This may or may not be starting soon.

 

Last year I recapped 65 songs and then counted down my top 60 faves of the year. This year I have a list of 54-56 songs to recap, with more likely to be added, followed by another countdown though I'm not sure if it'll be a top 60 again or something smaller. If you think you know what the #1 will be, keep in mind that 'Shut Up And Dance' was already included in my countdown last year. :o Gotta keep the suspense up!

 

Will try my best to keep a decent pace going here. First recaps will be up whenever they're ready! :D

 

(While you're waiting, help me out by clicking the link in my signature!)

So excited for this, your countdown last year was fantastic :heart:

Excited for this Riser :D

Hi Riser, love the concept of your A to Z that you did last year so glad to see it back :wub:

 

On a side note, do you like Break Up in a Small Town? The chorus is always in my head but I haven't made up my mind on the talky bits yet, I think I like it a fair bit though.

I'm like expecting Dierks to be in there.

 

Hopefully the less bro country the better but I kinda like "House Party" so that can stay. :)

Gahhh, this was so good last year! Excitement at fever pitch. :arrr:

 

I may or may not have never noticed yo recaps were alphabetical and instead thought you reviewed stuff at random oops. :arrr:

I love yo alphabetical recaps. :arrr:

So excited for this, your countdown last year was fantastic :heart:

Excited for this Riser :D

Yay, thanks!

Hi Riser, love the concept of your A to Z that you did last year so glad to see it back :wub:

 

On a side note, do you like Break Up in a Small Town? The chorus is always in my head but I haven't made up my mind on the talky bits yet, I think I like it a fair bit though.

I'm not sure I've listened to it in full yet but I've heard bits of it. The talky bits took some getting used to in Take Your Time so probably the same with this...I'll have to give it a full listen and get back to you, Sam Hunt will be featured here anyway!

I'm like expecting Dierks to be in there.

 

Hopefully the less bro country the better but I kinda like "House Party" so that can stay. :)

Don't be SO sure, his album's nearly two years old so it depends if any songs made a really delayed impression. He's on the longlist though. Should be relatively low on bro country ^_^

Gahhh, this was so good last year! Excitement at fever pitch. :arrr:

 

I may or may not have never noticed yo recaps were alphabetical and instead thought you reviewed stuff at random oops. :arrr:

I love yo alphabetical recaps. :arrr:

:mellow:

Sorry for ruining the mystique :arrr:

Adam Lambert "Ghost Town"

We’re starting things off with one of my biggest faves of the year! I loved Adam Lambert on American Idol and adored "Whataya Want From Me" and "If I Had You" back in 2009 and 2010, but was pretty disappointed with his following output. Adam’s second era was pretty much a non-event, despite him getting a #1 album in America and a short-lived UK top 20 hit that was apparently spammed on Capital. Since then he’d been spending his time performing with Queen and making occasional appearances on Glee, so I really wasn’t expecting him to release another solo album at all. Fortunately he did and wowed me more than ever!

Sometimes trend-chasing really does pay off, and the deep-house sound of "Ghost Town" was a really smart direction for Adam. Perhaps not in the UK, where it had been the dominant genre of the past year and already suffered cheap soundalikes from Tulisa and Conor Maynard. But elsewhere this had plenty of success and got the attention it deserved. I’ll save my commentary on the song itself for when it appears on the countdown, but you better believe it will be referred to as…an absolute triumph :o :o :o (Might as well throw that word out there right away!)

 

Alessia Cara "Here"

An anthem for introverts! I’ll certainly admit this passed me by in BJSC, but seeing as it wasn’t in my semifinal and didn’t qualify for the final, I didn’t listen to it at all. Obviously its fate there hasn’t stopped Alessia Cara and "Here" from getting a lot of attention both on and offline. The song has had a slow but very impressive climb to #10 on the Hot 100 and really stood out in a year that has been lacking in R&B hits (aside from those by fellow Canadian The Weeknd).

It’s really an unlikely hit in my opinion, but if you’ve heard it you can easily tell how talented she is and how much potential she has, and the lyrics and subject matter are certainly relatable to me. I haven’t listened to anything else from Alessia but have heard very good things so hopefully she will stick around. Her recent appearance on the Sound of 2016 shortlist is a good sign of her doing just that.

