The Western pop scene doesn't get enough love from K-pop or J-pop fans. I will never understand why some of those fans (K-pop fans in particular) rave about other countries' pop music being SO much better than American stuff when it's pretty much exactly the same thing. Just with more groups instead of solo singers. There's nothing wrong with preferring one over the other, but to say that there's this vast difference in musical style & quality is wrong. There's crap music in K-pop, J-pop, and American pop, just like there's good music in all three. This list was also really incredibly difficult because of the sheer amount of artists this covers. I'm going to need to have a better solution next year lol. Spotify playlist at the bottom this time instead of YT videos.
#10: The Weeknd - In The Night
#9: Demi Lovato - Kingdom Come (ft. Iggy Azalea)
#8: Colette Carr - Three Percent
#7: Zedd - I Want You To Know (ft. Selena Gomez)
#6: Ellie Goulding - On My Mind
#5: Adam Lambert - Evil In The Night
#4: Walk The Moon - Work This Body
#3: Fall Out Boy - Fourth Of July
#2: Melanie Martinez - Pity Party
#1: Pentatonix - Ref
Enjoy! What are some of your favorite Western tracks of the year?
I think I was right about the past couple weeks being a lull in releases because this week was back to form with lots of new stuff!
Track #1: Demi Lovato - Confident
Unfortunately there's no video of this on YouTube so it's just a Spotify link. Sorry to those of you who don't use Spotify! This is a promo song from Demi's upcoming album of the same name. It is a powerful track with a lot of attitude and very catchy. I personally think it's better than Cool For The Summer. Demi's new album, Confident, releases October 16th.
Track #2: Yuu Kikkawa - Wild Strawberry
When did Kikka get so good? Seriously, the past couple of songs she's put out have been outstanding. This is probably my favorite one yet. It's like the took the good part of Hana and made it into an actual full length song. I hope that the other new songs on her album are as good. Her third album, You the 3rd (Wildflower), releases on October 14th.
Track #3: Tsubaki Factory - Seishun Manmannaka!
This song is finally on YouTube and I'm so happy I could scream. This is Hello! Project's newest group and this is their first indies release, or as I like to call it "the best debut song ever released by anyone in H!P in my completely biased opinion" lol. I do really love this song and it is so sad I can't buy it anywhere. I keep hoping that a copy of the indies single will pop up on ebay or that H!P would be kind and put it on iTunes. I'd even buy it off of E-Lineup & figure out how to use the dang site if they'd put it up, but alas....it hasn't happened yet. I really hope they keep this style. To me it's kind of like an EDM/Nogizaka46 mashup. I love it. Seishun Manmannaka! was released on September 6th in limited venues in Japan.
I really like Demi Lovato. I like that (for as much as I can tell) she seems like a very open and honest person. I remember when Camp Rock came out being so in awe of her vocal ability even though she was still young. Saw her in concert once when she toured with the Jonas Brothers. Her vocals her quite impressive. If she was that good live then, I wonder how she is live now. It's actually too bad that in terms of musical quality, her counterpart Selena has jumped away ahead of Demi. If I were to compare both of their newest albums, Selena would win in a landslide. Demi's most recent is truthfully quite boring (which I'll talk about when I eventually get to that album.) But, anyway, I can't believe this album is already about seven years old. Crazy to think about.
Track #1, La La Land: Ok, so obviously Demi was completely Disney at the time and still a young teenager, so this album can be kind of immature at points. Not really immature like acting immature but more....naive? I guess?....no...that's not the word either. Maybe inexperienced. Maybe. Like she's still so young so her lyrics and songs are more geared to preteen/teenage life than adult life. Whatever, you get what I mean. This song is one of those kind of "immature" songs. This was my anthem when I was younger. It feeds into the whole "rebellious"/"do your own thing" stage that all teenagers go through. [Note: struggled with how to put this because there's nothing wrong with going against the norm, just that this to me is really representative of the preteen/teenage mindset so I view it's content as more immature. You get what I mean.] The song itself kind of sounds like something Avril Lavigne would have done in her early years if her sound trended more towards the Kelly Clarkson style of pop rock music. I do love it though...brings back memories. 5/5.
Track #2, Get Back: I remember trying to sing along to this one as a young teen. Looking back on this song, it's lyrics are so painfully teen....and I used to think it was so cute. For the record, if you were screaming at each other for no reason, you probably should stay broken up. Just saying. But anyway, musically the song's pretty different than your standard Disney fare. This song in particular sounds like something Kelly Clarkson would put out (if she had debuted as a teen anyway.) 4/5.
Track #3, Trainwreck: Lyrically, I think this is one of the best songs on the album. However, it seems a little weird for a teen singer from Disney to sing some of the lyrics...maybe I'm just reading too far into vapid pop lyrics, but it just doesn't feel right for the type of song it is. Still like the lyrics though. Musically it's just another pop/rock track. 4/5.
