The 100 Best Songs Of 2011: 20-11

20. LADY GAGA ‘Bloody Mary’

People laughed at me when I said I wanted this as a single, but I honestly believe that aside from just being a fucking great song, it is catchy enough to work on radio. Like swimming through molasses, ‘Bloody Mary’ is a weighty slow-motion ballad, and Gaga is at her most stylishly monotone. “I won’t cry for you”, she sings, “I won’t crucify the things you do”. That “crucify” might feel like a cheap religious reference, and it is, but it’s also there to give the line a bit more pompousness, a bit more weight. One of the thickest and heaviest pop songs of the year, ‘Bloody Mary’ is among the out-there moments on Born This Way that really, really work.

19. AZEALIA BANKS ft. LAZY JAY ’212′

Like Ricki-Lee’s big comeback, ’212′ seemed to come out of nowhere. A lightning flash of a song, it starts out awesome and from the first line it’s obvious that Azealia Banks has great rap talent. But then these lines start:

“Wanna lick my plum in the evening
And flick* that tongue-tongue d-deep in”
*possibly “fit”

The next line is “I guess that cunt gettin’ eaten”. I do not consider myself easily shocked when it comes to lyrics, and my jaw just dropped. This sweet girl in the video with the cheeky smile and the Mickey Mouse jumper is telling me about her fucking cunt getting eaten? I felt so many feelings. Mostly awesome feelings. Then, later in the song, she says “I’mma ruin you cunt” and it’s still powerful! ’212′ is a lyrical masterpiece, and the production is absolutely world-class. This is a future legend in the making.

18. LADY GAGA ‘Government Hooker’

I have songs that I like to walk to. Around the city, to and from work, you know. General walking. The beat in these songs are very good for walking. ‘Jump’ by Madonna is one of these songs. Another single from this year that we’re yet to come to is a great walking song. ‘Who Is It’ by Michael Jackson has a nice walking beat.

‘Government Hooker’ was possibly engineered in a lab especially for me to walk to. I don’t care how fucking ridiculous I look – this makes me want to shimmy down some scummy Bowen Hills street like I’m on a runway in Paris. The mighty beat and Gaga’s amazing repeated “HUOOOOAOAUHUKKAAAAAAAH” noises are paired with lyrics like “put your hands on me – John F. Kennedy” which is a serious contender for line of the year. Like ‘Schieße’, it’s a hot mess, and it sounds stunningly fierce.

17. GLORIA ESTEFAN ‘Wepa’

Queensland, Australia, 2027. A 37-year-old male is found wandering through the rural desert. Dressed in early-2000s fashion and with a long-dead iPhone 4s in his pocket, he had lived on a diet of slugs and rainwater for approximately sixteen years. His family had long assumed him dead, but judging by his sudden interest in Latino music just before disappearing, they also thought it possible that he had fled to South America. He would spend all day teasing his hair and practicing his dancing, and indeed when he was found wandering his hair was perfectly styled in a giant afro, his hairspray holding for all these years. His family said he had ceased communicating with them before going missing and would only sing to them in frenzied Spanish. He was last seen wandering through the city streets with a pair of maracas in late 2011. The wallet he was carrying when found identified him as Richard Eric, and he repeated one word, emotionless, in a trance.

“Wepa”, he said. “Wepa”.

16. BRITNEY SPEARS ‘Criminal’

Love it or hate it, ‘Criminal’ is truly remarkable, sounding like almost nothing else on the radio this year. That weird flute solo is a truly odd pop moment, and I don’t know who decided that this song needed a flute of all things, but I thank god for them because it really, really works. Britney’s first semi-ballad single since ‘Someday (I Will Understand)’ is perfect for her voice, and the melody is fantastic. I love the creative video, which complements the dark tone of the song perfectly. This is 2011′s equivalent to ‘Man Down’, and it’s almost as good.

