New Music Friday Review:

So it's time to review the music that arrived on Friday and it was quite the busy New Music Friday with new music from Lorde, 5th Harmony and Peking Duk amongst those dropping new music so we'll begin with 5th Harmony


Song: Down
Artist(s): 5th Harmony featuring Gucci Mane.




So it's the first 5th Harmony single without Camila Cabello and I was hoping for a major improvement given they have ended up in my worst song of the year list two years running for "Worth It" in 2015 and 'Work from Home" last year and with the weakest vocalist of all five having gone solo there was some hope, right?

Well, "Down" really doesn't depart from the "Work From Home" recipe book unfortunately, sparse tropical percussion and a nasty addiction to cliches (they should really see a doctor about that) permeate their way through "Down" that remind me of how heinously AWFUL "Work From Home" was and . 5th Harmony need to sit down with song writers who aren't stuck in the world of cliches and isn't holding somebody down a form of abuse but hey I might be wrong there.

5th Harmony, you are getting beyond frustrating now or maybe just aren't for me.

Rating; They might well get third consecutive year in my year end worst list.  3/10



Song: Perfect Places
Artist: Lorde





"Perfect Places" is the 2nd single from Lorde's 2nd albim entitled Melodrama due to be released on 16th June and after the piece of pop perfection that was "Green Light", I was expecting a bit of a comedown on the brilliance with "Perfect Places" so was I proven wrong?

Ultimately the answer is yes, "Perfect Places" is actually better than "Green Light" in my opinion. Darker but really laden with an incredible hook "What the f*** are perfect places anyway?". Its a killer song with a wonderful groove with lyrics describing that feeling of young people either being drunk or wasted at a party at 3am in the morning and while I have never been at a party at 3am in the morning (I know I have kind of lived a sheltered life)

Lorde is on fire with songs from Melodrama so bring on that album.

Rating: Not quite completely perfect but close too. 9/10



Song: Run
Artists: Foo Fighters




While I like rock music, Foo Fighters really aren't my kind of thing, sure, I can listen to most Foo Fighters songs without cringing but when I am in need of a rock music fix they aren't the first band I turn to for that fix of guitars and drums.

So being totally unbiased here, "Run" is actually pretty damn good and I suspect all Foo Fighters fans will be playing this song over and over again. It's got a great feel and Dave Grohl sounds incredible. Yeah, its not my kind of thing but I'm not going to complain or change the station if radio were to play it.


Rating: 8/10


Song: Fake Magic
Artist(s): Peking Duk, Alunageorge




Most know I am most definitely not into any kind of dance music or techno stuff so I was a wee bit wary and quite honestly really not sure I wanted to hear this new song from Peking Duck. I hadn't heard much about so really there wasn't a reason to hear it but after reading reviews that suggested it was a pretty darn good  song, I gave "Fake Magic" a listen and yeah, it is extremely good if rather short.

It's a tropical almost late 70's disco throwback that just hits the spot every single time especially when it goes into the chorus. Boom! Also why does the chorus sound like "Attention" by Charlie Puth?


Rating: 7/10


Song: The Only High
Artist: The Veronicas




Jess and Lisa Origlasso are back with a new single from an upcoming fourth album after "On Your Side" really didn't take off despite being a great song, they have gone down the path of a piano inspired ballad with the "The Only High" that you could say is in a similar vein to "You Ruin Me" although "The Only High" lyrically seems like a song about being in love.

While I wouldn't say it's one of their best, its certainly a song I'll come back to as I do like the atmosphere around the music in "The Only High". It is a cute song.


Rating: 6/10


Song: Uh Huh
Artist: Julia Michaels





So Julia Michaels has finally followed up "Issues" with "Uh Huh", a song with a bit more attitude than the at times insipid and lazy "Issues" but quite honestly with the acoustic guitarm lyrics and bouncy chorus I kind of wish somebody like Avril Lavigne had of recorded this song because Julia Michael's voice really doesn't inspire any emotion or anything other than reaching for Avril Lavigne's album "Goodbye Lullaby". It's not bad by any stretch of the imagination but its not exactly good either.


Rating: 5/10 (Would have gotten a high ratimg if Avril or somebody with the attitude to match the song's vibe and lyrics was singing it)



Song: Wall of Glass 
Artist: Liam Gallagher





it's rare to see more than one out and out rock song on the New Music Friday playlist but hey I'll take it. Former member of Oasis Liam Gallagher has dropped a new single called "Wall of Glass" and quite honestly with electric guitars and a good beat, "Wall of Glass" is pretty damn good, its unlikely to be a hit given the fact that the public appetite for rock music has most infitely waned in recent years but I would definitely be happy if this became a big hit, Liam might be a bit of bad arse but can't deny a good song.


