Billboard Hot 100 Top 10:
1- "Truth Hurts" - Lizzo (+2) -- Three weeks and three new No. 1 songs. But not just that, it's three weeks with three artists getting their very first No. 1 hit on the Hot 100 as neither Billie Eilish, Shawn Mendes or Lizzo had a No. 1 hit to their name prior to three weeks ago. Again, this is the fun we can have when we don't have one song dominating for months at a time. Billboard pointed out in their article this week that the last time this phenomenon happened was in July of 2000 when Vertical Horizon, matchbox twenty and *NSYNC each got their first ever No. 1 hits in three consecutive weeks. Honestly, "Truth Hurts" is probably my least favorite of the three recent No. 1 songs. It's not really my cup of tea, but I also don't mind it. And I imagine Lizzo has had huge success with this song due to it riding the line in terms of what genre it belongs in. If you're able to write a song that has cross appeal among different musical fan bases, that certainly increases your chances of doing well in terms of chart points. Specifically, what helped Lizzo this week was her performance at the VMAs, which was something that was totally not on my radar when I wrote my article last week. I like award shows, but music award shows are something I don't really care for, outside maybe the Grammys if I'm not doing anything else that day. Even though both "Truth Hurts" and "Señorita" were performed at the VMAs, it was "Truth Hurts" that had the much greater impact as it increased 23 percent in overall chart points compared to "Señorita" increasing 2 percent in overall chart points. Sales was the biggest benefit for "Truth Hurts" as the song more than doubled its sales as compared to the previous week, while also rising 21 percent in streaming. Radio was about even.
2- "Señorita" - Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello (-1) -- Given that the VMAs is what helped "Truth Hurts" soar up to No. 1, I have no idea what's going to happen next week, which makes this exciting. "Truth Hurts" could continue its upward track after a boost from the VMAs and stay at No. 1. Or it could come crashing back down to earth to where it was the week before. "Señorita" is still ahead on the radio and only slightly behind "Truth Hurts" in streaming. So it's those sales numbers that are the key.
3- "bad guy" - Billie Eilish (-1) -- With "Truth Hurts" jumping up to No. 1, "bad guy" slides down to No. 3. This would've probably happened even without the VMAs as "bad guy" has been here significantly longer, but I still think the song has a lot of life left in it, so it's not going to disappear too quickly.
4- "You Need to Calm Down" - Taylor Swift (+10) -- It's the week of Taylor Swift as all 18 tracks from her new album are currently on the charts. It's been a while since we've had a true album bomb like this. That's what pushed this song back into the top 10 for only its second week. After it debuted in the top 10, the song has floated around in the teens ever since. If I'm making a guess, I think it'll fall back out of the top 10 next week since it hasn't been able to gain a whole lot of traction.
5- "Old Town Road" - Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus (-1) -- This needs to fall faster.
6- "Ran$om" - Lil Tecca (-1) -- I would celebrate "Ran$om" falling out of the top five this week, but unfortunately Lil Tecca released an album this past weekend that will give this song a huge boost on next week's charts. I don't think Lil Tecca is going to enjoy an album bomb week as the individual tracks don't seem to be doing that well on streaming, but it'll definitely give "Ran$om" a huge boost." At the very least this will jump ahead of "Old Town Road" and naturally ahead of Taylor Swift since she's going to be crashing back down next week. At best, I wouldn't be surprised if this shoots up to No. 1, but I'm crossing my fingers that something will block it because I have no idea why this song is even on the Hot 100 at all, let alone still camping in the top 10. It's one of those awful trap songs that is an annoying little cockroach that won't die. No one is going to remember this song a year from now, but that doesn't make me feel better.
7- "No Guidance" - Chris Brown featuring Drake (=) -- At least "No Guidance" seems to be stuck at this point. Although remaining where it's at on the charts when Taylor soared ahead of it means it had a decent week as it looks like it will stick around for a while. But it doesn't look like it has enough momentum to get a whole lot higher.
8- "Talk" - Khalid (-2) -- I think this one is going to be gone here soon. Maybe not in the next week or two, but I don't see it lasting much longer after. All it has is radio and that's starting to die out as it has now relinquished it's No. 1 radio spot to our next entry.
