Panic! At The Disco (2) – Week Of August 18, 2018

For those unaware, I announced the rankdown I'll be doing a little over a week ago. You can find the page on the top of the site with all the other pages. The tentative deadline for submissions is currently mid-September, so I encourage people to participate if they have time. Also, fellow blogger Nick Perkins is doing a rankdown of his own. His consists of the Billboard Hot 100 #1 songs from the past five years. Check out his page if you're interested in participating in that. Before we get to this week's Fresh 45, here are the songs we're saying goodbye to this week.

• The Wrecks – James Dean (#33)
• Twenty One Pilots – Jumpsuit (#44)
• Liam Payne/J Balvin – Familiar (#45)

Last Week's #1 Song: Panic! At The Disco – High Hopes

The Countdown

45. Bazzi – Mine (#43)

44. Sugarland/Taylor Swift – Babe (#42)

43. MNEK/Hailee Steinfeld – Colour (#26)

42. Charlie Puth/Kehlani – Done For Me (#41)

41. U2/Cheat Codes – Love Is Bigger Than Anything In Its Way (#28)

40. Meghan Trainor – Let You Be Right (#34)

39. Walk The Moon – One Foot (#37)

38. PNAU – Go Bang (DEBUT)

37. 5 Seconds of Summer – Want You Back (#35) [1 Week At #1]

36. Drake – In My Feelings (#39)

35. Halsey – Alone (#40)

34. Lauv – I Like Me Better (#31)

33. The Weeknd/Kendrick Lamar – Pray For Me (#25)

32. Madison Beer – Home With You (#30)

31. Dan + Shay – Tequila (DEBUT)

30. Bebe Rexha – I'm a Mess (DEBUT)

29. Niall Horan – On The Loose (#19)

28. Camila Cabello – Never Be The Same (#36) [1 Week At #1]

27. PRETTYMUCH – Summer On You (#23)

26. Dua Lipa – IDGAF (#32)

25. Maroon 5 – Wait (#27)

24. Alessia Cara – Growing Pains (#22)

23. Shawn Mendes – In My Blood (#15) [2 Weeks At #1]

22. Cardi B/Bad Bunny/J Balvin – I Like It (#18)

21. Bebe Rexha/Florida Georgia Line – Meant To Be (#21) [1 Week At #1]

20. The Chainsmokers/Emily Warren – Side Effects (#38)

19. lovelytheband – Broken (#29)

18. Marshmello/Anne-Marie – Friends (#12)

17. Imagine Dragons – Natural (#17)

16. Khalid/Normani – Love Lies (#16)

15. Foster The People – Sit Next To Me (#13)

14. Post Malone – Better Now (#20)

13. Backstreet Boys – Don't Go Breaking My Heart (#11)

12. Ariana Grande – No Tears Left To Cry (#24)

11. Maroon 5/Cardi B – Girls Like You (#10)

10. Taylor Swift – Delicate (#2) [2 Weeks At #1]

  9. Imagine Dragons – Whatever It Takes (#9) [1 Week At #1]

  8. Calvin Harris/Dua Lipa – One Kiss (#14)

  7. Fall Out Boy – The Last Of The Real Ones (#7)

  6. NOTD/Bea Miller – I Wanna Know (#8)

  5. Panic! At The Disco – Say Amen (Saturday Night) (#5) [4 Weeks At #1]

  4. Zedd/Maren Morris/Grey – The Middle (#4) [9 Weeks At #1]

  3. 5 Seconds of Summer – Youngblood (#3)

  2. Selena Gomez – Back To You (#6)

  1. Panic! At The Disco – High Hopes (#1) [2^nd Week At #1]

#1 Song This Week One Year Ago: Shawn Mendes – There's Nothing Holdin' Me Back (4)

Biggest DROP!!!... Of The Week: MNEK/Hailee Steinfeld – Colour (–17)

Biggest Jump Of The Week: The Chainsmokers/Emily Warren – Side Effects (+18)

New Entrants
~ First up we have PNAU with Go Bang. I usually like this kind of music, but I do not like this song. The production is pretty mediocre and it's actually kind of annoying a lot of the time. I do not like the vocals here as well as the repetitive lyrics. Like I said when it debuted on Hit-Bound, my opinion could change, though it's pretty unlikely. I doubt this song will last very long anyway. So yeah. Not a fan.

