Chart Review: 23rd Feb 2024
Making sense of a nation’s musical tastes
This was the week in which the old guard fell at long last. Noah Kahan’s “Stick Season” has dropped to (5) (hearing it again this week I was reminded of the really weird line about there being “Covid on the planes”); more worryingly, new single “Together” has already slipped nine spots to (40). I’m no Kahan hater, I must note, even though I don’t think he’s my cup of tea, but I do think “Forever” is a dud. It’s too soon for the Bon Iver revival.
Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s campaign for a Number 1 seems to have run out of steam at long last, with “Murder On The Dancefloor” dropping precipitously to (16). With “Perfect” tumbling out of the top 40 too, it may be fair to say that the Saltburn era of popular culture has at long last come to an end, so I hope we’ve all had our fun with the jokes about bathwater and Baz Keoghan’s appendage while we had the chance.
Onto this week’s newbies, starting with the best: “Training Season” (4), the second single from Dua Lipa’s upcoming third LP. After a few listens, I’m not nearly as into this one as I am “Houdini” (still at (15)), primarily because Lipa’s vocal performance isn’t nearly as interesting or idiosyncratic. Instrumentally I really like the guitars and the warm keyboards. There’s sort of an Eastern European flavour to the riff, and the analogue, oldschool sounds (which were a big selling point to her last album) really help set her apart. It’s quite funny that she’s released two songs on the bounce about how she’s quite a demanding romantic partner.
Calvin Harris and Rag’n’Bone Man are back with “Lovers In A Past Life”, a pop-dance effort that plays to both of their strengths. The Ragmeister sings quite loud, Harris produces a fairly basic track. Not my cuppa but I can appreciate the hook, which does the job. It’s catchy, giving you something to hold onto lyrically.
More bizarre is “End Of Beginning” (11) by Djo. AKA Steve out of Stranger Things. Now this is an odd little number. I think you can tell it’s by someone for whom music isn’t their main hustle; it’s just a touch shonky, mostly in a fairly charming fashion. The verses are quite cool, unexpectedly moody and retro with nice bedroomy guitars. By the time he’s layering up his (not half bad) voice over the chorus, I’ve gone off it substantially, and a middle eight that repeats “You take the man out of the city, not the city out the man” totally lost me. Even so, it’s far more interesting than what I’d expected from a jobbing young actor.
A couple of tunes I’m really getting sick of, starting with Paul Russell’s “Lil Boo Thang” (35). We’re back to the unspeakably lazy samples, with Russell singing instantly forgettable lyrics over the full instrumental track to “Best Of Your Love”. It’s not a bad sounding song at all, but that’s because he’s just taken the entirety of a classic song and managed to only make it a bit worse with his performance. I’m also not so keen on Tate McCrae’s “Exes” (26), though listening to it now I think I actually just hate the line “Change my mind up like it’s origami”, which I don’t think makes any sense at all.
I’m quite into the minimalist techno of “DNA (Loving You)” by Billy Gillies and Hannah Boleyn (23) - the high energy dance stuff burrows in surprisingly deep. Better still is Fred Again.. & Baby Keem’s “leavemealone” (21), a track that’s taken a couple of tries to burrow in, but which I’m increasingly into. I’m not nearly clued up to suggest the subgenre of EDM at play here, but I like the deep bass and general sense of skitttery energy to it. I like quite a bit of Fred Again.. in general, though that Brian Eno collab was a bit of a miss for me unfortunately.
I was more invested in the (1) spot than ever this week as it came down to Beyonce and Benson Boone. Thankfully common sense prevailed and “Texas Holden” snagged the summit. I’m very much into this one, though I don’t particularly want to see another long stretch of total dominance from any one artist.
Pick of the week: Fred Again.. & Baby Keem’s - “leavemealone”
