Summer started last week and it's time for hot jams pumping from hot cars on hot summer afternoons. These are the jams I've started pumping from my Kia:
Selena Gomez & The Scene - "Love You Like A Love Song"
You may recall that a (pre-Beibs) Selena Gomez single "Naturally" was my jam last spring. It was everything that breezy teen dance pop should be. Her follow up album Year Without Rain had a stunning title track. Now lil' miss "Wizards Of Waverly Place" is blowing up my speakers now. "Who Says" she's not perfect?
Rye Rye feat Robyn - "Never Will Be Mine"
Baltimore teen rapper Rye Rye hooks up with the queen of "sad gay disco songs" for a slow rap about giving up on loser boyfs. It's a sneaky little single, it slips into your brain and stays for days.
Nicki Minaj - "Super Bass"
The poppiest single from Barbie so far. While the rap has some hot moments (though not as craycray as "Monster" or "Roman's Revenge"), it's the chorus that just says dancing by the pool. My my, it's like pelican fly... and summery fresh! Also, it's Taylor Swift approved!
Lady Gaga - "Edge Of Glory"
The video is crap, but this power ballad is basically "Don't Stop Believing" for a new millennium (as sung in the style of Pat Benatar.)
Neon Trees - "Your Surrender"
The "Animal"istic ones are back with more new wave dance rock goodness.
Tinie Tempah feat Eric Turner - "Written In The Stars"
No, it's not a cover of that LeeAnn Rimes/Elton John duet from Aida. It's Brit rap with a hot hook (sung by a hot hipster!)
Who did I miss? Tell me in the comments!
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Baby, She Was "Born This Way"
I am finally getting around to putting my feelings about Lady Gaga's latest into words. I've been been living with the album for a month now, playing in cars and at home - the true test of an album's quality.
At first I wasn't sold. The industrial vibe that runs through about half the album sounds really harsh compared to the glossiness of the RedOne collabos from The Fame Monster but hearing it up against the more arena rock sounds that also permeate Born This Way it grows on me. While the album on the whole has a dancable sound, it is light years away from Gaga's breakthrough hit "Just Dance."
Gaga borrows from 1980s Queen and Bruce Springsteen as well as previous donors Madonna and Micheal Jackson before adding on the industrial beats. In fact, "Edge Of Glory" not only features the much talked about Clarence Clemons solo but a hook drenched rock chorus that Pat Benatar would die for. And "You & I" is a bluesy rock love ballad that would fit in on Born In The USA any day.
It's not all 80s rehashing, Gaga experiments with "mariachi house" on "Americano," German industrial on the feminist club anthem "Scheiße" and operatic vocal flourishes with "Government Hooker" and "Bloody Mary."
Lyrically, "Bloody Mary", "Judas" and "Born This Way" show a religious bent but even in more carnal moments like "You & I" and "Bad Kids" Gaga shows her true spiritual self. It's a manifesto on loving yourself and your flaws, because "we are not just art for Michelangelo to carve." It's a strangely maternal album, underneath all that craziness.
So, what does everybody else think?
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