I listen to music. Plenty of music. So much music that words often fail me when I try to describe exactly what kind of music I like. I like everything...but not that, that, and certainly not that.

My taste has led some to call me names. "Elitest," they say. "Playlist Nazi!" they call. This usually happens when I am chucking their Dave Matthews Band CD out the window, or when I'm trying to prove a point (don't call my music collection "white").

Still, I am just like everybody else--I have weaknesses. 2007's dirty secret was my unabashed love of 'Lil Mama's "Lip Gloss." The first CD I ever bought with my own $10 was WWF the Music: Volume 2. I have a history of buying CDs for the cover, bad albums from good bands, quirky throwaway singles for the b-sides.

In short, I fall for music, regardless of my tastes. Here are five songs from this year, presented in no particular order, that I am not ashamed to love.

Britney Spears - Womanizer

Britney Spears |MTV Music

Last year I might have said some bad things about Britney Spears' first attempt at a comeback, Blackout. A year later, I find myself taking back nearly everything I said, unless it was funny, because Blackout served as a pretty damn strong prototype for this year's Circus, which is Spears' true comeback I guess, because she's sober.

Listen to this song. Tell me that if you heard it at a party or a club or some trendy establishment that you wouldn't be in the least bit tempted to dance. You can't. You know why? Because underneath the annoyingly catchy chorus that most people sing with no sense of tonality lies a huge, screaming monster of a club jam that owes more than a little to Soft Cell's "Tainted Love." Maybe I'm just assuming that everything with lasers owes something to Soft Cell, but fuck, there's something in this song that moves.

Rihanna - Disturbia

Rihanna |MTV Music

At this point, I think, I'm supposed to be tired of autotune, but fuck it. This song combines a good beat, Rihanna, and what the MPAA would call "mild elements of horror," and the music video makes me laugh. What weird, campy thing won't Rihanna co-opt for a video?

Yes, Tokyo drifting is pretty fucking campy.

Weezer - Pork and Beans

Weezer |MTV Music

I've been disinterested in Weezer for a long, long time, but between Rivers Cuomo's mustache, the awesomely awful cover to their new album, and this song, I was almost convinced that they were ready to return in a big, big way.

Weezer is one of those bands that falters under the weight of their brilliant debut. Sure, they have their fans, their apologists, and their decent sophomore effort, but they kind of suck, and people who aren't fans or apologists have given them shit about it since 2003.

"Pork and Beans" is, in many ways, a response to those critics, including me. Everything about the song, from its slacker attitude to its meme splicing music video, hearkens back to the Blue Album. It's lazier sounding than anything they've done, but that's the point. It's like that Bon Jovi song "Have a Nice Day," but with personality.

Kanye West - Heartless

Kanye West |MTV Music

I like this song for the lead-up to its release more than for the music itself. Having graduated, Kanye decided to detour to 808's and Heartbreak before something more worthwhile--Grad School, Med School, or TV/VCR Repair. 808's is a departure for Kanye, because it's more about singing than rapping, and Kanye doesn't sing all that well. Granted, autotune makes it so that you don't have to sing very well, but soon Akon and T-Pain will meet a reckoning for unleashing this plight upon the earth.

I like the song because, for weeks, Kanye hyped it up on his blog, releasing version after version to his adoring public. Two years ago, an artist wouldn't be caught dead doing something like that, but all of the newfangled fuck the record label price scheming and album releasing has made it such that a guy as huge as Kanye could upload this to his blog until he got the finished product.

Say what you will, but that's progress.

Britney Spears - Circus

Britney Spears |MTV Music

See everything I wrote about "Womanizer." That Ms. Spears has managed to remain relevant while most of her teen pop peers have fallen is probably more a testament to America's tabloid mentality than to any inherent skill, but she is a hitmaker. If she manages to keep relatively clean while showing a knack for adapting and changing to America's pop music needs, she may just be my generation's Madonna.

You just have to wonder if Britney will be as ripped as Madonna 20 years from now.