Tiesto/Tate McRae(6): Week of April, 29th 2023

 

Hello everyone and what’s up? I’m sorry this post is very late for me, but I’ve had a busy week this week with exams and celebrating the end of the semester plus a few birthdays. I’m happy to announce that I’m now done with school though and I’m off for a month and a half before I start two 6 week courses for Summer credits. Before we get into this weeks countdown though I have a few announcements. First, I will be gone May 12th-21st, so I won’t be reviewing the countdowns for the weeks of May 13th and May 20th in full, so I’ll catch up when I get back. Second I have some interest myself in hosting a rankdown. I was thinking it would be one for my top 40 songs of 2022. As y’all may know there were a lot of interesting songs on that list, and so I thought it’d be interesting to a rankdown for, so let me know what y’all think about that idea down in the comments or on Discord. Third, I’ll be finishing up on my worst list of 2022 now that I’m less busy, so look for that in the coming weeks and also I’ll be doing a few album reviews soon, more on those in the Hitbound section. With all that out of the way, let’s get into this weeks countdown, 

Exits 

Taylor Swift-All of the girls you loved before(23) 

Gracie Abrams-I Know it won’t work(19) 

Miley Cyrus-Flowers6 weeks at #1)(14) 

Lady Gaga-Bloody Mary(9) 

Lizzo/SZA-Special(7) 

The Countdown 

#30 NF-Happy(Re-entry)(2 weeks) 

#29 Taylor Swift-Karma(Debut)(1 week) 

#28 The Weeknd/Future-Double Fantasy(Debut)(1 week) 

#27 Lizzy McAlpine-Ceillings(-6)(6 weeks) 

#26 Meghan Trainor-Mother(+1)(7 weeks) 

#25 Toosii-Favorite Song(+5)(2 weeks) 

#24 Miley Cyrus-Jaded(+5)(2 weeks) 

#23 Miguel-Sure Thing(+1)(4 weeks) 

#22 The Kid Laroi-Love Again(-12)(13 weeks)

#21 Coi Leray-Playees(-1)(16 weeks) 

#20 Lewis Capaldi-Wish You the Best(+8)(2 weeks) 

#19 PinkPanthress/Ice Spice-Boys a Liar(+2)(11 weeks) 

#18 Crash Adams-Give Me a Kiss(Debut)(1 week) 

#17 Jax-Cinderella Snapped(=)(8 weeks) 

#16 Morgan Wallen-Last Nighy(Debut)(1 week) 

#15 Jonas Brothers-Waffle House(+10)(3 weeks) 

#14 Post Malone-Chemical(+12)(2 weeks) 

#13 SZA-Nobody Gets Me(=)(19 weeks) 

#12 Kane/Katelyn Brown-Thank God(+4)(11 weeks) 

#11 RAYE/070 Shake-Escapism(+4)(16 weeks) 

#10 Charlie Puth/Dan + Shay-That’s not how this works(+8)(4 weeks) 

#9 Taylor Swift-Lavander Haze(-5)(20 weeks) 

#8 Fall Out Boy-Love from the Other Side(=)(14 weeks) 

#7 Halsey-Die 4 Me(-1)(9 weeks) 

#6 Ed Sheeran-Eyes Closed(+6)(5 weeks) 

#5 SZA-Kill Bill(=)(16 weeks) 

#4 Sabrina Carpenter-Nonsense(+7)(22 weeks) 

#3 Latto/Lu Kala-Lottery(=)(10 weeks) 

#2 Niall Horan-Heaven(=)(10 weeks) 

#1 Tiesto/Tate McRae-10:35(=)(6th week at #1) 

Debuts 

Happy by NF re-entered the countdown, if you wanna know how I feel about this, it simply makes me happy. Now let’s get this song moving up next week. 

