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dv-kelp-face Ā· 4 months ago
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deadcactuswalking Ā· 4 years ago
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REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 31/10/2020 (Ariana Grande, KSI, Little Mix)
I havenā€™t heard that Ariana Grande album yet as of writing this but the lead single ā€“ and title track ā€“ ā€œpositionsā€ has just debuted at #1 on the UK Singles Chart, her seventh song to hit the top and second this year after ā€œRain on Meā€ with Lady Gaga. Hence, thatā€™s todayā€™s #1 and we have a busy and pretty chaotic week of new arrivals. Welcome to REVIEWING THE CHARTS.
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Dropouts & Returning Entries
A lot of their debuts from last week were completely wiped out on this weekā€™s chart which surprises me, especially for songs I thought would hit it big like ā€œOne More Timeā€ by Not3s and AJ Tracey. Our notable dropouts here range from bonafide smash hits like ā€œRosesā€ by SAINt JHN and remixed by Imanbek, which hit #1, although I always preferred ā€œSwooshā€ from the same album, to pretty easy and quick fall outs from songs Iā€™ve reviewed in the past few weeks. Weā€™ve got songs that peaked in the top 10 like ā€œRoverā€ by S1mba and DTG and ā€œI Dunnoā€ by Dutchavelli, Tion Wayne and Stormzy but otherwise thatā€™s mostly it as a lot of these drop-outs are just songs that didnā€™t really reach their charting potential or have mostly had their day in streaming, like the surprisingly quick drop for ā€œmy exā€™s best friendā€ by Machine Gun Kelly and blackbear, as well as ā€œDestinyā€ by D-Block Europe, ā€œTap Inā€ by Saweetie, ā€œFRANCHISEā€ by Travis Scott, Young Thug and M.I.A., ā€œOK Not to Be OKā€ by Marshmello and Demi Lovato, ā€œAirplane Modeā€ by Nines and NSG and even ā€œOutta Timeā€ by Bryson Tiller and Drake. If youā€™re worried about the loss of MGKā€™s song being too soon for whatever reason, donā€™t fret as ā€œforget me tooā€ with Halsey, a much better song, is here at #72, our only returning entry for the week. I might as well run through the biggest gains and falls, those both being last weekā€™s debuts. ā€œTrain Wreckā€ by James Arthur absolutely surged up to #24 whilst ā€œHoldā€ by Chunkz and Young Filly absolutely purged down to #59. To be fair to the general public, I think Iā€™d rather listen to something from four years ago than that song as well. Anyway, letā€™s start our new arrivals with a couple really interesting choices...
NEW ARRIVALS
#75 ā€“ ā€œSofiaā€ ā€“ Clairo
Produced by Rostam
Clairo is one of those artists where I feel completely out of the loop on, especially with all the recent buzz from TikTok, and I was not checking for that album last year, and whilst I didnā€™t mind her feature on Wallowsā€™ ā€œAre You Bored Yetā€, Iā€™d never been intrigued enough to check out the solo work until I guess here we see it on the chart, which is big for the genre of bedroom pop, which again I know next to nothing about. Now, I like lo-fi indie rock fine, but Iā€™ve never really tried to look into the bedroom pop micro-genre ā€“ if anyone has any recommendations, that would be appreciated ā€“ so this will pretty much be a first gaze into not just Clairo but the entire scene surrounding her. Iā€™m not a Vampire Weekend fan by any means but Rostam on production just give me hope, even if the mix here is a bit too drowned in reverb and echo to give the guitars any more impact when they really should have, at least I think so, theyā€™re pushed back in a way that makes an already pretty calm, fleeting indie single even more lacking sonically. Clairo sounds great on this instrumentation, admittedly, albeit kind of uninterested, but it really is about that fuzzy distortion in the drop that feels... oddly anti-climactic and seemingly pointless considering how little progression is made before or after it. Maybe this genre just isnā€™t for me, but I feel myself turned off from how Clairoā€™s pretty beautiful vocal harmonies are not reflected by the production here, whether it be the stiff percussion, abrupt ending or overall lack of substance. This is kind of disappointing as I really wanted to like this. The song is a pretty vague but longing ballad mostly revolving around her crushes on people she saw in the mind, particularly Sofia Vergara and Sofia Coppola, hence the name, and I think itā€™s actually really well-written. I especially love how the chorus seems to acknowledge that not only are these crushes clearly out of her reach as a teenage girl just discovering her sexuality but also mentioning how afraid she is to really develop on any of these feelings because of how itā€™s prejudiced against and in some countries outlawed, but the song easily works as just a confession of love without really realising the statement, so it doesnā€™t feel forced or unnecessary. Sadly, I guess Rostam had to put his prints on this one, but the song itself isnā€™t bad at all. Hey, Iā€™m not going to complain about a song where I can look at pictures of Sofia Coppola for ā€œresearchā€.
