Rounding out the Village Voice Pazz & Jop top ten is the third Kanye West song, and by far the worst of the bunch.
‘Bound 2’ is so bad it makes you wonder if it’s bad on purpose. Kanye’s rapping, never his strongest suit, is just awful here and the production, always his strongest suit, is disjointed and unpleasant.
At #8 in the Village Voice Pazz & Jop poll is Icana Pop’s ‘I Love It’ — a song that has really grown on me since I first heard it. It’s one of those songs that’s annoying if you just listen to it, but very effective when backing up the right images.
In the ninth spot is Miley Cyrus’ ‘We Can’t Stop.’ I’m a little surprised this track outranked ‘Wrecking Ball’ (which does show up in the top twenty) but I guess it was the song that really launched Cyrus’ freakazoid year.
In the seventh spot on the Village Voice Pazz & Jop list is another Kanye West track — he really dominated the poll this year.
I like ‘Black Skinhead’ better than ‘New Slaves’ but I still don’t see how this is one of the best songs of the year. I think the brazenness of Kanye’s music, and the man himself, scores him points with critics. He doesn’t just make music, he makes performance art.
In the fifth spot on the Village Voice Pazz & Jop poll is Robin Thicke’s ‘Blurred Lines’ (actually, it tied for fourth with yesterday’s Kanye track).
Coming in at #6 is ‘Hold On, We’re Going Home’ by Drake.
I haven’t heard much by Drake, but I know he’s considered the bee’s knees by critics and fans alike. I was impressed by his recent Saturday Night Live appearance (the comedy anyway… I didn’t watch the musical performances).
My 2013 recaps are lasting weeks into 2014. Next I’m going to take my annual tour through the Village Voice Pazz & Jop critics poll, as comprehensive a consensus as you’ll find of how the “professionals” saw the last year in music.
I like that the Pazz & Jop poll comes out toward the end of January. So many “year-end” lists show up in mid-December, either missing out on late year releases (Beyoncé, anyone?) or not allowing ample time for everything to sink it. Whether or not you agree with the results, you can’t argue that the critics polled didn’t have time to consider their votes.
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