jeudi 1 janvier 2009

My Top 25 Hits of 2008

It's the traditional time of the year when a year fades away and another new one begins to take a look at what's behind and think of the best moments...
Musically, it will expressed by my Top 25 of the songs I liked best during 2008.

Here they come!

01 Ysa Ferrer Sens interdit
From the moment I got my hands on Ysa Ferrer's Imaginaire Pur album, I fell deeeeeeeeeply in love with this song, knowing it could only be destined to be her next single. It will be released soon in January but for now on it is its album version that tops my charts of the year. I'll never ever get enough if it !!
02 US5 Round & Round
Looking back at the first time I clicked on a link to the video of the new song of this obscure german boysband, I didn't thought I would find this is the second best song of the year for me but truth is it has stayed on my mp3 player since that time, I am still hypnotised by the Can't get you out of my head inspired video and Jay's gorgeous & sexy look cannot explain it all... This song is simply an instant hit, electro dance/pop at its best with bits of R&B, melodic vocals, vocoderized lines that stick to your brain...
03 The Saturdays
Up
First time I heard this new UK girlsband with a single that is further down my top, I thought to myself they were the new Girls Aloud, with less rock and more electro. Their second single, Up, proved they were more than one-hit wonders. This track is simply addicting. Listen to it once and you'll be singing its chorus for the rest of the day !
04 Louisy Joseph
Assis par terre
I wouldn't have bet on this ex L5 (first french popstars) to become a favourite of mine with a more reggae oriented accoustic pop but this song has a killer chorus. I still can't get enough of her singing with her musky voice WwwwwAssis par terre, voir le monde qui défile et n'avoir pour domicile qu'un bout de trottoir... The lyrics, written from the point of view of a homeless people living on the street and beggin' for life, are very good and fit this pop song, which is a real treat. Second best french song of the year !
05 Eurobandið
This is my life
Like every year, the Eurovision song contest is one of my cherished moment of the year and this song was the icelandic entry, a pure moment of dance energy that deserves a very good placing in my personal charts.
06 Freemasons feat. Katherine Ellis
When you touch me
Freemasons cannot do wrong these days and this collaboration with power diva Katherine Ellis is the best anthem of the year for me : disco house at its best.
07 Ysa Ferrer
On fait l'amour
Whatever the version, radio edit, acoustic mix done by the Cassandre duo or other remixes, this other Ysa single, based on a sample of La Serenissima, is another classic of the year that has just faded. I've listened to it the whole year. 2008 Has really been the year of the return of our kosmic french diva.
08 Girls Aloud The Loving Kind
First only an album track, now the first single of the girls for 2009, this Pet Shop Boys co-written Xenomania song stands as the best of the Girls Aloud sound for me, one of the best songs they have ever recorded. I really hope they could become more famous in France with the new year that's beginning but ...is that a goal for them when these UK Popstars have charted worldwide with 5 hit albums and a best of already... ?
09 Britney Spears Womanizer
The song of Britney's big comeback and truly a masterpiece, served by a perfect video and a repetitive but addictive chorus. I can only imagine if it had been released earlier in the year to which level it could have finished in my charts...
10 Kylie Minogue
The one (Freemasons radio edit)
This year, Kylie has been a little shaded by the poor promotion EMI uses for her lastest album X. The one has only been a digital release in the UK but the song, which was one the best of the album, has been remixed by the Freemasons duo and once again, it has becomed a gemm that will stand along Better the devil you know or Your disco needs you in my most played songs of her list.
11 Alphabeat Boyfriend (Pete Hammond retro mix)
Alphabeat's song was nothing but a good one till they got it remixed by ex PWL star Pete Hammond. He has done it so that it would sound like a vintage mix like in the Hit Factory times and the magic has worked all over again ! It has become a classic for all S/A/W fans, no matter the year of production. WE WANT MORE OF THESE KINDS OF MIXES IN 2009 !!!! Please...
12 Kylie Minogue
Wow
Wow! Another Kylie song and the best of her X album for sure, except I've listened to it maybe a little too much... before its release as a single. Another intemporal hit of her nevertheless.
13 Girls Aloud Can't speak french
Another Girls Aloud single, but an older one, the last one from the previous album and from the start of 2008, but one I still haven't got enough of. For us poor lil' french unknowing people of their gorgeousness and unlimited talent, the girls have recorded a french version that is ...haunting. I like their accent when they speak in the language of Moliere but original is incredible and the video portrayed them dressed like in Versailles outfits. That is what classy pop should always mean !
14 Jennifer Hudson
Spotlight (Moto Blanco radio edit)
The original song is a good R&B popsong but the Moto Blanco, like all their remixes, took the song to the dance pop territory with more power and it has found the way to my heart, what the original song's melody had not. 2008 has been a terrible year for the young lady, seeing her both hit the spot with this single and her performance in the Sex & The City film, and go through the loss of some of her clsoe family, shot dead at home.
15 Estelle feat. Kanye West
American boy (SoulSeekerz radio mix)
Once more the original of a song did nearly nothing to me while getting to the top of the charts worldwide BUT a remix of it made my heart melt. This time it is the Soul Seekerz that did the job perfectly and made me love this too much heard before hit of 2008.
16 Dannii Minogue vs Jason Nevins Touch me like that
Lazy Dannii's only new single of the year was a perfect disco dance collaboration with top stars remixer Jason Nevins and even if it lacked the lil' bits that could have made it a BIG hit, it is still a powerful anthem on my private dancefloor playlist.
17 The Saturdays
If this is love (Moto Blanco radio edit)
Second hit on my charts for the girls and first single from them in 2008, this Yazoo sampled dancepop jewel was good in its original version but reached a higher level with the Moto Blanco (them again!) remix. Speeded up and with a watered down sample presence, it became another favourite of mine for months.
18 M.Pokora feat. Timbaland & Sebastian
Dangerous
When it got released this lil' french boy's attempt at breaking it BIG in the international market made me fall in love immediately. Along with US5's song it got played and played again in my car while driving early in the morning to work with forceful use of the Repeat mode but the magic disappeared faster than Round & Round. Or I got bored by my overuse of it. It stayed a very good commercial pop/R&B track, one of the better ones Timbaland have produced.
19 Alesha Dixon The Boy Does Nothing
Ex Mis-Teeq girl came back from far, far away but Xenomania's touch hit the spot like most of the time and this mambo flavoured pop song is addictive. Its Bimbo Jones remix is good too, taking it more on the dancefloor than in the dance class.
20 Gabriella Cilmi Sweet About Me
Fourth Xenomania's production and second in a row, Sweet about me must be one of the most long hit of the year in the UK. If it wasn't an instant one, it slowly climbed the charts and stayed for months in middle places, selling her classy album. I wish our latest Nouvelle Star's winner of 2008 could record such a good song to fit her voice and music style perfectly.
21 Ysa Ferrer To Bi Or Not To Bi
Released by the end of 2007 and being #15 in my last year's charts, this comeback song of Ysa Ferrer praising sexual versality has stayed one of the best of 2008 in my heart too.
22 Quentin Mosimann Il y a je t'aime et je t'aime
Best ballad of the year ! Tender, touching and simply beautiful, this original composition from last year's Star Academy winner was the real treat of his album and now the lead single of its re-release. If the video is a lilttle cheap for me (I would have liked a simple man-to-piano close-up best) the song can still become a best of 2009...
23 Ne-Yo
Closer (Stonebridge radio edit)
Ne-Yo was in my eyes some talented R&B star but this single, even in its original mix, made it more of a dance/pop divo and Swedish house master Stonebridge gave it a full treatment that can't be ignored.
24 Rihanna Disturbia
2007 saw two hits for Rihanna in my personal charts, 2008 only see one and a poor one. Must be because her latest album si gettin' old now and there has been too many re-releases. I am waiting now for her next one in 2009 but Disturbia nevertheless has been a wonderful & odd hit.
25 Cassandre
Liberté
Transposed into music with magnificience and usual talent by the french duo, this Paul Eluard poem is simply touching and beautiful in its original piano version but the single release dressed it with dance remixes like Thomas Dorian's one that made it a hidden treasure ; maybe hard to discover but so warm & pleasant when you're into it...

