billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - august 15, 2015 (VIDEO)

Yeah, I was away for a bit. Long weekend, got a haircut, shit happens.

Next up, B. Dolan, then it'll depend which leaks first. Stay tuned!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - august 15, 2015

So I think last week was a bit of an anomaly when it comes to the summer slowdown - a glut of new tracks and very minimal changes within the chart itself. This week made more sense - a whole slew of shuffling and not many new arrivals, which reflects the pretty sparse release schedule right now, especially when it comes to mainstream album.

video review: 'not an apology' by bea miller

Well, that sure as hell did not take long. Next up, LMNO & Mr. Brady, so stay tuned!

album review: 'not an apology' by bea miller

So as some of you know, I'm twenty-five years old. I've got a full-time job beyond this, I pay rent on my own apartment, I buy my own groceries and do my own laundry. And even by the nebulous way most people tend to view my generation, I can marginally be defined as an 'adult'. But even as I get older, pop music tends to stay the same age, which is now leading to the situation where I'm reviewing music that might speak to experiences almost a decade disconnected from my own. Now in theory, this isn't a problem: good music can surpass barriers of race, class, gender, and sexuality, and age isn't as much a barrier as you'd think.

But I'll admit feeling hesitant covering Bea Miller, mostly because warning flags began popping up all over the place. Coming in ninth on the second season of X-Factor, signing in the first ever joint venture between Simon Cowell's Syco Records and Hollywood Records, and all of it at the age of sixteen! On the one hand, there's a certain gut reaction of surprise, but thanks to YouTube and Vine and the ease of creating content skewing younger and younger, I'm not surprised. Hell, even though she wrote less than half of the songs on her debut album, she's probably got a firm hand on her pop career at this point. And besides, teen starlets have existed before, I shouldn't be fazed by this.

No, my flags were more tied to the presence of Simon Cowell and Syco Music, a label that does not have a good reputation with me in bringing out quality, mostly thanks to bland, regurgitated production that is the definition of formulaic. At best, you get acts like Ella Henderson who can rise above it, but at worst, you get Cher Lloyd or Fifth Harmony, the former of whom only started improving when she tore away from Cowell's clutches. And that was my big concern for Bea Miller's debut titled Not An Apology - was I proven wrong?