Finger Eleven – Paralyzer
This was on the charts from June of ’07 through May of ’08, so it’s hard to say which year it belongs to. Taking a cue from the two biggest chart-watchers in the industry, Fred Bronson and Joel Whitburn, I am going to go by the date on which the song peaked. Paralyzer peaked at Number 6 on January 5, 2008, so that makes it a 2008 song in my book.
Besides being a great rock song, it paints a vivid picture of a guy standing in a club, he sees a beautiful woman. He wants to go talk to her, but he just knows that if he tries, she will dismiss him or ignore him. “If your body matches what your eyes can do, you’ll probably move right through me on my way to you.” Guys know what he’s talking about.
Maroon 5 – Won’t Go Home Without You
Sometimes, you feel the music in your throat, that is, the timbre of the vocals so closely matches your own voice that it pulls you to sing along with it. This song has just such a quality. It’s not just a matter of the singer’s vocal range, I’ve felt a similar tug listening to music from the much more baritone Dave Clark Five (a British Invasion band from the mid-60’s). Even as I type this, I want to sing out “It’s all over tonight. Just give me one more chance to make it right. I may not make it through the night. I won’t go home without you.” It was not a huge hit, barely cracking the top 40, but it was nominated for a Grammy for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group. I hope it wins.
Santana featuring Chad Kroeger – Into the Night
Carlos Santana played the guitar, and Chad Kroeger did the vocals. Santana is one of the ten best rock guitarists of all time. The lead singer for Nickelback, Chad Kroeger has the best voice for fronting a rock band since Steve Perry was making hits with Journey. When you put them together, you get an amazing song that’s one of the Best of All Time, not just of 2008. They need to work together more often.
Rihanna – Don’t Stop the Music
Remember when Michael Jackson’s Thriller came out in 1982, and for months after it was producing hit after hit from that record? Rihanna has been having that kind of year (actually, more like eighteen months now) with her album Good Girl Gone Bad. This is not the only song from that album in my Top 20.
Rihanna’s first hit, from the fall of 2005, was called “Pon de Replay” (“Come Mr. DJ won’t you turn the music up”); this song is almost a sequel to that one. “I want to take you away. Let’s escape into the music, DJ, let it play.” Sometimes, you feel the music in your feet. Sitting in a chair, doing office work, or whatever, you find your feet moving as you feel the pulse of the background music and you are in the club dance with her to a song in the background, a song within a song going “mamase mamasa mamakusa” that fades in and out. Your attention is directed to Rihanna, then to the dance music, then back to Rihanna’s song until the two songs blend together.
Britney Spears – Piece of Me
Before you judge a celebrity, ask yourself how your life would look if it were put under a microscope, never mind having to deal with the pressure of fame. Britney is almost 30 now, and she’s been in the business for 10 years. She has had to deal with harassment from the paparazzi and the press above and beyond what most pop stars have to deal with. “Piece of Me” is her answer. “I’m Mrs. Most-Likely-To-Get-On-The-TV-For-Slipping-On-The-Streets-When-Getting-The-Groceries.. now, for real, are you kidding me? No wonder there’s panic in the industry. I mean, please.”
Miley Cyrus – See You Again
Which brings us to the anti-Britney. In a previous article (http://rodeo.cincinnati.com/getlocal/gpstory.aspx?id=100109&sid=138942), I said that she was the best TV-generated teen idol since Ricky Nelson. This song, the first one I heard from her, is a major reason why I think she is the best, and there’s a lot to like in this. The lyrics are very well written (and Miley is listed as one of the writers). I could quote the whole chorus and point out the humor in almost every line. Okay, one line: “I stuh-stuh-stuttered when you ask me what I’m thinkin’ ‘bout.”. And while you are sympathizing with her discomfort, the band is rocking, especially the drummer. I can’t wait to hear what she does next.
