Chart Review: 22nd November 2024
Making sense of a nation’s musical tastes.
We’ve a veritable buffet of new gear this week to kickstart the overindulgent holiday season. We’ll start off with a couple of Christmas crackers: Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” and Wham!’s “Last Christmas” are at (34) and (16) respectively. The former is a slightly surprising inclusion to me; it’s a great song that I’m always happy to hear, but I couldn’t rightly tell you why this one, rather than “Jingle Bell Rock” or one of the Phil Spector cuts, is the designated Christmas oldie in the charts. No shade on Lee, mind you - I love the strangely aggressive guitar playing on this tune, and the dramatic stop after “deck!” is a classy touch.
“Last Christmas”, meanwhile - I mean, what can you say. There’s the added poignancy of George Michael’s passing (at Christmas, no less), but even without that, it’s a beauty. I’ve just had a look to see who produced it because it’s such a specific kind of ‘80s pop - tied to a time, of course, but with warm, melancholic instrumentation and tasteful choices that mean it’s aged beautifully. Turns out it was Michael himself. An underrated talent in spite of all his acclaim. There’s more to the lyrics than meets the eye, too; the singer clearly remains hung up on last year’s love, despite having ostensibly found someone special. It’s “Last Christmas”, it doesn’t need any level of analysis. It’s a top 5 Crimbo song.
It’s been a busy year for BTS’ Jin, who completed his military service in the summer and ends 2024 with “Running Wild” at (25). I’ve been hit and miss on the K Pop stuff I’ve been exposed to, but I think this is perfectly fine. It’s absolute candyfloss and it’s pitched at an insanely high level of drama - those thumping drums are so loud - but the boy’s got star power for days. Workmanlike verses, super solid chorus; that’ll do for a lad who’s only just hung up his fatigues.
Sabrina Carpenter is back with another cut off her album. “Juno”, at (24), means nearly half of her record has hit the UK Top 40, which is pretty good going. This is very much one of the standout tracks from the album which takes a perfectly ordinary premise (having such strong feelings for one’s partner that you’d consider procreating with them) but puts a neat spin on it through super snappy lyricism - “I might let you make me Juno”. I’ve a couple of thoughts on that, namely a) Carpenter would have been eight when Juno came out and b) (spoilers for Juno) Juno gives the baby up for adoption, but it’s an instantly memorable bit of writing.
Musically I think this one’s a huge winner - this dude John Ryan has production credits on a few of the LP’s best cuts, and he’s clearly geared towards the classic rock. There’s plenty of Fleetwood Mac here (though Nicks et al would probably be a little more subtle with the sex chat), and he cuts loose with a really nice slide guitar solo. It seems this song has caught fire because she does a bit where she arrests a celeb in the audience for being too hot when playing it live. This woman never stops working.
“Two Faced” by Linkin Park is at (22). I’ve been down on the tunes I’ve heard from their (very well received!) new album thus far, but this one? This one, I like. I’ve no clue what they’ve been up to since I was remotely interested in the band two decades ago, but this is such an old school slice of radio ready nu metal that I can’t help but get on board. It’s just got the lot - Mike Shinoda’s rudimentary rapping, great big stupid chords played on a horrid looking PRS guitar, a shouty chorus, even some turntable scratching. It’s the same as it ever was (particularly in the breathy middle eight, straight out of “One Step Closer”), and I’m basically there for that. With so many obstacles in front of them, not least the continuing controversy around the new singer, it’s amazing how well Linkin Park have managed to come back.
Tate McRae returns with “2 Hands” at (8). I’ve really not enjoyed what I’ve heard from her so far, but this is a lot more in line with my tastes. I think it’s her voice I object to, unfortunately - she’s strangely mumbly - but she’s got way more to work with here, a strong chorus and excellent production. The skippy beat is cool, the little details and flourishes all work for me (there’s a guy dropping “yeah”s at the top for a while, for no real reason). Quite remarkably, she’s only 21. What a strange business this remains.
My heart just sank as I clicked onto the video for this new Sam Fender song “People Watching”, which is five minutes long. It’s at (4). Surprise surprise - he’s pretending to be Bruce Springsteen again. “Oh my heart / I feel so dark” is one lyric. Then there’s a verse about him checking in on a loved one in a horrible care home. That was odd. I suppose I get the appeal - he’s got his heart firmly on his sleeve, which I do like to see in an age of irony, but boy is he not for me. It sounds more like The War On Drugs than anything else, so we’re into photocopy of a photocopy territory.
Gracie Abrams completes her hattrick with “That’s So True” clinging onto the top stop. I’ve made my feelings clear about that one.
Pick of the week: Linkin Park - “Two Faced”
