2016 was, in chart terms, something of a throwback year. There were only 11 Number 1 singles in total.
Those included 7 Years by Lukas Graham, Say You Won't Let Go by James Arthur, Shout Out to My Ex by Little Mix, Rockabye by Clean Bandit, and, from 14th April to 4th August,
One Dance - Drake ft Wizkid & Kyla
A lot of things happened within the 15 weeks this abysmal song was the UK's most popular - most importantly, a baby was born. It bums me out a little that this was Number 1 when she was born, but, who knows, she might come to love it. And when she was born, Let's Hear it for the Boy was playing, so, you know, you can't account for anything.
More fittingly, this abysmal song soundtracked the abysmal Brexit.
I, broadly, understand the superstardom of most of the 21st century superstars - Beyonce, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Adele, Justins Bieber & Timberlake, The Weeknd, Kanye West, 50 Cent, Ariana Grande, BTS, Sheeran, Harry Styles, Coldplay, Eminem ... whoever else ... I may not always like it, but I understand it.
But what the fuck's up with Drake? What's the draw? I don't get it.
When he first appeared, I remember hearing that he had emotional depth, self-aware lyricism, but, I've not seen or heard any evidence of that. Just vaguely misogynistic whining. He appears to be almost entirely without charisma or warmth, has an entirely forgettable, monotonous singing voice and rapping voice, has no interest in a tune, no great humour, seems a bit of a douche, hardly seems a heartthrob.
I mean, it's hardly for me to cast such harsh judgement on one of the most successful musical artists of all time, but I still don't get it. The songs are catchy? People want to dance to them? Fine. That's usually the secret in successful pop music I'm missing, but I still, normally, understand it a bit, even if I don't feel it.
One Dance is abysmal. It refuses to be interesting. It would drive me insane to have to listen to this more than a handful of times.
Gee, I hope there are no more Drake songs coming up ...
I have honestly never heard this soing before; didn't even know there was a song that had stayed at No 1 for so many weeks in recent times.
ReplyDeleteYes, I mean, that's it. How did that happen? That's the demon of the modern charts. Stealth and streaming. 15 weeks! There are quite a lot of songs that have had massive stretches on top in recent years. This one is not just boring though, it's actively hideous. The modern singles charts are weighted so that the comeback Blur single (The Narcissist) - a band that played Wembley twice, have an album that is outselling everything else 10 times over this week - didn't get higher in the singles chart than Mr Brightside has been every week for almost 20 years. Something ain't right ...
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