~ After the big single that had mixed reactions with some people liking it and others hating it, Bebe Rexha is back with the follow-up, titled I'm A Mess. It's from her recent album Expectations, which I thought was a good album overall listening through the whole thing. I'm A Mess is definitely a very good song from there. I love the guitar at the beginning and the end. Bebe Rexha sounds really good on here. I love her voice as always. I actually like the lyrical content too. I think it's a very good song all around and it's one that I'm sure many will enjoy after Meant To Be. I hope to see some success out of it.

~ Last we have country duo Dan + Shay, who have finally brought a song to Hits 1. These guys have been around for a while and they're finally here. Tequila is simply a fantastic song in my opinion. Country music these days can definitely have people divided, especially when you have artists like Florida Georgia Line, Luke Bryan, and Sam Hunt who are on the line between country and pop. But I see no reason to dislike Tequila. It has a very nice opening and I love the chorus, especially the last one. The production and instrumentation were done very well here and their vocals are just spot on. I like the lyrical content. This is the new best song on the countdown, which I didn't see coming after the first time listening to it. But after multiple listens, it has only gotten better.


Best Debut of the Week: Dan + Shay – Tequila


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

• Justin Timberlake – SoulMate
• George Ezra – Shotgun (DEBUT)
• NF – Lie
• Anne-Marie – 2002 (DEBUT)
• Train/Cam/Travie McCoy – Call Me Sir
• Bazzi/Camila Cabello – Beautiful
• Zedd/Elley Duhé – Happy Now
• Weezer – Africa
• DJ Khaled/Justin Bieber/Chance The Rapper/Quavo – No Brainer
• Charlie Puth – The Way I Am
• Sabrina Carpenter – Almost Love
• AJR – Burn The House Down
• Noah Cyrus, MAX – Team
• Dennis Lloyd – Nevermind
• Brown & Gray – Top Down

~ First up we have George Ezra with Shotgun. I like this guy and I love his voice. Budapest was an enjoyable song, as is Shotgun. The instrumentation is actually pretty interesting here. We got a lot of different stuff including what I think sounds like a tuba? I'm not really sure but it sounds cool. And like I said, George Ezra has a great voice.

~ Next we have Anne-Marie with 2002. I don't think there's too much to say about this one. I don't really like the way she references a bunch of other songs in the chorus. I heard some Britney Spears, Jay-Z, NSYNC, and Nelly. I guess it just takes away from the originality. The production here is kinda messy, almost like Marshmello produced this one as well. And the vocals haven't improved. Her voice is still very scratchy and kind of hard to listen to. I guess the problem here is that nothing has changed from Friends to this aside from maybe the songwriting, which still isn't great.

~ As you can see, I grew into Sabrina Carpenter – Almost Love. While I do believe that she can do better with her vocals because she has a good voice, the production is what's winning me over. This is an undeniably catchy song that I can't not enjoy. So good news for the Sabrina Carpenter fans. I actually like a song from her.

~ So Dennis Lloyd – Nevermind has gotten significant airplay so far this week. Looks like we may actually see this on the countdown this upcoming weekend. I must have jinxed it when I said it had almost no shot.

Top 5 Hit-Bound Picks

1. Weezer – Africa

2. NF – Lie

3. Justin Timberlake – SoulMate

4. Sabrina Carpenter – Almost Love

5. Noah Cyrus/MAX – Team

Go Blurb

~ Calvin Harris/Dua Lipa – One Kiss is up in the Top 10, which is nice to see. It's not Calvin Harris' best work by any means. But it is an enjoyable song and probably the best I've heard from Dua Lipa this year (Scared To Be Lonely doesn't count).

~ As far as the exits go, I really did not care about Jumpsuit. The rock vibe is cool and all, but I can't stand Tyler Joseph's voice in that song. The yelling at the end is fine, but the mumbling in the verses is kinda annoying. Familiar was underrated for Liam's best song. It's a shame. James Dean was pretty underrated too. That one was a great song and I know I'll be listening to it periodically throughout the rest of the year, which is a good thing for the song when I start putting together my year-end lists.

