This week's ARIA top ten blog is going to be pretty short this week cause not a great deal happened apart from one or two shifts within the top ten. Charlie Puth's "Attention" did however leave the top ten replaced by a song that sounds like something Daniel Bedingfield was doing years ago that returned to the top ten this week but we'll get to that.
It's week number nine for Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber with "Despacito (Remix)". Look, it's going to be awhile yet before we get a new number one even though the remix is about as necessary as buying a toupee for Donald Trump because it is just dominating everything including streaming and sales.
That means it's a 2nd week at number 2 for Niall Horan's "Slow Hands" but I don't see this getting to number 1 and yet again it's because of streaming. It's just not doing well on Spotify or any of the other streaming apps. It's at number 12 on Spotify in Australia which is not a good sign.
Perhaps the most imminent danger to "Despacito Remix" lies at number 3 with DJ Khaled, Rihanna and Bryson Tiller with "Wild Thoughts" but it remains at number 3 due to sales numbers not really doing enough to knock on "Slow Hands" despite it's streams being better.
Liam Payne and Quavo remain at number 4 with "Strip That Down".
Coming after is the biggest mover inside the top 10 with Calvin Harris, Pharrell Williams, Katy Perry and Big Sean breaking into the top 5 with "Feels" and right now, it could very well have some serious momentum behind it to climb further so we'll see having climbed 4 places.
"Thunder" by Imagine Dragons remains at number 6.
"I'm The One" by DJ Khaled and co dropped to number 7, "There's Nothing Holding Me Back" by Shawn Mendes dropped to number 8 and "Mama" by Jonas Blue dropped to 9 because all three look like their run in the top 10 is coming to an end.
Rounding out the top 10 is a Daniel Bedingfield sound alike "2U" by David Guetta featuring Justin Bieber.
Only two new entries this week, it's welcome back to the ARIA Chart after 5 years away for Kesha with "Praying" entering the chart at number 19. I honestly hope this song is massive for her.
The other new entry came from Zedd and Liam Payne with "Get Low" entering at number 39
And that really rounds out the week but Australia, did we really need Sam Hunt's "Body Like A Back Road" to climb twenty places to number 23 this week, we don't need an Uncle Kracker rip off with less personality in the top 20.
Anyway Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez new singles look set to enter the ARIA chart next week but before that New Music Friday Review. See you then!
Saturday, 15 July 2017
Thursday, 13 July 2017
New Music Friday Review: Kesha's return.
It's back after a two week break! There are so many stories to this week's New Music Friday, we could talk about the collaboration between Zedd and Liam Payne, the bizarre cover of Daryl Braithwaite's hit "The Horses", the return of Cut Copy but all of that was cast to one side when Kesha dropped her first song in five years.
So how did things stack up? Let me give you all the downlow beginning with Kesha.
Song: Praying
Artist: Kesha
Kesha's big return after a well publicised 5 years away from the music scene, I won't go into why she was away from the music scene for so long because we know why (Dr Luke...ahem), she is back with the power ballad "Praying" and quite honestly this song seems so apt for a first single given all that Kesha has been through in the last 5 years, we were never going get an upbeat, fun party song as the first up song from Kesha's third album "Rainbow" as to a certain extent I think it would have been inappropriate.
So how does "Praying" turn out?. It is an intense ride which a lot of power ballads are and at times you do feel what Kesha is feeling in her lyrics and in the way she sings but there's hope and inspiration in this song in knowing that the dark days are over and happier times ahead for her and even the person who did the wrong thing by her, this is a a very raw, personal song from Kesha and it was one that was necessary and I am glad she felt she could share it with us. Thank you Kesha.
Rating: 9/10. I loved this and it has inspired me so at least for me, Kesha has achieved what she set out to do.
Song: Get Low
Artist(s): Zedd, Liam Payne
I really do wonder when Liam Payne is actually going to step out and have a complete song to himself instead of featuring a rapper or being another artist's feature act, this time he is the feature for Zedd's latest single "Get Low" another electronic dance song almost in the same vein as "Stay" Zedd's song with Alessia Cara.
So while Liam's single with Quavo "Strip That Down" is one that I have come to like despite my view that the gang vocals on that track were unnecessary. "Get Low" really doesn't do anything for me, I don't know what it is about the song that puts me off it, might have something to do with the instrumentation as the lyrics seem inoffensive enough. Eh, I think this song could have sufficed as a Liam Payne song outright if I am blunt.
Rating: It's not bad but I'm not sure it's good either. 5/10
Song: My Name is Thunder
Artist(s): The Bloody Beetroots, Jet
So hand up everyone who got a little shock when this song appeared on Spotify last Friday? I first saw this song had landed via the Triple J website so yeah I was surprised and the return of Jet is almost a stereo typical return with Nic Cester doing his best to sound like a combination of Bon Scott and Brian Johnson as he screams his way through the song.
Its a pretty intense old rock tune, ehh, worth a listen if you are into wild intense rock music with an EDM feel.
Rating: 6/10. Cester's screaming got on my nerves a little bit
Best of the week:
Kesha's "Praying" obviously!
No worst as there are only three tracks this week
Next New Music Friday
It's a long list!
"Sorry, Not Sorry" by Demi Lovato
"Fetish" by Selena Gomez
"Goodbye" by Echosmith
"Rain" by The Script
"Lay It On Me" by Vance Joy
So how did things stack up? Let me give you all the downlow beginning with Kesha.
Song: Praying
Artist: Kesha
Kesha's big return after a well publicised 5 years away from the music scene, I won't go into why she was away from the music scene for so long because we know why (Dr Luke...ahem), she is back with the power ballad "Praying" and quite honestly this song seems so apt for a first single given all that Kesha has been through in the last 5 years, we were never going get an upbeat, fun party song as the first up song from Kesha's third album "Rainbow" as to a certain extent I think it would have been inappropriate.