Our first debut is a not so new song from Taylor Swift off her album Midnights called Karma, and if you read my blog and know my track record with Taylor’s music nowadays, then you’d probably guess that I don’t like this at all. I’ve only listened to the 3 singles off this album, and this is by far the worst song I’ve heard off of it. Why do people like this shit even? If Taylor can just stop making music at this point, I think it’d be lovely honestly. This song is so bad, hell even Lavender Haze is better than this, at least that one is kinda catchy to an extent, while this one is not. It’s very hard to tell what Taylor is saying here because her voice is so drowned in effects, she barely even sounds like herself, this is the worst I’ve ever heard from her vocal wise I think. The writing is kinda nonsensical like I stated earlier because of this(and because it’s Taylor Swift, her writing is not that good anyways). The production here attempts to be cool sounding, but really it’s nothing too special. It’s kinda forgettable honestly. Yeah, so this is another bad Taylor Swift song, I guess Karma is a bitch if they’re pushing this over other songs(The Chainsmokers new song). Let’s move on from this mess. Next. 

Next we have The Weeknd and Futures new song called Double Fantasy. I talked about this one a lot last week, but I really like it. The Weeknd sounds great on this, and I really like Futures verse, he sounds good and it’s very catchy and memorable. The production is really cool here too, it’s got 80s synth sound mixed with trap and altogether it sounds absolutely heavenly. I also liked the use of the saxophone on the version with the extended intro, it kinda sets the tone for a great and smooth  R&B song in my opinion, The writing on this takes on a bit of that sexual R&B feel, and I actually don’t mind it because it’s honestly kinda what I would expect to hear on a song like this from The Weeknd, plus it’s not too graphic or gross. Overall I hope this song smashes in its run here, and has a much better run than Creepin did since it was robbed from getting to the top 5. 

There were a lot of surprises that came out of this weeks countdown, and these last 2 debuts were some of them. Next we have Canadian duo Crash Adams making their weekend countdown debut with their song Give Me a Kiss. First off I’m absolutely astonished that this is here given the fact that these guys aren’t even signed to a record label, although they really should be because I’ve been listening to this a bit recently, and I like it a lot. Both of them sound great here, and their voices blend in so naturally together that it makes for some perfect chemistry. The production is a bit basic, but really nice, in a way it reminds me of Twenty One Pilots style of alternative for some reason, and I love them, so that makes for a great sign in this song. The writing is also nice, fun and catchy. Overall this is a great bop, and I’m amazed it debuted in the top 20. Hopefully that makes for a great run here, and I hope that a real label and discover these guys and sign them soon, cuz I wouldn’t mind hearing this outside of Hits 1. Really great song. 

Ok, so now for the surprise of the week. Morgan Wallen finally debuts for the first time in nearly 3 years with a song, That’s right, Last Night has finally debuted, and I honestly am genuinely curious to see what they’re gonna do with this. This Spent some time at the top of The Hot 100, and is right now sitting at #2(as of last weeks chart). Now while I must tell everyone who reads my blog that yes, I have grown into Wallen’s voice and sound a bit more since the awful Wasted on You was stuck here for months last year, I’m not a fan of the guys personality. There is a reason why I suspect this debuted so high here, and it’s unfortunately not a great one. Pretty much I learned this week that Wallen’s team had to cancel a whole weeks worth of shows because he apparently,” lost his voice.” But rumors have it that it may have been a fake claim that his team was using to cover up some unacceptable behavior from Wallen himself, people believe that before one of his shows he went out and go drunk to the point where he couldn’t perform when he showed up at the show. Wallen is no stranger to drunkenness, and he pretty much gets drunk every night after he performs at a show, so while I’m not sure If this donor is 100% true, it did make me lose a bit of my respect for Wallen as a responsible person. As for this song though, if we leave Wallen’s issues behind, it’s a great song. The production is really nice and tailored more towards a pop radio audience than a country one, and I like that personally. It’s really chill sounding and it still keeps the country vibe, so it’s nice overall. Wallen sounds great on this vocally, and the writing interesting, it takes a relationship and kinda tells you,” wow things can go south really fast when you love someone.” And that’s what I believe this song is mainly about, it’s about letting go of a relationship or a person, and it’s a bit relatable, so I like it. Overall, while I like this song I am a bit astonished it debuted so high given the fact it didn’t have great AirPlay, but that may be the result of Wallen’s fans mass voting him to try and defend against all the rumors from this past week I assume. While I condemn his behavior, I still think this song got what ir deserves though, a nice high debut. I’ll take it. 

