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DalekTurret32
post Aug 11 2019, 11:52 PM
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QUOTE(sergejdordij98 @ Aug 9 2019, 11:10 AM) *
Really enjoyed reading this, reminds me a lot like the Billboard Breakdown Videos from Spectrum Pulse.
I'll make sure to give the Best and worst songs of today's week when you will publish it.


You can say it is like the Billboard Breakdown videos. That was an inspiration for this thread.
Thanks for reading!

I'll also thank danG too
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DalekTurret32
post Aug 12 2019, 05:13 PM
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15/08/2019

NEW ENTRIES:
#98. Sarah Jeffery - Queen Of Mean (from The Descendents 3)
#96. Blanco Brown - The Git Up
#92. Gerry Cinnamon - Belter
#82. Tones & I - Dance Monkey
#81. Solardo & Eli Brown - XTC
#72. Drake - 4PM In Calabasas
#50. Drake - How Bout Now
#43. LAUV & Anne-Marie - f*** I'm Lonely
#8. Aitch - Taste (Make It Shake)
#4. Ariana Grande & Social House - Boyfriend


Kicking us off this week is a song from the forthcoming third installment of Disney Channel’s The Descendants franchise (May you rest in peace, Cameron Boyce) called Queen Of Mean. The song doesn’t feature Boyce but it does feature the vocals of Sarah Jeffery (who plays the character Princess Audrey). I like some of the orchestral arrangements in the track, as well as the way the pitch shifting parts in the background are layered in a similar fashion to Justin Bieber’s 2015 smash hit Sorry (one of my faves from him). However, the lyrics come across as a tad overdramatic and I’m not a huge fan of the 1st and 2nd verses where Jeffery sounds like she’s rapping.


I have seen this sticking around in the Top 20 of the Billboard charts, but it has now entered the UK charts. The Git Up is a country and trap fusion in a similar vein to Old Town Road. It does a great job at capturing the atmosphere of a country-western dance with Brown pointing out the dance moves through the lyrics with his charismatic Western accent and the country guitar twangs blend well with the beatboxing and trap percussion. It doesn’t get too repetitive, in which it doesn’t repeat the song title over and over, which is a good thing.


In a time where most of what you expect in the charts is pop, hip hop and occasionally EDM, Indie folk artist Gerry Cinnamon has been lucky enough to nab a 2nd charting hit in the form of Belter, which came out in 2017 (Boy, do I find it interesting when I get to look at songs that came out a few years ago in this thread!). The song starts off with a thin voice and acoustic guitar texture before adding in some percussive sounds on the guitar near the end. It's a really good acoustic tune, and Gerry puts on an enjoyable vocal performance.


Dance Monkey stops off with some nice keyboard chords that remind me of English Riviera-era Metronomy. The song has a bouncy quirky sound to it thanks to the colourful production and what really makes it shine brighter is near the end where the textures expand with the addition of sustained piano chords. It did take a while for me to get used to Tones’ voice, but she sings good in this.



XTC has a catchy tech house sound to it that reminds me of Oliver Heldens, and it’s great to see that kind of sound come back into the charts. The soulful vocal style really enhances the song by blending well with the house style production.


This week, we’ve got two tracks from Drake’s latest compilation album Care Package, which consists of pieces of Drake’s old material that haven’t been available on streaming services until now.
4PM IN Calabasas serves as another installment to Drake’s time and location tracks (e.g. 9AM In Dallas from Thank Me Later). The track sees Drake refer to his beefs and some events of his past life, along with an interpolation of Grandmaster Flash’s 1983 hip hop classic The Message and a chill sounding beat. I was going to give this a gold rating, but I feel like Drake switches topics too quickly in the lyrics to the point where I don't get what the connecting themes of the song are.
How Bout Now was previously available as a bonus track in the physical edition of 2015 mixtape If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late. Despite a few ridiculous lines including one in which he deletes all his other girls’ phone numbers for his girl (I do give credit for showing a sense of appreciation towards this girl though), Drake blends melodic and non-melodic styles of rapping together solidly over some pleasant sounding reverse synth lines and he rides the chorus really well. The pitch-shifted Jodeci sample fits nicely into the mix too.


Taken from the forthcoming third season of 13 Reasons Why is LAUV & Anne-Marie’s new single F**k I’m Lonely. The song has a nice chiming sound to it to convey a sense of loneliness (which LAUV is also great at doing in his music). I like how both artists paint out their perspectives of a post break-up situation, despite a line in the latter’s verse in which her friends are too drunk to stop her from going on her phone. Overall, it's a perfectly decent song.


Taste (Make It Shake) has a low pitched vocal line in the mix throughout that reminds me of the goat sounding sample in J Balvin and Willy William’s Mi Gente from back in 2017. This could sound like mindless fun judging from the hedonistic Tyga-esque lyrics, but I’m not fond of Aitch’s vocal delivery. The chorus, since it pops up occasionally, ends up weighing down the song thanks to the sound of the vocals not backing up the lyrical content very well for me.


Boyfriend bears some colourful sounding production (the intro sounds like something out of a Madeon song). The song does a good job at looking into a couple that miss the fun times of a relationship, with both Ariana and the Social House showing some fun vocal chemistry between each other.



Fave Of The Week goes to XTC by Solardo & Eli Brown. It reminds me of the great club jams that came from Spinnin' Records in the mid-2010's. The honorable mention goes to Drake with 4PM In Calabasas.
Least Fave Of The Week goes to Taste (Make It Shake) by Aitch.



#98. Sarah Jeffery - Queen Of Mean (from The Descendents 3) [6/10]
#96. Blanco Brown - The Git Up [9/10]
#92. Gerry Cinnamon - Belter [8/10]
#82. Tones & I - Dance Monkey [9/10]
#81. Solardo & Eli Brown - XTC [GOLD] (Fave Of The Week)
#72. Drake - 4PM In Calabasas [9/10] (FOTW HM)
#50. Drake - How Bout Now [8/10]
#43. LAUV & Anne-Marie - f*** I'm Lonely [7/10]
#8. Aitch - Taste (Make It Shake) [5/10] (Least Fave Of The Week)
#4. Ariana Grande & Social House - Boyfriend [9/10]
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Sergej
post Aug 13 2019, 07:53 AM
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Best of the Week: Blanco Brown - The Git Up (A fun, corny song, that keeps growing on me!)
Honorable Mention: Ariana Grande & Social House - Boyfriend (Very impressed by this collaboration)
Least favourite of the Week: Aitch - Taste (Make It Shake) (If i had to choose, not a bad song)
Dishonorable Mention: Drake - How Bout Now (Again, if i had to choose, not a bad song)
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DalekTurret32
post Aug 13 2019, 08:27 AM
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QUOTE(sergejdordij98 @ Aug 13 2019, 08:53 AM) *
Best of the Week: Blanco Brown - The Git Up (A fun, corny song, that keeps growing on me!)
Honorable Mention: Ariana Grande & Social House - Boyfriend (Very impressed by this collaboration)
Least favourite of the Week: Aitch - Taste (Make It Shake) (If i had to choose, not a bad song)
Dishonorable Mention: Drake - How Bout Now (Again, if i had to choose, not a bad song)



I too am impressed by Boyfriend, and I can also say that The Git Up is corny, but fun and enjoyable at the same time.
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DalekTurret32
post Aug 21 2019, 11:39 AM
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22/08/2019


NEW ENTRIES:
#99. Aitch feat. GRM Daily - Daily Duppy
#98. Khalid feat. A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie - Right Back
#88. DJ Snake feat. J Balvin and Tyga - Loco Contigo
#84. Slipknot - Nero Forte
#77. Kojo Funds feat. Wizkid - I Like
#43. Katy Perry - Small Talk
#40. Megan Thee Stallion feat. Nicki Minaj - Hot Girl Summer



Aah! A Daily Duppy freestyle. The first one to enter the charts was that of J Hus from a few months ago. We now have another one from up and coming rapper Aitch, and what do I think of this? He has decent flows on this, with some enjoyable parts. The beat's not that great, but it blends quite well with his vocals.


Right Back bears some nice sounding synths in the mix that sound like something out of a night time drive.
In this song, Khalid is looking back at a relationship that didn't go as planned, but despite that, he's wanting to get back with his former lover because of the cherished times he spent with her. He pulls off a great vocal performance that fits really well with the atmosphere of the music.
The single version charting is a remix featuring a verse from A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie in the beginning. His vocals sound okay-ish, but he sometimes brags about his jewellery (which doesn't fit with the themes of the song).


DJ Snake brings us a fun Reggaeton bop in the form of Loco Contigo. The infectious Charlie Puth-like “ooh” lines from Taste and Swish return and both Tyga and Balvin give out good verses.


Nero Forte is absolutely gripping with its fast-paced metal sound and Corey Taylor’s raging vocals. There’s also a really good use of call and response between the cult-like harmonisation from the backing vocals and Taylor. My favourite part of the song definitely has to be the bridge with the one-word shouting and Taylor elevating them with sentences relating to these words. One of my faves from Slipknot along with Psychosocial and a big contender for my Top 75 Songs of 2019.


You know what I quite like? This new song from Kojo Funds called I Like! It carries a pleasant sounding Afrobeat summer sound and there's a good use of Jamaican elements, such as the patois used in the 1st verse and Wizkid’s accent in the 2nd verse, despite the latter having some noticeable autotune.


I’m liking the sound of these organs (as well as the pre-chorus) in Small Talk. However, there are a few ridiculous lines in this like “There's nowhere your hands haven't been” and I’m not very keen on the ‘blah-blah-blah’ parts in the bridge. Other than that, it was a pretty decent listen.


Hot Girl Summer has a good arrangement of strings over a City Girls like beat, along with an interpolation of a line from Act Up (a City Girls song that charted in the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 this year).
Both Megan and Nicki give out some good flows in their verses, and some of the innuendos end up enhancing the song thanks to the flows that back them up. The Ty Dolla $ign is quite decent as well.