9- "I Don't Care" - Ed Sheeran & Justin Bieber (-1) -- Yep, "I Don't Care" is the No. 1 song on the radio this week. I don't know how long it will keep that title as it only got there because it managed to be slightly more stable than "Talk."
10- "Lover" - Taylor Swift (+9) -- Taylor's second entry in the top 10 this week. Her getting two songs into the top 10 this week pushed out "Goodbyes" by Post Malone and "If I Can't Have You" by Shawn Mendes. I think "Goodbyes" will be back next week and I hope Lewis Capaldi's "Someone You Loved" also makes an appearance as the latter would've made it in this week if it weren't for Taylor Swift's album. However, Post Malone's new song "Circles" is set to debut next week, so Lewis Capaldi will have to jump ahead of either Khalid or Ed Sheeran in order to make it in. And even though "Lover" won't stick around as it's not the song Taylor is currently pushing as a single, the fact that it made the top 10 means that Taylor now has 25 top 10 entries to her name, which ties her with Elvis Presley for 10th most in Billboard history. Not that said mark really means anything since the culture on the Hot 100 is much different today than it was in the 50's and 60's. Plus, Elvis' career pre-dates the Hot 100, meaning he would've had a whole lot more if the Hot 100 had existed for his whole career. But still, anytime you're in the same sentence as Elvis with anything has to be considered impressive to some degree. For the sake of curiosity, Madonna still holds the record for most top 10s with 38, while Drake, The Beatles, Rihanna, Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey, Stevie Wonder, Janet Jackson and Elton John are the other artists in the region.
Rising on the Hot 100:
11- "ME!" - Taylor Swift featuring Brendon Urie (+47) -- A one week boost thanks to the album. It's surprising how poorly this song has performed considering it was the lead-off single AND had Brendon Urie attached to it. I guess that's what happens when you write a song that no one seems to care for.
21- "My Type" - Saweetie (+14) -- Not many songs survived the Taylor invasion this week, making this section shorter than normal. I suppose it's not surprising that the two that did are both rap songs. But a short section for an album bomb week means this section should be quite large next week, which could be interesting.
38- "The Archer" - Taylor Swift (re-entry) -- I usually don't put re-entries in, but I wanted to showcase where all of Taylor's songs are this week and of the four songs she released to promote the album, this is the one that had dropped off the charts.
70- "F.N" - Lil Tjay (+17) -- The other rap song that survived the Taylor invasion.
New Arrivals:
23- "The Man" - Taylor Swift -- Lot's of Taylor Swift today. Her new album "Lover" is 18 tracks long and has every track from the album on the charts this week. Given that four songs charted in previous weeks, that means there's 14 new songs to talk about and I've decided to cover them all. I usually ignore album bombs these days, but that's because most of them are from rappers that I don't care about. A new Taylor album is worth covering, in my mind. This particular track is Taylor's feminism anthem. She goes on a long rant about how amazing she would be if she was a man and how fed up she is lack of women's rights. This is not the first time from this album where Taylor gets political as "You Need to Calm Down" is another one. I'm just glad that these types of political songs aren't everything that's on the album because she's not good at them.
28- "I Forgot That You Existed" - Taylor Swift -- This is the album opener. It's a simple, basic Taylor Swift song that ends up being exactly what you think it is when you look at the title. After spending so long thinking about this person, Taylor Swift says that magically she forgot that said person existed. I'm assuming this is a breakup song, but technically there's not a whole lot of detail here that specifies one way or another. In theory it could be about anyone that upset her or gave her a hard time that she has now forgotten about, not just a former lover. But given that "Lover" is the title of the album, I'm going to assume it as about a former lover. In which case, this can be a relatable song of sorts that people turn to once they feel they've moved on from a former lover. If I'm being nitpicky, though, it's a bit contradictory to say that you forgot someone existed, then speak of how you feel now that you have forgotten about them. If you literally forgot someone existed, you wouldn't know any different and thus you wouldn't be speaking or talking about them. That's also a sentiment that doesn't magically happen in one night. It's more of a process. But eh. Whatever. I don't think the lyrics are meant to be taken literally. She's just singing about how she has finally moved on emotionally and how she now feels. So it's fine. But her feelings towards this person that she speaks of on the chorus might be how I feel about this song. It's not love, it's not hate, it's just indifference. And I might eventually forget this song ever existed.
