And Matt Damon's not meant for me

To semi-counteract the abundance of words in my Melodifestival post below, here are a few quick notes on some songs I'm loving at the moment. There are bunches more, but I better break them up into a few posts.

As Chart Rigger has already covered, the new Leighton Meester single, "Somebody To Love," is really pretty good. It's electro-pop, but of a more restrained, loungey sort (which isn't actually lounge courtesy of its beat). Leighton's voice is kind of emotionless, but it's perfect for the song. Speaking of voices, this is the first time I've ever found Robin Thicke's voice sexy (my usual attitude towards him is loving "When I Get You Alone" and wishing I liked him more to spite Justin Timberlake), but boy, it's enough to make up for lost time. Worth more writing later.



My three favorite songs from the Saturdays' new album, Wordshaker, are, in order, "Open Up," "Ego," and "Wordshaker." I see what they meant about going in a more rocky direction, but really, don't be scared: they didn't. A few more guitar-mimicking sounds here and there, but it's just as pop as their debut. "Open Up" may be too cheesy for some, but for me, it's pure Swedish pop perfection, with fantastic verses, bridge, and second half of the chorus.



"Ego," just designated the second single, is a perfect choice, modern electronic pop just like we want from the British girl group.



"Wordshaker," like "Ego," is a fierce critique of a boy doesn't even sport many of those guitar-esque elements.



As I mentioned on Twitter (follow me!), Shakira's "Men In This Town" sports bonkers lyrics and a dancey pop beat.



As a catch-up note, I haven't mentioned British group's Ou Est Le Swimming Pool's dark-but-accessible electronic pop song "Dance The Way I Feel" yet. It's ADDICTIVE and HIGHLY RECOMMENDED to all pop lovers, no matter how much cool you like with your music.

On my house, on my job, on my loot, shoes, my voice, my crew, my mind, my father's last name?

In general, I don't like Robin Thicke's singles; I think it may have something to do with too much falsetto and funky laid-backness (actually, now that I think about it, I can see me really liking some of them if you punched up the production or the arrangement some more). However, in among the American singer's work, there is at least one giant glaring couldn't-stand-out-more exception--his debut single, and a song that I would like to mention that I knew long before a certain contestant covered it on American Idol (though, truth, I now unavoidably see his gestures when I hear that song; I was actually really excited when I heard that he was doing that song though not necessarily because of getting to see that performance but more as an indicator of actual music he could release; at the time I thought an album in that style could really suit him and be very exciting). It was released when Robin was going by just his last name; he's since switched over to releasing under his full name and actually got some American success with his second album, 2006's The Evolution Of Robin Thicke.

When I Get You Alone--brilliance. No, really--this is a classic. Well, it should be, anyway; in the U.S., it didn't do too well (not a song your average person on the street knows at all), though apparently it did better outside his home country. With strings sampled from a song that samples a Beethoven song, "When I Get You Alone" uses just the right amount of funk to add some extra energy and fun to this pop-R&B song. Thicke manages to toss countless hooks into the song without it ever seeming overly busy, making "When I Get You Alone" a perfect candidate for singing along with...as well as dancing too, of course. Sure, you could talk about it some more (how well-crafted it is and all that), but the most important thing is this: it's FUN. And in the end, I don't care what the practical or realistic hindrances were: that should have been enough to make this a huge hit.

To buy Robin Thicke's first album A Beautiful World, go here (physical) or here (digital).

Next up: I've been working on some thoughts on some American singers and can't seem to get across what I'm trying to say--still, if I can manage to fix that, one of those will be tomorrow's post.