Thursday, February 23, 2017

DrogeMiester's Billboard Analysis - March 4, 2017

The new Billboard charts have arrived and so it's time again for me to give you my thoughts! In this weekly post, I cover three sections. First, I give my thoughts on the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. Second, I give my thoughts on the songs that experienced significant gains below the top 10. Third, I give my initial thoughts on our new arrivals this week. I may decide to switch things up in the future, but for now this is what I'm sticking with. I've followed the Billboard charts for a long time now and this is a great way for me to express my thoughts to the world. I hope you enjoy!


Billboard Hot 100 Top 10:




1- "Shape of You" - Ed Sheeran (=) -- This is the week that the Grammy's impacted the charts, which means we got a huge shakeup in the top 10 and it will be interesting to see what happens in the next couple of weeks as the dust settles. One thing that is certain is that Ed Sheeran has a stranglehold on this top spot. He got a huge boost from the Grammy's to his already large lead and is holding well as sales for next week are looking great and the radio is eating this song up. It might be a while before we see something else hit the top spot.

2- "I Don't Wanna Live Forever" - Zayn & Taylor Swift (+1) -- As expected, the album release and the movie release of "Fifty Shades Darker" gave Zayn and Taylor enough of a boost to push them up to No. 2. Now the question with a significant drop in sales this upcoming week, will this be able to hold on? The radio is loving this and streaming is fine, but sales could make this drop back to No. 3.

3- "Bad and Boujee" - Migos featuring Lil Uzi Vert (-1) -- No sales and hardly any radio, but an embarrassingly high amount of streaming is keeping this alive. I hope this dies quickly, but I honestly think this could go back to No. 2 next week before sliding down when streaming finally dies. Can we just all agree when this is done that we aren't going to ever let these four back into the top 10?

4- "Chained to the Rhythm" - Katy Perry featuring Skip Marley (new) -- I'll share my opinion of this song down below if you haven't heard it already, but Katy snags her third highest debut of her career. The big question is will this have staying power on the charts or will it drop hard like "Rise"? Considering that "Rise" actually had better first week sales, but couldn't even debut in the top 10, I'd say that's a good sign for "Chained to the Rhythm." Also there's the fact that "Rise" was just a promotional song for the Olympics while "Chained to the Rhythm" is leading of Katy's new album due sometime this year, so she might make more of an effort to promote the song. This song is gaining traction with the radio and Katy just barely released the official music video after starting off with that odd hamster lyric video a week ago. That should help mitigate the natural huge drop in sales that will come in week two. But after some sort of drop next week, I think this is going to catch on and stick around for a while.

5- "Closer" - The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey (+2) -- Yep, I saw this one coming last week. Thanks to the Grammy's, "Closer" gained one final push that sent it back to the top 5, which means it now stands alone as the song that has spent the most weeks in the top 5 in the 59-year history of the Billboard Hot 100. It's 26 weeks now that it has spent in the top 5, which is one more week than "Uptown Funk" by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars as well as "How Do I Live" by LeAnn Rimes. The record for most weeks spent in the top 10 is also "How Do I Live" by LeAnn Rimes with 32 weeks. "Closer" is now at 29 weeks in the top 10, meaning it's three weeks away from tying the record. Next week it will tie "Uptown Funk" for second place on that list. Love or hate the song, you have to be impressed with this run. We've watched history with "Closer."

6- "Bad Things" - Machine Gun Kelly & Camila Cabello (-1) -- I wasn't sure how "Bad Things" was going to fare this week with all the Grammy's push that many other songs got that this song didn't get. I was a bit surprised to see that it held it's ground pretty well. Now it has a chance of going back to No. 4 next week if all goes well given that "Chained to the Rhythm" and "Closer" probably aren't going to hold their spots next week.

7- "That's What I Like" - Bruno Mars (+30) -- Bruno was the biggest winner from the Grammy's in terms of a chart boost. "That's What I Like" was already heading up and Bruno killing it in both of his performances at the Grammy's sent this sky high. And while some of the other songs that got a boost are set to fall back down to where they were prior to the Grammy's, "That's What I Like" is looking to have a pretty solid week of sales next week as well, which means that this probably goes top five next week.

8- "Love on the Brain" - Rihanna (+5) -- Much to my dismay, we also have to recognize another impressive historical marker this week. With "Love on the Brain" finally hitting top 10 after bubbling just under for the last month or so, Rihanna now has 30 top 10 hits, pulling her ahead of Michael Jackson into third place. The only acts that are ahead of her are Madonna and The Beatles. And being that Rihanna is still only 29 years old, it's a fairly safe bet that one day she will be No. 1 with that record. Madonna holds the record with 38 top 10 hits, but she didn't get her 38th top 10 hit until she was 52 years old. Imagine what Rihanna can do in 23 more years of music if she continues at the pace she's going. That kinda scares me actually since I think Rihanna is perhaps the most overrated singer ever.

9- "I Feel it Coming" - The Weeknd featuring Daft Punk (+7) -- It's great to see The Weeknd and Daft Punk back in the top 10 following their Grammy's performance. Unlike Bruno, though, this looks like it will topple back out of the top 10 next week. I wish it was the other way around. If I'm right and this does fall out next week, I hope it can recover and make it back.

10- "Bounce Back" - Big Sean (-4) -- With Big Sean's album out of the way, "Bounce Back" took an expected hit this week, but quite honestly I thought it will fall a little harder. Now I think it has a chance of hanging around for a few weeks in the bottom half of the top 10. But if this week is it's final week in the top 10, I'm fine with that. I don't hate this song, but if it sticks around for much longer, it will quickly overstay its welcome.


Rising on the Hot 100:





20- "iSpy" - KYLE featuring Lil Yachty (+8) -- I think it's been a few weeks since I've had to talk about this song. After skyrocketing in its first few weeks, it plateaued a bit, but now it's positioned quite well with not many songs between 11 and 19 doing anything. I'm expecting a top 10 entry for this, but I won't be too upset if it falls short.

33- "Congratulations" - Post Malone featuring Quavo (+6) -- Well I won't be too upset if "iSpy" sneaks into the top 10, I will throw a fit if this sneaks in as well. I don't know how anyone thinks this song by Post Malone and Quavo is appealing. I don't even know how anyone likes anything these two do for that matter.

34- "Issues" - Julia Michaels (+7) -- I keep expecting this song to slow down. Usually the 20's and 30's is the place where many songs get stuck, but if this song can break top 20, I will be quite happy. We'll see what happens next week!

35- "Better Man" - Little Big Town (+5) -- Here's your biggest country gainer of this week. Sam Hunt is still at the top of the country charts with "Body Like a Back Road" for some mysterious reason, but thankfully that dropped a few spots on the Hot 100 this week. "Better Man" isn't wonderful, but it's certainly a lot better than that awful Sam Hunt song.

39- "Dirt on My Boots" - Jon Pardi (+7) -- "Better Man" is also better than "Dirt on My Boots," but that's not saying much. I have no idea why this continues to climb when there actually are decent country songs on the charts right now.

41- "Party" - Chris Brown featuring Usher & Gucci Mane (+7) -- I was hoping we were done with this song. No. 41 better be where it peaks.

