Song of the Day

In "Teardrops on My Guitar," Swift tells a common story. She likes this guy named Drew; he likes another girl; she fakes "a smile so he won't see" how much she hurts. Simple enough, but what differentiates Swift from other teen pop stars is that her songs impart viscerally what it feels like to be a teenager, when hyper-real emotions can still be conveyed with timidity.

All alien-science synthesizers, crispy hi-hats and galvanizing delivery, "Umbrella" is what happens when an unclassifiable singer meets an ineffable song. It turned out to be the summer jam of 2007, echoing across the world to an indelible refrain: "ella, ella / ay, ay, ay."

When it was announced that Goodie Mob's Cee-Lo Green and producer Danger Mouse were going to collaborate as Gnarls Barkley, there was no predicting the massive success of "Crazy." It was a song everyone seemed to like, and it remains a left-field wonder of psychedelic soul.

In the dynamite 2005 single "Since U Been Gone," Clarkson belts out one of the decade's great pop songs, following a familiar formula — jilted ex-girlfriend indignantly declares independence — but infusing it with energy, charisma and full-throated intensity. Sure, the over-the-top, loud-louder-loudest production helps. But it's an unmistakably great pop-rock song, thanks most of all to an unmistakably great pop-rock singer.

A product of the post-teen-pop, pre-Kevin Federline Britney Spears of early 2004, "Toxic" was the second single from Spears' fourth studio album, In the Zone. No longer apologetic or defensive for breaking away from her '90s virginal teeny-bopper image and sound, the Spears in "Toxic" is out to have a good time on her own terms.

"In Da Club" was a ubiquitous presence on seemingly every commercial radio station, at every hour of the day. The song made 50 Cent out to be a loveable, huggable roughneck the likes of which the ladies hadn't seen since Method Man. "I'm into having sex, I ain't into making love," he drawls, adding, "So come give me a hug."

Mainstream rock was in dire straits in the early 2000s, but out of a world of jaw-wired-shut self-plagiarizers and rap-rockers came arguably the power-pop anthem of the decade. Jimmy Eat World's "The Middle" is a hopeful, energetically poppy punk song about being yourself.

As the music industry began to break apart and go niche, it's remarkable that a group as artistically ambitious as OutKast could break through the way it did. But Stankonia was one of those game-changing records that made everyone perk up and pay attention.

Every weekday from Nov. 9 to Nov. 20, Song of the Day will survey the past decade, one year (and one song) at a time, with an emphasis on America's most popular music. For the year 2000, it's 'N Sync's "Bye Bye Bye," which feels like the product of a shadowy pre-Sept. 11 world in which telegenic boys dance in unison.

In Visqueen's crunchy, urgent power-pop song "Hand Me Down," crunchy guitars and Rachel Flotard's incomparable voice simultaneously destroy and mesmerize. As its title suggests, "Hand Me Down" is rooted in a singular bond that spans generations.

At first, The xx's "Crystalised" resembles an undercooked demo, as singer-guitarist Romy Croft and guitarist Baria Qureshi strum gloomy notes over muted, rumbling drums. But then the group glides into the chorus and the sudden shift to a bright, melodic key feels jarring in the best sense possible. It's like looking at one of those Magic Eye paintings: Suddenly, everything comes into focus.

Hip-hop aficionados will recognize "Mystic Brew" as the source material for A Tribe Called Quest's "Electric Relaxation," in which Ali Shaheed Muhammad exhumed Ronnie Foster's then-obscure 1972 soul-jazz tune. In "Mystic Brew (Trixation Version)," pianist Vijay Iyer at once returns the song to its jazz roots and infuses it with modernity.

The Ettes' "Take It With You" packs two great tunes into a single song. The first opens with raw guitar, rousing handclaps and a simple melody that sounds sweet enough to sing in a schoolyard. But just when it seems to have settled into a nice groove, "Take It With You" becomes a brand-new song the second the chorus hits.

Screen Vinyl Image fuses together hard-edged dance-rock and synth-fired pop, aided by smoldering guitar drones, cycling synthesizers, wistful lyrics and science-fiction motifs. Appropriately, "Cathode Ray" opens with a whiplash-inducing synth-drum line that wouldn't sound out of place in a New Order track.

The Mumlers' new album, Don't Throw Me Away, defies simple categorization. The band's brooding, minor-key songs, led by "Raise the Blinds," suggest a New Orleans-style jazz funeral, with pit stops in the American folk tradition and Southern Gothic music.

"The First Days of Spring" opens with a drum beat that's part heartbeat, part funeral dirge — which makes sense, given that it kicks off a song cycle about the aftermath of a breakup. What follows, both in the song and on the album that bears its name, is masterful, beautiful, epic, string-swept and ultimately comforting. Even when it exudes misery, it deserves company.

Port O'Brien offers an unromantic but soulful look at the time its members have spent toiling in isolation with the wind at one's back. "Sour Milk / Salt Water" is the most literal interpretation of the musicians' hands-on experiences, even in its production: All the reverb and the backwards-guitar melodies are non-computerized and organic, made by playing tapes in reverse, and barely touched in final mastering.

The one-man band's best song is also its most melodically complex: "You'll See It" is a layered blast of staccato synths, interwoven strings, strutting beats and intricate vocal harmonies. But in spite of its intricacies, Washed Out reveals an uncanny knack for writing melodies that stick. (That synthesizer riff in the chorus is particularly killer.)

Music Go Music's "Light of Love" incorporates girl-group harmonies, airy synths and slow-then-fast pacing reminiscent of '70s rock radio. It's an earworm of a track worthy of ABBA, given its unabashed pop pretensions and simple, universal story line: Lonely, down-in-the-dumps girl meets dreamy boy, girl hems and haws but eventually falls under his spell, true love comes speeding around the corner and knocks her onto her derriere.

Not every come-on needs to be packaged with flowers, candy or promises of permanence, and Breakestra knows that: Appropriately, "Come on Over" exudes grit, delight and sweaty immediacy.

The plaintively sultry "Snuck a Peek" finds Ray's husky vocals set to an agile string section, quivering guitar effects and crystalline vibraphone, in a prettily askew arrangement that ebbs and flows sensuously behind every vocal move.

"Bottom of the River" has already become one of Arcuragi's most beloved live songs, and it's easy to hear why. An ode to embracing your misfortune and letting it wash over you, the track finds Arcuragi deciding to plop himself down atop the rocks of a running stream and commiserate with the fishes.

Armed with a toy box of electronics and acoustics, Bradford Cox engineers a shift in mood on his latest album as Atlas Sound. Logos is considerably more upbeat than its predecessors, most notably in "Walkabout," which plinks along with chilly synths and a beat that's ready for radio. Animal Collective's Noah Lennox serves vocal duty, helping to submerge the song in a sea of voices.

"In Your Heart" feels like a glorious throwback to the cathartic new-wave singles of decades past. With it, A Place to Bury Strangers returns rock to where it sometimes belongs: to the claustrophobic basement clubs where volume, sweat, passion and a couple of drinks make for an intoxicating world of their own.