Billboard Top 10 (November) Update

Billboard Top 10 (11/12/16) Review

Around two months ago I reviewed the top 10 songs. Now that some time has passed and new music has taken the top 10, I thought it would cool to see how much has changed in two months. 

1. Closer - Chainsmokers, Halsey: Since I lasted reviewed this song, I have to say it has grown on me a bit more. I don't find it quite as boring as I did when I first reviewed it. After more listens I can see why people might like it to the point where it reached the top spot. I still find the music and lyrics to be super simple and pretty boring, but I suppose that's what makes it easy to listen to it. There's nothing wrong with simplicity, especially from an Artist like the Chainsmokers who aren't exactly known for being all about the music. That being said, it's been two months and this is still the best the US has to offer. It's a bit sad when a song this OKAY is the highest ranking for at least two whole months. "Closer" has dropped off the top spot in other countries at this point, but it's still going pretty strong here for now. Thankfully it looks like two or three strong contenders are coming up to take the spot away from "Closer" and I think it's going down by next week. Overall this song is a pretty enjoyable and it's grown a bit on me, but it's time for this song to step down. 

2. Starboy - Weeknd, Daft Punk: Looks like The Weeknd is coming back to take another #1 hot 100 spot (this would be the third one for him). This song shot up really high, and i'm pretty surprised it didn't shoot up straight to the number one spot this week. Looks like Chainsmokers were able to hold on for one more week, but "Starboy" should be at the top by next week I believe. I thought "Can't Feel My Face" was a really strong song and a great way to create a new star in The Weeknd. Then came "The Hills", which I think was pretty boring and overplayed overall.  After that, I stopped caring about The Weeknd, as all the other singles I heard weren't anywhere near as good as "Can't Feel My Face". 

Starboy was really surprising for me, as I really wasn't expecting it to be as good as it is. This song really seemed to come out of nowhere and wow it's really fun to listen to, it's got great atmosphere (thanks to Daft Punk) and the vocals work so well in this song. The melody of the vocals go so well with the music, it all feels incredibly smooth and easy to get into. I love the simple piano in the song, that goes along with all the other layers of the music, as it builds into a really nice full sound by the end. I hope The Weeknd continues making songs like this, but I have a bad feeling this is going to be the best he has to offer for a while. Still, I really want this song to take out the top spot next week, it really deserves it. 

3. Heathens - Twenty-One Pilot: Another song that's been moving around the Top 10 for the past two months. Peaking at the top two spot, but not being able to take down the giant "Closer" and get to the top spot. My opinion hasn't changed much on this song, except maybe I was probably too hard on it by calling it boring. The thing about this song for me, is that it's not a song that I really want to listen to outside of maybe doing these reviews and just seeing if it grows on me. It didn't grow on me in two months, so I don't think it ever really will. This song probably won't be around the top 10 much longer as the weeks go by, it should be closer to the bottom of the top 10 or possible completely off of it by the end of the month. It had a good ride.... pun intended?

4. Let Me love You -  DJ Snake, Biebs: I mentioned this song last time even though it wasn't in the top 10 at the time. I poked fun at it for sounding too much like "Cold Water" by Major Lazer. The bad thing is that "Cold Water" has grown on me a little more since then. I thought it was a pretty decent song at the time, now I think it's actually good. "Cold Water" is much more enjoyable to listen to and I actually like the music in that one, while "Let Me Love You" just falls flat and is boring in comparison. Hopefully this one goes away pretty fast, so far it's the worst of all the songs.

5. Brocolli -  D.R.A.M, Lil...Yachty?: I'm not really a fan of music like this to be honest, but I guess this isn't the worst I've ever heard. Whoever Lil Yachty is, he ruins anything good this song could have been with his Drake sounding vocals (like he just drank a bottle of NyQuil). I will say it's nice to hear a song that actually feels happy, seems like a lot of the music on the chart list time was slower and sadder. I don't really know else to say as it's not something I would really listen to, but I can see why people might like it to a point. Just hoping to see less Drake-like artists please. 

