Justin Bieber - Beauty and a Beat

I first heard this a while ago, actually, and my first thought was, this isn't the kind of song that I'd expect as a single.  Yet, turns out I was wrong, and after listening to the song a couple more times, I relaxed that it actually will work pretty well on the radio.

Justin's more dancy than ever now with this song.  Not that there's anything wrong with that, this album has offered a surprising amount of diversity for Bieber, and he might as well try the style that everyone is loving right now.  For the most part the song sounds like a lot of the dance stuff we've heard before, but Justin's voice still manages to sound tender and sweet.  Something that is always welcome when pretty much all the major stars are female, or rougher style bands.  I feel that the song really breaks out thanks to it's dubstep style beat that interludes between the verses.  It's something unique and a lot of fun compared to the more generic eletro-beats out there.

The song doesn't shine too much in the lyric department.  It's about two things we've heard before plenty of times, a beautiful girl and dancing.  Justin isn't really trying to sound romantic with his voice this time, but it's not like he can really sell emotion in his voice anyways.  Might as well just focus on sounding catchy.

We also get a verse from Nicki Minaj, which I feel isn't exactly at her. best.  She's spilling out rhymes that make little sense, and doesn't really add anything to the song.  I feel that they could have done without her, or at least done it a little better.  It just feels like a last minute tack-on to give the song more attention.

There's no reason why this song won't be a hit.  Justin Bieber has always had success with his songs, and this  one fits in exactly with the market today.  It probably won't be a huge smash, but since when has anything Justin Bieber's done been a huge smash?   It'll be a fun song to listen to, and that's good enough.

P!nk - Try

P!nk's got a couple of signature sounds.  There's her rough side, and there's her party side, both which were somewhat present in "Blow Me One Last Kiss," but she's also got her incredibly vulnerable side which is what "Try" is all about.

The song has a lot of similarities to her previous hit, "Perfect."  It's a reflective piece that is meant to boost one's spirit.  Unlike "Perfect" though, P!nk isn't speaking to anyone but herself.  This is her song, showing all of her insecurities, but telling herself that she's still going to try.  It shows a lot of inner tenderness that makes the song really beautiful.  It doesn't quite have the same raw power that was present in "Perfect," but that is a hard feat to top.  The song is no less beautiful, though, the feeling is clearly still there.  It took me a few listens to really connect with it,  but once I did, I felt a beautiful emotion within the words.

The lyrics are perfectly done.  It's a simple song, while delivering a strong story.  P!nk says exactly what she means, "Where there is desire, there's bound to be a flame.  Where there is a flame, someone's bound to get burned.  But just because it burns doesn't mean I'm gonna die.  You gotta get up and try."  It really emphasizes the album's title, "The Truth About Love."  This is a universal truth about love, and she's saying that you can work through it.  Much of the song is just a repetition of the phrase, "And try, and try, and try.  Gotta get up and try."  Yet this only reinforces the strength.  The repetition shows her determination, she's not going to back down, she's just going to keep trying.

The song is beautiful, and is bound to be another one P!nk's hits.  She's got a lot of competition right now, but no one can really match her sound, her fragile emotion, and her strength.  I would be surprised if this song does not go to number one.

Bruno Mars - Locked Out of Heaven

This month has proven to be a major turning point for 2012 in music.  We already had Christina Aguilera, Taylor Swift, Carly Rae Jepsen, and Ke$ha making big moves.  And just this week we've got new Adele and of course, Bruno Mars.

Bruno is taking a step in the right direction with "Locked Out of Heaven."   He's picking up the pace with his song and turning it into something that could be really easy to dance around to.  Yet he's still keeping it true to himself; he's still got signs of his signature style that makes it unique.  In the end it's the best of the best; we've got Bruno's smooth and bouncy vocals, put into a tracks that builds into something intense, all backed by a recurring, "Ah yeah, yeah, yeah!"

Lyrically the song uses biblical allusions in reference to sex.  I suppose I wouldn't be against that, but the problem I find is that it seems indecisive of whether the song is subtle or explicit.  On the one hand, lyrics like "Open up your gates," could be taken innocently or with a sexual reference in mind.  On the other hand, "Your sex takes me to paradise," doesn't really leave a lot to the imagination.  If you're going to fill a song with metaphors, I find that it's better to keep at least some ambiguity just to keep the effect alive.

