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05 July 2010

Summer Jam 2010: July 5 Winners

Here we go again, the ongoing process to determine who will be the Final Champion, the King of Summer Jam 2010. We had a bit of a shake-up this week with a few new debuts and a few big falls. Let's get the party started:

#8: "Impossible" by Shontelle

This is a typical meandering Female R&B song but has gotten a good amount of airplay this week. It's kind of catchy and may rise up the next week or two but for now this seems more like a flash week than anything substantial. This is Shontelle's time to shine rather than the beginning of her ascension.

#7: "Hold Yuh" - Gyptian



This track has been all over the clubs and Hip-Hop stations, but has got to be just pleasant background noise for white audiences. It's sung in very heavy Patois, even looking up the lyrics doesn't really shine light on what the hell Gyptian is saying. So like I said, this song has a pretty engrossing rhythm and melody despite its oblique vocals (for the first two weeks I heard this I thought he was singing "Warrior," not "Hold Yuh"). It should remain popular but its fringe-worthy enough right now to stay low.

#6: "Break Your Heart" - Taio Cruz ft. Ludacris

This edges Ke$ha this week after a great weekend of constant radio play. It's starting to become my favourite Summer Track actually, a great jam sesh, although its lyrical content is actually a bit despondent - predicting a future break-up. I still read deeper though, in that it's about the girl who will bang the dude even though she knows he will break up with her. And isn't that really what Summer is all about? Certainly. Also motorboating is awesome.

#5: "Billionaire" - Travie McCoy ft. Bruno Mars

Tumbling a bit after some strong showings, this is the victim of some severe overplay the past couple weeks. I bet it'll hold on for a bit but this is the start of a big tumble. Some of the build-up of this song and its mellowness is pretty sweet, but overall its beat really isn't that interesting. The recent melding of smooth vocals and rapping is really evident though. It's emblematic of a growing sub-genre that we will see more of.

#4: "Alejandro" - Lady GaGa

GaGa was way down on the charts this week as well as slightly down on Rochester Radio Play. At this point I'm having concerns about this track's legitimate chances at Summer Jam-Hood but I will concede that anything by GaGa has enough crossover to reach a much wider range of demographics than anyone else on this list. That is to say, the average twenty-something white male may not be that familiar with bippy-boppy Katy Perry or silky Usher, but whether he wants to or not, he knows GaGa. This is her only key right now to emerging as Queen of Summer.


#3: "OMG" - Usher ft. Will.i.am

See? I told you this would jet back up there. This is a very good Summer Track and one of the only ones really on this list that has a good Summer Feel. That is to say, it's not mournful or slow and has pretty upbeat lyrics and content. This and "California Gurls" are the only tracks on this list that are really positive, Sunny Songs. Usher lays it down.

#2: "Airplanes" - B.o.B ft. Hayley Williams

This was "Airplanes'" week, it was Rochester, NY's winner for airplay, which means I heard it an average of thrice a day on radio. It's a very good song which had a bit of a bump this week, although on the Hot 100 it actually fell a spot (to an innocuous Eminem debut that doesn't mean anything) although its held a strong position on the Pop Charts. Its credentials as a good song amidst a sea of shit should also help its Summer Throne Chances.

#1: "California Gurls" - Katy Perry

Katy Perry recently bought a cat. She named it Kitty Purry. That's really all you need to know about this girl and her music, once again "California Gurls" is the number one song of the week and building an incredibly strong case for the Summer Jam Title. The video is a perfect combination of surreal, ideal, innocent and ridic sexy. The perfect Playful Summertime Showcase. While some of its novelty is wearing off, I'm unsure any other track can break out to really take this chick off the top ladder. For now, Kitty Purry rules supreme.

So what's up for next week? "Beautiful Monster" is pretty much bunk and "Rock That Body" keeps trying and coming up short. Right now I'm looking for Taio Cruz to double up his Summer Hits like B.o.B has with "Dynamite" which is pretty hot. We can also look for Nicky Minaj, Jason Derulo and 3OH!3. Oh Doggy.

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