1. Robyn – Dancing on My Own (Original Version)
I wanted the entire Body Talk trilogy to be this brilliant. This danceable, yet melancholy. I wanted Robyn to be this vulnerable on every track. I wanted all of her new music released this year to be this accessible, this poetic. But expecting an album full of songs this complete, this anthemic, might just be expecting too much. Songs like these don’t really need accompanying albums, anyway. They just need headphones. Or a dancefloor. And a repeat button.
2. Kanye West and friends – “Power (Remix)”
This song makes me proud to be a fan of hip-hop
3. Cee-Lo – No One’s Gonna Love You” – Paul Epworth Remix
Forget about “F&@K You!” It’s a good enough ear-worm, but ultimately, trite. Cee-Lo’s Band of Horses cover, which appears on his newest, and commendable, solo disc is even better. But it’s this remix, and its accompanying video, that best display the soulster’s knack for transcending genre and making someone else’s music sound better than they ever thought it could (Remember “Crazy”?) The video is also a gem, poignantly telling a typical love-that-couldn’t-last story with surprising grace. One only wishes that Cee-Lo would have made an entire album like this. In trying to sound so retro on “The Lady Killer”, he ended up becoming a sleepy, watered-down version of himself.
4. Bettye LaVette – “Isn’t It A Pity”
I first heard this song in Portland, OR. I had just started a three-month stint with Oregon Public Broadcasting. And I didn’t know anybody. And I missed DC. And I was driving in my economy-class rental car, getting lost. Bettye LaVette’s voice came through the speakers, performing this song live on A Prairie Home Companion, and as a testament to the ability of radio to not just tug at your heartstrings, but rip them out every so often, LaVette, and that stark, lonely piano, that weepy guitar, that gravely voice, captured all of my loneliness that day, all of my ambivalence, and made it a song. I stopped my car and just listened. Portland got much, much better - I grew to love the place. But the strongest emotion of my time there was that day, alone with Bettye in that car, her, and I, and this song.
5. Childish Gambino – Do Ya Like
I think I’ve found a new hero. Kanye, step aside. Anyone who could make Adele thump is a winner. And yes, Childish Gambino is that Black guy from NBC’s Community, Donald Glover. Which makes this all even awesomer.
6. Mark Ronson – “Bang Bang Bang”
An amazing song from a truly disappointing album. Mark Ronson has yet to find post-Amy Winehouse success/credibility/artistry. But songs like this keep me hoping he’ll get there at some point.
7. Willow Smith – “Whip My Hair”
I’ve played this song more than any other this year. And I don’t care what anyone says, Willow Smith deserves to be a star, and rich nine-year olds are perfectly qualified to sing about brushing haters off. But I can’t help but feel weird about making the uber-rich Smith clan even richer. Somewhere, in a room lined with money, Will and Jada are playing “Whip My Hair” and making a toast. And all I got out of it was a sore neck…
8. Flying Lotus – MmmHmm (Ft. Thundercat)
As an album, Cosmogramma was a little too much. A lot to soak in, but not really a lot to hold it all together. Adventurous, but often frenetic and unfocused. This track, though, captures everything great on the disc. The ambiance, the acid jazz meets trip hop, meets the coolest coffee shop in your city. Listening to this song, with it’s winding bass line, and morphing time signature, makes you feel cooler than everyone else with a latte and hipster glasses in the café.
9. Usher and Will.I.Am – “OMG”
I hated this song at first. I just couldn’t understand why Will.I.Am would AutoTune Usher, one of a handful of modern pop singers who can actually sing. And the lyrics are absolutely ridiculous – what grown man says “boobies” and means it? But then that stadium crowd starts chanting in the background, and that snare-drum rat-a-tat gets into your bones, and Usher sings the now timeless R&B lyric, “Baby, lemme love you down” and you’re taken back to a middle school dance. And then your fist is pumping. And then you realize that Will.I.Am isn’t just a music producer. He’s a drug dealer, making crack cocaine for the eardrums.
10. Janelle Monae – “Cold War”
Remember when you first saw/heard Lauryn Hill’s artistry on full display? Maybe it was in the chorus of “Killing Me Softly” or the breakdown of “Doo Wop (That Thing)” or towards the end of the extended vamp of “Ex Factor.” Whatever it was, you, like me, probably thought soon after, “I hope we never lose her; because we need her. Music needs her.” That’s how I felt after watching the video for “Cold War.” It marks the emergence of a new standard bearer, more than “Tightrope” which was too fun to make the point. Janelle Monae is no Lauryn Hill – she’s not at all a lyricist and is twice the vocalist L-Boogie ever hoped to be. But she is just as remarkable a talent, has just as captivating a solo debut, and is worthy of just as much of our attention.
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And now all the others, in no particular order:
Kesha – "Your Love is My Drug"
I don’t like Kesha. She can’t sing, her perpetually-drunk schtick is tiring, and her music is overplayed. But there’s something about the last half-minute of this song. When the drum track stops and it’s just Ke$ha, bouncing synths, and autotune. She starts sing-talking, ad-libbing. The layers are stripped away, and you finally realize how beautiful this song’s chord progressions are. And then she let’s out a little laugh, mid-90’s Janet Jackson style. It’s flirty, it’s immediate, and it’s, as much as mindless pop like this can be, perfect.
