Throwback Thursday: "Empire State of Mind" Jay-Z ft. Alicia Keys

Is there a better geographic ode in pop music than "Empire State of Mind," Jay-Z's bouncy love letter to New York? Maybe for the most cynical of the hometown crowd, who have criticized it for failing to reflect their city's gritty urban reality and cool detachment. But for the rest of us, the fantasies of the American Dream are alive and well in the song's intimate tour of the five boroughs (with all the wide-eyed, touristy wonder it inspires) and especially Alicia Key's soaring hook, catchy enough to make anyone want to be a New Yorker. It's no wonder "Empire" finally gave Jay his first #1 hit as a lead artist, more than a decade into his prolific career. A

Four years ago this week, "Empire State of Mind" was the #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100.

"How You Love Me Now" Hey Monday

The third season of NBC's hit singing competition The Voice ended tonight with minor controversy as Cassadee Pope was crowned the show's first female winner despite a former major-label deal as the frontwoman of punk-pop outfit Hey Monday. It seems a rather silly fuss, given that the group never saw much success; they are perhaps best known for once having a song covered on Glee. But in the interest of fairness, their 2009 single "How You Love Me Now" did briefly reach the top forty on pop radio—a slight achievement better left forgotten. Powered by peppy guitars and drums, as well as Pope's Avril-lite vocals, "Love" is the type of pseudo-headbanging migraine that regularly cropped up in the wake of Fall Out Boy. (See also: Paramore, Panic! at the Disco, et al.) Judging by Pope's victory song—a faithful, if slightly shouty, cover of Faith Hill's 2002 adult-contemporary smash "Cry"—she's trying something different for her solo career, and that's a wise decision for all involved. C-

"United State of Pop 2012 (Shine Brighter)" DJ Earworm

Over the past five years, DJ Earworm's annual mash-up of the 25 biggest Hot 100 hits has become an event for pop music fans. Offering an opportunity for reflection on the trends that were, each new United State of Pop mix earns millions of online streams and even some radio spins following its late-December debut. The 2012 edition, subtitled "Shine Brighter," dropped today with much fanfare, and it's (quite literally) a change of pace for the series. Picking up on pop's split identity over the past twelve months—as dance sounds were slowly replaced by natural instruments, ballads and folk influences—it is more subdued than its predecessors, despite pulling most heavily from Ke$ha's frivolous anthem "Die Young." Even as it eventually kicks into club-ready overdrive, "Shine" remains relatively grounded: darkly melodious rather than pleasingly heart-pounding, with something more on its mind that just the usual Frankensteined lyrics about partying all night long. It's not the raucous good time of Earworm's 2009 peak, but "Shine" provides a refreshing reboot to an aging franchise. B+

"Don't Stop the Party" Pitbull ft. TJR

Possessing borderline skill as an emcee and a catalog of mostly pop-friendly dance tunes, Pitbull has always been more hype man than rapper. (Tellingly, he has never scored a hit on hip-hop radio.) But the transformation seems complete on his latest single, "Don't Stop the Party," a clunky club track that plays like a series of catchphrases rather than a song. Over a dull EDM beat from Los Angeles DJ TJR, the self-proclaimed Mr. Worldwide grunts his way through repetitive hooks and bare sketches of global exploits that sound so tossed-off they barely command attention. It'd be more accurate to say this lifeless party never really gets started. C-

Throwback Thursday: "We Didn't Start the Fire" Billy Joel

Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire" is often regarded as one of rock and roll's worst songs, resembling "a term paper scribbled the night before it's due," as Blender once put it. But in the grand scheme of novelty hits, its gimmick has held up better than most. Two decades on, Joel's rapid-fire, rhyming recollection of 20th-century culture since his birth, from Harry Truman to 1980s soda wars, is still quite fun. Beneath the irreverence (and maybe the teensiest bit of egotism), there's a simple wit to such an undertaking. The famous chorus is, of course, total nonsense, but why deny its rousing appeal? B

23 years ago this week, "We Didn't Start the Fire" was the #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100.

"Daylight" Maroon 5

There's no worse sin in popular culture than being boring—except, perhaps, for trying to pass off mediocrity as a work of genius. Maroon 5 has done both with their latest single, "Daylight," releasing earlier today a nearly ten-minute "It Gets Better"-style video for the song featuring contributions from fans around the world. It is, at best, an act of ludicrous self-aggrandizement. "Daylight" offers the vague soft-rock musings of a lover who must leave in the morning—a far cry from the raw, often tragic, and rather moving confessions of the video. That's not to say the Daylight Project, as the band has dubbed it, is entirely without merit. But in this context, it mostly comes across as exploitative, attempting to elevate bland album filler into the status of an empowerment anthem. C+

"C'Mon" Ke$ha

Despite scoring a #1 pop hit this fall with "Die Young"—a middling retread of previous artistic territory that has since grown on me—Ke$ha's latest album, Warrior, landed with a thud upon its release last week, outsold by Taylor Swift, One Direction and even Rod Stewart. Is this just a brief career misstep or a sign that her days on the charts are numbered? I have my theories (a pop star's contributions can only get so thin before there's nothing left for audiences to hold onto), but we'll get a better sense of Ke$ha's prospects with the performance of her next single, "C'Mon," which she debuted on last Thursday's X Factor results show. It's her live-fast-and-loose version of a love song, but with Auto-Tuned tales of mildly deviant behavior over the burble of a Dr. Luke synthscape, it's also nothing that audiences haven't heard from her before. That should make it the perfect litmus test for whether music's biggest party animal is officially all pooped out. B