New Good Song: Tonight by John Legend f/ Ludacris

Here's a new good song -- "Tonight (Best You Ever Had)," by John Legend f/ Ludacris

How I found this song -- the R&B chart on iTunes. It's also featured in the film "Think Like A Man," which I did not see. But films can sometimes be a good source for new good songs as well, as can the music the theatre plays before a film begins. One of my favorite songs of 2011 was "Party For The Lonely" by Sharon Robinson, which I discovered by Shazaming it as it was playing over the pre-film ads. It's so obscure it's not even on YouTube, but it's available on iTunes. Turns out it's from 2008. It's really a beautiful song. Better than this John Legend song.

What makes this song good? Not the corny-ass video, that's for damn sure. This is just a silky, well-sung, solidly produced ditty that makes you move, and the lyrics are funny, on purpose (I think). It's a bit '90s, which I love, and it doesn't get tiresome on repeated listens. Nowadays, a good R&B song comes along about once every 2 months, so each must be celebrated. We took them for granted in the mid-'90s.

Is the R&B chart on iTunes a good source of new good songs? There are pros and cons to the R&B chart on iTunes vs. the Hip-Hop and R&B Chart on Billboard.com. The Billboard chart is by far better if one truly cares about what's new, as I do. Not only does a song necessarily have to be new to qualify for Billboard, but the chart provides information about exactly how new each song is. Billboard also orchestrates its methodology in such a way that its charts aren't unduly dominated by a particular artist; on the iTunes R&B chart, by contrast, Chris Brown has 22 songs out of the Top 200 R&B, and Usher has 18. It would seem iTunes' policy is that every time either of these men emits a sound, it will appear on the chart. Billboard is also better because it lets you listen to an entire song on its site, as opposed to just a 30- or 90-second clip.

However, Billboard has shortcomings. The website isn't user-friendly. Billboard still combines hip-hop and R&B into one chart; iTunes separates them into Hip-Hop/Rap and R&B/Soul, which is the correct answer. Billboard also doesn't include song samples with everything. And not everything on Billboard is available for purchase (e.g., "Beautiful Surprise" by Tamia, which is almost a new good song but is just a hair too boring).

If you want to go down this R&B road, I suggest using the iTunes R&B chart and Billboard in tandem. The churn in this genre is low, so you'll be up-to-date even if you don't search for new songs more than once a month.

New Good Song: Co-Sign by SWV

Here's a new good song -- "Co-Sign" by SWV. The video is pretty shitty, though, so don't watch it. Just listen to the song.

How I found this song -- Believe or not, FM radio. For about three months, I was renting a car to drive to and from a client site. This gave me 2 hours a day with FM radio. I actually ended up discovering a few new good songs this way, such as "The Motto" by Drake, which as far as I am aware is the only new good song in the hip-hop genre released in 2012. When I caught "Co-Sign" for the first time, my reaction was complete joy -- it was an actual R&B song with instruments and vocals, and I suspected it was new because if it had been old I would have recognized it. I used Shazam on my iPhone to identify the song as "Co-Sign" by SWV, and I was elated to learn SWV was back. They are not particularly talented, but it made me feel good to know that there was at least some existing effort to put out '90s-influenced R&B. As it turns out, a lot of new good songs are by slightly bygone R&B artists who were not necessarily putting out good songs in their heyday.

The best example is Ashanti, who has released what so far is the second-best new good song of 2012, "The Woman You Love." (The best has been "Somebody That I Used To Know" by Gotye f/ Kimbra.) "The Woman You Love" is a truly amazing song. The commonly found version features Busta Rhymes, who I generally respect, although in this instance I prefer the Busta-free R&B mix, which is available on iTunes. However, Ashanti's 2012 feat comes 10 years after this woman was ruining my life with the worst songs I've ever heard (e.g., "Happy," "Baby," and her many duets with Ja Rule, who I wish hadn't wanted to record his own voice.) However, some R&B artists who are attempting a comeback of sorts are on their own labels, or small labels, and are not putting out out new songs that are as good as they should be (e.g., Toni Braxton's "I Heart You.")

What makes this song good? "Co-Sign" gets off to a fantastic start -- this odd horn sound that says to me, "Here is a new good song!" There's an actual bassline, and actual drums, and capable vocals. The lyrics are cute. The arrangement is crisp, creative, a lot of fun and, most importantly, has durability. By contrast, there was another new good song I adored called "Put It Down" by Brandy f/ Chris Brown. At first, I thought this new good song would be an ongoing favorite, but after about three weeks I was pretty sick of it. "Co-Sign," by contrast, has been on my radar for nearly three months and I remain excited each time it comes on. "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen has this enduring quality as well. So does "Cough Syrup" by Young the Giant.

Is FM radio a good source for new good songs? It can be, if you're really out of the loop on music and don't like to spend the effort to hunt for songs and click on a lot of preview buttons in iTunes. There are limitations to FM radio, of course. They play the same songs over and over again, so you're not getting a wide variety/exposure to lots of songs you might like. DJs these days are asleep at the wheel, so they almost never tell you what you're listening to, so you will need another source of information, like Shazam, or Wikipedia. If you hear a song on FM radio that you like, and you don't have access to Shazam, try to memorize a few lyrics and Google them later. This has worked for me several times. Finally, you can't be sure necessarily that a song on FM radio is new, but you can quickly find out. FM radio is a good way to find new good songs if you're multitasking.