Usher's 'OMG' Is MTV News' #1 Song Of 2010!

Club smash, featuring will.i.am, tops our list of the Top 25 Songs of the year.
By James Montgomery


Usher
Photo: Getty Images

MTV News' Top 25 Songs of 2010 has reached an end. We've already counted down the rest, and now it's time to get to the best: Usher's "OMG," the song that perfectly sums up the past 12 months of popular music — and makes you wanna move until you can't move no more.

If 2010 proved anything, it's that a DJ really can save your life ... or at least get you to #1 on the Hot 100. After years of staring at each other from across the room, hip-hop, pop and R&B all decided to finally get in bed with dance music, and the results weren't always pretty, but they were certainly successful. To date, only 17 songs have made it to the top spot of Billboard's singles chart in 2010, and nearly two-thirds of them — from Ke$ha's "Tik Tok" to Far East Movement's "Like a G6" — were, in some way, dance songs.

In that regard, no song better sums up 2010 pop music quite like Usher's "OMG," the dance song to end all dance songs. Sure, it may not have matched the swagger of Kanye West's "Power," the snarl of Rick Ross' "B.M.F. (Blowin' Money Fast)" or the inbox-clogging spread of Cee Lo's "F--- You," but it didn't have to. None of those songs went to #1, after all. "OMG" did. Twice.

Even among songs that managed to snag that top spot — Eminem and Rihanna's "Love the Way You Lie," Katy Perry's "California Gurls," B.o.B and Bruno Mars' "Nothin' on You" — "OMG" stood out from the pack, mostly because of its pedigree. It's not a stretch to say that any of those tracks could've (and probably would've) been #1 in any other year; "OMG" could only have done it in 2010, because it was crafted to do nothing else. No other song this year was as of the moment, as singular and shiny and downright undeniable. There's a reason it was named on more ballots than any other song on our countdown and justly takes the title of MTV News' #1 Song of 2010.

And while all that is important, it's largely beside the point. "OMG" is the kind of song that truly defies deep inspection, because it's not exactly headphone music. Rather, it was made for the clubs, designed to envelop you on the dance floor and not let go until the final "oh-ohh-oh-ooh-oh." And in that regard, it succeeds in spades. It is a masterful melding of R&B, and Euro dance, all icy synths and handclaps, starbursts and stutters and sing-along chants. It ebbs and flows, stops and starts, pumps and preens. Simply put, you cannot listen to it without moving in some way. (MTV's Dee Caligiuri, who voted on our countdown, probably put it best one night when she declared: "There are so many dances you can do to it!") And if that's not the definition of a success, well, then I don't know what is.

A large portion of the credit for "OMG" has to go to will.i.am, who not only produced the track (I know!), but was smart enough to see this whole dance thing coming when he teamed up with producer David Guetta last year. Those songs — "Boom Boom Pow" and "I Gotta Feeling" — were, of course, massive, but neither of them are as good as this. Given full control, Will goes off the deep end, cramming the song with every dance trick in the book — and probably some new ones he just invented on the spot. And Usher, whose career, truth be told, was sort of in need of a shot in the arm, is the beneficiary. He floats and gloats above the mix, suave and cocksure, knowing that he is exactly the right man at the right time. That time, of course, had to be 2010.

Because in a year when so many big-name acts embraced the DJ, he flat-out did it better than any of them. "OMG" represents the peak of the dance-pop era in which we live, a song as undeniable as it is of the moment. We can only speculate as to what next year will bring, but there's really no denying that, as 2010 comes to a close, Usher stands above all else, reinvigorated and ready for more. It's enough to make you say "Oh My God," really.

How does Usher's "OMG" rank among the year's best songs? Let us know in the comments!

MTV News' Top 25 Songs of 2010 have all been counted down. But the fun isn't over yet: We still want to see your picks in the comments below!

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1653969/ushers-omg-mtv-news-1-song-2010.jhtml

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David Booth Latest to Show Spin-o-Rama Is Unstoppable

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A couple of weeks ago our Chris Botta argued that, sooner or later, a goalie that is tired of being burned by the suddenly played out (but almost always successful) spin-o-rama move will simply crash the party and take out a skater. And maybe he's right. It would certainly add another level of excitement to the shootout, if nothing else.

On Tuesday night in a 4-3 shootout loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs, Florida Panthers forward David Booth was the latest player to show off the move by beating Jean-Sebastien Giguere with relative ease. As is always pointed out by somebody when this move is used, it's technically against the rules of the shootout/penalty shot because the puck isn't always moving forward (Rule 24). But there is also a clause in the rule that specifically allows the move to be performed because it involves a continuous motion. Should the rule be changed to ban the move? I don't know, that seems like a pretty drastic step.

As I've argued before, if the NHL is going to allow 65 minutes of hockey to be decided by a skills competition it kind of defeats the purpose to start eliminating skills because they're too good. Isn't that the point? If you start banning moves that are too good the shootout should be done away with (and I say that as somebody that enjoys watching the shootout simply for the entertainment value -- Even if I'm not really a fan of a tie game being decided that way).

Anyway, here's a look at Booth's goal from Tuesday night...

