Monday, July 30, 2007

Timbaland Ends Rihanna’s Reign

After a history making ten-week reign atop the UK Top Forty, Timbaland dethrones Rihanna with ‘The Way I Are’.

Two and a half months after securing the number one spot, ‘Umbrella’ slips to number 3 leaving Kate Nash, and most of the rest of the top ten cemented in the same positions they held last week.

Numbers 4 to 7 are none movers; Fergie’s ‘Big Girls Don't Cry’, Enrique Iglesias’ ‘Do You Know’, Hoosiers’ ‘Worried About Ray’ and Avril Lavigne’s ‘When You're Gone’ all remain where they sat seven days ago while the bottom three of the top ten is completely brand new.

Groove Armada dances in to the top ten at number 9 with ‘Song 4 Mutya while Mika’s ‘Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)’ gives this new artist his third top ten single out of three releases. Amazingly, six months ago no one had ever heard of Mika.

Brand new single ‘Autumnsong’ gives the Manic Street Preachers their second top ten single in a row from their latest album and this week’s highest debut. Five places down, new artist, Newton Faulkner debuts at number 16 with his folksy acoustic guitar rocker ‘Dream Catch Me’.

While she may not have the number one single in the country anymore, Rihanna can smile easily knowing her second single ‘Shut up and Drive’ pulls in at number 18. One parking spot behind her,
Green Day come back fresh from Springfield where they punked up the Simpson’s theme song and land another download only top forty hit.

Making their UK Chart debut at 26, folk-rock outfit from Chicago Plain White Ts score with ‘Hey There Delilah’, an open letter from a guy to his girl now living in New York.

Already a top ten smash in the States, this stripped down guitar and strings number sounds even more wholesome and original sandwiched between R Kelly & Usher’s awful ‘Same Girl’ at 28 and Kelly Rowland Ft Eve’s hyper boring ‘Like This’ at 25.

Sounding like a banana boat boy on a Mediterranean cruise party, Yves Larock skips into the chart this week with ‘Rise Up’. Not a bad track but I just can’t help but think I’m listening to Harry Belafonte and it makes me long to hear a Day-O, if just once.

Funeral For A Friend leap into the top forty at 40 with their new track ‘Walk Away’. This slow guitar driving modern rock track builds to a powerful chorus and makes a great ending to an otherwise slow week in a slow summer of new songs.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Rihanna Clocks Ten Weeks at Number One


Rihanna makes UK chart history this week as she manages to chalk up a tenth week at number one. Only a handful of singles have ever managed to remain at number one for longer making ‘Umbrella' one of the greatest singles in history.

Some may argue that Umbrella doesn’t deserve to have that kind of recognition alongside classic from the Beatles, Whitney Houston and Bryan Adams.

However, in today’s world where every single song (album track or not) eligible for download competes for potential chart success, the fact that Rihanna’s song has outsold some 5 million tracks on iTunes for ten straight weeks is nothing short of outstanding and rightly deserves its spot in the history books.

Rihanna’s stronghold on the top spot means Kate Nash, up one spot from number 3, must wait one more week to see if her single ‘Foundations’ can hit number one. Also waiting for a chance at number one with his follow up to ‘Give it to me’, Timbaland climbs to number 3 with ‘The way I are’.

Fergie falls to number 4 with ‘Big girls don’t cry’ while Enrique Iglasias remains at 5 with ‘Do you know’.

Breaking into the top ten this week, Mark Ronson featuring Lily Allen jump from 12 to 8 with ‘Oh my god’ making this the second straight top ten song for Ronson.

Top debut this week comes in at 12. Scottish singer/ songwriter Amy Macdonald brings her folksy style of pop to the charts for the first time with ‘Mr Rock & Roll’. Sounding like the love child of Joni Mitchell and the Beatles, Amy has a style that is both retro and modern. A catchy tune that blows the rest of this week’s debuts out of the water.

Down 5 at 28 Reverend & The Makers – bop in with ‘Heavyweight Champion Of The World’. Their sound echoes that of the Bravery and The Rapture, a tinge of rock over a sliding disco beat. Not a bad single, nothing groundbreaking. However, the repeated anthem ‘Just be like everybody else’ is quite catchy, if somewhat disturbing.

R Kelly & Usher land in the top forty at 32 with ‘Same Girl’. They could have called it same song as it sounds like so many other boring R & B tracks about a girl gone astray. This song totally wastes a listener’s time, even the artists themselves sound bored. A complete disaster and waste of vinyl. How records like this make it to the charts boggles my mind especially when there is so much better music out there from which to choose.

