2013 was a year where pop music seemed to have an identity crisis. It wasn’t EDM, it wasn’t alt-rock, it wasn’t bubblegum…it was a mix, and in my eyes, that’s what pop music should be. The following list of 50 songs should reflect some of that diversity, although I’m sure I’ve missed a few gems along the way. Enjoy!
50. XO/Beyonce
49. Love and War/Tamar Braxton
48. Safe and Sound/Capital Cities
47. I Love It/Icona Pop
46. Hey Brother/Avicii
45. Need U (100%) (feat. A*M*E)/Duke Dumont
44. Thinking About You (feat. Ayah Marar)/Calvin Harris
43. Treasure/Bruno Mars
42. Night Train/Jason Aldean
41. Stay (Feat. Mikky Ekko)/Rihanna
40. Falling/Haim
39. Somebody Loves You/Betty Who
38. In Your Care/Bright Light Bright Light
37. The Mother We Share/CHVRCHES
36. Overdose/Ciara
35. Get Lucky (feat. Pharrell Williams)/Daft Punk
34. My Love Is For Real/Nomi Madness?
33. Broken Parts/Måns Zelmerlöw
32. Pretty/The Weeknd
31. Play It Again/Luke Bryan
30. Hang on 2 Your Love (feat. Durand Bernarr)/Sam Sparro
29. Nuclear/Destiny’s Child
28. I Hope/Rebecca Ferguson
27. My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark/Fall Out Boy
26. Part II (On the Run) (feat. Beyonce)/Jay Z
25. Love Me Again/John Newman
24. Follow Your Arrow/Kacey Musgraves
23. Atmosphere/Kaskade
22. Love Again/Pentatonix
21. The Apple/V V Brown
20. I Was a Fool/Tegan and Sara
19. Blurred Lines (feat. T.I. & Pharrell)/Robin Thicke
18. Dream Girl/SHINee
17. Baby I/Ariana Grande
16. Hurt You/Toni Braxton & Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds
15. Classic/MKTO
14. #Beautiful (feat. Miguel)/Mariah Carey
13. Let Her Go/Passenger
12. Mirrors/Justin Timberlake
11. Burning Bridges/OneRepublic
10. Traveling Alone/Jason Isbell (not charted in US)
Mountains rough this time of year
Close the highway down
They don’t warn the town
When Southeastern came out mid-year, the raves were instant and continuous. I had no choice but to check it out, and for once I agreed with the level of praise being heaped on it. While a lot of people have identified “Elephant” as their favorite song, but I was instantly hooked by the simple yet elegant tale of a man on the road with so much to share but no one to share it with. Sometimes the best stories have the fewest words.
9. How Long Will I Love You/Ellie Goulding (not charted in US)
How long will I love you
As long as stars are above you
And longer if I can
It took a bit of time for me to warm up to the moodier vibe of Halcyon when it came out last year, but the album grew on me. “Anything Can Happen” SHOULD have been bigger in the US, but it just scraped the top fifty and then disappeared. When the deluxe version of Halcyon (entitled Halcyon Days) came out, I had already heard “Burn,” and in any other circumstance that song would have been on this list. But then I heard Ellie’s cover of the Waterboys’ “How Long Will I Love You” and it was instantly clear what song would be my favorite. So simple and yet emotionally complex. Near perfection.
8. Do What U Want (feat. R. Kelly)/Lady Gaga (#13 US to date)
I could be the drink in your cup
I could be the green in your blunt
Your pusher man
Yeah I got what you want
I stand by my belief that ARTPOP was sabotagued by the Gaga PR machine, not by the material. While not “art,” ARTPOP is another solid collection of hook-laden pop songs that don’t deviate far from the “Bad Romance” school of pop. However, “Do What U Want” is amazing in both its diversity and its genius pitting Gaga with R&B lothario R. Kelly. Yes, the Christina Aguilera version brings something different to the table that makes it work, but it pales in comparison the original version with Kelly vamping on the intro and providing some well-placed diversity on an otherwise uniformly-sounding album. And let’s not even get into what I thought R. Kelly was singing on first listen…
7. Vocal/Pet Shop Boys (#1 Dance US)
I like the singer
Hes lonely and strange
Every track has a vocal
And that makes a change
The Pet Shop Boys became the PSB I have been missing for a long time on Electric, and no song on that album captured my attention more than the house anthem “Vocal.” From the first time I heard it, I felt a kinship with the clubgoes so well portrayed by lead singer Neil Tennant. That was the club I wanted to be in, those were the people I wanted to be there with, and “Vocal” was the track I wanted to hear in the middle of the dance floor.
