the top ten worst hit songs of 2011 (VIDEO)

Can't believe I nearly forgot to post this mess... enjoy!

the top ten worst hit songs of 2011

So something every music critic loves to do is craft a 'narrative' surrounding the sound of a specific year, especially with the benefit of hindsight allowing one to track trends or make predictions of what was to come, write a little history along the way.

2011 is not one of those years where that comes easily. On the surface you could make the argument this is where the club boom hit over-saturation and began collapsing in upon itself, with the success stories this year telling what was to come. But while this year would foretell the success of some individual acts and trends - you can argue the popular seeds of bro-country were planted this year, as was Adele's decade-long run and a fondness for retro tones that would eventually be co-opted by artists looking for identity outside their own - hi, Bruno Mars, who got his major push this year - it also feels weirdly ossified in time. For one, 2011 was a year of massive pop diva competition, where most would see their careers fly in wildly different directions by the decade's end or implode entirely. You could argue that 2011 was also the year of Young Money as Lil Wayne, Drake, and Nicki Minaj began notching consistent crossover success... and many could argue that was a mixed blessing at best. And that's not even counting the string of acts that would achieve chart success in 2011 and little else - and what's bizarre is that they weren't part of any one consistent trend or level of quality, which means even in hindsight you can't really draw clear predictions on where anyone was going to go. And here's the strangest thing: for the most part that diversity played to the year's strengths, and wound up just having less bad hits than many years ahead - years like 2013 and 2017 might have hit greater heights, but they also had far deeper lows. Like with 2012, most of the bad stuff in 2011 was more annoying and badly made than offensive, but unlike that year it was a struggle for me to even pin down the worst of what we got... but I did pull something together anyway. You all know the rules, the songs had to debut on this year-end Hot 100 chart, so let's untangle the worst of this messy year, starting with...

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - april 8, 2017 (VIDEO)

So this was torturous to film. And edit. My god, being sick doing it too was horrible. Not sure I'm proud of this one, but I'm just happy I won't have to worry about Drake for a few months more at least... or at least I hope so.

Next up, though... okay, nothing tonight, but I'm working on the AllttA and Creeper episodes, so stay tuned!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - april 8, 2017

You know, it didn't use to be like this. Oh sure, make no mistake, there were times where artists could have multiple singles on the Hot 100 at once, and I remember distinctly how much some chart watchers hated how Glee would get a few charting entries every single week to eventually accrue the most Hot 100 entries of all time. But do you want to know the big distinction between Glee and Drake, who thanks to streaming got all twenty-four of his album/playlist/background noise to debut on the Hot 100 this week? Glee may have had cheap, watered down production and attempted to appropriate styles they didn't understand, but there was at least color and passion and diversity in the sounds and styles they were trying to cover! Whereas with Drake it seems like we get all of that, plus refocused into a hazy hall of mirrors that all circle back on this Canadian, minus the existential horror that could potentially make any of this interesting!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - april 30, 2016 (VIDEO)

Pretty decent week, but a bit of a weird one too - get the feeling it's right before the storm too.

Next up, Parquet Courts and A$AP Ferg, so stay tuned!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - april 30, 2016

Okay, so normally after a week with a ton of debuts, the following week tends to be a real pain, as everything resets to compensate. And given the massive falloff from Kanye's Life Of Pablo - which yes, we'll be talking about here - you'd think that it'd mean this week was incredibly busy. But while it was turbulent across the board, it was so in a way that we had enough returning entries to keep the new arrival list relatively small, and since I no longer cover returning entries in as extensive detail as I did last year, this might actually mean I'll get a breather, at least before the top ten collapses in upon itself.

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - march 19, 2016 (VIDEO)

Ugh, this week really blew. God, I hope that next week gets better with Kendrick, 'cause this was rough.

But speaking of Kendrick... well, stay tuned!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - march 19, 2016

So remember last year when there was a major push behind songs that were linked to the Academy Awards and John Legend and Common rode 'Glory' to some reasonable chart success? Yeah, this year served as the rebuttal to that on the charts, because while the Academy Awards had some impact on the Hot 100, they didn't nearly have as much impact as last year, mostly because 'Writing On The Wall' has been generally panned by everyone except the Academy. But much like everyone else, I'm choosing to ignore Sam Smith and that song... but unfortunately the option is instead to focus on this week, and yikes, it's been a while since I've seen things this bad. Strap in, folks, this gets ugly.

