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 23 hours ago23 hr 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.