Don't Stop the Music
Rihanna
Lyrics

Anticipation After reading Pitchfork's review of Rihanna's latest album, Good Girl Gone Bad, I was anxious to hear more. I was also interested to see if Rihanna had more than Umbrella up her sleeve and if the other singles would leave me with the same question: What would this sound like if anybody but Rihanna had done it?
Vocals In a rather chant-like tone, Rihanna gets this song out on the beat. Production effects make it sound like she was carrying the note, but it's really just echo.
Music Sharp beats. I wish the beat that starts the song were used more, especially at the end. There's an MJ sample, particularly well used in the breakdown. It has a mashup-like quality.
Verses To steal a word, "robotic". Verses are toned down compared to the rest of the song, but still provide enough to dance out to.
Chorus Starts with a powerful crescendo of beat, sample, and saturated vocals. Rihanna could be saying anything to this beat-sample combo.
Hook While you can certainly sing-along, the song's a little flat.
Breakdown The MJ sample makes you wonder why the King of Pop was never making dance tracks.
Lyrics It's unfortunate that the more fun lyrics are in the verses where they're not highlighted and the chorus has rather dull ones. Every Rihanna song seems to fit "naughty" in someplace, as does this one.
Hit Potential I smell big success, but it won't reach the heights of Umbrella unfortunately.
Final Note
LOVE

I Got It From My Mama
Will.i.am
Lyrics

Anticipation Usually songs with any Black Eyed Peas members succeed, especially when it's all four together. With the BEP future undisclosed (with Fergie's solo career in progress), can the rest of the group find solo success?

Disclaimer: a lot of P2P searches turn up saying this song features Nicole from the Pussycat Dolls. It doesn't.
Vocals Will.i.am delivers a solid performance. The chick voice tight-ropes on a line of tweeniness and tartiness.
Music The beats are simple, and go on a little too long before a change up.
Verses I'm listening to this song on repeat, and I can't remember what the verse sounds like. Unremarkable apparently.
Chorus This track proves word economy has no impact on catchiness.
Hook Definitely there. A sugary "I got it from my mama" x4 is all it takes to have you coyly looking at yourself in your rear-view mirror reading the line with a different face each time.
Breakdown Made for a club, the "if you're pretty making some noise" will have crowds cheering. YEA-YEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Lyrics I'm left confused whether this song is praising mamas or hating on their daughters.
Hit Potential It'll get some respect from the masses.
Final Note
LOVE

I'm a Flirt
R. Kelly vs Broken Social Scene
Lyrics

Anticipation As opposed to the usual mashup problem (good song + good song = shit), I was told this one was more like good*good=good^2. And this was from a person without mathematical qualifications.
Vocals Do you remember Trapped in the Closet? The vocals are like that at the end of each line--an extension toward higher notes, similar to asking a question. So annoying. The MCing is pretty fast, though, R. Kelly doesn't do any of it.
Music Broken Social Scene brings the house down in this one. It makes the song both interesting and unique.
Verses Underwhelming. Most attention is focused on the MCs who spit words deadpan.
Chorus Clearly the best part of the song. Particularly the later chorus that also takes the place of the breakdown.
Hook The song really lacks a hook. "I'm a flirt" maybe singable, but it doesn't get stuck in your head.
Breakdown See chorus.
Lyrics There are a lot of words to this song, but none of them particularly interesting. I don't really wanting to worship R. Kelly by singing his ladies man warning to all the b/fs out there.
Hit Potential None. Mashups have no potential.
Final Note HATE

Ayo Technology
50 Cent feat. Justin Timberlake
Lyrics

Anticipation With all the 50 Cent/Kanye West drama, all releases are getting loads of attention to see who wins most first week sales. 50's solo career could be over if his tracks aren't hot enough.

Vocals By the slow saying of the words in this song, it sounds like 50's getting a bit lazy. He'll give you this hit since he has to. Similarly, Timberlake gives a good performance as the featured artist, although there's no challenge here as it sounds exactly like a track off FutureSex/LoveSounds.

Music A bit too Atari for my tastes--it has crazy synths in the bg like "Do It". Obviously they're supposed to represent technology, but it's too trite and not very interesting. And more importantly, WHERE IS THE BEAT IN THIS SONG?!

Verses Such a snooze. No interest in the vocals or lyrics.

Chorus I like the chorus in the way that anything off FutureSex/LoveSounds is great, but it doesn't really offer anything except for more of Timberlake's recent sound.

Hook Same as chorus.

Breakdown 4 x "Your hips, your thighs, they got me hypnotized, let me tell you" is a fuckin' weak breakdown.

Lyrics I'm not going to knock it for sticking to hip-hop's typical themes--girls, sex, sex with girls--but there are no bonus points for cleverness. Perhaps the worst part of the song is that it's not particularly clear why its called "Ayo Technology"; it's not like the song is about supertechy, sexy spying.

Hit Potential It's 50. It's Justin. We'll see it in the top 20.

