John's World's Top 20 Pop Songs of 2014

At the end of each year, I like to look back at the music that's rocked my world throughout...and maybe some of these have rocked yours too.  Up until last year, I'd done this sort of post for Yahoo Voices, but since that's gone I'll just have to do it here, lol.  I'm going to preface this post by stating, as if you already didn't know, that my type of music is almost always dancey stuff.  On occasion I find things of other genres that I like, but it's rare.  So if you're looking for any type of rock or alternative stuff in my list of the best in pop for 2014, then you've come to the wrong place.

So herein take a look at John's World's Top 20 Pop Songs of 2014...

#20 - Rude - Magic!

Why you gotta be so rude?
Don't you know I'm human too?
Why you gotta be so rude?
I'm gonna marry her anyway

Okay, I know I already said not to expect anything alternative on this list, and here I go with the very first tune an alternative song.  What can I say?  Throughout the latter part of spring and into summer, the oh so catchy chorus of this one seemed to play out over and over in everyone's heads, including mine.  I posted it on June 11th and you can check it out here.



#19 - Timber - Pitbull and Ke$ha

One of the better collaborations of Pitbull's career features dance singer/songwriter Ke$ha.  This one's got an awesome hook and the track is lighthearted and fun.  Check out a recent Song of the Day post featuring Timber.

#18 - Jealous - Nick Jonas

Anyone who's been following this blog knows that I love Nick Jonas.  The man has come out in a big way this year (and I don't mean closets!), and all the while embracing his fans of the gay persuasion. This, so far, is the biggest hit of his newest eponymous album, and, um,, yeah!  Check out Jealous.



#17 - I - Kendrick Lamar

OMG, I absolutely LOVE this brand new one from R&B singer/rapper Kendrick Lamar.  I discovered it on Spotify only recently, and posted it as Song of the Day just a week and a half ago, and it's good enough to be one of the bestest songs of the year.  Smooth groove, smooth vocals...great vibe!  Check it out...



#16 - Riptide - Vance Joy

Another Spotify-discovered song that I absolutely LOVE!  It's by a relatively obscure Aussie singer Vance Joy and the words just make you want to sing along.  Check out this Song of the Day feature from October here.

#15 - Am I Wrong - Nico and Vinz

I just posted the other day that the feature for this Song of the Day back in July garnered the highest number of page views for the year 2014 under that tag. Check out the infectiously island-infused Am I Wrong.


directlyrics

#14 - Uptown Funk - Mark Ronson with Bruno Mars

I said it back on December 9th that this one was going to be a smash, and from what I'm seeing and hearing, it already is.  This high energy, Minneapolis-inspired funk is nothing but down home fun! Don't believe me just watch...



#13 - All of Me - John Legend

I admit that it took me a long time to get this one.  It is a ballad, after all...but there was one day at Cherry Grove over the summer when it came on and nearly everyone in the bar was singing along to every word and I didn't know it.  Well I know it now and I love it, especially the dance version! Check out the beautiful All of Me.

#12 - Rather Be - Clean Bandit, featuring Jess Glynne

Here's one my personal favorite tunes of 2014.  This one is so beautiful, so sweet, and so melodic that I just can't not listen all the way through whenever it's played.  If you don't know it, then you'd better check it out...



#11 - Fancy - Iggy Azalea, with Charli XCX

First things first, I'm the realist...

What a big year 2014 was for the Aussie rapstress (who's been taking a lot of b.s. from that other Azealia) Iggy Azalea, who first gained notoriety on Ariana Grande's smash Problem and then whipped it up on this funky, bassy jam.

#10 - Happy - Pharrell Williams

This oh so 'happy' tune finally brought some very well-deserved attention to a longstanding multi-talented artist Pharrell Williams.  This one is of a new breed of genre that's brought back some old feel good funk and was definitely a precursor to Mark Ronson's Uptown Funk.  Check out the Happy Song of the Day Post from February.



#9 - Royals - Lorde

Though this masterpiece from young New Zealand singer/songwriter Lorde was released in 2013, it still got lots of airplay in 2014.  The Grammy winning Royals is one of those songs that comes along only once in a blue moon and is very deserving of a spot on the top ten tunes of 2014.

#8 - Talk Dirty - Jason DeRulo

Ooh, this was a fun one.  A little...no, a lot...on the explicit side, but it's got that R&B smooth swagger that's so fun to jam to.  Check out Talk Dirty.