43- "I Got You" - Bebe Rexha (+13) -- And Bebe Rexha finally sneaks into the top 50 with "I Got You," which is a decent pop song. If this continues to gain traction and becomes another hit from Bebe Rexha, I will be happy with that.

44- "Location" - Khalid (+8) -- Another song that has been slowly climbing the last few weeks that finally breaks top 50. I have a feeling that this will probably get stuck in the 30's, but I'd be fine if it went higher.

47- "Sober Saturday Night" - Chris Young featuring Vince Gill (+19) -- Another huge strikeout for our country risers. This needs to die.

52- "Castle on the Hill" - Ed Sheeran (+10) -- If I'm being honest, I'm surprised that "Castle on the Hill" gained so much this week, but perhaps it's a good after effect of Ed Sheeran killing it at the Grammy's. I really wish this was at No. 1 instead of "Shape of You." That would be a lot more deserving. But oh well. At least Ed finally has a No. 1 hit!

57- "Swang" - Rae Sremmurd (+20) -- Gross. I'm glad to see "Black Beatles" plummeting on the charts and finally out of the top 10. Let's PLEASE not give Rae Sremmurd another top 10 hit. This song by these two just might be a worse song. It may not be attached to an annoying trend like the Mannequin Challenge (which I proudly can say I have not and will never participate in), but that's not a good enough consolation prize. A 20 spot jump by a bad song that's now on the brink of top 50 scares me.

74- "Look at Me!" - Xxxtentacion (+21) -- It's only at No. 74. No reason to panic yet. But this might easily hold the spot of worst song of the year at the moment, so this better not get any higher. I don't know how anyone can listen to this. Listening to it once so that I could give my thoughts was one too many listens for me.

75- "In Case You Didn't Know" - Brett Young (+19) -- I'm kinda sad that the Zac Brown Band song fell off in it's second week. I hope it re-enters and does well. But I'm glad that this song had a great second week. I'd be really happy if this goes to the top of our country charts.


New Arrivals:





4- "Chained to the Rhythm" - Katy Perry featuring Skip Marley -- I think I just watched this music video that I have posted right above like 10 straight times leading to me typing up my thoughts here. There's a lot of people that have been hating this song since it was released and I hope this music video can open people's minds to how great this song is. First off, I actually really liked it the first time I heard it. It reminded me of a 70's disco song, which is not only different for Katy Perry, but is very different for anyone right now. It's a fun song that had me dancing around in my chair from that very first listen. What really got me, though, were the lyrics. Subtle at first, but the more I think about them, the more I realize how deep and important of a message this is. Katy is telling us here that we are trapped in our white picket fence like ornaments. We're living in so much of a bubble that we can't see the trouble that is happening around us. We're stumbling around like a wasted zombie and we think we're free. But, as Skip Marley says in his verse, we need to break down the walls to connect and inspire. We need to wake up and see the world around us and do something about it. Then we have the music video which depicts a bunch of people wandering around like robots in a very dangerous theme park while not noticing any of the danger around them. When Skip Marley jumps out of the TV and starts preaching, Katy then realizes that something is wrong. Like, seriously. Wow! I freaking love this song and I hope more people realize its brilliance.

42- "Cold" - Maroon 5 featuring Future -- Outside Katy's debut, not a whole lot of great this week. So let's get this over with. Maroon 5 is a band that once upon was a pretty awesome rock band with songs like "Harder to Breathe." I don't know why they ever decided to drop the rock part of that, but they've been pure pop for a long time and ever since they made that change, all they've ever put out is boring, bland pop music that's super forgettable. They continue that streak with "Cold." Adam is singing that he doesn't know why this girl has gotten so cold with him recently and that's all this song is. It doesn't do anything special. It's not deep. He doesn't even do a good job at elaborating with this situation. There's just nothing to this song. Bland, boring and forgettable like everything else they've done. The only positive part is that I was dreading this Future verse because Future usually does this thing I call mumble rap where you can't understand a word he says. He didn't do that this time. I could actually understand him and he didn't make me want to gouge my ears out. I mean, his verse didn't add anything to the song. He just basically repeated the same thing Adam has been saying the whole song. But that's the least upset I've ever been at anything Future related, so that's something.

54- "Bom Bidi Bom" - Nick Jonas & Nicki Minaj -- Nick and Nicki. I didn't expect to ever see these two collaborate. But Nick and Nicki kinda has a fun ring to it. That's as positive as I'm going to get here. This is one of our two new debuts from "Fifty Shades Darker." Here we have a very straight forward "Fifty Shades" message. Nick says he was good and she was bad, but he was wrong and she was right. He's an addict to her love and he had to have her back. Switch the genders and you have our movie there. In the world's worst love story, the girl should've just stayed away from the psychopath who loves to use BDSM in the relationship, but for some reason she couldn't stay away. This song is fairly harmless, but it's also nothing deep or special and as far as the music and the beat goes, I'm trying to figure out where it would play into the movie. If this is a song that was playing during the love making scenes, that would be really weird, because this is the farthest thing from romantic or sexy. Instead we have Nick saying the girl has that bom bidi bom for most of that song. I don't even know what that means. Nicki's verse didn't really upset me, but it was also empty fluff, like this whole song.

62- "Shining" - DJ Khaled featuring Beyonce & Jay Z -- You ready for a Beyonce and Jay Z song? Because you didn't think DJ Khaled would actually participate on his own song did you? As always, he yells at us about how awesome this song is going to be and then let's Beyonce and Jay Z take over the rest of the song. And he comes in and echoes what Beyonce says a few times. Because Migos made that popular, so now that's the cool thing to do. And I say this is a Beyonce and Jay Z song, but it's really mostly just a Beyonce song. Jay Z comes in for a verse and brags about how many albums his put out and how many Grammy's he's won, but that's about it. I listened to what Beyonce was trying to say in her song, but I didn't really understand. Then I read the lyrics and I still didn't really understand. So yeah, we have pointless DJ Khaled, a dumb verse from Jay Z and Beyonce rambling on about something shiny. And that's it. Yeah, I don't really care for this at all. Yet I was one of three people on earth that didn't like "Lemonade," so what do I know?

71- "Helium" - Sia -- Our second new song from "Fifty Shades Darker" this week comes from Sia. My first reaction to this is why the heck is Sia writing songs for "Fifty Shades Darker"? What bet did she lose to have to do that? Well, that aside, we've now had four songs from "Fifty Shades Darker" hit the Billboard charts since they started promoting the movie and, not surprisingly, this is the best of the four. But if I'm being honest, I have a high standard when it comes to Sia because 95 percent of the time she hits a super high standard. This time around it feels like she's just phoning it in to get this "Fifty Shades Darker" song out of the way. It's kinda sweet and romantic at parts, but it doesn't even come close to what Sia is capable of, both in terms of lyrics and vocals. The lyrics are super simple and the vocals aren't really there. And that chorus has too much spacing between each word when she's singing, "your love lifts me up like helium." Also not a super sexy song, so I have no idea where this would fit into the movie. Also, one minor nitpick. I feel Sia misses the boat a bit with her comic book reference. In the context of what she was saying, I think she should've said Supergirl or Lois Lane instead of Superwoman.