Fave Of The Week will definitely go to Nero Forte by Slipknot. One of the heaviest, darkest songs to enter the chart this year. The honorable mention goes to Right Back by Khalid feat. A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie for having a lovely, lush sound to it and a great performance from Khalid. It's one of my faves from him as a lead artist since Vertigo from his Suncity EP.
This has been a really good week with no songs below 7/10. There were four of them with that rating, but if I had to choose my default Least Fave Of The Week, I would probably go for Small Talk by Katy Perry.




#99. Aitch feat. GRM Daily - Daily Duppy [7/10]
#98. Khalid feat. A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie - Right Back [9/10] (FOTW HM)
#88. DJ Snake feat. J Balvin and Tyga - Loco Contigo [8/10]
#84. Slipknot - Nero Forte [GOLD] (FAVE OF THE WEEK!)
#77. Kojo Funds feat. Wizkid - I Like [7/10]
#43. Katy Perry - Small Talk [7/10] (Least Fave Of The Week)
#40. Megan Thee Stallion feat. Nicki Minaj - Hot Girl Summer [7/10]


This post has been edited by Peral-Turret32: Aug 21 2019, 11:39 AM
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DalekTurret32
post Aug 29 2019, 09:24 PM
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29/08/2019


NEW ENTRIES:
#92. James Hype feat. Dots Per Inch and Ayak - I Was Lovin' You
#91. Sam Fender - Will We Talk
#82. Young Thug feat. Gunna - Hot
#72. Young Thug feat. Lil Baby - Bad Bad Bad
#70. Blade Brown feat. K Trap - Joints
#69. Regard - Ride It
#56. Liam Gallagher - One Of Us
#50. Swae Lee feat. Drake - Won't Be Late
#42. Miley Cyrus - Slide Away
#30. Normani - Motivation
#23. Taylor Swift - Lover
#22. Headie One - Both
#18. Jorja Smith feat. Burna Boy - Be Honest


I Was Lovin’ You has lyrics dealing with a post-breakup that may seem downbeat on paper, but the production gives this track a more uplifting feel.


Will We Talk carries the typical anthemic Fender feel, while looking at a broken relationship. I don’t like it as much as Hypersonic Missiles or Play God, but it’s still a pretty swell song.


We have two tracks from Young Thug’s new album So Much Fun, but are these two as fun as the album title suggests?
First up, we have Hot, which has some brass instruments playing over a trap beat, along with a flute line. Most of the song is driven by Gunna, and... I’m not very fond of his verses, as I feel like they slow down the momentum of the song. Thug’s verse is slightly better, though his interlude before that verse sounded quite weird.
The other charting track from the album is Bad Bad Bad. I enjoyed a lot of Thug's parts in this, as he has some solid flows in his verses that add another level of meaning to the album title. However, Lil Baby's verse drags this down. The vocals don’t sound very good and we get a line of his involving him peeing till he passes out after drinking lean (lovely(!)).


Joints is another example of a 2019 rap track where the two artists make a vocal exchange in the chorus, along with Keisha & Becky (Russ splash and Tion Wayne) and Guten Tag (Hardy Caprio and DigDat).
Both Brown and Trap have some solid flows int his and they fit well into the beat. The part where Blade Brown he had to say one of his bars twice was pretty ridiculous though and near the end, the beat suddenly mutes for a second, which made me think that my internet connection was being slow when listening to this on Spotify the first time.


Ride It puts a chill, deep house take on the 2007 Jay Sean song of the same title. The original is a slow R&B sex jam with guitar and string arrangements, whereas this version has a faster tempo with a smooth jazz keyboard sounds and a nice synth breakdown after the chorus. The sound of the pitched vocals remind me of the ones used in Loud Luxury’s Body from last year.


One Of Us deals with the relationship between the two Gallagher brothers, like with what Once did last month. The vocal production isn't Definitely Maybe amazing, but it's still pretty good. The arrangement of drums, electric guitar and strings gives off an Oasis style sound to convey a good sense of nostalgia and the thought of missing these good days.
Before we move on, I would like to point out that this is the 2nd track on the album, yet it has that climatic sound to it (with the strings and the choir BVOX near the end of the track) that makes it sound more like an album closer. It reminds me of that small comment I made on Beautiful People from Ed's No 6 album feeling more like a closer than an opener.
Despite that, I'm still looking forward to what Why Me Why Not has to offer.


Won't Be Late bears a catchy, syncopated rhythm that reminds me of PARTYNEXTDOOR's Not Nice from 2016, along with a guitar that gives out a nice summertime vibe.
Swae's part have some noticeable autotune, but it doesn't stop them from being good as I can look past it easily.
Drake also gives off a good verse to fit the tone of the song. I like hearing him sing over chill, summer-like beats like in Signs, Passionfruit and especially Take Care.


Since Definitely Maybe is turning 25… WAIT! Wait before I make a mistake!

It’s Miley Cyrus’ Slide Away. Good thing I double-checked
Anyway, Slide Away involves Miley trying to moving on from a past relationship, with some layers of emotion revealed as she’s doing so. Miley was going through a post-breakup situation involving her and Liam Hemsworth while making this song, which adds another level of melancholiness to this song. The reverb guitars give a dreamy, psychedelic feel reminiscent of Currents-era Tame Impala. This sound isn’t new from Miley, as she has attempted to convey this psychedelic type of vibes a few years back when she collaborated with The Flaming Lips on a cover of The Beatles' Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds and in her Dead Petz album from 2015.
Overall, I’m really liking this! One of my faves from Miley along with Malibu.


After featuring in hits by Khalid and Sam Smith, former Fifth Harmony member Normani has finally got her first charting single as a lead arti… Whoops! Forgot about Checklist!
Normani has finally got her first UK Top 40 hit as a lead artist, and it’s called Motivation. The E major pop production in this is decent, but I feel like most of the suggestive lyrics don’t fit with this triumphant High Hopes-esque instrumentation. I do give Normani credit for attempting innuendos though, plus that sax solo in the bridge is quite enjoyable.


Lover takes on a 12/8 rhythm in the style of a waltz, as well as attempting to convey a nostalgic, alternate Christmas feel. It reminds me of two songs: 2000 Miles by The Pretenders (which also has a Christmas-like sound over a 12/8 rhythm) and Perfect by Ed Sheeran (a love song carrying a waltz-like rhythm)
The song is produced by Jack Antenoff of fun, who also produced Look What You Made Me Do, the Zaylor collab from Fifty Shades Darker, as well as some songs for Lorde, St. Vincent and more recently, Kevin Abstract. He does a good job at conveying a sense of nostalgia throughout the song.
The lyrics may feel cheesy at some points, such as “I’ve loved you three summers, honey, but I want ‘em all”, but other than that, it’s a decent love song.


Both’s instrumentation carries an interpolation of the 1997 dance classic Free by Ultra Nate, which Headie weirdly blends well with, along with some good flows. I didn't like the sound of the filtered vocals on the pre-chorus though.


From an artist who had a Top 20 in my old personal chart from a few years back and now has a Top 20 on the UK Singles Chart (Woohoo!) is Jorja Smith with Be Honest, featuring Burna Boy (who has guest starred in songs by the likes of Lily Allen, Fall Out Boy and Dave).
The song looks into a relationship where Jorja is telling her partner to be honest, but not being too strict with it as she herself admit she's not entirely flawless. Jorja provides a nice, lush performance over some guitar lines and Burna Boy does a good job at playing the partner in this relationship to convey a perspective, as well as bringing in some Jamaican patois to go with it.



So that's it! Of the relatively huge batch of entries this week, my Fave Of The Week goes to One Of Us by Liam Gallagher for similar reasons to why I like the previous single off his upcoming album. The honorable mention goes to Regard's smooth, chill rework of the Jay Sean song Ride It.
My least fave goes to Hot by Young Thug and Gunna.




#92. James Hype feat. Dots Per Inch and Ayak - I Was Lovin' You [8/10]
#91. Sam Fender - Will We Talk [8/10]
#82. Young Thug feat. Gunna - Hot [5/10] (Least Fave Of The Week)
#72. Young Thug feat. Lil Baby - Bad Bad Bad [6/10]
#70. Blade Brown feat. K Trap - Joints [7/10]
#69. Regard - Ride It [9/10] (FOTW HM)
#56. Liam Gallagher - One Of Us [9/10] (Fave Of The Week)
#50. Swae Lee feat. Drake - Won't Be Late [8/10]
#42. Miley Cyrus - Slide Away [9/10]
#30. Normani - Motivation [6/10]
#23. Taylor Swift - Lover [7/10]
#22. Headie One - Both [7/10]
#18. Jorja Smith feat. Burna Boy - Be Honest [9/10]
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DalekTurret32
post Sep 3 2019, 12:13 PM
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05/09/2019

NEW ENTRIES:

#79. Lil Tjay - F.N.
#78. Lana Del Rey - f*** It I Love You
#76. BROCKHAMPTON - NO HALO
#54. The 1975 - People
#46. 5 Seconds Of Summer - Teeth
#27. Taylor Swift - Cruel Summer
#21. Taylor Swift - The Man





Even though it has that one line about Tjay wishing his former friend got hit by a bus, F.N. does have some decent piano lines and a solid 2nd verse showing Tjay's struggles growing up.


f*** It I Love You is a melancholy guitar song dealing with heartbreak, with Lana bringing her usual whispery vocal style.
I really like the part at the end where there is a use of call and response between Lana saying the name of the song and the haunting sound of the BVOX.


