billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - january 24, 2015 (VIDEO)

You know, I actually thought this episode would be a quicker edit than it was. Go figure.

Okay, I think I'm ready for some Fall Out Boy now, bring it on!

billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - january 24, 2015

This week, things finally seemed to get back to normal - and to be honest, I was expecting the charts to get a lot worse this week thanks to an injection of new album tracks from reviews I did last week. Instead, it seems like the opposite is true, as no additional Rae Sremmurd tracks landed on the Hot 100 - thank God - and Meghan Trainor had losses across the board. In fact, for the first week ever on Billboard BREAKDOWN, we have no returning entries, just brand-new songs - granted, with more Chris Brown than is healthy for anyone, but hey, we're getting Jhene Aiko, another Fall Out Boy single, and a punk cover of Taylor Swift, I'll take it!

video review: '1000 forms of fear' by sia

Man, I wanted to like this more. Unfortunately, this album falls prey to a lot of the same problems I have with modern pop production, plus more.

Next up is the one-year anniversary special, the album you chose for me to cover... what will it be? Stay tuned!

album review: '1000 forms of fear' by sia

The more I think about it, the less I think anyone should be surprised that Sia's career trajectory went the way it did.

See, while the mainstream likely became acquainted with Sia thanks to her appearances on Flo Rida's 'Wild Ones' or David Guetta's 'Titanium' or from the noted songwriting credits she has scattered across the pop landscape over the past few years, Sia has been around a fair bit longer in the indie pop scene with a selection of albums that were reasonably well-received, if not exactly critically acclaimed. Her original selection of material started in the vein of downtempo R&B, which was a brilliant fit for her solid melodic composition, emotive delivery, and underwritten songs that worked more on emotive presence than on lyrical description. Those of you who have a grasp on my personal taste likely think the latter would mean I was never really a huge fan of hers, but that material worked for me in the same way I liked Rhye - it was subtle, it was understated, and it was powerfully vulnerable.

And yet Sia didn't stay in that vein, as she gradually began pushing her sound towards more of the quirky, flashy, borderline twee side of indie pop that I have a hard time liking. There was some of the subversive darkness in her lyrics, to be sure, but it wasn't always as much of a good fit for her new sound, especially when it came to the poetry. What it was a solid fit for was the rise of bombastic, EDM-flavoured pop in the vein of David Guetta, which didn't rely as much on lyrics as it did raw feeling and emotive presence. And sure, Sia had this, but with the underwritten lyrics, the thinner emotional framework, and her tendency to work with producers and artists who couldn't match her level of subtlety and expressiveness. On top of that, you could always recognize a song written by Sia from another artist, and while Sia could make her brand of songwriting work for her fairly consistently, it didn't exactly translate for singers like Rihanna nearly as well.

But oddly, the prospect of the flash of fame was something that Sia found profoundly uncomfortable, leading to drug and alcohol abuse and nearly a suicide attempt. Instead, she focused on writing songs for other people and only signed with RCA on the condition she didn't have to tour or do any press appearances, which led to this album, 1000 Forms Of Fear. And even though I wasn't the biggest fan of Sia, I knew her brand of confessional songwriting would likely make for some interesting music given her experiences. So, what did I discover?