77- "Heroe Favorito" - Romeo Santos -- Another Latino song. It seems like we get one of these a week now, which I'm fine with. I'm totally down for the Billboard charts being culturally diverse. I just don't feel like I'm a good judge of theses because I don't speak Spanish and I don't have a lot of personal connection to the Latino culture outside having a lot of friends who are Latino. But I do my best and what I can say here is Romeo has a really high pitched voice. I was kinda surprised by that. There is some interesting instrumentals going on here behind the vocals and a good solo by some sort of string instrument that sounded like a banjo. But otherwise this song didn't really catch me as much as other Latino songs like Despacito. This is a nice song, but not one that really makes me want to jump up and dance.

84- "Everything 1K" - Kodak Black -- I don't know much about Kodak Black. He was featured on the French Montana song "Lockjaw," the title of which sounds familiar, but I can't think of the song itself. Then he had "No flockin'" chart earlier this year, another song that I've already forgotten. This rap song started out with decent potential in the intro, but got on my nerves rather quickly. This is a surprisingly slow rap song. As if it was .5 speed on my Apple Music and that flow didn't work for me. It felt like I was listening to a song that was lagging really bad. There's nothing really offensive or annoying about the lyrics themselves, but I just couldn't stand the music part of this song.

85- "Everyday" - Ariana Grande featuring Future -- Ariana is an interesting girl. It doesn't seem like she can ever impress me twice in a row. She seems to always follow up one good song with at least one or two bad ones. I liked "Dangerous Woman." I hated "Side to Side." I think she did a great Celina impression with her "Beauty and the Beast" song. Then she follows that up this week with perhaps her worst single ever. She's a very attractive girl who can often sound quite sexy with her music, but she's not sexy at all when she's swearing a lot, like she does in this song. It just feels off. I think she's trying to sound cool, but she ends up sounding more like a brat. Then she has Future along for the ride repeating the word "everyday" over and over. His verse, while also not as mumbly like he usually is, is also completely useless and much worse than his verse in the Maroon 5 song this week. Then Ariana has a section that she repeats a few times where literally all she does is "la, la, la, la, la, la, la" for way too long. Like she ran out of ideas for the song. I don't know what this was supposed to be, but it doesn't work. In fact, I hate this more than "Side to Side," and that was pretty awful.

87- "Rolex" - Ayo & Teo -- I wanted this song to work because Ayo and Teo has a nice ring to it, but this song is super annoying. He's basically using a bunch of slang to talk about all this fancy jewelry that he wants because fancy jewelry, like a nice Rolex watch and a bunch of bling, is what is going to attract the girls every time. According to these dudes anyways. Teo calls the Rolex a "Rolly" and he repeats that over and over, adding that he wants it with a dab or Ranch, which I don't even understand what that means. Some sort of Migos reference, apparently? No thanks. I want this song to quickly die, which probably means it's going to be a big hit.

88- "Cash Me Outside (#CashmeOutside)" - DJ Suede the Remix God -- Few things are more annoying than using hashtags in your song title. I don't know who DJ Suede is or why he is calling himself the remix god. But this is a two minute song that essentially has two lines repeated over and over. "Cash me outside" and "How 'bout dat." I don't have any idea where this song came from or what it's trying to remix and I don't really care to research it. I just know that this is a really annoying thing that needs to get off the charts right now.

93- "It Ain't Me" - Kygo & Selena Gomez -- One of the greatest mysteries of life is why Norwegian DJ Kygo hasn't crossed over to the US mainstream yet. He's done decent on the EDM charts, but his only Billboard hit on the Hot 100 was "Firestone," an absolutely phenomenal song that took like a year to finally chart and only stayed at No. 92 for like a week. I also really liked his "Cloud Nine" album last year. A very pleasant, soothing album that you could listen to front and back and make you feel relaxed and comfortable. That's why they call it tropical house. It's a very descriptive name for this sub-genre of EDM that's self-explanatory. "It Ain't Me" isn't on the level of "Firestone" when it comes to quality, but if this is the song that gets Kygo into the mainstream over here (he's hit 10 many times in a whole bunch of European countries), then I'm ecstatic. Lyrically it's your typical break-up song, but it has a really nice groove to it and I can see it growing on me really fast. Selena is a singer I like, but she's tried way too hard recently to be super sexy with a goal to remind the world that she's now a grown-up woman. I find that annoying. But this is probably the best I've liked her in quite some time. I didn't expect a Selena and Kygo collaboration and on paper it sounds a bit strange, but it works quite well.

94- "Yeah Boy" - Kelsea Ballerini -- We'll end the day here with two country songs. Last week the two country songs were my favorite of the week. This week not so much. Kelsea Ballerini is a country pop singer that reminds me of Taylor Swift in her very early days, which is something I appreciate. She most recently did "Peter Pan," a song that I kinda liked. "Yeah Boy" has a fun, dancy country groove to it that I can get behind, but it feels a little too empty for me. She has two short verses in the song, followed by her essentially repeating the chorus five times, which is her saying she wants to be with this boy. She alternates saying "Yeah boy" with a line she likes about him or a line of something she wants to do with him. We get a third of the way through the song and I'm ready to be done with it because it repeats itself a little too much without doing much else. But as a country song it's fairly decent. I can get behind it.

96- "Hurricane" - Luke Combs -- With our two country songs, we go from country pop to country rock. Neither of these feel like true country, but that seems more hard to find these days. "Hurricane" slips into the category of country song that I really don't care about. You can be a bit cliche and still be good like "In Case You Didn't Know" by Brett Young last week as long as it feels genuine. This just feels generic and boring. No passion. No heart. No soul. Just a guy saying he thought he was over the girl until she came storming back into his life like a hurricane. Because we've never heard stuff like that before. And when there's no passion behind it, that same boring message just becomes hollow and lifeless.

Wednesday, February 15, 2017

DrogeMiester's Billboard Analysis - February 25, 2017

It's that time of week again for me to give you my thoughts on the new Billboard charts! In this weekly post, I cover three sections. First, I give my thoughts on the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. Second, I give my thoughts on the songs that experienced significant gains below the top 10. Third, I give my initial thoughts on our new arrivals this week. I reserve the right to mix things up in the future and do different things here, but for now this is what I've decided to stick to. I've followed the Billboard charts for a long time now and this is a great way for me to express my thoughts to the world. I hope you enjoy!


Billboard Hot 100 Top 10:





1- "Shape of You" - Ed Sheeran (=) -- After much of January and February had constant turnover at the top of the charts, it looks like we have a song that's here to stay. And I'm happy about it. We don't have a whole lot of songs on the charts right now that are super deserving of being a No. 1 hit and until we have a good candidate, I'd be happy if Ed held everyone else off. This song isn't great, but it's a fun song and Ed Sheeran is a good musician that is deserving of this honor. Now next week on the charts should be interesting with the Grammy's looking to shake up the charts a bit with the winners and performers all selling very well. We also have Katy Perry looking to make a big splash. But being that Ed was also one of those performers, he is currently killing it on sales right now and should easily top the sales charts for next week. As far as Katy goes, I'm expecting her to debut just out of the top 5, but we'll see how things turn out. "Rise" last year debuted at No. 11.

