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I end my two-week journey into 2011’s pop music with, yep, a friggin’ list. Here are the albums I listened to the most this year, starting with No. 1 (hey, at least I’m not a click-count whore who insists on doing a slideshow countdown). How’d I come up with the list? Pretty simple. I just looked at the play counts in my iTunes. R.I.P., Steve Jobs.
1. Jay-Z and Kanye West, ‘Watch the Throne’ – Said everything I needed to say ..read more
At age 14 in 1991, my record-buying budget was somewhat limited. Aside from shelling out dollar bills for used tapes at the local thrift store, I got most of my current pop albums from the good ol’ BMG Music Service. The more affordable alternative to Columbia House (which finally called it quits this year), BMG allowed me to pick out 10 CDs free, pay for one, get another free and then cancel.
So, at some point in ’91, I licked the ..read more
A handful of superstars brought me to the breaking point in 2011. I’ll address each offender directly.
Taylor Swift: Your stadium tour and nation of adoring child fans helped you dominate every major awards show. Yet you acted completely surprised at being given each successive accolade. The “What, little ol’ me?!?” thing has to go. I know you often sing/whine about how mean everyone else is, so I won’t get too nasty. But there’ve been moments during your overexposed year in ..read more
Friday’s female-centric playlist carried with it a promise: I’d give pop’s menfolk the same Spotify treatment on Monday. …
Spotify playlist — Pop Music in 2011: Men’s Room (click to listen)
I don’t break promises. You can be the judge of whether that’s a good thing for your ears, today. This particular sampler is greater defined by dudes in a mood than by carefree pop kings. Of course, we’ll always have Pitbull, who at least looks the part (as opposed to unofficial ..read more
I’ve been talking about the good, the bad and the notable from the year in pop music all week (find the posts here), but today I’m giving you and myself a bit of a break from the prose. Since Spotify effectively replaced iTunes for many of us this year, I thought I’d give it a nod with a little Friday fun, in the form of a shared playlist.
Here’s a Whitman’s sampler of the music from female artists who made a ..read more
Fighting the music scribe’s uniquely annoying desire to make definitive lists, I’m instead sharing some informal thoughts about what I noticed, loved and despised about pop music in the year 2011.
She’s got the top-selling single and album of the year on iTunes, so it’s safe to assume that we’re all acquainted with Adele’s body of work. And many of us felt disappointed not once, but twice, when planned tour stops in North Texas were canceled due to vocal-chord-threatening illness. But we had her slam-bang-fantastic album, 21, to get us through the drought.
To be honest, I’d rather listen to that record on any given rainy day than be herded into Verizon Theatre to hear everyone around me sing along, drunk and off-f—–n-key. That’s, one, me being an early-onset curmudgeon and, two, speaking to the intimate experience of listening to 21.
As chanteuse-centric albums go, it’ll be one that people come back to for years in times of need, along with Back to Black, Miseducation and Blue. Its success and relevance has a lot to do with Adele’s refusal to knock out a surefire hit parade in short order (ahem, Kelly Clarkson).
She took every step necessary to get it right, from juggling high-profile producers (Rick Rubin included) to giving herself extra time to let raw emotions bubble up. It’s been reported that she fought off a personal urge to go upbeat with her subject matter, mostly because her romantic life kept her down in the dumps.
Instead of forcing out a few happy songs for good measure, she reflected the stages of heartbreak and grief in 21’s track list.
For anger, you’ve got the Motown-informed smash “Rolling in the Deep,” the choreography-worthy “Rumor Has It” and “Set Fire to the Rain.” Fear of what’s next drives “He Won’t Go” and “I’ll Be Wating.”
And, finally, there’s the tear-extracting sadness and acceptance in “Someone Like You.” I swear, every time Adele hits that “don’t forget me, I beg” plea in the chorus, my heart drops a few centimeters. Yes, every time, even though it gets about a thousand rotations an hour on the radio. My reaction’s all too typical, considering SNL did an entire (overlong) sketch about it.
So, no, there’s not much to say about Adele that hasn’t been said, especially during the year-end race to list-o-mania. Let’s just raise a toast to the girl, and hope that she takes care of herself. Who knows what 25 will bring?
…
This talk of ages and British soulstresses brings to mind the fact that Amy Winehouse joined the morbidly-coined “27 Club” this year. And if anything’s been beaten into the ground more by writers than Adele, it’s the untimely passing of a singer who perhaps helped paved the way for her. There’s been a bit of comfort in recent weeks for this Winehouse fan, listening to the demos and one-offs collected in her posthumous release, Lioness. Nowhere near the cohesiveness of Back to Black, but it makes up for that in poignancy. She’ll always be missed.
Tomorrow, we lighten up a bit, discussing the ongoing battle between pop’s style-over-substance princesses. Go here for more year-end pop music highlights.
Fighting the music scribe’s uniquely annoying desire to make definitive lists, I’m instead sharing some informal thoughts about what I noticed, loved and despised about pop music in the year 2011.
It’s clear from Bon Iver’s four recent Grammy nods – including Best “New” Artist – that 30-year-old frontman Justin Vernon is one of the establishment’s darlings du jour. Vernon doesn’t necessarily crave the increased buzz. He was already blessed by loads of critical praise after he released his first album, ..read more
Fighting the music scribe’s uniquely annoying desire to make definitive lists, I’m instead sharing some informal thoughts about what I noticed, loved and despised about pop music in the year 2011.
Yesterday we discussed the perfect union between Jay-Z and Kanye; today we’ll move on to a real-life marriage that in 2011 became country music’s main fixation.
Back in May, 35-year-old Oklahoman Blake Shelton slipped a ring onto the finger of 28-year-old East Texas gal Miranda Lambert, cementing not only their love ..read more
Fighting the music scribe’s uniquely annoying desire to make definitive lists, I’ll instead share some informal thoughts about what I noticed, loved and despised about pop music in the year 2011. I’ll check in with a highlight every day for the next couple of weeks. Let’s start with the two-headed monster that visited American Airlines Center last week.
‘Watch the Throne’
The long-awaited collaborative album from hip-hop auteur Kanye West and rapper laureate Jay-Z debuted in late summer to across-the-board critical praise. ..read more
Mon Julien, “Darkest Hour” (listen) – I mentioned the new local supergroup of sorts in a fall preview a couple of months ago. It’s fronted by Black Tie Dynasty’s Cory Watson and Brian McCorquodale, with production help from Mark Pirro (Tripping Daisy, the Spree) and McKenzie Smith (Midlake). Pirro and Smith also play on Mon Julien’s self-titled album coming out in January. Watson’s in fine voice on “Darkest Hour,” a likely first single from the new record. Lovers of Black ..read more