Pop Music Notes

After a wintry start to the week here in Denver, it’s a pretty glorious mid-winter day, with temps well above average, and bright sunny skies to reflect off of the leftover snow. All you really need on a day like this is some good music in the car, and if you know me, you KNOW I’ve got that covered!

– Paulo Nutini “10/10” – Every time that this song comes up on Radio 1, I instantly turn up the radio and start beating my steering wheel into submission. There’s just something so upbeat and positive about this song that I can’t imagine how you would be mad about anything while listening to it. And in the “what did he say” category, I honestly thought he was singing “can’t get out of debt” for the first 20 or so times I heard the song.

– Cheryl Cole “Parachute” – Okay, I concede defeat. “3 Words” had some of the lamest lyrics of 2009, and “Fight For This Love” had a brilliant track with a limp vocal delivery, so I figured that Cheryl Cole would not make it to single #3. Oh, how wrong I was! “Parachute” is the first good song that Cheryl has released that matches her good-but-not-great voice. Look for this one to make it three in a row for Ms. Cole in the UK Top 10 within a couple of weeks (it debuted at #46 this week), and if Jay-Z and will.i.am have their way, wait for the inevitable US release as well. [Ed. note – it appears that Ne-Yo is on the bandwagon as well]

– Jason DeRulo “In My Head” – There are songs that grow on you, and then there are ones that smack you upside the head and demand that you love them instantly, and “In My Head” earns the respect it demands. The production is a bit more stripped than many of its counterparts, and for the first time in a long time, I catch myself wondering what this song would sound like live. I could see a band just rocking out to the chorus on this track.

– Jay Sean “Do You Remember” – I already issued my mea culpa for sleeping on “Down“, but that hasn’t been an issue with Jay Sean’s follow-up. He may have Sean Paul (sounding more inspired than he did on his own recent release that died a quick death) and Lil’ Jon (continuing his slide away from gettin’ crunk) on the track, but Jay has found a successful formula, and he’s already taken his second trip into the Top 10 with “Do You Remember”.