Idolator

Compiling a year-end Top 10 list means making plenty of painful nips, tucks, and tweaks. And so, after preparing our Jackin' Pop singles lists, we present "Stuck At Eleven," a daily look at the songs that came thisclose to making the final cut.

Ciara's The Evolution is one of the most self-absorbed albums of the year—a navel-fixated state-of-Ciara address with song titles like "I'm Just Me" and "I Found Myself" and a spoken-word interlude called "The Evolution Of C"; it's like she's reading a LiveJournal page with an assist from Lil Jon. But "Promise" is as devotional as it is emotional, and even though the liner notes credit the track to more than a dozen names, it's one of the more minimal hits of 2006, relying on nothing more than some synth squiggles and a scorching, relentless beat.

Ciara - Promise [MP3, link expired]