Voiceless Hot 100 Roundup—1/3/15
In what I hope won’t become an annual tradition, the first week of Billboard’s new year (the last full week of December in the rest of the world) is filled with finalists from The Voice, including, I...
View ArticleThe Hot 100 in 2014: The Sound of Women Laughing
It started with Beyonce, riding her alcohol-fueled “surfbort” into a flurry of giggles, and ended, for now, with Nicki Minaj’s demented chortle on “Anaconda”. In between it popped up in actuality and...
View ArticleGift Card Week Hot 100 Roundup—1/10/15
Even more of an annual tradition than The Voice, the latest chart reflects the first full week of Christmas gift card season, when millions of teenagers rush to cash in the Amazon and iTunes cards...
View ArticleThe Twilight of the Bros Hot 100 Roundup—1/17/15
The success of Maddie and Tae’s “Girl In a Country Song” wasn’t just the result of women tiring of the stereotypical role country radio had placed them in, it was the result of country radio itself,...
View ArticleLet’s Play Master and Servant Hot 100 Roundup—1/24/15
A miscellany this week, and if the headline seems suggestive it’s only because there are two songs about sexual submission (one from a woman and one from a group of men), one about a woman who refuses...
View ArticleTake It Easy Hot 100 Roundup—1/31/14
If you read this blog on a regular basis, you know I’m no fan of pretension in pop, even while practicing plenty of it myself. So it’s nice that some artists who normally wear me out with their...
View ArticleA Good Week, In Order: Hot 100 Roundup—2/7/15
Like everyone, I have my doubts about the tastes of the mass audience, but this week they almost do my work for me. Not only did they buy or stream a decent batch of songs—the best week of the year so...
View ArticleChains for Valentines: Hot 100 Roundup—2/14/15
Imagine Dragons—“Shots” #75 In a number of of ways—clarity of sound, structure, variety, etc.—”Shots” is Imagine Dragons’ best single. All this improvement does,however, is help to clarify who they...
View ArticleTo Be Young, Gifted, and Rich: Hot 100 Roundup—2/21/15
Big Sean Featuring Drake—“Blessings” #54 Two young, rich guys rapping about how blessed they are to be young and rich over music that suggests they’re not as happy being young and rich as you might...
View ArticleA Week Which Might As Well Be Skipped: Hot 100 Roundup—3/7/15
Since I dealt with Drake’s If You’re Reading This… avalanche last week, I make no comment on the five additional songs he added to the five that already charted—all of which gained in position, by the...
View ArticleWhip It Good: Hot 100 Roundup—3/14/15
Zedd featuring Selena Gomez—“I Want You To Know” #17 I’m almost overjoyed with this good but not great record for a very basic reason: at last there’s an EDM track where the producer seems to have paid...
View ArticleE Is For Edward: Hot 100 Roundup—3/21/15
Kanye West Featuring Theophilus London, Allan Kingdom & Paul McCartney—“All Day” #15 A lot of people were overjoyed when this turned out sounding like something from Yeezus instead of trading in...
View ArticleSecondhand News: Hot 100 Roundup—3/28/15
Mumford & Sons—“Believe” #31 Because Marcus Mumford’s anger carries more weight than Chris Martin’s vague universalist ennui, Mumford and Sons’ rock move (their Radiohead move, really), makes for...
View ArticleCompton Renaissance: Hot 100 Roundup—4/4/15
Kendrick Lamar “King Kunta”, #61 “The Blacker The Berry”, #66 “Alright”, #83 “Wesley’s Theory” (featuring George Clinton), #91 “These Walls” (featuring Bilal. Anna Wise & Thundercat), #94...
View ArticleBall & Chain: Hot 100 Roundup—4/11/15
Rihanna “Bitch Better Have My Money” #23 With the obvious political turn in her music, I’m inclined to believe the bitch Rihanna is referring to here is the United States itself, and the money she’s...
View ArticleNot Nothing, But Not Much: Hot 100 Roundup—4/18/15
Dillon Francis & DJ Snake “Get Low” #77 “Get Low” is basically “Turn Down For What” without Lil Jon, who is missed, but it’s entertaining all the same. I have no idea whether it’s Francis or Snake...
View ArticleRide, Tear, Lean, Crash, Burn, Be, Bye: Hot 100 Roundup 4/25/15
Kid Ink, Tyga, Wale, YG & Rich Homie Quan “Ride Out” #70 Soundtrack music made by a superdupergroup comprised of the most successful second-rate rappers of 2015. Catchy, too. No one will remember...
View ArticleSnark Week: Hot 100 Roundup 5/2/15
My vehemence this week is due not just to the music I forced myself to listen to more than once in order to write this column, but to reading two great, even more vehement books: Claudia Rankine’s...
View ArticleAnd Beyond: Hot 100 Roundup—5/16/15
Sawyer Fredericks “Simple Man” #71 Mariah Carey “Infinity” #82 In her mid-forties, Carey is trying to prove she still has a voice. She does, but the strain shows, and the song itself is a jumble—it...
View ArticleYoung and Pretty: Hot 100 Roundup—5/23/15
Britney Spears & Iggy Azalea “Pretty Girls” #29 Azalea tries another remake of “Fancy”, this time with Britney Spears, which might be something of a coup if the result wasn’t so empty. Did Spears...
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