Zedd (6) – Week Of April 14, 2018

Hey guys! Hopefully you all had a good week. My schedule wasn't as packed this week. But things will only get busier from here as I approach the end of the semester. Also, it's still snowing where I am, which I find very odd. It's the middle of April. But anyway, we had some things happen this week on the countdown. Nothing too exciting though. Before we get to this week's Fresh 45, here are the songs we're saying goodbye to this week.

• Keala Settle/The Greatest Showman Ensemble – This Is Me (#44)

Last Week's #1 Song: Zedd/Maren Morris/Grey – The Middle

The Countdown

45. Portugal. The Man – Feel It Still (#45)

44. Symon – Lonely Girl (#41)

43. Fall Out Boy – Hold Me Tight Or Don't (#37)

42. Taylor Swift/Ed Sheeran/Future – End Game (#43) [1 Week At #1]

41. Khalid – Young, Dumb, and Broke (#39)

40. Charlie Puth – How Long (#42) [2 Weeks At #1]

39. Macklemore/Kesha – Good Old Days (#26) [1 Week At #1]

38. AJR/Rivers Cuomo – Sober Up (#40)

37. Kelly Clarkson – Love So Soft (#38)

36. Selena Gomez/Marshmello – Wolves (#30)

35. Alice Merton – No Roots (#29)

34. Camila Cabello – Havana (#34) [1 Week At #1]

33. P!nk – Beautiful Trauma (#33)

32. Justin Timberlake/Chris Stapleton – Say Something (#35)

31. Drake – God's Plan (DEBUT)

30. Noah Kahan/Julia Michaels – Hurt Somebody (#31)

29. Bazzi – Mine (#28)

28. Bad Wolves – Zombie (#14)

27. Rudimental/Jess Glynne/Macklemore/Dan Caplen – These Days (#36)

26. Panic! At The Disco – Say Amen (Saturday Night) (#25)

25. NF – Let You Down (#19)

24. Kesha/The Dap-Kings Horns – Woman (#9)

23. Halsey – Bad At Love (#24) [2 Weeks At #1]

22. MAX/Gnash – Lights Down Low (#17)

21. Demi Lovato – Tell Me You Love Me (#23)

20. Shawn Mendes – In My Blood (#27)

19. Meghan Trainor – No Excuses (#13)

18. Ed Sheeran – Perfect (#22) [2 Weeks At #1]

17. Charlie Puth/Kehlani – Done For Me (#32)

16. Marshmello/Anne-Marie – Friends (#18)

15. Imagine Dragons – Thunder (#20) [5 Weeks At #1]

14. The Weeknd/Kendrick Lamar – Pray For Me (#8)

13. Niall Horan – On The Loose (#10)

12. Camila Cabello – Never Be The Same (#11)

11. Maroon 5 – Wait (#12)

10. Taylor Swift – Delicate (#16)

  9. Bruno Mars/Cardi B – Finesse (#21)

  8. Bebe Rexha/Florida Georgia Line – Meant To Be (#7)

  7. G-Eazy/Halsey – Him & I (#6)

  6. Walk The Moon – One Foot (#2)

  5. Lauv – I Like Me Better (#15)

  4. 5 Seconds of Summer – Want You Back (#5)

  3. Hailee Steinfeld & Alesso/Florida Georgia Line/watt – Let Me Go (#3)

  2. Imagine Dragons – Whatever It Takes (#4)

  1. Zedd/Maren Morris/Grey – The Middle (#1) [6^th Week At #1]

#1 Song This Week One Year Ago: Ed Sheeran – Castle On The Hill (1)

Biggest DROP!!!... Of The Week: Kesha/The Dap-Kings Horns – Woman (–15)

Biggest Jump Of The Week: Charlie Puth/Kehlani – Done For Me (+15)

New Entrants
~ Our one new entrant this week comes from Drake with the biggest song of the year currently, God's Plan. I can't say I fully understand the appeal to this song. I find it very similar to Hotline Bling, which I also didn't really like. Sure, God's Plan is not the worst thing out there by any means. But I just can't get into it. It's kinda boring if I'm being totally honest. Though I didn't really expect much more from Drake. Overall, I'm not really a fan of this. I'm not sure why it has spent over ten weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. But whatever I guess. I don't hate it, so I'll just let it do its thing.


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

• Post Malone/Ty Dolla $ign – Psycho
• Echosmith – Over My Head
• NOTD/Bea Miller – I Wanna Know (DEBUT)
• Dustin Atlas/Erin Bowman – Fake Friends
• Portugal. The Man – Live In The Moment
• Halsey – Alone
• Maren Morris – Rich
• The Chainsmokers – Everybody Hates Me
• In Real Life – Tattoo (How 'Bout You) (DEBUT)
• Hundred Handed – Too Good
• Sam Smith/Logic – Pray
• Dua Lipa – IDGAF
• Foster The People – Sit Next To Me
• Zayn – Let Me (DEBUT)
• Kendrick Lamar, SZA – All The Stars
• Why Don't We – Trust Fund Baby

~ I Wanna Know is pretty enjoyable for the most part. I like Bea Miller's vocals. The production is good. It's nothing amazing or totally different from what we've heard before. But I enjoy it. More on this if it debuts.