2- "Bad and Boujee" - Migos featuring Lil Uzi Vert (=) -- Streaming is still insanely strong for "Bad and Boujee," meaning it will probably hang out in the top 10 for a while longer, but its streaming has finally started to drop and with everyone else surging because of the Grammy's, I wouldn't be surprised to see this song take a big hit next week. Or maybe that's just hopeful thinking on my part because I want it gone. It's certainly not going back to No. 1, though. At least I can be confident about that.

3- "I Don't Wanna Live Forever (Fifty Shades Darker)" - Zayn & Taylor Swift (=) -- This wasn't one of our Grammy's songs, but "Fifty Shades Darker" premiered this past weekend along with the "Fifty Shades Darker" album, which should be enough of a boost to send it to No. 2, where it might hang out for a while unless it can somehow top Ed in the near future. Currently, though, Ed has significant leads in all three categories and is only getting stronger. So it'll be an uphill battle for Zayn and Taylor.

4- "Million Reasons" - Lady Gaga (re-entry) -- Boom! Last week I told you to look out for Gaga on the charts and this is why. "Million Reasons" previously peaked as high as No. 52 and in the last few weeks has been fighting to stay on the charts. Two weeks ago in was in the 90's and last week it was gone. Thus due to Gaga's halftime performance at the Super Bowl, it soars up to No. 4 with an absolutely phenomenal week of sales, which ties the record for biggest re-entry in Billboard history. I may have a lukewarm opinion of Gaga's actual album, but I like this song and I loved that Super Bowl performance. This may only be here in the top 5 for one week, but I'm glad it made it and I wish Gaga the best of luck in the future. Also, "Bad Romance" re-entered to No. 50 this week. That's pretty cool!

5- "Bad Things" - Machine Gun Kelly & Camila Cabello (-1) -- "Bad Things" is in a bit of an awkward position on the charts right now. It's not doing bad, but it's peaked in all categories and is slowly declining. With everything else getting huge boosts by the Grammy's, this is essentially going to get punched in the face next week. This is probably its last week in the top 5.

6- "Bounce Back" - Big Sean (+9) -- This surprised me a bit. "Bounce Back" has been hanging out just below the top 10 for a while now, a spot where Big Sean normally gets stuck at. I thought it had a chance to sneak into the top 10, but I didn't expect it to surge up to No. 6 so suddenly. I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised, though. Big Sean's album just came out and he has quite a few new songs on the charts right now, so we're going to be talking a lot about Big Sean in just a bit. I'm not a fan of this song, but I will admit that it's super catchy and has grown on me a bit. So if we have to have a dumb rap song in the top 10, I suppose I'll take this. Although it will most likely fall out of the top 10 again next week following the album surge. So a one week appearance in the top 10 for Big Sean is acceptable.

7- "Closer" - The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey (-2) -- It looks like "Closer" is finally starting to fall and might not last long enough to tie LeAnn Rimes' 32 week record. But don't be surprised if it jumps back into the top 5 next week for one final week. The Chainsmokers didn't perform this song at the Grammy's, but they did win a Grammy and that is causing sales for "Closer" to increase for next week. And for those keeping track, "Closer" tied the 25-week record of longest in the top 5 and if it does jump into the top 5 next week, it'll have that record all to itself. The count in the top 10 for "Closer" is now 28 weeks, which means it's four weeks away from tying that. With focus now shifting to "Paris," I predict it ends up with 30 weeks in the top 10, which is exactly what "Uptown Funk" got.

8- "Scars to Your Beautiful" - Alessia Cara (+2) -- Alessia isn't super strong with this song right now, but as I mentioned last week, it managed to rise due to the other songs collapsing. "Starboy," "Fake Love" and "Black Beatles" all dropped out this week and "Don't Wanna Know" collapsed to No. 9. Hence is why it jumped from No. 10 to No. 8 even with "Million Reasons" and "Bounce Back" surging into the top 10. If those two songs fall out of the top 10 like I expect them to, Alessia might even sneak a bit higher.

9- "Don't Wanna Know" - Maroon 5 featuring Kendrick Lamar (-3) -- Thank heavens this is falling. Now let's get this out of the top 10 for good. No one likes this and no one wants this here. It's just here because the radio has a love affair with Maroon 5 and will overplay their songs no matter what the quality is. Sad thing is Maroon 5 has their newest song that they just released. This time featuring Future. Oh joy. I'll talk about that in a week or two when it debuts, but I hope that we can all collectively reject it. And it would be nice if people controlling the radio realize that none of us want to hear Maroon 5.

10- "Paris" - The Chainsmokers (+1) -- The numbers for "Paris" aren't even close to what "Closer" was getting at this point in it's run. I suppose I'm fine with it hanging around in the bottom half of the top 10 for a few weeks, because that's what I'm expecting. But I am hoping it can fade quickly and that The Chainsmokers can wake up and go back to writing good music again.

Rising on the Hot 100:




19- "Mercy" - Shawn Mendes (+2) -- Not a ton of super high risers between 11 and 20 this week. Just a handful of songs that are all stuck and hoping for a lucky break. Thus Shawn Mendes' "Mercy" is our top riser as it shows up in the top 20 this week. I'm not super ecstatic about that because I want Shawn Mendes to disappear from the music scene. But if I'm being objective, this is better than some of his previous disasters such as "Stitches" and "Treat You Better." I'd still prefer if this stayed away from the top 10, though. Let's not encourage Shawn anymore with the boring pop music that he keeps putting out.

21- "Body Like a Back Road" - Sam Hunt (+17) -- Why in the fetch did this jump up super high in it's second week following an already too high debut? I'm just happy right now that country music never has any luck getting much higher than this is right now, so this is thankfully as high as this goes.

31- "Down" - Marian Hill (+6) -- A slower jump this week for Marian Hill than the previous two weeks, which means this sadly might slow down and not go top 10. That would be fun if it did, though!

37- "That's What I Like" - Bruno Mars (+20) -- Eek. I don't like this song's super high trajectory. It's one of Bruno's worst singles. But I will admit that his actual performance at the Grammy's with this was good. I mean, regardless of what he's singing, Bruno has proved that he is one of the best performers of our day with excellent stage presence. Even when he's singing awful songs like this, he still sells it on the stage and because of that performance, I think this is going top 10 next week. It's projected to be in the top five in sales for next week, according to Kworb. Speaking of Bruno, I think his Prince tribute may have been the best performance at the Grammy's. But that has nothing to do with this song.

38- "Moves" - Big Sean (+36) -- Another major jump due to Big Sean's album. I can only hope this collapses next week, because while "Bounce Back" has grown on me ever so slightly, this song is beyond awful and one of the worst songs of the year so far.

41- "Issues" - Julia Michaels (+23) -- Keep it coming Julia! This song is deserving of at least top 20. If she can even sneak into the top 10 with her debut single as a lead singer, this is a positive thing. We could use more good pop singers like Julia Michaels transitioning over to the mainstream.

69- "Guys My Age" - Hey Violet (+18) -- On a different note, I can only hope this is a one week surge. I don't want this song to become a hit. Although since it is not yet top 50, I'm not complaining just yet. I'm fine with this song hanging around in the bottom half of the top 100.

72- "Call on Me" - Starley (+10) -- Another wait and see for me. I'd welcome this if it became a top 50 hit, but I won't be super offended if it never made it in. It's a fine song, but I keep forgetting that it exists as it doesn't stick with me super well.

