Friday, July 6, 2012

Carly Rae Jepsen (5) - Week of June 30, 2012


In which the wheels completely come off.  The Golden Age is over, and we (probably) haven’t seen a debut from a Top-45-of-the-Year song in over a month.  Before we get on to this week’s Fresh 45, here’s a list of all the songs we’re saying good-bye to this week:
  • Lucas Prada Ft. Lenny B - First Night of My Life
  • M83 - Midnight City
  • The Black Keys - Lonely Boy
  • David Guetta Ft. Nicki Minaj - Turn Me On
Ouch.  That’s difficult to replace.  

The Countdown: 

1. Carly Rae Jepsen- Call Me Maybe (#1) [Fifth Week at #1]
2. Maroon 5 feat. Wiz Khalifa- Payphone (#3)
3. Karmin- Brokenhearted (#9)
4. Gotye feat. Kimbra- Somebody That I Used to Know (#4)
5. One Direction- What Makes You Beautiful (#5)
6. fun. feat. Janelle Monáe- We Are Young (#2)
7. Katy Perry- Wide Awake (#7)
8. Pitbull- Back in Time (#10)
9. Neon Trees- Everybody Talks (#8)
10. Gym Class Heroes feat. Ryan Tedder- The Fighter (#14)
11. Grouplove- Tongue Tied (#20)
12. David Guetta feat. Sia- Titanium (#12)
13. Linkin Park- Burn It Down (#14)
14. Usher- Scream (#17)
15. Alex Clare- Too Close (#11)
16. Chiddy Bang feat. Icona Pop- Mind Your Manners (#15)
17. One Direction- One Thing (#27) [Biggest Rise]
18. Sammy Adams- Only One (#26)
19. Demi Lovato- Give Your Heart a Break (#19)
20. Nicki Minaj- Starships (#6)
21. Cher Lloyd- Want U Back (#13)
22. Havana Brown feat. Pitbull- We Run the Night (#22)
23. Imagine Dragons- It's Time (#29)
24. Rita Ora- How We Do (Party) (#25)
25. Breathe Carolina- Hit and Run (#31)
26. Flo Rida- Whistle (DEBUT)
27. We Are the In Crowd feat. Alex Gaskarth- Kiss Me Again (DEBUT)
28. The Wanted- Chasing the Sun (#21)
29. Andy Grammer- Fine By Me (#18)
30. B.o.B feat. Taylor Swift- Both of Us (#32)
31. Ellie Goulding- Lights (DEBUT)
32. Calvin Harris feat. Ne-Yo- Let's Go (DEBUT)
33. Gavin DeGraw- Sweeter (#22)
34. Kimbra feat. Mark Foster & A-Trak- Warrior (#28)
35. The Cab- La La (#16) [Biggest Drop]
36. Kelly Clarkson- Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You) (#33)
37. Gym Class Heroes feat. Neon Hitch- Ass Back Home (#36)
38. Katy Perry- Part of Me (#35)
39. Flo Rida feat. Sia- Wild Ones (#23)
40. Train- Drive By (#24)
41. The Wanted- Glad You Came (#37)
42. B.o.B- So Good (#43)
43. Hot Chelle Rae- Honestly (#40)
44. Calvin Harris- Feel So Close (#39)
45. The All-American Rejects- Walk Over Me (#38)

Biggest DDDRRRRROOOOOPPPPP!!!!!!!......of the week: The Cab – La La (-19)
Biggest Jump of the Week: One Direction – One Thing (+10)

Unfortunately, the new entrants don’t even make a reasonable effort to replace the dearly departed.  All four new entrants are worse than all four DTHNOBs.  We’ll kick it off with Flo Rida – Whistle, which takes over for Madonna – Like a Prayer for least subtle song ever on its subject matter.  The song itself is reasonably catchy but it’s not one that you’re going to want to hear three weeks from now.  Typically, I’ve heard all new entrants at least once before their countdown debut, and I only give just one extra token listen to each on YouTube before writing a mini-recap here.  However, for We Are the In Crowd – Kiss Me Again, I made a special exception to the one-listen-only part.  I YouTubed it zero times.  There’s no way I’m subjecting myself to something so breathtakingly disinteresting by my own choosing.

I would call Ellie Goulding – Lights the most unique new entrant.  Admittedly, at first, I thought it had a fair amount of potential to be a good new song that this countdown sorely needs, but a few extra listens made me think otherwise.  Still, it’s the best of this weak crew.  Calvin Harris Ft. Ne-Yo – Let’s Go is (stop me if you’ve heard this one before) a song that isn’t noticeably good or bad when you first hear it, which, when combined with a pop music station that plays the same 40-ish songs on repeat all week, is a song that you never want to hear again after about a fortnight, because there’s nothing to hook you into it.  Calvin Harris, please stop making music, you insufferable David Guetta wannabe.

If you asked me last week to predict this week’s Biggest DDDDDRRRRROOOPPP!!!!! and Biggest Jump, I probably would have gotten both right.  One Thing is definitely destined for a reasonable run in the low teens / high single digits at least.  Meanwhile, I’m not sure how La La lasted so long in the teens, but it’s been a nice run for a pretty good song.

There’s two saving graces to this week’s countdown.  For one, look at those top 5 songs.  Karmin – Brokenhearted replacing fun. Ft. Janelle Monae – We Are Young has cemented this as the best Top 5 since probably around 2009 when I started listening to this countdown show.  Though not as top-heavy as the Owl City – Fireflies / Miley Cyrus – Party in the U.S.A. top 5 from years ago, I’d say it’s in the conversation of the best we’ve ever had.  Mostly because there’s usually at least one bad song mucking it up.

The second saving grace is that there’s one hell of a good song on Hit-Bound in Owl City Ft. Carly Rae Jepsen – Good Time.  Please hurry to your countdown debut.  Please.

We had an excellent 4-month run on the countdown, and fittingly, it ends with the first half of the year, on June 30th.  We’re probably stuck in crapville for a little while, as the sub-par recent new entrants run their course and the good songs that debuted in February and March get beaten to death more than necessary.  Here’s hoping for a rebound in the coming weeks.

Editor’s Picks – Top 5 Songs
1) Maroon 5 – Payphone
2) Rita Ora – How We Do (Party)
3) Karmin – Brokenhearted
4) Imagine Dragons – It’s Time
5) Usher - Scream

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