Anton95

I don't have any interest in Indie, Hip-Hop and Electronic music that triple j plays (I'm more of a pop music fan), but I can't wait to listen to the Hottest 100 tonight. So many interesting tracks out there - I believe most of them have a commercial feeling to them but they have a lot of creativity and innovation. -Anton

I listened to ‘Sweetener’ like two days ago and I think the album is… so beautiful to my ears. Ariana may have went the ‘darker’, more mature approach compared to the her previous albums (as a consequence of that terrible Manchester attack last year), but Sweetener should be worth listening not only to her fans but to her non-fans too. I wouldn’t go into any opinions about the tracks there (well, I can tell that ‘the light is coming’ is so awful and I think it’s the worst in the album yet), but on my first listen I think most of the tracks are good - maybe they're less catchy to me but they still retain the upbeat vibe. A few tracks there tend to be bangers and a few tend to be boring. I quite like the way on how the very last track (‘get well soon’) ends with a 30 second silence - which I think is used as a way to remember the attacks. Very emotional for Ariana. :( From what I read around Buzzjack and elsewhere, there appears to be mixed views on ‘Sweetener’, partly because the tracks in Ariana’s latest album has a lot of Pharell Willams influence (which led to some people arguing that her tracks is a ripoff of Pharell’s songs). That, I think, has made Ariana and her fans worried. Will Ariana be as big as Ed Sheeran and Drake, or will she join the league of such bigger female pop stars as Katy Perry, Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga whom their latest singles and album had been flopped in recent times? I don’t know. I think it will be better for Ariana that her next album after ‘Sweetener’ should be going back to her roots (possibly without the needs and influences of Pharell), like she should have more bangers that her first three albums have enjoyed. Her fans and her critics could have been a lot more satisfied with her next album than all her other albums she released at this moment, and her next album could pave the way for Ariana to become even bigger than before. Anyways, I have to agree with other posters that the album track ’breathe’ should be the next single for Ariana; I like that song a bit. I see that ‘breathe’ already topped the charts at the moment, so I hope her next single should be the bigger hit for her come next month. ;)

Hey Joseph! :hi: I've been looking at your chart for a while and I have followed your playlist on Spotify. I listen to pop music a lot now (though I'm OK listening to other music genres) and I like your chart 'cause you have some decent pop songs on there that sadly never made the real Top 40 charts. I discovered some new younger singers thanks to your chart, and I like them! :wub: Hope you have a good time for summer! I'll probably chat with ya soon. ^_^

I think I'll go for Croatia to win this World Cup. After winning the Round of 16, quarter-final and semi-final matches, I realized that Croatia are doing extremely well - they're really capable enough to defeat their opponents. They took part in the World Cup very seriously to reach the final. To me Croatia is on their way to become a stronger team, on par with the bigger international soccer teams like Germany and Spain. I knew most bookies predicted a win for France, but I expect them to lose the final match. It'll be very surprising for the Croatia if they win the World Cup. I'm watching the Wimbledon Mens' Final right now. I can expect a really long tennis match which may clash with the World Cup final in a few hours time.

Looks like tomorrow will have the biggest sporting event clash in history. The 2018 FIFA World Cup Final - the world's most anticipated global TV event - will take place at the same time as the Wimbledon Mens' Single Final. :o Personally, as a causal sports fan I would rather watch both events at the same time live - the World Cup Final on the TV and the Wimbledon Mens' Singles Final on my tablet - because to me they're the most exciting, with lots of tension and drama. But how about you? Will you watch either the World Cup or Wimbledon finals, or if possible, watch both events live at the same time? :thinking: On a related note, I'm looking forward to watch the Wimbledon Ladies' Final match live on TV today. Yes I know it's happening at the same time as the World Cup 3rd Place match, which to me is mostly irrelevant and uninteresting than the women's tennis one, but still I'll watch both events simultaneously - Kerber vs Williams on TV and England vs Belgium on my tablet. :D