6. Move/Little Mix (not charted in US)
Get your back off the wall
Don’t you get comfortable
Looking so hot
I think that I might fall
Little Mix made some noise in the US in 2013, earning the highest debut for a UK girl group with their debut album when it hit the Billboard Top 200 at number four in May of this year. The single “Wings” went Gold, but then things slowed down a bit. 2014 is looking to be a bigger year for them with the promotion of “Move” kicking in for the US after having been top five in parts of Europe, including a tour with Demi Lovado. The sparse production works well with the ladies’ harmonies, and in a world where “Blurred Lines” succeeded in part by sounding different from everything else on the radio, “Move” may have a good shot here with a little bit of luck.
5. Hold On, We’re Going Home (feat. Majid Jordan)/Drake (#4 US)
Cause you’re a good girl and you know it
You act so different around me
Cause you’re a good girl and you know it
I know exactly who you could be
When Drake dropped “Started From the Bottom” early in 2013, it seemed like he might have had something to prove. Despite consistently being the biggest selling artist in the rap game, talk about privilege and being soft will inevitably follow Drake through his career. Drake railed against the perception that he had an easy road of it, and “Started” became an instant hit. So of course he followed it with the most pop-sounding song of his career “Hold On, We’re Going Home.” He may not have the smoothest voice in the game, but he knows how to use what he’s got. Big props for bringing the super-talented Majid Jordan along for the ride as well.
4. Brave/Sara Bareilles (#26 US to date)
Say what you wanna say
And let the words fall out
Honestly I wanna see you be brave
The first time I heard “Brave” back in April (wow…that long?), I was smitten. The song feels different than most of her material because of its lack of romantic content, and yet it feels like it fits in with the whole of her discography. Yes, it’s a song of empowerment for the downtrodden and bullied, but the song avoids being a cliche simply by being blunt. Sara was rewarded for writing a pop anthem by being nominated for two Grammys including Album of the Year.
3. Flatline/Mutya Keisha Siobhan (not charted in US)
Stay gone, darling I won’t hang on
I can feel the flatline, that oughta be a wave
Oh no, darling I can’t hang on
I can feel the flatline, that oughta be a wave
The Origibabes came back with what I felt was a sure-fire hit. Sparse, slinky production, combined with the harmonies that their fans came to love and even expect. Sure thing, right? Wrong. The song just barely cracked the top 50 in the UK, debuting at number fifty and then dropping like a stone. The rumors are flying about their next move, but let’s hope their record company can do a bit more to help them connect with the listening public and grant them the return to greatness that they have been flirting with.
2. Royals/Lorde (#1 US)
And we’ll never be royals (royals)
It don’t run in our blood
That kind of lux just ain’t for us
We crave a different kind of buzz
When a song stays at number one for nine weeks, you’d expect to be sick of it, right? That didn’t happen with “Royals,” at least for me anyway. It’s been a long time since a song this fresh sounding connected with listeners in such a big way, and follow-ups “Team” and “Tennis Court” are following the royal lead. Some took it as a dis on hip-hop, but for me it was just a statement that we’re doing our own thing, no matter what the media or our peers say.
1. Elevate/St. Lucia (not charted in US)
I don’t know how you do it
But somehow you’ve always will be there
And there’s nothing to it
But somehow you’ve always understand
When I saw St. Lucia open for Ellie Goulding in February, I knew I’d stumbled on someone who wasn’t afraid to grab the 80s and drag them into the 2010s. Little did I know just how great it would sound once a full-length album was released. When the Night as a whole is a sonic blast of sun, sand and shades, but no track on that record shined brighter than “Elevate.”
