Billboard Top 10 part II: Electric Boogaloo

Billboard Top 10: Week of April 29

 It's been a long enough time since my last Billboard review that I decided to catch up on what's been going on in the past month or two. Lots of hits came and went from the top 10 in the last few weeks, but a lot really hasn't changed (at least not as much as I wanted). Some highlights were a Katy Perry single that vanished pretty quickly, some Drake singles that vanished as well (Thank God) and some pretty big songs finally leaving the top 10 (Closer, Bad and Boujee, Love on the Brain, I Feel it Coming). The question is, are the new songs any better? kinda. Are the old songs any better with time? No. The answer is no. But of course a lot of pop music doesn't stand the test of time, and maybe i'll look into those kinda songs sometime in the future. So far this year there have been about two or three songs that I really enjoyed to the point where I'm probably going to keep listening to them outside of this (one of them still on this list). Some of these songs I get, some of them I don't get but can kinda see why they might be popular and others I just confuse the heck out of me as to how they became so popular. Here we go...

1. Maroon 5 Ed Sheeran - Shape of You

I really want to hate this song. I shouldn't like this song. It's not very good. The music is dull, repetitive and boring like a modern Maroon 5 song, the lyrics are cliche and overused in the pop world of today and the tone is out of place with the rest of the album. It's clear that this song was made just to be a single on the radio and make money, not really have anything to do with the rest of his new album. Still, it's annoyingly catchy and I can't say I hate listening to it. I don't know what it is or how to explain how I feel about this, but maybe Sheeran just has enough charm to make this work? Maybe. Or it's just that compared to most terrible pop music now-a-days this is actually not that bad. Either way I can enjoy this for what it is. 

2. Bruno Mars - That's What I Like

Still by far the best thing that the pop charts have going right now. I've been hearing this song on and off for the whole year already and it's still not old. While we keep getting sad and boring pop songs every week, this one still stands out with Bruno's charisma and fun music to go along with it. There's really nothing like it on the radio/pop charts. At least it should have a good place on the end of the year charts for 2017, even if it doesn't make it to the number one spot. It's still doing good on streaming, radio and YouTube views so maybe it stands a chance.

3. Kendrick Lamar - HUMBLE.

The return of Kendrick Lamar with his new big single from his new album. This one appears to be a brag rap where Kendrick is telling everyone to be humbled by his talent. I don't really know much to say about a song like this, except that it was good and I enjoyed listening to it. Compared to the other tracks on his new album, I don't think it's near the best in the album. Still, when it comes to rap, Kendrick is still clearly one of the best mainstream rappers out there and it's clear everyone else thinks so when his newest single debuted at the 2 spot only being stopped by Ed Sheeran and Kendrick's new album is pretty much the most popular thing on spotify right now. When you have to follow a very beloved album that is highly regarded by so many people, it can be tough to release something everyone will be happy with. In the end I think this was a good follow up and worth a listen. 

4. Harry Styles - Sign on the Times

So this song apparently had some trouble on it's first day because of Spotify. A glitch or something kept people from being able to stream it and it lost the ability to gain numbers. Still, I don't think that's really the reason why it's not number one or two. Right now it's 37 and falling on the Spotify Top 50 for the USA, on iTunes it's at 12 and on YouTube it's all the way at 23, way below both "Shape of You" and "That's What I Like" and "HUMBLE" on almost every category. But besides all that, is it even a good song? Yes, it really is a good song, but it's not a really good song. very different from anything else on the charts right now so I think for me it was refreshing to listen to along with the rest of the songs this week. This is Harry Styles (of One Direction) solo debut, and it's a pretty huge to reach number 4 on it's first week. The song starts off soft through the first verse and picks up for the chorus with a really nice guitar roaring in the background and the piano throughout the verses and chorus. It all works really well and it's nice to see a song on here where all the instruments feel real. The vocals are done really well too, and I have to say so far this is the best solo work by any of the One Direction boys. It clearly has some inspiration from classic rock, and I wouldn't mind seeing more songs that take inspiration from that genre of music. Overall a very good surprise, good music and good lyrics make a good song, something most pop songs don't seem to understand. I really see myself coming back to this song a lot more this year. Definitely interested to see what else comes from Styles in the future, i'll be listening to whatever he releases next. 

