Top 15 Songs of 200: 8!
I am stunned I avoided the urge to post cheesecake shots here.RIHANNA - DISTURBIA
This was an exceptionally strong year for pop music. To begin with, there was Leona Lewis’ Bleeding Love, the song that finally combined gospel-inspired organ sounds with 80’s-style synths. I don’t know that a music-as-delicious-candy metaphor has ever been more appropriate. Then there was Estelle’s American Boy, the obvious answer to the perennial “what’s this year’s song of the summer” question, right up until we suffered through an unfortunate outbreak of Katy Perry. This fall, Britney Spears and Beyonce unleashed the potent 1-2 combination of Womanizer and Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It). If any of those songs were going to end up on this list, it would have been Single Ladies, a song that marries the funkiest handclap-oriented beat Kanye West ever put to tape with flawless vocals from Beyonce. It’s as if the song was directly taken from the Aristotlean form of dance music.
Each one of these songs would be totally worthy of inclusion on this list in most years, but not in 2008. Rihanna has been on a hot streak the likes of which I’m not sure anyone’s seen since Michael Jackson. In fact, in her three or so years on the music scene, she’s had 5 number one singles and ten top 10 hits in total. By comparison (and starting with Off the Wall) Michael Jackson had 5 number one singles and eleven top 10 hits, but he also had Paul McCartney on his side.
Disturbia, like many songs this year, uses auto-tune to play with the singer’s voice. The difference between Rihanna and most of the artists who have used auto-tune is that she can sing. Rather than sounding like a crutch needed to make the song palatable, the auto-tune merges her voice into the beat, creating a blurred distinction between music and vocals, a line made even blurrier by the layers upon layers of vocals in the song, some of which see Rihanna harmonizing with herself, some of which see her laying down a bassline with her voice, and some that simply see her acting as her own backup singer. It’s pretty great. When you add in the production, which is a particularly good version of the sterile, futuristic beats that have been in vogue ever since Timbaland decided that was the new sound a few years back, you have one hell of a strong dance track. There’s no shame in liking this, even if your 12-year old sister loves it as much as you.
I think you made the right choice of that bunch.
The other day, I figured out what bugs me about “Single Ladies,” and it’s the structure, which I realize is the weirdest complaint one could level at a dance song. There are parts that are thoroughly catchy. I’m not sure what technically constitutes the chorus, but we’ve basically got “If you like it, then you should have put a ring on it,” “All the single ladies…”, and “Whoah Oh Oh…”. There’s also a verse that doesn’t do much, and a bridge that comes out of nowhere.
They’re all shuffled around with no apparent ear toward continuity or dynamics - it’s anarcho-socialist pop (nothing against it as a political system, just not an artistic template). All parts are accorded equal treatment and allowed absolute freedom of movement, and the song suffers as a result.
Now, that Rihanna song - there’s structure there and certain parts are selected to stick out for maximum impact. It’s a well-functioning democratic republic.
This is my rationale for picking Rihanna: she’s hot.
I think she lives in the 03529 zip code.. Heck, she might even have her own personal zip code.