It's time to talk about the pop music spotlight!

There are nine debuts on my little pop music playlist this week, so let's get started!

• Flo Rida opens with "Elevator", a follow-up to his monster hit, "Low". It highlights some pretty lame, off-key singing and a pretty standard Timbaland groove. It's pretty disappointing and is probably a truer indication of Flo Rida's talents than the infectious "Low".
• In some ways, UK hip-hop artist Ironik's new track, "Stay With Me", reminds me of Kanye West with a sped-up singer ornamenting a sugary production (although lacking some of Mr. West's grit). It's a pleasant meander, beautifully produced.
• And the odd new single this week is Kid Rock's "All Summer Long". It's as if everything about this track is borrowed--even the title (A Beach Boys reference? Not clever!). The verse opens over the piano loops borrowed from one seventies hit (Warren Zevon's "Werewolves Of London") and closes over another's guitar loops (Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama"). Those are two irresistibly catchy tracks to use, and the sing-songy, undistinguished melody is flooded in sentimentality, but may I ask? Why is this debuting in the BBC charts rather than the USA? This thing is so American, it's battered in cornmeal and deep-fried.
• On BBC, we also hear Glasvegas performing a curious imitation legendary producer Phil Spector's "wall of sound". "Geraldine" isn't much of a song, but how odd.
• DJ Khaled assembles an all-star guest list for "Out Here Grinding". Set over a fluid groove that sounds perfect for MCs to produce fluid rhymes, it delivers on the promise quickly and consistently. Both Plies and Young Jeezy sparkle here although I gather we aren't hearing Lil Wayne, which would have been too much happiness.
• Speaking of Lil Wayne, he's got his own joint in the US pop charts: "A Milli". It's so nice to hear such a strong, eccentric personality getting some exposure and it really leavens my playlist with something different when Lil Wayne shows up. "A Milli" is based on a slow, synthetic bass-note rhythm, while Wayne pinches and grinds his voice in a barely rhythmic lark. Nice!
• And on a final note, what kind of pop music makes me pine for the personality of Lil Wayne? This week's example is The Lost Trailers' "Holler Back", a massively insincere ode to redneck sensibility that's so polished and over-produced, it's literally painful to hear. I'd rather watch an hour of American Idol.
  

CDs listened to today:

• Steven Winteregg: Visions And Revelations