Shawn Mendes (5) – Week Of August 10, 2019

Hey guys! For once I actually have a post out on time! I doubt this will become a regular thing, but it's a nice thing on occasion and it feels good for me to get it done during the weekend. Also, hopefully you've been keeping up with the 2010s rankdown. We have reached the Top 30 so if you haven't been paying attention, go catch yourself up. Before we get to this week's Fresh 45, here are the songs we're saying goodbye to this week.

• Martin Garrix/Macklemore/Patrick Stump – Summer Days (#37)
• Bazzi – Paradise (#39)
• Push Baby – Mama's House (#41)
• Ellie Goulding/Diplo – Close To Me (#42)
• Sam Smith/Normani – Dancing With A Stranger (#44)
• Twenty One Pilots – Chlorine (#45)

Last Week's #1 Song: Shawn Mendes – If I Can't Have You

The Countdown

45. P!nk – Walk Me Home (#40)

44. Ava Max – Sweet But Psycho (#32)

43. Marshmello/Bastille – Happier (#43) [2 Weeks At #1]

42. Asher Angel – One Thought Away (DEBUT)

41. Kaskade/Meghan Trainor – With You (#25)

40. Imagine Dragons – Bad Liar (#38)

39. Miley Cyrus – Mother's Daughter (DEBUT)

38. The Chainsmokers/Kelsea Ballerini – This Feeling (#35) [7 Weeks At #1]

37. Panic! At The Disco – High Hopes (#36) [8 Weeks At #1]

36. SHAED – Trampoline (DEBUT)

35. Mark Ronson/Camila Cabello – Find U Again (DEBUT)

34. Stephen Puth – Look Away (DEBUT)

33. Halsey – Without Me (#29) [5 Weeks At #1]

32. OneRepublic – Rescue Me (DEBUT)

31. Taylor Swift/Brendon Urie – ME! (#30)

30. Alec Benjamin – Let Me Down Slowly (#28)

29. Post Malone/Young Thug – Goodbyes (#24)

28. Dan + Shay – Speechless (#26)

27. Marshmello/CHVRCHES – Here With Me (#17)

26. P!nk – Hustle (#33)

25. Blanco Brown – The Git Up (#27)

24. Public – Make You Mine (#31)

23. Ava Max – So Am I (#7)

22. Andy Grammer – Don't Give Up On Me (#23)

21. Katy Perry – Never Really Over (#20)

20. AJR – 100 Bad Days (#34)

19. The Chainsmokers/Bebe Rexha – Call You Mine (#15)

18. Panic! At The Disco – Dancing's Not A Crime (#16)

17. Lil Nas X/Billy Ray Cyrus – Old Town Road (#8)

16. Billie Eilish – Bad Guy (#10)

15. Taylor Swift – You Need To Calm Down (#4)

14. Jonas Brothers – Cool (#9)

13. Ed Sheeran/Justin Bieber – I Don't Care (#12)

12. MAX/Quinn XCII – Love Me Less (#14)

11. Panic! At The Disco – Hey Look Ma, I Made It (#6) [3 Weeks At #1]

10. Khalid – Talk (#18)

  9. Lewis Capaldi – Someone You Loved (#19)

  8. Shawn Mendes/Camila Cabello – Señorita (#13)

  7. Lizzo – Truth Hurts (#22)

  6. Jonas Brothers – Sucker (#3) [13 Weeks At #1]

  5. 5 Seconds Of Summer – Easier (#11)

  4. Halsey – Nightmare (#2)

  3. Alec Benjamin – If We Have Each Other (#21)

  2. The Chainsmokers/5 Seconds Of Summer – Who Do You Love (#5) [2 Weeks At #1]

  1. Shawn Mendes – If I Can't Have You (#1) [5^th Week At #1]


#1 Song This Week One Year Ago: Panic! At The Disco – High Hopes (1)

Biggest DROP!!!... Of The Week: Tie Between Kaskade/Meghan Trainor – With You and Ava Max – So Am I (–16)

