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 13, 2016 (VIDEO)

Well, this was an interesting episode. Not really a good one, but eh, what can you do?

Next up, DJ Khaled and Jake Owen, so stay tuned!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - august 13, 2016

You know, there's an adage I have on this show that the Canadian charts are always better, mostly because we didn't get rid of rock radio and we at least try to cultivate more unique Canadian acts. And yet if we look at the 2016 Hot 100, which many critics are already claiming is one of the worst years on record for this decade, it's been dominated by two Canadian artists coasting more off production than any sort of lyrical or vocal personality. Now I could make the argument that we as Canadians tend to manufacture some distance with our stars - Drake and Bieber have both been bigger south of the border than they have here - but on the other hand, we did let Bieber debut at #1 where he only landed #2 this week, so take it as you will.

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - december 5, 2015 (VIDEO)

Well, this took way too long to finish.

So, now for a complete change of pace, that black metal that I said I was going to be talking about - stay tuned!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - december 5, 2015

We are now beginning the second year of chronicling the Hot 100 charts in detail - starting in December because Billboard is weird like that. And even though this is the week I was prepared to unveil some new changes to the format, we also have to deal with one of the largest ever lists of new songs - because for some godawful choice to split their bases, One Direction and Justin Bieber released their new albums in the same damn week. Now sure enough a whole slew of these songs will be gone next week, but for now, given Bieber's shrewd promotional strategy to jack up streaming, we have a full list of twenty new songs. Now given that I already reviewed both new albums from Bieber and One Direction, I'll endeavour to keep these short unless it's a bonus track I hadn't otherwise covered, but strap in, folks, this'll probably be a long one.

video review: 'purpose' by justin bieber

I need a break from pop for a bit. Next up will be a few country reviews and then I want to talk Arca and some black metal (FINALLY)... well, at least before Adele comes sweeping in.

Stay tuned!

album review: 'purpose' by justin bieber

You know, there's a running joke among music critics that even if you don't like Justin Bieber, he's easy enough to ignore that you don't need to care about him. And really, if you reflect upon the past six years, even during the initial buzz, that has remained true - albeit for completely different reasons.

I should explain, and let me preface this by stating that I've never been one of those guys who really hated Justin Bieber right from the get-go. Now it wasn't because he was making quality - songs like 'One Time' and 'Eenie Meenie' really were awful, to the point where I've never understood why Usher hadn't contributed more to his creative development beyond a cosign and one okay song with 'Somebody To Love'. But even in Canada Justin Bieber could be easily ignored - it wasn't like he was racking up massive hits outside of 'Baby', which outside of a hysterically bad verse from Ludacris it was generally forgettable. That seemed to change with the release of 'Boyfriend' off of 2012's record Believe, which I actually reviewed on my blog three years ago. And it wasn't even like that record was completely bad either - sure, 'As Long As You Love Me' and 'Beauty And A Beat' were both pretty damn bad and the album really had no clear creative direction where to take Bieber's music lyrically or sonically, but it did provide one legitimately excellent song with 'Maria' that showed if Bieber brought real dramatic intensity and tightness, he could be a real pop star. 

And then for the next two years Bieber proceeded to squander that potential, committing crimes, shooting his mouth off, and acting like one of the most obnoxious teen idols ever to be given a microphone. Now this didn't really surprise me - the undercurrent of petulance and ego had always leaked into his music, but I assumed he'd eventually grow into it a bit. But combined with the sloppy release strategy of the underwhelming Journals that had no singles that lasted on the charts, I had no reason to really care about Justin Bieber anymore, especially when Justin Timberlake had returned and was so much stronger. That changed this year, with the release of 'Where Are U Now' with Skrillex and Diplo and his first ever #1 hit with 'What Do You Mean?'. And while neither of these songs were precisely bad and Bieber seemed to have grown into his artistic persona, he also had shown so little personality on those songs that I had absolutely zero interest in checking out Purpose, especially as the lyrics on every single had been straying into questionable places. But hey, I might as well give the guy a fair shot, and all of you kept asking for it, so how does Purpose turn out?

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - november 21, 2015 (VIDEO)

And just think of it, the day after I try to edit a video down just below fifteen minutes, the copyright strike is retracted. GAH.

Anyway, next up is Grimes, so stay tuned!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - november 21, 2015

No time for introductions this week - busy week, we'll get to more details surrounding the influx of new country when we get to it, if I want to keep this episode under fifteen minutes because of this goddamn copyright strike, gonna have to go fast!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - november 14, 2015 (VIDEO)

Well, this was late, but eh, it happens.

Okay, we've got a lot coming, let's see if I can handle some old business quickly. Stay tuned!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - november 14, 2015

Well, I'd like to say that I called it... but let me be honest here: I didn't call all of it. And really, if you had seen any of the sales data or streams or just simply checked YouTube, you could have predicted this. What caught me a bit off guard wasn't just that we got our new #1, but that we got a new #2 right behind it, a one-two punch we haven't seen this year!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - september 19, 2015 (VIDEO)

I'm fairly certain this might be the longest episode of Billboard BREAKDOWN to date, and that's saying something. Here's betting the next one will be big too as so many of those album tracks from Beauty Behind The Madness drop out.

