Nothing that good so far.

26 Scream & Shout - will.i.am Feat. Britney Spears

Number one for 2 weeks

Year end number 18 (78 in 2012)

Number 2 watch -

I Knew You Were Trouble - Taylor Swift

My Life - 50 Cent/Eminem/Adam Levine

So we’ve now left behind the number ones of 2013 that I really don’t like much, and reached those which I am mostly either generally indifferent to, or barely remember.

Scream & shout was the second single from the album ‘#willpower’ and became will.i.am’s fourth solo or collaborative single to top the charts. It was Spears' sixth number one and her first for almost a decade, since Everytime in 2004.

Tulisa (N-Dubz) co-wrote the original version of "Scream & Shout" and recorded it under the title "I Don't Give a F*ck". The track was intended for her debut album The Female Boss. However, the producer, Lazy Jay, gave it to will.i.am, who then re-wrote the song with Spears in mind. Despite Tulisa's claim that her vocals can still be heard on the song, she was not credited with co-writing "Scream & Shout" until she eventually won a lawsuit in 2018 giving her 10% of publishing rights.

‘Scream & Shout’ famously includes a reference to the lyric ‘It's Britney, bitch’, which was first seen on Spears' 2007 single ‘Gimme More’ and is used before every breakdown on the track. And undoubtedly Britney is the most interesting thing about this, with lyrics about having a good time on a night out, ‘When you hear us in the club / You're gonna turn this s*it up’.  I’m not really a fan of a dodgy accent though. This time it’s Britney’s English one, the track beginning with Spears rapping the first lines with Nicki Minaj like vocals.

Musically it works almost like a forgotten Black Eyed Peas outtake, with its dark bouncy robopop club sound. Sure, there’s more auto tune overload but I especially like the ‘Oh we oh’ chorus and the nice synth ending. I even felt I heard some similarities to Azealia Banks’ groundbreaking ‘212’ in the fusion of hip hop and electro house, though it’s not even close to being as wonderful as that song.

All in all an okay track, and it was great to have Britney back at number one, but it’s no Toxic either!

4

Quiz -

1. Answer - Macklemore (Same Love)

2. Which 2013 UK number one featured uncredited vocals by Aloe Blacc?

Edited August 30Aug 30 by Jaz13music

And into one I do remember. Nice to have Britney back and I still generally liked will.i.am stuff. It's not in the same league as either act's best stuff though. Playing it now, it's OK, pleasantly bopping without being that much of a song in there. Lots of riffs and chanting, but it's a bit of a hotch-potch of bits and pieces with no cohesive centrepiece to it. It's like they had lots of bits left over they bunged together. Better than most of those so far out though. I think I was dazzled by Britney and will at the time though and rated it top 10 in my personal charts, which flatters it a bit.

I liked both of these. I had a lot of time for Sam Bailey and I bought Skyscraper. It was a shame they didn't put her cover of Something by The Beatles on the CD single as I downloaded that on iTunes I enjoyed it so much. Obviously she was a power ballad singer, but I enjoyed her different treatment of these songs.

Scream & Shout I absolutely loved at the time (it got to No.1 in my chart) although it sounds incredibly dated now. Great to see Britney on another No.1 though and loved her British accent attempt. Just a super catchy song too.

I agree with this rating. I am no big BEP fan, but this one is quite ok, but nothing more. I have it on place 25.

10. Jason Derulo Feat. 2 Chainz - Talk Dirty (28)

24. Robin Thicke feat. T.I. & Pharrell Williams – Blurred Lines (31)

25. Will.I.Am Featuring Britney Spears - Scream & Shout (26)
28. One Direction – One Way or Another (Teenage Kicks) (30)
29. PJ & Duncan – Let's Get Ready to Rhumble (29)

Not a fan of any of Jason Derulo's #1s and 'Talk Dirty' is no exception - at least the honking horns are a distraction from whatever he's singing about.

I'd tuned out of The X Factor by 2013 and didn't watch a single episode, but this winner's single didn't suggest that I'd missed much - a passable effort, but no originality.

I don't mind 'Scream And Shout', will.i.am seemed inescapable with whatever he released at the time, but it was amusing to hear Britney putting on a British accent.

“Scream And Shout” is easily my favourite so far so I expect I’ll put it higher. Still nowhere near either artist’s best but a lot of quirky things to enjoy.

Hard to say anything much about something so devoid of creativity as the “Skyscraper” cover - that might be close to my last place.

