The song sitting at #4 on this week’s Billboard Hot 100 is a perfect illustration of why I’m featuring this hit parade once per month.
Apparently ‘Say Something’ has caused quite a stir for months without managing to be heard by me even once.
The piano ballad was released twice before, once on a solo record by Ian Axel in 2011 and again by Axel’s indie band A Great Big World in 2013. But it wasn’t until Christina Aguilera performed the track with the band on The Voice that it took off.
As soon as I saw that a Jason Derulo song was #3 on the charts this week, I wondered how long the track would run before he said his own name.
That’s my one impression of the Miami-born singer — that he speaks or sings his own name in every song of his I’ve ever heard.
This one turns out to be an exception. He was a woman say it instead, right at the beginning. I guess that’s artistic growth.
In the #2 spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 this week is Pharell Williams’ ‘Happy,’ a song first released last summer on the soundtrack of Despicable Me 2.
Williams released the single in mid-December 2013 and it has climbed to the second spot on the charts and parked there.
I’ve seen Despicable Me 2 twice but I don’t recall this song (I’m guessing it played over the end credits).
During the great “radio hits” debate of late 2013, I agreed to dedicate time each month this year to the songs topping the charts. That way I won’t be ignorant of some ubiquitous smash when populating my year-end list with deep album cuts by bands like Belle & Sebastian.
I’ll probably still leave those hits off my list, but at least I’ll do it consciously.
The Random iTunes Fairy got cute today, serving up a second helping of Elvis Costello after yesterday’s belly-aching about not finding enough time to listen to all of his music.
She even went straight to one my favorite Costello albums, the sublime King of America, zeroing in on one of its signature sad ballads.
Meet Me In Montauk 