Good – The Ting Tings appear to be getting that long-promised breakthrough, as “That’s Not My Name” breaks into the pop radio Top 40 (#39 at the moment). “Shut Up and Let Me Go” also made the Top 40, although just barely. Let’s hope “Name” has a little more momentum to make it happen. If all goes well, I will be seeing them live at the beginning of April here in Denver.
Good – I’m looking forward to upcoming new releases from the Pet Shop Boys (just pre-ordered the double disc at 
There are some pretty cool things going on here in the non-virtual world, so updates won’t be coming quite as regularly for the next week. Without going into too much detail, there are a couple of cool professional/academic challenges that need to be met, along with a top-secret mission in the personal life that will be accomplished by Sunday night. I’m hoping that I can fill y’all in next week. [BTW, the clock is in tribute to PSB, who are now up for pre-orders for their upcoming CD. It’s a good time to be a fan of pop music.]
What I would like to mention really quick is that, while folks were initially talking about Alison Krauss & Robert Plant, Jennifer Hudson, and Sugarland being the recipients of bumps, it looks like Adele really came out the big winner. Krauss & Plant’s current #1 is a given, but it’s been a long time since I’ve seen a Best New Artist pick up this much momentum off of a Grammy win without having significant success prior to the show. After having been blown away by the response that she received off of the Saturday Night Live performance, it looks like the record company did a perfect job of positioning her to peak at just the right time. The challenge at this point is how do you capitalize on this, because I’ve felt all along that “Chasing Pavements” was the only song that really stood a chance on pop radio here in America. Could “Hometown Glory” be a hit? I hope so, but I just don’t know.
So pop music in 2008 was a mixed bag of trends. Every time you thought that something good was in the air, another annoying development would pop up. Here’s a brief list of some trends that drove me batty or gave me a glimmer of hope over the past 12 months.
Bad: Flooding the Market with Singles – Taylor Swift, I’m coming for you, and I’m packing a CD case and a restraining order. iTunes had so much luck with the Jonas Brothers in advancing tracks to their fans prior to the full-length release of “A Little Bit Longer” that the formula was rolled out for the likes of Fall Out Boy, Kanye West, and Ms Swift. By the time “Fearless” was released in November, six of her singles had debuted in the top 20 of the Hot 100, breaking the Jonas Brothers’ record of five debuts in one calendar year. 
Good: The Quick Release of Hot Singles – Case in point, the new Leona Lewis single for “Run”, which is already up on iTunes, despite it being pretty clear that the record label here was going for at least one more single off the original US version of “Spirit”. Record companies have the flexibility to throw things up for public consumption with little lead time, and the consumer wins when that occurs. Think back to American Idol, and the demand for live versions of hot performances. By the following evening, those fans could have a professional-grade recording on their iPod, and I think everyone wins in that equation…
Good: Pet Shop Boys Get Respect – If I had mentioned Girls Aloud and Pet Shop Boys working together six months ago, most of you would have laughed yourselves into epileptic fits. Flash forward to November ’08, and the one track on the new GA CD getting universal respect is “The Loving Kind”, co-written by…the Pet Shop Boys. Add to that their work with the Killers on this year’s Christmas track, and their recognition for Outstanding Contribution to Music in February from the Brit Awards, and you have what’s shaping up to be a banner year for PSB. Now, if we could just get another hit record out of them here in the States.
Bad: Too Much of Too Few – What do these names have in common: T.I., Beyonce, T-Pain, Britney Spears, Ne-Yo, Lil Wayne, and Kanye West. Why, all of these folks had multiple top 10 hits at the same time during some point of 2008. While it’s great to maximize your promotional investment with concurrent singles focused on different demographics (Beyonce, that’s got your weave strands all over it), is it really healthy in the long run? I mean, remember when an album with six singles meant a two-year run on the Billboard 200? Now, six singles come out before the album is released (see Taylor Swift, above). On top of that, you add in all of the incestuous team-ups and collaborations, and it makes for a pretty boring chart. For example, at #26 this week is Ludacris co-starring T-Pain, and at #27 is T-Pain and Ludacris. Do I really need to go further with this?
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Pop Music Notes 