Summer has come and gone and
Drake’s One Dance clearly ruled the roost. What will be interesting to see is
if the gargantuan hit will close 2016 as the year-end No.1. It does seem to
have stiff competition from Sia’s Cheap Thrills, Justin Bieber’s Love Yourself,
Rihanna’s Work and The Chainsmokers’ Closer.
The Voice UK has announced its
judges for the 2017 edition. Fan favorite Sir Tom Jones is back along with new
comers lead singer from the rock band Bush Gavin Rossdale and Academy Award
winner and American Idol alumni Jennifer Hudson.
The award season is once again
upon us as BBC Radio 1 Teen Awards 2016 was held in October. Taylor Swift,
Shawn Mendes, The Vamps and Adele were among the big winners:
·
Most Entertaining Celeb – Taylor Swift
·
Best International Group – 5 Seconds of Summer
·
Best British Group – The Vamps
·
Best British Solo Artist – Adele
·
Best International Solo Artist: Shawn Mendes
·
Best Single: Shawn Mendes – Stitches
The 2016 MTV Europe Music
Awards nominations have been released with Beyonce and Justin Bieber leading
the pack with five nods each. Rihanna, Adele and Coldplay have four nods each.
For best song we have heavyweights Adele’s Hello, Bieber’s Sorry, and Rihanna’s
Work against underdogs Lukas Graham’s 7 Years and Mike Posner’s I Took A Pill
in Ibiza.
Next up the 2016 American
Music Awards nominations were released with Drake breaking a 32-year record for
the most number of nominations with 13 nods, beating Michael Jackson’s previous
high mark of 11 from 1984. If he wins any of the categories it will make his
first win. Rihanna was just behind Drake with 7 nominations followed by Adele
and Justin Bieber with 5 nods each.
Lily Allen was at the
receiving end of a rampage of social media and mainstream media backlash as she
apologized on behalf of UK to a youth refugee from Afghanistan while visiting
Calais Jungle camp. Allen who took a break from recording her next album,
visited the refugee camp in France and during an interview with a 13-year old
broke down and said “We’ve bombed your country, put you in the hands of the
Taliban and now put you in danger of risking your life to get into our country.
I apologize on behalf of my country. I’m sorry for what we have put you
through.” The backlash centered on how she is privileged wealthy and that these
are crocodile tears coupled by that she cannot apologize on behalf of UK as she
can only represent herself.
At the 11th Annual
Billboard Women in Music Madonna will be felicitated as Billboard’s 2016 Woman
of the Year. She achieves this accolade after she extended her record as the
highest grossing female touring artist of all time with her recently concluded
Rebel Heart tour. She also continues her reign as the best-selling female
recording artist of all time.
The 2016 Nobel Prize for
Literature, the last of the esteemed Nobel Prize to be awarded in the calendar
was bestowed on Bob Dylan. This marks the first time the prize has been awarded
to someone primarily seen as a musician.
Meanwhile, Selena Gomez
cancelled the remaining dates on her Revival tour as she checked into a rehab
facility outside Nashville, Tennessee to deal with her anxiety, panic attacks
and depression. The singer also suffers from lupus and went into rehab in 2014
to treat her auto immune disease.
Probably the best news of the
month came at the end as ABBA, one of the best-selling musical acts of all time
have announced a reunion. The quartet is to return in 2018 and according to sources
will be a groundbreaking venture using the latest digital and virtual
technology.
Moving onto chart news, in the
US the Chainsmokers’ featuring Halsey’s Closer reigned supreme throughout the
month accumulating altogether 9 weeks at the top and tying for the highest
number of weeks at the top alongside Drake’s One Dance. The duo’s collaboration
seems unstoppable as the song topped all three formats of the Billboard Hot 100
– Radio, Sales and Streaming. The Weeknd featuring Daft Punk’s Starboy, DJ
Snake featuring Justin Bieber’s Let Me Love You, Gnash featuring Olivia O’
Brien’s I Hate U I Love U, Ariana Grande featuring Nicki Minaj’s Side to Side
and D.R.A.M. featuring Lil Yachty’s Broccoli all entered the top 10 during the
month.
Throughout October people were
dancing to the PPAP Song by Pikotaro. This song also known as the Pen Pineapple
Apple Pen Song reached monumental viral status as it was trending throughout
the month. As a result of the popularity it reached No.77 on the Billboard Hot
100 and became the shortest song on the chart’s history with a length of only
45 seconds.
In the UK, James Arthur ended
The Chainsmokers’ rule with his comeback hit Say You Won’t Let Go which ruled
for three weeks before being overthrown by Little Mix’s Shout Out To My Ex, the
lead single taken from their newest album Glory Days. Throughout the month, Bruno
Mars’ 24K, The Weeknd’s Starboy and Hailee Steinfeld’s Starving and Niall
Horan’s This town all entered the top 10.
Other songs which became
popular during the month were:
- Zay Hilfiger & Zayion McCall – Juju on that beat (TZ anthem)
- Fifth Harmony – That’s my girl
- Alessia Cara – Scars to your beautiful
- Rihanna – Love on the brain
- The Chainsmokers ft. Phoebe Ryan – All we know
- Shawn Mendes – Mercy
Till the next beat...
At Ease!!!