Sunfreakz Ft Andrea Britton dance into the chart at 37 with ‘Counting down the Days’. With a backbeat that sounds almost tribal, this track sounds familiar, like an old dance cut from the nineties that you haven’t heard in a while. Not a strong vocal sitting overtop of the wall of sound. If this is all discoland has to offer, we’ll all be counting down the days – until we hear a good dance track.

New at 38 on downloads alone, Amerie works it on ‘Gotta Work’. She’s looking to dethrone Rihanna as this year’s queen of pop and while this single seems rather throwaway, it has landed top forty before its official release which guarantees at least a top twenty single in the coming weeks.


Coming back to the top 40 at 40, after a few years away, Thrills returns with ‘Nothing Changes Around Here’. A simple guitar driven slow burner that doesn’t go very far, reminiscent of an early Travis B-side or Thrills earlier hits. The title says it all really, their sound hasn’t changed at all. Still, not a bad single to finish off the top 40 in a very slow week of hits.

Saturday, July 21, 2007

Jail Term a Real Thriller

Paris Hilton did her face during her two-minute jail term. Martha Stewart taught her cell buddies how to colour coordinate. But these inmates at the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center, Cebu, Philippines not only learned to dance, they now star in their own remake of Michael Jackon’s landmark video for Thriller. Best bit – Looks like they hired Paris to do the drag queen’s make up.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

My New Favourite Song: New Young Pony Club – Ice Cream


New Young Pony Club’s debut single ‘Ice Cream’ leads off with a beat reminiscent of Michael Jackson’s classic ‘Beat it’. And the 80’s influence on this group doesn’t stop there.

Sounding like a cross between Ladytron (themselves influenced by the 80’s new wave movement) and broody New Order material from the pre-Substance days, New Young Pony Club fit nicely into the new-new wave club alongside teamsters Peter Bjorn and John.

While lyrics such as “I could make you ice cream/we could be a sweet team” don’t make poetry worth pondering and this single having missed the chance to advance further than 40 on the UK Chart, it won’t rewrite the history books as one of the best songs ever. But who cares, its fun, its spunky and it sounds like nothing else on the charts today – the perfect car song for those summer road trips.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

My Favourite New Song: Prince – Guitar


Prince’s new single may not have the pizzazz of former hits like “Let’s go crazy”, “U got the Look” or even “Diamond and Pearls” and it certainly doesn’t touch on world topics as did “Sign O’ the times”.

But in keeping with his new-found consistency for crafting great (if embarrassingly un-commercial) albums such as 2004’s ‘Musicology’ and 2006’s ‘3121’, his new track “Guitar” romps through musical genius and comes out smelling like diesel. No artist today makes a guitar sound as sexy as Prince does, and on this new single, his instrument smokes and purrs like anything from his generous back catalogue.

Sounding as fresh as he did back in his 80’s heyday, Prince declares his love for an unmentioned attention grabber, telling her he loves her “But not like I love my guitar”. 80’s era Prince would have amped up the sly sexiness of this song causing much sought after controversy.

Today’s Jehovah’s Witness Prince, however, concentrates on the Bible, only stirring up controversy in England where he has decided to give away copies of parent album ‘Planet Earth' with each copy of the Mail On Sunday newspaper. This bold marketing move has ruffled the feathers of local retailers who claim that giving away music draws attention away from their stores and potential buyers of new albums.

Oh the marketing genius of Prince should never be doubted. Now if he could only score a hit.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Umbrella Ties Crazy for Longest Number 1

Rihanna officially ties the record for the longest number one reign this decade as ‘Umbrella’ sits nicely atop the UK singles chart for a ninth week. That makes it only the second single to do so since Gnarls Barkley did it last year with ‘Crazy’. To find a chart single that spend that many weeks atop the chart you have to go back 13 years when Wet Wet Wet crowned the chart for nine weeks with ‘Love Is All Around’ in 1994.

Climbing six places to take over the number two spot from Kate Nash whose ‘Foundations’ slips to number three, Fergie inches even closer to the number one spot with ‘Big Girls don’t cry’. That means that Avril Lavigne must wait yet again for a UK number one. Current single ‘When You're Gone’ slides 3-6.

Timbaland brings ‘The way I are’, bad grammar and all, to the number four slot and The Arctic Monkeys break into the top ten at 5 with ‘Fluorescent Adolescent’.

In a relatively slow week for strong single debuts, the highest new entry comes in at 13. Kings Of Leon lead the way with ‘Fans’ followed three slots down by Groove Armada with new dance single ‘Song 4 Mutya (out of control)’. This track features lead vocal from none other than Mutya Buena (thus the name) while her own single ‘Real Girl’ slips to number 30.

Travis try to prove their relevance with new single ‘Selfish Jean’. However, a number 30 debut does nothing to solidify their grip on a fickle audience.

