"Pound the Alarm" Nicki Minaj

These days, it's not uncommon to see crossover artists releasing multiple singles at once for different markets, rather than betting on a potential hit to appeal across genre (and sometimes geographic) lines. Thus, while Nicki Minaj is currently hypnotizing urban radio with the sparse, boastful "Beez in the Trap," her latest pop release,"Pound the Alarm," falls at the opposite end of the spectrum, following in the highly-produced footsteps of megasmash "Starships" (which recently set a record for most weeks spent inside the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 following a top-ten debut). Laden with effects and hooks and more effects at every turn, this RedOne production is definitely a club banger, but it's also a bit of a headache. Meanwhile, Minaj's rhymes barely make an appearance on the track, reducing her to a thin-voiced, Rihanna-esque hook girl. Last time I checked, we already had one of those. C