rolling pop 2014

the no. 1 and no. 3 songs in the UK pop chart right now are country/EDM crossovers, may god have mercy on this generation's soul

can we just spend the whole year in this thread talking about how great Beyonce is?

wake me up when it's all over

also that Avicii song just makes me want to listen to The Grid

okay "selfies" by nina nesbitt makes me want to just give up on humanity, the whole project just seems to be fucked

https://soundcloud.com/official-ms-d/shoot-me-with-the-truth

ms d of wiley "heat wave" fame does a solo song...and it's absolutely not what i expected. i think i really like this or at least am pretty intrigued

"ms d of wiley "heat wave" fame does a solo song...and it's absolutely not what i expected."

lol lex.. "what ms. d of wiley heatwave fame did next will shock you!!"

that is a pretty bold and unexpected song though, i agree!

g.r.l. "show me what you got"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stcZcGng_ng

melodies for dayyyyyyys. on constant repeat. dancing round my room and crying with joy status. a less jarring transition from verse to pre-chorus would elevate it to undoubtedly the best song ever made

This is awesome.

i thought that was gonna be kpop for the first 11 seconds

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iJeEAZM5xk

i really like this neon jungle single! clicking in a way that little mix's off-putting constant pleading likeability so far hasn't

(talking of whom why are there so many american little mix fans suddenly)

i think salute was just released there

also yeah i'm into "braveheart", particularly the second breakdown

i realised the other day that little mix's fierceness quotient is pretty much zero and that's why i can't care about them even when their material is decent

No country for girl bands that fail to meet a prescribed stereotypical "fierceness" quota, eh?

A Quantum of Fierceness was an underrated Bond movie imo

identical top 2 on the overall UK singles chart and the specialist dance chart

Have yet to hear any of these:

http://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/radio/6029366/ross-on-radio-is-the-sound-of-summer-at-alternative-triple-a-now

alternative and triple-A radio have at least a half-dozen "rock" records, as loosely defined these days, that are poppy, uptempo, and would sound great on top 40 radio this summer.

Kongos, "Come With Me Now" -- Alternative PDs are capable of taking months to incubate a record, but made this one happen almost immediately on its U.S. release. Top 40 PDs rarely play anything before being asked, but three already have it in significant rotation, including KHKS (Kiss 106.1) Dallas, often the pop/rock incubator among Clear Channel's major-market mainstream top 40s. And whatever the actual intent of the lyrics, it does have the same "like there's no tomorrow" call-to-action that has become part of the summer song DNA.

Fitz & the Tantrums, "The Walker" -- It's up. It's fun and bouncy. It has whistling. It's top five alternative, top 10 triple-A and top 15 at adult top 40. It already has a number of spins at mainstream top 40, mostly small-market, but including KBKS (Kiss 106.1) Seattle. And it feels like one of those songs that could spring into action with warmer weather.

Black Keys, "Fever" -- They've gotten this far without a pop hit. It's not inconceivable that the audience that loved "Little Black Submarine" might feel betrayed. But when a band with an existing following finally distills what it does into something poppier, the results are often huge. And it's already No. 6 at alternative in less than a week.

Ray Lamontagne, "Supernova" -- The only thing more startling than a poppy Black Keys song is a bouncy, uptempo Ray Lamontagne song, and the Keys' Dan Auerbach was part of this one as well. Like Ryder, just reinventing himself at triple-A is a significant statement for Lamontagne. So far, the airplay hasn't even spread to adult top 40, and top 40 seems an unlikely home. But the video is just out, and wait until the syncs start.

Bleachers, "I Wanna Get Better" -- Jack Antonoff's side project fits better as a summer song musically than lyrically. But the Fun. guitarist has pulled off heavy and anthemic together before.

Cage The Elephant, "Take It Or Leave It" --

The Kongos song was mentioned on the "Worst of 2014" thread. It's quite lousy, but is probably the most likely of those to enter the Top 40 since it's number one on the Alternative Charts and Number 28 in Canada.

I quite dig that Bleachers tune, found the Black Keys song to be rather "meh", and I haven't heard the others.

the Bleachers song is kinda great. the Fitz one is just the usual 'upbeat song with whistling riff' that happens every year now. can never stomach the Black Keys. i want to like the Kongos song when the accordian intro hits but the rest of it is pretty bland. haven't heard the rest.

I had to leave a bar the other week because it was playing that Kongos song

and so the year of Ph0x begins -
https://soundcloud.com/phoxband/slow-motion-1/s-NgjS6

From Wisconsin to the world:

We are a gaggle of goofy wizards performing minor
illusions and bigtop music. Born in Baraboo, WI

This Ph0x track is quite lovely, though it sounds nothing like I would have expected it to coming from a recommendation itt.

