Halsey (3) – Week Of January 26, 2019

Hey guys! I hope everyone is having a good week and staying warm if you're like me and you live in an area where it's getting as low as -50°F with the windchill. This Sunday is Super Bowl Sunday and as usual, I will only be watching for the halftime show because I can't care less about the actual game. I might do a review of it like last year. We'll see if my schedule next week allows it. Also, the Grammys are coming up soon and I get to see Panic! At The Disco live in concert Monday evening, so I got a lot going on on top of having to finish year-end posts. But I will get through it all eventually. Before we get to this week's Fresh 45, here are the songs we're saying goodbye to this week.

• Zedd/Maren Morris/Grey – The Middle (#44) [9 Weeks At #1]

Last Week's #1 Song: Halsey – Without Me

The Countdown

45. Shawn Mendes – In My Blood (#45) [2 Weeks At #1]

44. Little Mix/Nicki Minaj – Woman Like Me (#35)

43. Charlie Puth – The Way I Am (#41)

42. Jennifer Lopez – Limitless (#42)

41. Steve Aoki/BTS – Waste It On Me (#38)

40. Lauv/Julia Michaels – There's No Way (#39)

39. Bebe Rexha – I'm a Mess (#37)

38. George Ezra – Shotgun (#43)

37. Silk City/Dua Lipa – Electricity (#40)

36. Panic! At The Disco – Say Amen (Saturday Night) (#36) [4 Weeks At #1]

35. Benny Blanco/Calvin Harris – I Found You (DEBUT)

34. Backstreet Boys – Don't Go Breaking My Heart (#34)

33. Selena Gomez – Back To You (#33)

32. Maroon 5/Cardi B – Girls Like You (#32)

31. Mark Ronson/Miley Cyrus – Nothing Breaks Like A Heart (#27)

30. lovelytheband – Broken (#30)

29. Alessia Cara – Trust My Lonely (#31)

28. James Arthur – Empty Space (#26)

27. Ariana Grande – Breathin (#20)

26. Fall Out Boy – The Last Of The Real Ones (#24)

25. Camila Cabello – Consequences (#29)

24. The Struts/Kesha – Body Talks (#28)

23. Lauren Jauregui – Expectations (#23)

22. Khalid – Better (#21)

21. Imagine Dragons – Natural (#18) [1 Week At #1]

20. Zara Larsson – Ruin My Life (#25)

19. Dan + Shay – Speechless (#22)

18. David Guetta/Anne-Marie – Don't Leave Me Alone (#15)

17. Twenty One Pilots – Chlorine (#16)

16. Post Malone/Swae Lee – Sunflower (#19)

15. Ava Max – Sweet But Psycho (#17)

14. Khalid/Normani – Love Lies (#5)

13. Imagine Dragons – Machine (#14)

12. Ellie Goulding/Diplo – Close To Me (#11)

11. Alec Benjamin – Let Me Down Slowly (#8)

10. Anne-Marie – 2002 (#7)

  9. Panic! At The Disco – Hey Look Ma, I Made It (#10)

  8. Ariana Grande – Thank U, Next (#9)

  7. Dan + Shay – Tequila (#12)

  6. Benny Blanco/Halsey/Khalid – Eastside (#13)

  5. 5 Seconds of Summer – Youngblood (#6) [5 Weeks At #1]

  4. Marshmello/Bastille – Happier (#4) [2 Weeks At #1]

  3. The Chainsmokers/Kelsea Ballerini – This Feeling (#2) [4 Weeks At #1]

  2. Panic! At The Disco – High Hopes (#3) [8 Weeks At #1]

  1. Halsey – Without Me (#1) [3^rd Week At #1]

#1 Song This Week One Year Ago: Imagine Dragons – Thunder (5)

Biggest DROP!!!... Of The Week: Tie Between Khalid/Normani – Love Lies and Little Mix/Nicki Minaj – Woman Like Me (–9)

