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2012 in pop

Next year will see;

1) Comebacks (Christina, Madonna, Cher, No Doubt, Pink possibly, Ke$ha’s possible late 2012 second full length album)

2) Artists carrying over success from this year (Lady GaGa, Rihanna, maybe Adele)

3) Maybe new up and coming artists will have moderate success (Lana Del Rey and Porcelain Black)

2011 - in further review

LE HONOURABLE MENTIONS

ARTISTS

Adele -Going to be honest, not a fan. But I commend her for being a force in both presence and sales wise in the industry this year. Mostly off the success of one song as well (“Rolling In The Deep”).

Checkout; Set Fire To The Rain (Moto Blanco Radio Edit)

Rihanna - This year has been ANOTHER incredible one for the Barbadian beauty. Starting on a high note, still experiencing success from her late 2010 release “What’s My Name?” as well as her feature on David Guetta’s disco-thumping club stomper “Who’s That Chick?”, she went on to achieve further chart acclaim with “S&M”. After which, she wrapped up her LOUD era with “Man Down”, “California King Bed” and the Avril Lavigne sampling “Cheers (Drink to That)”. Not long after she released the first single from her latest album, Talk That Talk, the Calvin Harris produced “We Found Love” which was closely followed by the second single, “You Da One”, produced by Dr Luke and Cirkut.

Checkout; S&M (Sidney Samson Radio Edit), California King Bed (Bassjackers Radio Edit), Where Have You Been, Drunk On Love, Birthday Cake, Talk That Talk, Red Lipstick.

Britney Spears -  Britney returned to the pop scene this year with the daring “Hold It Against Me”. With the help of Dr Luke and her cast of producers on the LP, Femme Fatale, Britney proved that she still had what it takes to make an album that is pop but innovative enough to feature influences that had scarcely been used in pop, particularly dubstep. The album spawned three more singles, “Till The World Ends” (written by Ke$ha), “I Wanna Go” and a ballad, “Criminal”.

Check out; Hold It Against Me (Jacob Plant Remix), Till The World Ends (Kik Klap Radio Edit), I Wanna Go (DJ Frank-E & Alex Dreamz Radio Edit), Criminal (Cosmic Dawn Radio Edit), Inside Out, How I Roll, Trouble For Me, Trip To Your Heart, Selfish and Scary.

Lady GaGa - Another huge year for the huge, already pop icon, which saw the release of her second full-length album “Born This Way” led by the single of the same name. The single reached number 1 in over 15 charts across the globe, being the 1000th on the US Billboard Chart as well as being the first to feature the word “transgender”. The album by the end of this year has sold over 7 million copies, promoted by the follow up singles “Judas”, “The Edge of Glory”, “Yoü and I” and “Marry the Night”. She also released the ”Born This Way - The Remix” compilation and the DVD of her highly acclaimed Emmy winning HBO concert special “Lady Gaga presents: The Monsterball Tour live at Madison Square Garden”.

Check out; Born This Way (LLG vs. GLG Radio Remix), Judas (R3hab Remix), The Edge of Glory (Cahill Major Radio Edit), Yoü and I (Danny Verde Radio Edit), Marry the Night (Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike Remix), Scheiße (Original Version + Guéna LG Club Remix), Heavy Metal Lover, Bad Kids, Electric Chapel, Bloody Mary, Government Hooker, Fashion of His Love.

Katy Perry - Continuing from the success of her first three singles from Teenage Dream, Katy released three more, “E.T.”, “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)” and “The One That Got Away”. With “Last Friday Night” landing the number 1 spot on the US charts, Katy Perry had become the first artist since Michael Jackson (with his album Bad) to have five number 1 singles from the same album.

Checkout: Firework (Fred Falke Pop Radio Edit), E.T. (Tiesto Radio Edit), Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.) (Almighty Mixshow Edit), The One That Got Away (Mixin’ Marc & Tony Svejda Radio Edit)

Others: LMFAO, Maroon 5/Adam Levine, Coldplay, Yolanda Be Cool, Zoe Badwi, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Katy B, Dev, One Direction, Aqua, Nadia Oh, Gotye, Alexandra Stan.

PRODUERS/COMPOSERS/LYRICISTS: Dr Luke, Max Martin, Stargate, RedOne, Cirkut, Billboard, Shellback, DJ Ammo, Benny Blanco, David Guetta, Sandy Vee, Avicii, Skrillex, Fernando Garibay, DJ White Shadow, Ester Dean, The Cataracs, Jimmy Joker, BeatGeek.

