"NOW 5" set the bar quite high for the compilation series; thus giving "NOW 6" a diffucult feat to top. The album is not equal to the previous installment; that is because the tracklisting isn't AS solid as the one on "5". The great singles are mixed with a number that are good, but not phenomenal. Yet, the album hangs together pretty well because of a nice amount of diversity and a breezy listenability. There isn't much in terms of hip-hop here (although Shaggy and R. Kelly definetly have shades of it), but that's OK because the other songs are very well done; even the large "rock chunk" towards the end. The breakdown:
(1) Britney Spears "Stronger" B-. It's a somewhat fun song; catchy beat, great production. I like the way that it kinda serves as a counter-part to her "...Baby One More Time". When you look deeper though, there really isn't that much beneath the flashy surface; harmless, fun junk.
(2) Samantha Mumba "Gotta Tell You" A-. She rises among most of her peers because her voice is richer and more distinguished. The lyrics aren't too new, but her voice and tone add a certain weight and dimension to everything. It slowly spins it's impact and delivers it with other conviction. A really mesmerizing track from a talented artist.
(3) *N Sync "Bye Bye Bye" A. It's easy to dismiss this as a meaningless pop song; but hey, those songs are often very fun. By keeping a short time length, this manages to be a catchy, refreshing and highly entertaining piece of work. It may not be too much; yet it is total success at what it wants to be.
(4) ATC "Around The World (La La La La La)" C-. I have nothing against pure dance music; Kylie Minogue and Fatboy Slim have produced great work. But this comes off as meaningless and ordinary; there's nothing new here. The lyrics and beat attempt to create a "dream-like feel", but that grows tiresome and annoying after a while. What is this song even about?
(5) Jennifer Lopez "Love Don't Cost A Thing" B. She has done much better; just like "Jenny From The Block", you can't take this too seriously. That aside, this is a fun dance/pop tune with a great production and flow to it. The pace is essential to the song, as it never feels dragged out and is always moving. A minor J. Lo offering, yet fun none-the-less.
(6) Destiny's Child "Independent Women Part I" A-. "Charlie's Angel's" may have been one of 2000's worst movies, yet this is one of 2000's best movie theme songs. Destiny's Child turns their usual firey beats, tight lyrics and polished production into a solid, catchy, breezy "female-empowerment" track. Everything falls into place so well that any can enjoy tis; regardless of gender.
(7) Shaggy "It Wasn't Me" A+. Shaggy is a terrific artist, but even he outdoes himself here. The content, which is on the explicit side, becomes breezy and light due to the relaxed tone if the song. The lyrics have as striking impact; then the beat makes that impact flow with perfect ease. This is a gem of an R&B single, and one of the best songs of 2000.
(8) 3LW "No More (Baby I'ma Do Right)" B. A nice pop/hip-hop tune with an effective neat and some meaningful lyrics. tHe problem is that the group's voices don't deliver the full effect that the song should. It's a good song that could have used a bit more zest to make it really take off.
(9) K-Ci & JoJo "Crazy" B+. The highest compliment that I can give K-Ci & JoJo is that they are classy. They don't use TOO much modern edge, and prefer to deliver old fashioned tunes. This is not as good as 1999's "Tell Me It's Real", but it's still a very good song. Well crafted and heartfelt; this is a nice little R&B tune.
(10) R. Kelly "I Wish" A. We all know that R. Kelly can make very good sex themed songs, but we often forget how beautiful his music can be as well. At first we think that "I Wish" is just about an ex-girlfriend; then we listen closer and realize what the story really is. It's not easy to make an R&B song with this type of content, but he pulls it off fantastically. The modern edge mends very well with the song.
(11) Backstreet Boys "Shape Of My Heart" A. A very effective ballad with brilliant word choice. The lyrics are heartfelt, personal and carry much depth to them. This is truly touching song; made with true conviction. The boys are known to make excellent ballads, but even this is exceptional for them.
(12) Evan and Jaron "Crazy For This Girl" B+. These two young guys deliver a beautiful, good natured pop tune; something kinda rare these days. The boys have terrific harmonies, and very relaxing voices. In a time when pop songs often have overkill in their productions; here is a quiet, toned down piece of work.
(13) Coldplay "Yellow" C+. The group clearly has some talent, but there first single makes the mistakes that became domninant in most of there music. They let the insturmentals take over too much; distracting from the impact of the lyrics. Not helping is the song's long, dragged out length which begins to send us to "Dreamland".
(14) Lenny Kravitz "Again" A-. A bounce-back after the prevoius track. This is Lenny at his finest: tight guitar rifts, meaningful vocals and true conviction. All the elements combine to create a beautiful, heartfelt male rock vocal performance. This is a terrific rock song and a highlight for Kravitz' long career.
(15) Fuel "Hemorrage (In My Hands)" B-. Carl Bell's voice is a quite powerful insturment, but he doesn't have material to equal it. The insturmentals could be better, and it would be nice if the lyrics had some meaning to them. The song is well made and crafted; it could use a re-write to improve it though.
(16) Creed "With Arms Wide Open" A. A beautiful rock song with deeply touching lyrics. Lead singer Scott Stapp has taken the joy of his child's birth and transformed it into a wonderful, meaningful rock track with alot of depth. It's no surprise this won the Grammy for Best Rock Song (2000); everything about the writing is original. A masterpiece of a rock song.
(17) Incubus "Drive" A-. A real breezy gem of a rock song. The beat is kept at such a relaxing tone that it truly has it's own impact. Refreshingly enough, the lyrics are actually about sonething; as it carries a very firm, positive message. Seriously, we need more singles like this in the rock genre.
(18) U2 "Beautiful Day" A. This marked U2's comeback after the less than brilliant "Pop" LP. A Light, relaxed, touching, almost philosophical song that ranks up there with U2's best (and that's saying something). There's been alot of failed rock music in recent years; U2 come back and shows how it SHOULD be done.
(19) Everclear "AM Radio" B. A solid rock song that isn't really about anything, but delivers alot of fun. While it lacks the relevance that "Wonderful" had; it makes up for with clever lyrics which really paint a picture of life in the "AM radio days". A nice companion to Bowling For Soup's "1985". Not much deoth here, but it's impossible to dislike something this fun.
Bottom Line: ***. It's not a great compilation album, yet it's still worth our money. The end get's a little rock heavy, but most of those songs are good, so we don't mind. I still would have liked to have some hip-hop/rap though. It's a shame that ATC and Coldplay are even on here, Sisqó's "Thong Song" and Radiohead's "Optimistic" would have been much better. Minor quibbles; this is a good "time capsule" for late 2000/early 2001.

