Another Year In America November 12, 2009
"Russian Roulette" entered the chart two weeks ago at 100, rose last week to an unpromising 75, then this week on the heels of a publicity blitz that included Rihanna's 20/20 interview it jumps to 9. We'll see if it sticks; it doesn't match anything else on the chart, in subject matter or severity. My guess is it holds on for a bit, maybe falling a little then hanging around as people get used to it.
Rihanna "Russian Roulette": She gets a gigantic TICK as a human being for the soul-searching and depth of character she showed a week ago on TV, but this song is still almost laughably overdramatic - which isn't to say that I don't feel the drama every time. And I like its massive slowness and its stubborn literalness. TICK.
Justin Bieber "Favorite Girl": Good singer, mediocre song. I know, I said that last time he charted too. But I like the way he doesn't clobber the beat with his emphases and the way he's got an easy legato and subtle pulses. Now if they could give him a decent tune... BORDERLINE NONTICK.
Jay Sean f. Sean Paul & Lil Jon "Do You Remember": I sampled little bits of Jay Sean's back catalogue to find a mildly pleasant, poor man's Justin Timberlake. To call him a cut-rate Timberlake now would vastly overestimate the distinctiveness of his singing. And the pale prettiness of this is even paler and less pretty than the pale prettiness of his last, and I hated that too. NO TICK.
Jesse McCartney "Body Language": Now this boy singer at least puts out, albeit on a boring track that pretties him up unnecessarily with AutoTune, which I suppose is on its way to being the international language of limp sugar pop. NO TICK.
Taylor Swift "Fifteen": Lots of this is obvious and wide-eyed, just as it intends; the events and insights are normal enough, less varied and restless than her real fifteen was, I'm sure (I can't imagine that anyone who is fifteen has no thoughts about, e.g., global warming and one's place in the cosmos not just in the sight of boys) but there's art in when and how Taylor places her observations. "You're gonna be here for the next four years" has the right mixture of anticipation and fear. Lots of joy in this, the whoosh when she sings "He's got a car and you feel like flying." But the line that everyone remembers, me included, what the whole song seems unable not to be leading us to, is "Abigail gave everything she had to a boy who changed his mind" - though what actually catches me in the throat is the next line, "We both cried," one girl's heartbreak directly transmitted to another. TICK.
Luke Bryan "Do I": Four easily resolved chords at the start, but the lyrics are uneasy, a man lost in marriage and wondering if he's still enough. The words need more specificity and the music needs more surprise, and Bryan's voice seems too strong for the sentiment, but maybe the slight incongruity works OK. BORDERLINE NONTICK.
Birdman f. Drake & Lil Wayne "Money To Blow": Drake uses AutoTune for roughness, his voice pushing against the beats, pulling me in for once, a bragging song that sounds dogged and weary. Birdman is slower and more tired than I think is intended, and the lethargy extends to Wayne, who's surprisingly superfluous; no one's trying to sound spent, but it helps this track that they do. TICK.
Rihanna "Russian Roulette": She gets a gigantic TICK as a human being for the soul-searching and depth of character she showed a week ago on TV, but this song is still almost laughably overdramatic - which isn't to say that I don't feel the drama every time. And I like its massive slowness and its stubborn literalness. TICK.
Justin Bieber "Favorite Girl": Good singer, mediocre song. I know, I said that last time he charted too. But I like the way he doesn't clobber the beat with his emphases and the way he's got an easy legato and subtle pulses. Now if they could give him a decent tune... BORDERLINE NONTICK.
Jay Sean f. Sean Paul & Lil Jon "Do You Remember": I sampled little bits of Jay Sean's back catalogue to find a mildly pleasant, poor man's Justin Timberlake. To call him a cut-rate Timberlake now would vastly overestimate the distinctiveness of his singing. And the pale prettiness of this is even paler and less pretty than the pale prettiness of his last, and I hated that too. NO TICK.
Jesse McCartney "Body Language": Now this boy singer at least puts out, albeit on a boring track that pretties him up unnecessarily with AutoTune, which I suppose is on its way to being the international language of limp sugar pop. NO TICK.
Taylor Swift "Fifteen": Lots of this is obvious and wide-eyed, just as it intends; the events and insights are normal enough, less varied and restless than her real fifteen was, I'm sure (I can't imagine that anyone who is fifteen has no thoughts about, e.g., global warming and one's place in the cosmos not just in the sight of boys) but there's art in when and how Taylor places her observations. "You're gonna be here for the next four years" has the right mixture of anticipation and fear. Lots of joy in this, the whoosh when she sings "He's got a car and you feel like flying." But the line that everyone remembers, me included, what the whole song seems unable not to be leading us to, is "Abigail gave everything she had to a boy who changed his mind" - though what actually catches me in the throat is the next line, "We both cried," one girl's heartbreak directly transmitted to another. TICK.
Luke Bryan "Do I": Four easily resolved chords at the start, but the lyrics are uneasy, a man lost in marriage and wondering if he's still enough. The words need more specificity and the music needs more surprise, and Bryan's voice seems too strong for the sentiment, but maybe the slight incongruity works OK. BORDERLINE NONTICK.
Birdman f. Drake & Lil Wayne "Money To Blow": Drake uses AutoTune for roughness, his voice pushing against the beats, pulling me in for once, a bragging song that sounds dogged and weary. Birdman is slower and more tired than I think is intended, and the lethargy extends to Wayne, who's surprisingly superfluous; no one's trying to sound spent, but it helps this track that they do. TICK.