GENRES:

Pop and Top 40 music influenced by the 1980’s and 1990’s with electronic and dance genre stylings including (as well as full fledged genres); House, Club, Dance, Dubstep, Drum N Bass, Electro, Moombahton.

International interest in K-Pop and J-Pop artists, including Girls’ Generation and Wonder Girls.

Lyrically, composition and production wise featured samples from older songs. Saxophone use became more popular, as well as Latin beats + rhythms.

SONGS WORTH OF MENTION:

Alexandra Stan - Mr Saxobeat
Anjulie - Brand New Bitch
Aqua - How R U Doin’?
Cazwell & Peaches - Unzip me
Cee Lo Green - Anyway (Rhythm Shed Refix)
Cher Lloyd - With Ur Love (Digital Dog Radio Edit)
Coldplay - Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall (Swedish House Mafia Remix)
Dev - Lightspeed
Enrique Iglesias & Jennifer Lopez - Mouth 2 Mouth (DJ Frank-E Remix)
Far East Movement feat. Rye Rye - Jello (Unicorn Kid Remix)
Florrie - I Took A Little Something (Fred Falke Remix)
Frankmusik & Colette Carr - No I.D.
Girls’ Generation - The Boys
Havana Brown feat. Pitbull - We Run The Night (RedOne Mix)
Jessie J - Domino
Jessie & the Toy Boys - Money Makes The Girl Go Round
Katy B - Witches Brew
Ke$ha - Blow (Cirkut Remix)
Le Kid - Kiss Me
Little Boots - Shake
Marina & the Diamonds - Radioactive
Martin Solveig - Can’t Stop
Melanie C - Think About It (7th Heaven Radio Edit)
Mika - Elle Me Dit
Mylene Farmer - Lonely Lisa
Nadia Oh - No Bueno
NERVO feat. Afrojack & Steve Aoki -  We’re All No One
Nicola Roberts - Lucky Day
Pixie Lott - All About Tonight
Robyn - Call Your Girlfriend (Kaskade Radio Edit)
Sabi - Wild Heart
September - Party In My Head
Sky Ferreria - Sex Rules!
The Sound of Arrows - Conquest
Wonder Girls - Be My Baby
Wynter Gordon - Til Death (Denzal Park Radio Edit)
Zoe Badwi - Until You’re Over Me

LE LETDOWNS

Sky Ferreira - Album pushed back, again, possibly cancelled.

Natalia Kills - Promotion and material wise. Tracks were lack lustre and forgettable production wise, none of them were commercial or catchy enough (except for maybe Mirrors - which peaked in 2010, Wonderland, Free, Kill My Boyfriend, Break You Hard and Love Is A Suicide) considering this was a debut LP.

Ke$ha - Promotion and Release wise. Started off great with the release of Blow, which had moderate success as well as the remix album “I Am The Dance Commander …”. After that no more proper singles were released from Cannibal, apart from remixes of Sleazy featuring rapper after rapper that were released digitally.

Porcelain Black - Release wise ONLY. Everything else perfect. Album should have been released this year off the hype of “This Is What Rock N Roll Looks Like” and to support the release of “Naughty, Naughty”.

2011

This is a collection of my 15 constantly favourite tracks from this year. I think they, especially the first 10, summarise 2011 in pop music quite well.

1. Lady Gaga - Born This Way
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wV1FrqwZyKw&ob=av2e
2. LMFAO feat. GoonRock & Lauren Bennett - Party Rock Anthem
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQ6zr6kCPj8
3. Rihanna feat. Calvin Harris - We Found Love
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg00YEETFzg
4. Britney Spears - Hold It Against Me
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Edv8Onsrgg
5. David Guetta feat Sia/Mary J Blige - Titanium
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRfuAukYTKg
6. Calvin Harris feat. Kelis - Bounce (Radio Edit)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooZwmeUfuXg
7. Martin Solveig & Dragonette feat. Idoling!! - Big In Japan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBLfNdIhchA
8. Beyonce - Love On Top
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ob7vObnFUJc  
9. Dev - Dancing Shoes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVMHSI6-hhM
10. Wynter Gordon - Still Getting Younger
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJ1CDha6f4w
11. Lady Gaga - Hair
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Okq8xHrIZ8I
12. Porcelain Black - Naughty Naughty
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jO05vcWyN4
13. Her Majesty & the Wolves - Goodbye/Goodnight
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVBvt7kVwnA
14. Bob Sinclar feat. Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Fuck With You
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMJwVgnDrFY
15. Cher Lloyd - Over The Moon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPzjXVQvaA0

There were so many tracks and videos this year that I wish I could have posted, but I wanted to keep it to a short and consistant list to what 2011 pop music meant to ME.