Well, two of my favourite artists going up against each other for a #1. Interesting. As Drake Bell's EP 'Honest' will be debuting on the chart next week, he had a very good shot at #1. His only clear competition for #1 is Kirstin Maldonado. Her single "Break a Little" has led at #1 for six consecutive weeks before dethroned. As with strong performance and her own EP release coming the week after, it has a good chance of still dominating. The most likely candidate to block kirstin's return will be Bell's "Rewind". However, any songs off the EP with the exception of "Run Away" have a chance at #1. Speaking of "Run Away", it led the Top 50 (previously My Hot 100), for seven consecutive weeks. kirstin therefore, has a shot to tie his record for most weeks at #1. "Run Away" so far leads the year-end list and will probably be able to return to the Top 20 next week. Other candidates gaining in the Top 10 will include Macklemore, who has a shot at the Top 5, and Liam Payne. Diamante and Niall Horan have chances to return to the Top 10 as well as Superfruit's EP begins to lose plays. So far, this is the standings: 1. Break a Little - 6000 2. Rewind - 6000 3. Leaves - 5950 4. Honest - 5500 5. Bad 4 Us - 5000 6. Glorious - 4950 7. Imaginary Parties - 4000 8. Strip That Down - 3950 9. Coming In Hot - 3700 10. Slow Hands - 3300 Looking at the standings, it's anyone's question. Well, won't find out till Sunday, 16 May, when charts will be updated. So stay tuned for that.
"Bad 4 Us" goes to #1, Superfruit debuts six songs. Superfruit's "Bad 4 Us", in wake of their EP 'Future Friends - Part One", jumps 2-1. By doing this, they dethrone fellow Pentatonix member kirstin, who led at #1 with "Break a Little" (which falls 1-2), for six consecutive weeks. Superfruit further dominates by debuting six songs in the Top 10: "Imaginary Parties" (#3), "Future Friends" (#4), "Worth It (Perfect)" (#5), "Heartthrob" (#6), "Sexy Ladies" (#7), and "Vacation" (#8). Because of this, "Glorious" by Macklemore featuring Skylar Grey falls 6-9, despite a heavy gain in performance. And finally, "Strip That Down" by Liam Payne featuring Quavo holds at #10. More Superfruit further down, as the "Superfruit Theme Song" rises 16-14, Mitch Grassi (aka my gay crush) rises to the Top 20, going from 31-20. Also, the Frozen Medley (featuring Kirstie Maldonado), debuts at #40. Other songs with big gains are Selena Gomez's "Bad Liar" (32-18), and Shawn Mendes' "There's Nothing Holdin' Me Back" (43-30). "As If It's Your Last" by K-pop girl group BLACKPINK debuts at #1 on the Bubbling Under chart. For next week, we should see debuts from Drake Bell, Kesha, and The All-American Rejects.
Today, I will be reviewing the new EP from Drake Bell as he steps into mainstream pop, and go through promotion strategy.
Release date: 30 June 2017 (or 5 July 2017?)
Record label: DB Records
Genre: Pop
Best songs: "Rewind", "Honest"
Worst songs: "Leaves"
Rating: 7/10
Let's see... I don't know the details, there are two ways this could have happened. One, you actually did release on the 30th and it somehow flew over my head, and Bell decided not to post about it till the 5th, a Wednesday (note the official release date for music is a Friday). Or Two, you did release on the 5th, and it's mislabeled as the 30th. Either way, it's only two tracking days for its debut week, but eh.
So, let's get to the EP itself. There is not really a plot line to this that at least I see, except for maybe a failed relationship, but eh, it's an EP. The first track is "Leaves", a nice upbeat track with hints of electric guitar. Now, Drake Bell's falsetto... it's not a Justin Timberlake falsetto. It sounds good, but it doesn't sound heavily supported, and it sounds far brighter than his modal range, as he tends to be dark as a tenor. While his falsetto was never great, I do have a feeling it's gotten a bit worse. Just my opinion. Then we get "Honest", which would have been perfect as a single since the production sounds like "Shape Of You" and "Cheap Thrills", with the synths, it's a pretty by-the-numbers pop song. How he says he's not perfect, but he's still "honest", and he's telling his lover to be honest with him. Which is ironic since this is more of a project made to go mainstream. Then we get "Run Away", and I like the song. It's a decent pop song, and the falsetto sounds better, but still pretty thin. And you can tell the upper notes are a bit harder for him. Has a pretty good drop though. Then we get "Rewind", the closing song, and it has nice organic production, a Spanish guitar, a good pop rock tune that's more of a ballad that could have fit on It's Only Time. But here's my main problem. Lyrical content wise, these songs are pretty basic for him, it seems formulaic, and wanting to be popular again. It shows a musician approaching middle-age who wants his youthful years, his relevancy back. He's basically trying to be Justin Bieber on this project, and while he does show he can do it better than Bieber, from such a talented musician, he can do better.
