James Silkstone

I love I'll Be Lovin' U Long Time :unsure:

I hope 'Stitches' become a hit here, really liking it at the moment

Justin's not doing too badly to be fair - 'Sorry' is already at #2 on iTunes, it just can't really compare to what Adele's doing. If Adele wasn't releasing this week, Sorry would likely be number one

One Direction. “Night Changes”. Four (2014) But I don’t want the night to change. Can we all please sit back and admit that One Direction aren’t shit? Like, I don’t care if you still don’t like them but I refuse to hear claims that One Direction have remained at the level they were at during their first two albums – they have significantly improved their output since 2012 (curiously when they actually started to become a lot more involved in making the music they were putting out) and I now consider them one of the better aspects of modern pop music. One Direction’s output over the last two or so years has been consistently great, the exact thing that I look for in pop music – music that is still unashamedly and obviously pop but has some semblance of effort, skill and meaning put into it. More than any other boyband I can think of, I truly believe the music we are getting from One Direction nowadays is music from the hearts of the people within the band. This is the sound and style that they want to make. So, of all the singles they’ve put out since 2013, why am I choosing to talk about the relatively low profile ‘Night Changes’? It was hardly the most successful single they’ve put out nor was it particularly critically acclaimed but for me, this is the icing on the cake of One Direction as a legitimately brilliant pop act. My personal favourite of the band by far is Harry Styles – that may sound cliché as he’s easily the most prolific but this guy genuinely has The X Factor (for want of a better phrase and believe me, I tried greatly to think of a different one). Styles is One Direction’s best asset not just because of his good-looks, apparent magnetic personality and grace but mainly because he’s an absolutely stellar vocalist. If Night Changes is the best thing about present day, matured One Direction – then Harry is the best thing about their best song because he just completely owns the thing. His chorus just bloody soars and creates a general feeling of warmth and intrigue, even as a heterosexual male I’ll happily admit that when he’s singing part of me wants to be on that ice skating rink with him. The guy just rules, whatever may happen to them all when the band is over, it’ll be Harry that I’ll be following with the most attention. The guy just has something. My praise of Styles, of course, is not to the detriment of his four bandmates – all of whom, particularly Malik, put in stellar performances as well. ‘Night Changes’ is brilliant because of everyone, Harry just plays the biggest part in that. syFZfO_wfMQ I’ve also chosen to speak about this one because in retrospect, it’s rather a melancholy verging on quite sad as it was the boys last single before Zayn left in March 2015. Of course, this is circumstance changing the meaning of a song. ‘Night Changes’ actually is a rather positive record – one about seizing a moment with the person you love most and living totally within that moment where nothing else matters. At the same time, it’s a record that acknowledges change is just around the corner. The night changes fast i.e. everything around is us changing at a rate that we can’t control, we want too but can’t so let’s just take this moment and enjoy it. Considering within nine months of this songs release, the band had lost one member and subsequently announced a hiatus with no real acknowledgement of when they’d be back – that message seems all the more poignant don’t you agree? I went into One Direction’s career hating them, I never would have expected to have become as invested as I did and I’ll be genuinely saddened if this is the end. UP NEXT: Spice Girls - "2 Become 1"

Pixie Lott. “Broken Arrow”. Turn It up Louder (2010) Yeah, it’s hard to be interesting about Pixie Lott Ah, Pixie. It’s not so much that I wanted to write about her here but I kind of needed too, for some reason beyond anything I can fathom, I’m unreasonably fond of pretty much every Pixie Lott song I have ever heard and I really don’t know why. For me, liking Pixie Lott’s music is about the equivalent of getting taco’s from someone’s van on the motorway, eating ten of them and then shitting yourself on space mountain ala Ross Geller. The thing is – I’m not even sure why I find the fact I like her music so embarrassing, I guess it stems from other people’s reaction to the fact I like her which range from asking “who….oh her, why?” or just a flat-out “why?” Maybe I’m just fond of an underdog, but my admiration for Pixie Lott goes beyond just finding her attractive and I snapped up her greatest hits like there was no tomorrow and what’s more was genuinely disappointed that ‘What Do You Take Me For?’ was left out of the track list. That’s how far this goes and for my own sanity, I think I need to take this opportunity to properly figure out my odd yet undying fondness of Pixie Lott. Maybe it comes from my fondness of the more vapid female pop singers like Britney? Pixie’s definitely modeled more on the idea of a US female pop star than a British one – amongst the Adele’s, the Emeli Sande’s, even the Jessie J’s – Pixie feels like she’s a step below on a Britney/Katy Perry kind of level. I’ve chosen to use ‘Broken Arrow’ as the song to frame this with as a) it’s my favourite and b) it simultaneously demonstrates everything I like about Pixie’s music and everything which makes me think I need some kind of head exam for liking it. With Pixie in general, I think the attraction for me is the fact that like Harry Styles and Emma Bunton (but to a much, much lesser extent) her natural warmth and charisma can’t help but shine through when she sings. Whatsmore, unlike a lot of other pop stars, she always sounds like she’s really enjoying herself when she sings and she’s totally living out her dream and you can’t really help but go along with that. I think the best example of that is in ‘Turn It Up’ which is the most positive sounding breakup song I have ever heard, I’ve never been so happy listening to someone sing about a break up but Pixie is absolutely beaming in that tune. So, whether a good singer or not (I personally think she’s actually pretty poor) Pixie always sounds invested and dedicated to what she’s singing about, and that automatically uplifts most if not all of her songs LVnvikQpEig Now, about ‘Broken Arrow’ in particular. True, it’s my favourite Pixie Lott record but it’s also a bit of a mess. It is easily Pixie’s worst vocal performance on a single, her voice really can’t take the strain of the chorus and the whole thing ends up feeling a bit screechy and forced not to mention the lyrics are incredibly vague and lack any remote sense of depth. It’s also very narrative, and not in a good way, it comes across like a child who’s been asked to write about their weekend in a diary not some pained explanation of feeling genuinely conflicted between two men. So, how can I love it so much despite tearing it apart just now? Well, all of those things work in a positive way too. This is a Pixie Lott song, do we really expect much? Not to be mean but no and the beauty of ‘Broken Arrow’ is that it leaves things so vague it actually becomes oddly relatable. I’ve never been in Pixie’s situation in this song but damn, it makes me empathize with the feeling incredibly vividly so much so that you do kind of feel as if you’re going through this with her. The video also does a reasonable job of visualizing the internal struggle found within the song. If the aim of the song was to be a masterpiece, then it failed on every level but if its aim was simply to get its clear and distinct message across then it damn well succeeded. Furthermore, Pixie’s lack of vocal skill ends up being a bit of a strength as it just ends up making her sound like she’s in pain a little bit which ultimately plays well to the sense of struggle that the song is meant to portray I’ve never met anyone else who likes this song as much as I do, I hope I’m not alone but in a strange kind of way, I’d kind of like it if I was. God bless Pixie Lott. UP NEXT: “NIGHT CHANGES” – ONE DIRECTION

