single-phile: 2009 VMAs Part I, the Best Pop Video Contenders

Beyonce: "Single Ladies"


Voted: Most Likely to Succeed
Impact on Class of 2009 Pop: Impact just one sector of popular culture? HA! Beyonce scoffs at the small scale of your question. She laughs (diabolically, of course) at your underestimation of her reach. Mwa ha ha! "Single Ladies" spawned a parody video virus, the likes of which hasn't been seen since the dawn of YouTube; it merged hip-pop with the aesthetics of a Broadway musical in ways Joey Fatone can only dream of; it introduced a new generation to the genius of Bob Fosse; and it perhaps single-handedly revived the bodysuit as fashion. As for its musical impact, well, we have yet to see many other pop stars try to pull off anything quite like it (and that includes the bodysuit), but it's that kind of outside-the-box thinking that makes Beyonce most likely to succeed.
Future Plans (aka What This Means for THE FUTURE OF MUSIC): Forget neo-soul and even neo-disco. We foresee a neo-showtunes/neo-kitsch revival in the very near future!
Upper-Classmen Inspirations: Janet Jackson, Rhythm Nation 1814; Michael Jackson (see his Single Greatest Moments); Mya
Freshman Follower: Ciara; Pussycat Dolls
Further Listening: Summer Jams, Past and Present (Sure, summer's on its last legs, but you can relive it on the dance floor with this, uh, hot playlist!)

Britney Spears: "Womanizer"


Voted: Best Hair
Impact on Class of 2009 Pop: OK, it isn't so much that Britney has the best hair in this video as that she has hair at all -- and seems generally, you know, pretty stable. Though the luster of her return to grace has faded a bit now (not to mention that she still doesn't seem totally back to normal -- whatever that may have been for someone whose life has been as nuts as this former Mouseketeer's), Britney's second and more successful "comeback" was one of the biggest pop music stories of the year.
Future Plans (aka What This Means for THE FUTURE OF MUSIC): Not to be cynical or anything, but we figure Britney's glory days probably came and went back when she strutted down that hallway of lockers in "... Baby One More Time." Which is just fine, really. She's already left her indelible print on the annals of pop music, so here's hoping Britney manages to ease -- nicely and calmly -- into middle age.
Upper-Classmen Inspirations: Mariah Carey, The Emancipation of Mimi; Elvis Presley, Memories: The '68 Comeback Special
Freshmen Followers: Whitney Houston, who, of course, isn't her follower, but whose own comeback comes hot on the heels of Brit-Brit's.
Further Reading/Listening: We Will Always Love You? Pop's Greatest Comebacks

Cobra Starship (f. Leighton Meister): "Good Girls Go Bad"


Voted: Most Popular
Impact on Class of 2009 Pop: A scene-esque, quasi-ironic, LMFAO-friendly take on hip-hop and pop-punk that features the queen of Gossip Girl? Uh, yeah, these boys (and their "Good Girls") pretty much encompass pop culture in 2009.
Upper-Classmen Inspirations: No Doubt, "Hey Baby" (Best Pop Video winner 2002); Run-D.M.C. f. Aerosmith, "Walk This Way"; Fall Out Boy; Panic at the Disco
Freshmen Followers: Brokencyde; Millionaires
Further Reading/Listening: The Sound of Scene playlist; LOL @ LMFAO

Lady Gaga: "Poker Face"


Voted: Shyest
Impact on Class of 2009 Pop: "Shyest." Haha. Get it? It's irony! Actually, the potty-mouthed, perpetually pantsless pint-sized diva could probably be voted Class Clown, as well. What's more, Lady Gaga has already made an irrevocable mark on pop music, spawning a full-fledged disco revival and a much-needed resurgence of diva-tude on the charts.
Upper-Classmen Inspirations: We're gonna go out on a limb and guess Madonna. Uh, yeah. And also Chaka Khan, Donna Summer and, especially, Ms. Sylvester.
Freshmen Follwers: Lady Gaga's got everyone on her glam-dance bandwagon, from newcomers like Kristinia DeBarge and Adam Lambert to established divas like Shakira
Further Viewing/Listening: Dominatrix Divas; single-phile: Take a Ride on the Disco Shtick

Wisin & Yandel: "Abusadora"


Voted: Class Revolutionary
Impact on Class of 2009 Pop: All right, so the video for "Abusadorsa" isn't all that revolutionary in and of itself (in fact, it's fairly conventional -- in a super-hot kind of way), but the fact that a Spanish-language tune by a reggaeton duo (albeit a megastar duo with lots of friends in American hip-hop) has been nominated for a VMA -- and Best Pop Video at that -- is a sign that the definition of pop is (finally) expanding in new and exciting ways.
Upper-Classmen Inspirations: Ricky Martin, whose "Livin' La Vida Loca" won Best Pop Video in 1999; Shakira
Freshman Follower: Nelly Furtado, who's certainly no frosh pop star, but whose first Spanish-language album drops September 15.
Further Listening/Reading: Wisin & Yandel, the Hitmakers playlist; single-phile: The End of the Crossover?