Just discovered this song which was released last year, but is apparently starting to get some airplay in the US recently:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bg1sT4ILG0w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bg1sT4ILG0w

i didn't know where else to post it (i guess the indie thread would have been better?).

didn't see this coming, Pharrell gave Ed Sheeran a Thicke/Timberlake type joint and it actually works

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scHS8YaYoRA

man, that intro sounds like vintage Neps, before the Rick James-esque (ie 'Give It To Me Baby') bassline comes in.

i don't know who this dude is, but i just watched a video where he exactly copies Jamie Woon's looping acapella arrangement of 'Wayfaring Stranger', which is just a weird thing to do if you're already covering a folk song.

NZ top 10 this week is ... something.

01. Iggy Azalea ft Charli XCX - Fancy
02. Coldplay - A Sky Full Of Stars
03. Ariana Grande ft Iggy Azalea - Problem
04. Sam Smith - Stay With Me
05. Ed Sheeran - Sing
06. Pharrell Williams - Happy
07. Clean Bandit ft Jess Glynne - Rather Be
08. Tove Lo ft Hippie Sabotage - Stay High
09. Justin Timberlake - Not A Bad Thing
10. Sia - Chandelier

Nothing really in there that's not a hit anywhere else, with maybe the Coldplay track the only exception. Iggy x2 is also in the American top 5. "Chandelier" reached #2 in Australia, and with its striking video there's a chance it could gain traction stateside. Smith is on his way to Sandé levels of ubiquity.

The only song I don't recognize on that list is the Tove Lo one. And that Coldplay one has just started making it's way on other charts, such as 4 in Canada and 24 in the US.

really enjoying the new hannah diamond track
https://soundcloud.com/pcmus/attachment
might appeal to all fans of bipp etc

"Sky Full of Stars" is the worst song from a great album

wouldn't be the first time Coldplay ends up with a hit I could care less about off an album I dig though

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8qEo9_eNmg

love this x100000

I've found myself really enjoying the new Rita Ora single. Currently number one in the UK.

http://youtu.be/50GQjUZ4P3M

The Phox album is streaming at NPR. Sounds really nice so far!

http://www.npr.org/2014/06/09/320365989/first-listen-phox-phox

Big love for the Hannah Diamond stuffs from here.

https://soundcloud.com/rynweaver/ryn-weaver-octahate

loads of heavyweights assisted on this one

http://www.stereogum.com/1688810/ryn-weaver-octahate/mp3s/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aX5zLcg47iI

Everything tells me I should hate this, but I kinda...don't?

guys i cannot stop giggling whenever "one more day (stay with me)" by example comes on

i imagine him in a sequined tuxedo, a single white rose in one hand, flanked by italian television models, a stretch grand piano off to one side, a very long white silk scarf around his neck being blown sideways by a powerful off-stage fan, hen parties celebrating a third marriage going absolutely crazy in the seats below

Another lesson learned
Another page is turned
Give in to your desire
Say goodbye or play with fire
Play with fire - you'll get burned!

hahaha CHRISTOPHER what the fuck Denmark

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50-_oTkmF5I

i know y'all have been patiently awaiting the inimitable becky g's video for "shower"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8I-7Wk_Vbc

love this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxRQNO8vg2Y

MAYBE ON YOUR HONEYMOON
YOU'LL THINK OF ME

I stuck with it, but I was very close to saying "oh fuck this noise" when it started with ukulele strums.

fyi the secret best pop album of 2014 is cher lloyd's second album

that becky g song is great - and i LOVE the cher lloyd album - i wish more people were talking about it / buying it

Yeah it's a great album. Think it's actually getting a UK release this month but sadly it's going to bomb completely.

yeah i wasn't at all sure after the first couple of singles that this was the direction i wanted from her but it's all come together on the album in such a brilliant, concise way. and it's such a volte-face from the debut, i am HERE for dramatic emo power-ballad cher lloyd, to the extent that the token bratty party songs are prob the weakest moment ("m.f.p.o.t.y." redeems itself when it becomes apparent cher's idea of the best party ever = telling boys to fuck off; "dirty love" does not redeem itself tbh). "human" is probably my favourite. HUMAN, HUMAN, HUMAN AFTER AAAAALLLLLL

so sad that it's going to bomb everywhere but i always feared this would happen, "want u back" smashing had such a one-hit-wonder bubblegum novelty feel to it and the idiot british public hate her too much. i wonder where her career goes from here.

it's sort of weird how, after stanning for her on the x factor, she's come out with two wildly different albums that have enabled me to continue to do so, yet if you just described their styles to me at the time i'd have been v disheartened.

