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Song of the Day #1,108: ‘Celebrity’ – Brad Paisley

As Brad Paisley became more successful, his silly videos became more star-studded. William Shatner and Jason Alexander, in particular, would become staples of Paisley’s videos in the years to come.

Paisley was still just a minor star, however, when he wrote ‘Celebrity,’ a clever song lampooning the Hollywood culture. His focus is on the ridiculously privileged lives of the famous, and the reality show-fueled obsession ordinary people have with joining those ranks. He gets off some great lines in a supremely catchy song.

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Song of the Day #1,107: ‘Mud On the Tires’ – Brad Paisley

Two years after Part II, Brad Paisley released his third album, 2003’s Mud On the Tires. This one is a sentimental favorite of mine… I’d number it among his 2-3 best records.

This album is when critics and fans alike really started to stand up and take notice of Paisley’s talent. He’d had modest hits on his first two records, and they were well-received, but Mud On the Tires took things to a whole new level.

The album’s title is taken from today’s SOTD, in which it’s meant quite literally, but it’s also a metaphor for Paisley’s career. He felt that at this point he’d been around the block a few times — had a little mud on his tires — and could start stretching his wings a bit.

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Song of the Day #1,106: ‘Run the World (Girls)’ – Beyoncé

You might have been wondering why I crowned a winner yesterday instead of waiting for the last day of my two-week summer song series.

Well, the final day (as it was last summer) is dedicated to Beyoncé. But her new single, ‘Run the World (Girls),’ is not strong enough to capture the title. So I dealt with that bit of housekeeping yesterday so I could end on the sweetest of all notes.

As for the song, I have to say it pretty much sucks. I haven’t liked what I’ve heard of Beyoncé’s new album, 4 — either the ballads or the dance tracks. Truth is, there are only four or five songs in her whole discography that I find worthy of repeat listens.

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Song of the Day #1,105: ‘Party Rock Anthem’ – LMFAO (featuring Lauren Bennett, GoonRock)

I suppose it will be necessary, at the end of these two weeks of summer singles, for me to declare my pick for the official song of the summer.

The early favorites were Bruno Mars, whose ‘The Lazy Song’ perfectly captures the summer spirit in both sound and theme, and Katy Perry, who was seemingly genetically engineered to produce summer hits.

Lady GaGa had a good showing with her anthemic ‘Edge of Glory,’ a song I suspect we’ll hear all over NFL and NBA ads this year if those leagues get their act together and actually have seasons. And I have a soft spot for Nicki Minaj’s addictively twisted ‘Super Bass.’

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Song of the Day #1,104: ‘I’m On One’ – DJ Khaled (featuring Drake, Rick Ross, Lil Wayne)

Here’s one of those all-star rap collaborations that crop up all over the place. It’s interesting how rap is the one genre where it’s expected that everybody shows up on everybody else’s records.

Certainly there are guest stars and collaborations on albums of all sorts (the new Brad Paisley features duets with Carrie Underwood, Blake Shelton and Don Henley) but in rap, it’s an expectation.

First you have the apprenticeship phase, where a rapper makes guest appearances on other people’s albums before releasing his own. Eminem made his splash rapping alongside Dr. Dre before he dropped his first solo album. Nicki Minaj had done about a dozen celebrated guest turns before her album came out. It’s an effective way to introduce an artist to the fans and build excitement so that even a debut album can be a smash hit upon release.

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