Fall Out Boy (1) – Week Of August 25, 2018

Hey guys! So nowadays I have to try to get these posts over the weekend if possible. If it doesn't come out over the weekend, then that's when it'll end up coming out late in the week and I want to get it done as soon as possible. Anyway, we are cleaning house this week. Before we get to this week's Fresh 45, here are the songs we're saying goodbye to this week.

• Bebe Rexha/Florida Georgia Line – Meant To Be (#21) [1 Week At #1]
• The Weeknd/Kendrick Lamar – Pray For Me (#33)
• Walk The Moon – One Foot (#39)
• U2/Cheat Codes – Love Is Bigger Than Anything In Its Way (#41)
• MNEK/Hailee Steinfeld – Colour (#43)
• Sugarland/Taylor Swift – Babe (#44)
• Bazzi – Mine (#45)

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

The Countdown

45. Lauv – I Like Me Better (#34)

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

43. Drake – In My Feelings (#36)

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

41. Alessia Cara – Growing Pains (#24)

40. 5 Seconds of Summer – Want You Back (#37) [1 Week At #1]

39. George Ezra – Shotgun (DEBUT)

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

37. Train/Cam/Travie McCoy – Call Me Sir (DEBUT)

36. Halsey – Alone (#35)

35. Brown & Gray – Top Down (DEBUT)

34. PNAU – Go Bang (#38)

33. Weezer – Africa (DEBUT)

32. Niall Horan – On The Loose (#29)

31. Dennis Lloyd – Nevermind (DEBUT)

30. Dua Lipa – IDGAF (#26)

29. Maroon 5 – Wait (#25)

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

27. Charlie Puth – The Way I Am (DEBUT)

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

25. Post Malone – Better Now (#14)

24. Bebe Rexha – I'm a Mess (#30)

23. PRETTYMUCH – Summer On You (#27)

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

21. Dan + Shay – Tequila (#31)

20. Ariana Grande – God Is A Woman (DEBUT)

19. Imagine Dragons – Natural (#17)

18. Khalid/Normani – Love Lies (#16)

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

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

15. NOTD/Bea Miller – I Wanna Know (#6)
14. Shawn Mendes – In My Blood (#23) [2 Weeks At #1]
13. Taylor Swift – Delicate (#10) [2 Weeks At #1]
12. Ariana Grande – No Tears Left To Cry (#12)
11. lovelytheband – Broken (#19)
10. Zedd/Maren Morris/Grey – The Middle (#4) [9 Weeks At #1]
  9. Imagine Dragons – Whatever It Takes (#9) [1 Week At #1]
  8. Calvin Harris/Dua Lipa – One Kiss (#8)
  7. Backstreet Boys – Don't Go Breaking My Heart (#13)
  6. Selena Gomez – Back To You (#2)
  5. Panic! At The Disco – Say Amen (Saturday Night) (#5) [4 Weeks At #1]
  4. Maroon 5/Cardi B – Girls Like You (#11)
  3. 5 Seconds of Summer – Youngblood (#3)
  2. Panic! At The Disco – High Hopes (#1) [2 Weeks At #1]
  1. Fall Out Boy – The Last Of The Real Ones (#7) [1^st Week At #1]

#1 Song This Week One Year Ago: Charlie Puth – Attention (1)

Biggest DROP!!!... Of The Week: Alessia Cara – Growing Pains (–17)

Biggest Jump Of The Week: Dan + Shay – Tequila (+10)

New Entrants
~ First up we have George Ezra with Shotgun. I talked about this one last week when it was on Hit-Bound. I like the song. I think George Ezra is a talented individual. He has a great voice and I like the instrumentation on this song. It's very different and unique. I'm not sure how this song will do here, but hopefully it does decent at least because it is a good song.

~ Next we have Train with Call Me Sir featuring Cam and Travie McCoy. Train have been going a weird direction with their music lately. I much prefer their older work. I'm not huge on this new stuff. I liked Play That Song in more of a guilty pleasure kind of way. Call Me Sir really does not have any redeeming qualities. The pacing is slow and I'm not huge on the songwriting. The guest features did nothing for the song. This style really just doesn't fit Train in my opinion and I would prefer if they made faster-type songs like Drive By.

~ Following that we have country duo Brown & Gray with Top Down. This song was released over a year ago, but it's here now anyway. I think this song is much better than the majority of mainstream country music. The lyrics here are good. I like the instrumentation. Both vocalists sound good on their own as well as together. It's a nice song overall and it's good to see underrated songs get some attention on here. I'm curious to see how it'll do here.