Biggest Jump Of The Week: Alec Benjamin – If We Have Each Other (+18)


New Entrants
~ We have six debuts this week as well as three from the past two weeks that I haven't talked about yet. Starting with the ones from two weeks ago, we have Goodbyes by Post Malone and Young Thug. This song is okay. I think it is quite a bit better than some of Post Malone's other songs like Psycho. I just don't really like his vocals. There's too much forced vibrato and I don't like how it sounds. Young Thug kinda sucks but it seems like Hits 1 is playing a version without him, which I guess improves the song. It's still an okay song at best and I don't see it growing on me.

~ Next is Call You Mine by The Chainsmokers and Bebe Rexha. This is far from The Chainsmokers' best work, which is very easily Something Just Like This. It's not the best song they have on the countdown, but I find it a hell lot more interesting than Who Do You Love. Getting the song's worst qualities out of the way first, the drop sounds like a recreation of Closer, which was already generic. So I'm not a fan of that. But other than that, I think this is a really good song and I love Bebe Rexha's vocals here. Sure, it's a bit generic. But I personally enjoy it.

~ Last week, we had the debut of 100 Bad Days by AJR. I will say right off the bat that it's not the worst thing AJR have brought to Hits 1. Songs like I'm Ready, Weak, and Burn The House Down are far worse. My main issues with AJR are their lyrics/songwriting skills and the fact that a lot of what they release is very loud and overproduced. The three songs I just mentioned are perfect examples. 100 Bad Days has some pretty cringe-inducing lyrics. The chorus is very annoying and, like I mentioned, overproduced. The weird speak vocals right before the chorus do not fit in at all and it just sounds bad. I don't know why someone thought that was a good idea. And I just think their voices are not very interesting. I don't think they're very good singers, they suck at songwriting, and they need actual producers. They like to say that they produce their own music, but it sounds like shit. So I'd prefer if this was not a hit but of course it's already in the Top 20.

~ Moving on to this week's debuts, we have One Thought Away by Asher Angel, who happens to be from the movie Shazam. This kid is essentially Austin Brown with a slightly better voice. I don't think he's a great singer by any means, but the song is okay I guess. It's kinda catchy and I don't think anything about it is necessarily bad. I just don't really know why it's here and I doubt it'll stick around long.

~ Next is Miley Cyrus with Mother's Daughter. Even though I wasn't exactly a fan of hers in 2013 when she released Bangerz, I do like Miley Cyrus for the most part. I think she has a very good voice and it's unique to herself. I can always tell when it's her. Mother's Daughter is not her best work, but it's solid. She kind of took a risk here and I think it paid off. It's an interesting song and I like what she was going for. So I enjoy it and I hope it can stick around for a little while at least.

~ Up next is alternative crossover Trampoline by SHAED. This is not something that I ever pictured would be a mainstream hit, but I'm kinda glad it's here since it's one of the better songs on the countdown. There's not a whole lot to it, but that's kind of the appeal of it. It's simplistic and it's catchy. Her voice is really good and I like the song overall. I hope it can stick around.

~ Immediately following that, we have Mark Ronson and Camila Cabello with Find U Again. I like Mark Ronson and I think he's a good producer. But I'm pretty indifferent on this song. It just has nothing interesting to it. Uptown Funk had that cool funk vibe and Nothing Breaks Like A Heart had that amazing guitar. Find U Again has nothing going for it. I'm not a fan of the bass-heavy production and I don't like Camila Cabello with auto tune. It's not exactly a bad song, but it's just underwhelming for someone like Mark Ronson. I expected this to be better.

~ Next is Look Away by Stephen Puth. I simply do not care about this song. It's fine but it's just not memorable at all. I kind of like his baritone voice, but I think it sounded better in Sexual Vibe. That song also had much better production. This is kind of just there and I doubt it will have any longevity. It is just here to fill space.

