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deadcactuswalking · 2 months

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REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 09/03/2024 (Charli XCX, twenty one pilots, RAYE)

The BRIT Awards have had their impact week - I didn’t watch them, which I know is ridiculous considering the subject matter of my blog. RAYE swept though, and we see that as well as a lot of other nonsense this week. It’s a messy one, not because it’s problematic, more so just because everyone’s here, so it’ll also be a fun one. Beyoncé is at #1 for a third week with “TEXAS HOLD ‘EM”, and welcome back to REVIEWING THE CHARTS!

Rundown

As always, we start the show with our notable dropouts, those being songs exiting the UK Top 75 - which is what I cover - after five weeks within the region or a peak in the top 40 and given the smathering of returns and new tracks, we do see quite a few, though many of them are relegated to shorter-term hits. Those of note we bid adieu to are “16 CARRIAGES” by Beyoncé, “Abracadabra” by Wes Nelson featuring Craig David, “Incredible Sauce” by Giggs featuring Dave, “Eagle” by D-Block Europe and Noizy, “Heather on the Hill” by Nathan Evans, “Runaway” by Ye featuring Pusha T (“FUK SUMN” debuted below #75, hence three-song rule is in action here), “Three Little Birds” by the late Bob Marley & The Wailers, “Rich Baby Daddy” by Drake featuring Sexyy Red and SZA, “Asking” by Sonny Fodera and MK featuring Clementine Douglas, and finally, and I mean, FINALLY, “Riptide” by Vance Joy.

Firstly, I should separate one particular artist, who was not only the artist of the year, but made the album of the year (My 21st Century Blues returns to the albums chart this week at #5) and the song of the year. Ignore that said song released in 2022, but regardless, RAYE had a good showing at the ceremony and it’s clear in a new entry we’ll discuss later, but also our gains and returns - “Prada” with casso and D-Block Europe, a Song of the Year nominee, is up to #18, but at #13, the song it lost to, and a former #1 hit, “Escapism.” featuring 070 Shake re-enters the chart thanks to BRITs support and given this song’s longevity, probably another wind. It did help that both of those songs were conveniently performed at the award show.

Now for the others, we see a nice return for “Disconnect” by Becky Hill and producers of the year Chase & Status at #67, likely boosted by its BRITs performance, which also helped “greedy” by Tate McRae, Best International Song nominee, up to #22. Sadly, neither Jungle or Kylie have much to speak for their BRITs performances impacting the chart but otherwise, we have other Best International Song nominee “Water” by Tyla at #49 and some residual performance gains for the already gaining “Never be Alone” by Becky Hill and Sonny Fodera at #23. Our other gains are probably, if not definitely, unrelated, including boosts for “Mr. Brightside” by The Killers at #61, “FE!N” by Travis Scott featuring Playboi Carti at #47, “Whatever She Wants” by Bryson Tiller at #20 (really not expecting this comeback), “Scared to Start” by Michael Marcagi at #16 and finally, to prove that notable gains aren’t healthy gains, Ella Henderson and Rudimental find their way to the top 10 once again with “Alibi”.

This week, our top five starts with Rich the Kid because, of course it does. There is no God. Hitler, Goebbels, Himmler and Goring are at #5 with “CARNIVAL”, whilst we see a push for Djo at #4 with “End of Beginning”, then Teddy Swims with “Lose Control” at #3 and Benson Boone at #2 with “Beautiful Things”, and of course, Queen Bey at the top. Now for our potpourri of new entries, starting with Madonna - but not the one you’re thinking of.

New Entries

#71 - “Happier” - The Blessed Madonna featuring Clementine Douglas

Produced by Clementine Douglas, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, Pat Alvarez and The Blessed Madonna

