Shawn Mendes (4) – Week Of August 19, 2017

My AGT posts should start coming out one of these next couple of days. I realize that I'm behind. As far as the countdown goes, this week was pretty good for the most part. Before we get to this week's Fresh 45, here are the songs we're saying goodbye to this week.

• Harry Styles – Sign Of The Times (#40)
• Camila Cabello – Crying In The Club (#43)

Last Week's #1 Song: Imagine Dragons – Believer

The Countdown

45. Noah Cyrus – Stay Together (#44)

44. Steve Aoki/Louis Tomlinson – Just Hold On (#45)

43. Miley Cyrus – Malibu (#42)

42. Hailee Steinfeld & Grey/Zedd – Starving (#41) [4 Weeks At #1]

41. DJ Khaled/Justin Bieber/Chance The Rapper – I'm The One (#36)

40. The Chainsmokers/Halsey – Closer (#38) [8 Weeks At #1]

39. Julia Michaels – Issues (#39)

38. Train – Play That Song (#37)

37. Hey Violet – Hoodie (DEBUT)

36. Childish Gambino – Redbone (#27)

35. Selena Gomez – Bad Liar (#33)

34. Bruno Mars – That's What I Like (#34) [1 Week At #1]

33. P!nk – What About Us (DEBUT)

32. DJ Khaled/Rihanna/Bryson Tiller – Wild Thoughts (#15)

31. Shawn Mendes – Mercy (#31)

30. James Arthur – Say You Won't Let Go (#29)

29. AJR – Weak (#23)

28. Halsey – Now Or Never (#19)

27. Hailee Steinfeld – Most Girls (#11)

26. Linkin Park/Kiiara – Heavy (#25)

25. Julia Michaels – Uh Huh (#28)

24. Bruno Mars/David Guetta – Versace On The Floor (#24)

23. Kesha – Praying (#35)

22. Lady Gaga – The Cure (#20)

21. Kygo/Selena Gomez – It Ain't Me (#22)

20. Louis Tomlinson/Bebe Rexha/Digital Farm Animals – Back To You (#26)

19. The Chainsmokers – Honest (#30)

18. All Time Low – Good Times (#14)

17. Calvin Harris/Pharrell/Katy Perry – Feels (#13)

16. Fall Out Boy – Champion (#18)

15. MAX/Gnash – Lights Down Low (#21)

14. Ed Sheeran – Castle On The Hill (#16) [3 Weeks At #1]

13. Demi Lovato – Sorry Not Sorry (#32)

12. Panic! At The Disco – L.A. Devotee (#10)

11. The Chainsmokers/Coldplay – Something Just Like This (#5) [3 Weeks At #1]

10. Linkin Park – One More Light (#12)

  9. Sam Hunt – Body Like A Back Road (#6)

  8. Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee/Justin Bieber – Despacito (#3)

  7. Ed Sheeran – Shape Of You (#8) [9 Weeks At #1]

  6. Zedd/Alessia Cara – Stay (#7) [4 Weeks At #1]

  5. Charlie Puth – Attention (#9)

  4. Imagine Dragons – Believer (#1) [3 Weeks At #1]

  3. Liam Payne – Strip That Down (#17)

  2. Niall Horan – Slow Hands (#4)

  1. Shawn Mendes – There's Nothing Holdin' Me Back (#2) [4^th Week At #1]

#1 Song This Week One Year Ago: Justin Timberlake – Can't Stop The Feeling

Biggest DROP!!!... Of The Week: DJ Khaled/Rihanna/Bryson Tiller – Wild Thoughts (–17)

Biggest Jump Of The Week: Demi Lovato – Sorry Not Sorry (+19)

New Entrants
~ We have two new songs this week. The first comes from Hey Violet debuting yet again. This one is called Hoodie. I have to say, the third time really was the charm for this group. Their first two songs had a mix of annoying vocals and messy production. Hoodie is actually something I can get into. There's a major step up with the vocals. I think the chorus is really catchy. The production sounds pretty good. The only thing still questionable is the lyrical content, which isn't even as bad as it was before. I'm quite impressed. Hey Violet finally managed to win me over.

