Last Song Syndrome: Danity Kane - Damaged (2008)

If there was just one song that I could associate with my recent visit to LA, I'd say it would have to be "Damaged" by Danity Kane.

I already had the song loaded onto my iPod just before leaving Manila, so it was already playing at a fairly hot rotation. I couldn't help but notice it: the damn song was everywhere- radio stations, sports clubs, karaoke bars, restaurants- it was borderline irritating.

My sister even said that it was an anthem of sorts. She had this friend that had an officemate who was singing it all week. I have another friend who was singing it after a bad fight with his boyfriend. Anthem.

Nevertheless, it's makes for great pop tuneage. In the interest of getting said song out of my head, and help getting same song out of other people's heads, we're featuring it here on Last Song Syndrome.

So here we have it, ladies and gentlemen- Danity Kane, with "Damaged". Video courtesy of Diddy's DanityKaneVideos channel on YouTube (Diddy does a fairly extended intro though- you don't see the video until the 2:38 mark). Enjoy!


Danity Kane
"Damaged" (2008)

Do, do you got a first aid kit handy?
Do, do you know how to patch up a wound?
Tell me, are-are-are-are you?
Are you patient, understanding?
'Coz I might need some time to clear the hole in my heart and I...
(I've tried every remedy
And nothing seems to work for me)

Baby (baby),
This situation’s driving me crazy
And I really wanna be your lady
But the one before you left me so

Damaged, damaged
Damaged, damaged
I thought that I should let you know
That my heart is damaged, damaged
So damaged (so damaged)
And you can blame the one before
So how you gonna fix it, fix it, fix it?
(Baby, I gotta know)
How you gonna fix it, fix it, fix it?
(What you are gonna do, baby?)
How you gonna fix it, fix it, fix it?
(Baby, I gotta know)
How you gonna fix it, fix it, fix it?
(What you are gonna do?)

Do, Do you got a first aid kit handy?
Do, Do you know how to patch up a wound?
Tell me, are-are-are-are you?
Are you patient, understanding?
'Coz I might need some time to clear the hole in my heart and I...

You try to gain my trust
Talking is not enough
Actions speak louder than words
You gotta show me something
My heart is missing some pieces
I need this puzzle put together again

Damaged, damaged
Damaged, damaged
I thought that I should let you know
That my heart is damaged, damaged
So damaged (so damaged)
And you can blame the one before
So how you gonna fix it, fix it, fix it?
(Baby, I gotta know)
How you gonna fix it, fix it, fix it?
(What you are gonna do, baby?)
How you gonna fix it, fix it, fix it?
(Baby, I gotta know)
How you gonna fix it, fix it, fix it?
(What you are gonna do?)

Can you fix my h-e-a-r-t?
Cause it d-a-m-a-g-e-d?
Can you fix my h-e-a-r-t?
Tell me are you up for the challenge
Cause my heart is
Damaged, damaged
Damaged, damaged
I thought that I should let you know
That my heart is
Damaged, damaged
So damaged (so damaged)
And you can blame the one before

Damaged, damaged
damaged, damaged
I thought that I should let you know
That my heart is
Damaged, damaged
So Damaged (so damaged)
And you can blame the one before
So how you gonna fix it, fix it, fix it?
How you gonna fix it, fix it, fix it?
How you gonna fix it, fix it, fix it?
How you gonna fix it, fix it, fix it?

My heart is damaged, damaged, damaged
My heart is damaged, damaged, damaged
My heart is damaged, damaged, damaged
My heart is damaged, damaged, damaged

My heart is damaged.


Check out Danity Kane on their official website, or here on Wikipedia, or their entry on the AllMusicGuide.

Can't get that song out of your head? Then check out more of Renzie's Last Song Syndrome Project, the only blog service dedicated to getting that persistent tune out of your system- by giving you lots more of it!

Cheers, everyone!

Chicks In Music: Nelly Furtado

She first hit the scene in 2001 with "I'm Like A Bird", and even won a Grammy for it. And even if her 2003 releases weren't so huge, she more than made up for it with the 2006 album Loose- which cranked out "Promiscuous", "Maneater", "Say It Right" and "All Good Things (Come To an End)".