 

Andy Grammer "Good To Be Alive (Hallelujah)"

Andy Grammer "Honey, I’m Good"

http://gossiptunez.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Andy-Grammer-Good-To-Be-Alive-01.png

Andy Grammer emerged back in 2011 and he really grabbed my attention with his great voice and two stellar singles, "Keep Your Head Up" and "Fine By Me". I was thrilled when he came back last year with another album and a song called “Back Home” which was also quite nice. But Andy’s success was mostly confined to one radio format, and his days there were numbered if he couldn’t find a song to catch on in a big way.

"Honey I’m Good" was that song, and let’s just say it sounded nothing like the Andy Grammer that I was familiar with. The song sounds to me like it’s trying too hard to be catchy, and I couldn’t help but think it was…dumbed down, in comparison to his previous output. It’s not necessarily bad, just left me conflicted on whether to be excited for its success or not. It should keep his radio support going for a few more years, so overall I’m pleased.

Andy’s label must have decided there wasn’t a suitable follow-up on his album, so instead he recorded and released "Good To Be Alive (Hallelujah)", which is mostly an attempt to recreate "Honey, I’m Good". At first I found it less annoying simply because it hasn’t been overplayed, but the song has been growing and growing and in fact I listened to it seven or eight times yesterday. This was one of the very last additions to my list for this thread so it clicked with me just in time. Anyway, Andy’s had an interesting year that is surprisingly parallel to another artist who found sudden success in 2015, which I look forward to writing about later in the thread!

 

 

Ariana Grande "One Last Time"

Without spoiling too much, this is one of my contenders for song of the year! I was pretty underwhelmed with Ariana’s previous single "Love Me Harder", but this one won me back over tenfold. You could say it made me love her harder. Actually she had just performed "Just A Little Bit Of Your Heart" at the Grammys, which left me awestruck and hoping it would be her fourth single, but "One Last Time" was definitely the right choice. My only disappointment was that she didn't release it earlier because then it may have peaked higher! It’s leagues better than "Problem" and should have been #1 for weeks and weeks and weeks. Absolutely sensational. (Actually I’ve just looked at Wikipedia which says this was strongly considered to be the lead single :drama:. But I suppose it makes sense for a song called "One Last Time" to be the last single.)

Also, this is Ariana’s first hit that didn’t have anyone featured on it. It didn’t occur to me at the time that all five of her top-10 hits on Billboard were collaborations, but considering how big of a popstar she is now, it was about time she proved she can hold her own on a song. She did much more than that, though, giving us a pop masterpiece that I think will age amazingly well over time. I was even more encouraged when Ariana released another solo single later this year, but as we know "Focus" isn’t doing all that well so I’m expecting her next effort to be yet another collab.

 

Awolnation "Hollow Moon (Bad Wolf)"

http://media.becteroradio.com/pix/single/17466_medium.jpg

It took four years for Awolnation to release their second album, mainly because three of those years were spent pushing "Sail" to become one of the biggest sleeper hits ever. That was pretty fun to watch but I was definitely tired of it by the end of its run. Fortunately their comeback single did not disappoint. Despite the clunky song title, "Hollow Moon (Bad Wolf)" is terrific and perhaps even catchier than the track for which they’re known best.

I like Aaron Bruno’s voice; in fact I loved a song from his previous band which I played on plug.dj a couple times this year (note to self: send "Mama’s Room" to BJSC sometime), and I’d recommend Awolnation’s "Kill Your Heroes" as well. Here on "Hollow Moon" he sounds best (i.e. isn't shouting) on the chorus, but the synthy intro and the driving but heavy guitar in the verses are also highlights for me. It didn’t manage to remove the band from their one-hit wonder status, but that one hit being the second-longest-charting song in Hot 100 history is a pretty nice chart milestone to have anyway.

I find "Good To Be Alive (Hallelujah)" a bit pedantic but then again "Honey, I'm Good" was a slow grower (though not massive) so we'll see.

 

It also took nearly four years for AWOLNATION to improve from the worst song of all time but then they've finally done it. Still think "I Am" is better.

I really like Here and Honey I'm Good is also quite good! :heart:

One Last Time is one of the worst of the year though :puke2:

Yay Riser, A is a good place to start :P

 

Ooo, One Last Time really doesn't feel like a 2015 track to me because I loved the album so much last year. Not happy with your Love Me Harder distaste though, probably her best song to date. This was nice but I prefer her more upbeat stuff, I loved the production on this against her voice which worked REALLY nicely but it wasn't massively exciting.

 

Here is really good, just started to get into it now really but love the smooth R&B sound to it, she definitely seems promising so I'm excited to see what else she has under her belt yet to release. Love how it's been a big hit in the US.

 

Loving this so far!

