Chart Review: 29th November 2024
Making sense of a nation’s musical tastes.
Let’s carve through the latest cavalcade of Christmas ditties with alacrity. There are seven newies (returnies) by my count, of which four are established classics, and three newer jobs. Shakin’ Stevens’ “Merry Christmas Everyone” is at (40). This is one of those songs that’s three minutes long but sounds like it would quite easily go on forever. You could loop it and no one would notice. Andy Williams is at (39) with “It’s The Most Wonderful time of the year. Look, no complaints from me there. That’s a wonderful track - it’s a strangely chaotic instrumental given how honeyed Williams’ voice is, and the metre is lovely and lurching. Top deck classic crimbo stuff. Love the line about “scary ghost stories”.
The biggie is “Fairytale Of New York”, here at (48) but presumably primed to climb. It’s still never been UK (1) amazingly, and if it didn’t manage it last year, what with Shane MacGowan dying shortly before the holidays, it probably never will be. Maybe that all serves as part of its legacy more than a brief stint at the top of the charts ever could; for all the song’s incredible lushness and beauty, they’re ultimately a punk band, and that underdog spirit feels apropos for such a distinctive festive effort. I hope everyone’s come equipped with their hot, not at all disingenuous takes about the lyrical content this year!
I didn’t recognise the name of Kelly Clarkson’s “Underneath The Tree”, this week at (32), but when listening to it, I’ve either heard it plenty of times, or it’s just so well crafted in the mould of a Phil Spector Christmas song that I feel like it’s been around forever. This is a smash. It’s a red hot pop-soul cut with Clarkson on immensely charismatic form. If you were to knock it in any way, the lyrics are pretty boring and empty - it’s just a description of a quite nice Christmas with your partner - but when you’ve got the verve of Clarkson and the wrecking crew power of her band, that’s really not a dealbreaker.
I sort of remember Ed Sheeran and Elton John’s effort “Merry Christmas”, which is at (31). I’m afraid this isn’t any good at all. The chorus is fine but it sounds like an afternoon’s work at most. I love Elton but it’s just not fun to hear him sing these days; he’s on lockdown-in-his-garden form, i.e. he sounds like he has no teeth. Bobby Helms’ “Jingle Bell Rock” was one I was clamouring for the other week, and now it’s at (30). I reckon there aren’t many songs with a bigger gap between familiarity with the first line and any other line in it. It’s a belter. Great guitars.
Finally we’ve got Ariana Grande with “Santa Tell Me”, hitting the heights of (27). There aren’t many pop stars I’d have been less surprised to learn have a Christmas song than Grande (on whom more later), but I didn’t think it’d be like this. Rightly or wrongly I imagined her getting her Ertha Kitt on for a breathy, sultry winter warmer, but instead this is a bouncy pop/R&B number that, slightly confusingly, sees Ari asking Santa if her new beau really loves her, which doesn’t tend to be in Santa’s wheelhouse per traditional lore. No matter - I like this one a lot. It’s fun and goofy but not completely stupid, and Grande keeps things restrained, relatively speaking, so you can actually enjoy her fantastic voice rather than just receiving a display of raw power.
Stromae and Pomme’s “Ma Meilleure Ennemie” is at (21). This Francophone tune is apparently from the second season of something called Arcane, which I’m gathering from the thumbnail is an animated show on Netflix. The track certainly hasn’t sold me on the show. It’s moody pop with some nice wailing voices but not my kind of thing. Maybe I’ve turned against it unnecessarily because of the anime thing, which is making me feel old and grumpy.
Three tunes from the movie adaptation of Wicked have leapt into the charts. There’s a bit of creative accounting being done here to make sure Grande can have four tunes in the Top 40, with her named as main artist on one and featured on another (along with a solo Ari tune elsewhere). “What Is This Feeling”, “Popular”, and “Defying Gravity” are at (17), (13), and (7) respectively. I like the former the most by a very long way; it’s a sprightly story song developing the gleefully adversarial relationship between the two witchy characters played by Grande and Cynthia Erivo. I’m never going to see this film I don’t think but I hear it’s very good. The other two tunes are, in turn, quite good and really rather annoying. “Defying Gravity” is seven minutes long.
Finally in terms of new gear, Kendrick Lamar’s surprise album GNX has garnered him three tracks in the Top 10, with “TV Off”, “Luther”, and “Squabble Up” snatching (6), (5), and (4). The latter is the pick of the bunch for me. I like the album, though I haven’t got into it massively; it’s one of the least substantive things he’s ever done purposefully so, and while the victory lap element has turned a few people off, I was well up for a shorter Lamar release. This tune’s not far from the chorus of the year. It’s constantly in my head and I’ve only heard it about three times.
Gracie Abrams’ “That’s So True” at the top again. I’ll go out on a limb and predict a Christmas song up there next week.
Pick of the week: Kendrick Lamar - “Squabble Up”