Brockhampton have finally managed to snag their first charting single in the UK, and it's the opening track from their latest album GINGER.
NO HALO carries a downbeat guitar line, but it also has some energetic flows from the members in their verses that make the track have a less melancholy sound to it than F**k It I Love You. The lyrics are really good in pointing out subtle looks into mental health, substance abuse and loneliness throughout. There’s also some great call and response between Deb Never’s “I’m sure I’ll find it” and Merlyn Wood in the chorus to emphasise the fact that even in our lowest points in life, there’s still hope out there. Most of what I heard from Brockhampton’s verses are done in a through-composed structure (examples of this include BOOGIE, WEIGHT and HEAT), but there are a few times where a chorus does have a presence (like in TOKYO and J’OUVERT, though the latter has the chorus done halfway through and then at the end). NO HALO fits into the latter, and has a great chorus.



I’ll just let this clip sum up how I felt right after the first listen of this next song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeZEMKngzMY
(I was going to use the “For Those Wondering If I’m Impressed” clip, but I eventually settled with this one.)
-
People is angsty, rebellious and shouty in all the right places while successfully throwing shots at politics. It’s not the type of sound I expected from The 1975, but they weirdly fit well into it. From tackling the problems of social media last year with their 2018 album A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships to talking about politics in this one, I’m starting to get the feeling that this band is becoming more serious in their lyrical content with each passing album. If this is the sound that Notes On A Conditional Form will be leaning onto, then I am really hyped to listen this. Also, "Well, my generation wanna f*** Barack Obama. Living in a sauna with legal marijuana" is one of their most weirdly amazing lines next to the very opening lines of Love It If We Made It.


5SOS are back with a new song called Teeth, which, like the LAUV and Anne-Marie collab, is taken from the soundtrack for the forthcoming 3rd season of teen drama 13 Reasons Why. I’m halfway through the 1st season of this show and I can say that it has a fantastic mystery element and also presents the transitions between present time and past time like in The Haunting Of Hill House really well.
Anyway, this song starts with a good ol’ bassline before gradually building up with a great amount of rock power (and speaking of which, Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine is one of the guitarists in this song), which eventually leads up to roaring guitars in the chorus that backs up the lustful lyrics in it. I also like that interpolation of the vocal melody from Rihanna’s 2007 hit Shut Up And Drive in the pre-chorus. In the end, this overtook Youngblood as my favourite 5SOS song.


We’re ending this week off with two new entries from Taylor Swift’s brand new album Lover. Both Cruel Summer and The Man have a nice, catchy synthpop vibe to them. The former ends up being a good listen despite some cheesy lines, there’s also a good use of a vocoder noise in the mix that reminds me of the one used in the beginning of P!nk’s Walk Me Home from earlier this year. The latter serves as a great look at gender inequality in our society, and the hypocrisy contained within it.


This was such a great week overall with nearly half of the songs on there being fantastic. My fave of the week would have to go to NO HALO by BROCKHAMPTON, with honorable mention going to People by The 1975.
My least fave of the week would have to be F.N. by Lil Tjay.



#79. Lil Tjay - F.N. [6/10] (Least Fave Of The Week)
#78. Lana Del Rey - f*** It I Love You [8/10]
#76. BROCKHAMPTON - NO HALO [GOLD] (Fave Of The Week)
#54. The 1975 - People [GOLD] (FOTW HM)
#46. 5 Seconds Of Summer - Teeth [GOLD]
#27. Taylor Swift - Cruel Summer [7/10]
#21. Taylor Swift - The Man [GOLD]
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DalekTurret32
post Sep 11 2019, 02:11 PM
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12/09/2019

#100. Blossoms - Your Girlfriend
#95. Kano - Teardrops
#93. Ava Max - Torn
#89. A$AP Rocky - Babushka Boi
#88. Benny Blanco & Juice WRLD - Graduation
#86. Lil Tecca - Love Me
#84. Lil Tecca - Did It Again
#82. Cadet - Gang Gang
#70. Kano feat. Kojo Funds - Pan-Fried
#67. Jax Jones & Tove Lo - Jacques
#62. RAYE - Love Me Again
#53. Deno feat. DigDat - Change
#44. Lana Del Rey - Norman f***ing Rockwell
#11. Post Malone - Circles



Your Girlfriend's lyrics might seem like it’s an "Imma steal your girl" song upon first look, and hearing artists brag about that don't usually work well most of the time.
However, Tom Ogden puts on a nice, charming personality over some bubbly synth rock production, making for an enjoyable listen.



The last I heard of Kano was back in 2016 with his Made In The Manor album. I thought it was great and it was a shame that none of the singles from that LP charted in the Top 100. Well, at least we have these two entries from his new album Hoodies All Summer (both earning him his first time in the Top 100 as a lead artist in nine years; the last one being Upside with Michelle Breeze back in 2010) to make up for that.
In Teardrops, Kano talks about a good range of topics in both of his verses, such as the justice system being corrupt, how bigots will continue throwing hate no matter how much people of these targeted groups achieve or inspire in their lives, and people dreaming ambitious things only to waste the potential to receive them all on blowing their money on jewellery for the sake of bragging. He does so with really good, energetic flows over a syncopated beat and a dark, echoing vocal sample. The only small issue has to be the transition between the chorus and the 2nd verse feeling a bit too sudden, but other than that, it's still a fantastic rap track.
Pan-Fried starts off with a nice steel drum line with both Kano and Kojo giving off good verses. The steel drums carry on in the 1st verse where I'm waiting for the beat to come in. Eventually, it does so, but the pleasant steel drums are replaced with this relatively high-pitched sample, and it becomes distracting while trying to listen to the interesting stuff Kano's saying. The steel drums finally come back in the chorus, but there's no percussion. Percussion comes back and the instrumentation switches up again, and the steel drums finally blend in with the slow, natural beat and the high-pitched sample (the latter of which is no longer a distraction thanks to the steel drum addition) near the end. It could've been better, but for what it is, it's quite swell.
Both of these tracks leave me excited for what Kano has to offer on his new album.



Torn is a song about Ava wanting to leave a relationship, but keeps coming back due to the pros her partner carries to weigh out the negatives.
There is some good production to fit the moody tone of the song (it sounds different from her previous two Top 40 singles) and I like the "Oh no!" backing vocals in the chorus to emphasise Ava’s need to leave and close the door. I'm not too fond of the part in the pre-chorus where she says that she likes the way her partner 'rocks [her] body', because that isn't a very good justification for staying in a flavourless relationship (maybe I might be nitpicking at this point).



Babushka Boi takes a sample of Da Crime Click's 1995 track You Hoes Gone Get Kidnapped, pitches it down and blends it with some catchy cowbell sounds. There's also some really good verses from A$AP, with him relishing in his dominance and making contrasts between gangster life in his verses and playboy luxuries in the outro.



The last time Benny Blanco and Juice WRLD collaborated was earlier this year with Roses, which I thought was okay. Now they are back with a trap rework of Vitamin C's 1999 song Graduation. The original, while it sounds cheesy, serves as a nice message saying that even though close friends in high school may not see each other again after they leave, they'll never forget the cherished moments they spent together. A cynical take on school life might have worked, Taylor Swift did it well recently with Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince. The 2nd half of the 2nd verse did do a decent job at doing so, but other than that, the end result wasn't that good.
I feel like the C major key of the chorus doesn't fit Juice's vocal range as he sounds like he's yelling at this higher range (doesn't sound as unintentionally hilarious as he did in Robbery though), and therefore, the key could have been transposed a bit lower. The 1st verse is filled with brags that don't work very well and there was a Jungle Fever reference in the 2nd verse that didn't come out well.



This week, we have two new entries from Lil Tecca’s new mixtape We Love You Tecca. The first one is Love Me. I think it’s okay. It has a pleasant sounding summertime vibe to it. The other one is Did It Again. The piano blends in smoothly with the trap beat in this one and while there are a few ridiculous lines, Tecca rides the beat quite well.



This week, we have a posthumous release from Cadet (May he rest in peace). Gang Gang shows Cadet rap over a syncopated drill style beat with some elements of lyrical content found in drill (e.g. started from a low point in life and got bigger and at the top of the game, along with mentions of weapon types), but does so from the perspective of a policeman. He does an excellent job tackling police brutality, as well as the politicians' attempts to ban drill (which Krept And Konan also did a marvellous job at tackling a few months back).
It reminds me of Joyner Lucas’ magnificent 2017 effort I’m Not Racist (both music videos have a similar setting with these two people sitting opposite each other on a table), in which he does a breakdown of the racial, political divide between black and white and he does a fantastic job at rapping from the perspective of both sides with almost every line being gripping. It does work better with the music video though. The main difference between the two is that Gang Gang is just done from the policeman’s perspective.



Jacques sees Jax Jones return to his minimal house sound that he put on in House Work back in 2016. We also have Tove Lo, whose lyrics have this lustful vibe to them, but the production fits them nicely. The repetition of ‘Jacques’ in the post-chorus is also pretty catchy and enhances the electronic experience of the song.



RAYE is back with her first single as a lead artist in quite awhile with Love Me Again. First, we had Lil Tecca's Love Me, and then we have RAYE's Love Me Again. Can't wait for next week when someone enters the chart with Love Me Three Times.
The song opens up with some nice organ chords before switching to a smooth drum line, along with some hints of a bassline. These instruments come together in a chorus to create a swell sounding combination.
The song sees RAYE look back on a previous relationship and the good times they spent together, and then she rings him up to suggest what she should do for them to get back together. While I think they should move on from it, RAYE has stated in the lyrics that she has tried her best to do so but has failed. There is that one ridiculous line in which all the others that have touched her have felt her go cold, but other than that, It’s a decent song overall.



Change has Deno and DigDat show appreciation towards their mothers and thank them for the support they've given them. Both of their parts are solid, though the latter throws in some brags that don’t fit in with the topic of the song. The piano line sounds melancholic and blends with the trap beat, with most of the lyrical content fitting with the tone of the instrumentation.



Norman f***ing Rockwell does a really good job at setting the mostly downbeat tone of Lana Del Rey’s album of the same name. Jack Antanoff’s production makes this feel orchestral with the piano line complementing both the string arrangements and Lana’s whispery alto vocal style. The lyrics also have a great poetic vibe to them and fit the tone of the song nicely.



