billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - july 6, 2019 (VIDEO)

Honestly, I've been tinkering with the past few episodes in the audio mixing and thus far it's turning out well - generally nice.

Next up, though... Gibbs is coming, folks. Stay tuned!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - july 6, 2019

So remember when I said last week that it looked like things were about to be changing? It's hard not to look at the Hot 100 right now and think that the disruptions are starting to come en masse - not the album bomb I expected from Lil Nas X, sure, but we still got four new songs in the top quarter of the charts, as well as a few shifts I definitely did not predict - we could be in for an interesting summer, just putting it out there.

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - march 23, 2019 (VIDEO)

So yeah, this took a bit longer this evening than I was anticipating (I had RL work stuff along with a spur-of-the-moment choice to do my taxes), but it's here regardless. Kind of underwhelming, but what can you do.

Next up... well, it might take a day or two, depending on when the data I need comes in, but I think we're going to stay in hip-hop - stay tuned!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - march 23, 2019

So this week surprised me - a lot. I was gearing up for a Juice WRLD album bomb that would make my life miserable, and to my amazement that didn't happen. In fact, we got a pretty average week on Billboard BREAKDOWN, where Juice WRLD did make an impact but nowhere close to what I was predicting, and that leads me to questions about his label and management I didn't expect I'd have. Hell, I knew the kid had a short shelf-life, but I didn't expect Interscope mismanagement to be the biggest contributing factor, I thought the album just being crap would have done enough!

video review: 'm a n i a' by fall out boy

Okay, let's be honest, you all expected this. I'm not sure you'll expect my final conclusions or how it's presented, but on a broad level, you could see this coming.

Eh, it happens. Next up, something better, so stay tuned!

album review: 'M A N I A' by fall out boy

We all knew this was coming. Ever since 'Young & Menace' was released failed to notch any real success, we all that sinking feeling of exactly what Fall Out Boy was going to do with this album, and when it was delayed from mid-September of last year to now...

Hell, let's put all of that aside and just consider Fall Out Boy's progression since they reunited. Going back to it Save Rock And Roll is a glorious mess and it definitely pushes its obnoxious middle finger to an audience that abandoned it, but the hooks and tunes were there, even if they threw away many of the pop rock tones that made them in the mid-2000s. But hell, they were doing that in 2008, and despite some truly questionable creative decisions, Fall Out Boy had a project that held together in concept and execution... something I can't say about American Beauty/American Psycho. And again, that's not a bad project either, but as I said when I reviewed it, it had the feel of a 'now what' record, a band successfully regaining their clout in the mainstream only to find no more mountains to climb, which led to even more slapdash production and writing as well as a continued infatuation with hip-hop on that mixtape Make America Psycho Again that doesn't make anyone sound good. Thankfully just enough of the rock edge was still there to keep the music mostly compelling, but just as so many acts have sacrificed that tone to remain relevant, I knew Fall Out Boy's turn would come - hell, they had been on the cusp for multiple projects now!

And with 'Young & Menace', I knew that moment had come: the sellout, where like Maroon 5 and Linkin Park before them their distinctive sound would be sacrificed for a chance of mainstream success... that didn't happen. Yeah, not going to lie, the failure of that song and Fall Out Boy returning to the studio gave me a bit of hope that maybe they had seen the precipice and had swiveled away in time. But I was also being realistic: we weren't going to get another PAX AM Days or even something close to what Andy Hurley is doing with Sect right now, it was going to a pop project with rock elements rather than the other way around. So with that in mind... is this salvageable?

the top ten best hit songs of 2015 (VIDEO)

Well, this was fun to put together. Yeah, a few minor glitches, but it did come together in a hurry more than I'd otherwise like (mostly because I'm travelling atm and have limited Internet/computer time). Interesting to see all the controversy about my #1 pick, but you always get that sort of thing.

Anyway, now to focus on the Top 50 Songs of 2015, so stay tuned!

the top ten best hit songs of 2015

Of all of the lists that I put together throughout the last weeks of the year, this is probably my favourite, because it's where I feel the most populist. It's the acknowledgement at listing the absolute worst hits that there is good stuff that deserves attention too, and that the mainstream public actually agreed. And 2015 really was a good year. Yeah, hip-hop and country in the mainstream struggled, but there were a lot of great pop songs pulling on rock, synthpop, funk, and even R&B. And while I wouldn't say this year's hits are quite as strong as a year like 2012 or 2011, it handily beats the last two years I've been putting together this list not just in number of great songs, but their quality. And again, the songs had to land on the Billboard Year-End Hot 100 - the deep-cuts and stuff outside the mainstream, that's coming next - but this was the good stuff that got popular.

So let's start with our Honourable Mentions, shall we?

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - november 7, 2015 (VIDEO)

Yeah, I know it's late, but I fell asleep before I could post it, it happens. Overall, a decent week - though I expect next week to be absolutely bonkers busy, so stay tuned for that.

Next up, I've got a few busy days ahead, but I think I'm feeling ready to cover some Neon Indian, so stay tuned!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - november 7, 2015

Before I start, if you're not already aware, my first full-length fantasy novel called To Kill A Dragon just dropped on Amazon - so if you're interested, I'd really appreciate if you took a look, the link's in the description below, maybe pick up a copy to drop a review. After all, if I dish it out, I need to be able to take it too.

...You see, Drake? What I did there just now is called 'marketing', and while it's on a far smaller scale and will probably lead to a far smaller return, I'd argue I didn't screw it up nearly as badly as you screwed up this week.

