Avicii (4) - Week of November 16, 2013

One still gets the feeling that things are about to turn around, but for the time being, we’re still waiting.  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.

• Labrinth Ft. Emeli Sande - Beneath Your Beautiful
• Taylor Swift Ft. Ed Sheeran - Everything Has Changed
• Jesse McCartney - Back Together
• Avril Lavigne - Rock and Roll
• Tegan and Sara - Closer (DTHx2)

The Countdown:

1. Avicii Ft. Aloe Blacc – Wake Me Up (#2) [Fourth Week at #1]

2. Lorde – Royals (#1)

3. Katy Perry – Roar (#4)

4. Fall Out Boy – Alone Together (#18)

5. Olly Murs – Dance With Me Tonight (#8)

6. Imagine Dragons – Demons (#3)

7. MKTO – Classic (#6)

8. Lady Gaga – Applause (#9)

9. Selena Gomez – Slow Down (#11)

10. Linkin Park Ft. Steve Aoki – A Light That Never Comes (#10)

11. Lana Del Rey Ft. Cedric Gervais – Summertime Sadness (#17)

12. Hunter Hayes – I Want Crazy (#20)

13. Icona Pop – All Night (#21)

14. Neighbourhood – Sweater Weather (#12)

15. Zedd Ft. Hayley Williams - Stay the Night (#43)

16. Fall Out Boy – My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light 'em Up) (#7)

17. Travie McCoy Ft. Jason Mraz – Rough Water (#31)

18. Katy Perry – Unconditionally (#15)

19. Eminem Ft. Rihanna - The Monster (#33)

20. The Mowgli's – Say It, Just Say It (#22)

21. Wax – Rosana (#23)

22. New Politics – Harlem (#28)

23. Lady Gaga Ft. R. Kelly - Do What U Want (#35)

24. Cher Lloyd – I Wish (#24)

25. Enrique Iglesias – Heart Attack (#29)

26. Imagine Dragons – Radioactive (#14)

27. Armin van Buuren Ft. Trevor Guthrie - This Is What It Feels Like (#39)

28. One Direction - Story Of My Life (#26)

29. Robin Thicke Ft. Pharrell & T.I. – Blurred Lines (#37)

30. Capital Cities – Safe and Sound (#16)

31. John Newman – Love Me Again (#19)

32. Paramore – Still Into You (#5)

33. Macklemore Ft. Ryan Lewis – Can't Hold Us (#41)

34. OneRepublic - Counting Stars (DEBUT)

35. Serebro - Mi Mi MI (#25)

36. Panic! At The Disco - Miss Jackson (DEBUT)

37. Calvin Harris Ft. Ellie Goulding – I Need Your Love (#13)

38. Maroon 5 – Love Somebody (#34)

39. Zedd Ft. Foxes – Clarity (#27)

40. The 1975 – Chocolate (#38)

41. Pitbull Ft. Ke$ha - Timber (DEBUT)

42. Pink – True Love (#36)

43. Krewella – Live For The Night (RE-ENTRY)

44. Bruno Mars – Gorilla (#42)

45. Macklemore Ft. Ryan Lewis – Same Love (RE-ENTRY)

Biggest DDDDRRRRRROOOOPPPPPP!!!!!....of the week: Paramore – Still Into You (-27)

Biggest Jump of the Week: Zedd Ft. Hayley Williams – Stay the Night (+28)

Two resurrections this week, Macklemore Ft. Ryan Lewis – Same Love and Krewella – Live For The Night are both back, so three newbies.  I am surprised that this the first time Panic! At the Disco has appeared on the countdown (at least since I started following it in late 2009), given that they seem fairly popular.  I thought upon seeing the title that Miss Jackson was going to be a reboot of the Outkast tune to some degree, but instead it turned out to be a unique, Fall Out Boy-esque tune.  It’s passable.

OneRepublic has churned out a lot of famous pop music despite a general lack of catchiness or general interestingness inherent in their tunes.  For the most part, their music is lethargic and there’s not all that much life to Ryan Tedder’s singing voice.  Counting Stars struck me as something of a surprise because it was a little bit more upbeat and had a little more bounce and rhythm to it.  I can’t really peg a long-term look on it yet, but it’s probably grabbed my attention more than any other song they’ve produced.  Even if I want it to go away 30 spins later, it’s still a step in the right direction for a band sorely in need of changing their sound.

Pitbull and Ke$ha teamed up to produce our third new entrant, Timber.  Timber is a harmonica-laden jam that gets some bonus points for uniqueness.  Ke$ha is featured on the chorus, and given my usual disdain for Pitbull, I kind of assumed that it would be one of those situations where I could just tune out for the verses, but I think they actually put together a decent, cohesive piece of work on this one.  Approval.

Blurbage Disposal

- Fall Out Boy – Alone Together ascended to the Top 5.  I’ve reversed course on my original impression of this one, but that’s not to say I think it should reach the heights that it has.

- Olly Murs – Dance With Me Tonight also strikes me as a somewhat surprising new entrant.  I don’t listen to mainstream radio all that much, but I can’t imagine that this one’s getting spun all that often outside of Hits-1.  I’ve never heard it anywhere else.

- Early signs are that Serebro – Mi Mi Mi isn’t going to catch on, but an early drop like this can be misleading.  I sure hope not.

- Neighborhood – Sweather Weather and Lana Del Rey Ft. Cedric Gervais – Summertime Sadness are knocking on the door of the Top 10, which is great, because I’ve been saying for weeks now that the top of the countdown could use an infusion of boring.

Editor’s Picks – Top 5 Songs

1) Hunter Hayes – I Want Crazy

2) Imagine Dragons – Demons

3) Pitbull Ft. Ke$ha – Timber

4) Armin van Buuren Ft. Trevor Guthrie – This Is What It Feels Like

5) Zedd Ft. Hayley Williams – Stay the Night