Circles sees Post Malone looking back on a relationship and how he and his partner failed to make it work. This is backed up by some melancholy sounding guitars over a drum line, with the way they blend together reminding me of Currents-era Tame Impala (particularly Let It Happen and The Less I Know The Better).





My Fave Of The Week goes to Teardrops by Kano. As for the honorable mention, there were a couple of contenders, but I eventually settled for Gang Gang by Cadet.
Least Fave goes to Graduation by Benny Blanco & Juice WRLD. It was close to mixed bag territory though.


#100. Blossoms - Your Girlfriend [8/10]
#95. Kano - Teardrops [GOLD] (Fave Of The Week)
#93. Ava Max - Torn [7/10]
#89. A$AP Rocky - Babushka Boi [9/10]
#88. Benny Blanco & Juice WRLD - Graduation [5/10] (Least Fave Of The Week)
#86. Lil Tecca - Love Me [6/10]
#84. Lil Tecca - Did It Again [7/10]
#82. Cadet - Gang Gang [9/10] (FOTW HM)
#70. Kano feat. Kojo Funds - Pan-Fried [8/10]
#67. Jax Jones & Tove Lo - Jacques [8/10]
#62. RAYE - Love Me Again [7/10]
#53. Deno feat. DigDat - Change [7/10]
#44. Lana Del Rey - Norman f***ing Rockwell [9/10]
#11. Post Malone - Circles [9/10]

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DalekTurret32
post Sep 20 2019, 06:04 PM
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19/09/2019

NEW ENTRIES:

#97. Leftwing : Kody - I Feel It
#94. Sam Fender - The Borders
#84. Jax Jones feat. Ella Henderson - This Is Real
#77. Billie Eilish - All The Good Girls Go To Hell
#70. Yves V feat. Afrojack & Icona Pop - We Got That Cool
#50. Camila Cabello - Shameless
#48. Professor Green feat. Alice Chater - Got It All
#43. Aitch feat. Tyreezy - Already
#38. Camila Cabello - Liar
#21. Aitch feat. ZieZie - Buss Down
#20. Stormzy - Sounds Of The Skeng
#11. Post Malone - Hollywood's Bleeding


I Feel It has a nice deep house groove to it with its upbeat piano chords that sound like the ones from Weiss’ Feel My Needs from 2018, a well produced drum pattern to blend with them, and a recurring vocal line throughout reminiscent of that of Low Steppa’s 2014 club jam So Real. There is some repetition in the lyrics, but this is the type of repetition that enhances the musical experience due to its danceable fuel.


The Borders is about two boys meeting each other, with one of them suffering worse than the other, and him throwing hate at that person for his constant misfortune. They carry the same emotions throughout their lives, only for the consequences of their actions increasing as they get older. Despite a lack of a chorus, Fender breaks the story down well in his lyrics. Also, the instrumentation is produced to a fantastic level. The electric guitars blend well with the relatively fast drums to give an anthemic sound similar to that of The War On Drugs (particularly Red Eyes and Nothing To Find). To further elevate the quality of this, we have a smooth saxophone solo before the 3rd verse and an awesome guitar solo near the end of the song.


It’s funny how we have a vocalist on I Feel It saying “I got a love that’s so real!” and a song entering the chart called This Is Real like there’s someone calling bullshit on that claim.
The new single by Jax Jones marks the return of Ella Henderson (who I haven’t heard on a song since Kygo’s Here For You from way back in 2015). Henderson unleashes her inner Becky Hill on this upbeat house track, with her vocals blending well with the staccato piano chords.


All The Good Girls Go To Hell shows more of Billie’s moody, whispery vocal style while displaying images of heaven and hell in the lyrics. There’s also a groovy bassline playing in the verses, along with a great use of some organ chords in the post-chorus to give a religious church-like vibe. I also love the backing vocal arrangements in the chorus with the “There’s nothing left to save me now!” part.


There are many songs I’ve heard that have interpolated Crystal Waters’ 1991 club classic Gypsy Woman, with the likes of 2 Eivissa, T.I, Nick Brewer and just recently, Yves V with a new single. We Got That Cool brings a fun, upbeat club vibe to the table, with Icona Pop’s party hard attitudes and Yves V and Afrojack’s colourful production. These elements come together to produce one of the most exciting club tracks of the year.


This week, we’ve got two new songs from former Fifth Harmony member Camila Cabello.
Liar sees Camila bring a lustful vibe to her lyrical content, with some catchy production blending well with them. The chord sequence (i-II-iv-VII) is a bit similar to Years And Years' Take Shelter from 2014, but that doesn’t weigh the song down too much.
Shameless shows Camila attempt to elaborate on her feelings for her crush. The dissonance in the verse involving her melisma at the end of the 1st and 3rd lines conveys a sense of uncertainty in her character. The song starts to pick up in the post-chorus where it starts to sound tense with the bass cranked up a bit with the addition of a drum pattern. I do feel like she’s oversinging on the ‘shameless’ part during the chorus, but she does later state that she’s “screamin’ out [her] lungs” for this love.



Professor Green was quite big in the UK during the early 2010’s, but then suddenly vanished. He put out a song that charted last year with Photographs (one of my faves from him since Read All About It), and now he’s back with Got It All.
In this track, Pro Green attempts a lower range vocal than usual, and his verses remind me of Tinie Tempah. The chorus has Alice Chater sing really well and back up the repetitive lines very well with a soulful singer-songwriter vocal. All in all, it’s some mindless fun. However, Chater saying “Teach me something!” in a sultry manner right after saying “Professor!” is quite an awkward way to start off a song.



Looks like Camila isn’t the only artist to have two songs charting this week, as we have Manchester rapper Aitch with two tracks from his forthcoming EP AitcH2O.
Already has some good chiming sounds to it, but Tyreezy has some noticeable autotune and the 3rd verse has some weak lines such as one in which Aitch chooses a girl's brain over her heart and one in which a girl's lipstick matches her thong.
Other than that, it's okay. Though, I prefer the other song from the EP that charted called Buss Down. In this track, ZieZie puts on a fun, catchy chorus in this and the piano chords blend well with the trap beat, and Aitch has some decent verses to fit the upbeat tone of the song, despite a few ridiculous lines occasionally popping up.
And on the topic of ZieZie, even though I thought that hit song Fine Girl with him on a relatively high melodic vocal range was pretty decent, I feel like this lower vocal range fits him better.



Sounds Of The Skeng has some organs playing over a hard-hitting Sir Spyro-produced beat that has a similar rhythmic sound to it as Big For Your Boots (a song from 2017 that was also by Stormzy). Stormzy manages to go hard as usual with his witty wordplay and fantastic flows, plus his vocals blend smoothly with the production.


Just like with last week’s eponymous album opener entry (Norman f***ing Rockwell by Lana Del Rey) and how it did a good job at setting the tone, Hollywood’s Bleeding sets a similar dark vibe, only with elements of rock and trap. I like the rhythmic structure of this song; it starts off slow with moody guitars playing in the mix before making a beat switch to a No Limit style trap beat in the verse, before ending off with a slow tempo that was established in the 1st chorus. Post takes a look at the dark side of Hollywood, with issues such as drug addiction and early death. Overall, it’s a very good fusion of trap and rock, with a downbeat atmosphere added to it.




Overall, this was a pretty great week so far, with at least more than half of the entries being excellent.
Favourtie Of The Week goes to We Got That Cool by Yves V, Afrojack and Icona Pop, with Stormzy's Sounds Of The Skeng taking the spot for honorable mention.
The Least Fave goes to Already by Aitch and Tyreezy.


#97. Leftwing : Kody - I Feel It [9/10]
#94. Sam Fender - The Borders [9/10]
#84. Jax Jones feat. Ella Henderson - This Is Real [9/10]
#77. Billie Eilish - All The Good Girls Go To Hell [9/10]
#70. Yves V feat. Afrojack & Icona Pop - We Got That Cool [GOLD] (Fave Of The Week)
#50. Camila Cabello - Shameless [8/10]
#48. Professor Green feat. Alice Chater - Got It All [8/10]
#43. Aitch feat. Tyreezy - Already [6/10] (Least Fave Of The Week)
#38. Camila Cabello - Liar [8/10]
#21. Aitch feat. ZieZie - Buss Down [7/10]
#20. Stormzy - Sounds Of The Skeng [GOLD] (FOTW HM)
#11. Post Malone - Hollywood's Bleeding [9/10]


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jimwatts
post Sep 20 2019, 08:21 PM
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New Order-esque drums
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These are always an interesting perspective on new songs - thank you!
Just had a quick look back to see what you wrote about Outnumbered when it debuted - turns out Castles and Ransom debuted the same week, as did Bounce Back and Taylor's YNTCD! Who would have thought the first three would have gone on to do so well?
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DalekTurret32
post Sep 21 2019, 07:53 PM
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QUOTE(jimwatts @ Sep 20 2019, 09:21 PM) *
Just had a quick look back to see what you wrote about Outnumbered when it debuted - turns out Castles and Ransom debuted the same week, as did Bounce Back and Taylor's YNTCD! Who would have thought the first three would have gone on to do so well?