Look, a VERY light 7/10. It's decent, I guess. Some good writing is still here. And his charisma well makes this project. But for me, I feel like Bell will not do better than his first two albums. Maybe that's just me being petty. I feel like I'm one of those fans who leave the fanbase of a metal band once they start getting popular. That aside, coming from someone who loved his first two albums... look, it still will get into my playlists for a bit, but it's not his best work.. Just saying. And I'm not seeing this is a bad release, far from from it, it's pretty damn good pop music. Also, the short length. I think it being longer would have been a bit better for me.
So yeah, thanks for reading, feel free to comment if you've heard it, which you likely haven't, because it's not like it'll be topping charts anytime soon. I'd like to hear your thoughts. I'm not sure what I'll be reviewing or talking about next, so if you got a suggestion for that too, feel free.
kirstin's "Break a Little" leads for sixth week, while Superfruit debuts at #2 with "Bad 4 Us".
With "Break a Little" leading for a sixth straight week, it goes up to second in longest runs at #1, tying with Pentatonix's "Hallelujah", and Drake Bell's "Run Away", which led for seven weeks. "Break a Little" does face competition next week, and it's coming from the debut at #2, "Bad 4 Us" by Superfruit (comprised of Mitch Grassi and Scott Hoying). This follows Avriel & The Sequoias' (Avi Kaplan), debut at #2 with "Fields And Pier". Maldonado's fellow Pentatonix members will be battling her for #1, as their debut EP, 'Future Friends - Part One', will be impacting the charts next week, with all seven songs set to debut in the Top 10. So far, Kevin Olusola is the only member of Pentatonix to not impact the chart at all, much less the Top 10.
Next, is "Coming In Hot" by Diamante, which rises 4-3. It's doing well, but this song, like every song below it, will take falls next week. Niall Horan's "Slow Hands" rises 7-4. "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" by Pentatonix continues to take losses, falling 3-5. Which takes us to our second new Top 10 entry, "Glorious" by Macklemore featuring Skylar Grey. It rises 21-6, as it's doing extremely well. "Cut To The Feeling" by Carly Rae Jepsen rises 8-7. "Only One Me" by Ice Cube rises 9-8. Our previous #2, "All Night" collapses down from 2-9. The third new Top 10 entry, and one that's very unexpected, is "Strip That Down" by Liam Payne featuring Quavo, which rose big from 30-10. So far, Louis Tomlinson and ZAYN are the two One Direction members who failed to reach the Top 10 (Tomlinson's "Just Hold On" peaked at #22, and Zayn's "I Don't Wanna Live Forever" peaked at #87).
As noted previously, Superfruit's whole EP is set for a Top 10 debut, and as such, this week, the "Superfruit Theme Song" picks up to 35-16, and Mitch Grassi's "Graveyard" rises 40-31. Also, the new single from rapper Desiigner, "Liife", which features rapper Gucci Mane, debuts at #30.
"Break a Little" leads for a fifth week, while her follow-up "All Night" debuts at #2. Ice Cube and Jason Reeves both earn their first Top 10 entry.
What I'll start doing is rundowns of my chart every week on my blog, with a prediction post to follow. Hope it's at least interesting.
kirstin's "Break a Little" leads for a fifth straight week. This is the longest run at the top since "Imagine" by Pentatonix also led for five weeks in April. This also makes the the third longest run at the top, as "Hallelujah", also by Pentatonix led for six weeks, and "Run Away" by Drake Bell led for seven weeks. "All Night", the follow up single from kirstin's L O V E EP, debuts at #2, and missed #1 by a margin of 10 points. For a bit of trivia, kirstin is the only lead female artist to ever lead the chart, and the only artist aside from Niall Horan to lead with their debut single. And aside from her, Pentatonix is the only one to lead the chart with two singles, making kirstin technically lead the chart twice. Expect at least a Top 3 debut from another Pentatonix project, Superfruit (Mitch Grassi and Scott Hoying), as "Bad 4 Us" will be debuting on the chart next week.
