Billboard Hot 100 Top 10:
1- "rockstar" - Post Malone featuring 21 Savage (=) -- I hate that we live in a world where a song as boring and unintelligent as "rockstar" is the No. 1 song for eight weeks in a row. If this were a week or two at the top, then whatever. I could shrug that off. But this is now one of the biggest songs of 2017 and is quickly climbing that decade chart as well. It's frustrating. It seems like it's on its way out as it's either peaked or declined in all categories. But none of the songs seem strong enough to catch it. I've decided that "Havana" is not going to be the song to do it. But it might have some surprise competition from "Perfect." I'll get to that in a second.
2- "Havana" - Camila Cabello featuring Young Thug (=) -- The numbers for "rockstar" vs. "Havana" are such that "rockstar" fell 8 percent in overall points, which is good, but "Havana" fell 14 percent in over points. After getting a good boost on streaming last week, "Havana" fell back down to earth with a 14 percent fall to 34.4 million U.S. streams. "rockstar" also fell in streaming, but only 9 percent to 50.5 million U.S. streams. And that's the difference as "Havana" has sizable gains in both radio and sales, but it doesn't seem to matter with how much emphasis is on streaming.
3- "Perfect" - Ed Sheeran (+2) -- The reason I say "Perfect" might have a decent chance of challenging "rockstar" for that top spot is that at the tail end of this week's tracking week, Ed Sheeran released a remix of the song that features Beyonce, that was able to push it to No. 3. Next week will be the first full week of tracking for the remix and kworb.net is currently estimating that the remix by itself is set to sell 110,000 sales while the original is getting around 70,000 sales thanks also to an iTunes discount. Radio also loves this song, so those numbers are continually rising, and if the remix also helps it give a boost on streaming, this could very well be No. 1 next week, which would I would be ecstatic about. Not just because I want "rockstar" gone (I never wanted it at the top in the first place), but I also love this song and the addition of Beyonce enhances the song as it transforms from a beautiful wedding ballad about a guy singing to a girl he loves into a beautiful duet where both members in this couple are singing about how much they love each other. While some remixes of late have seemed forced, this one feels natural. As if Ed Sheeran should've released this version first.
4- "Gucci Gang" - Lil Pump (-1) -- The universe is balancing out. A couple of weeks ago I was ready to abandon all hope as I thought this was going No. 1. But now it is starting to tank on streaming, falling 20 percent to 39.6 million U.S. streams while also tanking in sales that it never really had in the first place (15,000 this week). I'm still angry that it got this high, but I'm happy that it might be heading out before too long.
5- "Thunder" - Imagine Dragons (-1) -- Now if only "Thunder" could die with "Gucci Gang." Unfortunately this is still holding decently well, no thanks to radio deciding they love this bland piece of garbage. I think its fall is more due to the surge of "Perfect." Either it stays at No. 5 next week or goes back up to No. 4.
6- "Too Good at Goodbyes" - Sam Smith (+1) -- Here's a nice surprise. I was ready to be upset at the fact that it looked like this was heading out. But now it looks like it's officially going to be camping out for a while. At least in the bottom half of the top 10. I would love for this to gain more traction and camp out in the top five instead, but hey I'll take what I can get. I'm glad this is still here.
7- "Bodak Yellow (Money Moves)" - Cardi B (-1) -- Cardi B is thankfully on her way out. But hey, to her credit, she is much better than "rockstar," "Gucci Gang" or this other piece of trash, which she is also a part of, right below her.
8- "No Limit" - G-Eazy featuring A$AP Rocky & Cardi B (+3) -- I'm not surprised that this hit top 10. It's been slowly on the rise for quite some time now. But I'm still not happy about this. Now if this can be one of those songs that hangs out for a few weeks in the bottom half of the top 10 before quickly leaving, that would be a minor win for me. I hope that's more than wishful thinking.
9- "What Lovers Do" - Maroon 5 (+1) -- Not surprised at this minor jump. I imagine it has a few jumps left in it in the coming weeks with songs like "Bodak Yellow" falling, but I really hope this is a temporary stay in the bottom half of the top 10. The world doesn't need any more of Adam Levine or his essentially non-existent band Maroon 5. They forgot how to write good music a long time ago.
10- "Feel It Still" - Portugal. The Man (-2) -- This week we lost Demi Lovato's "Sorry Not Sorry" again as it falls back down after a bump from the AMAs. It was nice, though, that we got to keep Portugal. The Man for another week. I'm not sure if we'll get another hit from this band as it seems this might be another case of the song going viral as opposed to the artist themselves (that's how we get one hit wonders), but I'm really happy that this managed to be a very welcome bright spot in a very frustrating 2017. Let's please bring more songs like this onto the charts?