Best countdown debut: The Weeknd/Future-Double Fantasy 

Biggest jump of the week: Post Malone-Chemical(+14) This is still just decent, but the more I hear it, the more I want it to grow on me, will that happen? We’ll see. 

Biggest drop of the week: The Kid Laroi-Love Again(-12) Honestly this is a good song, but it’s time is coming to an end, and I realize that. 

Countdown extra: Dominic Fike-Dancing in the courthouse 

Last years #1 song: Imagine Dragons/JID-Enemeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee( 5th/6 annoying and non-consecutive weeks at #1)  

My favorite song from last year: Jack Harlow-First Class(Perfect timing) 

My least favorite song from last year: Justin Beiber/Don Toliver-Honest 

Hitbound 

Nicki Minaj-Red Ruby da Sleeze 

Preseley Raigor-Nermind(Debut) 

Jason Derulo-Glad U Came(Debut) 

Lauren Spencer-Smith/GAYLE/Em Beihold-Fantasy 

Jack Harlow-They Don’t Love it(Debut) 

Melanie Martinez-Void 

Niall Horan-Meltdown(Debut) 

Dominic Fike-Dancing in the Courthouse 

Fifty Fifty-Cupid(Twin Version) 

ILLENIUM/Avril Lavigne/Travis Barker-Eyes Wide Shut(Debut) 

Coi Leray-Bops(Debut) 

David Kushner-Daylight(Debut) 

Lu Kala-Pretty Girl Era(Debut) 

XG-Left Right 

Stephen Sanchez-Only Girl(Debut) 

Drake-Search and Rescue  

Debuts 

Wow, another week of many interesting debuts, let’s get started shall we? 

First up we have some random dude I’ve never heard of named Presley Raigor, and he makes his Hits 1 debut with Nevermind, and I find it quite interesting that they kicked off the show with this guys song, given the fact that he literally is so unknown and given also that they usually put the second song to a big name person, so I would’ve expected them to give that spot to one of our other debuts, but alas I don’t think any of these songs that debuted are gonna be huge hits outside of Hits 1, so uh whatever I guess. Anyways this song called Neeermind is very forgettable, and decent at best. This guy has an alright voice at best(although I forget). And the production sounds good. It’s so forgettable though, so I can barely even remember what it sounds like. Most forgettable but upbeat song they’ve gotten all year I think. Great way to kick off the debuts Hits 1. 

Up next we have a new Jason Derulo song called Glad U Came. I really enjoyed Derulo’s song he released back in February with David Guetta called Saturday/Sunday, and this new one is also really good, although it’s not as catchy. Jason Sounds good throughout this, and the production is really cool, it gives off a nice spring/summer type vibe and it’s kinda in a house-type style, so I that’s right up my alley. The lyrics and writing are also very memorable and catchy, I kinda wish this song was my reality actually given the fact that it’s about meeting someone, lol. Not much else to say, just a very solid Derulo song. I wouldn’t mind it doing something here. 

I am very excited to talk about these next 3 debuts, next up we have what I believe is the focus track(aka single). Off of rapper Jack Harlow’s new album Jackman that dropped by surprise on Friday. I love Harlow’s music, and as y’all may know that First Class spent a little bit of time at #1 on my chart last year like right about this time exactly, and it was in my top 5 songs of 2022, so naturally I was excited for not only this song, but the whole album, which I was a bit surprised is very short clocking in at only 24 minutes. This song is about a minute and a half long, and many of the songs on the album are actually, I’ll be going into detail on this in my review of the album, which will be out soon, along with some other albums I’ll review(more to come later). As for this song though, I really like it despite its short length. The trap beat here is very well mixed and sounds great, kinda like an R&B type rap beat, basic but great sounding, like the one on First Class, but without a sample. Jack Harlow sounds amazing on this and has outstanding flow, and I also love the repetitive use of the phrase,” They Don’t Love it.” It just makes it more catchy, and overall the writing is very interesting, it talks about how haters will say what they wanna say about you, but sometimes it’s best to ignore them and just do what you do best. Really great writing. I love this, and I really hope it can become a hit. 