6. 24k Magic - Bruno Mars: "Guess who's back again" yep it's Bruno and he's back on the top 10. This song will be Bruno's 8th song in the top 10, pretty unsurprising. Bruno has been one of the better pop Artists of the past few years, especially with his last few hits like "Treasure" and "Locked Out Of Heaven" which were both really great and have held up really well. Also can't forget his guest vocals on Mark Ronson's  "Uptown Funk" which was the best selling song of last year. Whenever Bruno releases a new single it's pretty much guaranteed to be somewhere in the Hot 100 and "24k Magic" is proof of that. Another really fun song to jam out in the car while driving to go alongside previous mentioned songs. Super catchy music that will get stuck in your head, and fun vocals that are fun to sing along to like most Bruno songs. Still, this song feels like a song that I will get tired of eventually and slowly start to dislike or just get annoyed of. I don't think it will stand the test of time like "Uptown Funk" or "Treasure". I'm wondering how far up the chart this song will go though, I really don't feel like it's going to be another Top #1 for Bruno, but it's hard to tell at the moment. I guess we'll have to see how strong "Starboy" does in the next few weeks because that seems to be it's only real obstacle from the reaching the top. Overall a fun song to listen to, a good follow up to the massive "Uptown Funk" and another big hit for Bruno.

7. Side to Side - Ariana Grande, Nicki: So this was a surprise... I wasn't expecting to like this song as much as I did. I really love the music on this one, the cool bass, the cool reggae guitar sounds, the little added sounds like the horns and the of course the synth all work together to make a cool sound. The vocals were good as I usually find Ariana somewhat annoying, but her vocals work really work on this song and I really enjoyed them. Even Nicki wasn't bad on this song, and I usually really dislike everything she does, because she's just incredibly annoying in her songs. It's nice to hear another upbeat song that is easy to listen to and a fun song to drive to. I wish there was more music like this in the top 10, music that surprises from artists I thought couldn't ever make something I really like. So that's two really good songs that caught me by surprise (Starboy being the other one).

8. Cold Water - Major Lazer, Biebs: As I said previously, this song has grown on me since my last review. I didn't mention it on my last review, but I was also a fan of "Lean On" last year, I thought it was one of the best pop songs of 2015. Now I can say for sure i'm a fan of "Cold Water", it's another song that's easy to listen to and I really enjoy the music. Bieber's vocals were really the part that kept me from really liking this song, but they have grown on me in time and I really enjoy them now. Of course i'm holding it to pop song standards, and in those standards this song is really good. Hope to see more cool music from Major Lazer soon. 

9. Juju  On That Beat - ?????: Well I guess the good streak had to end sometime... and now we arrive at the garbage of the charts. Back to boring music and boring vocals that can put me to sleep in an instant. Thankfully this is a shorter song, so the pain doesn't last very long. There are very short moments where the music picks up and it actually doesn't sound too bad, but it doesn't last very long and it goes back to boring repetitive garbage. Overall I think this song is amazing, and it really works wonders for insomniacs. 

10. I Hate U, I Love U - gnash, Olivia O'Brien: The song title kind of explains my feeling towards this song. I really dislike Gnash's vocals, they seem very "Drake-esque", and just feel boring in this song. I get that it's a slow emotional song, but that doesn't mean you get a pass on passionless vocals. The song is obviously about strong emotions towards a person, and I think it would have helped to have someone else singing gnash's part in order to give it a little more life. Not that he's bad, but he just doesn't elevate the song to the point I think it needed to be at. On the other hand Olivia's vocals work better on this song, and they go better with the music and the subject of the song. I think the chorus works well with her vocals, it's just the right amount of soft but emotional, even when Gnash joins in on the third chorus it sounds fine. Another problem with the song, as a lot of songs like this, is that it just stays on the same level the whole time. There's no rise in the vocals and music and it also doesn't go down at all, it just a flat song that doesn't move at all. A song like "Heathens" that's also slow and pretty emotional has moments where it rises for a moment during the bridge and the end to give it some life and stop it from being flat. Still there's moments in this song that work, and it's not a bad song really. I think if maybe it was done by a different artist or maybe just took some risks, it would stand a chance at being a really good song. Overall a decent song, that had potential to be something nice. Not a bad way to end this list really...

OFF THE LIST - "This is what you came" by Calvin Harris for dropped all the way down to 18 from the 6 spot. "Send My love" by Adele went from 9 to 26. "Cheap Thrills" by Sia went from 4 to 12 so not too bad. "Ride" by Twenty-One Pilots went from 5 to 20. "Don't Let Me Down" by Chainsmokers went from 7 to 17. "One Dance" by sleepy Drake went from 8 to 23 (woot). "Treat You Better" by Shyawn Boredes went from 10 to 11 (Sigh). 

Overall a surprisingly good Top 10, with really only two songs that I really didn't like, so a big improvement from two months ago. Of course that's pretty easy when you don't have to listen to Drake and Shyawn Mendes.