84- "Any Ol' Barstool" - Jason Aldean (+11) -- I'm not surprised to see Jason Aldean rise in the country world. At least this is still in the 80's and not up in the 20's like Sam Hunt. But let's hope this doesn't jump much higher.

New Arrivals:




22- "No Favors" - Big Sean featuring Eminem -- Last week I covered five new Migos songs from their album. This week I get to cover six new Big Sean songs. I was less nervous about diving into this one because Big Sean is sometimes actually capable of writing decent rap music. "Moves" I hate, but "Bounce Back" is fine compared to other rap songs. When I saw that the top debut was an Eminem feature, I was immediately intrigued. Truth be told, I hate most rap, but I love Eminem. He's a lyrical genius and his rap usually carries a lot of weight and emotion to it. Big Sean starts this off and I feel a lot of genuine emotion in his verse and it's actually good rap in my opinion. Then Eminem comes in and holy cow! If he's going for shock value, then he definitely succeeds. The description on Apple Music calls it one of Eminem's most lethal guest spots. In the middle of the verse, Eminem says that "It may be disturbing, what I'm saying's cringeworthy." Yeah that's a good way to put it. There's a lot of disturbing statements made here. Yet I know Eminem usually has a point to what he's saying, so I'm going to take a rain check on this one because I need time to digest this song before I make a solid determination. Just know that my initial feelings here are shock. I'll let you know later what that shock turns into if this song becomes a hit.

43- "Believer" - Imagine Dragons -- This surprised me. For some reason I wasn't expecting more Imagine Dragons this fast. I do have a bit of a bias towards Imagine Dragons. They were big locally here in Provo long before they became a nationwide phenomenon. In fact, I went to an Imagine Dragons concert back in 2011 before they released their "Night Visions" album in 2012, so it was kinda cool watching them gain so much popularity because of that. And I absolutely love Night Visions, but it felt like it took a long time before they made their second album, "Smoke + Mirrors," which sadly was a bit disappointing to me. Not bad, but also not super memorable. That was in 2015. I suppose two years isn't super fast, but does the release of this single mean we're getting that third album this year? If so, I hope it's better than "Smoke + Mirrors." As far as this single, it reminds me a bit of "Sucker for Pain" from "Suicide Squad," of which Imagine Dragons was one of like 30 featured artists on that one song. I exaggerate, but not by much. Quite honestly, I'm not feeling it. It doesn't seem super original and it feels a lot more like the tracks from "Smoke + Mirrors" rather than "Night Visions." But maybe I just need more time for it to sink in. Certainly not bad. I enjoy it. But not as much as I want to.

68- "My Old Man" - Zac Brown Band -- Wow. I usually go into these country songs with a bit of a chip on my shoulder because most of them are boring and cliche, but this one really surprised me, but this is a really nice song by the Zac Brown Band. He's telling us that he always wanted to be like his old man. Like many of us, even if we appreciated our parents while we were younger, it's usually when we become adults ourselves that we really grow to appreciate what our parents did for us and this is exactly the message he's getting here, now as a parent himself, he hopes that his kid will one day grow up and want to be like him. It's a really pretty, beautiful country song, both in terms of the message and the music. I'm a fan!

70- "Sacrifices" - Big Sean featuring Migos -- I get a mixed vibe from this song. Big Sean here is rapping about how we all have to make sacrifices and the song ends with him saying that his great, great, great aunt was a slave and she had to make a lot of sacrifices, so he doesn't want to take those sacrifices in vain. Throughout the song he states that in order to get ahead, you need to make sacrifices, but at the end of each hook he says, "(Screw) it, though, that's how hungry my appetite is." Is he acknowledging that you need to make sacrifices while admitting he's throwing in the towel and not willing to make those sacrifices? I don't get it. So this song confuses me. The bigger issue here, though, is featuring Migos. They come in and do their same annoying thing. Their annoying noises and echoes thrown all over their verses that are a bunch of shorter phrases thrown together. At least their verses actually make sense narratively, but it's still annoying. I don't know how people can listen to them non stop without wanting to gouge their eardrums out.

74- "Halfway Off the Balcony" - Big Sean -- Just Big Sean for this song. No guest feature. And this song seems fairly empty. Nothing about it screams annoying or awful. Yet there's also nothing that really catches my attention, either. It seems like he's rapping about him feeling unfulfilled about what he's doing as he realizes that that when it comes to females, chemistry means way more than anatomy. In other words, you have to have a connection with a girl to make a relationship work instead of just going after someone because they are attractive. So that's all cool. It just seems like there's no resolution here, so I leave this not feeling grossed out or offended, but just uninterested.

76- "Jump Out the Window" - Big Sean -- OK, here we go. This is a song about Big Sean trying to get a girl out of an abusive relationship. Certainly nothing new. In fact, it reminds me of what Shawn Mendes was trying to do in "Treat You Better," except this one comes off as a lot less arrogant and more honest. Big Sean talks about the times when they were younger and playing Mario Kart that he realized she was a princess, but he never pursued a relationship. Now he sees her in a miserable relationship and he's experienced her crying in the phone to him about how awful it is, so he wants to help her and now he thinks he's ready. So yeah, nothing special or unique, but it's actually a decent rap song from Big Sean.

86- "Owe Me" - Big Sean -- Here's a narrative similar to the previous one, although a lot less interesting and more confusing. Big Sean finally gets the girl he wants, but then he doesn't want to be with her, then he does again? Then his friends tell him he shouldn't go back. Then he's pointing the blame game all over the place. And, well, I don't even know. This song doesn't make much sense to me.

87- "Beauty and the Beast" - Ariana Grande & John Legend -- I discussed this in depth on my facebook page already, so I'll be comparably brief. "Beauty and the Beast" is my favorite Disney movie and the original song by Angela Lansbury is a timeless classic. One of the best love songs ever. It would be unfair to compare this version to that. Instead we must see it as it is. The end credits song to the upcoming "Beauty and the Beast" remake, thus we compare it to the end credits version of the animated movie, which was sung by Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson. In that comparison, it holds up perfectly. I'm fairly certain that this is the same exact arrangement. As if the music people from the movie put that sheet music in front of Ariana Grande and John Legend in the recording studio and told them to sing it as is. So Ariana is doing her best Celine impression and when you listen to the two back to back, Ariana absolutely nails her Celine impression. Where the song falls slightly short is John Legend's side. He doesn't quite have the same vocal range as Peabo Bryson, so his parts don't have quite the impact. But outside that, this is a solid song and a good sign for the upcoming movie.

89- "I Don't" - Mariah Carey featuring YG -- I've had a lot of discussions recently about Ms. Carey with a few of my good friends that caused me to go back and listen to all of her singles so that I could develop a more informed opinion of her. I learned that I really love a lot of her early work in the 90's. When it got to the mid- to late-90's, she started being very mediocre, then most of her stuff from 2000 on was just not good for me. Coincidentally, she's really struggled recently to find mainstream success recently as her last top 10 hit was "Obsessed" back in 2009. She got to No. 15 in 2013 with "#Beautiful," but that wasn't really a success, rather just a strong debut. Coming from the queen who dominated the charts in the 90's and still holds the record for the song that has spent the most weeks at No. 1 (16 weeks for "One Sweet Day"), this is fairly surprising. In fact, her last few attempts to make a comeback didn't even see her get higher than No. 82. I don't know how well this song will do on the charts, but for me I'm not a fan. Sorry. It's beyond basic when it comes to the lyrics. Mariah Carey's vocals are good for part of it, but the song never really goes anywhere and we have a featured rapper in YG that not only ruins anything good Mariah had going in the chorus, but really screams desperation on Mariah's part. "Hey, maybe if I feature a rapper, I will become popular again." No, sorry. This doesn't do it for me.

