Hi! I guess I'm back to countdown reviews now. I will say that this blog will probably end up being mostly album reviews rather than just countdown reviews, so I changed my blog name to "Hallett's Music Reviews". My SOUR album review is coming soon, and after that I want to review Eternal Sunshine because although Yes, And was a huge disappointment, her follow-up singles have been surprisingly good and I want to listen to the whole album. When they come out, I might do a review for Radical Optimism or even TTPD. Anyway, onto this week's countdown, it was a decent week I guess. We lost some great songs and some of the debuts were not quite as great, but one of my favorite songs of the year debuted this week, so let's get into it.
Exits:
Jessie Murph & Jelly Roll - Wild Ones (11 weeks: Peak #26)
Victoria Monet - On My Mama (4 weeks: Peak #23)
Doja Cat - Agora Hills (20 weeks: Peak #10)
Countdown:
#30: Twenty One Pilots - Overcompensate (Debut) (1 week: Peak #30)
#29: Ariana Grande - We Can't Be Friends (Debut) (1 week: Peak #29)
#28: Djo - End of Beginning (Debut) (1 week: Peak #28)
#27: Madison Beer - Make You Mine (+2) (2 weeks: Peak #27)
#26: Usher - Kissing Strangers (+4) (2 weeks: Peak #26)
#25: Girl in Red - Too Much (+3) (2 weeks: Peak #25)
#24: Sza - Saturn (+3) (2 weeks: Peak #24)
#23: Selena Gomez - Love On (-1) (3 weeks: Peak #22)
#22: Beyonce - Texas Hold Em (-2) (2 weeks: Peak #20)
#21: Tate McRae - Greedy (-3) (23 weeks: Peak #1 for 11 wk)
#20: Jack Harlow - Lovin on Me (-4) (18 weeks: Peak #10)
#19: Teddy Swims - Lose Control (+2) (27 weeks: Peak #2)
#18: Tyla - Water (-3) (20 weeks: Peak #15)
#17: Knox - Me Myself & Your Eyes (=) (3 weeks: Peak #17)
#16: Jung Kook - Standing Next to You (+8) (9 weeks: Peak #16)
Countdown extra: Luke Hemmings - Shakes
#15: Henry Moodie - Pick Up the Phone (+4) (10 weeks: Peak #11)
#14: Dua Lipa - Training Season (+12) (4 weeks: Peak #14)
#13: Justin Timberlake - Selfish (+1) (7 weeks: Peak #11)
#12: Noah Kahan - Stick Season (-2) (14 weeks: Peak #10)
#11: Renee Rapp & Meghan Thee Stallion - Not My Fault (+2) (12 weeks: Peak #10)
#10: Ajr - Yes I'm a Mess (-2) (21 weeks: Peak #7)
#9: Ariana Grande & Mariah Carey - Yes, And (+1) (9 weeks: Peak #9)
#8: Olivia Rodrigo - Get Him Back (-1) (22 weeks: Peak #1 for 4 wk)
#7: Benson Boone - Beautiful Things (+5) (7 weeks: Peak #7)
#6: Kenya Grace - Strangers (=) (20 weeks: Peak #6)
#5: Knox - Not the 1975 (=) (17 weeks: Peak #4)
#4: Taylor Swift - Is It Over Now (-1) (20 weeks: Peak #3)
#3: Tate McRae - Exes (+1) (17 weeks: Peak #3)
#2: Sabrina Carpenter - Feather (=) (14 weeks: Peak #2)
Last year's #1: Miley Cyrus - Flowers
#1: Dua Lipa - Houdini (=) (18 weeks: Peak #1 for 7 wk)
Debuts:
Twenty One Pilots new song Overcompensate is not what I expected. It's alright, but a bit overproduced, and the vocals weren't as impressive as some of their other songs.
Djo, aka Joe Keery, makes his countdown debut with End of Beginning. This is also okay, but kind of boring and forgettable. Still not a bad song and could grow on me.
