The First Annual "Latin" Awards

Best Music Video

This category came down to three choices. Billy picked the excellent "If You're Wondering if I Want You To (I want you to)" by Weezer. Also considered was Eminem's "Beautiful", his tribute to his fallen hometown of Detroit. Ultimately, I decided to go with "21 Guns" by Green Day. "21 Guns" is another Marc Webb creation which displays an excellent song along with an artistic and intense video. Overall a very solid video.

Best Lyric

From "Resistance" by Muse

The title track from Muse's newest CD is arguably their best on the CD, their traditional sound stays intact while expressing a slightly more upbeat sound than the preceding track "Uprising". Also, the lyrics continue to tell the CD's story of oppression and revolution, in a very intense way.


"If we live a life in fear
I'll wait a thousand years
Just to see you smile again

Kill your prayers for love and peace
You'll wake the thought police
We can't hide the truth inside"

Worst Lyric

There were many questionable decisions in Music in 2009. Many songs left people scratching their heads and wondering how fireflies can give hugs. However, perhaps the stupidest decision of the year was Mariah Carey's idea to go after Eminem in her song "Obsessed". Not only is the song a muscial low point for Mariah, reinforcing the crazy diva image that has hurt her in the past, but it also opened her up to a firestorm from Eminem, that resulted in the brutal diss track "The Warning". Mariah decided the best way to get at Eminem was with this lyric.

"You're delusional, you're delusional
Boy you're losing your mind
It's confusing yo, you're confused you know
Why you wasting your time
Got you all fired up with y our napoleon complex
Seeing right through you like you're bathing in Windex"

Apparently, bathing in Windex makes a person invisible. The guess here is that it would also sting like a bee's bottom.

For his part, Eminem's track is largely unprintable, albeit ridiculously good, rap. One line that is surprisingly quotable, and also intriguingly prophetical is this.

"Like I’ve been goin off on you all this time for no reason.
Girl you out ya alcholic mind.
Check ya wine cellar.
Look at the amounts of all the wine."

Sometimes the truth hurts Mariah.

Best Song Nobody Has Heard

Well, honestly, it's tough to beat Bill's nomination of Manic Bloom, and if it came down to it, I would probably have to go with that one myself. However, Breaking Benjamin's "Dear Agony" is an excellent song which received 1/10th of the fanfare that "I Will Not Bow" received.

Song That Deserved More Play

K'naan- "Waving Flag"

It hit 99 on the Billboard, but that was it. It's doubtful you heard it much on the radio, which is a shame cause it's quite a good song.

Best Cover Song

While Bill went a little ways back to pick his best cover song of the year, which admittedly was the excellent cover of "Careless Whisper" by Seether, we are going to stay much more recent for our discussion of the year's best cover.

Two different covers were in consideration for this spot. The first was Hayley Williams and Paramore covering "Use Somebody" by the Kings of Leon. I personally enjoy Hayley's cover more than the original, but that's a debate for a different day.

Ultimately, I decided to go with The Fray's cover of "Heartless" by Kanye West. "Heartless" is in my opinion one of Kanye's best songs in a while, and the Fray deliver an excellent version which is far superior to the auto-tuned version of the original. Excellent version.

Best Featured Performance in a Song

Well, 2009 sure seemed like a year for featured performances. They pervaded rap as they usually do, but also spread more than ever to the pop rock genres and further.

In terms of straight up skill, Eminem's featured stanza on Drake's "Forever" is possibly one of the most impressive stanzas of rap ever written. He moves ridiculously fast. By the time he is done, he has single handedly stolen the spotlight from the biggest names in rap, and reasserted himself as the king of true rap. It's truly something to see. I'm not crazy about the song, but Em's part is darn impressive.

On a more fun-minded note, the combo of Cobra Starship and Leighton Meester gives a very fun performance in "Good Girls go Bad".

Best Female Vocalist of 2009

Not the best artist, we'll get there in a second, this one goes out to the best pure vocal talent of 2009.

The girls have really brought out the heavy hitters vocally recently. Carrie Underwood continues to flash her pipes on the pop-country circuit. Kelly Clarkson usually shows off a song or two that reveals her vocal range. Hayley Williams has a surprisingly powerful voice which hits some the raspier powerful ranges that few really hit. Even Pink's grunge voice displays strength in certain songs. Katy Perry is another wild card in a group of good singers.

Bill's picks were Demi Lovato and Lady Gaga, neither really do it for me. I'll give you my top 3.

3. Katy Perry- Good voice, not great.

2. Hayley Williams- Has some real power, less traditional voice may hurt her with the mainstream pop crowd.

1. Kelly Clarkson



Clarkson has the happy medium of a strong voice and a good feel for pop music. Almost every song she releases will keep your radio dial on the same station, and at the same time she has the vocal chops to back it up. "My life would suck without you" shows her fun side to music, at the same time "Already Gone" shows off her range, its a pretty nice combination.

Best Male Vocalist

Not quite as strong as the girls, but not devoid of some powerhouses either.

John Mayer's "Battle Studies" was a slightly disappointing follow up to "Where the Light is", but he still found a few songs on the album. Notably, "Perfectly Lonely", "Heartbreak Warfare", "Assassin" are excellent.



I also find Chad Wolf to be an underrated vocalist as the lead singer of Carolina Liar, but he couldn't quite finagle his way onto the top spot.

For the second time today, I'm going to agree with Bill. Brent Smith displays a powerful vocal range and has been a favorite of mine since Shinedown released "45" a few years back. "Sound of Madness" is a raucous track which beckons back to "45", where as "Second Chance" and "If You Only Knew" display a slightly softer side, great performances all.