Britney Spears - Stronger: A+ My favorite song from Britney Spears! The music video was the best!

Samantha Mumba - Gotta Tell You: A- Good song, yet it's a bit generic.

*NSYNC - Bye Bye Bye: F I hate boy bands and this was my least favorite song by any crappy boy band. Hate it!

ATC - Around The World (La La La La La): A+ Hot dance song! A dance classic.

Jennifer Lopez - Love Don't Cost A Thing: B+ Not as good as Jennifer's earlier stuff or newer stuff, still, it's okay, just a bit boring.

Destiny's Child - Independent Women Part I: B+ Good, but seems a bit empty.

Shaggy - It Wasn't Me: F This song is just gross. Shaggy's mom caught him having *** and ****ing her ****, and maybe it's also about ******* (maybe) which I think is crude in a song and just nasty.

3LW - No More (Baby I'm A Do Right): A Great song by 3LW.

K-Ci & Jojo - Crazy: D I can not stand this group!

R. Kelly - I wish: F Similar to the annoyance in the earlier song, this one is by R.Kelly.

Backstreet Boys - Shape Of My Heart: A Heart touching song, tohugh boy bands are awful.

Evan And Jaron - Crazy For This Girl: A Very overplayed, but it's a great song!

Coldplay - Yellow: D- Annoying, and overplayed song and band.

Lenny Kravitz - Again: B+ Extremly overplayed, but a still very good song.

Fuel - Hemmorrhage (In My Hands): A Great rock song, but also a bit overplayed.

Creed - With Arms Wide Open: D+ I like Creed and everything, but this song was so overly played that I have no point or interest to ever listen to this song again.

Incubus - Drive: A Perfect song from Incubus.

U2 - Beautiful Day: A Great song! Though, a bit overplayed.

Everclear - AM Radio: C- Average...really no comment

Overall Grade - B+ Ok, I raised the grade a bit, so what. I loved the artwork of the album, as I always am, but this one has to be the most mesmerizing. Well, if the songs weren't so overplayed and annoying, it would be an A.

