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Song of the Day #5,414: ‘Cool About It’ – Boygenius

The Record, the first full-length release by supergroup Boygenius, is one of the year’s most celebrated releases so far. Boygenius is a collaboration between indie rockers Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus, a trio who have written and performed together since 2018 when not nurturing their own successful solo careers.

I’m quite familiar with Bridgers, who is a favorite of my daughters, but the other two artists are new to me. This lovely, powerful album suggests I should spend some time getting to know them as well.

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Song of the Day #5,413: ‘Exhausting Lover’ – Ben Folds

I’m taking a short break from theme weeks and using the next five days to feature songs from new or upcoming albums. Wait, I guess that makes this a theme week after all. Oh well.

First up is the second single from Ben Folds’ upcoming album What Matters Most, due out on June 2. On January 4, in a post about new releases expected this year, I wrote “How about a new Ben Folds album, if the universe is taking suggestions?” Apparently the universe was listening.

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Song of the Day #5,413: ‘Informer’ – Snow

Today we throw back to the week of April 24, 1993, and the most popular white reggae song of all time — Snow’s ‘Informer.’

This borderline incomprehensible track was written by the Canadian artist (real name Darrin Kenneth O’Brien) after he was jailed on charges of attempted murder. The song is a diatribe against the titular snitches who put him behind bars, and seemingly promises violent retribution (Snow pantomimes firing a gun in the video while singing “I lick he boom-boom down”).

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Song of the Day #5,412: ‘Come On Eileen’ – Dexys Midnight Runners

It’s week two of Throwback Weekends, and rather than go into all the parameters again I’ll just dive in to the music (you can read the guidelines for these weekends on last week’s post if you’d like).

Today we’re throwing back to the week of April 23, 1983, when English pop band Dexys Midnight Runners topped the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘Come On Eileen.’ This is a classic one-hit wonder in the States, though the band had a decent number of hits in their home country.

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Song of the Day #5,411: ‘Rock and a Hard Place’ – Bailey Zimmerman

We have two more repeats at #11 and #12 on this week’s Billboard Hot 100.

Morgan Wallen has his second track in the top 11 with ‘You Proof,’ a bro country anthem that predates his 36-track opus.

And Harry Styles’ ‘As It Was‘ continues its chart dominance, still hanging on at #12 a full year after it debuted at #1. This song spent a total of 15 weeks in the top spot, becoming the fourth longest-running #1 in Hot 100 history, and the longest-running by a solo artist.

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