Halsey (1) – Week Of December 9, 2017

/ dhill92

Hello, fam! Winter weather is finally here (at least for me where I am), because we had a mixture of rain and snow yesterday, and today it was snowing this morning. Honestly, I’m going to need to stock up on some sweaters, gloves, scarves, etc. because we may be in for a pretty long winter season this time around. Anyway, I’m going off-topic. Let us talk about the weekend countdown. Not much happened this week (besides our new #1 song). However, it does gives me a reason to get this post out pretty quickly. Also, I’m still working on my Year-End posts, and they should be coming within the next week or so. There are no songs leaving the countdown this week, so let’s get right to it.

The Countdown:

Last Week’s #1 Song: Ed Sheeran – Galway Girl
45. Logic featuring Alessia Cara and Khalid – 1-800-273-8255 (#43) [–2]
44. The Script – Rain (#44) [=]
43. Luis Fonsi featuring Justin Bieber and Daddy Yankee – Despacito (#45) [+2]
42. Mono Mind – Save Me A Place (#40) [–2]
41. Ed Sheeran – Shape Of You (#42) [+1] [Spent 9 Weeks At #1]
40. Charlie Puth – Attention (#41) [+1] [Spent 1 Week At #1]
39. The Chainsmokers featuring Coldplay – Something Just Like This (#38) [+1] [Spent 3 Weeks At #1]
38. MAX featuring Gnash – Lights Down Low (#39) [+1]
37. Cheat Codes featuring Demi Lovato – No Promises (#33) [–4]
36. Zedd featuring Alessia Cara – Stay (#35) [–1] [Spent 4 Weeks At #1]
35. Harry Styles – Kiwi (#34) [–1]
34. Taylor Swift – Look What You Made Me Do (#25) [–9]
33. Niall Horan – Slow Hands (#27) [–6] [Spent 3 Weeks At #1]
32. Lauv – I Like Better (#26) [–6]
31. Ed Sheeran – Castle On The Hill (#30) [–1] [Spent 3 Weeks At #1]
30. ZAYN featuring Sia – Dusk Till Dawn (#31) [+1]
29. X Ambassadors – Ahead Of Myself (#32) [+3]
28. Nick Jonas – Find You (#29) [+1]
27. Linkin Park – One More Light (#28) [+1]
26. Liam Payne – Strip That Down (#24) [–2] [Spent 2 Weeks At #1]
25. Sam Hunt – Body Like A Back Road (#36) [+11] (You’ve got to be kidding me)
24. Post Malone featuring 21 Savage – Rockstar (#20) [–4]
23. Niall Horan – Too Much To Ask (#18) [–5]
22. Dua Lipa – New Rules (#22) [=]
21. The Shadowboxers – Hot Damn (#37) [+16]
20. Imagine Dragons – Believer (#19) [–1] [Spent 3 Weeks At #1]
19. Shawn Mendes – There’s Nothing Holdin’ Me Back (#21) [+2] [Spent 5 Weeks At #1]
18. Selena Gomez featuring Marshmello – Wolves (#17) [–1]
17. Bebe Rexha featuring Florida Georgia Line – Meant To Be (#23) [+6]
16. Kesha – Praying (#13) [–3]
15. Portugal. The Man – Feel It Still (#14) [–1]
14. Charlie Puth – How Long (#12) [–2]
13. Sam Smith – Too Good At Goodbyes (#16) [+3]
12. Taylor Swift – …Ready For It? (#10) [–2]
11. Maroon 5 featuring SZA – What Lovers Do (#7) [–4]
10. Hailee Steinfeld & Alesso featuring Florida Georgia Line and Watt – Let Me Go (#15) [+5]
9. P!NK – What About Us (#8) [–1] [Spent 1 Week At #1]
8. Demi Lovato – Sorry Not Sorry (#9) [+1] [Spent 1 Week At #1]
7. Ed Sheeran – Galway Girl (#1) [–6] [Spent 4 Weeks At #1]
6. Macklemore featuring Skylar Grey – Glorious (#11) [+5]
5. Kelly Clarkson – Love So Soft (#6) [+1]
4. Imagine Dragons – Thunder (#3) [–1] [Spent 2 Weeks At #1]
3. Camila Cabello – Havana (#2) [–1]
2. Ed Sheeran – Perfect (#5) [+3]
1. Halsey – Bad At Love (#4) [+3] [1st Week At #1]
#1 Song This Week One Year Ago: Shawn Mendes – Treat You Better (2nd and final week at #1)

