Best of 2009: June #12 - #7

June marked my slow but obvious shift to kpop but from #s 12 - 7 there's only ONE Korean artist. Can you guess who?

#12: Ariel Moore with Alexandria Moore - Stronger

Ariel Moore was the other Clique Girl - she left the band sometime this year and it caused them to become inactive, at the moment I don't think they have any new material slated for release. The girl can sing, not outstandingly well but good enough and the song has its gorgeous moments.

#11: Yohanna - Is it True?

In addition to being the very first song I added to my iTunes library in June, Is It You is a gorgeous, gorgeous song. The entire song and the arrangement in particular remind me of something straight out of an album from The Corrs and knowing that I absolutely adore them, there's no way I wouldn't fall for this song.

#10: Ashley Tisdale - Switch

It's Alright, It's OK may have been quite a big fail but there was one song that I chose to listen to after giving the album a run-through - Switch. It sounds Disney but not too Disney, it's catchy and it's pop/rock-y. I love the verses though and how everything just explodes and becomes a big party during the chorus.

#9: Se7en - Girls

Yes, it's Se7en. This was the time when I was the most focused on Rain and everything that revolved around him - including his rivals and comparisons where Se7en falls in. Earlier this year he, along with his talent company YG (home to Big Bang and 2NE1 to name a few), began an attempt to crack the US with this single. It was later halted but Girls stands to be one of those songs that made my kpop addiction - these were the stuff I was listening to early on. And it's a landmark for kpop because Se7en is still one of the few kpop artists who've actually had official single releases out. So there.

#8: Demi Lovato - Gift of a Friend

The version of this song that I like better was the one that was leaked a while before the actual track, mainly because I find the one on the album too Demi-like and I don't like Demi. The Gift of a Friend that made me stop and listen doesn't have Demi breathing every few words and she doesn't scream as much as the album version. Gorgeous melody, somewhat epic instrumentation and kudos to Demi for trying. LOL. BUT, I can't find that version on YT anymore so you're stuck with the mastered track.

#7: JoJo - 25 to Life

Listening to this months after it got overthrown by a ton of other material makes me remember exactly why I'm a JoJo fan - this girl knows what the crap she's doing. She knows how to grow and how to mature but she knows who she is musically and she knows what she has to do. An album release may be far from happening any time soon (record companies. STUPID record companies) but this is the song that gave me hope earlier this year and until now I think it's gorgeous.