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - january 9, 2016 (VIDEO)

Yeah, it's here early, mostly because it was pretty easy to put together for once - yay!

So next up, the fifty best songs of the year, so stay tuned!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - january 9, 2016

So here's the thing about the Billboard Hot 100 around the holidays - it's basically a crapshoot. We're right after Christmas, most people are still in the regular holiday torpor and don't give a damn about new music, or are still partying in the lead-up to New Year's, which means that the 'hits' that can cater to that impulse are given one last shot on the radio. As for artists, it means that any act dropping a record right now can net a quick buck simply because there's little to no competition beyond late album singles. And the only artist who tried to leverage this dead zone, the one so many of you have asked me to cover... yep, it's Chris Brown. Wow, not a good sign.

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - august 15, 2015 (VIDEO)

Yeah, I was away for a bit. Long weekend, got a haircut, shit happens.

Next up, B. Dolan, then it'll depend which leaks first. Stay tuned!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - august 15, 2015

So I think last week was a bit of an anomaly when it comes to the summer slowdown - a glut of new tracks and very minimal changes within the chart itself. This week made more sense - a whole slew of shuffling and not many new arrivals, which reflects the pretty sparse release schedule right now, especially when it comes to mainstream album.

video review: 'everything is 4' by jason derulo

Goddamn it, this took WAY too long to get online. Stupid Google + messing with my YouTube connectivity with my editing software... although on the plus side it did give me a chance to consolidate some other connections which proved quite handy.

Next up is Billboard BREAKDOWN, which'll hopefully be a reasonable week given my busy day tomorrow, but you never know. Stay tuned!

album review: 'everything is 4' by jason derulo

I remember when I reviewed Tattoos, Jason Derulo's last record in 2013. I remembered  being flabbergasted at the choices on display. I was barely able to articulate what the hell Jason Derulo was trying to do, with one foot in Bobby Brown-esque R&B and the other in his typical brand of overly slick dance-pop. And I remembered thinking that this couldn't possibly be a hit. Sure, 'The Other Side' was a fine enough opening single, but there was no way that any record executive would release singles like 'Talk Dirty' to mainstream radio, with lyrics as bad as they were. Because no public in their right mind would let him get away with songs as asinine as 'Trumpets', right?

In hindsight, the more I've covered the Billboard Hot 100 the less I've had any faith in the listening public, but 2014 was a year of success stories for Jason Derulo, to the point where songs like 'Talk Dirty' weren't just massive hit, but were influential and have spawned multiple rip-offs. And on some level I get it: in a year where pop music seemed to be taking itself more seriously, Jason Derulo being awash in bad taste at least gave him a personality. It wasn't exactly indicative of quality, as the consistently mixed critical consensus proved, and it didn't stop songs like 'Wiggle' from the Talk Dirty rerelease being absolutely atrocious, but it was at least interesting.

But here's the thing: between Tattoos and Talk Dirty, Jason Derulo actually managed to sell some records in the United States, something which he really didn't do even in his first wave of success in 2010. Now if you're a label executive and you see a record in the 'So Bad It's Good' vein like this, records that should not be successful and yet somehow are, you've got a tricky choice to make. On the one hand, you could try to keep a tight leash on him to repeat the formula, or you could give him more money, more creative control, and tell him to go nuts. And from the look of the guest stars on this list, it looks like the executives at Atlantic went in the second direction - I understand maybe getting K. Michelle or even Jennifer Lopez, but Stevie Wonder? Meghan Trainor? Keith Urban of all people? Furthermore, there's not a single rap guest verse? What the hell was Jason Derulo making with Everything Was 4?

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - march 28, 2015 (VIDEO)

Oh wow, this took way too long to get online - again - but I'm overall happy for it, if only because it gave us 'Bills' by LunchMoney Lewis. Got to love it.

Next up... probably Modest Mouse or AWOLNATION, we'll see. Stay tuned!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - march 28, 2015

You know, it's rare that I get to be surprised much when it comes to these charts. I mean, sure you get your weird stuff that'll show up every week, but seventeen weeks into Billboard BREAKDOWN, it takes a lot to really pique more interest. This week, however... well, I'm not really going to say I was surprised by everything that happened, but more than a few times I was perturbed enough to wonder if things were slightly out of the ordinary. Granted, going into next week given what I've heard about streaming data, I've got a good idea what's coming, but it's always kind of nice to be thrown off-guard a little.

the top ten worst hit songs of 2014 (VIDEO)

First of our year-end lists, and sadly the one that will probably get the most traffic. Go figure.