Next up, let's go metal and talk Iron Maiden - stay tuned!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - september 19, 2015

You know, there are some weeks where I wonder why I even bother doing my album reviews, instead just focusing on Billboard BREAKDOWN, because in the case of certain records, nearly every song from it is going to land on the charts at some point, so why should I bother? And this week, not only do we have one of those cases, we also have a song from a previous case of it returning high to the charts. And yet, none of those have ended up being the biggest story of this week, mostly we have a new #1, the first of his career and one riding the wave of a tearful VMAs performance to take the very top. And folks, time to dust off those old pitchforks: Justin Bieber is back, and he's bigger than ever.

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - march 21, 2015 (VIDEO)

Well, this was another struggle to get online. Damn, this took too long...

Okay, next up, schedule as usual, stay tuned!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - march 21, 2015

Sometimes on Billboard BREAKDOWN, we can get some pretty rough weeks... but sometimes you the weeks where it all just clicks in some of the best ways possible. The good songs win, the bad songs lose, the new songs kick ass, and even the returning tracks aren't bad. I don't think it's quite possible to ever have a perfect week - simply based on the law of averages I reckon it's impossible to a Hot 100 that's all great music - but you can have great weeks. And folks, we came pretty close here - yeah, we got some rough songs, but we also got a bonafide classic, and I couldn't be happier about that.

transgression, sensitivity, and art: a discussion

So the Grey Cup, the final game of the Canadian Football League, is wrapping up as I write this. I honestly don't give a damn about who won either way, but watching the Twitter feed, I did notice a few things that struck my interest regarding the half-time show. First was antipathy, given as Justin Bieber and Carly Rae Jepsen were cited as performers. Now, promoters, I get that these two are some of the biggest names in Canadian pop radio right now, but you have to realize that they aren't exactly the kind of acts you want for a championship football game. Personally, I think a rock act would be a lot better. Hell, Gordon Lightfoot, who also performed, would be a better choice, if only because he'd have more name recognition amongst an older Canadian crowd. 

And incidentally, I saw all the tweets ripping on Lightfoot and asking for Bieber to come back on stage - on the one hand, they don't know any better, but on the other hand, it's still fucking infuriating. Diversify your tastes in music, youth of Canada, and stop proving all of my suspicions about your generation correct!

But besides that point, the final act was a small step in the right direction with Marianas Trench. Now, granted, Marianas Trench are a pop rock act that probably has a fair amount of overlap with Bieber's audience, but they put on a good show and they are a pretty solid act. So when I checked out Twitter, I was expecting to see the typical fangirl squeeing.

Instead I saw a number of tweets accusing Marianas Trench of making fun of people with speech impediment by performing their song 'Stutter', a song from their 2011 album Ever After. 

album review: 'believe' by justin bieber

Short version / opening: I don't know who to blame for Justin Bieber. Or what to do with him. And from his newest album, I can say this definitively: neither does anybody else.

I mean, who do you hold responsible for Justin Bieber at this stage right now? Do you blame the kid himself, a poor but musically talented kid who got unbelievably lucky thanks to YouTube and is now becoming a product of the pop star universe around him? Do you blame Usher, who made him his protege and has cultivated elements of Bieber's image and personality in ways that would come back to haunt him? Do you blame the producers who are desperately trying to pin down what Justin Bieber should become, trying every option they can in a whirlwind of A-list production, guest stars, and half-formed musical ideas? Do you blame Justin Bieber's managers, who haven't provided him nearly enough guidance to prevent the fame from going straight to Bieber's head and turning him into a little entitled shithead with a cockiness he hasn't earned? Do you blame Selena Gomez, his far-more-talented girlfriend who has somehow managed to walk the line between innocence and sluttiness with a deft touch beyond most of her contemporaries and predecessors (Demi Lovato, Lindsey Lohan, Miley Cyrus, Hilary Duff to some extent, Britney Spears, the list goes on), and who clearly hasn't helped Bieber become less of a douche? Do we blame Bieber's protege Carly Rae Jepsen for releasing one of the most irritatingly juvenile and catchy songs of the year with 'Call Me Maybe' (which is now the number one song on the Billboard Hot 100 - kill me now), and who has been publically criticized for dressing like a preteen girl, far younger than her age of 26?

No, at this point, while I am going to place blame on all of these people for this album and what Bieber's become in the past few years, the real blame needs to be placed on Justin Bieber's rabid, preteen-to-teenage female fanbase, the girls who create mobs who throng Justin Bieber and spur the paparazzi to chase him with unparalleled fury outside of Brangelina and allegations that John Travolta might be gay. The girls that buy tons of Bieber merchandise to replace their Hannah Montana fixations and call themselves Beliebers (ugh, that word hurts to write). And the girls who have tastes so nebulous and fleeting that in the desire to appeal to them, the producers and writers of this album have completely abandoned any thematic conceits to create an album so unfocused and schizophrenic that I half-expected guest starring spots from Tony Bennett, Andrew W.K., and Eminem.  Sadly, none of those guest stars showed up, because Tony Bennett was too busy working on some new jazz album, Eminem was working double-time between helping push Slaughterhouse and finish his eighth album, and Andrew W.K. was going to a My Little Pony convention to speak on a panel of 'In The Flesh: What Would Pinkie Pie Do?' (this is totally true, by the way, look it up - you can't invent shit like that).