Hit pop songs aren't always good pop songs, and great artists sometimes make mistakes. Taking that into account, these are the 10 annoying pop songs we wished would go away in 2011.
10. Outasight - "Tonight Is the Night"
Courtesy Warner Bros.
If you have been watching the first season of X Factor USA, you can probably live comfortably without ever hearing this song again. As the soundtrack to the Pepsi commercial campaign on the show, it is heard countless times every week. Unfortunately, for Outasight, most people probably associate the song with Michael Jackson, Britney Spears, and Kanye West due to the ad campaign.Who is the artist again? "Tonight Is the Night" is already far too over-exposed to want to hear it on the radio.
9. Jason Derulo - "It Girl"
Courtesy Beluga Heights
By now it does really feel like Jason Derulo is still riding on the brilliance of his debut single "Whatcha Say." Do most pop fans even remember the concept of an "it girl?" Whistling was hot on "Moves Like Jagger," but the moment has passed.
8. Hot Chelle Rae - "Tonight Tonight"
Courtesy Jive
Yep, we get it. Life in general is miserable but nothing is going to stop us from celebrating "tonight tonight" and having a good time until reality brings us back to ugly reality tomorrow. Is life really this simple? The sing speak portions of "Tonight Tonight" are a bit too self-consciously clever to be truly funny, and that becomes even more annoying as the song is overplayed on the radio.
7. Justin Bieber - "Mistletoe"
Courtesy Island Records
Yes it is Justin Bieber singing a Christmas song...or is that Jason Mraz? It's a little hard to tell. Oh, it is higher pitched so it must be Justin Bieber. The pandering to adult contemporary pop audiences is a little crass here. Don't expect "Mistletoe" to be the "All I Want for Christmas Is You" of this generation.
6. Red Hot Chili Peppers - "The Adventures Of Rain Dance Maggie"
Courtesy Warner Bros.
On first listening, the Red Hot Chili Peppers' "The Adventures Of Rain Dance Maggie" isn't that bad. It simply lacks much of the excitement expected from one of the world's greatest rock bands. Rock radio programmers jumped quickly on the song sending it to the top of the charts, but the pop world remained skeptical. The song isn't likely to go to the top of many personal playlists, because once you have heard it, there is little that will coax you into wanting to hear it again.
5. Lady Gaga - "Judas"
Courtesy Interscope
It is difficult to pin down exactly what went wrong with "Judas," and there certainly is not agreement among pop music writers about the quality of the song or lack thereof. With the benefit of hearing the overall Born This Way album and the rest of the singles, it is easy to forgive this misstep. Still the Easter timing for release of the song, which feels calculated, and the "Bad Romance" retread sound leave us wanting to turn to any other Lady Gaga hit single.
4. Cobra Starship - "You Make Me Feel" featuring Sabi
Courtesy Decaydance
Continue to extract any edginess or sense of humor Cobra Starship once had, inject assemly line pop melodies and supporting vocals from Sabi that could have been delivered by any number of aspiring American Idol contestants, and you have a new smash hit single. It is not difficult to imagine pop radio programmers listening once, slotting "You Make Me Feel" into a paint by numbers playlist, and being happy they don't need to really listen close enough to think about the song again. In a word...dull.
3. Daughtry - "Crawling Back To You"
Courtesy RCA
Chris Daughtry is a very appealing pop-rock vocalist, but haven't we already heard this song four or five times before from the band Daughtry? The group promised something different releasing the heavy rock buzz single "Renegade," and then pop fans got this. We apparently were not amused. "Crawling Back To You" looks like it will break the band's streak of eight consecutive top 40 pop and top 5 adult pop hits.
2. Alexandra Stan - "Mr. Saxobeat"
Courtesy Ultra Records
Last year Edward Maya introduced us all to Romanian pop-dance music with the pleasing atmospherics of "Stereo Love." This year Alexandra Stan emerged out of Romania on to the international scene with the catchy but ultimately vapid "Mr. Saxobeat." The spirit of Cascada's faceless dance pop lingers here in the highly processed feel of the recording.
1. Taio Cruz - "Hangover" featuring Flo Rida
Courtesy Island Records
Humor, in the case of Ke$ha, and clever wordplay, in the case of Far East Movement, can make songs about the pleasures of getting drunk with friends palatable and even fun. However, Taio Cruz's celebration of being able to "drink until I throw up" is neither. Perhaps the song reaches its nadir when an extra syllable is added to the term "sh*t-faced." Fortunately, so far the song has proven a commercial failure neither exciting fans who buy music or pop radio.
