Twostepcub's New Music Roundup 11/05/22....
Hey folks, I'm back with this week's new music roundup, where I highlight my favorites of the songs making their debut on the various singles charts in Billboard magazine and in the British Official Chart. Sorry for missing last week (I was away), but I'll try to cover as much as I can. This week saw Taylor Swift's Midnights album placing all twenty of its songs on the "big chart", Billboard's Hot 100, but there was some other good stuff in there as well. I'll choose my picks of the Midnights album first...
"Anti-Hero" - Taylor Swift
from the album Midnights (2022)
Billboard Hot 100 debut: #1
British Singles Chart debut: #1
British Airplay Chart debut: #3
British Sales Chart debut: #6
After two albums of organic bluegrass-influenced songs, Swift returns to neo-synthpop with just as much personal exposition in the lead single from Midnights. It's one of her most immediately accessible tracks in a long while, and the self-deprecating humor suits her quite well, both in the song and in the hilarious music video.
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"Lavender Haze" - Taylor Swift
from the album Midnights (2022)
Billboard Hot 100 debut: #2
British Singles chart debut: #3
Taylor's Midnights opener sports six songwriters, the most on the album, yet it is so damn personal, a love song for longtime boyfriend Joe Alwyn, whose eschewing of the gossip-style "personality press" has seemingly grounded her. However she still is fighting the entertainment media's pigeonholing of women as either pristine or lascivious that has been in place as she sings since the 50s (and really before that), She does a very credible bedroom-soul style track that is her own.
"Bejeweled" - Taylor Swift
from the album Midnights (2022)
Billboard Hot 100 debut: #6
She can be catty without being grating, as this cool seethe of this electro-pop track sports slow burn put-downs and a video featuring co-producer Jack Antonoff, Laura Dern and the Haim sisters.
"You're On Your Own, Kid" - Taylor Swift
from the album Midnights (2022)
Billboard Hot 100 debut: #8
Despite the spacey robotic production (save the underlying percussion), this song is structured like Swift's early country music work, in its themes of school-age isolation and rejection painted with certain strong strokes that evokes trigger memories in both the young experiencing it now and the old remembering the times.
"Karma" - Taylor Swift
from the album Midnights (2022)
Billboard Hot 100 debut: #9
I said that "Bejeweled" served up cool cattiness; well this brings back the mental knife-wielding revenge porn that I'd love to know who it was directed at (obviously a peer from earlier in her career, I wouldn't totally put it past being Katy Perry).
"Mastermind" - Taylor Swift
from the album Midnights (2022)
Billboard Hot 100 debut: #13
This is another self-therapy song of Taylor's where she dissects her own career and life as she navigated through growing up in the public eye and admittedly using romance as a cog in the wheel of her persona. I believe she slips in how Joe saw through (and was able to break through) that, but the confessions of how she had to assert herself as a woman in the entertainment business looking back is revelatory.
"Would've, Could've, Should've" - Taylor Swift
from the album Midnights (Deluxe Edition) (2022)
Billboard Hot 100 debut: #20
British Sales debut: #15
Swift reprises her "Dear John" with more focus and anger with the power of time behind her. Addressing ex-boyfriend John Mayer, who clearly took advantage of a younger woman emotionally, Taylor pulls no punches in how much she regrets the whole thing, and properly implicates Mayer for playing with her feelings.
"Bigger Than The Whole Sky" - Taylor Swift
from the album Midnights (Deluxe Edition) (2022)
Billboard Hot 100 debut: #21
British Sales chart debut: #12
Taylor doesn't delve often into non-romantic loss, but when she does, she can sell the pain well. Fans have co-opted this song to signify the pain of miscarriage, but it can be more widespread in its reach.
"Dear Reader" - Taylor Swift
from the album Midnights (Deluxe Edition) (2022)
Billboard Hot 100 debut: #45
British sales debut: #22
32-year-old Swift delivers her own "Desiderata" with this treatise of advise that she couldn't have done before now.
"Made You Look" - Meghan Trainor
from the album Takin' It Back (2022)
Billboard Hot 100 debut: #95
British Singles Chart debut: #28
It takes a lot of chutzpah to release your new single in the same week as Midnights, but Trainor took a different tack. Instead if trying to evolve her sound to the times, this sound like an outtake to an "All About That Bass" b-side. Whether it'll be successful is a different question, but the music video is a camp romp tailor-made for the gheys.
"Lift Me Up" - Rihanna
from the album Black Panther: Wakanda Forever - Music From or Inspired By (2022)
Billboard Adult Top-40 debut: #24
Billboard Adult Contemporary debut: #17
Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay debut: #12
Blllboard Adult R&B Airplay debut: #11
Well, talking about who can come against Taylor in the same week, Rihanna breaks her musical silence with this song from the upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe film. It's a surprisingly simple traditional ballad, with organic instrumentation and muted spiritual backup to this almost-European-sounding song that spotlights her voice more than anything she's done before.
