billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - december 4, 2021

You know, there have been some periods where I’ve gotten multiple album bombs in a row, and when it gets to the point where they’re just replacing each other, I’m honestly not that bothered, especially as we’re near the end of the calendar year and that means old songs and holiday music are going to scramble to fill in the blanks. And given that I did already review the Adele album last week… it might make things a bit easier, at least for this week here where she slides in to replace Taylor Swift and Silk Sonic

That starts right in our top ten: ‘Easy On Me’ by Adele is comfortably back at #1, mostly courtesy of its radio dominance and strong streaming, although the sales have fallen off considerably, which did kind of surprise me. But it was comfortably enough to get over ‘Stay’ by Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber at #2, which might have some sales but lags on streams and is openly slipping on the radio, even if the margin is narrow there. Then there’s ‘INDUSTRY BABY’ at #3 which might be in even more freefall across the board, but it had enough to hold over ‘All Too Well (Taylor’s Version)’ by Taylor Swift slipping off the top to #4 - and here it looks like a question on radio, because while it slipped on streaming, the sales are still good… it just has no airplay to drive any further. This opens up a window for ‘Oh My God’ by Adele to debut at #5 off strong sales and streaming - we’ll talk more about the song later on - and it was enough to yank itself over ‘Shivers’ by Ed Sheeran at #6, which still has good sales but the streaming is falling off and radio growth is slowing, which puts it in range ‘Heat Waves’ by Glass Animals at #7, which isn’t that far behind in every category. It was enough to pull over ‘Bad Habits’ by Ed Sheeran at #8, which is riding radio inertia and is clearly on its way out, which takes us to ‘Need to Know’ by Doja Cat which has all the radio inertia and nothing else at #9 and then ‘Smokin Out The Window’ by Silk Sonic holding on to #10. I’ll admit I thought this was gone from the top 10 this week, but the streaming is remarkably solid and the radio traction is legit - if there’s a song that’s going to be steamrolled by Christmas music, it’s probably this one, but we’ll have to see.

And on that note, our losers and dropouts, the majority of which were album bomb material but they did take ‘Montero (Call Me By Your Name)’ by Lil Nas X and ‘Chasing After You’ by Ryan Hurd and Maren Morris with them. And that was also pretty true with our losers here too: for Taylor Swift ‘State Of Grace’ fell to 88, ‘Red’ fell to 86, ‘Message In A Bottle’ hit 74 - apparently this pretty weak slice of synthpop is intended as a single, which I seriously question - and ‘I Bet You Think About Me’ with Chris Stapleton at 70, along with ‘Leave The Door Open’ by Silk Sonic sliding to 50. From there the rest are pretty scattered: ‘Escape Plan’ by Travis Scott just continues to tank at 97, ‘No Love’ by Summer Walker and SZA fell to 66, ‘Already Dead’ by Juice WRLD collapsed off the debut to 61, ‘Cold As You’ by Luke Combs slid a bit to 46, ‘Girls Want Girls’ by Drake and Lil Baby fell to 43, and ‘Meet Me At Our Spot’ by THE ANXIETY seems to have its virality slip a bit at 39. The only one I’m really disappointed with is ‘You Should Probably Leave’ by Chris Stapleton, which looks like it’ll be a prime candidate to be caught between years - fun stuff.

