Ultra-Light: Hot 100 Roundup—4/23/16
Drake “Pop Style” (Featuring The Throne), #16 “One Dance” (Featuring WizKid & Kyla), #21 Drake’s range of subject matter is so narrow that it’s a minor miracle he’s managed to hold onto his...
View ArticleHuntin’, Fishin’, and Uber Everyday: Hot 100 Roundup—4/16/16
Nick Jonas Featuring Tove Lo “Close” #27 Yes, the chorus is good, maybe even great, but you’ve heard it before, and it illuminates the weaknesses in Jonas’s voice in a way that almost makes me laugh....
View ArticleWorking My Way Back: Hot 100 Roundup—4/9/16
2016 was a bad year for everybody, including this blog. It wasn’t only politics that made it difficult for me to write, or the quality of this year’s pop hits. There were also personal things going on:...
View ArticleThe Fast and the Dangerous: Hot 100 Roundup—4/2/16
Ariana Grande “Dangerous Woman” #10 Paint by numbers R&B, and obvious about it, too: this sounds so much like “A Natural Woman” that Grande better hope Carole King doesn’t hook up with the Gaye...
View ArticleEasy to Say No: Hot 100 Roundup—3/26/16
Meghan Trainor “No” #11 “No” is too easy: all surface without a hint of depth or feeling—even, or maybe especially, Trainor’s. I approve of the message, but the overall attitude is smug and...
View ArticleIn Pieces: Hot 100 Roundup—3/19/16
Kelly Clarkson “Piece By Piece” #8 The original album version of “Piece by Piece” was about liberation, breaking free of the pains of the past without ever denying their existence. The American Idol...
View ArticleLost Pandas and Other Wild Things: Hot 100 Roundup—3/12/16
Ruth B “Lost Boy” #75 I have a hard time understanding the hatred directed toward “Lost Boy”. Yes, it’s the worst sort of high-school sophomore poetry, self-congratulatory and self-pitying at the same...
View ArticleSounds Like… Hot 100 Roundup—3/5/16
Gwen Stefani “Make Me Like You” #54 “Make Me Like You” would have sounded flat a decade ago, when Stefani was in her prime, mixing and matching genres and styles with abandon. It sounds even worse now....
View ArticleDon’t Step On My Blue Suede Choo’s:Hot 100 Roundup—2/27/16
Future “Low Life” (featuring The Weeknd), #52 “Fly Shit Only”, #67 Future is still Future: moody and depressed but defiant and proud, using autotune and a lugubrious pace in an attempt to signify...
View ArticleWhat Was That Again? I Have a Pillow in My Ear: Hot 100 Roundup—2/20/16
Zayn “Pillowtalk” #1 There are pleasurable and inspiring hooks, the ones that get you on your feet and make your heart soar. There are mediocre hooks, the ones you register and maybe even remember, but...
View ArticleYears and Careers: Hot 100 Roundup—2/6/16
Mike Posner “I Took A Pill In Ibiza” #79 In 1970, the Denver-based band Sugarloaf had a top ten record with a song called “Green Eyed Lady”. Then, like so many others, they found themselves unable to...
View ArticleGhosts: Hot 100 Roundup—1/30/16
David Bowie “Lazarus”, #40 “Blackstar”, #78 You can hear it in his voice. The vocals are stronger than you might expect, defiantly so at times, but there’s a rasp, a wispiness, a transparency. It’s the...
View ArticleUnderwhelmed: Hot 100 Roundup—1/23/16
Carrie Underwood “Heartbeat” #76 “Heartbeat” may not be Underwood’s worst record, but it’s certainly one of her blandest. It lacks the fierceness that’s filled her work since “Before He Cheats”. That...
View ArticleThat’s Mister, Not Little: Hot 100 Roundup—1/16/16
2 Chainz “Watch Out” #85 “Watch Out” sounds familiar, and I wish I could pinpoint exactly where I’ve heard it before. But heard it before I have, and in the back of my mind is a record that sounds more...
View ArticleReally Really Really? Hot 100 Roundup—1/9/16
Chris Brown “Zero”, #80 “Little More (Royalty)”, #91 “Zero” is an attempted Daft Punk rip that sounds like Maroon 5 with vocoders, and is only half successful. That still makes it twice as good as...
View ArticleVoices Off: Hot 100 Roundup—1/2/16
Jordan Smith “Mary Did You Know” #24 Emily Ann Roberts “Burning House” #56 Chris Brown “Back To Sleep” #64 Mid-level Brown, meaning not bad, but forgettable as always. The clean version is actually...
View ArticleHands Down: Hot 100 Roundup—12/26/15
Jordan Smith “Somebody To Love” #21 Selena Gomez “Hands To Myself” #77 Gomez has become something of a mystery to me, one I find unsettling in some ways. Largely, the problem is her voice, which,...
View ArticleBMs, DMs, and Anons: Hot 100 Roundup—12/19/15
Jordan Smith “Hallelujah” #61 Yo Gotti “Down In The DM” #87 Gotti makes social media sound like a bottle service club, neon lit with a Twilight Zone vibe, where he spends his time checking out the...
View ArticleWallow Under the Bridge: Hot 100 Roundup—12/12/15
Adele “When We Were Young”, #22 “Water Under The Bridge”, #70 “Send My Love (To Your New Lover)”, #79 “Remedy”, #87 Adele’s billions of fans (those that didn’t buy the album straight away, at least),...
View ArticleBieberland: Hot 100 Roundup—12/5/15
Justin Bieber “Love Yourself”, #4 “The Feeling” (featuring Halsey), #31 “Mark My Words”, #42 “Purpose”, #43 “No Pressure” (featuring Big Sean), #49 “Company”, #53 “No Sense” (featuring Travi$ Scott),...
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