Juranamo

My other half said there was a big reveal. I spotted her bump within seconds, then was confused as I couldn't recall if she was pregnant or not... 🤣 Got to the end and apparently the bump reveal was it... She has SO MANY hits. Why not remind people of Unfaithful, if you're barely able to dance? I don't want to hear your features, give me your actual hits! (I wasn't expecting anything amazing, I've never seen Rihanna as a particularly amazing live artist tbf. But... She DOES have bops. Where were they?)

I think the majority of physical music is destined to be merch, and just that. I would say most of the people buying these CD singles are the same people that would be buying them on cassette (especially as they only tend to be available online). Most people will download/stream/buy the album if it's in the shop, or just be happy to listen when they pop up on the radio. The labels know that people will collect as much as they can of their favourite artists. It is literally the only reason CD singles exist now (the same as cassettes), and a bonus is that it's a cheap way to bolster chart positions - in turn gaining exposure that can lead to playlisting/longevity etc. (of course some people might still listen to cassettes, some people obviously prefer CD (especially, but not exclusively, less tech savvy people), and vinyl has its demographic too... But I think people listening to these are very much in the minority)

WALL. TO. WALL. BANGERS. This is not a *great* album, but it's the album I've been waiting for FOR YEARS. 😍😍😍 Why can't Ava be massive?! She's so refreshingly fun in comparison to most of today's pop. 😭😭😭

Squirrrrrrrrrtle!

Wanted Born to Try to remain (purely so I didn't have to contend with THIS top 3 😭😭😭). Almost impossible to split them, they're all SO GOOD. Believe Again, you are magical, but I voted for you. 😭😭

Was about to say "NOT PEOPLE COMING AT SITTING ON TOP OF THE WORLD?!?!"... Then realised that (despite it being a certified 11/10 bop) it's only probably my 7th-ish favourite left. 😵🙈 Such quality. I voted Wish You Were Here. It's not one I go back to a huge amount. The rest (minus Paralyzed, which I'm less familiar with) are all top tier!

Mudkip again! Looks like I missed a couple... Shame Totodile dropped out. 😭

Mudkip

In an alternative universe 35 years ago it might have gone Top 5... 🙈 This sounds straight out of the 80's (no Louise or freshness added), it's fun for what it is though!

So much this! (Totodile) Mudkip/Turtwig/Popplio

Agreed on your first point. Not on the second... If it was "perfectly safe", Nando wouldn't have been slapped with a penalty. I'd argue that your mirror flapping about is not safe at all - your awareness of oncoming cars behind could be compromised (which could lead to exactly the same thing as happened to him, happening to someone else), and you run the risk of it detaching and slotting through the halo. As I say, 30 seconds penalty is harsh. But Haas have a point. Maybe the result shouldn't be upturned, but Alpine should imo be fined, or a grid penalty applied... Or something! Haas were penalised in their races (by virtue of needing to pit/fix the damage), they have every right to be pissed off.

Whilst the penalty shouldn't have been as severe as it was, when the penalty was handed out I felt it was appropriate to penalise him... Completely see where Haas came from, with Kevin being warned every other race for racing with and unsafe car and very disappointed that it seems there won't be any repercussions for either Red Bull/Pérez or Alpine/Alonso.

Reading these comments alone has encouraged me to finally start making my way through her back catalogue (after being only a very casual, albeit probably more up to date than most of the UK have kept up with, fan: adoring lots of her singles!). It sounds like she gave an absolutely special performance, and I'm glad to hear how she's made everyone feel. If she comes back to the UK, I'd love the chance to see her... It sounds like it would be really special!

Watched the first one years ago (well, think it was on at some point, with me not really watching it), but re-watched the other day. Loved it, though felt after watching it that it'd have better effects/work better if done today! Saw Maverick today... And I was right! Loved all the nods (and there are LOTS of the them) to the original Genuinely found myself at the edge of my seat multiple times. Loved every second. Might be my shock favourite post-COVID release yet!

This feels like an odd release. Lots of tracks that were already on the last GHs. As someone mentioned, wouldn't be surprised if this was a complete label decision. And GH... Part II release would make more sense in my eyes!

The way to make it not nonsense is to enforce it 😂 I think the only exception should be if the driver was consistently within 107% of top free practice time (minimum number of laps set across all sessions/and a majority within the top time of the session) and they were not able to set a (competitive) lap time through no fault of their own - due to traffic (where another driver was penalised), retirement (would say exclude driver error, but that seems beyond the line to me), problem with the car (that can be evidenced), or an extreme circumstance (like a track invader)! Apparently I have opinions on this 🙈🙈🙈

Precisely... The teams should be the judge of who gets a seat. Does it matter that Verstappen was 16? He was clearly competitive already. Raikkonen was older, but surely if a team wants to take the risk, and the driver has done the testing mileage, it should be the teams call. If they want to chase money/branding (and end up with a Ricardo Rosset or Yuji Ide) that's their call - the 107% rule will stop them from racing. 🤷‍♂️ I can't see the likes of Ferrari or Mercedes opting for a pay driver anyway That being said, Indycar should (almost undoubtedly) be somewhere between F1 and F2 in the open wheel motorsport ladder... It's silly that their drivers have such an uphill battle to get superlicense points!