~ Finally we have OneRepublic with Rescue Me. I've been a big fan of these guys since Dreaming Out Loud and their Waking Up singles like Secrets, All The Right Moves, and Good Life are ones that I revisit plenty of times. I was even a fan through the Oh My My era and I enjoyed the three singles from that album despite them having next to no mainstream success. Now we have Rescue Me and this is pretty bland if I'm being totally honest. It's weirdly catchy, but it's underwhelming at the same time. These guys can do so much better and I just find this disappointing as someone who's been a consistent fan of them. Hopefully their future releases will be more interesting.


Best Debut of the Week: Miley Cyrus – Mother's Daughter


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

• Jax Jones/Bebe Rexha – Harder
• Panic! At The Disco – Roaring 20s (DEBUT)
• Zara Larsson – All The Time
• Ellie Goulding/Juice WRLD – Hate Me
• Twenty One Pilots – The Hype (DEBUT)
• Taylor Swift – The Archer
• Alec Benjamin – Jesus In LA (DEBUT)
• Sam Smith – How Do You Sleep?
• Katy Perry – Small Talk (DEBUT)
• Ariana Grande/Social House – Boyfriend (DEBUT)
• Thomas Rhett – Look What God Gave Her
• Ed Sheeran/Khalid – Beautiful People
• Dominic Fike – 3 Nights
• Jonas Brothers – Only Human
• Lizzo – Good As Hell (DEBUT)

~ Harder has good vocals but it's pretty underwhelming for the most part. Roaring 20s is another one of the less interesting songs from Pray For The Wicked. The chorus is catchy, but the beginning is annoying and the last chorus is a little too noisy for me.

~ The Hype was one of the few songs I enjoyed when I listened to Trench last year. At the time it was my favorite song on the album, but it kinda faded on me a little bit over time. I still like the song, but I don't think it's as good as songs like Levitate, which has been my favorite on the album for a while now. Still, it's definitely more interesting than Chlorine.

~ I like The Archer a reasonable amount. I think it sounds nice and I always enjoy a nice quieter song like this. It's peaceful and interesting at the same time. Jesus In LA is pretty nice instrumentally. But I just don't like his voice. Like I genuinely do not think he is a good singer. He's too high-pitched to the point where he sounds like a child and he's 25 years old. I don't know if there's anything that can be done to help the problem, but it's the main thing that's keeping his music from being good.

~ I like Sam Smith but How Do You Sleep is not very good. I just don't think his voice fits this kind of production. I think he's much better off making songs similar to those from In The Lonely Hour. Whatever he was going for here did not work out very well and that drop sounds really bad. I don't usually dislike Sam Smith's music, but I'm just not a fan of this.

~ Despite me not liking Never Really Over whatsoever, I still had hope for new Katy Perry releases. I'm not a fan of Small Talk. I think the production is too minimalistic and her voice is not good enough to carry the song. People know Katy Perry for her upbeat and fun summer-type anthems like a lot of what Teenage Dream had to offer. This is just too underwhelming and it's disappointing. I don't think Katy has it in her anymore.

~ Ariana Grande continues to not impress me as she releases Boyfriend. I'm just not a fan of this path she chose to take. It's subjective and I can see why others like this as well as thank u, next. But I just don't like trap production for the most part and I just think it's so underwhelming for her. Her voice is not that great here. The members of Social House don't sound very good. And I just don't like the beat at all. It's just my opinion, but I do not like this.

~ Beautiful People has come in in place of Cross Me, which I'm very happy about since I was not a fan of Cross Me at all and I thought Beautiful People was one of the best songs on the album. The beat is kind of weird but the song is catchy. I love Ed Sheeran's voice here and I thought Khalid was a really good fit as well. The song is well-written and I really like the chorus. So yeah I like this. I'm really happy this song is here.

~ I think the one opinion that will surprise people is that I actually like a Lizzo song. I find it odd that Good As Hell is gaining momentum despite being even older than Truth Hurts. But I actually like this. It's upbeat and fun. There's no trap production. And I actually like how she sounds here. She definitely has the talent. It's just that her last couple of songs haven't shown that. But this is a win for me.