Niall Horan has released the follow up to Heaven called Metdown, and I love it. First off I gotta talk about the production because it sounds very closely identical to the production on As it was, a very basic, but laid back 80s style drum line, mixed with a few synths. It sounds great, and it fits Niall’s voice very very well. He sounds great and I love his voice here much more than I do on Heaven, and that’s solely because of the production style, damn I guess One Direction members know how to eat up a 80s style synth beat, huh? The writing on this is spectacular also, this talks about having a meltdown and feeling anxious and scared about life and things that you have to deal with, and when I heard this I immediately thought of a friend of mine who has anxiety, but I also thought a bit about how my life has gone over the past few months, I’ve had a bit of anxiety personally, and it’s fucking scary when you have a panic attack trust me as a person who has had several, good god it feels like your gonna die when you have one. Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh yeah, ok, so back this song now, this talks about anxiety and being nervous and I love it, the lyrics are catchy and great and complimented with the production, this is a bop. I’ll gladly take this over Heaven any day, can we make this a hit Hits 1. 

Alright well, let me say I love this next artist right now, EDM artist ILLENIUM has finally released his new self-titled album, and I’ve listened to the whole thing and I’ve gotta say,” wow, it is beautiful and amazing.” I’ll be doing a review of it very soon. One of the singles off the album is right now my #1 song on my chart, Insanity with American Teeth, you may notice that I keep putting it as a recommendation for Hits 1 at the end of my posts, and well I do that with great reason, I’ll talk about it in more detail during my review of the album, but for right now let’s get into another song from the album that landed on Hitbound and that they’re actually pushing(yay) it’s called Eyes Wide Shut, and it features Avril Lavigne and Travis Barker. Barker actually co-wrote and produced not only this song? But a few others on the album, and as you may know I love his music and style, so naturally I had high expectations for this, and they paid off too. ILLENIUM and Barker’s production is great. It kinda combines trappy dance with alternative, and it sounds great. The trap in the second verse sounds a bit faded out, but it’s not bad sounding overall. Barkers drum lines sound good on this and Avril does a great job on the vocals. The writing is really good to, I personally relate to this song a bit(as well as a lot of the songs on this album). It’s memorable and kinda catchy, and it’s about how finding love can leave you absolutely miserable, when it doesn’t go the right way, and I can certainly relate to that. Overall great song, I hope this becomes a hit here, and look forward to my review of ILLENIUM(the album) soon. Next, 

Coi Leray released 2 songs on Friday and one of them is now here, it’s called Bops(and yes it is a bop). It’s the better of the 2 songs in my opinion and very good, Coi Leray sounds great on this and she has great flow. The production is a bit clunky sounding, but alright and the writing is very good and catchy. Overall solid song, although Players is better. 

Next we have another song called Daylight by some dude named David Kushner, and this is way worse than Harry Styles song of the same name(although that songs not much better). This is so slow that the production barely even exists, and David Kushner has a horrible voice. I can name a lot of other R&B singers who have 10x better voices than this guy, even though I don’t really like R&B much.. he sounds so bad here and overly scratchy, and not in a good way, his voice is like that of Lewis Capaldi and Giveon combined, but those other artists can sing better, let’s just say that. The writing here is a bit weird here also and it’s a bit too dark for me to like, this can drop out any day now. 

Next we have a follow up from Lu Kala who’s featured on Lottery, and this one’s called Pretty Girl Era. This is really solid. Lu Kala sounds great here, and the vibe is very much the same as that of Lottery. The lyrics are a bit girly, but kinda catchy and cute at the same time. Overall very solid song, I wouldn’t mind it becoming a hit, 

Lastly we have more of snoozefest Stephen aka Stephen Sanchez, and here he is debuting with another song called Only Girl. This is decent, but nothing special in any way shape or form, in fact Until I Found you is much more superior to this, yet it’s not even a great song. Stephen Sanchez sounds alright here I guess, although the verses are a bit weird sounding. The chorus is very catchy though and he at least sounds good there. The production is too basic and boring though and the writing is great and relatable, but I’ve heard better songs of this nature before. Overall, it’s kinda just another song not to care about, lol, 

As for the Hitbound exits many of them are in the abyss, but the real ones are Flip a Switch, Eyes, Lost the Breakup, The Dumb Song and I Don’t Miss You. These were alright songs, but I never cared too much about them, so I’m okay with them going. 