Track #4, Party: I remember this song being played in concert very vividly. It was the song that made be say "I want this CD!". Too bad when I actually got the CD I was disappointed in the song. I had hyped myself up too much. The music just sounded so much more powerful in concert. On CD it sounds like a pretty typical Disney pop/rock track. 3.5/5.
Track #5, One The Line: This is the one featuring the Jonas Brothers. Of course this was one of my favorites when I got the CD. I was pretty obsessed with the Jonas Brothers. Now though, I still find it one of the best songs on the album. Not because of the Jonas Brothers (I couldn't care less about them now), but the song feels a lot different than the songs before it. It's still in the pop/rock Disney vein, but it is just different enough to leave a good impression. 4.5/5.
Track #6, Don't Forget: Are we really only halfway through the album? Wow I don't remember it being this much of a drag to listen to. Interesting what a couple years can do. Also doesn't help that this song is very boring. Too bad too because her vocals sound pretty good in this. The way she sings it kind of vulnerably instead of oversinging it is nice. Ah....forgot about that pick up at the end. Kind of scared me. Would be a better song if it kept that vulnerability the whole way through, even if I find it boring. 3/5.
Track #7, Gonna Get Caught: I remember this song being much different than what is playing. Probably the most generic pop/rock song on the album. About halfway through it and I cannot remember anything that happened earlier in the song. That guitar "solo" is really cheesy in the song....having guitars in your song doesn't make you edgy.
Track #8, Two Worlds Collide: I truly loved this song. Adored it. Thought it was so beautiful. Was very scared to listen to it now because I didn't want my memory of the song to turn out to be wildly different. Thankfully, it's just as great a song as I remember it. Yeah, the lyrics are cheesy and it's nothing specially musically, but I've always love the lyrics and the way she sings it. It's not always a bad thing to be cheesy or generic. 5/5.
Track #9, The Middle: My gosh it feels like the temperature has dropped at least 20 degrees in the past 5 minutes. Argh. I need a more high energy album to stay warm (I realize that makes no sense, it's just freaking cold here). What? The song? Oh right. I guess it's not interesting if I'm not paying attention. I remember playing it to death when I was younger though. It's actually kind of catchy now that I'm paying attention to it. Her voice sounds strained though in the song. She has a great voice even at this early part of her career, but I feel like she really oversang a lot of these songs and I wouldn't be surprised if she hurt her voice a bit. 3.5/5.
Track #10, Until You're Mine: I hate to admit it, but this is my absolute favorite Demi track ever. It's the only song from her first album that I still listen to regularly. I really don't know what makes it so special to me. The lyrics are teen and the music is the same standard stuff as the rest of the album. I guess sometimes things just click. 5/5.
Track #11, Believe In Me: Every teen album has to have the cheesy believe in yourself anthem doesn't it? It's great that we get an uplifting song about loving/believing in yourself, but to be fair most of these type of songs are extremely cheesy because there's no heart in them. Although, when I was younger, I liked to listen to this type of song because it made me feel happy. I guess that's what matters. 5/5.
Random interjection: Yeah I'm pretty sure the "polar vortex" mega freezing-ness has started....to everyone else living in the northeastern United States....stay warm! For everyone living where it is warm: I hate you very much. Just kidding of course haha.
Track #12, Behind Enemy Lines: This is the new song off the the deluxe edition of the album. I've actually never listened to it before right now. I bought the deluxe as a replacement for my original CD after I lent it to a former friend that never gave it back.....still slightly miffed about that. The song is really nothing special. I appreciate that it deviates greatly from the rest of the formula of the album, but it just doesn't interest me. 3/5.
Track #13, Lo Que Soy: The Spanish version of This Is Me from the Camp Rock soundtrack. Not really going to talk about it, but is she fluent in Spanish? Because every time I listen to this I don't feel like she is. Maybe it's just the translation and the arrangement since the song was originally in English.
Track #14, Back Around: Ok, so this isn't actually on any of the physical versions of this album, but it was released as a digital only track internationally. Does anyone else absolutely hate that? The whole releasing other tracks in other countries thing? It wouldn't be as annoying if there was at least a physical CD I could buy but when it's digital you kind of get forced to either get it through other means or just pretend it doesn't exist. It would be nice if the record companies would put out like 'super deluxe editions' that combined all songs from all versions....I'd spend the extra money for something like that tbh. It's disappointing that this is one of the best songs from this era. It's pretty great. 4/5.
Really the album isn't much like I remember it. It's got a handful of good songs, but it also has a lot of a generic and cheesy feel to it. That's all right though. I wouldn't expect much else from a teen girl's first album, especially one that came from Disney. 4/5.
