Another Year In Pop: 29

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Dizzee & Calvin have clung on despite McFly's best efforts! Elsewhere, Annie's new single stalls at no.54 and a truly awful video puts CSS in at no.78.

[Poll #1226973]

Comments

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

Although I am loathe to reward The McFly for bad behaviour with The Mail.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Usher - when I first heard this months ago I was like, oh, a bit gloopy, but it'll grow on me in the way that most gloopy Usher ballads do. It hasn't, if anything it's gotten even gloopier, and considering the quality which his male r&b rivals like Ne-Yo, Lloyd, Bobby Valentino and Chris Brown are constantly coming up with...this is just NOT GOOD ENOUGH from someone w/Usher's talent. His album is hugely disappointing too.

McFly - haw, the opening few seconds of feedback sound like it's about to go into some particularly industrial dubstep, there is a track on the new Mary Anne Hobbs compilation which sounds exactly like that. It is a lot better than the rubbish, rubbish song; for all their puppyish charm I haven't actually liked any McFly single since their debut.

Noah & The Whale - beneath contempt

You know, music in 2008 is in a rare and awesome vein of form - I am hearing an average of, I guess, at least 3 new songs per week which are AMAZING; that this isn't translating to the UK charts says more about the rubbish British public than the scarcity of suitable material.

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

what are the amazing songs that should be in the UK charts right now but aren't?

OK THEN

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

here is a selection - a mere, incomplete selection - of songs from this year which I would not only tick but give the full 5 stars to:

Young Jeezy ft. Kanye West - Put On
Lil' Wayne - A Milli
Geiom ft. Marita - Reminissin'
Jazmine Sullivan - Need U Bad
TI - No Matter What
The-Dream - Ditch That...
Uncle Sam - Round The World Girls (Tes La Rok Mix)
TRG - Broken Hearts (Martyn's DCM Remix)
Ane Brun - Headphone Silence
Booka Shade - Charlotte
Young Hot Rod ft. Tila Tequila & B Dozier - I Like To Fuck
Trina ft. Missy Elliott - I Got A Bottle
Bun B ft. Lil' Wayne - Damn I'm Cold
Burgaboy ft. Teresa - You Lied
Sway ft. $tush - F Ur X
Gucci Mane - Bird Flu
Lil' Mama ft. Chris Brown & T-Pain - Shawty Get Loose
Lloyd ft. Lil' Wayne - Girls All Around The World
Solange - Sandcastle Disco
Garage Jams ft. Clare Evers - Snowflake
Danity Kane ft. Missy Elliott - Bad Girl
Myomi - Sun In My Eyes (Paul Woolford MDMA Dub)
Anja Schneider - Maki
Cassy - Poem
Dear Jayne ft. J Holiday - Rain
The Bug ft. Tippa Irie - Angry
Ashlee Simpson - Little Miss Obsessive
Martina Topley-Bird - Carnies
DJ Khaled - Out Here Grindin'
Mr Vegas - Must Come A Road
Keke Palmer - Keep It Movin'
Erykah Badu - Soldier
Jenifa Mayanja - Sunset
Warrior Queen & The Heatwave - Things Change
Kelley Polar - Entropy Reigns (In The Celestial City)
Shawty Lo - Dey Know
Jayms Madison - Room Service
Maino - Hi Hater
Janet Jackson - 2Nite
Miley Cyrus - See You Again
Vein ft. Pitbull - Get Up Stand Up
Junior Boys - No Kinda Man
The Juan Maclean - Happy House
Hood Headlinaz - Rollin'
Jimmie Reign - Make You Wait

Re: OK THEN

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

OK but maybe only half of these would stand realistic chance of charting anyway (not Polar, Booka, Maclean et al) - or indeed ONLY a fair chunk of the US urban/pop tracks (not Erykah tho - wonder how 'Honey' did in the Billboard chart)

Re: OK THEN

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I know, but I included the minimal/dubstep tracks anyway because, well, a) look at the dross which DOES chart, b) I'm kind of sick of that argument anyway, the kneejerk "oh that wouldn't chart" attitude is why the UK industry (and hence the charts) is so conservative and boring. I don't see any reason why Booka Shade or Kelley Polar couldn't chart with the right promo and support tbh, I mean Samim did last year and Hercules And Love Affair this year. Anyway my main argument is that music is really really great now, I'm not suggesting that we should be seeing TRG or Anja Schneider in the top 40 any time soon, though some of the hip-hop and r&b tracks would be more than welcome.

