Showing posts with label Foster the People. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Foster the People. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

The Top 50 Songs of 2011

Dave’s Music Database:

Top 50 Songs of 2011

These are the top 50 songs of the year based on their overall performance in Dave’s Music Database, which is determined by combining chart data, sales figures, streaming, video views, and aggregates from 30 year-end lists (sources at bottom of page).

Check out “Top Songs and Albums of the Year” lists here.

    DMDB Top 1%:

  1. Gotye & Kimbra “Somebody That I Used to Know”
  2. Carly Rae Jepsen “Call Me Maybe”
  3. Rihanna & Calvin Harris “We Found Love”
  4. LMFAO, Lauren Bennett & GoonRock “Party Rock Anthem”
  5. Maroon 5 with Christina Aguilera “Moves Like Jagger”
  6. Adele “Someone Like You”
  7. Fun. & Janelle Monáe “We Are Young”
  8. LMFAO “Sexy and I Know It”
  9. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis with Ray Dalton “Can’t Hold Us”
  10. Pitbull with Ne-Yo, Afrojack, & Nayer “Give Me Everything”

  11. Lady Gaga “Born This Way”

    DMDB Top 2%:

  12. Adele “Set Fire to the Rain”
  13. One Direction “What Makes You Beautiful”
  14. Kelly Clarkson “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)”
  15. Nicki Minaj “Super Bass”
  16. Jennifer Lopez with Pitbull “On the Floor”
  17. Christina Perri “A Thousand Years”
  18. Jay-Z with Kanye West “Niggas in Paris”
  19. David Guetta with Sia “Titanium”

    DMDB Top 5%:

  20. The Black Keys “Lonley Boy”

  21. Flo Rida “Good Feeling”
  22. Coldplay “Paradise”
  23. Of Monsters and Men “Little Talks”
  24. Ed Sheeran “The A Team”
  25. Flo Rida with Sia “Wild One”
  26. Eric Church “Springsteen”
  27. Imagine Dragons “It’s Time”
  28. Lana Del Rey “Video Games”
  29. Justin Bieber “Mistletoe”
  30. Jessie J with B.o.B. “Price Tag”

  31. The Wanted “Glad You Came”
  32. Lady Gaga “The Edge of Glory”
  33. M83 “Midnight City”
  34. Foo Fighters “Walk”
  35. Bruno Mars “It Will Rain”
  36. Luke Bryan “Country Girl (Shake It for Me)”
  37. Hunter Hayes “Wanted”

    DMDB Top 10%:

  38. Adele “Rumour Has It”
  39. Tony Bennett with Amy Winehouse “Body and Soul”
  40. Grouplove “Tongue Tied”

  41. Calvin Harris “Feel So Close”
  42. Chris Brown with Lil Wayne & Busta “Look at Me Now”
  43. Foo Fighters “Rope”
  44. Coldplay “Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall”
  45. Michel Teló “Ai Se Eu Te Pego”
  46. Jessie J. “Domino”
  47. Florence + the Machine “Shake It Out”
  48. Beyoncé “Love on Top”
  49. Rihanna “Where Have You Been”
  50. Gym Class Heroes with Adam Levine “Stereo Hearts”

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First posted 12/28/2011; last updated 1/18/2023.

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Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Predictions for the 2012 Grammy Nominations

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The 2012 Grammy nominations will be officially announced tonight. Keeping in mind that the eligibility period is from October 1, 2010 to September 30, 2011, here are my predictions for the four major awards:

Adele can plan on hearing her name announced a few times.


ALBUM OF THE YEAR:
  • Adele 21. This is as close to a shoo-in for a nomination (and win) as it gets this year. It was the dominant seller of the year and is exactly the critically-acclaimed mainstream kind of stuff the Grammy voters love. Other mainstream pop which hold possibilities include Bruno Mars’ Doo Wops & Hooligans, Beyonce’s 4, Lady Gaga’s Born This Way, and Rihanna’s Loud.
  • Tony Bennett Duets II. Of course, they also love old-timers. This is the most likely shot (although he already won for his Unplugged album), although I’m surprised I haven’t seen more predictions touting Elton John & Leon Russell’s The Union or Glen Campbell’s Ghost on the Canvas. There’s also Grammy favorite Paul Simon with So Beautiful or So What.
  • Taylor Swift Speak Now. Her last album, Fearless, took home the Album of the Year two years ago, but she’s likely to get a nod here to satisfy the country slot. Alison Krauss’ Paper Airplane, Jason Aldean’s My Kinda Party, or Lady Antebellum’s Own the Night are also possibilities.
  • Kanye West My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. The Grammys like to nominate him for the big prize; they just don’t give it to him. The other most likely rap contender would be Nicki Minaj with Pink Friday.
  • Bon Iver Bon Iver. This one fits the “who the hell is that?” cache which Grammy likes. It is a critically acclaimed album by a respected indie artist. Other albums which fall into the indie, rock, or alternative arena and could take this slot include Radiohead The King of Limbs, Foo Fighters Wasting Light, PJ Harvey Let England Shake, or Fleet Foxes Helplessness Blues.

RECORD OF THE YEAR: (goes to the performers)
  • Adele “Rolling in the Deep”
  • Tony Bennett with Amy Winehouse “Body and Soul”
  • Bruno Mars “Grenade”
  • Katy Perry “Firework”
  • Foster the People “Pumped Up Kicks”

Can sentiment for old-timer Tony Bennett (former Album of the Year winner) and died-too-young star Amy Winehouse (former Record/Song of the Year winner) – derail Adele’s hopes for winning the big three awards?

