Pop Music Notes

If you follow me on Twitter (@popmusicnotes), this is how I wrapped up the MTV Video Music Awards in 140 characters or less:

Drake – slick, Robyn – robbed, Taylor – can’t sing, Chelsea – not funny, Gaga & Eminem won a bunch, Kanye – freak, Florence owned it.

All opinion, and I know several people disagree with me on the Chelsea assessment, but I’ve seen her standup, and she’s a one-trick pony. Gets old quickly. Anyway, I did not come here today to talk about the host of the VMAs, but rather the highlight. Florence and the Machine absolutely stole the show with the Mount Olympus-esque performance of “Dog Days Are Over”, and the fruits of that are now starting to pay off. I saw the song get as high as #3 on iTunes on Monday, and currently it sits at #9. That’s pretty impressive for a song that was originally released in the UK back in 2008.

Having said this, it’s not like the song came out of nowhere…it was used heavily in the trailer for Eat Pray Love and was featured on shows like Mercy and Gossip Girl. America has responded to the VMAs spectacle by catapulting the song onto the Billboard Hot 100 at #93, and propelling Lungs up 56 spots to a new peak of #44 on the album chart. This is nothing new for Florence, though. “You’ve Got the Love” was utilized in the Christmas episode of Gavin and Stacey, and it peaked at #5 in the weeks that followed. Then Florence performed the song with Dizzee Rascal as a mashup called “You Got Dirtee Love” at this year’s Brit Awards, and she got all the way to #2. Say what you want, but the woman is extremely savvy in her song placement choices, although she also has solid songs that make an impact.

So now it’s up to American radio programmers. This song is an instant smash for Adult Top 40 stations just waiting to happen, since their demographic heard this song every time they clicked on that Eat Pray Love trailer on YouTube. Top 40 might be a stretch, but it could happen.