Top 5 Hit-Bound Picks

1. Jonas Brothers – Only Human

2. Ed Sheeran/Khalid – Beautiful People

3. Twenty One Pilots – The Hype

4. Dominic Fike – 3 Nights

5. Zara Larsson – All The Time

100 Bad Blurbs

~ Our current Top 10 is a big yikes. If I Can't Have You is the most tolerable of these songs so I kind of hope it stays at #1. Who Do You Love at #2 is still pretty insane since the song flopped months ago. And why the hell is an irrelevant Alec Benjamin song in the Top 3? He's not a good singer, the song is not that good, and it's not the third biggest song in North America.

~ Truth Hurts made a big jump into the Top 10 this week. This song is just not my thing at all. I still find it very annoying and I'm not exactly sure why we're making it a thing when Lizzo clearly has much better songs.

~ You Need To Calm Down thankfully dropped after jumping into the Top 5 last week. I like Taylor but that song is the pure definition of bland album filler that should not be a single

~ So Am I by Ava Max collapsed after spending one week in the Top 10. I know I always just call it Sweet But Psycho because it is the same song. But even not taking that into consideration, it is a bland pop song. Maybe it wouldn't be as bad but it certainly wouldn't be good.

~ It probably will not be very long until Hustle is off the countdown since it's not actually a single. So I'm enjoying it while it's still here. And it made a nice jump this week even though it's probably drop soon.

~ With You got hit hard this week since Hits 1 finally realized that it's not actually relevant at all. We really don't need to be giving Meghan Trainor any more hits, so I'd love if this just dropped out and we didn't hear from her again.

~ As far as the exits go, no one cared about Mama's House. Paradise was never that good. Close To Me is one of Ellie Goulding's worst singles, if not her worst. I just cannot stand that chorus with the "cloooooose to meeeeee!" Chlorine was never my thing although I understood the appeal to it. The only two songs I'll be missing are Dancing With A Stranger, which I'm glad was a hit although it should've done better, and Summer Days, which definitely should've been a bigger hit since it was one of the best songs on the countdown.

Top 20 Review

0 – Crap:

20. Lizzo – Truth Hurts

19. Halsey – Nightmare

18. AJR – 100 Bad Days

1 – Bad:

17. Taylor Swift – You Need To Calm Down

16. Lil Nas X/Billy Ray Cyrus – Old Town Road

15. Alec Benjamin – If We Have Each Other

14. Jonas Brothers – Cool

13. Billie Eilish – Bad Guy

12. 5 Seconds Of Summer – Easier

11. Khalid – Talk

10. Shawn Mendes/Camila Cabello – Señorita

9. Lewis Capaldi – Someone You Loved

2 – Mediocre:

8. The Chainsmokers/5 Seconds Of Summer – Who Do You Love

7. Jonas Brothers – Sucker

6. Panic! At The Disco – Hey Look Ma, I Made It

5. Shawn Mendes – If I Can't Have You

3 – Decent:

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

3. MAX/Quinn XCII – Love Me Less

4 – Good:

NONE

5 – Great:

2. Ed Sheeran/Justin Bieber – I Don't Care

1. The Chainsmokers/Bebe Rexha – Call You Mine

Overall Score: 33/100 = 33% (D)

Throwback Pick Of The Week: Coldplay – Speed Of Sound

#1 Recommendation For Hits 1: Avicii/Chris Martin – Heaven

Favorite Countdown Song This Week One Year Ago: Foster The People – Sit Next To Me (#13)

My Top 5 Picks

1. Andy Grammer – Don't Give Up On Me

2. The Chainsmokers/Kelsea Ballerini – This Feeling

3. Marshmello/CHVRCHES – Here With Me

4. Imagine Dragons – Bad Liar

5. The Chainsmokers/Bebe Rexha – Call You Mine