I agree with your points. People who weren't loyal fans of each and every artist wants to listen to the music that matches their situation and mood. Sure people like to listen to EDM and Top 40 stuff when they're in the party, but when they're all tired not only from partying but also all the hard work they've done, they prefer to listen to electronic chillout music, middle-of-the-road ballads or just about any music that makes them cooled down and relaxing. Perhaps that explains why the streaming services who are contributing to the official charts right now are favoured towards the non-music fans who wanted to listen and discover music, as the statistics for people streaming a song/album aren't that accurate. Compare that to the music stores that depend on physical/digital download sales (like iTunes) who favours loyal music fans as buying songs/albums tend to be more accurate than streaming songs/albums. People who discover rappers/hip-hop artists tend to be the non-fans who are streaming their songs, while people who discover pop and EDM artists tend be the fans who are buying their songs. There are more non-fans consuming music than loyal fans which I think that's the reason why the Top 40/100 music changed its focus this year with a shift from pop and EDM to hip-hop/R&B. As you pointed out to me, pop music and urban music are really broad in terms of the many different sounds and styles. But my definition of 'pop music' is the type of pop songs that have been in the Top 40/100 charts and are frequently played in CHR radio stations. Indie pop, 'hipster' pop, any songs in the alternative genre that's sounds 'pop', and pop music that's more chilled down and more soul-based aren't in my definitions of pop music. The 'pop music artists' that's mentioned in my OP, who are making the type of pop music that sounds, or almost sounds, the same between artists and groups, suits my definition of pop music. I can define Ariana Grande, Shawn Mendes, 5 Seconds of Summer and Fifth Harmony as 'pop music', while I define Lorde, Grimes, BANKS, Halsey, Years & Years, Imagine Dragons, Radiohead and Twenty One Pilots as 'alternative music' even though their songs sound 'pop'. I can definite 5SOS' 'Youngblood' and Shawn Mendes' 'In My Blood' as pop, while I define Drake's 'God's Plan' and Cardi B's 'I Like It' as hip-hop even though they have a bit of a pop sound. With regards to urban music, I can count hip-hop, rap, R&B, soul, reggae, 'rhythmic'/'tropical' pop and certain types of dance music (like dubstep) as 'urban'. These 'urban' genres are especially popular in Africa and the Caribbean (and in the black communities across North America and Europe) because they have their roots in African and Caribbean music. (Urban music also have roots in jazz and blues music.) Alongside the rappers who are becoming very popular in the world now, I can see Beyoncé, Rihanna, Chris Brown, Usher, Flo Rida, Seal Paul, Aloe Bacc, Tory Lanez, Pharell Williams and Bruno Mars as 'urban' stars than pop stars, even their songs definitely (or sometimes) sounds more pop to me. Pop artists like Zara Larsson and Bebe Rexha, as well as girl groups like Fifth Harmony, Little Mix, Stooshe and M.O, are having a huge influence on urban music in their songs.

