Biggest surprise of 2006? [songs]
 

Come on, blurt it out! Which songs shocked you when you heard it this year? Doesn't matter if it was good or bad, just state them here!

Fergie, London Bridge
This one was really scary, I sincerely thought she would have taken the proper pop princess route with power ballads and rousing choruses. Not "My London, London, London, wanna go down" or anything of that standard. In spite of that, it's still refreshingly good! But got sick of it eventually. Horrible music video too.

Paris, Nothing In This World
This is so good I want the album now. I don't care if the album is horrible, this song is so awesome. I've put it on loop and I'm listening to it for the 7th time today as I'm writing this. Apprehensive like everyone else, I was kind of getting myself ready to avoid Paris Hilton's music. Stars Are Blind wasn't great, but it wasn't bad either. Surprising. And now this. Brilliant song, I love this so much. The music video made me love it more, somewhat touching considering Hilton's status.

Justin Timberlake, SexyBack
I hate this guy so much because of all his old songs. I really, really hate his old stuff from the Justified album. I avoided listening to SexyBack pretty well until I let my guard down and my friend sent me the song. Pure genius. I love his new stuff. I never expected him to reinvent himself and become something so good.

Nelly Furtado, Loose
Been a fan since the old days, what do you expect. Perhaps even more surprising would be the fact that all her new songs are excellent despite the change in direction and style. More reason to love her, I hope she stays this way or better, reinvent more.

Seems like 2006 is the year of re-inventions and changes..

John B - Stalking You On MySpace
Haha, okay, to be honest I haven't listened to very much new music recently, this is like the only song/album released in 2006 that I really got stuck with, I discovered John B when I listened to this album that I found pretty randomly. This song is pretty funny, not that I'm a myspacer, it's fun anyway. Many of the songs of his new album electrostep is just great, if you like that kind of music.

Ayumi Hamasaki - SURREAL
"Oh my god, this is amazing, I must get her music now!"

That sums up the whole of 2006/my life. :)

I didn't care for her previous work at all, so I was really suprised to find that I loved Maneater/Promiscuous and the whole album. Now I'm looking forward to seeing what she does next.

Sugababes - I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor

Still not quite sure what to think of the new member's voice, but this brilliant cover gives me hope that they'll find a way to release a great fifth album.

Paris Hilton. I amazed me that she could put out something as decent. Other surprises:

Maki Goto. I diden't like more than one of her older songs, diden't really care to keep up on her releases etc. I came across glass no pumps by chanse, it triggered my interest and SOME BOYS ! TOUCH simply is so cool. It's the biggest surprise of the year.

The All-American Rejects - Move Along

For a long time I avoided these types of "bands" well bands in general (I'm more a singer/songwriter type person). However, once I heard the title track "Move Along" on the radio I was absolutely in love with the piece. The message it has is extremely compelling as I think for anyone to continue in life successfully we just need to continually "move along" through various events that occur. Good or bad.

The rest of the album is pretty amazing too, and "Move Along" surprisingly, isn't the best track. The best track definitely goes to "Dance Inside" with its poetic lyrics and gorgeous melody. GET THIS ALBUM NOW!

Best Tracks:
01. Dance Inside
02. Move Along
03. It Ends Tonight
04. Dirty Little Secret
05. Stab My Back

ps. I really like this thread. :)

DJ Webster ft. Young B - Chicken Noodle Soup

This song is too annoyingly adorable. I usually hate gimmicky songs like these, but everything about is just so....adorable! It's best to hear the song while watching people perform the dance. It seriously makes you want to get up and try it yourself. But I don't think it's healthy to eat chicken noodle soup with a soda on the side...

Incomplete list for now (I have go back to work in like... five minutes):

Monica: Everytime Tha Beat Drop

Bad surprise. Monica's last album sucked, although it had some good songs and a really awesome cover. This year? Downright awful wannabe gangsta single with a hideous album cover (her look for this year overall is.... blegh). I hope the rest of the album can justify whatever it is she thinks she's doing.

Nelly Furtado: Loose

i loved Nelly, but wasn't wild about the first half of the album (save Afraid and Promiscuos) first time i listened. But now I think it's her best. I initally despised Maneater, No Hay Igual, and Glow. Now they're incredibly awesome songs. She definitely topped or matched Folklore, which was a very tough act to follow (quality-wise. Sales-wise..... you get the picture).

Danity Kane - in general.

I never watched Making the band. These girls, with their bizarre, funky name and awesome album cover, just popped in out of left field for me. I didn't care about the album at first listen. It was.... meh. But it grew on me. Not entirely, but it is pretty good. [b]Showstopper[/] sucks, though.

