rolling pop 2020s

it's so sad how slow american top 40 radio is to turn songs over these days. i am now hearing songs like "supalonely," "death bed," "if the world was ending" and "i hope" as much as i ever did, and they all started really popping off like six months ago... not to mention the extended tenures of ancient tunes like "circles," "adore you" and "blinding lights," which is now enjoying its bazillionth week as the top title on billboard's airplay chart. lest it all be blamed on the pandemic, last year was actually just as bad: there have been 25 top 10s on the airplay chart so far this year (by the same time last year it was 24), whereas in the years about a decade ago that number would generally be ~40% greater.

i'm not that idealistic: i know that even in its best years radio seeks to respond to listeners' pre-existing tastes more than it hopes to introduce them to new songs, but this still represents a truly absurd low, at least as far back as i can remember from my lifetime. at this point i have come to expect that any pop song i find online that sounds like a hit will probably not actually enter regular rotation at the top 40 stations i am subjected to at w*rk until half a year later.

so uhhh by that logic, what's gonna be ringing out in the w*rkplace come early 2021? tate mcrae from upthread actually has a song on the charts now, "you broke me first." the eilish influence is obvious but i kinda like it anyway. apparently it's a thing on tiktok, but what isn't these days. conan gray's "heather" is too -- the concept is intriguing in some ways but beyond that i'm not feeling the song at all.

speaking of tiktok, i recently saw a group of high school-age girls across the street from my apartment filming each other doing something-or-other to saweetie's "tap in," presumably for that app. like her last big hit the production is based primarily around an instantly recognizable 00s hit and could have been produced by anyone, but in fact it turns out it's dr. luke's latest.

"mood" by 24kgoldn and iann dior has been zooming up the streaming charts with alarming rapidity for the past month and is about to go top 10 and probably beyond on the hot 100; radio is unsurprisingly just getting started on it. both artists have had previous singles promoted alternately to both rap and alternative stations, w/ mixed results either way, so i guess splitting things down the middle was the way to go. nothing fancy or high-minded about it, but it's cute and catchy.

racing up the airplay charts surprisingly quickly by today's standards is bts's new one, which sports english lyrics and an unnecessary key change. as always, its lofty chart debut was fueled by feverish fan activity, but unlike with previous singles the strong early radio response could actually help it stick around near or even at the top, where it began. i wouldn't say i really like this one -- "boy with luv" is my pick among bts singles -- but the chorus melody is an earworm.

certainly one of the worst songs i have heard recently is surf mesa's sedated house cover of "can't take my eyes off you" (sorry, i mean "ily"). the other 'edm' one getting a shot at top 40 right now, topic & a7s's "breaking me," is no less basic but at least has a solid tune and a non-execrable aesthetic. the latter artists recently released a pretty forgettable followup w/ lil baby of all people.

"i hope" has actually grown on me over the course of its slow rise to full saturation. (i know i'm an incessant charlie puth h8r, but i've come to prefer the original solo version -- it would have been cool if his verse had been more of a response to gabby's instead of just the original second verse sung by a dude, but oh well.) i guess given their past crossover history, the next country tune to go pop could be dan '+' shay's "i should probably go to bed," but the song is a total snooze and the production sounds weirdly hollow. preferable would be morgan wallen's "7 summers" which recently posted shockingly high opening-week streams for a country single, landing in the hot 100's top 10. wallen's already got a single going at country radio right now, so even if they did try crossing it it would probably take until next summer to go the full distance. if it's already this big a hit, why bother?

anyway. i guess i should probably go to bed.

thanks for that post, stay up late any time :)

seconded

(even if there doesn’t seem to be a great deal of current US chart pop that tickles my fancy)

What kind of w*rk do you do, dyl? Enquiring minds want 2 know!

thanks sean and breastcrawl :)

i w*rk in a clinical lab. the managers generally frown on both headphones + streaming (tho they are starting to budge on the second one slightly) so radio tends to be the default source of background noise

Interesting, thx - sorry 2 be nosy :)

that dyl superpost is reminding me how disconnected from MY WORLD OF YOUNG PEOPLE the plague is making me feel... no concerts and no outdoor music of any kind means that it's easy to stop panning for flecks of gold in the muddy fields of radio pop. I should really go back to listening to Singles Jukebox i guess.

This track seems to have done fairly well; it's basic, but I like it (the songwriters include my crew - Tommy Brown, Victoria Monét, Ariana Grande).

BLACKPINK - Ice Cream (feat. Selena Gomez)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRXZj0DzXIA

Btw - I really enjoy the (streaming) Deluxe version of Selena Gomez’s Rare (as distinct from the physical “Deluxe” version of the album, which I also own but has a different tracklist). The streaming version is basically a playlist of everything she’s released in the past year, and it’s highly listenable. (“Rare” is a tremendous single, IMO—I’ve gone on about it in the Selena Gomez thread, & won’t rehash it here.)

I like this (especially the beat... and that little d'n'b drop at the end!):

Audrey Nuna - Damn Right

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bc1xg5ctUc

i didn't expect i would like "ice cream" but it's pretty good. i like "damn right" too

is it pop, is it r&b? either way, it’s further proof of the continuing integration of afropop into the international pop fabric:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyOhdUxScls
Aluna ft. Rema & Kaytranada • The Recipe

jointly produced by Kaytranada and Nigerian producer Altims

v v pretty

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDDwmCn_Qm4

Emilie Nicolas • Oh Love

what is going on with madison beer? is there really no way forward that does not involve assuming every aspect of an already-established star's aesthetic?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfsLT7W80AE

Lol, that’s hilarious

Madison Beer = watery domestic

its really funny + weird that major labels have spent 7 years trying to get a hit out of her and still haven't really succeeded. usually by this point either the label or artist gets fed up with that but instead we get this weird desperate flailing i guess

The “Controversies” section of her Wikipedia page is really humorous.