I haven’t been posting on Buzzjack quite often in the last few weeks - I should have been taking part on that forum more actively. But anyways, let me tell you my thoughts on pop music and its future. The years between 2010 and 2016 was an exciting time for pop music. From Justin Bieber to Shawn Mendes, from Ed Sheeran to Charlie Puth, from The Wanted to One Direction, from The Vamps to 5 Seconds of Summer, from Lady Gaga to Katy Perry, from Jessie J to Ariana Grande, from Carly Rae Jepsen to Meghan Trainor, from Miley Cyrus to Taylor Swift, from The Saturdays to Little Mix, these artists always make big, fun and catchy pop bangers that, in my opinion, sounds, looks and feels so young (and never feels mature) compared to other genres. At that time new artists that made pop bangers were prominently promoted on TV, social media, radio and certain music stores (like iTunes), and eventually hit the charts well and went big time. But come 2017 and 2018, the time when the pop-punk sound was virtually non-existent, the time when young people found more interest in electronic music, the time when One Direction (and Fifth Harmony) already split and went for solo careers, the time when the latest albums from Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Taylor Swift went flopped, with streaming going big time (and the decline of physical and digital sales), and with all the big hype for hip-hop/R&B/urban acts thanks to streaming, it seems all the fun and excitement of pop music were cooled down. Apart from Ed Sheeran, Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Dua Lipa, Rita Ora and other certain artists that made Top 40, the hype of pop music and its artists is going to be less than it used to be before. New artists like PRETTYMUCH and HRVY, as well as new songs from existing pop artists like Meghan Trainor and Charlie Puth (and even existing EDM producers like The Chainsmokers and Cheat Codes), seem to be promoted less, were/are struggling to get inside the Top 40/100 and were/are having less impact on the official charts in the US, UK and other parts of the world. I would say that the future of pop music in the next decade would be less pop bangers like it was back in the 00’s. Remember the pop bangers in the late 90’s and early 00’s with acts like Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Spice Girls, Backstreet Boys and Nsync? I think after about 2002 or 3, the charts around the world from that point were more urban/rap songs (and I think in parts of Europe, more dance songs) and less pop bangers until Katy Perry and Lady Gaga came in, so I labeled the 00’s as the ‘dark age of pop’. With the likes of Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Post Malone, Kanye West, Cardi B and all other rappers becoming more and more popular thanks to their discoverability on streaming services, and that the charts in the UK, US and other countries are and will soon be filled with mostly hip-hop/R&B/urban songs, I guess we are now entering the dark period of pop music. Of course pop music will not be gone forever and will still be going thanks to the loyal fans of each and every pop act they followed with. Same thing with ‘true’ rock music - it’s still alive and kicking, but it gets less attention from the public now than it used to be (presumably because more and more young people are getting more interested in creating electronic music now that the cost to create a decent-sounding music is getting cheaper). If pop music ever remains in the charts in the future, it’ll be just the extremely well-known pop acts (who I think are/will be mostly solo and female) - the solo male pop acts, boy bands and girl groups will get less attention from the media and the general public outside their loyal fanbase, and their discoverability (from the likes of streaming services, social media and radio) will be harder than the discoverability of hip-hop/R&B/urban acts. It’s a shame that western pop music can’t be on the same level as Asian pop music (especially K-pop) where not only it’s popular just in Asia but also has a cult following in the western countries. Pop music should really be diverse when it comes to the artists themshevles - it should have a diverse range of solo male acts, solo female acts, boy bands and girl groups. That diversity is found in the Asian pop music world (where their artists are heavily promoted and gain more popularity and attention there) but not in the western pop music world (where it’s heavily skewed towards solo female pop acts and where it’s putting less emphasis on solo male acts, boy bands and girl groups from the eyes of the media and the general public). In my view, less diversity of pop music artists means less pop bangers that can make a bigger impact on the general public, the media and the official charts around the world. Apparently pop music made in the West continues to have more interest in Asia and Latin America I think, but the US and the UK - the two countries being the biggest players in the recorded music industry - are having less interest in pop music (save for extremely well-known pop artists) and more interest in hip-hop/R&B/urban music as shown in the Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Official Charts. Even some European countries have more interest in urban music now, but continues to have some interest in pop music and dance music there. Some people have thoughts that pop music is more geared towards kids, teenagers, middle-aged women/housewives and LGBT communities but not appealing to older men (who likes rock music or music from the past decades) and young males (who like hip-hop music). I disagree - pop music, along with all other music genres and styles, should be appealing to everybody in the world, regardless of age, race, gender, religion and disabilty, because every kind of music creates a universal language. There are people who used to like pop country and dance music at a certain point of time/age but are now liking rock and urban music, and vice versa. With music being exposed to each person virtually everywhere - from parents playing their own music to music playing in public places - it really just depends on every person liking each of their own favourite part of music they listen to (genres, artists and songs). From the perspective of casual music listeners, the charts are the one of the best ways to discover recorded music: to discover new artists, to discover new music by existing artists, and to discover the most popular songs of the week. However, what most people don’t know is that the official charts is used to see how the music is evolved through the years and decades, and with music evolving can have a bigger change in people’s taste and lifestyles and a big change in the perception from the media. The genres of pop and EDM are usually doing decent enough through sales, but not enough through streaming, while hip-hop/R&B/urban albums/songs have had a huge advantage for streaming. More and more people are into streaming right now and less into buying songs/albums, and the people who discovered new artists and music through streaming services usually don’t care about what genre they like - they just care about the music that speaks through them. Because of that reality, the official charts are now flooded with songs/albums made by the rappers, and that really is starting to affect the youngest people and people who generally don’t like rap. I believe the kids of today’s generation are already getting used to listening to music that speaks about their problems and struggles in life and about their fascination in mature, juvenile lifestyle (found in rap songs) than to music that speaks about finding relationships and having a pleasant, fun, carefree lifestyle (found in pop and EDM songs). The songs within the official charts that used to be appealing to teenagers (and sometimes pre-teens) in a certain point of time (especially in the late 1990s/early 2000s and early 2010s) are now more appealing to the millennials (like me!). The millennials are the type of young people who are mature enough and I think the mature nature in urban/rap songs is what they are more interested in that genre. So to sum up my opinion, pop music will continue to be made in the future. There will still be loyal fans of pop stars who are awaiting for new music made by them. There will still be new artists and bands/groups who will enter the pop music scene. There will still be some exciting pop bangers in the future. But pop music will be less promoted across the media and will have less prominence in the official charts. New pop music that could be expected to to become a hit will not actually be hitting in the Top 40/100 charts. With urban/rap songs dominating the airwaves from now on, we’ll probably soon enter the dark age of pop music in a few years time. That’s it for my longer opinion post. So, what’s your opinions on the future of pop music? Will the pop music sounds be the same or will it be evolved in a next few years? Will there be less promotion of pop music artists and their songs across the media? Will the general public/Top 40 chart followers care less about pop music (and more into hip-hop/urban/rap music)? Do you think there will still be new artists creating pop music, especially with regards to solo male acts, boy bands and girl groups? Will the diversity of pop music artists/groups/bands be less? Will pop music decline in the next decade? Are we entering through the dark age of pop like it was back in the 2000s? Let me know!