Alessia Cara making a amazing pop banger :cheer: So feel good and is basically me at parties :lol:

 

Only other song I heard that I like is Honey Im good :heart: Shame it flopped here :(

I find "Good To Be Alive (Hallelujah)" a bit pedantic but then again "Honey, I'm Good" was a slow grower (though not massive) so we'll see.

 

It also took nearly four years for AWOLNATION to improve from the worst song of all time but then they've finally done it. Still think "I Am" is better.

I knew you'd say something along those lines about Sail :heehee:

 

I really like Here and Honey I'm Good is also quite good! :heart:

One Last Time is one of the worst of the year though :puke2:

WHAT? :snif:

 

Yay Riser, A is a good place to start :P

 

Ooo, One Last Time really doesn't feel like a 2015 track to me because I loved the album so much last year. Not happy with your Love Me Harder distaste though, probably her best song to date. This was nice but I prefer her more upbeat stuff, I loved the production on this against her voice which worked REALLY nicely but it wasn't massively exciting.

 

Here is really good, just started to get into it now really but love the smooth R&B sound to it, she definitely seems promising so I'm excited to see what else she has under her belt yet to release. Love how it's been a big hit in the US.

 

Loving this so far!

I wanted to like Love Me Harder, I really did. I can appreciate it every so often but One Last Time is just more meant for me I guess.

Thank you!

 

Alessia Cara making a amazing pop banger :cheer: So feel good and is basically me at parties :lol:

 

Only other song I heard that I like is Honey Im good :heart: Shame it flopped here :(

Me too! I don't really go to parties unless there's food ^_^

 

Cam "Burning House"

Cam is a fresh new country artist who I noticed had quite a bit of hype within the industry before she released this song in June. We already had Maddie & Tae and Kelsea Ballerini score breakthrough hits recently so I was expecting Cam to offer something along the lines of "Girl In A Country Song" or "Love Me Like You Mean It". "Burning House" is MUCH better though, more along the lines of "Girl Crush" in its raw emotion and subdued sound.

My one complaint is how she smiles awkwardly in the video, which doesn’t look right or match the tone of the song. But it does fit the meaning of the song about her crossing paths with an ex-boyfriend. You just don’t hear lyrics like these very often, even in country and certainly not from someone just getting their name out there. Even Kacey Musgraves didn’t wow me so much so instantly!

"Burning House" picked up on airplay very quickly over the summer, which is unusual for a new artist, and especially for a new female artist, and even more so for a ballad! The song is absolutely worthy of attention so I’m very glad people gave her a chance. I haven’t listened to anything else from Cam yet I hope it’s just as good. We still need more superstar females in the genre.

 

Carly Rae Jepsen "I Really Like You"

I remember hearing "I Really Like You" for the first time and finding it so similar to "This Kiss" from Carly’s last album. I had anticipated that song to smash hard and ended up completely disappointed, so in my mind this was her chance to have justice for its floppage. Realistically, though, it was clear the odds were stacked against her no matter what she recorded, so I tried to keep my expectations low.

Having Tom Hanks in the video was probably a good idea, for getting people to watch it and take notice that Carly has new music. I think it worked to some extent, but who knows if Capital or Radio 1 would have playlisted it otherwise. That said, they do such a good job dancing and singing together at the end that I wish Carly was accompanying Tom for the entire thing. No worries, though; she had an even better video coming a few months later.

"I Really Like You" did get to #3 in the UK which is a lot better than I expected it to do anywhere. It’s rather ridiculous that she couldn’t get as much support in her own country. For this song and "Run Away With Me" to do so poorly on airplay there must mean they don’t qualify as Canadian content. I really thought the stations there would play them anyway since they’re better than a lot of the cheap Cancon that does get played. The situation wasn’t much better in the States, notably her Saturday Night Live performance slot, which was four months before the album release and probably didn’t do much good in the end. All things considered, Carly could have had a worse year, but having the odds stacked against her so much is incredibly frustrating to see. Well done to her for putting up with it all and not letting it compromise the quality of her music.

 

Carrie Underwood "Smoke Break"

Carrie Underwood "Something In The Water"

I wasn’t expecting a new album from Carrie so soon after her greatest hits AND her baby being born, but it was long overdue being three and a half years since Blown Away. "Smoke Break" was the lead single and it’s about wanting to turn to your vices, either from juggling so many commitments or trying to make a better life for yourself and just feeling stuck. I think Carrie’s having her own struggle of keeping up with the evolving country audience while staying true to herself as an artist. It’s something many artists try to balance and she’s done well with it so far. I would say this is her strongest lead single in a while, not a patch on "So Small" but certainly better than "Good Girl" which I still think is lousy.

