It’s a pretty good time to be David Cook right now. His debut self-titled CD passed the 1 million sold mark this week, less than four months after release, he’s in the middle of his first headlining tour, and the video for single #2 is in the can. Following in the footsteps of Beyonce (okay, not really), he’s releasing “Bar-Ba-Sol” to rock radio, and “Come Back To Me” to pop radio. Excellent move, and not one I figured on. When I saw that his tour was called the Declaration tour, I figured the next single would be “Declaration”, but “Come Back To Me” was one of several gems I discovered on the CD, and makes perfect sense as a follow-up to “Light On”. David’s current tour of the eastern half of the U.S. rolls on through April, and there are already dates booked at fairs and festivals through the summer. Just none in Colorado…
singles
I could talk about the new Kelly Clarkson CD (pretty good), the FINALLY released Chris Cornell CD (maybe later this week), or another new Chris Richardson track from MySpace (not too shabby), but none of that is really inspiring me this morning. So as a warm-up (it’s 28 and snowing here today), here are a few tracks that I’m jamming to at the moment:
Pet Shop Boys “Did You See Me Coming?”
It’s as if the heavens opened up and sent a chorus of Neil Tennant angels down to Earth to serenade us. The song was released on Sunday as part of a PSB hits collection in England (thanks to Paul for the heads up), and I just can’t get enough. For those of you who haven’t checked it out yet, the new CD is available to hear at 7Digital.
Jesse McCartney “How Do You Sleep”
I missed this one on my first trip through the CD, but the reissue of Departure includes a new version with Ludacris that’s blasting up the pop radio charts. I don’t mind the Ludacris rap, but at the heart of the song is a killer hook that I hear at random times during the day.
Neko Case “This Tornado Loves You”
Neko first came into my view when her music was used on “Big Love”, but I didn’t really get it at the time. Trust me, I get it now. “Middle Cyclone” is a brilliant CD, and “Tornado” is a big highlight of the record. (Yes, there’s a bit of a weather theme here) I’ve also found myself listening to the half hour of tree frogs at the end of the CD several times in the last week. Apparently, tree frogs encourage concentration when studying. Go figure!
Okay, someone woke Vince up and decided that he needed to be a bit more visible in the industry. Besides the Erasure hits package and last year’s Yaz(oo) tour, Vince recently took on remixing duties for the Saturdays’ vastly improved remix of “Issues”, and now another remix has surfaced for Franz Ferdinand’s “No You Girls”, which I talked about last week. The single drops officially on April 6th in the UK, but I don’t have US release info. I’ve heard the single, and it’s pretty cool how it takes the FF vocals, and makes them sound just like they would have fit into the mid-80s.
While my instinct is that folks out here in the blogosphere wouldn’t get nearly as excited about new singles from established artists, I am constantly proven wrong by the near fanatical buzz when a blog’s patron saint releases a single, and then you see the ripple effect across other nearby blogs. There are several examples of hyped singles, with varying degrees of success.
1. Kelly Clarkson/My Life Would Suck Without You – The buzz has been deafening, and most folks are declaring that Kelly is BACK! Well, okay. I’ll give you that. Kelly is back, and she’s tucked her tail between her legs so tightly you’d swear she was hiding her candy. Don’t get me wrong…I do love me some Kelly Clarkson. “My December” was highly underrated, but you can never go home again, although she’s sure giving it the old college try. Besides, I would argue that P!nk did this much better just a few months ago.
2. U2/Get On Your Boots – Trans World Entertainment, which is basically the last stand-alone music store chain in the U.S., blamed some of it’s soft holiday season sales on the decision by Universal to push back fourth quarter releases like Eminem, Dr. Dre, and U2. While that’s a big ol’ cop-out in a lot of ways, they probably would have had a better Christmas had those releases come out. So it’s not a big overstatement to suggest that U2’s upcoming “No Line on the Horizon” would sure help Universal’s bottom line. There’s no comeback relying on this song blowing up, but if this is indicative of the rest of the CD, they’re gonna need a comeback for the next record, because this song is LAME.
3. Lily Allen/The Fear – Here’s one where the buzz just completely turned me off, and I think I may have been too hard on the song initially. I haven’t been enamored of Lily, so she’s got a little more work to do with me. Once again, not bad, but not great. But today I came across the new Wideboys remix of the song, and on first listen, I fell in love. It all makes sense to me now. Her vocals belongs with the blips and bleeps of this version, and the Wideboys deserve some kind of award for their remixing vision.