These credits perplex me. They imply that the song was produced primarily by The Blessed Madonna with vocals by Clementine Douglas but in fact, Douglas helped produce alongside two other producers, one of which, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, is a pretty big name who probably shouldn’t miss out on a credit. I know this is all arbitrary but I have to find something to talk about in this completely serviceable house tune. It’s got a punchier vintage groove to it thanks to the Dinosaurs and The Blessed Madonna, a DJ you probably know through Best Pop Act winner Dua Lipa’s remix album or collaborations with Best Dance Act nominee Fred again.., and yet it still just goes in one ear and out the other. Why is that? Well, despite an infectious hook, it’s lacking in quantity of hooks, it feels too reliant on that one phrase being sung by a pretty unremarkable vocalist in the form of Douglas, and its strays away from form seem to be out of necessity more than artistic intent. The little switch-ups whether they be the synth stab build-ups, complete readjustment of the drums, they all feel secondary to a groove that just chugs and chugs in a very deadweight manner, especially with that practically non-existent drop. As it is, it’s completely fine - I can even see it growing on me - but I’m surprised this is charting at all considering these aren’t massive names and this song, outside of a couple cool ideas, is not exactly making a name for itself. Just functioning.

#69 - “Green & Gold” - Rudimental and Skepsis featuring Charlotte Plank and Riko Dan

Produced by Rudimental, Skepsis, Billen Ted and Slim Typical

There are three members of Rudimental, Skepsis is one guy and then both Billen Ted and Slim Typical are duos, meaning this song not even reaching three minutes was produced by, hypothetically, eight people. I bring this up because really, production-wise, this could easily be a solo effort from a more dedicated and underground producer, or Hell, if you want to be generous, you could get something more interesting out of a winning trio like Skrillex-Four Tet-Fred again.., or you know, that famous drum and bass trio Rudimental? It’s not like there are too many cooks in the kitchen either because this is fully in the space Rudimental and Skepsis are familiar with, there’s a vaguely reggae-influenced loop replicated in the trickling electronics and beeping bass, with a smoky female vocal lead and eventually, oddly throaty bass desperately trying to keep up with preset breakbeats. I like the airy atmosphere fine, the content is in that specific arena between nondescript and nonsensical that ChatGPT usually hits, and we have an inane inclusion of a Riko Dan verse. If you know Riko Dan from anywhere, it’s because he was a member of the grime crew Roll Deep (though he barely appears on their hits), and he brings his distinct accent and energy to the song, but isn’t given much time or space - why not have him holler his ad-libs all throughout the track? Get a real MC vibe going with that, it could bring more character to a frankly worryingly lifeless drum and bass tune. The outro is a nice touch - on a worse day, or maybe without five other dudes, Rudimental wouldn’t bother with that - but it’s too little, too late for what otherwise doesn’t seem to serve much of a purpose at all. Pretty disappointing.

#68 - “Wasted Youth” - goddard. featuring Cat Burns

Produced by Jonny Coffer, Chase & Status and goddard.

Maybe producer Andrew Goddard, or just goddard., can bring something interesting to the EDM debuts, of which there are a lot of this week. He’s famous for his remix of Cat Burns’ big hit “go” so another collaboration makes perfect sense and there’s already six versions so that’s how you know it’s a hit. Jokes aside, this is pretty good - the sombre acoustics are filtered to allow for Burns’ bitter post-breakup vocals to shine, and the progression doesn’t feel as contrived as, say, Rudimental’s. Now all of that doesn’t matter because the drop is just scuzzingly hard. goddard. delivers a punchy, borderline industrial bass that has me wondering why he stylises himself in lowercase instead of block capitals, alongside a differently pitched vocal that makes the separation between verse and hook much more distinct and impactful, especially with the rubbery glitch of the bass that eventually absorbs other elements of the track, like Burns’ lead vocal. The best part of this may be that there’s an actually meaningful bridge, albeit a short one, that develops the song until its abrupt end. My main complaint here is the personality of the vocal of which there practically is none, and there’s nothing particularly potent lyrically that makes this a great song, but I’ll be damned if goddard. didn’t try alongside producers of the year Chase & Status, with his VIP mix being even more to the point and alien, probably my favourite version… if it weren’t for the incredibly creative remixes.