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - may 16, 2015 (VIDEO)

Overall, it was a better week than expected. Shame most of hip-hop is in the shitter in the mainstream right now, but you can hope for the future.

Next up, probably Chris Stapleton and finally - finally - Sufjan Stevens. Stay tuned!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - may 16, 2015

So remember when I was lamenting last week that the expected chaos after the collapse after a long-running #1 didn't happen? Turns out I should have just waited one week, because we might have one of the busiest weeks on the Hot 100 I've seen in a long time. Massive gains, sizeable losses and dropouts, a slew of new and returning tracks, and even new entries to the Hot 100 that show that even if the #1 slot might be safe, everything beneath it sure as hell isn't. And in some cases, that instability might end up being a good thing.

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - february 28, 2015 (VIDEO)

Well, that's another week. Man, that took a long time to finish.

Okay, next up... you know, I think it's time we tackle something really awful, and I might just need help with this one. Stay tuned!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - february 28, 2015

I was expecting the Billboard Hot 100 to be busy this week. Coming off of the Grammies, it always is - you get performances that remind people that certain songs exist and they start rising again or ever return to the charts. Big award shows are like that, and even though most of the critical public treats them with professional disinterest - well, at least until one of our favourites wins like with St. Vincent this year - the public puts a lot of stock in them regardless. That was the plan... and then a certain Canadian rapper decided to drop an album out of nowhere and suddenly - and I hate that I'm saying this - but the radio turned into the Drake show. Let me stress this was US radio - where you guys got five new Drake tracks charting - and not even the best ones, at that - guess how many we Canadians got? One - once again, proving the universal truth that the Canadian charts are always better.

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - february 7, 2015

And there we go. Lot of upload problems getting this online - which is odd, considering the editing went so quickly, but eh, it happens.

Okay, next up is Sleater-Kinney and Doomtree, stay tuned!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - february 7, 2015

So, I'm assuming by now, if you watch this show or not, you might have heard that the Twilight-fanfiction turned trashy BDSM romance novel is being converted into a film. One plagued with bad buzz because the leads apparently have no chemistry and they needed an R-rating simply because of all of the cheap mid-90s softcore they needed to fill the running time and take away from the awful, awful plot? Trust me, I'm going to see Fifty Shades of Grey and give it the due thrashing it deserves, but until then we have the soundtrack - and the songs that won't stop rising on the charts. I have to say, America, you seemed to take my assertion that the public had taste like a challenge, because from the looks of things, we had a rough week.

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - january 31, 2015 (VIDEO)

Overall, a pretty solid week - happy I was able to get this out before the convention kicked into high gear.

Okay, time to enjoy myself and maybe catch an album - or four - in between. Stay tuned!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - january 31, 2015

So this was a pretty simple week on the Billboard Hot 100 - in that there were movements and changes that you could easily predict. And yet it was almost a deceptive week on the charts, where it might seem a lot happened - we even got a new song debuting in the top ten, and trust me, we'll get to it - but it's not exactly disruptive to the status quo, and if anything, its success is all the more predictable.

video review: 'american beauty/american psycho' by fall out boy

Man, I wish I liked this album more than I did. Hope to God that it grows on me throughout the year, but overall, I doubt it.

Okay, Mark Ronson, and then another crazy week. Stay tuned!

album review: 'american beauty/american psycho' by fall out boy

I don't think anybody knew what to expect when Fall Out Boy dropped their long-awaited comeback record in 2013. A band that was simultaneously fanatically loved and hated, they weren't exactly a band where there was much of a middle ground. Yeah, the instrumentation had bombast and tight groove-flavoured melodies, but they were clearly riding the coattails of the pop-flavoured emo movement. Yes, Patrick Stump had a great voice, when it wasn't screamingly obnoxious. And yeah, the lyrics were intricate and poetic and Pete Wentz was a gifted songwriter... but going beneath the surface revealed arrogance and self-obsession and a bad tendency to behave like condescending assholes. 

And the funny thing is that all of it is true - and yet as a critic, I was inclined to give the edge to Fall Out Boy here. For as much as they played assholes, they were at least aware of it in their framing, and it wasn't as if they didn't occasionally make solid points, especially when drifted more towards political material. And frankly, the more bombastic they got the more I could appreciate them, especially with their underrated concept album Folie a Deux. So when they came back in 2013, I was excited to see grander ambitions, and then...

Okay, look, I know from a certain academic standpoint Save Rock And Roll doesn't really work all the way through. It's over-the-top to the point of self-important silliness, it makes grand statements it can't back up, the production is a total mess, the majority of the guest stars don't work, it frequently pulls from other rock acts, and the fact that a massive portion of it is a middle finger to their fans was probably not the best of creative choices. And yet, of all the albums I've covered in 2013 in written or video form, it's been the album I've come back to the most - definitely not because it's the best but because it's downright fascinating and contains some of the band's best ever songs. And while the targets of the rage might be misplaced, you can't exactly deny that the band was throwing their all into this, for better or for worse.

As such, I had no idea what to expect from their newest record, American Beauty/ American Psycho. On the one hand, Fall Out Boy were claiming to be even more experimental and tackle more political material, but on the other hand I found the single 'Centuries' to be underwhelming and really reminiscent of Panic! At The Disco's 'Ms. Jackson', at least on the first few listens - mostly because it got the same female singer. But I'm still a fan of this band, so I made sure to give the album a fair few listens - what did we get?