Avril Lavigne. ‘What the Hell’. Goodbye Lullaby (2011) You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the enemy Avril Lavigne is one of my favourite pop singers of the 2000’s. I owned and adored her first two albums as a kid and have been fond of one or two of her songs in this decade too, but for me she began to lose her edge as she aged infront of us. Avril was 17 years old when she first burst onto the scene with ‘Complicated’ in 2002 and despite her young age, she quickly set herself up as being a credible musician in her own right very quickly by showcasing her instrument playing and song-writing skills and for her first two albums she came across as a very relatable, mature and savvy young woman who was in touch with her feelings and knew how to cater them to her young fan base. Even songs such as ‘Sk8er Boi’ or ‘He Wasn’t’ which on the surface are quite silly, fun little pop songs had some resemblance of truth and relatability to them – being a teenager herself, Avril was going through the same thoughts, feelings and changes as her fan base and was able to cater to them exactly because of this. But it was all, in hindsight, rather hollow. Look at Taylor Swift, it’s much the same story. Young girl writes own hits and is incredibly relatable to her younger audience – but where Swift and Lavigne differ is that Swift has matured along with her audience whilst Lavigne seemed to stagnate and perhaps even regress as hers got older. ‘What The Hell’ is not the first time this has cropped up in Lavigne’s career – this was an issue that first arose in her 2007 lead single from her third album ‘Girlfriend’ in which Lavigne seems to take on the persona of a mean, horrible possibly sociopathic ex-girlfriend who targets her ex-boyfriend’s new girlfriend for no discernable reason other than the fact she’s his new girlfriend. In short, in that song Avril became the kind of girl that she was originally cussing in songs like ‘Sk8er Boi’ – she’d become her own enemy. None of this is to say that Lavigne was never capable of writing a good or mature song again – that same album contains the beautiful ‘When You’re Gone’ – but she definitely flanderized her old self as opposed to grow and change. tQmEd_UeeIk ‘What The Hell’ might not be as problematic as ‘Girlfriend’ was but for me, it was the final nail in Lavigne’s coffin. It’s just an outright immature and brattish song – there’s nothing wrong with writing care-free songs about not giving a f*** when you’re in your mid-20’s but for god sake, you’re in your mid 20’s you’re not 14 anymore and any grown woman who displays the behavior Lavigne does in the beginning music video of this song would have serious problems existing in real life. ‘What The Hell’ is the clearest sign yet of Lavigne not knowing how the hell to appeal to her existing, aging fan base and going back to her bases to see what once made her popular. Yes, ‘Sk8er Boi’ and the music video for ‘Complicated’ have some vague anarchic themes running through them but by this point both those songs were nearing a decade old and Lavigne was 17 then. By 27, Lavigne shouldn’t have been acting more destructive in her videos than she was doing 10 years previously – yeah, still have fun and be care free but don’t regress yourself in the process Lavigne has redeemed herself a little in my eyes since then – 2013’s “Rock N Roll” is an absolute triumph of a record and I think proof of an Avril Lavigne that can grow up and change but keep her rebellious appeal alive and well. Of course, the next year she released ‘Hello Kitty’ so it is very much a case of one step forward and two steps back. UP Next: “Broken Arrow” by Pixie Lott.

Absolutely loving this, I always need a good consistent girlband in my life and The Saturdays coming in just as Girls Aloud/Sugababes were going out was a relief. Even know things appear to be over for The Sats, Little Mix and Fifth Harmony have stepped up their games so I should be well catered for for a few year hopefully I know girlbands tend to experience less commercial success than there male counter parts, but in general they also seem to have longer careers. Really, how many boybands were still getting Top 20 hits seven years after their debut? Take That and Westlife are the only ones I can think of

I think the difference between Katy and Megan as opposed to Iggy is the fact that Katy and Megan are just misguided as opposed to deliberately doing harmful things in order to prop themselves up in the way that Iggy does. 'I Kissed a Girl' and 'All About That Bass' are problematic for sure, but they're not malicious in any way, shape or form. What Katy and Megan did wrong was they just didn't think - they wrote songs to serve their own ends but the fact they ended up sending out harmful messages is merely oversight on their parts. What Iggy does is worse because everything she does relates back to her overly exaggerated 'black-cent' that is so clearly deliberately and thoughtfully put on and only seems to be becoming more exaggerated as she progresses in her career. Her songs, lyrically and thematically, are not really problematic at all but her entire persona is because she appropriates black culture in such a deliberate and knowing way.

Justin Bieber. ‘One Time’. My World (2009) The rise of a new evil? Not really I thought it was about time we got a bloke up in here, and who was more manly than 2009 Justin Bieber? Of course, being 14 and a male at this time, I was firmly in camp ‘hate this kid for no real reason’ when he first came out and it’s something I still automatically go to now in 2015 when Bieber is actually matured and releasing generally fine pop music. I often look back this cute little cherub of a boy and feel a twinge of guilt for how much shit this kid had to put up with at such a young age, I think back to myself at 15 and wonder if I could’ve taken the constant abuse and the answer is no, probably not. I’ll give Bieber props for that – he took a lot of shit, and I think it must go a long way to explaining his bad behavior in subsequent years. Whether it was a genuine breakdown of some kind or he was simply fulfilling what he felt to be a self-fulfilling prophecy I don’t know but for me, looking back at Bieber’s young days is always going to be twinged with a little sadness because the kid really did nothing wrong other than having a slightly high annoying voice for what? 6 months? Yes, this is all a very cleverly worded way of saying I don’t think the music itself was all that bad and if it had been sung by someone with a marginally better reputation – it would’ve been received fine, or at the very least, not been treated with the derision it was. ‘One Time’ is the first single from Bieber and to be honest, despite my claims, this has aged shockingly. I never really think of 2009 as having a definitive sound per say as in hindsight it was actually a rather eclectic year but I will say that upon listening to it again, I can say that there’s no other year that ‘One Time’ could possibly have come from. It’s a song that makes me rather uneasy as again, being 20 makes me realize how young 15 years old is. You don’t really have a true grasp on ideas like love when you’re 15, and that makes the purpose of ‘One Time’ very obvious – it’s a deliberately manipulative record aimed to cater specifically to teenage girls who can place themselves within the song due to its absolute lack of detail about the girl Bieber is supposedly feeling these strong urges and feelings towards. CHVhwcOg6y8 However, ‘One Time’ has a bit of a unique approach to this in that unlike a lot of other teenage love songs, this one aims to at least sound like it’s coming from the mouth of a 15-year old boy who’s not quite down with puberty yet. It’s rather awkward and clunky, compare this to earlier song by One Direction or even the Backstreet Boys which were targeted towards the same demographics – they talk of eternal, long lasting love and finding the other person totally flawless. ‘One Time’ doesn’t actually do that, all it says is that Bieber wants to spend some time with this girl – yes, the word ‘love’ is used but it is rather flippant towards the concept and the word love is often bounded about by 15 year old’s without meaning to it. There’s no real promise of forever in this song – they’re probably going to just spend some time together, go to the cinema, pop into McDonalds and maybe have a cheeky snog at the bus stop. The use of the term ‘One Time’ can obviously be used to say Bieber’s only going to tell this girl he loves her one time – I prefer to see it as an acknowledgement that all of this is going to happen only once. Bieber was a cute 15 year old, take it from another cute 15 year old – he’ll have moved on before sunrise.