I’m not one to cover all versions of a song but there are a bunch of different creative reinventions of this song here, a trio in fact. The first is an absolutely killer hardcore remix by [IVY] that twists the drum and bass frolick into a thump that elevates the existing drop to a festival stage that Cat Burns’ vocal probably didn’t deserve. Yes, it is my favourite version, mostly for how it relegates the drum and bass elements for a bizarre post-drop, where they become so buzzy and distorted that it’s practically indistinguishable from the bass synth and the filters placed on Burns to make her sound utterly inhuman. The cascading of fuzzy synth in the second build-up is beautiful and the manic despair it leads into is just brilliant dissonance. Now where it gets real interesting is the ozone remix, which brings in Enya to the mix, specifically the song made famous through sampling like three or four times at this point, and that eerie tone the sample often carries takes on a new, filthy tone with the ripping, ravishing bass and trainwreck drums, interrupted at every angle by what sounds like a bark of Cerberus. [IVY] builds upon “Wasted Youth”, ozone brings in elements of another classic only to deconstruct the two songs simultaneously in complete disregard of their elements, so what does Serum do? He only samples the ozone remix, of course, making a remix of a remix that in itself remixes yet another song known for its remixes. Serum adds an acoustic guitar as well as a swinging Afrobeats groove, only for it to blast through the necessities by the time we get to the drop, including the Enya loop much more prominently to place against complete implosions of bass, warped and distorted to really non-mainstream capabilities, simultaneously boiling the song down to only its most tense staccato elements. None of these remixes meaningfully adjust the structure of “Wasted Youth” but they all tear it apart sonically and recreate it in really fascinating ways that make me almost want to give the original more props… but these remixes aren’t the songs charting. The original is what’s credited and unfortunately is what I have to consider but do note, these are some killer alternate versions.

#57 - “Austin” - Dasha

Produced by Travis Heidelman

Alright, I’ll bite: who the Hell is Dasha? Well, according to her obvious press release of a Genius profile, she’s a pop singer from California, which contrasts a bit with this song, a back-to-basic country hoedown that’s a bit too well produced to convince me it isn’t a California pop singer trying to emulate that sound. She doesn’t even try for a twang, though maybe that’d be for the best. Outside of that, I pretty much have no gripes with this, it’s excellent country pop. If you ever have read this blog, you’d know I’m a stickler for detail in lyrics, especially narrative-driven pop tracks, and this does it incredibly well, painting a story about two young lovers. Dasha makes plans with this guy to leave Texas for LA and move onto bigger things but he ditches her last minute and this is her lament of the betrayal, not dissimilar to the late Toby Keith’s “How Do You Like Me Now?!”, except somehow less pissy and unjustifiably mean, which is kind of what sells that song for me, and Dasha doesn’t exactly have a smoky rasp that fully convinces me on its content, like an Elle King would, but she definitely has a power to her voice that accentuates some of the more vulnerable elements of this story, like how she runs out of breath on that first lead chorus melody, leading for the wistful backing vocals to echo her and fill in the blanks, how she can’t really finish the word “Austin”, referring to the city in Texas but of course here, it could also be the guy’s name. Of course, I would love for a good bridge here, but as it is, this is a vengeful frolick that stops at dismissing the guy entirely, more so promising to herself that she will forget about her. It’s no shock to me that a compelling story and infectious hook alongside the relatively organic sounding fiddle and acoustics could go viral and become a sleeper hit in this way, even if it’s not as organic industry-wise as it may be sonically, and if we in the UK end up getting more country hits that not even the US will touch, I’m here for it, especially if it’s from rightfully pissed-off women in country. We need more songs from them in the mainstream.

#53 - “stayinit” - Fred again.., Lil Yachty and Overmono

Produced by Fred again.., Overmono, Boo and Joy Anonymous

Like his partner Skrillex, Best Dance Act nominee Mr. Again has a tendency to skewer these strange collaborations together and thanks to him, now we have a team-up between rapper-turned-whatever-he-feels-like-that-day Lil Yachty and DJ duo Overmono, who I’m not familiar with but have a following for their atmospheric UK bass and future garage tunes so I was definitely expecting something interesting and not necessarily chart-friendly here. We also get original vocals instead of a sample like with Baby Keem on “leavemealone”, as Yachty sings here - albeit awkwardly - in a filter that makes him sound like he’s crooning to you but with a very large fan in the middle. His warbling vibrato is cute and his sentimental mantra would work in a more sentimental track, but this goes for full eerie future garage, Burial-style but a tad sharper and edgier, and I have no idea why they did that. It doesn’t sound bad, it’s pretty alarming, it may reflect some darker moments about contemplating ending the life Lil Boat’s begging this person to stay in, but I don’t think there’s enough lyrically for that to fully work. There is enough detail and it’s oddly poetic for Yachty, especially that main line “you’ve got a life, stay in it”, it’s kind of potent, but it feels mismatched with thenumb violence of its instrumental. He feels like a lost optimist stepping into the wrong narrow back alley, and the song completely gives up on adjusting for him. It’s a shame, but this honestly just baffles me more than anything. Some collaborations may not need to happen, Fred.

