Throughout December, I'll be counting down my 100 favorite songs of the year. This was a hard list to make & I tried to make it as accurate as possible.
#5-1
5 Maroon 5 - One More Night
This song gets a lot of flack on ATRL, but I personally think it not only the best song on Overexposed, but also on par with some of their best songs period. I'm not surprised it was such a huge radio hit, it sounds AMAZING on radio especially on a night out. It's overplayed, but hey, that's what happens when a song is a huge hit. The song is a unique blend of reggae-pop with kind even a hip-hop backdrop. It's interesting in the sense that the verses are bigger than the chorus (except for the final chorus where the beat goes off, though). It's interesting territory for M5, & one of the few very creative songs on Overexposed where I feel they hit a blend of radio-friendliness & experimentation. Max Martin really knew how to produce a great song here.
4 Alex Clare - Too Close
ATRL knows I was stanning for this song before it became such a huge hit. It's one of the best debut singles so far this decide. It's folk, it's pop, it has dubstep... wait, what kind of weird combo?! Clare has the talent to pull this off without leaving the listener scratching their head confused. He makes it seem effortless. Get into those vocals too.
3 Rihanna - Jump
I have been wanting Rihanna to experiment with a song like this for YEARS, and she finally heard my advice (or I'll just pretend she did). This song is so intense, dark, sexy, powerful, I can go on. The breakdown is insane and it sounds best blasted as loud as you can possibly blast a song. Definitely one of the best samples I've ever heard too. I feel as if Rihanna is the only pop girl capable of pulling a song quite like this off, honestly.
2 P!nk - Just Give Me a Reason (featuring Nate Reuss)
I'm not the biggest fan of Fun.'s record, but when Nate Reuss gets it really right, the results are phenomenal. He & P!nk seem like a musical pair fated to eventually meet up and record the perfect duet. Or, they make it sound like it here. There's so much emotion in their vocals and there's something about this song that makes me think it will make a huge impact on pop culture this coming year. It's so well composed and has so much going for it. I love when P!nk's voice is this raw and kind of rough, especially on the highest notes. Nate can hit all her high notes back. In short, I did not expect the result of them working together to be this amazing.
1 Rihanna - Diamonds
Rihanna's first singles have topped all my year-countdowns since I joined. But, they deserve to. Besides We Found Love, this is my favorite Rihanna song to date. Little surprise to me, it's written by the immensely talented Sia, and her musical style is all over this song. You can just tell it's her when you hear the lyrics. Rihanna not only elevates the song to another level, but she makes it such a unique sound for HERSELF. It stands out in her discography for sure. I don't know why almost all Rihanna's songs have a dark & sad feeling to them, but it works for her anyway and I love it. Even though the lyrics suggest otherwise, the song is kind of depressing. The video pretty much confirmed to me the song is not as happy as it would appear if you just looked up the lyrics online. But, it's an awesome video. Anyway, listen to queen her anThem.
The song is a unique blend of reggae-pop with kind even a hip-hop backdrop. It's interesting in the sense that the verses are bigger than the chorus (except for the final chorus where the beat goes off, though). It's interesting territory for M5, & one of the few very creative songs on Overexposed where I feel they hit a blend of radio-friendliness & experimentation. Max Martin really knew how to produce a great song here.
