billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - june 18, 2016

So you know how this week I'm aiming to focus more than normal on country music, given that by far it'll have the most new records dropping? Well, it turns out that the Billboard Hot 100 decided to follow suit, because especially when you take a look at our new arrivals, the big story is country music gearing up for the summer, and I can expect if songs from all those albums impact the charts, we might be seeing a fair bit more of it and I'm not really complaining.

Of course, the one place where country doesn't matter in the slightest is the top 10, where once again Drake holds steady with 'One Dance' ft. Kyla and Wizkid at the top, but I can't be the only one who is just waiting for it to drop away. Outstripped on both airplay and sales and still with no video, the only reason it's at the top is titanic streaming, and that won't last forever. But right now, nothing has enough groundswell to stop it: 'Panda' by Desiigner might be at #2, but airplay is shaky and streaming and sales aren't quite strong enough. You'd think 'Can't Stop The Feeling' by Justin TImberlake would have a shot at #3 given how it rules sales and the radio, but it's seriously lagging on streaming and would need a considerable boost to catch up. And hell, while I expected 'Work From Home' by Fifth Harmony and Ty Dolla $ign to make more headway with enormous YouTube, gains on streaming, and reasonable sales even boosted by the album... it peaked on the radio this week, just not enough to get any higher. I don't think it's vulnerable to a challenge from 'Don't Let Me Down' by The Chainsmokers and Daya, though - it may have picked up airplay momentum, held steady on streaming and had even stronger sales... but YouTube isn't a factor, and that'll hold it back. Still be better off than '7 Years' by Lukas Graham, where I'm amazed it held onto #6, given its losses in all categories - must just be inertia at this point. You could probably make a similar argument for 'I Took A Pill In Ibiza' by Mike Posner at #7, as sales continue to weaken and airplay fades... but it's got YouTube to prop it up, and that might slow its descent. Then we have Rihanna with 'Needed Me' at #8, which is now starting to gain radio and sales traction to match its streaming, which is just fantastic... almost as good as our first returning arrival to the Hot 100, 'This Is What You Came For' by Calvin Harris ft. Rihanna at #9. And really, it's only been a matter of time before this was going to come back, courtesy of strong sales, radio, and streaming gaining more traction - so nice to see bland mediocrity pick up traction. And on that note, we have our new arrival to the top 10: 'Just Like Fire' by Pink, a song that has the same cadence and colourless production as Taylor Swift's 'Bad Blood' but is somehow even more painfully generic. Yes, I like Pink, and if this is what we need to get her to make another pop rock album, I'm onboard - she's still got an audience, at least according to the airplay and sales she's getting - but man, this should be so much better.

So to move to less depressing topics, losers and dropouts! The only one worth mentioning in the latter category this week is 'One Call Away' by Charlie Puth - so yeah, no complaints there - and our losers are just as workable, mostly as Drake continues to lose a fair chunk of his traction. '9' flipped down to 87, 'Feel No Ways' slid to 80, 'With You' with PARTYNEXTDOOR drooped down to 77, and 'Grammys' with Future lost to 67 - hell, the only loser that I'm actually a little dispirited took a hit was 'Close' by Nick Jonas and Tove Lo falling to 26, but the song has never really had a ton of traction, so I'm not altogether surprised the song hasn't gone farther.

Granted, the real story this week is supposedly country, and we did start to see some of that traction in our gains and returning entries... well, more in the gains, actually. In returning entries we got 'American Country Love Song' by Jake Owen coming back at 89, along with 'No Problem' by Chance The Rapper with 2 Chainz and Lil Wayne, but the larger story is 'Really Really' by Kevin Gates making an inexplicable return to 52... and I have no idea why. Seriously, no big radio traction or streaming boost or sales gain... so I'm assuming it's some vine meme or nonsense like that and hope it's gone in a week or so. Granted, I've got that opinion about some of our gains too, especially the rise of songs like 'Don't Mind' by Kent Jones up to 13 or the continued revival of 'Wake Up' by Fetty Wap to 58 or the unwelcome boost of the debut to 'Gold' by Kiiara to 83. And then there's the continued traction we saw for 'All The Way Up' by Fat Joe, Remy Ma, and French Montana at 27, which, again, why does anyone want to see Fat Joe have another hit? I can at least get it with the traction for 'Unsteady' by X Ambassadors rising to 70, it's a follow-up single - and not from a decade ago! But finally, we circle to country music... and really it's more of a case of country just deciding what they want for the summer, with the aptly titled 'Noise' by Kenny Chesney rising to 79, 'Somewhere On A Beach' by Dierks Bentley gaining a slight boost from the upcoming album hype to 38, and 'Lights Come On' by Jason Aldean finally getting some justly needed momentum at 64 - about time too.