4. Rascal Flatts/Here Comes Goodbye – Seriously…hear me out on this one. Rascal Flatts haven’t been country for a few albums now, and they ended up with one of the more distinctive pop hits of 2007 with “What Hurts the Most”, so I perked up when I saw their new single leak yesterday. Maybe there’s something to be said for low expectations, but “Goodbye” starts with a slow building verse, leading into a violin-punctuated first chorus. By verse #2, Gary LeVox’s vocals kick into overdrive, and the song just takes flight. Some will pishaw this track, but I promise that if Carrie Underwood or Kelly Clarkson had recorded it (and I can easily hear either of them on it), those same folks would eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner on the daily.
First off, big props to the BBC Radio 1 Chart Blog, which really does some terrific posts on the UK singles scene. I love reading their posts because, even though they’re part of a huge company, they seem like just another fellow blogger, not hindered by any agenda. That’s what this is all about, in my opinion.
Anyway, there’s a great post over there this week about Britney’s new single “If You Seek Amy”. For my money, I think this is all hype, and that the single will eventually get yanked in favor of something else. You know what they say about publicity…if it’s Britney, it’s gotta be a stunt! Musically, the song is pretty good, but the controversy surrounding the song is really a joke. I mean, if you speak English properly, and you enunciate, most people won’t hear the “hidden meaning”.
However, the more pressing matter is the continued puritanism of a large section of America. Seriously, we can get all up in arms about something that sounds like the “F” word, but what does that really mean in the grand scheme of life? I mean, a majority of my blogging compatriots talk like salty pirates every day, but I think most people do that in certain circumstances where they feel comfortable. Even my mom drops a curse every now and then, and she’s a saint.
Don’t.
All I’m saying is that if we feed into the hype, it just gets bigger and beyond us. Sometimes the most powerful thing we can do is ignore the negativity, and put our own positive energy out there. While I’m happy that Britney seems to be doing so well, does she really need a controversy like this, given how much attention her life gets already? As the sage Rick Astley once said, “why dont I hear her cry for help? ” In this case, you can’t help but notice.
What’s my current earworm? Well, it comes from the U.S. (Cleveland to be exact), and it’s poised to be a big hit in the U.K. Check out Kid Cudi’s “Day N Night”…soon to be wedged in your head as well.
[Updated: uh, so the video helps with one of these posts.]
For the last set of charts we’ll see in 2008, let’s take a look at a few tracks that have had some serious longevity. For example, Jason Mraz holds at #12 this week with “I’m Yours”, currently enjoying its 36th week on the Hot 100. Also at week 36 is Ne-Yo’s “Closer”, which slips from 38 to 42. If you don’t know the chart longevity rules for the Hot 100, the magic number is 50. Any song that is below #50 after 20 weeks on the chart will be dropped completely. Two examples of this formula left the chart this week: Jennifer Hudson’s “Spotlight” falls off the chart in its 22nd week, after having been at #47 last week, and Savage’s “Swing” drops out at week 21, after lingering at #69 one week ago.
Toward the bottom of the Hot 100, there are a couple of songs from folks in the Top 10 that they’re probably hoping will keep the two-songs-per-artist trend going: T.I. makes a big move from 99 to 83 with his Justin Timberlake duet “Dead and Gone”, Lady GaGa gets her second chart entry at #92 with “Poker Face”, and Beyonce charts single #3 from “I Am…” with Diva, coming in at 96. The top debut of the week, though, goes to Leona Lewis with her former UK #1 single “Run”, which arrives at #81 with almost zero airplay. Considering that the song debuted at #13 in Canada as well, I think it’s safe to say it’s going to be a big ol’ hit. You know there’s gotta be a Deluxe Edition of the CD that’s coming, too. Maybe it’ll have a few of the UK tracks that weren’t included on the original US version. That’s a lotta double-dipping, ain’t it?
[Oh…David Cook returns to the Top 40 at #40 with “Light On”. Just sayin’…]
Switching to airplay, Britney Spears picks up her first #1 pop record since “Toxic” with “Womanizer”, but it looks to be a short stay, as “Live Your Life” is trending to retake the top spot next week. In the “eat my words” department, Ms GaGa may have the first new #1 of the New Year, as “Just Dance” creeps up to #3, and will probably be the top bulleted single next week. The two hottest records at Pop radio this week are (shock) Britney Spears’ “Circus” at 20 and Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” at 11. Both records pick up over 1000 more plays this week. The Killers make it into the Top 40 at #40 with “Human”, and in the “I can’t wait til next week” department, it looks like John Legend’s “Green Light” will FINALLY show itself on the Pop chart in 2009.