I'm driver market news: Alpine are apparently after GaslyAlphaTauri apparently want to snap up Herta from Indycar (which is also dependant on Andretti allowing this) FIA are apparently considering whether to allow him to move over, but have reservations due to the number of superlicense points he hasMy view is that the superlicense really shouldn't be a thing. If it is, it really needs to be weighted appropriately. There is absolutely zero way that 4th place in Indy should be of less value than fourth in F2... LET ALONE F3 FFS! Super Formula should probably be weighted the same as F2 too. I get that the FIA want to encourage people to make their way through their own series', but who goes in the car should be the teams decision. There should maybe be a safety test, or a requirement to have had a certain number of miles in the last 5 years (in a 2 year old F1 car maybe), but otherwise the decision should be the teams. The 107% rule is there for a reason, and anyone who should be able to at least get a spot on the grid will soon be shown the door (as much as Latifi is meh, he's in no way a Raghunathan or Calderón [as much as I'd love to see a female driver, I don't think she's exactly Jamie Chadwick levels of good 😂])

Add me to the list of people terrified to listen to this based on the (relative) panning it got here! (this was before I scrolled to page 3...) It's really good! Not her best single, or even close... Maybe You're the Problem was AMAZING, but was clearly gonna be one for the gays only (still surprised it never got playlisting/radio 1 though...), this one seems more accessible in a Kings & Queens/My Head & My Heart way; it won't do as well as those, but I can see Top 75 at least! On the subject of bringing Ava bops constantly... I am FULLY HERE FOR IT. No-one seems committed to out and out pop, and Ava is smashing it, probably the only charting artist I actively seek out new music from, as I'm almost certain it's gonna be a great pop banger. 🤷‍♂️

Utilita Arena, Sheffield! https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2022/gladiators

I've not met a single person that dislikes this song (in fact everyone I've spoken to, that's heard it, [i keep bringing up the "tampon" line] has said they like it...). The problem with Ava, is she has no identity - people aren't interested in her as an artist. Do people really link Sweet But Psycho/Kings & Queens/My Head & My Heart/this as the same artist? Probably not... She brings the fun faceless bops, unfortunately in the streaming era, that is the type of music arguably most reliant on streaming support. I don't think her label are ignorant to that either. They know she's not a fanbase artist (one CD/one vinyl (maybe 2?)/and one cassette). I still stand by it not being too late for this, R2 support and AM playlisting were both completely out of sync with R1 and Spotify with prior singles. It worked for those (in fact, the initial R2/AM push has done *more* for this), so surely it's when - not if - the Spotify support arrives, at this point? Either that, or the label really are shooting themselves in the foot... 🤣

This is the most sensible assessment of how album streams should be counted I've seen (I'm still pro there being a cap), if you take the lowest streamed song on the standard edition of an album as being the number of streams the album has accrued, that could signify the popularity of the album - maybe exclude obvious interludes/intros from this (tracks under 1m?). The album chart should be made up of genuine sales and streams of the album as a complete body (in the best possible way). Greatest Hits will always do better (always have done, due more familiar songs, doesn't take a rocket scientist to work that out), but the current model the OCC use was evidently designed for studio albums, not compilations which may have a far higher number of songs that rack up streams repeatedly. Any streams of individual tracks (particularly where greatest hits are concerned) are already covered in the singles chart... GH albums are the biggest culprits for duplicate counting.

Assuming Top 4 of the week are the ones that are singled out during the judges deliberation... I have zero clue how Shea was included. Hers was completely generic/forgettable... One of the least likely to become a trend imo. I just can't warm to her, this week came across as cold as every other week...

Wow, Viv was overlooked this week (assuming the focused queen's in the deliberation part are the Top 4... up until then, I had Viv and Jinkx as a lock in for Top 2)... Genuinely found Viv laugh out loud hilarious! Probably for the other thread, but I have a *clear* Top 4 (and, more precisely, Top 2) and Bottom 4 at this point...

Facebook thinks I'm obsessed with Mabel... Nearly all of my targeted ads are this album! Tbf, Let Them Know is a BANGER. And I'm weirdly obsessed with how gorgeous the actual cassettes look (this is probably why they keep coming up...), but everything else I've heard is only decent, if non-descript. I'm in no rush to buy it (even if the pink and neon green cassettes look AMAZING 🙈🙈)