29- "Cruel Summer" - Taylor Swift -- OK, I'm not going to get super nitpicky about all of these songs like I just did with "I Forgot That You Existed," especially since there's a lot of them to get to, but this one has me conflicted. On one hand, this is the type of Taylor song I really enjoy. She feels calm and comfortable. She's not trying to do something crazy or different. She's just being herself. I love the sound of her voice in this and I love the flow of the song. But the lyrics of the song are something that I have to piece together as most of the lines seem very disconnected from the lines next to them. It almost felt like a Migos song where there's just a bunch of random words and phrases that have zero rhyme or reason. I mean, if I take a step back and think of the song as a whole, I get the picture of a cruel summer where she's falling for a guy but things aren't working out. But it's when I take a close look at the lyrics that my brain gets confused. And give that many of the previous songs on the album seemed to be a bit careless lyrically, I'm not going to spend too much time trying to figure this one out.
45- "Paper Rings" - Taylor Swift -- I don't know what Taylor's plans are with her future singles from this album, but I found one that I think would work quite well. This is an uptempo song that I can see people jamming to, either at a party or as they're going for a drive in the car. It doesn't find Taylor trying too hard or getting out of her comfort zone. Rather, she feels relaxed and carefree. It sounds like she's having fun while singing this song. There's nothing about the lyrics that drive me crazy or feel like Taylor quickly breezed over them while writing. Everything makes sense. Granted, this isn't a deep, emotional song that connects with me on some deep level, but I think all the elements here come together to create something that's simply fun and infectious.
49- "Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince" - Taylor Swift -- In contrast to the song I'll get to next on this list, "Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince" goes for a more smooth and melodic tone and because of that, it's the song that connects with me the most on this album so far. It's another song like "Cruel Summer" where it feels like Taylor is in her most comfortable lane, musically speaking, but this time she also connects on the lyrics, making this a very well rounded song. She has an idea here of this bittersweet love wherein she feels deeply about this person, perhaps more than ever, but with that comes a lot of sorrow and pain. And she takes that idea and builds an effective song around it where I can feel her passion and care towards this person, while also understanding her pain, thus this song cuts deep and is effectively emotional.
51- "I Think He Knows" - Taylor Swift -- "I want you, bless my soul. But I ain't gotta tell him, I think he knows." Haha, that might be the theme song of every girl out there. In which case, girls, you probably SHOULD tell him. Even if you think it's obvious that he knows. Because he might not. So yeah, those lyrics make me chuckle and roll my eyes a bit. That aside, the flow of this song is very chopped up and bouncy. I don't know the exact musical term that's most appropriate here, but the first thing that came to my mind is that it felt like there were a lot of staccatos on the notes. And perhaps that fits the feel of the song being that she's quite love-struck as her heart is skipping down 16th Avenue. But it just didn't gravitate towards me personally.
52- "Good as Hell" - Lizzo -- Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe this was also one of the Lizzo songs that she performed at the VMAs in what I think was a medley of several of her songs. But I'm focusing on Taylor this week, so I'm going to skip this for now.
57- "Cornelia Street" - Taylor Swift -- As we get into the middle of this Taylor album, thankfully we start hitting a positive streak. "Cornelia Street" comes right after "Paper Rings," which in turn comes right after "Miss Americana." If you've read all of this, both of those songs are pretty good and so is this one. Now I'm not sure why Taylor picked the name Cornelia Street for this road because that's quite the mouthful with four syllables in Cornelia. If that's an actual name of a street she lived, then I suppose that would makes. But that's not a criticism of the song, just a bit of commentary. What I like about this song is that it actually takes you on a journey. Instead of having one emotion or one idea that's present throughout, it feels like Taylor is telling a story that has a beginning, middle and end. It caught me a bit off guard because I wasn't expecting that. I had to start over once I figured the song out and then I really enjoyed the journey. There's a few bridges in the song that are emotionally satisfying, then a spot towards the end where Taylor pauses for a bit, as if she got emotional in the studio. In reality, that was probably purposely planned out as she paused for effect, then slowly took us through the final part of the song. But it worked. And the song also has an infectious chorus that separates the story into sections, giving the song an excellent flow while also implementing a part that will get stuck in people's heads.
