I remember being so tired of Katy Perry by the end of this album cycle because it was JUST EVERYWHERE... but looking back, the title track is absolutely the one that towers above the rest.
I remember going through a major breakup when "The One That Got Away" was huge and damn... I still get choked up hearing it for some reason. If it's possible for a Katy Perry song to be underrated, that's the one for me.
Kept from the top spot by "Empire State of Mind" and "TiK ToK."
At least it wasn't kept from the top by Owl City's "Fireflies" or the Black Eyed Peas I guess
Totally- don't get me wrong, I don't outright dislike "Stupid Love," but it was kind of a, "oh, so this is the best she's got this time around?" and right at the time Future Nostalgia dropped... the song goes, it just IMO misses that spark that makes Gaga's great songs (including "Rain on Me" and most of Chromatica) really pop.
Why in the world was "Stupid Love" the first single? Most of the album is stronger than that song. Did she purposefully want us to lower our expectations so we'd be that much more enthusiastic/surprised with how good Chromatica is?
All of these incredible musicians, even without nationally-known Louisville musicians Joan Shelley, Jack Harlow, Tomberlin or Bryson Tiller. Louisville is easily one of the most underrated/slept-on music cities in the US.
Know I'm in the minority here, but this album turned me into a No Doubt mega-fan during the first half of my high school years. I remember just playing it over and over, voting for "Bathwater" every day on TRL... Was my absolute favorite until Kid A came along and shattered my young teenage mind...
FWIW, "Sky Walker" is on track to hit top 40 on the Hot 100 in the next week or two while "Coffee" peaked at #78. I'd say especially in today's music climate that it's doing much better than "OK" on the charts.
I think Camila Cabello's "Havana" should be part of this discussion... though entirely in English, definitely attests to the climate of pop music when her very Latin-sounding song starts rocketing up the charts (#29 this week, up from #44) while the trap-influenced Quavo-featuring song ("OMG") released on the very same day goes absolutely nowhere.
1) "Passionfruit" is the standout for me thus far
2) Not a big fan of the "If You Had My Love" interpolation in "Teenage Fever"... (the "ta-rust" part is going to get on my nerves)
3)"Portland" further solidifies 2017 as the year of the trap flute
4) I understand why "Two Birds One Stone" isn't on the tracklist due to the backlash but "Sneakin" is fantastic, esp w/ the video.
I'm no J Cole fan and don't really like defending him, but I'm trying to figure out how "4 Your Eyez Only" is his "least commercially successful album in years." 511K units first week, 378K traditional album sales, (Forest Hills Drive- 353K, Born Sinner 297K) hasn't left Billboard's top 10 albums chart since it was released, "Deja Vu" his first top 10 hit- while that feat was achieved on streaming and sales alone, it's gaining points again outside of the top 40... J Cole's songs always seem to be slow gainers at radio. Am I missing something here?
Between Miranda Lambert, Lydia Loveless, Maren Morris and Sturgill Simpson this year (along with discovering Ashley Monroe, Zac Brown Band's "Loving You Easy" [and that one ONLY] and the sex appeal of Thomas Rhett) this is the first year in my entire life I've really opened up to country music as a legitimate and credible genre. Still can't bring myself to the Taylor Swift bandwagon though.
This is heartbreaking. I was lucky enough to see her at a music festival in 2014 when she'd just beaten cancer the first time and was experiencing that elation of being free of it.
Everyone always goes to "Thriller" and "Purple Rain" as the 9-track blockbusters with hit single after hit single after hit single from the 80's. I feel like "Control" belongs in that conversation too but that's just me...
I feel like she needs the lyrics to "Karen Don't Be Sad" on the Dead Petz LP:
Oh, Karen
You take it all too hard
You been talking to those fools again
And they'll tear your world apart
Oh, Karen
You gotta try to understand
Gotta hold on to your soul
Cause they'll crush it if they can
So, Karen don't be sad
They're just a bunch of fools
And you can make them powerless
Don't let them make the rules
So, Karen don't be sad
You know the truth is true
The world can still be beautiful
That part's up to you
So, Karen don't be sad
Oh, Karen
You know you're only letting 'em win
By letting all their lies and hate
Destroy you from within-in
Oh, Karen
They've taken away your smile
But you can give it back to us
Just fake it for a little while
I stand corrected, the entire review was around 50 words:
"Newsom is a classically trained harpist and singer who made a very good 2004 record, but this EP is hard to stomach: Five tracks, four of them more than nine minutes and one ("Only Skin") sixteen-plus, with meandering strings-and-things accompaniment and indulgent vocal quirks that make Bjork sound like Kelly Clarkson."
Thanks, internet!
I can't think of any other word to describe this album than "magical." I lived and breathed it for that entire winter. One of the most talented and other-wordly human beings on planet earth.
On a lighter note, anyone remember that 200 word 2-star Rolling Stone review of this album calling it "hard to stomach" and comparing her to Kelly Clarkson? God I wish I could find that in the internet archives somewhere...
That's a really good point... I enjoyed "Harder to Breathe" and "Sunday Morning" notably. Hell, "Makes Me Wonder" was decent too. I think it was during their brief downfall with the "Hands All Over" album then comeback with "Moves Like Jagger" and stint on The Voice that they started playing it too safe, redundant and formulaic to be taken seriously by anyone from a critical standpoint.
Also, in my book Kendrick can do as many average 16 bars in pop songs he wants if he can retain the integrity and vision he displays on his LPs.
Not to be that guy, but we were actually in the middle of SexyBack's #1 reign 10 years ago... "Pullin' Me Back" barely scraped the Top 10.
I see your point though. Who can forget that timeless classic "Chain Hang Low" by Jibbs either?
http://www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100/2006-10-14
She's acting like radio is all of a sudden this barren immoral wasteland that is just now stepping on the toes of the sheltered and narrow-minded... Next's "Too Close", Sisqo's "Thong Song" and Lil Kim's "Magic Stick" all got much more airplay in the days of her Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears than Vince Staples will ever get...
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