After nearly three weeks of somber Lucinda Williams songs, I owe my readers something more mainstream. So for the next two weeks I’ll present my first 2016 installment of ‘What the Kids are Listening To,’ my quarterly rundown of Billboard’s Hot 100.
It’s been long enough since my last dive into the charts that almost every song in the Top Ten this week is new to the blog.
Later in my 2015 ‘top songs’ countdown, I will wrote about Carly Rae Jepsen’s album E•MO•TION, the best pure pop record of the year.
Today’s Random iTunes Selection comes from the best pop album of 2007, Rihanna’s Good Girl Gone Bad. This record has more R&B and hip-hop flavors than Jepsen’s but it’s no less a giddy hit machine.
Today’s Random Weekend selection is the second track from Rihanna’s second studio album, A Girl Like Me.
‘Kisses Don’t Lie’ is a neat track, blending electric guitars, reggae rhythms and an R&B bass line in the service of a standard issue “should we or shouldn’t we” love song.
At #5 on this week’s Billboard chart is the unexpected collaboration between Rihanna, Kanye West and Paul McCartney. How cool that Macca is charting for a whole new generation more than 50 years after The Beatles reigned.
‘FourFiveSeconds’ is an acoustic country folk pop song that features a great vocal by Rihanna, who isn’t exactly known for her great vocals. The song has a rawness that works for her and works in general.
Four years ago Rihanna missed the Grammys ceremony because she had been brutally assaulted by then-boyfriend Chris Brown just hours before it started. This year she was seated next to him, cuddling like newlyweds.
That’s likely the image of Rihanna that will stay with people following this year’s show — the mixture of anger, pity and disgust it evokes is just too powerful to overcome.
Meet Me In Montauk 