Once again, Adele is a shoo-in for a nomination here and probably the win. However, Tony Bennett’s recording with Amy Winehouse not only has old-timer clout, but a Grammy favorite who died this year. Mars and Perry make this category heavy on pop, leaving Foster the People to represent the more rock or indie crowd (even if it was a #3 pop hit). There doesn’t seem to be anything particularly edgy which keeps coming up, but here are some other songs that deserve mention: Jason Aldean with Kelly Clarkson “Don’t You Wanna Stay”, Kanye West “All of the Lights”, Maroon 5 with Christina Aguilera “Moves Like Jagger”, Taylor Swift “Back to December”, LMFAO “Party Rock Anthem”, Coldplay “Paradise”, Nicki Minaj “Super Bass”, and Foo Fighters “Walk”.

SONG OF THE YEAR: (goes to the songwriters)
  • “Rolling in the Deep” – Adele and Paul Epworth
  • “Grenade” – Bruno Mars, Philip Lawrence, Ari Levine, Brody Brown, Claude Kelly, Andrew Wyatt (performed by Bruno Mars)
  • “Firework” – Katy Perry, Mikkel S. Eriksen, Tor Erik Hermansen, Sandy Wilhelm, Ester Dean (performed by Katy Perry)
  • “The Cave” – Mark Mumford (performed by Mumford & Sons)
  • “I Was Here” – Diane Warren (performed by Beyonce)

Could Bruno Mars land three nominations in the big categories?

This category generally comes pretty close to duplicating the Record of the Year nominations. However, I’m inserting Mumford & Sons’ “The Cave” in the mix because it will be a nod to the folkie sound which has taken off in the last couple years – and which they have a lot to do with. Then I’m giving the fifth slot to “I Was Here”. Diane Warren is one of the most celebrated songwriters around and Beyonce adds big-name clout. For other possibilities, see the other Record of the Year runner-ups.

BEST NEW ARTIST:
  • Nicki Minaj
  • Bon Iver
  • The Band Perry
  • Foster the People
  • LMFAO

Could little known indie-folk rock singer/songwriter Justin Vernon (aka Bon Iver) best rapper Nicki Minaj, who seemingly is everywhere, in the Best New Artist category?

Finally a category Adele can’t win (since she already took home this prize a couple years ago). The consensus here seems to be for Nicki Minaj, but there’s also a lot of love out there in the prediction world for Bon Iver. I find that odd since his debut album was released independently in 2007, but the Grammys have strange rules about what constitutes a “new” artist, so he might well get a nod and even a win on the back of his sophomore album. The Band Perry fill in the country-pop crossover group slot for Lady Antebellum. Foster the People again fit the alternative/rock slot here, but voters may be scared of them being a one-hit wonder and not take them too seriously. LMFAO fits the bill here for a huge pop group, but their “Party Rock Anthem” isn’t likely to get them much critical clout. Other names which have come up as possibilities here include rapper Wiz Khalifa, Latin-pop group Il Volo, rapper Tyler the Creator, Ellie Goulding, and Jessie J. Thompson Square and The Civil Wars have also been mentioned, but they would be in direct competition with The Band Perry. I just don’t see more than one slot here going to a country act.

Do Foster the People have legitimate shots at winning any of the big awards or are they just potential slot-fillers?

It’s just a waiting game now to see how many kinks the actual Grammy nominations throw into my picks.

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Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Foster the People “Pumped Up Kicks” released

Pumped Up Kicks

Foster the People

Writer(s): Mark Foster (see lyrics here)

Released: September 14, 2010

First Charted: February 5, 2011

Peak: 3 US, 3 RR, 28 AC, 3 A40, 2 AA, 15 MR, 18 UK, 3 CN, 11 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.)

Sales (in millions): 10.0 US, 1.8 UK, 13.82 world (includes US + UK)

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 1036.1 video, 1500.31 streaming

Awards:

Click on award for more details.

About the Song:

Foster the People is an indie pop band which formed in 2009 in Los Angeles, California. The trio consists of singer Mark Foster, guitarist Sean Cimino, and keyboardist Isom Innis. The group released their debut single, “Pumped Up Kicks,” in 2010 as a free download. It garnered enough attention that Columbia Records signed them to a multi-album deal. The song then appeared on the group’s debut album, Torches, in 2011.

The song was picked up by Australian radio station Triple J in July 2010 and ranked as one of the station’s top 100 songs in their year-end countdown. After being released as part of an EP in January 2011, the song started getting played on alternative radio stations in America. After peaking at #1 on the alternative rock chart, the song crossed over to the Billboard Hot 100.

Mark Foster wrote the song in five hours while working as a jingle writer. He played all the instruments on the song and used the software Logic Pro to arrange and edit the song. He thought it would just be a demo, but it was the version of the song released by the group. WK

He explained that it is “about a kid…losing his mind and…plotting revenge. He’s an outcast.” SF Foster read about how teenage mental illness skyrocketed in the last decade and wanted to bring awareness to gun violence among youth. WK He wrote the song from the perspective of the homicidal teen rather than the victims because he wanted to “get inside the head of an isolated, psychotic kid.” SF Foster points out that there is no actual violence in the song because the threats are within the kid’s internal monologue. SF

The title refers to the Reebok Pump basketball shoe which was popular in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. In the song, the main character’s peers wear the shoes as a status symbol WK as the shoes were very expensive and “tended to be the privileged poseurs who annoyed the hell out of anyone wearing Converse or Keds.” SF

“Pumped Up Kicks” was nominated for a Grammy for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance.

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First posted 7/21/2023.

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