Xposition - December, 2016

Attention!!!

December kicked-off with the highly anticipated 2017 Grammy nominations with Beyonce leading the bill with 9 nods including Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Music Video. Drake is close behind with 8 nominations. The nominations for the four big awards are:

1.      Record of the Year
Adele – Hello
Beyonce – Formation
Lukas Graham – 7 Years
Rihanna ft. Drake – Work
Twenty One Pilots – Stressed out
2.      Album of the Year
Adele – 25
Beyonce – Lemonade
Justin Bieber – Purpose
Drake – Views
Sturgill Simpson – A Sailor’s Guide to Earth
3.      Song of the Year
Formation (Beyonce)
Hello (Adele)
I Took a Pill in Ibiza (Mike Posner)
Love Yourself (Justin Bieber)
7 Years (Lukas Graham)
4.      Best New Artist
Kelsea Ballerini
The Chainsmokers
Chance the Rapper
Maren Morris
Anderson .Paak

The BBC Music Awards had its second edition this year with the top honours going to Adele. The winners are:
  • Song of the Year: Adele – Hello
  • BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge Performance of the Year: 1975 – What Makes You Beautiful (One Direction Cover)
  • Introducing Artist of the Year: Izzy Bizu
  • British Artist of the Year: Coldplay
  • BBC Radio 2 Album of the Year: Adele – 25
Meanwhile, Rag N’ Bone Man fended off competition from Dua Lipa and Anne Marie to grab the coveted BRIT’s Critics’ Choice Award for 2017. He is the tenth recipient of this award which includes past winners such as Ellie Goulding, Sam Smith and Emeli Sande.

December is also the time when the much anticipated year-end charts are revealed. This year Justin Bieber leads the 2016 Billboard Year-End Hot 100 with his mega hit Love Yourself. Adele however rules the Billboard Top Artist as well as the Billboard Year-End 200 with her album 25.  The top 10 are:
1.       Justin Bieber – Love yourself
2.       Justin Bieber – Sorry
3.       Drake ft. Wizkid & Kyla – One dance
4.       Rihanna ft. Drake – Work
5.       Twenty One Pilots – Stressed out
6.       Desiigner – Panda
7.       Adele – Hello
8.       The Chainsmokers ft. Daya – Don’t let me down
9.       Justin Timberlake – Can’t stop the feeling!
10.   The Chainsmokers ft. Halsey – Closer

The UK also released their year-end list the Official Top 40 Biggest Songs of 2016 with Drake’s One Dance which broke multiple chart records during the year including staying at the top for 15 weeks and tying for the second longest consecutive stay at No.1. The top 10 are:
1.       Drake ft. Wizkid & Kyla – One dance
2.       Lukas Graham – 7 Years
3.       Sia – Cheap thrills
4.       Mike Posner – I took a pill in Ibiza
5.       Calvin Harris ft. Rihanna – This is what you came for
6.       Zara Larsson – Lush life
7.       The Chainsmokers ft. Halsey – Closer
8.       Justin Bieber – Love yourself
9.       Rihanna ft. Drake – Work
10.   Justin Timberlake – Can’t stop the feeling!

The biggest shock of the month was when Camila Cabello from Fifth Harmony left the group to pursue her solo career. In an alleged pre-emptive strike Ally Brooke, Normani Kordei, Dinah Jane Hansen and Lauren Jauregui informed on twitter that they had been informed by Camila’s representatives that she had decided to leave the group but that they would continue as a foursome. Camila via her twitter account announced that she never meant to leave this way and was unaware of her former bandmates was going to release the statement. As the saga unfolded it was clear that all the signs pointed to Camila’s departure as the pleas of the other four fell on deaf ears as well as her two collaborations as a solo artist with Shawn Mendes and Machine Gun Kelly both becoming big hits.

The X-Factor 2016 crowned Matt Terry as its winner in its 13th edition mentored by Nicole Scherzinger. This year the competition was stiff where Terry beat runner-up Finnish Saara Alto in an explosive finale. However, the winner’s single When Christmas Comes Around was released after the results were announced and was not performed during the competition. The single penned by Ed Sheeran however, failed to grab the top spot in the UK and only managed to peak at No.3.

Speaking of girl bands, former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham aka Posh Spice is to be made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s New Year Honour’s List. Even in its final days 2016 managed to take away another pop star from music and this time its George Michael who passed away from heart failure at the age of 53.

Moving onto chart news, in the US Rae Sremmurd featuring Gucci Mane’s Black Beatles remained at the top during the whole month fueled by the Mannequin Challenge videos that continued to flood social media. Other songs which entered the top 10 include Zayn & Taylor Swift’s I Don’t Wanna Live Forever taken from the Fifty Shades Darker soundtrack and J.Cole’s De Javu.

In the UK, Clean Bandit featuring Anne Marie and Sean Paul’s Rockabye reigned supreme during the month and earned the coveted Christmas No.1. Meanwhile, Little Mix’s Touch peaked at No.4, Steve Aoki & Louis Tomlinson’s Just Hold On and Rag N’ Bone Man’s Human peaked at No.2 during the month.

Other songs which became popular during the month were:

1.       Sean Paul ft. Dua Lipa – No lie
2.       Little Mix ft. Charlie Puth – Oops
3.       David Guetta & Cedric Gervais ft. Chris Willis – Would I lie to you 
4.       The Weeknd ft. Daft Punk – I feel it coming
5.       Robin Schulz & David Guetta ft. Cheat Codes - Shed a light 

Till the next beat...

At Ease!!!

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