Is there a more distinctive singer in pop history than Macy Gray? Janis Joplin comes to mind, but even she is not quite so unique. So rather than opine on Gray’s one hit, a sentimental ballad with an earworm chorus, I’m going to try and describe Grays voice: It’s certainly quite raspy. In fact, Wikipedia…
I’m pretty sure if I had been about 14 in 1982 when “I Melt With You” had been a hit, I would have considered it the greatest song of all time. And I appear to not be the only one with that disposition: search Spotify or YouTube and you’ll find dozens of unironic covers of…
As previously mentioned I have a soft spot for most boy bands. In particular, I enjoy those that bring a power pop edge to their performance. Thus, it should not surprise you but I actually kind of dug the Jonas Brothers. Seriously. After the band broke up, and I didn’t devote much effort to following the various…
What if you took a perfectly ordinary life and happy romance and transformed it into something fatalistic? You get Lana Del Ray and her first single, “Video Games.” I remember hearing this song for the first time and not getting whether it was a joke or a true artistic statement of purpose. Time has proved…
Read Part 1 and Part 2 Dan (Feb. 2016) Dear Colton, How time flies! Six months ago, in the middle of the July heat, we brainstormed the idea of a Billboard-based summer mixtape fantasy draft. One month, thirty songs, and 12,000 words later, we sent our mixtapes out to judges for assessment. Another two months…
Intro from Dan (Feb. 2016) As I write this, February snow falls, the heat of summer far from my mind. But the long-brewing project I’m about to share with you comes from warmer times. Last July, Colton and I came up with the idea of a summer pop fantasy draft, and spent the next couple months…
Read Part 1 Dan We’re halfway through our summer songs fantasy draft, and I have to say my thoughts on my roster are a mixture of delight and disappointment. Curiously, it seems our early picks were the least competitive, most strident with each other: You certainly could have waited several rounds to nab “Let Me…
10. Jessi J, Ariana Grande, Nicki Minaj – “Bang Bang” I would call this my “guilty pleasure” selection, but, as Colton and I have repeatedly noted, there should be no guilt in the pleasure of a finely-crafted pop number. The Max Martin-produced “Bang Bang” is probably my favorite pop radio staple this decade, with a sizzling beat,…
It can be difficult to remember because nobody thinks of the switch from 4 to 5 as significant, but the 2010s just wrapped up the first half of the decade. Thus, these past couple weeks have been a pretty good time to reflect on everything that’s happened in the pop culture world during the past…