Pentatonix or its associated members continues to dominate, as "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" rises to #3. It's not really gaining or losing, but sticking around due to longevity. The second new Top 10 (and Top 5) entry comes from hard rock singer Diamante, who debuts at #4 with her first single under a record label, "Coming In Hot". The record label in question is Eleven Seven Music, who also has the likes of Papa Roach, Pop Evil, and Five Finger Death Punch in their roster. Another Pentatonix member, Avi Kaplan, or Avriel & The Sequoias follows with "Sweet Adeline" and "Fields and Pier", which fall from 3-5 and 2-6 respectively. Previous #1 "Slow Hands" by Niall Horan rises 8-7. "Cut To The Feeling" re-enters the Top 10, by rising 21-8. Ice Cube earns his first Top 10 entry with "Only One Me" which rises 19-9. And finally, as previously mentioned, Jason Reeves re-enters the chart with "Just Friends" at #10. The perfect friendzone anthem that describes my life. Further down, Liam Payne debuts at #30 with "Strip That Down", and Macklemore debuts at #21 with "Glorious". The latter features American Skylar Grey, and is the lead single from his second solo studio album. Macklemore previously led the Billboard Hot 100 twice as part of the duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis.
Aside from Superfruit next week, expect gains for Macklemore, Liam Payne, and Social Repose, along with debuts from Selena Gomez, Shania Twain, and Shawn Mendes.
2. Josh Peck Does Not Invite Drake Bell To His Wedding
3. Band Thriller 'American Satan' Gets Release Date 4. YouTuber Austin Jones Arrested on 2 Counts of Child Pornography
5. Beyoncé and Jay-Z Announce Twins
6. Pentatonix Members Are Releasing Music
7. Conclusion
8. Sources Used
Introduction:
So, a semi-regular segment I often do on the Billboard comments was a little segment. It was often music-only news. This time, I'm expanding it to include any sort of news I may have heard of. Plus, this will be a more pleasing aesthetic. I may miss something, and it may come off as a tabloid to some degree, but fuck your opinion, I do what I want on this blog. So to start us off...
Josh Peck Does Not Invite Drake Bell To His Wedding
Actor Josh Peck, known for his role on "Drake & Josh", married his longtime girlfriend, Paige O'Brien. Attendees to the wedding include his "Grandfathered" co-star John Stamos, and actor Jason Nash. Drake Bell was notably a non-presence. Instead of being happy about his upcoming film, like Donald Trump, Bell takes to his Twitter to let his 3.24 million followers know his feelings. These tweets are: "When you're not invited to the wedding the message is clear", "Loyalty is key, ALWAYS remember where you're from.", and "I'll miss you brotha.". These tweets were later deleted by Bell, then he contacted Peck himself via Instagram, replying to his photo with the message: "When you're not invited to your brothers wedding... cool I get it bro, thanks for the invite." Oddly enough, while this comment could have been deleted by Bell like his tweets, according to one user, other people's comments were deleted as well, implying this could have been deleted by Peck. Josh Peck has yet to formally reply to this, despite this story getting covered by numerous sources. Speaking of that previously mentioned film...
Band Thriller 'American Satan' Gets Release Date
The trailer for the upcoming film, 'American Satan', a film project from record label Sumerian Records, will be released in October, on the 13th. The plot reads as: “A young rock band, half from England and half from the US, drop out of college and move to the Sunset Strip to chase their dreams. Living in a van, their passion and talent exceed their means to survive. An enigmatic stranger sees their true potential and emotionally manipulates them during a time of weakness. Caught in the middle of a Faustian deal, their music and controversial altercations end up influencing society beyond anything this century has seen, but can they take back control of their destiny before it’s too late?”
Cast includes: Andy Biersack, Ben Bruce, Drake Bell, Malcolm McDowell, Denise Richards, Boo Stewart.