Biggest DRRRRRRROP!!! Of The Week: Taylor Swift – Look What You Made Me Do  (–9)

Biggest Jump Of The Week: The Shadowboxers – Hot Damn (+16)


Life Ain’t So Bad At All If You Blurb It Off The Wall

– Before introducing Despacito, Spyder Harrison mentioned that there was speculation that Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez are having problems with their relationship. Looks like Selena is going to have to search for someone else yet again. I wonder if the third time will be the charm for her.

– Look What You Made Me Do is now officially out of the Top 30 after that big drop. It’s now safe to say that its time on the countdown is pretty much over. I was expecting this to become this year’s Closer. Boy, did I overestimate its success big time.

– Last week’s debuts didn’t do too much this week, with Kiwi dropping only one spot. The other two songs (Ahead Of Myself and Find You) made some small jumps, with the former having the biggest jump, though it’s only a mere 3 spots.

– Are you kidding me, people?! You can’t be serious. Body Like A Back Road decides to take a big jump this week. I literally have no words. This has absolutely no right to be on the countdown at this point. Hopefully, it can drop back down soon.

– On the other hand, the jump from Hot Damn is greatly appreciated by me. I’m coming to like this song more and more with each listen. The production in this one is way too cool to resist, though I can’t say it’ll make my Top 5 picks anytime soon. But yeah, there’s something about it that makes it worthy of having it on repeat.

– I’m not thrilled about the jump from Meant To Be either. Probably the best thing I can say about this is that it’s better than Body Like A Back Road, but it’s still plain bad by any means. Seriously, people. Can we get some better country music for once?

– Let Me Go made a nice rebound back into the Top 10 this week. Looks like this one is starting to slowly catch on with the public, whereas Starving caught on much faster at this point last year. Also, this week, I went to the movies and watched a trailer for Pitch Perfect 3. It kinda brought me to tears knowing this is the last movie of the Pitch Perfect series. And believe it or not, this is actually what got Hailee Steinfeld into the spotlight in the first place (she actually starred in the second movie).

– During the introduction for Thunder, the guest DJ was having a funny conversation with Spyder Harrison when she gave a shout-out to Cosmo, and when I heard that name, it kinda reminds of the character from The Fairly OddParents TV series. Man, he was probably one of the funniest characters I’ve seen in a cartoon show.

– Finally, we’ve come to our new #1 song. I figured it was going to happen sooner or later. With everyone starting to fall in love with Halsey, I kinda thought Bad At Love would be #1 at some point in time. I don’t really mind it being there so long as it doesn’t get too overrated. I’ll say this though, it’s a much better choice for #1 than Now Or Never, so I’ll give her that. Plus, I pretty much underestimated by how well this song would do on the charts. It’s quite interesting to see it at the top spot.

Hit-Bound:

  • WØLVES – Animal
  • Walk The Moon – One Foot
  • Spencer – Whatever
  • Fall Out Boy – Hold Me Tight Or Don’t
  • P!NK – Beautiful Trauma
  • Liam Payne – Bedroom Floor
  • Symon – Lonely Girl (DEBUT)
  • Macklemore featuring Kesha – Good Old Days
  • AJR featuring Rivers Cuomo – Sober Up
  • Louis Tomlinson – Miss You
  • Imagine Dragons – Whatever It Takes
  • Clean Bandit featuring Julia Michaels – I Miss You
  • Bruno Mars – Chunky
  • Taylor Swift featuring Ed Sheeran and Future – End Game
  • Sofi Tukker – Best Friend

– We have only one new entrant on this week’s edition of Hit-Bound, and it comes from one of the hosts of Hits 1 In Hollywood, Symon. Enter Lonely Girl. Now last year, she had Say, which was not to anyone’s liking, in part because of the obnoxious rap breakdown and her annoying vocals. After listening to this song, I’ll say that she has improved on her vocals. It’s basically a piano ballad, unlike its predecessor where it tries to be a upbeat song and failed miserably. I’m sure everyone here will like this more.

