Jessie J - Price Tag

Before I start this post I would like to apologize for making a mistake earlier this year; I claimed that Katy Perry's next single would be "Peacock" (which was the rumor) when in actuallity it will be "E.T." Sorry about that.

Anyways, this song is something a little different from mainstream pop, but definetly has a chance to become something. "Price Tag" fuses together a few differnet styles such as pop, R&B, and several other sounds. Jessie J has a distinct R&B sound through the song, yet is also has bouncy pop beats which work very well together. The entire song is underlined with a lax island like tune which again adds a great effect to the song. Plus the song features a surprise appearance from B.o.B. which really seals the songs perfection at mixing many different styles.

Lyrically the song takes the path of commenting on how our world and music industry is too material and money-based. You may have heard this message before, yet it is presented in an original sounding fashion. Unlike many similar songs, "Price Tag" isn't lamenting or angry, it's simply a statement of facts and what this singer believes. Jessie states that she's paying with love tonight, which might sound cheesy and fake, actually sounds like a true sentimental feeling. The song is still bouncy and fun and makes a nice dance out of what could be a serious topic.

With the use of R&B, pop, rap, and an island beat this song successfully makes a compilations of several great forms of music. Overall the song resembles Natasha Bedingfield's "Strip Me" and VV Brown's "Shark in the Water" two of my favorites. How it will fare in the future is uncertain for me; it is defintely a great song, but these styles don't always do so great. Still it's already charted on the Billboard so I'll take that as a sign of a good future for Jessie J.

Ke$ha - Blow

Returning to the ongoing swarm of pop diva music coming out, we turn to partygirl, Ke$ha now. Let me just say that the song's name is quite an inaccurate title for something that massively sucks. I really did respect Ke$ha as a girl who could produce great dance music last year, but lately she just seems to be all out of anythng good. "Blow" offers absolutely nothing new from Ke$ha, in fact it's pretty much just a continuation of her last song "We R who We R," which in turn was really just based on a bunch of pieces from her previous hits.

"Blow" uses electronic effects, a pounding rapping/singing beat, and lyrics about dancing; sounds familiar, right? All of these features have been done by Ke$ha before and there's just no interest in them anymore. Instead of improving, Ke$ha seems to only be using her fame from "TiK ToK" to boost some substandard dance tracks. Really there's nothing wrong with "Blow" except that we've heard it all before, so there's no point to listening to the same sound for another while.

The song may achieve some success due to Ke$ha's fame and the success of her previous songs, but I doubt it will do nearly as well as her previous hits. With absolutely nothing new, exciting, or improved there is no reason why this song should get any more success that "We R who We R" didn't wrap up. There is no purpose to listening to this song, and I say that Ke$ha had better start making something new or else she's going to disappear fast. Overall "Blow" may be one of the worst songs of the year so far and is truly an epic Ke$ha FAIL!

Rihanna - S&M

So far we've seen that Rihanna has had hugh success with her darker songs like "Disturbia" and "Rude Boy" and that the first two songs off of loud did pretty good; so chances are that "S&M" is going to be a big smash this year, and possibly one of Rihanna's bigger songs. In this song Rihanna really explores a new style for her, unlike her most recent songs, "S&M" is not smooth and bouncy but rough and edgy. With a throaty lusting sound, Rihanna does a great job at pulling off the sex-central theme of the song. Still there are some things that we're familiar with, like Rihanna's blaring vocals which she's famous for. Put this all together and you get something that is sure to be a hit.

Lyrically the song isn't all fun, like previous songs from Rihanna, this one is hard and ferocious. The lyrics are clear and to the point, but not too much that the song becomes bland and pointless. However, Rihanna seems to run out of ideas for what else she can say as the song gets really repitive once you get into it. There's only so many times you can hear, "Na na na na c'mon!" before you just get sick of it. This really is a tradegy as the song had so much potenial, yet will get boring extremely quickly.

My advice to Rihanna is that she needs to slow down and take time to make her songs. She's been pumping out music constantly, no doubt trying to make as many hits as she can. But I think that all of these quickly manifactured songs lack anything to make them special and interesting; if Rihanna actually took time to create the song personally for her then maybe she could really improve herself into something bigger. Still, "S&M" is great improvemet for Rihanna and something new from her; it has a lot of potential to be something big. The question now is will she be able to surpass Britney and Gaga for biggest song of the year?

B.o.B - Don't let me Fall

B.o.B. had a ton of success last year with his first three songs, let's see if his fourth can do as good. B.o.B has collaborated with bunch of powerhouses like Bruno Mars and Hayley Williams, but with "Don't let me Fall" he's going solo. In my opinion this is a really good move since it's time for him to prove that he can stand alone and not depend on other giants. This song does a great job of displaying B.o.B's range of talent with a pretty sung chorus and the classic rapping style during the verses. His voice as a singer may not be as poweful as Williams or Mars, but he does prove that he can sing tenderly and he has more than just rap.