On the album side, you would have bet, Ysa Ferrer's Imaginaire Pur is the winner of the year !
But very close comes the digital-only release from 2007 by Cassandre, Il était une histoire, that is widely available on digital stores and that I can only ask you to check, then BUY!!
Then, all in alphabetical order, I would name Lene Alexandra Welcome To Sillycon Valley, Almighty ShowGirls We Love Kylie, Bimbo Jones Harlem 1 Stop, BWO Pandemonium, Agnes Carlsson Dance Love Pop, Gabriella Cilmi Lessons To Be Learned, Alesha Dixon The Alesha Show, Colton Ford Tug Of Wars, Girls Aloud Out Of Control, Infernal Electric Cabaret, Lady Gaga The Fame, Quentin Mosimann Duel, Neo One, Kate Ryan Free, Sabrina Erase/Rewind, Same Difference Pop, The Saturdays Chasing Lights, Seal Soul, The Snoopy Lads A Ruby In Blue, Britney Spears Circus, Donna Summer Crayons, Vogue From Klubland With Love, Laurent Wolf Wash My World.
Plus, there have been albums released by the end of 2007 that have stayed in 2008 on my playlist : Freemasons Unmixed, Booty Luv Boogie Tonight, Cerrone Celebrate!, Alan Connor After Midnight, Danny Heartbeats, Rihanna
Good Girl Gone Bad.

NB : Danny has just released his second solo album Set Your Body Free so it should count as a 2008 album of notice but it surely stand in my 2009 list !

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