#74 ā€“ ā€œAll Girls are the Sameā€ ā€“ Juice WRLD
Produced by Nick Mira
Itā€™s so odd and kind of heartbreaking to see the Genius comments for this track where they say Juice is ā€œup next for 2018ā€. Itā€™s also pretty amusing to see some of these annotations...
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God, I love Genius.com. This is a 2017 Juice WRLD track from the late rapper that was released as a single from his debut album, Goodbye & Good Riddance. I donā€™t really understand why this had a resurgence ā€“ again, Iā€™m going to assume TikTok or some kind of remix ā€“ but it is funny to see a bitter, immature and sloppily-written song about heartbreak and how ā€œall girls are the sameā€ next to a lesbian love ballad on the chart... and above said ballad because we clearly live in a society. Iā€™m not going to mince words here: this is a pretty bad song, at least in my opinion. All respect to Juice but heā€™s clearly not on top form here, with an uninterested and badly-mixed vocal delivery over a really dull, jingly trap beat with awful bass mastering. In fact, the whole song is mixed awfully and sounds really muddy which may have been the point but it doesnā€™t complement Juice at all. The lyrics here are purposefully immature and at times stupid, especially when he compares himself to John Lennon and is so desperate for a rhyme the dude says this unnamed girl is from Colorado. Iā€™m not going to deny some of the lyrics here are kind of haunting now due to tragic circumstances but I still get a chuckle out of the vocoder on his voice after massive empty spaces in both the beat and vocal track that makes the song sound clearly amateurish (to be fair to Juice, he clearly didnā€™t have access to the best studio equipment but it doesnā€™t excuse the major-label streaming release sounding this sloppy), as well as that opening line.
Broke my heart, oh, no, you didnā€™t!
Yeah, Iā€™ll take ā€œRobberyā€ over this any day, or even ā€œRighteousā€. Sorry.
#73 ā€“ ā€œMartin & Ginaā€ ā€“ Polo G
Produced by Hagan, Lilkdubb and Tahj Money
It seems we have two melancholy trap-rappers from Chicago appear consecutively on the chart. I love those types of oddities. If you donā€™t know Polo G, you probably should, at least from his hit ā€œPop Outā€ with Lil Tjay last year, and this is his most recent hit. I typically find his brand of mournful Auto-Tuned crooning about life on the streets remarkably genuine in comparison to most rappers but also admittedly really boring, at least for now. I can see this guy becoming a lot bigger and better but as of now he releases so much music and the quality and effort seems to fall by the wayside more often than not. In typical 2000s bling-rap fashion, this hardcore street rapperā€™s biggest hit from the album The GOAT (perhaps a bit early to call there, Mr. G) is a guitar-based R&B love jam for the ladies, except itā€™s not a sex jam...
Girl, I canā€™t wait ā€˜til I get home to f*** the s*** out of you
Okay, well, thatā€™s one line.
