Ed Sheeran (2) – Week Of February 18, 2017

This week was definitely an interesting one. We had quite a few big drops, a couple of big jumps, and a new song in the Top 5 that I am very pleased with. And I do realize that my performance review post for the Grammys is still not out. I'm hoping I can get that out soon as I still have tomorrow and Monday off. So that's the plan right now. Before we get to this week's Fresh 45, here are the songs we're saying goodbye to this week.

• Gnash/Olivia O'Brien – I Hate U, I Love U (#42)
• Adele – Send My Love (To Your New Lover) (#44) [1 Week At #1]

Last Week's #1 Song: Ed Sheeran – Shape Of You

The Countdown
45. Pitbull/Flo Rida/LunchMoney Lewis – Greenlight (#43)
44. OneRepublic – Kids (#40)
43. Martin Garrix/Bebe Rexha – In The Name Of Love (#41)
42. Lukas Graham – You're Not There (#36)
41. Runaground – Chase You Down (#15)
40. James Arthur – Say You Won't Let Go (#32)
39. The Chainsmokers/Daya – Don't Let Me Down (#45) [3 Weeks At #1]
38. Coldplay/Beyoncé – Hymn For The Weekend (#38)
37. The Weeknd/Daft Punk – Starboy (#31)
36. Niall Horan – This Town (#14)
35. Sia/Kendrick Lamar – The Greatest (#37)
34. Maroon 5 – Cold (DEBUT)
33. Rihanna – Love On The Brain (#39)
32. Shawn Mendes – Treat You Better (#28) [2 Weeks At #1]
31. DJ Snake/Justin Bieber – Let Me Love You (#33)
30. Alessia Cara – Scars To Your Beautiful (#24)
29. John Legend – Love Me Now (#9)
28. Hey Violet – Guys My Age (#30)
27. Bruno Mars – 24K Magic (#25)
26. Twenty One Pilots – Heavydirtysoul (#26)
25. Daya – Words (#21)
24. X Ambassadors – Unsteady (#20)
23. Bebe Rexha – I Got You (#29)
22. Panic! At The Disco – Death Of A Bachelor (#22)
21. Katy Perry/Skip Marley – Chained To The Rhythm (DEBUT)
20. Train – Play That Song (#10)
19. Julia Michaels – Issues (#34)
18. Bruno Mars – That's What I Like (#35)
17. Maroon 5 – Don't Wanna Know (#8) [3 Weeks At #1]
16. The Chainsmokers – Paris (#13)
15. Charli XCX – After The Afterparty (#19)
14. The Weeknd/Daft Punk – I Feel It Coming (#23)
13. Steve Aoki/Louis Tomlinson – Just Hold On (#18)
12. Twenty One Pilots – Heathens (#16) [2 Weeks At #1]
11. Ariana Grande/Nicki Minaj – Side To Side (#27)
10. Lady Gaga – Million Reasons (#17)
  9. Hailee Steinfeld & Grey/Zedd – Starving (#12) [4 Weeks At #1]
  8. Machine Gun Kelly/Camila Cabello – Bad Things (#11)
  7. Adele – Water Under The Bridge (#5)
  6. Zayn/Taylor Swift – I Don't Wanna Live Forever (#7)
  5. Jon Bellion – All Time Low (#6)
  4. Shawn Mendes – Mercy (#4)
  3. Fitz & The Tantrums – HandClap (#3)
  2. The Chainsmokers/Halsey – Closer (#2) [8 Weeks At #1]
  1. Ed Sheeran – Shape Of You (#1) [2^nd Week At #1]

#1 Song This Week One Year Ago: Twenty One Pilots – Stressed Out

Biggest DROP!!!... Of The Week: Runaground – Chase You Down (–26)

Biggest Jump Of The Week: Bruno Mars – That's What I Like (+17)

New Entrants
~ We have two debuts this week as well as the two debuts from last week that I didn't review. We'll start with those starting with Bruno Mars – That's What I Like. This is just my opinion, but I just don't like this new Bruno Mars. That said, there really isn't that much I can say about why I don't like this song. It's pretty similar to 24K Magic, so you can kind of flashback to my review of that song. But yeah, I really don't have anything to say about it. It just seems kind of pointless to me. Hopefully it won't be as big as 24K Magic.

~ Also debuting last week, we have Bebe Rexha with I Got You. Bebe Rexha is one of those very talented individuals that for whatever reason are very underrated. It seems like she only gets recognized for her featuring roles in songs like Hey Mama, Me, Myself, & I, and In The Name Of Love. No Broken Hearts from last year did make it on to Hit-Bound, but didn't get any farther than that. I Got You is definitely a top-notch song. It is pure catchiness, specifically in the chorus. I love Bebe Rexha's vocals. Overall, it's a very good song that I'm glad is getting some recognition. Bebe Rexha deserves more than what she's been getting.

