Fall Out Boy (4) - Week of May 18, 2013

Remember when I said there’d be a lot of debuts?  I wasn’t wrong.  Avril Lavigne was the guest host this past weekend (please come back, Spyder….pretty please).  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.

• Tegan & Sara - Closer
• Muse - Madness
• PSY - Gentleman
• Awolnation - Sail
• Cher Lloyd - With Ur Love
• Lupe Fiasco Ft. Guy Sebastian - Battle Scars
• Chiddy Bang - Happening

The Countdown:

1. Fall Out Boy - My Songs Know What You Did In the Dark (Light 'em Up) (#2) [Fourth Week at #1]

2. Macklemore Ft. Ryan Lewis - Can't Hold Us (#3)

3. Pink Ft. Nate Reuss - Just Give Me a Reason (#1)

4. Ke$ha - C'mon (#5)

5. Florida Georgia Line - Cruise (#17)

6. Olly Murs - Troublemaker (#4)

7. Demi Lovato - Heart Attack (#7)

8. Hot Chelle Rae - Hung Up (#6)

9. Taylor Swift - 22 (#9)

10. Zedd Ft. Foxes - Clarity (#20)

11. Selena Gomez - Come & Get It (#16)

12. Macklemore Ft. Ryan Lewis - Thrift Shop (#13)

13. Little Mix - Wings (#12)

14. fun. - Some Nights (#23)

15. Icona Pop - I Love It (#10)

16. Anna Kendrick - Cups (#14)

17. Bruno Mars - Treasure (#40)

18. Capital Cities - Safe and Sound (#21)

19. Robin Thicke ft. Pharrell and T.I. - Blurred Lines (#18)

20. Avril Lavigne - Here's to Never Growing Up (DEBUT)

21. Jay Sean - Where You Are (#36)

22. Imagine Dragons - Radioactive (DEBUT)

23. Swedish House Mafia - Don't You Worry Child (#38)

24. fun. - Carry On (#11)

25. Drop City Yacht Club - Crickets (#26)

26. Maroon 5 - Love Somebody (DEBUT)

27. Kelsi Luck - That's What I Like (#19)

28. Bruno Mars - Locked Out of Heaven (#30)

29. The 1975 - Chocolate (#27)

30. will.i.am Ft. Justin Bieber - #thatPOWER - (DEBUT)

31. Ke$ha - Die Young (#31)

32. Daft Punk - Get Lucky (#29)

33. MKTO - Thank You (#15)

34. Of Monsters and Men - Little Talks (#39)

35. Jason Derulo - The Other Side (DEBUT)

36. Lumineers - Ho Hey (#44)

37. Classified Ft. David Myles - Inner Ninja (DEBUT)

38. Maroon 5 - Daylight (#37)

39. Krewella - Alive (#32)

40. Bruno Mars - When I Was Your Man (#8)

41. Jennifer Lopez Ft. Pitbull - Live It Up (DEBUT)

42. Imagine Dragons - It's Time (#33)

43. Jake Miller - A Million Lives (#22)

44. Emeli Sande - Next to Me (#41)

45. Pitbull Ft. Christina Aguilera - Feel This Moment (#28)

Biggest DDDDDRRRROOOOPPP!!!!....of the week: Bruno Mars – When I Was Your Man (-32)

Biggest Jump of the Week: Bruno Mars – Treasure (+23)

Allllllllright!  Heck of a rundown to go through here.  Avril Lavigne – Here’s to Never Growing Up debuted this week (all the way up at #20!  “Thank you, Avril, for hosting the countdown!”).  I enjoy this song, but it sounds super similar to a hodgepodge of her trio of songs that were on the countdown in 2011, so no creativity points.  As someone who, in his post-college adult life, has taken the somewhat depressing point of view that the best days of life will always be in the rear view mirror, the theme of this song resonates more with me than, well, something written by Avril Lavigne should.

Imagine Dragons’sezes follow up to It’s Time is Radioactive, a song that I didn’t like at all at first, but it slowly hooked me in.  There’s too many weird sound effects in the music video for me to enjoy it as much as I do the radio version.  In the world of things that have a hashtag that don’t need one, will.i.am and Justin Bieber combined to produce #thatPOWER, and #itSUCKS.  The redeeming portion(s) of the song is(are) that in which Bieber sings the melodious “I’m alive I’m alive I’m alive”.  Besides that, nothing to see here, par for the course for one of the worst artists of present-day in will.i.am.  We wouldn’t have Hall of Fame without him, but I’d get over it.

Maroon 5 has put yet another song out there, Love Somebody.  It's got the up-tempo melody/beat of the "new" class of Maroon 5 music.  Thus far I'm enjoying it on par with something along the lines of Daylight. Because it's a Maroon 5 song, it's sure to be beaten to death in the coming months, and I'll probably have a blurb many weeks from now about wanting it to disappear, but hey, it's new now, right?

Jason Derulo is back on the countdown with The Other Side, and I’m definitely feeling this one, at least for the time being.  The 2^nd half of the hook (beginning with “And I know, we ain’t friends anymore”) is Derulo taking it to the next level, because a previous version of himself might have gotten lazy and ended the chorus right before that.  A song called Inner Ninja gives rise to expectations of awesomeness but the song by Classified Ft. David Myles falls somewhat short of awesome.  I’m not sure what I’m going to think of it long-term, but for the time being, it’s a song with a catchy, yet underwhelming rhythm.  Maybe there’s undiscovered value to this song that I haven’t grown to appreciate, but more likely it’s gonna be an also-ran.  Finally, Jennifer Lopez Ft. Pitbull – Live It Up is the duo’s 2^nd attempt to re-create the greatness of the dance jam On the Floor, and it’s also their second horrible, horrible failure to do so.

Blurb and Ernie

- I have a few notes on the recently DTHNOBbed.  I’d be sadder about the sudden disappearance of Muse – Madness had it not taken so long for this song to get on the countdown in the first place.

- I’m really glad that the whole PSY – Gentleman fad faded out quickly.  Between the hype and the music video, somewhere it got lost in the shuffle that the song is absolutely awful.

- I have no idea how Emeli Sande – Next to Me survived a 7-DTHNOB week.  That song’s tenure:popularity ratio is off the chart.

- Big news in rankings land this week is that country jam Florida Georgia Line – Cruise jumped all the way up into the top 5.  I’ve grown to appreciate this one with increased time on the countdown.

- Hot Chelle Rae – Hung Up (and Hot Chelle Rae in general) needs to stop being in the Top 10.  I could write an entire album for that band in a single day.

Editor’s Picks – Top 5 Songs

1) Zedd Ft. Foxes – Clarity

2) The 1975 – Chocolate

3) Krewella – Alive

4) Daft Punk – Get Lucky

5) Florida Georgia Line - Cruise