~ In the middle of it all, we have Weezer with their cover of Africa by Toto. I've never been a huge fan of Weezer. My brother is the one who's more interested in them. I think they did a nice job with this cover. It sounds very similar to the original. Rivers Cuomo does a nice job on the vocals. I think it's really good. My opinion on this is similar to my opinion on Zombie by Bad Wolves. Both are really good covers. While they don't top the original versions, the covers are still good on their own.

~ Next we have long-time Hit-Bound veteran Dennis Lloyd – Nevermind. I actually said that I thought this song had no chance of being on this countdown. Now here it is. There's not much to say here because there's not much to this song. The lyrical content is very limited. It seems like it's basically the same lines being repeated over and over again, especially the chorus. I don't really like his voice. I can't understand a single thing he's saying. The song is only two and a half minutes. The production is the only redeeming quality here. So yeah. Not a huge fan of this one.

~ I'm not huge on the fact that Charlie Puth selected The Way I Am as the next single from Voicenotes. I remember first hearing this song when it was released as a promotional single before the album came out and thinking, "This is not that good," especially compared to songs like Attention and Done For Me. Of course it's another song he produced on his own and I can't say this one worked out as well as it did with the other singles. This one is hard to explain honestly. But I don't love his vocals and I'm not huge on the lyrics either. It's not hard to picture myself potentially enjoying this song in the future, but I don't really think that'll be the case.

~ With the highest debut of the week, we have Ariana Grande with the next single from Sweetener, titled God Is A Woman, which I'm sure is a controversial title to those who are religious. I don't really know what to think here. My opinion is practically the same as it was when it debuted on Hit-Bound a while ago. The song doesn't actually grab my attention until the end when Ariana actually shows what she's capable of vocally. The rest of the song I find rather boring, but that's just me obviously. I know people will disagree with me and that's okay. It's all subjective. I just don't think this song is that great and I can't picture myself ever listening to this in my free time.


Best Debut of the Week: Weezer – Africa


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

• DJ Khaled/Justin Bieber/Chance The Rapper/Quavo – No Brainer
• Marshmello/Bastille – Happier (DEBUT)
• Sabrina Carpenter – Almost Love
• Zedd/Elley Duhé – Happy Now
• The Vamps – Just My Type (DEBUT)
• LSD – Thunderclouds (DEBUT)
• Panic! At The Disco – Hey Look Ma, I Made It (DEBUT)
• NF – Lie
• Clean Bandit/Demi Lovato – Solo (DEBUT)
• Bazzi/Camila Cabello – Beautiful
• Walk The Moon – Kamikaze (DEBUT)
• Calvin Harris/Sam Smith – Promises (DEBUT)
• Anne-Marie – 2002
• AJR – Burn The House Down
• Bryce Vine – Drew Barrymore (DEBUT)

~ Marshmello brings another song. This one is Happier with Bastille. The production here is not very interesting. I know Marshmello is capable of more. He has become very mainstream similar to Zedd, though not that low. I do like the vocals though from Dan Smith. But I'm fascinated by how the band is credited here. What exactly did the other members contribute?

~ The Vamps are back. They bring us Just My Type, which is nothing more than just a good song. I like some of their other songs more like Somebody To You and All Night. This one seems fun and all, but not too memorable in the long.

~ I was really hoping Hits 1 would be smart and not pick up a song from LSD. This is a collaboration between three of the most random artists: Labrinth, Sia, and Diplo. And my goodness this is awful. I think Thunderclouds is the third song they've released. Audio and Genius both sucked ass. This new one is no different. The production is extremely weird and actually pretty annoying. The vocals are irritating and there are some chopped vocals somewhere in there, which you all know that I dislike. The single covers are hard to look at. This whole project is just a weird mess that is just so random and unnecessary. Seriously. Sia is so much better than this. It's such a shame to see her go this route.

~ Thankfully right after that mess, we have Hey Look Ma, I Made It, which was and still is one of my favorite songs from Pray For The Wicked. It's catchy, Brendon sounds great as always, and I love the use of the horns in the chorus. Overall, great song that I'm glad is here and I hope to see it on the countdown soon.

~ I've always liked Clean Bandit and I think they're very underrated. Solo is not their best work by any means. But I really like Demi Lovato's vocals and the production is still pretty good. Overall, I like the song as I do with their other songs. It's not their best, but I like it for what it is.