15. LADY GAGA ‘The Edge Of Glory’

I honestly believe that ‘The Edge Of Glory’ was the best video of the Born This Way era. I would rather watch Gaga dance on a fire escape than flail around with some cereal, and I think that being on “the edge of glory” is all about being at the point before something really huge. When you’re huge, you have giant videos with massive casts and Pussy Wagons and Beyoncé. Before you’re huge, you dance on a fire escape. ‘The Edge Of Glory’ however, as a song, is everything but subdued. Fist-pumping chorus, great lyrics, and the saxophone solo to end all saxophone solos. Absolutely defining.

14. GOTYE ft. KIMBRA ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’

Who would have thought that Gotye would be responsible for the one of the highest selling singles of the year? He became a household name with the release of ‘Somebody I Used To Know’ a folksy ballad that manage to sound completely in a genre of its own. Beginning slowly with Gotye alone, lamenting a broken relationship, halfway through the song we hear from Kimbra, who gives us a different point of view. Their pained dialogue hits me straight in the heart, and I can see from the length of time this spent at number one that it did that to a lot of other people too. This will be looked back on as an important song in Australian music history, and was the best Australian song of the year not by Darren Hayes.

13. DARREN HAYES ‘Bloodstained Heart’

The most successful return to the sound of Savage Garden to be found on Darren’s recent album, ‘Bloodstained Heart’ sends shivers down my spine and was one of the songs I obsessively played on repeat this year. With beautiful lyrics and an epic climax Coldplay would kill for, ‘Bloodstained Heart’ cascades out of the speakers and right into your soul, a song of such breathtaking beauty that I can hardly comprehend it. Words alone couldn’t do this track justice – it must heard, and seen, and felt.

12. RIHANNA ft. CALVIN HARRIS ‘We Found Love’

There are three major contributors to this song and its success: Rihanna’s strong vocals, Calvin’s unbelievable production, and the mantra at the core of the lyrics. “We found love in a hopeless place” will be remembered as a defining lyric of 2011, capturing a feeling like lightning in a bottle and repeating it endlessly, as if at once a parody and a concession to the repetitious nature of modern pop music. As the music explodes, Rihanna becomes a robot, entrenched in her own disillusion, unable to communicate anything past that one line. There are other lyrics, sure, but they’re just placeholders, and while this is primarily a club track, there’s more emotion to be found here than in any random ten ballads released in the past twelve months.

11. LADY GAGA ‘Born This Way’

“I’m beautiful in my way
‘Cause God makes no mistakes
I’m on the right track baby
I was born this way”

When a tearful Gaga sang these lyrics as part of her acceptance speech at the 2010 Video Music Awards, I immediately thought that the melody was fantastic. Those four lines were stuck in my head even though it would be months before we heard the full song. When ‘Born This Way’ was released, I didn’t review it, I only assigned it a score because it seemed everybody on the internet was writing an essay about how the song made them feel, politically and socially and as a consumer and as a member of an audience and a demographic and zzzzzz. Who really gives a shit? ‘Born This Way’ is a fucking amazing pop song with a massive chorus and thundering production. I get chills on the line “I was born to survive”. I think this song being number one all over the world is extremely important, not just because it’s about bullying or because it mentions gays and lesbian transgenders and Lebanese orients, but also because it’s really, really good.

The 100 Best Songs Of 2011: 60-51

60. REBECCA BLACK ‘Friday’

When did ‘Friday’ go from hilarious joke to song that I listened to and sang along to without irony? This is seriously amazing – her voice is still nasally as fuck but she’s proven elsewhere that she does have talent, and the lyrics are awful but their charm is in their ineptness. This is truly the definition of so bad it’s good. I love picking up little things that I previously missed, like the spoken “we gotta get down” at 2:39, or the background ad-libs during the final choruses. This is just such fun, fun, fun, fun, and is also the best meme ever. Queen of 2011.

59. BARBRA STREISAND ‘The Windmills Of Your Mind’

From one supreme vocalist to another! Barbra’s version of ‘The Windmills Of Your Mind’, from her album What Matters Most, was one of the most sublime, most flawless performances of the year. Her crystal-clear voice envelopes the lyrics with such clarity and professionalism, as the minimal instrumentation guides her gently. But really, no instruments are needed – if this was acapella it would be just as stunning. Babs is truly among the best singers I have ever heard in my life, and ‘The Windmills Of Your Mind’ shows that after almost fifty years in the industry she is just as talented as ever.

