Coming in at #18 is ‘Caroline’ by Amine. I guess this is what passes for a love song these days.
These guys are so thoroughly unambitious that they didn’t even bother writing a second verse but instead just repeat the first one.
How do songs so utterly lacking in creativity and nuance consistently make it this high on the charts?
It’s back-to-back Drake, this time as the lead artist following his supporting turn on the stinker ‘Used to This.’
Drake’s ‘Fake Love’ sits at #17 following Sia’s ‘Cheap Thrills’ at #15 and Justin Timberlake’s ‘Can’t Stop the Feeling!’ (Song of the Summer?) still hanging on at #16.
I’m not a Drake fan. My daughter is into his latest album but everything I’ve heard is monotonous and silly. I assume this track is from that album so my hopes aren’t high.
We have two more repeats at #12 and #13 of Billboard’s chart this week, Major Lazer’s ‘Cold Water’ and Shawn Mendes’ ‘Treat You Better,’ respectively. In the 14th spot is a cut by rapper Future, with an assist by Drake.
‘Used to This’ is a horrible song. Lyrically, it’s inane selg-congratulatory crap. How many times can rap artists brag about money and cars before they realize it’s ridiculous? Or is there some deep irony at work here that I’m missing?
At #11 on Billboard’s Hot 100 this week is ‘i hate u i love u’ by L.A. singer/rapper gnash. As all hit songs these days need to “feature” somebody, this one features Olivia O’Brien, a 16-year-old L.A.-based singer.
It’s a little creepy that this duet about ex-lovers is performed by a 16-year-old and a 25-year-old, no? To be fair, this little gnash fellow doesn’t look much older than 16 himself.
Surprisingly, I’ve never featured Peter Gabriel’s ‘Sledgehammer’ before, though I’ve blogged about four other tracks on the 9-song So album. This song was the record’s biggest hit, and Gabriel’s biggest North American hit, period.
Two other interesting bits of trivia I learned from the song’s Wikipedia page: the song ‘Sledgehammer’ replaced at #1 on the charts was ‘Invisible Touch’ by Gabriel’s former band, Genesis; and ‘Sledgehammer’ is the most-played video of all time by MTV.
Meet Me In Montauk 