~ Now on to this week's debuts. First up, we have Maroon 5 returning with Cold. No surprise that Future was cut out of this song. It seems as though with every new release, Maroon 5 are continuously steering away from their sound from albums like Songs About Jane and It Won't Be Soon Before Long. I can tell you right now, Cold is a song that will definitely be facing some kind of criticism due to it not exactly sounding very much like a Maroon 5 song and I have to agree. It sounds nothing like what they've previously released. I'm actually kind of curious as to how the album will sound. But I feel like with every new release, it sounds more and more like just Adam Levine and less and less like Maroon 5. What I mean by that is that they don't necessarily sound very much like a band anymore at least compared to their first two albums. That being said, we've kind of gotten to the point where this sounds like a song by Adam Levine. They've lost that iconic band sound that got them big back when Songs About Jane was the hottest thing out there. Now you're probably wondering why the song is in green considering that I just pointed out everything that's wrong with it. I'd be lying if I said that I didn't think this was catchy. It definitely is. The chorus is enjoyable and I guess the verses are okay. Future's verse was rather unnecessary, but thankfully Hits 1 edited that out. While it's not a bad song, Maroon 5 is not steering in a good direction. I can guarantee this will not last long with me similar to Don't Wanna Know. It's just barely in green right now. But we'll just have to wait and see what happens.

~ Finally we have the best debut of these past two weeks. It comes from Katy Perry and it's called Chained To The Rhythm. I gotta say, this is a much better comeback than Rise from last year and with the high debut at #21, I'm sure it'll do better on the charts as well. I did see this song on iTunes when it was released last Friday, but didn't actually listen to it until Katy Perry performed it at the Grammys last Sunday. Right off the bat, I lost track of how many times I've listened to this song this past week. It is just fantastic. This is how you do a comeback. I like the verses. The chorus is amazing. Even Skip Marley's verse is really enjoyable and I'm glad Hits 1 did not edit him out. Katy Perry's vocals are on point. Overall, the song is a whole lot of fun. Now it's definitely nowhere near songs like Teenage Dream. But after 2016, it's pretty much everything we want in a song (or at least everything I want in a song). I can definitely see this song staying with me for a while. As of right now, it is probably somewhere in the Top 3 for best debuts of the year so far. Now here's to hoping it does well.


Hit-Bound
~ Here is the Hit-Bound list:

• AJR – Weak
• Noah Cyrus/Labrinth – Make Me (Cry)
• James Hersey – Miss You
• Panic! At The Disco – L.A. Devotee
• Calum Scott – Dancing On My Own
• The Vamps/Matoma – All Night
• Clean Bandit/Sean Paul/Anne-Marie – Rockabye (DEBUT)
• Ed Sheeran – Castle On The Hill
• MAX/Gnash – Lights Down Low
• Snakehips/MØ – Don't Leave
• Linkin Park/Kiiara – Heavy (DEBUT)
• Flo Rida/99 Percent – Cake
• Little Mix – Touch (DEBUT)
• Imagine Dragons – Believer

~ We have three debuts this week as well as the debut last week from Castle On The Hill. You should already know what I think of that song so I'll just move on. First up we have Touch by Little Mix coming in to replace Shout Out To My Ex. It's definitely not as good as Shout Out To My Ex. But it's still pretty catchy. These girls have very good vocals and the chorus is enjoyable.

~ Next we have Linkin Park making their return. We have not heard from them since A Light That Never Comes from 2013, which landed itself the #1 spot on my Top 45 of 2013. They return with Heavy featuring Kiiara. Now those that have been following this blog last year know how much I despised Kiiara's "hit single" Gold. I was not looking forward to a new release from her, but since she happened to have been featured in a Linkin Park song, I felt as though there was no choice but to suck it up and listen to what she brings this time. Similar to Maroon 5, Linkin Park have changed a lot since their very first few singles. I'm sure a lot of people are considering this to be a pop single for a band like Linkin Park. Now I do like this song quite a bit. The instrumentation is on point and the chorus sounds pretty cool. However, I would like to criticize one of these two artists' vocals and you may be shocked to find out it's not Kiiara's vocals that I'm having a problem with. It's actually Chester Bennington's vocals. I don't think his vocals fit the song very well. Kiiara on the other hand surprisingly sounds very good. She managed to actually show off her voice this time around. She actually sounds a little bit like Selena Gomez if I'm being honest. But I am definitely impressed with her. Overall, it's a good song. The vocals just weren't amazing on Chester's part.

~ Finally we have a song that is long overdue. It is Clean Bandit featuring Sean Paul and Anne-Marie with Rockabye. It is a very catchy song and is very enjoyable. Anne-Marie's vocals sound very good and I love what Sean Paul has to contribute. The production is on point from beginning to end. I love the lyrical content. It's just a very cool song and I really don't see what there is to dislike about it. So hopefully it'll debut soon because it is a little late to the party right now.

~ Kygo/Selena Gomez – It Ain't Me did air quite a bit yesterday and I'm surprised it didn't make it on to Hit-Bound. Hopefully it'll make its way there or even the countdown next week because I am really enjoying that song.

