Hey guys! Another week in 2019 means another week complaining about how bad this year is going for music. We got rid of some trash this week only for more trash to come and take its place. More on the weak class of debuts later. Before we get to this week's Fresh 45, here are the songs we're saying goodbye to this week.
- Ciara – Thinkin Bout You (#27)
- Billie Eilish – Bury A Friend (#34)
- NOTD/Felix Jaehn/Captain Cuts/Georgia Ku – So Close (#37)
- Post Malone – Wow (#41)
- Billie Eilish – When The Party's Over (#45)
Last Week's #1 Song: Shawn Mendes – If I Can't Have You
The Countdown
45. Ariana Grande – 7 Rings (#44)
44. Twenty One Pilots – Chlorine (#43)
43. Lauv/Troye Sivan – I'm So Tired (#42)
42. Marshmello/Bastille – Happier (#40) [2 Weeks At #1]
41. Sam Smith/Normani – Dancing With A Stranger (#25)
40. Push Baby – Mama's House (#38)
39. Ellie Goulding/Diplo – Close To Me (#39)
38. P!nk – Hustle (DEBUT)
37. The Chainsmokers/Kelsea Ballerini – This Feeling (#33) [7 Weeks At #1]
36. Public – Make You Mine (DEBUT)
35. Ariana Grande – Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I'm Bored (#31)
34. Panic! At The Disco – High Hopes (#35) [8 Weeks At #1]
33. Alec Benjamin – Let Me Down Slowly (#28)
32. Blanco Brown – The Git Up (DEBUT)
31. Imagine Dragons – Bad Liar (#18)
30. Martin Garrix/Macklemore/Patrick Stump – Summer Days (#23)
29. P!nk – Walk Me Home (#29)
28. Kaskade/Meghan Trainor – With You (#21)
27. Dan + Shay – Speechless (#26)
26. Panic! At The Disco – Dancing's Not A Crime (#24)
25. Lizzo – Truth Hurts (DEBUT)
24. Andy Grammer – Don't Give Up On Me (#32)
23. Bazzi – Paradise (#36)
22. Taylor Swift – You Need To Calm Down (#17)
21. MAX/Quinn XCII – Love Me Less (#30)
20. Ava Max – So Am I (#19)
19. Lewis Capaldi – Someone You Loved (#20)
18. Billie Eilish – Bad Guy (#22)
17. Lil Nas X/Billy Ray Cyrus – Old Town Road (#10)
16. Alec Benjamin – If We Have Each Other (#16)
15. Taylor Swift/Brendon Urie – ME! (#6)
14. 5 Seconds Of Summer – Easier (#14)
13. Ava Max – Sweet But Psycho (#8)
12. Halsey – Without Me (#12) [5 Weeks At #1]
11. Jonas Brothers – Cool (#13)
10. Katy Perry – Never Really Over (#15)
9. Marshmello/CHVRCHES – Here With Me (#11)
8. Shawn Mendes/Camila Cabello – Señorita (DEBUT)
7. Panic! At The Disco – Hey Look Ma, I Made It (#9) [3 Weeks At #1]
6. Khalid – Talk (#7)
5. Ed Sheeran/Justin Bieber – I Don't Care (#5)
4. Halsey – Nightmare (#2)
3. Jonas Brothers – Sucker (#4) [13 Weeks At #1]
2. The Chainsmokers/5 Seconds Of Summer – Who Do You Love (#3)
1. Shawn Mendes – If I Can't Have You (#1) [3rd Week At #1]
#1 Song This Week One Year Ago: Shawn Mendes – In My Blood (1)
Biggest DROP!!!... Of The Week: Sam Smith/Normani – Dancing With A Stranger (–16)
Biggest Jump Of The Week: Bazzi – Paradise (+13) (???)
New Entrants
~ Alright. It is time to run through these unimpressive debuts. The first one, also known as the best one, is Hustle by P!nk. I like this song but I almost feel like it's a guilty pleasure because I feel like the song is objectively not that great. I listened to Hurts 2B Human and there were some great songs there that are better than Hustle. But this is catchy and kind of fun. I like the chorus and it's one of those songs that gets stuck in your head. I certainly prefer it over Walk Me Home, but P!nk has still done a lot better. I'm not that impressed with this, but it is good. I doubt it will last long though unfortunately.
~ Next is Make You Mine by Public, which is apparently from 2014. But it's here now for some reason and it's a decent song at best. It's a fine listen, but there's absolutely nothing memorable about it and nothing that interesting about it. I'm just trying to figure out why it's here. I'm almost certain it will not last long, which would be fine with me.
~ Lord help me with this next debut. It's The Git Up by Blanco Brown. I remember seeing this in the Top 10 on iTunes last month and thinking what an awful song. Sure enough, we're making this song a thing because America's taste has gone to absolute shit and the charts are a complete joke. This is one of the reasons why 2019 has been such a shitty year for music. I'm sure this guy was inspired by Old Town Road when making this song. It's certainly more country, but it just has that same vibe that it's a complete joke of a song. His voice sounds terrible and it just annoys me every time I hear it. The song is pretty bland and probably the weakest country song I've heard this year. So of course we're making this a thing because having Old Town Road clearly was not enough. I just can't with this. It's songs like this that make me embarrassed to be living in a country with this kind of taste.
