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deadcactuswalking · 1 year

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REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 26/11/2022 (Clavish/D-Block Europe, RAYE/070 Shake, Meekz’s ‘Respect the Come Up’)

For a fifth week, “Anti-Hero” by Taylor Swift sits at #1 on the UK Singles Chart. It’s our first Christmas week – yes, this early, and it’s in full force – so welcome back to REVIEWING THE CHARTS!

Rundown

As always, we start with the 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. This week, given the first Christmas surge, was kind of a massacre? We say farewell to “I’m Back” by Fredo, “Die for You” by Joji, “Delilah (pull me out of this)” and “Turn Off the Lights again..” with Swedish House Mafia and Future both by Fred again.., “Evergreen (You Didn’t Deserve Me at All)” by Omar Apollo, “All These Nights” and “Not Over Yet” with KSI both by Tom Grennan, “Doja” by Central Cee, “For My Hand” with Burna Boy and “Shivers” both by Ed Sheeran, “Green Green Grass” by George Ezra and finally, “Heat Waves” by Glass Animals.

Now this last month of the year is always great for when you just need a list of songs typed out in succession alongside numerical chart placements, as there are a total of 10 returns this week, some being pretty high. However, they’re mostly Christmas songs, so we’ll cover those separately. Instead, we can focus on our notable gains, those being similarly scarce but we do see “Kiss Me” by Dermot Kennedy at #15 thanks to his #1 album and “Out of Nowhere” by Bugzy Malone and TeeDee at #13 off of the debut. That’s really it other than the return for “Three Lions” by comedians David Baddiel and Frank Skinner with rock group the Lightning Seeds at #20 – it’s essentially the England football anthem and it always arrives amidst World Cup time, peaking at #1 three separate times as a result, in 1996, 1998 and 2018. I think the song is lousy but its big boost from the FIFA World Cup in Qatar will see it surviving the Christmas frost even with ACR.

Speaking of said Christmas frost, we saw nine Christmas songs return and a switch-up in the canon also. First of all, the list, with “Jingle Bell Rock” by Bobby Helms at #69, the dreadful “Do They Know it’s Christmas?” by Band Aid at #63, the joyful “Underneath the Tree” by Kelly Clarkson at #62, “Fairytale of New York” by the Pogues featuring Kirsty MacColl surprisingly low at #57, “Santa Tell Me” by Ariana Grande at #55, “Merry Christmas Everyone” by Shakin’ Stevens at #54, “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” by Michael Bublé at #49 and “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” by Brenda Lee at #42. With the increased power of streaming playlists, we may start to see our traditional UK Christmas songs fade in popularity compared to the more worldwide classics, with a more streamlined chart that looks kind of like the US Christmas chart a bit more likely. Oddly enough, probably thanks to playlisting, we get the third most popular Christmas song on the chart not being the Pogues or Brenda as usual... but rather the recent #1 “Merry Christmas” by Ed Sheeran and Elton John returning at #40. Given that the song is, you know, terrible and may become an immediately dated downer in the post-COVID years considering the lyrics, I have my doubts about this entering the canon but it just might end up as one of the highest-charting holiday tracks for the next few years. At least it’s not the sausage roll version.

Oh, and of course, “Last Christmas” by Wham! is at #23 and “All I Want for Christmas is You” by Mariah Carey at #18. As for the top five on the UK Singles Chart, it currently consists of “messy in heaven” by venbee, goddard. and ArrDee at #5, “Miss You” by Oliver Tree and Robin Schulz at #4, “Made You Look” by Meghan Trainor at #3, “Unholy” by Sam Smith and Kim Petras at #2, and of course, “Anti-Hero” at the very top, being mostly unchanged from last week. Now as for the songs that weren’t on the chart last week, prepare for a semi-album bomb or as much as the Official Charts Company allows as we start with our newest entries.