Ok Go – “White Knuckles”
I like this group more than I should. Partly because of their amazing videos, but most likely because I see them as the band you’d want to play at your wedding. They are the just right combination of funk, fun, pop and rock. This song channels Prince in the drum track, and makes you ready to sing along after just one listen.
Rihanna – "Cheers (Drink to That)"
Every year needs a drinking song. It was either this or Pink’s “Raise Your Glass.” Rihanna wins, not only because I’m obsessed with her, but because I think she’d be a much better drunk. Pink would probably get in a fight. This meandering ode to Jameson, with an awesome Avril Lavigne sample (I know, how are we sampling Avril Lavigne so soon?), makes me think that Rihanna would just keep dancing.
Kanye West and Pusha T – “Runaway”
Kanye West has become the town drunk who doesn't know when to shut up. The guy you don't want to invite to your party, because you're not sure who he might yell at. The guy you think is always angry, no matter what he says. And that’s what caused the media to lose the real message of Runaway. What everybody forgets is that this song isn’t about Taylor Swift. At all. It’s an ode to a girl (or girls) he’s wronged. Sending out pictures of his junk to random females, having an addiction “to ‘dem hoodrats,” being a general douchebag to his love interest. It’s also haunting, and an instant classic. A song only Kanye could make.
Kanye and Friends – “Monster”
Dare I say it, but Nicki Minaj’s verse MURDERED EVERYBODY ELSE ON THIS TRACK.
Taio Cruz – “Dynamite”
There is no enduring quality to this song. No higher or deeper meaning. Nothing to separate it from the recent outpouring of genre-less, pan-ethnic, auto-tuned to death pop coming from the likes of Iyaz, Jason Derulo and Jay Sean. There is no reason to commend this song’s singer or writers for doing what they’ve done with Dynamite. It’s just an awesome song to dance to. And so it makes the list.
Alicia Keys – “Unthinkable (I’m Ready)”
She didn’t yell on this song. For that, I am happy.
Chris Brown – “Deuces/Yeah 3X”
He might not ever be redeemed as an artist for what he’s done to Rihanna. But these two songs show why he ever mattered in the first place. He’s very good at what he does, whether we like him or not.
Lil’ Wayne – “6 Foot, 7 Foot”
Jail’s been good to Lil’ Wayne. He went in in a drug induced haze, his final pre-prison verses often incomprehensible, disjointed, clouded by the drugs. You can tell he’s off that stuff now. His delivery is so sharp, his metaphors so witty, his control of the beat so complete. I almost wish he’d go back to jail…
Wiz Kalifa – “Black and Yellow”
Every time I get excited about Wiz Kalifa's "Black and Yellow" I realize it's a song about the Pittsburgh Steelers, and then I throw up a little bit in my mouth. But I keep on dancing.
Chiddy Bang – “Opposite of Adults”
This duo deserved much more love this year. The sampling is top-notch, and the lyrical delivery might not be groundbreaking, but it makes a fitting accompaniment to the lush tracks on Chiddy Bang’s LP debut. This song is that collection’s standout. Those handclaps, the driving bass, the echoing snare. It’s feel-good rap music. And we all need more of that.
Lady Gaga and Beyonce – “Telephone”
Lady Gaga’s managed to make my singles list two years in a row. But this one’s not even really about her. This song belongs to Rodney Jerkins, the most underrated R&B producer of our day.
Katy Perry – “Teenage Dream”
Katy Perry doesn’t know if she wants you to take her seriously or not. She has music videos with cream shooting out of confectioned breastplates one minute, and has an outstanding Unplugged album with an oddly satisfying cover of “Hackensack” the next. She gives us the curse of “California Gurlz” and then makes a song as blissful as Teenage Dream. And it is blissful. The driving, three-chord track, with those tick-tocking guitars that build to a techno-ish crescendo that beats its way into your brain. And that one line in the song, that one line every songwriter wishes for. When Katy sings “Let’s go all the way tonight. No regrets, just love.” That moment you know that everyone is going to be singing the words you wrote. The melody you crafted. Living in the moment you made.
Wacka Flocka Flame – “Hard in Da Paint” – Instrumental
Wacka Flaka is awful. Really. He’s awful. But this track is brutal and bombastic. And so crunk it hurts.
Erykah Badu – “Window Seat"
#1 R&B earworm of the year. With a strange video to boot. Ms. Badu is getting better with age.
Diddy Dirty Money- “A$# On The Floor/Hello, Good Morning”
“Train Music” didn’t seem like a good idea. But when’s the last time Diddy had a good idea? Mase? Whatevs. Diddy Dirty Money is more about Dirty Money than Diddy. His two twins of backup singers, Dawn, and that other one, are proving themselves to be quite the singer/songwriters. I couldn’t pick between either of these tracks, as they’re both so danceable. Although I do think I’d like the chorus of “Hello, Good Morning” as my iPhone alarm clock tone.
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