Chart Review: 5th April 2024

Making sense of a nation’s musical tastes.

The majority of churn in this week’s Top 40 comes in the form of re-entries rather than new stuff. Leaping 10 spots to (40) is Meghan Trainor featuring T-Pain with “Been Like This”. I have to say I’d more or less forgotten about Trainor; I can remember quite liking “All About That Bass” when it came out, but she’s been off my radar since. Evidently she’s been plugging away ever since, with five albums in nine years (and a sixth imminent), and seems to have come back to where she started (if she ever left). Again this is a song about not being thin with retro sounds (here dixieland jazz instead of blue eyed soul). I think there’s something quite cynical to the music and it’s so goofy sounding that it feels aimed at kids even though it’s mildly sexualised content. It’s goofy good time stuff which is hard to hate, and the T-Pain bit’s pretty good.

I’ve had a pop at a few of pop’s shouty screamy blokes of late, but I don’t think I’ve discussed one of the ladies holding it down for the format, namely Becky Hill. “Never Be Alone”, her track with Sonny Fodera, has been kicking around the charts for quite a few weeks now and currently sits at (37). I’m still not too keen on the performance style because it does ultimately strike me as simply illustrating how much power you can get behind your voice with little consideration for tunefulness or quality. Hill’s deployment here isn’t nearly as annoying as performers you’ll hear elsewhere, though. It’s much more fitting for a house track than, say, a sappy Christian love song: the massive energy spike of Hill’s euphoric chorus actually plays a purpose. The track’s not bad if a bit by the numbers - it’s got Sky Sports advert vibes.

Speaking of sappy Christian love songs, Benny Boone’s got another one in the charts, “Slow It Down” (27). This is the fourth single off his just-released album Fireworks & Rollerblades, which I am a tad scared I’ll be compelled to listen to. This is so much better than “Beautiful Things”. The awful sub-Creed rock has been replaced with piano balladeering that gives way to modern soul-influenced pop. He’s still getting his bellow on, but he’s doing it with a modicum of reserve, and hitting a really quite nice falsetto too. It’s still not to my taste but it’s smartly put together, in no way offensive. It’ll be interesting to see where the powers that be steer this chap, because the images he gives off between the previous song (sincere, legit rocker, rocking with his rock band) and this one (sexy pop star getting rained on/wearing vests) are poles apart.

Funniest Song Of The Week goes to Mark Ambor, whose “Belong Together” had me genuinely chuckling at some of the decision making. The opening picked and strummed acoustic guitars remain in use as “nice sensitive guy!” signifiers, the stomp-clap percussion is somehow still a thing in this style of twee faux-folk, and the lyrics would be lucky to be described as first draft. I marvelled at the chorus, in which Ambor sings “you and me belong together / like cold ice tea and warm weather.” The pause he leaves between warm and weather is amazingly long. I was desperate for him to put another word in, any other word to fill the silence. The tune’s also bafflingly melancholic, even though not a scintilla of tension is hinted at during its 150 second duration. If you set out to make something this trite and bereft of personality, you’d struggle.

While Beyonce hasn’t quite dominated the charts to the extent that was predicted, she has snagged 30% of the top 10 all the same. I’d imagined it would be the tune with Post Malone that troubled the Top 40, but instead it’s her cover of “Jolene” that touches down at (8). This is one of my least favourites on the record, not because it’s not a well done cover/reinterpretation, but because I find the approach a little odd. Beyonce’s version changes the narrator from a cowed woman pleading with the sultry Jolene to a take-no-shit hero chewing out the red headed temptress. I can understand the impetus there, and I hate to assume a don’t mess with the classics! stance, but to me she’s taken away rather than added.

Her track with Miley Cyrus, “II Most Wanted” (9), on the other hand, is a belter. One of the most traditional country tracks on Cowboy Carter, it’s mostly acoustic, with a lovely plucked bass and some traditional genre accoutrements making up the majority of the sparse track. That gives Cyrus and Knowles a lot of scope to play off one another, and their voices just melt together. It’s a great contrast between Cyrus’ rasp and Knowles’ lilting tones, and it’s always worth a reminder that the former Hannah Montana can really sing (and grew up in the country tradition to boot). I think this one may well keep rising, it’s really good stuff.

“Texas Hold ‘Em” is back at (1); with the album now out and tracks like the above available for all to hear, it does sound rather trifling (though an ideal first single for a project of this nature). It’s fun but one of the weaker efforts available . I think there’s every chance Beyonce replaces herself at the top sooner rather than later.

Pick of the week: Beyonce feat. Miley Cyrus - “II Most Wanted”