Now the best debut for last. Ariana Grande's previous single Yes, And was a disappointing comeback, and the remix with Mariah Carey was... somehow worse. But she's finally got a new single two months later with We Can't Be Friends. W O W. This is so much better than I expected. Unlike Yes, And, which is messily produced and a bit too repetitive, this song has evolution, a good key, and it just sounds like sunshine, if that makes sense. The drum parts are especially well done as they contribute a lot to the evolution, and that outro is just dazzling. Add on some eternally beautiful vocals and lyrics, and you got yourself the best countdown song this week.
Biggest jump: Dua Lipa - Training Season (+12)
Biggest drop: Jack Harlow - Lovin on Me (-4)
My recommendations for Hits 1: Laufey - Goddess, Amelia Moore - Name Everywhere, Amelia Moore - That Girl, and Jvke & Pink Sweat$ - Lavender
Hitbound:
Alex Warren - Before You Leave Me (Re-entry) (4 weeks)
Meghan Trainor & T-Pain - Been Like This (Debut)
24kgoldn - Clarity (4 weeks)
Nicky Youre - Part Time Lover (Debut)
Zayn - What I Am (Debut)
Charli XCX - Von Dutch (2 weeks)
Luke Hemmings - Shakes (2 weeks)
The Beaches - Blame Brett (5 weeks)
Teddy Swims - The Door (8 weeks)
Liam Payne - Teardrops (3 weeks)
Lay & Lauv - Run Back to You (3 weeks)
Jagwar Twin - Bad Feeling (Oompa Loompa) (13 weeks)
Kenya Grace - It's Not Fair (Debut)
Fall Out Boy - So Much (For) Stardust (8 weeks)
Pharrell & Miley Cyrus - Doctor (Work It Out) (3 weeks)
Haiden Henderson - Hell of a Good Time (Debut)
Before You Leave Me is back for another week. This song is good and Alex sounds alright but it's kind of forgettable.
Next is my favorite Hitbound debut right now, Been Like This by Meghan Trainor & T-Pain. Of course I wasn't a fan of Hands On Me or Made You Puke, but Mother was my favorite of her songs last year. This actually kind of reminds me of Mother production-wise. It's super fun and jazzy, and she sounds great. Also, I'd like to point out that for once she doesn't use the I - vi - VI - V progression (aka the 60s progression) which I swear she's used in like half her songs. If you don't know what I'm talking about, listen to the chords in Hands On Me, Made You Look, and Dear Future Husband, and tell me it's not pretty much the same.
Next is another one of my favorites right now, Part Time Lover by Nicky Youre. While this isn't as good as S.A.D. this is a pretty fun song with amazing production, and Nicky sounds great. On a side note, I know I used to think Sunroof was decent, but now that I've heard it so many times and listened to all the lyrics, I've decided I don't like it. I don't wanna rant about it right now, but if I ever do a "worst songs of the 2020s" and it makes the list, you'll see why.
Now we have Zayn, who seems to be going for a more country sound on his new album. What I Am debuts Hitbound this week, and I love it, maybe more than Love Like This which I didn't remember at all. This has some nice country production and it's very different from his other songs. He also sounds fantastic, and the lyrics are perfectly written. Amazing song.
Unfortunately, not all this week's debuts were great. Kenya Grace is here with It's Not Fair. I still like Strangers but it's fading on me, and this is definitely not near as good as Strangers. The production is okay but a bit forgettable, and the lyrics aren't very interesting. I'd be perfectly fine with this leaving Hitbound next week.
Finally, Hell of a Good Time by some random newcomer named Haiden Henderson debuts this week. This isn't the worst debut this week, but it's not that great. It's really weird and forgettable, but Haiden sounds alright.
Also, I'd like to point out that Bad Feeling has been on here for a whopping 13 weeks now, which is the longest Hitbound tenure since Hate You by Jordi. Don't get me wrong, I like both of those songs, but Bad Feeling is starting to feel like more of a filler song Hits 1 won't let go of rather than an important song right now. Can this please either debut the countdown or leave soon?
