March 17Mar 17 Mercy may very well have been my #1. I was obsessed with it at the time, to the point where it had more than double the amount of plays than any other single that year. Somewhere close to 900.
March 18Mar 18 The Greatest Yawn finally out! Agree that it is the most underwhelming single from manband-era Take That.Was never big on Mercy either tbh. Much prefer(red) her Bond-esque Rain On Your Parade from later in the year.
March 18Mar 18 Author All I can say is the Take That haters are all wrong!Wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong 😜
March 18Mar 18 Author 6 Beyonce If I Were A Boy#2s held off #1: NoneIf you don't like ballads or someone gushing over them, this post is not for you!Next up is Beyonce's 4th number one. I actually find it crazy that in the 18 years since, she has only reached the summit two more times!For me, Beyonce fits into that bracket of artists who can effortlessly flit between genres and still produce cracking songs. This would be evidenced during her Sasha Fierce era with follow up releases including genre hopping hits in 'Single Ladies', the glorious 'Halo', 'Diva', 'Sweet Dreams', 'Broken Hearted Girl'. I actually didn't know before writing this that there is some controversy over 'If I Were A Boy'. The song was originally written by relatively unknown songwriters BC Jean and Toby Gad. Jean wrote the song post-break up, upon realising that thoughts of going on a diet would not even be considered if she were a boy. Jean presented the song to her record company, who rejected it. Beyonce then got hold of it, recorded it and released it as a single. Jean was initially hurt that something so raw and personal had been released in this way, expressing these views on social media. I adore this song and video - especially the black and white aesthetic, interspersed with the story of gender imbalance. As someone who loves a good story-telling ballad, I was pleasantly surprised that this song reached number one. And before I forget - Michelle Williams' solo output is soooooo underrated. 'We Break The Dawn' was also released in 2008 and just missed reaching the top 40. I firmly believe if Beyonce had released it, it would have been a big hit.....
March 18Mar 18 I’m amazed Greatest Day is that high. It’s so poor particularly coming off the back of Patience/Shine/Rule The World.Mercy would have been top 2 for me. I loved Duffy and the Rockferry album is an all time fave. It’s a shame she faltered and tragic what happened to her. I had a lot of time for Endlessly too but get why it underperformed. Duffy came out of 2008 the more successful artist than Adele and for me that was deserved but it was Adele who had been pushed by Radio 1/the media from the start of the year winning sound of and critics choice so it was quite surprising initially that Duffy ended up bigger that year. She was also pushed but it felt like they were backing Adele more at the start.Of course, the Coke ad didn’t go down well and Well, Well, Well put a lot of people off but Duffy had been absolutely dropped by the mainstream by then. Radio 1 didn’t touch that era and it was like she wasn’t even given the chance to underperform, just flop massively. There were nasty comments made about her at the time to on various music forums because people were just horrible back then.I do hope she’ll release another album one day.
March 18Mar 18 Author 9 minutes ago, Bror said:Ok well at least the one I hate isn't in the top 5!What a surprise!
March 18Mar 18 I really like this one actually.However her next single would be my most hated song of all-time.
March 18Mar 18 That was my #1 of 2008 and spent 7 weeks at the top of my chart also. I was aware it has mixed opinions though so 6th is respectable here!There's one I hope is next to go, should've been out much earlier x
March 19Mar 19 I quite like If I Were A Boy, more than Single Ladies. Sasha Fierce is quite the strong album for me though. This would definitely be in my top 10, possibly pushing top 5.
March 19Mar 19 Not that much of a fan of Beyonce's single it's OK though, but preferred lesser hits like Halo at the time - her genre-hopping may have worked against her at times (for album buyers for one) - though generally I'm a fan of acts who experiment musically. Duffy, never understood why she was getting slagged off out of all proportion, and petty given what happened to her.
March 19Mar 19 Author Yeah I always felt the treatment of Duffy fit the tired trope of raise a female artist up with the intention of knocking them back down (I’ll actually be referring to that trope in a future reveal!) Agree on Halo - I’m sure that’s actually one of her biggest sellers and would have challenged for my top spot had it been a number one
March 19Mar 19 Not a fan of “If I Were A Boy” at all - the lyrics are so silly and stereotypical and musically it doesn’t do a lot for me either.Really good Top 5 left though.
March 19Mar 19 Author 1 minute ago, Julian_ said:Not a fan of “If I Were A Boy” at all - the lyrics are so silly and stereotypical and musically it doesn’t do a lot for me either.Really good Top 5 left though.I’ll let you off for the last sentence!
March 19Mar 19 I thought If I Were A Boy was ok at the time, and still think it's ok. Not in the same league as the prior album's ballad moment for me, Irreplaceable, but ok.That Sasha Fierce album was such a mixed bag - I did buy it and had whiplash listening, not just from the genre swings but for how some songs were untouchable and brilliant (Halo, Sweet Dreams) and others were really awful (Radio, Video Phone). This sat firmly in the middle for me as being ok but not amazing or awful.
March 19Mar 19 Author So I should be good to do my #5 post todayWhat do people want to see come up?What do people think I’ll put as number five?
March 19Mar 19 9 hours ago, gooddelta said:I thought If I Were A Boy was ok at the time, and still think it's ok. Not in the same league as the prior album's ballad moment for me, Irreplaceable, but ok.That Sasha Fierce album was such a mixed bag - I did buy it and had whiplash listening, not just from the genre swings but for how some songs were untouchable and brilliant (Halo, Sweet Dreams) and others were really awful (Radio, Video Phone). This sat firmly in the middle for me as being ok but not amazing or awful.Was that the complete edition?The earlier releases of the album had it as a 2 disc set, the Beyoncé disc and the Sasha Fierce disc.Disc one had:If I Were A BoyHaloBroken Hearted GirlDisc two had:Single LadiesDivaSweet DreamsIt helped minimise the whiplash a little.
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