Imagine Dragons (3) - Week of July 20, 2013

Here's that all-out purging that we've been waiting for.  The victims include the entire Bottom 5 from last week's countdown, which I believe is the first time that's ever happened.  The other two were the not-particularly-tenured #20 and #22 from last week, which is odd.  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.

• Mariah Carey Ft. Miguel - #Beautiful
• Chris Brown - Fine China
• Drop City Yacht Club - Crickets
• Little Mix - Wings
• Emeli Sande - Next to Me
• MKTO - Thank You
• Jennifer Lopez Ft. Pitbull - Live It Up

I think at this time we must pause for an obituary.

Emeli Sande – Next to Me made its countdown debut on October 20^th, 2012.  It lived a debatably-good 9-month life for some reason.  Never aspiring for greatness, Next to Me became a shining example of “be happy what you have”.  It never ascended higher than the #24 spot on the countdown.  Though it was never loved enough to see the countdown’s top half, it never once complained.  This lends credence to the idea that a positive attitude has a definite impact on longevity.  The Hits-1 voters never over-the-top appreciated it, and quite frankly neither did I, but a very modest number of people apparently consistently loved it for what it was.  Isn’t that all any of us aspire for?  Its lasting presence on the countdown did not go unnoticed, as a certain Hits-1 countdown recapper dedicated some of his precious Blurb space each week to discuss amazement at how it lasted so long.  I won’t go so far as to say Next to Me will be missed.  In fact, it certainly won’t be.  But we now find ourselves in a world in which there’s one fewer thing that doesn’t make any sense and can’t be explained by human logic, and well, that quite frankly ruins some of the magic of being alive.  Good-bye Next to Me.  It’s been real.

The Countdown:

1. Imagine Dragons - Radioactive (#1) [Third Week at #1]

2. Robin Thicke ft. Pharrell and T.I. - Blurred Lines (#14)

3. Maroon 5 - Love Somebody (#2)

4. Zedd Ft. Foxes - Clarity (#3)

5. Fall Out Boy - My Songs Know What You Did In the Dark (Light 'em Up) (#30)

6. Macklemore Ft. Ryan Lewis - Can't Hold Us (#5)

7. Pink Ft. Nate Reuss - Just Give Me a Reason (#19)

8. Calvin Harris Ft. Ellie Goulding - I Need Your Love (#16)

9. Selena Gomez - Come & Get It (#6)

10. Jason Derulo - The Other Side (#7)

11. Avril Lavigne - Here's to Never Growing Up (#4)

12. Icona Pop - I Love It (#9)

13. Capital Cities - Safe and Sound (#13)

14. Ke$ha Ft. will.i.am - Crazy Kids (#11)

15. Bruno Mars - Treasure (#12)

16. Emblem 3 - Chloe (#18)

17. Florida Georgia Line - Cruise (#8)

18. Daft Punk - Get Lucky (#26)

19. The Summer Set - Boomerang (#25)

20. Nikki Williams - Glowing (#33)

21. Awolnation - Sail (#10)

22. Anna Kendrick - Cups (#15)

23. Classified Ft. David Myles - Inner Ninja (#24)

24. Paramore - Still Into You (#27)

25. Olly Murs - Troublemaker (#28)

26. JTX - Summer Lover (DEBUT)

27. Ke$ha - Die Young (#40)

28. The 1975 - Chocolate (#23)

29. Ariana Grande - The Way (#31)

30. Michael Buble - It's a Beautiful Day (#21)

31. Karmin - Acapella (DEBUT)

32. Hot Chelle Rae - Hung Up (#37)

33. Twenty One Pilots - Holding On To You (DEBUT)

34. Demi Lovato - Heart Attack (#35)

35. Sammy Adams Ft. Mike Posner - LA Story (DEBUT)

36. Cody Simpson - Pretty Brown Eyes (DEBUT)

37. Kelsi Luck - That's What I Like (#17)

38. MKTO - Classic (DEBUT)

39. Swedish House Mafia - Don't You Worry Child (#36)

40. Train Ft. Ashley Monroe - Bruises (DEBUT)

41. Macklemore Ft. Ryan Lewis - Thrift Shop (#39)

42. fun. - Some Nights (#32)

43. Tegan & Sara - Closer (#29)

44. Labrinth Ft. Emeli Sande - Beneath Your Beautiful (#34)

45. Bruno Mars - Locked Out of Heaven (#38)

Biggest DDDDDDDRRRRRRRROOOOOOPPPPPPPP!!!!!....of the week: Kelsi Luck – That’s What I Like (-20)

Biggest Jump of the Week: Fall Out Boy – My Songs Know What You Did In the Dark (Light ‘em Up) (+25)

As it turns out, this week was fantastic for reasons besides the end of my obsession with the constant presence of an overly mediocre song and Kelsi Luck’s unspeakably awful song getting slapped straight in the face in the rankings.  We have ourselves the best class of new entrants in quite some time.  So sit back, relax, and enjoy some positivity from yours truly, which has been sorely missing on the whole from these weekly installments lately.

