#82 Jordin Sparks & Chris Brown, "No Air"

Got me out here in the water so deep
Tell me how you gon be without me
If you ain't here, I just can't breathe
It's no air, no air

Overdone epic pop-R&B balladry becomes the greatest thing in the world for the length of the second single from American Idol winner Jordin Sparks's debut album. I've gone on the record with liking Chris Brown many times before, so it made me all the happier that he was half of this fantastic song and I very much wanted Idol to prove that it can still produce winners relevant to the modern commercial music scene, but even beyond that they match the song well vocally and even just with their youth. They lend their voices to a song that avoids the typical power ballad route and instead steps lightly and gorgeously from cloud to cloud. "No Air" acknowledged and worked with the sound of contemporary charts, but it was an incredible breath of, well, fresh air for American music.

Find it on: Jordin Sparks