So how does "Praying" turn out?. It is an intense ride which a lot of power ballads are and at times you do feel what Kesha is feeling in her lyrics and in the way she sings but there's hope and inspiration in this song in knowing that the dark days are over and happier times ahead for her and even the person who did the wrong thing by her, this is a a very raw, personal song from Kesha and it was one that was necessary and I am glad she felt she could share it with us. Thank you Kesha.
Rating: 9/10. I loved this and it has inspired me so at least for me, Kesha has achieved what she set out to do.
Song: Get Low
Artist(s): Zedd, Liam Payne
I really do wonder when Liam Payne is actually going to step out and have a complete song to himself instead of featuring a rapper or being another artist's feature act, this time he is the feature for Zedd's latest single "Get Low" another electronic dance song almost in the same vein as "Stay" Zedd's song with Alessia Cara.
So while Liam's single with Quavo "Strip That Down" is one that I have come to like despite my view that the gang vocals on that track were unnecessary. "Get Low" really doesn't do anything for me, I don't know what it is about the song that puts me off it, might have something to do with the instrumentation as the lyrics seem inoffensive enough. Eh, I think this song could have sufficed as a Liam Payne song outright if I am blunt.
Rating: It's not bad but I'm not sure it's good either. 5/10
Song: My Name is Thunder
Artist(s): The Bloody Beetroots, Jet
So hand up everyone who got a little shock when this song appeared on Spotify last Friday? I first saw this song had landed via the Triple J website so yeah I was surprised and the return of Jet is almost a stereo typical return with Nic Cester doing his best to sound like a combination of Bon Scott and Brian Johnson as he screams his way through the song.
Its a pretty intense old rock tune, ehh, worth a listen if you are into wild intense rock music with an EDM feel.
Rating: 6/10. Cester's screaming got on my nerves a little bit
Best of the week:
Kesha's "Praying" obviously!
No worst as there are only three tracks this week
Next New Music Friday
It's a long list!
"Sorry, Not Sorry" by Demi Lovato
"Fetish" by Selena Gomez
"Goodbye" by Echosmith
"Rain" by The Script
"Lay It On Me" by Vance Joy
Saturday, 8 July 2017
ARIA Top Ten: July 10: The Voice Australia finale impacts.
We're back to the days of when Australian Idol ruled the music charts...well,,,not quite but it was a big week for acts that appeared on The Voice Australia finale, you'll see what I mean as we go on but it was a big week particularly for those who have already hit the jackpot on music contracts more so those on The Voice Australia seeking a recording contract.
Firstly we unsurprisingly lost Miley Cyrus's "Malibu" and the actual somewhat of a surprise loss of "2U" by David Guetta and Justin Bieber (Only been in the chart 4 weeks and only 3 inside the top 10 bit disturbing considering the feature act is Bieber. Come on).
No surprises with number one though with "Despacito Remix" by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber spending an 8th week at number one but there are some kinds of weakness here. It didn't have it's strongest week on iTunes with it dropping from number 1 there and not exactly ruling on Youtube right now but it still rules streaming on Spotify right now.
The first of the beneficiaries from performing on The Voice finale is Niall Horan whose single "Slow Hands" has climbed number 2, Horan's highest charting single so far, the thing holding it back from number 1 is poor streaming figures and when you consider that "Despacito Remix" is being held up at number 1 by streaming than that isn't a good sign for "Slow Hands"
DJ Khaled's "Wild Thoughts" featuring Rihanna and Bryson Tiller dropped to number 3, it's still the closest thing to "Despacito Remix" on streaming but it lost out badly on Youtube this week,
At number 4 is "Strip That Down" by Liam Payne and Quavo, I feel like this song has peaked and is now. It's lost traction on Youtube and also on streaming.
Also losing ground was "I'm The One" by DJ Khaled featuring Justin Bieber, Chance the Rapper, Quavo and Lil Wayne at number 5. Mainly through Youtube and also suffering due to radio being more interested in DJ Khaled's song with Rihanna and Bryson Tiller.
Not sure what brought this on with the album released two weeks ago but Imagine Dragons climbed six places to number six with "Thunder" continuing a trend that's happened around the world lately with this song doing rather well on a number of charts including in the UK.
"There's Nothing Holding Me Back" by Shawn Mendes switched places with "Mama" by Jonas Blue featuring William Singe to go to number 7 with the latter dropping to number 8
However "Thunder" is not the biggest mover this week with "Feels" by Calvin Harris, Pharrell Williams, Katy Perry and Big Sean jumping from number 26 all the way to number 9 off the back of the release of Harris's new album. I like this song a lot so am happy to see it in the top 10.
Rounding out the top 10 is Charlie Puth with "Attention" for a second week.
Only two new entries to the chart this week with The Voice Australia winner Judah Kelly debuting at number 19 with his debut single "Count on Me". It's a pretty cool song, might do well with a good video.
The other debut came from The Voice Australia runner up Hoseah Partsch debuting at number 35 with his debut "Paper Planes" but it is not going to help this go further up the chart if it's not going to be on Spotify!. Not as sold on this song but we'll see...
So that wraps up what was a The Voice Australia dominated ARIA Chart this week. Next week, we'll find out the impact of Kesha's new single.
Firstly we unsurprisingly lost Miley Cyrus's "Malibu" and the actual somewhat of a surprise loss of "2U" by David Guetta and Justin Bieber (Only been in the chart 4 weeks and only 3 inside the top 10 bit disturbing considering the feature act is Bieber. Come on).
No surprises with number one though with "Despacito Remix" by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber spending an 8th week at number one but there are some kinds of weakness here. It didn't have it's strongest week on iTunes with it dropping from number 1 there and not exactly ruling on Youtube right now but it still rules streaming on Spotify right now.