In the words of that teacher from The Incredibles, "Conicidence? I think not!"
Quote aside, it is interesting to see these three go on to become Top 40 hits.
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DalekTurret32
post Sep 27 2019, 07:55 PM
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26/09/2019

Apologies for the lack of added comments



#99. Riton & Oliver Heldens feat. Vula - Turn Me On [9/10]
#94. Rex Orange County - 10/10 [7/10]
#90. Dave - God's Eye [Top Boy] [9/10]
#87. M Huncho - One Summer [Top Boy] [7/10]
#84. SL - 100 Thoughts [Top Boy] [6.5/10]
#79. Headie One - Hard To Believe [Top Boy] [7/10]
#63. AJ Tracey - Elastic [Top Boy] [9/10]
#53. Fredo - Freddy [Top Boy] [7/10]
#52. Halsey - Graveyard [8/10]
#51. Drake - Behind Barz [Top Boy] [7/10]
#37. Stormzy - Wiley Flow [9/10] (FOTW HM)
#24. Dave - Professor X [Top Boy] [7/10]
#22. Post Malone feat. Ozzy Osbourne and Travis Scott - Take What You Want [GOLD] (Fave Of The Week)
#16. D-Block Europe feat. Lil Baby - Nookie [5/10] (Least Fave Of The Week)
#2. Ariana Grande, Miley Cyrus and Lana Del Rey - Don’t Call Me Angel (Charlie’s Angels) [7/10]




So there were eight songs from the Top Boy soundtrack entering on the same week. Between this and that album bomb involving the Black Panther soundtrack, I think it's safe to put this up:

Can't get affected by the three song rule if you're a "various artists" album


This post has been edited by Polly Planturret: Sep 27 2019, 10:25 PM
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DalekTurret32
post Oct 2 2019, 11:04 PM
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03/10/2019

NEW ENTRIES:

#98. Summer Walker - Playing Games
#95. Blackbear - Hot Girl Bummer
#84. Liam Payne feat. A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie - Stack It Up
#66. Maroon 5 - Memories
#61. Liam Gallagher - Now That I've Found You
#48. The Script - The Last Time
#44. JAY1 - 4AM In Coventry
#37. Tiesto and Mabel - God Is A Dancer




Playing Games serves as a decent dose of chilled 2010’s R&B with Summer Walker putting on a SZA-esque vocal performance over an acoustic guitar line.


hot girl bummer puts a cynical spin on the title of Megan Thee Stallion's Hot Girl Summer with a hint of Post Malone to it.
A cynical party song would have been interesting, but most of the lyrics feel flat and whiney to the point where they become too distracting. The production is okay though as it gives off a dark atmosphere to fit with the cynical vibe.


Stack It Up starts off with a nice organ/clav sound carrying a chord sequence reminiscent of that of Selena Gomez’ 2015 song Same Old Love. Both Liam and Boogie give off okay verses, though the former’s “I-I” melisma isn’t very good.


Memories sees Adam Levine reflect back into the events of his past while being backed by a church organ. There’s also an interpolation of Pachebel’s Canon In D in both the organ chords and the vocal melody. It’s not my favourite of the songs I’ve heard that have interpolated that Pachebel composition (that would have to be The Farm’s All Together Now from 1990), but I still quite like it. The lyrical content has some solid writing to it and there’s a good sound to it, though I would have loved it for the textures to be expanded further since the organ and vocal arrangement makes this sound more like a demo version of itself. Oh well!


Now That I’ve Found You is a song about Liam’s estranged daughter Molly Moorish. The lyrics on his new album have looked through a good array of topics, from the look at the aftermath of the Oasis split up in his previous two singles to this. Liam presents a kind, caring persona throughout the lyrics and while the production sounds a bit basic, it does back up the content well.


The Script are back with a new single called The Last Time. This starts off driven by an acoustic guitar before it (kind of) explodes during the first chorus and carries on with the percussion. The production’s okay but I’m not a huge fan of these lyrics as they feel bare bones. Also, that “whoa-oh” melisma during the post chorus doesn’t sound good. It’s a disappointing single considering that I've heard a handful of swell songs in their discography (Breakeven, If You Could See Me Now, Nothing and We Cry to name a few).


The title of JAY1’s single remind me of these “time in location” titled songs that Drake occasionally puts out. 4AM In Coventry carries a boosted bassline backed up by an 808 beat that reminds me of DaBaby’s recent Billboard smash hit Suge, with JAY1 putting on a fun, charismatic flow that reminds me of that of said rapper. Most of his brags come off well thanks to the good flow he puts on and his verse combined with the production makes for a banging track. If only if it was expanded with maybe a chorus or another verse then I would have rated this higher.


When I heard God Is A Dancer start off with Mabel’s echoing, autotune vocals over some relatively quiet instrumentation, I was worried about the direction the song was going. Luckily, Tiesto expands the song with a good old beat and some catchy low range keyboard chords. The chorus has a nice danceable vibe to it too and Mabel’s parts (aside from that beginning) are pretty decent.



So... this was quite an underwhelming (but alright) week for debuts with only one song getting higher than 7/10 (I say this because in all the other weeks I've covered I get at least one song with at least a 9/10). That song, in particular, is my Fave Of The Week, which goes to Now That I've Found You by Liam Gallagher. The honorable mention goes to JAY1's charismatic, fast-paced 4AM In Coventry.
Least Fave Of The Week goes to hot girl bummer by Blackbear.


#98. Summer Walker - Playing Games [7/10]
#95. Blackbear - Hot Girl Bummer [5/10] (Least Fave Of The Week)
#84. Liam Payne feat. A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie - Stack It Up [6/10]
#66. Maroon 5 - Memories [7/10]
#61. Liam Gallagher - Now That I've Found You [8/10] (Fave Of The Week)
#48. The Script - The Last Time [6/10]
#44. JAY1 - 4AM In Coventry [7/10] (FOTW HM)
#37. Tiesto and Mabel - God Is A Dancer [7/10]


This post has been edited by DalekTethered32: Oct 2 2019, 11:04 PM
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Brer
post Oct 2 2019, 11:29 PM
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I don't think I've commented in this thread yet but these are always fun to read cool.gif I think I stumbled across the Billboard Breakdown channel around the time you started this thread so it's cool to have a sort of UK equivalent of it on here x

This week has to be one of the worst batches of new entries we've had of late, there isn't really a single song there I'd ever particularly want to listen to. The best of them is probably JAY1 and even that just sounds like a half-baked clone of his other hits without a hook. Tiësto and The Script are decent for what they are, all the rest are pretty boring, apart from the blackbear song which is just terrible (I assume it's just getting somewhat big off the clickbait title a la 'Post Malone', let's very much hope it doesn't blow up as much as that did). Dishonorable mention to Maroon 5, like their last album I'm not hating Adam Levine's voice on it like I did with all their previous eras but this song is somehow even more lifeless than 'Girls Like You', zzzz.
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danG
post Oct 3 2019, 12:09 PM
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Playing Games, boring.
Hot Girl Bummer, awful.
Stack It Up, urgh who let Liam Payne come back? at least this has seemingly zero chance of getting big despite the Ed co write.
Memories, terrible, way to shit on a classic like Canon In D. I suppose it would work to send your baby to sleep though?
Now That I've Found You, just Liam G on autopilot like the rest of what I've heard (although the string arrangement does lift One of Us into 'decent' territory)
The Last Time, meh.
4AM In Coventry, barely anything to it.

at least we've got God Is A Dancer which is one of Tiësto's best of recent times.
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DalekTurret32
post Oct 11 2019, 06:32 PM
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10/10/2019

NEW ENTRIES:

#97. DaBaby - INTRO (Kirk)
#91. Diplo and Jonas Brothers - Lonely
#82. J-Hope feat. Becky G - Chicken Noodle Soup
#75. YNW Melly feat. 9LOKKNINE - 223's
#74. Yxng Bane feat. OFB - Skrr
#55. Stay Flee Get Lizzy feat. Tory Lanez, Fredo and Popcaan - 2 Cups
#53. Tion Wayne x JAY1 - 2 On 2
#44. French Montana feat. Post Malone and Cardi B - Writing On The Wall
#43. D-Block Europe - Outside
#40. Ed Sheeran feat. Camila Cabello and Cardi B - South Of The Border
#21. D-Block Europe feat. Dave - Playing For Keeps



Kicking us off this week we have DaBaby finally getting his first charting hit, which is the Intro from his forthcoming Kirk album. The song feels uplifting with an ‘aah’ choir arrangement playing throughout that reminds me of the one that was used in Kendrick Lamar’s 2015 track Alright, except this one is set at a lower vocal range, and the production does a good job at capturing the album opener feel. The verses are really good as DaBaby details the many events of his life such as his mother’s battle with cancer and his father being pronounced dead before he started touring, along with the 2nd verse displaying a ‘rags to riches’ story. It’s great to see artists usually known for comedic/bouncy stuff put out something serious and emotional once in a while.


Lonely shows the Jonas Brothers sing about having the best times in a relationship while an acoustic guitar plays in the background. Some of the lyrics may feel cheesy, such as the opening line “Wanna ride with you till the wheels fall off”, but they are solid. Also, the drop, despite coming in at an unexpected moment, sounds decent and flows in nicely with the tone of the song.


We have an entry of BTS member J-Hope and Becky G in which they interpolate a Webstar & Young B song from 2006 called Chicken Noodle Soup. I don’t like the original. I find it to be too repetitive with annoying vocals and loud, overused ad-libs (and there’s no other instrumentation to make this danceable to me apart from some air raid siren). I prefer this version as there is an added guitar line to add a dance feel to it, and both Hope and Becky give off decent rap verses. It still has some annoying use of repetition, such as in the “I let it rain” part though. Overall, this is just okay.


Melly previously had two charting songs this year (neither of which I was a fan of). Murder On My Mind had an interesting storytelling concept, but the execution didn’t come off well, and Mixed Personalities had Kanye giving off some passable parts, but Melly’s verses weighed it down (especially that falsetto part). 223’s, on the other hand, is quite decent. Despite it being a song about guns, both Melly and 9LOKKNINE ride the beat quite well other this pretty neat instrumental consisting of a short guitar line and a C minor clav chord backbeat. The line about being ‘500 degrees’ is quite ridiculous though as I know that the normal human body can not take this much heat.


Skrr carries a nice use of Indonesian Gamelan instruments in it. The chorus is decent, most of the brags in the verses are okay, but there are some lines in them such as one in which a ‘p***y’ is placed on a tongue and how Bandokay’s diamonds make a girl say ‘burr’ that weigh the song down.