I liked m.f.p.o.t.y. when it was actually called "keep it in your pants" (someone on a cher lloyd forum went through ASCAP registrations) and not, I assume, awkwardly grafted onto some other hook

yeah Cher Lloyd album is good. pretty crazy that its release has been so troubled that it somehow ended up coming out in America before the UK. the (great) song she did with Demi Lovato is picking up on radio here, so she's got that going for her at least.

oh! i forgot about that, the highlight of demi's underwhelming last album

pretty sure cher lloyd's team gave up on the uk market as a lost cause even before "want u back" smashed - it wasn't a hit here, she has no profile except as a punchline/xfactor hate figure, mostly due to tabloid bigotry mostly re: class

oh damn, this cher lloyd record. thanks lex!

Very happy to see such a good reaction for the Cher Lloyd album here. I know the debut had some fans on here but I think this album deserves even more attention. Bind Your Love is my favourite and sounds like the obvious hit to me but if I Wish and Sirens didn't do anything anywhere is there anything she could do to get a hit?

It's very strange what happened with her in the UK. the album sold pretty well but they seemed to give up on by the third single. Seems strange now that Swagger Jagger went to number one and six months later Want U Back didn't even make the top twenty. I Still think they screwed up not putting Superhero out as a single at any point. I know a lot of people disliked her on the show and when the first single came out but she did seem to have a big fan base. Sadly they seemed to have moved on despite her album being great.

"swagger jagger" was the nail in the coffin tbh. prob got to no 1 off vague residual xfactor nostalgia or however literally everything that programme breathes on gets to no 1, was it a slow chart week as well? but it was basically a joke song and turned her into a joke. could've been salvaged if they'd really tried but america came a-calling. americans will have to shed light on why everything post-"want u back" has flopped

and yeah "superhero" was that album's great lost single

btw we should be talking about the nicole scherzinger single more, best thing terius has done in years

"Killin' It" feels to me like the song off the new one that in a more ideal world would be a big hit

xp

Think Swagger Jagger was quite a low selling number one. Wonder how she views that song now? I just assumed that was forced into releasing that against her will but maybe she loved it too. I have a feeling she probably doesn't now.

Pop songs these days seem fixated on self-help messages or at least conveying the positive or our best sides - it's somewhat refreshing, if alarming, to her Cher Lloyd come out with stuff like "I am tired, I'm growing older, I'm getting weaker everyday"

i think i like the last song the most - sounds like rachel stevens

I really liked her EP from last year, and here's something new...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xai1-qT4uA

Talking about Rita Ora: the Switch Remix of "I Will Never Let You Down" is just yummy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86mRsbXab-0

So much better than the original.

i love that remix thank u breastcrawl

"dirty love" does not redeem itself tbh

"dirty love" totally my favorite song on the record ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

"sweet despair" is so dramatic and amazing. GO ON PUT THE KNIFE IN.

and hell yeah "dirty love" is so fucking good. it has such a classic max martin drug effect. GO AHEAD BE A CAAAVEMAN <3

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2014/07/21/_rude_by_magic_is_the_no_1_song_on_billboard_s_hot_100_why_video.html

This is #1 in the US...oh my

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMMNrth246k

Not quite bad enough to put in the "Worst of 2014" thread or at least not in comparison to the stuff that posted there yesterday:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eKvYQxDUVk

just me or is the whispering in "problem" w/iggy/ariana grande super creepy?? "i got one less problem withoutcha!!" it's like, "i'm comin to kill you bitch! lock your windows!!"

in love with "rather be"

it is so good

i know ryan tedder is generally a cancer but i'm pretty into the ella henderson single.

ok i just realized that 90% of what i love about "rather be" is that the violin sounds like a PS1-era JRPG song

New 'Music Go Music' (side project of Bodies of Water) album is a return to form
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3F5pI1yX0tc
Form being great, new tracks that owe _a lot_ to ABBA

Choice favs 'Inferno' and 'Tell Me How it Feels'

'offical'

Rhonda - camera

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZ9PtC8bhEM

Kill it. Just another stupid white girl trying to sing like Billie Holiday.

tiki tiki bom bom

http://www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100

I echo the blank expressions in that video.

this is heartbreaking:

G.R.L.'s Simone Battle, dead at 25.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/29093310

it's so sad

grl have released three fucking perfect songs this year. "show me what you got", "ugly heart" and "rewind". they have such a drug effect. the former is still probs my favourite of the year. so joyous. and now when i listen to it it'll be with a tinge of sadness :(

oh wow that is shocking :(

after the car accident that killed two members of K-pop act Ladies' Code, it's been a horrible week for girl groups. :(

on another note, are we talking about this song anywhere? it's perfect.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soptpaMkJ34

I don't think it's been mentioned here yet but there was rapturous praise on TSJ.

