Xposition - December 2013

Attention!!!

December was of course really dreary compared to November. But when December comes everyone reminisces what happened throughout the year. Twerking, controversial songs and controversial videos we had it all. Although the music scene was pretty inactive, the charts proved otherwise. There was intense competition for the Christmas No. 1 in the UK. Under Control by Calvin Harris & Alesso ft. Hurts peaked in the first week while Lily Allen with her cover of Keane's Somewhere Only We Know snatched the number 1 spot once more and held on for two weeks. However, ultimately it was X-Factor winner Sam Bailey's cover of Demi Lovato's Skycraper that claimed the throne in the Christmas week. This was soon overthrown by Pharrell Williams' Happy in the final week.

In the US Lorde's Royals held on for its dear life in the first week as Miley Cyrus' Wrecking Ball repeaked in the second week. However, it was Eminem's The Monster which features Rihanna that held on for the last two weeks in December. Beyonce's fifth studio album titled Beyonce was released and its lead single XO was released which may or may not be a hit as it could go either way with fans and critics. One Direction's newest album Midnight Memories also peaked both in the US and UK during the month. Pitbull ft. Ke$ha's Timber has been struggling at No.2 in the US while it is anticipated to hit UK by full force in 2014 when it will be released in the first week of January.

Moving onto the year-end charts. It was not Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke but Thrift Shop by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis that claimed the top spot in the Billboard Year-End Hot 100 Singles of 2013. Blurred Lines was second while Imagine Dragons' Radioactive was third. The other top seven singles are:

4. Baauer - Harlem shake

5. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis ft. Ray Dalton - Can't hold us 

6. Justin Timberlake - Mirrors

7. Pink ft. Nate Ruess - Just give me a reason

8. Bruno Mars - When I was your man

9. Florida Georgia Line ft. Nelly - Cruise

10. Katy Perry - Roar

Some of the surprises on this list was that Daft Punk's Get Lucky, Lorde's Royals or Miley Cyrus' Wrecking Ball failed to make the top 10. 

The biggest selling singles of 2013 in the UK was also released and Robin Thicke claimed the top spot while Daft Punk's Get Lucky was No.2. Avicii was No.3 with Wake me up and surprisingly Passenger claimed 4th place with let her go. The other top 6 singles are:

5. Naughty Boy ft. Sam Smith - La La La

6. Katy Perry - Roar

7. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis ft. Wanz - Thrift shop

8. Pink ft. Nate Ruess - Just give me a reason

9. OneRepublic - Counting stars

10. Justin Timberlake - Mirrors

Some of the surprises on this list was that Ellie Goulding's Burn, Will.I.Am's Scream & Shout and Bruno Mars' When I was your man failed to crack the top dozen. An interesting thing is that other than for Robin Thicke and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Katy Perry, Justin Timberlake and Pink all were able to claim top spots both in the UK and US year-end charts. 

Some of the other good songs released in December are:

1. Avicii - Hey Brother
2. Jason Derulo - Trumpets
3. Leona Lewis - One more sleep
4. McFly - Love is on the radio
5. Great Big World & Christina Aguilera - Say something 

At Ease!!!

Naughtiest Songs of All Time

Attention!!!

Not all songs are about love and neither are the rest about heartbreak. There is a particular small niche that is lyrically explicit and downright cheeky. They are mostly about sex, wanting to have sex or anything related to sex. Some of us may not like these mischievous songs and some might even go to the extent of condemning these songs, but I like these dirty or naughty songs as you may call them whatever. Besides most of these songs are hits on the charts, which goes to show that I am definitely not alone in this world. So here are the songs which I think are the dirtiest and naughtiest of them all. 