Biggest Jump Of The Week: Benny Blanco/Halsey/Khalid – Eastside (+7)

New Entrants
~ I'm not excited about this week's debut, but it gets extra points for being the song to replace the god awful The Middle on the countdown. It's I Found You by Benny Blanco and Calvin Harris. This suffers from being very generic and basic in terms of the production. The drop is not very interesting. It's nothing new or original. It just sounds like any other basic EDM track and there's nothing about it that would make me ever come back to it. Calvin Harris has a decent voice for a producer, but it's pretty generic overall. I understand if he provides vocals on his own tracks. But he should not be a go-to artist for vocals. All in all, everything about this is just very basic and it's not a good follow-up to Eastside.


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

• Lauren Daigle – You Say
• Jake Miller – Wait For You
• Post Malone – Wow
• Dean Lewis – Be Alright
• Sabrina Carpenter – Sue Me
• Seeb/Bastille – Grip
• lovelytheband – Maybe, I'm Afraid
• Pitbull/Rhea – Ocean To Ocean
• Avril Lavigne – Tell Me It's Over
• Gesaffelstein/The Weeknd – Lost In The Fire
• Kelsea Ballerini – Miss Me More
• Sam Smith/Normani – Dancing With A Stranger (DEBUT)
• Stephen Puth – Sexual Vibe
• Travis Scott/Drake – Sicko Mode
• Charli XCX/Troye Sivan – 1999

~ Dancing With A Stranger is a great tune that I got hooked on by the first listen. The beat is really good and it makes the song really catchy. Sam Smith sounds really good. I love his voice. Normani delivers what I believe is her best vocal performance yet. This song is proof that she is the best singer from Fifth Harmony. I really like the chorus. It's just a great song all around. I really hope this becomes a hit.


YouTube15
~ Here is the YouTube15 list.

• Post Malone/Swae Lee – Sunflower
• The Chainsmokers/Winona Oak – Hope
• LSD/Lil Wayne – Genius
• Maroon 5/Cardi B – Girls Like You
• Calvin Harris/Rag'N'Bone Man – Giant
• Ariana Grande – Thank U, Next
• Maren Morris – GIRL
• Halsey – Without Me
• Clean Bandit/Marina/Luis Fonsi – Baby
• Marshmello/Bastille – Happier
• Why Don't We – Big Plans
• Panic! At The Disco – High Hopes
• Alan Walker/AuRa/Tomine Harket – Darkside
• Benny Blanco/Halsey/Khalid – Eastside
• Becky G – LBD

~ I've made my thoughts on LSD clear within the past year. I don't really get it honestly. I think their music and the project as a whole is just very silly. Songs like Audio and Mountains are straight up trash. I used to not like Genius, but it grew on me because I think it's catchy enough and the production is fine. This remix with Lil Wayne is not as good because I don't think he sounds that great and this version is shorter than the original. I still enjoy it to some extent, but I think it was better off without Wayne and that's the version I'm going to keep listening to.

~ Next we have Maren Morris, who had the honor of being part of my #1 least favorite song of 2018 on Hits 1. Despite that, I do think she is incredibly talented and has some great songs. GIRL is not one of them in my opinion. It's definitely an improvement from Rich, but this song just doesn't click with me at all and I don't really know why. Her voice is objectively good, but I find her vocals here kind of annoying honestly. Musically, the song just doesn't grab me the way her previous songs have. I think this song tries way too hard to be next 80s Mercedes, which is a fantastic song, and it's just not. It's not as fun and not as interesting. GIRL is very forgettable and not that exciting as a whole.

~ Boy band Why Don't We have been a mixed bag for me overall. Big Plans is pretty good, but I can't really give it more credit than that. It's not as good as 8 Letters, which to me is their best song by a clear mile. But there's still enough to enjoy about it. It's not something I see myself going out of my way to listen to, but if it comes on radio, I'll listen to it.