Miley Cyrus. ‘Party in the USA’. The Time of Our Lives (2009) Where did our little girl go? Whether you love her or hate her, you can’t say that Miley Cyrus will not be a remembered figure for our generation. Hannah Montana was a runaway, worldwide success for the Disney company and launched Cyrus to superstardom; I always test how well things are known within this country with two criteria; 1) if at least two of my four grandparents are aware of it and 2) whether a reference is made to it on some kind of panel/chat/magazine show and the reference is caught, understood and appreciated by a majority of the audience. By late 2009, Miley or at least Hannah Montana had passed all these criteria and it was clear she’d reached a level of worldwide fame that is very rare for a (then) 16-year old. I would hesitate to call Miley an icon in the same way that Elvis or Marilyn are broad icons, known to literally everyone but I would certainly call her a generational icon – everyone of a certain age group, like her or loathe her, are aware of who she is and this must be a daunting prospect for a 16-year old. By late 2009, following a relatively successful movie, it was clear that Hannah Montana was reaching the last stages of its existence and it would go off the air in 2010. Obviously, Miley was the star and she was generally expected to have a successful solo career away from the show and considering she’d already done reasonably well with her own solo albums whilst still attached to the franchise, her fortunes for future success were looking good. Whilst certainly not the best thing Miley released whilst still contracted to Mickey and pals – that would be 2008’s glorious See You Again – I find ‘Party in the USA’ the most interesting because its truly Miley at a crossroads in her career and her life M11SvDtPBhA We have the slightly sexed up image coming into play – she danced to this on a pole at the 2009 Teen Choice Awards causing a large amount of controversy – but the song itself is very innocent and quite obviously something that would please Disney execs and win their approval. The wheels are clearly in motion to set Cyrus up as a star in her own right in the upcoming new decade – this is her first single released from an album that wasn’t tagged along with a Hannah Montana soundtrack and it was very successful in the US and would’ve been a multi-week number one if not for the pesky Black Eyed Peas. Here the reaction was more lukewarm giving Miley her third #11 hit in 13 months but leaving her bereft of a top ten hit before the 10’s began. Lyrically, the song makes you feel as if you’re actually losing brain cells. It’s incredibly inane and Cyrus doesn’t put any resemblance of nuance into it – maybe there was none to find – but its intentions are clear and that is that Cyrus was being set up as the newest all-American sweetheart. This sounds like something they’d play at a Republican BBQ and in a way I kind of respect Cyrus for going so against the grain of what was expected of her in the coming years and I’ll always defend her against people who call her a $l*t or a whore because she swung nude on a wrecking ball. That said, I look at the Miley Cyrus of 2015 and a little part of me yearns to have the Miley Cyrus of 2009 back – annoying and plastic as she was, at least she wasn’t appropriating black culture and showing support for Donald Trump. In a way though, I guess she is kind of an inspiration. Whatever you think of her, you can’t really deny that she is 100% herself every second of the day and like it or not, she has a legacy now. It’s not the legacy she wants per say but she’s made a name for herself and has most likely succeeded in being remembered in years to come as more than the girl who put on a blonde wing for the Disney channel.

Katy Perry. ‘I Kissed a Girl’. One of the Boys (2008) http://84d1f3.medialib.glogster.com/media/c3/c337298cc22f624d6f44eb1f221de67d2619df084c0b3917f80a42a8e2a1803d/katy-perry-i-kissed-a-girl-fanmade-lukedonegan-png.png A musical no homo. So, its summer 2008 and I’m on holiday with my family and some family friends in Portugal. My Dad brings our Sky Box card so we can access British coverage of that year’s Olympics whilst away but obviously, the coverage wasn’t 24/7 and whilst it wasn’t on – we’d always switch the music channels on just to add some color to proceedings and have something on in the background on a fairly constant basis. Oddly, I remember the exact moment this song first came into my life – it was Saturday, August 9th 2008 at about 10.30pm when this came on the television and for the first time in my life I was exposed to one Ms. Katherine Hudson or as we know her, Katy Perry. I quite like that I’m able to recall the precise moment one of the biggest pop stars of the last decade became known to me, and I think a benefit of that is how much of an impact and impression ‘I Kissed a Girl’ leaves behind in its wake. I was 13 years old when I first heard this, and at first I didn’t pay too much attention to the lyrics, though at 13 I obviously got at least some of what Perry was saying here and perhaps, rather progressively for a thirteen year old, in my mind I identified her as bisexual. I’m a sucker for a good pop beat, and ‘I Kissed a Girl’ is one hell of a ride when you hear it for the first time or listen to it for the first time in about three years as I’ve done for this purpose of this review (essay? I don’t really know what these things are) but yeah, in terms of enjoying it as an actual pop song – this still holds a little place in my heart because it sounds pretty bloody good to me and most people in a public place will both know it and happily sing-a-long too it but my feelings towards it have soured a little since 2008. I’m 20 now, and a proud member of the millennial generation. Yes, we have our issues and what not but as far as I can see in general we seem to be a far more forward thinking, progressive and LGBTQ+ friendly generation than most. My issue with ‘I Kissed a Girl’ rises from that. tAp9BKosZXs I’m not going to sit here and accuse Katy Perry of being actively homophobic, I have no evidence to support that claim and a lot of her subsequent music has had definite LGBT+ friendly themes within them (let’s leave ‘Ur So Gay’ alone for now because I’ll probably end up covering it at some point) but I definitely think it’s fair to say she’s occasionally guilty (as are most of us, I’m not condemning her here) of being passively homophobic. By this I mean, she’s guilty of using the gay community as a straight person in order to prop up her own desires and ends without really paying any service or acknowledgement to the struggles of the gay community. She’s likely – I assume – made up for that with actual charitable work but the legacy of ‘I Kissed a Girl’ will haunt her reputation until she addresses the seriously questionable themes of the record and acknowledges it’s fetishizing of lesbianism and use of queer-baiting. This is not, I repeat not, an objectively pro-LGBT anthem. This is a pro Katy Perry anthem, I guess you can make a case for this record being progressive in the fact that it shows Katy as a woman in charge of her own sense of sexuality and not catering to specific gender roles. That would be fine and I would accept that if not for the constant ‘no homo’ she pulls again and again throughout the song reminding us all that she’s not a lesbian, or bisexual, or interested in women at all – she has a boyfriend, and she hopes he won’t mind. Perhaps he won’t. But I do. Ultimately, in 2015, ‘I Kissed a Girl’ lives to serve as a cautionary tale for the millennial generation. Be as supportive as you want of oppressed groups, but do not use their struggles and community to prop yourself up.