1. 50 Cent – Candy shop
2. Pink – Fingers
3. Inner Circle – Sweat (La la la la long)
4. Lil Wayne – Lollipop
5. Nicki Minaj – Anaconda 
6. Lily Allen – Not fair
7. Eminem – Ass like that
8. Robin Thicke ft. Pharrell & T.I. – Blurred lines
9. Katy Perry – I kissed a girl
10. Black Eyed Peas – My humps
11. E-Rotic – Help me Dr.Dick
12. Enrique ft. Ludacris – Tonight (I’m fucking you)
13. Pink – U + ur hand
14. Nelly – Hey Porsche
15. Sisquo – Thong song
16. Kelis – Milkshake
17. Snoop Dogg ft. David Guetta – Sweat
18. Britney Spears – 3
19. Sir Mix-a-Lot – Baby got back
20. Salt N’ Pepa – Push it
21. Rihanna ft. Britney Spears – S&M
22. Mohombi – In your bed
23. E-Rotic – Fred come to bed
24. Kevin Lyttle – Turn me on
25. Fergie – London bridge
26. Jeremih – Birthday sex
27. New Boyz ft. The Cataracs & Dev – Backseat
28. Akon ft. Eminem – Smack that
29. Pussycat Dolls – Buttons
30. LL Cool J ft. Jennifer Lopez – Control myself
31. Usher – Scream
32. R.Kelly – Bump n’ grind
33. Madcon ft. Ameerah – Freaky like me
34. Taio Cruz ft. Ke$ha – Dirty picture
35. Lily Allen – Hard out here
36. Beyonce – Naughty girl
37. Justin Timberlake – SexyBack
38. Britney Spears – I’m a slave 4 u
39. Mohombi – Bumpy ride
40. Salt N’ Pepa – Let’s talk about sex
41. Jason Derulo ft. 2 Chainz – Talk dirty
42. Akon – I wanna fuck you
43. David Guetta ft. Nicki Minaj – Turn me on
44. Nelly – Hot in herre  
45. NWA – She swallowed it
46. Wynter Gordon – Dirty talk
47. T-Pain – Take your shirt off
48. Vengaboys – Boom, boom, boom, boom
49. Ginuwine – Pony
50. Natalia Kills – Mirrors
51. Jason Derulo ft. Snoop Dogg – Wiggle 
52. Shaggy ft. Sean Paul – Hey! Sexy lady

Til the next beat…

At Ease!!!

Xposition - August 2013

Attention!!!

Well August has been a very interesting month for the music industry and we have the much anticipated theatrical MTV Video Music Awards to discuss about as well as the usual charts and news. 

The 30th MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) was held on August 25, 2013 in New York and the Video of the Year went to Justin Timberlake for his exceptional work on "Mirrors". However, the showstopper was none other than Hannah Montana gone bad Miley Cyrus as her performance of We Can't Stop mashed up with Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines and the twerking that ensued drew varying comments from social media and fellow artistes which were either highly critical or entertaining. I of course believe that a personality with an influence of such magnitude among young girls and boys should have literally kept her nude underwear in her pants. This sudden drastic hair chopping change of Cyrus won't hopefully influence the already deteriorating generation in the US by advocating partying, drugs and experimenting with sexual orientation. Although she and Robin Thicke were nominated for four awards each, neither won in any category. 

The other amusing drama at the VMAs was the neverending saga of Taylor Swift vs. Harry Styles. After the infamous breakup between Swift and Styles, Swift went on to write We are never ever getting back together and I knew you were trouble inspired from the bitter heartbreak she suffered. However, this was not a waste as her biggest singles up to date are those two as well. Although Swift did not perform at the VMAs during her acceptance speech for the Best Female Video (I knew you were trouble) she said "I also want to thank the person who inspired this song, because he knows exactly who he is, because now I've got one of these". However, even before this when the Best Pop Video was being presented by One Direction, Swift mouthed the words "Shut the Fuck Up" to Selena Gomez  who smiled awkwardly and moments later Gomez went on stage to accept her award for Come and Get It. 

