Katy Perry "This Is How We Do"

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l219/Yoshi538/thisishowwedo.jpg

Wow! What an unexpected anthem to soundtrack the end of summer for me. I've thoroughly enjoyed the Prism era but never imagined a fifth single would take it all to another level. I love Katy Perry as much as the next person but tend to scoff at each single for weeks until it finally grows. Not so with "This Is How We Do". Probably her boldest, riskiest single choice to date, it was refreshing to see her not chasing trends for a change. By sounding like nothing else on the radio, or in her discography for that matter, this song stood out in a huge way.

It's a very weird song. On paper it shouldn't work, and its chart performance might confirm that, but really this is one of the most underrated, incredible pop moments of the year. Katy just owns it, completely, especially with a music video that complements her silliness. Now "Walking On Air" will go down as one of the big hits that never was, but at least for some of us the trade-off was entirely worth it. Ruh-spect!

 

Kid Ink featuring Chris Brown "Show Me"

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/45/Show_Me_Kid_Ink.jpg

I wonder which came first, the idea for the song "Show Me" or the idea to sample "Show Me Love". The sample was obvious from first listen but it took me far too long to notice the similar song titles! Despite not being Kid Ink's debut single it's a nice introduction for him as an artist, with assistance from Chris Brown of course. Of course "Show Me" probably wouldn't have done as well without Chris on it, but it's a good collaboration, not just adding a feature for the sake of it.

I really like Kid Ink's style from what I've heard of his music, taking an R&B/crossover-friendly approach that seems to work well for him. Case in point, "Body Language" looks set to be another success and a worthy one as well. Kid Ink's wasting no time with his second album, due for release in February, just a year after his debut. It's likely that he'll be just another flash-in-the-pan artist but I wouldn't mind seeing him establish himself more in 2015.

Kings Of Leon "Family Tree"

Kings Of Leon "Wait For Me"

Mechanical Bull has firmly become my favorite Kings of Leon album! This is partly due to my own overplaying of Only By The Night but also a result of the quality put into the record this time around. Come Around Sundown wasn't even bad, but considering the three-year wait for this it felt like such a return to form. These two songs are back-to-back on the tracklist after the brilliant "Temple" which was a last-minute addition to my 2013 thread.

"Wait For Me" made the UK top 40 as a promo single but oddly was never pushed beyond that or playlisted by Radio 1. It was a single in the US though and had relatively good airplay for them. They followed that with "Family Tree", a bluesy but upbeat number with a fabulous bass/drums intro. Both songs are pretty simple lyrically which allows a better focus on the music itself, which of course I'd say is top-notch!

Edited December 16, 201410 yr by Riser

This section is a lot better :wub:

I adore This is how we do (this will make my EOY countdown) and the 2 KOL songs :wub:

But show me though :puke2:

This Is How We Do. All year I kept saying how I wouldn't mind it as a single to wrap up there era and then by the time it became a single I was quite fed up of it. The video is iconeeeeq though :wub:

Yes, another lover of TIHWD. Such a huge jam, it grew on me so much after the video premiered. They really got the video right with that, shame it didn't do as well commercially because it really should have a much higher peak. wtf was that riffraff mess though :drama:

 

Show Me is a very good tune, took ages for me to actually click with it but now I have a right little jam session every time it's on. Hoping Kid Ink is quite successful actually because he is a pretty good rapper and seems to make v good songs (show me, main chick, body language) :cheer:

Miley Cyrus "Adore You"

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Well, Miley seemed to bring her big comeback to a halt when "Adore You" was pushed as the third single. I can't judge, having not heard the rest of the album, but really liked adored this song and thought it deserved better. Definitely a bold choice on her part because it varies from the standard piano ballad, with a more interesting melody and a slow, soothing vocal delivery. Not much else to it but it works well that way.

I can imagine "Adore You" sounding good as the album opener (again, haven't listened to the album). In fact it was cherry-picked a lot when Bangerz was released, so that probably drove the decision to try it as a single. Didn't amount to much in the end but could always have done worse! It's surprising she didn't bother with a fourth single, because surely there was some momentum left in the campaign that instead went to waste.