These were some of 2000 best songs here are my reviews

1.Stronger-Britney Spears this one is good 9/10
2.Gotta tell you-Samantha Mumba this one is good 10/10
3.Bye Bye Bye-N'Sync I liked this one alot 10/10
4.Around the World-ATC This one was a dance tune 9/10
5.Love don't cost a thing-J.Lo very hot 10/10
6.Idependent Women-Destiny's Child this is OK 7/10
7.It wasn't me-Shaggy what a song 10/10
8.No more-3LW I liked this one to 9/10
9.Crazy-K CI & JoJo 10/10
10.I Wish-R.Kelly he should still sound like this 10/10
11.Shape of my heart-Backstreetboys Liked it 10/10
12.Crazy for this girl-Evan & Jaron nice tune 9/10
13.Yellow-Coldplay there original song 10/10
14.Again-Lenny Kravitz yet another good song 10/10
15.With arms wide open-Creed a number #1 single 10/10
16.Hemorrhage-Fuel I liked this one to 10/10
17.Drive-Incubus there First Big Hit 10/10
18.Beautiful Day-U2 won a grammy for top song 10/10
19.AM Radio-Everclear a OK song 7/10
_____________________________________________________________
180/190=94.73 A

NOW 6:

1. Britney Spears, Stronger: The usual Britney Spears junk. Though the song gets a fairly high grade just for not being a ballad. Britney Spears ballads make baby children cry. (C-)

2. Samantha Mumba, Gotta Tell You: More synthy-bubblegum pop. Not as bad as Britney, but twice as generic. (C-)

3. N*Sync, Bye Bye Bye: The height (or bottom) of boyband *cough*glory*cough* in all it's embarrassingly precise melody. (F+)

4. ATC, Around The World: Mindlessly catchy but daft and devoid of actual listening value. (C)

5. Jennifer Lopez, Love Don't Cost A Thing: Unimpressive, flavor of the week pop music with unremarkably generic vocals. (D-)

6. Destiny's Child, Independent Women: Fun, catchy, though mindlessly airheaded pop-R&B. (B)

7. Shaggy, It Wasn't Me: Don't think about the writing and instead submit yourself to Shaggy's otherwise ludicrously addictive guilty pleasure. (A strong B+)

8. 3LW, No More: Mediocre, forgettable pop-R&B track by mediocre, forgettable one-hit wonders. (F+)

9. K-Ci & JoJo, Crazy: Overplayed though it was back then, this is a wonderfully catchy pop-R&B ballad, a neccesary break from the girl groups otherwise dominating the genre at that time. (B+)

10. R. Kelly, I Wish: Dull, easily forgettable R&B pap that's made all the more ironic by his legal troubles. (F)

11. Backstreet Boys, Shape Of My Heart: Forgettable boyband ballad made worse by the amount of BSB songs that are exactly the same. That songwriting technique would later be employed by Nickelback. (D-)

12. Evan & Jaron, Crazy For This Girl: At times infectious but largely average teen pop that's nice for the duration but fails to make an impression. (B-)

13. Coldplay, Yellow: Insanely infectious love song with trademark crooning and simple but melting lyrics. Chris Martin, the world. The world, Chris Martin. I think you've come to have a good relationship. (A)

14. Lenny Kravitz, Again: A sweet soft-rock ballad that's forgiven for it's sap for it's sheer timelessness. And if it makes you happy, there's always the video. Women rejoice. (A)

15. Creed, With Arms Wide Open: Not only is it overplayed, it introduced the world to Creed, who's motto is obviously "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery". Unusually decent when paired with Fuel though. (C+)

16. Fuel, Hemmorage: Not as good as Falls On Me, but an excellent, if derivative, single. (A strong B+)

17. Incubus, Drive: Brandon Boyd's career-making hit in all it's glory. Good lyrics, vaguely memorable music. And they have their pie and eat it too. (A-)

18. U2, Beautiful Day: The sporting-event anthem of 2001 and a classic to this day. What a song! (A+)

19. Everclear, AM Radio: Catchy as heck anthem about nostalgia. I never liked disco... (A-)

Overall: A near-flawless rock lineup saves a terrible beginning.
The Good: Shaggy, K-Ci & JoJo, Coldplay, Lenny Kravitz, Incubus, U2, Everclear.
The Bad: N*Sync, Jennifer Lopez, 3LW, R. Kelly, Backstreet Boys.

Now that's what I call Music 6 is so cool!I almost have all of the Now that's what I call Music's.Great Music for everyone!
I think you will love it.