It's A Pop World

Snark coverage of the recent pop music and stuff

[anormalperspective-blog]

Miley Cyrus- We Can’t Stop

Usually I can write a few paragraphs about a recent pop song. Now, In most cases, I am aware my review takes about as much time to write as the song in question, but ces’t la vie isn’t it. “We Can’t Stop” the latest brainless party pop Rihanna reject to surface on radio doesn’t muster much. The singing is pretty flat and nasal. The beat is nothing new, much weaker than most Mike Will productions currently on radio.

Here is the video, which can be filed as the kind of thing that wants to create buzz so bad. While Rihanna, as studio created her music may be without much of her own input, can really sell a narrative in her song and videos.

Sadly, Miley Cyrus, who is mainly famous for her Hannah Montana tv show, can’t. Miley already tried the “Good Girl Gone Bad” thing a few years back to commercially unsucessful results, is now just going for “silly faced sleeze”? This video includes

People eating bread in unattractive ways

She fake cuts her fingers and shoots weird fluorescent pink blood (which I assume is how blood must be for fledgling pop stars.) 

has some weird animated face say pitch shifted party phrases

awkward gyrating

impressively aggresive cultural appropriation that Gwen Stefani never could’ve dreamt up

cultural appropriation in edible form

making out with a doll in a pool

she still has that ridiculous haircut

teddy bears dancing

Miley wrestles with a girl, in a way of trying to appeal sexually?

more awkward gyrating

desperation

SONG/VIDEO: 3/10- This is pretty braindead, pitiful and unlikable. And I’m even a Ke$ha fan.

  WILL THIS BE A HIT? Miley’s publicity campaign has been in full force lately in 2013’s biggest rollout for an unproven star

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In preparation of Yeezy Season,  My picks for Kanye West’s  greatest hits.

As most of the world knows, Yeezus- the 6th solo album by Kanye West has just leaked and the consensus of the people seems to be that it is pretty fucking good. I have refused to give in to temptation (so far) and have decided to follow our musical savior’s command and try towait until June 18th before I listen/critique to what Rolling Stone gave a 4.5 only a couple hours after the leak. In order to prepare for the event album of the year  I have decided to go through Kanye’s discography and pick what I would put if I were deciding his greatest hits from 2004-2012. Without further to do (not my order of awesomeness but of chronology)

1. All Falls Down feat. Syleena Johnson/Lauryn Hill

While I respect that Through the Wire was Ye’s first hit and respect that it is one of the more clever songs of his career, All Falls Down was Kanye’s first  big hit and display greatness, Aided by a Lauryn Hill chorus despite technicalities, Kanye assaults his conflicted relationship with consumerism and excess

BEST LINE: “Couldn’t afford a car so she named her daughter Alexis”

2. Jesus Walks

That beat. Those oohs. That opening line. That subject matter. This song serves as the centerpiece of one of the best debut albums ever.

BEST LINE: “i’m just the saying the way school needs teachers/The way Kathie Lee needed Regis/that’s the way I need Jesus”

3. Heard Em Say feat. Adam Levine

When it comes to politics, there’s alot of debate that Kanye actually has little to no idea what he’s talking about (“Now I know the government administered AIDS”). Questionable conspiracy theories aside, Does Kanye have a more lush or gorgeous sounding song in his catalogue. And kudos to his producer talents: He made Adam Levine’s wispy croak not only listenable, but great.

BEST LINE: “The devil is alive I feel him breathin’, Claimin’ money is the key so keep on dreamin’,”

  4. Touch the Sky feat. Lupe Fiasco

Like most rappers, One of Kanye’s favorite subjects is being on top of the world. Touch the Sky, complete with a strong Lupe verse and a Curtis Mayfield sample, makes for one joyous victory statement (and one very good music video)

BEST LINE: “A hip hop legend/ I think I died in an accident because this must be heaven”

5. Drive Slow feat. Paul Wall, GLC and T.I.

Every good pop CD has a song that you need for coasting and this is an obvious pick and an amazing beat

“My cars like the movies my cars like the crib/I got more TV’s in here then where I live”

6. Gold Digger feat. Jamie Foxx

(SIDE NOTE: The past four songs play in a row on Late Registration. yeah.)