Over on the Billboard 200, Taylor Swift reaches 113 weeks with her self-titled debut, while her follow-up, “Fearless”, holds at the top of the chart with 330,000 units. For those of you who have been around the charts for a while, that is a depressingly low count for a CD to sell the week before Christmas. It barely holds off the debut of Keyshia Cole’s “A Different Me”, which debuts at #2 with 322,000 units sold. Other debuts this week included Jamie Foxx at 3, Anthony Hamilton at #12, Plies at 14, All-American Rejects at 15, Soulja Boy Tellem at a sophomore-slumpish #43 (awwwwww), and Dave Matthews Band at #97.
NME.com is reporting that George Michael has recorded a new Christmas song in conjunction with his recurring role on “Eli Stone”. Titled “December Song (I Dreamed of Christmas)”, the song will be sent to radio for airplay, and will be available as a free download on his website Christmas Day. It’s an interesting move, and signals his first steps into distributing his own music, which he’s threatened to do for quite a while now.
So what does George Michael and Christmas mean to me? First and foremost, it’s “Last Christmas”, which is among my top 3 favorite Christmas songs. After years of languishing on dusty shelves across America, it seems as if the song has made a major comeback over the past couple of holiday seasons. Those of you in England may be completely sick of it, but there’s a little bit of justice for me in its resurgence. Most of Wham’s musical output (and George’s, for that matter) has just faded into the mist, so it’s great to see a true gem float back up to the surface. There have been a LOT of covers of “Last Christmas”, but the original is still the best.
Of course, if you’re going to talk about George and Christmas, you also have to reference “Do They Know It’s Christmas”, the record-setting charity single released in 1984 by Band Aid. I know about the 20th anniversary re-recording, which was absolutely horrible, but turns out there was also a Band Aid 2, which hit #1 in England. How I never knew about this version, I have no clue. (Kylie! Wet Wet Wet! Jimmy Somerville!)
So now it’s 2008, and what’s the verdict on George’s new entry to the holiday canon? Well, it’s actually pretty good. The opening is a very classic sounding Christmas vocal, but it quickly switches up to a classic George Michael wistful, moody ballad. It’s no “Last Christmas”, but after a couple of listens, I REALLY like it!
I am a musical sponge…this is a fact that I will never outrun as long as I live. Music is always somewhere in the mix, whether it’s finding new music online, playing in the background no matter what I’m doing, or running through my head when I’m not near a music source. So it’s inevitable that I occasionally stumble across new music in the most unusual places.
Yesterday, I was driving home from the p/t retail job I picked up for the holidays, and I had my Sirius on. Their top 40 channel (“Hits 1”) has a show called “Hit-Bound” that plays a lot of interesting new music, and has been known to break music nationally (like Metro Station). They go a bit heavy on the pop/rock stuff, but a song came on that I’d never heard, and yet I knew the voice instantly, and I couldn’t believe I was hearing it on a U.S.-based radio station.
Does the name Per Gessle mean anything to you? It should if you weren’t locked up in a monastery from the late 80s to the mid 90s, because he was the male half of the duo known as Roxette. Based in Sweden, they conquered the pop charts with a fresh blast of sassy, if disjointed, lyrics, accompanied by a perfect mix of guitars and synths. But the band would have been nothing without the great back-and-forth vocal style that they developed, and the chemistry and camaraderie between them was unmistakable. So much so, several people I knew just assumed they were a married couple.
When the hits dried up for Roxette in the mid 90s (the amazing “Spending My Time” only made it to #32), they faded into the memories of American consumers. However, several of their songs continue to get airplay in several formats, including their biggest hit “It Must Have Been Love”, from the “Pretty Woman” soundtrack.
Fast forward to this past October, and Per releases “Silly Really” in his homeland of Sweden, where it promptly debuts at #1. Full-length CD is due out this coming week, and he’s doing the full-court press with the media to hype its release. Somehow, the single has found its way to America via Sirius, which has some pretty interesting parallels to their original hit “The Look”. Known as the “Dean Cushman story”, the band tells how this exchange student brought the track back from Sweden to Minneapolis, and convinced a top 40 station there to play it. The station started making copies for other stations, and EMI quickly rushed the single and LP into production, picking up a #1 single and a top 20 album in the process.