YouTuber Austin Jones Arrested on 2 Counts of Child Pornography
YouTuber/singer Austin Jones, who's channel had over half a million subscribers (mostly teenage girls), was arrested for the production of child pornography. This came after 2015, in which he asked his audience for twerking videos, even twerking himself to show them how to do it. Sick fuck. So, recently, he asked a 14 and 15 year-old, telling them what to wear and what to do in the video. Well, he'll be the perfect bitch in prison. First off, he's a pretty boy, guys are going to want his ass... literally. Along with that, most prisoners hate pedophiles. I would say good luck Jones, but no... fuck you.
Beyoncé and Jay-Z Announce Twins
The superstar husband and wife, according to various sources such the Los Angeles Times, TMZ, and CNN, have welcomed twins into the world, on 18 June 2017. This marks the third children for them, after Daughter Blue Ivy.
Pentatonix Members Are Releasing Music
Pentatonix seem to be going the way of One Direction, releasing solo music in a variety of styles after Avi Kaplan's departure. Kirstin Maldonado, or "kirstin" appears to be taking a more traditional pop route, in the way of Louis Tomlinson and Liam Payne. Avi Kaplan's "Avriel & The Sequoias" seem to going the way of Niall Horan with folk, albeit far less of a mainstream style. And two members of the original line-up (the other being Maldonado), Mitch Grassi and Scott Hoying will be continuing their project, "Superfruit", who actually put out a song in October of 2016. It is as of now, unclear what kind of music Superfruit will be releasing, and if Kevin Olusola, will be releasing solo material at all. It is also unclear whether this will lead to the eventual full-break up of the group despite Kirstin Maldonado's denial in interviews. Further updates will be posted as they come.
So far, these are the release dates for the extended plays:
'Sage and Stone' - Avriel & The Sequoias: 9 June 2017 (already released as of posting)
'Future Friends Part 1' and 'Future Friends Part 2' - Superfruit: 30 June 2017 and 15 September 2017
'L O V E' - kirstin: 14 July 2017
Conclusion:
Sorry for not really being all that interesting this week. This was made from 11-1 at night/morning and it was extremely rushed. It is also extremely hot where I live at the moment. I also apologize for any messiness/formatting issues, it looks different in the editor than it does when it's published. Any feedback would be appreciated. Also, if you would prefer this to be more humourous or just completely serious. That aside, thanks for reading, and I'll see you next time.
Vocal range/type: Soubrette (Soprano), C3-D6 (Three Octaves, One Note)
Best album(s): E•MO•TION
Worst album(s): N/A
Best song(s): "Sweetie, "Run Away With Me", "Call Me Maybe", "Cry", "Bucket", "Tonight I'm Getting Over You", "Good Time" (with Owl City), "Sour Candy" (ft. John Ramsay), "Your Type", "Part Of Your World", "Your Heart Is A Muscle"
Worst song(s): "It Takes Two" (with Mike-Will-Made It and Lil Yachty)
Positives: Nice, pleasant sounding, bright and airy vocals that fit all styles of music she has attempted. The voice is extremely light and has a youthful, but not immature tone that stays pretty consistent throughout her range, including her falsetto. Her voice does lose quite a bit of its breathiness in the upper range, starting around the A4. 5th octave notes are a bit raspy. Like said prior, her falsetto is bright, and she can easily transition to it from chest voice, and can stay in it for a long time. While she's had her share of immature songs, her songwriting often shows experience and maturity, which is good considering she's in her 30s. Often well-written compositions. Diverse personality, allowing her to play all sorts of roles in her content. While she often doesn't utilize it, she is a decent guitar player.
Negatives: The immature songwriting at times such as with "Call Me Maybe" can come off as off-putting for some people. There's not a lot of support from her diaphragm, causing the voice to lack resonance throughout the entire range. A lot of people, particularly classical and choral music listeners, won't often be fond of the breathy vocals, especially in her lower range. She has trouble with intonation and support while belting. Not everyone is a fan of raspy vocals, and her more cute, girly tone is not to everyone's tastes. Her voice doesn't carry a lot of weight.
Overall: She's cute. Coming from someone who's over a decade younger than her, I'll admit that. Crush on her aside, while being far from stellar as a vocalist, she often has good production to support her vocals, and she knows what music works well for her voice. It's fun to think she has the same top note as me (a D6, though I can probably go higher). She is a competent songwriter and composer. She can convincingly play cute and innocent, sensual, or sexy in her content. I'd be willing to call her a hidden and very underrated gem. Carly Rae Jepsen shows you can be an amazing musician without being a great vocalist.