Best Hitbound debut: This is a tough choice, but Jack Harlow-They Don’t Love it, 

The abyss 

 Rema/Selena Gomez-Calm Down

Zara Larson-Can’t Tame Her 

Gracie Abrams-I Know it Won’t Work

Avery Anna-Self Love 

David Guetta/Anne-Marie/Coi Leray-Baby Don’t Hurt Me 

Labrinth/Billie Eilish-Never Felt so Alone 

Kim Petras/Nicki Minaj-Alone 

Rita Ora/Fatboy Slim-Praising You 

Luke Combs-Fast Car 

SZA-Snooze 

Well to say the least we lost a lot of abyss songs and gained a lot. Most of these I’m sure will debut next week, but I’ll go over them anyways. 

Country singer Luke Combs covers Tracy Chapmans 1988 hit Fast Car, and this is pretty good. The production is pretty much the sampled production from the original but mixed with a country beat and it sounds good and is pretty unique. Luke Combs does a pretty good job covering it, I am questioning the length of the song though, as I don’t remember the original being 4 minutes long. Pretty solid new version to say the least, although it wasn’t needed. 

SZA is pushing another song off of her album SOS(Seriously), and out of all the singles off this album Snooze is the worst by far. The production is slow and boring classic R&B, and SZA doesn’t sound good at all on this, also who’s the guy who comes in halfway through the song? He sounds bad too, and overall the writing is super boring also. Why are we pushing this radio???????????? 

We lost No Bad Days, Heart Wants what it wants and Death Wish from the abyss this week. I’m alright with all of these going, although it would’ve been a bit nice to see No Bad Days debut. 

Blurbs 

Ceilings took another hit this week as it moved down 6 spots back to #27. I can’t say I’m surprised by this given the fact that the song is very slow, but I love it still, so I hope it can rebound,  

Favorite song moved 5 spots off its debut, alright I guess. I though that this one was gonna grow on me, but it’s not really, 

At least Jaded also moved up 5 spots though too, I like the more I hear it. 

Wish you the best moved up 8 spots to #20. I like Lewis, but I don’t think we need to be making this a hit, apparently they are really going at it with this one though looking at its AirPlay lately. 

Waffle House is now my favorite song on this countdown, my favorite restaurant, and my favorite pop culture reference and it’s getting a 10 spot boost this week, I’ll definitely take that, 

Why is Nobody Gets Me still here? 

Thank God interestingly got a 4 spot jump this week, along with Escapism, Nice. 

On the other hand why is That’s Not How this works in the top 10 now and getting an 8 spot jump? This song is so forgettable and Charlie sounds horrible on it, 

Yay, Lavender Haze is finally out of the top 5. 

Eyes Closed rebounded and is now at #6, and while it is slightly fading on me, I wouldn’t mind seeing it in the top 5, which I guarantee is exactly where it’ll end up next week. 

Nonsense got a surprise jump back into the top 5 and a new peak of #4. This is interesting given that it’s the oldest song on this countdown, it’s also gotten slightly annoying to, can we please not let it hit #1. 

10:35 was #1 for a 6th week in a row this week despite losing a lot of AirPlay. Very impressive run, but I am starting to get a bit tired of it. Hey at least they’re respecting EDM music for once though. I’m very impressed with the run it’s having here. 

As for our exits we lost, All of the girls you loved before, I know it won’t work, Flowers, Bloody Mary and Special. I know it won’t work finds itself in the abyss, plus Where do we go now is Better now, so I don’t really care that it’s gone. We replaced one bad Taylor song with another bad Taylor song that is kinda worse. Bloody Mary never really deserved to be a hit since it’s 12 years old and only decent at best, Special I was really starting to get tired of, and as for Flowers, it had a good run here, but not good enough in my opinion. For a former #1, they needed to keep it around longer. It was at #2 just 3 weeks ago, and #1 6 weeks ago, That’s really stupid in my opinion, keep your songs around longer Hits 1. 

#1 recommendation for Hits 1: The Chainsmokers/347Aiden-Up & Down 

Thank y’all for reading and I’ll see y’all in the next one.