The first of the beneficiaries from performing on The Voice finale is Niall Horan whose single "Slow Hands" has climbed number 2, Horan's highest charting single so far, the thing holding it back from number 1 is poor streaming figures and when you consider that "Despacito Remix" is being held up at number 1 by streaming than that isn't a good sign for "Slow Hands"
DJ Khaled's "Wild Thoughts" featuring Rihanna and Bryson Tiller dropped to number 3, it's still the closest thing to "Despacito Remix" on streaming but it lost out badly on Youtube this week,
At number 4 is "Strip That Down" by Liam Payne and Quavo, I feel like this song has peaked and is now. It's lost traction on Youtube and also on streaming.
Also losing ground was "I'm The One" by DJ Khaled featuring Justin Bieber, Chance the Rapper, Quavo and Lil Wayne at number 5. Mainly through Youtube and also suffering due to radio being more interested in DJ Khaled's song with Rihanna and Bryson Tiller.
Not sure what brought this on with the album released two weeks ago but Imagine Dragons climbed six places to number six with "Thunder" continuing a trend that's happened around the world lately with this song doing rather well on a number of charts including in the UK.
"There's Nothing Holding Me Back" by Shawn Mendes switched places with "Mama" by Jonas Blue featuring William Singe to go to number 7 with the latter dropping to number 8
However "Thunder" is not the biggest mover this week with "Feels" by Calvin Harris, Pharrell Williams, Katy Perry and Big Sean jumping from number 26 all the way to number 9 off the back of the release of Harris's new album. I like this song a lot so am happy to see it in the top 10.
Rounding out the top 10 is Charlie Puth with "Attention" for a second week.
Only two new entries to the chart this week with The Voice Australia winner Judah Kelly debuting at number 19 with his debut single "Count on Me". It's a pretty cool song, might do well with a good video.
The other debut came from The Voice Australia runner up Hoseah Partsch debuting at number 35 with his debut "Paper Planes" but it is not going to help this go further up the chart if it's not going to be on Spotify!. Not as sold on this song but we'll see...
So that wraps up what was a The Voice Australia dominated ARIA Chart this week. Next week, we'll find out the impact of Kesha's new single.
Wednesday, 5 July 2017
ARIA Top Ten: July 3. Mama the big mover as Despacito Remix stays at number 1
This week was a wild one. Shifts and changes all over the place and resulted in some major stories including two songs breaking into the top 10 for the first time and ended the runs of two fairly major songs inside that top 10.
This week saw the unsurprisingly departure of "HUMBLE" by Kendrick Lamar from the top 10 after a good run inside where it peaked at number 2 but also it saw the departure of former number 1 "Shape Of You" by Ed Sheeran which means that for the first time since early January, there are no Ed Sheeran song in the top ten.
What hasn't changed is that "Despacito Remix" by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber remains at the top of the chart for a seventh week although I am not sure for how much longer it will be number 1, sure it's still strong on streaming and radio but on iTunes, it has been taking a few hits with it falling from number one largely due to strong promotion for Niall Horan and others.
"Wild Thoughts" by DJ Khaled featuring Rihanna and Bryson Tiller climbs to number 2 and looks like challenging for the number one song soon give or take a week or two.
"Strip That Down" by Liam Payne and Quavo dropped back to number 3 after a week at number 2. Not sure if this song has peaked or what the go is here.
Off the back of the release of "Grateful". DJ Khaled's song "I'm The One" with Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance the Rapper and Lil Wayne climbed back up to number 4.
The yo-yo performance of "Slow Hands" continues for Niall Horan, it's back down to five but a strong week on iTunes after performing at the Voice Australia finale should see it return to somewhere close to the top of the summit.
Shawn Mendes hangs on in the top 10 at number 6 with "There's Nothing Holding Me Back" up one from last week.
Then we get to one of two new entries to the top 10 with "Mama" by Jonas Blue feat. William Singe leaping from 11 last week to 7 this week. It's a good song. Deserves the success for sure. Happy to see it here.
"2U" by David Guetta feat. Justin Bieber wasn't able to pull back the gains lost week and in effect fell to number 8.
Miley Cyrus run in the top 10 looks as though it could be coming to a close with "Malibu dropping one place to number 9.
Charlie Puth holds the second of the new top 10 entries with slow but effective mover "Attention" climbing from 12 to number 10 to round out the top 10 this week.
Of the new entries, Jessica Mauboy also benefitted from being on The Voice Australia with "Fallin'" entering the ARIA chart number 20.
Drake had one new entry of the three new songs released last week with "Signs" entering at number 39.
Finally a new entry that shocked me given it was around in the USA for some time last year. Khalid's "Location" enters at number 43.
Best of the year so far coming up as as well as New Music Friday review featuring Adam Lambert and maybe some songs that you may not have heard of in 2017 that are well worth a listen.
This week saw the unsurprisingly departure of "HUMBLE" by Kendrick Lamar from the top 10 after a good run inside where it peaked at number 2 but also it saw the departure of former number 1 "Shape Of You" by Ed Sheeran which means that for the first time since early January, there are no Ed Sheeran song in the top ten.
What hasn't changed is that "Despacito Remix" by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber remains at the top of the chart for a seventh week although I am not sure for how much longer it will be number 1, sure it's still strong on streaming and radio but on iTunes, it has been taking a few hits with it falling from number one largely due to strong promotion for Niall Horan and others.
"Wild Thoughts" by DJ Khaled featuring Rihanna and Bryson Tiller climbs to number 2 and looks like challenging for the number one song soon give or take a week or two.
"Strip That Down" by Liam Payne and Quavo dropped back to number 3 after a week at number 2. Not sure if this song has peaked or what the go is here.
Off the back of the release of "Grateful". DJ Khaled's song "I'm The One" with Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance the Rapper and Lil Wayne climbed back up to number 4.
