Best of 2009: September #7 - #3

YES! We've finally made it to September, my birth month. But aside from that, this post will be monumental because it'll mark the first time I have A BRITNEY SONG on the countdown. Yes, BRITNEY.

#7: No Angels - One Life

They're German, right? OK. One Life is pop down to the last note and it's well-made pop. This is proof to me that even with kpop taking over my musical tastes, Europe still has something to offer. Yay!

#6: Britney Spears - 3

I know what you're saying right now "WHAT????". LOL. But really, lyrics and video aside, 3 impressed me to a certain extent - far enough for me to put it on the list.

#5: Pixie Lott - Gravity

Pixie, Pixie, Pixie. Late last year I discovered her and ever since I've been watching her career go from strength to strength - I'm actually REALLY glad she didn't get casted for the (brilliant) flop that was Britannia High because she got to do what she did this year! Pixie is living proof that people still know what pop is and this Ryan Tedder-sounding (did he produce this? Not sure) number gave me goosebumps. Her brilliant vocals with an epic song just made me melt.

#4: Super Junior M - Super Girl

Super Girl was the song I really, really waited for this year. On the day of the apparent release, I refreshed the SM Youtube channel hundreds of times until that evening, the full video and the full song were put on and I just exploded. I gave it a perfect review, called Yoo Young Jin brilliant, rested my case and Super Girl became a huge hit. Though the rest of the sub-unit's release kinda bored me, Super Girl remained brilliant and after getting sick of it for like a month, listening to it now just reminds me of the first time I heard it. Brilliance, whether it be in Mandarin or Korean.

#3: Been So Long - Jaejoong and Yoochun (DBSK)

I could've just as easily put Colors, another duet by the two, but I think this song is better than the aforementioned Japanese #1 single. AND up to a few days ago, I was debating over this and Shelter, the b-side to Colors, me and my indecisiveness. You might've guessed by now that this is the song that won - and for the right reasons. Been So Long has a lot more kick and a lot more character than Colors and it's a much easier listen than Shelter with all it's darkness. The rap is bearable (says someone who simply CANNOT stand rap) and the vocals are surprising - Jaejoong singing in a girls' range (he admitted it a while back but I knew all along. Hahah.) AND rapping, Yoochun's voice clearly in it's element - the guy sounds best with songs like this. It's a brilliant performance from the 2, really. I honestly couldn't stop listening to this song for days because it was so damn good. Best listened to at high volumes.

Need new music? It's the Friday night post!

I'm lazy, tired and I have an extremely tiring day tomorrow - will be engineering the recording of like 6 poems. OK. These past few days have been extremely stressful for me but I got through it - time to post some new music! Relatively short tonight, I'm going to write and go to bed!

The Sugababes' new video is out. I've come to be able to bear the song, it's not that bad but I'd not good either. Oh well, I just hope the album's a lot better. If you haven't seen the video yet, here it is:

No Angels have only previously made one song I actually like and would love to listen to over and over again and for the longest time that one song was the only one. I've found another song worthy of my praise though - One Life.

It's new, and we haven't heard it in HQ yet(the version I have doesn't sound very nice..) but I do love it heaps.

The Korean representative this week is Kara. Yes, another girl group but no, they're not like 2NE1 or SNSD - they're the extremely cutesy girl group. It can be good sometimes but most often their voices are crap on the recordings because some stupid corporate dude tells the producer to make their voices really cutesy/baby-like. UGH.

It's their new single. Not bad, actually - if they lost the crap voices I'd actually like it a heck of a lot. Am getting the album as we speak so if it's good I'll review it in the coming days.

No Angels - When The Angels Sing

I've never really taken notice of No Angels, even though I do have five of their albums(yes, five.) so I decided to give some of their songs a listen. The first song I heard was not so hot but then I came across this one.

My first impression of it is that they sound kinda out of tune. You know when the song doesn't fit your voice and you try to sing it no matter what? Yeah. Kind of like Katelyn Tarver and 'Wonderful Crazy but whatever, it's not entirely their fault, the song doesn't match their individual voices but together, it's great. So then I listened to it a little more and I just adore the melody, plus the video's like a farewell song or whatever, genius.

And then I discovered that it was a single for them, which is great but it only reached number five on the German charts, which seems OK. Back to the song. The first verse is OK but the start of second verse sounds a bit off(again with the song not matching the voice thing..). All in all, the melody is amazing but the vocals I feel need more work. Check the video out!



Rating? 3.9, the vocals are not enough to pull the rating up to a 4..