Man, Iā€™m tryinā€™ to get to know you sexually
Okay, but at least heā€™s trying to get to know her. The songā€™s lyrics do have a genuine heartfelt sense of love and companionship with his unnamed woman, and some of these lyrics are pretty funny and pleasant, albeit shallow. I love how in the first verse he says that even on her worst days she still looks ā€œkind of cuteā€, in a way that makes this song more down to Earth than other thugs-need-love-too songs, especially when he acknowledges the troubles in their relationship, which may be undermined by the unfortunate implications that come with that ā€œMartin & Ginaā€ comparison but thatā€™s really not the focus of the song, even if it is the title. He may talk about the shopping sprees now but there is evidence here that Polo G genuinely wants to live his life with this woman, especially when he says he wants them to move out to California and live in a mansion. Thereā€™s flexing there for sure but itā€™s less out of a desire to sound ā€œcoolerā€ than the other rappers or the audience, and more out of a desire to make the most out of this relationship in case, as he knows he might have to, he should ā€œpull the stick out and shootā€ to protect her. It helps that this is a damn good song with Poloā€™s catchy flow in both the verses and that infectious chorus, as well as a really slick guitar lick behind that trap knock. Yeah, this is pretty great. Check it out.
#71 ā€“ ā€œSpicyā€ ā€“ Ty Dolla $ign featuring Post Malone
Produced by Ty Dolla $ign, Westen Weiss and damn james!
It seems that Ty Dolla $ign has finally clocked that people like him for his features and not his solo work as he has released his most recent album fittingly named Featuring Ty Dolla $ign, following a trend of recent massive collaborative albums in pop music. This particular album features the likes of Kid Cudi, Kanye West (twice), Anderson .Paak, Nicki Minaj, Big Sean, Future, Young Thug, FKA twigs because, well, sure, and obviously, Post Malone. I havenā€™t listened to the album yet, I mean it sounds exhausting but I donā€™t necessarily like what Iā€™ve heard. ā€œExpensiveā€ with Nicki Minaj is soulless, ā€œEgo Deathā€ with Skrillex, Kanye and FKA twigs is chaotically misguided and a massive disappointment, ā€œTrack 6ā€ with Kanye, .Paak and Thundercat is way too boring for these four artists, and thatā€™s all Iā€™ve heard, except that ā€œDr. Sebiā€ interlude with Young Thug that I thought was actually pretty damn good for a one minute snippet. I did brief through some songs on the album right now as I was writing this and I wasnā€™t really a fan of any of it, not even the songs with Future and Young Thug, artists I actually really like. The song with Kid Cudi was pretty amazing though, which I pretty much expected, I mean it is Cudi after all and heā€™s really felt revived this year, even if he feels out of place on a sex song. The serpentwithfeet interlude definitely adds to that song though, and it actually leads into this track with Post Malone. This is their second collaboration after their #1 hit ā€œPsychoā€, but itā€™s a lot less interesting, replacing the serenity and smooth flows with more fast-paced trap skitters, hit-and-miss flows that only make Ty$ sound all that great in the tail-end of his verse. Postā€™s verse is out of place and feels like a regression for him, with the verse sounding like it was taken straight out of the Stoney sessions. The guys have no chemistry and Post doesnā€™t even contribute to a final chorus, which feels particularly odd as thereā€™s not a bridge to round any of this out properly as it just transitions awkwardly to the sixth track, titled ā€œTrack 6ā€. At least Ty$ isnā€™t facing 15 years in jail for cocaine possession now, which is something I brought up a disproportionate amount of times in older episodes of this show, because, well, sure.
#69 ā€“ ā€œWhooptyā€ ā€“ CJ
Produced by Pxcoyo
CJ is an ā€œup-and-comingā€ rapper with only one song that pretty quickly went viral. Thereā€™s something fishy about this. The only other song by CJ on Spotify and I assume other streaming services is this CashmoneyAP-produced trap song called ā€œOn Meā€ that is completely garbage. It does sound pretty odd that while he doesnā€™t sound dissimilar in ā€œWhooptyā€, this uninterested Auto-Tuned mumbler took three years to get another song on streaming and now heā€™s an energetic New York rapper using a beat that was literally uploaded to the producerā€™s website as a ā€œPop Smoke type beatā€ weeks before ā€œWhooptyā€ was released, which, by the way, was an immediate viral hit on YouTube. Very strange, very unusual but not very worth talking about as the one thing ā€œOn Meā€ and ā€œWhooptyā€ have in common is lack of quality. Sure, I like the Indian sample but itā€™s quickly drowned out by the booming 808s and pretty rote drill beat. Somehow, CJ sounds too energetic and excited to the point where heā€™s out of place on a beat this menacing. He sounds like a joke made by a record label to create some kind of popular generic drill track and it does not help that thereā€™s a single verse, with part of it repeated as a bridge, and two repetitions of the same over-long chorus. When Pop Smoke rapped over beats, he was aggressive, sure, but had a smoky voice and a lot more charisma than this flat tonal sandpaper CJ brings to the table. Itā€™s almost offensive to Pop Smokeā€™s legacy that this was rapped over his ā€œtype beatā€.
