NUMBER 8: “TIGHTROPE” - JANELLE MONAE ft. BIG BOI - FROM THE ARCHANDROID LP ON BAD BOY RECORDS

Here’s your annual reminder that the major label music industry is a shady house of mirrors built around handshakes and dotted lines more than the packaging and promotion of talented performers. Janelle Monae really should be huge. Her music taps into that ubiquitous Motown meets Stax Records sound but with a touch of hip-hop in its production for 2010. And yet Monae still manages to let her personality stand out and steal the spotlight, singing and dancing and just generally being loveable and personable at every turn. She wore a James Brown cape on Letterman and managed to somehow not look like an asshole.

“Now shut up!” Monae yells during a segue into an impressive, ukelele featuring (!) breakdown. It’s an impressive coda of personality at a point where most songs and performers would have either collapsed or petered out. But in 2010, that’s not what Monae has been about. She’s just been piling it on until she gets your attention. I just hope that she can keep it long enough to reach the charts.

BONUS: Like any good performer should, Monae tore up late night TV. Watch her not look like an asshole wearing a James Brown cape on Letterman here. Diddy even runs out!

2010 Top 10

8) “Tightrope” - Janelle Monae ft. Big Boy

9) “Desire Lines” - Deerhunter

10) “Your Sweet Boom” - Jamie Lidell