5. Chainsmokers/Coldplay - Something Just Like This

This song just gets more boring with every listen. I can't even finish listening to it all the way through because I get so bored by the second chorus, which kinda sucks because the ending in the best part. Chainsmokers continue to put out lifeless and passionless music to the public and they keep eating it up, so why fix what isn't broken I guess? This is probably their second best song behind "Closer", thanks to Chris Martin's vocals and Coldplay adding something more to what could have been a dull track with just Chainsmoker's music. It helps a lot when Andrew Taggart isn't singing here, since he clearly doesn't have a good enough voice to lead a song by himself.

6. Some guy named Kyle/Lil Yachty - iSpy

Still and okay song, not much else has changed. I did notice the artist who's name is just Kyle though. What a creative name. Gotta say that the 20 second intro feels like a waste of time after the first listen through, so I just skip it. It's hard to really hate a song that actually feels like it's having fun. It's catchy and easy to listen to and I think that's okay for a rap / pop song.

7. Future - Mask Off

Straight from the School of Drake's Passionless Half-Asleep Vocals comes everyone's favorite rapper FUTURE! It's been a while since a song has made me feel so depressed just for the fact that it exists, but this song is just... Please make it stop. Make it stop. Dull music. Dull vocals. Dull beat.
-10/100. can't get worse than this. I miss Drake.

8. Lil Uzi Vert - It just got worse, AKA, XO TOUR LIF3!!!11!!

Lil Uzi Vert, or better known as the mumbling guy who screams YAH in "Bad and Boujee". I'm not sure what I just listened to, but I don't think it was music. The only thing I understood in this song was "All my friends are dead", and i'm pretty sure they all faked their deaths to get away from this guy. Seriously though, I really have no clue how this made it all the way to the top 10. Yet another song that makes me sad to listen to, just because it's an actual song on the charts.

9. Sam Hunt - Body Like A Back Road

Southern country metaphor for sex that doesn't really make sense. Check. Barely sounding like country, let alone any genre at all. Check. Crappy guitar solo. Check. Using tropes from hip-hop to try and sound more hip and relevant to a younger audience. Check. Two and a half minutes of my life wasted. Check.
Overall grade: A+

10. Chainsmokers - Paris

Trying to figure out which artist is the the one I want out of the top 10 more is difficult when you have Chainsmokers, Future, Lil Uzi Vert and Sam Hunt in the same list. It's a tough week for music and it all ends with two of the most boring songs on the charts these days. I'll say Paris is probably the bad song that I can tolerate the most from this list. This week the list started off very promising with Sheeran, Mars, Lamar, and Styles all putting out good songs. Then it came crashing down pretty hard when Future came in, along with Uzi Vert and Sam Hunt. Paris isn't the worst thing the Chainsmokers have put out, but it's probably the most forgettable. Like I said before, Andrew Taggart doesn't have the vocal talent to lead a song by himself, and when he does you get a forgettable song like Paris. Stick to getting guest vocals to help out so maybe you can make another song as tolerable as "Closer" which is still the best thing they've put out (and it's only okay). 

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Your Name

 Your Name. (君の名は。)

Your Name is an anime film brought over from Japan by Funimation. The film was directed by Makoto Shinkai, who has made some really fantastic anime movies over the past including one of my favorites "5 Centimeters Per Second". I wasn't really sure what this movie was about going into it, I went in without any information or even a trailer and I pretty much gave it a shot just because of the director's attachment.

The only thing I knew going in was the premise of the movie, a movie where a high school boy and girl switch bodies and affect each other's lives in different ways, much like other body switch movies like "Freaky Friday" and "The Change-Up". It seemed like weird premise for the director to go with considering his movies are a little more serious, so I wasn't sure where he was going with this. Actually it's very surprising where this movie goes and it was very unexpected and I honestly found myself loving this movie more than I ever would have though. While at first it DOES do some of the jokes you would expect from a movie where a teenage boy and girl switch and it kinda goes how you might expect, it gets all that stuff out of the way to focus on the real meat of the story. (note: while the body switch jokes might be kinda cliche stuff you'd expect, I still found them pretty funny and charming because of the characters). It's hard to talk about the actual plot of the movie without giving away great moments that are better to experience first hand though. 