#57 ā€“ ā€œSO DONEā€ ā€“ The Kid LAROI
Produced by Omar Fedi and Khaled Rohaim
I figured Iā€™d have to talk about this guy at some point, well, what better time than in the midst of a lot of mediocre American hip hop, although this isnā€™t American, rather itā€™s actually an Aussie at it this time, with this 17-year-old kid propped up by Internet Money and Lyrical Lemonade and mentored by the late Juice WRLD. This kid really likes capital letters, and naturally I listened to his last hit ā€œGO!ā€ with his mentor Juice... and, yeah, itā€™s not good. That hook is stupidly infectious ā€“ and the pre-chorus is actually more so ā€“ but his delivery is obnoxious and unconvincing, especially in comparison to Juice on the same song. Man, I wish that entire song was as good as its pre-chorus. Anyway, this is a new song, not taken from his debut mixtape aptly and rather politely titled F*** LOVE. It uses an unorthodox ukulele loop as its main sample but once again Iā€™m not a fan of this guyā€™s immature delivery. Maybe in a few years this Kid LAROI will sound less like a Kid LAROI and more like a genuine rapper but right now he is just barely keeping on beat with a jangly pop beat that would sound really interested if accentuated by the right rapper but here it doesnā€™t work at all. I do actually appreciate some of the lyrics here, even if they are repetitive and vague. Hey, at least theyā€™re family-friendly PG clean for the most part so heā€™ll get that radio push, but itā€™s not like itā€™s matters here in the UK. Iā€™m sure this lad is the hottest thing to come from Australia this year... okay, well, maybe the second hottest ā€“ but Iā€™m not a fan, even if some of these melodies are promising. In fact, I really like some of his ideas, especially in the chorus, I just think that tragically, Juice could have done them more justice than this Kid LAROI ever could. Sorry.
#47 ā€“ ā€œBad Guyā€ ā€“ Morrisson and Loski
Produced by BKay and Harry James
Duh. Okay, so these are both UK drill rappers who Iā€™m not very familiar with although Iā€™ve heard of Loski before. Morrisson is a complete unknown to me. Theyā€™re both from London, as one would expect. Is the song any good? Well, I do like that chopped violin sample but Morrisson is only vaguely convincing when he claims to know Vinnie Jones and to be Stone Cold Steve Austin, and when he mentions getting ā€œwhite-boy wastedā€ with a woman sniffing coke, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth, but thatā€™s actually the point. I mean, the chorus says this:
You need people like me so you can point your f***ing fingers and say, ā€œThatā€™s the bad guyā€
The issue here is Iā€™m not convinced. Morrissonā€™s double-tracked vocals arenā€™t intimidating or menacing and are mostly overshadowed by a pretty great beat. His delivery is also something Iā€™m not a fan of and while I canā€™t say heā€™s uninterested or not putting his all into it, it just sounds weak, especially when pitted against this beat. Loski is here too, but he doesnā€™t add much to the ā€œbad guyā€ idea, especially when he starts talking about The Simpsons and Family Guy. Not Mr. Burns or even that angry chicken that fights Peter, just Stewie, Brian, Bart and Homer. Admittedly, ā€œshell out the whip like Mario Kartā€ is a pretty fun line and I appreciate his flow more than Morrissonā€™s... but, yeah, Iā€™m not really a fan. I like the concept but it misses the mark on execution.