 

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Source: http://nhl.fanhouse.com/2011/02/02/david-booth-latest-to-show-spin-o-rama-is-unstoppable/

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Britney Spears Doesn't Channel Lady Gaga In 'Hold It Against Me' Video

Brit may be working with 'Telephone' director Jonas Åkerlund, but choreographer Brain Friedman debunks possible comparisons.
By Jocelyn Vena, with reporting by Matt Elias


Britney Spears
Photo: MTV News

Just because Britney Spears is working with "Telephone" director Jonas Åkerlund and his stylist wife B. Åkerlund for the "Hold It Against Me" video does not mean that the clip will mirror Lady Gaga and Beyoncé's extravaganza. Spears' choreographer, Brian Friedman, said the video is all Britney.

"The styling for this video is beyond what Britney has done before," he teased. "B. Åkerlund did the styling for it, and I can say that it is not 'Britney does Gaga.' That is not what's happening with this. Gaga has her own niche, and although B. has worked with Gaga before, she's not giving Britney anything that Gaga would wear. I love seeing Britney try out new things. It's just an extension of what Britney already is."

With potential Gaga comparisons debunked, Friedman talked about having fun with Spears on set and helping her regain that joie de vivre that fans have come to know and love when she's out on the dance floor.

"One of the places that we always tend to improve with Britney is on her beauty shots, when it's just Britney alone dancing," he said. "And one of the little tricks that I like to do is stand right off camera and scream words at her to try and get motivation from her and coach her through the little scenario that she's in, so we did that in this video. And I know there was a picture posted of a bunch of microphones around her face, and that's one of the scenes in particular where I was screaming at her on the side — in a good way."

So, what does he scream at her? "Tiger! I scream tiger," he dished. "When we first started working and I had her back in the studio, I was referring to how she danced when we were working together in the past, when we were doing 'Slave,' 'Toxic,' like some of those things. She used to have a prowl about her and an attack that to me was like a tiger, so I kept telling her, 'I want to see the tiger back,' " he revealed. "I scream the word 'tiger,' so 'tiger' seems to work. It makes her laugh, so it works."

Are you excited to see "tiger" Britney back in action? Let us know in the comments!

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1656995/britney-spears-hold-it-against-me-video.jhtml

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Britney Spears Doesn't Channel Lady Gaga In 'Hold It Against Me' Video

Brit may be working with 'Telephone' director Jonas Åkerlund, but choreographer Brain Friedman debunks possible comparisons.
By Jocelyn Vena, with reporting by Matt Elias


Britney Spears
Photo: MTV News

Just because Britney Spears is working with "Telephone" director Jonas Åkerlund and his stylist wife B. Åkerlund for the "Hold It Against Me" video does not mean that the clip will mirror Lady Gaga and Beyoncé's extravaganza. Spears' choreographer, Brian Friedman, said the video is all Britney.

"The styling for this video is beyond what Britney has done before," he teased. "B. Åkerlund did the styling for it, and I can say that it is not 'Britney does Gaga.' That is not what's happening with this. Gaga has her own niche, and although B. has worked with Gaga before, she's not giving Britney anything that Gaga would wear. I love seeing Britney try out new things. It's just an extension of what Britney already is."

With potential Gaga comparisons debunked, Friedman talked about having fun with Spears on set and helping her regain that joie de vivre that fans have come to know and love when she's out on the dance floor.

"One of the places that we always tend to improve with Britney is on her beauty shots, when it's just Britney alone dancing," he said. "And one of the little tricks that I like to do is stand right off camera and scream words at her to try and get motivation from her and coach her through the little scenario that she's in, so we did that in this video. And I know there was a picture posted of a bunch of microphones around her face, and that's one of the scenes in particular where I was screaming at her on the side — in a good way."

So, what does he scream at her? "Tiger! I scream tiger," he dished. "When we first started working and I had her back in the studio, I was referring to how she danced when we were working together in the past, when we were doing 'Slave,' 'Toxic,' like some of those things. She used to have a prowl about her and an attack that to me was like a tiger, so I kept telling her, 'I want to see the tiger back,' " he revealed. "I scream the word 'tiger,' so 'tiger' seems to work. It makes her laugh, so it works."

Are you excited to see "tiger" Britney back in action? Let us know in the comments!

Related Artists

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1656995/britney-spears-hold-it-against-me-video.jhtml

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David Booth Latest to Show Spin-o-Rama Is Unstoppable

Filed under: , ,

A couple of weeks ago our Chris Botta argued that, sooner or later, a goalie that is tired of being burned by the suddenly played out (but almost always successful) spin-o-rama move will simply crash the party and take out a skater. And maybe he's right. It would certainly add another level of excitement to the shootout, if nothing else.

On Tuesday night in a 4-3 shootout loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs, Florida Panthers forward David Booth was the latest player to show off the move by beating Jean-Sebastien Giguere with relative ease. As is always pointed out by somebody when this move is used, it's technically against the rules of the shootout/penalty shot because the puck isn't always moving forward (Rule 24). But there is also a clause in the rule that specifically allows the move to be performed because it involves a continuous motion. Should the rule be changed to ban the move? I don't know, that seems like a pretty drastic step.

As I've argued before, if the NHL is going to allow 65 minutes of hockey to be decided by a skills competition it kind of defeats the purpose to start eliminating skills because they're too good. Isn't that the point? If you start banning moves that are too good the shootout should be done away with (and I say that as somebody that enjoys watching the shootout simply for the entertainment value -- Even if I'm not really a fan of a tie game being decided that way).

Anyway, here's a look at Booth's goal from Tuesday night...

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Source: http://nhl.fanhouse.com/2011/02/02/david-booth-latest-to-show-spin-o-rama-is-unstoppable/

Magdalena Wróbe Katharine Towne Katherine Heigl Katie Cassidy Katie Holmes Katy Perry