Musical Artists that I Thought Would be One-Hit Wonders, But Weren't

I love pop music. That is not always a popular opinion to have these days when declaring one's disdain for mainstream culture is a quick way to prove one is intelligent or deep, but we can deal with that later. One of the facets of pop music is the one-hit wonder, the act that comes out of nowhere, strikes it big, and later is never heard of again. Sometimes I hear a song and think to myself, this act will fade off the face of the earth soon, but soon enough, they come back two years later as strong as ever.
     For this list, I use the notion of a "One-Hit Wonder" a bit looser than the literal definition. If an act has two hits that come out near each other from the same album, and then never heard of again, they are in my mind still a one-hit wonder. These are acts that came back with a second album or a set of songs that proved they would be remembered for more than just a blip,

Sara Bareilles (First Hit: Love Song)
About every year a "Piano Song" comes out (100 years, 1000 Miles, Bad Day, Kids, Ordinary People, Boston) this was the entry for 2008. Piano-based popular music is more of an exception than a rule, and Sara Bareilles doesn't have the distinction of Fiona Apple or Tori Amos. But what do you know, as of late her song "King of Anything," which is thematically similar to "Love Song" in that it is a tell-off anthem, has crept up the charts, and I feel it has had enough airplay to qualify as a second hit. Unlike Daniel Powder of "Bad Day," Sara Bareilles lives another day to tickle the ivories.

Paramore (First Hit: Misery Business)
Rock music (which I officially define as being any short-form music characterized by solo voice, electric guitar, and lessened focus on melody) is not necessarily in vogue on popular music stations, but Paramore, with a female singer, has a bit more of a chance. I remember their Misery Business song with its chorus that does not mention the words "misery" or "business," but I figured it was another indie-ish rock band of teenagers that got a little lucky by straddling the more commercially viable sector of rock music. Then they did the main song Twilight soundtrack, and I thought, oh, well, yeah, they seem like Twilightish music. Come this year their latter-day power ballad "The Only Exception" did very well, once again, added by the surprisingly good singing of the pink-haired girl.

Sean Kingston (First Hit: Beautiful Girls)
Just look at him. Music has so much to do with image, and selling a guy who is the re-incarnation of Fat Albert must be somewhat difficult. Regardless, he hit big with a song that not only sampled "Stand By Me," but also made references to suicide in the chorus. And it was the summer hit of 2007! While he did have a minor hit with "Take You There," his real comeback into the spotlight was with "Fireburning" in 2009. I get the feeling people remember that song now more for Stephen Colbert's riff on it (Cupcake Reach-around anybody?) Still, he dropped another single in early 2010, "Eenie Meeny" featuring everybody's favorite comedic punching bag, Justin Bieber. Sean really knows how to make autotune work for himself.

Natasha Beddingfield (First Hits: These Words/Unwritten)
Unwritten was one of those pop songs that was well-written, featured acoustic guitar, and did not involve going to the club, which alone gave it Adult Contemporary Radio credit (check out Jesse McCartney's Beautiful Soul for another prime example of this.) And while I thought (and still think) that Natasha B. is one of the pop divas that really deserved to be bigger than what she got, she did have another sizable hit a few years later with "Pocketful of Sunshine," a very unsunny sounding song.

Cee Lo Green/Gnares Barkley (First Hit: Crazy)
OK, OK, this is cheating a little bit, but since Cee Lo Green was the voice of Gnares Barkley, I count them as being the same act. "Crazy" was such a great song, and Gnarles Barkley, along with Outkast, stand as shining evidence that pop/rap crossover music can be, well, gnarley. If you had told me that the same soulful voice crooning about going crazy would infect my ears again with a song whose title cannot even be mentioned over the radiowaves (That's "F%^& You",) I don't think I would believe you. But even better, the song simply rocked, making me want to dance as much as I sympathize with the singer. Bring Motown back, goshdarnit!

Soulja Boy Tell'Em (First Hit: Crank That)
This one is, by far, the biggest surprise of the entire list. Seriously, "Soulja Boy Tell'Em?" That's a really goofy nick-name for a 17-year-old who wrote and recorded a repetitive rap song about a deviant sexual act that also involved a goofy-looking dance. I learned how to do the dance. I was there. Even at the time I knew that this would one day be remembered as nostalgic kitsch, but it didn't stop me from colliding into other people at school dances during the "Y-O-O-O-O-O-U-U-U-U!" part of the song when you hop side to side. He had every single making of a one-hit wonder, but Soulja" "Phone" actually has a good chorus, as sung by somebody that isn't Souljaally has a good chorus, as sung by somebody that isn't Soulja Boy. What makes it interesting is that they actually sing Soulja Boy's phone number, which I, regrettably, called. It just had a recorded message, but just think of the implications, I called Soulja Boy's phone number. This is one of those things not to mention in a job interview. This year he dropped another single, "Pretty Boy Swag," which wasn't a big hit per say, but I have heard it at parties and what not. Soulja Boy, he cranked it so far back, that when it let it rip, it went far.