Morning Musume/Hello!Project in general..

For some reason I really like them this year o_o

Good Surprises:

Me&U - Cassie
ai no kotoba - hitomi
Love Stoned/I think she knows - Justin Timberlake
Lollypop Candy BAD girl - Tommy heavenly6
It Ends Tonight - All American Rejects
A Public Affair - Jessica Simpson
Ain't No Other Man - Christina Aguilera
koi no tsubomi - Kumi Koda
Promiscuous - Nelly Furtado feat. Timbaland

Bad Surprises:

Everytime the Beat Drop - Monica
London Bridge - Fergie
Hava Rava - WaT
4 Hot Wave - Kumi Koda
Startin'/Born To Be...- ayumi hamasaki
Right Where You Want Me - Jesse McCartney
Morris Brown - OutKast
By(e) My Melody - Ken Hirai

bad
Nelly Furtado, Loose
I liked her old stuff...this was just bad...i seriously hate it...omg...then I saw the music video...just kept getting worse...

good
MAI, maiself
I love MAI.

GOOD
All-American Rejects - Move Along
Every Little Thing - Swimy
BoA - Key of Heart
Super Junior - U
KISS - Because I Am A Girl (got it this year)
Angela Aki - This Love
JoJo - Too Little Too Late
Aly & AJ - Chemicals React
BoA - Nanairo No Ashita ~Brand New Beat~

BAD
Vanessa Hudgens - Come Back To Me
Justin Timberlake - Sexy Back
Nelly Furtado - Promiscuous
Jesse McCartney - Right Where You Want Me
Hamasaki Ayumi - Blue Bird
Hamasaki Ayumi - Born To Be...

...my surprises of 2006

Paris - Stars Are Blind
I was very surprised that this song was so catchy. It was amazing even though I'm not a big Paris fan.

Robbie Williams - Rudebox: It Sounded Surprisingly not like Robbie. I'm used to the Ballads and the Funky Entertain You etc Songs, Not some Up Beat Hippy Stuff, But Apart from all that, It's so Bad that It's actually Good :ysmile

Paris Hilton - Stars are Blind: When I First heard of her Solo singing Career I thought 'great, another useless waste of unwanted talent' and then I found her song wasn't all that bad, her voice annoyed me, but the melody was seemingly sweet. Music video sucked though

Moi dix Mois - Lamentful Miss: I've Only heard small live concert piece of it [The singles released today] but it's surprisingly different to what i expected. I was expecting something more like deflower/unmoved but it's actually quite beautiful

HINOI TEAM - NOW AND FOREVER : Sweet Song :D Loved it, and it was nice to see the girls maturing a little, although you can never beat a bit of parapara

Tokyo Jihen - The Kabuki
I have never liked their "Megaphone" songs, like SERVICE, CRAWL, etc...but this one attracts me so much. O_O
I have no idea why the song is titled Kabuki, yet the lyrics ain't suggesting any kind of Kabuki-esque essences. The lyrics are somewhat attention-catching, especially when Ringo actually sung "Never interrupt me, who the **** are you?". <33

Tokyo Jihen - Active Fighting
It's so fun listening to Ringo swearing throughout the whole song. It's like a song you will sing when you are angry about someone.
Namie Amuro - CAN'T SLEEP CAN'T EAT I'M SICK
I seriously have no idea why this single flopped. O_O I don't know if Japanese market are so one-eyed towards the Urban music. The beats are perfect. Namie's voice is perfect. Kura's rap is perfect. Michico's ad-libs are perfect. The video is perfect. The choreography is perfect.
Well, the pronounciation IS NOT perfect, though. At all.
I mean, "Can't sleep can't eat I'm sick, been sinking of you all the time." just doesn't even make any sense.
But still, this single deserve better spot on the chart. To the very least Top 10.

Justin Timberlake - My Love
Justin Timberlake - What goes around....
Paris - Stars Are Blind (ugh, I hate Paris, but I like this song..I am a loser..)
Nelly Furtado - Promiscuous

Good Surprises:

Koda Kumi - Koi no Tsubomi
Ayumi Hamasaki - BLUE BIRD
Ayumi Hamasaki - Born To Be...
BoA - Key of Heart
Paris - Stars Are Blind

Bad Surprises:

Koda Kumi - Futari de...
Ayumi Hamasaki - Beatiful Fighters
Namie Amuro - CAN'T EAT, CAN'T SLEEP, I'M SICK

Ugh. Rappers portraying Korn in Twisted Transistor's PV.That was the worst for me!

SURREAL was made years ago >_>

I think the thread can expand its horizons to include old music that you just discovered this year - criminal did just discover Ayu's music this year, give him a break.