~ Tattoo is okay. These guys just seem like another boyband trying to make it big. I'll give it to them that this song is more tolerable than Why Don't We – Trust Fund Baby. But it lacks a few things to make it a good song. I think if more time was spent on this track, it may have turned out better.

~ Let Me is nowhere near as good as Dusk Till Dawn. But this track does seem like a grower. So while it's in blue now, it could be promoted to green sometime soon.

Top 5 Hit-Bound Picks

1. Foster The People – Sit Next To Me

2. Kendrick Lamar/SZA – All The Stars

3. Portugal. The Man – Live In The Moment

4. Sam Smith/Logic – Pray

5. Halsey – Alone

God's Blurb

~ No no no. This is just not right. It's gotten to the point where The Middle now becomes slightly more annoying with each listen. Seriously, this song is overrated as hell. I'm willing to bet that this will end up being Hits 1's #1 song of the year, which honestly just makes me cringe thinking about it. Zedd is capable of so much more and I know this because I just recently listened to this track he released on YouTube and I think it's mesmerizing. He's capable of producing great stuff, but chooses not to and that's the problem I have with him right now.

~ Of course Walk The Moon – One Foot had to drop out of the Top 5 and lose its chance of being a #1 song. It's not like I thought it would go #1 when it first debuted. But seeing how well it has done here, it would've been nice to see it spend even just one week at the top. Meanwhile, Imagine Dragons – Whatever It Takes is our new #2 song, which I think has more of a chance to hit #1. Hopefully this happens soon because The Middle has been there too long.

~ Why are we making Lauv – I Like Me Better a bigger hit than it actually is? This song is just bad and I'm not sure why Hits 1 and the voters love it so much. The only thing I can stand about this song is the vocals. Everything else is just bad. Please get this out of the Top 10. This is not okay.

~ Aside from Lauv, we have two entrants to the Top 10. Delicate is already in the Top 10 and I still find it to be boring and uninteresting for the most part. I doubt my opinion will change at this point. But the jump from Finesse was very much appreciated. I still really enjoy this song and I believe it's very worthy of being in the Top 10.

~ Woman clearly was not meant to last very long in the Top 10. I get that it's not huge everywhere else. But the drop was a little uncalled for. Hopefully it can stick around longer. The drop from Zombie was also uncalled for and unnecessary. Hopefully this can make at least somewhat of a comeback with how new it still is. It's still one of the best songs here.

~ As far as our one exit goes, we must say farewell to the very underrated Keala Settle – This Is Me. Anyone who thinks this woman is not a good singer is probably deaf. She has one of the best voices I've heard in a while and when she hit those high notes, it just sent the chills down my spine. This Is Me was an inspirational song in my opinion and Keala Settle is very talented. Of course those two things together means the song must be underrated. But at least it was here and it is eligible for my Top 45 songs of 2018. Goodbye This Is Me. You will certainly be missed.

Top 20 Review

0 – Crap:

NONE

1 – Bad:

20. Camila Cabello – Never Be The Same

19. Imagine Dragons – Thunder

18. Zedd/Maren Morris/Grey – The Middle

17. Lauv – I Like Me Better

2 – Mediocre:

NONE

3 – Decent:

16. Taylor Swift – Delicate

15. Meghan Trainor – No Excuses

14. Marshmello/Anne-Marie – Friends

13. Maroon 5 – Wait

4 – Good:

12. Shawn Mendes – In My Blood

5 – Great:

11. Niall Horan – On The Loose

10. Ed Sheeran – Perfect

9. G-Eazy/Halsey – Him & I

8. Hailee Steinfeld & Alesso/F.G.L./watt – Let Me Go

7. Bebe Rexha/Florida Georgia Line – Meant To Be

6. 5 Seconds of Summer – Want You Back

5. Bruno Mars/Cardi B – Finesse

4. The Weeknd/Kendrick Lamar – Pray For Me

3. Imagine Dragons – Whatever It Takes

2. Charlie Puth/Kehlani – Done For Me

BONUS: 6 – Best Song On The Countdown:

1. Walk The Moon – One Foot

Overall Score: 76/100 = 76% (B)

Throwback Pick Of The Week: Green Day – 21 Guns

Most Missed Countdown Song: Mike Posner/SeeB – I Took A Pill In Ibiza

#1 Recommendation For Hits 1: Shinedown – The Human Radio

Favorite Countdown Song This Week One Year Ago: Tie Between The Weeknd/Daft Punk – I Feel It Coming (#10) and The Chainsmokers/Coldplay – Something Just Like This (#31)

My Top 5 Picks

1. Walk The Moon – One Foot

2. Justin Timberlake/Chris Stapleton – Say Something

3. Bad Wolves – Zombie

4. Charlie Puth/Kehlani – Done For Me

5. Macklemore/Kesha – Good Old Days