But the bigger news this week were returns and gains, where we had a considerable number mostly because Adele’s album bomb is a little smaller than what happened last week… plus, you know, the return of holiday staples happened so ‘Rockin Around The Christmas Tree’ by Brenda Lee is back at 14, ‘Jingle Bell Rock’ by Bobby Helms is at 20, ‘A Holly Jolly Christmas’ by Burl Ives hit 27, ‘It’s The Most Wonderful Time’ by Andy Williams hit 30, and ‘Last Christmas’ by Wham! hit 40. The rest of the returns are squatting near the very bottom: ‘Memory I Don’t Mess With’ by Lee Brice at 87, ‘Poke It Out’ by Wale and J. Cole at 91, ‘half of my hometown’ by Kelsea Ballerini and Kenny Chesney at 92, ‘Volvi’ by Aventura and Bad Bunny at 93, ‘Maybach’ by 42 Dugg and Future at 94, ‘Baddest’ by Yung Bleu, 2 Chainz and Chris Brown at 95, ‘Too Easy’ by Gunna and Future at 96, ‘Who’s In Your Head’ by Jonas Brothers at 98, and ‘Jugaste y Sufri’ by Eslabon Armado and DannyLux at 99. Now the gains seem a bit more healthy - for now - with of course ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ by Mariah Carey surging to 12 - it’ll be in the top ten likely by next week. But the gains are always interesting to see what has recovered versus what is picking up steam, with the latter seeming to fall on ‘Super Gremlin’ by Kodak Black at 63 - charming. Then we have songs that held steady but are picking up now: ‘One Mississippi’ by Kane Brown at 59, ‘Whiskey And Rain’ by Michael Ray at 67, ‘Big Energy’ by Latto at 72, ‘Freedom Was A Highway’ by Jimmie Allen and Brad Paisley up to 76, and ‘For Tonight’ by Giveon at 83. And then there’s the rebounds: ‘Tequila Little Time’ by Jon Pardi at 75, ‘Til You Can’t’ by Cody Johnson at 77, ‘Bubbly’ by Young Thug, Drake and Travis Scott at 79, ‘Woman’ by Doja Cat at 80, and ‘Moth To a Flame’ by Swedish House Mafia and The Weeknd at 84 - looks like there might be something here after all. But since we are in an album bomb situation for Adele, here are the songs that fell below the top 40 and are neither the best nor worst of this week: ‘Love Is A Game’ at 56, ‘All Night Parking’ with the late Erroll Garner at 53, ‘Hold On’ at 49, and ‘Strangers By Nature’ at 41.

Alright, now onto a reasonable list of new arrivals…

89. ‘Heart On Fire’ by Eric Church - so this might be contentious as an Eric Church fan: I don’t think he’s promoted Heart & Soul as well as he could have. Now granted, it wouldn’t have been an easy project to promote, as he put all the best songs on the & EP that’s somehow still just available to the fan club, but even the songs he’s targeted as singles feel way too spaced out to drive proper momentum: ‘Stick That In Your Country Song’ came out in mid-2020, and now we’re here, with a song that is good, but probably the weakest of his singles thus far. I mean, part of this will just be me pointing to the & EP or even ‘Russian Roulette’ if he wanted another single from Heart, but this is a song that plays a little too close to Church’s formula of classic rock worship and really is a more rambunctious version of a similar formula he worked on ‘Hell Of A View’, complete with slightly more jagged southern rock riffs, glittery saloon piano, a soulful holler in the backing vocals, and an hazy acoustic bridge riding the bass that I honestly wish he gave a little more space. I will say it’s a little weird that Church was referencing Elvis - mostly because it’s 2021 and you’d think he’d have a better reference given his music nerd side - and I’m still not convinced Jay Joyce is the right pick to give this the muscle it needs, especially with Church a little further back in the mix than I’d prefer - but I can also recognize that for as much as Church is working his Springsteen side, this is a damn good song. I have no faith Music Row will promote it worth a damn, though - shame.

85. ‘Enemy’ by Imagine Dragons & JID - alright, let me explain this: it’s a theme song for an animated series based off of League Of Legends called Arcane that apparently is getting really good reviews… and it’s a collab for Imagine Dragons with a rapper who really seems like he should have more traction than he does, produced by Mattman & Robin. So you can understand why I had rock bottom expectations for this… which were appropriate, because this sucks. No coherent groove to speak of with painfully dated trap percussion opposite gutless guitars, cheap-sounding fake brass and a brostep warp of synth from Mattman & Robin - actually, here’s a question, who from Imagine dragons besides Dan Reynolds actually played on this song, I can’t hear any of them! God, even ‘Believer’ had more muscle than this, and didn’t feature Reynolds spending way too much time in his upper register elongating syllables for a weirdly sour song that wants to frame him as being betrayed and taking on all of his enemies. And… ugh, I hate to say this, but JID is not helping here - why do I get the feeling he’s here because Imagine Dragons can’t get Kendrick Lamar anymore, because it’s basically an underweight Kendrick verse with more filler bars than punchlines. So yeah, i really hope this Arcane show is any good, because the theme song sure as hell isn’t selling it.

