After a surprisingly strong top five Billboard lineup last week, we turn our attention to the bottom half of the top ten. Will the quality level remain high or are we due for a slip back into depressing mediocrity?
Zayn, formerly of One Direction, kicks us off with his first solo single, ‘Pillowtalk.’ This is a decidedly more grown-up track from young Zayn. Pre-teen girls all over the world are getting quite an earful.
Often these Random iTunes Weekends turn into an installment of ‘Where Are They Now?’
Today’s featured artist, Keane, released a trio of strong LPs and a fun EP between 2004 and 2010 before dropping the dreadful Strangeland in 2012. Following that bomb, the band put out a greatest hits record (presumably featuring nothing from Strangeland) and then fell silent.
R.E.M. officially broke up five years ago, but in my book the band’s real end came 15 years before that. New Adventures in Hi-Fi, released in September of 1996, was the last R.E.M. album to feature drummer Bill Berry and the last to sound completely like the band I loved.
Subsequent releases had their moments. 1998’s Up, the first post-Berry record, was the high water mark for that era, fueled by the band’s uncertainty about their identity as a trio. Reveal, Accelerate and Collapse Into Now had some high spots but weren’t memorable overall.
I’ve come to dread these Billboard countdown weeks because they tend to erode my faith in the musical taste of the masses.
But this week so far has been an exception. Rihanna’s new single isn’t one of her best, but it’s far from offensive. The two Justin Bieber tracks are surprisingly effective, and twenty one pilots’ ‘Stressed Out’ works well as a modern blend of hip hop and pop.
Justin Bieber’s second appearance in the top five of this week’s Billboard chart comes courtesy of ‘Sorry,’ a song written for both his ex Selena Gomez and the world in general. Call it the opening argument in his bid for pop culture retribution.
Interestingly, his co-writers on this song also contributed to several songs on Gomez’s latest album, Revival. Sound-wise, that’s good news, because Revival is a great album ‘Sorry’ has a similar vibe.
