New Pop on the Block

Cash Cash – Victim Of Love (Listen)
Until I discovered their unattractiveness and the fact that they’ve already been around for 9 years, I was beginning to think that Cash Cash could be the boyband phenomenon that America are somehow still waiting for. Victim of Love is a brilliant pop song which, like many of the best US pop songs of recent years, cleverly masks itself as a rock song while actually being as cheesy as they come. If it wasn’t for the line about sex making the singer blind, it could be mistaken for a kids’ song, and if *N Sync were just starting out in 2011, I think they’d probably sound a lot like this. It’s a shame that there’s so much you have to ignore about Cash Cash to enjoy this song, but it’s worth it cos this is proper singalong pop that wouldn’t sound out of place on Sweden’s top radio station Rix FM.
88% Poptastic!

Shanell – My Buttons (Listen)
Although Shanell has quite a typical smooth R&B voice, this song suggests that she’s not going to be your average indistinguishable urban songstress. My Buttons starts slowly and has quite an old fashioned style, but as it gets going it’s a really enticing song which leaves you wanting to listen again to get to know all its intricate details. It’s quite a sweet, unassuming song which may mean it gets lost in the crowd, but it just needs to be allowed some time to resonate with people. Shanell is on Lil Wayne’s record label, also home to Nicki Minaj, so it makes sense that she’s trying to follow in Nicki’s footsteps and do something a bit different. However, Shanell’s got tough competition from a lot of new female R&B singers who are younger than her and producing more instant, commercial-sounding songs, so I think she’ll struggle to stand out. I’ll be keeping an eye on her, though.
75% Poptastic!

Mr Downstairs – Legendary (Listen)
So now we have a solo female singer called Mr Little Jeans and a female duo called Mr Downstairs. Very confusing! Mr Downstairs actually include one of the members of the shock-pop girlgroup Millionaires who left the group after she apparently decided she’d had enough of singing about being drunk and slutty, and I actually think she made an excellent choice as Legendary is better than anything I ever heard from her old band. Millionaires (who are themselves continuing as a duo – amazing pop rivalry alert!) are pretty generic among all the American artists trying and failing to make good electro-pop at the moment, but Legendary has its own style that makes it a little more interesting. In parts it almost sounds like Taylor Swift, which is always a good thing in my books!
73% Poptastic!