Jessica Simpson. ‘I Wanna Love You Forever. ‘Sweet Kisses’ (1999) http://i1106.photobucket.com/albums/h371/jscolelctor/CD-S_-_I_Wanna_Love_You_Forever/21.jpg Where do we draw the line between love and obsession? Hello, and welcome to my new thread/blog/soapbox whatever you want to call it. I’ve used various threads over the past year to talk about pop music to combine my three favourite things – writing, popular music and self-gratifying narcissism however I’ve found myself increasingly unsatisfied with each of them as I find it very frustrating and hard to right about music I don’t at least, on some level, enjoy or find something to talk about within them. Reviewing every top ten single of a decade sounds like a good plan on paper, but not every song is noteworthy enough to warrant a conversation about it and that is something that has been frustrating me a lot in recent months. So, I decided to just throw caution to the wind and start this thread which aims to take a pop song I either love or at least know enough to be able to write at least a few hundred words on it, post it here and satisfy that itch I have. This doesn’t mean I’ve totally abandoned by other thread, but this one will be more active because I’ll be writing about pop music that I’m actually 100% invested in writing about. It’s not all going to be music I like – though most of it will be to some extent – and even if it is, I will be critical because heaven knows I have some very sketchy taste when it comes to what most people consider quality music. I think a testament to this thread already is the fact that my first entry is going to be discussing Jessica Simpson, when was the last time – if ever? – Someone decided they wanted to take a serious look at a Jessica Simpson record? Well, if you’ve been looking for that you have certainly come to the right place. I think my reason for picking this record as the first one to talk about here is because it has always utterly fascinated me in a way that doesn’t seem obvious when you only take the song at face value – if you even remember it, which many people don’t – and my friends get very tired of me bleating on about it all the time but I can’t help it – there’s just so much hidden in this song that you don’t notice until you really dig into it and uncover some very telling and quite chilling themes OK, so on the surface, what is ‘I Wanna Love You Forever’? Most people who recall it generally seem to remember it as a middle of the road, uninspired, quite soppy love song Mariah Carey-rip off ballad that was used to launch the singing career of one of the most plastic and least interested pop singers in the history of the genre. I believe it is all those things on the quality of Simpson’s recording which, whilst well sung, is a tad uninspiring but the reason I’m so fond of Simpson singing this as opposed to a Mariah, a Whitney or a Celine is because lyrically, the song is so f***ing disturbing and Simpson’s complete lack of awareness to this in her vocal performance makes it bloody (unintentionally) hilarious. 4bJ0F8KhhZ8 Let’s look at some choice lyrics: “Pour yourself all over me, and I’ll cherish every drop here on my knees” – OK, wow. Now we all know that at the beginning of their careers Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Mandy Moore and Simpson were all grouped together because of their apparent similarities as artists. They’re actually all very drastically different but they all debuted within nine months of each other, all were young pretty blonde haired white girls and all song cutesy pop songs. Even though she’s the oldest of the bunch, looking back at the earlier music of the four, Simpson is by far and away the most wholesome of the four and plays to that very well. She was, apparently, still a virgin when this became a hit and boy, does it show. I’ve never seen anyone quite – as a friend of mine termed her – “devout Christian senior year cheerleader” as Simpson comes across in this video. No skin on show, no sexy little winks to the camera. She’s just standing infront of a wind machine belting ala Celine Dion. But, the song is blessed with gems like this all the way through. Read the bolded lyric – that is filthier and more sexually explicit than anything found in what Britney, Christina and Mandy were putting out at this time but the thing is when those three had sexual lyrics and innuendo’s within their music – we’ll be covering ‘I’m A Slave 4 U’ at some point – it was all done with a wink and a nod – they knew what they were saying, particularly Christina. But Jessica doesn’t. The rampant sexual imagery that line creates – whether that was its intention or not – goes unnoticed by Simpson as she stands on top of her hill, in the wind trying her best to look like some virtuous angel. It’s hilarious. The biggest problem with ‘I Wanna Love You Forever’ is the way in which it is framed – as a pure, reasonable, sane love song when lyrically it’s about the same level as The Police’s “Every Breath You Take”. Here are some more choice lyrics; “10,000 life-times together – is that so much for you to do?” “Be at the mercy of a man, I’ve never been, but now I only want to be right where you are” “I’m breathing for the next second I can feel you loving me” Does that not sound obsessive? Possessive? Like something a stalker would think and do? There’s a brilliantly dark song hiding somewhere in here – and in a way, it’s a good thing whoever decided to frame it in this way chose to do just that as Simpson, whilst a good singer, doesn’t possess the nuance to pull that off. But at the same time, having this sweet, virginal looking girl belt on and on and on about these dark, obsessive tendencies whilst passing it off as sweet, youthful and loving is just funny to me. One of the most deceptively interesting pop songs ever – it wouldn’t look out of place on the Fifty Shades of Grey soundtrack.

Very surprised at how badly The Vamps are doing, even though the song itself isn't that great.

Decade as of 10.01.2015 1 Gotye feat Kimbra Somebody That I Used To Know 2 Imagine Dragons It's Time 3 Drake & Rihanna Take Care 4 George Ezra Budapest 5 Lana Del Rey Young & Beautiful 6 Adele Rolling In The Deep 7 Lana Del Rey National Anthem 8 Bruno Mars Locked Out of Heaven 9 OneRepublic If I Lose Myself 10 Sia Chandelier 11 Fall Out Boy Alone Together 12 Ed Sheeran Give Me Love 13 Robyn Dancing On My Own 14 Ariana Grande feat The Weeknd Love Me Harder 15 Taylor Swift Blank Space 16 Zedd feat Foxes Clarity 17 Rihanna feat Calvin Harris We Found Love 18 One Direction Story of My Life 19 George Ezra Listen To The Man 20 Mariah Carey feat Miguel Beautiful 21 Kanye West feat Various All Of The Lights 22 Bastille Pompeii 23 Christina Perri Human 24 Mark Ronson feat Bruno Mars Uptown Funk 25 Avicci Wake Me Up 26 Bastille Laura Palmer 27 The Vamps Somebody To You 28 Paramore Still Into You 29 Pink feat Nate Reuss Just Give Me a Reason 30 Bruno Mars Grenade 31 Bruno Mars Treasure 32 5 Seconds of Summer Don't Stop 33 Years & Years Desire 34 Ella Henderson Ghost 35 Cee Lo Green Forget You 36 Taylor Swift I Knew You Were Trouble 37 Tinie Tempah feat Eric Turner Written In The Stars 38 Marina & The Diamonds Primadonna 39 The Wanted Glad You Came 40 Hozier Take Me To Church 41 Lana Del Rey Video Games 42 One Direction What Makes You Beautiful 43 Rihanna feat Drake What's My Name 44 Britney Spears Till The World Ends 45 Of Monsters & Men Little Talks 46 Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Thrift Shop 47 Pitbull feat Ne-Yo Give Me Everything 48 Adele Set Fire To The Rain 49 Jake Bugg Broken 50 Jay-Z and Kanye West Paris 51 Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat Mary Lambert Same Love 52 Taylor Swift We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together 53 The Civil Wars feat Taylor Swift Safe & Sound 54 The Saturdays Higher 55 Swedish House Mafia Save The World 56 Clean Bandit feat Jess Glynne Rather Be 57 Jessie Ware Wildest Moments 58 The Wanted Lose My Mind 59 One Direction You & I 60 OneRepublic Counting Stars 61 Avril Lavigne Rock N Roll 62 One Direction Kiss You 63 The Saturdays Ego 64 Ellie Goulding Lights 65 Lady Gaga feat R. Kelly Do What U Want 66 One Direction One Thing 67 Adele Turning Tables 68 Justin Bieber feat Big Sean As Long As You Love Me 69 Katy Perry Wide Awake 70 Emeli Sande My Kind of Love 71 Shontelle Impossible 72 The Saturdays Not Giving Up 73 Arctic Monkeys Do I Wanna Know? 74 The Saturdays What About Us 75 Gabrielle Aplin The Power of Love 76 Pink Try 77 Eminem feat Rihanna The Monster 78 Marina & The Diamonds How To Be a Heartbreaker 79 Adam Lambert Whataya Want From Me 80 Taylor Swift Shake It Off 81 Drake Find Your Love 82 Rizzle Kicks Down With The Trumpets 83 One Direction Best Song Ever 84 Katy Perry The One That Got Away 85 John Newman Love Me Again 86 Grouplove Tongue Tied 87 Austin Mahone What About Love 88 Charli XCX Boom Clap 89 Fun. Some Nights 90 The Veronica's You Ruin Me 91 Marina & The Diamonds Oh No! 92 Lana Del Rey Gods & Monsters 93 Bridgit Mendler Ready or Not 94 Birdy Skinny Love 95 Rihanna feat Mikky Ekko Stay 96 B.O.B So Good 97 One Direction Night Changes 98 Selena Gomez & The Scene Naturally 99 Usher feat Pitbull DJ Got Us Falling In Love 100 Jason DeRulo The Other Side

