The Week's Billboard Hot 100 #1

Oh man, I've had "Actor Out Of Work" in my head all day. :D

St Vincent's really good.

I liked Actor alright, but Strange Mercy didn't do anything for me. JHM, you said once that the songs were good, but were held back by lackluster arrangements and production. That just killed the album for me.

And Love This Giant (her collaboration with David Byrne) was just amazing. One of the best albums of 2012, perhaps. Not terribly similar to the rest of her discography, though.

edited 17th Aug '14 1:12:13 PM by MetaFour

Excellent song, although I think that my favourites off of the album are "Laughing with a Mouth of Blood", "Black Rainbow", "The Neighbours" and "The Strangers". But there really isn't a dud track on that LP.

Strange Mercy has consistently grown on me since I first heard it, but I think that St. Vincent does what it was trying to do better overall.

I personally prefer Strange Mercy. However, the new self-titled album has also grown on me lately.

I'll be staying out of the St. Vincent discussion now, but I liked "I Prefer Your Love" the best off of their latest album, probably because how ballsy its chorus is while making it the down-tempo interesting to listen to.

I'm currently drafting an article recommending debut EPs (the current lineup is Zella Day, Ryn Weaver, Troye Sivan, and Kiesza), and I'm writing some of the annotations alongside, since I'll be using Genius' platform. I wrote this on Shawn Mendes, who I contrasted to Troye Sivan:

I'll probably add a specific detail on his music to illustrate my stance more, but as a boy pop artist, he needs to think more outside the box. His EP does show him trying out several styles, but he's too uninteresting to be a niche artist, and not entertaining enough to be a hitmaker.

Here's "Life of the Party", if you want to form your own opinion:

On Sivan, I find his voice a little too boyish, but he's clearly a singer who's thinking outside of the box. Out of the four artists I'm reviewing, he has a song on mental illness and anti-depressant pills, and a song on child soldiers. He isn't the best lyricist, but he does present a range of subject matters that I don't see often in pop, and I hope he'll expand on that.

EDIT: This is probably the most Pitchforky sentence I've written thus far:

I'm already cutting down those adjectives, but I'm adding the word "cherry-topped" into my arsenal—only to be used every third review. Less ideally.

edited 17th Aug '14 6:26:25 PM by chihuahua0

Pitchfork...I wish I could say I didn't read it. >_<

I completely forgot, today is the release date of Imogen Heap's long-awaited album Sparkles! Sound the trumpets!

Also, tomorrow Kimbra's The Golden Echo and The Gaslight Anthem's Get Hurt will both be out.

This is going to be a good week.

edited 17th Aug '14 10:45:29 PM by Xeroop

Charli XCX released another single and officially confirmed her second album, Sucker. It'll be out on October 21st. It was originally going to be called SuperLove and come out in the spring, but I guess her newfound fame pushed her to redo the album. I wouldn't be surprised if "SuperLove" doesn't make the final cut.

The audio is here.

Although I'm still getting used to the Avicii-like dance break, I like the punk attitude Charli assumes throughout the song, along with the chorus. Has more edge than "I Love It", even without the obscenities. It does seem like she's evoking her youth a lot lately, but it does help her music.

If this is the direction she's taking for Sucker, I can't wait for the rest.

EDIT: Oh, and Taylor Swift released her next lead single:

It sounds generic, but it's only Day One.

edited 18th Aug '14 6:58:59 PM by chihuahua0

What little I've heard of The Golden Echo is pretty nice and fairly unique, so that's nice, but I get the feeling that it's not going to get much leverage. Too interesting.

That Shawn Medes song has a handful nice production touches, but it really desperately wants to be "We Are Young" and just falls so short of the mark. I'm all for teen prodigies getting ahead in the music industry, but there is a difference between being able to write and produce your own music with competence and actually creating original, high-quality output.

That thumbnail makes me want to actively avoid it. I'm not listening to it. I'm so sick of T-Swift, and that's the nail in the coffin for me. I thought she stopped being relevant last year.

I actually watched part of the video; I think the thumbnail makes it look a lot worse than it actually is.

Can I figure out the context if I've heard the song but haven't seen the video yet?

It's a fine song as long as you don't expect it to remotely resemble anything else she's ever done.

"Shake It Off" is probably my favourite track from Taylor Swift, though given that her previous best ranked "tolerable" on my scale-o-meter, it doesn't really say much. It's pretty catchy, even if a bit generic, and mostly the lyrics are not as bad as her usual stuff (though, "Haters gonna hate"? Seriously?). The music video reminds me of the Red Hot Chili Peppers video for "Dani California" with all those different outfits and such.

edited 19th Aug '14 11:53:26 AM by Xeroop

I don't really like Taylor Swift. She's just too cutesy for me. That and whenever she's won any award since like 2007 she always acts so surprised...Taylor, it's been 7 years. Stop being surprised.

Taylor Swift gets too hard a rap. At her best, she's every bit the lyricist of her friend Lorde. Unfortunately, she's not often her best on her singles.

Moral Guardian outrage in 3-2-1:

Do not watch at work, though.
On a cheerier note, Kimbra just put out a video for Miracle, it's pretty much carried by her attitude alone.

I was hoping she'd dodge it this time around but the reception for this album has been as marmite-y as the last one.

edited 20th Aug '14 12:51:43 PM by LE0Night

Damn, that sample is lazy. I know I said it before, but it still stands.

Yeah, I heard about the sample but I didn't think it was going to be the whole song. This song is basically "Baby Got Back" from the girl's point of view. And yeah, the Moral Guardians are going to be upset at this one...

There is, apparently, an MST 3 K homage at the end, IIRC. So, there's that.

"Rude" is #1...again. I'd like it to be toppled real soon.

http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6221978/hot-100-ariana-grande-iggy-azalea-top-10-magic

"All About That Bass" is now #2. "Break Free" by Ariana Grande feat. Zedd zoomed into #4, partly because of its new music video and her missile bra. "Black Widow" by Iggy Azalea feat. Rita Ora is #8 for similar reasons. This means both Ariana and Iggy have three songs that they're in on the Top 10 ("Problem", Bang Bang", and "Break Free" for Ari; "Fancy", "Problem", and "Black Widow" for Iggy).

"Boom Clap" got pushed out the Top 10. :(

However, "Shake It Off" by Taylor Swift might debut at the top. It's blasting off at radio, its music video has 15 million views and counting, and it might sell 425k+ downloads. Really, I'll take her over Magic!.

edited 20th Aug '14 4:16:30 PM by chihuahua0

I hate hate hate hate hate hate hate "Rude". HATE.

But the other songs are OK, I guess.

I liked "Rude" when I first heard it, when it only got play on alternative stations. I was okay with "Rude" when it hit mainstream airplay, with some reservations about its lyrics but while still thinking it was goofy and harmless in the end. Now? I'm just so sick of it. (But I still love its guitar solo.)

Just what is it about "Rude" that people like about it so much?

"Rude" is still boring and awkwardly written and... would someone please find something better to supplant it at the top? Even something intriguingly bad would be better. Then at least I could laugh with the pop charts instead of groan at them.

...but latter-day Taylor Swift would probably not be much better. And I have heard little to endear me to Iggy Azalea past the admission that the lady has technical skill, but that is admittedly... well, little at all!

Eh, here in Canada, "Rude" has been mercilessly overplayed since December, but even so, I'd still take it over "All About That Bass". At least it feels like a coherent song and not a bunch of lazily slapped-together melodies. To me, Meghan Trainor is the new Lorde — they release massive hits whose appeal is completely lost on me.

edited 21st Aug '14 3:52:45 AM by Spinosegnosaurus77