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deadcactuswalking · 1 year ago

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REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 30/09/2023 (Nines/Tom Odell/blink-182)

Content warning: References to sex, emotional abuse, cancer and outdated memes

It’s the fourth week for “Paint the Town Red” by Doja Cat at #1 on the UK Singles Chart - welcome back to REVIEWING THE CHARTS!

Rundown

As always, like clockwork, we start with our notable dropouts, songs exiting the UK Top 75 - which is what I cover - after five weeks in the region or a peak in the top 40, and we do have some pretty notable losses this week. We see the end of two awfully premature two-week runs for hits-that-could-have-been team-ups, those being “Bongos” by Cardi B featuring Megan Thee Stallion and “My Love” by Leigh-Anne featuring Ayra Starr, and we also say farewell to “I’m Just Ken” by Ryan Gosling, “Seven” by Jung Kook featuring Latto, “Talibans” by Byron Messia, in no doubt assisted in its run by a sequel / remix with Burna Boy, “UNHEALTHY” by Anne-Marie featuring Shania Twain, and finally, “Dancing is Healing” by Rudimental, Vibe Chemistry and Charlotte Plank.

What’s also interesting are our notable gains and returns, and whilst we don’t get a third song from Kylie Minogue’s newest #1 album Tension - with a new single stalling outside of the top 75 - we do get the return of “Padam Padam” at #72 and a big gain for the title track “Tension” up to #47. As for the rest of our list, we see the return of RAYE’s “Escapism.” featuring 070 Shake for… some reason and a much clearer return to #49 for Bakar’s “Hell n Back”, thanks to his recent album release, though the album didn’t make the top 10 of the albums chart and only features the song in the form of a remix featuring Summer Walker so it’s honestly just as inexplicable a return. As for our gains, it’s a mixed bunch, as there are boosts for “Another Love” by Tom Odell at #61 thanks to residual streams from his new release which we’ll get to, “ecstacy” by SUICIDAL-IDOL of all songs at #52 probably thanks to an okay remix with syris and 6arelyhuman, because of course, those guys are certified hitmakers, then “Back on 74” by Jungle at #41 again probably in part thanks to a remix by Joy Anonymous but still awesome nonetheless, “PARK CHINOIS” by Headie One and K-Trap at #39 thanks to the album release which we’ll also get to later, “My Love Mine All Mine” by MItski at #34 (this four-way streak of gains is pretty great actually), “City Boys” by Burna Boy at #17 and “Water” by Tyla continuing to be a surprise hit at #16.

As for our top five, well, as I kind of expected, “greedy” by Tate McRae continues to do well as it scoots to #5 off of the debut, and then we see the usual: “vampire” by Olivia Rodrigo at #4, “Prada” by casso, RAYE and D-Block Europe at #3, “Strangers” by Kenya Grace continuing up to #2, and finally, of course, “Paint the Town Red” at the top. Now to get to our business as usual.

NEW ARRIVALS

#75 - “Would You (go to bed with me?)” - Campbell and Alcemist

Produced by Campbell, Alcemist and Franklin

For some context, Campbell and Alcemist are both drum and bass producers, and they released this song back in July. It’s not exactly inaccessible but definitely not the typical drum and bass hit, with a piercing horn line that just blares over all the production mist clouding around it, as well as a spoken word sample that’s purposefully awkward about finding someone attractive and wanting to sleep with them. These are all sampled elements from a song called “Would You…?” by the jazz group Touch & Go, and with the organic percussion, that insanely infectious jazz hook hits even harder - it hit #3 in 1998 and is in my opinion, a perfect song. By the way, “Believe” by Cher was #1 that week. Now how well does it translate to drum and bass? Pretty naturally, given the fast-paced jittery feel of the original and the memetic nature of the vocals. As someone who is into jazzstep, best genre name ever by the way, it’s pretty great to see drum and bass that uses horns directly influenced by jazz on the charts, and even if it’s in a harder, bass-heavy jump-up style rather than cribbing from atmospherics, the sample flip - though admittedly kind of a copy-paste job in some ways - sticks the landing incredibly well. Now why is this drum and bass remix of a forgotten jazz single from 1998 with no real chorus charting? I have no idea, but what may help it next week is the fact that the day I am writing this, they released a Caity Baser remix, and I have no idea why anyone told her she could rap. She is incredibly awkward, somehow deflated-sounding despite putting all of her energy in it, and ultimately cringeworthy, clashing against the intended subtle awkwardness of the original vocal so hard that it’s almost impressive how far they missed the point. Now speaking of obvious samples to rip from…