Top 5 Hit-Bound Picks

1. Clean Bandit/Sean Paul/Anne-Marie – Rockabye

2. MAX/Gnash – Lights Down Low

3. Linkin Park/Kiiara – Heavy

4. The Vamps/Matoma – All Night

5. Panic! At The Disco – L.A. Devotee

Chained To The Blurbs

~ I would've been absolutely shocked if Ed Sheeran – Shape Of You did not hold at #1. That song is pretty much destined to hold there for a few more weeks. Hopefully a song like HandClap can squeeze in there at some point and snag at least one week at the top. But one can only dream.

~ I am very pleased to see Jon Bellion – All Time Low in the Top 5. I was worried that this song would do very poorly on this countdown. I'm very glad to see that that is not the case with this song.

~ With our Top 10 entrants, I forgot that Bad Things even dropped out last week. Starving should not be re-entering and should be making its way down. But Million Reasons is very welcome to stay as long as it likes. I never did actually give a review for the Lady Gaga's halftime show at the Super Bowl a few weeks ago. I'll just say that I really enjoyed it. I thought it was fantastic. Lady Gaga can do no wrong (unless it's Perfect Illusion).

~ I am very happy to see The Weeknd/Daft Punk – I Feel It Coming finally in the Top 30 and doing well on the countdown. This song only gets better with each listen so I would love to see it in the Top 10 soon.

~ I'm not too happy to see Julia Michaels – Issues in the Top 20. But I guess it can be worse. I am hoping that this song can drop soon though. In fact, I would appreciate if this song flopped, but that's probably not gonna happen.

~ Last week, I did notice that Train – Play That Song and John Legend – Love Me Now both entered the Top 10. It clearly didn't last long for either of those songs, especially the latter as it dropped twice as many spots as the former. It's very unfortunate because I actually really like both of these songs. Hopefully this is not the end.

~ So I'm guessing Twenty One Pilots – Heavydirtysoul is just gonna sit there and not do anything. That's awesome. A Twenty One Pilots song I actually really like is doing absolutely nothing. Get it together, Hits 1!

~ Yuck. Rihanna – Love On The Brain actually jumped. I had hopes that this song would fail out after that drop last week. Guess I was wrong. Oh well. At least it's still outside of the Top 30. I still don't get what's so good about this song though. Frankly, it shouldn't even be here.

~ Niall Horan – This Town took a pretty big drop this week. This song is getting less interesting with each listen at this point, so I'm actually happy with this drop. And for once it was actually decent timing. It did not get overplayed to death. Now I probably just jinxed it. But I am quite impressed that this didn't stay in the Top 10 forever like a lot of songs do.

~ The massive drop from Runaground – Chase You Down was very uncalled for and actually quite annoying. But it did have a pretty successful run on this countdown and I'm happy about that. It did well in its time here and I'm hoping that this isn't the end just yet.

~ The Hit 45 Chart for this week is being worked on and will be out as soon as possible.

Top 20 Review

0 – Crap:

20. Charli XCX – After The Afterparty

19. Bruno Mars – That's What I Like

1 – Bad:

18. Julia Michaels – Issues

2 – Mediocre:

17. Hailee Steinfeld & Grey/Zedd – Starving

3 – Decent:

16. Maroon 5 – Don't Wanna Know

15. Zayn/Taylor Swift – I Don't Wanna Live Forever

4 – Good:

NONE

5 – Great:

14. Twenty One Pilots – Heathens

13. Train – Play That Song

12. The Chainsmokers/Halsey – Closer

11. The Chainsmokers – Paris

10. Steve Aoki/Louis Tomlinson – Just Hold On

9. Machine Gun Kelly/Camila Cabello – Bad Things

8. Ariana Grande/Nicki Minaj – Side To Side

7. Shawn Mendes – Mercy

6. Ed Sheeran – Shape Of You

5. Fitz & The Tantrums – HandClap

4. Adele – Water Under The Bridge

3. Lady Gaga – Million Reasons

BONUS: 6 – Best Song On The Countdown:

1. TIE: Jon Bellion – All Time Low

1. TIE: The Weeknd/Daft Punk – I Feel It Coming

Total Score: 81/100 = 81% (B–)

Throwback Pick Of The Week: Daddy Yankee – Gasolina

Most Missed Countdown Song: Linkin Park/Steve Aoki – A Light That Never Comes

#1 Recommendation For Hits 1: Kaleo – Way Down We Go

Favorite Countdown Song This Week One Year Ago: Ellie Goulding – Something In The Way You Move

My Top 5 Picks

1. TIE: The Weeknd/Daft Punk – I Feel It Coming

1. TIE: Jon Bellion – All Time Low

3. Katy Perry/Skip Marley – Chained To The Rhythm

4. Lady Gaga – Million Reasons

5. Coldplay – Hymn For The Weekend