Sorry for the very late post but I watched the ESC Grand Final and it was really great! So far my favourites are Cyprus, Sweden, Ireland, Finland, Norway, Australia, Czechia, Germany, Moldova and Austria - these are the performances that I enjoyed the most. I think the performances of Israel, France, Hungary and UK are just good enough. I love the Portuguese-language music in the opening and interval acts even though they're more like chillout songs. I have no comment about this year's presenters though. When Austria and Sweden top the jury voting results I was expecting Sweden or Austria to win, but when they actually got their public votes lower I was expecting Israel or Cyprus to win. As the presenters were about to reveal the top 2 public voting results I quickly placed my bets on Israel, and just as I expected Israel officially won this year's Eurovision. I understand the mixed reactions to Israel's entry among Eurovision fans and Buzzjack posters, but I feel it's OK to have 'bad songs' to win Eurovision as demonstrated in the past years - you don't need to have a 'recipe' to win Eurovision contrary to what other Eurovision fans has said. At least this year's winners song is more upbeat, catchy and fun than last year's. I know 'Toy' got more YouTube views than any other Eurovision entries this year so I think that makes sense for Israel to win. Congratulations to Netta and her country Israel for having this song (along with her music video and her live performance) go viral on the Internet and eventually ended being a winner for this year's Eurovision. All the other Eurovision participants this year have done their great job to make the Eurovision Song Contest more exciting. Here's hoping for Israel to host the ESC next year.

I'm really looking forward to watch the ESC Grand Final today even though I didn't watch the two semi-finals. I'm so excited to see which country will win this year's Eurovision especially given that there seems to be a decent amount of songs that Eurovision fans claim to be winning the contest. I live in Canada where I think Eurovision seems to generate less interest and hype here (probably the same for other countries that don't broadcast ESC on TV). I'm not a huge Eurovison fan, but I've been following ESC since 2014. I feel that watching Eurovision is very different compared to X Factor, The Voice and other completion reality 'talent' shows. In those talent shows they are more focused on and driven by contestants, whereas in ESC they are driven by both the songs and the countries who are competing Eurovision. I especially like the fact the singers and their songs are represented by individual countires, and if a country wins Eurovision there is a sense of national pride and unity. The Eurovision songs and their live performances have broader themes (and of course some strange gimmicks!) than in most singing competition shows because every aspect of ESC delves into issues that tackle our society in the world of today - especially the portrayal of LGBT singers that took part in Eurovision. To me the Eurovision songs (and its singers) are a bit niche and I don't think they will impact the music charts around the world except in Europe. But the fact that Eurovision has a very unique multinational singing competition format, is the most watched entrainment show in Europe, and is the world's longest running singing competition on TV, meant that the ESC pretty much have the cult following among audiences around the world outside Europe - and so do I. Right now I don't have any favourite Eurovision songs/performances of this year (especially that I don't have my own chosen winner for Eurovision 2018 and that I can't vote for Eurovision because I'm living in Canada), but I'll probably tell my reactions to the ESC Grand Final after watching it. Good luck to all the singers who took part in Eurovision 2018 and to all Buzzjack posters for keeping the Eurovision discussion alive.

Me too. I enjoyed that song. I can't wait to hear the rest of their songs on their new album!

Just listened to Ariana's new single and it is fantastic. The title may look like a sad song ballad to me, but the music, lyrics and chorus indeed turns out to be very catchy and have an uptempo vibe. The music video is absolutely brilliant - it really is very creative just like any other great music video. I like the special effects being well-executed (especially the skyscraper buildings and the part where Ariana's face is 'blanked') and I also like Ariana's new 'blonde' look. The only downside in that music video is the presence of men holding umbrellas - are they're necessary to show up for Ariana? Other than that I hope the latest song from Ariana Grande does extremely well deserved to be a hit - it does scream #1 to me and will be at the top of the official charts around the world in the coming weeks. 'No Tears Left To Cry' is an excellent tribute to the Manchester Arena attack last year (along with 'One Last Time') and will be a big achievement for Ariana this year. The streaming era we live now might be a tough one for Ariana Grande to be at the top of the charts, but after everything she did at the One Love Manchester concert, with her rapidly growing fanbase I think she might be going to be as huge as Drake and Ed Sheeran, and for her new song to get a #1 would result in having a bigger impact on her fans, the media and the music community in general. I hope her future singles would go well and not get flopped like Katy Perry and Taylor Swift did with their latest singles. I would like to say a big thanks to Ariana Grande for bringing out great new music and for her hard efforts. I hope she does well in the charts soon.