NEW ARRIVALS

#74 – “Say Less” – Meekz

Produced by M1OnTheBeat and Chucks

UK rapper Meekz has released his newest album, Respect the Come Up, with three tracks from it charting this week. I’ve never liked Meekz as much as other British rappers largely because of how devoid he is of any real unique characteristics in his delivery, and how little his beat choice has ever impressed me, so the fact that half of this week’s batch of new songs are just Meekz is pretty disappointing. This is the opening track, which also got a video, and I’m not really impressed with this at all. Meekz drones on a piano loop before more gets layered onto it without a real build up, and the beat cuts out constantly so it feels a bit awkward. Sure, Meekz isn’t offensive, but the delivery is mostly flexing and gangplay that sounds particularly dull coming from his deadpan delivery. Once the trap beat comes in, it’s pretty rote, and Meekz has barely any control over the rhythm with his meandering flow through one, overly long verse. It trails off and ends as if nothing ever occurred, and I’ve yet to find a counter to the argument that nothing in fact did ever happen.

#68 – “AVA” – Natalie Jane

Produced by Doc Daniel, Pink Slip and Inverness

This is a largely rap-focused episode, so it’s good to get some diversity here but who is Natalie Jane? Well, as a teenager, she was an American Idol contestant in 2020, and this song is her breakout track... and it really is just Billie Eilish. She sounds pretty close to her, even closer than your typical smoky indie-girl voice, and there’s a mix of the elegant piano with bassy industrial blasts and trap-esque rattling. Jane is definitely less subtle as she tears through this guy’s cheating, making links between the affair and the seemingly manipulative relationship Jane had with this partner. I actually like the songwriting but in terms of production, it has a bit too much bombast, with the strings and horns alongside the tight drum fills and shrill vocal mix making the post-chorus seem a bit too triumphant instead of frustrated. With that said, the incomprehensible blend of vocal layers in the outro is kind of inspired, and I have to appreciate the vocal talent on display, so I’m sort of torn on this one. Tonally, it’s a bit of a nightmare, but that’s probably what works about it, and it’s almost definitely the appeal.

#66 – “Don’t Like Drill” – Meekz featuring Central Cee

Produced by Chucks, M-1 and Riddle

Welp, we’re back with Meekz this time and for whatever reason, this brings a lot more energy. He’s still not interesting and his flow is barely there on a rumbling drill beat, but at least he’s projecting his voice and going for newer flows throughout, despite the fact that most of them are way too slippery for a tighter drill track. Again, the content is what you’d expect, although the chorus about being not a fan of drill music even though his life reflects its content would kind of be an interesting concept if he wrote anything actually regarding it in the verses. The eerie loop under the occasionally clipping 808 is a pretty solid foundation, and with Central Cee’s energy and vague attempts at wordplay, he definitely maintains himself over this pretty good beat a lot better. In fact, Cench kind of kills this and honestly put more of himself into this track than Meekz does on like 90% of the songs I’ve heard from him. I wish the song ended naturally instead of the meandering instrumental outro but it does show off some of the odd distorted loops that are used for atmosphere’s sake, and I kind of like how jarring they are. With a better rapper than Meekz, this could really be something.

#35 – “Fresh Out the Bank” – Meekz featuring Dave

Produced by Clonez, Elevated and HONEYWOODSIX

I really wanted to like this last Meekz track. The watered-down melody feels like it’s coming in and out of existence and I love how driving it gets by the end of the loop, but Meekz just had to be as awkward and stodgy as possible on the damn chorus! That’s not to say that his verses are any better, but unmemorable verses can be forgiven by him just getting someone with actual groove and rhythm on the chorus like, I don’t know, Dave himself? The beat has an almost West Coast groove to it with wonderful pianos and an overwhelming bass, and personally, I love it... but neither Meekz nor Dave unfortunately do it justice. Dave is best when he’s lighthearted and casual, and many of his more serious tracks end up dubious or heavy-handed, but he can always run the risk of being very boring and here, there’s like no wordplay to speak of that isn’t slightly embarrassing. Dave leads into a beat switch with a soaring string arrangement, but the climax never really comes because it devolves back into Meekz’s chorus. I’m pretty disappointed with how neither of these artists can effectively ride what is probably the best beat I’ve ever heard Meekz on.