Rising on the Hot 100:
11- "Bad at Love" - Halsey (+3) -- Halsey looks like she is on the brink of getting her first top 10 as a solo artist after spending what seemed like an eternity in the top 10 thanks to the Chainsmokers and their song "Closer." I wish I could be happier for Halsey, but I'm really not. I'm not at the point of anger, though. I'm more in the middle with this song, not hating it, but not really caring about it either.
15- "New Rules" - Dua Lipa (+3) -- I would be super happy if Dua Lipa got to the top 10. With her now getting to the top 15 for the first time ever, it looks like she might be just a few weeks away from her first ever top 10. The world could use a few more female pop singers to gain popularity, so I'm glad the music gods have chosen Dua Lipa.
19- "I Fell Apart" - Post Malone (+2) -- I don't even hardly remember this song, so it somehow managed to surprise me by hitting top 20 this week. I remember "Candy Paint" from "The Fate of the Furious" soundtrack, which debuted like a month ago. But not this. I suppose I better start bracing this because for some horrible reason the music gods have selected Post Malone to be a superstar. So I went back and re-read my thoughts on this song from October. Oh yeah. This is the song where Post Malone grumbles and complains the whole song that he couldn't buy a girl's love with his fame and riches. No thanks. This can go away, please.
27- "Love." - Kendrick Lamar featuring Zacari (+12) -- So here's a pleasant surprise. Kendrick's whole album debuted on the charts earlier this year, causing me to listen to the whole thing, which turned out to be a great experience. A lot of the songs held well on the charts, but I didn't think that I would get another song promoted as a new single. So I was caught off guard that this song returned and is now getting a good push. But I love it because this is one of the better songs from that album. It follows the song "Lust.," which in turn follows "Pride." and "Humble." In context of the album, Kendrick is weaving together beautiful themes that are resonant and emotional. But "Love." also stands good on its own as it's a slow ballad for Kendrick as his smooth rap is balanced well with Zacari's high register, as the two talk about the simple desire to be loved. As I think about it, this could definitely crossover well with pop radio. So even if you are like me and you don't usually like rap, check this one out because you might like it.
29- "Let You Down" - NF (+19) -- A 19-spot jump for this Christian rap song? Man, we have quite a bit of good news this week. I didn't think this song was capable of having a very high ceiling, but I'm apparently very wrong as this seems to be catching on with pop radio. That surprises me, but doesn't disappoint me. Let's keep this going.
36- "Silence" - Marshmello featuring Khalid (+7) -- Last week I mentioned that I liked Khalid, but I didn't want "Young Dumb & Broke" as the song that gets popular. This is the song that I prefer and I'm glad to see that it's the song to gain traction this week. Khalid works quite well with Marshmello.
43- "Plain Jane" - A$AP Ferg (+7) -- Well, it can't all be good. We have a streak of dog crap rising in the 40's to finish off this section this week. I don't know which one I dislike more. I just want all of them to go away.
46- "Rubbin off the Paint" - YBN Nahmir (+6) -- I want all three of these songs to go away. We don't need this guy around.
49- "Ric Flair Drip" - Offset & Metro Boomin (+5) -- Did you hear me? I want all three of these songs to go away. And we certainly don't need any more of Offset.
New Arrivals:
28- "MIC Drop" - BTS featuring Desiigner -- BTS and Desiigner? What the heck? Who on planet earth asked for THAT collaboration? No, I take that back, who is the one who even thought of this? Now I'm going to risk being burned alive by the angry mob of BTS fans (believe me, they're there and they're LOUD) in order to say that these kids need to go back to Korea and leave us Americans alone. We don't need their trash on the American charts. No, I don't mind K-Pop. It's usually a fun genre. But I call these kids the Korean One Direction because there's like 90 of them who all sound the exact same. There's very little harmonies here. Just them taking turns singing the melody, a style that I've never liked when you have a group of people singing. Give each member of your group something to do instead of taking turns singing the melody. And then when I translate their lyrics, I see nothing special. To top things off, they have a giant mob of fans who worship the ground they walk on. So yeah. Korean One Direction. K1D.
But this song specifically is a chore. The original from their album is mostly in Korean and they're doing some Korean hip-hop where they're bragging about how awesome and famous they are. I hate when any rappers do that. Especially when it comes from a boy band who aren't very good at rapping and don't have any of the swag they think they do. But it's whatever. Yet they add Desiigner in and with this remix he takes the floor from the beginning and spends nearly half the song rambling on about a bunch of nonsense. Now listen. I didn't mind "Panda" and I even enjoyed "Timmy Turner." But this does not work for Desiigner at all. When BTS finally comes in, I don't need a translation because they spend most of their time rapping in English with a brief Korean outro to finish things off. And it's the exact same things they were saying when I looked up the translation of the original. Them bragging about how awesome they are. It's not interesting. To wrap this up, this remix is actually a Steve Aoki remix, which is completely unnecessary because this song was already electronic to begin with. Steve Aoki just put his little spin on it. The whole song screams cocky desperation from this group and I don't like it. Crucify me if you feel like it.