~ After the departure of One Foot, we have Walk The Moon here with Kamikaze. Obviously, it's not as good as its predecessor or Shut Up and Dance for that matter. But I still think this song is good. It's just a little bit weirder, which isn't always a bad thing. LSD is bad weird, this song is good weird.

~ With the success of One Kiss, Calvin Harris releases another single, titled Promises. This one is okay if I'm being honest. I could grow into it, but right now it didn't stand out as anything amazing. I like the production for the most part, but I don't know if Sam Smith's voice is meant to be on an EDM track. It worked well with Latch by Disclosure, but this isn't exactly the same thing. And there's this other weird voice in the background in the chorus that really should not be there. So right now, I don't love this one.

~ Finally we have Bryce Vine with Drew Barrymore. This one has underwhelming production and mediocre vocals. There's really not much else to say. It's not an awful song, but it's kind of bland and boring.

Top 5 Hit-Bound Picks

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

2. NF – Lie

3. Sabrina Carpenter – Almost Love

4. Clean Bandit/Demi Lovato – Solo

5. Walk The Moon – Kamikaze

The Way I Blurb

~ Fall Out Boy – The Last Of The Real Ones is #1 this week. Consider me pleasantly surprised. I did not see that coming, but I'm very happy about it. This is a great song that is underrated and I'm happy to see it up at #1. Hits 1 did a nice job here. This is definitely the best song from MANIA.

~ Maroon 5/Cardi B – Girls Like You is of course now up in the Top 5. It was only a matter of time. With how successful this song is right now because of Cardi B's contribution, I could very well see this song at #1 in the near future unlike their previous singles.

~ Wow. This is insane. Zedd/Maren Morris – The Middle is down to the #10. This is the first time it is out of the Top 5 in seemingly forever. Hopefully this means we can finally start seeing it make its way down.

~ lovelytheband – Broken is catching on quickly as it's already right outside of the Top 10. I have no problems with that since I do actually like the song now.

~ Alessia Cara – Growing Pains made a sudden drop to the Bottom 5. I really don't care about this song, so to me this is actually a good thing. I wouldn't mind seeing it off the countdown within the next couple weeks.

~ Can we PLEASE get rid of Lauv – I Like Me Better already??? This is not even funny. This song is terrible and it is somehow still here. I can't think of anything I hate more than that opening.

~ As far as the exits go, Colour was not going to last. Babe flopped unfortunately, which is a shame because it's a good song. Love Is Bigger Than Anything In Its Way did decent-ish here. It never got to the upper half of the countdown, but it stayed longer than I thought it would. So that's something. Mine deserved to leave. The song has really only gotten worse with each listen. Meant To Be, One Foot, and Pray For Me all had great runs on the countdown. The former left sooner than I expected, but it still lasted a long time. Pray For Me went above and beyond my expectations, which is a good thing. And One Foot was a fantastic song that got robbed for never hitting #1. This song will definitely be missed by me. But I'm glad it lasted as long as it did even though it lost all popularity a long time ago.

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. Ariana Grande – God Is A Woman

16. Ariana Grande – No Tears Left To Cry

15. Maroon 5/Cardi B – Girls Like You

4 – Good:

NONE

5 – Great:

14. Taylor Swift – Delicate

13. Shawn Mendes – In My Blood

12. lovelytheband – Broken

11. Imagine Dragons – Whatever It Takes

10. Imagine Dragons – Natural

9. Calvin Harris/Dua Lipa – One Kiss

8. Panic! At The Disco – Say Amen

7. Selena Gomez – Back To You

6. Khalid/Normani – Love Lies

5. 5 Seconds Of Summer – Youngblood

4. Panic! At The Disco – High Hopes

3. Fall Out Boy – The Last Of The Real Ones

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% (A)

Throwback Pick Of The Week: Lady Gaga – Bad Romance

Most Missed Countdown Song: Swedish House Mafia/John Martin – Don't You Worry Child

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

Favorite Countdown Song This Week One Year Ago: Kesha – Praying (#20)

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. Fall Out Boy – The Last Of The Real Ones

5. Panic! At The Disco – High Hopes

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

Summer Special: Rankdown

Hey guys! I like trying to do other things on this blog besides just posting weekly. So I came up with the idea of doing a rankdown very similar to what blogger "." has done on his blog. You can consider this the special for hitting two million pageviews and for the five-year anniversary of this blog existing since I doubt I'll be able to do much else in the future with school and stuff. A whole page is dedicated to this and it is linked below as well as the top of this site with the other pages. All the information you need is there. I encourage people to participate, but it is your choice of course.

