Pop-Survivor

After about 6 hours of isolation with someone, the conversation topics eventually start to succumb to cheap gimmicks.  Enter Pop-Survivor:  7 of the current (this term was stretched slightly) pop hits were selected to compete in said event.  After listening through each song, a short discussion period occurred followed by the vote to dismiss a song from the list.  Those who were no eliminated, advanced to the next round, where they were listened to again, with another to be removed until only one Pop Champion remained!

The seven songs were:

Justin Bieber - One Less Lonely Girl
Brittany Spears - I Wanna Go
Cher Lloyd - Want You Back
Carly Rae Jepsen - Call me Maybe
Adam Levine - Moves Like Jagger
Nicki Minaj - Super Bass
Foster the People - Pumped Up Kicks

Round 1:  Brittany's "I Wanna Go" turned into "I want it to go" after the first listen.  Brittany can't hang with today's pop hits.

Round 2:  The least upbeat song in the group saw the dismissal next, as "Pumped Up Kicks" had a catchy chorus, but the dull verses and strange lyrical content made it the obvious choice.  The song had a small glimmer of hope when halfway through a chorus Andrew tried to convince Greg that he was saying "faster than my bucket" instead of bullet.  This lead to many Mr. Bucket references and laughter.  Alas even the comedic values of Mr. Bucket, couldn't keep this contender from being thrown down the proverbial pop well.

Round 3: We were ready to make moves... like Jagger? Does Jagger have moves? This song lost value each round and eventually became white noise as we waiting to get back to the real hits.

Round 4:  Greg put it best, "Here is where the rubber meets the road." In the face of four mega-pop hits, the repetitious ramble of, "Here's my number, so call me maybe" was defeated.  Don't get us wrong, that damn song has haunted our audio cortex as much as the next person, but have you ever listened to it four times in a row?  Four times.  THERE AREN'T REALLY VERSES! We even tried to rescue it by replacing our falsetto cries with guttural low-bass singing, much to our amusement.  It was like the first piece of candy you eat on Halloween, quickly turned to the 33rd, when your tongue starts hurting, your feet are sore, you have multiple cavities, and gained diabetes.  "Call Me Maybe" was too sweet for its own good.

Round 5:  With three contenders left, we both felt in the bass of our hearts what song would be booming to victory.  This left a battle for third place between Bieber and Lloyd.  After a near first round ending, "Want You Back" took a big turn around as her anger became seen as an asset in a sea of Yeahs and Woos! Furthermore, the unique twist of a female in the stereotypically masculine role described in her song won us over more and more each round. Unfortunately, all the growth was not enough to escape elimination in round 5 when her youth could not match the innocence of Biebs and her accent couldn't match the stylings of Minaj.

Round 6:  If the heavy handed foreshadowing of Round 5 did not reveal the second place contestant, "One Less Lonely Girl" ironically left Minaj alone at the top. Bieber followed a unique path. It was rarely a favorite during a round, but rather a much needed oasis from the never ending flashing and pulsing of the "POParrazi".  Add in his somewhat complex layering of vocal tracks, this song was mildly interesting.  Most surprisingly to us, the lyrical meanings hidden in the song was one of the sources of staying power throughout the competition.  Is Bieber trying to convince her to come back to him after a break up?  Is she recovering from another break-up?  Is she depressed?  The mystery needed solving and allowed it to survive to the final round.

Crowning the Champ- Nicki Minaj's Superbass combines three different feels into one song granting repeatability that can't be rivaled from this group of pop-sters. From the rap, to the pop chorus, to the cool down ending, Minaj shows eclectic and magnetic diversity. Nicki also provided unexpected education with each progressing round. Whether it was the easy to pick up Pelican Fly in round 1 or the subtler stacks on deck from round 5, we felt like Nicki was letting us grow within the confines of this masterpiece. For Andrew, a key selling point was the likening of the Boom ba boom ba boom of the chorus to the beating of his own heart. All in all, Nicki is a deserving Queen of this pop hitz list.