73. ‘God’s Country’ by State of Mine & Drew Jacobs - it feels a little weird we’re getting a song like this in 2021 - I thought this was a phenomenon that burned out a few years ago at the very least. So context: Drew Jacobs seems like one of those country acts that’s just shy of getting the machine behind him but isn’t really playing in the indie space, where State Of Mine is a metal act that got most famous for playing a bunch of covers, which I remember for bands like I Prevail getting their start. And that’s what this is: a cover of Blake Shelton’s ‘God’s Country’… and that’s kind of about it. And in theory this had the potential to kick ass - this song has the writing and atmosphere to fit well in metal, it should be an obvious slam dunk, but when nobody involved has the vocal presence of someone like Blake Shelton and can’t really capture the huge, punishing blues rock side of the original, you get a pretty stock radio metal song where the cover is the novelty. And that’s a shame, because there was potential here, but the production and delivery aren’t as good and even if there’s more crunch in the guitars, there’s not much in the arrangement that’d put this above. And for a song I really like where this had potential… this was a letdown - just not interesting.

55. ‘Woman Like Me’ by Adele - after ‘Easy On Me’, this is probably Adele’s best song on 30, and that doesn’t appear to be a popular opinion. The guitars are muted and fractured against the brittle percussion, the vocals aren’t quite as well-produced as they should be - a little too close to the front of the mix with a shade too much reverb - and the entire song is pretty dark as Adele cusses out her ex-husband for his complacency, insecurity, distance, and refusing to acknowledge everything she was bringing to the table. And I like the complexity that comes in the details - Adele seems genuinely regretful that it didn’t work and she doesn’t want to say anything like she is here, but it’s not like she didn’t try, and the frustrated venom that she delivers proves she won’t be silenced and are the hard words that she knows will hurt more deeply. At this point in the album, her pride has been restored, and it lends the song a harshness that I’d argue is a major strength, especially as she knows the framing of all this doesn’t make anyone look good. So yeah, this is the slice of emotional complexity of which I was hoping there was going to be more on 30 - even still, great song. But on the topic of morally complex breakup songs…

51. ‘abcdefu’ by GAYLE - I was told about this song on my Discord earlier this past week, that it’d be the sort of Gen Z song that would cause all manner of ‘discourse’ that would quickly become insufferable and that an earlier version of me would come down on really hard. But now… okay, GAYLE is a teenager out of Dallas, she went viral on TikTok with this song but had something of a YouTube presence for the past year, and now with this… I mean, the swampier guitar and bass timbre, the husky vocals with a cadence somewhere between Billie Eilish and blackbear, the slapdash cheapness of the presentation with her peers shouting behind her to tell her ex to go fuck himself when apparently she ran out of patience with not punching back when he was being an asshole regardless; it’s definitely a song that feels a bit skeletal and derivative, but it’s not that obnoxious and off of the verses she kind of sounds justified in being pissed. That said, the ‘angrier’ remix she has ramps up the drums and pop punk guitar sizzle and sounds a lot better - certainly more likable than the ‘chill’ version of the song - and while I don’t really think she has the pipes to compete with someone like Olivia Rodrigo in this lane, this is fine. Not exactly great… but not bad either.

44. ‘Cry Your Heart Out’ by Adele - this is probably my least favourite song on 30… and I’m not sure if that’s a common opinion or anything, but it features so much of what annoyed me on the album despite having a little more of an actual groove courtesy of the faster percussion and organ-touched groove. And yes, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with Adele making a song about crying and letting all her feelings loose… but the execution of that idea feels wonky, with a peppier walking pace and letting the godawful squawking backing vocals anchor the hook. It feels almost utilitarian in its approach - go on, snap to it, start crying, and then get over yourself and back to life, and that just doesn’t feel realistic. It really hurts the album’s sense of immersion, and it’s neither fun nor effective in what it’s trying to do, at least for me. This is an Adele song that got actively annoying with every repeated listen - let’s not make it a hit.

32. ‘To Be Loved’ by Adele - this is the big one, the penultimate piano ballad and thesis point of the album where the intimacy to Adele’s presentation is key as she finally lets loose where you get the roots of her divorce, where in order to find a love that’s fulfilling and matches her yearning, she had to end her relationship and go off on her own. It’s a moment of self-justification where she seems very conscious of the risk, and Adele’s performance has to sell the transcendent weight of taking it all… and credit to her, for a spare ballad that nearly runs seven minutes, she’s able to do it. That said… I appreciate the performance, but I think the writing needed a little more detail especially on a song this long to really stick the landing, especially as she says she has no regrets… so maybe a little more to flesh out who a song like this is intended to convince with such gravitas. Again, it’s good… but I dunno, I think ‘Easy On Me’ hit these nots more effectively, at least for me.

