billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - june 3, 2023

I’m not sure how I feel about this week. On the one hand, we got some pretty high profile new entries and returns that should be interesting to discuss… but on the other, I don’t know how much any of it will last given that we likely have a Lil Durk album bomb coming and it’s not like the chart moved all that much, all things considered.

Case in point, our top ten, where for somehow another week ‘Last Night’ by Morgan Wallen is squatting at the #1. Well, I could say ‘somehow’ but I know how why this song is so dominant, it comes down to good sales, ruling streaming, and radio pickups not slowing down, this could wind up as the biggest song of 2023 based on all of that aggregate volume near the top. Compare this to ‘Flowers’ by Miley Cyrus at #2, where it’s dominant on the radio, but absolutely on the downswing and the margin is only growing here - same thing with ‘Kill Bill’ by SZA at #3, which is losing even faster. Then we have ‘Calm Down’ by Rema and Selena Gomez up to #4 - predominantly on big radio growth - and then a small spike for ‘Favorite Song’ by Toosii up to #5 riding good streaming and radio traction; don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind the song, but I am increasingly annoyed this is doing far better than Rod Wave ever has; this is what competent promo and label backing looks like, people. But it’s worth highlighting that these gains are more driven on the losses of other songs, like ‘Ella Baila Sola’ by Eslabon Armado and Peso Pluma down to #6, with a good streaming week not quite compensating for YouTube losses and radio being very slow to get onboard - and on that note, ‘All My Life’ by Lil Durk and J. Cole fell off the debut to #7 - even if radio has surprisingly shown up early, there were streaming losses; I expect this to fully rebound next week. But then we have a new debut in the top 10: ‘Where She Goes’ by Bad Bunny at #8 - we’ll get into the song proper more later on, but as it is, when streaming is this strong, it’s not surprising; the big question will be if radio shows up. It knocks back our last two songs in the top 10: ‘Creepin’ by Metro Boomin, 21 Savage and The Weeknd to #9 - even as radio has been surprisingly slow to get rid of it - and ‘Fast Car’ by Luke Combs, which is surging on the radio, but needs a lot to catch up with its streaming and sales margins - thrilled to see it become a hit, but it’s going to take more to hit a peak anytime soon.

On the flipside, let’s get to our losers and dropouts, and we have some big ones in the latter category. No, I’m not happy that ‘ceilings’ by Lizzy McAlpine is going to fall well short of anything, but I’m not about to complain that ‘Wild As Her’ by Corey Hart will likely be in the same boat. But outside of that… ‘Rich Flex’ by Drake and 21 Savage clinched its spot, as did ‘Superhero (Heroes & Villains)’ by Metro Boomin, Future, and Chris Brown, and ‘Handle On You’ by Parker McCollum looks like it could just scrape by on the edge. Now for our losers… again, there’s not many of them here - sadly off the debut ‘Life Goes On’ by Ed Sheeran and Luke Combs slid to 85 - I’m thinking I might have to hope for the long game for that one to catch up - but at least ‘Mathematical Disrespect’ by Lil Mabu crashed a bit to 59. Outside of that… ‘Double Fantasy’ by The Weeknd and Future hit 73, ‘Nonsense’ by Sabrina Carpenter finally took a hit to 78, and ‘Red Ruby Da Sleeze’ by Nicki Minaj just never got going properly at 83 - similar case for ‘Painting Pictures’ by Superstar Pride at 93, although I’d point more to that one getting kneecapped midway through its ascent.

Now for our gains and returns… and there’s only one tangible gain this week, and it’s a ‘Need A Favor’ by Jelly Roll, which is not worth caring about. No, what has my interest are the four returns, with the weakest probably being ‘Jaded’ by Miley Cyrus at 90 - looks like they’re finally shipping it to radio, I know a lot of folks love this, it’s never clicked for me. But the other returns are bigger news: ‘Wreckage’ by Nate Smith climbed back to 97, that’s good, but the bigger stories start with ‘AMERICA HAS A PROBLEM’ by Beyonce getting a big remix with Kendrick Lamar to put it at 38 - my thoughts on said remix, it’s solid and Kendrick works on this production and I’m happy it’s giving the song a second life, but I’ve never thought Kendrick and Beyonce have great chemistry, as much as I love ‘FREEDOM’ it was kind of an issue on that song too. But here’s the newest that makes me happiest: ‘Cruel Summer’ by Taylor Swift has finally busted out and has smashed back at 49! I’ve said for years that if this song had been Lover’s proper lead-off single, the album’s run would be remembered way more fondly, with its pulsating synth groove and St. Vincent on guitar - if we have to get this run four years later, I’ll take what I can get!

But now onto our reasonable list of new arrivals… unfortunately starting with…

96. ‘Baby Don’t Hurt Me’ by David Guetta, Anne-Marie & Coi Leray - let me explain why songs like this anger me so much these days: because this sort of huge sample clearance and interpolation isn’t just overdone with ‘What Is Love’ - especially when Eminem put out ‘No Love’ with Lil Wayne as one of the few songs that hasn’t aged like shit from the Recovery era - but only commercial hacks like David Guetta have the capital to even get a sample clearance this recognizable and huge, because it’s not like anyone is coming for his production or anything, which sounds as stiff, flat and dated as ever! Hell, I could say something similar for Anne-Marie, who has never showcased much personality, but it breaks my heart that Coi Leray has decided that hopping on throwback sampling is going to become her ‘thing’ instead of cultivating a unique sound. It’s not as bad as ‘I’m Good (Blue)’, which was produced like it was pulled from a dumpster in 2017, but this is soulless and crappy in an aggressively uninteresting way - next!

