rolling pop 2014

I had to leave a bar the other week because it was playing that Kongos song

and so the year of Ph0x begins -
https://soundcloud.com/phoxband/slow-motion-1/s-NgjS6

From Wisconsin to the world:

We are a gaggle of goofy wizards performing minor
illusions and bigtop music. Born in Baraboo, WI

This Ph0x track is quite lovely, though it sounds nothing like I would have expected it to coming from a recommendation itt.

Just discovered this song which was released last year, but is apparently starting to get some airplay in the US recently:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bg1sT4ILG0w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bg1sT4ILG0w

i didn't know where else to post it (i guess the indie thread would have been better?).

didn't see this coming, Pharrell gave Ed Sheeran a Thicke/Timberlake type joint and it actually works

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scHS8YaYoRA

man, that intro sounds like vintage Neps, before the Rick James-esque (ie 'Give It To Me Baby') bassline comes in.

i don't know who this dude is, but i just watched a video where he exactly copies Jamie Woon's looping acapella arrangement of 'Wayfaring Stranger', which is just a weird thing to do if you're already covering a folk song.

NZ top 10 this week is ... something.

01. Iggy Azalea ft Charli XCX - Fancy
02. Coldplay - A Sky Full Of Stars
03. Ariana Grande ft Iggy Azalea - Problem
04. Sam Smith - Stay With Me
05. Ed Sheeran - Sing
06. Pharrell Williams - Happy
07. Clean Bandit ft Jess Glynne - Rather Be
08. Tove Lo ft Hippie Sabotage - Stay High
09. Justin Timberlake - Not A Bad Thing
10. Sia - Chandelier

Nothing really in there that's not a hit anywhere else, with maybe the Coldplay track the only exception. Iggy x2 is also in the American top 5. "Chandelier" reached #2 in Australia, and with its striking video there's a chance it could gain traction stateside. Smith is on his way to Sandé levels of ubiquity.

The only song I don't recognize on that list is the Tove Lo one. And that Coldplay one has just started making it's way on other charts, such as 4 in Canada and 24 in the US.

really enjoying the new hannah diamond track
https://soundcloud.com/pcmus/attachment
might appeal to all fans of bipp etc

"Sky Full of Stars" is the worst song from a great album

wouldn't be the first time Coldplay ends up with a hit I could care less about off an album I dig though

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8qEo9_eNmg

love this x100000

I've found myself really enjoying the new Rita Ora single. Currently number one in the UK.

http://youtu.be/50GQjUZ4P3M

The Phox album is streaming at NPR. Sounds really nice so far!

http://www.npr.org/2014/06/09/320365989/first-listen-phox-phox

Big love for the Hannah Diamond stuffs from here.

https://soundcloud.com/rynweaver/ryn-weaver-octahate

loads of heavyweights assisted on this one

http://www.stereogum.com/1688810/ryn-weaver-octahate/mp3s/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aX5zLcg47iI

Everything tells me I should hate this, but I kinda...don't?

guys i cannot stop giggling whenever "one more day (stay with me)" by example comes on

i imagine him in a sequined tuxedo, a single white rose in one hand, flanked by italian television models, a stretch grand piano off to one side, a very long white silk scarf around his neck being blown sideways by a powerful off-stage fan, hen parties celebrating a third marriage going absolutely crazy in the seats below

Another lesson learned
Another page is turned
Give in to your desire
Say goodbye or play with fire
Play with fire - you'll get burned!

hahaha CHRISTOPHER what the fuck Denmark

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50-_oTkmF5I

i know y'all have been patiently awaiting the inimitable becky g's video for "shower"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8I-7Wk_Vbc

love this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxRQNO8vg2Y

MAYBE ON YOUR HONEYMOON
YOU'LL THINK OF ME

I stuck with it, but I was very close to saying "oh fuck this noise" when it started with ukulele strums.

fyi the secret best pop album of 2014 is cher lloyd's second album

that becky g song is great - and i LOVE the cher lloyd album - i wish more people were talking about it / buying it

Yeah it's a great album. Think it's actually getting a UK release this month but sadly it's going to bomb completely.

yeah i wasn't at all sure after the first couple of singles that this was the direction i wanted from her but it's all come together on the album in such a brilliant, concise way. and it's such a volte-face from the debut, i am HERE for dramatic emo power-ballad cher lloyd, to the extent that the token bratty party songs are prob the weakest moment ("m.f.p.o.t.y." redeems itself when it becomes apparent cher's idea of the best party ever = telling boys to fuck off; "dirty love" does not redeem itself tbh). "human" is probably my favourite. HUMAN, HUMAN, HUMAN AFTER AAAAALLLLLL

so sad that it's going to bomb everywhere but i always feared this would happen, "want u back" smashing had such a one-hit-wonder bubblegum novelty feel to it and the idiot british public hate her too much. i wonder where her career goes from here.

it's sort of weird how, after stanning for her on the x factor, she's come out with two wildly different albums that have enabled me to continue to do so, yet if you just described their styles to me at the time i'd have been v disheartened.