Rating: 9/10


Song: Know No Better
Artist(s): Major Lazer, Travis Scott, Camila Cabello, Quavo






So here is our almost weekly new piece of music featuring Quavo because he seems to be fucking ubiquitous but he isn't the main person responsible for "Know No Better", producer Major Lazer has come up with this song.

The piano intro is quite interesting but gets off for Travis Scott's verse quite abruptly before Camila Cabello pretty much grates on nerves with her warbling. Also is there any need to repeat words in the verses. "whipping that, whipping that, whipping that", its just irritating. Gahh, At least both Travis Scott and Quavo try to add something but I won't remember this song come the end of the year.


Rating: 4/10


Other songs worth a mention:
"Another Love Song" by Ne-Yo (Desperately trying to copy Bruno Mars style in an attempt for another hit, it's an okay song. Rating: 6/10)

"Unpredictable" by Olly Murs feat. Louisa Johnson (Generic and generally quite forgettable 4/10)


Best song of the week

Liam Gallagher is getting it this week for "Wall of Glass". Mainly cause rock is rare these days and I really want this song to chart


Worst song of the week

"Down" by Fifth Harmony is getting this. Now that Camila is gone there is absolutely no excuse for ripping off "Work from Home". Should have used the loss of Camila to pursue a change in their sound.


New Music Friday next week:

We're getting a collaboration between Justin Bieber and David Guetta called "2U" for some inexplicable reason.

I'll look at the new DJ Khaled featuring Drake song called "To The Max" next week cause generally a new song involving Drake can wait for a bit.

Katy Perry drops her new album "Witness" tomorrow, we can only hope the album is better than the three songs released from it so far.

Beyond that, I am not too sure as far as big releases go so we'll see.

ARIA Top Ten 5th June

This week was one of those weird weeks where everything remained static at the top but lower down the chart things are looking rather unstable but before we get to the top ten, we did have one song drop out that being "Sign of the Times" by Harry Styles, it fell to number 11 after it jumped to number 5 off the back of the release of the self titled album last week and obviously those gains have fallen away a bit this week.

Now to the top 10 where "Despacito Remix" by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber remains at number 1 for a third week and at the moment there looks to be nothing ready to knock it off.

Sure "I'm the One" by DJ Khaled featuring Justin Bieber, Chance the Rapper, Quavo and Lil Wayne remains at number 2 for another week but the margins are too big for it to get "Despacito Remix"/

Miley Cyrus remains at number 3 for another week with "Malibu"

However beyond the top 3, its all movement with Shawn Mendes somehow climbing 4 places to number 4 this week with "There's Nothing Holding Me Back"

Ed Sheeran's former long time number 1 "Shape Of You" refuses to go away, it went up one to number 5 this week, meanwhile Sheeran's other top 10 hit "Galway Girl" dropped 2 places to number 6.

Kendrick Lamar remains at number 7 with "Humble"

Niall Horan's "Slow Hands" climbs 2 places to number 8 this week with his former One Direction band mate Liam Payne giving Quavo his 2nd top 10 song with "Strip That Down" up two places to number 9.

"Symphony" by Clean Bandit featuring Zara Larsson drops to number 10

Most of the new entries are songs that have been mentioned on previous New Music Fridays with the highest debut coming from Martin Garrix and Troye Sivan with the alright "There For You" at number 25

Rita Ora's "Your Song" debuts at number 31, Lil Uzi Vert has enterred the ARIA chart with "XO Tour Lif3" (Still inside the Billboard Hot 100 top 10 right now)

"Most Girls" by Hailee Steinfield enters at number 43.

Song that I haven't reviewed on New Music Friday review is Maggie Lindemann's "Pretty Girl" which is yet another esteem anthem and quite frankly surprised to see it in the chart given this song has been doing the rounds around Europe for the last couple of months. Anyway check it out.




Anyway see you for New Music Friday Review later this week.

Step Back in Time: June 3rd 1990

So the time machine this week has skidded to a stop in the year 1990, yes the year that Madonna would go on to make one of the most iconic music videos of the decade and somehow Michael Bolton was a hitmaker but anyway more of that later.

At number ten is Billy Idol with "Crade of Love", this song peaked at number 10. Of the hit Billy Idol songs, this is one I remember least. It was a number 2 hit in the USA.