26. ‘Can I Get It’ by Adele - am I the only one who immediately jumped to A Tribe Called Quest with ‘can I kick it’? Just me? Okay, this is a song that’s gotten some backlash for being a little more conventional in its pop folk stomp especially with the whistle - although the acoustic line honestly feels very 2000s in its minor key melody - but it’s one that I actually like a decent bit given how it builds its choppy dramatic swell off touches of horns into a hook that builds into a rougher percussion drop, which gives the song some real swagger. And hell, if Adele is using it for a coy song about hooking in a new partner where she might be hoping for a bit too much in the LA dating scene, it does make a certain amount of sense that the song isn’t really sensual or leaves her on a heavy note as it is ends because she still has that void that a shallow hookup won’t fix. So yeah, I still like this song and think it’s a bit underrated - probably would be a good single - but I also get why some might think it doesn’t work. Still good, though.

23. ‘My Little Love’ by Adele - I think I would like this song more if it was placed better on the album, because there’s a lot to like about it. The somber, understated groove, the muted pianos, all the complicated feelings she didn’t bring up on ‘To Be Loved’ which is why that song left me cooler than it should, one of the few cases where the subtle backing vocal swells fits, and the punctuation of voice notes with her son and then her own diary breakdown are very effective. And I brought this up in my review, I really love the ending piece where despite an introvert, Adele is now facing real loneliness and drinking a little too much and retreating within herself, and it’s those very human details that have made Adele’s best music! But it’s over six minutes, kept a very leisurely pace where the song fades out over a minute and a half, and more importantly, it’s a dramatic lowpoint that’s placed so early on the project that not only does it kill any momentum, it prevents the more revealing elements from having a better paced impact. Don’t get me wrong, this is a very good song… but put it after ‘I Drink Wine’ midway through the album, and it’s a gutpunch, that’s all I’m saying. But speaking of which…

18. ‘I Drink Wine’ by Adele - this is one of those songs that should just be better than it is. The piano line and organ feel like an old 70s soul song with some obvious Elton John influences, Adele sounds terrific once again especially with a really damn solid hook that opens up great on the final chorus, and I like the lyrical framework where she’s questioning who she’s beholden to, what true satisfaction can even be, and hopefully leave things on a better note as she aspires to pull herself together and get up strong, especially after a night of carousing. It would easily be one of my favourites on the project… but those backing vocals are horrible, both in placement in the mix, production, and delivery! I get that they’re trying to do a retro girl group thing, but they sound like they were imported from bad musical theatre, and for another song that runs long, it’s just so hard to ignore as they slide all over the pre-chorus and hook - hell, she got more of a gospel choir on ‘Hold On’, that could have put this over the top in the best way possible! So no, it’s not bad… but my god it should be better.

5. ‘Oh My God’ by Adele - at this time I feel like a broken record talking about these songs: Adele delivers a solid performance, the writing is generally aspirational and lands pretty well against a rollicking percussion line that kicks into a solid hook. But despite good grooves, the shrill, pitch-shifted backing vocals comprise the majority of the melody and while they’re not as obnoxious, they’re layered in a way that feels very grainy in how they overlap with Adele’s lead. for a track that’s clearly going for the pop crossover, I have no idea why they couldn’t just let the mix breathe instead of relying on such obvious compression and a stomp clap percussion line that just doesn’t have the heaviness that gave Adele’s previous material some legit heft, especially coming off the bridge into the final hook. So no, while this might have the greatest shot of becoming the next single, it’s not very good, at least to me.

And that’s our week… it feels a little more manageable here, but still overall decent, with the best going to ‘Woman Like Me’ by Adele and Honourable Mention to ‘Heart On Fire’ by Eric Church. Now the worst… yeah, Adele’s getting the Dishonourable Mention with ‘Cry Your Heart Out’, but the worst is obviously going to ‘Enemy’ by Imagine Dragons and JID, which just stunk across the board. Next week, the onslaught of holiday music continues amidst the fallout for all of this, so stay tuned!