Craig Wayne Boyd—“The Old Rugged Cross”
#59
J. Cole
“Wet Dreamz”, #73
“No Role Modelz”, #95
On his last album Cole sounded like a Kanye West wannabe: it was easy to appreciate his ambition, but it was obvious he hadn’t found his voice. Now he has, and it comes with brains and a conscious. As impressive as this achievement is, though, it doesn’t mean you’ll want to spend much time with him. Cole has developed his storytelling skills, and on “Wet Dreamz” he uses them to stunning effect, but the fact is he still doesn’t have much to say. “Wet Dreamz” lives up to its title all too well: it’s male fantasy and little more, “Role Modelz”, meanwhile, skirts the edges of misogyny. He’s still making dumb mistakes, too: the clip of George Bush on “Role Modelz” not only feels out of date (because it is), but makes no discernible point and goes on so long it stops the track dead. Finally, however determined Cole may be to have his say politically, the music doesn’t back his anger up. His politics and occasional flashes of wit are welcome, but he needs to step up into the modern world if he expects to be taken seriously.
Matt McAndrew—“Make It Rain”
#81
Sam Smith—“Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”
#90
Since “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” is one of the greatest songs of the twentieth century, I’m always happy to hear it. But since the definitive performance is still the Judy Garland original, I’m also wary of anyone else taking it on, and in this case doubly so, since Smith (who I like) is hardly noted for his nuance or emotional restraint. Sure enough, he sobs all over it, smothering the song in melodrama and melisma. He sounds as if he’s afraid of it, which, considering the results, he has every reason to be: it’s obviously beyond him. Still, I could almost forgive him if his stylings didn’t make him swerve so far from the melody. The first thing he needs to learn as a singer is that when someone hands you a perfect tune, you don’t fuck with it.
The White Buffalo & The Forest Rangers—“Come Join The Murder”
#93
Another song from the latest Sons of Anarchy soundtrack, only this is even longer than Ed Sheeran’s “Make It Rain”, almost as slow, and lyrically less comprehensible (I have no idea what the Martin Luther and Pericles references are supposed to mean, and I doubt they’d make any more sense if I’d seen the show). Also, unlike Sheeran, The White Buffalo sings—or rather, intones—like the narrator of a 1950s nature documentary, only with less musical quality.
Chris Jamison—“When I Was Your Man”
#98
Charli XCX—“Break the Rules”
#100
Musically, this is punk only by reference—the distorted vocals, the simple song structure, the “Smells Like Teen Spirit” bassline—all carefully recreated by the artist with help from industry pros Stargate. That hardly matters. After all, many of the original punk records were produced by industry vets (The Sex Pistols were produced by Chris Thomas, who had worked with, among others, The Beatles and Roxy Music). What matters is the brains and attitude behind the sound, and that’s all Charlie XCX’s own. I won’t claim greatness for this—it sounds like an interim track designed to prepare audiences who discovered her with “Boom Clap” or “Fancy” for whatever comes next—but it also sounds better, and stronger, every time you hear it. And let’s face it, it’s beginning to sound like Charlie XCX can conquer any style she applies herself to. Questions of meaning and depth still apply, but she has the makings of a major artist, if she isn’t one already.