14 July 2011 Wantedmania, if there was such a thing, didn't extend to my then-domicile of France in 2011, so I have no contemporary context to add to 'Glad You Came' other than passing familiarity with the tune. There's Irish interest here, of course, since one-fifth of The Wanted was Siva Kaneswaran, becoming the second … Continue reading The Wanted – ‘Glad You Came’ →

7 July 2011 Logic and rationale normally wither in the blinding double-flash of Jedward. However, I'll venture that this number one had cause; it was surfing the wave of 'Lipstick', which a couple of months previously had stormed to a glorious qualification for the Eurovision final and then an 8th place finish ahead of the … Continue reading Jedward – ‘Bad Behaviour’ →

2 June 2011 What did the people of 2011 see in Pitbull, I ask myself disingenuously, knowing full well that his brand of cheap-suited, bald-headed, gruff, sexist, thuggish assholery has never gone out of fashion. Anyway, here's his second Irish number one single in two months and his third in less than a year. Itemising … Continue reading Pitbull ft. Ne-Yo, Afrojack and Nayer – ‘Give Me Everything’ →

21 April 2011 Fair play to LMFAO for giving good factoid. You may remember how the two lads, Redfoo and Sky Blu, are uncle and nephew. They're also the son and grandson respectively of Motown supremo Berry Gordy, so Redfoo has a half-sister who's Gordy's daughter with Diana Ross, a half-brother in '80s one-hit-wonder Rockwell, … Continue reading LMFAO ft. Lauren Bennett and GoonRock – ‘Party Rock Anthem’ →

14 April 2011 Pitbull: as if Conor McGregor and Vin Diesel had a child together but never showed it love. Normally at the first huff of his dour, humourless, sexist, talentless grunting I change my radio station to something more appealing, like the death notices. So, I'm only vaguely familiar with 'On The Floor' as … Continue reading Jennifer Lopez ft. Pitbull – ‘On The Floor’ →

17 February 2011 Here we are again: another of those gargantuan early-'10s Lady Gaga hits. The blaring, overproduced, identikit, corporate-level EDM track at the centre of all this event-release, expensive-video foofaraw is bland, cliched, and fatuous. Anyone at the time who recalled Madonna's 'Express Yourself'—and 'Born This Way' certainly helps to jog memories in that … Continue reading Lady Gaga – ‘Born This Way’ →

10 February 2011 Tempting as it is to read social commentary into an Irish number one single of 2011 with the chorus "We don't need no money, money, money", 'Price Tag' isn't your zeitgeist-capturing anthem of troika-era Ireland. Instead, it shares with 'Imagine' that timeless lack of self awareness in which a big-budget pop track … Continue reading Jessie J ft. B.o.B. – ‘Price Tag’ →

13 January 2011 Content warning: self-harm It's not just our (hopefully) more enlightened sensibilities - already in 2011 Bruno Mars' chorus litany of angsty, performative self-harm came across as overwrought and crass, even by the shirt-rending benchmarks of '90s US R&B balladry and the asinine skidmarks of '00s US hip-hop-diluting chart hits. And his gripe … Continue reading Bruno Mars – ‘Grenade’ →