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2013
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No countdowns to be found here! I've opted for a recap filled with nothing but COMMENTARY and cover art! Between 50 and 60 songs will be featured here. They weren't the biggest of hits but I promise you'll know most of them. Please join me in sharing some love for these tunes before they inevitably join the abyss of forgotten songs!

MY CRITERIA FOR THIS RECAP The songs featured here will be those that reached the A List on my personal playlist but missed the A List on Radio 1. This omits the obvious choices that you've heard enough of anyway (Thrift Shop, Blurred Lines, etc.) but still leaves us with a nice mainstream pop-friendly selection, the perfect mix of familiar and underappreciated.

We'll start later today with 3 artists whose names start with A. They each had a song that reached top 10 on the Hot 100 but peaked between 41 and 100 in the UK. You'll notice that a lot in this thread, quite a few songs that were big only in America. All guesses are welcome!

Edited January 2, 201411 yr by RiseR

Looking forward to this RiseR!

Hooray! I'll try to impress ^_^

Looking forward to seeing what's in here! ^_^

Anna Kendrick "Cups"

http://cups-song.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/AnnaKendrick-Cups-PitchPerfect-WhenImGone-SingleCover-300x300.jpg

Would you believe that no cover songs reached the top 10 on Billboard in 2011 and 2012? It's not too weird considering our X Factor doesn't do winners' singles and John Lewis doesn't exist here. But I was worried that it may never happen again (in the US), with the public associating covers with the likes of American Idol and Glee...and besides, these days the originals are easy to find on Youtube and iTunes! Thankfully this year has proven me wrong.

For starters, you may consider "Try" by P!nk to be a cover song--that reached #9 in February. Then came One Direction: "One Way Or Another (Teenage Kicks)" was released to iTunes even though Comic Relief isn't a thing here; it debuted at #13 (but quickly disappeared). At the same time, Darius Rucker was rescuing his country career with his take on "Wagon Wheel," a song everyone seemed to know but had never had airplay until now. It became Rucker's biggest solo hit ever, peaking at #15. And this was just the first few months of 2013!

Well everyone knows what happened to "Cups" but it really was unthinkable a year ago. Clearly the demand was there as the song was cherrypicked a lot off of the soundtrack. An extended version was made (2:07!!) as well as a music video, and slowly but surely Anna Kendrick made it to #6 on the Hot 100! It makes sense that it would take an old forgotten song like "When I'm Gone" to have this kind of success as a new recording, and yes I know I'm saying that while Lily Allen smashes the UK with a predictable Keane song that everyone remembers. But perhaps you'd agree that "When I'm Gone" is a more inspired song choice than "Somewhere Only We Know", so here's to more of those in 2014 and beyond!

 

Ariana Grande featuring Mac Miller "The Way"

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YES! We should be grateful that this was all kinds of amazing. I expected the absolute worst when it was first released. Her fanbase came out of nowhere and sent this atop US iTunes within a matter of hours, and anytime this happens, especially with an artist younger than me, my inner grandpa reacts with disgust and contempt for 'kids these days' and their pathetic taste. Then I listen to the song and change my mind :lol:

Hopefully the Mariah comparisons are worn out by now. "The Way" can stand on its own as an outstanding debut for Ariana. Mac Miller was a great, unexpected choice of collab partner. The video is fun to watch and suits the song very well; however, it's weird/difficult to imagine Ariana and Mac as a couple, and the use of balloons was outdone by Paramore's video for "Still Into You." But any song that sounds like the 90s is forever appreciated by my ears!

 

A$AP Rocky featuring 2 Chainz, Drake & Kendrick Lamar "F**kin' Problems"

http://streettherapyradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/AAPRockyFkinProblems.jpg

Another song that I tried not to like but couldn't deny. This surged up the Hot 100 as A$AP's "Wild For The Night" was climbing the Radio 1 playlist. The album was meant to be released in September 2012, but the delays did some good in this case. The hype easily could have died down but instead it grew bigger and bigger, and for good reason!

Sometimes you wonder if the repetitive f-bombs are a cheap way to grab attention, but look no further than the featured guests. A$AP smartly teamed with 2 Chainz and Kendrick, two stars who had their own breakthrough just months before, as well as Drake who's always in demand. The same can be said for Skrillex though, and look what happened to "Wild For The Night" (answer: not enough). Anyway, this is a brilliant collab, brilliant video, and hopefully a sign of more great music to come from A$AP Rocky!