93- "Now and Later" - Sage the Gemini -- I don't know if I really like the candy comparisons in this song. He says he can be her lifesaver and that she can treat him like a jawbreaker. Then he tells her that she has 31 flavors and that she can get him now and later. Sage the Gemini definitely had a huge sweet tooth when he wrote this song and it doesn't really land that well. But I'm not going to lie, this is not an explicit rap song. It's not disgusting or gross. It doesn't even have the red "E" on it on my Apple Music like most of them do. Thus it's a fairly harmless rap song and it does have a pretty good groove to it. I found myself dancing around in my seat a bit while I was listening to it. In a day where 90 percent of rap music turns me off, it's nice finding one that doesn't drive me up the wall. 

94- "In Case You Didn't Know" - Brett Young -- It's a pretty good week for country. In terms of these new debuts, anyways. The fact that I really enjoyed the Zac Brown Band song and the fact that I don't hate this one, means that we're two for two. This is a simple, basic country love song about a guy who finally gets around to confessing his love for this girl. It would make for a nice little wedding song going in the background of a reception.

95- "Look at Me!" - Xxxtentacion -- I almost went this whole week without completely hating on any rap or country songs. Even some of the lesser Big Sean songs I didn't completely destroy. But we couldn't go completely unscathed, could we? Apparently this song was initially released in 2015, but didn't hit mainstream until X, as they call him, got mad at Drake on Twitter for copying this song, or something like that. It's unfortunate that this crossed over to the mainstream because it is beyond awful. Not only does the production of the song make me feel like my speakers are broken, but the dude just goes on an angry, nonsensical tyrant throwing out all sorts of insults and seeing how many times he can drop the f-bomb in one song. I'm going to make an effort to never listen to this full song again because it hurt my ears so bad on every level. If you haven't heard this, good. Keep it that way.

97- "Light" - Big Sean featuring Jeremih -- And our final Big Sean song is the song that essentially opens up the album. After the minute-long intro, that is. The message here is a good one. Big Sean says he's been trying to find the light at the end of the tunnel only to realize that the light comes from within, so he's trying to use that knowledge to his benefit and make himself a better person. Big Sean said in an interview the following, "When you realize that your inner power is the key to everything on the outside -- when you've realize that you've got that light and you hold all the answers that you've been looking for in all these other places -- then that's the first step to really changing your whole world." So yeah, that's a pretty positive message. It's just that musically the song is a bit boring. I appreciate the lyrics, I just got bored of the song halfway through the song, if that makes sense.

Wednesday, February 8, 2017

DrogeMiester's Billboard Analysis - February 18, 2017

It's that time of week again for me to give you my thoughts on the new Billboard charts! In this weekly post, I cover three sections. First, I give my thoughts on the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. Second, I give my thoughts on the songs that experienced significant gains below the top 10. Third, I give my initial thoughts on our new arrivals this week. I reserve the right to mix things up in the future and do different things here, but for now this is what I've decided to stick to. I've followed the Billboard charts for a long time now and this is a great way for me to express my thoughts to the world. I hope you enjoy!

Billboard Hot 100 Top 10:




1- "Shape of You" - Ed Sheeran (+1) -- Oh thank heavens! Ed Sheeran is back at No. 1! I'm not the biggest fan of this song. I prefer "Castle on the Hill" much more, but this is a fun song that's much more deserving than "Bad and Boujee." Now the question is what happens from here on out? Can Ed keep that No. 1 spot or will "Bad and Boujee" wrestle it back away? Or can Zayn and Taylor send their song to No. 1 given that the movie it's written for comes out this upcoming week along with the album? Or here's a dark horse question. Can Lady Gaga hit No. 1 next week? Her post Super Bowl sales are incredible. Kworb.com is currently estimating "Million Reasons" to sell 180,000 this week, which should easily send it to the top of the sales charts. Lack of streaming and radio might make that answer a no, but watch out. "Born This Way," "Bad Romance" and "Poker Face" might also re-enter the Hot 100 for a week as well.

2- "Bad and Boujee" - Migos featuring Lil Uzi Vert (-1) -- The addition of Pandora to Billboard's formula last week (yes, that affected the charts last week, not this week -- my mistake) as well as Billboard's adjustment to the formula is apparently hurting the rap genre most, which I'm totally fine with. Most rap songs on the charts suck and thankfully we only had five new Migos songs from their new album debut this week as opposed to the whole album debuting like was the case with Drake, J. Cole and The Weeknd. Streaming for "Bad and Boujee" is still frustratingly high, which is why I wouldn't be surprised to see it steal that top spot again, but I hope that's not the case. I really want the streaming to start dropping so that the song can start dropping, too.

3- "I Don't Wanna Live Forever (Fifty Shades Darker)" - Zayn & Taylor Swift (+2) -- The release of the music video along with a discount on iTunes sent this song rising on the charts this week. I thought it had potential to go as high as No. 1 this week, but "Shape of You" and "Bad and Boujee" were too strong. With the release of "Fifty Shades Darker" into theaters in accordance with the release of the "Fifty Shades Darker" soundtrack album, could this challenge Ed for No. 1 in the next week or two? Radio is catching on as well, so I would wager a yes to that. Maybe not next week, but soon.

4- "Bad Things" - Machine Gun Kelly & Camilla Cabello (=) -- I expect this song to be stuck at No. 4 for a while given the strength of our top three. For the sake of "Bad and Boujee" falling and not necessarily my love for this song, I would hope this jumps up a spot to No. 3, sending "Bad and Boujee" falling out of the top five, but that might be more hopeful thinking than anything.

5- "Closer" - The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey (-2) -- How about another tied record this week? After tying "Uptown Funk" for the most weeks in the top three last week with 21 weeks, "Closer" now ties "Uptown Funk" and LeAnn Rimes' "How Do I Live" for most weeks in the top five with 25 weeks. One more week in the top five, which seems fairly likely at this point, will make it so "Closer" stands alone in that category. With 27 weeks in the top 10 now, we are now just five weeks away from "Closer" tying LeAnn Rimes' record of 32 weeks in the top 10. One final record. "Closer" has spent the last 25 weeks at the top of the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart, which was created in 2013. One more week on top of there will tie the 26 week record set by Avicii's "Wake Me Up!" 

6- "Don't Wanna Know" - Maroon 5 featuring Kendrick Lamar (+1) -- And why does this continue to rise? I was happy to see it about to fall out a few weeks ago and now it's been on a resurgence. It's current No. 6 placing is it's peak. Let's keep it that way.

7- "Starboy" - The Weeknd featuring Daft Punk (+1) -- I'm happy to see "Starboy" jumping up a spot this week. Although I assume that has more to due with "Black Beatles" bleeding hard rather than "Starboy" seeing a resurgence, which I'm totally fine with.