My Top 5 Hit-Bound Picks
1. Bruno Mars – Chunky
2. Walk The Moon – One Foot
3. Macklemore featuring Kesha – Good Old Days
4. Taylor Swift featuring Ed Sheeran and Future – End Game
5. WØLVES – Animal

YouTube 15:

Since we had no debuts this week, I’ve decided to do this week’s YouTube 15. Here are the songs trending this week:

  • Sam Smith – Too Good At Goodbyes
  • Steve Aoki featuring Lauren Jauregui – All Night
  • Calum Scott – You Are The Reason
  • Taylor Swift – Look What You Made Me Do
  • Avicii featuring Rita Ora – Lonely Together
  • Logic featuring Alessia Cara and Khalid – 1-800-273-8255
  • HRVY – Personal
  • Ed Sheeran – Perfect
  • Alan Walker featuring Noah Cyrus and Digital Farm Animals – All Falls Down
  • Imagine Dragons – Thunder
  • Annie LeBlanc – Photograph
  • Camila Cabello – Havana
  • James Arthur – Naked
  • Post Malone featuring 21 Savage – Rockstar
  • Jacob Sartorius – Cozy

– Who remembers Calum Scott? If you do, then you’ll probably remember him when he did the cover of Dancing On My Own, which nobody here really liked. This time around, he brings us You Are The Reason. I do kinda like the song for what it is in terms of the lyrical content, and I can get on board with Calum’s voice, because he does sound better than he did with Dancing On My Own. However, I’m not quite feeling this song yet. Maybe it’ll be a grower. We’ll see.
– Next up, we have newcomer HRVY with his single called Personal. My main concern here is his vocals. He sounds a little too pitchy here, but I do kinda like about what this song has to offer. Overall, it’s not a bad song, but I’ve heard better.
– We have 13-year-old Annie LeBlanc with her new single titled Photograph. Right off the bat, she definitely showcases her vocals pretty well, and the lyrics are good as well. It’s definitely a sweet song that I can get on board with.
– We have another piano ballad from James Arthur, in the form of Naked. This one is a bit of a step up from Say You Won’t Let Go in terms of the production because it’s not quite as overwhelming, though his delivery needs a little more work. However, I do like most things about this song, but not quite enough for me to put it in green.
– Oh boy. We have the return of Jacob Sartorius. This time, he has a new single titled Cozy. I’m going to make it plain and simple: he just cannot sing, period. As I’ve talked about before, he’s basically the male version of Rebecca Black, and apparently he still hasn’t gotten a clue on how to sing well. I won’t even talk about the rest of the song, because his voice sucks. Honestly, I just wish he either take some vocals lessons for once. Since his previous singles thankfully weren’t as popular elsewhere, I have a feeling that one won’t be either, so we don’t have to worry about it. But sadly, now that I jinxed it, watch it suddenly rocket up the charts next week.

My Top 5 YouTube 15 Picks
1. Steve Aoki featuring Lauren Jauregui – All Night
2. Ed Sheeran – Perfect
3. Avicii featuring Rita Ora – Lonely Together
4. Taylor Swift – Look What You Made Me Do
5. Logic featuring Alessia Cara and Khalid – 1-800-273-2855

Top 20 Review:
0 – Putrid:
20. Bebe Rexha featuring Florida Georgia Line – Meant To Be

1 – Bad:
None!

2 – Mediocre:
None!

3 – Decent:
19. Imagine Dragons – Believer
18. Halsey – Bad At Love
17. Demi Lovato – Sorry Not Sorry
16. Kelly Clarkson – Love So Soft

4 – Good:

15. Charlie Puth – How Long
14. Macklemore featuring Skylar Grey – Glorious
13. Camila Cabello – Havana

5 – Great:

12. Sam Smith – Too Good At Goodbyes
11. Portugal. The Man – Feel It Still
10. Maroon 5 featuring SZA – What Lovers Do
9. Hailee Steinfeld & Alesso featuring Florida Georgia Line and Watt – Let Me Go
8. Imagine Dragons – Thunder
7. Ed Sheeran – Galway Girl
6. Shawn Mendes – There’s Nothing Holdin’ Me Back
5. Ed Sheeran – Perfect
4. P!NK – What About Us
3. Taylor Swift – …Ready For It?
2. Selena Gomez featuring Marshmello – Wolves


BONUS: 6 – Best Song On The Countdown:
1. Kesha – Praying


Overall Grade: 85/100 (B)

Throwback Picks Of The Week: Michael Jackson – Off The Wall (1979) and Britney Spears – Baby One More Time (1998) (The song that started it all for her. Plus, her birthday was last week. So, Happy Birthday Britney Spears!)
Most Missed Countdown Song: Gotye featuring Kimbra – Somebody That I Used To Know
#1 Recommendation For Hits 1: Calvin Harris featuring Kehlani and Lil’ Yatchy – Faking It
Favorite Countdown Song One Year Ago: Adele – Water Under The Bridge
My Top 5 Picks
1. Kesha – Praying
2. Selena Gomez featuring Marshmello – Wolves
3. ZAYN featuring Sia – Dusk Till Dawn
4. Taylor Swift – …Ready For It?
5. X Ambassadors – Ahead Of Myself

My Bottom 5 Picks
1. Sam Hunt – Body Like A Back Road
2. Post Malone featuring 21 Savage – Rockstar
3. Bebe Rexha featuring Florida Georgia Line – Meant To Be
4. Liam Payne – Strip That Down
5. MAX featuring Gnash – Lights Down Low

Songs That Debuted This Week One Year Ago:
Charli XCX – After The Afterparty: If I’m being honest, this was a horrible follow-up to the amazing Boom Clap. The chorus in this one is so annoying, and the poorly written lyrics aren’t much help either. As one blogger put it, this song is just childish. Sorry, but no thank you.
John Legend – Love Me Now: One of the more upbeat love songs that I can get behind. While I feel that the chorus chanting “Love Me Now!” was kinda unnecessary, everything else about this song is solid across the board.
James Arthur – Say You Won’t Let Go: Yeah, some people don’t like this because it’s boring. But for me, boring doesn’t always equal bad. I kinda like how he tries to be Ed Sheeran with the acoustic guitars. Though, I’ll admit, it’s missing something that makes this a little more interesting.
Lady Gaga – Million Reasons: It’s pretty low-key and definitely something different for Lady Gaga. After her predecessor was loud and not to anyone’s liking, people have come to embrace this more because it’s more calming.

7 thoughts on “Halsey (1) – Week Of December 9, 2017”

  4. Our new #1 is a very interesting one, much like Sorry Not Sorry before. It's not common that the female pop divas hit #1 here (ie Ariana Grande, Selena Gomez, etcetera), so I'm cool with it.Also, remember how you said last week that Find You sounded like Perfect Illusion? Yay for me not being the only one who sees the similarities there.For the one year ago debuts, it's too bad that two of them are songs that will narrowly miss the Year-End list (Love Me Now just ended up in freefall after a little, and Million Reasons evaporated kind of quickly after its Super Bowl resurgence). One of them, though, despite not even reaching the weekly top 10, will come just short of the Year-End top 10. The Year-End list drops tomorrow, and if you've paid attention to the thread we all have a good idea of what it'll look like, but the big question on everyone's mind is one that I'm not gonna say in this post, in case Parker happens to be seeing this.And yay for that most missed song. Is it weird that I actually kind of like it a little more than Uptown Funk? It is actually my favorite #1 of the decade. The big thing about Somebody That I Used To Know is how un-pop and weird it is. The original version of that song is the only one to me. All those dance remixes and such can fudge off.

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  5. Yeah, it's just not a good song for me. Sorry.And I just recently watched ARTV's take on Meant To Be when he made his worst list for 2017. So yeah, sorry to the people that like it, but I'm going to side with him on that one.

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  7. For me, Somebody I Used To Know would've been my #1 for the decade had Uptown Funk not came along. But yeah, I did enjoy that song a lot (and I still do).And I didn't think Million Reasons would fade away so quickly. I thought that one had a shot at the Year-End list, but I guess not.

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