One year after their catchy Top 40 hit Ay Caramba, clothing brand Stay Flee Get Lizzy is back with new single 2 Cups. It attempts to capture a summertime vibe like said Top 40 hit from last year, and while I don’t find it as good, I still quite like it. Both Tory and Popcaan make some good use of Jamaican patois to fit with the tone of the song, the former doing so in a similar vein to Wiley’s My Love (which was so close to breaking the Top 40). I didn’t like Fredo’s verse as much as those of the other two, but I think it’s okay, despite that one line about being ‘booby-trapped’.


2 On 2 shows a swell display of chemistry between our two artists in the verses. The lyrics do contain a few ‘stealing your girl’ lines, but Maestro The Baker’s beat is one that I’m digging. The keyboards blend well with the syncopated percussion in this as do Tion and Jay with this beat.


Writing On The Wall combines sounds of keyboards and acoustic guitars to form an instrumental with a nice, summertime vibe (it feels weird saying the last bit considering that we’re in October right now). Post Malone’s layered vocals are a weird fit for this beat, but he blends with them quite well. Both French and Cardi give decent verses on this (this won't be the only track this week with the latter in it), though I wasn’t too fond of that melodic bit in the start of the 3rd verse (I do give both of them credit for showing some vocal chemistry between each other). I quite like this, though I prefer Unforgettable as the Montana summer track.


We’ve got new entries from D-Block Europe’s new album PTSD. The first one is Outside, which has a pretty pleasant guitar line running through it and I like some of the lines where Young Adz is reflecting on his other friends and having to deal with serious court cases, but there are still a few weak lines popping up such as one in which he’s “eating [his girl’s] p***y to some love songs”. Also, Dirtbike LB's verse near the end drags this down a bit, with some processed vocals and generic lines about drugs and p****y, and a weak callback to Home P. There are a few lines dealing with emotion in this verse in a similar vein to a few of the others that I give credit to.
The other one is Playing For Keeps. This might probably be the first D Block song I’ve heard that I, at least, like, Tell The Truth came close but Rich The Kid’s verse weighed it down. Anyway, the beat is quite catchy, despite being relatively quiet, and Young Adz rides it well. In this song, there's less ridiculous lines about sex and more about a sense of assertiveness in the game, as well as some lines about prison. Dave's verse, while not one of my faves from his, is pretty solid with some good flows from his as usual. Dirtbike's verse is my least fave part of the song (mainly due to the sound of the autotune in that part), but it doesn't weigh it down too much.


South Of The Border carries a nice panpipe sound throughout, and the lyrics make it feel like it’s Shape Of You mixed with Shawn Mendes' Senorita (the latter of which also featured Camila Cabello). Ed talks about a girl he’s showing affection towards, with Camila doing a good job singing from the perspective of that girl, with some good use of Spanish language in the verse to call back to her Cuban heritage like she did in Havana and Senorita, and even though there’s that one jungle fever reference (it’s better than the one in Graduation though) in it, the rap verse from Cardi is solid.




Like last week, there weren't any excellent songs there, but my Top 2 of the debuts this week is better than the Top 2 of the debuts last week. My favourite has to be DaBaby's Intro, with South Of The Border by Ed Sheeran, Camila Cabello and Cardi B taking the honorable mention. My least favourite, of the three that got a 6/10, would have to be Outside by D-Block Europe



#97. DaBaby - INTRO (Kirk) [8/10] (Fave Of The Week)
#91. Diplo and Jonas Brothers - Lonely [7/10]
#82. J-Hope feat. Becky G - Chicken Noodle Soup [6/10]
#75. YNW Melly feat. 9LOKKNINE - 223's [7/10]
#74. Yxng Bane feat. OFB - Skrr [6/10]
#55. Stay Flee Get Lizzy feat. Tory Lanez, Fredo and Popcaan - 2 Cups [7/10]
#53. Tion Wayne x JAY1 - 2 On 2 [7/10]
#44. French Montana feat. Post Malone and Cardi B - Writing On The Wall [7/10]
#43. D-Block Europe - Outside [6/10] (Least Fave Of The Week)
#40. Ed Sheeran feat. Camila Cabello and Cardi B - South Of The Border [8/10] (FOTW HM)
#21. D-Block Europe feat. Dave - Playing For Keeps [7/10]
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DalekTurret32
post Oct 18 2019, 07:31 PM
Post #57
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17/10/2019


NEW ENTRIES:

#99. SHAED - Trampoline
#89. Dermot Kennedy - All My Friends
#88. Dermot Kennedy - Power Over Me
#87. Elderbrook & Rudimental - Something About You
#85. Camila Cabello - Cry For Me
#70. Summer Walker feat. A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie - Stretch You Out
#56. AJ Tracey - Cat Pack
#52. Post Malone - Saint-Tropez
#51. Niall Horan - Nice To Meet Ya
#49. NSG - Trust Issues
#47. Juice WRLD feat. Youngboy Never Broke Again - Bandit
#42. Summer Walker feat. Usher - Come Thru
#19. Dan & Shay feat. Justin Bieber - 10,000 Hours
#2. Travis Scott - HIGHEST IN THE ROOM




Trampoline captures a fantastic sense of poetic imagery in its lyrics describing a harmless dream quickLy turning into a nightmare. Chelsea Lee's vocals bear some captivating emotions to represent the character having to deal with this dream, with some synths that sound very vibrant.
As for the ZAYN remix, I think it’s excellent too; I would even say I prefer that over the original. The synth sound in the chorus is a great fit for ZAYN’s sensual sounding vocal style and he and Lee have some really good chemistry between each other.



We’ve got two tracks from Dermot Kennedy’s debut album Without Fear. All My Friends blends together many fantastic lyrical themes such as overcoming fears, reflecting on a relationship that crumbled fast with fragments of nostalgia and an excellent exploration of emotion. A lot of the tracks from that album bear anthemic like instrumentation, but this is where it shines the brightest to me over a powerful drum line.
Power Over Me, while I didn’t like it as much as I did back when I first heard it in the tail-end of 2018, is still a really good song. Dermot sings about being pulled in by the power of a potential lover and the anthemic production, while not as magnificent as that of All My Friends, still does a good job at backing up the lyrical content. Also the 'mmm-mmm' vocals are audibly pleasing.



The last time Elderbrook appeared in the Top 100 was on the CamelPhat song Cola, which had a dark feel to it. His new song Something About You (which is a collab with Rudimental) has a more colourful, upbeat vibe to it in its production, which is really good in this song and it sounds like it came from a Tom Misch cut. In this single, Elderbrook is looking back at a past relationship with him and coming to accept his faults, but he wants his ex back to help him solve his problems. I think it is a better idea to just move on from that relationship. But other than that, I still really like this song due to its colourfulness and great vocal performance, plus the lyrics aren’t too distracting despite their flaws.



Cry For Me is a song about Camila breaking up with a partner of hers, only to find out that he’s happy with his new love much to her annoyance. The problem is in the lyrics where she’s wishing that her ex is sad instead of glad following the breakup, which I find to be a pretty mean thing to be thinking of. However, there are some things I like about it. The guitar riff in the bridge is solid and I like the way Camila says “cry for me” in the chorus.



Another small batch of new entries from a recent album is Summer Walker’s new album Over Now. Stretch You Out is a song about a man who hardly does anything to support his wife, with Summer Walker’s verse being pretty good. The chorus is repetitive though and the use of repetition doesn’t feel good due to the slow chill beat not fitting with it. Also, A Boogie’s verse weighs this down as he talks about “being in [her] body like surgery” and, I don’t mean to be a correct pronunciation buzzkill for this next bit, mispronouncing baguettes as ‘bah-geh-teez’.
Come Thru comes through to offer a nice slice of some of that retro R&B flavour. Summer Walker’s sultry personality blends really well with the 90’s like beat that interpolates Usher’s 1997 hit You Make Me Wanna. Speaking of Usher, he comes back to bring some feelgood R&B charm to elevate this song further.



Cat Pack has AJ Tracey putting on some great, energetic flows while bragging over a minimalistic beat produced by Take A Daytrip (who also produced Lil Nas X's Panini).
Comparing gelato to 'cat piss' is quite a ridiculous comparison, but AJ boosts this up thanks to the charismatic flows.



Saint-Tropez has Post bragging over a dark beat with a medium high voice. Some of the brags are ridiculous, such as one in which Bud Light beer is running through his ‘piss’, and Post can get too shouty at some points, but I like the sound of the “Such a long time” chorus, especially when it is played near the end with a layer of harmonisation overdubbed onto Post’s voice, plus the instrumentation sounds good.



Nice To Meet Ya sees Niall Horan put on a charming personality while showing affection towards a girl. The uplifting piano chords and drum line blend well with Niall’s voice to give a retro sound that Robbie Williams occasionally did in his material.



Trust Issues cpmtaoms a lovely sounding guitar with a sense of emotion built into it and the part in the chorus where OGD talks about how he has lost trust in everybody, even himself, fits into the timbre of the instrumentation, but there is a couple of bragging that doesn’t fit into the mood of the track.



Bandit has some decent production, but the song becomes a generic ‘stealing other people’s girls’ song. There’s also a line in which Juice says that he doesn’t need to take molly to be a savage, but feels savage when he does so. He attempts to do a Jeffrey Dahmer metaphor that Ke$ha and Juicy J previously did in the respective songs Cannibal and Dark Horse (though the latter is mainly Katy Perry’s song). I give credit for the callback to these two songs, even though in this one, it didn’t come out very good.



10,000 Hours sounds quite nice, but the lyrics come off as basic and cheesy, such as a line in which Bieber asks a girl if she got her middle name from her grandmother.



HIGHEST IN THE ROOM sees Travis Scott return with his unique style of autotune. His vocal style blends well with the dark production of this song, as do a lot of the other tracks by him. There’s also this weird, ethereal chant in the beginning that enhances the atmosphere provided by the music. While I wish the synth break at the end could have been longer, it’s still another sublime effort from Travis.