62- "London Story" - Taylor Swift -- This song is an oddly specific song. Usually Taylor and other pop singers like going the more generic route with their love song lyrics, but this song is about how much she loves her London boyfriend. She starts by talking about how much she loves her home country, but then admits that, when they say, "Home is where the heart is," that's not where her heart is. Her heart is in London. Then the rest of the song is filled with a lot of London references. As I was listening, I was thinking to myself that Taylor better have had a London boyfriend or else this song would be a bit random and ridiculous. With most of these songs I haven't looked anything up as there's too much to cover for me to do a deep dive into every song, but I had to look up this one. And yeah, her current boyfriend is still Joe Alwyn, who is a British actor. So that means this song is super specific and personal, which I appreciate. Yeah, sure, if they ever break up it means that this song might be a hard one to come back to as it has the danger of not standing the test of time. Hence is why a lot of love songs are more generic. But in a longer, 18-track album, I'm totally fine with her writing at least one song that specifically dives into her current situation.
63- "Soon You'll Get Better" - Taylor Swift featuring Dixie Chicks -- Dixie Chicks on the charts? What decade is it? The Dixie Chicks haven't released an album since 2006 and haven't had any charting songs of any sort since 2007. So I had to also look this one up to see what was going on here. Did Taylor actually get the Dixie Chicks on her song or did she just credit them because she interpolated one of her songs? Yes, the Dixie Chicks are on this song. Kinda. Natalie Maines is providing backing vocals on the chorus while Martie Maguire is on the fiddle and Emily Strayer is on the banjo. So it's kinda strange to bring them back from obscurity to provide somewhat minuscule roles that could've been done by a lot of different people. However, there's a different story here altogether. When I was looking up the song to figure this out, I saw the quote on Genius where it said that this song is dedicated to Taylor's mother who got diagnosed with cancer in 2015 and again in March of this year. Taylor almost didn't include the song on the album because it was so personal. My exact reaction was, "Oh no." After going through the rest of this album, I wasn't emotionally prepared for this one. Yeah, this song will bring you to tears. There's so much raw emotion here as Taylor sings to her mother that soon you'll get better... because you have to. She doesn't want to make this about herself, but what is she supposed to do and who is she supposed to talk to if her mother is gone. And even though I don't necessarily think the Dixie Chicks had to be on this song, their harmonies, as well as banjo and fiddle playing, provide a nice touch to add to the emotion of the song. I don't want to make any absolute statements about this song, but this may be one of the best songs Taylor has ever written. If you're not at least choking up when you hear this song, you might not be human.
67- "Death By a Thousand Cuts" - Taylor Swift -- This song comes directly after "Cornelia Street." Compared to that song, the experience with this song isn't quite as magical, but here we have a breakup song that feels a lot more realistic than, say, "I Forgot You Existed," which feels a bit fake and unrealistic. First off, it's absolutely clear that this is a breakup song. She's talking about a former lover and how it hurts to wake up and realize she's not with him anymore. And instead of saying she magically woke up one day and forgot he existed, she talks about a pain that doesn't go away. And even though they boarded up the house to their love, she still takes a look into it and sees flickering lights and admits that she can't pretend that it's OK when it's not. Pretending it's OK felt like "I Forgot You Existed." This song feels like the reality of the situation and there's a lot of imagery here that beautifully expresses that pain. And I love the last little stanza in the song that says, "I take the long way home; I asked the traffic lights if it'll be alright; They say, 'I don't know.'" That's a perfect ending to this. Granted, I don't know who Taylor is singing about in this song. From what I can remember, she's still in her current relationship with her longtime boyfriend that the album description on Apple Music talks about. But I suppose she's had enough boyfriends in her life to be able to know what this feels like, even if this song isn't describing a specific situation.