The movie follows Mitsuha, a teenage girl living in a very traditional Japanese village far from the major cities. She lives a life of tradition and old ceremonies, but she really wants to experience a more modern life in Tokyo and experience the city life for herself with all it's charm. After she screams a wish to live a different life she wakes up the next day as Taki, a boy living in Tokyo who lives the life she dreams of. Through switching both characters learn what it's like to live opposite lives, and help each other be better. Though there's more mysterious circumstances behind all of this...

This movie works on basically every level. Of course the most important parts are the characters and the animation itself. The two main characters are very likable alone, even more likable when interacting together. I found myself really rooting for them through the movie. The animation is some of the best I've ever seen in any anime film, comparable to the great Studio Ghibli films. The scenery is the best part of the movie by far though, from the very busy and detailed city of Tokyo to the more nature filled scenery of the small towns. Everything feels very bright, colorful and beautiful and it's a treat to look at, especially on the big screen. The music is also very well done, though the only real problem I had with it was the songs that were used during some interludes that felt kinda weird in English translations. They just felt like they would have been a lot better if they just had left them in Japanese with subtitles, still just a small complaint. Oh yeah, there are a few musical interludes in the film with original music (I think), kinda weird, but I think it's probably just an anime thing. 

This film really took me by surprise in the end, I loved the characters and the animation was amazing to stare it the whole time. I laughed, I was shocked, I teared up but didn't cry because I don't do that kind of thing because i'm a grown man and I don't cry during anime movies I swear to you I don't cry, and I had a very fun time watching this. Honestly it's one of the best movies I've seen so far this year, just because of how much fun it was to see an original story with fun characters and beautiful visuals. The only bad thing I can really say is just some of the cliche body switch jokes and the kinda corny music, but nothing that really takes away too much from the film. 

Overall Grade: A-, A great anime film that was fun and surprisingly emotional from start to end. If you like anime in general you will most likely enjoy this, if you don't then it's probably not something you would be interested anyway. Still, I had a really good time watching this and I hope more people see it, i'd say it's a must watch for anime fans, and a good place to start if you are trying to get into anime. 

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Ghost In the Shell

Ghost In the Shell

Based on the beloved classic anime film of the same name from 1995, Ghost In the Shell (2017) is a live action take on the same story with lead actress Scarlett Johansson taking the role of "Major". The story follows Scarlett's character, who was saved by scientists from death by having her brain put into a robotic shell to keep her alive, the first of her kind. With her new body and skills, she is eventually made into a super soldier type character who is used to stop terrorist acts of sorts around the city. During one of her missions, she stumbles upon a hacker who leads her to question more than she is supposed to, leading her to question the truth about her existence.

Where Ghost in the Shell truly stands out is in it's visuals. They did a very good job recreating the cool and unique cyber-punk world from the original film. The city really feels like a futuristic, sci-fi city with lots of bright neon lighting and holograms, cool technology and vehicles, but still having the feel of a modern Tokyo-like city. I think they captured the setting of the original anime film very well, and thanks to modern film making technology, it looks amazing in the live action setting. Scarlett's character was also well done with the CG, there were cool scenes where you get to see her being formed that looked very nice. The visuals definitely made this a film worth watching in the theatre.

The story is where the film can struggle a bit. Scarlett is really the only memorable part of the movie, as all the other characters don't really have a lot of time in the movie or are just not very fleshed out. The closest thing we get is her partner "Batou" who is the character she spends the most time with, still not really a lot of time, because the only thing we really learn about him is he cares about Scarlett's character and he likes dogs. The film chooses to focus on one major aspect of Scarlett's character and that's her figuring out her humanity. The humanity story can be interesting and it makes sense from her position as a human brain inside of a cyborg body, but it also got boring at times and it felt uninspired at times as well. The action scenes were also done well enough, thanks to the visuals used throughout and the cool world. The visuals and action aren't always enough to make up for the way the story progresses, sometimes some scenes being boring despite of the visuals. 

Scarlett is one of the reasons to give this movie a shot, she does try with what she's given to work with and she does a good job for the most part. The other reason is how beautifully unique the visuals and effects are, and how the city feels like a real living and breathing futuristic place. It's sad to say the story could be weak at times and a lot of the characters felt unmemorable, but it still all works well together to make a good movie. It's definitely worth a watch just for the visuals alone, and the story is put together well enough to keep you going for the two hours this film lasts.

Grade: C+ , Visually fantastic. Passable Story. 

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