Final Note HATE

Do It
Nelly Furtado
Lyrics

Anticipation
I had to go to Wikipedia on this one. This is Nelly Furtado's sixth North American single off her album Loose. That's incredible as most albums struggle to get to three. But more than that, the bilingual album has spawned even more hits already with its Spanish-language songs such as "No Hay Iqual" and "Te Busque". I wasn't setting my sights high because "Promiscuous", "Maneater", "Say It Right", and "All Good Things (Come to an End)" are hard singles to follow.

Vocals
Does Nelly ever have bad vocals? Why would she now? Throughout the song, she demonstrates that she understands the song, dragging out the flirty lines, playfully skipping through the hook, and rocking the obscure breakdown in falsetto.

Music
The synthesizers go crazy in the background making a Bubblicious hit. Sometimes, it sounds arcade, but in a good way. It's an unexpected 1UP.

Verses
The verses are where the song shines. They are the personality of the song and give meaning to the dance-beat-two-letter-word-heavy single.

Chorus
The chorus has a great sound and flow, but the preponderance of two-letter words leaves it feeling vapid and somewhat boring to sing along to.

Hook
While the lyrics cleverly blend the senses into confusion, it's not clear what is next and becomes too hard to remember. Moreover, it changes slightly through the song.

Just a little look has got me feeling things Just a little taste has got me seeing things Just a little touch has got me off the chains Doing things that I don't want to

It hurts to say, but the hook underwhelms.

Breakdown
Somewhat uncalled for, it does a poor job of making me want to listen to the end of the song. The falsetto feels out of place, but executed well.

Lyrics
Simple works here. They tell the story of Nelly spotting a cutie and wanting to get closer without becoming inane.

Hit Potential
Oh, it'll make the charts. Unfortunately, this one's going to be under appreciated because it is the sixth single. I think it'll make it to #10 before a slow descent off the chart.

Final Note
LOVE

Body Language
Heidi Montag feat. Spencer Pratt
Lyrics


Anticipation
We weren't hoping for much here since Heidi is best known for being the bad best friend on The Hills. We had no idea she was trying to become a recording artist either. The one thing this does, though, is boost our interest in Jo from The Real Housewives of Orange County's recording career.

Disclaimer: Heidi's track carries as much baggage as the three seasons of Laguna Beach and two seasons of The Hills that launched her to fame. While I'd normally ignore the drama, it is a big part of this track's success and timing.

Vocals
It's really the vocals that break the song. If nothing else, it's clearly the inexperience that spoils what could have been a hot track. The vocals are weak; every line sounds like it should be sung much harder, especially in a dance single. Heidi's voice is barely audible above the sampling. Moreover, when we get to the rap, one can hear Pratt's gasps for air--a hallmark of poor MC-ing.

The song is really trying, though. With no high notes to miss, Heidi catches a break.

Music
The song smartly relies on a sample of Yazoo's "Situation" to distract from the vocals and recall feelings of good times. And relies it does as the music goes nowhere. And it is the music that makes the song grow on you before you're finally over all of it.

Verses
Boring and empty. Filling time until the chorus with the sample.

Chorus
The bridge is where we really hear Heidi:

let me follow your lead
baby come on control me
come over take on me
take me

When you finally get to the chorus it's more bland, and sounds like someone else's vocals masked as Heidi.

Hook
"Read my body language", as a command, fails.

Breakdown
In this case, it's Pratt's rap. Not particularly fast, but it does a good job of breaking up the song, although the subsequent climax isn't as high as I'd expect.

Lyrics
They seem to follow the audience's view of Heidi's on screen personality--focusing on being controlled and inviting male attention--and play on these control issues as though being sexually dominated.

boy whatcha waiting for
come and take control over me me
show authority

Nothing aside from the lyrics, such as Heidi's tone of voice, convey an understanding or interpretation of this satire.

Hit Potential
We might see it break onto the charts, but a lesson for Heidi: drama doesn't sustain a radio hit.

Final Note
HATE

Welcome to LMSP

Welcome to Love Me Some Pop, better abbreviated LMSP. You'll probably wish you were inebriated while reading LMSP sometimes as we, royally of course, will breakdown some really bad pop songs. We'll also, still royally, discuss the good ones. What comes is the introductory format so you'll know how to read it.

Anticipation: Is there any reason this song is supposed to be good or bad before we even hear it? What's the hype?
Vocals: The singing/rapping/artist performance
Music: All of the background
Verses: What they sing
Chorus: The part you sing over and over and over and over and over
Hook: It's THAT line. You know, THAT one that everybody knows.
Breakdown: The break between the verses, chorus, and everything else. It can be instrumental, a rap, a collaborating artist, etc.
Lyrics: Almost last because if it's catchy, they aren't that important
Hit Potential: Where's it gonna land on the charts
Final Note: Where we tell you what you should do with it

The format has been adapted from the hit blog Bobalicious to whom we owe many thanks for inspiration. And we couldn't have done it without fueling up on Choice Chow either.