Jason Derulo’s first run of singles were not bad but almost everything after that is varying levels of grim. This is better than “Don’t Wanna Go Home” at least.

“Let’s Get Ready To Rhumble” is fun as a retro revisit - in the so bad it’s good pile.

25 Impossible  - James Arthur.

Number one for 3 weeks (total)

Year end number 42 (5 in 2012)

James Arthur won the 9th series of the X Factor in 2012, and his debut/winners single was a cover of Shontelle’s ‘Impossible’ which was released as a charity single for Together for Short Lives.

By 2014 it had sold over 1.5 million copies in the UK and overtaken Alexandra Burke’s ‘Hallelujah’ to become the best-selling winner's single in the show's history.

Like many cover versions in this list, it just doesn’t go anywhere or offer anything new, though Arthur tries his best to inject some emotion into the overblown X Factor nonsense. However, compared to what came before and after, it was actually an okay winners song. I like his distinctive gravelly vocals and that he always seemed less polished than many of the reality TV output.

One of Arthur’s main virtues was his everyman personality and backstory. He had overcome personal adversity in his early family life, and in the show he even won a ‘final showdown’ early in the contest (when the equally great vocalist Ella Henderson was eliminated). He was the first winner to have survived being in the bottom two of voting.

But he always felt like a square peg in a round hole, his musical background being more in R&B hip hop and soul.

Arthur himself had an initially controversial post X Factor career, including accusations of homophobia, though he later admitted he had been struggling with drug and mental health problems, and he eventually became an ambassador for a mental health charity.

His musical career was to have a really quite rare resurgence for a former X Factor winner, but that story is for another time…

4

Quiz -

1. Answer - Wake Me Up by Avicii

2. Which 2013 UK number one contains the lyrics ‘When the lights started out, they don't know what they heard. Strike the match, play it loud, giving love to the world’?

This was already quite low for 2012 and does not get much better for 2013 - second-last place for me.

10. Jason Derulo Feat. 2 Chainz - Talk Dirty (28)

24. Robin Thicke feat. T.I. & Pharrell Williams – Blurred Lines (31)

25. Will.I.Am Featuring Britney Spears - Scream & Shout (26)

27. Sam Bailey - Skyscraper (27)
28. One Direction – One Way or Another (Teenage Kicks) (30)
29. PJ & Duncan – Let's Get Ready to Rhumble (29)

30. James Arthur - Impossible (25)

So we share a lot of dislikes ;). Now bring on that uninspired dance song I have on 31. 🙂

38 minutes ago, DaTilt said:

Now bring on that uninspired dance song I have on 31. 🙂

We need it 100% on here soon I agree!

Edited August 31Aug 31 by TheSnake

4 hours ago, DaTilt said:

So we share a lot of dislikes ;). Now bring on that uninspired dance song I have on 31. 🙂

3 hours ago, TheSnake said:

We need it 100% on here soon I agree!

Ooh I initially thought I knew which uninspired dance record you meant, but maybe you’re right TheSnake, it could be that other dance record! We’ll have to see when we get to them!

Edited August 31Aug 31 by Jaz13music

I despise James Arthur. He would easily be last for me.

24 The Monster - Eminem Feat. Rihanna.

Number one for 1 week

Year end number 26 (93 in 2014)

The fourth single released from Eminem’s album The Marshall Mathers LP2 , is another collaboration between Eminem and Rihanna, following Love The Way You Lie (Parts 1 and 2) and Numb, and is a hip-hop pop song, with lyrics highlighting the negative effects of fame and inner demons. It became both Eminem and Rihanna's eighth UK number one single. Unusually,  it entered the charts at number one despite being released on the previous Tuesday, and having a 48-hour disadvantage on the rest of the week's new singles, it sold 74,674 copies. Then despite sales increasing to 96,059 copies in week two, it fell to number two in the charts.

The original song  ‘Monster Under My Bed’ was written by Bebe Rexha and was intended to be used on her own debut album. However after recording it she felt it would be perfect for Eminem who was looking for songs for his new album. The chorus was used for ‘The Monster’ and he added verses keeping Rexha’s background vocals and asked Rihanna to provide vocals for the chorus.

In my opinion this feels like a poor attempt to recreate the lightening in a bottle moment of the wonderful ‘Love The Way You Lie’. In contrast to that song, here Eminem’s raps are poor and not too memorable aside from some of his ‘comical’ voices. It’s Rihanna who really carries the song in the chorus with soulful emotive vocals, and the propulsive almost dubstep like rhythm, I find myself waiting for that to kick in while I’m listening to it.