Other performers at the ceremony included Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars, Katy Perry and Justin Timberlake with a surprise entrance by former fellow band mates of 'N Sync who performed a mashup of Girlfriend and Bye, Bye, Bye. Some of the other award winners worth mentioning are:

Best Male Video: Bruno Mars - Locked out of heaven

Artist to Watch: Austin Mahone - What about love

Best Rock Video: 30 Seconds to Mars - Up in the air

Best Hip-Hop Video: Macklemore and Ryan Lewis ft. Ray Dalton - Can't hold us

Best Collaboration: Pink ft. Nate Ruess - Just give me a reason

Best Song of the Summer: One Direction - Best song ever

Moving on to the UK Charts the first week was dominated by Avicii with Wake me Up only to be replaced by Miley Cyrus with We Can't Stop. Thereafter Ellie Goulding moved onto No.1 with her new single Burn which would hang on to this position even in early September. Burn is a great synthpop song with brilliant vocals by Goulding. However, Goulding will meet her match as Katy Perry's Roar will enter the charts on September 1, 2013.

In the US Billboard Hot 100 Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines has been reigning supreme for the past 11 weeks. No doubt it will end up as the Year End Numero Uno. Katy Perry's Roar has been struggling at No.2 but will possibly surpass the "Lines" once her video comes out. However, one thing that we should all should be glad about is that One Direction's Best Song Ever failed to claim the No.1 spot in the UK or the US. Lady Gaga's Applause failed to impress anyone except for her ardent fan base as the song fell short of peaking either in the UK or US. We will just have to wait and see if her latest album Artpop will produce anything at all along the lines of Poker Face or Just Dance. 

Other songs worth mentioning that made the Top 10 in either the UK or US in the past month are:

Zedd ft. Foxes - Clarity

Anna Kendrick - Cups (Pitch Perfect OST)

Capital Cities - Safe and Sound

Lana Del Rey and Cedric Gervais - Summertime Sadness

Klangkarussell ft. Will Heard - Sonnentanz (Sun don't shine)

DJ Fresh and Diplo ft. Dominique Young Unique - Earthquake

Sean Paul - Other side of love

The Wanted - We own the night

Tinie Tempah ft. 2 Chainz - Trampoline

Naughty Boy ft. Emeli Sande - Lifted

Til the next Beat...

At Ease!!!

Xposition - July 2013

Attention!!!

It's time for the second Xposition. This time there's news about albums, songs and chart performance as well as some interesting news. 

First of all the much awaited album of Lady Gaga Artpop is to be released in November. The first single "Applause" is to be released on the 19th of August and there is I believe more than enough hype about the single. Although Gaga's first two albums The Fame and The Fame Monster were awesome Born this Way fell short of what was expected of the diva. It is now understood that Gaga has her own fan base and not all of us belong to this niche.  

Selena Gomez's album Stars Dance will top the Billboard 200 Album Chart next week as it will dethrone Jay-Z with his Magna Carta... Holy Grail. Details of Katy Perry's new album and its release date came out in a most amusing way as a gold truck with the words Katy Perry - Prism - 10-22-13 passed through Los Angeles. We will have to wait till the 22nd of October to see and hear what the pandemonium is about.

It was creativity at its peak in Boom, Belgium as the electronic artistes took centre stage in Tomorrowland 2013. Our favourite DJs such as David Guetta, Tiesto, Knife Party and Nicky Romero and a host of others were the headliners at the festival. It was crazy for the organizers as the passes were sold out in 35 minutes and the rest of the tickets in an hour. 

"I like you, I want you, I want you to be mine", said DJ Khaled as he proposed to Nicki Minaj with a 10 Karat Rock on the 25th of July. He also dropped a new song "I wanna be with you" which was clearly intended for Nicki and it also features her, Future and Rick Ross. 

Lindsay Lohan is out of rehab after three months of court mandated treatment as part of a plea deal in a traffic case. Her new movie The Canyons is to premiere in August and she will also be the subject of an exclusive eight-episode documentary series done by Oprah Winfrey's network. 