JTX is kind of like what Hot Chelle Rae would be if their music was good.  Neither of those things can write anything worth a damn, but the difference is that JTX produces music that can be fun and addicting, while the descriptive adjectives towards Hot Chelle Rae’s music generally are synonyms of “tired”, “boring”, or “annoying”.  JTX debuted this week with Summer Lover, and while it’s no Love In America, it’s plenty delightful and should run its course as an above-average countdown song. 

Oh my goodness is Karmin – Acapella strange.  This song is going to enrage and annoy many persons with its presence over the next few months, and before I say the sentence-after-next, everyone must understand that I completely get and appreciate that.  Those who find this song bothersome are completely justified and there is nothing wrong with you.  However, I find myself constantly wanting that song to come on the radio.  I could do without the part where Amy Heidemann does it “in falsetta”, as that’s probably the only piece that gives me any shame about liking this song, but besides that, it’s been weirdly infectious.  Don’t look at me like that, I’ve liked songs like this before, and you know it.  However I will note that I’ve listened to this song a good deal over the past 2 weeks and a good amount of what I guess you would call luster has worn off.  It’ll be interesting to see whether it’s an asset or an annoyance in a month.  Karmin is turning out to be far from the Jessie J clone that I thought they were when they released Brokenhearted.

Of all the new entrants, Twenty One Pilots – Holding On To You is probably the one I had the most unfavorable initial reaction to and the one that I’ve probably listened to the most.  Fortunately, that initial reaction was borne more out of my general attitude towards much of 2013’s music and the lack of surface-level catchiness.  This is an all-around solid tune.  Fun tidblurbs: 1) I could see it being used in commercials.  I don’t know why this makes sense to me.  2) The singer sounds like the guy from Paper Tongues, and I had to Wikipedia this to make sure that it wasn’t the same dude.

Mike Posner hasn’t been around in a long time and I find that kind of strange from a guy that had publicly aspired to have Lady Gaga-level fame and popularity in music.  He’s along for the ride in Sammy Adams’s song L.A. Story.  If I had to rank the 7 new entrants, this one would firmly be in 6^th, but fortunately that isn’t much of an insult in this group.  I think the duo work together pretty well in this song, and the net product is something that’s worth having around.  If this were most groups of 7 songs, the modestly catchy Cody Simpson – Pretty Brown Eyes wouldn’t be the least interesting new entrant / bottom song on the totem pole, but this isn’t, and it is.

Oh my, this is already a mile long and I still have two songs to go.  This is not a typical week.  MKTO noticed that Thank You was on the outs in the countdown rankings, so they worked hard to get Classic in there ASAP to replace it.  Classic is the superior song of the two, with an infectious upbeat melody and a solid singing performance.  Call me old fashioned (heh…) but I enjoy the lyrics in this one very much as well.

Finally, we come to Train Ft. Ashley Monroe – Bruises.  This song is pretty fantastic, in no small part due to the performance of the country-singing Monroe, whose voice is a perfect complement to that of Pat Monahan.  You may find better songs that come across the Sirius XM Hits-1 Weekend Countdown, but they don’t come much more melodious than Bruises.  It may be the lowest-ranked new entrant on the countdown, but it’s the top ranked one on my list and the early favorite for next weekend’s Biggest Jump.

Blurbday Wishes

- Unfortunately, the two songs that I know as of right now that are locks to debut next weekend are worse than all 7 of this weekend’s new entrants.  This dims the excitement a little bit, because all indications are that this week isn’t going to spur a long run of success.

- The other big development this week was the ascension of Robin Thicke Ft. Pharrell and T.I. – Blurred Lines to the #2 slot.  It seems like the likely successor to Imagine Dragons – Radioactive.

- Calvin Harris Ft. Ellie Goulding – I Need Your Love is probably second to only That’s What I Like in terms of songs on the countdown that make me change the station fastest.  Its ascension into the Top 10 this week is nothing shy of disturbing.

- All of my Editor’s Picks are from this class of new entrants because it’s about damn time we heard some new stuff that actually works.

Editor’s Picks – Top 5 Songs

1) Train – Bruises

2) Karmin – Acapella

3) JTX – Summer Lover

4) MKTO – Classic

5) Twenty One Pilots – Holding On To You