58. CLARE MAGUIRE ‘The Last Dance’

“Got to try, move on, but I promise you
I will kiss your crown when life takes me down
I’ll save my last dance for you my friend”

Written in memory of Michael Jackson, ‘The Last Dance’ was the massive standout from Clare Maguire’s very middling Light After Dark album. While the LP left a lot to be desired, ‘The Last Dance’ is a wonder to behold, riding colossal drums and Clare’s stunning voice to work as a standard love song and as a beautiful tribute to my all-time favourite artist. This and ‘Ain’t Nobody’ show a lot of promise – hopefully Clare can get it together for her next record, because her potential is through the roof.

57. LUCIANA ft. BETTY WHITE ‘I’m Still Hot’

The fact that Betty White is in my top 100 songs of the year is amazing. Grandmother Of The World, Betty is about 400 years old and is still working, still moving, still going to the toilet by herself and is even featured on the definitive version of 2011′s hottest club track, Luciana’s ‘I’m Still Hot’. With life-giving lyrics like “I’m still a Golden Girl/I may be a senior, so what?/I’m still hot”, Betty slayed all of my fave over-70 popstars (Yoko, Madonna, Vanessa Amorosi) and provided us with the nursing home anthem of the year.

56. BRITNEY SPEARS ‘Hold It Against Me’

Remember how excited we all were when this debuted? It sounded amazing then and it still sounds really good, even if the impact has dulled a little with time. From the club-ready chorus to the much-discussed dubstep breakdown, ‘Hold It Against Me’ is completely commercial and radio ready, yet it is harder and more interesting than previous lead single ‘Womanizer’ and instantly better than basically everything on Circus. There were better tracks on Femme Fatale, but the rush of ‘Hold It Against Me’ captures the excitement of new Britney perfectly.

55. TORI AMOS ‘Carry’

So, so beautiful. ‘Carry’ is an absolute triumph for Tori, who hasn’t done a song this simple and pretty since who knows when. As this list goes on I’m noticing that I valued simplicity almost as much as I valued my dearly beloved melodrama this year. It doesn’t get much more basic than this: Tori + piano, and the result is a floaty, calm lullaby. The best song from Night Of Hunters by far.

54. WILLOW SMITH ft. NICKI MINAJ ‘Fireball’

It’s no ‘Whip My Hair’, but what is? ‘Fireball’ is Willow’s attempt to win back some of the appeal she lost when ’21st Century Girl’ flopped, and while it doesn’t seem to be doing much yet, it’s been given an excellent video and Team Willow are doing everything they can to make this a hit. Nicki Minaj shows up for a G-rated but still awesome verse, and Willow does her general “I’m amazing” schtick while dancing around like a lunatic. A hugely appealing mess.

53. WEIRD AL YANKOVIC ‘Perform This Way’

The king returned with this genius parody of Gaga’s ‘Born This Way’, which was so serious that it was just begging to be made fun of. Touching on multiple elements of Gaga over the past year – the little monsters, the Madonna controversy, and the outrageous outfits – ‘Perform This Way’ was clever, well put together and most of all, funny. Bonus points for delivering the most WTF video of the year.

52. SHANIA TWAIN ‘Today Is Your Day’

Shania lives! A winner’s single without the reality show, ‘Today Is Your Day’ is the inspirational, raise-your-hands, hug-your-mother song of praise that reintroduced us to the Queen of Modern Country. Plunging us straight back into the her signature sound from ten years ago, Shania’s first single in yonks was full of cheese, full of Hallmark crap and I absolutely loved it. I sincerely hope an album is going to follow this one-off, because I am gagging for some new exclamation-point filled titles and uplifting female empowerment anthems. Let’s go girls!

51. RIHANNA ‘Where Have You Been’

The spiritual sister of ‘We Found Love’, the other Calvin Harris produced track on Talk That Talk, ‘Where Have You Been’ is a huge rave-up that builds and builds into an explosive mess of sounds. Using “compositional elements” of classic old-man song ‘I’ve Been Everywhere’, the creative yet commercial production lends itself to the way Rihanna has approached the track, which seems to be “sing the words and then get out of the way of the instrumental”. I love you Rihanna but Calvin is the star on this one.

