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deadcactuswalking · 5 years

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REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 18th August 2019

Bruh bruh bruh bruh

Top 10

For the sixth(?) week, Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello continue their surprising reign on the charts with “Senorita”, still at #1. I knew this would debut high and continue doing well due to the star power of both artists, but the longevity was somewhat unprecedented, especially considering the quality of the song.

At the runner-up spot of number-two, we still have “Beautiful People” by Ed Sheeran featuring Khalid because clearly someone in the world thinks that song has any redeemable quality.

Thankfully, however, up three spots to number-three, is coincidentally “3 Nights” by Dominic Fike (It’s his first top five), which is still probably my favourite song on the charts.

At number-four, up four from the debut, is somehow “Taste (Make it Shake)” by Aitch. I’m perplexed somewhat considering not only is this the usual genre to fall immensely after its first week, and this is some of the least interesting of that genre and scene, but there hasn’t been a remix in sight to propel Aitch’s single up until the top five.

We go back to quality with number-five, which is “Higher Love” by Kygo and Whitney Houston up four spaces this week as well. Despite the song generally being pretty decent, I do worry how the success of this will lead into a posthumous album from Whitney Houston where a bunch of EDM producers remix a couple bonus tracks and just the prospect of that sounds unlistenable.

At number-six, down one space form last week, is “Ladbroke Grove” by AJ Tracey.

Up five spots from last week in probably the most shocking advent here on the charts this week, Sam Smith’s “How Do You Sleep?” entering the top 10 at number-seven in its fourth week, becoming his 11th UK Top 10 hit. It’s the most shocking simply because there seems to be no reason for the reasonably large boost, yet it hadn’t gone Top 10 before? This is Sam Smith, it should debut in the top 10, surely? Why did it take three weeks outside of the top 10? Why is this gain so sudden? I have a lot of questions.

MIST and Fredo’s “So High” returns to the top 10 after a three-spot increase at number-eight.

Unfortunately, it brought Lewis Capaldi’s “Hold Me While You Wait” up a spot to number-nine with it.

Also returning to the Top 10 is “Take Me Back to London” by Ed Sheeran featuring Stormzy up four spaces to #10, because we need more Ed Sheeran in the charts... I guess.

Climbers

The highest and most unfortunate climber is probably Lil Tecca’s “RAN$OM” up eleven spaces to #13 despite being easily one of the worst hit songs of this year, really pathetic, derivative trap-rap. Other than that mistake, there really isn’t much to speak of here at all, other than “Harder” by Jax Jones and Bebe Rexha moving up six spaces to #30 but I should stop pretending I care about that song at all. Oh, and Dermot Kennedy’s “Outnumbered”, listed by Taylor Swift as an influence, is up five spaces to #34, looking like this will become a sleeper hit and I’m not particularly excited for that.

Fallers

On the other hand, we have plenty fallers this week, which seem to mostly be massive hits that have continued to fall over the past week or are just starting to drop off the chart. One of these fallers is a clear exception and that’s Social House’s “boyfriend” with vocals from Ariana Grande immediately dropping down seven spaces to #11 after the debut, which isn’t a good look going forward. Also probably a first for the UK Top 40, we have two absolute smash hits that peaked in the top five both dropping down a whopping 18 spots to a place outside the top 20 in the same week. The first at #21 is “I Don’t Care” by Ed Sheeran with Justin Bieber, and the second at #25 is “bad guy” by Billie Eilish which conversely just ended the 19-week #1 that is “Old Town Road” in the US. Also down this week is “I Spy” by Krept & Konan, Headie One and K-Trap down five to #27 after the second wind of the remix wears off. “Vossi Bop” by Stormzy is also down five to #39 and is slowly but surely exiting the charts.

Dropouts & Returning Entries

We literally have one drop-out this week and it’s “Mocking It” by JAY1 out from #40, which at that point it’s pretty obviously going to fall off soon enough... okay, are you kidding me? There’s one song to enter in the charts... barely. I would once again have no new entries to discuss if “Mocking It” kept in there (I’m not complaining that it didn’t, though). I think it’s probably time to do a featured single, but I’m already late enough writing this, so...