You can’t make a greatest hits list without the greatest chart hit. No song of Kanye’s has been more solidified as a part of the pop culture consciousness or have such a strong narrative. And with good reason, how many songs are this funny, catchy or meaningful?

BEST LINE: (There might be a song with more good quotes, can’t find it. This one was hard)

“You will see him on TV, any given Sunday/Win the super bowl and drive off in a Hyundai”

7. Hey Mama

Kanye frequently called his mother the most influential person to him in the world. And Hey Mama serves as a tribute so sweet that has only become more lovely since Donda West’s death

BEST LINE: “Forrest Gump’s mom said life is like a box of chocolate/My mom said go to school and get your doctorate”

8.  Good Morning

Album openers are always Kanye’s strong suit and Good Morning serves as no exception. Kanye can tell a non traditional hip hop narrative about education and be self referential in just the FIRST minutes.

BEST LINE “Look at the valedictorian/Scared of the future while I drive off in the DeLorean

9. Stronger feat. Daft Punk

Can we credit/shame Kanye for bringing EDM into the mainstream. Maybe. Daft Punk was pretty dead in 2007 (and never much a thing in the US) until Kanye craftily interpolated “Harder,Better,Faster,Stronger” and last month Daft Punk had their first number one album. Who said Ye wasn’t charitable. Bad News: Alot of shitty EDM is the mainstream too now.

BEST LINE: “Bow in the presence of greatest/ Cause right now thou has forsaken us/You should be honored by my lateness/ That I would even show up for this fake shit”

10. Can’t Tell Me Nothing

This is a song that really conveys alot of emotions and arguably his best rapping. Kanye raps over a synth beat about is trouble with materialism in a song whose structure he claimed was inspired by The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin, Pretty inspiring.

BEST LINE:This one is about as quotable as Gold Digger in all honesty

“They say I talk with so much emphasis/Ooh they so sensitive/Don’t ever fix your lips like collagen/And then say something when you gon’ end up apologing’!”

11. Flashing Lights

Few rappers have dabbled with dance music without losing their spirit in the music. Of course you know Kanye is one of those and Flashing Lights is a perfect example of this.

BEST LINE: “In my past, you on the other side of the glass/Of my memory’s museum/I’m just saying, hey Mona Lisa come home”

12. American Boy- Estelle feat. Kanye West

I know every other song on this list is from a Kanye album but this single is to irresistible to avoid. While the mainstream poposphere was mainly busy chasing Beyonce’s split personality misstep and early Lady GaGa’s  floor humping disco, This cool breezy summer jam blew up simply because it was awesome. While Kanye has had other features that ended up as bigger hits, there is no song where he has more chemistry with a duet partner than this one.

BEST LINE: “Dressed smart like a London bloke/ before he speak his suit bespoke”

13. Heartless

Like most people, I wasn’t a huge fan of 808s and Heartbreak. Lovelorn rap is not my thing at all. However I acknowledge that it was an incredibly influential work on all the boring and sad rappers of today (ahem, Drake). Heartless lends itself pretty well to an acoustic cover, what other  Kanye songs can say that

BEST LINE: “in the night I hear em talk/The coldest story ever told/Somewhere fr along this road He lost his soul to a woman so heartless

14. “Dark Fantasy”

Kanye had alot to say in the 2 years since his last album, and Dark Fantasy was the perfect opener for My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Kanye is going 120 mph in this intense semi-apology for the Taylor Swift fiasco and you gotta love the Nicki Minaj storybook intro.

BEST LINE: “I fantasized about this back in Chicago/Mercy mercy me that Murcielago/That’s me the first year that I blow/ How you say broke in Spanish? Me No hablo” 

15. “All of the Lights” feat. Rihanna, Alicia Keys, Fergie, Kid Cudi John Legend, The Dream, Ryan Leslie, Tony Williams, Charlie Williams, Elly Jackson of La Roux, and oh, Elton John

On an album as dramatic as MBDTF, this stands out for a near movie-like epicness.

“In anyone else’s hands it’d be an A-list circle-jerk of horrid proportions, but through Kanye’s bar-raising vision it becomes a truly wondrous thing” -Alex Denney, NME. 

