Best songs of 2013

"Q.U.E.E.N.," Janelle Monae feat. Erykah Badu

Monae continues to show her proclivity for futuristic android metaphors and funky empowerment anthems on the lead single from "The Electric Lady." In an interview with Fuse, she described the song title as an acronym. "Q" is for the queer community, "U" for the untouchables, "E" for both emigrants and the excommunicated, and "N" for those labeled as negroid (which is, as I understand, an anthropological term for those of African descent).

The duo combine for a fantastic look into  society as they call for their fellow electric ladies (and gentlemen, presumably) to fight sexism, racism, stereotyping, homophobia, classism, political greed and so much more. Janelle gives some of her best weird as fuck facial expressions and even breaks into some spoken word/rap at the end of the song that should get your booty right off the couch and onto Change.org to try and make a difference.

"I'm Out," Ciara feat. Nicki Minaj

This blast of sass features one of Nicki's finest verses this year (and she has done plenty of them). The song would be perfect for dancing in the club after a shitty breakup--and that's what Ciara sets out to do. She taunts her ex for trying to get back with her, while Nicki takes a more direct approach of threatening his new girl. The theme is overdone, but the delivery is spot-on and delivers the perfect amount of sneering sexuality.

"Alien," Britney Spears

This song slowly propels you into Brit's eight studio album "Britney Jean" with ethereal instrumentation and a smooth vocal line. Our Princess of Pop reflects on how alone she has felt during more than 15 years of being a recording artist--but an unnamed "you," possibly fans or a loved one, are there to support her and remind her she is not alone. The alien metaphor could have been overdone, but it's just enough here to get the point across.

The album overall is the first album in 10 years where Britney is listed as a writer on every song in the list. For me, as an admitted fan, this makes me feel a hell of a lot closer to the message since I know it's from her own mind. I can only imagine how ostracizing it must feel for someone who has been in the spotlight since she's been a kid. And perhaps she feels like a creature from another planet sometimes when she realizes how much her life is directed by medication, guardians, schedules, paparazzi, etc. It would be enough to make me want to leave the planet for a while.

"Follow Your Arrow," Kacey Musgraves

Kacey first impressed me with her frank look at small-time life called "Merry-Go Round," in which she remarked on people who stay in their hometowns just to get pregnant, get married, get high, and get nowhere but where they have always been.

THIS piece of artistry stood out to me because Kacey straight-out (all right, kind of subtly), embraces homosexuality in a nonchalant manner as she tells her listeners that they should feel free to just do what the hell they want in the rest of life. And again, she remarks on society. If you eat too much, you're fat. If you don't eat enough, you're on crack. "You're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't, so you might as well just do whatever you want," she sings. Get married, don't get married, have lots of sex, smoke a joint, just stay at home all day. Kacey's cool with it.

"I Don't Know How," Best Coast

For those unfamiliar with this duo, they have a lovely surf-rock feel that was most prominent on their debut album "Crazy for You," which was very lo-fi and processed to alter Bethany Cosentino's vocals and add tons of reverb to Bobb Bruno's guitar and bass. Their sophomore effort "The Only Place" sounded a bit more mainstream while remaining in the beachy stoner genre.

The EP "Fade Away" is where you'll find this song, and I think it's got all of what makes Best Coast unique. Bethany's simple, yet powerful lyrics about love and heartbreak (and a hell of a lot of long notes) mixed with Bobb's mastery of the strings. Plus, the music video is as cheerful as ever. These guys know how to have fun, even when their hearts are breaking.

"Same Love," Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, feat. Mary Lambert

I know that this was released last year, but it really only got major radio play in 2013. What can I say about it that already hasn't been said? I really can't recall may songs that have been solely about homosexuality on Top 40 radio. I think it's a wonderful start to a major social change.

"Black Skinhead," Kanye West

One of these days, Ye will give himself a heart attack performing this song because it is so frantic and the lyrics are spat with such ferocious velocity. The song may not be complete without the video above--so, check it out and then go look at his performance on SNL. He touches on racism and slavery, and seems to be painting himself as a warrior against such evils. Call him what you will, but this man knows how to push the meaningful buttons when he wants to.

