James Newton Howard Featuring Jennifer Lawrence—“The Hanging Tree”
#12
For a minute or so this almost works. Jennifer Lawrence’s singing, like the song itself, is simple and crude, which in the context of the movie is exactly what it should be. Then the strings enter, and the choir, and we’re back in movie soundtrack land, where nothing is real and emotions exist only to be manipulated. Even before that, though, the songwriters have demonstrated their lack of understanding of folk music by breaking up the word “midnight” in a way only a professional would. Hollywood: where good ideas are ruined by the hour.
Beyonce—“7/11”
#18
Even geniuses produce throwaways, and like most geniuses, Beyonce foolishly worked “7/11″ to death to try and make it more than that. The results would be better if she hadn’t, and would sound a lot less like an extreme workout at the Beyonce Executive Fitness Club, but what the hell, geniuses can do what they want.
Ariana Grande—“Santa Tell Me”
#65
I wouldn’t expect Grande to come up with her own “All I Want for Christmas” straight off the bat, but this comes close. Of course, it does so by upping the tempo and slightly rearranging the chord structure of Wham’s “Last Christmas”, but that’s the way these things work. She oversings as usual, but right now this is my second favorite Ariana Grande record.
OneRepublic—“I Lived”
#71
After a couple of decent singles they return to their bad old ways. I’m not sure if I consider this their worst record only in comparison to what came before or in actual fact, but I’m sure as hell not going to listen to it again to find out.
Craig Wayne Boyd—“I Walk The Line”
#84
Luke Bryan—“I See You”
#89
I read somewhere that Luke Bryan is moving away from bro-country, so you could say that on “I See You” he’s just miking that cash cow once more for old times sake. But my guess is he’ll keep his hands on those udders as long as the cow’s producing. I’m also beginning to doubt that he’s capable of anything else.
Fifth Harmony—“Sledgehammer”
#93
Because we watch them struggle, there’s always a bit of sentimental desire for singing competition contestants to do well (there’s also the thrill of watching the takeoff of unknown talent). So I was happy that Fifth Harmony’s previous single, “BO$$”, showed real promise. “Sledgehammer”, though, is a mess: a bad song (co-written by Meghan Trainor, btw) badly arranged and, at times, badly sung. Just like that, whatever promise “BO$$” held, and it wasn’t much, is gone. Bring on the next contestant!
Pitbull & Ne-Yo—“Time Of Our Lives”
#94
The music is too average for this to be a great record, but it’s a surprisingly good one. Taking the point of view of a guy who’s low on rent but has enough for the club’s cover charge and a few drinks is one of the best ideas Ne-Yo has had in a while, and may even help him get out of his own rut. Pitbull, meanwhile, parties as usual for two verses, then delivers a few simple homilies. Though it doesn’t seem like much, declaring in the context of this song that “everyday above ground is a good day” is as good an answer to YOLO culture as you’re ever going to hear, even while defending it. Ne-Yo emphasizes these contradictions while Pitbull seems to be ignoring them, but don’t believe for a second that he doesn’t know they’re there.