A couple of months back I spent a few weeks on the albums of 1982, both my personal favorites and ones with which I’m unfamiliar despite their receiving lavish critical acclaim.
Donald Fagen’s The Nightfly was one of the latter. I own the album but have never given it a good listen. I gave it a spin in my car after featuring it on the blog and definitely appreciated its quality.
Today’s track wraps up my latest two-week dive into the Billboard’s Hot 100. I’ve been more encouraged by this batch of songs that I usually am after these theme weeks.
Sure, Fetty Wap is still inexplicably lingering in the top ten, and the two Drake songs are forgettable, but just about every other song I’ve featured is solid. We’ve had another hit from Taylor Swift’s unstoppable 1989, a listenable Justin Bieber track, touching songs by R. City and Ed Sheeran, a fun discovery in Elle King and an unexpected blast from Macklemore.
If you were expecting a modern take on the 1983 Def Leppard classic, you’ll be disappointed. No, #17 on this week’s charts is an Ed Sheeran original with the same title.
This one’s good, too.
Sheeran wrote the delicate track during his long-distance relationship with his now-ex girlfriend. But the lyrics are applicable to any unwanted separation. In the YouTube comments, several people dedicate the track to friends or family members who have recently died.
Elle King sits at Billboard’s #16 with the bawdy double entendres of ‘Ex’s & Oh’s.’ King is an L.A.-based singer and songwriter who has had moderate success since 2012 but is enjoying her first chart success with this track.
When I first Googled King, I saw a lot of returns connecting her to comedian Rob Schneider. Hollywood being how it is, I assumed she was his girlfriend. In fact, the 26-year-old is his daughter, which is both a relief and yet another reminder that I’m getting old. The “makin’ copies!” guy is 51??
OMI’s ‘Cheerleader’ sits in Billboard’s 14th spot, but that’s the last repeat we’ll encounter this week. At #15 is iHeartMemphis (or iLoveMemphis, depending on how you choose to pronounce it) with the dance track ‘Hit the Quan.’
iHeartMemphis is a rapper from, you guessed it, Memphis and this is his biggest (perhaps only) hit to date. It’s one of those tracks (like Silento’s ‘Watch Me’) that catches fire mostly because of what other people do with it.
