Umi

Kesha #6 and she's around about there combined too (much closer to #5). It's impressive that she's this high while being behind four discounted songs, and given that every single song above her is much further along in their cycle than 'Praying' is, you could theoretically see this challenging for #1? Hard to envision that happening and her current momentum is going to be skewed by album release hype but... you never know. She just needs radio to pick up because she's making strangely slow progress on it right now.

It's slow, isn't it? I guess they want as much international data as possible to boost the legitimacy of the song but I would have thought the 15th would have been a happy middle there. By the 22nd the song could be in freefall on Spotify. They better not fuck this up.

She's not miles off on iTunes (#113 right now) so she just needs airplay really and then sales will come naturally. I think this should happen fairly easily when it goes for adds.

This week isn't too interesting overall but it's really noteworthy that 'Praying' is already recovering in its third week. That's a little bit less impressive when you have a comparatively weak start but it's still a really quick turnaround for someone that isn't currently particularly prominent. I think it's a very likely low top 10 in the future.

Not the most noticeable trend in the chart but I'm really interested to watch the slow bubbling of Dua's album in the US as 'New Rules' inevitably catches on over there. I think she's going to rack up a really commendable stay on the chart. It reminds me a bit of Ellie Goulding when 'Lights' was blowing up at the moment. Also obligetary joy at Lana getting another #1 album under her belt. Possibly her last?

I'm impressed by Kesha's gains. The momentum seems to be positive and that suggests a genuine interest in the song rather than radio pushing it because they think they have to. The gains obviously aren't immense or anything at this stage but it's still pretty early in the song's life. As long as its current strength on iTunes isn't an anomaly for some reason I think this is a radio top 10 on the way.

The video is fun-ish but lazy. Can't decide if I like it or not. Song is pretty good from where I'm standing.

My somewhat lazy attempt: 09 Love 10 Lust for Life (feat. The Weeknd) 08 13 Beaches 11 Cherry 04 White Mustang 08 Summer Bummer (feat. A$AP Rocky and Playboi Carti) 09 Groupie Love (feat. A$AP Rocky) 06 In My Feelings 10 Coachella - Woodstock In My Mind 09 God Bless America - And All Beautiful Women In It 10 When the World Was at War We Kept Dancing 09 Beautiful People, Beautiful Problems (feat. Stevie Nicks) 09 Tomorrow Never Came (feat. Sean Lennon) 07 Heroin 07 Change 10 Get Free

That's a nice start for Kesha. Even if it doesn't manage to beat that peak (which I imagine it won't), that's surpassed my expectations for how well her comeback would go. Excited-ish to see the album numbers when it comes out.

I really love this album. I love every Lana album but if there was one issue I could point out with most of them it's that they really struggled with cohesiveness in a couple of directions - Ultraviolence and Honeymoon were both really consistent moods with a couple of songs disrupting that, and Born To Die was probably a bit too consistent (I'm not sure where I stand on Paradise with this). This album is really different for me in that it actually has something of a gradient of variance without ever really having an extreme jump - I was worried about 'Summer Bummer' doing that, but actually it fits in pretty well with the rest. This is... the third album in a row where she's thrown me something of a curveball with the overall sound, as I expected it to be a more lightweight album than it is after the first two singles + 'Coachella', but I'm really happy with the direction she ended up taking even though I love the songs in that vein. Overall, the album is about what I expected Honeymoon to be, which is basically Born To Die with broader horizons, and I'm so happy to get consistent hip hop influences back in her production. I do think the album is a bit long overall, and while none of the songs in isolation drag the album down, I do think a few could be cut to make the album a bit more concise - probably 'White Mustang', 'Heroin' and 'Change' would go for me. My highlights are 'Cherry' (so many moments in this song), 'Get Free', 'When The World Was At War' and... 'Coachella', actually. I think all of those songs add something to her discography that wasn't before and they're such refreshing listens as a result. I adore how perfect a pair 'Love' and 'Get Free' make as opener and closer, and actually a major strong point I think this album has is its tracklist. It flows so well and it's bookended by the perfect opener and perfect ending. It makes it such a satisfying listen. I don't really know where to rank this in terms of Lana albums, primarily because I've never really been able to rank them against each other. I love all of them for quite different reasons and none of them are really perfect. I got by far the most enjoyment from Born To Die but that's the most difficult one bar Paradise to listen to now, whereas Ultraviolence and Honeymoon have both gotten less use overall but work for me pretty well these days. I think Lust For Life will be grouped with the latter but with a stronger start, so maybe it is my favourite, actually. But that feels weird, so I think I'll stick with not having a ranking. I'm so happy to hear that she's already making new songs, by the way. Hoping for a new album next year. EDIT: Oh and I love the lyrics and themes on this album. So great hearing an expanded universe.

Joe! Only you can save me! I'm fine!

Gosh, I sure wish I could listen to this album now. If only that were possible, I'd be so happy!

People were right to give Muguruza so little attention leading into the tournament. This was not that far off a miracle run for her and it wasn't until she beat Kerber that she looked like a genuine contender. Yeah, she was in the final two years ago, but she was 14th seed at this for a reason and had a tough draw in front of her. She did incredibly well in this tournament and is a perfectly deserving champion but that wasn't at all obvious in the weeks leading up to the tournament. It's a shame that this match was the final. Venus and Garbiñe have both played in much more exciting matches this tournament. Muguruza vs Kerber decided the winner of the tournament more than this match did. Regarding tomorrow, it's hard to even want to watch it as someone who doesn't really care for Roger. I can't see it being a contest.

I really like 'Praying' on first listen but I can tell this era isn't really designed for me, and there probably won't be another Kesha era that is, which is obviously a shame. Still not going to complain that she's not being forced to cater to me anymore though, and anyone doing that should check themselves.

This is a joke. Ludicrously one-sided ruling but the EBU have been on Russia's side since day one of this.

Her lead on iTunes keeps growing, it's impressive. Hopefully she gets some longevity out of it!

Her album is really good, would recommend checking it out to anyone who liked 'Requiem'/her specifically. Favourites are probably 'Ma peau aime' and 'Avec des est-ce' but the only one I really dislike is 'Ivre' (I have no idea why she is so obsessed with that song). Couldn't pick a second single though.

He did say in an interview that he'd never take part in a singing contest again after this but I get the impression that he might have said that with the expectation of winning. It's hard to argue against coming back as a career move assuming he can do well again and he seems like he has a good head on his shoulders, so I could see him coming back in a few years.

What a horrendous winning speech. So unnecessary and insulting for someone who has otherwise been so charming.

Lazy formatting: 1st half: Everyone not in second half 2nd half: Romania Bulgaria Norway When's the final running order announced?

I can't see how Macedonia do another year of this.

What was the problem with Estonia's performance that everyone's alluding to? Surely not the mic issue at the start? I'm so so stunned they didn't go through still, I thought the performance was exactly as expected!

You are correct. You are however not correct in finding it unfair, because it is simply random chance.

The staging for Molly was dire though.

Holy f***ing shit those results did not need to be made so stressful. Can they please stop putting Belgium last?