2011 Retrospect: Music

And now for Part 2 of my 2011 Retrospect. For Part 1, Click here. Now it's time to talk about the songs of 2011. I will quickly say I have heard DJ Earworm's 2011 Mashup, and it is again awesome. Let's continue/conclude our retrospect with my five favorite albums of the year.

1. Lady Gaga's Born This Way: While The Fame Monster focused on Hollywood, this album focused on life. Every single song in this album is catchy and memorable. Lady Gaga successfully followed up with a great album that like its predecessor gave out several hits and, on the Deluxe Edition, several OK remixes. My favorite tracks from this album include "Americano", "Black Jesus + Amen Fashion", and "Judas".
2. The Lonely Island's Turtleneck & Chain: Similar to Incredibad, the album consists of a mixture of the musical SNL Digital Shorts and original content. The original content is way better in this album, making me wonder why some of them weren't developed into SNL Digital Shorts, such as "Japan", which is an awesome parody song on expensive music videos. The Deluxe Edition of the album features the actual SNL Digital Shorts, the Originals videos, and two more bonus videos which weren't featured on the album. My favorites from this album are the aforementioned "Japan", "Jack Sparrow" featuring the funny Micheal Bolton, and "Reba (Worlds Collide)" featuring SNL's Kenan Thompson.
3. Weird Al Yankovic's Alpocalypse: I might be cheating with this one, since half of this album was originally released as an EP titled Internet Leaks back in 2008, but the new content is great. It's zany like his previous albums, features a nice collection of parodies and original songs, and on the Deluxe Edition, features a music video for almost every single song on the album (with two exceptions, "Perform This Way" and "Polka Face"). My favorites from this album are "Party in the CIA", a parody of Miley Cyrus' "Party in the USA", "CNR", and "Perform This Way", which is the infamous parody of "Born This Way" by Lady Gaga.
4. Daft Punk's TRON: Legacy Reconfigured: The follow-up to the awesome TRON: Legacy soundtrack, this album takes the music from the soundtrack and remixes them into awesome tracks. This is also my favorite Remix album of the year. My favorite Remixes from this album are the Teddybears remix of "Adagio for TRON", "The Grid" remixed by The Crystal Method, and "Derezzed", remixed by The Glitch Mob.
5. Belanova's Sueno Electro II: This Spanish album from the Mexican band Belanova is the odd one out mostly because it's the only album not in English that I actually enjoyed. The album is a continuation on Sueno Electro I, both album experimenting different kinds of music, this album concentrating on the Ranchero and Acoustic genres. My favorites songs from this album include "Hasta el Final" and "Flash Electrico".

And those are my five favorite albums of 2011. Let's take a look at my Top 10 Songs of the Year.

• Number 10 - "What The Hell" by Avril Lavinge: After taking a break from singing, and getting a divorce, she comes back with a song that just says "F U" to her ex and how she now wants to live life. And it was to me her best song since "Complicated".
• Number 9 - "Blood in My Eyes" by Sum 41: After breaking up with Avril Lavinge, Deryck Whibley got back with Sum 41 and put out a dark, Green Day-like album with Screaming Bloody Murder. In my opinion, it felt like Whibley bringing out his emotions over what happened with Lavinge, and this song is the strongest example of this.
• Number 8 - "Don't Blame the World, It's the DJ's Fault" by Cobra Starship: This non-single track by Cobra Starship is great song to play whenever you're feeling down and you wanna feel great. It also works when the DJ is playing crappy music.
• Number 7 - "Rolling in the Deep (Dubstep Remix)" by Adele: Yes, Adele is a great singer. But the Dubstep Remix of this song is great. I like the original, but this makes you want to go out on the dance floor and dance like crazy.
• Number 6 - "The One That Got Away" by Katy Perry: This song is for people who feel like they wanted to stay with someone and failed (it's a bit ironic considering she just got divorced from Russel Brand exactly two years after getting together) and for those who wanted to be with someone and missed their opportunity. It's like Adele's "Someone Like You", but not as sad as that one.
• Number 5 - "I Need a Doctor" by Dr. Dre/Eminem/Skylar Grey: This is a very emotion-driven song that talks about why Dre hasn't released new music or an album for over a decade and concentrates on his relationship with Eminem. I play this whenever I feel down and I think everyone's against me, and it's always great to listen.
• Number 4 - "It Will Rain" by Bruno Mars: Of all the things I hate about Twilight, I have to say the music is the only reason I like the movies. However, "It Will Rain" was the first song I actually bought from the soundtracks since Paramore's "Decode". It's also a great song to listen when its cloudy and it's ACTUALLY raining.
• Number 3 - "Written in the Stars" by Tinie Tempah and Eric Turner: If the title sounds familiar, then yes, it's that song you heard dozens of time during TBS' MLB Postseason coverage. Unless you're sick of this song, it's a song that makes want to get ready to do something epic and take on anything.
• Number 2 - "Judas" by Lady Gaga. The beat is great, the video is great, and I'm Catholic, so moving on.
  
• And the Number 1 song of the year is "This is Our House" by Bon Jovi: Whereas "Stars" makes you get ready, Bon Jovi gets you pumped and wanting to take on the world. Also, who doesn't think of football when listening to this?

And those are my favorite songs and albums of 2011. Maybe I'll do this again next year. If there is one... Just kidding. I will.

Happy New Year!

Joel Garcia

2011