 

Miranda Lambert "Automatic"

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Finally a song that's actually from 2014! "Automatic" is the lead single from Miranda's fifth album Platinum. A very promising title, and the song more than lived up to that promise. The lyrics are incredible, the way they look back on life before the age of instant gratification. It's a great song for Miranda, someone who's not too much older than the rest of us so her storytelling is relatable. I think what helps is the lyrics' awareness that our old ways weren't necessarily better. For instance, "If you had somethin' to say you'd write it on a piece of paper/And you'd put a stamp on it, and they'd get it three days later". There is some subtle humor there so it doesn't sound like she's talking down to anyone.

The best part is that it includes a brief chart reference: that she used to record the country countdown on a cassette tape because she "couldn't buy it yet", presumably in a magazine. But she could buy cassettes, apparently? Hmm. Anyway this is now one of my favorite Miranda Lambert songs; far better than "Somethin' Bad", but I may be alone with that opinion.

 

MKTO "Classic"

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Speaking of going back in time! I guess MKTO was also in a nostalgic mood when they recorded this song, giving shout-outs to some old music superstars among other pop culture references. I'm genuinely impressed at how well it all fits into place lyrically, much like "Automatic". I was also surprised that it became a decent-sized global hit, especially after "Thank You" bombed in the US (and later bombed in the UK). But "Classic" is a pretty undeniable tune, an interesting but effective mix of music styles together in one song.

Of course the irony is that, in the UK at least, a song paying tribute to the old days ends up charting mostly on streams instead of sales! After streaming was added to the singles chart, "Classic" was one of the first songs to get a noticeable benefit with a longer-than-expected chart life. That's not very classic at all! Nevertheless, MKTO won't be as timeless as Hepburn, Beyonce, Marilyn but hopefully this song will be remembered for a little while.

 

Going to give 'Automatic' a listen now on the strength of what you said in that write-up!

 

Agree with you on 'Adore You'. I thought it was a good song and a bold single choice but it seemed to me at the time that it was left to fend for itself with practically no promotion, which was never going to result in a hit considering the song's subtlety. It's almost like the label had blown their budget by then and just abandoned the 'Bangerz' campaign completely. Speaking of which, 'Adore You' must be the most misleading single ever in terms of the style and sound of its parent album (not that I've heard it either)!

Tbh all that momentum for Bangerz was used up by "Come Get It Bae" lol

I LOVE 'This is How We Do' Huge track.

adore you is really gorgeous, not sure what THAT video was but it was still 10x more tame than Wrecking Ball's. lovely little slow ballad though, the delivery of 'you ooh ooh ooh ooh' is beautiful too :heart:

Agree with you on 'Adore You'. I thought it was a good song and a bold single choice but it seemed to me at the time that it was left to fend for itself with practically no promotion, which was never going to result in a hit considering the song's subtlety. It's almost like the label had blown their budget by then and just abandoned the 'Bangerz' campaign completely. Speaking of which, 'Adore You' must be the most misleading single ever in terms of the style and sound of its parent album (not that I've heard it either)!

You're right about the lack of promo, I forgot about that. It was around awards season too so she had big TV performance opportunities available!

 

Tbh all that momentum for Bangerz was used up by "Come Get It Bae" lol

Stay tuned :ph34r:

 

I LOVE 'This is How We Do' Huge track.

adore you is really gorgeous, not sure what THAT video was but it was still 10x more tame than Wrecking Ball's. lovely little slow ballad though, the delivery of 'you ooh ooh ooh ooh' is beautiful too :heart:

Yesssss, glad to see love for both of these :D

 

YASSS at Iggy! Fancy was the biggest grower of the year, hated the song at first but did start to come round to it a lot, and the video absolutely sold the deal, my favourite video of the year undoubtedly! Beg For It really has ruined her momentum so far oops, it's a nice song but I got bored quickly :( Has a remix EP set for a January release in the UK though so maybe it is still happening...

 

YASSS at the chart saviour and MBréTO appearing *.*

That M section are all good with classic being very good :wub:

Neon Trees "Sleeping With A Friend"

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Yes, Neon Trees still exist four years after "Animal" put them on the map, with this song being their best effort yet. In 2012 they landed another smash (in the US) with "Everybody Talks", but it was a soundalike to "Animal" and made me question their depth as a band. This year "Sleeping With A Friend" proved me completely wrong, changing things up with a slick 80s sound and sensational new wave production. The ooohs in the chorus take it to incredible heights, and the video is captivating as well.

The song did well enough in America despite a middling peak of #51 on the Hot 100. It is one of my biggest disappointments of the year, though, as "Sleeping With A Friend" deserved to be massive. But, having peaked at #2 in my chart, there will be some justice for it later when, spoiler alert, I get into the top 20 of my countdown. Absolute perfection and I can't praise/recommend this enough.

