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Song of the Day #5,525: ‘Barbie World’ – Nicki Minaj & Ice Spice with Aqua

Returning to the latest installment of ‘What the Kids are Listening To,’ we’re on to #8 on this week’s Billboard Hot 100, ‘Barbie World.’ This collaboration between rappers Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice is the second single from the soundtrack of the blockbuster film Barbie.

‘Barbie World’ features a heavy sample of Danish pop band Aqua’s 1997 hit ‘Barbie Girl,’ and the band is given co-writing and co-performer credit on the song. That means that 26 years after Aqua reached #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 with their song, they’ve reached #7 again with this one. It has since fallen back a spot to #8, so it could be that #7 is the ceiling for this material no matter who is attached.

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Song of the Day #5,524: ‘Holy Grail’ – Jay-Z feat. Justin Timberlake

Throwing back to the week of August 17, 2013, we’re once again going deep into the top ten before finding a song I haven’t featured.

The top five that week were, in order, Robin Thicke’s ‘Blurred Lines,’ Miley Cyrus’ ‘We Can’t Stop,’ Imagine Dragons’ ‘Radioactive,’ and Daft Punk’s ‘Get Lucky.’ Those tracks were competing for Song of the Summer status for months that year.

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Song of the Day #5,523: ‘Right Thurr’ – Chingy

Throwing back to the week of August 16, 2003, we find Beyoncé hanging on to the top spot with ‘Crazy in Love,’ halfway through its run of eight weeks at #1.

Below that is ‘Right Thurr’ by St. Louis rapper Chingy. This song spent (non-consecutive) five weeks at #2, held off by Queen Bey’s first major hit. That seems fair, given how much better ‘Crazy in Love’ is than this track.

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Song of the Day #5,522: ‘Fukumean’ – Gunna

Sometimes I worry that I come across as overly hostile toward rap music. I have a sort of knee-jerk liberal defensiveness, eager to point out that I’m not racist, just hopelessly square.

I don’t want my ‘What the Kids are Listening To’ segments to turn into multiple days of “old man yells at cloud.” But I like what I like, and I dislike what I dislike, and I have to be honest about all of it.

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Song of the Day #5,521: ‘FE!N’ – Travis Scott feat. Playboi Carti

Here’s the second Travis Scott track I promised in this installment of ‘What the Kids are Listening To.’ ‘FE!N,’ a collaboration with rapper Playboi Carti, landed at #5 on the latest Billboard Hot 100 chart, giving Scott two top five debuts in the same week.

While I was kinda digging the previous entry, this one is making me feel old again. I’m not sure what “FE!N” means (Genius.com suggests it’s a twist on the word “fiend” and references both a drug user and a demon), but I know I don’t want to hear it repeated 20 times per chorus.

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