The 100 Best Songs Of 2011: 90-81

90. WILLOW SMITH ’21st Century Girl’

The life-defining ‘Whip My Hair’ was clearly one of the songs of 2010, so when ’21st Century Girl’ debuted, it was seen as a bit of a disappointment due to it being a bit… well, basic. But the flyest fetus in the game sold this generic beat with her wide-eyed, confident vocal performance and one hell of a video. The chorus is awesome, and if you can forget that you’re singing along to an obscenely rich pre-teen talk about how awesome her life is, there’s a lot of fun to be had here.

89. NICOLA ROBERTS ‘Lucky Day’

That “WAAA WAAA WAAAA WAAAAA” in the first verse of ‘Lucky Day’ is a really, really annoying flaw that probably killed this otherwise great song at radio. Nicola’s voice is gorgeous in the right environment, and while it takes a little getting used to here, the hugeness of this song and the completely unselfconscious vocal performance cannot be ruined by a few irritating moments. “Could it be my/Could it be my lucky day?” repeated into infinity makes me want to go skipping down the street in a sack like a psycho.

88. LEONA LEWIS ‘Hurt’

Anything that gets rock purists riled up is fine by me. That “15 Disappointing Facts About Music” list doing the rounds lately fills me such glee, and I lol at everybody who gets pissed off about it, and pissed off about this. This take on this Nine Inch Nails classic is not as good as the original or Johnny Cash’s definitive version. But it is absolutely gorgeous, done in Leona’s trademark cover style, building up and up into an epic crescendo. She hits all the notes flawlessly, and she brings extra bombast to a song that is already completely drenched in theatrics and melodrama.

87. RIHANNA ‘You Da One’

I think Rihanna’s first two albums are underrated. In the minds of many she had two singles, ‘Pon De Replay’ and ‘SOS’, before ‘Umbrella’, when songs like ‘Break It Off’ and ‘We Ride’ were truly great and do not deserve to be forgotten. How awesome, then, that Rihanna revisited that sound for ‘You Da One’, the second single from Talk That Talk. Over a midtempo-but-hard-so-it-doesn’t-sound-midtempo beat, Rih gives us some music of the sun that is meaningless, pretty and perfect for blasting out of car windows.

86. SNEAKY SOUND SYSTEM ‘Big’

I wish this was a ballad. I know that Sneaky Sound System are a dance act and this is the type of thing they’re known for, but imagine how absolutely stunning this would be with an orchestra and all that shit? Luckily, the shiny disco backing that is here is more than enough to make ‘Big’ a dance epic, a punchy love song that should have been all over the radio. I must say I fell out of touch with Sneaky Sound System during their second album but now I’m back on board thanks to the brilliant ‘We Love’ and this, one of the best Australian singles in recent memory.

85. DRAKE ft. RIHANNA ‘Take Care’

Oh, the melancholy. This song is drowned in an echoing sadness, and both artists involved turn in flawless performances. Reminiscent of Kanye’s 808s & Heartbreaks, this song rolls along on subtle but powerful drums and a piano loop that lodges itself into your brain, ensuring that the emotions of the song stay with you long after it is finished. Drake plays insecure, Rihanna plays lover/mother-figure, and together they build ‘Take Care’ into a raging but quiet storm.

84. DARREN HAYES ‘Angel’

The best pop cover in a year where there were like three released in total, Darren’s take on this Madonna classic is the perfect B-side to the similarly bright ‘Talk Talk Talk’. Like his previous cover of ‘Dress You Up’, this sticks pretty close to the original, sounding very eighties and not messing with the song in any significant way, which works out well. Darren clearly loves the source material and he, as always, sounds absolutely fantastic.

83. DR. DRE ft. EMINEM & SKYLAR GREY ‘I Need A Doctor’

What an epic. The three elements here – Eminem’s desperate verses, Dre’s defensive response and Skylar’s explosive chorus – all combine to provide some of the most dramatic moments to be heard in music all year. The chorus is perfection, the production is beyond brilliant and this brings back some of the drama and emotion that was missing from Eminem’s last two albums. Whether Dr. Dre will ever hurry the fuck up and put out another album is unknown, but if he keeps releasing amazing singles like this I don’t mind the wait.