The yo-yo performance of "Slow Hands" continues for Niall Horan, it's back down to five but a strong week on iTunes after performing at the Voice Australia finale should see it return to somewhere close to the top of the summit.
Shawn Mendes hangs on in the top 10 at number 6 with "There's Nothing Holding Me Back" up one from last week.
Then we get to one of two new entries to the top 10 with "Mama" by Jonas Blue feat. William Singe leaping from 11 last week to 7 this week. It's a good song. Deserves the success for sure. Happy to see it here.
"2U" by David Guetta feat. Justin Bieber wasn't able to pull back the gains lost week and in effect fell to number 8.
Miley Cyrus run in the top 10 looks as though it could be coming to a close with "Malibu dropping one place to number 9.
Charlie Puth holds the second of the new top 10 entries with slow but effective mover "Attention" climbing from 12 to number 10 to round out the top 10 this week.
Of the new entries, Jessica Mauboy also benefitted from being on The Voice Australia with "Fallin'" entering the ARIA chart number 20.
Drake had one new entry of the three new songs released last week with "Signs" entering at number 39.
Finally a new entry that shocked me given it was around in the USA for some time last year. Khalid's "Location" enters at number 43.
Best of the year so far coming up as as well as New Music Friday review featuring Adam Lambert and maybe some songs that you may not have heard of in 2017 that are well worth a listen.
Saturday, 1 July 2017
My Top 10 Worst Hit Songs at halfway point of 2017
2017 to date has been a pretty good year for popular music, songs that were good to great became hits, the songs that were mediocre to awful got what they deserved but some of those god awful songs somehow slipped through the cracks to have a chart run unfortunately. There's only one rule for this list, the song needs to have appeared on the ARIA top 100 at some point in 2017, this list is purely based on my opinion.
Let's get to those songs that have been forgettable rather than outright bad.
Let's get to those songs that have been forgettable rather than outright bad.
Dishonourable Mentions
"Issues" by Julia Michaels | Peak: 5
Largely due to this song just purely being a hit for the hook and the chorus but other than a decent hook and chorus there is really nothing to this song about a relationship hitting crisis point, it just lacks emotional depth and the instrumentation is nothing special.
"Play That Song" by Train | Peak: 8
Somehow this song wound up as a top ten hit and I have no idea why. The lyrics are god damn AWFUL "Play that song the one that makes me go all night long". What the hell? Music is not designed to be some bizarre form of increasing a woman's sexual performance in the sack.
"Despacito Remix" by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber | Peak: 1
It being unnecessary doesn't make this a bad song per se so I couldn't bring myself to put this in the top 10 worst songs of the year so far, the original was going to be a hit around the world regardless and the recent behaviour of Justin Bieber by refusing to learn the words to the song show just how blatantly unnecessary the remix is. I'll take the original ANY DAY over this remix.
"Now or Never" by Halsey | Peak: 16
The lady who thinks she is alternative but continues to write blatantly awful pop songs as "Now or Never" demonstrates. The production and lyrics are sloppy and boring. Halsey attempts to be sexy and she doesn't pull it off at all. This isn't as bad as "New Americana" but geez, Halsey can stop pretending she's an alternative artist cause she is anything but.
Rightio so that's the mediocre at the midway point of 2017, now for the absolute worst of 2017 so far.
10. "I'm The One" by DJ Khaled featuring Justin Bieber, Chance the Rapper, Quavo and Lil Wayne | Peak: 1
So you would think there would be a real swagger in a song about being the one guy for any woman but truth be told none of the artists involved with this song deliver much swagger apart from maybe Chance the Rapper. Bieber's vocals are passable but he really doesn't deliver that passion or that edge that would hook me into a song that supposed to be about being number 1. Lil Wayne steers the song way off course with references to Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown's relationship which was abusive and toxic!. All in all, its just not a good song at all. Saved from being higher up because there's far worse ahead.
9. "Heavy" by Linkin Park and Kiiara | Peak: 33
I was really looking forward to seeing what Linkin Park were going to do and how they would change things up while keep their sound...until they veered way too far in the direction of pop which okay given pop/EDM/dance are kind of the big trends at the moment, maybe it's not the worst move but is "Heavy" really the best result of that new sound from Linkin Park. A bland,somewhat forgettable song that I really haven't been in a hurry to hear again. Ugh.
8. "Everyday" by Ariana Grande feat. Future | Peak: 96
Yeah, this song makes this list purely for that shit chorus which is basically Ariana repeating "He give it to me" and Future repeating one word "Everyday", there used to be a time when choruses would have some depth or point to them but clearly judging by this, there's no need. There's just nothing to this song lyrically and the production is absolutely TERRIBLE, Ariana's vocals don't save it.
7. "Bad and Boujee" by Lil Uzi Vert feat. Migos. | Peak: 34
This song is why on occasion the ARIA Chart is better than the Billboard Hot 100, this lazy garbage inspired from a meme only peaked at number 34 on the ARIA chart but somehow it got to number 1 on the Hot 100, USA, what were you thinking?. Lil Uzi Vert can't stay on the beat to save himself here and most of Migos contribution is purely shallow bragging. Can we pretend this song NEVER happened?
6. "Mo Bounce" by Iggy Azalea | Peak: 63
Well we can be grateful for small mercies, this song got the short shrift it deserved chart wise, it seems people are sick of the big arse anthems. Any song that has to repeat the title over 100 times is not worth my time to listen to it. Says as much I can't get through the video without laughing. Seriously, Iggy, come back when you have something remotely interesting to say.
5. "Still Got Time" by Zayn feat. PARTYNEXTDOOR | Peak: 20
2017 has so far been the year of Drake and unfortunately the forgettable "I wanna be like Drake club" and at the top of that list is Zayn Malik's effort in teaming up with PARTYNEXTDOOR for this drone called "Still Got Time" which I think is an absolute waste of Zayn's talent as a vocalist, he can do so much better than this mess of a song and probably the fact that he disappointed with this song is the reason it's up so high on this list.