#51 - “Cuban Links” - Skrapz, Nines and D-Block Europe

Produced by EmzBeats and chucks

Keeping up with these nondescript UK rappers can be difficult, man, I had to check what Skrapz had done prior to his #10 album Reflection and it seems like his main route to fame is collaborating with the immensely dull Nines, and that’s not changed, but thankfully, we have two certified weirdos here to cancel them out. First of all, there’s no reflection here at all over this liquid acoustic guitar and stale trap beat, he says he has a lion as a pet for God’s sake.When Skrapz started off the song, I just thought he was Nines mixed weirdly, but then Nines came in for the second verse and I realised just how further off rhythm the real deal’s rambles are. He doesn’t feel like a real rapper sometimes. Neither do DBE, of course, as Young Adz carries the very catchy chorus, as he tends to do, it really has everything I’d want from his hooks: a meandering refusal to stick to one flow or melodic idea, “ski!” ad-libs and some bizarrely infectious non-sequiturs. It is genuinely insane how much better this beat sounds with Adz and Dirtbike Lb on it than it does for Nines and Skrapz, this is a killer verse from Dirtbike, I’m being serious. The flows are effortless and he has some pretty smooth-sounding rhyme scheme ideas throughout. It even has the weird eerie outro where the entire song devolves like some DBE songs end with, I don’t even know why Skrapz and Nines are on here, let alone the primary artist. They feel added on in post to what would be a pretty above-par D-Block Europe song. Man, it’s really worrying when these are the guys saving your songs.

#46 - “Doctor (Work it Out)” - Pharrell Williams featuring Miley Cyrus

Produced by Pharrell Williams

This is the newest single by award-winning record producer Pharrell Williams featuring guest vocals from pop star and International Artist of the Year nominee Miley Cyrus. It consists of a funk groove with slick guitars and raspy vocals from Ms. Cyrus about making love to her partner. It has a chorus and bassline and a mix. This has actually existed since the Bangerz era which begs the question of: how is this so safe and boring? Both of these artists can be genuinely batshit when they feel like it so whenever they put out anything in this very familiar vein, it’s just an immediate disinterest from me, especially if it’s going to be a collaboration between the two making the thing that both of them do “best”: vaguely existent funk-pop. I’ll give it a fair shake when these two give the prospect of being in any way compelling another try.

#42 - “Dizzy” - Olly Alexander

Produced by Danny L Harle

The multinational song contest Eurovision is on its way in May, and we’re bringing our best and brightest to the competition in Malmo this year! And by that, I mean Danny L Harle because the Years & Years guy’s identity crisis has gotten to breaking point: he’s had to rebrand his former group Years & Years as Olly Alexander (Years & Years), which is now the credit given to songs created and performed by the group, not just the solo act version. Well, it’s not exactly classy, or really all that sensical, but I suppose he wants everything in one place, even if that means work is attributed to the wrong person. I don’t know why complaining about credits has been the major theme. Regardless, this is probably the guy’s best song in years, largely because of the intricacies that Mr. Harle and his fellow former PC Music fellow EASYFUN can bring to the mix, with some sparkling Pet Shop Boys synths in the right channel, a thumping Eurodance beat and enough space to show off Alexander’s vocals whilst also adding a lot of little tiny filters and soundbites in the mix to make it interesting as a studio performance, distracting you from the lack of personality. That aforementioned Pet Shop Boys lead ends up transforming into Christmas-esque bells in the chorus alongside a weirdly lo-fi crackle that makes it a lot more interesting of an otherwise simplistic and expected chorus. This is by all means an utterly serviceable song in good hands, rather than a song that feels constructed from the bottom up, but sometimes for Eurovision, that’ll work. It’s fine, we could do well with this. We’re Britain, though, so catastrophic failure is in the cards as always.

