Ariana Grande – DJTim:E's Pop Music Journal

Tim’s Top 20 Number 86

5th Apr 20195th Apr 2019Posted in Tim's Top 20Tagged 2019, Ariana Grande, Charts, Jax Jones, Little Mix, Music, Pop, Purple Disco Machine, Westlife, woman like me1 Comment

Westlife received the title of “Song of the Week” on the inaugural “Smash or Gash” review feature on this site. It now does what their previous song didn’t and that’s enter straight at number 1. Meanwhile, “Hello My Love” manages to climb in its 12th week on the chart.

Amazingly, 2 of the 3 weakest tracks, according to the reviews last week have 2 highest new entries on the chart. “Hustle” is the 2nd single from P!nk’s forthcoming album “Hurts 2 B Human” and it’s a bit of a non-event, but at the same time not offensive either (unless you have a problem with the word “fuck”, that is). Ciara’s new single was slightly downgraded in my review due to it not really going anywhere. But, I think it’s the mixture of middle-of-the-road, major key 90s-ness that has turned “Thinkin Bout You” into a bit of an earworm as the week’s gone on. I still think it will flop on the international charts though.

Further new mixes of “Body Funk” help Italian DJ Purple Disco Machine climb back into the top 3 for after a large drop from the top slot last week. A new compilation album from him arrives at the end of April.

Ariana Grande and regular collaborator Victoria Monet share the performer credit for the first time on a single on surprise release “Monopoly”, which is currently in the itunes top 10 in the UK after 3 days of release. The song doesn’t appear on her latest album “Thank U Next” and it’s unknown at this time whether it’ll appear on Ariana’s next album, which will no doubt come out by summer.

COMING SOON: On my next blog post I’ll be reviewing this week’s new song releases as well as a special review of Marina’s new digital album release of “Love”.

On next week’s TT20, will Little Mix’s “Woman Like Me” become the first track since Kesha’s “Woman” in early 2018, to score 20 weeks on the chart? It’s taken a battering on the rundown this week, with the biggest drop within the chart (down 14 places to number 20) so we’ll have to wait and see.

Also, I’ll be updating my Record Store Day picks in another blog post, as the annual event takes place in just 1 week from now.

Thanks for reading. Please subscribe and I’ll catch up with you soon!

Tim’s Top 20 of Q1 2019

31st Mar 201931st Mar 2019Posted in Tim's Top 20Tagged 2019, Ariana Grande, Baby Spice, Charts, Dido, Emma Bunton, Gay, Gay UK, Jax Jones, Little Mix, Music, My Happy Place, Pop, pop music, Purple Disco Machine, Unperfect, Westlife, Years and YearsLeave a comment

1. WESTLIFE – HELLO MY LOVE (54 plays)
2. Little Mix- Think About Us // LM5 (40 plays)
3. Marina- Handmade Heaven // Love + Fear (38 plays)
4. Calvin Harris & Rag n Bone Man- Giant (33 plays)
5. Dido- Friends // Still On My Mind (28 plays)
6. Unperfect- Gots To Give The Girl (27 plays)
7. Jax Jones & Years and Years- Play (23 plays)
8. Adelphi Music Factory- Javelin (22 plays)
9. CamelPhat- Breathe (21 plays)
10. Avril Lavigne & Nicki Minaj- Dumb Blonde // Head Above Water (20 plays)
11. Purple Disco Machine- Body Funk (19 plays)
12. Jess Glynne- No One // Always In Between (19 plays)
13. Francis Rossi & Hannah Rickard- I Talk Too Much // We Talk Too Much (19 plays)
14. Pink- Walk Me Home // Hurts 2 B Human (18 plays)
15. Emma Bunton- Baby Please Don’t Stop // My Happy Place (17 plays)
16. Zedd & Katy Perry- 365 (15 plays)
17. Dido- Give You Up // Still On My Mind (10 plays)
18. Francis Rossi & Hannah Rickard- Maybe Tomorrow // We Talk Too Much (10 plays)
19. Ariana Grande- Break Up With Your Girlfriend // Thank U, Next (10 plays)
20. That Kid- Take It Off (10 plays)

Tim’s Top 20 Number 81

1st Mar 2019Posted in Music essay, Tim's Top 20, UncategorizedTagged 2019, Ariana Grande, Charts, Gay, Gay UK, Little Mix, mixers, Music, Pop, pop music, Purple Disco Machine, woman like meLeave a comment

This week’s chart is the post-Brits-effect list, with many of the tracks featured being from artists who featured at last month’s Brit Awards; the main beneficiary being Little Mix.

Following on from the essay I posted last week here on what the future may hold for the group after a lukewarm reception to recent album “LM5”, I gave the album another chance. Now that the hype around rereleased music for Christmas is over (I’m looking at the Carpenters and Queen in particular) I have been able to pay attention to this album once again. Although I still completely get why the album has returned the group back to their pre-Get Weird period in terms of sales, the collection actually has a number of gems, given a few chances. 7 of the songs feature in this week’s top 20, one of which (“Woman Like Me”) is also back in the top 2 after being rereleased with a remix featuring a rap by Ms Banks, reminiscent of the Brits performance.

Little Mix still didn’t quite have enough push to get to number 1 again, however, “Think About Us” has, impressively re-entered the chart at a very high number 4. It would seem last week’s disappearance from the top 20 was an anomoly, which can be partly explained by my reduction in listening to current tracks last week.