But really, where country really came through was in our new arrivals, but before we get to those, let's start with...

100. 'Sit Still, Look Pretty' by Daya - the second I saw the title for this song, I immediately tensed up. A lot of people have probably already forgotten Daya's awful first 'hit' 'Hide Away' thanks to her feature on 'Don't Let Me Down' with The Chainsmokers, but it still reflected something in her writing that worried me when I saw the song title here. Was I panicking for no reason? Well, you can all relax, Daya is subverting the title's command and playing it for broad female empowerment, and even if I'm still not wild about her nasal, husky vocal tone, most of the production is generally agreeable here off the faded popping melody and a whirring hook that actually has a pretty decent bass line. But the one thing that has always been frustrating with Daya's material is the complete lack of nuance in her writing, and that unfortunately does show up here too. Hate to break it to you, Daya, but not all guys want to 'take control' or offer 'captivity', and your Beyonce reference on the bridge is all the more proof you have no idea what Beyonce actually meant on 'Pretty Hurts'. And then the Snow White reference... you know, the fairy tale princess who might have the dwarves take care of her until she bites the poison apple and is only ever woken by the Prince, having no actual agency in her own story? It smacks of the same lack of understanding about how relationships or the lack thereof worked in 'Hide Away', with only better production. Still, most of the time, I'd skip it.

99. 'Fix' by Chris Lane - I'll be honest: before I started even listening to the song everything that I had been reading about Chris Lane gave me a sinking feeling. If you don't know who this guy is... well, join the club, but apparently he's being backed by the label of veteran country songwriter Craig Wiseman and he's affiliated with Florida Georgia Line, even working with their producer Joey Moi because that's promising. Apparently he dropped an EP last year with this being the lead-off single, and... look, that's a catchy guitar line and even if the song is completely overmixed, I can see its appeal, even if its pretty damn far from country with that guitar rollick. And man, Lane is not making himself likable with his lyrics that are more openly propositioning this girl with a boyfriend as he describes himself as her 'fix', describing himself as her 'Walter White high'. And I'm fairly certain you don't even have to have seen Breaking Bad to know comparing yourself crystal meth is not a way to make yourself attractive! And the sad thing is that Chris Lane actually has charisma - not really in a country vein, but put him opposite Nick Jonas he could compete! As such... man, I'm conflicted about this, because I'm a sucker for a good melodic hook and charisma, but the lyrics and attitude are so stupid and borderline obnoxious... I get the feeling this song will either grow or sour on me in record time, so we'll see here.

98. 'Different For Girls' by Dierks Bentley ft. Elle King - so on the topic of songs that are a little awkward exploring female emotions, we have Dierks Bentley and Elle King singing about how guys and girls handle breakups differently, because apparently girls internalize it more and can't move on as quickly. And while I guess I can applaud the effort for Dierks Bentley to bring on Elle King to at least attempt more nuanced framing... man, this track frustrates me. Aside from Elle King downplaying things significantly and not bringing the fire I liked from her, the lyrics of this song strike me as being too broad for their own good, playing to broad gender stereotypes of how guys and girls act that are less and less true all the time. And sure, I can appreciate Dierks Bentley trying to learn how the fairer sex processes emotions, but it falls short of actually commenting on it or showing how guys could actually learn something going forward. The production is pretty frustrating too - yeah, the acoustic guitar pieces have some great warmth and texture, and the blended flow of the hook does have gentle swell against the faded electric textures... but if there was a song that was calling out for more organic percussion or giving the strings and guitar on the bridge some actual bite, it was this one. Overall, I do generally like this, but just like all of that album, it should be a lot better.