Absolutely love The Way, Ariana's been surprisingly brilliant this year. Right There is my favourite song by her though :wub:

 

Cups is pretty nice too actually, can't say I've heard A$AP Rocky's song. :lol:

Baauer "Harlem Shake"

http://www.livingelectro.com/files/images/s/79621/baauer-harlem-shake-dj-solovey-remix_large.jpg

Where were you when the Harlem Shake happened? That's a legitimate question to ask because it really did spread across the globe in an instant. For the record, I heard about it from my brother on a Friday night, first saw it on TV the next morning, and by Monday it was storming the iTunes chart. A handful of very creative videos, among the thousands that exist online, added a unique layer of excitement and participation. Dare I say this was one of the best things that happened to music in 2013?

Others may complain about YouTube's influence on the Hot 100 but I'm unbothered (subject to change, of course). I thoroughly enjoyed Baauer's five weeks at #1 which otherwise would have gone to Thrift Shop, yawn. Any fears of streaming-related chart destruction remain unfounded, but sadly "Harlem Shake" will be relegated to the list of 2013 novelty hits, along with Psy "Gentleman" and Ylvis "The Fox." It deserves better!

 

Britney Spears "Work B**ch!"

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Oh Britney. What is there to say that hasn't already been said? I suppose this was a sensible "progression" from "Scream & Shout". It really doesn't sound bad! My only real complaint is that the radio edit should just say "work," because "work work" simply does not work. At least Britney took a risk, which is more than Avril Lavigne can say. And I can't remember the last time she made a video this good (besides Scream & Shout). But sometimes you just can't win, for whatever reason.

So I hope Britney and her team have no regrets about releasing this as her lead single. It's a worthy moment in her discography, for better or worse. I've not listened to any other songs on Britney Jean yet. Looking at the tracklist on Wikipedia now, I'm encouraged to see a song with William Orbit, another with Diplo, and of course second single "Perfume" co-written by Sia. There may be too much will.i.am on the album, but everything will be fine as long as the songs are better than "Ooh La La." :puke2:

 

Bruno Mars "Gorilla"

http://www.sweet-vybz.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Bruno-Mars-Gorilla-300x300.jpg

Everyone seems to have their own opinion on what should have been the 4th single from Unorthodox Jukebox, and for me I wanted "Young Girls." I'm not sure if anyone was asking for "Gorilla" but that's what we ended up with. At first it sounded EPIC on the radio and seemed like a great single after all, but that only lasted several listens before getting old. I can't help but wonder if Bruno has some fascination with primates, considering the album cover and, before that, "The Lazy Song" music video :lol:

Next up for Bruno is bound to be the biggest highlight of his career, as he headlines the Super Bowl halftime show in February. It's great to see such a talented male popstar get the success he deserves!

Edited December 2, 201311 yr by RiseR

'The Way' is fantastic. :wub: Not keen on 'Work Bitch' or 'Gorilla' at all, though!

Thanks for the comments so far!

So much for doing this alphabetically! Two days in and I've already skipped an artist :lol:

 

Big Sean featuring Lil Wayne & Jhene Aiko "Beware"

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This song grabbed my attention over the summer with its minimal production, a sound that's more pop than urban, and a sense of simplicity compared to Big Sean's other hits. If I'm not mistaken this will be the only appearance in this thread for all three of these artists. Big Sean had a good enough year with the release of 2nd album Hall Of Fame, but he really needs another single to do better than this. There is a Nicki Minaj collab on there and that worked wonders for him last era, so who knows! Speaking of which he's doing well as a featured artist, as he helped out Jessie J on "Wild" and Ariana Grande on "Right There". Lil Wayne released I Am Not A Human Being II which didn't seem to make much of an impact. This song and "High School" (Nicki Minaj) were his two most successful featured credits of this year, and that's BAD if you know how often he appears on other people's songs.

Despite the average success, this song has really helped build demand for Jhene Aiko's music. Her EP "Sail Out" was released last month and managed #8 on the Billboard 200, surely ahead of anyone's expectations! Jhene could certainly be one to watch in 2014. I'm still loving "Beware" and would love for it to be the start of great things for her.

 

Cage The Elephant "Come A Little Closer"

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No one knows or cares, right? Well Cage The Elephant are on their third album now, Melophobia, which I’d been waiting for all year. Obviously this song (the lead single) isn’t slaying any bases but I’m pleased and satisfied with the success it has had. While “Come A Little Closer” is a great listen, the hooks and the urgency that made Cage The Elephant so exciting at first, has gone missing. It’s not too different from Arctic Monkeys in their third era, and they’ve managed to bounce back and have one of their best years yet! So Cage The Elephant has every reason to keep going; their “Do I Wanna Know?” moment could come at any time…

 

Capital Cities "Safe And Sound"

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Here’s a song that had everything going for it, reaching top 10 in most of the important countries, and all of a sudden it stopped. Where did this go wrong? Well, keeping in mind that hindsight is 20/20, we should have been concerned when the first major station to playlist this was none other than HEART FM. I’m not sure what aspect of this song is ADULT CONTEMPORARY but I’m guessing the radio executives decided the fate of “Safe And Sound” without actually listening to it. What other explanation is there!? Radio 2 jumped on board but Radio 1 and Capital must have forgotten. So despite high expectations, it turns out even 1 week in the UK top 40 was too much to ask. Brilliant track of course, but Capital Cities seem destined to be one-hit wonders.