2014 01. George Ezra – “Budapest” 02. One Republic – “If I Lose Myself” 03. Sia – “Chandelier” 04. Ariana Grande feat The Weeknd – “Love Me Harder” 05. Taylor Swift – “Blank Space” 06. George Ezra – “Listen to the Man” 07. Christina Perri – “Human” 08. The Vamps – “Somebody To You” 09. 5 Seconds of Summer – “Don’t Stop” 10. Years & Years – “Desire” 11. Ella Henderson – “Ghost” 12. Hozier – “Take Me to Church” 13. Mark Ronson feat Bruno Mars – “Uptown Funk” 14. Clean Bandit feat Jess Glynne – “Rather Be” 15. One Direction – “You & I” 16. The Saturdays – “Not Giving Up” 17. Taylor Swift – “Shake It Off” 18. Charli XCX – “Boom Clap” 19. The Veronica’s – “You Ruin Me” 20. One Direction – “Night Changes” 21. 5 Seconds of Summer – “Amnesia” 22. Ariana Grande feat Zedd – “Break Free” 23. Oh Honey – “Be Okay” 24. Lorde – “Team” 25. The Vamps – “Wild Heart” 26. The Vamps – “Oh Cecilia (You’re Breaking my Heart)” 27. Paloma Faith – “Only Love Can Hurt Like This” 28. Ella Henderson – “Yours” 29. George Ezra – “Blame It On Me” 30. Beyonce – “XO” 31. Zedd feat Hayley Williams – “Stay The Night” 32. Shakira & Rihanna – “Can’t Remember to Forget You” 33. Jessie J, Ariana Grande & Nicki Minaj – “Bang-Bang” 34. David Guetta feat Sam Martin – “Dangerous” 35. Avicii – “Hey Brother” 36. 5 Seconds of Summer – “She Looks So Perfect” 37. Sara Bareillis – “Brave” 38. Sigma – “Nobody To Love” 39. Avicii – “Addicted to You” 40. Troy Sivan – “Happy Little Pill” 41. Olly Murs – “Wrapped Up” 42. GRL – “Ugly Heart” 43. Duke Dumont – “I Got U” 44. Nico & Vinz – “Am I Wrong” 45. Vance Joy – “Riptide” 46. Maroon 5 – “Maps” 47. Gwen Stefani – “Baby Don’t Lie” 48. MKTO – “Classic” 49. Ariana Grande feat Iggy Azalea – “Problem” 50. Tiesto feat Matthew Koma – “Wasted” 51. Katy Perry – “Dark Horse” 52. Rita Ora – “I Will Never Let You Down” 53. Taylor Swift – “Out of the Woods” 54. Calvin Harris feat Ellie Goulding – “Outside” 55. Charli XCX – “Break the Rules” 56. Eminem feat Rihanna – “The Monster” 57. Sia – “Elastic Heart” 58. Pharrell Williams – “Happy” 59. Lea Michele – “Battlefield” 60. Echosmith – “Cool Kids” 61. Katy Perry – “Unconditionally” 62. Ed Sheeran – “Sing” 63. Iggy Azalea feat Charli XCX – “Fancy” 64. Pitbull feat Ke$ha – “Timber” 65. Lady Gaga – “G.U.Y” 66. One Republic – “Love Runs Out” 67. Kiesza – “Hideaway” 68. Sam Smith – “Like I Can” 69. Kylie Minogue – “Into the Blue” 70. Cheryl Cole feat Tinie Tempah – “Crazy Stupid Love” 71. One Direction – “Steal My Girl” 72. Idina Menzel – “Let It Go” 73. Meghan Trainor – “Lips Are Moving” 74. 5 Seconds of Summer – “Everything I Didn’t Say” 75. Paloma Faith – “Can’t Rely On You” 76. Ed Sheeran – “Don’t” 77. Ellie Goulding – “How Long Will I Love You” 78. Lilly Wood – “Prayer in C” 79. Beyonce – “Pretty Hurts” 80. Clean Bandit – “Extraordinary” 81. Magic – “Rude” 82. Taylor Swift – “Style” 83. Fifth Harmony – “Sledgehammer” 84. Ed Sheeran – “Thinking Out Loud” 85. Tove Lo – “Stay High” 86. Paramore – “Ain’t It Fun” 87. One Direction – “Story of My Life” 88. Calvin Harris – “Summer” 89. The Script – “Superheroes” 90. Katy Perry – “This is How We Do” 91. Nick Jonas – “Jealous” 92. Jason DeRulo – “Trumpets” 93. George Ezra – “Cassy’O” 94. Mr. Probs – “Waves” 95. Pitbull feat GRL – “Wild Love” 96. George Ezra – “Did You Heart The Rain” 97. Fall Out Boy – “Centuries” 98. Rixton – “Wait On Me” 99. Olly Murs feat Demi Lovato – “Up” 100. Lea Michele – “Cannonball”