NEW ARRIVALS

#40 – “Hot Girl Summer” – Megan Thee Stallion, Nicki Minaj and Ty Dolla $ign

Produced by Bone Collector and Juicy J – Peaked at #11 in the US (#1 on the Rolling Stone 100)

Yeah, that title won’t be dated in a year, will it? There’s a difference between this and “Harlem Shake” however, while that was an immediately dated dance fad, this feels more like an anthemic celebration of success and overall being recognised, in a time period that just happens to be attached to a meme. Back to the song itself, when I first heard this dropped, I was ecstatic yet also confused, we’ll talk about that a bit more later, but everything about this song seems to fit my taste. I’m already a big fan of Megan Thee Stallion and pretty fond of a lot of features from Ty Dolla $ign (His solo work is pretty much ignored by everyone in the general public, I think I’ll decide to do the same), and when Nicki Minaj has her admittedly rare rap verses that aren’t watered-down by pop hooks (“MEGATRON”) or sub-standard guests, I really enjoy her delivery and often her punchlines, because she is a pretty clever rapper when it comes to wordplay, just incredibly inconsistent. Also, this was produced by Juicy J? That’s insane, why haven’t I already checked this out before writing this? Maybe I’m setting myself up for disappointment here and I’ve got too high-hiiigh hopes for this one, but come on, it’s a Megan Thee Stallion song produced by Juicy J, how bad can it really be? Yeah, this is pretty great, actually. The intro builds the song up with some pretty intense orchestral stabs, an insane amount of ad-libs, producer tags and even a sample from City Girls’ “Act Up” which is a pretty fitting sample considering that Yung Miami and JT were very much part of this Hot Girl Summer wave this year with “Twerk” featuring Cardi B and “Act Up”, both of which were big hits in America, but not much here. Honestly, we’re a bit slow to catch up with female-lead hip hop, but also hip hop in general, so it’s inevitable that this will catch on at some point. The record scratching on the City Girls sample is so fun before it drops to a bass-boosted beat that is driven by 808s and sub-bass only, with a lot of subtle record scratch breakdowns within the chorus, oddly handled by Ty Dolla $ign... I understand why they’d want him to be admiring the women as some kind of awe-struck child which is hilarious and really works for what it is, but maybe get another black female singer on the hook? I can think of a couple who’d be willing, convincing and not too expensive despite being very famous: Kehlani, Kelela, Mahalia, Jhené Aiko, Mereba? Also, Missy Elliott made a surprise comeback this week, maybe she could have gotten a verse here? I shouldn’t be worrying about what happens on the remix because this song is great by itself. The chorus almost sounds like a smooth 90s R&B or new jack swing song twisted and hyper sexualised to the point where it loses all recognisability other than that signature New Orleans bounce percussion and groove, and Ty’s sultry voice. Megan kills it, which should be expected, and is almost putting down Ty Dolla $ign in an incredibly snide way, it feels like a diss track to the guy doing the hook, and the pre-chorus as well as her ad-libs during the chorus show a lot more singing than I’m used to from Megan but are actually pretty fun... but her verse seems really short. Nicki on the other hand kills it for a lot longer but sounds a lot raspier than usual too; apparently she lost her voice, but honestly her slurring cadence sounds much better than how she usually does, and all three verses, including Megan’s second have a commanding yet smooth flow. The outro, which takes time for record scratching as well as a lot of their signature ad-libs, shows a really out-of-character upper register vocal riff form Ty, which I didn’t expect but it sounds great. Honestly, this is pretty fantastic, I’d like a bit less Ty and more Megan here, though. Just saying.

Oh, yeah, and get Trina for the remix. This seems like a pretty obvious choice for a Memphis trap and R&B fusion.

Conclusion

Well, what other choices do I have? Best of the Week goes to Megan Thee Stallion, Nicki Minaj and Ty Dolla $ign for “Hot Girl Summer” but trust me it’s not just by default, that’s a great lead single. Follow me on Twitter @cactusinthebank for more musical ramblings and I’ll see you next week!

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