Link: http://siriusxmhits1weekendcountdown.blogspot.com/p/billboard-ye-h100-rankdown-2013.html



Also, as a little extra, I thought I'd talk a little bit about season 13 of the summer show America's Got Talent. I watch the show every year, though I don't do regular reviews because it's a lot of work. However, I do want to give some thoughts now because we just finished the Judge Cuts, which is the second round of the competition. Starting tomorrow night are the live shows, which will be fun to watch.

There were four rounds of Judge Cuts and seven acts advanced to the live shows each week. There were also five acts that received the golden buzzer in the auditions, which advanced them to the live shows skipping the Judge Cuts. Finally, there are three wildcard acts, which have all been revealed. This brings the total performers to 36 and 12 will perform each week for three weeks in the quarterfinals. Out of these 36 acts that will perform, I will be counting down my Top 10 favorites. So let's kick it off with #10.

10. Angel City Chorale
There have been a few choirs in the past on America's Got Talent. But the Angel City Chorale is such a unique one and a very large one as well. I loved their audition where they sang Africa by Toto. It was one of the auditions I remember the most. When they all sing together, it just sounds very magical. Their Judge Cuts performance was fantastic as well. It was so great that even got the golden buzzer from guest judge Olivia Munn. I think it was easily the most-deserved golden buzzer of the year. Seeing the diversity and hearing them sing together is just amazing. I hope they do well in the live rounds.

9. Joseph O'Brien
Joseph is a singer and pianist. Ever since Simon Cowell joined the judging panel in season 11, it seems like we've been getting more singers than ever. But there's something about Joseph that just stands out to me. I really liked both his audition and his Judge Cuts performance, the latter of which was also an original song, making it even better. He's probably my favorite male vocalist this season. I think he has a great voice and I see a lot of potential in him. Having heard his voice and that original song, I have a feeling he could do very well in the future beyond this show.

8. Samuel J. Comroe
Samuel is one of two comedians left in the competition and he is hilarious. His audition was very enjoyable when he took his tourette syndrome and made it into such a positive thing. It almost reminded me of Drew Lynch from season 10, who was a comedian with a stutter and was the runner-up. His Judge Cuts performance was even funnier. I love his material and the way he speaks. He's just a funny person all around and I love a good comedian like him.

7. Vicki Barbolak
Vicki is the second of two comedians remaining and I think she is hilarious as well. Her audition was good and her Judge Cuts performance was even better. Like Samuel, part of what makes her funny is her personality and the way she talks. I love good comedians like Samuel and Vicki and I have a feeling she could go far in this competition if she keeps this up because she is genuinely hilarious.

6. Us The Duo
Married couple Carissa and Michael have auditioned for America's Got Talent this year after already being pretty popular on YouTube and after having toured with Pentatonix back in 2016. I think they're very talented and they obviously have great chemistry. Their audition where they performed their song No Matter Where You Are was very good and I loved their energy and how they were playing the instruments. Their Judge Cuts performance of (Stop) Just Love was also enjoyable. I really like these two. I'm not sure what Howie Mandel is on when he watches them, but they are clearly very talented. They could do well in this competition given that they already have a fanbase.

5. Brian King Joseph
We don't usually get very many instrumentalists who don't sing and actually do well on this show. Brian is a violinist and I don't think we've had one of those since Lindsey Stirling in season 5 I believe. I think this guy is very talented and what he does. For his audition he performed Lean On by Major Lazer on the violin and for his Judge Cuts performance, he did Something Just Like This by The Chainsmokers. Both were very enjoyable. And on top of being a great violinist, he seems like such an amazing person. He's very energetic. He has a great positive attitude. He's very humble. His smile is infectious. I could go on all day about how great he is. He's very unique and I have a feeling he could be the next Lindsey Stirling.

4. Aaron Crow
The mysteriously silent danger act Aaron Crow brought us some great performances this season. I'm not usually a huge fan of danger acts, but Aaron has me on the edge of my seat. In his audition, he nearly killed Howie Mandel slicing a pineapple with a sword while blinded. In his Judge Cuts performance, he nearly took out Heidi Klum and/or guest judge Ken Jeong shooting an apple off Heidi's head with an arrow while spinning. He's very entertaining and the fact that he doesn't speak actually makes the act even better because you don't know what's going to happen. I think he's great and I really look forward to his next performance.

