billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - august 27, 2016 (VIDEO)

Overall an interesting week, can't say I'm wild about Suicide Squad but overall pretty solid all around.

Next up Young The Giant, so stay tuned!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - august 27, 2016

So let me tell you a bit about my previous weekend. Had a party with friends on Friday, went to a bachelor party on Saturday, and most of Sunday recovering and working my way through a bunch of records in my backlog to cover my schedule this week... all of which meant that I have not yet had a chance to see Suicide Squad. Which, if you're judging by its second week numbers, if you didn't see it opening weekend you likely didn't see it at all - and yet it doesn't mean I'm not talking about the movie, because it was the biggest impact to the charts, with considerable gains, a few new arrivals, one returning entry, and even a new top five track! Frankly, I'm a little bewildered the soundtrack has had so much staying power, but popular phenomenon pop up all the time - I just wished I liked more of it.

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - august 20, 2016 (VIDEO)

Bit of an odd, unstable week here. Guarantee it's going to be rough in upcoming weeks - I have that odd feeling we're on the precipice of a major shift, just watch.

Anyway, next up is Dinosaur Jr., so stay tuned!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - august 20, 2016

So I can't be the only one who thinks that the charts are a little unstable right now, am I? Now that the summer lull has faded for good, we might not have gotten many new songs this week but it doesn't shake the feeling it's only a matter of time before everything is thrown into chaos. Keep in mind that we still have a solid fourteen weeks left - there are songs that could debut in the next few weeks that'll make the year end list, and if they debut higher they'll need even less time.

video review: 'major key' by dj khaled

I still have no idea why I covered this record. Still think it had more potential, there were things to like about this record... shame it didn't come together.

Next up, Jake Owen, so stay tuned!

album review: 'major key' by dj khaled

I don't use Snapchat. I don't use Vine. I have an Instagram but have never posted a photo, and Socialblade tells me I have a substandard Twitter account. So maybe I just don't get social media in some capacity - it's fine, I've accepted that, and while I find the success of many acts based upon their social profiles bewildering, I get the appeal. Hell, on some level you can almost admire someone who can so manipulate social media to still make themselves relevant - like it or not, it's a skill, especially if you're not especially good for what you're 'supposed' to be famous.

And I think at some point, DJ Khaled got this. He realized that nobody gave a damn about his interchangeable party anthems for his contributions, so he did the next best thing: marketing. He inflated his online persona to comical sizes and then focused on his one real skill: collaboration. He became an expert at connecting people and making his 'records' star-studded affairs that were more notable for guest verses than anything else. And going into this, I had no expectations that this would be anything beyond over the top party jams- but on the other hand, it's not like either of his lead off singles were any good, so my expectations were rock bottom. Could DJ Khaled at least rise to that?

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - july 16, 2016 (VIDEO)

This was... well, an interesting week to say the least. I genuinely hope we get a shakeup instead of a summer lull, because I don't have much patience for the rest of this. In the mean time, though, I've got Weval, then probably Grace and a few others coming soon, so stay tuned!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - july 16, 2016

So here's the thing about the summer lull period with the charts: you get out of it basically what you put in. If you have good songs primed to go live in May or June that'll have some momentum, you'll basically have your summer lineup providing there's no big shakeup or surprises. But if you don't... well, basically you're left with most of the Hot 100 right now, which isn't so much outright awful but full of tracks that engender barely a reaction at all. Fellow music critic Todd In The Shadows described these tracks as fragments, but I'd prefer the term hollow: they fill time on the radio, but you're left feeling like nothing sticks in the way some years have, which is bad even for pop.

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - june 25, 2016 (VIDEO)

Well, this was a quick episode. Shame so much of it sucked, but what can you do, really...

Okay, I think I've got to cover this Jon Bellion thing for all of you to stop asking already, and then Brandy Clark - stay tuned!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - june 25, 2016

So, in the business, this is what we call a slow week. Hell, it's the big reason why I could get away with covering a week of country music and not really have to worry about anything else - which meant that very little worth caring about landed on the Hot 100. But that's fine, I don't mind having a shorter week, and I might as well enjoy it before the end of June happens and happiness goes right out the window - and if you've seen the hip-hop releases scheduled for June 24, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - may 30, 2015 (VIDEO)

And that actually went a lot smoother than I expected. Nice feeling, that is.

Next up... hmm, I've got a country record I really want to cover, but will I have a chance to get to it before a special episode of Billboard BREAKDOWN or something special for this weekend? We'll see, but stay tuned!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - may 30, 2015

So we’re now at the halfway point of the Billboard Hot 100 year, so let’s take stock of the situation – and while I wouldn’t quite say it was a disappointment, it certainly is interesting to see how certain trends have oscillated. R&B and neo-soul are fighting pop for dominance – with pop arguably gaining the upper hand – country has mostly stayed quiet to flush the last dregs of bro-country out of its system, all sorts of off-beat, weird tracks have fought their way up from both electronica and the indie scene, and hip-hop continues to marginalize talent and wordplay in favour of the lowest common denominator. Sure, I might lament the failure of a few promising pop and country tracks, but the rise of nu-crunk and the prevalence of Vine have driven more than its fair share of forgettable garbage to the top – and the alarming thing is that it keeps happening.