Also benefitting from the Brits is George Ezra who, prior to this week, had not featured in any of my charts. This week he has 2 entries!

I gave in my fan club membership after 2009 when it comes to P!nk (minus 2012’s “Blow Me” which was the exception)…it all got a bit too dull for me. “Walk Me Home” is very intriguing to listen to though. I’m still trying to work out what the hell the time signature is! Great, singalong song for the Radio 2 listener, which is no bad thing. This song may have a few weeks’ steam left in it yet as it climbs in its 2nd week on the chart, to number 18.

Calvin Harris’s superstar collaborative performance at the awards has helped the fortunes of “Promises”, which re-enters after a 17-week absence, and “Giant”, which benefits from one of my favourite newbies, Purple Disco Machine, remixing the track to hang around for a 7th week.

The week’s biggest loser, down 17 places and hanging on at #20 is Zedd and Katy Perry’s “365”, which hasn’t lit up any chart except US iTunes for about an hour upon release. It’s likely to have had its run on TT20 as well.

COMING SOON TO TIM’S TOP 20:

Emma Bunton whets the Spice Girls fans’ appetites with a new song called “Baby Please Don’t Stop”, which is ever-so slightly like the spawn of her 2001 UK #1 “What Took You So Long” and, her top 10 hit from her ’60s phase’, “I’ll Be There.” Released last week, this track is likely to enter highly on next week’s chart.

The Ariana tracks have hung around longer than I expected and a lot of the songs, admittedly, are earworms…others not so much… There’s still some life in the music from “Thank U, Next” yet.

The Bohemian Rhapsody movie is out on bluray and DVD next week so, there could be one or two entries back soon from the soundtrack.

Record Store Day is on 13 April and the list looks reasonable. Check out my other post “Got Got Need” with more info on this year’s event. (COMING SOON). Maybe there will be one or two tracks from the special releases make an appearance on the chart in the coming weeks.

Tim’s Top 20 Number 80

23rd Feb 2019Posted in Music essay, Tim's Top 20, UncategorizedTagged 2019, Ariana Grande, Charts, Dido, Gay, Little Mix, Pop, Unperfect, WestlifeLeave a comment

So, Westlife have climbed back up to number 1 to score a 2nd week on top with their comeback single “Hello My Love”. It’s still selling and streaming exceptionally well in the UK, 2 months on from its release. It recently passed its 3-millionth stream on Spotify UK.

It seems my prediction for Avril and Nicki sticking around the top end of the chart for a while was absolute rubbish as it suffers an 8-place drop to #11. This is even more significant given this week was its full week to be streamed.

Little Mix’s presence at the Brit Awards has helped “Woman Like Me” climb for a 4th week, back into the top 5 for the first time in 12 weeks. The track is also this week’s longest-staying song on the chart.

Let’s attempt a few predictions for next week’s chart, for what its worth…

Marina will continue climbing with her earworm song “Handmade Heaven”, Kelly Clarkson will climb yet again following another remix of “Heat” being released this week. Also, I think “Woman Like Me” will climb once more following the release of its Ms Banks version and remix by Da Beatfreekz.

Tim’s Top 20 Number 78

9th Feb 2019Posted in Tim's Top 20Tagged Ariana Grande, Charts, Chemical Brothers, Dido, Gay, Gay UK, Jax Jones, Little Mix, Music, Pop, Purple Disco Machine, UK, Unperfect, Years and YearsLeave a comment

So, there’s a change at the top and it’s primarily due, not to primary artist Jax Jones, or even their collaborators Years and Years, but due to the stellar remix released a week ago by, who I hope provides the sound of 2019, Purple Disco Machine. A one-man gay night who, in recent months has already provided some much-missed sparkle to the charts with his 1st number 1 on the former Tim’s Top 10 in September 2018: “Dished”, which used the top line of Man2Man’s UK top 3 gay anthem in itself “Male Stripper”. Keep your ears out for another remix of his, released on Friday 8th Feb, this time refreshing Fatboy Slim’s number 1 hit from 1999 “Praise You”.

The Sound of 2019 is trying to be the Y2K Rebooted. Along with Purple Disco Machine, coming through is another artist providing a coat of sumptuous paint to the sounds of 20 years ago, CamelPhat, who could be mistaken for being Chicane for those who missed the fuss the first time round. “Breathe”, which scores the 2nd highest new entry on the chart this week, is currently a top 10 sales hit and is on a slow but, promising trajectory up the official UK charts.

The Chemical Brothers also had massive success in the late 90s with hits like “Hey Boy, Hey Girl” and “Let Forever Be”. They return after a break from the mainstream with something a little less daring but, maybe this is for the better, with their take on commercial disco: “Got To Keep On”. Unlucky for some, they enter TT20 at #13.

Saara Aalto has rerecorded her cover of the Frozen song “Let It Go” and released it on the back of her half-sung, half-ice-skated performance on ITV’s Dancing on Ice 2 weeks ago. This is Saara’s 5th hit on the chart following her Eurovision smash “Monsters”, Xenomania-produced #1 “My Touch”, “Domino” and “Walking on Nails”. She enters the chart this time at #19.

Coming soon to Tim’s Top 20:

Ariana Grande released her 5th album “Thank U, Next” on Friday 8th Feb. Can she score a hit that’ll topple the success of “Blazed” from last year’s “Sweetener” album?

The Brit Awards are presented on 20th February. Will anyone do an Adele and shit rings round the competition with an unexpectedly perfect performance?