3. The Sacred Riana
Another mysterious act. She's supposed to be this creepy girl with a doll and a weird twitch. I will say that she never leaves character, which I find impressive. Her audition was good and I thought the Judge Cuts performance was a step up. She's like a magician, but she also puts on this weird, creepy show that I actually really enjoy. From the way that she looks to the way that she acts to the way that she speaks, she has a great character that I would love to see go far in this competition. She's unique and easily one of the most memorable acts, hence why she's one of my personal favorites.

2. We Three
These three are a sibling band and they're the only band we have this season. I loved their first audition where they performed an original that was dedicated to their mother who had passed away from cancer. It was very emotional and Mel B was moved to tears since she had gone through a similar experience with her father. Their Judge Cuts performance was also amazing as they performed another original. These guys are great songwriters, singers, and musicians. Seriously, the guy in the back does drums and keyboard. I can feel every word they sing. They got praise from guest judge Martina McBride and I love them. I can see them in the finals, maybe even in the Top 5. They are just fantastic and I'm glad they decided to come on this show.

1. Glennis Grace
Right off the bat, this woman is incredible. I've heard a lot of singers obviously because I review music. But Glennis has one of the best voices I have ever heard and I genuinely mean that. Her audition with Whitney Houston's Run To You is easily the best audition this year and while she did deserve a golden buzzer, I'm kinda glad she didn't get one because that meant we got to see her again in the Judge Cuts. But seriously, that audition was phenomenal and I got chills at so many points in the song. Her second performance was with Nothing Compares 2 U by Prince and once again, it was absolutely stunning. If guest judge Chris Hardwick hadn't used his golden buzzer earlier in the show, he probably would've used it for her. This woman is not only the best singer in the competition, but she is the best act of the year and she deserves to win. I haven't felt this strongly about any act this year until I saw her. She's beautiful, her voice is incredible, and she is a great performer. I absolutely love her and I encourage people to vote for her when she performs in the live shows.



So those are my favorites on this season of America's Got Talent. I'm not sure when I'll do another update on the show since I don't do weekly reviews anymore. But we'll see with time I guess. I hope you enjoyed and if you plan on participating in my rankdown, I hope you have fun putting your list together. That's all I have for you today and I will see you again with my next countdown post.

Panic! At The Disco (1) – Week Of August 11, 2018

Hey guys! I think this week was pretty good for the most part. We have a great new #1 song. Also, I start school a week from this Monday. So I'm not sure what will happen with my blogging schedule. I'll still try to get posts out over the weekend. Before we get to this week's Fresh 45, here are the songs we're saying goodbye to this week.

• Demi Lovato – Tell Me You Love Me (#42)

Last Week's #1 Song: Taylor Swift – Delicate

The Countdown

45. Liam Payne/J Balvin – Familiar (#45)

44. Twenty One Pilots – Jumpsuit (#33)

43. Bazzi – Mine (#43)

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

41. Charlie Puth/Kehlani – Done For Me (#38)

40. Halsey – Alone (#27)

39. Drake – In My Feelings (#37)

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

37. Walk The Moon – One Foot (#40)

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

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

34. Meghan Trainor – Let You Be Right (#25)

33. The Wrecks – James Dean (#30)

32. Dua Lipa – IDGAF (#21)

31. Lauv – I Like Me Better (#41)

30. Madison Beer – Home With You (#29)

29. lovelytheband – Broken (#28)