Best Line: “Something wrong, I hold my head/MJ gone, our nigga dead/I slapped my girl, she called the feds/ I did that time and spent that bread

16. Monster feat. Bon Iver, Rick Ross, Jay Z and Nicki Minaj

Probably the most “woah” song on this list. Four people at their creative/commercial peaks and Jay-Z in a rare return to form give it their all. Nicki Minaj before she was “ugh Nicki Minaj” That’s all that really needs to be said about this one

Best Line: Everyone has great lines in this one but I’ll go with Ye’s best since this is about him 

“Have you ever had sex with a pharaoh?/Put the pussy in a sarcophagus/Now she claiming that I bruised her esophagus/Head of the class and she just wants a swallowship?”

17. Runaway feat. Pusha T

Probably his most magnificient artistic statement, and possibly the inspiration for the more minimalist vibe of Yeezus. Runaway demonstrates Kanye’s growth as an artist, writer and as a human- as he really shows rare vulnerability.

18. Blame Game feat. John Legend and Chris Rock

Blame Game is really the only song of Kanye’s that reaches the length of a typical music epic. And it’s pretty fantastic. Kanye laments love better than he ever did on 808’s and John Legend and Chris Rock give pretty close to career best performances in their respective parts

Best Line; Amber Rose “Yeezy taught me”

19. Otis with Jay-Z and Otis Redding

By 2011, Kanye West and Jay-Z had each ran about a marathon in victory laps musically. However the chemistry and boastfulness is so infectious that a ode to braggadocio  in one of the severest economic downturns can become a Top 20 hit.

BEST LINE”I made Jesus walks so I’m never going to hell/Couture level flow is never going on sale”

There you have it; My picks for the greatest hits of Kanye. I can’t wait to go listen and live tweet my first hearing . Praise Yeezus

[anormalperspective-blog]

The mythical song of the summer and the ever more publicised hunt to become said song. Well, 2013 has its strongest candidate in this summer's first number one hit. 

"Blurred Lines" is a bubbly disco funk jam. Not much of a rarity in 2013, which has also already featured Justin Timberlake's "Suit and Tie", Daft Punk and Pharrell's "Get Lucky" and Bruno Mars' "Treasure". Which has always been Mr. Thicke's downfall. After first garnering attention for his sweetly boring "Lost Without U" which rode on the vanilla funk boom  that begin in mid 2000's with Christina Aguilera's irresistible "Ain't No Other Man" and lingered around until EDM's full on takeover.

The song itself is so fluffy that it makes Demi Lovato seem real deep. Thicke croons his way through a bunch of lightly misogynistic rambles that I think are supposed to be come on's (he was close/Tried to domesticate you/ But you're an animal/Baby it's in your nature). Pharrell add's ey's and a production that sounds fresh until you realize Pharrell made 2-4 similar songs during his peak. T.I. then comes in and gives the same charismatic verse he has given on all his guest verses ever.

What Blurred Lines lacks from jams of summer past is the enthusiasm. Carly Rae Jepsen's unbridled in her take on new love and LMFAO was going to make you get up and have a good time, god damnit. Blurred Lines just kind of sits there and lets three 35 year old men who previously seemed to have already spent their time in the pop world seduce you. Are they trying to evoke anything out of you? No, they just think you should be impressed with their swagger/charm/etc. 

More than anything, it's just unoriginal and boring. The song relies so much on the personality of someone with the magnetism of Justin Timberlake and sadly, the comparisons of that bigger pop star will always haunt Mr. Thicke

RATING: 5/10

[anormalperspective-blog]

Music from Baz Luhrmann's Film The Great Gatsby 

RATING: 3/10

The Great Gatsby is a certified 50 million opening weekend success with a superstar soundtrack. Too bad this soundtrack is a fucking disaster. However, this is supposed to be important because Jay-Z, appointed curator of American Culture in Obama Era produced this soundtrack. Conclusion: Jay Z has the music tastes of 16 year old hipster white girl.

It's hard to find Baz Luhrman's approach of trying to relate to young people by replacing jazz of the 20's with hip hop as anything but a cynical cashgrab and slight racial stereotype. But lets get on with the music shall we

It starts off smartly with Hov himself giving us "$100 Dollar Bill" which is an 11/10 for today's Jay-Z but about a 5/10 when compared to older works. It succeeds in fitting the vision of re imagining the old with a modern twist however, so it a small but solid win. Then the train starts quickly veering off the tracks.

