In Billboard’s sixth slot is ‘Team,’ the latest single from Lorde’s juggernaut Pure Heroine.
‘Team’ is a sister song to ‘Royals,’ with the same “we live in cities you’ll never see onscreen” message and disdain for hip-hop excess. Here she sums up that boredom with the great line, “I’m kind of over gettin’ told to throw my hands up in the air… so there.”
Jason Derulo’s unfortunate ‘Talk Dirty‘ sits at #4, and at #5 on the latest Billboard Hot 100 chart is Bastille with ‘Pompeii.’
I remember hearing this band (and I believe this song) on Saturday Night Live a couple of months back. My wife liked their sound and we came close to downloading the album but wound up not for some reason.
I would have expected this song to crack the top ten closer to that television appearance, but maybe SNL doesn’t move the dial like it used to.
The next two weeks will feature the second installment of my “Keeping up With the Charts” series, wherein I post the songs topping the Billboard Hot 100 in an effort to keep up with what the kids are listening to these days.
This week, three of the top five songs are leftovers from the last time I did this, suggesting that the Hot 100 doesn’t see a whole lot of turnover.
A few days ago I described U2’s last studio album, No Line On the Horizon, as “underwhelming.” Apparently the Random iTunes Fairy took offense to that and served up today’s song as a rebuttal.
Indeed, ‘Breathe’ is one of the best songs on No Line On the Horizon, bursting with an energy and spirit the album otherwise lacks.
Today’s Random Weekend selection is the opening track of Bob Dylan’s Planet Waves.
Planet Waves came out after Self Portrait, New Morning and Dylan, three of the man’s least understood and appreciated albums. And it was followed up by Blood on the Tracks, The Basement Tapes and Desire, three of his best.
