Twostepcublog

    " Talk About Our Love " - Brandy featuring Kanye West from the album Aphrodisiac (2004) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #36 (one week) Weeks in the Top-40: 2   Today's song comes from R&B singer and actress Brandy , whose third album Full Moon had spun off a pair of hit singles that made the top-40 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 with " What About Us? " and " Full Moon ".  In 2004 she returned with her fourth release on Atlantic Records, Aphrodisiac , after a turbulent period where she was romantically involved with a producer from Full Moon , had a child, and broke up to just start dating a basketball player. Her original work with that producer baby daddy was tossed, and Atlantic set her up with a bevy of producers for the new set. Two songs with Tim "Timbaland" Mosley were set to be released, but after leaks were scuttled in lieu of another song, "Talk About Our Love", which featured the producer on the track, Kanye West.

    " You Raise Me Up " - Josh Groban from the album Closer (2003) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #73    This week's "robbed hit" comes from singer and actor Josh Groban , who grew up in Los Angeles and started music and acting and a very young age. Although he had started college to study music, he left quickly after being taken under the wing of uber-producer David Foster. Josh got his first big break when he covered for an absent Andrea Bocelli at the Grammy Awards rehearsals in 1999, singing "The Prayer" with Celine Dion that got him to appear on the Rosie O'Donnell Show . With that exposure, he was discovered by TV producer David Kelley, who wrote Groban into the hit TV show Ally McBeal .  Signed to Warner Brothers Records, Josh released his eponymous debut album in 2001. A song from the record, " To Where You Are ", was also featured on Ally McBeal , and helped it top Billboard magazine's Adult Contemporary chart for two weeks in

    " Heaven " - Los Lonely Boys from the album Los Lonely Boys (2004) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #16 (one week) Weeks in the Top-40: 25   Today's song comes from Los Lonely Boys , who are a trio of brothers from central Texas. Henry, Jojo, and Ringo Garza tried their chances in Nashville, but came back to Texas to record an album that was released independently before getting picked up by Epic Records. The first single from the record was "Heaven", written by the trio and produced by John Porter, who is best known for producing some of the Smiths' most seminal work. The lyrics have them asking for the light at the end of the dark tunnel, something that rings true this week. This is set over a production that's light and breezy and sounds more like island vibes than Latin rock.  But the music video definitely brings back their tejano roots, and with the country needing a salve at the time, this certainly did the trick... "Heaven" became Los Lo

  Saturday's here, and it's time to run down my top hit of the week. Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars hang on to #1 for a sixth week, while Sabrina Carpenter (pictured above) climbs a pair of notches in the top ten. Songs from Boney James/October London, blink-182, and Gracie Abrams make the biggest jumps (moves of 10+ places highlighted in red ), while a former big hit from Drew Baldridge drops off the chart. And under the list everything is Spotify playlisted for 5 1/2 hours of the biggest in pop, rock, R&B, country, and dance music. This is not the America I signed up for...   This Week                       Song/Artist (last week's position in parentheses) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.  Die With A Smile - Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars (1) 2. Birds Of A Feather - Billie Eilish (2) 3. Stargazing - Myles Smith (3) 4. I Am Not Okay - Jelly Roll (4) 5. Hot To Go! - Chappell Roan (5) 6. That&

    " Leave (Get Out) " - JoJo from the album JoJo (2004) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #12 (two weeks) Weeks in the Top-40: 19   Today's song comes from pop singer/songwriter Joanna Levesque, who records under the nickname JoJo . JoJo grew up in New England, and at a very young age sang in various television children's singing competitions. One of those, America's Most Talented Kid , had her lose to future American Idol runner-up Diana DeGarmo, but got her discovered and signed to R. Kelly-affiliated Blackground Records under the Da Family label.  She released her self-titled debut album in the summer of 2004, preceeded by the lead single "Leave (Get Out)". Written by producers Carsten "Soulshock" Schack and Kenneth Karlin along the Alex Cantrell and Phillip White, the lyrics have her sit her boyfriend down and lay it straight that she knows about his cheating. As much as she believed they would last, she isn't giving one iota of forgiveness,

    " Whiskey Girl " - Toby Keith from the album Shock'n Y'all (2003) Billboard Hot 100 peak: #31 (one week) Weeks in the Top-40: 6   Today's song comes from the late Toby Keith , who's jingoistic cash-in follow-up album Shock'n Y'all had already scored a pair of country hits that crossed over to the top-40 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 with " I Love This Bar " and " American Soldier ". The third and final single from the record also was one of the tracks that stayed away from politics, "Whiskey Girl". Written by Toby with long time collaborator Scotty Emerick, it's a typical bar song about his woman who he regales on not being demure and mindful. And hence the alcohol of choice is good old whiskey. There's really nothing else to this. The production from Keith with James Stroud is more 80's rock than a semblance of country, which is on point for that point in time, but at least has a consistent beat