Best Love Songs of 2016

Attention!!!

Well, 2016 was not the best when it came to the production of love songs. With the resurgence of Reggae in the form of Dancehall and the mainstream success of EDM, R&B and Rap in the yesteryear Pop songs took a back seat; and without Pop, there's no hope for love songs. There was no fan favourite Thinking Out Loud by Ed Sheeran or a staple wedding song like Wings by Birdy. With the usual love song junkies of Pop out of commission, we will have to make do with whatever that was released last year. However, it is an over-exaggeration to state that there were no good love songs produced as Thomas Rhett's Die a Happy Man is an awesome love song followed by Rihanna's over-the-top yet brilliant Love On The Brain as well as James Arthur's come back mega hit Say You Won't Let Go.

What is quite conspicuous is the fact that genres such as EDM and Dancehall also produced love songs alongside the usual Pop, Country and Soul. Ellie Goulding, Hailee Steinfeld, John Legend, Justin Bieber and Bebe Rexha all have two entries each. So here are the top 25 love songs of 2016:   

1. Thomas Rhett – Die a happy man
2. Rihanna – Love on the brain
3. James Arthur – Say you won’t let go
4. Kenny Chesney ft. Pink – Setting the world on fire
5. Hailee Steinfeld ft. DNCE – Rock bottom
6. Ellie Goulding – Still falling for you
7. Meghan Trainor ft. John Legend – Like I’m gonna lose you
8. Zara Larsson & MNEK – Never forget you
9. Charlie Puth – One call away
10. Nick Jonas ft. Tove Lo – Close
11. John Legend – Love me now
12. Martin Garrix ft. Bebe Rexha – In da name of love
13. Major Lazer ft. Justin Bieber & MØ –  Cold water
14. The Veronicas – In my blood
15. Hailee Steinfeld & Grey ft. Zedd – Starving
16. RedOne ft. Enrique Iglesias, R.City, Shaggy & Serayah – Don’t you need somebody
17. Little Mix ft. Jason Derulo – Secret love song
18. DJ Snake ft. Justin Bieber – Let me love you
19. Bebe Rexha – I got you
20. Florida Georgia Line – H.O.L.Y.
21. Ariana Grande – Into you
22. The Chainsmokers ft. Halsey – Closer
23. Inna – Heaven
24. Sigala ft. Imani & DJ Fresh – Say you do
25. Ellie Goulding – Something in the way you move

Till the next sonnet...

At Ease!!!

Most Successful Artists Who Were Initially Featured

Attention!!!

Not everyone is offered a record deal like Britney Spears, Taylor Swift, Eminem and Flo Rida who have now gone on to become some of the best selling artists of all time. Some need a helping hand such as Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber who are discovered and then signed on to labels while others need to prove their worth to those in the business of producing music. A good set of vocals is not the only talent sought by these producers but also that distinct star quality or X Factor as obviously seen in most of these reality shows. Susan Boyle can bring an audience to their feet at the end of her performance with her powerful vocals but that may not be enough to launch a continuous successful career in music. 

This list looks at those artists who commenced their careers being featured on songs of those acclaimed and popular artists and thereafter went on to have successful solo careers of their own. Kesha formerly known as Ke$ha tops this list as she was not even properly credited for her vocals on Flo Rida's Right Round, but subsequently she managed to launch one of the most successful solo careers of the 21st Century beginning with her global smash hit Tik Tok. At a close second is OneRepublic. The original version of OneRepublic's Apologize did gain some radio airplay but it was Timbaland's remix which ultimately made the single a worldwide chart topper. So here are 20 most successful artists who were initially featured before launching their solo careers:

1. Kesha
   
2. OneRepublic
   
3. Bruno Mars
   
4. Nicki Minaj
   
5. Sam Smith
   
6. Sia
   
7. Rita Ora
   
8. Labrinth
   
9. Emeli Sande
   
10. Keri Hilson
    
11. Jess Glynne
    
12. Dev
    
13. Charli XCX
    
14. The Weeknd
    
15. Foxes
    
16. John Martin
    
17. Ella Eyre
    
18. Wynter Gordon
    
19. Nayer
    
20. Eric Turner
    

Till the next chord…

At Ease!!!

Xposition - June 2014

Attention!!!

Well June kicked off with several awards ceremonies. Miranda Lambert, her husband Blake Shelton and Carrie Underwood won big at the 2014 CMT Awards on 4 June 2014 at the Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tennessee. Carrie Underwood snatched the Video of the Year for See You Again while Miranda Lambert was awarded the Female Video of the Year for Automatic and Blake Shelton was awarded the Male Video of the Year for Doin' What She Likes. The other winners were:

• Group Video of the Year: The Band Perry - Done.
• Duo Video of the Year: Florida Georgia Line - Round Here
• Collaborative Video of the Year: Florida Georgia Line ft. Luke Bryan - This is How We Roll

The Much Music Awards Video Awards was held on 15 June 2014 in Canada. Hedley won the Video of the Year as well as Pop Video of the Year for Anything. International Video of the Year - Artist went to Lorde's Royals and International Video of the Year - Group went to Imagine Dragons' Demons. Other awards included:

• International Video of the Year by a Canadian: Drake ft. Majid Jordan - Hold on, we're going home
• Fave Video: Hedley - Anything
• Fave Artist - Justin Bieber 
• Fave International Artist - Selena Gomez

The BET Awards 2014 kicked off at the Nokia Theatre LA on 29 June 2014. Beyonce lead the nominations with 6 followed by Jay-Z with 5. Performances included Jhene Aiko's The Worst, Nicki Minaj's Pills N Potions, Trey Songz's Na Na, Chris Brown's Loyal and Beyonce's Partition. However, surprisingly there were performances by Iggy Azalea and Robin Thicke as well. The big awards included:

• Best Female R&B/Pop Artist: Beyonce
• Best Male R&B/Pop Artist: Pharrell Williams
• Best Group: Young Money
• Best Collaboration: Beyonce ft. Jay-Z - Drunk in Love
• Video of the Year: Pharrell Williams - Happy
• Best New Artist: August Alsina
• Best Actress: Lupira Nyong'o
• Best Actor: Chiwetel Ejiofor
• Best Movie: 12 Years a Slave

Pharrell Williams' Happy was overthrown by Iggy Azalea ft. Charli XCX's Fancy during the first week of June and continued at its peak uncontested for the entire month. Ariana Grande ft. Iggy Azalea's Problem peaked at number 2 and was also consistent throughout the month. With these two hits Azalea has the distinction of being the first act since The Beatles to have hits at No.1 and 2 at the same time. Magic!'s Rude and Calvin Harris' Summer are both still rising in the charts which could mean they could prove to be the ones to dethrone Azalea from her throne. 

In the UK SecondCity's I Wanna Feel was the first No.1 for the month which was then superseded by Ed Sheeran's Sing. Ella Henderson who finished 6th place at the The X Factor 9 in 2012 peaked with her hit Ghost which stayed at the top for two weeks. The last numero uno for the month of June was Oliver Heldens & Becky Hill's Gecko (Overdrive). 

Other songs which became popular during the month were:

• Sam Smith - Stay with me
• Tiesto ft. Matthew Koma - Wasted
• Little Mix - Salute
• 5 Seconds of Summer - Don't Stop
• Usher - Good Kisser
• Ellie Goulding - Beating Heart

Til the next beat…

At Ease!!!