So yeah, unless you've been living in a cave these past couple of years, then you must have heard of Nelly Furtado. She's pop all the way through- and I like it that she experiments with all kinds of sounds and genres.

Yeah so some people bring her down saying how she's sold out, got all sexed up, and abandoned her more folksy roots- I say, hey, with 8 million units in sales worldwide, who the frack cares? After all, she did manage to get it all- sales, downloads, massive airplay, endorsements, awards, and the public attention.

On a personal note, I have to admit that I wasn't a huge fan of Nelly Furtado before. Her collaboration with Timbaland on Loose was a brilliant move. I only started digging her with "Say It Right", really. "Promiscuous Girl" I dug a little later on.

In fact, here's a video of an unplugged Nelly Furtado performance of "Promiscuous Boy" which I saw a little more than a year ago. This was what made me appreciate her even more. Check it out.

So cool. Gotta appreciate her skills.

What I'm Listening To From Nelly Furtado Now:

"Say It Right" and "Promiscuous Girl" are still playing a lot on my iPod and my Creative Vision M. Also that Timbaland track which featured her and Justin Timberlake, "Give It To Me".

No word yet on a new album or a new single up for release, but you can always check out Nelly Furtado on her Wikipedia entry, on MySpace, or visit her official website here.

Cheers, everyone.


Chicks In Music is a regular feature on My Thoughts In Stereo. We pay tribute to the hottest ladies in the music industry- with updates, trivia, video clips and links to their websites and social media. Checking out your favorite females in rock, pop and R&B online has never been so gratifying- Chicks in Music!

Chicks In Music: Rihanna

Oh how I love Rihanna.

Rihanna first grabbed my attention back in 2006, with her single "SOS". It was catchy and upbeat- I had a music sampler one of the recording companies gave me at the time, and I found out that she had an earlier release (from her very first album) "Pon de Replay"- and also loved the song.

It wasn't long until my girlfriend asked me to make her ringtones of those two songs- which I did.

Her album "A Girl Like Me" yielded three more radio-friendly hits: "We Ride", "Break It Off" (featuring Sean Paul) and "Unfaithful".

Probably her biggest album so far was the 2007 release, "Good Girl Gone Bad". The album sold a whole shitload of units, downloaded like crazy, and earned Rihanna a slew of nominations and awards. You know the hit songs: the dance anthem "Don't Stop The Music", "Shut Up and Drive", the duet with Ne-Yo "Hate That I Love You", and probably the biggest summer song of that year, "Umbrella" with Jay-Z.

True story: I was actually writing for a pet supplies distribution company at the time "Umbrella" came out. Part of my job was researching and coming up with pet-related articles, so I decided to write one up about Rihanna and her pet Pomeranian, "Marley".

She's supposed to be coming out with another album soon enough, but in the meantime, here's a video I snagged from AoL Music- "Hate That I Love You" featuring a smoking-hot Rihanna, and the incredibly talented Ne-Yo. Enjoy.

What I'm Listening To From Rihanna Now.

Aside from "Hate That I Love You"? Her songs "Umbrella", "Shut Up and Drive", "Cry", "Pon De Replay", "SOS" and "We Ride" are regulars on my mp3 player.

Wanna check out more Rihanna? Visit the official Rihanna website here, check out her Wikipedia entry, or even add her up as a friend on MySpace.


Chicks In Music is a regular feature on My Thoughts In Stereo. We pay tribute to the hottest ladies in the music industry- with updates, trivia, video clips and links to their websites and social media. Checking out your favorite females in rock, pop and R&B online has never been so gratifying- Chicks in Music!

