Apparently, 2009 is set to be the year when music mixes spiky girls with sparkly beats and all are left bedazzled in a frenzy of gleaming gusto. Skinny indie boys will be looking on longingly, swapping their guitars for keyboards and their glum-rock for glitter. With this slightly concerning prognosis in mind, this week’s all-female, all-pop singles waltz into view:
Lady Gaga – Just Dance
Suddenly, she is everywhere, topping the charts as swiftly as she rose to the tips of critics’ lips and lists of 2009 tips. However, Yahoo is fighting the hype and gives 5/10 for this “back to the future” single. About.com predicted it would be “tearing up the radio” long ago, awarding an ample 6/10. Clash Music suggests that “it’s sure to make good on the barren singles field,” referring to the less-than spectacular start to the year for the charts. But can’t electro-pop be more interesting than this 5/10 fare?
MySpace / iTunes / last.fm / Amazon / Spotify
Girls Aloud – The Loving Kind
Back with typical aplomb, the Girls Aloud juggernaut keeps thundering into Britain’s collective subconscious. They have roped in the Pet Shop Boys to pen this one, which Digital Spy lavishes with 10/10, noting the “sense of dancefloor euphoria totally at odds with the teary-eyed lyrics”. Even Angry Ape admits “the group proves there is “more to them than the lipgloss-coated anthems” and the Beat Review rewards “perfect vocals, instruments and melody” with another 10/10. It’s dazzling and dizzy and easy to bestow it 8/10.
MySpace / iTunes / last.fm / Amazon / Spotify
Pink – Sober
Hecto Pascal claims that this is “the type of song that can be put on repeat without getting annoying” – this is a questionable assessment, perhaps shown by the 4/10 it eventually receives. Pink is so irritating she must infuriate herself, as she does the users of RateYourMusic, with a score of 2/10 amid cries of “the opposite of originality”. Nevertheless, Unreality Music praises this “brooding tune” and it is at least less bothersome than So What, if more self-pitying. It gets a 3/10 and should count itself lucky.
MySpace / iTunes / last.fm / Amazon / Spotify
Britney Spears - Circus
Back with a bang but she can’t really be bothered, Britney embraces the madness of her celebrity with Circus, which Billboard heralds as an “an electronic cyberpop landscape”. Female First proclaims Britney as “doing what she does best” and offers a positively glowing 8/10. Angry Ape describes it as “part club-pop, part synth-sex and not unlike what you’d expect from Timbaland”. It’s not as immediate as Womanizer but few tracks are: it’s just a messy, fussy slice of 7/10 fun.
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