Maybe you can go to the well too many times!

4

Quiz -

1. Answer - Burn by Ellie Goulding

2. How many times is ‘get lucky’ mentioned in the single version of Daft Punk’s of Get Lucky?

I like the refrain of this song too much to put it that low. Overall, I also like Eminem's performance here. A good catchy song for me. This is my #8.

08. Eminem Feat. Rihanna - The Monster (24)

10. Jason Derulo Feat. 2 Chainz - Talk Dirty (28)

24. Robin Thicke feat. T.I. & Pharrell Williams – Blurred Lines (31)

25. Will.I.Am Featuring Britney Spears - Scream & Shout (26)

27. Sam Bailey - Skyscraper (27)
28. One Direction – One Way or Another (Teenage Kicks) (30)
29. PJ & Duncan – Let's Get Ready to Rhumble (29)

30. James Arthur - Impossible (25)

I find the constipated Impossible to listen to, still, I'd bung it near the bottom.

Not heard Monster since it left the charts, I'm enjoying it playing it again now, nice guitar riffs, the rapping is lively and changing, Eminem makes it look easy but he really tower over most, Rhianna always sounds great and the chorus is pretty good. My fave so far. So what did 2013 John make of it? A mere 35! Shows how time changes things.....!

I have the tiniest of soft spots for 'Talk Dirty', as I had an internet friend from Taiwan so at the time we adopted the "London to Taiwan" lyric for our friendship, but otherwise what a naff song. "Got her saved on my phone under big booty" is a particularly low point 💀

I completely agree that the 2013 series of X Factor felt like a shift for the show following the James Arthur/Ella Henderson etc. year. It wasn't quite dead yet, so the #1s were still achievable, but the talent that year was unmemorable. Sam Bailey has a technically impressive voice but that version of 'Skyscraper' feels pretty disposable compared to Demi's original.

will.i.am and Britney's later collab 'Mind Your Business' is so bad that it's made me appreciate 'Scream & Shout' more

I didn't know 'The Monster' originally existed as a Bebe Rexha song so that was interesting to learn! I loved 'The Monster' at the time and was quite swept up in that whole Eminem comeback, but it hasn't aged that well - I get what you mean with the 'Love The Way You Lie' retread comment. At least it kept up Rihanna's annual #1 streak for another year!

That Will.i.am and Britney song has not aged well and sounds as if it was put together in 10 minutes from a computer.

I didn't watch the X Factor so am not familiar with Sam Bailey and James Arthur. After hearing those 2 songs from them, I'm none the wiser. I also don't like cover versions of songs especially if they sound cut and pasted. You have to make them sound different to the original to impress me.

I always have time for Eminem and Rihanna and 'The Monster' is not a bad song. However, it pales in comparison to 'Love The Way You Lie'.

Edited September 4Sep 4 by Charlielargepotatoes

I like James Arthur’s voice too, and the “Impossible” cover isn’t bad as those things go. At least it has some character unlike Sam Bailey’s.

“The Monster” is actually really drab.

23 I Could Be The One - Avicii & Nicky Romero.

Number one for 1 week

Year end number 27

This song is credited to Avicci and Dutch DJ Nicky Romero and features uncredited vocals from Swedish singer Noonie Bao. It was given the working title ‘Nicktim’, which is a combination of both producers' (Nick Rotteveel and Tim Bergling) first names. After fully mastering the track, they settled on using the track name I Could Be the One (Nicktim) while the artists are stated as Avicii vs Nicky Romero. It became both Avicii and Nicky Romero's first chart-topping singles in the UK.

The first and, in my opinion, least of many really great dance records reaching number one in 2013, it seems a real peak period for the genre and the best thing is that they all have a different sound and influences. Needless to say there’s some real bangers to come.

This one, however, feels a bit EDM by numbers with some chart friendly pop thrown in to sweeten it. The vocals and twinkling synths are nice but I don’t find it too impactful and to be truthful didn’t remember much of it before re listening, and forgot it again soon after.

Avicii would have a better more memorable and much bigger hit to follow

4

Quiz -

1. Answer - 30

2. Which duet single won the 2013 MTV Video Music Award for Best Collaboration?

Oh I’d have this much higher - still love it now.

The first one I have disagreed about 😮