Pick of the week: Robyn, With Every Heartbeat (Konichiwa)
There's something rotten in the world if the entire music industry still requires Radio 1's approval to get a record in the charts, but the pill is sometimes sweetened when tracks like this - Robyn's gracefully danceable collaboration with producer Kleerup, and a pop blog favourite since last autumn - are propelled to greatness by a nod from whoever picks Jo Whiley's songs. To be fair, With Every Heartbeat is completely irresistible: the sound of one woman's desolation to a thumping beat. Electronic music sometimes revels brilliantly in its own meaninglessness. Other times, as here, it hits the spot when it stops being about nothing, turns its nose up at being about just something, and effortlessly manages to be about absolutely everything. World class.
Beyoncé, Green Light (Freemasons remix) (Sony)
Having remixed to within an inch of their life every single so far from B-Day, Brighton-based production outfit the Freemasons have a relationship with the current Beyoncé album which is not so much an example of polishing a turd as a masterclass in applying a lifetime's worth of disco-scented Windolene to an Olympic swimming pool full of tired R&B horse dung. And so, as is now traditional, Green Light gets the Freemasons treatment and, as a result, some radio airplay. Beyoncé should be pleased, but she's probably furious.
Lil Mama, Lip Gloss (RCA)
Megastar-in-the-making Lil Mama is already hitting her stride as the charismatic teen MC du jour, scoring guest slots on a sprightly remix of Rihanna's Umbrella and a surprisingly winning Avril Lavigne Girlfriend rerub. This track, familiar to anyone in the UK with an internet connection and a passing interest in popular culture, has been a runaway hit in the States and owes its success to thunderous beats, catchy vocal hooks and a thought-provoking meditation on high school sexual politics: "my lipgloss is cool, my lipgloss be poppin', I'm standing at my locker and all the boys keep stopping". Also works in offices.
Josh Wink, Higher State of Conciousness (Strictly Rhythm)
It's always difficult to say that a pop single release is entirely pointless, especially when there are young people in discos around the country using it as the soundtrack for a little dance. However, this release, where literally every one of the 800 new mixes of Josh Wink's ancient track is absolutely terrible, does make you wonder.
Amerie, Gotta Work (Sony)
Just as it is hard to hate someone who has ripped the wing mirror off one's car if the note under your windscreen wiper comes with a little picture of a cat at the bottom, it is hard to dislike Gotta Work and its total adherence to the Crazy In Love blueprint. It is so obvious and honest in its misdemeanour that you just want to give it a big hug. Brassy, punchy and mercifully light on the shouting, it's hardly up there with the better tracks on Amerie's current album (Losing U and Crush) but it'll be in and out of the charts fairly quickly. Try not to lose any sleep.