I liked m.f.p.o.t.y. when it was actually called "keep it in your pants" (someone on a cher lloyd forum went through ASCAP registrations) and not, I assume, awkwardly grafted onto some other hook

yeah Cher Lloyd album is good. pretty crazy that its release has been so troubled that it somehow ended up coming out in America before the UK. the (great) song she did with Demi Lovato is picking up on radio here, so she's got that going for her at least.

oh! i forgot about that, the highlight of demi's underwhelming last album

pretty sure cher lloyd's team gave up on the uk market as a lost cause even before "want u back" smashed - it wasn't a hit here, she has no profile except as a punchline/xfactor hate figure, mostly due to tabloid bigotry mostly re: class

oh damn, this cher lloyd record. thanks lex!

Very happy to see such a good reaction for the Cher Lloyd album here. I know the debut had some fans on here but I think this album deserves even more attention. Bind Your Love is my favourite and sounds like the obvious hit to me but if I Wish and Sirens didn't do anything anywhere is there anything she could do to get a hit?

It's very strange what happened with her in the UK. the album sold pretty well but they seemed to give up on by the third single. Seems strange now that Swagger Jagger went to number one and six months later Want U Back didn't even make the top twenty. I Still think they screwed up not putting Superhero out as a single at any point. I know a lot of people disliked her on the show and when the first single came out but she did seem to have a big fan base. Sadly they seemed to have moved on despite her album being great.

"swagger jagger" was the nail in the coffin tbh. prob got to no 1 off vague residual xfactor nostalgia or however literally everything that programme breathes on gets to no 1, was it a slow chart week as well? but it was basically a joke song and turned her into a joke. could've been salvaged if they'd really tried but america came a-calling. americans will have to shed light on why everything post-"want u back" has flopped

and yeah "superhero" was that album's great lost single

btw we should be talking about the nicole scherzinger single more, best thing terius has done in years

"Killin' It" feels to me like the song off the new one that in a more ideal world would be a big hit

xp

Think Swagger Jagger was quite a low selling number one. Wonder how she views that song now? I just assumed that was forced into releasing that against her will but maybe she loved it too. I have a feeling she probably doesn't now.

Pop songs these days seem fixated on self-help messages or at least conveying the positive or our best sides - it's somewhat refreshing, if alarming, to her Cher Lloyd come out with stuff like "I am tired, I'm growing older, I'm getting weaker everyday"

i think i like the last song the most - sounds like rachel stevens

I really liked her EP from last year, and here's something new...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xai1-qT4uA

Talking about Rita Ora: the Switch Remix of "I Will Never Let You Down" is just yummy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86mRsbXab-0

So much better than the original.

i love that remix thank u breastcrawl

"dirty love" does not redeem itself tbh

"dirty love" totally my favorite song on the record ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

"sweet despair" is so dramatic and amazing. GO ON PUT THE KNIFE IN.

and hell yeah "dirty love" is so fucking good. it has such a classic max martin drug effect. GO AHEAD BE A CAAAVEMAN <3

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2014/07/21/_rude_by_magic_is_the_no_1_song_on_billboard_s_hot_100_why_video.html

This is #1 in the US...oh my

Well given how stagnant the charts can be, there's always the chance that it'll still be around come summertime.

it's a summer hit down here!

Sorry, we're a bunch of dirty Northists.

I'm sold on Uptown Funk. #pathetic

echosmith is a bunch of siblings btw

― maura, Monday, December 8, 2014 12:41 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

oh i'm aware, that's part of the whole pod people vibe imo

"uptown girl" is appalling

lex will never silence our song of protest!

That new Becky G, "Can't Stop Dancin'", is gorgeous.
She takes that European "Waves" / Asaf Avidan sound and runs away with into what comes close to a "Waiting For Tonight" for the mid-2010s.

paramore vibes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xw9iO3iCFOU

*ears perk up forever*

omg this is great

yeh really enjoying this

yeah, this is really making my new year's resolution of "pay more diligent attention to radio adds" pay off already

which format is adding it?

a few trickles on CHR (but the trickles are generally the interesting part of the list, better than "as predicted everyone still loves iggy azalea"

ctrl-f "Kate Boy" no hits

hmm

just discovered this song today (we're covering it on the jukebox tomorrow) and my god, it is gorgeous
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzFYmz2lfT4

i wonder if they used stunt feet in that starling glow video

i'm halfway into that christine and the queens record and it's really really good. the song "half ladies" interpolates the chorus of kanye's "heartless"

Yeah, this is a great album. I was into her ep from last year, but I'd lost track of her this year until a few weeks ago when I heard this.

new crj single "i really like you" coming soon i'm hyperventilating

!
!
!

Carly me, maybe? Definitely!

omg yeeeeesss

andy bull, an aussie who makes gloriously mournful electropop, put out a full-length this year (his track 'baby i am nobody now' was in my 2013 top 10). this track is really nice:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qIQLQEvsrg

^^Love this.

Well it's not the new CRJ single, but it's still Call Me Maybe related...

I'm so sorry.

Rhythm is a dancer / I need a companion / Girl, I guess that must be you

Gee thanks?