 

Chris Brown "Fine China"

Chris Brown featuring Nicki Minaj "Love More"

http://myearstoyours.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/chris-brown-fine-china.jpg http://teambreezyworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/CHRIS-BROWN-LOVE-MORE-single1.jpg

I never understood the hate for “Fine China” in the chart show threads. It’s so INSTANT to my ears! The first few seconds alone are a huge, huge improvement over previous album Fortune in its entirety. I found it so refreshing at the time and considered it a return to form for Chris Brown. But Buzzjack also seems to prefer “Beautiful People” over “Yeah 3X” so maybe it’s me :P

There’s not as much to say about “Love More”. It ended up near the top of my playlist by default a few weeks ago, there just wasn’t much else to like at the time. Anyway, both of these songs were meant to lead into the next album X, and in both cases the album was delayed. How big of a hit does he need to release the album? Will the next single be good enough? Let’s not drag this out any further, Chris.

 

Omg Jordan!! Yor commentary for Work Bitch says work too much :lol: Brilliant song though!! Capital Cities was the biggest travesty for me this year!!! Absolutely amazing song failing to meet the top 40!! It sounds like a hit, sounds totally mainstream and insanely catchy!! Oh British public, when will you learn?

Omg Jordan!! Yor commentary for Work Bitch says work too much :lol: Brilliant song though!! Capital Cities was the biggest travesty for me this year!!! Absolutely amazing song failing to meet the top 40!! It sounds like a hit, sounds totally mainstream and insanely catchy!! Oh British public, when will you learn?

I prefer to blame the radio stations :P

 

Demi Lovato "Heart Attack"

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Demi's release of this track caught me off-guard because the last album Unbroken still seemed so recent at the time! This came less than a year after songs of the same name by Trey Songz and One Direction, and was soon followed by another "Heart Attack" by Enrique Iglesias. Why is this such a popular theme all of a sudden? Demi's is easily the best of those four, and her chart success confirms this. It became her 3rd top 10 hit in the US, her 1st in the UK, and, interestingly, her 3rd consecutive single to peak at #9 in New Zealand. More weeks inside the top 10 would have been nice, though.

"Heart Attack" comes from 4th album Demi, which leads us to another trend in pop: it seems a lot of artists have released self-titled albums this year, especially those who have been around a while (as opposed to new artists, where a self-titled debut is less surprising). So we have a lack of unique song titles and a lack of creative album titles. Should we be concerned? I'm more worried about the strength of Demi's remaining singles. "Made In The USA" flopped gloriously, and deservedly so if you ask me...which means it's up to "Neon Lights" to save the rest of this era.

 

Drake "Started From The Bottom"

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Canada's finest! :wub: Drake is the first of two Canadian acts to appear in this thread. Obviously "Started From The Bottom" was the first single from his third album Nothing Was The Same. It was nice to see the album reach #2 in the UK in September, but to me it doesn't feel any bigger than Take Care or Thank Me Later, as all three have been equally huge in North America. Drake has been so consistently good and has had hit after hit over the last four years without stopping.

Unpopular opinion here: I MUCH prefer this over "Hold On, We're Going Home"! No surprise that it might underwhelm, as it's less than 3 minutes and consists mostly of one line repeated over and over. Seems more fitting for a buzz single, but that didn't bother me at all. Nothing wrong with a simple song ^_^

Oh Jordan :wub: heart attack is great :heart: both heart attack and Neon Lights are still to come in my chart. I've just update 100-91 and there's a few songs in there you'll like :)

I need a break today to finish my actual chart (and my Christmas list!) but CONVENIENTLY I’m on letter E, so here's a bonus track, one of the best songs I’ve heard this year and *.* EVER *.* in *.* life *.*

 

Ellie Goulding "Only You"

WORDS FAIL ME :cry: "Love at first listen" is SUCH an understatement. Obviously "Only You" is from Halcyon in 2012 and it blew my mind when I first heard it this spring. In terms of quality, it's "Rolling In The Deep," "Anything Could Happen," "Young Blood," and "Euphoria," combined. The piano rhythm, the high-pitched noises, the meaning of life, etc. It's all there!