93. 'Make You Miss Me' by Sam Hunt - okay, seriously, is Sam Hunt still releasing singles from Montevallo? If he keeps doing this we're going to get 'Ex To See' as a single and nobody in their right mind wants that toxic trash anywhere close to country radio. Apparently this song was the very first he put up online, which seems to start with strings and piano before breaking into an obvious drum machine that'll dominate the majority of the song. Yeah, the guitar tones are gentle enough on the hook, but it's always been the biggest problem with Sam Hunt's production how nakedly mechanical it is, with no real groove to it. And that stiff, unfeeling production is a perfect match for the lyrics, which proceed to tell the girl everything she is, that she's flighty and drifts from trend to trend, might as well call her an 'eenie-meenie-minie-moe lover', but Sam Hunt won't be that, because he's going to make her miss him because apparently he's that unforgettable. How he's going to make her do this - sex appeal, bribery, blackmail - nobody is quite sure, but at the end of the day this girl will be wearing his clothes, writing him love letters she'll never send, and listening to all of his favourite bands and seriously, this is creepy! But it's the vocal delivery that really pisses me off about Sam Hunt, because he always frames it like the openly manipulative stuff he says is so romantic, when it feels so incredibly disingenuous - and at least Chris Lane has charisma! Folks, if you want a reason why I've always found Sam Hunt a far uglier and more contemptible figure compared to so many bro-country artists, this song is a perfect example. And if this becomes a hit... well, congratulations at finding an easy contender for the worst hit song of the year - NEXT!

92. 'Peter Pan' by Kelsea Ballerini - you know, for as much crap as Kelsea Ballerini gets, especially from the critical set that despises pop country and the pile-up of commercial endorsements that she's landed, I've always thought that she did have some promise. And what a perfect way to get away from Sam Hunt than with her best song of her debut album and one that I actually like a fair bit. And while it's not without flaws - that percussion is way too overstated and it chops up the groove just as badly as it would on any Sam Hunt song, if not worse - it knows enough to give the guitars some melodic muscle in order to support her, especially on the hook which comes through really well. And while I've never been incredibly impressed with Ballerini as a singer, the lyrics really do stand out here, reflecting on a failed relationship and a guy who spent more time chasing fantasies than the reality of the relationship. The bridge does tread up to the line of bitterness with the 'you don't know who you lost' lyric, but overall, I dig this song, I'll take it.

74. 'Kill Em With Kindness' by Selena Gomez - and finally we have Selena Gomez, dropping a fourth single from an album that charitably had two songs that were worth remembering. And this wasn't one of them, although I can definitely see this being a hit, given the brittle percussion, hazy vibe, sparse piano, and whistle driving the melody - I said when I reviewed Revival that she and Justin Bieber are remarkably similar, and given how successful he's been with a slightly more refined sound, I can see this doing well. The shame is that just like Justin Bieber, the music is completely tepid, the vocal delivery is bland as hell, the vocal production is sloppy, and the lyrics are right on the edge of insufferable. Like most of Purpose, 'Kill Em With Kindness' is targeted at an audience who is spreading ugly rumors about Selena and how she just kills them with kindness by not acknowledging it... except, you know, in the song you just released? I might have bought this sort of passive aggression that she really wasn't bothered by the haters, except that her vocal delivery is so dour and inert that it's not convincing the slightest. But you could ask who really cares... and you'd probably be right at this point. My days of being a fan of Selena Gomez are far behind me, and by this point, I've stopped caring too.

So yeah, that was our week, and wow, that's a mixed bag of quality all around. Just best and worst this time around, with the latter going to 'Make You Miss Me' by Sam Hunt for just being a completely wretched track that deserves far more disgust than it has received. Best... 'Peter Pan' by Kelsea Ballerini, easily, and while it's not a great pop country song, it's still got a damn solid hook and lyrics that sticking the landing far better than most. Let's hope things get better next week...