This record is awesome. Deal with it. Hedonistic, bratty, absurdly hooky 2012 radio pop gets no better, as Warrior's blazing title track (dig the EDM breakdown) and the deliriously infectious "Die Young" make clear. "Thinking of You" has a Daft Punk-worthy shredding-vocoder solo; "Dirty Love" is a daffy duet with, yes, Iggy Pop. (Rick Santorum is involved.) Plus piano balladry, explicit nods to The Strokes and Phil Collins (!), and lotsa tart, ludicrous quasi-rapping: "Feeling like a saber-tooth tiger/ Sippin' on a warm Budweiser." Album of the Year of Your Friday Night.
Bruno Mars writes great songs for others, but despite its big hits, his debut felt like B material compared to "F*ck You." On his tighter, more engaging second album, it sounds like he spent time really honing his own sound -- and writing killer songs like "Natalie" that (mostly) avoid his pinch range. As the title implies, Unorthodox Jukebox also shows that Bruno, like any good songwriter, is an avid listener who digs The Police ("Locked Out"), M.J., Prince and Sam Cooke ("If I Knew"). And while making love like a "Gorilla" sounds kinda iffy, the album's drenched in sex and despair. Yummy.
Who releases an album of sunny, clubby, up-all-night anthems in November?! Mr. 305, that's who -- the guy who not only lives in Miami, but might just pull off his goal of taking Miami's heat and its year-round party worldwide. Nothing too weighty here, though Pit does get serious here and there -- about really rapping, for instance, on the title track and about things he cares about on almost-feminist pickup anthem "Drinks for You" and the almost-political "I'm Off That." Mostly, though, life's a beach in Pit's world, especially on the Latin-leaning tracks ("Tchu Tchu Tcha" really heats up).
What if Big Boi invited his favorite indie artists to jam together, from Wavves and Phantogram to Jai Paul and Little Dragon? You'd get Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors, which sounds like it was a lot of fun to make. Whether it's fun to listen to is debatable, since Big Boi isn't in prime lyrical form and seems to freestyle most of the time, and his guests struggle to mesh with his straightforward, game-spitting ATL style. It's an interesting experiment, though the album's clear standout, "In The A," with T.I. and Ludacris, suggests Big Boi is at his best when he sticks to his lane.
When Ne-Yo resuscitated his career with guest turns on Pitbull's "Give Me Everything" and Calvin Harris' "Let's Go," you knew he'd double down on dance pop with his new album. But R.E.D. isn't as alienating as you'd expect. The radio star has an effortlessly smooth voice that radiates good spirits -- recalling Michael Jackson circa Off the Wall -- and it serves him well on flashy rave tunes like "Let Me Love You (Until You Learn to Love Yourself)," "Be the One" and "Shut Me Down." For his urban fans, there's the outstanding numbers "Cracks in Mr. Perfect" and "Stress Reliever."
The television show Nashville has it all: drama, intrigue, politics, love affairs. It's like Melrose Place meets Dallas. But guess what? The characters do their own singing. So with that much emphasis on the music (did we mention T-Bone Burnett is involved?), it's no wonder there's now a "cast" album. Some of the songs on this soundtrack have even graced the Country Top 40 charts. Don't miss the Hayden Panettiere (who knew she could sing?!) and Charles Esten (and who knew this Whose Line Is It Anyway? funny man could sing?!) duet, "Undermine."
Despite being a 31-year-old mother and wife (to Swizz Beats, who coproduces "New Day" with Dr. Dre), Alicia Keys still acts like she's the prodigy who made Songs in A Minor a decade ago. She's a woman that calls herself a "girl on fire" trying to realize her talent, and she uses that ideal to build this mostly successful album of experiments, from Jamie xx's ambient R&B on "When It's All Over" to Pop & Oak's dancehall riddim on "Limitedless." The vision breaks when she plays with her son Egypt at the end of "Brand New Me" -- it's a brief moment, but it's a sign that she's not a girl anymore.
Let's dispense with the disclaimers: Yes, these are mostly Hollywood actors, not singers. And yes, these are hard songs they recorded live with just piano accompaniment. And no, Russell Crowe doesn't know how to sing, while Hugh Jackman knows how but has some, um, "vocal issues." But what this soundtrack does so well is make you feel every inch of this heart-pounding show's desperate pathos. When Jackman muscles through the gorgeous, impossible "Bring Him Home," you'll shiver with his pain. (And when the real singers, like Samantha Barks' tragic Éponine, take over, your heart will sing, too.)
1D may have aged in the year since its debut, but its music didn't. Album two doesn't deviate from the slightly naughty slumber party of Up All Night -- with an increased emphasis on the morning after. So while "Live While We're Young" and "Kiss You" work innuendos couched in tooth-aching malt-shop pop, the album then takes a turn for the sweetie pie, crooning about last first kisses and staying up all night -- forever. If almost 20-somethings singing about teen life to pre-teens feels ... theatrical, you won't mind when it sounds as good as hop-scotching bonus cut "Still the One."
You can't not like Phillip Phillips. Just try it. Think you got over that gravely post-grunge vocal style in the '90s? Not when Phil-squared is getting funky with it in a Hootie-meets-Maroon jam like "Get Up, Get Down," friends. Think you're immune to the driving rock ballads and inspirational heart-yankers Idol debuts are prone to? Nuh-uh, not when P.P. delivers them as a half-lit, irrepressibly hopeful Irish pub rocker ("Gone, Gone, Gone") -- or, even better, like its cousin, the American bar anthem (the winning "Can't Go Wrong"). This is a guy your ears want to be friends with.
Oh, Christina. She's always had all the makings of a serious queen bee, yet her entire discography is kind of an epically drawn out identity crisis. Lotus is, unfortunately, still another chapter. Not unfortunately because it's bad, though! There's plenty to like here, from the pretty vocal orchestra in the middle of the dubby/drummy "Cease Fire" to the bouncy, scratchy, Cee-Lo-featuring drag queen strut/Sex and the City anthem "Make the World Move" to her increasing vocal subtlety. But it's all just a little ... unfocused, uncertain. Bonus sasser "Shut Up" points to a potential solid path.
Outasight's sound is so familiar, you may feel you've already heard his debut. OK, "Tonight Is the Night" has been in a clutch of ads, but we're talking about the finger he's got on pop's pulse. Take "I'll Drink to That," a pub-thumper (pipes!) that gives fun. a run for their shots-friendly anthems. Or the robo-disco of "Ready, Set, Go," which, with its fist-pumping hooks and slicked vocals, could be mistaken for One Direction or Flo Rida. It's a nice, hip-hop-fried addition to pop fare. But to hear Outasight do something more out of sight? Check out the watery, avant-R&B "Under Lock and Key."
To celebrate 25 years as princess of frosty dance-pop, Kylie Minogue (plus a full orchestra) remade a career of hits into warm, lush affairs. The synth-pop star tries on every vestige of unplugged/reworked: torch song ("Slow"), wind-swept elegy ("Finer Feelings"), showtune, beachy jam, intimate ballad. While some rehabs expose the schlocky foundation a good dance beat can hide, most are surprisingly solid, showcasing the voice and tastes of a mature artist. Her vintage "Locomotion" is a natural, while a storm of strings delivers "Can't Get You Out of My Head" like you've never heard it before.