~ Our next entrant is the return of P!nk. She returns with What About Us, which is the lead single to her new album. Right off the bat, I'm sure we can all agree that this isn't her best song. But at the same time, it's hard for most artists to top some of their older work. What About Us is definitely different from what we used to get from P!nk. At first, I didn't think it was really that interesting. But with more listens, I quickly grew into it. While her voice fits really well in the pop-rock genre, I feel like it fits very well here as well. Her voice is what makes this song stand out the most. I feel like if someone else sang this song, it just wouldn't be as good. P!nk is arguably one of the best female vocalists and she really shows off what she can do in this song. I love the lyrics and how the song was written. I love the flow from verse to chorus. The song is mesmerizing enough to the point where I didn't realize it was four and half minutes long until the end. While the song is long, it has my attention from start to end, which is what you want. Overall, I think the song is fantastic. P!nk has managed to impress me yet again. I really hope this does as well, if not better than Just Like Fire because I feel like What About Us is arguably the better song.


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

• Portugal. The Man – Feel It Still (DEBUT)
• Halsey – Bad At Love
• Andy Grammer – Give Love
• Cheat Codes/Demi Lovato – No Promises
• Imagine Dragons – Thunder
• Sabrina Carpenter – Why (DEBUT)
• Ed Sheeran – Galway Girl
• Macklemore/Skylar Grey – Glorious
• The All-American Rejects – Sweat
• Selena Gomez – Fetish (DEBUT)
• Harry Styles – Two Ghosts
• Rita Ora – Your Song
• Zedd/Liam Payne – Get Low
• The Revivalists – Wish I Knew You

~ There are a few new songs I never actually talked about, plus this week's debuts. So I'll try to touch on all of them

~ I've heard Portugal. The Man a lot on SiriusXM Alt Nation (channel 36). Feel It Still seems to be a very popular song on that station having racked up about 12 weeks at #1 on the Alt-18 Countdown. I can't say this is something I really enjoy. The vocals are a little weird. But I'll admit, it's a very catchy song. But it really isn't anything amazing.

~ Halsey is back on Hit-Bound. Bad At Love is definitely a step up from Now Or Never mainly because we actually get to hear that good voice she has. She's definitely a talented singer. But in a song like Now Or Never, she doesn't show it off. But in Bad At Love, that's a different story. Though it's still not anything amazing, it is a step up and that's kind of what we're looking for.

~ I think it's a competition between Despacito and No Promises for which song Hits 1 picked up on the latest. No Promises has been around for a very long time and it has pretty much already hit its peak on most, if not all charts. That aside, it is a good song. It's catchy. The drop isn't that amazing, but the rest of the song is good. I like the combination of Trevor Dahl's and Demi Lovato's vocals. I don't enjoy it now as much as I did before. I don't think it'll make it on the countdown, but who knows?

~ Sabrina Carpenter seems to be one of those Disney stars trying to make it big. I liked Thumbs for a little while, but at some point it got slightly annoying. As far as her new single goes, I don't see the appeal. It's just underwhelming for the most part. Her voice isn't that great. I really don't like the chopped up vocals in the chorus. It reminds me too much of Gold by Kiiara, which I deemed one of the worst songs of 2016. Do I think this song will make it big? No, and I hope not. It's definitely not an awful song, but it's mediocre at best.

~ With how Selena Gomez's music has been this past year or so, my opinion on Fetish should not be a surprise. Weak vocals, dumb lyrical content, messy production, etc. I just think the lyric, "You've got a fetish for my love," sounds dumb. Now it isn't as bad as Bad Liar, but she still fails to impress me, which doesn't surprise me. Moving on.

~ I'll admit that when I first listened to Zedd/Liam Payne – Get Low, I thought it was fun and catchy. That got old really fast. I didn't have high expectations for Liam at all. But Zedd really disappointed me. His music was already getting questionable with Stay, but this is just Zedd hitting rock bottom. I want something more along the lines of Clarity, Stay The Night, or most songs off of True Colors. It's pretty clear Zedd's trying to go mainstream. You almost can't even call this EDM. There's several other flaws with the song that I won't go into now. I'll talk more about it if it debuts, which it probably will.

~ Finally, we have The Revivalists debuting with Wish I Knew You. This is something I can definitely get into. I really like the vibe and the instrumentation is good as well. The vocals are pretty good for the most part. But after one listen, that chorus was in my head not much longer later.