Andre 3000 and Beyonce "deliver" a cover of Amy Winehouse's Back to Black and its impressively mediocre. It is a stuttering, passionless cover that sucks all the tragic beauty of the original. It is hard to imagine what they were thinking with this one. It's the equivalent of what would happen if someone covered "Hey Ya!" and "Crazy in Love", why repaint a Mona Lisa when it will never be as good. And don't you worry one of those classics gets covered and it literally one of the most disastrous shitstorms I've ever heard. With an orchestra backing sounding not unlike a Weird Al Polka and Emeli Sande, a usually boring british singer who is being hyped as the "next Adele" but is about vocally on par with Janet Jackson. She sounds of out of breath but not in the exhilarated way Beyonce did on the original but in 8th place American Idol finisher way.

However, the album does provide us with at least one stellar moment in Lana Del Rey's "Young and Beautiful." It's a stunning ballad that sounds like it came from someone with at least some morsel of understanding of the novel. Del Rey nails the achingly gorgeous ballad which tackles the problem for everything else here, the idea that no one will care about any of this bad music someday. And while it seems like she has ruined it  with  "all that face/makes me want to party", she actually succeeds in nailing the spirit of the story and  the vapidness of its villain, Daisy. It may be to early to call, but Del Rey is the only person who seems like she could nab an Oscar nom here.

Will.I.Am and Fergie are weirdly given separate tracks each to prove they are mediocre as they have always suggested.Will.I.Am's song 'Bang Bang" does sound noticeably different from anything he's ever recorded but still isn't anything pleasurable to the ears. Fergie's song "A Little Party Never Hurt Nobody" is a non descript jazz-EDM (2 genres that should never be combined) club track, that could be from a Bacardi commercial or a Sex and the City soundtrack. Fergie gives it her all but theres literally nothing to work with and Q Tip hardly tries and sounds weirdly Will.I.Am'ish, so yes this is a major career lowlight for him.

There's one simply jazz song from Bryan Ferry and songs by past buzz artist princes Gotye and The xx. It's all at least pleasantly boring. Florence and the Machine and Jack White seem like they were basically  asked to give tracks that made them sound like caricatures of themselves. "Over the Love" provides for a surprising low-light on a soundtrack already so terrible as Florence literally just fucking yells and throws Sparknotes cliche's  of the book at the wall. Sia is delightfully nuanced which is needed at the very end when you feel like you are about to die from everything you've just heard

DOWNLOAD: Lana Del Rey "Young and Beautiful" Jay-Z "100 Dollar Bill" Sia "Kill and Run"

[anormalperspective-blog]

Doesn't that single cover look like a intermediate Photoshop user combined with an old lady who doesn't quite know what current is and therefore thinks "hmm...hashtags are in right now aren't they." Luckily this is not a single that can be judged by its terrible cover. 

While the past 6 months for Mariah have been her feuding with Nicki Minaj on the struggling American Idol and Miguel has song "Adorn" from his stellar Kaleidoscope Dream to anyone with a camera, this collaboration is the first notable release for both of them this year. 

#Beautiful is a simple and breezy  summer jam. Miguel sounds characteristically great and charismatic here in what is definitely an even airtime duet and not just a Mariah yelpfest. That also serves as a benefit to Mariah, who still gets to show a steady amount of her 200 octave vocal range but sounds cool and casual for the first time in career. This isn't some sort of shocking career reinvention or change of style, This is Ma(high note)rrriii (low note)ahhhh (high note again)hhhh Carey after all. Mariah smartly isn't trying to pull a Christina Aguilera and produce a middling attempt at dubstep divadom, but has reigned her theatrics and 2000 octave vocal range for an airtight comeback that sounds retro and still current enough for the radio. It is like "Suit and Tie" but with an editor. 

Will This Be a Hit? Absolutely, this is just the kind of song to bring Mariah back to the top of the charts and closer to tying the Beatles for the #1 record (She's only two away currently) and also bring Miguel to new heights with a huge crossover smash. Surprisingly, Mariah might have another summer ruling song at the ripe age of 43.