Also considered:

"Boss-Ass Bitch," Nicki Minaj

"Beat This Summer," Brad Paisley

"New Slaves," Kanye West

"All Kinds of Kinds," Miranda Lambert

"Britney Jean" works, bitch

Here we go again!

Britney Jean: 7/10 

I'm into this album. For me, as a fan, I feel more connected to this "Britney Jean" because I know Brit has been putting work into it. She wrote very little of "Circus" and "Blackout"  and none of "Femme Fatale" that I can see. This is the most she has written for one album since "In the Zone." It feels better to me, it feels more real. She's been promoting it as more personal, and I love that. There are personal moments, but they are shaken up by will.I.am and his dance beats. And her voice can shine through instead of being chopped up and robotized (on most tracks). She's criticized for her breathy sound, when people actually admit she still sings, but she uses her range well on this album.

Still, there are songs I don't like. It's that way with every album of my favorite artists. "Britney Jean" starts out very strong. "Alien" sounds like one of those songs that you put at the end of an album because it's a little weird and not quite your style. It works well here, an introspective start to her eighth studio album, as she talks about loneliness. "Work Bitch," an absolute slammer, is next. That song can still make me get off my ass and do anything. "Perfume" delivers some spot-on vocal work, even if the lyrics about "trying to be cool" make me raise an eyebrow.

The next three are meant to be dance songs, which is fine, but I could do without "Tik Tik Boom." "It Should Be Easy," featuring the ubiquitous (and unexciting) will.I.am, and "Body Ache," which are both not bad, sandwich her repetitive collab with T.I.  The songs are fast-paced without being too frantic.

"'Til It's Gone" is a thumping, well-sung piece and I think it and "Alien" are the best ones on the record. I'm not sure why I love it so much--perhaps the interesting chorus, perhaps the simple message that she delivers honestly. Whatever it is, it feels good and I wish the iTunes First Play would let me listen over and over.

"Passenger," which she co-wrote with Katy Perry, starts with a weird beat but transitions into a good midtempo ballad about being able to let go and let someone else drive in a relationship, about not trying to control too much and driving around "without a map."

Skip her collab with her sister--it's called "Chillin' With You" but I'd rather chill alone without this song. It feels awkward, going from guitar strums to a gentle beat with equally peaceful vocals, then weirdly turning into a bare beat and some vocalizations of chillin witchu.

Same with "Don't Cry," the final song on the record. This one could do with a few stronger lyrics, but it gets the point across-don't cry, I'm leaving, we lost our love, it hurts. It ends on a melancholy note--or does it? After all, there is strength in being able to walk away after a failed relationship.

Overall, it's a solid album. There's sex, of course--sex sells, and sex is just a part of Britney. But I also see signs of growth, as an artist and as a person, and signs that she is willing to open up to her fans and the world.

Britney Spears music used to fight off Somali pirates

THIS IS NOT A DRILL

http://metro.co.uk/2013/10/27/britney-spears-songs-used-to-scare-off-pirates-in-somalia-4163217/

We all knew she was a angel sent from Heaven, but this just takes the cake. What an icon!

Now get to work!

Britney Spears's new single "Work Bitch"  encourages people to...well, work. Or so I thought. But the music video, released tonight, is some kind of S and M car commercial in the desert with sharks and exploding dolls.

Oh, Brit.

What did you guys think?? Nothing too deep, I hope. ;) Did you think it was about the economy? Was Brit telling Congress to get a move on? Did you expect her to be whipping people and making them carry Beats products in their mouths?!

Britney Spears IS America: The Femme Fatale and the land of the free

Original published 7 April 2011

Updated 2 December 2012

With the release of her seventh album, “Femme Fatale,” in 2011 and her successful stint as an “X Factor” judge, Britney Spears has once again proven her worth to any dissenters. Many wrote the pop princess off as another failed teen star, as her personal struggles from 2004-2007 made her the subject of tabloid news. But Britney’s journey -- no matter how many children, shaved heads and marriages it has taken – has picked back up again (for the record, I think that count is 2-1-2, with a third marriage planned).