52- "Codeine Dreaming" - Kodak Black featuring Lil Wayne -- I thought we agreed to leave Kodak Black in 2017? Well, I suppose the year isn't over yet, so there's still time to abandon him. But if his success carries into 2018, I'm going to be angry. I almost quit listening to this specific song after the intro when Kodak was mumbling worse than anything he'd done before. But I carried on. His mumbling did get a little better, but he's spending the whole song talking about how he wants to do drugs and it would not surprise me if he was high on drugs during the whole writing and recording process. If you also love doing drugs, then I guess you might get along with Kodak and enjoy listening to this drug anthem while you do your drugs because you won't be able to coherently listen to the words anyways, which is OK because Kodak barely got them out. Lil Wayne comes in for a few seconds and repeats everything Kodak said the verse before. So you know, that's quite the collaboration. Lil Wayne didn't even sound like he wanted to be there. But does he ever?
86- "Krippy Kush" - Farruko, Nicki Minaj, Bad Bunny, 21 Savage & Rvssian -- The credits alone on this song just sounded disgusting. I didn't even know who Farruko was, but with who he brought in, I felt like I didn't want to. Turns out he's like the Latino Migos. And there's a version of this song without Nicki and 21 Savage, which is bad enough. Perhaps the worst of all the Spanish songs that have graced the Billboard charts this year. I mean it's like this, "krippy krippy krippy krippy krippy... kush kush kush kush kush." Super annoying. Give a horrid verse to both Nicki and 21 Savage in the remix and we have all kinds of problems with this song.
98- "Legends" - Kelsea Ballerini -- After three horrid experiences so far this week, I was really glad to get to Kelsea. I haven't quite gone through her album "Unapologetically" from earlier this year, but I'm excited to because I enjoy her brand of country-pop. While this specific song is nothing to write home about, it was definitely a great change of pace this week. Kelsea does bring her typical charm and grace here that makes this a very relaxing listen. I was going to say it is simple and short, but then I looked and realized it's four minutes long, which means it just goes by really fast because I enjoyed the whole song. I think she's had lyrics that were deeper and more meaningful, but the song has a good beat to it and Kelsea has a great voice that makes this work. When I go through the album, I'll let you know how this fits in with the rest of the album.
99- "Total Eclipse of the Heart" - Chloe Kohanski -- Oh, so we're back to "The Voice" again? How often does this show run? I don't actually know, nor do I really care to look it up again. But the YouTube clip I watched here claims we're in the Top 11 and the lone song from the week that broke onto the charts is this girl named Chloe Kohanski performing Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart." In terms of Bonnie Tyler's songs, this one is definitely her most popular song as well as her lone No. 1 hit on the Hot 100. I personally prefer "Holding out for a Hero," but this song is solid as well, even though I mostly think of the hilarious literal music video of the song, making fun of its ridiculous 80's music video. In terms of Chloe covering this song, her voice matches Bonnie Tyler's voice rather well, thus I think this was an excellent selection for her and she brought a lot of emotion to the table while performing it that had her in tears towards the end of the song, which I appreciated. But she did play things a bit safe. Bonnie brings a lot of power to the song that she slowly builds to throughout the song and I didn't quite get that same emotional satisfaction from Chloe. I felt she had the potential to belt it out just like Bonnie does, but she didn't. So it was a good performance. But I've heard much better from "The Voice." I like this girl's potential, though.
100- "Perro Fiel" - Shakira featuring Nicky Jam -- We end this week with an actually good Latino song, unlike whatever the heck that "Krippy Kush" garbage was. I glanced over the English translation of this song and it didn't seem anything too special or unique, but Shakira has always been one of my favorite Latino singers as I've enjoyed her regardless of whether she's singing in English or Spanish. Whatever her and Nicky Jam are talking about in this song, they do a good job of playing off each other and making this a good duet. And although I enjoy this song, when compared to other Shakira songs, this is a softer, more toned down song. Shakira holds back instead of bursting out with fire and passion. That's not always a bad thing, but in this instance I think it makes the song a bit forgettable. I feel that if I listened to this whole album, this would be a song that felt more like an album filler when compared to other songs on the album like "Me Enamore" or "Chantaje," both of which I still really enjoy. I guess I prefer Shakira when she's singing upbeat songs that make you want to jump up and dance while "Perro Fiel" is a song to play in the background.
No comments:
Post a Comment