4. "Cold" by Maroon 5 feat. Future | Peak: 27
A sterile song with not a lot to say really, it's more about Adam Levine as a solo artist now than about Maroon 5 as a band but honestly this song lacks any killer punch or any reason for it to stay inside your head so yeah fair to say I am really very cold on this song and I don't see myself warming to it any time soon.
3. "Kissing Strangers" by DNCE feat. Nicki Minaj | Peak 96
The reason this abomination is here is not because of the production which is actually pretty catchy and does get stuck in your head but do we really need a song advocating kissing random people until finding somebody they love. You'd hope DNCE understand that sharing a bond or connection with somebody special is also apart of being in love not just kissing.
2, "Bon Appetit" by Katy Perry feat. Migos. | Peak: 35
This song has got to be one of the stupidest and most ill concieved pop songs to appear on the charts in ages. It basically uses all manner of food double entendres as Katy Perry sings about smelling seduction, "fresh out of the oven" and "spread at the buffet". Really? Food double entendres as a method of singing about sex become boring and stupid back when Justin Timberlake made a song using them and no giving Migos a third of a verse each does nothing to improve the song. That said given the lack of single friendly songs on "Witness", kind of not surprised they released this mess.
"Bon Appetit" is bad but wasn't bad enough to claim number 1, so what could possibly be so bad to top it?
1. "Body like a Back Road" by Sam Hunt | Peak: 48 (It's still climbing the Australian charts too)
This thinly disguised excuse of a 'country' song (it's barely country) sees Sam Hunt claim he has explored his partner's body so much he knows her body as well as he knows a road riddled with cracks, pot holes and generally is in a state of disrepair. WTF? Fair to say if he ever did that to me, he'd be shown the door pretty damn quick.
Everything to be said about how utterly redundant and stupid this song is is in the line "Imma take it slow just as fast as I can"? It makes Pat Monahan from Train look like a lyrical genius and I outlined how bad lyrically "Play that Song" is.
Gah. Please don't let this song stick around. 48 and out of the top 50 next week, Please, Australia?
Anyway, we'll flip over the coin and look my best hit songs of this year so far plus the ARIA top 10 for this week as there have been some big moves on that front.
"Despacito Remix" by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber | Peak: 1
It being unnecessary doesn't make this a bad song per se so I couldn't bring myself to put this in the top 10 worst songs of the year so far, the original was going to be a hit around the world regardless and the recent behaviour of Justin Bieber by refusing to learn the words to the song show just how blatantly unnecessary the remix is. I'll take the original ANY DAY over this remix.
"Now or Never" by Halsey | Peak: 16
The lady who thinks she is alternative but continues to write blatantly awful pop songs as "Now or Never" demonstrates. The production and lyrics are sloppy and boring. Halsey attempts to be sexy and she doesn't pull it off at all. This isn't as bad as "New Americana" but geez, Halsey can stop pretending she's an alternative artist cause she is anything but.
Rightio so that's the mediocre at the midway point of 2017, now for the absolute worst of 2017 so far.
10. "I'm The One" by DJ Khaled featuring Justin Bieber, Chance the Rapper, Quavo and Lil Wayne | Peak: 1
So you would think there would be a real swagger in a song about being the one guy for any woman but truth be told none of the artists involved with this song deliver much swagger apart from maybe Chance the Rapper. Bieber's vocals are passable but he really doesn't deliver that passion or that edge that would hook me into a song that supposed to be about being number 1. Lil Wayne steers the song way off course with references to Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown's relationship which was abusive and toxic!. All in all, its just not a good song at all. Saved from being higher up because there's far worse ahead.
9. "Heavy" by Linkin Park and Kiiara | Peak: 33
I was really looking forward to seeing what Linkin Park were going to do and how they would change things up while keep their sound...until they veered way too far in the direction of pop which okay given pop/EDM/dance are kind of the big trends at the moment, maybe it's not the worst move but is "Heavy" really the best result of that new sound from Linkin Park. A bland,somewhat forgettable song that I really haven't been in a hurry to hear again. Ugh.
8. "Everyday" by Ariana Grande feat. Future | Peak: 96
Yeah, this song makes this list purely for that shit chorus which is basically Ariana repeating "He give it to me" and Future repeating one word "Everyday", there used to be a time when choruses would have some depth or point to them but clearly judging by this, there's no need. There's just nothing to this song lyrically and the production is absolutely TERRIBLE, Ariana's vocals don't save it.
7. "Bad and Boujee" by Lil Uzi Vert feat. Migos. | Peak: 34
This song is why on occasion the ARIA Chart is better than the Billboard Hot 100, this lazy garbage inspired from a meme only peaked at number 34 on the ARIA chart but somehow it got to number 1 on the Hot 100, USA, what were you thinking?. Lil Uzi Vert can't stay on the beat to save himself here and most of Migos contribution is purely shallow bragging. Can we pretend this song NEVER happened?
6. "Mo Bounce" by Iggy Azalea | Peak: 63
Well we can be grateful for small mercies, this song got the short shrift it deserved chart wise, it seems people are sick of the big arse anthems. Any song that has to repeat the title over 100 times is not worth my time to listen to it. Says as much I can't get through the video without laughing. Seriously, Iggy, come back when you have something remotely interesting to say.
5. "Still Got Time" by Zayn feat. PARTYNEXTDOOR | Peak: 20
2017 has so far been the year of Drake and unfortunately the forgettable "I wanna be like Drake club" and at the top of that list is Zayn Malik's effort in teaming up with PARTYNEXTDOOR for this drone called "Still Got Time" which I think is an absolute waste of Zayn's talent as a vocalist, he can do so much better than this mess of a song and probably the fact that he disappointed with this song is the reason it's up so high on this list.
