Top 50 Singles of 2010: 10-6

10. Darin - Lovekiller



The top ten kicks off with the biggest, cheesiest pop moment of 2010. There is no resisting the overblown goodness of this track. Darin hit it out of the park with this one. The video’s wonderfully over-the-top, too.

9. Kylie Minogue - All The Lovers



The comeback single she’s been searching for for years. It was so magical that it overshadowed everything else on the album. Her biggest late-career highlight.

8. Scissor Sisters - Fire With Fire



A soaring festival anthem that deserved more success than it found. Jake sounds his best on tracks like this. No band does melodic, radio pop better than Scissor Sisters.

7. Mcfly & Taio Cruz - Shine A Light



I never expected that, this late in their career, Mcfly could pull off a pop track like this. It hits you from the first listen and cements itself in your memory. The I Gotta Feeling of 2010.

6. Short Stack - Planets



On first listen, I didn’t think this was anything special. Then I came back to it… and back… and back. And I’m still listening to it constantly months later. Everything came together here.

Top 20 Albums of 2010: 8-7

8. Darin - Lovekiller



Of all of the Swedish pop albums released this year (and there were many), this was right at the top of the list. I wouldn’t have expected that at all. I’ve always been a fan of Darin’s, but never connected to any of his albums. This, a collection of mostly-ballads, shouldn’t have been any different. But it worked. He turned the schmaltz and drama up to eleven and crafted a world-conquering sound that was more than a little reminiscent of the late, great Michael Jackson. More than anything, it ushered him into a new stage of his career. Expect more massive hooks to follow.

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7. Take That - Progress



Who would have thought? This is easily the most experimental “boy band“ album I’ve ever heard. Bringing Robbie back into the fold seemed to inspire a new verve in the band’s music. I’ve never been more than a casual fan before, but this majestic batch of songs yielded a late-Fall sucker punch. It’s one of the more eclectic mixes on the countdown, overseen by producer extraordinaire Stuart Price. What could have been a disaster plays instead like 2010’s best rock-opera.

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Track-by-Track: Darin - Lovekiller

It's always nice to see a little cohesion in pop albums -- an artist that knows the sound they want and sticks to it. No wishy-washy one-off experiments. With Darin's 5th release, he's gone for a very specific, big-beat-ballad sound that suits him better than anything else he's done to this point. It's cheesy stuff, but of the absolute highest quality.

1. Microphone - One of only two tracks that fall into the "not a ballad" category, this is an excellent, aggressive ode to performance that opens the album perfectly. A huge hit waiting to happen. 10/10

2. You're Out Of My Life - His Melodifestivalen entry, and a template for the rest of the ballads on the album. It was one of the stronger entries in the competition this year (despite some lousy lyrics) and fits in wonderfully here. 9/10

3. Lovekiller - His most overblown (and best) single yet. I loved this from the moment I heard it. Grandiose accusatory lyrics + chest-beating choir = cheesy pop bliss. 10/10

4. Only You Can Save Me - Apart from the singles, this is probably the strongest ballad of the bunch. It's got that fist-pumping, larger-than-life chorus. Totally formulaic, but it's a formula that works. 10/10

5. Drowning - Another clunker lyric-wise, but the marching band drumbeat and huge melody save it. If you're gonna write a pop ballad, this is exactly what it should sound like. Still, it's not as strong as the last one. 8/10

6. Viva La Vida - I'd take a lot of flak in certain circles for saying this, but I prefer this 100% to the Coldplay version. In fact, this is the version I'll be listening to from now on. He really brings out a level in the lyrics that Chris Martin didn't. Who would've thought that electro euro-dance would have complimented this so well? It's pretty epic. 10/10

7. Endless Summer - My least favorite track, though for a gentle, late-Summer acoustic ballad it's not bad. And it fills an important slot, offering some much-needed texture to an otherwise bombastic album. 8/10

8. OK (Dangerous Game) - A Gaga-esque dance track (the only one here) and one hell of a hook-fest. There's a heavy Michael Jackson influence, though the sound is more along the lines of his last album. Except it's better. 10/10

9. Can't Stop Love - A sappy ballad that returns him to the heavy-beat sound of the first few tracks. Not as strong as some of the earlier tracks, but pleasant enough. 8/10

10. I'll Be Alright - A slower, more haunting track with a great hook. His vocals really pop on this one, and the lyrics are some of the best on the album. A very strong closer. 9/10

Album Grade: 9.2/10

Darin - Microphone

"Hit the lights, start the show"

Though I've often admired his singles, I've never totally loved a full album by Swedish popstar Darin. That's changed with his new release, Lovekiller. What makes this kind of surprising is that it's an album dominated by ballads, which are not usually my cup of tea. Darin's secret weapon this time around is songwriter extraordinaire Tony Nilsson, who's had his hand in all but three of the tracks. I'm a huge fan of Nilsson's pop songs, even though the lyrics tend to be pretty stupid (and I've gotta admit, this album has some of the dumbest lyrics around). But his songwriting is stuck on "soaring," a perfect place to be when working with a talent like Darin, who's got a serious case of Michael-Jackson-complex (in the best possible way). Every ballad hits its cheesy-serious mark, and the few uptempos work wonders. Microphone kicks off the album in a big way--a declaration of "x-factor" that (unsurprisingly) is being used to promo this season of Swedish Idol. Full album review coming soon...

Darin - Microphone by alienhits

(Music posted for evaluation purposes only. If you like what you hear, support the artists. Buy the album here. Follow me on twitter and facebook.

Darin - Lovekiller

"You're a murderer!"

I wasn't going to write about this song because it's been so well-covered in the blogosphere already, but then I realized that some in my little corner of the internet may never hear this if I don't post it. And it's something to hear, for sure. It's as pop as pop gets, but bolstered by an enormous, rising melody and a one hell of a well-utilized backing choir. When it comes to Darin's music, I usually either love it or don't. I like him, definitely, but many of his past songs have veered too far into boyband territory. That being said, he's recorded a handful of brilliant tracks in the past and this might be the very best of them all. I'm a sucker for choirs in pop songs, and I hate it when they're used subtly. If you're gonna have a big honkin' choir, use the dang thing to its limit! No worries here, as the wall of voices screaming "murderer!" certainly attest to. This brilliant single is taken from Darin's upcoming fifth studio album, out next month. From what we've heard so far, it sounds like the album could end up being entirely (or mostly) ballads. If they're all this good, I won't be complaining.

Darin - Lovekiller by alienhits

(Music posted for evaluation purposes only. If you like what you hear, support the artists. Preorder the album here. Follow me on twitter and facebook.