82. BEYONCÉ ‘Best Thing I Never Had’

Yeah, it sounds a bit like ‘Irreplaceable’ but ‘Best Thing I Never Had’ is too great in its own right to be brought down by a bit of recycling. I’m a bit confused as to why Bey is thinking about this guy if she’s supposedly really, really over him (and on her wedding day in the video? WTF?) but this is a finger-waving ladies/sassy gays anthem for the ages. Yell it into the mirror while pretending some high school non-sweetheart is standing in front of you, sing it at karaoke with your drunk mess friends, and keep this close to your heart always.

81. CHER LLOYD ft. MIKE POSNER ‘With Ur Love’

That’s the story of, that’s the glory of love. Few songs released this year were so bright, so sunny, so full of pure joy. ‘With Ur Love’ is a lost bubblegum hit from the early seventies transported into 2011, and Cher Lloyd (I just can’t refer to her by her first name alone, okay) proves her worth as a pop heavyweight of tomorrow with her on point delivery. Mike Posner is shit but his part is small and he’s hot so I’ll let it slide.

16 Great Songs That Didn’t Make My Top 100 Songs Of The Year

Poor Havana Brown.

116. HAVANA BROWN ’We Run The Night’

115. R.E.M. ‘We All Go Back To Where We Belong’

114. NICOLA ROBERTS ‘Sticks + Stones’

113. MEAT LOAF ‘All Of Me’

112. KE$HA ‘Fuck Him He’s A DJ’

111. SHAKIRA ft. PITBULL ‘Rabiosa’

110. ALEXIS JORDAN ‘Hush Hush’

109. RIHANNA ft. JAY-Z ‘Talk That Talk’

108. TORI AMOS ‘Shattering Sea’

107. NICOLA ROBERTS ‘Everybody’s Got To Learn Sometime’

106. JAY-Z & KANYE WEST ‘Niggas In Paris’

105. COLDPLAY & RIHANNA ‘Princess Of China’

104. THE SATURDAYS ‘Notorious’

103. NICOLE SCHERZINGER ft. 50 CENT ‘Right There’

102. CEE LO GREEN ‘Anyway’

101. BJÖRK ‘Cosmogony’

The 23 Best Albums Of 2011: #7. Rihanna – Talk That Talk

I cannot believe another Rihanna album came out this year. ‘Cheers (Drink To That)’ from Loud was starting to slip down the charts a bit after becoming a big hit, and then instead of maybe having a sit down for five minutes, Rihanna started promoting her Calvin Harris collaboration ‘We Found Love’. And it took me a little while to fully realise just how massive that anthem is, because I suffered a little bit of Rihanna fatigue. Talk That Talk is not a classic album, and we wouldn’t have suffered too much if Rih had taken a year off, however it’s worth it for the numerous amazing songs contained within.

Opening the album with the breezy ‘You Da One’ was probably just a matter of putting the current single at the top of the track list, however it also serves to kick off with a lighthearted jam before getting down to business with ‘Where Have You Been?’ and ‘We Found Love’. Those two thumping dance tracks are followed by a reunion with Jay-Z on the catchy ‘Talk That Talk’. ‘Cockiness’ and ‘Birthday Cake’ are getting a lot of attention but I found them to be a bit of a snooze, and ‘We All Want Love’, pinpointed by some as a low point, is actually one of my favourites. Talk That Talk was always going to be a rushed affair, but it’s a testament to Rihanna’s brilliance – and the brilliance of the songs she’s given – that a by-the-numbers record like this can still sound so good.