2013 01. Lana Del Rey – “Young & Beautiful” 02. Fall Out Boy – “Alone Together” 03. Zedd feat Foxes – “Clarity” 04. One Direction – “Story of my Life” 05. Mariah Carey feat Miguel – “Beautiful” 06. Bastille – “Pompeii” 07. Avicii – “Wake Me Up” 08. Bastille – “Laura Palmer” 09. Paramore – “Still Into You” 10. Pink feat Nate Reuss – “Just Give Me a Reason” 11. Bruno Mars – “Treasure” 12. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – “Thrift Shop” 13. Jake Bugg – “Broken” 14. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat Ray Dalton – “Can’t Hold Us” 15. One Republic – “Counting Stars” 16. Avril Lavigne – “Rock N Roll” 17. One Direction – “Kiss You” 18. Lady Gaga feat R. Kelly – “Do What U Want” 19. Arctic Monkeys – “Do I Wanna Know?” 20. The Saturdays – “What About Us” 21. Eminem feat Rihanna – “The Monster” 22. One Direction – “Best Song Ever” 23. John Newman – “Love Me Again” 24. Lana Del Rey – “Gods & Monsters” 25. Bridgit Mendler – “Ready Or Not” 26. Rihanna feat Mikky Ekko – “Stay” 27. Jason DeRulo – “The Other Side” 28. Naughty Boy feat Sam Smith – “La, La, La” 29. The Vamps – “Can We Dance” 30. Tim McGraw feat Taylor Swift – “Highway Don’t Care” 31. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat Mary Lambert – “Same Love” 32. The Summerset – “Boomerang” 33. Demi Lovato – “Heart Attack” 34. Gabrielle Aplin – “Please Don’t Say You Love Me” 35. Foxes – “Youth” 36. Diana Vickers – “Cinderella” 37. Icona Pop – “I Love It” 38. Capital Cities – “Safe & Sound” 39. Katy Perry – “Unconditionally” 40. Lawson – “Learn To Love Again” 41. Fergie – “A Little Party Never Killed Nobody” 42. Nina Nesbitt – “Stay Out” 43. Fall Out Boy – “Miss Missing You” 44. Miley Cyrus – “Wrecking Ball” 45. Ariana Grande feat Mac Miller – “The Way” 46. Gabrielle Aplin – “Home” 47. American Authors – “Believer” 48. Fall Out Boy feat Foxes – “Just One Yesterday” 49. The 1975 – “Chocolate” 50. Avicii – “You Make Me” 51. Taylor Swift – “22” 52. Lady Gaga – “Applause” 53. One Direction – “Rock Me” 54. Ellie Goulding – “Burn” 55. Little Mix – “Move” 56. Zedd feat Matthew Koma – “Spectrum” 57. Selena Gomez – “Come & Get It” 58. Imagine Dragons – “Demons” 59. Lady Gaga – “G.U.Y” 60. Calvin Harris feat Ellie Goulding – “I Need Your Love” 61. Pitbull feat Christina Aguilera – “Feel This Moment” 62. Daft Punk – “Get Lucky” 63. Lily Allen – “Hard out Here” 64. Demi Lovato – “Without The Love” 65. Avril Lavigne – “How You Remind Me” 66. Drake – “Hold On, We’re Going Home” 67. Justin Timberlake – “Mirrors” 68. Phillip Phillips – “Home” 69. Little Mix – “How Ya Doing?” 70. Avicii vs. Nicky Romero – “I Could Be The One” 71. Ellie Goulding – “Explosions” 72. James Arthur – “Recovery” 73. Pink feat Lily Allen – “True Love” 74. One Direction – “You & I” 75. Disclosure feat Sam Smith – “Latch” 76. Passenger – “Let Her Go” 77. Maroon 5 – “Love Somebody” 78. Bastille – “Things We Lost in the Fire” 79. Austin Mahone – “What About Love” 80. David Guetta feat Ne-Yo & Akon – “Play Hard” 81. Bastille – “Of The Night” 82. Ariana Grande – “Baby I” 83. Rihanna – “What Now” 84. Imagine Dragons – “Radioactive” 85. A Great Big World feat Christina Aguilera – “Say Something” 86. The Wanted – “We Own The Night” 87. Zedd feat Hayley Williams – “Stay the Night” 88. Fall Out Boy – “The Phoenix” 89. One Direction – “Diana” 90. Lana Del Rey vs. Cedric Gervais – “Summertime Sadness” 91. Jason DeRulo – “Talk Dirty” 92. Mariah Carey – “Almost Home” 93. Calvin Harris – “Thinking About You” 94. Avril Lavigne – “Here’s To Never Growing Up” 95. The Wanted – “Show Me Love” 96. Will.i.am feat Miley Cyrus – “Fall Down” 97. Austin Mahone – “Say You’re Just a Friend” 98. The Saturdays – “Disco Love” 99. Beyonce – “XO” 100. Celine Dion – “Loved Me Back to Life”

2012 01. Gotye feat Kimbra – “Somebody That I Used to Know” 02. Imagine Dragons – “It’s Time” 03. Lana Del Rey – “National Anthem” 04. Bruno Mars – “Locked Out of Heaven” 05. Ed Sheeran – “Give Me Love” 06. Taylor Swift – “I Knew You Were Trouble” 07. Marina & The Diamonds – “Primadonna” 08. Of Monsters & Men – “Little Talks” 09. Taylor Swift – “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” 10. The Civil Wars feat Taylor Swift – “Safe & Sound” 11. Jessie Ware – “Wildest Moments” 12. One Direction – “One Thing” 13. Katy Perry – “Wide Awake” 14. Emeli Sande – “My Kind of Love” 15. Gabrielle Aplin – “The Power of Love” 16. Pink – “Try” 17. Marina & The Diamonds – “How To Be a Heartbreaker” 18. Katy Perry – “The One That Got Away” 19. Grouplove – “Tongue Tied” 20. Fun – “Some Nights” 21. B.O.B – “So Good” 22. Ke$ha – “Die Young” 23. Imagine Dragons – “Radioactive” 24. Olly Murs feat Flo Rida - "Troublemaker" 25. The Gaslight Anthem – “She Loves You” 26. Christina Aguilera – “Your Body” 27. Ellie Goulding – “I Know You Care” 28. Justin Bieber feat Big Sean – “As Long As You Love Me” 29. Carrie Underwood – “Blown Away” 30. Florence & The Machine – “No Light, No Light” 31. Marina & The Diamonds – “Power & Control” 32. Kris Allen – “The Vision of Love” 33. Pink – “Blow Me (One Last Kiss)” 34. Emeli Sande – “Next to Me” 35. Jake Owen – “Alone With You” 36. Hunter Hayes – “Wanted” 37. Carly Rae Jepsen – “Call Me Maybe” 38. Loreen – “Euphoria” 39. Carrie Underwood – “Good Girl” 40. Fun – “We Are Young” 41. Ellie Goulding – “Figure 8” 42. Justin Bieber feat Nicki Minaj – “Beauty and a Beat” 43. Neon Hitch – “Love U Better” 44. David Guetta feat Nicki Minaj – “Turn Me On” 45. Labrinth feat Tinie Tempah – “Earthquake” 46. Lana Del Rey – “Blue Jeans” 47. Justin Bieber – “Boyfriend” 48. Karmin – “Brokenhearted” 49. Carly Rae Jepsen – “Curiosity” 50. Cheryl Cole – “Call My Name” 51. Rihanna – “Diamonds” 52. Little Mix – “Wings” 53. Jessie J – “Domino” 54. Rudimental feat John Newman – “Feel The Love” 55. Ellie Goulding – “Anything Could Happen” 56. PSY – “Gangnam Style” 57. Madonna – “Masterpiece” 58. Demi Lovato – “Give Your Heart a Break” 59. Owl City & Carly Rae Jepsen – “Good Time” 60. Swedish House Mafia – “Don’t You Worry Child” 61. Will.i.am feat Eva Simons – “This is Love” 62. The Lumineers – “Ho Hey” 63. Marina & The Diamonds – “Starring Role” 64. Rita Ora – “How We Do” 65. Flo Rida feat Sia – “Wild Ones” 66. Taylor Swift – “Red” 67. Mumford & Sons – “I Will Wait” 68. Pitbull feat Chris Brown – “International Love” 69. Calvin Harris feat Ne-Yo – “Let’s Go” 70. Lana Del Rey – “Born to Die” 71. One Direction – “More Than This” 72. The Wanted – “Chasing the Sun” 73. Connor Maynard feat Ne-Yo – “Turn Around” 74. Emeli Sande – “Read All About It” 75. Maroon 5 – “Payphone” 76. One Direction – “They Don’t Know About Us” 77. Katy Perry – “Part of Me” 78. Taylor Swift – “All Too Well” 79. Nicki Minaj – “Va-Va Voom” 80. Marina & The Diamonds – “Lies” 81. Coldplay feat Rihanna – “Princess of China” 82. Lana Del Rey – “Ride” 83. Far East Movement feat Ryan Tedder – “The Fighter” 84. Usher – “Scream” 85. Adele – “Skyfall” 86. David Guetta feat Sia – “Titanium” 87. Kelly Clarkson – “Dark Side” 88. Florence & The Machine – “Spectrum (Say My Name)” 89. Nicki Minaj – “Pound The Alarm” 90. Kelly Clarkson – “Catch My Breath” 91. All Time Low – “Somewhere In Never Land” 92. Lana Del Rey – “Summertime Sadness” 93. Calvin Harris feat Example – “We’ll Be Coming Back” 94. Girls Aloud – “Something New” 95. JoJo – “Disaster” 96. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – “Thrift Shop” 97. The Wanted – “Warzone” 98. Little Mix – “DNA” 99. Olly Murs - "Dance With Me Tonight" 100. Cher Lloyd – “Want U Back”

