Commercially successful pop music is not always good pop music. Many of us know that intuitively, but it doesn't really sink in until there is a particular song we wish would go away. Here are 10 that I have chosen as the songs I think we've heard enough times already. Without further adieu...the 10 most annoying pop songs of 2010.
10. Taio Cruz - "Dynamite"
Courtesy Island Records
Yes, it's catchy, but it's hard to understand after awhile exactly why Taio Cruz needs to repeat nearly every other word. In just the beginning, dance, plans, hands, and brands are each repeated four times. As Taio Cruz sings, it goes on and on and on...
9. Shontelle - "Impossible"
Courtesy Motown
Shontelle proved here that she is not a one-hit wonder and took steps forward in maturity of her music. However, this is a good example of a song that does not hold up well after intensive radio airplay. The repetitive nature of the chorus and intensive emotion are wearing and lose their punch when heard too many times.
8. 3OH!3 featuring Ke$ha - "My First Kiss"
Courtesy Photo Finish Records
3OH!3 unleashed what is arguably the trash pop masterpiece of the year. It can definitely make you smile and laugh and singalong the first several times through, but the, "Can I get you out your panties" line is not so funny after awhile. And do we really care so much now of how that first kiss went?
7. Miley Cyrus - "Can't Be Tamed"
Courtesy Hollywood Records
The video for "Can't Be Tamed" features that rare "bird" Aves cyrus. So this is the more musically "adult" model of Miley Cyrus. It is basically shouty dance pop that wears out its welcome as she assures us she "can't be saved."
6. Yolanda Be Cool and DCUP - "We No Speak Americano"
Courtesy Sweat It Out
You know the first time through as you are smiling at the clever pastiche of 50s Italian pop music and contemporary electronics that you are going to get tired of this. Perhaps the most annoying element is those pregnant pauses that are so much fun the first time through but leave you just wanting to say, "Get on with it!" as the radio plays the song over and over again.
5. Lady Gaga - "Alejandro"
Courtesy Interscope
It's not really that there is anything in particular wrong with Lady Gaga's seventh consecutive top 10 pop hit, but the somewhat forced cleverness here wore thin more quickly than for any of the other hits. "But I just can't be with you like this anymore...Alejandro!" This line either makes me laugh or cringe at this point when I hear it. Neither feels like a tribute to pop genius. I now also remember just how annoying "The Sign" by Ace of Base got when it was a radio staple. If you don't automatically think of Ace of Base when you hear "Alejandro," go back and listen to both again.
4. Soulja Boy Tell'em - "Pretty Boy Swag"
Courtesy Interscope
This is supposed to be a song. However, it is hard to detect much here beyond Soulja Boy bragging about his own sex appeal with an occasional "Ayyyy!!" and a skeletal beat and chord structure. "Pretty Boy Swag" is not only annoying, it eventually generates a good deal of boredom.
3. Willow Smith - "Whip My Hair"
Courtesy Roc Nation
This is so easy to make fun of and parody. It is fun and exciting to imagine this as the work of a supremely enterprising nine year old. However, that in your face shout of, "I whip my hair back and forth!" is really grating after awhile. Are there really any other lyrics here? Oh yes, there is a verse, but it is really just a lifeless exercise to string together the looped shouts of, "I whip my hair back and forth!" Does it really make you want to whip your hair or pound your head...on the wall?
2. Ke$ha - "Your Love Is My Drug"
Courtesy RCA
Let's be up front. For many pop fans, Ke$ha is hands down the most annoying pop star of the year. I actually do quite enjoy some of her clever lyrical exercises. However, this is the Ke$ha hit that very very quickly wore out its welcome for me. There is something about the cheap and tacky sounding backing track coupled with Ke$ha's drunk Barbie giggle near the end which sets my teeth on edge. And, "I like your beard," clearly has to be the most annoying non sequitur of the year in pop music.
1. Lil Wayne featuring Drake - "Gonorrhea"
Courtesy Cash Money
I'm not sure really where exactly to start with this. Lil Wayne's rhyming of gonorrhea and diarrhea, being in a b**ch like tampons, and dismembering a tongue to send it in the mail is really just more than most people need to hear. Sales propelled the song into the top 20, but the track is best forgotten by most pop fans.