Jordan Sparks & Chris Brown – No Air
The first time I heard this song, I knew it was a level of quality above your average top 40 song. The way the emotional tones of the vocals blend with the lyrics and the voices blend with each other and the music builds to a crescendo results in a perfectly crafted pop song. Sometimes you feel the music with your heart. Jordin and Chris sing with such passion that you believe that they are actually suffocating because of their separation from each other. It breaks your heart when, echoing “got me out here in the water so deep”, Jordin cries out “So deep!” Never have I heard a more perfect match of lyrics with the music and vocals. The Best Song of 2008, and one of the Best of All Time.
Duffy – Mercy
The sound of this song harkens back to the blue-eyed soul of the late 60’s done best by Dusty Springfield. The beat and the lyrics sound like a Wall-of-Sound song from 1963 (“You know you got me on my knees, I beg you please, stop playing games.”), only the rhythmically-whispred-not-quite-rap bridge of the song marks it as 2008. It works, and it sounds fantastic.
Danity Kane – Damaged
The individual Kaners (Danitys?) interrupt each other through the course of a song in which a new boyfriend is being interviewed to make sure that he will help heal the wounds left by the last guy. In the course of the song, each voice in the ensemble is showcased; but yet it blends into a seamless whole as if done by one singer. Until I saw the video, I didn’t even realize it had been done by five singers rather than one lead with background vocalists. That kind of thing is hard to do, and Danity Kane does it very well. The Spice Girls at their best never sounded this unified.
Chris Brown – Forever
Trying to think of a word to describe this song, the best I could come up with is, “viscous,” that is, it flows like honey. The music – whatever that instrument is – blends in an out with Chris’s vocals to produce one of the best slow-dance songs I’ve heard in a long time. “It’s like I’ve waited my whole life for this one night – it’s gonna be me and you on the dance floor.”
Coldplay – Viva la Vida
Sometimes you feel the music in your brain. The first time you hear it, you have no idea what it’s about. The second time you hear it, you know it sounds interesting, but you still don’t know what it’s about. The next few times, it gets to be like a jigsaw puzzle as you try to figure out just what he’s talking about, what do the words mean? My first take on it – the singer is an obsessive Risk player – an ordinary sweet sweeper by day, conqueror of the board game world by night. “I used to roll the dice, feel the fear in my enemy’s eyes.” But as I listened a few more times, that interpretation doesn’t fit all the lyrics. I still haven’t figured it out.
Katy Perry – I Kissed a Girl
Let’s put the controversy aside for a moment. It’s a great little tune with a driving beat, interesting harmonies on the line “it felt so wrong, it felt so right.” Katy’s husky voice (“contralto” I believe is the technical term) extols the virtues of kissing girls (“red lips, so kissable”) so that you almost understand her “ain’t no big deal, it’s innocent” attitude whether you agree with it or not. I like the song, as a song. Now back to the controversy. If a young Christian singer wants to transmogrify into a Pop Star, this is the way to do it. Don’t mess around with getting more and more secular, and don’t do something stupid like getting yourself thrown in jail for drugs, just sing something outrageous and controversial and get people listing to your music, because, after all, that’s the whole point. This song achieved her objective and she’s a huge star. Not saying I approve; I’m not going to judge her, that’s God’s job.
Rihanna – Distrubia
Amazingly catchy rhymes that I can’t get out of my head. The chorus is a series of couplets with an ABAB ACCA rhyme scheme. (To give a sample, the chorus ends with “Better think twice / Your train of thought will be altered / So if you must falter / be wise.”) Also from Rihanna’s Good Girl Gone Bad album. This is an example of where the tone of the music does not match the tone lyrics – it doesn’t sound scary at all, in spite of the repeated line “am I scaring you?” But it works anyway.
David Archuleta – Crush
Two unrelated reasons why I like this song. First, if I’d heard this when I was single, it would have spoken to exactly how I was feeling about [name of girl I was crazy about that year]. I would have included it on every mix tape I made for said girls, and it would have been better for the purpose than REO Speedwagon’s Can’t Fight This Feeling. The second reason is, it has my favorite mangled lyrics since CCR sang “There’s a bathroom on the right”. The first time I heard it, I was sure he was singing “Do you brush your breath with a stick of gum?”, even though the lines “Do you catch your breath?” and “Where this thing could go?” are separated by a couple of lines and in reverse order.
