Song of the Day: Maroon 5 feat. Christina Aguilera- "Moves Like Jagger"

I'm well aware that this song has been around for a couple months now, and has already topped the iTunes and Billboard charts.  But the video just came out this week so I have an excuse to feature it now.  I'm a huge Maroon 5 fan, and this song represents one of their best efforts.  But you already know the song.  It's the video that's noteworthy at this point- OMG it's actually Mick Jagger!  His moves nowadays are not really worthy of a tribute, but it's cool to see him kickin' it.  And don't think I didn't embed the "explicit" version on purpose.  Apparently YouTube lets little slices of "explicit content" into its videos now, but it's still a shock when it pops up unexpectedly in a chart-topping music video..  If this is a new trend in music videos, let me go on the record as a supporter.  Now I just have to hope this blog doesn't get labeled "adult content" (or should I hope it does?)

PS- What exactly is that thumbnail?  That looks dangerously close to something that should never be on YouTube...let me reiterate that I have no power over choice of the thumbnail!

Song of the Day: Black Eyed Peas- "Don't Stop the Party"

I had some other songs lined up for today's Song of the Day, but then I came across this track, the third single off BEP's most recent album, The Beginning, and I simply had to change my plans around.  Is it just me or is this their best song since at least 2006?  It's certainly the first time I've actually sought out and chosen to listen to a Black Eyed Peas song in at least that long.  However, the Peas clearly don't see this song as a gem in the same way I do, considering Will.i.am had to read the lyrics for his verse off his cell phone while performing recently in France.  What a disgrace.  However, I think they could top the charts with this one.  Which of course means it will never be released as a single in the US.  Oh well.  Go ahead and enjoy it, and enjoy the video, which shows just how global the Black Eyed Peas are these days.

Song of the Day: Britney Spears- "I Wanna Go"

There may be no better example of the wonders of modern technology than Britney Spears.  Look at how good she looks in this video (as she shamelessly steals Ke$ha's entire playbook).  Then try to recall how bad she looks in undoctored photos you see in magazines and on gossip websites.  This could only be made possible by ungodly amounts of makeup and airbrushing.  Then again, that pretty much sums up Spears' entire career.  As for the song, obviously it's a jam, does she make anything else these days?  If she keeps making jams like this, she'll be prancing around under pounds of makeup in these types of videos for years to come.

Song of the Day: Rihanna- "Cheers (Drink to That)"

This is something like the sixth single off Rihanna's most recent album, Loud.  If you follow the blog, you know I'm a huge Rihanna fan.  In fact, she may be my favorite artist right now.  So I certainly wasn't going to let a "new" Rihanna single get released without featuring it as a Song of the Day.  While this isn't my favorite song off Loud (too slow and repetitive) it does have a huge redeeming factor: a sample of Avril Lavigne's "I'm With You."  How awesome is an Avril sample, huh?  You may not know this, but I'm also a huge Avril fan, and "I'm With You" is one of my favorite Avril songs.  So a Rihanna song sampling an Avril song?  I'll certainly drink to that!

Spotify Review

The other day I suddenly received an invitation to sign up for Spotify.  I did it right away, because I was curious to see what all the fuss was about.  Coming in, my main question was: How is this going to be different from iTunes?  Why are people so excited about Spotify when they already have iTunes, Grooveshark, and YouTube?

Well, after playing around with Spotify for an hour or so, I can confidently say that none of these questions were satisfactorily answered.  In fact, I now have more questions than I came in with. 

I will say this: head-to-head against the other three music sources I just mentioned, Spotify is the best service.  You don't have to pay a cent to hear unlimited music (with a few commercials here and there) whenever you have internet access and you can import your iTunes library and have access to that even when you don't have Internet (because Spotify is an application and not a website).

However, Spotify's layout and design is irritating.  One thing I love about iTunes is all the links to various types of new music (or new-to-you music) they provide for you.  On Spotify, if you want to hear new music, you have to search for it (meaning you have to know what you're looking for, which is a rarity).  Spotify also doesn't categorize music into genres like iTunes does.  In short, Spotify is not nearly as detailed or intuitive as iTunes.  In fact, basically the only thing better about Spotify is that you can listen to whole songs for free and put them into playlists, instead of settling for 90-second previews like you do on iTunes.

Which brings me to the crux of my argument.  Why are people so excited about Spotify, when you can already find new releases on iTunes, then listen to them in full on YouTube or Grooveshark, and download them for free from Mediafire or Video2mp3?  Don't get me wrong, Spotify is pretty cool, and definitely better than the other music-service options out there right now.  But it's not exactly an Earth-shattering development.  And most importantly, I don't think it's going to get me to change my habits for finding/obtaining new music.  And I have trouble seeing how it will change other people's habits either.

Do you agree with me?  Or do you think Spotify is the second coming?  Leave a comment!

Song of the Day: Cobra Starship feat. Sabi- "You Make Me Feel..."

The last time we heard from these guys, they were making good girls go bad.  Now they're making us feel so la, la, la.  Not sure if that's an upgrade, but this song is catchy enough to be a big radio jam as the summer winds down.  But, what I really want to know is who all the people are going into the picture booth in this video.  Am I supposed to know who they are or are they just extras?  Why is this not explained?  And when do I get to go into the booth with Sabi?

Song of the Day: Pitbull feat. Marc Anthony- "Rain Over Me"

Whoa!  Marc Anthony!  When was the last time we heard this guy on the radio?  Well according to Wikipedia, it was probably back in 2000.  Eleven years ago!  I guess he preferred picking up Father of the Year awards to Grammys.  But now that he and Jennifer Lopez have split (after seven years of marriage and two kids), he dives right back in with a guest spot here.  Speaking of which, how weird must it be for Pitbull to go from appearing on a J-Lo song and turn right back around and feature her ex-husband on a track of his own?  I wonder if he goes to their counseling sessions too.  Something tells me Pitbull wouldn't make a very good mediator.