Pop Music This Week - 29 February 2008

CHR/POP Charts
Radio and Records US National Airplay
29 February 2008

1. Flo Rida feat. T-Pain - Low --> 4 week(s) at number 1
2. Chris Brown - With You
3. Rihanna - Don't Stop The Music
4. Timbaland feat. OneRepublic - Apologize
5. Sean Kingston - Take You There

6. Sara Bareilles - Love Song
7. Alicia Keys - No One
8. Buckcherry - Sorry
9. Fergie - Clumsy
10. Linkin Park - Shadow Of The Day

11. Taylor Swift - Teardrops On My Guitar
12. Wyclef Jean feat. Akon, Lil Wayne & Niia - Sweetest Girl (Dollar Bill)
13. Jordin Sparks - Tattoo
14. Miley Cyrus - See You Again
15. Finger Eleven - Paralyzer

16. OneRepublic - Stop And Stare
17. Jordin Sparks duet with Chris Brown - No Air
18. Three Days Grace - Never Too Late
19. Snoop Dogg - Sensual Seduction
20. Daughtry - Feels Like Tonight

21. Chris Brown feat. T-Pain - Kiss Kiss
22. Boys Like Girls - Hero/Heroine
23. Mariah Carey - Touch My Body --> most increased plays; most added
24. Jonas Brothers - When You Look Me In The Eyes
25. Paramore - Misery Business

26. Natasha Bedingfield feat. Sean Kingston - Love Like This
27. Lupe Fiasco feat. Matthew Santos - Superstar
28. Plies feat. Akon - Hypnotized
29. Enur feat. Natasja - Calabria 2008
30. Santana feat. Chad Kroeger - Into The Night

31. Lifehouse - Whatever It Takes
32. Usher feat. Young Jeezy - Love In This Club
33. Cascada - What Hurts The Most
34. Leona Lewis - Bleeding Love
35. Alicia Keys - Like You'll Never See Me Again

36. Blue October - Calling You
37. Cherish Feat. Yung Joc - Killa
38. Colbie Caillat - Realize
39. Britney Spears - Piece Of Me
40. Baby Bash feat. Sean Kingston - What Is It


CHR/Top 40 Most Added This Week:

Mariah Carey - Touch My Body
Usher feat. Young Jeezy - Love In This Club
Fergie - Finally
Leona Lewis - Bleeding Love
Lupe Fiasco feat. Matthew Santos - Superstar
Ferras - Hollywood's Not America


CHR/Top 40 Most Increased Plays This Week:

Mariah Carey - Touch My Body
Sara Bareilles - Love Song
Chris Brown - With You
Usher feat. Young Jeezy - Love In This Club
Buckcherry - Sorry


This CHR/POP chart may be seen in full on the Radio and Records website. Check out other music charts on "My Thoughts In Stereo".

Music Charts on "My Thoughts In Stereo"

Starting this week, I have decided to keep track of specific music charts by way of this blog. Partially for work, and partially for personal purposes, I've always referred to music charts as a gauge of what's going on in the international music scene.

I suppose it started with my fixation on those old chart shows from Casey Kasem (which was on RT and on KC for a time) and Rick Dees (which was on RT for the most part). As I joined the radio industry, the music being played on radio became very diverse- and so you now have different charts tracking airplay and record sales for different radio formats.

Radio and Records or R&R is an industry magazine I've been reading up on (at least as much as I can, anyway) since my early radio days at 99.5 RT. Even to this day, it has always been an invaluable tool to any radio or record industry executive. I've always had it bookmarked, and I continue to refer to their charts on a weekly basis.

I thought I might as well do all that via this blog- check out the pertinent music activity for my current line of work. And so with that, I'll be tracking the following music charts:

1. CHR/Pop - Contemporary Hit Radio or Top 40, is the most popular of all these music charts, hence the term 'pop'. It gives anyone at the very least a reference point of the general feel of the music atmosphere at a particular point in time. Then again, pop music doesn't appeal to everybody, and so you have a wide variety of other 'alternative' formats.

2. AC - The Adult Contemporary format is essentially pop music for a more mature audience; it's CHR radio that's generally devoid of hard rock, hip-hop, teen pop and dance tracks.

3. Urban AC- more like a personal preference, really. Urban AC is mostly soul and R&B music- music that typically caters to an African-American audience, but without the rap or heavy hip-hop.

4. Triple A- is your Adult Album Alternative radio format. Some call it 'underground' , others would refer to it as 'progressive'. It caters (again) to a more mature market, but it differs from regular AC in that it has more a diverse sound- drawing from alternative rock, alternative country, blues, jazz, folk, even world music, but tends to stay away from heavy rock and rap.

