The year is wound down, and the music industry is in recess, and radio playlists are all scraps and Christmas-themed singles. By the power of Beyoncé, however, I present the year's final installment of Pop Confessional, in which I cop to starring Nick Jonas listings in my Spotify. Also this month: Charli XCX with her third album, Sucker, and Mark Ronson with a comeback single (featuring Bruno Mars) that's only grown on me as of last weekend.
With six days left of 2014, we recap the last few pop singles to really leave a mark.
1. Nick Jonas f/ Tinashe "Jealous (Remix)"
Released: Nov. 6, 2014
Nick Jonas, formerly of the Jonas Brothers, done mucked around and transformed into an ex-member of B2K. Lately much has been made of Nick's campy catering to a potential gay fanbase, but I rather think he's attempting a careful, more conservative version of teen-pop-to-R&B conversion that Justin Bieber botched. On "Jealous," Nick is a tad Omarion, a tad Chris Brown, with Tinashe lending a dose of romantic tension to the remix. I'm late to this one, I know, but I'd be remiss to conclude 2014 with zero kudos to the low-key most impressive pop rebranding in recent memory.
2. Mark Ronson f/ Bruno Mars "Uptown Funk"
Released: Nov. 9, 2014
Regarding Mark Ronson’s sudden resurgence, I placed my earliest bet on “Feel Right,” his collaboration with Mystikal, who, low-key, is my second-favorite-ever rapper with braids. I didn’t embrace “Uptown Funk” until a weekend ago, after four glasses of wine as I watched the music video, in which Bruno Mars sparkles and shimmies up Broadway. He’s aping James Brown, his band is swagger-jacking the Revolution, the hook is due to Trinidad James, and it’s unfair how wonderful it is.
3. Beyoncé "7/11"
Released: Nov. 25, 2014
Every song from the original edition of Beyonce is more impressive than “7/11,” but never has Beyonce been more charming and ridiculous and Houston (adj.) than ever before, or at least since she was on speaking terms with Wendy Williams. No, the song ain’t shit without its accompanying video, in which Bey and the Hive Elite trash the bathroom, bedroom, and balcony of an L.A. hotel room as the girls twerk, vogue, wink, and whatnot. Your superstar fav is a flawless goofball.
4. Nicki Minaj "The Night Is Still Young"
Released: Dec. 12, 2014
I’m not sold on the conventional wisdom that Nicki’s best available route would be a return to butch persona and purist rappity-rap b-sides. She’s got two gifts, she’s wise to leverage both, and The Pinkprint is the most competent balance of pop vs. hip-hop that she’s yet published. “The Night Is Still Young” is Pitbull marinated in a Daft Punk bass line: “This what you came for/You get what you made: this what you paid for/So make sure the stars is what you aim for/Make mistakes, though,” is, in a sense, Roman Zolanski’s Allegory.
5. Charli XCX "Doing It"
Released: Dec. 14, 2014
I hyperinflated my expectations for the third Charli XCX album, so I must wholly own my disappointment with Sucker being a pass/fail five-out-of-11. The brat pop gawd is now a singles artist, and while I’m not even done with “Gold Coins” much less “Gold Coins,” I’m happy to report that “Doing It” is the second-best song off Sucker, with all the hairspray flair and teen rebellion that's relaunched the previously grim, gothic Charli XCX as a sort of pop nostalgia act with scrappy build and a punk’s vocals.
