THE BEST OF 2005 MUSIC

From Mariah Carey (sizzling again) to 50 Cent (cooling off), it's a what've-you-done-lately pop world

BY GLENN GAMBOA | STAFF WRITER; Rafer Guzman; Gene Seymour

December 25, 2005

From Mariah Carey (sizzling again) to 50 Cent (cooling off), it's a what've-you-done-lately pop world.

Few things are more fickle than the here-today, gone-by-lunch life cycles of the music industry's seasonal pop and hip-hop stars. Yet, in 2005, the music industry took fickle to a whole new level.

This time last year, Mariah Carey was still a punch line - an artist so out of favor that EMI paid her millions of dollars to go away. With the enormous success of "The Emancipation of Mimi" on Island Records, Carey, along with her eight Grammy nominations and the biggest single of the year, is once again a hot commodity.

Rapper 50 Cent, on the other hand, may be cooling a bit. Sure, he had the year's biggest seller with "The Massacre" (Shady/Aftermath), which arrived with the expected controversy as he picked a fight with his onetime protege The Game on the eve of the album's release. However, his $40-million movie debut, "Get Rich or Die Tryin'," has only earned about $30 million, failing to establish him as a bankable actor. The movie's soundtrack has already dropped out of the Top 10 after a month and the single "Window Shopper" barely scraped the Top 20.

Coldplay, another seemingly stable sure thing, was beloved at the beginning of the year, but its new album "X&Y" (Capitol) didn't push it into the heavyweight ranks of U2, or even Green Day, this year.

Kelly Clarkson, on the other hand, emerged as an artistic force, with a string of irresistible hits that made people forget she started on "American Idol."

The year's biggest surprise was the resurgence of country music, led by Kenny Chesney (who sold out one stadium after another this year) and those upstarts Gretchen Wilson and Big & Rich. Country replaced hip-hop as the fastest-growing music genre this year and its leaders decided to emphasize the point by moving the Country Music Association Awards from Nashville to New York for a year.

Even Bob Geldof showed how fickle he could be in 2005. The founder of the historic Live Aid concert celebrated the event's 20th anniversary by organizing an even bigger event - Live 8, a 22-hour concert in 10 cities around the world - in less than two months. Live 8, which featured performances from Paul McCartney, U2, Madonna, Mariah Carey, Coldplay and dozens of others, was designed to raise the world's awareness of poverty in Africa.

For a moment - immortalized by Will Smith's finger-snapping - an estimated 2 billion people were united by music. Unfortunately, that unity was short-lived. While London was still basking in Live 8's accomplishment, terrorists bombed train stations there, killing more than 50 riders and injuring hundreds more.

Shortly after that came Hurricane Katrina, which devastated the Gulf Coast and essentially wiped out New Orleans, one of the most important music cities in the world. Musicians banded together to raise funds and offer relief once again, but with a completely different mood and outlook.

Maybe the music industry simply reflects the fickle nature of its world.

TOP 10 ALBUMS
Glenn Gamboa

1. Antony and the Johnsons, "I Am a Bird Now" (Secretly Canadian): Antony Hegarty's voice is simply stunning - vulnerable, yet powerful, a mix of Nina Simone and Little Jimmy Scott. The particulars of his songs, which run from gospel to alt-rock with an undercurrent of jazz, may startle some people, but the themes of looking for love and acceptance in "Hope There's Someone" and "You Are My Sister" are universal. And the artistry he brings to "My Lady Story" makes Antony almost impossible to forget once you are lucky enough to hear him.

2. The Hold Steady, "Separation Sunday" (French Kiss): The Hold Steady takes a motley cast of hipster underachievers and ne'er-do-wells and tells their stories on top of enormous, Springsteenish guitar rock anthems that make them seem heroic. Singer Craig Finn offers up these tales of hoodrat friends, drug dealers and "Charlemagne in Sweatpants" with a scruffy elegance that reminds us that, at its best, rock and roll should be at least as sweaty and messy as it is clever and ambitious. Lord, to be 33 forever.

3. Bruce Springsteen, "Devils & Dust" (Columbia): The year's brainiest album, "Devils & Dust" captures America at a crossroads. "What if what you do to survive kills the things you love?" Springsteen asks in the powerful title track and then uses the rest of the album to lay out the options. It's a risky operation, scaling back on the emotional payoffs and sticking with a questioning melancholy, but it pays off.

4. M.I.A., "Arular" (Interscope): Maya Arulpragasam, the Sri Lankan native transplanted to London, keeps up the hip-hop tradition of reporting life on the streets with "Arular," a dizzying mix of political ideals, hip-hop, electro-pop and reggaeton. "Bucky Done Gun" and "Sunshowers" make you think and dance.

5. Kaiser Chiefs, "Employment" (Universal): The fizziest of the Britpop bands invading this year, Kaiser Chiefs harnessed all the spiky-guitared, garage-rock intensity of its comrades and added layers of Beach Boys harmonies and classic melodies. "I Predict a Riot" gets your attention, but "You Can Have It All" holds it.

6. Kanye West, "Late Registration" (Roc-A-Fella): Hip-hop's brightest hope does it again, building an ambitious, swaggering collection of hot beats and interesting takes on urban life. Who else can compellingly speak on health care policy, gold-diggers and conflict diamonds? Certainly not George W. Bush.

7. System of a Down, "Mezmerize" and "Hypnotize" (Columbia): System of a Down not only pummels you into submission with punishing guitar riffs and political shrieking, it makes you crave it.