Let The End Of Year Celebrations Begin: A Quick Recap Of 2011

It’s the most wonderful time of the year… after abandoning this blog to get “reinspired” for the last few months, I’m back and ready to review 2011. It’s been an amazing year for singles, a weird year for albums, a great year for Rihanna and a less great year for Björk. Lady Gaga and Beyoncé, poised to rule the year in January, both had the predicted big success – but not as big as they might have hoped. Britney released her strongest album in years, but in the minds of many consumers, the only album released this year was by an unlikely suspect: Adele. I didn’t hear every album I wanted to and I’m sure I’ll discover albums in the future that I should have been listening to much earlier, but I know what defined 2011 in my mind and it was a pretty good year. Let’s have a quick look at what happened for our persons of interest before I delve deeper into the best releases of the year.

ADELE

As pictured above, Adele had a lot to smile about this year. Her album 21 was always going to be a hit, as the follow up to the acclaimed 19, however nobody could have predicted just how huge it would be. The number speak for themselves: 18 weeks at number one in the UK, 23 weeks at the top in Australia and 13 weeks towering above all others on the US Billboard 200, a great achievement for a foreign artist. ‘Rolling In The Deep’ and ‘Someone Like You’ were both international number one hits and the Grammys 2012 are almost guaranteed to be the Adele show. The unlikely wig-snatcher is likely to rack up millions more sales over Christmas.

BRITNEY SPEARS

Femme Fatale was, for me, one of the defining albums of the year, full of sublime robotic pop. The tour might have sucked judging just by the DVD, but the album itself was an achievement and gave us some of the years best and biggest singles. ‘Hold It Against Me’ caused a fan frenzy, ‘Till The World Ends’ was an instant classic, ‘I Wanna Go’ gave us one of Britney’s greatest videos and ‘Criminal’ was an interesting foray into semi-ballad territory. She was also given the MTV Video Vanguard award, the presentation of which was given by a ridiculously dressed Gaga-as-a-man, which disappointing fans who had been expecting the rumoured presenters Madonna and/or Janet Jackson, before the whole thing turned into an intro for Beyoncé anyway who stole the show by being pregnant.

BEYONCÉ

In 2011 Beyoncé released a weirdly disappointing-but-still-good-I-suppose album, released 400 singles, none of which were significant hits, and grew a baby inside her. As the stunning gif above demonstrates, she revealed this news at the MTV Awards, nicely stealing the show. Her slight flop on the charts was surprising considering her past all-conquering success, but as we’ll see in my best-of lists, some songs that may not have hit the top of the charts were among her greatest and most interesting achievements.

RIHANNA

This year Rihanna released 6 albums, toured the world completely three times, won 14 Best Rap/Sung Collaboration Grammys and hit the top of the Billboard Hot 100 27 times.

Who run the world?

KATE BUSH

Kate Bush came out of hibernation and released TWO albums this year, the stunning Director’s Cut, which revisited some of her old songs, and the unbelievable new album 50 Words For Snow, which, as we’ll get to, was very, very good. The notoriously reclusive Kate appeared in no videos, gave only a few interviews, did not perform live or do any “proper” promotion at all. She was still one of the best things about 2011 and she barely showed up for it.

DARREN HAYES

Another triumphant year for Darren Hayes. A well-received album, a stunning tour, great videos for even better songs, and just an all-round sense of accomplishment. I think Darren has moved into a new decade with a sense of direction, and even if he becomes more and more of a niche artist, it is clear that even if he might not hit the charts with same impact as he did in the nineties, the quality of his music hasn’t suffered at all.

LADY GAGA

Did she do anything this year? I don’t remember hearing about her at all.

Songs Of The Week: 09/10/11

1. GLORIA ESTEFAN Wepa (NEW, WI: 1, HP: 1)

2. DARREN HAYES Bloodstained Heart (LW: 2, WI: 5, HP: 1)

3. JENNIFER LOPEZ Papi (LW: 1, WI: 3, HP: 1)

4. RIHANNA ft. CALVIN HARRIS We Found Love (LW: 3, WI: 3, HP: 3)

5. FRENZAL RHOMB Knuckleheads (LW: 7, WI: 2, HP: 5)

6. BRITNEY SPEARS Criminal (LW: 9, WI: 2, HP: 6)

7. THE SATURDAYS All Fired Up (LW: 4, WI: 5, HP: 1)

8. FLORENCE + THE MACHINE Shake It Out (LW: 5, WI: 4, HP: 5)

9.ADELE Set Fire To The Rain (LW: 6, WI: 5, HP: 4)