Number nine finds Roxette with "Dangerous" which is where it peaked in Australia (unfortunately because it's a damn great song). Went as high as number 2 in the US and number 3 in the UK

Wet Wet Wet slid down to number 8 from number 7 with "Sweet Surrender", It peaked at number 7 in Australia. It went number 6 in the UK in September 1989.

At number 7 is "Infinity (1990s...Time for the Guru)" by Guru Josh which climbed 7 places into the top 10. It would go on to peak at number 4 in Australia and at number 5 in the UK.

Belinda Carlisle remained at number 6 this week with her single "Summer Rain" which is where it peaked in Australia. "Summer Rain" experienced it's most success on the charts in Australia, it only managed 23 in the UK and 30 in the US.

Paula Abdul was finding successful in Australia with her former number 1 "Opposites Attract" down to number 5. It was also a number 1 hit in the US and number 2 in the UK.

Michael Bolton recovered from a dip the week before to number 5 by climbing back to number 4 with "How Can We be Lovers", this song peaked at number 3 in Australia and also in the US.

Speaking of number 3, we say hello to "Mona" by Craig McLachlan and Check 1-2. It was the highest selling Australian single for the year 1990 by peaking number 3 (yes, I know what you are thinking), it peaked at number 2 in the UK.

Heart were having some wonderful success in the US and had racked up several chart toppers by 1990 so of course "All I Wanna Do is Make Love to You" was going to be a huge hit, it would go on to be a number 1 hit in Australia however surprisingly it was only a number 2 hit in the US and went number 8 in the UK.

The Pop Music Queen of the 80s returned in 1990 and she was back to dominate the charts, I'm talking about Madonna of course, spending what would turn out to be its final week at number 1 was "Vogue", the song was a worldwide smash hit peaking at number 1 in the UK and the US also.

So that wraps up Step Back in Time for this week. Next week, we head back to June in 2000 where Beyonce was experiencing plenty of success in a girl group known as Destiny's Child, this is "Say My Name"

See you on Saturday for the ARIA Top Ten, it seems like "Despacito Remix" may remain at number 1 but we'll find out on Saturday then New Music Friday Review featuring Lorde, 5th Harmony and Julia Michaels to follow next week

New Music Friday Review: One of the best pop songs of 2017 has landed

It's time to review some of the new music unleashed on New Music Friday. Some big releases including Nick Jonas, Little Mix and Rita Ora.

Song: Remember I Told You
Artists: Nick Jonas, Anne Marie, Mike Posner




Oh man, we have found a confused Nick Jonas here, trying to be all Drake in the verses but then pulling out his best Justin Timberlake impersonation for the chorus, that said the song generally isn't all that bad. Anne Marie gives it a bit of life when she plays her role as the woman in the relationship gone. Mike Posner delivers a pretty braggy but on point chorus.

Rating: It's an okay song I guess. 6/10


Song; Mended
Artist: Vera Blue




The second single from Vera Blue's forthcoming new album. "Mended" is a song" about an unresolved relationship and I have to say I do kind of like this, yeah, lyrically its a bit short on detail but for a spacious song like this which allows for Vera Blue's voice to shine, I'm not so sure the extra detail is needed. I'll take this. Good song

Rating: 7/10



Song: Power
Artists: Little Mix feat. Stormzy





Well the girls load up on the power in their vocals and also go down the path of a little bit of rap in this song and it sounds absolutely fantastic but yet again we come back to the old issue with Little Mix and god damn it ruined "No More Sad Songs" for me which is their constant pedance of needing rappers for guest vocals in their songs, this time inviting Stormzy to rap on this track which to me adds absolutely nothing to what could be a great song instead it's just good.


Rating: The unnecessary Stormzy guest pushes it back to a 6/10



Song: Your Song
Artist: Rita Ora.





Speaking of Little Mix, Rita Ora's lyrics in "Your Song" sound like they have been taking inspiration from Little Mix's "No More Sad Songs". Really musically there's not much to this song apart from Ora telling her lover that she's had enough of sad songs and that she only wants to hear her lover's song because it makes her feel good. Meh.

Rating: 5/10. Bit boring.




