Xposition - October, 2016

Attention!!!

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:
  1. Zay Hilfiger & Zayion McCall – Juju on that beat (TZ anthem)
  2. Fifth Harmony – That’s my girl 
  3. Alessia Cara – Scars to your beautiful 
  4. Rihanna – Love on the brain 
  5. The Chainsmokers ft. Phoebe Ryan – All we know
  6. Shawn Mendes – Mercy 
Till the next beat...

At Ease!!!

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