All in all, I'm finding the song to be pretty enjoyable.  It's catchy, it's fresh, and it proves that Bruno Mars has what it takes to survive right now.  I think it's going to be another hit, but he seriously has a lot of competition, so who knows how well he'll fare against them.

In other news, I've been watching season 2 of X Factor.  Last season I was very devoted to it and spent a lot of time talking about my favorite moments.  With X Factor it's really easy to pick a favorite and cling onto them; you bite your nails when they could leave, and you cheer when they survive.  This season, my favorite girl is CeCe Frey.  I just love her obnoxious confidence, it's a really refreshing break from all the sob stories and under-confident contestants.  And she's got a really strong voice too, so she proves that just because you're cocky, doesn't automatically mean you're a terrible singer.   It also doesn't hurt that her leopard facepaint looks very sexy.  She survived the first episode of Boot Camp, now I'll be praying that she keeps on surviving.

Carly Rae Jepsen - This Kiss

No question about it, 2012 has been the year for Carly Rae Jepsen.  Of course, Canadians like myself have been listening to her for years now; perhaps you'll recall that I posted about "Call Me Maybe" months before it hit America...eh, eh.    It's Carly Rae's cute, bubbly sound that people love and she manages to keep that sound while she takes on a new sound as well for "This Kiss."

Right off the bat, that puts Miss Jepsen ahead in my books; she's not afraid to experiment with something a little different.  "This Kiss" stays true to the dance sound that's popular right now, while mixing in some 80s style synth-beats.  The song is designed really well, so the electric style beats mix right in with Carly Rae's voice and gives a pounding effect to the words she sings.  It's definitely something that'll catch your attention.

If you're a loyal Carly Rae fan that perhaps you'll remember when "Tug of War" was her big hit.  Well "This Kiss" puts her the opposite shoe on her foot lyrically.  This time she's the one out screwing other guys, while she leaves her guy oblivious.  It's not really a dirty song, though, it still keeps that cute innocence.  Carly Rae reminds us that she knows what she's doing is wrong, yet she just can't resist. "I wish it didn't have to feel like this," she laments while still keeping the song fun and upbeat.  These lyrics have meaning and a story to tell.  You can tell that there really is thought behind these words.  How else you explain the fact that she rhymes 'sentimental' with 'detrimental?'

"This Kiss" really is an awesome song that is sure to keep on boosting Carly Rae Jepsen's unstoppable rise.  Like "Call Me Maybe" it's giving something people are sure to like, while offering something that you haven't heard a billion times already.  It's cute, it's fun, it's the kind of song that just so easy to love.  I think this is sure sign that Carly Rae isn't going anywhere.

It's so nice to know that Canadian (or other countries) artists aren't always confined to their country.  I always thought Carly Rae was one of those gems that the rest of the world would never find, yet here we are.  Now if only someone would bring Dragonette over to America, I'd be set.  

Rihanna - Diamonds

Rihanna.  We have heard that name nonstop for the past four years...at least.  She doesn't know how to take a break and so she just keeps pumping out the same sounding songs over and over and over again until you just want to slam your head against the steering wheel whenever her voice comes on the radio.  Occasionally, though, we get a diamond in the blur of repetitive, blaring dance tracks.  And "Diamonds" is aptly named, because it is one of these gems.

"Diamonds" isn't the kind of dance song that Rihanna has been giving us lately.  It's still a pop song, yet she slows it down a bit and gives us something graceful.  You may remember "California King Bed" which I thought was lovely, but definitely didn't match the success of her other hits.  "Diamonds" is a similar song, yet it adds much of the strength and excitement that "California King Bed" lacked.  The chorus may be slower than what you're used to be, but it just has so much power in the smooth vocals.

Throughout the song Rihanna repeats the phrase "Shine bright like a diamond" with a playful, childish tone.  At first I thought it was annoying, yet I realized that this is the perfect final piece to the song.  While she's got you hooked with her beautiful singing, this little verse is the part that's going to burrow into your head and make you remember the song.

