The Chainsmokers (7) – Week Of March 2, 2019

Hey guys! If you haven't already, be sure to check out my previous post where I ranked all the performance from the Grammys. Now that that's done, I have to seriously get to work on my remaining year-end posts. As of right now, I have two left. So hopefully those will be out soon. In other news, I finally just watched A Star Is Born and I thought it was a great movie. It definitely hit me in the feels and I highly recommend it to those who haven't seen it. Before we get to this week's Fresh 45, here are the songs we're saying goodbye to this week.

• Charli XCX/Troye Sivan – 1999 (#29)
• Zara Larsson – Ruin My Life (#33)

Last Week's #1 Song: The Chainsmokers/Kelsea Ballerini – This Feeling

The Countdown

45. Bebe Rexha – I'm a Mess (#45)

44. lovelytheband – Broken (#41)

43. Charlie Puth – The Way I Am (#43)

42. Fall Out Boy – The Last Of The Real Ones (#30) [2 Weeks At #1]

41. Jennifer Lopez – Limitless (#44)

40. George Ezra – Shotgun (#38)

39. Travis Scott/Drake – Sicko Mode (#42)

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

37. Imagine Dragons – Natural (#25) [1 Week At #1]

36. Mark Ronson/Miley Cyrus – Nothing Breaks Like A Heart (#39)

35. Maroon 5/Cardi B – Girls Like You (#36)

34. Jake Miller – Wait For You (#40)

33. Lauren Daigle – You Say (#28)

32. Stephen Puth – Sexual Vibe (#24)

31. Lil Peep/iLoveMakonnen/Fall Out Boy – I've Been Waiting (DEBUT)

30. Zedd/Katy Perry – 365 (#37)

29. Khalid/Normani – Love Lies (#26)

28. 5 Seconds of Summer – Youngblood (#12) [5 Weeks At #1]

27. David Guetta/Anne-Marie – Don't Leave Me Alone (#27)

26. Imagine Dragons – Bad Liar (DEBUT)

25. Sabrina Carpenter – Sue Me (#22)

24. Seeb/Bastille – Grip (#16)

23. Cardi B/Bruno Mars – Please Me (#31)

22. Kelsea Ballerini – Miss Me More (#35)

21. Khalid – Better (#18)

20. The Chainsmokers/5 Seconds Of Summer – Who Do You Love (#19)

19. Post Malone/Swae Lee – Sunflower (#14)

18. Dan + Shay – Speechless (#23)

17. Ariana Grande – Thank U, Next (#20)

16. Dean Lewis – Be Alright (#21)

15. Anne-Marie – 2002 (#7)

14. Twenty One Pilots – Chlorine (#15)

13. Benny Blanco/Halsey/Khalid – Eastside (#11)

12. Avril Lavigne – Tell Me It's Over (#17)

11. Sam Smith/Normani – Dancing With A Stranger (#32)

10. Dan + Shay – Tequila (#10)

  9. Ariana Grande – 7 Rings (#13)

  8. Panic! At The Disco – High Hopes (#6) [8 Weeks At #1]

  7. Ellie Goulding/Diplo – Close To Me (#9)

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

  5. Halsey – Without Me (#3) [5 Weeks At #1]

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

  3. Ava Max – Sweet But Psycho (#5)

  2. Panic! At The Disco – Hey Look Ma, I Made It (#2)

  1. The Chainsmokers/Kelsea Ballerini – This Feeling (#1) [7^th Week At #1]

#1 Song This Week One Year Ago: Zedd/Maren Morris/Grey – The Middle (1) (and so the treacherous run at #1 began...)

Biggest DROP!!!... Of The Week: 5 Seconds Of Summer – Youngblood (–16)

Biggest Jump Of The Week: Sam Smith/Normani – Dancing With A Stranger (+21)

New Entrants
~ The first of our two debuts is a posthumous release from Lil Peep titled I've Been Waiting with iLoveMakonnen and Fall Out Boy. I don't know why we're still releasing stuff under his name and why we can't just let the man rest in peace. But for Lil Peep standards, this song is actually pretty decent. His vocals are easily the worst parts of the song though because I don't like his whiny voice. iLoveMakonnen is a pretty generic singer and I don't really like his vocals on this song aside from the chorus. That's the only part where I think he sounds pretty good. And Patrick Stump sounds pretty good as well. The production is solid and the chorus is catchy. So yeah. This is decent and it could grow on me although I don't really think it will. I don't really want it to be a big hit though. But like I said, it's decent for Lil Peep standards and it's definitely better than Falling Down.