#7 - Waves - Mr. Probz

My face above the water
My feet can't touch the ground
I can see the sands on the horizon
Every time, you are not around
And I'm slowly drifting...

The year 2014 saw a resurgence of chill/lounge music, and this one lead the way, growing in popularity throughout the year.  The Robin Schulz (who I've really come to love) remix is the one that you all know and it goes a lil something like this...



#6 - Problem - Ariana Grande, with Iggy Azalea

Now a year I ago, many of us never even heard of Ariana Grande, but after this one with the oh so appropriate in-your-face lyrics and the infectious dance track, she's become a huge part of the current pop music landscape.  Check out the Problem Song of the Day Post from May.

#5 - Take Me to Church - Hozier

Here's another song I only recently discovered from Irish indie singer Hozier.  The Grammy-nominated song is simply powerful and the video is equally so.  Check out this Song of the Day post of Take Me to Church.

#4 - All About That Bass - Meghan Trainor

One of the most iconic and popular songs of the year comes from newcomer Meghan Trainor and she had us all thinking about bass and treble in a whole new way.  Check out All About That Bass.

#3 - Sing - Ed Sheeran

Ed Sheeran was one of the most successful artists of the year 2014, and this is the one that was his springboard to success.  With the help of producer Rick Rubin, Sheeran recorded his second studio album, X, a compilation of twelve stellar tunes.  The album has earned the singer many accolades, nominations and fans, including me, and though I love the entire set, this one featuring Pharrell Williams has to be my favorite!




forbes

#2 - Shake It Off - Taylor Swift

This one is so irresistable it's got to be one of the catchiest and funnest songs of all time!  Check it out...

And the players gonna play play play play play 
And the haters gonna hate hate hate hate hate...



#1 - Dark Horse - Katy Perry, featuring Juicy J

All the while I was thinking about this post, I was sure that I was going to name Swift's tune the #1 Song of the Year, and then I remembered this one.  Katy Perry's Dark Horse came out in late 2013 and its title is very appropriate.  It wasn't originally aimed to be a single, but its perfect blend of thumpy beats, Juicy J's raps and mystical feel simply induced all who heard it to listen and listen and listen.  Oh, what a great song!  Take another listen...


So there you have it, my Top 20 Pop Songs for 2014.  I hope you've enjoyed reading and reliving some of the year's best music and please let me know down in the comments some of the songs that rocked your world in 2014.  Stay tuned for my annual countdown of the year's 30 best dance/club tunes coming soon!

A Song of the Day for Mom - Birthday - Katy Perry

On this day 72 years ago, a baby girl was born to Joe and Mary Randazzo in New York City.  The couple named their little girl Joan and they were happy because now they had a boy and a girl to complete their family.  Joan grew up with her parents, her brother Robert, and her grandmother 'Mema' in Harlem, but eventually moved to the Bronx, which was then "the country" and where she spent the remainder of her childhood years and the early part of her marriage before moving to Long Island.  

Growing up, and throughout her life, mom was daddy's little girl, as well as the apple of both Mema and dear old Aunt Vi's eyes.  She learned to love sports through grandpa, how to love unconditionally through her grandma, and how to dress well through Aunt Vi.  Yes, mom is an avid Yankees, Rangers, Knicks and Jets fan and she's the one who passed on that devotion to the rest of us.  I'll get to the unconditional love part below, but I'll also say here that mom has always had a great fashion sense, something which I'm grateful she passed on to me.  With all of that attention from those three, my mom and her mom were never really that close, though like any mother, my Nana loved my mom very much.

Mom graduated from Cathedral High School somewhere in the late 50's.  Cathedral was an all-girls Catholic school and I think maybe that's why, from the stories I've heard, as a teenager mom probably gave my grandparents some stresses along the way with the boys. Back then, Joan was thin and beautiful and I'm sure she got a lot of attention from the guys. Eventually, though, she met, dated and then married the man who would become my dad, George Myers.

Mom and dad lived an up and down marriage for almost 50 years.  Like most relationships, things started out really good at the beginning and then waned as their family grew, but eventually they grew into the sort of familial companionship that so many evolve into over the years.  You see, my dad was a high school dropout and worked as an unskilled laborer in a warehouse in the Bronx.  The job didn't pay too well, I'm sure, and the financial stresses of raising six kids on his salary often made dad grumpy.  To make matters worse, he'd been an only child growing up and so he didn't know too much being a father other than bringing home the bread.  This left mom in the role of being both parents. 