Starting hearing "Flawless" (remix?) on the radio now and I'm just I Do Not Want This. Word to Trent Reznor

Also if I never hear "Sky Full of Stars" that'd be pretty awesome

Vermillion is so so lovely
Some real gems of reviews on TSJ too

i just checked TSJ and oh it's their highest scoring single of the year so far. surprised it hadn't been mentioned here before.

it really is gorgeous and kinda devastating - I don't live in the city anymore but it reminds me of when I did. when the beat fades out and it's just the piano and her voice singing "I love these streets..."

Yep exactly, and it so nearly becomes a different song so many times, and then for the better, retreats to where it was before

i heard it and i like it but was not exactly blown away or anything

glad it's reaching ppl outside tsj tho (i think billboard wrote about it recently too) b/c at first i thought it would be one of those songs that everyone there loves that no one else ends up giving a damn about (like that random billy currington single from a few years ago lol)

hmmm i'm finding i like the song much more when i'm listening without watching the video

"she came to give it to you" by usher just straight up lifts the melody of "just/dub be good to me"

which means it is fantastic, obv

but basically ever since purple rain i've been looking for a dance club like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-93LzZM1y0

where live bands with conga drums and electric guitar players and killer vocalists do slinky r&b and club music that people get up and dance to. do places like this actually exist? i feel like music videos posit them as like, a thing, that exists in the world

i keep singing along to "break free" by ariana grande :/

more reality show castoff teen pop

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAB5AC9yhY0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBHiubKR0R4

Raury - "Cigarette Song"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adU_Jwy6Ans

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7n2as9NM9d0

nick jonas is 4 for 4 with "wilderness" and "teacher" - on course to be an unexpected pop album of the year. they've really gone all out on the production huh? in a good way. for all the JT comparisons it's shaping up to be much more like jc chasez, he has the same slightly manic, overdone singing style (er, i mean that as a compliment, i think) - he seems to be going more for "ridiculous" than "smooth"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zhwihAXMlI

The new Tove Styrke single might require a bit of sticking-with but it's very catchy. I saw her last night and her new material is clearly in a different milieu to her excellent first record but sounds pretty great.

please, no more Toves, one is enough

ilx cared about tove styrke well before the new(er) one!

oh yeah the nick jonas record is wayyy nice

Yeah I wasn't expecting to like the Nick Jonas album this much.

yeah, heard it all now and it's almost all superb. potential dickishness counteracted by self-aware goofiness, like there's no way he should get away with "jealous" really (for the random rhyming dictionary "hellish" as much as for the sentiment). (remix with tinashe is great too.) all the best songs are the ones we've heard already but that's nearly half the album

nice to hear angel haze kill it on "numb"

i advise staying far away from bonus track "closer" featuring mike posner, far far away

probably deserves its own thread but oh well

i mean i'm enjoying my relisten so much i might make one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23hWTGQBYRw

Just stumbled across Madi Diaz today and listened to the album Phantom. I feel like it's equal parts Red Taylor Swift and 1989 Taylor Swift and maybe a little bit s/t Paramore—all things that go over well around here.

that's a lot of fun, i'll check the rest of the record out

lol I knew that would be Brad-bait.

didn't know where else to post this, digging it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuY4MSh1V-I

can i just say how pleasantly surprised i've been to hear this all over the radio for the last couple of months?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoMzLLWNV1g

yes it's a pixel-perfect retread of 1995-era sabres of paradise style techno, celebratory, euphoric, "big room" AND I LOVE IT

new pitbull album is an absolute joy

Album Name:Globalization (2014)
Artist:Pitbull

6. Sexy Beaches (feat. Sean Paul)
7. Day Drinking (feat. Chris Brown)

i'm sold

that watermät track is very nice

i wanted to dislike this b/c i like romeo santos better but it is actually pretty decent, i like the 112 sample anyway

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_z0BHsyN54

whoa whoa whoa whoa WHOA the pitbull/ne-yo song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUak2C_KEeU

DISCO

i didn't even recognize ne-yo's voice at first :\

imo it's a fine anonymous house vocal

oooooooo

really liking the new bruno mars & mark ronson thing *ducks* - unusually exuberant for bruno who i've always found to be dullsville

it's pleasant, although I'm kinda waiting to whether inevitable ubiquity is kind to it. weird that it's the 2nd chart hit of 2014 to reference Michelle Pfeiffer (after Vance Joy's "Riptide").