10. TORI AMOS Carry (LW: 8, WI: 3, HP: 8 )

LW: last week
WI: weeks in
HP: highest position

Songs Of The Week: 02/10/11

1. JENNIFER LOPEZ Papi (LW: 2, WI: 2, HP: 1)

2. DARREN HAYES Bloodstained Heart (LW: 1, WI: 4, HP: 1)

3. RIHANNA ft. CALVIN HARRIS We Found Love (LW: 5, WI: 2, HP: 3)

4. THE SATURDAYS All Fired Up (LW: 3, WI: 4, HP: 1)

5. FLORENCE + THE MACHINE Shake It Out (LW: 6, WI: 3, HP: 5)

6. ADELE Set Fire To The Rain (LW: 4, WI: 4, HP: 4)

7. FRENZAL RHOMB Knuckleheads (NEW, WI: 1, HP: 7)

8. TORI AMOS Carry (LW: 8, WI: 2, HP: 8 )

9. BRITNEY SPEARS Criminal (NEW, WI: 1, HP: 9)

10. LEONA LEWIS & AVICII Collide (LW: 7, WI: 4, HP: 3)

LW: last week
WI: weeks in
HP: highest position

Songs Of The Week: 25/09/11

1. DARREN HAYES Bloodstained Heart (LW: 1, WI: 3, HP: 1)

2. JENNIFER LOPEZ Papi (NEW, WI: 1, HP: 2)

3. THE SATURDAYS All Fired Up (LW: 2, WI: 3, HP: 1)

4. ADELE Set Fire To The Rain (LW: 4, WI: 3, HP: 4)

5. RIHANNA ft. CALVIN HARRIS We Found Love (NEW, WI: 1, HP: 5)

6. FLORENCE + THE MACHINE Shake It Out (LW: 7, WI: 2, HP: 6)

7. LEONA LEWIS & AVICII Collide (LW: 3, WI: 3, HP: 3)

8. TORI AMOS Carry (NEW, WI: 1, HP: 8 )

9. DEMI LOVATO Skyscraper (LW: 6, WI: 3, HP: 6)

10. LADY GAGA Yoü And I (NEW, WI: 1, HP: 10)

LW: last week
WI: weeks in
HP: highest position

Single Review: Rihanna ft. Calvin Harris – ‘We Found Love’

Rihanna ft. Calvin Harris. How weird – I didn’t expect to see those names together, especially as one is a really “American” star (despite not being American) and the other is really “British”. This is obviously huge for Calvin, and will bring him to a colossal new audience. For Rihanna it’s more an extension of ‘Who’s That Chick?’ than any sort of artistic move forward. Really though, I thought ‘Umbrella’ was ridiculous when I first heard it and now when I hear it I get down on my knees and thank the Lord for blessing us with such brilliance, so what do I know?

‘We Found Love’ is odd, in that it gets going in the first thirty seconds, then there’s the chorus that sounds like the bridge leading into something big… but that something doesn’t involve Rihanna, it’s a heap of whizzy bangs from Calvin. At first this is a little disappointing, but then the repetition of the chorus-that-sounds-like-a-bridge gets to you. “We found love in a hopeless place” is classic crying at the discotheque material, so much so that I bet Robyn’s kicking herself for not thinking of it first.

Lead singles by Rihanna usually take a while to reach me properly, and for Rated R and Loud, she saved the best songs for a little later in the campaign. So ‘We Found Love’ is a nice diversion, something fresh to keep her voice on the radio and in the clubs, to make Calvin Harris a star in America, to keep her rabid fans (like me) happy while her new album is being recorded. Whether the public needs another Rihanna song in their ears is a different story. Releasing a brand new song two seconds after ‘Cheers’ starts to die down might lead to overexposure, and I think Rihanna and a couple of other current popstars are going to need to lay low for a while soon before anyone who isn’t part of their MonsterKittyArmyBarbzNavy gets royally fed up with hearing them all the time. It happened to Duffy and it can happen to you!

7/10