I’d never heard of Sia before discovering the provocative video for ‘Chandelier,’ in which 12-year-old dancer Maddie Ziegler performs an avant garde routine wearing a flesh-colored leotard.
Some called the video a pedophile’s dream come true, but most people were just impressed by the kid’s dance moves.
Hozier is the second artist, and ‘Take Me to Church’ the second song, to arrive on this list courtesy of The Voice.
This compelling song was performed by Matt McAndrew, the contestant who should have won but came in second to country he-man Craig Wayne Boyd.
It’s probably some sort of commentary on American culture that the guy who sang this dark indictment of religion lost to the guy who sang ‘The Old Rugged Cross.’
Two songs in my top ten found me not through the Billboard charts but another mainstream musical source — The Voice.
Vance Joy’s ‘Riptide’ had enjoyed moderate success since its release on an EP but a performance by Team Gwen on the popular vocal competition brought it wide exposure.
After the disastrous ‘Accidental Racist’ derailed his ambitious album Wheelhouse, Brad Paisley retreated to lick his wounds and came back this year with a good-old country record, Moonshine in the Trunk.
It’s a fun album but not an entirely memorable one, especially when compared to the excellent stretch of records that culminated in American Saturday Night.
Has anyone ever been as simultaneously laughed at, despised and revered as Kanye West?
He is often portrayed as a joke for his tremendous ego and outrageous statements, not to mention his marriage, and yet his last four albums have all topped critics’ lists and received praise so lavish it borderlines on absurd.
Meet Me In Montauk 