#56 - “Got Me Started” - Troye Sivan

Produced by Ian Kirkpatrick

Troye. Troye, Troye, Troye. One of the loveliest elements of “Rush” is the fact that there is no sample, seemingly, and that instead its filtered hook is completely original yet made to emulate the French house style through editing. It’s a brilliant work of songwriting, even if the song has slightly soured on me since release. So I know for a fact you and your co-writers didn’t need to do whatever the Hell this is. If you were on the Internet in 2017, you probably remember the weedy synth line from “Shooting Stars” by Bag Raiders, a song that was originally released in 2009 and became a very minor dance hit in Australia, the group’s native country, but never charted here. “Get Me Started” takes that Internet meme melody and essentially just drops it to the most “memorable” or “TikTok-worthy” parts of an otherwise completely average cloudy dance-pop jam about doing it. It’s in the intro to catch your attention, and the transition into the actual song is fine, but then it completely disappears, and the melodies they bring through the pads don’t really replicate the original lead or anything, so it seems like a troll… but then the pitch-shifted chorus ends and abruptly, almost as if it were a mistake, you get the “Shooting Stars” melody played completely straight over the song’s rhythm section. Then as if he’s hurrying to try and make sense of it, Troye delivers an awfully manipulated vocal take of incoherence in an attempt to harmonise with the synth lead. This is pathetic, desperate and just sad to hear in a year that has relied so much on these recognisable samples. There’s little to no attempt to effectively sequence this sample into the song. It’s just there, because you remember the song, right? Or you remember the meme from six years ago? Let’s just redo the meme, that was already taking a seven-year-old song’s chorus, and repackage it in marketable Troye Sivan form. The original song is so good because it is from 2009, and it goes for a purposeful clash between the despair present in much of the song, especially the lead vocal, and that earworm of a hook, until the chorus comes in by the end of the song and the synth line finally makes sense. It’s incredibly satisfying. Repackaging it to be as straightforward as possible with no respect for the source material outside of its meme factor is almost YouTube Poop-esque, which I would respect and find fascinating if it was clear that any passion was involved in the rest of the seemingly unrelated song. There is no comedy in the shock of that drop, just exhaustion.

#31 - “TRIPLE THREAT” - Headie One, K-Trap and Clavish

Produced by M1OnTheBeat, Likkle Dotz OTB and Ghosty

I have not listened to that Headie One and K-Trap collaborative album yet - been a bit too busy for new releases - but I am pretty impressed it got to #4. I know Headie’s big but he was kind of the decline right up until he took K-Trap under his wing for STRENGTH TO STRENGTH, with this cut getting the video push, and well, I’ll give it to Clavish, this is the first verse I’ve heard from him that I think he does very well on. His flow is tighter, he comes in with more energy than I think he ever has before, and there are honestly some pretty good lines, with his usual problem of leaving too much empty space really not here, which is impressive considering how this beat is pure menace with the waves of synths under particularly metallic drill percussion. Hell, he’d have the best verse here if Headie One wasn’t so effortlessly sick with his looser rhyme schemes, rich voice and memorable punchlines. With all of that said, the beat gets dryer overtime - the song’s not too long but the instrumental is pretty unmoving and copy-paste for it to work when K-Trap comes in and he has the loosest flow of all of them, leading to more awkwardness than there probably should be in his otherwise decent verse. Outside of that brief issue, I think this is still very solid drill, I’m honestly glad there’s still drill charting that’s as intense and dark as this.

#29 - “Agora Hills” - Doja Cat

Produced by Earl on the Beat, Gentuar Memishi, Jean Baptiste and Bangs

It’s no surprise to see that Scarlet, a fascinatingly bad self-immolation on Doja’s behalf, is under-performing compared to Planet Her, and whilst the fall isn’t drastic - this album still made it to #5 on the albums chart - it is telling that this of all songs is what is being pushed and what fans are gravitating to. First things first, this song samples “All I Do is Think About You”, a song originally cut by the Jackson 5 in their declining last few years on Motown before being popularised by Troop in 1989. It was a minor hit on the pop charts but very big on the R&B charts, and Troop’s is the version sampled because I mean, she can’t afford good mixing on this project two thirds of the time so I assume a Michael Jackson sample was also too much. The song never charted in the UK. Second things second, this song is pretty explicitly about Doja Cat’s current boyfriend who has some harassment allegations lept towards him, as well as some edgy X posts, with Doja emphasising the appeal of people not appreciating their relationship, sexualising the idea that they might get caught and harassed or trolled. There are sarcastic interludes about how she lives in a mansion, verses comparing herself to Fortnite and him to Jesus, a chorus threatening to tie the knot all delivered playfully as if she’s dangling keys in front of children and, considering that Mr. Cyrus allegedly had manipulated and emotionally abused several women and members of his Twitch community, a particularly striking line about how she doesn’t care where his penis has been - there aren’t sexual misconduct accusations as far as I’m aware but I feel like Doja jumped the defensive gun with that one and hints towards levels of discomfort I don’t think is actually even there. Third things third, Earl’s on the beat - this is a gorgeous production. Sure, the bass is mastered strangely, but the filtered 80s R&B synths skate under the expected trap skitter really well, and whilst Doja doesn’t do much R&B in this record, this song features her best vocal harmonies possibly ever during the refrain. Fourth things fourth, I have to ask the question: do I care more about how a song sounds or what it’s trying to convey? Can I really separate them? Last things last, I really don’t know.