28. U2/Cheat Codes – Love Is Bigger Than Anything In Its Way (#34)

27. Maroon 5 – Wait (#26)

26. MNEK/Hailee Steinfeld – Colour (#39)

25. The Weeknd/Kendrick Lamar – Pray For Me (#32)

24. Ariana Grande – No Tears Left To Cry (#14)

23. PRETTYMUCH – Summer On You (#31)

22. Alessia Cara – Growing Pains (#23)

21. Bebe Rexha/Florida Georgia Line – Meant To Be (#24) [1 Week At #1]

20. Post Malone – Better Now (#15)

19. Niall Horan – On The Loose (#22)

18. Cardi B/Bad Bunny/J Balvin – I Like It (#19)

17. Imagine Dragons – Natural (#20)

16. Khalid/Normani – Love Lies (#17)

15. Shawn Mendes – In My Blood (#18) [2 Weeks At #1]

14. Calvin Harris/Dua Lipa – One Kiss (#12)

13. Foster The People – Sit Next To Me (#16)

12. Marshmello/Anne-Marie – Friends (#5)

11. Backstreet Boys – Don't Go Breaking My Heart (#9)
10. Maroon 5/Cardi B – Girls Like You (#8)
  9. Imagine Dragons – Whatever It Takes (#11) [1 Week At #1]
  8. NOTD/Bea Miller – I Wanna Know (#10)
  7. Fall Out Boy – The Last Of The Real Ones (#13)
  6. Selena Gomez – Back To You (#7)
  5. Panic! At The Disco – Say Amen (Saturday Night) (#6) [4 Weeks At #1]
  4. Zedd/Maren Morris/Grey – The Middle (#3) [9 Weeks At #1]
  3. 5 Seconds of Summer – Youngblood (#4)
  2. Taylor Swift – Delicate (#1) [3 Weeks At #1]
  1. Panic! At The Disco – High Hopes (#2) [1^st Week At #1]

#1 Song This Week One Year Ago: Imagine Dragons – Believer (3)

Biggest DROP!!!... Of The Week: Halsey – Alone (–13)

Biggest Jump Of The Week: MNEK/Hailee Steinfeld – Colour (+13)

New Entrants
~ Our one new entrant this week comes from The Chainsmokers along with Emily Warren, who have collaborated on a few songs from their album Memories...Do Not Open including the hit Paris. They bring us Side Effects and it's easily the best song I've heard from The Chainsmokers since Something Just Like This. They were going on a serious decline with their other recent singles like Everybody Hates Me and Somebody. But it's almost as if they took my criticism when putting together Side Effects. Emily Warren handled all the vocals, which is good since I was getting sick of Drew's voice. The production is much better this time around as well. The song has a nice groovy beat to it. I'm glad these guys didn't get lazy again. It's not their best work by any means, but it is great improvement. Hopefully they can keep going this path because I think this is what will get people to be interested in them again. Overall, great song and I think it'll do well.


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

• Noah Cyrus, MAX – Team
• Train/Cam/Travie McCoy – Call Me Sir
• Ariana Grande – God Is A Woman
• Zedd/Elley Duhé – Happy Now
• Justin Timberlake – SoulMate
• DJ Khaled/Justin Bieber/Chance The Rapper/Quavo – No Brainer
• Years & Years – If You're Over Me
• Brown & Gray – Top Down
• Bazzi/Camila Cabello – Beautiful (DEBUT)
• Sabrina Carpenter – Almost Love (DEBUT)
• Charlie Puth – The Way I Am
• NF – Lie (DEBUT)
• Weezer – Africa
• Dennis Lloyd – Nevermind
• AJR – Burn The House Down (DEBUT)

~ First up we have more Bazzi with Beautiful. And of course we have the rerelease with Camila Cabello. I will say that it is a step up from Mine, which I still do not like. Bazzi's vocals are decent here, but I'm not huge on Camila's contribution and I don't really like the production here. This was just off of one listen though, so my opinion could change.

~ I don't know why but I have a hard time getting into Sabrina Carpenter. She has a good voice, but I don't think she takes advantage of it very well. Some of her songs in the past have just been bland as hell. Almost Love is decent. I think she sounds good some of the time. But I find the production to be rather underwhelming at certain points. This one could grow me. But for now, I don't really know what to think of it.

~ More AJR is never something to look forward to. I genuinely hate their music. I try not to use that word very often. But it's necessary for these guys. Jon from ARTV talked about problems with AJR in a recent video and it pretty much sums up what I dislike about them. Burn The House Down is not good at all. Their voices are very average at best. But the production here is shit. The song is not very interesting at all and the horns are absolutely obnoxious. I don't know why Hits 1 likes them because they are not good and I've been pretty consistent about that for the most part. Of course this will debut at some point and I'm not looking forward to it.

~ After all that, we do have one good new song from NF called Lie. I like him. I think he's talented and he's someone we need in rap music these days. He's a very good rapper and I even like his singing voice a little bit. Lie does sound similar to Let You Down in a way. But I liked that song too, so I would say that's a good thing. I think this song is very enjoyable. It's nice and fast and I was captivated the whole time.

~ I'm not sure why Dennis Lloyd – Nevermind is still here. I have a very hard time picturing this on the countdown.