This turned out to be a better week of debuts than the previous two, with four tracks actually falling into excellent territory. My favourite of the large batch has to be All My Friends by Dermot Kennedy, with Trampoline by SHAED coming close enough to land into the honorable mention spot.
My least favourite of the batch is Bandit by Juice WRLD and YoungBoy Never Broke Again.



#99. SHAED - Trampoline [9/10] (FOTW HM)
#89. Dermot Kennedy - All My Friends [GOLD] (Fave Of The Week)
#88. Dermot Kennedy - Power Over Me [8/10]
#87. Elderbrook & Rudimental - Something About You [9/10]
#85. Camila Cabello - Cry For Me [6/10]
#70. Summer Walker feat. A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie - Stretch You Out [6/10]
#56. AJ Tracey - Cat Pack [9/10]
#52. Post Malone - Saint-Tropez [7/10]
#51. Niall Horan - Nice To Meet Ya [8/10]
#49. NSG - Trust Issues [7/10]
#47. Juice WRLD feat. YoungBoy Never Broke Again - Bandit [5/10] (Least Fave Of The Week)
#42. Summer Walker feat. Usher - Come Thru [8/10]
#19. Dan & Shay feat. Justin Bieber - 10,000 Hours [6/10]
#2. Travis Scott - HIGHEST IN THE ROOM [8/10]
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DalekTurret32
post Oct 25 2019, 10:46 PM
Post #58
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24/10/2019

NEW ENTRIES:

#92. Zedd & Kehlani - Good Thing
#90. Endor - Pump It Up
#86. Camila Cabello - Easy
#66. Mark Ronson feat. YEBBA - Don't Leave Me Lonely
#64. Gerry Cinnamon - Sun Queen
#45. Poundz - Opp Thot
#33. MEDUZA, Becky Hill & GOODBOYS - Lose Control
#17. Sidhu Moose Wala, MIST, Steel Banglez, Stefflon Don - 47
#3. Harry Styles - Lights Up



Good Thing takes on a waltz-like 12/8 rhythm with Kehlani singing about how okay she is with being by herself. I like Zedd’s production on this, but there are points where the lyrics get a bit too smug.


Brighton producer Endor has his first chart entry with a rework of Pump It Up, a 2003 club banger by Danzel. The original contained a catchy synth sound, a syncopated drum pattern, occasional bongo bangs and some whistling sounds along with some repetition in the chorus that enhances the song. Danzel tells people about the sound that took over the club as well as commanding people to ‘pump it up’. I thought it was pretty great overall.
Endor’s version takes away the verse-chorus structure of the lyrics and replaces it with the “Don’t you know! Pump it up!” repeated over and over while a backbeat drum pattern plays. The production’s solid, but the synth sound in this sounds like it came from a karaoke instrumental of the original. I don’t like it as much as Danzel’s original version, but it’s still pretty decent.


Easy starts off with a pretty good 1st verse detailing the minor conflicts that happen in a relationship (and there’s some pretty good production), but then the chorus comes where Camila says that she was hard to love and that person who has been criticizing her has made the love ‘feel so easy’ and the song goes down a bit. We then get lines such as the man being commanded to kiss the stretch marks on her thighs until she changes her mind and one in which he has to tell her with his hands that he’s never leaving. At this point, the song starts to get jumbled up in its lyrical content. I give it credit for showing a sense of sultriness though.


YEBBA seems to be popping up in more features lately. She recently featured on an Ed Sheeran song and even provided backing vocals for Michael Kiwanuka on a track for his upcoming album. Now comes the first charting song with her in it, and it is produced by Mark Ronson.
Don’t Leave Me Lonely details a soulless relationship in its lyrics packed with a soulful sound of string arrangements. YEBBA has a very smooth vocal style that blends really well into the retro style of the production. It’s not one of my favourites off of the Late Night Feelings project but it still is a pretty sublime track.


Sun Queen carries some solid sounding acoustic guitar arrangements while Gerry sings about selling cannabis before becoming a musician, faded memories of the young and a band selling their souls to the music industry.


Opp Thot carries a syncopated drill beat while Poundz brags over it. The lines involving stuff like getting neck, giving a girl ‘vitamin D' and making it clap aren’t very good (I thought Danny Brown did the vitamin euphenism better on Really Doe due to the amusing hyperbole added to it), but he does have some decent flows in this, as were a few of the lines that involved the jailhouse.


MEDUZA returns with their relatively dark sound on Lose Control. Becky Hill blends well with the electronic beat like she usually does, and the lyrics about losing control are boosted up by the atmosphere of the instrumentation. The chorus may sound like a retread of that of MEDUZA’s recent hit Piece Of Your Heart but it’s still a good chorus.


47 has Steel Banglez bring a unique blend of Indian and Panjabi elements to the UK rap genre to make an absolutely hard-hitting beat. Sidhu Moose Wala brings some fantastically powerful parts to the song where he sings about being built for fighting as well as comparing himself to an AK-47, Stefflon Don goes really hard on her verse and MIST brings a good sense of assertiveness to his.


Lights Up displays a more poppy sound than Styles’ previous self-titled era (which was driven on rock styles from the 1970’s and 1990’s). I really like the sound of the backing vocals going “la-da-da-da” and the bridge feels quite potent. It could have been further expanded with an instrumental break or a final chorus with powerful percussion, but for what it is, it sounds divine. Also, is it me, or does the chord progression sound a bit similar to that of Mark Ronson’s Find U Again?



So this was a pretty good week for debuts overall. My favourite of the nine tracks is easily 47 by Sidhu Moose Wala, MIST, Steel Banglez and Stefflon Don, while Lose Control by MEDUZA, Becky Hill and Goodboys takes the spot for honorable mention. My least fave of the tracks is Easy by Camila Cabello.


#92. Zedd & Kehlani - Good Thing [7/10]
#90. Endor - Pump It Up [7/10]
#86. Camila Cabello - Easy [5/10] (Least Fave Of The Week)
#66. Mark Ronson feat. YEBBA - Don't Leave Me Lonely [8/10]
#64. Gerry Cinnamon - Sun Queen [8/10]
#45. Poundz - Opp Thot [6/10]
#33. MEDUZA, Becky Hill & GOODBOYS - Lose Control [9/10] (FOTW HM)
#17. Sidhu Moose Wala, MIST, Steel Banglez, Stefflon Don - 47 [9/10] (Fave Of The Week)
#3. Harry Styles - Lights Up [8/10]
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DalekTurret32
post Nov 1 2019, 08:33 PM
Post #59
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31/10/2019

NEW ENTRIES:

#100. Roberto Surace - Joys
#99. Gorgon City & MK - There For You
#97. Wretch 32 feat. Giggs - 10/10
#87. Foals - The Runner
#75. Internet Money feat. A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie and Lil Tecca - Somebody
#67. Frank Ocean - DHL
#65. Selena Gomez - Lose You To Love Me
#59. Krept & Konan feat. Wizkid - G Love
#45. Katy Perry - Harleys In Hawaii



Joys is Roberto Surace’s club reworking of The SOS Band's The Finest from 1986. The original is a nice, vibrant song about appreciating the best things in life, as well as the true love you have. This version has just echoed snippets of vocals from the 1st verse placed over a minimalistic drum pattern. The G minor low range synth setting that sometimes pop up doesn’t mix well with the B minor vocals and like with the Endor rework of Pump It Up that entered the chart last week, it’s get a little too repetitive, but I really like that part where they shout “FINEST I EVER!”, followed by a loud bang. It's decent, but as far as songs sampling The Finest go, I prefer Richard X's 2003 mashup Finest Dreams.



It’s been a while since we had a chart appearance from Gorgon City, but he’s back with a new single There For You, which is also their first collab with MK since Ready For Your Love back in 2014. But unlike on Ready For Your Love, MK doesn’t provide the vocals, which are instead sung by Frida Amundsen. The song is about a girl who feels guilty for taking her soulmate for granted and wishes she could start over and be there for him. The production is very good, with some nice sounding strings in the verses before the instrumentation switching up to piano chords in the chorus. I also like the layers of vocal harmonisation occurring throughout the song.



10/10 has some chopped up low range guitar lines playing over a trap beat. Wretch 32 goes in and goes hard in the chorus with some fantastically fast flows, and his verses are also pretty great. Giggs’ verse has this menacing lower range voice that blends really well with the dark feel of the production (like with a lot of his songs). Both of them bring some assertiveness to the track with some really good bragging. This isn’t the only time these two have collab'd. Wretch was on GWOP EXPENSES this year, which is my favourite from Giggs’ BIG BAD album, but I think I prefer this new single. The ‘skrt, skrt’ ad-lib do become distracting, but that doesn’t ruin the experience. 10/10 is what I would give this track.



The Runner takes on a roaring heavy rock style with some punchy guitar riffs and Yannis Phillipakis putting on a great vocal performance. If Part 1 of the Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost was a collection of laments of what our society has turned into, this proper opening track, being preceded by relatively short instrumental Red Desert, shows the protagonist of the two-parter gaining strength and overcoming the many obstacles he faces, plus the cathartic instrumentation, along with the backing vocals in the verses, back this growth in character up excellently. “If I fall down, then I know to keep on running” in the chorus shows that even in the lowest points in your life, you should keep on trying and never give up. We are also treated to a breath-taking guitar solo at the end. Didn’t hit me as much as Spanish Sahara, but it’s still an absolutely amazing song.



I understand what Somebody is going for. The thought of wanting a partner to love you for who you are and not what that partner wants to see you as is a very understandable and good one. Alas, the repetition of ‘body’ in the chorus sounds pretty dull and I’m not a fan of either vocal style from Hoodie or Tecca. The beat is okay, the pianos sound pleasant over it, even though it’s a common cliche in mainstream hip hop of today.