4. "Cold" by Maroon 5 feat. Future | Peak: 27
A sterile song with not a lot to say really, it's more about Adam Levine as a solo artist now than about Maroon 5 as a band but honestly this song lacks any killer punch or any reason for it to stay inside your head so yeah fair to say I am really very cold on this song and I don't see myself warming to it any time soon.
3. "Kissing Strangers" by DNCE feat. Nicki Minaj | Peak 96
The reason this abomination is here is not because of the production which is actually pretty catchy and does get stuck in your head but do we really need a song advocating kissing random people until finding somebody they love. You'd hope DNCE understand that sharing a bond or connection with somebody special is also apart of being in love not just kissing.
2, "Bon Appetit" by Katy Perry feat. Migos. | Peak: 35
This song has got to be one of the stupidest and most ill concieved pop songs to appear on the charts in ages. It basically uses all manner of food double entendres as Katy Perry sings about smelling seduction, "fresh out of the oven" and "spread at the buffet". Really? Food double entendres as a method of singing about sex become boring and stupid back when Justin Timberlake made a song using them and no giving Migos a third of a verse each does nothing to improve the song. That said given the lack of single friendly songs on "Witness", kind of not surprised they released this mess.
"Bon Appetit" is bad but wasn't bad enough to claim number 1, so what could possibly be so bad to top it?
1. "Body like a Back Road" by Sam Hunt | Peak: 48 (It's still climbing the Australian charts too)
This thinly disguised excuse of a 'country' song (it's barely country) sees Sam Hunt claim he has explored his partner's body so much he knows her body as well as he knows a road riddled with cracks, pot holes and generally is in a state of disrepair. WTF? Fair to say if he ever did that to me, he'd be shown the door pretty damn quick.
Everything to be said about how utterly redundant and stupid this song is is in the line "Imma take it slow just as fast as I can"? It makes Pat Monahan from Train look like a lyrical genius and I outlined how bad lyrically "Play that Song" is.
Gah. Please don't let this song stick around. 48 and out of the top 50 next week, Please, Australia?
Anyway, we'll flip over the coin and look my best hit songs of this year so far plus the ARIA top 10 for this week as there have been some big moves on that front.
Sunday, 25 June 2017
ARIA Top Ten: 26th June. Wild Thoughts
The ARIA chart this week...wow, it's all change and movement and we even have a new entry in the top 10 to boot and even three of four new entries outside the top ten that I haven't as yet previewed however I have some mixed feelings about this chart personally and it comes down to the songs that have entered the top 50 but...we'll get to those.
Before we get to the top ten, we lost "Galway Girl" by Ed Sheeran (not surprising) which dropped down to number 13 from 9 last week.
Remaining at number 1 is "Despacito Remix" by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber for a sixth week. Although it's no longer number 1 on iTunes with it replaced by a cover of Simon and Garfunkel's classic song "Bridge over Troubled Water" by Artists for Grenfell which is a charity single for the victims of the awful Grenfell tower fire so there's a distinct possibility of a chllenge for number 1 next week.
Liam Payne and Quavo have a climbed a rung on the ladder to number 2 with "Strip That Down". Be interesting if this song can mount a challenge for number 1 but it needs to improve it's streaming numbers big time which is it's let down.
Niall Horan's "Slow Hands" continues it's yoyo performance on the charts, this week, it's a 2 spot climb from 5 to 3. "Slow Hands" is actually outperforming his previous single "This Town" which peaked at number 5.
Now we got a new entry in a four with DJ Khaled featuring Rihanna and Bryson Tiller's Wild Thoughts" making its debut and with DJ Khaled dropping a wildly long album called "Grateful", can see this getting close to challenging maybe for number two next week.
Former chart topper "I'm the One" by DJ Khaled and his posse including Justin Bieber, Chance the Rapper, Quavo and Lil Wayne drops from 4 to 5 this week. Like "Wild Thoughts" should get a boost off the back of the album. So its not done yet.
Bieber's third feature appearance inside the top 10 "2U" with David Guetta dropped to number 6 this week off it's debut at number 2.
The next three songs suffered one place falls as they gracefully look to be exiting the top 10 after a decent run "There's Nothing Holding Me Back" by Shawn Mendes at number 7, "Malibu" by Miley Cyrus at number 8 and another former long time chart topper " Shape of You" by Ed Sheeran at number 9 (Hardly surprising with Ed though given "Shape of You" has been 24 weeks inside the top 10 and "Divide" lost number one on the album chart to Lorde's "Melodrama)
Kendrick Lamar holds steady at number 10 with "HUMBLE"
So now to the four new entries outside of the top 10, the first of which is from Macklemore, he has teamed up with Skylar Grey for a song called "Glorious" which has entered at number 34. I am not a fan of this but check it out if you think you might like it.
New at number 35 is "Feels" by Calvin Harris featuring Pharrell Williams, Katy Perry and Sean Paul. A song that was featured on New Music Friday review last week. This is a decent song but the hell is the go with Calvin Harris making music that is interesting rather than bland and generic? Its excellent.
If there was one good thing The Voice Australia has done this year, it has been to spotlight this gem of a song from singer and actress Jennifer Hudson entitled "Remember Me" with the song getting sales on iTunes this week so much so it landed at 41 on the ARIA chart. I beg you all to get this song top 20, it is a fantastic song.
We do still have one new entry to the top 50 and because radio won't leave it alone despite being one of the dumbest...ugh...I'll talk about it more when I do my mid year lists of best and worst. Sam Hunt has his first Australian top 50 hit with "Body Like a Back Road".
So the plan for this week is a little different than usual, no New Music Friday Review (Best: Check out Sheppard's "Edge of the Night") due to no real interesting releases this week apart from Drake dropping three songs in one go yesterday...sigh...but I am sick of him, so seeing as this week will mark the mid way point of the year on the ARIA chart, it's time to look back on the first half of the year with the top 10 best and worst hit songs of 2017 so far so until then I will see you all later.