Uptown Funk is a firecracker. I could imagine possibly getting sick of it if it reaches Get Lucky levels of overplay, but right now it's one of the only things I want to hear.

Just from an arrangement/structure level, though, it's got a lot more going on than Get Lucky and I'm anticipating a different part of it each time.

slightly annoyed that the pitbull album wasn't released in the summer. that plus "give me everything" level ubiquity would've meant i was PRIMED for it, now it just feels very odd to listen to

Really like this Samantha Jade single, reminds me of Arianna Grande and Carly Rae Jepsen:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=up4R_-kpFtE

yeah that's nice, and that is exactly what it sounds like

new becky g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NwzxGntDgs

"uptown funk" is structured like a lego sculpture. i love the sounds on it but it makes me think about how well-put-together jam & lewis's songs are in particular.

did my list of best/worst pop radio hits of the year:
http://narrowcast.blogspot.com/2014/12/the-20-best-pop-radio-hits-of-2014.html

1. Sam Smith - "Stay With Me"
2. American Authors - "Best Day Of My Life"
3. Sia - "Chandelier"
4. Echosmith - "Cool Kids"

ilu some dude

^listen to this brad^

It really says something about 2014 that a reggae song by Canadians is only maybe the 4th-most embarrassing thing to hit #1, but whatever, this song jams in spite of everything.

Sometimes I worry about you, some dude.

Yeah I can't get on board with some of those picks; that Fergie song is horrible. And what's your gripe with "Shower"?

10. Aloe Blacc - "The Man"

How this isn't the worst single of any genre this year, much less only #10 in your own worst pop list is beyond my comprehension.

But I like "Chandelier," so wtf do I know.

9. Becky G - "Shower"

don't even know how to respond to this

i hate "stay with me" and "cool kids" so much that i basically stopped reading the list after that. i of course love "shower"

"Cool Kids" has all the elements right (pleasant voice, pretty instrumentation) except the lyrics, which are so lazy and flaccid as to render the entire song a dud.

Yep

yeah. plus they just seem like these impossibly photogenic L.A. pod people who are singing about being outcasts because their label told them to be more like Lorde.

the song probably predates Lorde but you know what i mean.

Uptown Funk sounds like it could be a long lost track from the Breakin' soundtrack, or the B-side of "No Parking On the Dancefloor", love the backing singers' bass moves and the icy, paranoid synths rubbing up against those ebullient horns

echosmith is a bunch of siblings btw

"Uptown Funk" is like the best Song of the Summer to be inconveniently released in December.

Well given how stagnant the charts can be, there's always the chance that it'll still be around come summertime.

it's a summer hit down here!

Sorry, we're a bunch of dirty Northists.

I'm sold on Uptown Funk. #pathetic

echosmith is a bunch of siblings btw

― maura, Monday, December 8, 2014 12:41 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

oh i'm aware, that's part of the whole pod people vibe imo

"uptown girl" is appalling

lex will never silence our song of protest!

That new Becky G, "Can't Stop Dancin'", is gorgeous.
She takes that European "Waves" / Asaf Avidan sound and runs away with into what comes close to a "Waiting For Tonight" for the mid-2010s.

paramore vibes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xw9iO3iCFOU

*ears perk up forever*

omg this is great

yeh really enjoying this

yeah, this is really making my new year's resolution of "pay more diligent attention to radio adds" pay off already

which format is adding it?

a few trickles on CHR (but the trickles are generally the interesting part of the list, better than "as predicted everyone still loves iggy azalea"

ctrl-f "Kate Boy" no hits

hmm

just discovered this song today (we're covering it on the jukebox tomorrow) and my god, it is gorgeous
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzFYmz2lfT4

i wonder if they used stunt feet in that starling glow video

i'm halfway into that christine and the queens record and it's really really good. the song "half ladies" interpolates the chorus of kanye's "heartless"

Yeah, this is a great album. I was into her ep from last year, but I'd lost track of her this year until a few weeks ago when I heard this.

new crj single "i really like you" coming soon i'm hyperventilating

!
!
!

Carly me, maybe? Definitely!

omg yeeeeesss

andy bull, an aussie who makes gloriously mournful electropop, put out a full-length this year (his track 'baby i am nobody now' was in my 2013 top 10). this track is really nice:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qIQLQEvsrg

^^Love this.

Well it's not the new CRJ single, but it's still Call Me Maybe related...

I'm so sorry.

Rhythm is a dancer / I need a companion / Girl, I guess that must be you

Gee thanks?