After missing the singles charts back in 1962 upon initial release, the remix of ‘Beggin'’ by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons lands in the top forty this week at 32. There seems no logical reason for this remix, as it is neither a great dance track nor a special remix for a compilation album. Curious choice for a summer single as the song hasn’t aged well, the remix adds nothing original and the singing sounds dated.

Bouncing in at 33, Mika delivers his latest ‘Big Girl (you are beautiful)’. Not an obvious choice for a single, given the other more radio-friendly cuts on his first album, but a fun, breezy ode to the larger ladies out there nonetheless.

The last debut in the chart this week comes from none other than the Foo Fighters whose two-year-old single ‘Best Of You’ returns to the chart after the group's headlining performance at Live Earth.

Here’s hoping that things shake up next week or summer 2007 could go down as the dullest, chart-wise, in a while.

Monday, July 9, 2007

Umbrella Casts Long Shadow Over Top Ten for Eighth Week

For the second straight month, Rihanna crowns the official UK Chart with ‘Umbrella’. One more week and she’ll tie the record set by Gnarls Barkely last year.

Holding on to number two despite stiff competition from some heavy debuts, Kate Nash keeps ‘Foundations’ around for one more week. This year’s Lilly Allen, Nash proves her MySpace success wasn’t a fluke.

Just below her, Avril Lavigne charges into the top 3 with new single ‘When you're gone’ up from 17. ‘Girlfriend’, the first single from her third album stalled at number two over several weeks do to the staying power of ‘Beautiful liar’ by Shakira and BeyoncĂ©. Could she face a similar fate with current single hitting the chart at the same time as Rihanna’s powerhouse?

Man of the hour, Timbaland, has his hand in more than one pie this week. New single ‘The way I are’ from current solo album ‘Shock Value’ surges 18-6 while just six places below sits ‘Lovestoned’ a track he produced for Justin Timberlake. ‘Anonymous’ credited to Bobby Valentino and Timberland rockets into the top forty at 25 while his former number one, ‘Give it to me’ featuring aforementioned Timberlake and Nelly Furtado, hangs on at 27.

Speaking of Furtado and Timbaland, jumping back into the top forty from 54 last week, her performance at the Diana concert propels ‘Say it right’ back up to 26. Furtado now has the biggest download-only single in British UK chart history and currently one of the longest running singles. She even manages to bring back last summer’s ‘Maneater’ at 71.

That makes no less than six chart entries on the official UK chart this week, either credited or understood, for Timbaland.

Up from 49, Natasha Bedingfield crash-lands the top ten at number 7 with ‘Soulmate’. This stripped down ballad counts as her sixth UK top ten, but after one spin you’re happy she found her mate, maybe now she can move past it and make some better singles.

Right behind Bedingfield, Fergie sheds no tears as ‘Big girls don’t cry’ jumps 20 places to land at number 8. Contrary to the previous single, Fergie proves that four tracks into an album, an artist can still keep the best for last.

Mark Ronson had a top ten smash earlier this spring with ‘Stop Me’ and now teaming up with oft-studio partner Lily Allen, brings a cover of the Klaxons’ ‘Oh my god’ into the top 20 at 20. A full on jazzy affair this single breathes nightclub air while remaining grounded in Allen’s little girl gone bad vocals. A classic in the making.

The Artic Monkeys continue to struggle with that difficult second album. First single ‘Brainstorm’ didn’t make top ten until its official physical release and while the hype was huge, they never managed to conquer the charts when every track from their latest album became eligible to chart this spring. Now second single ‘Fluorescent Adolescent’ misses the top twenty, at 23. If everything goes as history predicts, they should have no problem making a top ten placement next week when the CD single hits the shelves.

Interpol land at 31 with their new single ‘The Heinrich Maneuver’. Sounding just as British as ever, this new single spins a sound reminiscent of early REM. While not the best product they’ve ever pumped out, this new single at least gives them another top forty performance.

Re-entry of the week goes to Puff Daddy. New at 32, the hit he brought to the top of the charts a full decade ago, ‘I’ll be missing you’ featuring Faith Evans, bullets back into the top forty on the heels of his performance at the Diana Concert.

New at 34, Alibi, who has remixed such singles as ‘Beautiful liar, teams up with Rockefeller to bring a dance version of ‘Sexual Healing’ into the chart. Hardly recognisable as the song Marvin Gaye made famous, this new version sounds more like a throwback to 80’s dance than a modern single worthy of chart status. Frankly a disappointment given Alibi’s past success.

Debuts inside the top forty cap off with New Young Pony Club whose first single ‘Ice Cream’ rockets from 197.