Year In America August 14, 2008
Rihanna's "Disturbia" finally knocks Katy Perry off the top spot, M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes" jumps into the top five, both "Disturbia" and "Paper Planes" charting on the basis of huge downloads - "Disturbia" gets relatively few airplay points, as radio is still high on Rihanna's previous track, "Take A Bow"; probably pulls extra download numbers, however, since there are over a million people who bought the alb before "Disturbia" became a bonus track, and I can't imagine a lot of them are going to shell out for the alb all over again. "Paper Planes" has a small amount of airplay on the Top 40 and alternative rock stations, and almost nothing anywhere else - except of course on the TV commercials for Pineapple Express. All of which is more interesting than this week's new crop.
The Jonas Brothers "A Little Bit Longer": Reasonably OK melody, sung with the usual ache 'n' agony and the occasional clonking moment of sensitive restraint; more listenable than last week's dreadful "Tonight," but still no adventure in sound. NO TICK.
The Game f. Lil Wayne "My Life": The Game is doggedly weary, which I suppose is appropriate since the rap adds a suicide threat to the standard thuggery, but is still a drag. Wayne does the melody slow and pretty, and is prettied up further with shimmering autotune. This doesn't prevent slowness from being dullness. NO TICK.
Leona Lewis "Better In Time": Bright piano repetitions at the start build some tension that the track resolves too quickly. The singing is nu-Mariah (single-syllable notes outnumbering the old-time melisma), but w/ the young people's sugar glaze, which substitutes for any kind of convincing passion. Negligible but consistently pretty. BORDERLINE TICK.
As a bonus for Year In America's intrepid readers, here's the trailer for Pineapple Express:
The Jonas Brothers "A Little Bit Longer": Reasonably OK melody, sung with the usual ache 'n' agony and the occasional clonking moment of sensitive restraint; more listenable than last week's dreadful "Tonight," but still no adventure in sound. NO TICK.
The Game f. Lil Wayne "My Life": The Game is doggedly weary, which I suppose is appropriate since the rap adds a suicide threat to the standard thuggery, but is still a drag. Wayne does the melody slow and pretty, and is prettied up further with shimmering autotune. This doesn't prevent slowness from being dullness. NO TICK.
Leona Lewis "Better In Time": Bright piano repetitions at the start build some tension that the track resolves too quickly. The singing is nu-Mariah (single-syllable notes outnumbering the old-time melisma), but w/ the young people's sugar glaze, which substitutes for any kind of convincing passion. Negligible but consistently pretty. BORDERLINE TICK.
As a bonus for Year In America's intrepid readers, here's the trailer for Pineapple Express:
Click to view