"We Found Love" was the kind of song that repeated a sentence so many times that it lost all meaning.  "Diamonds" is repetitive too, yet it keeps the meaning to the song.  There is such a strong emotion behind these words that it really does keep the beautiful every time.  Plus the verses contain poetic lines that actually sound interesting and make you want to listen to what she's saying.

While I could still use a break from Rihanna, I'm glad that she is giving us something a little different.  The ballad type song is still popular, and Rihanna takes this while mixing in her own style to make the kind of song that is sure to appeal to many fans.  I am very impressed with "Diamonds" and I think it may be one of Rihanna's best songs recently.

Ke$ha - Die Young

Throughout all of 2012 I've been saying how it's been a  boring year for music.  Well all of sudden, it seems like all the biggest names have decided that it's time to dominate again.  Today I'm going to try to cover three of the songs that stood out to be in the past week.  Starting with the one that, while it's good, probably had the weakest effect on me.

Remember "Born This Way?"  Remember how Gaga hyped it up, saying it was going to be a revolutionary hit?  Well, the song was good, but did not match my expectations from that.  And here we go again; this time it's Ke$ha who claimed that she would be reinventing pop.  And then she goes and releases a song that doesn't even reinvent herself.

This song is exactly what Ke$ha has always sounded like.  It's got an autotuned chorus, while she raps through the verses.  The lyrics are about partying and the like, sound familiar   Basically, we waited over a year to get TiK ToK part two.  Although, it's not all a repeat of herself; she also borrowed the same guitar riff that you've heard throughout "Good Feeling."  As if you didn't have that stuck in your head long enough.

It's not a bad song, though.  We have waited long enough that just hearing the familiar Ke$ha sound is nice again.  There's a reason she's been topping charts, and that reason should carry onto this song.  Ke$ha should keep in mind, though, that getting people's hopes up can lead to big disappointment.

So, in short.  The song is the kind of dance-track Ke$ha specializes in.  If you like that style, then you should like "Die Young."  And maybe Ke$ha will reinvent pop later on, you never know.  But so far, all we've got is her recycling pop.

Christina Aguilera - Your Body

2012 has been a bit of an uninteresting year for music.  I'm not even sure what the song of the summer actually was, a lot of people are saying, "Call Me Maybe," but I remember listening to that song way back last year.  Personally, I'd pick either "Wild Ones" or "Payphone."  But anyways, it looks likes things are seriously picking up this fall and winter. We'll be getting hits from Ke$ha, Lady Gaga, P!nk, Nicki Minaj, No Doubt, Nelly Furtado, and of course Christina Aguilera.  I feels like forever since rumors of a song called, "Love Ya Body" were floating around, well looks like it's finally here, only now just called, "Your Body."

Christina is coming out of a really rocky zone.  Her "Bionic" album was a much bigger failure than expected, and it all went downhill from there.  She's making a comeback now and this is the big single representing that.  It's powerful, it's got that really raw Christina sound that she's famous for.  She's back in action and not holding anything back.

The song moves quickly at first, but really breaks out at the chorus with a pounding beat.  Rough strength is put into everyone word as they're drilled into your head.  It's definitely a good strategy as it's so easy to get that rhythm stuck in your head and find yourself humming or bobbing to it throughout the day.

The lyrics also take a pretty strong approach.  Whether your listening to the explicit version or the clean version, it's still very clear what the meaning is.  "All I want to do is love your body." What else could that mean?  She's not making any unusual euphemisms, she's just shouting it out plain and simple.  Like everything about the song, it's bursting with confidence and strength.

The one thing that gets me about the song, though, is how formulaic it is.  There's nothing particularly new or unique brought out here.  I'm not going to drag on this, though, since she's coming from rock bottom, so it makes sense that she'd want to stick with the winning formulaic.  It's still a great song, just not as interesting as it could be.

This is going to be a big hit for Aguilera, the question is can she stand up to the massive competition?  It's going to be tough, but can she hold her own against the likes of Carly Rae Jepsen, Ke$ha, Lady Gaga, and various others?  Only time will tell.