5. Smooth Jazz - is also known as new adult contemporary (or NAC). It draws more from pop jazz than it does traditional jazz, but also has R&B, soul and funk elements.

I like keeping track of music so I have an idea who to keep my eyes and ears on- whether looking out for a particular CD, or knowing what song gets used in the soundtrack for certain songs and movies, or just watching out for bits on music and entertainment news.

I'll also be keeping track of the most popular recurrents every week. Recurrents are songs still frequently aired on a radio station even several months after the initial debut. According to Radio and Records, recurrents are:

"...titles that have appeared on the chart for 20 or more weeks and have fallen below the top 20."

The way I see it, recurrents are your more popular songs which have somehow managed to maintain a sizeable (and seemingly sustaining) amount of airplay and sales, and therefore, a persistent deal of likeability. For many radio stations, these songs are 'defining' titles that pretty much make up a signature sound.

So watch out for these charts. I'll try to keep em as regular as possible.

Cheers, everyone!

Last Song Syndrome: Justin Timberlake - Lovestoned/ I Think That She Knows (2007)

Now, this, ladies and gentlemen, is pure pop genius. It's one of my favorite songs for 2007, and definitely one of my most favorite tunes from Justin Timberlake.

"Lovestoned/ I Think That She Knows" is the fifth single released from the 2006 hit album Futuresex/Lovesounds- Justin's second solo album. The song was co-written and produced by Justin, Timbaland and Danja.

I just had to add this song because of an earlier post I wrote about the song, and now I can't get the damn thing out of my head. Though it is a great song.

So here it is, lyrics and video included. Enjoy!

Justin Timberlake
"Lovestoned/I Think That She Knows" (2007)

She's freaky and she knows it
She's freaky and I like it

Listen

She grabs the yellow bottle
She likes the way it hits her lips
She gets to the bottom
It sends her on a trip so right
She might be goin' home with me tonight

She looks like a model
Except she's got a little more ass
Don't even bother
Unless you've got that thing she likes
I hope she's goin' home with me tonight

(Hey!) Those flashing lights come from everywhere
The way they hit her I had to stop and stare
She's got me love stoned
Man I swear she's bad and she knows
I think that she knows



She's freaky and she knows it
She's freaky, but I like it

She shuts the room down
The way she walks and causes a fuss
The baddest in town
She's flawless like some uncut ice
Well, I hope she's goin' home with me tonight

And all she wants is to dance
That's why you'll find her on the floor
But you don't have a chance
Unless you move the way that she likes
That's why she's goin' home with me tonight

(Hey!) Those flashing lights come from everywhere
The way they hit her I had to stop and stare
She's got me love stoned
Man I swear she's bad and she knows
I think that she knows

Those flashing lights seem to cause a glare
The way they hit her I had to stop and stare
She's got me love stoned from everywhere
She's bad and she knows
I think that she knows

Now dance
Get it girl
You're freaky, but I like it
Hot damn!
Let me put my funk on this one time

(Instrumental break)

Those flashing lights come from everywhere
The way they hit her I had to stop and stare
She's got me love stoned
Man I swear she's bad and she knows
I think that she knows

Those flashing lights seem to cause a glare
The way they hit her I had to stop and stare
She's got me love stoned from everywhere
She's bad and she knows
I think that she knows

Those flashing lights come from everywhere
The way they hit her I had to stop and stare
She's got me love stoned
Man I swear she's bad and she knows
I think that she knows

(Instrumental break)

Those flashing lights come from everywhere
The way they hit her I had to stop and stare
She's got me love stoned
I think I'm love stoned
She's got me love stoned

I think that she knows, think that she knows, oh, oh
I think that she knows, think that she knows, oh, oh
I think that she knows, think that she knows, oh, oh

Those flashing lights come from everywhere
The way they hit her I had to stop and stare
I'm love stoned from everywhere and she knows
I think that she knows
Think that she knows, oh, oh

And now I walk around without a care
She's got me hooked
It just ain't fair, but I...
I'm love stoned and I could swear
That she knows
Think that she knows, oh, oh
She knows, she knows, oh, oh

Visit the official Justin Timberlake website here for more information on the man himself.

Cheers!