2011 Based on performance in my personal charts. A Top 40 weekly rank of my favourite songs, a song at number one automatically receives forty points, whilst number forty receives one point. However, as some weeks are stronger than others, a number one on a week where there was very tough competition can gain up to 50 additional points; hence why some songs from very late in the year chart well here as late 2011 was a very strong period for me. 01. Drake & Rihanna – “Take Care” 02. Adele – “Rolling In The Deep” 03. Rihanna feat Calvin Harris – “We Found Love” 04. Kanye West feat Various – “All of the Lights” 05. Bruno Mars – “Grenade” 06. The Wanted – “Glad You Came” 07. Lana Del Rey – “Video Games” 08. One Direction – “What Makes You Beautiful” 09. Rihanna feat Drake – “What’s My Name?” 10. Britney Spears – “Till The World Ends” 11. Pitbull feat Ne-Yo – “Give Me Everything” 12. Adele – “Set Fire to the Rain” 13. Jay-Z & Kanye West – “Paris” 14. Swedish House Mafia – “Save the World” 15. Ellie Goulding – “Lights” 16. Adele – “Turning Tables” 17. Rizzle Kicks – “Down with the Trumpets” 18. Birdy – “Skinny Love” 19. Beyonce – “Countdown” 20. Chase & Status feat Delilah – “Time” 21. Marina & The Diamonds – “Radioactive” 22. Brad Paisley & Carrie Underwood – “Remind Me” 23. Joe Jonas – “See No More” 24. David Guetta feat Jennifer Hudson – “Night Of Your Life” 25. Joe Jonas – “Just In Love” 26. Avril Lavigne – “Smile” 27. Rihanna – “S&M” 28. Black Eyed Peas – “Just Can’t Get Enough” 29. The Wombats – “Jump Into the Fog” 30. All Time Low – “Timebomb” 31. Ed Sheeran – “The A Team” 32. Christina Perri – “Jar of Hearts” 33. Kanye West – “Power” 34. Beyonce – “Best Thing I Never Had” 35. Wiz Khalifa – “Roll Up” 36. Ke$ha – “The Harold Song” 37. Lady Gaga – “The Edge of Glory” 38. Calvin Harris feat Kelis – “Bounce” 39. Avicii – “Levels” 40. Gotye feat Kimbra - "Somebody That I Used to Know" 41. Rihanna – “Only Girl (In The World)” 42. Avril Lavigne – “Wish You Were Here” 43. Diddy – “Coming Home” 44. Beyonce – “End of Time” 45. Avalanche City – “Love, Love, Love” 46. Jessie J feat B.O.B – “Price Tag” 47. Katy Perry – “Last Friday Night” 48. Coldplay – “Every Teardrop is a Waterfall” 49. Katy Perry – “Firework” 50. Nicki Minaj feat Drake – “Moment 4 Life” 51. Pink – “Perfect” 52. Adele – “Someone Like You” 53. The Wanted – “Gold Forever” 54. David Guetta feat Flo Rida & Nicki Minaj – “Where Them Girls At” 55. Sean Paul feat Alexis Jordan – “Got 2 Love You” 56. Alexis Jordan – “Hush, Hush, Hush” 57. Martin Solveig – “Hello” 58. Selena Gomez & The Scene – “Love You Like a Love Song” 59. Britney Spears – “Hold It Against Me” 60. Jennifer Lopez feat Pitbull – “On The Floor” 61. JLS feat Dev – “She Makes Me Wanna” 62. Lady Gaga – “Judas” 63. Alexandra Stan – “Mr. Saxobeat” 64. Katy Perry feat Kanye West – “E.T.” 65. Ed Sheeran – “Lego House” 66. Pixie Lott – “Broken Arrow” 67. Wynter Gordon – “Dirty Talk” 68. Selena Gomez & The Scene – “Who Says” 69. Lady Gaga – “Hair” 70. Cobra Starship feat Sabi – “You Make Me Feel” 71. M83 – “Midnight City” 72. Nicki Minaj – “Super Bass” 73. Usher – “More” 74. Maroon 5 feat Christina Aguilera – “Moves Like Jagger” 75. Kelly Clarkson – “Mr. Know It All” 76. Chris Brown & Justin Bieber – “Next To You” 77. Jennifer Lopez – “Papi” 78. Taylor Swift – “Mean” 79. LMFAO – “Party Rock Anthem” 80. Birdy – “People Help the People” 81. Jessie J – “Domino” 82. Foster the People – “Call It What You Want” 83. Pitbull feat Marc Anthony – “Rain Over Me” 84. Nicole Scherzinger – “Don’t Hold Your Breath” 85. Adele – “Rumor Has It” 86. Swedish House Mafia – “Save the World” 87. Natalia Kills – “Wonderland” 88. Sean Paul – “She Doesn’t Mind” 89. Demi Lovato – “Skyscraper” 90. Lady Antebellum – “Just a Kiss” 91. Gym Class Heroes feat Adam Levine – “Stereo Hearts” 92. David Guetta feat Sia – “Titanium” 93. Ed Sheeran – “You Need Me, I Don’t Need You” 94. Lady Gaga – “Marry The Night” 95. The Saturdays – “My Heart Takes Over” 96. Katy Perry – “The One That Got Away” 97. Britney Spears – “I Wanna Go” 98. Hot Chelle Rae – “Tonight, Tonight” 99. Avril Lavigne – “Goodbye” 100. Ed Sheeran – “Grade 8”