"Something In The Water" is from last year’s greatest hits album but was not included in my 2014 recaps. I’m glad because it now goes hand-in-hand with "Smoke Break" for me. Both of these songs were co-written by Chris DeStefano, who I saw perform them both when I was in Nashville. It was great hearing the stories behind each song, and he had the best voice of any performer I saw all weekend! It was pretty incredible but overall the songs were better suited for Carrie’s voice. However, I do still prefer Brooke Fraser’s song of the same name. At least one more Nashville story still to come ~

 

Chris Brown & Tyga "Ayo"

After about a hundred collabs with each other, Chris Brown and Tyga decided to record a whole album together. I was a big fan of "Loyal" last year and don’t think they could ever top it, but something about "Ayo" got me hooked as well. The production is just as slick, if not more so, and it has a more typical song structure which helped me like it more instantly whereas "Loyal" took a couple months to grow on me. I don’t find it quite as great now but it was my jam for a short while, especially hearing it in the car on my way to class.

If you weren’t a fan of this, chances are you didn’t expect to ever like a song with Chris and Tyga on it, until Pia Mia released "Do It Again" and proved you wrong. I’m listening to them both back-to-back for the first time, and "Do It Again" doesn’t even sound THAT different except that it has more singing. I’m surprised I don’t see any mashups on Youtube because they’d go together very well. JUST SAYING.

Hello again

 

I remember the first time I listened to IRLY, I just thought 'she's come back with something this good?'. I was never expecting her to return with a catchy pop monster at all and I ended up loving it way more than I thought I would. Still so shocked it never took off in the US, especially because the video was so much fun, I'd be streaming it a lot on YouTube.

 

Ayo definitely topped Loyal for me, the latter got a bit irritating but I can still jam to Ayo whenever I hear it, the album was a good idea too because all the songs are just so catchy, they make a good team.

 

What happened to B? :o

Much better section. Like 4 of the 5! (Ayo being the crap one of course :P)

 

I Really Like You is definitely one of my favourites of the year, so catchy and amazing :heart:

Also adore the Carrie ones and like Burning House :wub:

I honestly thought "I Really Like You" was going to be the one song to remove her of her two-hit wonder status (I keep forgetting "Good Time" was a joint lead for her), though I'm not surprised that a lot of CanCons aren't getting the support they need. The only CanCons that weren't huge everywhere else I've seen become hits in Canada were:

- Jocelyn Alice's "Jackpot"

- Ria Mae's "Clothes Off"

- Shawn Hook's "Sound Of Your Heart"

- Mia Martina's "Beast"

- the Trevor Guthrie songs (although "Soundwave" was more of a R3HAB song)

 

and yeah that's pretty much it. Not even "Ghosts", which is pop perfection :cry: :cry: :cry:

 

"Burning House" sounds like an Ultraviolenceland entry.

Can I just say that the Carly Commentery is good :wub:

 

Carly and Carrie only songs I like this section :heart:

I always find Adam Lambert's resilience in the industry on an international scale quite remarkable given he was never huge to begin with, and what's more would have suffered from the TV talent show stigma. Heard 'Ghost Town' a fair bit over the last few months on the radio/clothes shop playlists etc. and liked it. A very smart idea to jump on the deep house trend as you said, and executed very well (though I personally wouldn't go as far as using the 'T' word for it :o :o :o)!

 

It's interesting/odd that Ariana took until the fifth single (including 'Bang Bang') of her album to go it completely alone. Judging by 'One Last Time''s impressive performance worldwide so late in the campaign (not to mention its sheer breahtakingly-amazing quality <333), I think the song would have fared very well as the lead single, though of course wouldn't have made anywhere near as big of a cultural impact as 'Problem' ft. Iggy, so it's hard to say overall. :thinking:

 

I find 'Loyal' and 'Ayo' equally instant and ~swaggy~ and jam-worthy :music: - interesting to read that you reacted quite differently to them.

 

Great musings so far, Jordan! Can't wait for the section containing the next consecutive letter of the alphabet to which the beginning of the name of the artist whose songs you'll review corresponds. :)

 

What happened to B? :o

Poor hen skipped the B list like he's Pia Mia. :rolleyes:

 

(Quite proud of that one~)

Delighted to see Carly and double Carrie here! The Alessia Cara song is good too. Hope to see Shawn feature *.*