Dropouts:
Hayes Warner, Billy B & Kevin Rudolf - Just a Girl (1 week)
Dasha - Austin (1 week)
5 Seconds of Summer, David Guetta & Galantis - Lighter (1 week)
All of these were great songs. Luckily, Just a Girl and Austin find themselves in the abyss this week. However, of course Lighter could always pull a Make You Mine/Say Cheese/Strangers/Yes I'm a Mess/Can't Catch Me Now and randomly start getting played in a few weeks, then debut the countdown, even if it's not in the abyss right now.
Abyss (what happened here?):
Panic! At the Disco - New Perspective (#31)
Natasha Bedingfield - Unwritten (#32)
Sophie Ellis Bextor - Murder on the Dance Floor (#34)
Shinedown - A Symptom of Being Human (#36)
Nicki Minaj & Lil Uzi Vert - Everybody (#40)
Jennifer Lopez & Latto - Can't Get Enough (#43)
Max & Huh Yunjin of Le Sserafim - Stupid in Love (#44)
Dasha - Austin (#45)
The Weeknd, Jennie & Lily Rose Depp - One of the Girls (#48)
Hayes Warner, Billy B & Kevin Rudolf - Just a Girl (#49)
Jelly Roll & Lainey Wilson - Save Me (#56)
Fletcher - Lead Me On (#57)
Umi & V - Wherever U R (#58)
Ok why are so many songs debuting in the abyss lately? Unwritten, Murder on the Dancefloor, A Symptom of Being Human, Can't Get Enough, One of the Girls, and Save Me are all currently in the abyss but they haven't made the countdown or Hitbound at any point in time as far as I know. This is getting ridiculous, is Hitbound just useless at this point? I'm not even sure if shortening the countdown is what made a difference, because I don't think we've ever had this many songs skip Hitbound before.
Also, I'm tracking the positions of all the abyss songs if the countdown was extended, based on airplay.
We can't be blurbs:
Our exits were Agora Hills, Wild Ones, and On My Mama. The first two were good but getting old. Wild Ones really should have peaked higher in the 11 weeks it was on here, all it really did was spin around at the bottom of the countdown. And On My Mama didn't become as huge as I expected, but it might re-enter.
Too Much is getting more success than I predicted, which is nice to see, although it's not as good as Serotonin.
Saturn only jumped three spots off of its debut, and Texas Hold Em fell two spots? I was expecting those to be the two biggest jumps of the week, they both got so much airplay and they're becoming huge right now.
Lose Control is now on its 27th countdown week, one week behind Snooze's run. Well, at least Lose Control actually reached the top 5 and had an interesting run, and didn't just spin around in the "teens" for more than two thirds of its countdown run like Snooze did. Still, can this please leave next week so I don't lose control?
Water has been on the countdown for 20 weeks and is getting decent airplay, but only hit the top 15 for one week. Okay then.
Why are Standing Next to You and Pick Up the Phone having such confusing runs. I'd be okay with Standing Next to You leaving next week, and Pick Up the Phone should get to the top 10 like it did on the fake countdown from a couple weeks ago.
After three weeks of massively underperforming on the charts and shockingly struggling in airplay, Training Season finally got a big jump into the top 15. I hope this replaces Houdini at #1 soon.
I don't see the appeal in Selfish. If you want a really good song from Justin Timberlake's new album, listen to Paradise with NSYNC.
With We Can't Be Friends debuting, Ariana Grande holds both ends of the spectrum this week - the orange song and the purple song.
Can Is It Over Now PLEASE just get to #1 already and not pull a Lavender Haze?
The top 5 has been mostly stationary for way too long now. We need either Is It Over Now, Exes or Feather to hit #1, and maybe some new entrants in the next few weeks like Beautiful Things, Not My Fault and Training Season.
That's all for now! Byeeeeeeeeee!
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