Totally Hits 2004

Performer: Various Artists
Distributor: BMG (distributor)

Notes: Totally Hits 2004 covers hit singles from late 2003 and early 2004, 20 songs of varying popularity and quality. This wasn't one of the best periods for pop music during the early 21st century -- the charts were dominated by mannered punk and nu-metal bands and generic hip-hop, along with sensitive singer/songwriters and post-teen pop dance-pop -- but there were a few highlights, some of which are captured here. Chief among these is Jet's "Are You Gonna Be My Girl," which may be a shameless fusion of the White Stripes and the Strokes, but it's an undeniably catchy, memorable rock song, followed by Kelis' sexy electro-robotic "Milkshake." After that, there are a few good mainstream pop and rap tunes -- Dido's adult pop "White Flag," Alicia Keys' "You Don't Know My Name," J-Kwon's woozy "Tipsy," and "Invisible," the best track from Clay Aiken's cheerfully square album Measure of a Man -- but much of this is generic. Since it's generic in a number of different genres, it does have some musical variety, but there are few songs that will be remembered long past the album's release date. And in that fashion, it is a representative cross section of the pop charts in early 2004. Side note: the Totally Hits series has always been a commercial proposition, but including Justin Timberlake's "I'm Lovin' It" -- which essentially is a full-length McDonald's jingle of the same name -- is crass commercialism at its worst. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine Totally Hits 2004 covers hit singles from late 2003 and early 2004, 20 songs of varying popularity and quality. This wasn't one of the best periods for pop music during the early 21st century -- the charts were dominated by mannered punk and nu-metal bands and generic hip-hop, along with sensitive singer/songwriters and post-teen pop dance-pop -- but there were a few highlights, some of which are captured here. Chief among these is Jet's "Are You Gonna Be My Girl," which may be a shameless fusion of the White Stripes and the Strokes, but it's an undeniably catchy, memorable rock song, followed by Kelis' sexy electro-robotic "Milkshake." After that, there are a few good mainstream pop and rap tunes -- Dido's adult pop "White Flag," Alicia Keys' "You Don't Know My Name," J-Kwon's woozy "Tipsy," and "Invisible," the best track from Clay Aiken's cheerfully square album Measure of a Man. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine The always-varied world of pop music is on full display with TOTALLY HITS 2004. Rock gets a nod by way of the anthemic pop-punk of Simple Plan's "Perfect," the light funk of Maroon 5's "Harder to Breathe," and the endearing garage rock of scruffy Aussie band Jet and their wonderfully messy "Are You Gonna Be My Girl." The reality TV series AMERICAN IDOL makes a prominent showing here, with Ruben Studdard serving up the apologetic slow jam "Sorry 2004," Clay Aiken warbling his way through "Invisible," and Kelly Clarkson showing some real soul on the heartfelt "The Trouble with Love Is." In the non-IDOL arena, Christina Aguilera strikes gold with her Mariah Carey-like power ballad "The Voice Within," and R&B is well-represented by the charismatic Alicia Keys ("You Don't Know My Name"), the ever-smooth R. Kelly ("Step in the Name of Love"), and others.

Rolling Stone (p.89) - 3 stars out of 5 - "[The album] kicks off with two bangin' Top Ten breakthroughs from Jet and Maroon 5..."

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