'Honey' got to No 88 on Billboard, nowhere over here. 'Soldier' is the official second single but I haven't even seen a video for it yet. Why, given that she's had multiple top 40 tracks in the UK, do you think she couldn't do it now?

Re: OK THEN

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I wonder if we're seeing a big big contraction of promo budgets in effect? What's really striking, compared even to last year, is how few new things are charting, full stop. The Top 40 is moving INCREDIBLY slowly at the moment, things are taking forever to fall out of it - something masked by the relatively high turnover of #1s.

Re: OK THEN

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

If that's the case we should be seeing less songs on eg the R1 playlist - I have no idea whether this is happening. The inexplicable refusal of US hip-hop and r&b acts to do much promo here has been what it is for years now - I mean, you'd think Erykah Badu could have thrown a digital single out there the week after she toured at least, but no! - but if anything it seems like more people are releasing more singles, just because making something available on itunes is so easy.

Maybe last year was the post-download era anomaly, the transition between a fast-moving chart and what has eventually become a fairly static one in which the really big hits stick around forever - I noticed that follow-up singles from Estelle and Flo Rida have already departed the top 30 whereas both 'Low' and 'American Boy' are holding steady higher up.

Re: OK THEN

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Yeah I think last year there was just enough input from physical sales - which tend to be high turnover by their nature - for the download impact to be lessened and the charts to be a bit more frictionless. You only need look at the polls anatol_merklich runs to see that a lot of stuff is getting beached at 41-75.

It wouldn't surprise me - assuming anyone in the biz sees the singles chart as promotionally useful at all - if a new eligibility rule was introduced, with records only counting for 10 weeks outside the top 5, or something similar.

Re: OK THEN

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

A lot of the 41-75 stallers - especially this year - are, I'm pretty sure, tracks which aren't really pushed as 'singles' in the traditional sense; a load of songs from the Step Up 2 The Streets and Sex And The City soundtracks did this, as well as Rihanna's 'Disturbia' which was a bonus track off her reissued album.

I do think the lack of turnover in the chart is more representative of how popular taste works, actually - congregating round a few big hits rather than a new one every week. Which isn't to say that I approve.

Re: OK THEN

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

There are only six songs on the Radio 1 playlist. If there are more, they do not play them. My ex was dead keen on listening to the radio for reasons I never understood.

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

McFly is a marginal non-tick. However, I did like the track, "Corrupted", from the new LP that was played on R1 last night.*

*voted for by listeners as the one they wanted played. Interestingly it was played back to back with the first play of the lead track from HSM3. And this was at 9.30pm-ish last night! Grimshaw was all "oo-er, where's me credibility?" at having to play a HSM song, but there were clearly loads of pre-teens listening and he read out a slew of favourable text messages afterwards. Landfill indie is doomed, I'm telling you.

[byebyepride.livejournal.com]

but isn't Sunday night the strand of R1 ('switch') aimed specifically at a younger audience? Who will presumably grow up and reach straight for 'credible' taste...

In my day, at that age we were in bed by 9pm

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

yeah but not 8 year olds surely?

[koganbot]

McFly and Usher are borderline fails, while Noah is stultified.

McFly "One For The Radio": More of the bleating-goat vocals that emo and the Jonas Brothers have been inflicting on us, but not as noxious, and with an OK melody. NO TICK FOR THE RADIO.

Noah And The Whale "5 Years Time": In 5 years, fun might continue to be fun, but best to not go overboard. NO TICKS TIME.

Usher "Moving Mountains": Competent, pretty voice, ok melody, beats. In a week full of indie this'd be a respite, but on its own? Pretty good, I guess, but I would never seek this out. TICKLESS MOUNTAINS.

[jel-bugle.livejournal.com]

I ticked them all!

I kinda don't mind Noah and the Whale as people...I read this interview with 'em an they seem a bit odd.

[miss-newham.livejournal.com]

I heard McFly playing 'One For The Radio' live on Radio 2 and it was kind of thrilling! I dunno if the actual single is as good but I certainly hope so.