Before we get to the top ten, we lost "Galway Girl" by Ed Sheeran (not surprising) which dropped down to number 13 from 9 last week.
Remaining at number 1 is "Despacito Remix" by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber for a sixth week. Although it's no longer number 1 on iTunes with it replaced by a cover of Simon and Garfunkel's classic song "Bridge over Troubled Water" by Artists for Grenfell which is a charity single for the victims of the awful Grenfell tower fire so there's a distinct possibility of a chllenge for number 1 next week.
Liam Payne and Quavo have a climbed a rung on the ladder to number 2 with "Strip That Down". Be interesting if this song can mount a challenge for number 1 but it needs to improve it's streaming numbers big time which is it's let down.
Niall Horan's "Slow Hands" continues it's yoyo performance on the charts, this week, it's a 2 spot climb from 5 to 3. "Slow Hands" is actually outperforming his previous single "This Town" which peaked at number 5.
Now we got a new entry in a four with DJ Khaled featuring Rihanna and Bryson Tiller's Wild Thoughts" making its debut and with DJ Khaled dropping a wildly long album called "Grateful", can see this getting close to challenging maybe for number two next week.
Former chart topper "I'm the One" by DJ Khaled and his posse including Justin Bieber, Chance the Rapper, Quavo and Lil Wayne drops from 4 to 5 this week. Like "Wild Thoughts" should get a boost off the back of the album. So its not done yet.
Bieber's third feature appearance inside the top 10 "2U" with David Guetta dropped to number 6 this week off it's debut at number 2.
The next three songs suffered one place falls as they gracefully look to be exiting the top 10 after a decent run "There's Nothing Holding Me Back" by Shawn Mendes at number 7, "Malibu" by Miley Cyrus at number 8 and another former long time chart topper " Shape of You" by Ed Sheeran at number 9 (Hardly surprising with Ed though given "Shape of You" has been 24 weeks inside the top 10 and "Divide" lost number one on the album chart to Lorde's "Melodrama)
Kendrick Lamar holds steady at number 10 with "HUMBLE"
So now to the four new entries outside of the top 10, the first of which is from Macklemore, he has teamed up with Skylar Grey for a song called "Glorious" which has entered at number 34. I am not a fan of this but check it out if you think you might like it.
New at number 35 is "Feels" by Calvin Harris featuring Pharrell Williams, Katy Perry and Sean Paul. A song that was featured on New Music Friday review last week. This is a decent song but the hell is the go with Calvin Harris making music that is interesting rather than bland and generic? Its excellent.
If there was one good thing The Voice Australia has done this year, it has been to spotlight this gem of a song from singer and actress Jennifer Hudson entitled "Remember Me" with the song getting sales on iTunes this week so much so it landed at 41 on the ARIA chart. I beg you all to get this song top 20, it is a fantastic song.
We do still have one new entry to the top 50 and because radio won't leave it alone despite being one of the dumbest...ugh...I'll talk about it more when I do my mid year lists of best and worst. Sam Hunt has his first Australian top 50 hit with "Body Like a Back Road".
So the plan for this week is a little different than usual, no New Music Friday Review (Best: Check out Sheppard's "Edge of the Night") due to no real interesting releases this week apart from Drake dropping three songs in one go yesterday...sigh...but I am sick of him, so seeing as this week will mark the mid way point of the year on the ARIA chart, it's time to look back on the first half of the year with the top 10 best and worst hit songs of 2017 so far so until then I will see you all later.
Thursday, 22 June 2017
New Music Friday Review: More new DJ Khaled, Calvin Harris, Macklemore
So it was an...interesting new music Friday, we got new Calvin Harris who yet again has another interesting collaboration, Demi Lovato apparently just wants people to follow a simple instruction while DJ Khaled and Rihanna are having some wild thoughts.
So how did things pan out? Let's start off with the Canadian queen of country music first.
Song: Life's 'Bout to Get Good
Artist: Shania Twain
Shania Twain is back, ladies and gentlemen! Back with what probably won't really hit the ARIA singles chart in the way it deserves to. "Life's 'bout to get good" is about looking beyond the pain of a relationship breakdown and realising that life is still pretty darn great and you'll heal from the pain of a partner cheating eventually and realizing that life will always get a lot better. This song just works for me, Shania, you've done it again! I hope this becomes an unlikely hit. Check it out if you haven't done so already!
Rating: 8/10
Song: The Man
Artist: The Killers
The Killers will be in Australia later this year for a tour and to play the AFL Grand Final but in the meantime they've dropped the first single from their upcoming new album entitled "Wonderful Wonderful" and I tell you what if they replaced the Bee Gees "Stayin' Alive" with this song for the introduction to the Saturday Night Fever movie where John Travolta is pretty much strutting down the street, they wouldn't have skipped a beat, its a very late 70s early 80s throw back song and damn I love it even though I do cringe at the talking in the song which does sort of fit and USDA certified lean? Really?
Rating: 8/10. Not completely sold on aspects of this song but yeah the retro feel is soo good here.
Song: Don't Matter Now
Artist: George Ezra
I was really taken by surprise by this song so much largely because it feels very un George Ezra. "Don't Matter Now" has some pretty cool chilled guitar vibes and I do love the summer feel of the song but I so hear Jason Mraz or similar everytime I hear this song and that for me isn't a good thing.
Rating: 6/10. It's not bad per se even with the Jason Mraz vibe that sets it back a little
Song: Instruction
Artist(s): Jax Jones, Demi Lovato, Stefflon Dennis
Ugh. This song pisses me off no end. Demi, songs on the basis of Vine videos went out of the style in 2015! Basically its a song about following instruction on how to get that thang grooving on the dancefloor. It also features a line "If you're The Supreme then I'm Diana Ross". Ugh, it's just an autotuned lyrical mess along with a phoned in verse from a rapper known as Stefflon Don, if you want 2017 pop songs that are fantastic check out "Cut to the Feeling" by Carly Rae Jepsen cause this song is hot GARBAGE.
