My Top 30 Songs of 2009 – Number 10
10) Keri Hilson - Knock You Down
Keri Hilson has been around for a while so I don't understand exactly why she's nominated for Best New Artist for 2010, but I guess it's because she hasn't really been in the limelight. I mean she was in the Timbaland mega hit "The Way I Are."
Anywho, I found her fourth single "Knock You Down" to be amazing. Any time that you add Ne-Yo to a song it is likely to get better("Make Me Better," "Hate That I Love You"). Any time you have Kanye West in a song it is likely to get better ("American Boy," "Run this Town," "Swagga Like Us"). So I guess you multiply the whole thing by four.
Seriously though, in the music video, I wouldn't have a tough decision at all: pick Ne-Yo, he never interrupted Taylor Swift. And he's a snazzy dresser. Either way, I found the music video to be simplistic and direct; I have no real problems about that. I don't get why Keri continued to fall for the duration of the song. The music video did annoy me when they started popping up photo-references in Kanye's section.
If you've never seen the video:
I do think that "Knock You Down" is a good HD friendly video though with split screen and the like. Sadly, VH1 never plays their music videos in HD and Palladia HD only plays crap.
My Top 30 Songs of 2009 – Number 17
17) Wonder Girls - Nobody
Finally? I think anyone who knew me knew that "Nobody" would appear on my list. I've been listening to this song since 2008. I really don't think the song gets old. The song has a simplistic sound to it with it's Motown-esque style combined with it's 80s synth-pop love. It should have easily hit the charts with the undying love of their fans, addictive dance, and exposure from the Jonas Brothers, but really it hasn't. What a shame.
I thought the music video was great. A short less than 6 minute version of Dreamgirls. The English version basically added a few extra clips where they got to sing in English but truthfully speaking, there was no difference. Hell, even JYP's performance wasn't translated into English. I'm just hoping that the Wonder Girls can break away from the whole matchy-matchy outfits, or at least the 60s-Girl Group look soon. They have the stereotypical Asian look, but it's cool. Go back to the "Tell Me" fashion where the girls all looked like individuals.
The song did get a small boost being on So You Think You Can Dance recently. It was sad that they were actually dubbed over post-taping. Either way, they're gaining exposure in America and I hope that the English version of "Tell Me" turns out to be more successful.
Random factoid? The Wonder Girls are the first Korean group to hit the Billboard charts.
My Top 30 Songs of 2009 – Number 22
22) Pink - Please Don't Leave Me
Like I mentioned with Owl City at 23, "Please Don't Leave Me" has one strong music video based off of the Stephen King classic, Misery. I found this song to be really good top 40 fodder, because it then ended up on the Lite FM stations. Why you may ask? Well because the Lite stations were all intimidated by the "Fresh" station. So they countered by playing Pink. (And groups like The Fray, but I thought that Pink's inclusion was more interesting because she has "edge") Apparently because the Lite stations think that she's what the young'uns listen to.
Either way, the song was one of those that always seemed to be in rotation, which I'm not sure is good or bad. The song got annoying by November, but then the Christmas music started playing. I hope the radio stations reevaluate their music line-up by 2010.
I was convinced that I should pick "Please Don't Leave Me" over "Sober" because of the longevity. If I had to pick the better song, I would have easily picked "Sober." But since I'm picking the song that made the most impact on me, it's "Please Don't Leave Me."
My Top 30 Songs of 2009 – Number 23
23) Owl City - Fireflies
There's what I call a "College Radio" sound to Owl City's "Fireflies." The cheesy lyrics (I get a thousand hugs from 10,000 lightning bugs? Did this song also use the term "Foxtrot?"), weird slightly auto-tuned voices, synth sounds, and techno undertones make it college fodder.
The biggest thing that vaulted this song to the lower 20s was it's music video. All the little robot thingies just going around was a creative direction. I guess with the song being about fireflies, I expected them to go in a different direction. Tinker toys was not the first thing that was in my head. The whole room looks like if I went to the arcade every day and won tickets and slowly purchased every little electronic item. ... Well, instead of me buying stuffed toys. I Betcha that I would have something of value if I bought the robots and trains.
Granted, this song probably couldn't go any higher on the list because it's slightly annoying if you listen to it a lot. The guy is kinda whiny, a little too emo for me. But I can take it in doses.
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