Katy Perry (4) - Week of August 25, 2012

Lots of internal moving and shaking on the countdown this week, as the window for the #1 bid of Maroon 5 – Payphone completely slams shut.  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.

• Kimbra - Warrior
• Train - Drive By

The Countdown:

1. Katy Perry- Wide Awake (#1) [Fourth Week at #1]

2. Owl City Ft. Carly Rae Jepsen - Good Time (#15)

3. Ellie Goulding- Lights (#10)

4. Karmin- Brokenhearted (#3)

5. Flo Rida- Whistle (#9)

6. Maroon 5 feat. Wiz Khalifa- Payphone (#2)

7. Linkin Park- Burn It Down (#8)

8. Pink - Blow Me (One Last Kiss) (#12)

9. David Guetta feat. Sia- Titanium (#6)

10. Cher Lloyd- Want U Back (#7)

11. Cobra Starship - #1Nite (#40)

12. Train - 50 Ways to Say Goodbye (#18)

13. Carly Rae Jepsen- Call Me Maybe (#5)

14. fun. - Some Nights (#24)

15. Nicki Minaj - Pound the Alarm (#13)

16. Maroon 5 - One More Night (#26)

17. Olly Murs Ft. Chiddy Bang - Heart Skips a Beat (#11)

18. Demi Lovato- Give Your Heart a Break (#17)

19. K'Naan - Hurt Me Tomorrow (#23)

20. Matchbox Twenty - She's So Mean (#20)

21. The Wanted- Chasing the Sun (#27)

22. Kelly Clarkson - Dark Side (#28)

23. Calvin Harris feat. Ne-Yo- Let's Go (#29)

24. We Are the In Crowd feat. Alex Gaskarth- Kiss Me Again (#22)

25. Stefano - I'm on a Roll (#21)

26. Ed Sheeran - The A Team (#33)

27. Usher- Scream (#32)

28. One Direction- One Thing (#19)

29. fun. feat. Janelle Monáe- We Are Young (#4)

30. Marina & the Diamonds - Primadonna (#25)

31. Neon Trees- Everybody Talks (#30)

32. Conor Maynard - Vegas Girl (#31)

33. Gym Class Heroes feat. Ryan Tedder- The Fighter (#16)

34. Taylor Swift - We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together (#42)

35. Rudimental Ft. John Newman - Feel the Love (DEBUT)

36. Katy Perry - Part of Me (#35)

37. Flo Rida feat. Sia- Wild Ones (#36)

38. Gotye feat. Kimbra- Somebody That I Used to Know (#14)

39. Martin Solveig - The Night Out (DEBUT)

40. One Direction- What Makes You Beautiful (#37)

41. Grouplove- Tongue Tied (#45)

42. Nicki Minaj- Starships (#34)

43. Alex Clare- Too Close (#41)

44. Havana Brown feat. Pitbull- We Run the Night (#44)

45. Imagine Dragons- It's Time (#43)

Biggest DDDRRROOOPPPPP!!!!!.....of the week: fun. feat. Janelle Monae – We Are Young (-25)

Biggest Jump of the Week: Cobra Starship - #1Nite (+29)

Martin Solveig is back on the countdown with The Night Out.  It’s repetitive, and while not all that displeasing to listen to, it’s not much more than countdown filler.  Also from the department of “Again!  Again!  I love repetition!” comes Rudimental Ft. John Newman – Feel the Love.  The amount of unique lyrics is even fewer than in The Night Out.  Depending on whether you have strong feelings about the word “it” and the contraction “it’s” constituting different words, or whether you want to lump the onomatopoeias “ah-ah”, “oh”, and “na-na” into the category of “words”, it’s generous to say there’s only 21 unique words in the song.  Nonetheless, it’s catchier than The Night Out.  A song this mindlessly simple can never be in the upper echelon of even pop music, but there’s no harm in enjoying it until you’re deathly sick of it.  Timing on that is obviously TBD.

Here’s a run-down of the major movements this week.  Owl City Ft. Carly Rae Jepsen – Good Time made a big push towards its #1 bid this week, ascending 13 spots to #2.  It’s the likely successor to the befuddlingly mediocre Katy Pery – Wide Awake.  Ellie Goulding – Lights and Flo Rida – Whistle both entered the Top 5 for the first time, though for the first time in 7 weeks, there’s a song in between them.  It’s thoroughly irritating that the Biggest Jump of the Week, Cobra Starship - #1Nite leaped all the way up to #11 on its second countdown week.  I honestly would have no problem with Cobra Starship if their lesser songs would not perpetually become overrated.  Carly Rae Jepsen – Call Me Maybe is officially out of the Top 10, while Gotye – Somebody That I Used to Know and fun. feat Janelle Monae – We Are Young have finally been banished to the nether regions of the countdown.

With music this mediocre invading the countdown, it’s tough to look on the bright side, but I’m trying to.  In recent weeks, I’ve reviewed new songs and mentioned something to the extent of “the jury’s still out on this one”.  A few weeks later, I’m putting Olly Murs Ft. Chiddy Bang – Heart Skips a Beat, K’Naan – Hurt Me Tomorrow (well…the chorus, anyway), and Maroon 5 – One More Night firmly in the “relative win” category.  They’ve all definitely grown on me to varying degrees.  I also want to issue something of an apology for my initial dismissal of We Are the In Crowd Ft. Alex Gaskarth – Kiss Me Again.  I mentioned upon its debut that it was a waste of time and superlatively disinteresting.  I think I put too much emphasis on its weak chorus.  Tay Jardine is impressive when singing her part of the verses.  I no longer instantly change the station when it comes on.

I’m having a large amount of trouble with my “Editor’s Picks” section these days, because after the below top 3, there’s a large jumble of songs in the mix for spots 4 and 5, and I feel like I’m just randomly picking two.

Editor’s Picks – Top 5 Songs

1) Owl City Ft. Carly Rae Jepsen – Good Time

2) Ed Sheeran – The A Team

3) Pink – Blow Me (One Last Kiss)

4) Maroon 5 – One More Night

5) Olly Murs Ft. Chiddy Bang – Heart Skips a Beat