Michael S. Pascua
Freelancer, Grad Student, Singer, Y-List Celebrity
top30

Here’s the full list of songs on my Top 30 of 2009. I guess I really didn’t reinvent the wheel much now did I? There was a part of me that was like, “oh crap” when the official lists started showing up. But it doesn’t matter. I like this list and I’m happy how the [...]

Remember on my top 30, Beyonce’s Single Ladies was six. I figure I point other videos I love as much as the Avant Garde Clown performance of Single Ladies. Single Man: Of course I can’t mention He-Wolf without pointing out the guy who did the whole Single Ladies performance. This guy is intense and he [...]

1) Sean Kingston – Fire Burning A fat faux-reggae kid singing to a sample to “Stand By Me.” Can you believe it? On paper, Sean Kingston didn’t seem like a big candidate to be a hit. I mean Sean Paul had sexy lyrics and Shaggy had that muffled voice. Nonetheless, he’s succeeded and kudos. He’s [...]

2) Lady GaGa – Papparazzi Unlike many artists, it was hard to pinpoint which one song would represent Lady GaGa. “Poker Face,” “LoveGame,” and “Bad Romance” were all strong representations of her sound, but I think the VMA performance of “Paparazzi” was what put that song over the top. The fact that it was an [...]

Before I mention numbers 2 and 1, I wanted to point out one of my favorite DJs. DJ Earworm. Amazing work. Here’s the United State of Pop 2009 (Blame it on the Pop). I will ironically mention neither number 2 or 1 are on this list if you’re being attentive. I will mention several songs [...]

3) Pitbull – I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho) Pitbull always knows how to pull out a club anthem for the summer. “I know you want me” is no exception to this rule. Sure he may have borrowed/stolen a sample (when doesn’t he really? I mean the first time I remember him, “Culo” was [...]

4) Shakira – She-Wolf She-Wolf brought the return of Shakira from a few year break. I wondered if she still had it in her, but she proved me wrong. The song has techno friendliness, while still maintaining that sexual energy of Shakira. Hell, I liked the song even before I saw the music video. The [...]

5) The Veronicas – Untouched The thing about “Untouched” was the fact that the song came very early in 2009, so it would clearly be looked over for many people. The song was originally out in 2007 and slowly gained momentum until it peaked at 17 on the Billboard charts. I love it’s heavy pop-rock [...]

6) Beyonce – Single Ladies Clearly first off: the obvious reason that this song made it so high up was the amazing video. Kanye was kind of right, she did have one of the best videos of all time, it will probably be remembered for a long time. The best part is that the music [...]

7) Black Eyed Peas – I Gotta Feeling “I Gotta Feeling” was a return to that classic Black Eyed Peas formula of having a fun time with friends, partying, and possibly drinking. The beat is just catchy as hell, and one even ignores the string section that opens the song. Clearly any reference that would [...]

8 ) Regina Spektor – Laughing With Love, Love, Love Regina Spektor. I’ve been listening to her since Soviet Kitsch and she’s been growing and maturing ever since. It was actually hard for me to figure out what the hell her singles were though. I like listening to her latest album, Far, pretty much from [...]

9) Taylor Swift – You Belong With Me Taylor Swift blew up into epic proportions in the 2008-2009 era. Fueled by her cute looks, harmless lyrics, and overall wholesome attitude, Taylor Swift basically can do no wrong. Well… unless she spirals into some skanky, drug and alcohol fueled demise. Which would both be heartbreaking and [...]

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, [...]

11) Kelly Clarkson – Already Gone Kelly Clarkson had a bumpy road with “Already Gone” : she was pretty much pissed off at One Republic’s lead singer Ryan Tedder because the song basically has a similar melody to Beyonce’s “Halo.” The song was weird on the charts, but it did seem to gain some momentum [...]

12) Muse – Uprising I was first exposed to Muse late, at the VMAs. I will admit that I wasn’t impressed by the performance at all. Kinda boring actually, but that’s in comparison to Pink flying around on a trapeze, Lil Mama crashing the Jay-Z performance, hundreds of Single Ladies or Lady GaGa bleeding. So [...]

13) 3OH!3 – Don’t Trust Me Any song that makes a reference to Helen Keller is good in my book. Any song that people mess up the reference is good in my book. I’ve heard so many incorrect references (Talking with lips, head, and anything that rhymes with chips). The song is very catchy and [...]

14) Jordin Sparks – Battlefield One of the most annoying and yet catchy songs of the year. The repetitive-ness of the song was amazing. Seriously how many times can you say “Battlefield” and “Get Your Armor”? Yet the song was so damn catchy that I couldn’t stop listening to it. I thought the music video [...]

15) Britney Spears – Womanizer There aren’t that many current songs of Britney that I’m a big fan of. “Womanizer” was happily a mix of classic Britney with a little bit of electronic edge. Britney doesn’t have the voice to carry a song, I don’t think she ever did, but with the event of things [...]

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16) Lily Allen – Not Fair I was happy to hear when Lily Allen was releasing another album. The Fear was a strong release, but I thought the title track was okay, nothing groundbreaking. There was a lot more nuances to the rest of the album. I was happy to hear that Lily Allen/her management [...]

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 [...]

18) Mariah Carey – Obsessed I don’t believe that “Obsessed” became the hit that Mariah wanted it to be. It was her whole anti-Eminem song, trying to be like a rapper with her rap war. Unlike “Touch My Body” or “It’s Like Dat,” the song wasn’t as much of an impact for the introduction of [...]

19) Franz Ferdinand – No You Girls There’s something just cool about Franz Ferdinand. Could it be the band name? Maybe their lead singer’s vocal abilities? Or maybe, just maybe it’s the combination of electronic elements they merge with a rock sound. Franz Ferdinand continued their mathematics combination with “No You Girls.” The song is [...]

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20) Pussycat Dolls – Hush Hush; Hush Hush The original version of “Hush Hush” was slow and boring. Someone woke up and realized that most of the Pussycat Dolls’ songs have some strong beat to it. Even a slow song like “I Hate This Part” has a bit of a driving beat. Luckily, someone decided [...]

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21) Jason Mraz – Lucky (Ft. Colbie Callait) The fact that “Lucky” made my list may just be the fact that Jason Mraz’s music has this carefree nature. Jason is happily going an opposite direction as music is today, while catchy, his music isn’t overproduced. It helps that the “Bubbly” Colbie Callait has that same [...]

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 [...]

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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 [...]

* Asher Roth – I Love College I was convinced that this song was actually released in 2008, but I can’t say how much I like “I Love College” by Asher Roth. The guy sounds like Eminem when he raps, but the fact of the matter is that I doubt that Eminem even finished high [...]