Usher's 'OMG' Is MTV News' #1 Song Of 2010!

Club smash, featuring will.i.am, tops our list of the Top 25 Songs of the year.
By James Montgomery


Usher
Photo: Getty Images

MTV News' Top 25 Songs of 2010 has reached an end. We've already counted down the rest, and now it's time to get to the best: Usher's "OMG," the song that perfectly sums up the past 12 months of popular music — and makes you wanna move until you can't move no more.

If 2010 proved anything, it's that a DJ really can save your life ... or at least get you to #1 on the Hot 100. After years of staring at each other from across the room, hip-hop, pop and R&B all decided to finally get in bed with dance music, and the results weren't always pretty, but they were certainly successful. To date, only 17 songs have made it to the top spot of Billboard's singles chart in 2010, and nearly two-thirds of them — from Ke$ha's "Tik Tok" to Far East Movement's "Like a G6" — were, in some way, dance songs.

In that regard, no song better sums up 2010 pop music quite like Usher's "OMG," the dance song to end all dance songs. Sure, it may not have matched the swagger of Kanye West's "Power," the snarl of Rick Ross' "B.M.F. (Blowin' Money Fast)" or the inbox-clogging spread of Cee Lo's "F--- You," but it didn't have to. None of those songs went to #1, after all. "OMG" did. Twice.

Even among songs that managed to snag that top spot — Eminem and Rihanna's "Love the Way You Lie," Katy Perry's "California Gurls," B.o.B and Bruno Mars' "Nothin' on You" — "OMG" stood out from the pack, mostly because of its pedigree. It's not a stretch to say that any of those tracks could've (and probably would've) been #1 in any other year; "OMG" could only have done it in 2010, because it was crafted to do nothing else. No other song this year was as of the moment, as singular and shiny and downright undeniable. There's a reason it was named on more ballots than any other song on our countdown and justly takes the title of MTV News' #1 Song of 2010.

And while all that is important, it's largely beside the point. "OMG" is the kind of song that truly defies deep inspection, because it's not exactly headphone music. Rather, it was made for the clubs, designed to envelop you on the dance floor and not let go until the final "oh-ohh-oh-ooh-oh." And in that regard, it succeeds in spades. It is a masterful melding of R&B, and Euro dance, all icy synths and handclaps, starbursts and stutters and sing-along chants. It ebbs and flows, stops and starts, pumps and preens. Simply put, you cannot listen to it without moving in some way. (MTV's Dee Caligiuri, who voted on our countdown, probably put it best one night when she declared: "There are so many dances you can do to it!") And if that's not the definition of a success, well, then I don't know what is.

A large portion of the credit for "OMG" has to go to will.i.am, who not only produced the track (I know!), but was smart enough to see this whole dance thing coming when he teamed up with producer David Guetta last year. Those songs — "Boom Boom Pow" and "I Gotta Feeling" — were, of course, massive, but neither of them are as good as this. Given full control, Will goes off the deep end, cramming the song with every dance trick in the book — and probably some new ones he just invented on the spot. And Usher, whose career, truth be told, was sort of in need of a shot in the arm, is the beneficiary. He floats and gloats above the mix, suave and cocksure, knowing that he is exactly the right man at the right time. That time, of course, had to be 2010.

Because in a year when so many big-name acts embraced the DJ, he flat-out did it better than any of them. "OMG" represents the peak of the dance-pop era in which we live, a song as undeniable as it is of the moment. We can only speculate as to what next year will bring, but there's really no denying that, as 2010 comes to a close, Usher stands above all else, reinvigorated and ready for more. It's enough to make you say "Oh My God," really.

How does Usher's "OMG" rank among the year's best songs? Let us know in the comments!

MTV News' Top 25 Songs of 2010 have all been counted down. But the fun isn't over yet: We still want to see your picks in the comments below!

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1653969/ushers-omg-mtv-news-1-song-2010.jhtml

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Handbrake-powered VidCoder gets a native 64-bit version

A while back, VidCoder -- the Windows video disc ripping program -- added support for Blu-ray discs. With Handbrake's engine under the hood, VidCoder offers an easy-to-use interface and simple batch processing of your video files. With the release of version 0.8, there's also now a native 64-bit version for those of you running Windows x64. A number of stability tweaks have also been introduced.

As Baz pointed out in our comments last time, VidCoder is particular useful on netbooks. If you've got a 1024x600 screen, Handbrake may not even launch for you -- but VidCoder will fire up just fine. Take the new 64-bit version for a spin, and share your thoughts in the comments.

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Handbrake-powered VidCoder gets a native 64-bit version originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 07 Jan 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/01/07/handbrake-powered-vidcoder-gets-a-native-64-bit-version/

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Stephen Dorff Takes Britney Spears' 'Everytime' Scene By Scene

'Somewhere' actor recalls details about working with Britney on the 2004 video.
By Jocelyn Vena, with reporting by Josh Horowitz


Britney Spears and Stephen Dorff in the music video for "Everytime"
Photo: Jive

Six-and-a-half years ago Britney Spears and Stephen Dorff documented the ups and downs of celebrity romance and celebrity life in the somewhat dark clip for the pop singer's single "Everytime," off her 2003 album, In the Zone. When MTV News had Dorff come into the office recently to chat about his new film, Sofia Coppola's "Somewhere," we had him take us through the memorable 2004 video scene by scene.

"It was a little weird. [Director David LaChapelle] just told me to dis her and just kind of ignore her so I was just playing like a boyfriend in a fight," the actor recalled of his opening limo scene with Spears, in which the two were surrounded by paparazzi. "This is our take on paparazzos too. They put prosthetic noses on all of them, which is funny. You see how they all look kind of weird. You see all the noses."

As the clip progresses, after Dorff and Spears scuffle with the paps, they make their way to their hotel room. "They said, 'Start breaking stuff,' [and] I said, 'All right,' " he explained. "They had all this fake glass, so I just started kicking stuff. It was actually kind of fun." When it came to the pivotal part of the clip where Dorff comes to a drowning Britney's aid, he said he was responsible for most of the scene. "That was my idea. I knew I had to save her in the bathtub, but it was my idea to go in with the shoes and the jeans and just kind of find her," he said. "First they had me change into my boxers. I was like, 'I don't think he has time. She's dying.' So I just go in."

While the "Everytime" clip certainly touches on some dark topics, Dorff admits that it could have been even darker. "There was an original video, too, which was a lot darker. It was like much more like a suicide type video with pills and wine. It was a little dark probably for the fans," he said. "She originally died in the video and then in this video she wakes up in the end."

Dorff says his general feeling about the shoot was that it was a joy to work with Spears, who is set to release new music this year. "She was very nice. She thanked me for doing it early in the day. She was very sweet," he explained, adding that they only spoke a few more times after filming the clip. "I haven't seen her in years. She had her family and stuff. I hope she's doing good."

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1655197/stephen-dorff-takes-britney-spears-everytime-scene-by-scene.jhtml

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