Top 5 Hit-Bound Picks

1. Weezer – Africa

2. NF – Lie

3. Noah Cyrus/MAX – Team

4. Justin Timberlake – SoulMate

5. Years & Years – If You're Over Me

Blurb Effects

~ Panic! At The Disco – High Hopes has achieved the #1 spot, which I'm very happy with. This is still a very enjoyable song and I'm glad it is having some success here. Say Amen sits at #5 and I'm still happy that one did as well as it did. It's actually still doing well, which is even better.

~ Fall Out Boy – The Last Of The Real Ones is up in the Top 10, which is a very good thing considering it's one of Fall Out Boy's few good songs nowadays. I'm glad this one seems to be doing well here.

~ Marshmello/Anne-Marie – Friends is finally out of the Top 10. Hopefully that means we can see it continue to drop with time. This song still gets worse with each listen. That introduction could not be any more annoying.

~ Ariana Grande – No Tears Left To Cry is out of the Top 20. I've been losing interest in this one. My opinion is back to where it started. I still really like the beginning of the song. But everything else I'm not huge on. She does have a good voice though when she's not speak-rapping.

~ I talked about the beginning of Friends being annoying. But no intro is more annoying than Lauv – I Like Me Better. Whatever that instrument is sounds so bad in the song and I do not like the chopped-up vocals at all. Seriously, what is there to like about this song???

~ Meghan Trainor – Let You Be Right dropped out of the Top 30 this week. Hopefully that means this one won't be a hit here since it's not actually a hit anywhere else. Meghan Trainor is one of the least-appealing artists in pop music these days and so far, her new album does not sound very promising. Songs like Let You Be Right are so bland that they just get annoying.

~ If Drake – In My Feelings is gonna keep going on this path, then why is it even here? This is the biggest song in the country right now, so it should be doing decent here at least. It's not even a bad song. It's actually pretty enjoyable. Although I'm not surprised.

~ I'm also not too surprised to see Twenty One Pilots – Jumpsuit down at #44. It seems a little too rock for Hits 1 despite their love for the duo. I'm still indifferent on the song myself. I personally wouldn't mind if it just left.

~ Demi Lovato – Tell Me You Love Me is our one exit this week and I'm fairly pleased with how this song did here even though it wasn't a big hit elsewhere. Even though this didn't live up to Sorry Not Sorry in terms of success, it is miles better in terms of quality. Goodbye Tell Me You Love Me. You will be missed. Also, Demi Lovato is slowly recovering from her recent incident, so I wish her the best.

Top 20 Review

0 – Crap:

20. Zedd/Maren Morris/Grey – The Middle

1 – Bad:

19. Marshmello/Anne-Marie – Friends

2 – Mediocre:

18. Cardi B – I Like It

17. NOTD/Bea Miller – I Wanna Know

3 – Decent:

16. Maroon 5/Cardi B – Girls Like You

4 – Good:

15. Post Malone – Better Now

5 – Great:

14. Shawn Mendes – In My Blood

13. Taylor Swift – Delicate

12. Niall Horan – On The Loose

11. Imagine Dragons – Whatever It Takes

10. Imagine Dragons – Natural

9. Selena Gomez – Back To You

8. Calvin Harris/Dua Lipa – One Kiss

7. Panic! At The Disco – Say Amen

6. Khalid/Normani – Love Lies

5. Fall Out Boy – The Last Of The Real Ones

4. Panic! At The Disco – High Hopes

3. 5 Seconds Of Summer – Youngblood

2. Backstreet Boys – Don't Go Breaking My Heart

BONUS: 6 – Best Song On The Countdown:

1. Foster The People – Sit Next To Me

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

Throwback Pick Of The Week: Sinéad O'Connor – Nothing Compares 2 U

Most Missed Countdown Song: Armin van Buuren/Trevor Guthrie – This Is What It Feels Like

#1 Recommendation For Hits 1: Calum Scott/Leona Lewis – You Are The Reason

Favorite Countdown Song This Week One Year Ago: DJ Khaled/Rihanna/Bryson Tiller – Wild Thoughts (#15)

My Top 5 Picks

1. Foster The People – Sit Next To Me

2. Backstreet Boys – Don't Go Breaking My Heart

3. 5 Seconds Of Summer – Youngblood

4. Panic! At The Disco – High Hopes

5. Walk The Moon – One Foot