Well, this finally happened. Long video to render, which is giving me the unsettling feeling that my computer is finally starting to give out on me - not a good sign, but given the problems I've been having with the processors, it's only a matter of time. Plus, in the meantime I've got so many reviews to cover before next weekend... Eh, Billboard BREAKDOWN is next, followed by Travi$ Scott, Isaiah Rashad, Angel Olsen, De La Soul... suffice to say, I have a lot to cover, so stay tuned!
I know I shouldn't really be all that surprised this was a letdown... but I really am. Florida Georgia Line try so desperately hard for maturity and yet fall so short it's damn near tragic. Of course, a major factor of that is some godawful, overdone production that's way too slick and sterile for its own damn good, but hey, it happens. And on the topic of records that have their fair share of warning signs, Delain! Stay tuned!
Believe it or not, this was actually an easier episode to edit than the last one - took less time too, so go figure. Next up, Cole Swindell, so stay tuned!
This is probably not going to be one of the nicer episodes of Billboard BREAKDOWN, just so you're all forewarned. And those of you who follow this series probably know that already because I've been calling this for a few weeks now. Well, my predictions came true, and not only did we lose every single Prince song from the Hot 100, they all got replaced by Drake, including the #1. And I'm going to say this right now: Views has only become less interesting since I covered it, and while you could cite that being my own fault given that I've been listening steadily to Aesop Rock and Death Grips, it doesn't change the fact the record is tedious, inconsistently produced, and increasingly badly written. And yet the mainstream public jumped all over it, giving Drake the record number of Hot 100 entries - and yet unlike Beyonce, I wouldn't expect many of these to stick around.
Well, this was pretty light. I think I managed to figure out where my uploads are breaking, though - further testing might have to check at the house, see if it's my internet or my computer... In any case... hmm, this Hinds album looks interesting, so stay tuned!
You know, after how rough last week was, it's nice to see things pivot back to something pretty damn agreeable. Part of this was the exodus of Christmas music, which triggered a lot of re-entries and boosts, and sure, there are definitely questionable songs and trends there, but I'm not quite as angry about it as I expected, mostly thanks to our new arrivals and one specific entry into the Top 10 that I would never have expected.
Yeah, a little late, but it uploaded late and I was tired last night. It happens. Next up, Bea Miller, and then probably LMNO & Mr. Brady, followed by Ashley Monroe and B Dolan. Stay tuned!
Well so much for the summer lull. Even as the album release schedule has slowed a bit, it was a reasonably busy week on the charts, thanks to even more change-ups in country, a slice of album tracks from Future, and one of the biggest leaps to the Top 10 I've seen in a while.
Well, this was a great week - effectively repeating a lot of things I already said in the Kendrick review, but whatever. Okay, next up, got a whole slew of albums after I tackle this particularly difficult one. Stay tuned!
So you know how I said last week that I knew something awesome was coming this week? Well, here's a funny thing - when you start hearing press releases about certain artists beating streaming records off of critically acclaimed releases, you suddenly realize that Billboard includes streaming information in its calculations, and that means songs that would never otherwise land on the Hot 100 will suddenly notch hits. And sure, they might not stick around for long, but if they somehow land enough impressions or make enough of an impact with the audience... In any case, by now anyone who follows the music industry should know what I'm talking about: Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp A Butterfly, and by some miracle six songs from it landed on the Hot 100. And it seems like in response the Hot 100 went into a massive panic in response to so much great music injected into it, and all sorts of semi-explicable insanity happened this week.
The time has come. I've been asked a number of times to weigh in one of the most 'iconic' duo in the short history of bro-country, the act most instantaneously recognizable by so many people as the main 'faces' of the genre. A duo that is responsible for the longest running #1 single on the country charts of all time, the instantly recognizable, mind-bogglingly stupid single 'Cruise'. And with the massive success of the remix of that song with Nelly, they managed to propel bro-country into the mainstream and have become singlehandedly responsible for how most of my generation perceives country music. Yep, the duo is Florida Georgia Line, loved by casual and bro-country fans and detested by pretty much everyone else, and as the only country critic on YouTube, my verdict IS... Eh, they're not bad. I've made the statement in the past that bro-country in and of itself isn't a bad thing, and there are gradations of quality within the subgenre. You get acts that do it well, and acts that screw it up, and unsurprisingly for being the biggest name in the format, Florida Georgia Line fall somewhere in the middle. Believe it or not, I didn't hate 'Cruise' when it first debuted and I still don't hate it, mostly because it's too blissfully moronic to hate. You don't always need intelligence to make good pop or country music, and 'Cruise' kind of worked for what it was. See, Florida Georgia Line had two big advantages in their favour: a ton of enthusiasm, and a certain amount of authenticity. They weren't exactly polished or had a lot of dignity, but you could tell they believed what they were selling and didn't really come across as obnoxious. That's why the remix of 'Cruise' and the Luke Bryan collaboration 'This Is How We Roll' left something of a sour taste in my mouth - they stripped away the country twang and replaced it with stiff drum machines and egregious Autotune, and while the original melodic structure of the songs held up, they lost a lot of flavour. Plus, nobody wants to hear Florida Georgia Line rap - ever. But that was last year, and you better believe I was curious to see how Florida Georgia Line would be able to translate the narrow shelf-life of bro-country into something that'd be able to last beyond the trend. And at first glimpse, it looked like the band would be able to pull it off, because the lead-off single 'Dirt' looked like it was going in a very different direction. But then I started to hear interviews from Scott Borchetta, head of Big Machine and affiliated with Republic Nashville, Florida Georgia Line's label, that his comments surrounding the necessity for country to diversify was directed at everyone except Florida Georgia Line. The duo seemed to be getting a free pass to pump out more of the same, and thus I didn't know what to expect with their newest album Anything Goes - so what happened?