#28 - “ONE MORE TIME” - blink-182

Produced by Travis Barker

blink-182’s comeback single, “EDGING”, was a horrible and misguided attempt at replicating their older humour. However, I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt that this was a purposeful “sellout” or troll moment just to excuse the high ticket prices and get some viral bombast to their comeback record with the original line-up. This song goes for nostalgia in the video but is also a pretty genuine reflection on how tragedies and hardships in the members’ lives have brought them closer, such as how Mark Hoppus fought cancer quite recently. So I feel kind of like a terrible person for thinking this song is pretty bad. It’s a rote acoustic guitar line accompanied by really rough vocals from Tom DeLonge and stock pianos that sound straight out of the 90s, but not blink’s 90s, more like the adult contemporary and dream trance of the 90s. The lyrics carry weight but not in a way that is all that poetic or hard-hitting, and the melodramatic “emo” delivery isn’t doing the already whiny vocal melodies all that much justice. The vocal mixing - especially for Mark - is unacceptable for a band asking that much for a concert ticket, and Travis Barker isn’t left with much to do, especially not in that underdeveloped outro which lets a final “I miss you” sit there in the air before an increasingly sappy instrumental passage. I know this is human, I know this is genuine and to a lot of fans, going to bring back some memories, I’m sure. For me, I’m just sad the boys don’t have it in him to make a genuinely crushing single like they used to.

#21 - “Black Friday” - Tom Odell

Produced by Tom Odell and Cityfall

Thanks to the bizarre longevity of “Another Love”, Tom Odell is a mainstay on the UK Singles Chart, but he’s finally got another single in the top 40 and it does indeed have an acoustic guitar line. It has strings, a vocal take from Mr. Odell that implements reverb and softer vocal delivery, singing lyrics about love and relationships in a particularly frail cadence. In fact, so frail that I have to get out of ChatGPT mode and wonder what actually is going on in this song. It starts with an obscure soundscape that ends up being drowned out by the typical folk-pop, and even then it isn’t all that typical given the distance the mix gives the guitar and the subtle squeals before the first verse. Odell seems a bit checked-out and paranoid, not able to enjoy the time he’s spending with his partner, as he feels like a burden due to his inability to truly be happy and have fun, feeling like he’s being carried by his partner - or really friend as there’s not that much romance here - through life. Spending time with them almost confuses him, it seems, due to his perceived inability for self-improvemnet, with that falsetto warble in the chorus as he asks what is happening to him wavers on the drumless forest like he’s calling out for help. Sure, some of the lyrics may feel a bit cliché or stunted, but the performance definitely makes up, especially in that second chorus where he starts belting over a swell of strings and rushijng percussion that so cathartically crashes into a symphonic Britpop-esque instrumental, never fully erasing his yelped question: “what is happening to us?” It could be mixed a bit more dynamically at times during that impactful bridge, but otherwise, um, this may be a fantastic song. Colour me kind of confused and very corrected about Tom Odell, this is beautiful.

#20 - “Daily Duppy” - Nines featuring GRM Daily

Produced by Karlos

And we end, somehow, with a Nines freestyle. Huh. Well, you know the drill by now, GRM Daily is a YouTube channel that invites UK rappers to freestyle in this Daily Duppy series, and the biggest guest stars end up having their single officially released and charting. This beat from Karlos is one of the best I’ve heard from Daily Duppy freestyles, given the smoothly-blended 90s R&B loop being very effectively chopped up under a very hard trap beat. Oh, and Nines is here. I’d prefer if he weren’t. Yup, that’s it. What did you expect? It’s Nines, he doesn’t say anything interesting, and his dull flow actively detracts from a beat that deserves so much more personality. This is also just one long verse as usual, so there’s not a catchy hook or anything to latch onto sadly. Just kind of a wasted beat - and even that overstays its welcome a tad.

Conclusion

I feel like “Agora Hills” sums up this week pretty well because it really was kind of a binary clash between good and terrible for the most part. As a result, these titles fall out pretty easily. Best of the Week goes to Tom Odell of all people for “Black Friday”, as the Honourable Mention ends up in the hands of Alcemist and Campbell for “Would You (go to bed with me?)” though that sample is doing a lot of lifting. As for the worst, Troye Sivan gets the Worst of the Week handedly for “Got Me Started”, it’s practically insulting. I do feel bad for saying it but blink-182 get the Dishonourable Mention and really aren’t that far behind with “ONE MORE TIME”, sadly. As for what’s on the horizon, I don’t think it’ll be too busy of a chart outside of maybe Ed Sheeran but my predictions are pretty awful so take me with a grain of salt. For now, thank you for reading and I’ll see you next week!

#song review #uk singles chart #pop music #nines #tom odell #blink-182 #doja cat #clavish #headie one #k-trap #alcemist #campbell #caity baser #troye sivan

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