Nick Jonas "Jealous"

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d0/Nick_Jonas_-_Jealous_(Official_Single_Cover).png

I've always detested the Jonas brothers so this admission that I like something with the Jonas name on it is a major, major shock. It helps that I first heard "Jealous" without knowing whose song it is. I wasn't even aware Nick had any solo material out so it caught me completely off-guard. As did the R&B-flavored pop sound, a significant change from the usual pop-rock stuff that I've known and hated the JoBros for. It seems to me that Nick's far enough past his original stint of popularity that this is succeeding on the strength of the song itself, so fair play to him!

Nicki Minaj "Anaconda"

Nicki Minaj "Pills N Potions"

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/16/Nicki_Minaj_Anaconda.jpghttp://jonalisblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/minajthumb.png

Just gonna say that I never doubted you, Nicki. Anticipation of The Pinkprint was not always encouraging, mostly due to delays, but the agony of waiting has been mostly worth it. Pink Friday didn't take off until the third or fourth single so I figured she'd do that again and make us wait to hear her big statement songs. That said, nothing could have prepared the world for "Anaconda". Everything's been said about it at this point, an ultimate *.* moment that wore off quickly but the impact was real, real, reeeal. Actually I just watched the video for the first time yesterday! For all the attention this was intended to get, why does Sir Mix-A-Lot not appear in it!? What a disappointment.

So far the highlight for me is still "Pills N Potions". A slow and subdued Nicki Minaj song is always a surprise, which made this even more enjoyable for me. It does build nicely and the "I still love, I still love, I still love" part is the pinnacle of that. The visuals are also simple and understated, probably not what most of us expected to start the campaign. No matter where The Pinkprint debuts, I think back to the collective sense of worry after PNP's Friday release and quick drop from the charts, and would say Nicki's still doing well, all things considered.

 

Nico & Vinz "In Your Arms"

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f2/In-Your-Arms-by-Nico-and-Vinz.jpg

Here's another song that deserved to be much, much bigger, and especially after the success of "Am I Wrong" before it. "Am I Wrong" was very hit-and-miss for me, and despite liking it I never understood what gave the song such wide appeal. It wasn't an obvious-sounding hit, especially with Nico & Vinz coming from Norway, so their success was nice to see regardless. "In Your Arms" started out the same way for me but has since grown to easily overtake their previous single in my affections.

So what happened? This should have been an easy top ten, especially in the UK where it not only had the benefit of a held-back release but also was following a two-week number-one. Radio 1 and Capital both hammered "Am I Wrong", and "In Your Arms" is certainly not different enough to warrant either station ignoring it, let alone both, but there you go. Nico & Vinz will unfairly go down as having one of the worst-performing follow-ups to a UK #1.

 

 

I did hear R1 play 'In Your Arms' once when Dev covered Scott's show one afternoon. Really don't understand why it was put on ignore in general though and that it was one big flop. I swear it would have given them another top 5 at best. Weird :wacko:

Pills n potions is really nice and anaconda is a huge guilty pleasure for me :lol:

"Sleeping With A Friend" is amazing! :wub: :wub:

lol I absolutely love Anaconda and have no shame in saying that. It did the opposite of getting old quickly for me, it was a huuuge grower and I hated it at first :lol:

Go Nicki :cheer: Love both tracks! I hated Anaconda at first but now it's one of my favorite bangerz of 2014 :music:

oh yes at nicki! glad to see her appearing, anaconda is really such a huge and surely iconic moment in her career. so glad she got a ww huge hit from this era. pills n potions is stunning i agree, she sounds lovely both during the raps and chorus too

"Sleeping With A Friend" is amazing! :wub: :wub:

YES! :wub: Thank you for backing me up on that.

 

lol I absolutely love Anaconda and have no shame in saying that. It did the opposite of getting old quickly for me, it was a huuuge grower and I hated it at first :lol:

Oh Anaconda was a grower for me too! But then it grew in the opposite direction and now I'm indifferent to it :lol:

 

oh yes at nicki! glad to see her appearing, anaconda is really such a huge and surely iconic moment in her career. so glad she got a ww huge hit from this era. pills n potions is stunning i agree, she sounds lovely both during the raps and chorus too

Yup that's pretty much how I feel ^_^