#31 – “Escapism.” – RAYE featuring 070 Shake

Produced by Mike Sabath

RAYE’s latest era hasn’t seen as much success as it could have, and I think that’s mostly down to a change in sound, since her big crossover hits with EDM producers aren’t entirely as accurate to her darker, R&B-inspired brand of edgy pop that she’s working with on recent tracks. I liked it on “Black Mascara”, and it’s no mistake to bring 070 Shake’s unique voice on board for this new track “Escapism.”... and yeah, it’s great. RAYE is practically rapping over a tonal shriek ripped into by the lively trip hop drums, which sound really organic and hit really hard against the drizzle of pianos and strings that separate RAYE’s badass, sensual revenge and her genuinely heartbroken response to a breakup. It’s a tad heavy-handed and drowning woes in drink and drugs is far from a new concept, but RAYE of all people sells it in a way that feels honest albeit as melodramatic as possible (which for the record, is a plus in this kind of pop). I love how the bass warps in the verses, and how the flows trail off in harmony in each verse. It sounds like over-thinking, which is somewhat ironic in how careless and chaotic the decadence can be, but the stream of consciousness of the second verse acts as a retrospection, retelling the events that she didn’t get to fully comprehend and contextualise when it was happening. 070 Shake’s bridge is bloody gorgeous also, with the synths flooding her cryptic murmur alongside pointed shrieks she lets out so brutally in the background, and if there’s a moment of true resonance and defeat, it’s when RAYE comes back in for the final refrain amidst the strings and mix that feels perfectly compressed enough for the dark places that this song is going. The song has energy but it restrains it all for the brief interlude where RAYE’s vocals are manipulated to the point of not being recognisable yet still carrying the same floaty harmonies over the trickling rain. It’s the tough sleep the next day or even the same night, where the worthlessness of the vengeful sex and substance abuse becomes even clearer. That looping vocal of “night” rings like an alarm through the final verse where we get a sneak peek of where this narrative could be going next. To cut it short for a surprisingly long and progressive song for the charts, I think this is excellent, and I’m actually very excited to hear where RAYE goes next with both this sound and the content itself. This album could shape up to be really cohesive if she sticks to this narrative, and Sabath’s detail on the production side cannot be overlooked as this is intricate. If this opens the door for more mainstream success for 070 Shake also, I’m all the way for it because she’s the future. Without a shortened edit, I’m not sure if this’ll last that long, but for a song to have fleeting success during the holiday season and disappear afterwards, you could do a Hell of a lot worse. Like...

#9 – “Rocket Science” – Clavish featuring D-Block Europe

Produced by Kazza and Madz Thomas

Sometimes I forget how big DBE actually are. They can propel a song by Clavish, who had yet to even touch the top 40, to a #9 debut by just their presence in his song and video alone... or more accurately, Young Adz’s presence, but there must be some reason why neither rapper has gone solo yet. I wish I liked this new track more, because I’m kind of gunning for DBE to survive the Christmas movement like they did last year. The production is fine enough, with the creeping keys and the skittering percussion but it’s a pretty standard trap track, although with the extra reverb that you can expect from DBE. Regardless, Clavish clearly upped his budget when it comes to production quality and vocal mix, and all three rappers end up flowing pretty confidently on their verses alongside a pretty infectious chorus. If there’s a problem that I have, it’s mostly with the content as Clavish and Adz both sound like really annoying boyfriends, but that’s nothing new. Surprisingly enough, Dirtbike LB is probably the best rapper here, since he mixes the melody with a faster paced flow and it sounds really convincing in his typical Auto-Tuned warble. Oh, and he doesn’t say a lesbian slur like Youthful Advertisements over here. Sigh, it’s fine for what it is, but I definitely don’t see it having much lasting potential.

Conclusion

Well, obviously, RAYE and 070 Shake get Best of the Week for “Escapism.”, with a reluctant Honourable Mention for “Don’t Like Drill” by Meekz featuring Central Cee, though trust me, one washes out the other in no competition. As for the worst, nothing here is actively offensive, but I’m really not a fan of the lazy “Say Less” so Meekz can take both Worst of the Week for that and also for butchering good production on “Fresh Out the Bank” with Dave, which gets the Dishonourable Mention. As for next week, I suppose we’ll see how Stormzy impacts the chart amidst more Christmas flurry, in what will be our first December chart. For now, thanks for reading and I’ll see you next week!

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