She celebrated her 31^st birthday today, and I honestly think she’s just going to keep getting stronger and stronger. And Britney’s triumphs and failures parallel that of another young superstar -- the United States. Yes, the land of the free itself: once a young upstart, now the most powerful country in the world. The past 13 years have been instrumental for Spears and for the US, and it’s a bit strange how closely the two stories are connected.

The 90s were when Brit-Brit burst into the scene. “...Baby One More Time” was released in 1999. It was a sexual album, something unique. And the American people love getting sexual...after all, it was in 1998 when Bill Clinton was charged with the Lewinsky scandal. 2000 brought some more controversy. Bush v. Gore, of course, and the question of how the Florida voting system got so badly screwed up. But also that sneaky Britney wearing lewd clothing, grinding around and corrupting the minds of our young children. For shame!

Of course, 2004 was when all the shit hit the fan. The American people started to think the war in Iraq was an unnecessary campaign started by a war-hungry president. Popular sentiment about the war and the government began to take a turn for the worse. And in Britney’s world, things weren’t going well. 2004 was the year she married her childhood friend Jason Alexander in Las Vegas, annulled the marriage 55 hours later and got engaged to Kevin Federline three months after that. Yikes.

Those following years weren’t very good, either.  Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in 2005. The economy went into a decline as the housing bubble collapsed, and the Great Recession began in 2007. Britney had kids, checked into rehab and shaved her head. In this time of tumult, economic uncertainty and attacks on the paparazzi, how would America and its pop princess pull themselves out of a deep rut? Change was needed.

And change came.

Barack Obama won the 2008 election on a campaign of hope and, yes, change. He seemed like just the right person to steer America out of the recession and get troops home

.

Also in 2008, Britney Spears released “Circus,” one of the fastest-selling albums that year, to much critical acclaim. It seemed as if everything on both sides of the spectrum would be all right. The next few years were indeed a circus for all parties involved. A media circus took place around the Obama family and everything they did, from Barack’s controversial healthcare bill to what school Sasha and Malia picked to Michelle’s clothes and right down to what they would name that cute little dog.

Britney’s circus was on her 2009 “Circus Starring Britney Spears” tour. With a gross of U.S. $131.8 million, it became the fifth highest-grossing tour of the year. She was also a part of the hit television show “Glee.” An entire episode was focused on her music and her influences in the American pop scene (they attributed another one to her in 2012).

Through 2010 and 2011, the circus was still in full swing, but it shifted a bit. Obama wasn’t the most popular guy on campus anymore, and new Republican senators and congressmen began to make some changes of their own. The media is still as aggressive as ever.

And Britney? She released “Femme Fatale,” an album with a different sound than her past projects. “Hold it Against Me” gave Spears her fourth number-one single on the chart, and made her only the second artist in history to have two consecutive singles debut at number one (Mariah Carey was the first).

 

There were also plenty of changes this year. Brit has been in the spotlight most recently for her work on “X Factor” with Simon Cowell, Demi Lovato and LA Reid. And she is very happily engaged to her former manager, Jason Trawick, whom she seems to have a very happy and healthy relationship with.

The US, of course, wrapped up a presidential election – no matter who wins the presidency, there are always some big changes nationwide. But we decided to continue our own relationship with Barack Obama – that, or he is our own personal “X Factor” winner. You can pick how you want the extended metaphor to go for that one.

There are a lot of things in the works for B. Spears. She still has some trouble shaking off her past, of course. Critics won’t let her forget those marriages or her paparazzi attack, and there are a few lingering court cases or custody battles that we seem to hear about every now and then. But she seems to be on the up-and-up lately and getting her career back in the swing of things.

A lot is in store for the US, too, as we head into Obama’s second term. The economy is still struggling a bit, and the government has a lot on its big ol’ plate. But jobs are returning, slowly but surely, and I think there is still some hope for this country to get back on its feet.

It sure has been a wild time for Britney, and for the country she calls home. And to be honest, who really knows what the next few years will bring? A new president? A new marriage? Some more racy clothes? We can only wonder. And, of course, we can only hope...hope that two of the biggest young celebrities in the world will keep entertaining us for years to come.