Top 50 Singles of 2011: 10-6

Special Mention: Rebecca Black - Friday

Sure, the song's horrible (in all the best ways), but no other track had a better story behind it than this one. I'd be insane if I didn't at least mention it!

10. LMFAO - Party Rock Anthem



So right for all the wrong reasons. If you told me a year ago that I'd be putting an LMFAO song in my top ten, I'd have said you were crazy. Just shows what an incredible hook (or hooks) can do.

9. Kyla La Grange - Heavy Stone



A little known track that barely got a release, this had my absolutely riveted from the very first time I heard it. For what Kyla's doing here, she's just doing it absolutely perfectly. Haunting, beautiful, and ultimately stirring.

8. The Ark - Breaking Up With God



The Ark's swan song, and I'm so glad they borrowed their best sounds and themes when writing this. It's a smart, anthemic rock track, written from a place as personal as it always is with this band.

7. One Direction - What Makes You Beautiful



The best non-Swedish (though that's debatable, given the writers/producers) teen pop track since the turn of the century. The genre hasn't sounded this alive in a long while. The chorus alone is massive enough to convert music snobs everywhere.

6. The Sound Of Arrows - Magic



Uplifting, mysterious, and so, so catchy. This is about as cool as cool gets. One of the year's top music videos helped highlight one of the band's best songs.

Pop Blitz 7/21/2011

Rebecca Black - My Moment
The subversive part of me really wants this girl to carve out a career based solely on her WTF story. However, this song isn't gonna do it. It's neither good enough to leave an impact, nor bad enough to laugh at. C

Selena Gomez & The Scene - Love You Like A Love Song
Selena's got some team surrounding her. It's not like she's a powerhouse singer (at all), but her brand of radio pop keeps getting better and catchier. This is another surprisingly excellent, dub-step influenced, hit. A-

Calvin Harris - Bounce (ft. Kelis)
Essentially a Kelis song wrapped in Calvin Harris production, this is a summer dance tune that certainly goes down easy. It's nothing revolutionary, but the instrumental hook works and Kelis's vocals sound nice. B+

DJ Fresh - Louder (ft. Sian Evans)
More UK dance music, though the aggressive production makes this a little less clubby than the last track. It's grown on me, but I don't think I'll be playing this beyond the Summer. B-

Six D - Best Damn Night
This was featured heavily on American reality show The Dance Scene, and that's probably the only reason I sort of like it. Now that I've heard it more often, though, I'm convinced it is a little too harried and derivative for its own good. C+

Hot Chelle Rae - Tonight Tonight
Every summer, America seems to pick one "rock" song to get obsessed about (last year it was Neon Trees' Animal, btw). This is not as good. It actually reminds me a little of a borderline novelty song from the 90's. It could be a whole lot worse, but it doesn't do a lot for me either. C+

Rizzle Kicks - Down With Trumpets
While I'm not really sold on this song, I think this rap duo has heaps of potential. They do need a better hook, though. This feels just a bit lazy, even with the nice sample and funny lyrics. B-

Rebecca Black - Friday

"Fun, fun, fun"

Well, it is Friday. I'm not usually one to get excited about viral videos or bandwagons, but this is just too good of a story to pass up. Girl pays a vanity company to write, produce and record a pop song/music video to be put on youtube. Turns out the music video's so unintentionally cringe-worthy, that it begins to rack up views by the millions (just over 16 million as of this writing) and becomes the number one trending topic on Twitter worldwide. Then, after spots on radio stations and TV shows, the track rockets up the itunes chart (#26 as of Friday morning). And the real kicker is, when interviewed Black comes off as a sweet, self-aware teenage girl. I can't help but want to root for her, even with such an obviously horrible song. But, really, is it horrible? After watching the video half a dozen times last night and laughing so hard I was crying, I've now approached the point where I realize that I'm no longer listening to it ironically. I fear it's the point of no return for me. But it does bring me a lot of joy, especially the monotone "fun fun fun" and the infamous "standing in the backseat of the car" scene. But when all the dust has settled, the true beauty of this pop song is that, when it comes down to it, it's not all that different from a Ke$ha single. Rebecca Black has, unintentionally, created the finest satire of modern pop music that we've seen in quite some time.

Rebecca Black-Friday by budwoods



(Music posted for evaluation purposes only. If you like what you hear, support the artists. Buy the single here. Follow me on twitter and facebook.