Stylistically the song is very well-done, making an emotional lament. The chorus is filled with great moving sorrow that it's easy to actually feel the emotions when listening to this song. During the verses B.o.B returns to his usual rap style, which is what got him so much success, so it's a nice way to connect the song. Both singing and rapping create a blue song with true feeling poured into it.

Lyrically the song his similar to the theme of his previous smash, "Airplanes." I can see the logic behind this as that was B.o.B's biggest hit and it's seems to be something he feels strongly about. On the downside, we've already heard the same sentiments in "Airplanes" so "Don't let me Fall" might be a step down. With an already exhausted idea, and no Hayley Williams to back him up it might not have been the best timing. Hopefully that small detail won't discourage people from liking the song.

This song could very well spell out B.o.B's future for 2011. After "Magic" wasn't as successful as his last two songs, he may be losing some momentum. B.o.B needs to prove that he's still as powerful as ever and it's time for him to create an independent hit. If he can pull this off I see more success for him; if not then 2010 might have been his only year of stardom.

Orianthi - Courage

So far I've posted about artists from Canada, USA, Romania, and Britain; now I can add Australia to that list. Orianthi's new song "Courage" starts out with a tender, yet powerful vocal sound that proves that Orianthi is more than a guitarist. Throughout the song her strong voice continues with the sweet tune; along with some swaying "Whoa whoa"s which I'm sure you've guessed I'm not too fond of, but they work well with the song. Orianthi still has her awesome guitar skills that she's famous for in this song making it all come together for great music.

I find the lyrics a little unclear though. At the start I can believe that she's talking about a relationship, yet by the chorus she branches out to courage and metaphors. Of course, this would be fine if there was so connection to something, yet I don't see that connection. It seems like they wanted a complex love song, but it just transformed into a bunch of cliches. One could always argue that there is a deeper meaning that you have read between the lines to see; but I feel if you really have to analyze a song to get it, it's not worth it. Songs can be complex and metaphorical, but I want to believe that the artist knows what she's talking about.

This doesn't ruin the song though. It's still sweet and the lyrics do make sense for the most part. Orianthi displays that she's not just the guitarist from "This is it" she actually is her own artist. The question is, will she remain a one hit wonder or will "Courage" become her second hit?

Shawn Desman - Electric

Taking a break from bigtime divas to give a little time to a Canadian male artist, Shawn Desman. There's one major problem with this song that I need to get off of my chest right off the top; let me put it this way, Desman's younger brother recently released a song called "Automatic." The songs sound quite similar and both describe as girl with an unrelated adjective (automatic or electric), of course the reason for this is that both songs follow a common dance song formula. "Electric" offers nothing particularily new from Desman or from anything in the dance genre. The lyrics speak of dancing with a girl, nothing special there. You could argue that describing someone as electric is pretty unique, but artists often describe women with interesting vocabulary and "Electric" doesn't have much depth in this comparison. The lyrics really don't seem too intelligent are just repeated over and over again. Overall the song is typical Shawn Desman and typical dance.

It's not all bad though, stylistically the song seems quite cleverly done. With the use electronic effects and sound altering the song achieves and creative interesting feel. The chorus is catchy, and musically it's more unique than other parts of the song. With the effects it creates a bounchy, uneven swinging sound that works quite well. So the song is quite danceable and fun, but if you're looking for something new and unique you won't find it here.

Natalia Kills - Mirrors

Yeah, I know I promised that I'd do a post on Britney Spears' "Hold it Against Me" but I found someone else much more worth my time. All you need to know about the new Britney song is that it's the classic heavy dance sound that she has; hit material but nothing too interesting.

Anyways, onto the main event. "Mirrors" has been out for a while in Europe, but I've just heard it recently. Let me say that Natalia Kills has come up with something that is much more powerful than anything Rihanna, Xtina, or even Lady Gaga could come up with. "Mirrors" is a strong S&M sex song with true passionate feeling that few artists can actually make believable. By combining a rock base with poppy dance vocals the song is incredibly catchy and danceable. By the bridge Natalia has entered a sexy chant with and underlaying repitition from the chorus.

Instantly the song can draw you with Natalia's fearless attitude and the immediate dancy sound. The lyrics are direct with the message though, and not some manufactured dance attempt at sounding provocative. The song clearly means sex, but it can still make a great tune with it which is really impressive. I'm still hoping this song will get realized internationally as the masterpiece that it is, but it's getting unlikely considering how long it's been out.

Also, more divas to look out for in the near future, Ke$ha with "Blow", Rihanna with "S&M", Lady Gaga with "Born this Way", and Katy Perry with "Peacock". I probably won't get around to all of them, but just keep an eye out for all these songs that will no doubt be huge this year.