2000: #10 - "Shape Of My Heart"

Is it possible for something to sound so state of the art, yet extremely safe and almost instantly dated? Yes, Max Martin knocked another one out of the park with "Shape Of My Heart", the 'Boys workmanlike power ballad follow-up to "I Want It That Way?", because it does still get the job done melodically, sonically, and even emotionally. I won't begrudge the fact that the song is perfectly crafted and tugs the right strings. But how come, even days after it came out, it sounded like something that had been around for decades, and the 2-year-old "I Want It That Way" was the trendy, new torch-bearer of teen pop balladry? Was that a testament to "Shape Of My Heart"'s timelessness, or a foreshadowing that the juggernaut was running out of gas? We all know what happened to Martin and BSB around the time Black and Blue and this song, its first single, came out, but they still seemed to be firing on all cylinders here. You be the judge.

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2000: 19-11

19. "The Next Episode" - Dr. Dre
18. "Simple Kind of Life" - No Doubt
17. "It Wasn't Me" - Shaggy
16. "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" - D'Angelo
15. "Oops!... I Did It Again" - Britney Spears
14. "Shake Ya Ass" - Mystikal
13. "Never Let You Go" - Third Eye Blind
12. "It's Gonna Be Me" - *NSYNC
11. "You Sang To Me" - Marc Anthony

Has a band this terrible ever produced a song this good? Has 25 seconds (check 3:25 or so) of such a great song ever been so heinously bad that it almost ruins the song? Would said song be in our top 10 (or 5??) if not for said heinous "spoken word" section?



Edit: Quick shout out to those hugely dumb drums in "Simple Kind of Life".

Edit II: Also, Y2K is the first year on our blog where the producer of the year is not Timbaland, Kanye West, or The Neptunes. You go, unnamed person!

Edit III: Anyone who names the dude wins a prize.

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2001: 19-1

19. "Fiesta" - R Kelly
18. "Break Ya Neck" - Busta Rhymes
17. "One Minute Man" - Missy Elliott
16. "Ante Up (Remix)" - M.O.P.
15. "7 Days" - Craid David
14. "Ghost Showers" - Ghostface Killah
13. "I'm A Slave 4 U" - Britney Spears
12. "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)" - Jay-Z
11. "Let Me Blow Ya Mind" - Eve
10. "Hard to Explain" - The Strokes
9. "Is That Your Chick?" - Memphis Bleek
8. "Bouncin' Back (Bumpin' Me Against the Wall)" - Mystikal
7. "Rollout" - Ludacris
6. "Rock the Boat" - Aaliyah
5. "Get Ur Freak On" - Missy Elliott
4. "What's Your Fantasy?" - Ludacris
3. "Lick Shots" - Missy Elliott
2. "Ms. Jackson" - Outkast
1. "We Need A Resolution" - Aaliyah

Artist of the Year: Missy Elliott
Producer of the Year: Timbaland

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2001: #1 - "We Need A Resolution"

Few artists could pull off a song with the vague, unresolved tension of the unsettling, anti-hit "We Need A Resolution" without sounding, themselves, unsure or unsettled, but Aaliyah, armed as always with that confident swagger and unshakable ice-queen delivery, gets it done.

We spoke earlier about the triumvirate of this decade's female pop masterpieces ("Poker Face", "Say It Right", and this), and how each pinned down its place among the most mysterious, sexy, and most of all, melodic hits of our time; "We Need A Resolution" is far more about mystery and unanswered, open-ended angst than Nelly Furtado's gem, and clearly it's more sexy and less obvious than anything Lady Gaga could ever dream of. Thus, what it lacks in bombast and visceral appeal, it makes up for in terms of our more long-lasting, universal fascinations with doubt and confusion.

That a song titled "We Need A Resolution" could close with the following string of questions, amidst backward synths that unpredictably fade in and out of the mix, leave them unanswered, yet still feel totally complete, says a lot about Aaliyah and Timbaland's accomplishment.

Am I supposed to change?
Are you supposed to change?
Who should be hurt,
Who should be ashamed?(yeah-yee)

Am I supposed to change?
Are you supposed to change?
Who should be heard?
Will we remain?

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2001: 19-2

We'll finally get to the top track of 2001 tomorrow, but here's a quick recap and an opportunity to take a crack at the difficult task of guessing #1. The prize: every song we've talked about so far!

19. "Fiesta" - R Kelly
18. "Break Ya Neck" - Busta Rhymes
17. "One Minute Man" - Missy Elliott
16. "Ante Up (Remix)" - M.O.P.
15. "7 Days" - Craid David
14. "Ghost Showers" - Ghostface Killah
13. "I'm A Slave 4 U" - Britney Spears
12. "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)" - Jay-Z
11. "Let Me Blow Ya Mind" - Eve
10. "Hard to Explain" - The Strokes
9. "Is That Your Chick?" - Memphis Bleek
8. "Bouncin' Back (Bumpin' Me Against the Wall)" - Mystikal
7. "Rollout" - Ludacris
6. "Rock the Boat" - Aaliyah
5. "Get Ur Freak On" - Missy Elliott
4. "What's Your Fantasy?" - Ludacris
3. "Lick Shots" - Missy Elliott
2. "Ms. Jackson" - Outkast

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