~ Because there was not much worth talking about with the countdown, I'll talk about the VMAs, which aired this past Sunday Monday. I really didn't care too much for the majority of the performances. I liked the performance from Logic and Ryan Tedder of their song One Day. Brendon Urie did a nice job and I got to see the Backstreet Boys perform during the pre-show. They did a very nice job as well. The performances from Shawn Mendes, Jennifer Lopez, Ariana Grande, and Maluma were all decent, but nothing more. Everything else was not that good or not very interesting.

As far as the awards go, I'm cool with Nicki Minaj winning best hip-hop with Chun Li, although I thought APESHIT by The Carters was better. Her acceptance speech was strange though, especially when she said "Normani is that bitch" or something along those lines. I don't know what that was all about. Logic got snubbed for a couple awards including Best Collaboration and Video with a Message. The former went to Jennifer Lopez, DJ Khaled, and Cardi B for Dinero, even though every other nominee was better. Dinero is not a good song, although I get that it's subjective and it might just be me who dislikes it. But whatever. Video with a Message went to Childish Gambino for This Is America, which I won't disagree with necessarily. I knew it would win. But I still think Logic's song was more deserving. The music video and the song itself has a very powerful message. But of course, it will go to the biggest song of the bunch.

APESHIT did win a couple awards for Best Art Direction and Best Cinematography, which is good. I like the music video for that song, so I'm glad it managed to snag a couple awards. All The Stars by Kendrick Lamar and SZA got Best Visual Effects, which it totally deserved. The song has a great music video in terms of the visuals. For Best New Artist, I was rooting for Hayley Kiyoko because on top of being very talented, she is considered iconic among the LGBT community and frankly, her music is better for the most part. But of course people don't know who she is and the award ended up going to Cardi B. I'm not sure what was going on with Madonna. She looked terrible and her tribute speech for Aretha Franklin was essentially about herself and it dragged. That could've been done so much better in my opinion and she herself could've looked a lot better. I don't know much about fashion (which is funny since gay men are supposed to be experts), but I know a bad outfit when I see one.

So yeah. The MTV VMAs this year was really nothing interesting. There was nothing spectacular and I may have just been better off having not seen it. But that's just me. I didn't love it and for those who missed it because you didn't realize it was on a Monday night as opposed to Sunday night, you didn't miss much.


Top 20 Review
0 – Crap:
20. Zedd/Maren Morris/Grey – The Middle

1 – Bad:
19. Marshmello/Anne-Marie – Friends

2 – Mediocre:
18. NOTD/Bea Miller – I Wanna Know

3 – Decent:
17. Maroon 5/Cardi B – Girls Like You
16. Ariana Grande – No Tears Left To Cry

4 – Good:
15. lovelytheband – Broken
14. Post Malone – Better Now

5 – Great:
13. Taylor Swift – Delicate
12. Imagine Dragons – Whatever It Takes
11. Imagine Dragons – Natural
10. Calvin Harris/Dua Lipa – One Kiss
9. Khalid/Normani – Love Lies
8. Panic! At The Disco – Say Amen
7. Selena Gomez – Back To You
6. The Chainsmokers/Emily Warren – Side Effects
5. Fall Out Boy – The Last Of The Real Ones
4. 5 Seconds Of Summer – Youngblood
3. Panic! At The Disco – High Hopes
2. Foster The People – Sit Next To Me

BONUS: 6 – Best Song On The Countdown:
1. Backstreet Boys – Don't Go Breaking My Heart

Overall Score: 83/100 = 83% (B)


Throwback Pick Of The Week: Aretha Franklin – (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman

Most Missed Countdown Song: Pitbull/Ke$ha – Timber

#1 Recommendation For Hits 1: Logic/Ryan Tedder – One Day

Favorite Countdown Song This Week One Year Ago: P!nk – What About Us (#33)


My Top 5 Picks
1. TIE: Dan + Shay – Tequila
1. TIE: Backstreet Boys – Don't Go Breaking My Heart
3. Foster The People – Sit Next To Me
4. Panic! At The Disco – High Hopes
5. Walk The Moon – One Foot