#44 ā€“ ā€œGoldenā€ ā€“ Harry Styles
Produced by Kid Harpoon and Tyler Johnson
So this is the opening track to Stylesā€™ sophomore effort, Fine Line, an album I thought was mildly entertaining pop rock at best and lazy, absolutely worthless trite at worst. I donā€™t mind Stylesā€™ take on classic 70ā€™s pop and glam rock but Iā€™ve also never found it interesting, and the songs are at times disjointed and at most times just plain boring. I understand Iā€™m probably alone in this but I really disliked this album and Iā€™m not excited that heā€™s pushing yet another single. The beeping keys that start the song are immediately met with the crash of a drum beat that sounds as flat as Harryā€™s singing in that obnoxious, sloppy intro refrain. The verse is equally as awkward, with the song lacking in any kind of substance other than that one line of ā€œYouā€™re so goldenā€ which has been overly annotated by fans on Genius to mean a lot more than it does and should. Itā€™s a confession of love but unlike ā€œSofiaā€, thereā€™s very little to grab onto in terms of compassion for the singer and I quickly lose interest in what little story there is to the track. The bridge with the high-pitched guitar squealing and squeaky pitch-shifted murmuring is over and done with as slowly as possible and that refrain of nonsense vocalisations just continues without fear or even self-awareness of how annoying it is. This is probably ultimately harmless but it annoys the hell out of me and whilst I predict success for the track, I really hope against it as I absolutely do not like this at all.
#39 ā€“ ā€œTeadropsā€ ā€“ Bring Me the Horizon
Produced by Jordan Fish and Oliver Sykes
Yes, that Bring Me that Horizon. Yes, the metalcore band. At least they used to be metalcore and definitely on that heavier side of Kerrang!-core, but what Iā€™m more amazed by is how they continue to ditch the sound and continue to get bigger as they do so. After 14 years, youā€™d think these guys would stop getting Top 40 hits ā€“ hell, the only other hit they had before 2020 was ā€œDrownā€ ā€“ but this is their third this year! Iā€™ll admit Iā€™m not really up to speed on Bring Me the Horizon ā€“ I listened to their last record (which was just fine but honestly probably worth listening to for ā€œwonderful lifeā€ alone) but not this EP that the singles have been from, and definitely not their older stuff. For the sake of REVIEWING THE CHARTS, however, I did listen to their earlier singles ā€“ you canā€™t say I donā€™t do much for this show ā€“ and Iā€™m overall not really sure on how to feel about this stuff. I still like ā€œDrownā€ ā€“ and always have ā€“ but Iā€™ve never been too big on metalcore so Iā€™m actually surprised how much I really enjoyed the Linkin Park rip on ā€œSleepwalkingā€ (which Iā€™m impressed I remembered the chorus for). I remember liking the practically nightcore track ā€œouchā€ and, yeah, it still slaps. Some tracks are very heavy on the electronic, and ā€œCan You Feel My Heartā€ is reliant on that vocaloid drop, about two years before that became the norm in pop. Just from a skim of their biggest singles, Iā€™m honestly kind of a fan, especially ā€œThroneā€, even if I feel like the EDM influences just kind of go nowhere. Also, none of this screams ā€œmetalcoreā€ to me but I donā€™t know, these guys seem to change their style a lot with the only thing staying consistent being Oliver Sykes, and his tone that shifts between nasal pop-punk-style crooning and chopped-up Auto-Tune growling. I talked to a friend about them and they like their earlier stuff mostly, although he ā€œwouldnā€™t recommendā€ their debut album to anybody at all. Another friend said he refuses to listen to their music based on the pretentious title of their third record and honestly I think thatā€™s a pretty fair decision. This song sounds like pretty standard BMTH, or at least from what I can gather from the singles and the formula they follow. It starts with a funky and cute, chirpy electronic groove before itā€™s drowned out by heavier drums and heavy metal guitar riffs, but this time said electronic groove is less integral to the instrumental and the shift to a funkier bassline in the verse might honestly be for the best, although I do love the way the instrumental is chopped up a bit at the end of each repetition of the chorus. It makes the song sound a lot more unique and even if it sounds just as 2012 as their 2012 stuff, I honestly think thatā€™s fine, especially with that abrupt sharp contrast of his raspy yelling over breakbeats quickly followed by some crooning with light piano backing, which may make the song feel messy or structurally disjointed but honestly it works for the chaotic tone of the track and the angst that is presented in the lyrics. Also, although I havenā€™t evaluated this band since I watched a couple videos on Kerrang!, this feels oddly nostalgic. Huh. Some additional musings: That falsetto Sykes hits in the chorus is great. My friend said that he couldnā€™t finish the last album they put out which isnā€™t a good sign but to be fair to them it was an hour-long IDM record, because, well, sure. Iā€™ve written way too much about Bring Me the bloody Horizon at this point so Iā€™ll just move on but Iā€™ll make sure to check out some of their stuff after this.