Rating: 2/10 (That's being positively nice)
Song: Feels
Artists: Calvin Harris, Pharrell Williams, Katy Perry, Sean Paul
"Feels" is the fourth song to be released from Calvin Harris new album "Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 1" due to be released next week and this really does feel like the like of song that Katy Perry should have written for Witness because believe it or not this is pretty damn good. Sean Paul and Pharrell are pretty great and even Katy is good here. Not the best of the week because some of the effects don't quite land their mark but otherwise, hey, I'll take this.
Rating: 7/10
Song: Wild Thoughts
Artist: DJ Khaled, Rihanna, Bryson Tiller
So this song contains a wonderful guitar sample from Santana's 1999 song "Maria Maria" and to be honest it might be just about the best thing about this song although that said Rihanna doesn't sound too bad but it's not the kind of song that really inspires Wild Thoughts. Actually would have loved a little more mystery to the sound. Also is it necessary for DJ Khaled to remind everyone of who he is through out the track? It adds NOTHING,
Rating; 5/10
Other songs of interest
- "Walking the Wire" by Imagine Dragons (Better than "Believer" or "Thunder". 6/10)
- "Relationship" by Young Thug feat. Future (Yeah hey Young Thug has somehow improved. This isn't bad 6/10)
Best of the Week
I'm giving it to The Killers for "The Man" just for invoking the John Travolta images with that throwback disco rock sound
Worst of the Week
"Instruction" by Jax Jones, Demi Lovato and Stefflon Don for what essentially could be mistaken for a bad song that came off Vine in 2015
Upcoming New Music Friday (23rd Jume)
Fallout Boy dropped a song today called "Champion"
Beyond that we're riding by the seat our pants!
So how did things pan out? Let's start off with the Canadian queen of country music first.
Song: Life's 'Bout to Get Good
Artist: Shania Twain
Shania Twain is back, ladies and gentlemen! Back with what probably won't really hit the ARIA singles chart in the way it deserves to. "Life's 'bout to get good" is about looking beyond the pain of a relationship breakdown and realising that life is still pretty darn great and you'll heal from the pain of a partner cheating eventually and realizing that life will always get a lot better. This song just works for me, Shania, you've done it again! I hope this becomes an unlikely hit. Check it out if you haven't done so already!
Rating: 8/10
Song: The Man
Artist: The Killers
The Killers will be in Australia later this year for a tour and to play the AFL Grand Final but in the meantime they've dropped the first single from their upcoming new album entitled "Wonderful Wonderful" and I tell you what if they replaced the Bee Gees "Stayin' Alive" with this song for the introduction to the Saturday Night Fever movie where John Travolta is pretty much strutting down the street, they wouldn't have skipped a beat, its a very late 70s early 80s throw back song and damn I love it even though I do cringe at the talking in the song which does sort of fit and USDA certified lean? Really?
Rating: 8/10. Not completely sold on aspects of this song but yeah the retro feel is soo good here.
Song: Don't Matter Now
Artist: George Ezra
I was really taken by surprise by this song so much largely because it feels very un George Ezra. "Don't Matter Now" has some pretty cool chilled guitar vibes and I do love the summer feel of the song but I so hear Jason Mraz or similar everytime I hear this song and that for me isn't a good thing.
Rating: 6/10. It's not bad per se even with the Jason Mraz vibe that sets it back a little
Song: Instruction
Artist(s): Jax Jones, Demi Lovato, Stefflon Dennis
Ugh. This song pisses me off no end. Demi, songs on the basis of Vine videos went out of the style in 2015! Basically its a song about following instruction on how to get that thang grooving on the dancefloor. It also features a line "If you're The Supreme then I'm Diana Ross". Ugh, it's just an autotuned lyrical mess along with a phoned in verse from a rapper known as Stefflon Don, if you want 2017 pop songs that are fantastic check out "Cut to the Feeling" by Carly Rae Jepsen cause this song is hot GARBAGE.
Rating: 2/10 (That's being positively nice)
Song: Feels
Artists: Calvin Harris, Pharrell Williams, Katy Perry, Sean Paul
"Feels" is the fourth song to be released from Calvin Harris new album "Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 1" due to be released next week and this really does feel like the like of song that Katy Perry should have written for Witness because believe it or not this is pretty damn good. Sean Paul and Pharrell are pretty great and even Katy is good here. Not the best of the week because some of the effects don't quite land their mark but otherwise, hey, I'll take this.
Rating: 7/10
Song: Wild Thoughts
Artist: DJ Khaled, Rihanna, Bryson Tiller
So this song contains a wonderful guitar sample from Santana's 1999 song "Maria Maria" and to be honest it might be just about the best thing about this song although that said Rihanna doesn't sound too bad but it's not the kind of song that really inspires Wild Thoughts. Actually would have loved a little more mystery to the sound. Also is it necessary for DJ Khaled to remind everyone of who he is through out the track? It adds NOTHING,
Rating; 5/10
Other songs of interest
- "Walking the Wire" by Imagine Dragons (Better than "Believer" or "Thunder". 6/10)
- "Relationship" by Young Thug feat. Future (Yeah hey Young Thug has somehow improved. This isn't bad 6/10)
Best of the Week
I'm giving it to The Killers for "The Man" just for invoking the John Travolta images with that throwback disco rock sound
Worst of the Week
"Instruction" by Jax Jones, Demi Lovato and Stefflon Don for what essentially could be mistaken for a bad song that came off Vine in 2015
Upcoming New Music Friday (23rd Jume)
Fallout Boy dropped a song today called "Champion"
Beyond that we're riding by the seat our pants!
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