'Fools' and 'Selfish' are good songs and she has a decent enough voice, but she's the kind of artist where you could hear five of her songs in five different contexts/playlists and not even realize they were all by the same person. it's unfair to pigeonhole her as the Walmart version of Ariana or Selena or whoever when she's more like musical equivalent of the entire line of Great Value products. at this point her identity as a clueless/entitled influencer is more developed than her identity as as artist, but I guess it isn't too late for her to find herself even after all these years in the industry

I hope this song shoots to #1 in the US and stays there for at least 18 weeks. it's exactly what we deserve as a country atm:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unZpEayPXio

she's the 9th most followed person on TikTok and the daughter of

https://i.imgur.com/NGPJcH7.jpg

Marc D'Amelio (Republican Party) ran for election to the Connecticut State Senate to represent District 25. D'Amelio lost in the general election on November 6, 2018.
In addition to running as a Republican Party candidate, D'Amelio cross-filed to also run with the Independent Party in 2018.[1]

D'Amelio was previously a Republican candidate for at-large representative on the Norwalk Public Schools Board of Education in Connecticut. D'Amelio was defeated in the at-large general election on November 7, 2017.

lol what a song. i would welcome its success over, like, "f2020," which one of the stations here is still trying to make a thing

(blackbear exuding STRONG 'how do you do fellow kids' energy in that video)

i remember back in 2015 initially thinking one of the tori kelly songs that was getting pushed to radio at the time ("should've been us" specifically) was ariana. even tho i didn't like any of the songs i heard from her it's too bad she never really found her niche in mainstream pop given her strength as a singer + performer

i've listened several more times now and have concluded i enjoy it (re: "be happy")

cannot fuck with "blackbear"

"Be Happy" just came up on a playlist for me. It's very well-recorded, I'll give it that (if only that)...

So much of this playlist pop is thin, twee, singsongy stuff involving positive affirmations, partying to escape depression/anxiety, etc.

I don't mind Bea Miller - she's sort of a less distinctive / more beat-forward Billie Eilish (this song is pretty, though somewhat old & being repackaged now):

Bea Miller - feel something

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysNPk-qeesk

i feel like the last time i heard a bea miller song she wasn't singing quite like that :\

partying to escape depression/anxiety

there's a clunky but i guess sort of #relatable line in "mood" that aims right at this idea: "we play games of love to avoid the depression" etc.

i've gone back and listened to the original "be happy" and it's uneven as a song; they definitely retained all the best parts/lines for the remix, which is overall an improvement. mosey's verse is also cute and while blackbear's contribution just kind of takes up space, it's at least ignorable.

love Bea miller's chorus on k/da's 'the baddest'.

"thin" is the best descriptor for a lot of the folksy-electronic self-affirmation whining I'm finding on exploring "Billboard/NOW THAT'S what the kids are listening to" playlists. Feels like a throwback to 70's mainstream AM US pop, all buttermilk flavor.

Nice song & performance, IMO:

Charlotte Lawrence - Slow Motion (Johan Lenox Version)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCLBQCGf9xQ

Not even sure where this new Beabadoobee album goes, here or indie pop or what, but it's good!

If only we had a category for "Not Pop"/"Not Indie". Something starting with the letter S.

She’s legit pop, in terms of streaming/TikTok success, but for my money her lyrics keep her in the “Rolling Worst Music” threads.

i like her song "care" that i guess is on the album

I think this is a nice, sophisticated track (I particularly like the little horn stabs):

Rudimental - Come Over (feat. Anne-Marie & Tion Wayne)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iN0iPfZUkUA

I don't know who this zoomer doofus is, but his stuff is pretty catchy:

Role Model - Going Out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufoLLZN-hZw

Role Model - Blind

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uh2b-17zhp8

No 2021 huh?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQ7hdZZw7aE

and as long as i'm here
https://dirt.substack.com/p/dirt-does-pop-music-still-exist

dissing Gibbs and Eilish as "zero calorie" not helping make a very compelling case there (second link)

I...hadn't checked the first link yet obviously

I’ve tried to keep my ears open, but the most notable pop song I’ve heard so far this year (“Driver’s License”) already has its own thread. Would be great to get tipped to some other good ones, though.

lol yeah it's almost april and i still haven't heard any pop songs that i found particularly good or noteworthy that didn't already have their own thread ;_; 'pop' music truly is dead y'all

i'm currently fairly obsessed w/ kali uchis "telepatía" -- the tik tok kids are right sometimes! lil nas x song also pretty good but obviously that's already generating abundant discussion on his thread

but yeah anyone pls feel free to start a thread for 2021 and/or share some good stuff! or we can just keep talking here about how slim the pickings are recently lol

if I may be so bold to recommend: Eurovision 2020 (now featuring Eurovision 2021)

the yearly fix for my sweet pop tooth

kinda into this?

The Kid Laroi, Justin Bieber - "Stay"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTJczUoc26U

desperately needs a garage remix?

charlie puth & cashmere cat co prod/wrote so it had a chance at being good. i like it ok but it left me a bit cold, idk could be more dynamic melodically or something

^ the chorus is SO puthy

i actually would kinda like it but it's too short and ends so abruptly!

Josie Dunne, a singer/songwriter I’m into (someone on here described her song Back to It as “if Meghan Trainor were good”), has been rolling a new project called Tennis — each track is released monthly as an Episode. It’s good stuff, if you’re into her sound.

^the new one she just dropped ("Episode 3: Cooped Up") is particularly nice:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtYqiFVXC5s