Ariana Grande’s 2024 album Eternal Sunshine was her best in nearly a decade, producing two #1 hits and finding her in a delicious smooth pop groove.
Then came her celebrated appearances in two Wicked movies (one of which earned an Oscar nomination) and much concern about her emaciated physical appearance (warranted, in my opinion).
Now she’s back with new music, and first single ‘Hate That I Made You Love Me’ seems to tackle her relationship with fans and the media over the last two years.
I’ve spent the past couple of months digging into the past, so I figured I’d spend this week catching up on some of this year’s releases.
First up is the best new album I’ve heard in a long time, Olivia Rodrigo’s third studio release You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love. I’m a fan of the 23-year-old Rodrigo’s first two albums — 2021’s Sour and 2023’s Guts — but I consider this one easily her best yet.
The week of July 12, 1966, found Tommy James and the Shondells atop the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘Hanky Panky,’ one of two #1 hits for the band (‘Crimson and Clover’ would top the chart two years later).
This song started as a B-side for a duo called The Raindrops, written by its members Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich. A year later, 17-year-old Tommy James and his backing band The Shondells recorded a version of the song from memory, accurately recreating the chorus and melody but rewriting all of the verses.
Throwing back to the week of July 11, 1956, we find Gogi Grant’s ‘The Wayward Wind’ clinging to the top spot of the Billboard Hot 100 for the sixth straight week.
At #2 was Pat Boone’s ‘I Almost Lost My Mind,’ which spent a month as the runner-up before its own two-week stint at #1. This was one of five #1’s and fifteen top ten hits for Boone in the five-year period from 1955-1959. He was the Drake of the Golden Age.
Concluding my list of best debut albums (with quite a few caveats)…
Sinéad O’Connor – The Lion and the Cobra (1987)
I almost didn’t include today’s album because I thought 1990’s I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got was likely my favorite Sinéad O’Connor album. Or if not that one, probably 2000’s Faith and Courage.
Those are both great albums. But when I re-listened to The Lion and the Cobra, O’Connor’s bracing debut, I decided that yeah, this is definitely the one.