#37 ā€“ ā€œLoadingā€ ā€“ Central Cee
Produced by HARGO
Now back to normality, at least I think so. This is another UK drill artist Iā€™ve never heard of. I like this beat, especially that sample of the horns that Iā€™m surprised wasnā€™t found by crate-digging but it works pretty well under the drill beat; it sounds like a menacing ā€œgangsterā€ song, especially because of how that sample reminds me of 1930s Chicago. Iā€™m not good on my American (or gang) history so that might be nonsense but you know what I mean, right? Black-and-white footage of men in suits gambling whilst women surround them and they all got their money from drug trafficking and they send out hits. Something like that, I donā€™t know. The song is kind of boring though, this Cee guy has zero charisma and the references to COVID make this immediately dated (not that this song is lyrically all that interesting anyway), and by two minutes the beat has run its course and just starts getting annoying. Yeah, not much to say about this one at all, but it could have been better.
#8 ā€“ ā€œSweet Melodyā€ ā€“ Little Mix
Produced by Peoples, MNEK, Morten ā€œRissiā€ Ristorp, Oliver Frid and Tayla Parx
I wonder if now that I listened to Bring Me the Horizon for half an hour straight that the last four songs all sound worse, or at least less interesting, in comparison. Well, I doubt that really, I think these songs will just end up being less interesting. I mean, five separate producers on a simple three-minute pop track? Thisā€™ll be as market-tested and manufactured as possible, as one would expect from Little Mix. I didnā€™t mind their last couple promo singles but this song seems to have some actual traction and even a high-budget video behind it and hence it debuted as high as #8. Well, is it any good? Well, itā€™s no 2013 Bring Me the Horizon, thatā€™s for sure. Jokes aside, the nonsense vocal refrain is kind of awkward and the R&B production here is kind of minimal and just... off, particularly in the first verse and refrain, where the singing and hard 808 is met with only accompaniment from one stray snare that is just... there? The drop doesnā€™t feel like it has a proper build-up either, and doesnā€™t even feel like it lives up to that non-existent tension. I do love the harmonies towards the end of the track and the ā€œhe would lie, he would cheat over syncopated beatsā€ line is kind of a bar, I suppose, but yeah, this production is awkward and Iā€™m not sure if it really does the girlsā€™ talent justice. I would have preferred something more dramatic and with more of a climax than the skittering hi-hats and vaguely dancehall-inspired bass grooves, but alas, here we are with a pretty mediocre, uninteresting track, which wasnā€™t exactly unexpected.