Song: Cut to the Feeling
Artist: Carly Rae Jepsen





I am no fan of Carly Rae Jepsen here, "Call me Maybe" still infuriates me to this day so I was half inclined not to bother with "Cut to the Feeling" but boy am I glad I did decide to give it a listen because this song is damn good, very summery vibe which isn't great for winter in Australia but its perfect timing in the US where summer is just starting. In the words of another Jepsen song, I really really really like this. Check it out if fun old school pop is your thing


Rating: 8/10


Song: There for You
Artist: Martin Garrix featuring. Troye Sivan





Martin Garrix is following up his single "Scared to be Lonely" which featured Dua Lipa with a more upbeat vibe compared to "Scared to Be Loney" and I kind of like this more a bit more than "Scared to be Lonely". Its a song about being there for a friend or lover (although Sivan took to Twitter to say it was about his fans) and yeah I don't hate this, it kind of works. Sivan's vocal is nice enough.


Rating: 7/10



Song: New Takeover
Artist: Stan Walker




Former Australian Idol winner Stan Walker is back with a song entitled "New Takeover" and yeah, I wish I could say I am a fan of this but ugh, why is it that every R&B artist thinks that in order to get a hit song, they have to copy or attempt to copy Drake's sounds. It's all a bit forgettable. Pass on this.


Rating: 3/10


Other songs to check out:
"Circles on the Water" by Samantha Jade 7/10
"Cali God" by Grace Mitchell 8/10
"Strangers" by Halsey featuring Lauren Jauregui (Yes, Lauren from 5th Harmony) - 2/10



Best new song

I'm giving it to Carly Rae Jepsen for "Cut to the Feeling". Been a long time since we had a feel good pop song as good as this one in the charts


Worst new song

"New Takeover" by Stan Walker. Bored of the attempted Drake sound-a-likes already.


Next New Music Friday

"Down" by Fifith Harmony (feat. Gucci Mane)
Unknown new single from Lorde
"The Only High" by The Veronicas
"Uh Huh" by Julia Michaels


Later today, "Step back in time" goes back to 1990 so see you then,

ARIA Top Ten May 29th 2017: Slow week much?

It was more than a bit of a quiet week in the top 10, okay, sure we had a couple of moves and one song move into the top 10 but wow other than that we really didn't see much movement at all.

"Something Just Like This" by The Chainsmokers featuring Coldplay left the top 10 dropping two spots to number 12 from last week.

For the third week, "Despacito Remix" by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee feat. Justin Bieber remains at number one, Surprisingly Australian radio is catching onto this song.

At number 2 remains "I'm the One" by DJ Khaled featuring Justin Bieber, Chance The Rapper, Quavo and Lil Wayne.


Miley Cyrus remains where she is off her debut last week at number 3 with "Malibu"


"Galway Girl" by Ed Sheeran jumps one place to number 4 switching with "Sign of the Times" by Harry Styles which dropped one to 5.

Former long term chart topper "Shape of You" by Ed Sheeran remains inside the top 10 at number 6.

"HUMBLE" by Kendrick Lamar" stays static at number 7, as does "There's Nothing Holding me Back" by Shawn Mendes at number 8 and "Symphony" by Clean Bandit and Zara Larsson.

Now for the new entry to the top 10. Niall Horan's "Slow Hands" rounds out the top 10 at number ten after a 7 place move up.


As for the new entries to the chart, they are all songs which I mentioned last week on New Music Friday review. The highest debut went to Liam Payne featuring Quavo at number 11 with "Strip That Down" (it debuted at number 3 in the UK this week).

Selena Gomez entered the chart number 13 with " Bad Liar"

We have to go all the way down to 37 to find a chart entry for "Swish Swish" by Katy Perry and Nicki Minaj.

At 38 is the new one for Imagine Dragons entitled "Thunder"


Logic's song about suicide called "1-800-273-8255" which features Alessia Cara and Khalid has entered the ARIA chart at 43. Will be interesting to see if the song strikes a chord here.

Finally Camila Cabello rounds out the new entries with "Crying in the Club" at number 45. I will be reviewing her new single "I have Questions" in my New Music Friday Review.

Speaking of such things, New Music Friday Review should be up on Tuesday at some point, hopefully we get a more interesting ARIA chart next week.

Step Back In Time: 24th May 1998

Special Saturday edition of Step Back in Time due to illness. We're looking at this week in 1998 and at this time, pop still had something of a stranglehold on the charts with the Spice Girls, Aqua and others still charting hits.

As usual we start at number 10 where we find Usher with "You Make Me Wanna" which had dropped 3 places from number 7 in the week previous.  "You Make Me Wanna" reached a peak of number 6 in Australia and hit number 2 in the United States Billboard Hot 100.

Neighbours alumni Natalie Imbruglia had a 2nd hit inside the top ten with "Big Mistake" at number 9 however it was a one place drop. "Big Mistake" peaked at number 6 in Australia and number 2 in the United Kingdom.

