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 vulnerability and emotional depth, a tactic that only works half the time. These two tracks add nothing to what he’s done before, and maybe subtract a little, since he often sounds as if he’s treading water. The Weeknd, meanwhile, on “Low Life”, seems to be narrating a trailer summarizing his earlier work. He sounds bored with himself, which is only karmic justice.
Fetty Wap
“Jimmy Choo”
#69
Abandoning his usual flow and the hooks that go with it, Fetty Wap comes up with his first clunker. Constantly repeating “Jimmy Choo’s” isn’t going to get him anywhere. Maybe he’s gone as far as he can already.
The Lumineers
“Ophelia”
#78
Bits and pieces stolen from other people’s records loosely cobbled into a shape vaguely reminiscent of a song. That the Lumineers’ sources are old-timey and occasionally lo-fi sets them apart, but it doesn’t make them any better. Despite the looseness of the sound their pretensions are still in full effect—they reference not only Shakespeare, but the biblical flood. More bearable than “Ho Hey” or “Heave Ho” or whatever it was called, but not any any better.
Nelly
“Die A Happy Man”
#83
Nelly takes a song that name-checked Marvin Gaye but sounded more like Smokey Robinson and turns it into an homage to Van Morrison and Allen Toussaint. Not as good as that makes it sound, and I still prefer the original, but he deserves credit for the weirdness of the concept.
The Chainsmokers Featuring Daya
“Don’t Let Me Down”
#85
As EDM is absorbed into pop, or vice-versa, it has no choice but to adopt some of pop’s limitations. So The Chainsmokers stick to formula: verse chorus verse, and even a bridge. The “drop” is there, but it barely breaks the surface, and Daya provides the shouty vocals that are so popular right now (it’s almost enough to make you miss melisma). The lyrics are insignificant. It’s a big hit because The Chainsmokers understand the formula, and because Daya manages to sneak a small amount of personality into her shouting.
Chase Rice
“Whisper”
#94
Whispering would appear to be the last thing Rice is capable of, and the music is as clunky and sounds as uncomfortable as having sex on the kitchen table after throwing the groceries on the floor. There is one telling line, though: “Let the gravel in my voice drown out all of the noise”. That’s as good an explanation of the cult of the male voice in country as I’ve ever heard. That Rice’s own voice contains only a couple of rocks and a chunk of mud doesn’t make it any less true.
Chase Bryant
“Little Bit Of You”
#99
The Tom Petty influence on country has been largely submerged under hip-hop and hair metal, but it’s still there, and the second Chase to appear on the chart this week builds a perfectly fine piece of power-pop out of it. At it’s best it sounds like a lost outtake from You’re Gonna Get It! Chase is nowhere near, say, Thomas Rhett’s league, but this is skillful and friendly enough.