melanie fiona - wrong side of a love song
FINALLY!! after blasting this torch soul number for pretty much all of the last 5 months (and ending up in our year end best of list), melanie fiona gets a proper video directed by actor larenz tate and featuring hottie omari hardwick. why it's taken so long for this canadian gem to release this showstopper is beyond me, but i really hope it breaks through and gets her the proper worldwide recognition she deserves.
As we get closer to the Top 10, one wonders how pop icons like Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Ellie Goulding and Ed Sheeran all got shafted into the Top 20 instead! Of course they all offered some serious tracks for the year (Riri with her club anthems, Taylor supplying some of the best pop ballads - and the heartbreaking Ronan, Ellie bringing her form of future pop and Ed just writing endless hit after hit) but somehow it still wasn't enough to break the 10.
As for the rest of the Top 20, they offer up a wonderful 'best of' 2012: Jake Bugg (the best old skool rockabilly young singer of the year! his energy is amazing!), Conor Maynard (the best pop boy vocalist out at the moment), Bastille (the best indie pop dude of last year and maybe this one!), Icona Pop (the best kick you in the neck bratty bitch song of the last year!), 2ne1 (the best kpop song of last year - it's 5 songs in one and all of them are catchy!) and Grimes (the best hipster girl pop song of the year - literally EVERYONE i know sings along to this song when they hear it).
Edging closer to the top 20, this batch consists of some of my favorite bands of last year (The Maccabees, Dirty Projectors, Everything Everything and Alt J are all f-ing brilliant!) that offered up a mix of tracks that both appealed to my quiet internal and boppy external, all the while teaching me some quirky musicality no one else had.
While the rest of the bunch definitely showcases the fact that electronic music and hipster soul have ALOT in common these days (Solange, Santigold and Azealia Banks being the best examples of what I'm talking about). Of course fans of dance music will not be surprised that the epic Swedish House Mafia track made the list, as did the uber catchy Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs (I mean the vocal hook is "feet don't fail me now!"). Finally 2012 discovery Haim make their way into the top 30 with their happy go lucky sunny pop that feels both retro and fresh at the same time. Just love these gals!!!
dj earworm - united state of pop 2012 (shine brighter)
yep, it's that time of the year when dj earworm offers up his massive pop mash up megamix. see how many tracks you can recognize!
full track listing is as follows:
"Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen
"Diamonds" by Rihanna
"Die Young" by Ke$ha
"Gangnam Style" by PSY
"Glad You Came" by The Wanted
"Good Feeling" by Flo Rida
"Ho Hey" by The Lumineers
"Home" by Phillip Phillips
"It Will Rain" by Bruno Mars
"Lights" by Ellie Goulding
"One More Night" by Maroon 5
"Payphone" by Maroon 5 featuring Wiz Khalifa
"Set Fire to the Rain" by Adele
"Some Nights" by fun.
"Somebody That I Used to Know" by Gotye featuring Kimbra
"Starships" by Nicki Minaj
"Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)" by Kelly Clarkson
"Too Close" by Alex Clare
"We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" by Taylor Swift
"We Are Young" by fun. featuring Janelle Monáe
"What Makes You Beautiful" by One Direction
"Whistle" by Flo Rida
"Wide Awake" by Katy Perry
"Wild Ones" by Flo Rida featuring Sia
