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  • …As The Best of Lists Come Floating In…

    Check out this list of iTunes and last.fm’s top downloaded singles of 2008. As you can see, it was quite the year for Coldplay and Rihanna, both of whom will probably figure heavily when the Grammy Award nominations are announced tonight. Every year, I predict the winners of the February award ceremony, and I generally call the winners pretty closely (which says as much for my prognostication skills as it does the Grammys’ predictability). Here are the artists and albums I think will be nominated in the three major categories.

    Record of the Year: Coldplay’s Viva La Vida is the front runner here. Leona Lewis and John Mayer are probably sure things for Bleeding Love and Say (which I also think is the front runner for Song of the Year), Rihanna will probably be nominated for either Take a Bow or Disturbia. Katy Perry could snag a nod for I Kissed a Girl. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Kanye grab a nomination for Homecoming. We might see some love for Chris Brown’s With You, with outside shots for M.I.A.’s Paper Planes and Adele’s Chasing Pavements, and don’t count out Mariah Carey’s Touch My Body or Madonna’s 4 Minutes, despite the relative disappointment of their album sales.

    Album of the Year: Coldplay is again the front-runner in this category, far and away. Also look for Radiohead’s In Rainbows to score a well-deserved nomination. Lil’ Wayne had the year’s biggest selling album with Tha Carter III, but Grammy generally doesn’t roll out the red carpet for hardcore rap acts. Alicia Keys is almost certain to get a nod for As I Am, while labelmate Leona Lewis could score big here, too. Dark horses here include Jack Johnson, Metallica and Carrie Underwood, and we can’t forget The Eagles’ huge-selling Long Road Out of Eden.

    Best New Artist: Leona Lewis is the obvious front-runner here, but we could see love for a variety of different artists. Fellow Brit chanteuses Adele, Duffy and Estelle (whose American Boy could also see a Record of the Year nomination) could all follow in the steps of last year’s winner, Amy Winehouse. Indie faves Vampire Weekend and The Ting Tings could pop up in this category, as could Timbaland proteges OneRepublic. Also watch out for country group Lady Antebellum as well as American Idol’s Jordin Sparks and Jennifer Hudson.

    We’ll do a recap of the nominations tomorrow after the announcements have been made!!

  • Pink’s Funhouse: So What? She’s Still a Rock Star!!

    When Pink came onto the music scene almost a decade ago, did anyone think we’d still be talking about her a decade later? After making her initial entrance as a reasonably anonymous R&B singer, Pink remade herself with 2001’s Missundaztood and has rolled along ever since, with a sound that straddles the line between pop and rock much like Pat Benatar did twenty-five years ago.

    Pink’s fifth album, Funhouse, follows in much the same path as 2006’s I’m Not Dead. The songs are hooky as all hell and Pink wails her behind off (someone should really start giving this girl props for her singing voice…even if she can’t act,someone at least needs to have her sing the vocal parts in any Janis Joplin biopic). The difference is that, for the most part, this album is themed around Pink’s recent divorce from motocross racer Carey (not Corey) Hart. Every song centers around bitterness, heartbreak or defiance. Actually, Funhouse reminds me a lot of Kelly Clarkson’s 2007 album My December. Difference between the two? Pink has a sense of humor, and that makes Funhouse go down a lot easier.

    Of course, by now you’ve heard So What, a swaggering rocker in which Pink (sarcastically?) shrugs off losing her husband by claiming “I’m still a rock star!”. You can almost see her laughing with her middle finger in the air during songs like this and Bad Influence (a song with a devil-may-care attitude that someone really needs to use in a rock musical), although there’s a catch in that throaty voice that makes you feel like maybe Pink’s not having as good a time as she says she is. The track Sober indicates as much, as she wonders sings “No pain inside/You’re like perfection/But how do I feel this good sober?”

    The album’s title track has a deceptively upbeat dance/rock flavor (think Franz Ferdinand). However, listen to the lyrics, and you’ll find that Pink isn’t exactly discussing a circus or carnival. “This used to be a fun house,” she sings, clearly directing her venom towards the end of her relationship. At one point, she growls “I’m gonna burn this f*cker down”. The rage is palpable. The acoustic Crystal Ball is another winner, as is Mean, on which Pink tries on a new hat with a song that would sound right at home on country radio…although I don’t think the cuss words would get past the censors. She only takes one break from the breakup talk with the rockin’ (but lyrically somber) Ave Mary A, this album’s one attempt at a socially conscious tune.

    My one quibble with Funhouse is that it’s a bit overproduced. Listen to a song like the beautiful piano ballad Glitter in the Air and think of what a great record Pink could potentially make with a simple guitarist, bass and drums. That minor detail aside, Funhouse is one of those rare albums that manages to be achingly personal and also pop-friendly. There are enough danceable tunes to keep the kiddies satisfied (and just about every song on the album has a killer chorus), but there’s a confessional singer-songwriter album lurking just beneath the shiny exterior. The ability to combine all of these elements into one coherent-and solid-album is what makes Pink one of the few to come out of the late-Nineties teen-pop boom to deserve the title of “artist”.

  • Did Your Thanksgiving Get Rickrolled?

    This was too good not to post. This past week’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade got hijacked by Rick Astley, as we witnessed an actual live-action Rickrolling. The man popped up from whatever rock he’s been hiding under for the past fifteen years and lip-synched performed Never Gonna Give You Up for an adoring and appreciative crowd. I wanna know how it’s been twenty years since the song was a hit and Astley doesn’t look like he’s aged a month. What’s his secret?