8- "Fake Love" - Drake (+1) -- Same story with the rise of this song. I don't think it rose this week due to it's own merits, but rather due to the fall of "Black Beatles." At least I hope not. I want Drake to disappear from the music scene. He's the most undeserved superstar possibly ever.

9- "Black Beatles" - Rae Sremmurd featuring Gucci Mane (-3) -- Let's all stand and give a round of applause to this bleeding hard. It dropped three spots last week and three spots this week. I hope it continues that trend and drops out of the top 10 next week.

10- "Scars to Your Beautiful" - Alessia Cara (=) -- Sadly I don't think this song has a super long life in the top 10 ahead of it, but Alessia did perform this on Saturday Night Live recently and given that "Starboy," "Fake Love" and "Black Beatles" aren't super strong right now, I could see this jumping several spots next week. At the very least this should stay stagnant at the bottom of the top 10 for a while given that most songs between No. 11 and 19 are fairly stagnant.

Rising on the Hot 100:




11- "Paris" - The Chainsmokers (+2) -- I totally expect this to replace "Black Beatles" in the top 10 next week. And yes, that will be an improvement. But as I detailed when this debuted, I'm not happy with this song. I like The Chainsmokers, but it appears that fame has gotten to their heads as they've been very lazy recently. "Paris" is their laziest song to date. If it becomes the next "Closer," I will be one of the first to start throwing a fit.

16- "I Feel it Coming" - The Weeknd featuring Daft Punk (+2) -- I feel this coming for the top 10! But not fast enough. I hope this doesn't get stuck just below the top 10. That would be kinda sad. The top 10 could use a little more life in it right now and if "Starboy" is set to leave soon, let's replace it with another song by The Weeknd and Daft Punk.

19- "T-Shirt" - Migos (+18) -- Gross. I assume this took a huge bump because of Migos' new album. Let's hope No. 18 is where this song peaks. If this went No. 1, I would be way more upset about that than I was with "Bad and Boujee" hitting No. 1. Even thinking about that gives me nightmares.

24- "Rockabye" - Clean Bandit featuring Sean Paul & Anne-Marie (+8) -- Top 25! That's a huge win for me with this song! I have nightmares of this getting stuck around No. 20. Clean Bandit deserves a huge hit here in America and I hope this is the one. "Rather Be" only hitting No. 10 was a huge shame. I don't know why we haven't fully accepted Clean Bandit like the rest of the world already has done a long time ago.

37- "Down" - Marion Hill (+15) -- Apparently this song's huge jump last week wasn't a fluke after all. I'm happy about this, but I'm certainly surprised. This is a very simple, yet infectious little tune that doesn't seem to be the type of song to catch on with the general public. I thought it would be a song that would stick around for a few weeks in the bottom half of the Billboard charts before dropping out, not a song that would go top 40 in it's third week. But hey, let's keep it going!

39- "Congratulations" - Post Malone featuring Quavo (+19) -- Oh get this the fetch out of here. Not one person on Earth likes Post Malone. "White Iverson" was one of the most hated songs of the last couple of years among music critics. I'm not even as harsh on Post Malone as some others. He's the lesser of a few evils on the charts right now, but even I would say that another top 40 hit is completely undeserved. This song is pretty bad and I'm disgusted that it jumped 19 spots this week.

41- "Play that Song" - Train (+19) -- Apparently a lot of people also hate this song as well as his whole album. I haven't listened to Train's album yet. That's on my list of things to do. But I actually enjoy this song. Perhaps it jumps based on the album's success, but personally I would like it to get even higher. It's nothing super special or deep, but it's a fun song.

46- "Make Me (Cry)" - Noah Cyrus featuring Labrinth (+9) -- I'm still wondering where Noah's older sister Miley disappeared to when it comes to the music scene. I feel she's been working on that sixth studio album for a long time now while being distracted by things such as being re-engaged to Liam and doing stuff for The Voice. Perhaps that's a good thing. Noah herself, though? While she's not as crazy as Miley, she's also not as talented if I'm being honest. This song is very meh for me.

57- "That's What I Like" - Bruno Mars (+25) -- I keep having to remind myself that "Uptown Funk" was a Mark Ronson song that only featured Bruno Mars. Then everything makes sense. Bruno right before "Uptown Funk" wasn't very good and Bruno after "Uptown Funk" isn't good either. I wasn't a fan of "24K Magic." I'm happy it never hit No. 1 and is now gone from the top 10. This song is even worse. In fact, I find this super annoying. It's surging right now, but I hope it slows down before it gets to the top 10. 

61- "Despacito" - Luis Fonsi featuring Daddy Yankee (+16) -- How high can a Latin song go on the charts? What's the highest that a song completely in Spanish has hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100? Perhaps I should do some research on that and get back to you because I honestly don't know.

64- "Issues" - Julia Michaels (+23) -- Please let this song be a hit! Based on this and her feature on last year's Kygo song "Carry On," I think I really like Julia Michaels. I was happy to see this jump so high in its sophomore frame.

69- "The Weekend" - Brantley Gilbert (+10) -- In our huge country surge last week thanks to Billboard's changes, there were actually a handful of country songs that I claimed to enjoy. This was definitely not one of them. But for some reason this is the one that gets the huge gain this week? I don't understand.

New Arrivals:




38- "Body Like a Back Road" - Sam Hunt -- So far the year's worst country song belongs to Sam Hunt's "Drinkin' Too Much." Luckily that song is already off the charts as a flop, so Mr. Hunt follows that up with this, which isn't much better. He just spends the whole song singing about how hot this girl is and how much he enjoys sleeping with her, because her body is like a back road to him, which is a weird comparison if I'm being honest. If you tell that too a girl, even if that girl is your wife, is she going to take that as a compliment or an insult? I think Sam Hunt is trying to write a sexy country song, but it just comes off as weird and awkward. Then he says he's going to take it slow as fast as he can. Say what?

48- "Slippery" - Migos featuring Gucci Mane -- I was really nervous that I would have to cover this whole album. Luckily I only have to cover five of the songs, so let's get these over with. "Slippery" is a song that I don't even really understand. I suppose Migos' style is to interconnect a bunch of small, little phrases, but it doesn't even feel like rap to me. It's just annoying. In "Slippery," most of the little phrases are separated by an annoying sound. When Gucci Mane comes in, it's almost refreshing because he's actually rapping and not annoying me like a trio of 10-year-olds. And his short verse isn't even good.

58- "Kelly Price" - Migos featuring Travis Scott -- I don't know why they are referencing Kelly Price in this song. Out of all the singers they could choose to sing about, what makes Kelly Price unique? She's never even had a top 10 hit on the Hot 100. Her highest song went to No. 12 in 1998. And that was her very first single. This is just a song about sex and drugs (surprise) where they tell the girl they are going to make her sing like Kelly Price. I don't even want to know what that means. The intro to this song is actually slightly less annoying, but it doesn't take them very long to get to their annoying short phrases followed by echoes and random sounds. This time around Travis Scott's verse is plain out disgusting and actually the worst part of the song.