On July 24, 2013 former Nickelodean star Amanda Bynes was hospitalized under a mental health evaluation hold after allegedly starting a small fire in the driveway of a stranger's house. After the initial 3 day involuntary hold expired her parents requested a California judge to extend their daughter's hospitalization for two more weeks which was granted.

It has been an interesting month with I Love It by Icona Pop ft. Charlie XCX topping the UK Singles Chart in the first week. The song was anyway a hit in the US and it has a different type of catchy rhythm quite distinct from the usual electropop tracks nowadays.

This was followed by John Newman's Love me Again in the second week which was dethroned by Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines again. The latter does not seem to give up its hold at the top so easily. One Direction's Best Song Ever, which is as annoying as their other songs could not amazingly surpass the popularity of Avicci's Wake Me Up which stormed the charts in the third week and it appears that it will remain in this position in the first week of August as well. 

Some of the other new songs worth mentioning that came out in July in the UK are:

1. Wanted - Walks like Rihanna

2. Saturdays - Gentleman

3. Jay-Z ft. Justin Timberlake - Holy Grail

4. Selena Gomez - Come and Get it

5. Avril Lavigne - Here's to never growing up

In the US the Billboard Hot 100 not much movement was recorded with Blurred Lines ruling the scene alongside Miley Cyrus's We Can't Stop, Daft Punk's Get Lucky and Imagine Dragons' Radioactive. However, Jay-Z's Holy Grail seems to be performing much better in the US than in the UK with the track climbing the chart to No. 7. In the US too One Direction failed to grab the No.1 slot with their Best Song Ever as it debuted at No.2. However, we will have to see if they will peak in the US and UK in the coming weeks. 

Til the next beat...

At ease!!!

Xposition - June 2013

Attention all, it's time for the Xposition!!!

An exposition in music is the first section of a movement written in sonata form, introducing the melodies and themes. In my blog the Xposition would be the analysis of the charts at the end of the month as well as some exciting news from the music scene. 

Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke ft. T.I. and Pharrell held on to No. 1 for quite a number of weeks on both the UK Charts as well as the Billboard Hot 100. The highest entry to the UK Charts is The Other Side by Jason Derulo which I believe hoped for Numero Uno but fell short by couple of hundred singles. No new entrants to the first 50 in the Billboard Hot 100 although a few changes in between.

Dizzee Rascal makes a return to the charts, this time debuting at Number 5 for his song Goin' Crazy featuring Robbie Williams. Andrea Begley won the UK version of the Voice Season 2 but her winning song cover of Sarah Mclachlan's Angel did not even chart although her version of Evanescence's My Immortal debuted at 75. Interesting thing is Leah McFall and Mike Ward who were the Runners-Up both have their singles higher up the charts with their songs Gloria Gaynor's I will survive and Bruno Mars' When I was your man respectively. 

Meanwhile Miley Cyrus who is made her return with We Can't Stop has landed the cover of the Billboard magazine. It appears that Miley Cyrus has indeed crept out of her father's shadow and shed the Hannah Montana persona into a more vivacious Rihanna/Ke$ha outfit. Let's hope she doesn't take a plunge like Lindsey or Britney though, and we all know that Billy Ray Cyrus has now filed for divorce from his wife ending a 19 year marriage, which could affect his daughter deeply. 

Songs that haven't performed as well as they have expected are:

1. Jennifer Lopez ft. Pitbull - Live it up

2. Will.I.Am ft. Justin Bieber - #that Power

3. Demi Lovato - Heart Attack

Despite the hype these singles created they have not actually performed as much as the producers expected, though this might be because of Robin Thicke, Daft Punk and Naughty Boy, not to forget Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and Pink.  

In the Albums Chart news in the UK we have Kanye West with Yeezus which peaked and in the US Black Sabbath after 43 years returns to the top with 13. 

Although one would have expected Jennifer Lopez to have gotten a Hollywood Star by now it was only now that she received the honour of a star down the famous Walk of Fame in Hollywood. It is also significant for her as she is the 2500th celebrity to receive it. 

Til the next beat...

At Ease!!!