"Big Mistake" pretty much switched places with the Spice Girls single "Stop" which is at number 8 this week. The Girl Power agents of the 90s peaked at number 5 with "Stop" in Australia and only at number 2 in the United Kingdom, it was the first Spice Girls song to not go number 1 in Britain.

Former number 1 "My Heart will go on" by Celine Dion slid back 4 places to number 7, this song from the film 'Titanic' was a worldwide number 1.

Madonna had a new entry at number 6 with "Ray of Light". Number 6 is where this song would peak in Australia.

The Living End clinbed two places to number 4 with "Prisoner of Society". This song also peaked at number 4

Seminal R 'n' B song "All My Life" by K-Ci and Jojo was also up two places to number 3. It would go on to peak at number 2 and got to number 1 in the USA.

Steps found their way to number 2 with  "5, 6, 7,  8". This song peaked at number 1 however it only peaked at number 14 in the UK

It's arguable that country music doesn't get the attention it deserves but this week in 1998, it was a country song that had hit the top of the ARIA charts in the weeks previous. Shania Twain's "You're Still the One" was ruling the charts.

So that's all for this week. Next week we're going to go back to the week of 3rd June in 1990 and one of the songs to feature is Guru Josh with a song called  "Infinity (1990's.

Time for the Guru)" but we've also got the ARIA top ten (like that's even interesting this week) and New Music Friday Review (now that is interesting compared to the ARIA top ten)

ARIA Chart top 10 May 22:

It really was just a matter of time before it happened, we have a new number one and it was all so predictable when the song first dropped but before we get to that we lost "Stay" by Zedd featuring Alessia Cara from the top ten, it sits at number 12.

"Despacito Remix" by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber is your new number one despite this remix being just about the thing the current charts needed the least because the original of "Despacito" is a pretty good song and I'll repeat my point from last week, the fact its number one is not down to the charm or singing of Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee but down to the fact that despite Justin Bieber being an absolute disrespectful twat, there are still people who are willing enough to buy this instead of the original of "Despacito". Ugh!

At number two is a song with less personalty or swagger than a face that's been plugged full of botox, "I'm the One" drops off the number one spot for DJ Khaled, Justin Bieber, Chance the Rapper, Lil Wayne and Quavo because yet again if Justin Bieber wasn't involved, it wouldn't be a hit.

At number three is a new entry courtesy of Miley Cyrus with "Malibu" which is just about this song's best debut performance this week around the world apart from Scotland where it entered at number 2 there. I know there's been a mixed reaction from critics but I think this song is okay.

Harry Styles gets a sizeable new album boost for "Sign of the Times" which jumped from 9 all the way up to 4, his album is the ARIA number one album and isn't all that bad despite the first two single releases.

At number 5 sits "Galway Girl" by Ed Sheeran down from 3 last week and quite honestly I don't know where its getting to get a boost from to help go any further up the chart.

"Shape of You" by Ed Sheeran continues to travel down the top ten but only as far as number 6 down from 4 last week.

"Humble" by Kendrick Lamar continues to stick around quite surprisingly at number 7. I mean sure its a drop of two places but this song is doing rather well all things considered.

Shawn Mendes sits at number 8 with "There's Nothing Holding Me Back" down from 6 last week. Its probably likely to slide out of the top 10 in the next two weeks unless something totally weird happens,

"Symphony" by Clean Bandit featuring Zara Larsson looks like making a hasty exit from the top 10 which is a pity because its a decent song, it dropped from 7 to 9 this week. 

Rounding out the top 10 is "Something Just Like this" by The Chainsmokers featuring Coldplay which also dropped two places and I suspect with all the new entries coming next week, this song and "Symphony" might very well fall out of the top 10 next week.

As for new entries outside of the top ten, there were two that I looked at on New Music Friday, neither I thought that were that good really but "Rollin'" by Calvin Harris featuring Future and Khalid debuted at 40 and Harry Styles "Sweet Creature" debuted at number 45.

There's so much instability on the ARIA chart at the moment, will we get another new number one next week courtesy of Miley Cyrus or maybe a new song going straight to the top? We can only wait and see until then be sure to check out this week's New Friday Music Review featuring the new songs for Selena Gomez, Camila Cabello, Iggy Azalea and Liam Payne and also Step Back in Time which went back to this past week in May 1989.

So until Thursday for Step Back in Time where are going to go back to 1998, I'll see you all then.