#38 - “Worth It.” - RAYE

Produced by Mike Sabath

She didn’t even perform this one, but you win that many awards, you basically get a free debut and since I don’t think this’ll stick around for much longer even if it is kind of a single, I’ll try to be brief, especially since I don’t like this one too much. Despite the melodramatic presentation that plagues all of the albums, for better and for worse, this is one of the less substanceful tracks, a bit confused about how seriously it wants to take itself considering the direly joyless composition placed against pop culture references and stammering over a tinny funk guitar. Sure, there’s some weight to the horns but this feels like a bit of a stodge overall. She’s having fun on it, sometimes, and Sabath is showing off his compositional and mixing skills… sometimes? Definitely an awkward one for me, edging close to being decent, but even then not in a particularly interesting way.

#34 - “Overcompensate” - twenty one pilots

Produced by Paul Meany and Tyler Joseph

Overcompensate indeed. You make one album that sounds just like The Killers and your next lead single starts with an abrasive industrial drone accompanied with a cacophony of incomprehensible German spoken word chatter, before dropping into a pulsating punk drive that seems to want to lure me into the lore of Trench once again, as if that last album didn’t exist at all. Maybe a smart move for the fans, but I do feel a bit lost here. The blasts of saxophones add to the intensity, and the droning vocals from Mr. Joseph strain motionlessly over the chaos in a pretty interesting manner that could definitely lead to an interesting, dark song… that gets ret-conned by boom bap and yes, overcompensate indeed by the time he’s rapping again, which is something I have never liked about this band, and yes, I know it’s an integral part of their sound. Outside of the Red Hot Chili Peppers-esque chorus, this song just feels alien to me as an outsider of the Skeletons or what have you. On a sonic level, it’s like seven songs smashed into one project file, and on a lyrical level, it seems to actively push me out of understanding it because I’m 1.) not the demographic and 2.) not willing to envelop myself in the abstract narrative deep enough because of how unadjusted the song is as a piece of music to what it’s attempting to convey. It’s not surprising to me that I just don’t get this one.

#26 - “Von dutch” - Charli XCX

Produced by EASYFUN

Even with the BRIT Awards and certified, relatively more consistent hitmakers like RAYE, Fred again.., Rudimental, twenty one pilots, DBE, Miley Cyrus and even Pharrell Williams, it’s a mid-week release from Best Pop Act nominee Charli XCX of all people with production from EASYFUN of former PC Music fame that debuts the highest of them all. It’s the lead single from her upcoming club record Brat and that’s a damn good way to describe it of course. There’s no attempt to hide her classic obnoxious Auto-Tuned whine that makes up a lot of her more interesting character, and if anything, EASYFUN wants to make this a racket. The vocal editing slurs words together, loops them and places them over gross, faux-cinematic revving that despite her moving onto planes in the music video, still functions as a high-speed car chase, she’s never that far from cars, is she? I can imagine this being the soundtrack to a Formula 1 race or, more accurately, a car crash caught on a dash-cam. I really like Charli XCX, I like noisier, more abrasive dance music, this might even be a bit too annoying for me, mostly because its tension emerges largely from its own decision to be noisy, instead of any actual lyrical tension or a functional structure. I don’t know what level of post-quasi-meta-irony Charli and co. are on at this point, but I think I finally… don’t really get it. Catchy though.

Conclusion

Like I prefaced, it’s weird, it’s messy, and not the greatest week either. Most of it just ended up mediocre or putting some kind of guard up to prevent me from fully getting into it. This may be my boomer moment, ladies and gentlemen, but the conventional country pop song, “Austin” by Dasha gets Best of the Week with an Honourable Mention to “Wasted Youth” by goddard. and Cat Burns, because Chase & Status tend to just land themselves here effortlessly. As for the opposite end of the spectrum, I suppose Rudimental and co. land the Worst of the Week with “Green & Gold” even if it’s not devastatingly bad and I have to tie the Dishonourable Mention between Miley Cyrus and Pharrell Williams with “Doctor (Work it Out)” and honestly, “Overcompensate” by twenty one pilots. It’s a headache to me. As for what’s on the horizon, who cares? Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you next week!

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