Xposition - January 2015

Attention!!!

The dawn of the new year brings hope for music, from the setback which the industry suffered last year at the hands of pop which had invaded the mainstream. The year started off with the 72nd Golden Globe Awards wherein the Best Original Song was won by Glory by Common and John Legend featured in the film Selma. The Best Original Score was awarded to Johann Johannsson for The Theory of Everything. 

The 20th Critics' Choice Awards was also presented in January where the Best Score was awarded to Antonio Sanchez for Birdman and the Best Song once again going to Glory. The nominations for the 87th Academy Awards were announced on 15th January 2015 in which the nominations for Best Original Score are Alexandre Desplat for The Grand Budapest Hotel, Alexandre Desplat for The Imitation Game, Hans Zimmer for Interstellar and Johann Johannsson for The Theory of Everything. The nominations for the Best Original Song are:

• Everything is Awesome from The Lego Movie by Shawn Patterson
• Glory from Selma by Common and John Legend
• Grateful from Beyond the Lights by Diane Warren
• I'm Not Gonna Miss You from Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me by Glen Campbell and Julian Raymond
• Lost Stars from Begin Again by Gregg Alexander and Danielle Brisebois

Whilst the Golden Globes are a precursor to the Oscars, that would mean Johann Johannsson and Common and John Legend would win in the respective categories, but this has not always been the case.

The charts all over the world were uneventful as they were recovering from the hangover of 2014 and January 2015 was dealing with the dregs of December 2014. Taylor Swift's Blank Space continued her reign in the US Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks after which Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars' overrated Uptown Funk took over and stayed at the top for the remainder of the month. Ed Sheeran's Thinking Out Loud reached No.2 whilst Nick Jonas's Jealous also climbed to No.7. Maroon 5's newest single debuted at No.8 becoming the band's 11th top ten hit in the US. 

In the UK Ronson's Uptown Funk opened the year at the helm and remained at the peak for the entire month. Only an artist and/or group that is equally influential as Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars would be able to dethrone this track. During the month Philip George's Wish You Were Here, Hozier's Take Me To Church and Meghan Trainor's Lips Are Movin' all peaked at No.2 and Alesso ft. Tove Lo's Heroes (We Could Be) peaked at No.6. 

Other songs which became popular during the month are:

• Avicii - The nights
• Taylor Swift - Style
• Nicki Minaj ft. Drake, Lil Wayne & Chris Brown - Only
• Beyonce - 7/11
• Flo Rida ft. Sage The Gemini & Lookas - G.D.F.R.
• Fifth Harmony - Sledgehammer 

Till the next beat…

At Ease!!!

Xposition - December 2014

Attention!!!

December is course that time of the year where you analyze the sales, the streams and the radio plays to compile those much awaited year end lists of the best hits of the year. The most significant among these is the Billboard Year-End Hot 100. This year the list calculated data from December 7, 2013 to November 29, 2014 and therefore Taylor Swift's Blank Space will not be part of the list. So the top 10 of this year are:

1. Pharrell Williams - Happy
2. Katy Perry ft. Juicy J - Dark Horse
3. John Legend - All of Me
4. Iggy Azalea ft. Charli XCX - Fancy
5. OneRepublic - Counting Stars
6. Jason Derulo ft. 2 Chainz - Talk Dirty
7. MAGIC! - Rude
8. Meghan Trainor - All About That Bass
9. Ariana Grande ft. Iggy Azalea - Problem
10. Sam Smith - Stay With Me

From last year we have top hits still on the list such as:

• Avicii - Wake Me Up
• Miley Cyrus - Wrecking Ball
• Katy Perry - Roar
• Imagine Dragons - Radioactive
• Robin Thicke ft. Pharell & T.I. - Blurred Lines
• Naughty Boy ft. Sam Smith - La La La
• Lorde - Royals

In the UK the Official Top 100 Biggest Songs of 2014 were also released. And the top 10 are:

1. Pharrell Williams - Happy
2. Clean Bandit ft. Jess Glynne - Rather Be
3. John Legend - All of Me
4. Mr.Probz - Waves
5. Ed Sheeran - Thinking Out Loud
6. Ella Henderson - Ghost
7. Sam Smith - Stay With Me
8. Meghan Trainor - All About That Bass
9. Pitbull ft. Kesha - Timber 
10. George Ezra - Budapest

It is interesting to note that Happy topped both the charts in UK and US and that All of Me and All About That Bass is No.3 and No.8 respectively. However, it is clear that both year-end chart top tens are heavily influenced by mainstream pop. 

The nominations for the Grammy Awards 2015 were also announced in December, altogether 83 awards, one more than in 2014. Iggy Azalea's Fancy, Sia' Chandelier, Sam Smith's Stay With Me, Taylor Swift's Shake It Off and Meghan Trainor's All About That Bass are all nominated for the Record of Year. With the exclusion of Fancy the other four are competing alongside Hozier's Take Me To Church for Song of the Year. Iggy Azalea, Bastille, Brandy Clark, HAIM and Sam Smith are all vying for Best New Artist. 

Victoria's Secret Fashion Show 2014 was held in December and the coveted spots to perform went to Taylor Swift, Hozier, Ariana Grande and Ed Sheeran. Taylor Swift performed her chart topping Blank Space and her new single Style. Ariana Grande performed a medley of her hits Problem, Break Free, Bang Bang and Love Me Harder. Ed Sheeran performed Thinking Out Loud and Hozier performed Take Me To Church. 

The charts during December did not have many changes as Taylor Swift's Blank Space continued its reign at the top spot in the US throughout the month and will probably continue for some time in January 2015 as well. Selena Gomez's The Heart Wants What It Wants entered the top 10 at No.6 gaining a boost by her heartrending performance at the American Music Awards and Meghan Trainor's second hit Lips Are Movin' also climbed to No.4. We will just have to wait and see whether singer is capable of producing two consecutive top hits. Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars' Uptown Funk entered the top 10 and also Ed Sheeran's Thinking Out Loud which had already topped the charts in the UK.

In the UK Take That's These Days claimed the top spot for the first week of December and in the second week Sheeran's Thinking Out Loud returned to number one after a lapse of four weeks.  Ronson's Uptown Funk was at the top for the third week only to be replaced by Ben Haenow's cover of Something I Need which was the Christmas Number One. This is not a big surprise as last year too the X-Factor winner's crowning song claimed the Christmas Number One. Union J's You Got It All, One Direction's Night Changes and Olly Murs ft. Demi Lovato's Up also entered the top 10 during the month. 

Other songs which became popular during the month were:

• James Newton Howard ft. Jennifer Lawrence - The Hanging Tree
• Tove Lo - Over 
• Alesso ft. Tove Lo - Heroes (We Could Be)
• Pitbull ft. Ne-Yo - Time of Our Lives
• Milky Chance - Stolen Dance
• Ariana Grande - Santa Tell Me
• OneRepublic - I Lived
• Nicki Minaj ft. Skylar Grey - Bed of Lies

Till the next beat…

At Ease!!!

Xposition - November 2014

Attention!!!

November was indeed fantastic month for the music industry with three major awards ceremonies and the charts around the world being reformed. The 2014 Country Music Association Awards AKA the CMAs was held on November 5, 2014 and hosted by Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood. Miranda Lambert was the lead nominee with 9 including one for the Entertainer of the Year and she also made history when she won her eleventh award of the evening making her the most awarded female artist in CMA history. Some of the big awards of the night included:

• Entertainer of the Year: Luke Bryan
• Album of the Year: Miranda Lambert - Platinum
• Male Vocalist of the Year: Blake Shelton
• Female Vocalist of the Year: Miranda Lambert
• Vocal Group of the Year: Little Big Town
• Vocal Duo of the Year: Florida Georgia Line
• Single of the Year: Miranda Lambert - Automatic
• Music Video of the Year: Dierks Bentley - Drunk on a Plane