DHL carries some chilled, vibrant synth sounds in the 1st verse that Frank blends solidly in. I would have preferred his usual calm, melodic vocal style on this beat over the rapping he's doing on this. Bragging about getting a package from a European delivery service like DHL sounds silly, but it’s quite amusing. The 2nd verse then switches to some slow, moody production that sounds like it came out of a Boards Of Canada album, with Ocean’s lines about taking ecstasy and living the party life fitting really well with the vibe. It’s no Thinkin’ Bout You or Ivy, but it’s solid.



Lose You To Love Me dives into an exploration of vulnerability in a relationship, which is backed up by some melancholic sounding pianos. The echoes of the backing vocals going “To love, love” throughout the chorus further emphasise this emotion. There’s also some pizzicato strings in the 2nd verse that remind me of Issues by Julia Michaels (she is one of the writers of the song, BTW). The lyrics aren’t great, “I needed to hate you to love me” seems quite contradictory, but I do give credit to the sense of emotion they’re attempting to convey.



G Love has some nice keyboard sounds playing throughout, but the lyrics aren’t very good, despite some decent metaphors. We have Konan getting caught kissing his ‘new ting’ by an ‘old ting’, but he shouldn’t worry as he’s ‘got a calm ex’ and Krept sending your girlfriend the aubergine emoji, followed by her replying with the eyes emoji. The chorus is okay, even though there’s some noticeable autotune on WizKid’s part. This was pretty disappointing considering what music I’ve previously heard from K&K this year.



Harleys In Hawaii has Katy display a smooth vocal over some vibrant sounding production. There is a sultry feel to this song that reminds me of Ariana Grande's "God is a woman", except with motorcycle rides. Also, I really like the instrumentation in this. The song starts off with an acoustic guitar line before building up its textures with organ chords, and some hints of high range synth sounds later on.




And that's it! Pretty good week! Running straight to the spot of Fave Of The Week is The Runner by Foals, with 10/10 by Wretch 32 and Giggs getting the honourable mention. My least fave is Somebody by Internet Money, A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie and Lil Tecca.


#100. Roberto Surace - Joys [7/10]
#99. Gorgon City & MK - There For You [8/10]
#97. Wretch 32 feat. Giggs - [10/10] (FOTW HM)
#87. Foals - The Runner [GOLD] (Fave Of The Week)
#75. Internet Money feat. A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie and Lil Tecca - Somebody [5/10] (Least Fave Of The Week)
#67. Frank Ocean - DHL [7/10]
#65. Selena Gomez - Lose You To Love Me [7/10]
#59. Krept & Konan feat. Wizkid - G Love [6/10]
#45. Katy Perry - Harleys In Hawaii [8/10]
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DalekTurret32
post Nov 3 2019, 09:27 PM
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07/11/2019

NEW ENTRIES:

#100. AJ Tracey feat. Young Adz - Halloween
#96. Westlife - My Blood
#95. Major Lazer and Khalid - Trigger
#86. Rex Orange County - Face To Face
#70. Tom Walker - Better Half Of Me
#54. The 1975 - Frail State Of Mind
#27. Coldplay - Orphans
#26. Selena Gomez - Look At Her Now
#22. AJ Tracey feat. Mo'Stack and Not3s - Floss
#20. Kanye West - Closed On Sunday
#19. Kanye West - Selah
#8. Kanye West - Follow God



Kicking us off are two tracks from the recent deluxe edition of AJ Tracey’s self-titled debut studio effort. Takes me back to when I first did the DT32 Rates The UK Debuts with Wifey Riddim 3 and, before it blew up on the Top 40 this Summer, Ladbroke Grove in it, albeit it was just ratings and no added comments.
The last time AJ Tracey did a track with Halloween vibes (Horror Flick), it was really good. How does his next attempt in the form of Halloween hold up?
The beat is really good and there are some pretty good flows. It took me a while for me to get used to Tracey's melodic vocal style (it reminded me a bit of Necklace, which was my least fave track from his self-titled album) and Young Adz has some bad one-liners like 'f***ed a white bitch Lady Ga-ga-ga' and 'p***y on my face do the splits, splits, splits', but both artists have some solid interactions between each other.
Floss has some Charlie Puth-like ‘ooh’s in the mix that sound like the ones in Tyga’s Taste (oh, and Swish and DJ Snake's Loco Contigo had them as well, the latter also having Tyga). AJ Tracey has some really good flows on it, he brags about his jewellery and even has a ‘steal your girl’ line in his verse but there is a good amount of charm in his parts to back them up. Mo’Stack’s verse was also pretty decent, even though I thought he slipped off beat at some points and there was a line where he could identify fake breasts because he struggled to squeeze them. Not3s’ verse weighs the song down, as I felt like it slowed down the momentum of the song and his singsong vocal style didn’t blend well with the rest of it.


My Blood is a powerful ballad about maintaining strength as a person while tackling bullying and mental health. The instrumentation backs up the lyrics well and the choir vocal arrangements near the end add to the power of the song.


Trigger shows a couple having an argument between each other, with the situation taking place in a dark manner. The production is atmospheric and very good, plus Khalid has a solid vocal performance. The chorus has some lines where he wants to get shot down so that he doesn’t remember his partner anymore and 'If our love is a drug, you're the one with the trigger', which weigh the song down a bit. The drop is decent though, even though it sounded out of place. Not my favourite of the Death Stranding songs but pretty good.


Rex’s last charting single 10/10 was decent, but underwhelming considering that he made Loving Is Easy and Sunflower (both of which I really liked), but this new song is much better. Face To Face starts off with some wonderful, cinematic like vocal harmonisation before adding nice, upbeat (and, in some way, detuned) instrumentation (this consists of piano, strings and electric guitars). Rex has a really good voice in this and the lyrics do a great job at showing isolation and finding that one special person.


Better Half Of Me reminds me of Lewis Capaldi’s Hold Me While You Wait in terms of its instrumentation. The rhythmic patterns are similar, they both have singer/songwriter vocals over piano and acoustic guitar arrangements and both have their respective artists hit a higher range of their vocals in the chorus (though Walker’s range is lower than that of Capaldi’s). The song shows Tom happy with the relationship he is in right now, which I’m glad for. There is one line I thought was pretty ridiculous where Tom asks if he is in Amsterdam or Berlin, which reminded me of that ‘Sweden or Copenhagen’ line from Dave’s Disaster. I don’t find it as good as a 'Tom Walker celebrating the good times of a relationship' song as Just You And I, but I still think it’s solid.


Frail State Of Mind carries a drum pattern reminiscent of that of Burial, and this might be the first charting single to convey that Burial-esque atmosphere since The Weeknd’s Wasted Times from last year. There’s also some gorgeous sounding instrumentation layered over it with some piano lines in the verse before building it up with string arrangements. Matt Healy’s vocals, along with the lyrics, remind me of the vocals and lyrics in TOOTIMETOOTIMETOOTIME a bit, and I like how he paints his social anxiety in these lyrics with his ‘frail state of mind’. Plus, the high pitched vocal fragments occasionally popping up surprisingly blend well into the mix. Both this and People are excellent singles that leave me more interested in what their upcoming Notes On A Conditional Form album has to offer.


Orphans has some of that colourful pop rock sound that was in Mylo Xyloto, and adds some dark context in its lyrics. The song details two people who have lost their lives in the Damascus bombing of 2018 and they are guided by archangels while looking back at the best moments of their youth. The instrumentation and production is very good, plus the choir arrangements in the backing vocals during the chorus elevates this song. Prefer Arabesque of the two singles, but this is still pretty great.


Look At Her Now has an interesting concept dealing with moving on from a broken relationship. The production in the verses, as well as the vocals (except for that bit of noticeable autotune in the bridge) is really good, especially with that short use of a vocoder that reminds me of the one used in Clean Bandit’s I Miss You. However, that “mm-mm-mm” in the chorus really drags it down as it gets grating.



We close off this week with three tracks from Kanye’s new album JESUS IS KING (which wasn't as good as the Ye album, but still liked it).
Closed On Sunday is a pretty good track containing the spiritual, lyrical themes that were previously on Selah. The instrumentation is good and fits the tone of the song, starting with an acoustic guitar before switching to a one-note synth setting. Wasn’t too fond of the Chick Fil-A references though,
Selah packs in a triumphant, powerful sense of energy to it with Kanye’s great verses, that bang on the drum occurring throughout, and the amazing “Hallelujah” chorus from the Sunday Service Choir.
Follow God has a great use of a sample from Whole Truth’s 1974 song Can You Lose By Following God, and Kanye rides the beat really well. The instrumentation and rhythm of the track remind me of Yikes from the previous Kanye album. It could’ve been expanded with maybe a chorus or another verse though. Oh, and Kanye keeps repeating a line about him arguing with his dad quite a handful of times in a section that’s not a chorus.



That's it for this week! Can't believe I manage to complete the added comments for these in a short amount of time. That hasn't been happening too much recently.
Anyway, pretty great week with no songs I found below decent, and three songs landing in the golden territory. My favourite of those three has to be Frail State Of Mind by The 1975, with the honourable mention going to Face To Face by Rex Orange County.
If I had to choose a default Least Fave Of The Week, it would have to be Halloween by AJ Tracey and Young Adz.



#100. AJ Tracey feat. Young Adz - Halloween [7/10] (Least Fave Of The Week)
#96. Westlife - My Blood [8/10]
#95. Major Lazer and Khalid - Trigger [7/10]
#86. Rex Orange County - Face To Face [GOLD] (FOTW HM)
#70. Tom Walker - Better Half Of Me [7/10]
#54. The 1975 - Frail State Of Mind [GOLD] (Fave Of The Week)
#27. Coldplay - Orphans [9/10]
#26. Selena Gomez - Look At Her Now [7/10]
#22. AJ Tracey feat. Mo'Stack and Not3s - Floss [8/10]
#20. Kanye West - Closed On Sunday [7/10]
#19. Kanye West - Selah [GOLD]
#8. Kanye West - Follow God [8/10]

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