I am going to LOVE this

ONE DIRECTION 03/09/2011 | #01 | 22 weeks on chart | 'What Makes You Beautiful' (1 week @ #1) 03/12/2011 | #01 | 25 weeks on chart | 'One Thing' (1 week @ #1) 31/12/2011 | #08 | 16 weeks on chart | 'More Than This' 14/04/2012 | #27 | 02 weeks on chart | 'Up All Night' 02/06/2012 | #20 | 09 weeks on chart | 'I Want' 02/06/2012 | #37 | 01 weeks on chart | 'Taken' 08/10/2012 | #15 | 10 weeks on chart | 'Live While We're Young' 24/11/2012 | #01 | 20 weeks on chart | 'Kiss You' (1 week @ #1) 29/12/2012 | #11 | 11 weeks on chart | 'Heart Attack' 29/12/2012 | #16 | 12 weeks on chart | 'Rock Me' 02/03/2013 | #38 | 02 weeks on chart | 'One Way or Another' 13/04/2013 | #09 | 12 weeks on chart | 'They Don't Know About Us' 03/08/2013 | #01 | 21 weeks on chart | 'Best Song Ever' (1 week @ #1) 09/11/2013 | #01 | 31 weeks on chart | 'Story Of My Life' (4 weeks @ #1) 07/12/2013 | #09 | 19 weeks on chart | 'Diana' 07/12/2013 | #01 | 27 weeks on chart | 'You & I' (2 weeks @ #1) 04/10/2014 | #06 | 16 weeks on chart | 'Steal My Girl' 13/12/2014 | #01 | 20 weeks on chart | 'Night Changes' (1 week @ #1) 08/08/2015 | #03 | 06 weeks on chart | 'Drag Me Down' *currently charting

5 SECONDS OF SUMMER 08/03/2014 | #01 | 17 weeks on chart | 'She Looks So Perfect' (2 weeks @ #1 between 05/04/2014 - 19/04/2014) 31/05/2014 | #01 | 21 weeks on chart | 'Don't Stop' (1 week @ #1 between 05/07/2014 - 12/07/2014) 28/06/2014 | #22 | 05 weeks on chart | 'Good Girls' 02/08/2014 | #04 | 14 weeks on chart | 'Everything I Didn't Say' 09/08/2014 | #01 | 22 weeks on chart | 'Amnesia' (1 week @ #1 between 20/09/2014 - 27/09/2014) 20/12/2014 | #33 | 03 weeks on chart | 'What I Like About You' 15/08/2015 | #10 | 05 weeks on chart | 'She's Kinda Hot' *currently charting 12/09/2015 | #40 | 01 weeks on chart | 'Jet Black Heart' *currently charting

TAYLOR SWIFT 22/11/2008 | #01 | 21 weeks on chart | 'Love Story' (2 weeks @ #1 between 07/03/2009 - 21/03/2009) 31/01/2009 | #04 | 17 weeks on chart | 'White Horse' 04/07/2009 | #01 | 30 weeks on chart | 'You Belong With Me' (1 week @ #1 between 03/10/2009 - 10/10/2009) 04/07/2009 | #16 | 09 weeks on chart | '15' 04/07/2009 | #30 | 02 weeks on chart | 'Fearless' 25/07/2009 | #39 | 01 weeks on chart | 'Teardrops On My Guitar' 05/09/2009 | #23 | 07 weeks on chart | 'Our Song' 13/02/2010 | #07 | 11 weeks on chart | 'Today Was a Fairytale' 02/10/2010 | #02 | 21 weeks on chart | 'Mine' 04/12/2010 | #18 | 18 weeks on chart | 'Back to December' 04/12/2010 | #20 | 11 weeks on chart | 'Mean' 26/03/2011 | #39 | 01 weeks on chart | 'Speak Now' 09/07/2011 | #05 | 15 weeks on chart | 'Story Of Us' 21/01/2012 | #02 | 27 weeks on chart | 'Safe & Sound' 12/05/2012 | #19 | 09 weeks on chart | 'Eyes Open' 30/06/2012 | #09 | 10 weeks on chart | 'Both Of Us' 25/08/2012 | #01 | 29 weeks on chart | 'We Are Never Getting Back Together' (1 week @ #1 between 01/09/2012 - 08/09/2012) 06/10/2012 | #25 | 05 weeks on chart | 'Begin Again' 13/10/2012 | #01 | 37 weeks on chart | 'I Knew You Were Trouble' (3 weeks @ #1 between 22/12/2012 - 12/01/2013) 17/11/2012 | #07 | 59 weeks on chart | 'All Too Well' 17/11/2012 | #13 | 20 weeks on chart | 'Red' 01/12/2012 | #06 | 16 weeks on chart | 'Everything Has Changed' 02/03/2013 | #03 | 23 weeks on chart | '22' 06/07/2013 | #05 | 20 weeks on chart | 'Highway Don't Care' 30/08/2014 | #01 | 26 weeks on chart | 'Shake It Off' (1 week @ #1 between 06/09/2014 - 13/09/2014) 25/10/2014 | #03 | 07 weeks on chart | 'Out of the Woods' 08/11/2014 | #14 | 04 weeks on chart | 'Welcome To New York' 08/11/2014 | #01 | 33 weeks on chart | 'Blank Space' (1 week @ #1 between 29/11/2014 - 06/12/2014) 08/11/2014 | #21 | 11 weeks on chart | 'All You Had To Do Was Stay' 15/11/2014 | #01 | 39 weeks on chart | 'Style' (1 week @ #1 between 07/03/2015 - 14/03/2015) 13/12/2014 | #04 | 15 weeks on chart | 'Wildest Dreams' (on chart at the moment) 23/05/2015 | #09 | 12 weeks on chart | 'Bad Blood'

Just for example, here's this weeks "all female" top ten chart Pos/Artist/Single 01. Rachel Platten - "Fight Song" 02. Jess Glynne - "Don't Be So Hard On Yourself" 03. Demi Lovato - "Cool For The Summer" 04. Birdy - "Wings" 05. Jess Glynne - "Hold My Hand" 06. Rita Ora - "Poison" 07. Ella Eyre - "Good Times" 08. Ellie Goulding - "Love Me Like You Do" 09. Jessie J - "Flashlight" 10. Taylor Swift - "Wildest Dreams"

Those last two are just......

16th April 2011 - Mann feat 50 Cent - "Buzzing" http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bzxO404V3Mc/TQMwhCgY6zI/AAAAAAAAAKI/veiIpBQcSdA/s1600/Mann-Buzzin-500x500.jpg Peak: 6 Weeks in Top 10: 4 US Peak: 53 I don’t know if it will ever happen, but if I was to ever review top ten hits between 2007 and 2009, it would be full of records that I know on an objective level are terrible but I hold a soft spot for them regardless such as ‘Heartbroken’ or ‘What’s It Gonna Be?’ plus about half of Cascada’s output. Around late 2009, the dirty, dirty appeal of tracks like that utterly disappeared for me and the ‘bad’ tracks in the chart throughout 2010 were one’s that were bad and I took no pleasure in. I can’t really think of song from that year that I knew was rubbish but liked anyway because I just found myself smiling when it came on, so for that, I was pleased when ‘Buzzing’ came along because it brought that dirty guilty pleasure song back. Many of my friends actually expressed surprise when I revealed that I actually thought this was actually a really bad song; one that is lazy in every sense of the word and offers the listener no real merit for sitting through it. But, my god, do I love listening to this. Take it as a contrast to ‘Black & Yellow’ which we’ve just had, and the difference between that and this for me, is that Khalifa was trying to come across all hard and street tough and it didn’t work whereas Mann comes across as never having had a serious thought in his life. ‘Buzzing’ is played totally straight, it wouldn’t be so charming to me if it was tongue in cheek to be honest, but it’s just put across in such a lazy and generic way that I actually warm to it. It’s stupid, it’s shallow and it’s sure as hell going to be forgotten by the masses (if not already) but god do I love nothing more than having a shameless jam session to this and others like it. yfYBiVAzo9s