~ Now we have Truth Hurts by Lizzo. I don't think I'll ever understand why her music is so critically acclaimed. I like her as a person and what she stands for. But her music is just straight up annoying and it's a shame because I want to like her. Truth Hurts is an unbearable listen and a very poor choice for a single. I don't mind the piano, but I find the production very messy and all over the place. Her voice is really annoying to the point where she reminds me of Cardi B and that is certainly not a good thing. I think she has potential to actually be a good singer after hearing Juice. But I'm not here for this terrible rapping. I know the Lizzo stans are probably going to give me shit for this. But I just simply can't stand this song and it bugs me how overrated it is in terms of the charts and the number of people who praise this.
~ Finally, debuting way too damn high all the way up at #8, we have Señorita by Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello. I kinda liked this at first, but it has been fading on me over time. Shawn Mendes is incredibly talented and In My Blood was my second favorite song of 2018. Señorita just does not live up to that and it's not even close. He's so much more talented than this. I like the Latin vibe, but the production leaves a lot to be desired. Shawn sounds pretty good but I do not like Camila Cabello here at all. She is like an anchor holding this song down from being better than it actually is. My other big problem with this (and this might just be a personal thing) is that it's meaningless. I think Shawn's songwriting was at its peak when he released his self-titled last year. But there is just nothing unique or special lyrically here and I know Shawn is capable of better because lyrically, In My Blood was a work of art. This song is underwhelming at best. I wish there was more lyrical depth, I wish there was a better female singer, I wish there were better harmonies, and I just wish this was a better song. It's in blue, but closer to red.
Best Debut of the Week: P!nk – Hustle
Hit-Bound
~ Here is the Hit-Bound list.
- Miley Cyrus – Mother's Daughter
- Stephen Puth – Look Away (DEBUT)
- Dominic Fike – 3 Nights (DEBUT)
- Ed Sheeran/Chance The Rapper/PnB Rock – Cross Me
- SHAED – Trampoline
- Jonas Brothers – Only Human (DEBUT)
- Ellie Goulding/Juice WRLD – Hate Me (DEBUT)
- AJR – 100 Bad Days
- Mark Ronson/Camila Cabello – Find U Again
- Post Malone/Young Thug – Goodbyes (DEBUT)
- Asher Angel – One Thought Away
- Thomas Rhett – Look What God Gave Her (DEBUT)
- The Chainsmokers/Bebe Rexha – Call You Mine
- OneRepublic – Rescue Me
- In Real Life – Crazy AF
~ First is Look Away by Stephen Puth. Perfectly fine song to listen to if it comes on the radio, but not something I would ever actively seek out. I like the production, but his voice is not that great.
~ Next is alt crossover 3 Nights by Dominic Fike. I was on the line between calling it decent and calling it good. Right now I'll just say it's decent, but it could grow on me. I think it's really catchy and I like the chorus.
~ After the overrated Sucker and bland as all hell Cool, the Jonas Brothers have given me hope that Happiness Begins might actually have some content worth listening to as we got Only Human. This is a really good song. I like the little tropical vibe and the vocals are solid as well. So I'll certainly take this since it's the best of the three singles the Jonas Brothers have right now.
~ Next is Hate Me by Ellie Goulding and Juice WRLD. I have not been that impressed by what Ellie Goulding has had to offer this year aside from Flux. This song is a mixed bag at best. It's kind of catchy and Ellie sounds good. But I don't love Juice WRLD here and the song is very repetitive. It's also kind of underwhelming. So I kind of prefer if this didn't become a hit.
~ Next is Goodbyes by Post Malone featuring Young Thug. This song is okay, which tends to be the consensus for Post Malone's music. The production is kind of underwhelming. Post sounds fine for the most part, but I feel like his vibrato sounds very forced and not natural, which goes for all of his songs (especially I Fall Apart). It might just be straight up autotune, but I don't like how unnatural it sounds. I also don't like Young Thug here. So I'm not entirely sure how to feel about this yet.
~ Finally we have Look What God Gave Her by Thomas Rhett. This is not a country song. It's very pop and upbeat, which is not a bad thing. It's a perfectly pleasant listen, but does not come close to Thomas Rhett's best work. I much preferred last year's Marry Me. Look What God Gave Her is fine, but will not be remembered in a few years.
Top 5 Hit-Bound Picks
1. The Chainsmokers/Bebe Rexha – Call You Mine
2. Jonas Brothers – Only Human
3. Miley Cyrus – Mother's Daughter
4. SHAED – Trampoline
5. Mark Ronson/Camila Cabello – Find U Again
YouTube 15
~ Here is the YouTube 15 list.