75- "Afterglow" - Taylor Swift -- I took a marriage prep class in college and learned there what the term afterglow meant. Our professor told us that, with the context of that definition, he thought it was a bit strange that there was an LDS musical group named Afterglow. So I have to be honest, because of that class, I saw this title and thought, "Oh dear. What are you doing here Taylor?" Turns out this song wasn't as awkward as I thought. The next song I'll talk about, "False God," takes that title. In this song, Taylor is trying to build up a broken relationship and is begging the guy to meet her in the afterglow. That's innocent enough. And I suppose the dictionary definition of afterglow is a bit more broad. It refers to good feelings lingering after a pleasurable or successful experience. Taylor is just trying to bring this guy to that experience so they can remember the good. She's taking full credit for pushing him away and causing harm in their relationship, so she's trying to do her best to apologize and fix things. There's so many songs in this industry where the person is blaming everything on the partner in a very prideful and stubborn way that it's refreshing to see the tables switched. And the song is very gentle and earnest, so I can appreciate this. I'm not really sure who she's singing to. As I've said a few times, it's a bit weird having an artist write a breakup song when they're in a good relationship in real life. It doesn't feel as personal in context.
77- "False God" - Taylor Swift -- It's a bit awkward going straight from "Soon You'll Get Better" to "False God" on the album, but that's what happens. We go straight from a raw and emotional song about her mother having cancer to a sensual and provocative song. It's not dirty or explicit, but Taylor does that annoying thing where you use religious metaphors for a very non-religious and sensual song. The best comparison I have is "Take Me to Church" by Hozier, which is certainly not about missionary work, if you know what I mean. Taylor talks about her hips being the alter and religion's in this guy's lips. Even if it's a false god, they'd still worship this love. Later she says she knows Heaven is a thing because she goes there when he touches her and Hell is when they fight. Musically speaking this isn't bad. If Taylor is going for sensual, she does a good job at it. The saxophone in the background helps add to that atmosphere. But I don't know, it just makes me feel more uncomfortable than anything.
87- "Playing Games" - Summer Walker -- Summer Walker's previous song only showed up because of Drake, so I'm surprised to see her here on her own. But there's so much Taylor this week that I'll get to this song later in future weeks.
89- "Daylight" - Taylor Swift -- This is a nice song to end the album on. I'm trying to pinpoint the exact Taylor Swift song that this reminds me of, and it'll probably hit me after I publish this post, but my first thought is "Wildest Dream" or "Blank Space" from "1989." But with an album titled "Lover," it's nice to end the album on a smooth, mellow, optimistic love song. She starts off by briefly mentioned how cruel her love life has been to her, but then saying how happy she is now that she's found this person because she only sees daylight. Often when I greet people, I jokingly say "Good morning!" at all times of the day, even late at night. I don't really know what my reasoning is, but I do like the symbolism of what morning or daylight can be. The darkness is behind you and all you see is the brightness of the upcoming day in front of you. That's the sentiment Taylor is going with here. And as the final song of the album, this lingers on for a while. As opposed to the song right before it, which is only 2:30, this song is 4:53, but it doesn't overstay its welcome. In fact, it's quite relaxing in the way it slowly tapers off. If you're listening to this album from beginning to end, this is a very pleasant conclusion. And I also like the spoken outro that finishes things off wherein Taylor says that she wants to be defined by the things that she loves rather than the things that she hates or is scared of, because you are what you love. We have one more song to talk about if you're reading this in order, but as the final song of the album, I'll say that this album was a pleasant surprise. It has its rocky moments, but I think the positive here ends up outweighing the negative, so I'd give it a good recommendation.
91- "One Man Band" - Old Dominion -- I just listened to so much Taylor this week that I'm not going to bother with Old Dominion right now. I'll cover this if it rises up in future weeks. But I've never really been a fan of Old Dominion, so don't expect much.
92- "It's Nice to Have a Friend" - Taylor Swift -- This might be the most simple song on the album lyrically. It's also one of the shortest as it comes in at just 2:30. But there's a lot of things going on musically that I found interesting. At first it sounded a bit... oriental. Then we have some steel drums, a trumpet, a bell that rings, and probably a bunch of other things that I'm not picking up on first listen when it comes to the instruments. The song also provides a sample of "Summer in the South" by The Regent Park School of Music Youth Choir which adds a dreamy undertone. So I like the creativity here. And the simplicity of the lyrics is really nice. The first verse talks them playing together as kids. The second verse mentions in the end that something gave him the nerve to touch her hand. Then the third verse talks about church bells and wedding stuff. In between, the chorus was a simple, "It's nice to have a friend." Because that's the most important part of a relationship, right? When you put aside all the romantic stuff, it's important to have the desire to simply spend time with your partner. It's nice to have a friend. This doesn't end the album, but it's a nice second to last song.
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