During their marriage, mom and dad produced six children: me, my brother Dave and my four sisters Linda, Ann Marie, Gina and Christine.  Each of us has given mom our fair share of grief and worry over the years, but her unconditional love and caring for us all sowed the seeds of love and admiration we all feel for her in our own ways, whether she knows it or not.  Today her two grandchildren, Nick and Jake, are the newest recipients of grandma's love. 

Overall, mom hasn't had an easy life.  She's survived the loss of her first-born, Kenneth, the struggles of affording to live a financially comfortable life within an oftentimes unhappy marriage, acting as the sole parent and intermediator between dad and us, and she lived for years with a very sick husband.  Through it all, though, her friendly, outgoing, humorous and kind soul earned her a lot of friendships that she's cherished and enjoyed throughout. 

More than five years ago, mom lost her husband, my dad, and his absence within the family unit has left a wound within all of us that's been difficult to overcome.  I can never imagine what she's been going through these past five-plus years, as not only dad left this world, but too her father two years prior and Aunt Vi just two months after.  Losing those three very important people in her life in such a short period of time has to have been difficult, for all of a sudden mom had to depend primarily herself for survival for the first time in her life. She still works, at 72, but I think that's part of what keeps her young.

Mom doesn't always realize how her children feel about her.  No, ours isn't a perfect family, it never has been, but we all know deep within our hearts that mom has always done the best she could in her marriage and as a mother to us.  Throughout our lives, mom has given us so much, laughter and tears, joy and sorrow, and love...lots of love.  So, this song is dedicated to you mom, Happy Birthday and may you enjoy many, many more to come...   

Happy Birthday Mom!

     

Song of the Day - Dark Horse - Katy Perry, Juicy J

It's been months since I've posted this one.  Katy Perry's Dark Horse is one of those monumentally unique songs that is simply perfect in every way...those of you who follow me know that I felt that way from the moment I heard it.  So there...

  

Song of the Day - Birthday - Katy Perry

So make a wish 

I'll make it like your birthday everyday 

I'll be your gift 

Give you something good to celebrate

atrl

In the latest of Song of the Day posts for me in like forever, I share with you Katy Perry's awesome Birthday song and video.  I chose this one because this particular week has been full of birthdays on my Facebook feed, seemingly more so than any other week of the year.  So here's a big happy birthday to Donna and Lori, Louis and Maye, Terry and Tom, Dan, Kristian, Jennie, Ken and anyone else out there who might be celebrating a birthday!  Enjoy!

Song of the Day - This Is How We Do - Katy Perry

biggerthanbeyonce

Katy Perry is back with a brand new video for the tune This Is How We Do.  Not my favorite song off the Prism album, but it's definitely typical Katy Perry pop sugar and the video is um, colorful.  Check it out...

Song of the Day _ Wide Awake (With a Twist!) - Katy Perry

Sometime during our road trip, we came across Katy Perry's Wide Awake on one of my iPod playlists. Whenever I hear this song now, I can't help but think of this version done by a young fellow named Alex Constacio, who I've featured on here before.  Alex is a kid from Texas, I believe, who did a few entertaining lip sync videos with a little bit of a twist.  Click play to see why this one is so entertaining and why the kid changed my own perceptual connections to this song.  It's pretty darned entertaining...

Flashback Friday Song of the Day - California Gurls - Katy Perry

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!  Finally, after a long winter, the unofficial beginning of summer is upon us and even though there are overcast skies and showers popping up right now here in New York, I think we need to start the weekend off with a lil sunshine.  Enjoy!

Song of the Day - California Gurls - Katy Perry

After talking about Katy Perry's Dark Horse video last night, how could I not post her today?  Here's one that makes me think of summertime, which is good because we're in for another deep freaking freeze this week after a few days of niceness and warmth.



California girls
We're unforgettable
Daisy Dukes
Bikinis on top
Sun-kissed skin
So hot
We'll melt your popsicle
Oooooh Oh Oooooh


California Gurls ft. Snoop Dogg - Katy Perry from José H. Conde on Vimeo.