The 15th Annual Latin Grammy Awards was held on November 20, 2014. Eduardo Cabra led the nominations with 10 each whilst Joan Manuel Serrat was honored with Person of the Year. The other big wins of the night included:

• Record of the Year: Jorge Drexier ft. Ana Tijoux - Universos Paralelos
• Album of the Year: Paco de Lucia - Cancion Andaluza
• Song of the Year: Enrique Iglesias ft. Descemer Bueno & Gente de Zona - Bailando
• Producer of the Year: Sergio George
• Best Short Form Music Video: La Vida Boheme - Flamingo
• Best New Artist: Marianne Vega

The 42nd American Music Awards, the biggest night of US music was held on November 23, 2014 hosted by Pitbull. Iggy Azalea led the nominations with 6 nominations. Taylor Swift opened the main show with a brilliant performance of her global hit, Blank Space. Other great performances included Iggy Azalea & Charli XCX of a medley of Fancy and Beg For It, Pitbull & Ne-Yo of a medley of Don't Stop the Party, Fireball and Time of Our Lives, Selena Gomez on The Heart Wants What It Wants and Jessie J, Ariana Grande & Nicki Minaj on Bang Bang. Some of the significant wins were:

• Artist of the Year: One Direction
• Favourite Pop/Rock Male Artist: Sam Smith
• Favourite Pop/Rock Female Artist: Katy Perry
• Favourite Rap/Hip-Hop Artist: Iggy Azalea
• Favourite Soul/R&B Male Artist: John Legend
• Favourite Soul/R&B Female Artist: Beyonce
• Favourite Alternate Artist: Imagine Dragons
• Favourite EDM Artist: Calvin Harris
• Favourite Latin Artist: Enrique Iglesias
• Single of the Year: Katy Perry ft. Juicy J - Dark Horse
• Top Soundtrack: Frozen
• New Artist of the Year: 5 Seconds of Summer
• Dick Clark Award for Excellence: Taylor Swift

In the US, Meghan Trainor's All About That Bass ruled the roost for the first two weeks before being overthrown by Taylor Swift's Shake It Off after struggling at second place for eight weeks when it was initially displaced by Trainor in early September. Shake It Off regained the top spot after Swift's new album 1989 debuted at No.1 on the US Billboard 200. Shake It Off was replaced by Swift's own single Blank Space in the last week of November, where her performance at the AMAs would certainly have helped it to propel it to the top spot. By doing so she became the first female artist to replace herself at number one. We also saw Ed Sheeran's Don't peaking at number 9 and also Ariana Grande ft. The Weeknd's Love Me Harder peaking at Number 7. Meanwhile, Hozier's controversial single Take Me to Church, Sam Smith's I'm Not the Only One and Nick Jonas' Jealous all entered the top 10.

In the UK, Meghan Trainor's All About That Bass remained at the top spot for the first week, but Ed Sheeran with his new single Thinking Out Loud dethroned Trainor, ending her rule in the UK as well. The third week belonged to Cheryl Cole with her second single off the new album I Don't Care. In the fourth week Avicii's Wake Me Up cover by Gareth Malone's All Star Choir took the top spot while Band Aid 30 with Do They Know It's Christmas? reigned in the fifth and final week of the month. Other popular songs in the UK and US over the month of November were:

• Calvin Harris ft. Ellie Goulding - Outside
• The Veronicas - You ruin me
• David Guetta ft. Sam Martin - Dangerous
• Clean Bandit ft. Jess Glynne - Real love
• Olly Murs ft. Travie McCoy - Wrapped up
• Fergie - L.A. Love
• Meghan Trainor - Lips are movin'
• Imagine Dragons - I bet my life

Till the next chord…

At Ease!!!