I refuse to give up hope for this becoming a single one day. It sounds OUTSTANDING on the radio, which is where I first heard it (thanks to ZM in New Zealand). But even without airplay, "Only You" is stunning, glorious, an anthem, a masterpiece :heart-old: THE END

 

 

 

Big YES for 'Heart Attack' :wub: (even if I slightly prefer Nikki Williams' demo :kink:)

Big YES for 'Heart Attack' :wub: (even if I slightly prefer Nikki Williams' demo :kink:)

Really? I'll give it a listen!

 

Florida Georgia Line featuring Nelly "Cruise"

Florida Georgia Line "Get Your Shine On"

http://loquesuena.org/v1/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/floridajf-300x300.jpghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/38/GetYourShineOn.jpg

BABY YOU A SONG *.* Doesn't make any sense, does it? Well since Sugarland has seemingly gone on hiatus, there was an opening for these guys to become the reigning duo of country music. The original version of "Cruise" was a 2012 smash and info on this remix leaked online early this year. At first glance it seemed destined to fail, a little bit desperate and WHY Nelly of all people!? But they pulled it off! And 6,141,000 downloads later, it's in the top 25 digital songs of all time in America :o I remember my first ever day on Buzzjack, I mentioned this song and Eric Blob said he wondered if it would cross over to the UK, that it sounded like something Radio 2 would play. Sure enough, within a month Radio 2 had picked it up :o but I'm not surprised the UK didn't support it. In terms of Nelly, it's so much better than "Hey Porsche" though!

"Get Your Shine On" was Florida Georgia Line's second single, and it's actually more enjoyable than "Cruise" (not that I expect anyone to give it a chance. How about watching the video with the volume muted?). In general their songs are good but their singing voices are SO annoying and it's hard to get past that. Kind of like The 1975 :kink: Anyway, there are several more country songs to come, and you will deal because I've selected only the finest :drink:

 

fun. "Carry On"

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Here was an excellent third single and follow-up to "Some Nights". For some reason Radio 1 jumped on board way too early, adding it to their playlist in fall 2012, around the time of fun.'s X Factor appearance. (To be fair, the music video had just been released.) They ended up performing "We Are Young" so it was an opportunity wasted. Things went much better at the start of 2013, when fun. was slated to perform at the Grammy Awards; this time they would in fact play "Carry On". Airplay in the US started to pick up in anticipation, which was good timing because "Some Nights" was still slowly descending the Billboard top 40. A #20 peak was enough to satisfy my inner chart geek.

A few weeks later, Nate's voice stormed the airwaves yet again as the featured vocalist on P!nk's third single, "Just Give Me A Reason" from The Truth About Love. There is plenty of love AND hate for that track, and I'm proudly on the 'love' side! Either way, it was a successful collaboration and has since led to Ellie Goulding and Eminem borrowing Nate for collabs of their own that may or may not smash in 2014.

Gavin DeGraw "Best I Ever Had"

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Best known for 2004's "I Don't Want To Be" which was the theme song for One Tree Hill. Gavin is now on album number five, still occasionally managing radio support over the last decade. "Best I Ever Had" is very clearly meant to sound like Mumford & Sons, which happens all too often with music these days. In fact, it's nearly an exact replica of "I Will Wait", so similar and yet charming, until Gavin's silly shout-out to states with 4 syllables in their name. How dare he snub Ohio!

Here's where my hypocrisy comes into play, as I have plenty of time for this song but want NOTHING to do with a certain Gary Barlow track that's in the charts currently. Something sets this apart from "Let Me Go" and I can't figure it out. Is Gary awful in general? I don't know him well enough to decide. Anyway, "Best I Ever Had" did very well on US iTunes for a song with minimal airplay, but perhaps it's good that radio punished him for releasing such a rip-off. I'd much rather recommend the title track from previous album "Sweeter".

Hunter Hayes "I Want Crazy"

http://ukutabs.com/uploads/2013/07/I-Want-Crazy-Single.jpg

Any fans out there? If not, there really should be. To be incredibly basic, Hunter Hayes is the male Taylor Swift, age 22 with roots in country music, a magic gift with pop hooks and ADORED by the music industry. He's 3 months and 2 days younger than me, and for me to enjoy a younger male artist is rare and therefore HIGH praise (also awarded to Conor Maynard and sometimes 1D). "I Want Crazy" is Hunter's second top 20 hit on Billboard and by far his best single, the song I would recommend if anyone wants to give him a listen. VERY majestic and unique, not twangy at all. As a male country artist he really stands out by not singing about trucks and fishing or any other awful stereotypes of his genre.

Previous single "Wanted" managed to cross over to US pop radio about a year ago, and "I Want Crazy" had similar potential to do the same but it hasn't happened and likely won't at this point. Nevertheless, it's one of the most exciting country songs of 2013, and on Friday was nominated for a Grammy (best country solo performance). His star will hopefully grow even bigger...