Rating 7.5/10

[anormalperspective-blog]

If you made your most anticipated albums of 2013 list, Ciara, or should I say "The Princess of Crunk&B"(one of the most specific and unfortunate nicknames in music history) probably missed the cut. After bursting onto the scene with Goodies and Ciara:The Evolution, two unveven albums with great singles, Ciara stalled. More a product of the recent R&B crossover recession than a serious drop in a quality, Ciara found herself off the charts and swiftly onto another label.

Luckily, after a few false starts the past sixth months, Ciara has hit gold. Body Party is the kind of sexy, silly song that is good enough to get her back into striking distance of Beyonce and Rihanna. What is so refreshing about Body Party , is that it sounds like a song about sex from someone who actually enjoys it, instead of weirdly angry electro floor humping. She still may not be a strong vocalist, Ciara has never sounded crisper or stronger than on 'Put your phone down/You should turn it off/We can go another round if that's what you want." It also features a very nineties production aesthetic from Mike Will Made It, which favorably recalls the best of the era, without eliciting deep "Copycat!" groans.

Will This Be A Hit? Tough to say. Ciara doesn't really elicit strong passion from audiences of recent comebacks to music. If anything, maybe Ciara has made an entire album this fresh and fun and could try to make a go at being a female R. Kelly and getting some respect from the hipsters on the way.

My Rating: 8.5/10 

[anormalperspective-blog]

Ahh, One of the most revolutionary groups of the past 20 years is back and with a vengeance. "Get Lucky", the first single from the fourth Daft Punk album, Random Access Memories. 

But wait, this is totally different. This isn't the same bouncy thrashing europop the majority of us took 7 years to realize was really awesome and deserved to be on top the charts, thus choosing anything remotely similar in its place (ahem, DeadMau5 and Calvin Harris). No, this is nothing like the kind of music even Pitbull and Will.I.Am. are currently adopting , this is straight up New York 70s cocaine nightclub DISCO! 

And can I say one thing; Thank god! All pop music sounds like everything that came before it, which in turn probably sounds like Elvis or the Beatles. This song is almost a complete rip-off of legendary 70's disco group Chic's "Good Times." And I for one am 100 percent okay with that. That irresistible funk bridge. That repetitive chorus. Those lyrics, a less subtle update so people at clubs can know they are definitely listening to a song about humping. And those buttery-smooth Pharrell vocals, how we have missed them since realizing that The Neptunes dry streak was now actually just a definitive mid 2000s peak.

Will This Be A Hit? It debuted on the US Charts at 19, and it is not too crazy revolutionary to scare ClearChannel, so I definitely envision this getting some summertime airplay. I say this is a beginning of a Daft Punk commercial breakthrough, and a return from R&B deep track limbo for Pharrell

Rating: 8/10

[anormalperspective-blog]

Selena Gomez- Come and Get It

What does a marginally talented Disney diva who looks like your average UMiami Cheerleader do once her show's ended and her music and movies no longer appeal to the tweens that once lifted her up? 

Well you can always record what sounds like  the fifth single from a Rihanna album. Miss Gomez's latest  has all the elements of one of Rihanna's lesser hits; a laziily catchy chorus, mildly ethnic drumbeats,  eerily similar lyrics to prior Rihanna hits ("hate the way i love you/All day, All night, Maybe I'm addicted for life"). The song communicates it's message pretty well. World, Selena Gomez has sex now, but you should  still buy this on ITunes

What is lacks in literally any energy. This was highlighted in her MTV Awards performance earlier this month where she swayed through the stage for three minutes in a Hindi meets Las Vegas showgirl getup, that drew more passionate criticism than the song itself could ever muster

Why Rihanna's (and Britney before her) steely, emotionless electro-pop often works is because she has a sexy robodiva  that intrigues the listener. Unfortunately, Miss Gomez lacks that. This song doesn't even have the funny campy desperation of similarly situated Miley Cyrus's virgin no more hit "Can't Be Tamed"

Will This Be a Hit? Probably a minor one. Not enough to sell an album of this and ballad filler on it though

Rating 4/10

[anormalperspective-blog]

Heyyo

Welcome to It's a PopWorld! I've decided to start a blog where I just talk about the good and the bad music of pop music