"You Make Me Feel Like It's Halloween" - Muse
from the album Will Of The People (2022)
Billboard Rock & Alternative Airplay debut: #41
Now that it's past the actual All Saints Day, this extremely catchy power-pop ode to the most fun night of the year was really the sole track of many that made radio in any big way, and I certainly hope it becomes a "holiday standard".
"JACK" - HARDY
from the album The Mockingbird & The Crow (2023)
Billboard Mainstream Rock Airplay debut: #36
Here we have country artist/producer/writer HARDY taking on the personal of a bottle of Jack Daniels and its sweet enticement of a young man's mind like the snake in Genesis. Well written, the descent into what alcoholism leads to is laid bare.
"Holiday" - Turnstile
from the album Glow On (2021)
Billboard Mainstream Rock Airplay debut: #40
Baltimore-based neo-punk band funnels their anger through this screaming release that sounds great out of car speakers.
"A.M. Radio" - The Lumineers
from the album Brightside (2022)
Billboard Alternative Rock Airplay debut: #39
The third single from New Jersey alt-folk heroes the Lumineers has a sing-along chorus that seems to veil a darker theme. Love is fleeting, and this one is proof of that.
"Supernatural" - Barns Courtney
from the single (2022)
Billboard Alternative Rock Airplay debut: #40
Billboard Triple-A (Adult Album Alternative) Rock Airplay debut: #38
British eccentric Courtney is back with a trip to glam-rock with this heavy guitar onslaught that's short and not-so-sweet.
"Pirate Radio*" - Jean Dawson
from the album Chaos Now (2022)
Billboard Triple-A Rock Airplay debut: #40
For fans of what the Internet's Steve Lacy is doing right now, art-pop artist Dawson merges classical elements with alt-rock themes in this epic sweeping number that is a big fave of mine right now.
"Titi Me Pregunto" - Bad Bunny
from the album Un Verano Sin Ti (2022)
Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay debut: #48
This cut from Bad Bunny's massive album (translated to "My Aunt Asked Me") from this year finally makes its way to urban radio, and for good reason. It's my favorite track from the record, as it leaves the same-same reggaeton behind for a fugue of styles including house music, trippy rock, and Dominican dembow for a party record this year needed.
"Nowhere But Up" - Phony Ppl
from the single (2022)
Billboard Adult R&B Airplay debut: #28
Brooklyn progressive soul outfit takes us back to 1982 with this delicious slice of synth-funk that cheers me up at any listen. If you love the Minneapolis sound, this is a great update of that.
"Over For You" - Morgan Evans
from the single (2022)
Billboard Country Airplay debut: #50
Evans' divorce from fellow country artist Kelsea Ballerini is apparently still raw in this tearjerker of a break-up song. If you need a good cry, here ya go.
"Lionheart (Fearless)" - Joel Corry & Tom Grennan
from the single (2022)
Billboard Dance/Electronic Songs debut: #46
British Singles chart debut: #37
British Airplay chart debut: #29
British Sales Chart debut: #10
Nine hit singles in, Corry's neo-house bangers can seem samey-samey at times, but Tom Grennan's soaring vocals really save this one.
"I Ain't Quite Where I Think I Am" - Arctic Monkeys
from the album The Car (2022)
British Singles chart debut: #23
The British alt-rockers are really taking big chances on their new album The Car, including this carefully plotted piece.
"Speed Of Plight" - Loyle Carner
from the album Hugo (2022)
British Singles Chart debut: #88
This self-bio of British rapper Carner is a gritty tale of the streets of South London and having to provide for his mom after his stepfather's death.
"Heart & Soul" - Blue
from the album Heart & Soul (2022)
British Airplay chart debut: #34
Veteran "boy-band" returns in a big way with this absolute banger co-written by MNEK and producer Shift K3Y that gives all four a chance to shine, and this is great driving music.
"Loser" - Charlie Puth
from the album Charlie (2022)
British Airplay chart debut: #37
A little too Auto-tuned, still this confection from Puth still slaps, and the video is a hoot.
"Isaiah" - Pastel
from the EP Isaiah (2022)
British Sales chart debut: #14
English newcomers take us to "Mad-Chester" in this trippy rocker that wouldn't have been out of place in 2000.
"Billions" - Caroline Polachek
from the single (2022)
British Sales chart debut: #37
This new one from American art-pop singer Polachek is s textural treat. Put your headphones on and relax.
That's it for the singles on the charts, I'll be back tomorrow with my picks of the albums making the charts.
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