What About Blurbs
~ So Shawn Mendes back at the top? Fine by me. I enjoy looking up pictures of him for these posts. That aside, it's still better than Believer at #1. HOWEVER, I would MUCH prefer Believer at #1 than that song that just magically jumped to #3 this week.

~ Niall Horan seems to have jumped up to #2 this week with Slow Hands. I feel like this is a better choice for #1 than This Town. So if this hits #1, I'll be happy. It's still a pretty good song, especially compared to a couple of the other One Direction members' songs.

~ Ugh. That #3. Just no. Hits 1 never gets this kind of music on their countdown. The only reason it's here is because it's Liam and they love any bit of One Direction they can get their hands on. The fact that I'd prefer Believer at #1 over this says a lot.

~ With Charlie Puth hosting the countdown, it would only make sense that his song would jump into the Top 5. I still enjoy this song and I'm glad it's not something as slow as One Call Away. It's actually pretty catchy in a way.

~ Linkin Park – One More Light jumped into the Top 10 this week. I still get a little emotional whenever I hear this song. I guess you can say I still haven't fully moved on from Chester Bennington's death. While this is a very good song, it actually makes moving on harder. At least for me.

~ Of the three debuts last week, of course Demi Lovato had to have the Biggest Jump of the Week, especially when the other two debuts are much more enjoyable and are better overall.

~ Gotta love how MAX/Gnash – Lights Down Low is just now hitting the Top 20. It's been here for quite a few months now and it has spent most of its time in the Bottom 20. I'm not complaining though. I still like the song a lot, mainly because I haven't listened to it in a while.

~ Hailee Steinfeld – Most Girls dropped quite a bit this week. I'm a little happy and sad at the same time. I'm sad because it's a pretty good song. But I'm glad because I really don't want it to become the next Starving. I'd be fine with a couple more months, but anything beyond that might be a little too much.

~ Also taking a big drop is DJ Khaled/Rihanna/Bryson Tiller – Wild Thoughts. I really don't understand why, considering that it's one of the biggest songs in the country right now. This isn't even what I would consider a full-on rap song. Hits 1, you need to seriously get it together. This is just not okay.

~ Good to know that Hits 1 thinks Liam Payne singing about sex in a horribly produced track is better than Harry Styles bringing a song that incorporates different genres and is actually very well produced. Something is obviously wrong here and hopefully the people that run this countdown have enough brains to figure it out.

~ While I'm disappointed about Sign Of The Times, Crying In The Club deserved to leave. I'm glad this song didn't actually get that big after all. Just goes to show that Camila is probably gonna continue to flop one single after the other.


Top 20 Review
0 – Crap:
20. Liam Payne – Strip That Down

1 – Bad:
19. Imagine Dragons – Believer
18. Demi Lovato – Sorry Not Sorry

2 – Mediocre:
17. Sam Hunt – Body Like A Back Road

3 – Decent:
16. Zedd/Alessia Cara – Stay
15. Ed Sheeran – Shape Of You

4 – Good:
14. All Time Low – Good Times

5 – Great:
13. Ed Sheeran – Castle On The Hill
12. Niall Horan – Slow Hands
11. Panic! At The Disco – L.A. Devotee
10. MAX/Gnash – Lights Down Low
9. Linkin Park – One More Light
8. Shawn Mendes – There's Nothing Holdin' Me Back
7. Charlie Puth – Attention
6. Louis Tomlinson/Bebe Rexha/Digital Farm Animals – Back To You
5. Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee/Justin Bieber – Despacito
4. Fall Out Boy – Champion
3. The Chainsmokers – Honest
2. Calvin Harris/Pharrell/Katy Perry – Feels
1. The Chainsmokers/Coldplay – Something Just Like This

Total Score: 79/100 = 79% (C+)


Throwback Pick Of The Week: Nickelback – Savin' Me

Most Missed Countdown Song: Zedd/Foxes – Clarity

#1 Recommendation For Hits 1: Rachel Platten – Broken Glass

Favorite Countdown Song This Week One Year Ago: Coldplay – Hymn For The Weekend (#17)


My Top 5 Picks
1. P!nk – What About Us
2. Kesha – Praying
3. The Chainsmokers/Coldplay – Something Just Like This
4. DJ Khaled/Rihanna/Bryson Tiller – Wild Thoughts
5. Calvin Harris/Pharrell/Katy Perry – Feels