I feel a little bit more in the know about today’s song, #5 on the Billboard Hot 100, because I just read about it in Rolling Stone.
For example, I know that Passenger is the stage name of British singer-songwriter Michael David Rosenberg, who has spent years busking in various countries.
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.