62- "Call Casting" - Migos -- This Migos song has no featured artist. Just our three favorite rappers. "Slippery" and "Kelly Price" both start with Quavo, the most annoying of the three. "Call Casting" starts with Takeoff, the least annoying of the three, which is a mild plus. It took me longer to hit the annoyance level of the other songs, but we did get there. Short phrases, echoes and annoying songs filling a song that doesn't make much sense. They reference Zaxby's several times, which made me want to go to Zaxby's right now because that place is pretty great. At the same time, though, it also made me slightly offended that the referenced Zaxby's because I don't even want to know what they meant by it, if anything.

66- "Run Up" - Major Lazer featuring PARTYNEXTDOOR & Nicki Minaj -- I really like Major Lazer, the electronic trio consisting of Diplo, Jillionaire and Walshy Fire. Yeah, weird names, I know. That's why I'm glad they stick to Major Lazer. They've done songs like "Lean On," "Powerful" "Light it Up," "Cold Water" and "Believer," all of which are either good or great. But then they occasionally throw out a major dud like this. First off, the actual electronic element isn't even that good. This isn't a song you can dance to. There's not even a drop in the song. Just some random electronic noises in the background while we listen to our Drake wannabe, PARTYNEXTDOOR, rapping and then repeating the line "I'm a run up on you" over and over. Throw in there a verse by Nicki Minaj, one of my all-time least favorite rappers, and we have ourselves a huge stinker. Like what the fetch Major Lazer? Y'all are much better than this!

71- "I'm Better" - Missy Elliott featuring Lamb -- Well here's a controversial opinion. I don't get Missy Elliot. I went through my whole Billboard Project on this blog and when I hit the 2000's, Missy Elliot was everywhere. And apparently everyone loved her. I never listened to her stuff back then and when I went through the 2000's on this blog, none of her stuff stood out to me as anything great. Granted, after listening to five Migos songs from this week as well as that awful Major Lazer song featuring Nicki, this is definitely a breath of fresh air as Missy actually knows how to rap. If you force me to listen to a rap song, I'll pick this over just about any rap song on the charts right now, but I still don't think there's a whole lot of substance here. The hooks by Lamb, whoever the heck he is, aren't good and the verses and bridges by Missy are just her bragging about how awesome and hot she is and how many fancy cars and cool people she knows. I understand if you're a fan of Missy, you'll agree that she's awesome and better than everyone, so perhaps you'll buy into this one. Like I said, I prefer this over most of the crap on the charts, but I'll still take a pass. 

72- "Get Right Witcha" - Migos -- Another pet peeve of mine with rappers. It's "get right with you." Not "get right witcha." Spell it right. Purposely misspelled words and grammatical errors flooding through your songs is really annoying, not cool. In this version of the song, which again is mostly Quavo, the more annoying of the three, they spend a lot of time bragging about how they slept with lots of other guys' wives. And that's me censoring the lyrics. No Migos, that makes you guys idiotic punks, not cool rappers. Only one more of these songs.

88- "Scared to Be Lonely" - Martin Garrix & Dua Lipa -- Finally! I get to talk about a good song this week. It's really frustrating when there's a whole lot of new releases and they are all mostly crap. Despite only being 20 years old, Martin Garrix has been one of my favorite DJs ever since he released "Animals" in 2013. He consistently puts out quality music. It's either good or great for Martin Garrix and never bad or even average. He continues his winning streak here with Dua Lipa as his featured vocalist. I liked the idea of Dua Lipa crossing over to the U.S., but "Blow My Mind" was really annoying to me, mostly because of the "mwah" sound throughout, so I'm glad she's redeemed herself here. This isn't as upbeat and bombastic as some of Martin Garrix's other songs. You can't necessarily blast this at a dance party and get everyone jumping up and down like some of his other songs do, but in this case the more soft approach works and there's a surprising amount of emotion in the lyrics. The song is about a relationship that isn't working out, but yet they keep coming back to each other anyways and Dua Lipa is trying to figure out why exactly that is. I like it. 

93- "Culture" - Migos featuring DJ Khaled -- And we end this annoying streak of five Migos songs with my favorite rapper, DJ Khaled. And yes, that was supposed to be sarcastic. Because all he does, even in his own songs, is yell at me in the intro, let everyone else do the actual rapping, then yell at me in the outro. Which is exactly the case. He just calls me a... well, I'm not going to repeat it... for doubting Migos. But it just makes me want to go punch him in the face. Luckily this is the shortest song of the five, but surrounding their same annoying crap with DJ Khaled yelling at me makes this the worst of the bunch.

99- "El Amante" - Nicky Jam -- Is it just me or are we getting a lot of these Latin songs on the charts recently? It makes me wish I knew Spanish so that I can join in on the party and appreciate the songs more. Instead I have to focus on the music and the vocals without knowing the lyrics, which is OK. This song is a slower one with enough of a beat to have a nice groove. Nicky Jam's vocals are very smooth and sweet. If I were to go Latin dancing, which I've actually done on many occasions, I would enjoy myself if this song turned on.

100- "Some Kind of Drug" - G-Eazy featuring Marc E. Bassy -- This song almost works for me. Compared to all the trash I've listened to just this week alone, this is certainly tolerable. We have Marc E. Bassy starting things off on the hook on the song feels smooth and mellow. Then we have G-Eazy on the verses as the two go back and forth, contrasting each other very nicely. At least in theory. A song with just Marc E. Bassy's part would be boring, so you need a rap contrast to make it work, but G-Eazy's rap just doesn't do it for me. He's not annoying as heck like Migos are with their rap and he doesn't make me feel dirty disgusting as if I need to take a shower after listening, but the lyrical content just doesn't work. He's just talking about having sex with his girl. And that's pretty much it.

Tuesday, February 7, 2017

DrogeMiesters Top 10 FAVORITE EDM Songs of 2016

Ever since the Billboard calendar year ended in the middle of December, I've been working on getting my end of year lists out to you. The goal was to release them once a week from December 19 through January 9. That's four lists in four weeks. I did good with my first two lists, my list of the most popular songs of 2016 and my list of my personal favorite songs of 2016. But creating my list of my least favorite songs of 2016 proved difficult, so that threw things off a bit. Then when I went to go create my list of my favorite EDM songs, that took even longer. But this time around it was a lot of fun because electronic music has always been my favorite ever since I was young. I love the sound and the creativity. Some people complain that it's just made behind a computer and not with real instruments. I could argue that in depth, but the short version is that that's a very ignorant take on electronic music. Eligible for this list was any song that debuted on the Hot Dance/Electronic charts in 2016, a lot of which I really enjoyed, which is why this took so long to wade through. I hope you enjoy!

10- "Oasis" - Kygo featuring Foxes


9- "Alone" - Marshmello


8- "Smoke Filled Room" - Mako


7- "Reality" - Lost Frequencies featuring Janieck Devy


6- "Rush Over Me" - Seven Lions, Illenium & Said the Sky featuring HAILENE


5- "Lone Digger" - Caravan Palace


4- "How to Love" - Cash Cash featuring Sofia Reyes


3- "Falling Away" - Seven Lions featuring Lights


2- "Faded" - Alan Walker


1- "Let Go" - deadmau5 featuring Grabbitz



Click here to see the top songs of 2016
Click here to see my favorite songs of 2016
Click here to see my least favorite songs of 2016