The Year in Music: 2008’s Top Ten Pop Songs
Pop music often gets a bad rap for being disposable or vapid, and in many cases that’s true. (Katy Perry, Danity Kane and the Pussycat Dolls, step right up!) But every year, a few irresistible bits of innovative ear candy rocket up the charts and seep into our subconscious.
The following ten singles saturated the Top 40 — or what passes for hit-oriented radio in this topsy-turvy musical climate — while proving that accessibility doesn’t necessarily preclude creativity.
CHRIS BROWN
“Forever”
(Jive/Zomba)
Few adolescent pop stars have aged as gracefully as fleet-footed Chris
Brown. Produced by Polow da Don, “Forever” was first recorded in
shortened form for a Wrigley’s Doublemint gum ad; accordingly, the
longer version of “Forever” is a grown-up bit of (no pun intended)
bubblegum hip-pop that’s still young at heart. Rounded techno beats and
digitally warmed vocals conjure the giddiness of puppy love, a time of
life when the entire world shines with hope and promise.