M.I.A. – Paper Planes
This is a song sung in a beautiful voice, singing a delightful melody, singing gangsta-rap lyrics with a thick London accent. The chorus of the song is “All I wanna do is [bang][bang][bang][bang] and [click][ch-ching] and take your money,” and the verses elaborate (cryptically) about how she is gonna take your money. If this had been done by, to pick a name at random, Snoop Dogg, it would be dismissible as the harshest gangsta grandstanding (no offence to Mr. Dogg). But M.I.A.’s sweet voice sucks you in. The first time you hear it, you think, ooh, that sounds pretty, interesting gunshot sound effects there. But after you hear it a few times, she becomes a little scary. If you’re gonna get mugged in London (did I mention the London accent?) you hope it’s by someone like her. And the song never gets old.
Fall Out Boy – I Don’t Care
The song just rocks. If Chad Kroeger has the best rock-band voice in the business, Fall Out Boy has the best rock-band band, that is, the four members playing together sound amazing, and on this song, they produce the best example of Rock and Roll, 2008 style.
Pink – So What
There is something that some guys find very compelling about attractive but belligerent women. An old friend of mine, Brian Buxton, coined a phrase that explains the popularity of Charlie’s Angels and other things like this: “kittens with whips.” In this autobiographical-sounding song, Pink’s husband has left her. She’ll show him – she’s going to go to a bar and get into a fight. “So what,” she says, “I’m still a rock star.” And this song rocks, too.
Kanye West – Love Lockdown
This goes beyond Hip-hop into the realm of Soul. It’s a song worthy of Sam Cooke or Otis Reading or Marvin Gaye. The music is simple, a pulsing bass track that carries throughout the song, enhanced by driving drums and the occasional piano. If the measure of a truly great record is one that you want to hear over and over again, then this one qualifies. In fact, songs like this keep me coming back to the Top 40 week after week.
Christina Aguilera – Keep’s Gettin' Better
I loved this song from the moment I heard the “wibba-wibba-wibba” hook at the beginning. This intro leads into a song that rocks as only Christina Aguilera can, in which she explains that although there are two sides to her personality, the good outweighs the bad, and it keeps getting better. The bridge has an interesting gimmick where her voice is filtered to produce a touch-tone phone sort of effect, but the sweetness heard there vs. the huskiness of the rest of the song is just a neon highlight matching the contrast of the two sides of her personality. The point is, she’s worth holding on to because the counterpoints of who she is make her more interesting and more exciting as the relationship grows.
Beyonce – Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)
Beyonce is my favorite artist of this decade. Her songs have had good melodies, interesting harmonies, and creative hip-hop rhythms. Single Ladies is just a fun song. A bouncy rhythm with a bouncy melody, and a catch-phrase that you will be hearing for years even outside of the context of the song. But what makes the song for me is the way the harmonies build, getting more intricate with each refrain of “if you liked it then you shoulda put a ring on it.” If you haven’t heard this song yet, you will. It will probably be overplayed until you get sick of it, but try to enjoy it the first 200 times you hear it.
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Single Ladies เริ่ดมากมายนะคร่ะ ไม่คิดว่าตอนนี้จะชอบเพลงนี้ได้เลย แต่พอได้ยินแล้วกดปิดไม่ได้คร่ะ มันเริ่ดอย่างบอกไม่ถูก
Disturbia เพลงไลฟ์ยากมากของนังรีฮานน่าเดี๊ยนก็ชอบ
Paper Planes นี้เดี๊ยนก็ชอบอั้ยยยยย มันเรื่ด
Keep’s Gettin' Better นี้เดี๊ยนก็ชอบ อั้ยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยย
ปล.แต่แล้วที่สุดน้องรีฮานน่าของเดี๊ยนติด 2 เพลงนะคร่ะ
From : http://rodeo.cincinnati.com/getlocal/gpstory.aspx?id=100112&sid=140587
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THAT RIHANNA REIGN JUST WON'T LET UP
หลายเพลงใช้ได้เลยครับผม!!!