Countdown fever

Don't you just love Decode, Womanizer, and Crush?

When a survey form asked my opinion on who I think should be the Music Video of the year, I left it blank. But there were three bands I think have at least one video deserving of such award: Taken by Cars, Pupil, and Sandwich. Yeah right. Like I’ve watched any of their recent videos.
Anyway, that indecision also proved my ignorance of the television and music video channels – for a while. The last music video I think I last watched was Coldplay’s Violet Hill, which was months ago, and I’m starting to feel guilty on how I’ve been living like a hermit in my room, listening to The Sundays and TLC, all this time.

So tonight, I updated myself by watching a daily countdown of music videos at MYX. Aside from noting how emo-tic Rico Blanco has suddenly become (what’s with the new tweaking voice), I also realized that some trends, like the perpetuation of the “emo” sound, still didn’t change, and that some artists are irritatingly still batting their eyelashes onscreen even if everyone knows that they should be on the height of their retirement.

#3. Decode by Paramore. I might receive a death threat tomorrow if I write something bitter about the band, although I still can’t see anything loathsome about the act, except that their music is overused and abused by local “underground” female-fronted bands who cover “Pressure” and the rest of their album. The video, which is part of Twilight’s soundtrack, is in fact spellbinding, or maybe it was just the visions of vampires and an immortal-falling-with-a-mortal that made my hair rise whenever the red-haired vocalist is tranquilly spilling out her emotional lyrics. With the craze everyone has in the movie, no wonder why the song is sitting unperturbed in the countdown.

#2. Womanizer by Britney Spears. The last image I saw of Britney Spears is a paparazzi shot of her walking around in her one-piece suit during her pregnancy, with the bulging tummy in all. I don’t know, maybe it was just me being outdated again. The point is, it is so electrifying how someone who has gone from pop princess to a wild prima donna to a self-haircutting maniac can actually go back to producing flirt-y hits and trying to look like her old Oops I did it again-singing self. Oh well, it’s better for her to be doing that than divorcing husbands. The video, anyway, reminded me of three other artists: Michael Jackson, Beyonce, and Avril Lavigne, although I will be happier if if it was Beyonce’s video who would grab that second spot.

#1. Crush by David Archuleta – For a moment, I thought: “Who the heck is this guy? I think I have seen him somewhere. Oh well, maybe in one of Hilary Duff’s movies.” Until I remembered that he was an American Idol finalist who lost in the David vs. David battle.
Anyway, I can't help thinking about the cheesiness of the song's title, considering that other artists have used the same teenybopper word for their hits. Then I realized that I actually know the song. It’s the song I’ve been hearing on radio stations playing pop hits, a song that pretty much caught my ears but never made me sing to it. It was not hard to figure out why the song topped the countdown. Aside from his forceful voice and lyrics that is a resemblance of Ryan Cabrera’s, David Archuleta. is cute, although he is not really the attractive type at first glance in his music video. The video, which shows him throwing glances at his crush during their summer getaway, is nothing but a reminiscent of the Aaron Carter-type of music videos: gushy, unrealistically emotional, but nevertheless corny that you can easily predict who voted and pushed for it in the countdown. #