Bruno Mars—“Treasure”
#71
A lot of people pegged this as their favorite track when Unorthodox Jukebox came out, but I’ve always found it a little too perfect. It’s lovingly crafted, but even though it doesn’t have the museum case quality of Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky”, it’s too stiff and calculated to get over the top. I prefer the looser songs on the album, like “Gorilla” or “Money Make Her Smile”. But don’t expect either one to show up on the radio.
Fergie, Q-Tip & Goon Rock—“A Little Party Never Killed Nobody (All We Got)”
#77
AKA The Least of the Red Hot Mamas. And what the hell is Q-Tip doing here, aside from ruining what reputation he has left?
Candice Glover—“I Am Beautiful”
#93
Keith Urban—“Little Bit of Everything”
#94
The only question I have about this hokey celebration of country male entitlement is whether Urban ran the lines about wanting a woman who can cook and who’s willing to dance on the bar in bare feet past Nicole Kidman first. I always thought she was pretty tough, but maybe she’s only moved from one male-dominated cult to another.
Demi Lovato featuring Cher Lloyd—“Really Don’t Care”
#98
Lovato returns to her Disney-pop roots here, albeit with references to giving her ex the finger. If the song cut off before Cher Lloyd comes in I might like it the way I like a lot of meaningless but catchy pop music. It isn’t that Lloyd is terrible, though she adds nothing to the record, but that her appearance is so calculated. Her presence is intended to give Lovato a commercial boost in the UK, and Lloyd a boost in the US. That’s true of a lot of features, but somehow this seems more obvious, more crass. That it only worked for one week almost gives me hope that the pop audience is starting to see through these things, but I’m not counting on it.
Kelly Clarkson—“People Like Us”
#99
In solidarity with the 99%, and with a beat. I’m not sure all the whomping fits the semi-revolutionary lyrics—oddly enough, my problem with the beat is that it’s a little too hard and fast—but the message still gets across. The words fall into cliché at times (is the world ever not on fire?), but Clarkson nails the best line—“It’s hard to get high when you’re living on the bottom”—and drives it home hard. Who’d have thought American Idol would produce one of our time’s more daring and honest vocalists?