Yay! Here’s the fifth installment of my irregular Groovee Playlist™ series (see the previous one). As before, I’ll link to the Wikipedia article about the song (if it exists) as “[W]”, and to the YouTube search (or official music video) for the song as “[U]” so that you can sample the song and see if you like it as well.

• “Highway” by Kitchie Nadal. [U] It’s been quite a while since Kitchie released her self-titled debut album (which I talked about before), so her sophomore album is a welcome addition to the local music scene. The first single “Highway” is a great song (and loved to pieces by Ganns Deen) but got too much airtime by Caltex which got it as a promotional song. Sigh.

• “Won’t Go Home Without You” by Maroon 5. [W] [U] This is a really nifty third single from their sophomore (too) album It Won’t Be Soon Before Long. But I still love “Makes Me Wonder” (included in the May 2007 Playlist) a lot more!

• “Tattoo” by Jordin Sparks. [W] [U] I featured “No Air,” Jordin Sparks’ duet with Chris Brown, in the last Playlist and I wonder how I missed “Tattoo,” her debut single. (Note: Jordin Sparks is the 2006 American Idol.) I like this song’s down-to-earth feeling much better than “No Air.”

• “New Soul” by Yael Naim. [W] [U] Well, Steve Jobs certainly knows marketing: this light and cheery MacBook Air commercial theme song is great!

• “Shadow of the Day” by Linkin Park. [W] [U] Wow. Linkin Park is on a roll here; “Shadow of the Day” is their third single from their latest album and I have now featured all three singles here: “What I’ve Done” in the August 2007 Playlist and “Bleed It Out in the October 2007 Playlist. Third time’s the charm and I will definitely say that this is the best of the three singles so far. In fact, I think this song has usurped “In the End” as my all-time favorite Linkin Park song! Here’s a bonus: if you like trance music then you should definitely hear the Blake Jarrell remix featured in Episode 338 of Armin van Buuren’s A State of Trance radio show. It’s one of the most wicked trance remixes I’ve ever listened to!

• “Bleeding Love” by Leona Lewis. [W] [U] This is the first single of Leona Lewis, the winner of The X Factor a UK singing contest and it’s a mighty and impressive ballad. Of the club remixes, I prefer Moto Blanco ones the most.

• “Always Be My Baby” by David Cook. [U] What can I say? This is my all-time favorite Mariah Carey song (something I was still deciding on in 2005 and somewhat finalized in 2007) and Mr. American Idol #7 did an absolutely amazing pop-rock cover of it. I was not rooting for either of the two Davids during the finals but I have to admit that Mr. Cook is a much more versatile singer.

• “Neve” by Steve Anderson. [U] First heard on Episode 335 of Armin van Buuren’s A State of Trance radio show. (Lately I’m getting a lot of great tunes from Armin’s show. “Neve” and the “Shadow of the Day” remix above are just the first of many. Hehehe.)

• “Love Song” by Sara Bareilles. [W] [U] Great pop song from a really pretty musician. The problem is, all these non-mainstream female singers are starting to sound alike! But don’t let that discourage you—the song’s a really enjoyable listen.

• “Go On Girl” by Ne-Yo. [W] [U] I’ve already featured three of Ne-Yo’s singles before in this blog and “Go On Girl” is the latest addition. I really don’t see how a parade of sexy and beautiful girls in the music video has anything to do with the song but, hey, we’re here for the music and Ne-Yo’s song’s just fine and dandy.

• “Say” by John Mayer. [W] [U] While the chorus is quite repetitive ("say what you need to say” 8x), the song is a nice understated tune to listen to and quite characteristic of John Mayer’s great style.

• “With You” by Chris Brown. [W] [U] This is the first song of Chris Brown’s that I’ve liked (his duet with Jordin Sparks does not count) and I actually also like his latest single, but that’ll be for the next Playlist. If you’re following me on Plurk, then you already know what that is.

As always, reactions on the selected songs as well as other music recommendations in the comments are very much welcome. Let’s all enjoy music!