwell – Desperate Girls & Stupid Boys
The former American Idol contestant flopped with this song, but I think her growly voice is unique and the rock/pop grrrl power angle has been overlooked lately.
19. Oh Land – Sun of a Gun
18. Andy Grammer – Keep Your Head Up
Rainy days and solemn evenings always got a pick-me-up when this song came on. It took a good eight months after release for this fearlessly upbeat song to catch on, and if anything that serves as an extra reminder that sometimes persistence leads to success. It also proves that once people learn the words, they’re more than willing to sing along if it feels right.
17. Britney Spears – Selfish
Once the shock subsides, I’ll confirm that Britney somehow made it onto my list, even though I wholly resent her as an “artist” or whatever you call her. But it was hard for me to deny her this year when she was full-on airhead in Selfish, a bonus track from her latest CD, ridden with lazy cliches and bad songwriting that was just too delicious to let go. Think Showgirls for the pop world. Anyhow, I couldn't resist singing disastrous lines like “boom-boom baby, pick you up in my Mercedes.” Like really, somebody wrote that down and thought it was OK? Consider this an extreme guilty pleasure that is best enjoyed with a stripper swinging on a brass rail. I still can’t get over the fact she sounds like she’s singing “sailfish”…
16. The Dears – Omega Dog
Forget the Beibers and the Lavignes, the Dears need to find some more success outside of Canadian rock radio. Sure, they've had the critics in their grasp for years, but their most recent album had some real gems on it, including the simmering eletro-rock intensity of Omega Dog, which feels like at least three different songs in the span of five minutes — all of them solid tracks.
15. Theophilus London – I Stand Alone
Theophilus made waves (at least in my books) in 2010 on the Penguin Prison remix of Ellie Goulding’s Starry Eyed, but he’s a very unusual rapper that I knew from the start the mainstream wouldn't know what to do with. Take in case the video for I Stand Alone, a wholly competent rap/rock track that has him dressed in a cowboy hat and furry jacket. Immediately he wasn't looking to be like everyone else, and so it was, the song fell by the wayside. Too bad really.
14. Aqua – How R U Doing
I have no one to blame but myself for this one. The song came out, I was excited that Aqua had a new track and I listened to it a whole lot. It’s incredibly dumb, and with lyrics like “we gonna pop what’s in the bottle, gonna rock what’s in the shottle” I should shrug my head in shame. There is something infectious about this song, but it’s comparable to gonorrhea.
13. Ultraviolet Sound – Girl Talk
Man, the shame just continues. Still, I find a lot of fun in the stories told in this relentlessly pop-electro track. It’s the kind of song you either get or you don’t, and I can’t really blame you if you’re on the latter end.
11. Jedward – Lipstick
Anyone who knew me this year learned time and time again how obsessed I was with Eurovision, and while many of the tracks made their way onto my Top 30 for the year, most of them lingered in the 20s (thank god). All except this one, perhaps the most embarrassing of them all. Jedward is from Ireland and the teenieboppers there love their over-the-top theatrics and lack of music skills. Of course, they’re also from one of those TV talent shows from several years ago where they were panned by everyone, but they've managed to keep the interest of the public, mostly because of performances like the one above, at the Eurovision finals.
All right, now that I've sweated it out through these, I’m proud to tell you that the Top 10 list that will appear here soon features songs I am entirely proud to tell you are some of my favourites of the year — no guilty pleasures!
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