Next up is the list of the best hit songs - stay tuned!

the top ten worst hit songs of 2014

So, another year, another Billboard Year-End list, another assorted collection of hits and misses, and another year end list from me where I take a long hard look at the biggest charting songs of the year and pick out the best and worst.

Now for those of you who aren't familiar, let's go over the rules. A song can only make this list if it first landed on the Billboard Hot 100 Year-End chart for 2014. There may be songs from last year that qualify - I can think of a few - but it needs to hit the list this year. And of course there were worse songs that I heard this year on albums that could easily outstrip huge chunks of this list - I'm not going to mention them, they don't deserve more attention - but I want to make the point that we're looking at the hits that got under my skin and annoyed or angered me. Songs that are just excruciatingly boring don't really make the cut here - 'boring' can be a factor, but there needs to be something aggressively wrong with the song to join this august company.

The other important thing to mention is that 2014 has, on average, been a stronger year than 2013, or at least more consistent. Up until the frantic reshuffling at the end of the year, this has been a pretty stodgy year with a few absolutely massive hits that wouldn't go away and prevented a lot of turnover. What this has meant is that many of the songs that have landed on this list don't inspire the same amount of real anger from me - of the majority I wouldn't say they are as deserving of vitriol as some of the really terrible tracks from last year.

That said, I think it's time for our dishonourable mentions!

video review: 'tattoos' by jason derulo

Damn, it's late. Had to rerender and reupload after I left one of my audio cues at the beginning of the video, and now I'm exhausted. But at least it's here, and I stand by the fact that this might be one of my better ones.

And now the rest of the week will be absolutely nuts. First up is Jessie J. Stay tuned, folks!

album review: 'tattoos' by jason derulo

The year is 2009, and you're a record executive, and you're staring down at your newspaper with pictures of Rihanna's bloodied and bruised face. You later get confirmation in the day that said injuries were caused by Chris Brown, who is facing charges. You also hear through the industry grapevine that Jay-Z is infuriated by the attack on an artist he discovered and helped turn into a pop star, and has vowed to quietly torpedo Chris Brown's career, at least ensuring his new album Graffiti flops and flops hard. What do you do?

Well, in this case, you would immediately start searching for new artists to fill the niche that Chris Brown did, and you'll grab anyone who can possibly hit a note or who can dance. And that is why, throughout 2009 and 2010, we saw a surge in pop/R&B acts looking to take over Chris Brown's shoes - and there were lots of them. Taio Cruz, Jay Sean, Iyaz, Trey Songz, might as well throw Jeremih into the mix as well. And to top it all off, we have the artist who we're going to talk about today, a young man named Jason Derulo.

Now I have to be honest: throughout the summer of 2010, I really liked this guy. I have his album. By no means I thought he was a great pop star, but he had a ton of energy, he seemed genuine, and his beats (courtesy of oversampling hack JR Rotem) tended to be pretty decent. But my liking for the guy faded in record time when I started taking a look at the lyrics, and I started noticing the fact that Jason Derulo can only really sing with autotune, and that he shouts out his name at the start of every single song. In my eyes, he very quickly went from a pop star I could say I liked to one I definitely said I loathed. To me, the second album struck as the low point, with Jason Derulo hitching his fortunes to the dying club boom and his opening single 'Don't Wanna Go Home' being a nauseating open theft from multiple songs I really liked. 'Don't Wanna Go Home' ended up topping my list of the worst hit songs of 2011 (yes, even beating out LMFAO's 'Sexy And I Know It'), and to this day, I don't think I can ever forgive Derulo for it. 

But let's try to be fair here, because for some reason, Jason Derulo is still around, and to my absolute bewilderment, he's achieved some degree of chart success. To me, it's rather reminiscent of the success Flo Rida has achieved, as Jason Derulo is very much an 'anonymous' pop/R&B star: a guy who is going to have multiple charting hits, but nobody is going to know or care about him among his peers because he has so little distinctive personality. As I said, there's a reason he shouts out his name at the beginning of every song - because, in the case of the majority of audiences, you would have no idea who this guy is otherwise. And just because he has made songs I hate doesn't mean, like Flo Rida, he can't make songs I like: Flo Rida made 'I Cry', and Jason Derulo made 'Love Hangover', so there is a chance for improvement here.

And that's ultimately the reason I chose to shove back my nascent contempt for this fellow and give him another chance. Could I potentially recapture some of the positive feelings I had for Jason Derulo back in 2010?