~ The other debut comes from Imagine Dragons with the latest single from the mess that is Origins. I've already talked about the fact that I don't like the album. There were only two good songs on that album and both of them are currently on the countdown. Bad Liar was very unexpected after having heard the singles released prior. But then again, Imagine Dragons does this kind of song on almost every album. Night Visions had Demons and Evolve had Walking The Wire, which are easily two of Imagine Dragons' best songs. Now we have Bad Liar and it's really good. A lot of the tracks from Origins felt very messy and unorganized, but Bad Liar is like the opposite. It was put together very well. The production is solid. Dan Reynolds sounds really good. I feel the lyrics here more than I do in any of the other songs. This is great and I'm glad it got released as a single after Walking The Wire was robbed for not being a single. I hope this does well.


Best Debut of the Week: Imagine Dragons – Bad Liar


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

• lovelytheband – Maybe, I'm Afraid
• Post Malone – Wow
• Maren Morris – GIRL
• P!nk – Walk Me Home (DEBUT)
• Madison Beer/Offset – Hurts Like Hell
• Panic! At The Disco – Dancing's Not A Crime
• Kelsy Karter – Harry
• Austin Brown – In Betweenin' (DEBUT)
• Meghan Trainor – All The Ways
• Ally Brooke/Tyga – Low Key (DEBUT)
• Grandson – Apologize
• Jonas Brothers – Sucker (DEBUT)
• LSD/Lil Wayne – Genius
• Yungblud/Halsey/Travis Barker – 11 Minutes
• Lauv/Troye Sivan – I'm So Tired
• Kygo/Valerie Broussard – Think About You (DEBUT)

~ After her cover of A Million Dreams from The Greatest Showman only being popular on AC radio, P!nk released her next single titled Walk Me Home. This was really good at first, but it kind of shrunk on me this past week. I still like the song and the chorus. But it feels kind of generic for P!nk. She is incredibly talented and I know she's capable of so much more. Her older hits and songs like Just Give Me A Reason and What About Us are better than this. This is still a good song though and I have good feelings for her album.

~ Now we have In Betweenin' from someone named Austin Brown. I think he's the slightly better version of Alec Benjamin. The song is pretty catchy, but it doesn't feel very original and I don't really like his voice. His age shows in his voice a little too much and it feels a little childish. I think he has potential to be better when he gets older, but as of right now, this is only okay and I don't see it growing on me.

~ So aside from Normani, none of Fifth Harmony singers have been all that good. My point is further proven as Ally Brooke releases a solo single titled Low Key. This is not very good, although I wasn't expecting it to be good anyway because most of the Fifth Harmony girls are not that good. This is just very bland and the production is very underwhelming. I don't really get the appeal to this kind of music and the song is literally just her talking about how she wants Tyga to have sex with her. I mean there's legitimately nothing good about this because she's not a good singer. This will probably debut on the countdown, although I hope it doesn't.

~ Next we have the big return of the Jonas Brothers. I'm not actually familiar with any of their old music, but I'm pretty sure they were good. The new song is called Sucker and I like it for what it is. It's not the most amazing thing I've ever heard and I kinda expected more at first listen. The song is just slightly underwhelming and I'm not head-over-heels in love with their voices. But I can definitely see this growing on me and I have a feeling this will be a big hit, which I'd be fine with. It's a perfectly enjoyable song that has potential to get better with more listens.

~ So anyone who knows me knows that I pretty much stan Kygo and I've been a fan ever since Firestone and Stole The Show. I think he is an amazing producer and a lot of songs are god tier for me. He had that one huge hit in 2017 that was my #1 song of that year. Since then, he put out Kids In Love, which was a great album, as well as a bunch of singles including Happy Now with Sandro Cavazza, which has been one of my favorite songs for the past several months. And now, Hits 1 has finally picked up another single from him. This week, we get Think About You, which was released a couple weeks ago. I naturally have high expectations for Kygo because a lot of his songs are amazing. This new song does not exceed those expectations as much as some of his best songs like the first two I mentioned, Stargazing, and Stranger Things. But it is still a great song and it's gotten better with more listens. I like the production and the drop is really good. I don't love Valerie Broussard's voice in the verses, but she sounds pretty good in the chorus. Overall, it is a great song, but Kygo has definitely done a lot better. I do really hope this debuts because I'm kinda tired of Kygo being as underrated as he is.

~ So out of curiosity, I decided to look into Harry by Kelsy Karter and why this song exists. It's supposedly about Harry Styles, which makes the song even weirder and creepier reading through the lyrics. I honestly don't know if this is a joke song, but this girl does not have a good voice whatsoever. She makes Julia Michaels of all people seem like a great singer.