~ Lastly, we have Becky G, who I don't consider to be a very interesting artist at all. Even her best songs like Can't Stop Dancin' don't stick very well in the long run. Just about everything she releases these days has been very forgettable and some of the songs like LBD have just been straight up bad. I don't like her voice here and I don't like the trap production. I think she was better off in 2014-2015 when she released catchy pop songs, instead of this Latin trap crap.

Top 5 YouTube15 Picks

1. Marshmello/Bastille – Happier

2. Alan Walker/AuRa/Tomine Harket – Darkside

3. Clean Bandit/Marina/Luis Fonsi – Baby

4. Panic! At The Disco – High Hopes

5. Benny Blanco/Halsey/Khalid – Eastside

I Got Blurbs

~ Benny Blanco/Halsey/Khalid – Eastside rose into the Top 10 this week, which I'm all for considering that it's the better of the two tracks with Halsey. It's not an amazing song by any means and I don't think it's something that'll stick in the long run, but it's enjoyable for what it is.

~ Dan + Shay – Tequila is back in the Top 10, which I'm also all for. It's been around for a while, but it's still a great song and I'm glad it's been successful. Probably the best country song of 2018.

~ Dan + Shay – Speechless is now in the Top 20. I really like Dan + Shay if you can't tell. Speechless is a great song and I hope it manages to become a hit on Hits 1. It's a solid country tune with great vocals.

~ The runs for Lauv/Julia Michaels – There's No Way and Little Mix/Nicki Minaj – Woman Like Me are clearly coming to an end soon. The former I'm okay with, although the latter kind of deserved better even though it's nowhere near Little Mix's best. They're very underrated in the US.

~ As far as the exit goes, we can celebrate because The Middle is finally gone! This is easily the most overrated piece of garbage I've heard on Hits 1 in 2018. Zedd, this is new style is not working at all as every song you've put out within the past couple years has been generic as hell. He's a talented producer. The Middle does not show that. I know he's capable of so much better having listened to True Colors. Good riddance, The Middle! You will most certainly not be missed.


Top 20 Review
0 – Crap:
20. Halsey – Without Me
19. Imagine Dragons – Machine
18. Alec Benjamin – Let Me Down Slowly

1 – Bad:
17. Ariana Grande – Thank U, Next
16. Anne-Marie – 2002
15. Twenty One Pilots – Chlorine

2 – Mediocre:
NONE

3 – Decent:
14. Zara Larsson – Ruin My Life
13. David Guetta/Anne-Marie – Don't Leave Me Alone
12. Ellie Goulding/Diplo – Close To Me
11. Post Malone/Swae Lee – Sunflower

4 – Good:
10. Ava Max – Sweet But Psycho
9. The Chainsmokers/Kelsea Ballerini – This Feeling

5 – Great:
8. Panic! At The Disco – Hey Look Ma, I Made It
7. Khalid/Normani – Love Lies
6. Benny Blanco/Halsey/Khalid – Eastside
5. 5 Seconds Of Summer – Youngblood
4. Panic! At The Disco – High Hopes
3. Dan + Shay – Speechless
2. Dan + Shay – Tequila

BONUS: 6 – Best Song On The Countdown:
1. Marshmello/Bastille – Happier

Overall Score: 64/100 = 64% (B)


Throwback Pick Of The Week: The Black Eyed Peas – Boom Boom Pow

Most Missed Countdown Song: Taylor Swift/Ed Sheeran – Everything Has Changed

Most Missed Hit-Bound Dropout: Betty Who – All Of You

#1 Recommendation For Hits 1: Backstreet Boys – No Place

Favorite Countdown Song This Week One Year Ago: Tie Between Macklemore/Kesha – Good Old Days (#4) and Walk The Moon – One Foot (#10)


My Top 5 Picks
1. Marshmello/Bastille – Happier
2. Mark Ronson/Miley Cyrus – Nothing Breaks Like A Heart
3. The Struts/Kesha – Body Talks
4. Shawn Mendes – In My Blood
5. Backstreet Boys – Don't Go Breaking My Heart