#3 ā€“ ā€œReally Loveā€ ā€“ KSI featuring Craig David and Digital Farm Animals
Produced by Digital Farm Animals and Mojam
Ah, the trio we all didnā€™t know we wanted but definitely deserved(?): YouTuber KSI, legendary R&B singer Craig David and a couple virtual elephants. KSI is more than a YouTuber or prankster now to be fair to the guy, with songs like ā€œLighterā€ he has cemented himself as a genuine pop star and not in the way that songs used to get viral or even back in 2017 with Jake Paul. KSI is taking this stuff seriously and having fun with it, and, hey, he beat up Logan Paul once or twice so I guess I respect the man to some extent. Iā€™m honestly surprised he got Craig David to be on the song with him. I mean KSI may be popular but I never put much thought into his music or even think itā€™s any good although the song has clearly debuted this high for a reason. Craig David has a janky hook that just plopped onto the track for a chorus and bridge, with pretty generic lyrics about love, which KSI develops on in some oddly specific ways. Heā€™ll buy this woman Amazon Prime ā€“ I hope you enjoy the Borat sequel, guys ā€“ and sheā€™ll ā€œwreck his balls like Mileyā€. Classy. Honestly, the song is mostly fine ā€“ KSIā€™s flow is kind of awkward and stiff still but itā€™s a lot smoother than it usually is and he does deliver a pretty convincing performance here, as does Craig David, who sounds as great as he did 20 years ago over this groovy house instrumental, with a great bassline that really does fit Craig David more than it does KSI. The trap breakdown is pretty well done as well, which surprised me as I assumed the song would lose all momentum afterwards but, no, it keeps on chugging. This is listenable and far from bad but itā€™s mostly just a serviceable pop tune. I have no issue with this sticking around as it probably will. Now for the big one:
#1 ā€“ ā€œpositionsā€ ā€“ Ariana Grande
Produced by TBHits, Mr. Frank and London on da Track
Man, Iā€™ve just reviewed 12 songs, I do not feel like talking about the biggest and most important one now. Well, maybe itā€™s not that and instead the fact that I have this conflict with Grandeā€™s music where someone so unbelievably and obviously talented sounds so incredibly disinterested in the songwriting and production, to the point where her performance is irrelevant. Sure, sweetener and thank u, next had their highs but the former is a complete mess and the latter feels so dull and oddly characterless. Again, these albums arenā€™t all bad but I feel like theyā€™re still so rushed and infuriatingly so, with Grande having very little involvement, or at least it sounds like that in these albums. Regardless of how much she contributes to each record, it always comes out the other end sounding impersonal, so Iā€™m actually glad she dropped the pretence and is now just doing purely sexy R&B stuff. I havenā€™t listened to the full album yet but with song titles like ā€œ34+35ā€, I can kind of expect what Iā€™m going into here. That said, Iā€™m not really a big fan of the title track and lead single here, although I can understand why it debuted at #1. Firstly, the video where she becomes the President of the United States for practically no reason is great. Secondly, the beat is pretty good and produced by London on da Track, who Iā€™m kind of disappointed didnā€™t put his producer tag here. It would have at least been kind of funny hearing it transition into Grandeā€™s sweet whispery vocal tone. I like the slick trap percussion, cricket sound effects and that chirpy guitar pluck, and especially those strings in the second pre-chorus which sound genuinely awesome. Arianaā€™s a great performer but the chorus is kind of weak, especially lyrically ā€“ I donā€™t mind the opening and main line about switching positions, hell, itā€™s kind of clever, but ā€œIā€™m in the Olympics the way Iā€™m jumping through hoopsā€? Really? The bridge is also pretty short and lazy; I feel like it could have actually been done away with or put as an intro and would have worked just as well replacing the second chorus with that final chorus, background whistle notes and all. That said, the song is a solid lead single and I am kind of excited to hear the rest of the album, even if this is at least somewhat of a retread.
Conclusion
What a mixed bag. Iā€™m generally pleased with what we have here though and I am going to give Best of the Week to ā€œTeadropsā€ by Bring Me the Horizon with an Honourable Mention to Polo G for ā€œMartin & Ginaā€, although Clairo would have gotten close without Rostam on the boards. Thereā€™s nothing all that bad here except ā€œGoldenā€ by Harry Styles which does get an easy Worst of the Week, with a Dishonourable Mention to CJā€™s ā€œWhooptyā€ for just being lazy. Hereā€™s this weekā€™s ā€œspookyā€ top 10 ā€“ it is Halloween after all:
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You can follow me on Twitter @cactusinthebank for political ramblings if you so wish but I wouldnā€™t recommend it, especially if you like Keir Starmer, but all politics aside, thank you for reading this far and Iā€™ll see you next week.
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