~ We lost two songs this week. Rita Ora – Let You Love Me definitely deserved a lot better and it's sad to see it go so soon. I really like that song. We also lost Lost In The Fire by Gesaffelstein and The Weeknd. I do really like this song musically because the production is solid. The homophobic lyrics are very unnecessary and they kind of bring the song down for me. But other than that, it was very enjoyable and it's sad to see it decline everywhere.

Top 5 Hit-Bound Picks

1. Kygo/Valerie Broussard – Think About You

2. Panic! At The Disco – Dancing's Not A Crime

3. P!nk – Walk Me Home

4. LSD/Lil Wayne – Genius

5. Jonas Brothers – Sucker

I've Been Blurbing

~ Our Top 2 is static this week. But Ava Max – Sweet But Psycho moves up to #3. I really don't want this song to hit #1 because it's not that great or memorable aside from the chorus. Then at #4, we have Let Me Down Slowly, which deserves to go to #1 even less because it's not good. And then we have Without Me, which is garbage.

~ Speaking of garbage, Ariana Grande – 7 Rings has moved into the Top 10. I really hope this doesn't become Ariana's first #1 or something because it's legitimately her worst song and it's very undeserving of being a hit. Fortunately a great song has a good chance at dethroning it on the next Billboard Hot 100. That Oscar's performance really did it for the song.

~ After not moving last week, Sam Smith/Normani – Dancing With A Stranger moved up very quickly to #11. I really like the song as you know. I'd be down for this being a hit and I'm glad it's already doing well. It definitely has potential to stick around.

~ I'm honestly ready for Post Malone/Swae Lee – Sunflower to start dropping. It's still better than songs like Psycho, but Sunflower just feels basic and it doesn't have much going for it aside from the vocals. It was never meant to hold up. Nothing about this song is that great and it's time for it to leave soon.

~ Kelsea Ballerini – Miss Me More made a pretty good second week jump. I really hope this becomes a hit because it's a really great song that doesn't deserve to be as underrated as it is.

~ We got a few drops this week from Youngblood, Natural, and The Last Of The Real Ones. All of them have been on here for a very long time, so I think it's about time they started falling. They're still good songs, but they're not songs I really want to hear on the radio anymore.

~ As far as the exits go, Ruin My Life should've been much better than it was knowing how talented Zara Larsson is from songs like Never Forget You, Girls Like, and Symphony. 1999 was pretty underrated although I don't think the song is that great. It's still a million times better than the annoying 2002, which is still here for some ungodly reason. But I don't feel too strongly about either of these exits.


Top 20 Review
0 – Crap:
20. TIE: Ariana Grande – 7 Rings
20. TIE: Halsey – Without Me

1 – Bad:
18. Anne-Marie – 2002
17. Ariana Grande – Thank U, Next
16. Alec Benjamin – Let Me Down Slowly
15. Twenty One Pilots – Chlorine

2 – Mediocre:
NONE

3 – Decent:
14. Ellie Goulding/Diplo – Close To Me
13. Post Malone/Swae Lee – Sunflower

4 – Good:
12. Ava Max – Sweet But Psycho

5 – Great:
11. The Chainsmokers/Kelsea Ballerini – This Feeling
10. Panic! At The Disco – Hey Look Ma, I Made It
9. Dan + Shay – Speechless
8. The Chainsmokers/5 Seconds Of Summer – Who Do You Love
7. Benny Blanco/Halsey/Khalid – Eastside
6. Panic! At The Disco – High Hopes
5. Marshmello/Bastille – Happier
4. Sam Smith/Normani – Dancing With A Stranger
3. Dan + Shay – Tequila
2. Avril Lavigne – Tell Me It's Over
1. Dean Lewis – Be Alright

Overall Score: 69/100 = 69% (B)


Throwback Pick Of The Week: Robyn – Show Me Love

Most Missed Countdown Song: Lady Gaga – I'll Never Love Again (that movie hit me hard)

Most Missed Hit-Bound Dropout: Demi Lovato – Stone Cold

#1 Recommendation For Hits 1: Tie Between Ellie Goulding – Flux and Cody Simpson & The Tide – We Had

Favorite Countdown Song This Week One Year Ago: Tie Between Macklemore/Kesha – Good Old Days (#3) and Walk The Moon – One Foot (#12)


My Top 5 Picks
1. Kelsea Ballerini – Miss Me More
2. Dean Lewis – Be Alright
3. Avril Lavigne – Tell Me It's Over
4. Dan + Shay – Tequila
5. Mark Ronson/Miley Cyrus – Nothing Breaks Like A Heart