Compared to other years, there haven't been that many new artists at all.. most of the ones that slayed this year were a continuation from 2010, or have already been known for years, or something similar to those. But, here are the ones who were new to our iTunes playlists, last.fm scrobbles, and music obsession.
THE TOP 7:
7. Wiz Khalifa
His singles were great choices, his album was nice.. he had extreme success with his #1 hit 'Black and Yellow', as well as his third single 'No Sleep' going #1 on iTunes, but he is the weakest out of these next 6.
6. Dev
Nice album, great success with 'In The Dark', also loved her Cataracs collaboration, 'Bass Down Low'.
5. Foster The People
Amazing album, spectacular success with the #2 single 'Pumped Up Kicks', though- I just recently got into their music, so I haven't been obsessing with them as much as these next 4.. therefore, making them fall a bit short on the list.
4. Skylar Grey
Amazing songwriter, artist, and performer.. great success with her features in 'I Need A Doctor' and 'Coming Home', while her own singles, the buzz single 'Dance Without You' and first single 'Invisible', both flopped horribly. They both slayed me to death, oh so effortlessly, but it was a sad sight to see. But with her album soon on the way in the first quarter of 2012, will we see a change of paths in her solo career?
3. Hot Chelle Rae
They came out a bit later in the year, but they immediately started smashing with their debut single, 'Tonight, Tonight', which slayed me pretty hard. Now their album recently came out and it's all killer, no filler. Sadly, it's not taking even close to as much success as their first single, and their second, 'I Like It Like That', as well.. but they are still some of the best this year has seen.
Had to fit in a little promo, of course. 2. Cher Lloyd
I don't watch the X Factor, in the US nor the UK.. but when ATRL went crazy for this girl, I couldn't help but notice. I went to see what all the talk was about, and I heard something called Swagger Jagger. One of my most played songs of the year. Though the public hated it, I loved it so much, and then a few days later I found myself on Youtube, watching all of her performances as if it was a television marathon. Then her album came out and it slayed me even harder.. especially 'I Want U Back' and 'With Ur Love'. Now that it's said she'll be coming to the US next year, I extremely hope she can have a similar impact that she did in the UK.
1. Jessie J
Yet another UK artist, except she took no time to transfer over to the US. 'Price Tag' was a pretty big hit, while 'Domino' has been climbing and falling for the past months.. and is finally starting to crawl up to the top 20 on iTunes. Her album is one of my favorites of the year, and one of the most addicting too. I'm definitely hoping that 'Domino' will smash, as well as any other singles she will release this era. BEST VIRAL VIDEO:
This is the first EXTRA category, where there's it's just a top one, and nothing else.
In my Best of 2011.. half-way ceremony, this same person won Best Viral Video, and it's obvious why. It's gotten hatred from around the world, and yet.. she slayed ATRL with dozens of threads made about her in just a few days' time.
If you've been living under a rock this year, let's remind you of the biggest Internet sensation this year..
Quote:
Originally posted by Rem
It started February 10th, 2011.. when a regular music video was posted. But it didn't start until almost exactly a month later when it started to take off. Looking at it today, it has reached 154,858,723 views.. 442,902 likes.. and beating the record- 3,014,982 dislikes. It started off funny, then took a turn to the worst, with the artist getting tons of hate, and even death threats over the simple little song. Produced, written, and made by Ark Music Factory- a music company with only teens as the artists, this person and video itself has gone from something small to something so huge that there might not even be a word to describe it.
REBECCA BLACK- 'FRIDAY'
This is a pretty obvious choice, seeing as NOTHING else compares to how successful, big, and even hated this video was. Once this video blew up- ATRL, YouTube, Television, hell.. the whole WORLD was going crazy about it. Even here, dozens of polls were made about her and the song in just one week, most people were making fun of her, but a few actually went and put her song on their countdowns, and thought the song wasn't even that bad. I am one of those people, I listened to the song AT LEAST 40 times in the first week it was "discovered", it may have terrible lyrics, but it's a funny song, and is actually pretty decent. It's spawned hundreds of parodies and covers, including the Glee Cast taking a stab at it and getting almost 20 spots higher than the original on the Billboard Hot 100. 2010's best viral video was the autotuned Antoine Dodson classic 'Bed Intruder', and by the end of this year- there will be no doubt in my mind that this rival to that song will remain the winner of this category.
COMING UP
Best Albums: #26-25
The MASSIVE, JAW-DROPPING performers list
and the first 2 performers of the ceremony!
Day 2 isn't over yet! First, we have the #26 and #25 spots for 'Best Albums'.. then we go on over to the MASSIVE, 18-artist performance list, and then we finish it off with two of those people from the list.
Are you ready? Good.. because this starts NOW.
This is a multiple-part category that will extend to the end of my whole Best Of ceremony. Tonight I will introduce you to the the bottom two of this category, at #26 and #25. These rankings are not only based off of my rating of the album, but also how addicted I was to it, my plays for it, and just my overall perception of it. Also, both of these artists were mentioned in the last category, Best Newcomers. Can you guess who? Let's check them out right now..
26. Wiz Khalifa: 'Rolling Papers'
The album is good, I'm not even that big of a fan of rap, but when I heard his smash single 'Black & Yellow', I was definitely intrigued. So I took a listen just based off of that song, and I liked the album. I haven't listened to it that much since then, but not only that, as none of the other albums on this list have.. are fillers. About 3 of them.. and out of 15 tracks that's not bad, but out of 26 albums you can't expect to get too far.
Top 5:
5. Roll Up
4. Wake Up
3. Black & Yellow
2. Cameras 1. No Sleep
25. Dev: 'The Night The Sun Came Up'
After her amazing features and first single 'In The Dark', I was definitely hyped up for this album. But when it was released, my expectations had been just a bit too high. The album has maybe 3 or 4 amazing tracks, but basically everything else on the album is just GOOD.. and you know that good fails to compete with great.. amazing.. spectacular.. extraordinary.. it's not bad, but even since the release, I've barely listened to it. Actually, this year I've listened to the album that comes before it on my iTunes playlist, and then when this starts up after that album ends, I usually just move on to another. There's no fillers, there's nothing bad on the album, but I was a tad disappointed.
Top 5:
5. In My Trunk
4. Me
3. Dancing Shoes
2. Bass Down Low (ft. The Cataracs) 1. In The Dark
Now, let's check out the performers list for the rest of this Best Of celebration..
Future performances will feature:
FOSTER THE PEOPLE
LADY GAGA
JASON DERULO
LMFAO
RIHANNA
NICKI MINAJ
HOT CHELLE RAE
DEMI LOVATO
BEYONCE
ADELE
DAVID GUETTA
PITBULL
CHRIS BROWN
THE SCRIPT
FLO RIDA
KARMIN
TAYLOR SWIFT
and KELLY CLARKSON
But WAIT.. that is not all!
Two of those 18 artists will be coming out in just a few seconds.. so, let me introduce them..
One is a band that was just put at #3 on the Best Newcomers list, and one of is a popular teen princess who has proved she's now Unbroken.
Here is HOT CHELLE RAE and DEMI LOVATO, featuring a duet performance they will sing FOR THE FIRST TIME, TOGETHER!!!