One Direction—“Steal My Girl”
#13
The lead single from their fourth album in four years, and not only do they not sound burned out, they keep getting better. They’ve learned how to sing—though I still can’t tell them apart—and, more importantly, how to write (or at least how to choose songs to attach their names to). This is over-arranged and over-loud as usual (the teenyboppers love those booming drums), but it’s a wonderful song, full of clever details. I bet their fifth album will be even better. After that all bets are off.
Carrie Underwood—“Something In The Water”
#24
I love the forward rush of this, and when Underwood sings “changed” (an idea she probably stole from Rascal Flatts) she sounds more lyrical and spiritual than she ever has before. But the rest of the time she’s still a dreadful oversinger, who demands music to match. This is a bad thing to do to any song, but especially one that has snatches of “Amazing Grace” in it. It’s neither graceful nor amazing.
Jason Aldean—“Just Gettin’ Started”
#61
Boy howdy.
Florida Georgia Line—“Bumpin’ The Night”
#69
The “Walk On the Wild Side” bassline on the intro is either a joke FGL, or one of their session people, threw in, or they’re totally oblivious to what it, and perhaps music in general, means. I lean toward the former, but the latter is not out of the realm of possibility. They certainly sound that dumb.
Lorde—“Yellow Flicker Beat”
#74
Soundtrack fodder, and since Pure Heroine is essentially a Hunger Games soundtrack already, this seems like overkill. It’s also dull, especially for Lorde. Who knew she was capable of such flat, ordinary beats?
Alesso Featuring Tove Lo—“Heroes (We Could Be)”
#89
Giving David Bowie and Brian Eno a courtesy writing credit on this piece of self-absorbed EDM schmaltz is almost an insult. Musically it owes almost nothing to Bowie’s “Heroes”, and lyrically, except for the title hook, even less. As for the message, it’s the exact opposite. “Everyday people do everyday things”, sings Tove Lo, “but I can’t be one of them”. But everyday people engaging in simple but daring acts of defiance through love for each other was the whole point of the original. That’s what heroism is all about. To Alesso and Lo (they sound like a bad comedy/juggling team) being a hero means nothing more than being different and popular: superior in their eyes to everyone else, louder, the center of attention. This isn’t a generational comparison; I place the blame squarely on Lo, who I assume wrote the lyrics. If anything, the fact that this isn’t much of a hit gives me more hope for the current pop generation. They recognize a line of self-serving crap when they hear it.
OG Maco—“U Guessed It”
#94
As long as it sticks to OG Maco’s shouting and mumbling and that tinkly piano, “U Guessed It” is a great record. It turns toward the ordinary when 2 Chainz steps up to the mic, though, and never quite recovers.
Tim McGraw—“Shotgun Rider”
#97
Flawless craftsmanship tastefully applied. “Shotgun Rider” is no masterpiece, and you’ve probably heard a hundred songs much like it. This one is just a little bit better than most.