- Taylor Swift – You Need To Calm Down
- Alan Walker/Sabrina Carpenter/Farruko – On My Way
- Dermot Kennedy – Outnumbered
- Lil Nas X/Billy Ray Cyrus – Old Town Road
- Nicki Minaj – MEGATRON
- Billie Eilish – Bad Guy
- Jaafar Jackson – Got Me Singing
- Halsey – Nightmare
- Ali Gatie – It's You
- Post Malone – Wow
- Runaway June – Buy My Own Drinks
- Sam Smith/Normani – Dancing With A Stranger
- Sebastian Yatra/Jonas Brothers/Daddy Yankee/Natti Natasha – Runaway
- Khalid – Talk
- Ed Sheeran/Chris Stapleton/Bruno Mars – BLOW
~ There's only one song here that I actually want to talk about and that is BLOW by Ed Sheeran, Chris Stapleton, and Bruno Mars from his new collaboration project. I like I Don't Care and I was not feeling Cross Me at all. But BLOW is easily the best of all the pre-released singles. I love this song and part of the reason why is the surprise factor because I was not expecting a rock song like this. The guitar sounds amazing and I love the instrumentation overall. Ed definitely has the voice for this as does Chris Stapleton, whose specialty is rock-leaning country. Even Bruno Mars sounds great here. I love everything about this song and although I haven't listened to the project in full yet, I have a feeling this will be my favorite song on the album.
Blurb Hurts
~ I Don't Care is the only good song in the Top 5, so I'm really hoping it can get to #1 at some point. It would be very deserving of it. I'm also really happy to see Nightmare slipping to #4. We need to keep that away from #1 at all costs.
~ It's nice to see Here With Me back in the Top 10, but did we really need to let Never Really Over enter as well? Coming from someone who liked Teenage Dream era Katy Perry, this is hard to listen to with that awful chorus. I think this is already underperforming on the charts, so hopefully it will start dropping soon.
~ Sweet But Psycho by Ava Max seems to finally be dropping. Every year, there is that one pop song that is always on the radio to the point where it drives me insane. Sweet But Psycho is that song for 2019.
~ I'm not sure I understand why Paradise by Bazzi jumped so much. It's not a very good song and it's not even a hit. So I would appreciate if we didn't make it one. Hopefully it drops again soon, preferably next week.
~ We did have a few drops this week. Summer Days is still pretty new and did not deserve to drop as much as it did. Bad Liar has been around for a while, so its time was coming to an end. And Dancing With A Stranger dropped very suddenly. I really think this should've been a #1 hit like it was on the American Top 40. But for some reason that just did not happen and it is unfortunate.
~ As far as the exits go, I was never huge on Thinkin Bout You. I just could never get into that song for some reason so I'm okay with its departure. Wow is probably the best of the five and while I don't love it, other songs should've gone out first. I was never a fan of So Close. I thought that song was underwhelming for the amount of producers that worked on it and I did not like the vocals. And good riddance to Bury A Friend and When The Party's Over. Both songs alone are able to describe why I do not like Billie Eilish because one tries way too hard to be cool and edgy, but fails miserably, and the other is a fucking snoozefest. Neither of these will be missed.
Top 20 Review
0 – Crap:
20. Halsey – Nightmare
19. Halsey – Without Me
18. Katy Perry – Never Really Over
17. Ava Max – So Am I
1 – Bad:
16. Jonas Brothers – Cool
15. Ava Max – Sweet But Psycho
14. Lewis Capaldi – Someone You Loved
13. Lil Nas X/Billy Ray Cyrus – Old Town Road
12. Billie Eilish – Bad Guy
11. Alec Benjamin – If We Have Each Other
10. Khalid – Talk
2 – Mediocre:
9. Jonas Brothers – Sucker
8. The Chainsmokers/5 Seconds Of Summer – Who Do You Love
7. Shawn Mendes – If I Can't Have You
6. Panic! At The Disco – Hey Look Ma, I Made It
5. Shawn Mendes/Camila Cabello – Señorita
3 – Decent:
4. 5 Seconds Of Summer – Easier
4 – Good:
3. Taylor Swift/Brendon Urie – ME!
2. Ed Sheeran/Justin Bieber – I Don't Care
5 – Great:
1. Marshmello/CHVRCHES – Here With Me
Overall Score: 33/100 = 33% (D)
Throwback Pick Of The Week: Carrie Underwood – Cowboy Casanova
#1 Recommendation For Hits 1: Tie Between Kygo/Whitney Houston – Higher Love and Ed Sheeran/Chris Stapleton/Bruno Mars – BLOW
Favorite Countdown Song This Week One Year Ago: Foster The People – Sit Next To Me (#13)
My Top 5 Picks
1. TIE: Martin Garrix/Macklemore/Patrick Stump – Summer Days
1. TIE: Andy Grammer – Don't Give Up On Me
3. The Chainsmokers/Kelsea Ballerini – This Feeling
4. Sam Smith/Normani – Dancing With A Stranger
5. Marshmello/CHVRCHES – Here With Me