The song’s been kicking around my head for almost 24 hours now, and I can’t get enough of it. After a couple of listens, I realized that it actually reminds me a bit of the Saturdays’ “If This Is Love”, because of the synths that have a Yazoo sound to them. But the song is retro and contemporary, all at the same time. The lyrics are as throw-away as anything that Roxette ever wrote, but the song is a gem, and is something that U.S. pop radio is in desperate need of. Here’s hoping that they heed the siren’s call and give it a shot. [Oh…and if you’re so inclined, head on over to the Hits 1 webpage and vote for the track in the Hit-Bound poll.]
– As expected, Beyonce debuts at #1 on the Billboard Top 200 chart with “I Am…Sasha Fierce”. What wasn’t necessarily expected, though, was the ascent of “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It), which blasted to #2 ahead of “If I Were A Boy” at 3. “Single” hadn’t been available digitally until last week, but once it was, it sold over 200,000 units, debuting at #1 on the Top Digital Sales. For anyone who believes that the video as an art form and a promotional tool is dead, I ask that you reconsider that conclusion. Between the original, all of the online tributes and parodies, and the hilarious send-up on “Saturday Night Live”, that video earned every single penny that they put into it.
– Right behind Beyonce on the Top 200 are a pair of pop/rock debuts from Nickleback at 2 and American Idol David Cook at 3. While both looked to be neck and neck early on, Nickleback took the decisive lead in the end, with first single “Gotta Be Somebody” at #19 on the Hot 100. While “Light On” has some good momentum at radio, the sales on the single have dried up, dragging it down to #91 this week. Cook does have a couple of nice distinctions to celebrate this week. His full-length garnered the most sales for a debut digital release since Soundscan started tracking sales, and tops the Top Digital Albums chart.
Other than a lot of Christmas records floating around, there really aren’t a lot of exciting things going on with the Album chart, other than a debut from Il Divo at #5. The scary thing about this week’s chart is that total sales are a whopping 32% down from last year. While that sounds like gloom and doom, just remember that Thanksgiving is as late this year as it can be, throwing off retail calendars and basically creating one less week of shopping than usual. This week’s mega releases are going to have to do some serious work, but I just don’t see the recovery with these titles. Kanye is expected to come in around 500K, followed by Guns N Roses with 300K, and Ludacris & the Killers clocking in over 200K. Folks, this is not a good sign.
– Back on the Hot 100, T.I. continues his domination with Dragostea Din Tei “Live Your Life” at #1, but “Whatever You Like” continues its slow descent at #4, and Katy Perry’s “Hot N Cold” drops back one spot to #5. Lady GaGa continues her quest for a cheeseburger world domination by jumping up another 9 spots to land at #7, joining label boss Akon in the Top 10 for the first time. What I want to know is, if Cherrytree can get GaGa into the top 10, why can’t they get Robyn? Am I missing something? [BTW, did anyone else hear about the Lady passing out at a club show in Seattle? A friend of a friend was there, and said it was pretty crazy.]
The Fray pick up top debut this week at #28 with “You Found Me”, which should continue to do well after its placement during the American Music Awards on Sunday. The full-length is out in early February in multiple formats, including a Deluxe Edition currently up for pre-orders on their website that will also get you early access to their club tour in January. Interesting twist on the marketing…as part of the purchase, you will also receive digital access to live tracks recorded during the club tour that you may end up on if you go. These are some smart boys, I tell ya. Cities on the club tour are Denver, Minneapolis, Chicago, Detroit, Boston, Philadelphia and New York. (And yes, I’ve already pre-ordered my copy.)
Strong moves this week include Ludacris and T-Pain’s “One More Drink”, which I heard today and didn’t hate, climbing from 54-38, Rihanna’s “Rehab” leaping 61-34, a 71-58 jump for 50 Cent’s “Get Up”, and a strong 80-61 leap for Usher’s “Trading Places”. [I caught this a couple of weeks ago, and meant to post it, but notice that Fitty’s CD is not among the top sellers this week, due to him blinking tweaking the new record that caused it to be pushed into 2009. Can you say “Kanye”?] One last record to watch is Taylor Swift’s “Love Story”, which may re-enter the Top 10 next week, based on some big moves at radio this week.
Stumble It!
Pop Music Notes 