87. ‘You’ by Dan + Shay - I was more intrigued about this new Dan + Shay song than I probably should have been. Granted, I’ve been nicer to this duo than most going back to when I first reviewed them in 2014 when they weren’t getting crossover hits at all, but this is an interesting time with country looking to transition into rougher sounds, and I didn’t know how Dan + Shay would handle that. That was before I realized that this was a song from their 2021 album that’s only hitting the Hot 100 now with perhaps the most rote composition I’ve heard in a while that drives for touches of soul with the organ and backing vocals, but it’s all way too sanitized to sell any of it well. And with the love song lyrics feeling beyond generic… just ship this express to the Hallmark channel, we’ve moved on.

65. ‘Angel Pt. 1’ by Kodak Black, NLE Choppa, Jimin, JVKE & Muni Long - one thing I unabashedly like about the Fast & Furious movies is that their soundtrack are stuffed with ridiculous, overstuffed collaborations that only barely make sense, and even if I don’t like the majority of artists on this song, I was expecting at least an entertaining disaster. And thus I regret to inform you that this is considerably more boring than it should be - Jimin and Muni Long handle the hook and are the only ones whose vocals sound decent in this brooding ‘don’t get too close to me, my life is dangerous is hard’ song, Kodak tries to be respectable and comes out dull, NLE Choppa tries to be respectable and comes out hilarious in how he tries to parrot the franchise’s dumb catchphrases about family, and JVKE just humiliates himself with his overcompressed yowling. I guess the piano line is fine against the dry and cheap-sounding trap percussion, and I think the final hook hits pretty well - Jimin and Muni Long have chemistry, at least - so I don’t hate this, but the more serious it tries to be, the less serious I take it, and that’s not exactly a good sign, just saying.

63. ‘To Summer, From Cole (Audio Hug)’ by Summer Walker & J. Cole - so putting aside the slightly weird title, this is the first song on that Summer Walker EP that I honestly thought would do better this week, but this is the only song that charted… that features Summer repeating a single line for two hooks surrounding an extended verse from J. Cole. And… yeah, it’s generally sweet, with the piano line and the shambling percussion, with J. Cole basically sending an message of vulnerable affirmation to Summer Walker given that she had twins and is trying to balance being a mom and artist at the same time. I wouldn’t say there’s a lot to it - I did appreciate Cole shouting out SZA and especially Ari Lennox near the end of the verse, especially as Ari Lennox is on his label and could use more of a push - but it’s a cute moment. More of an intro than a song proper, but it’s fine.

54. ‘Say Yes to Heaven’ by Lana Del Rey - okay, this is a weird one: so apparently this is a song Lana Del Rey has had in some variety since around 2013, originally intended for Ultraviolence but was cut, remaining one of those unreleased gems that has been bootlegged time and time again in the decade since. So instead of pushing any songs from the new album, she finally released this and of course it charted high and… I dunno, I’m far from being a fan of early Lana Del Rey and you can tell she’s advanced by leaps and bounds as a songwriter and singer since this. The hazy guitarline is nice with the understated tremors of percussion and strings, and I guess I don’t mind the sentiment of her pleas to sustain some form of relationship that she seems to think is doomed anyway… but nothing about the oddly basic composition or del Rey’s delivery makes me believe there’s much heaven here at all. By the standards of her early work, it’s better than I expected, I get why it was a fan favourite… she’s just set higher standards since.

36. ‘Mourning’ by Post Malone - so it’s set, we’re getting that Post Malone album in late July, and while ‘Chemical’ is doing what it needs to on pop and is mostly growing on me, this is playing more to his trap side with the heavier percussion that’s actually well-blended against the rattling, reverbed guitars… and honestly, I like the hook on this a lot. The entire song has the woozy, frustrated vibe of someone who drank too much in the summer heat and is staggering through his day, where fake friends, drug abuse, and loneliness leaves him striking out and trying to find someone in which to vent - and the fact that he consistently fails so much might be the reason the song barely runs two and a half minutes. I do wish there was another verse - the song feels a bit abbreviated, feels built for TikTok - but I think Post Malone might be two for two on his singles here, which I don’t think I’ve ever said about him… in the mean time, I dig this, check it out!

35. ‘TQM’ by Fuerza Regida - I really wish more of these regional Mexican songs stuck out to me so I could have more to say beyond a frustration with the formula not clicking, but this is one of the more egregious cases, where the trumpets are so staccato and farty with much groove that the underpowered clicking gallop passing for percussion and decent guitarwork just get overshadowed. Granted, when I did translate the song it’s all about luxuriating amidst the spoilers and shouting out the cartels, including a demand for his own Kylie comparing himself to Travis Scott - not the wisest decision to go there - and referencing Farruko’s ‘Pepas’, another bad decision because that’s a much better song! Again, I get the tradition in which these songs operate, but there’s an unease that doesn’t match the very jaunty tone that doesn’t work for me - can’t recommend it.

8. ‘Where She Goes’ by Bad Bunny - not gonna lie, when I saw a Bad Bunny song with a full English title, I wondered if this was going to be sung entirely in English. That’s not the case with this, where it seems like he’s heading towards a bassy, pulsating Jersey club beat against plenty of atmospheric synth swell, but unlike a lot of Jersey club I’ve heard the percussion feels a bit more balanced and defined with the gun cock sound effects to add that texture. And that works for the sort of song where you can tell he’s caught feelings for a rebound and she doesn’t want to re-engage, so there’s some passive-aggressive flirting going on with plenty of references to the sex they did have. And while I’m not sure I’d put it among my favourite Bad Bunny tracks, the song has a darker, pulsating intensity that he sells really effectively, especially as the synths open up across the second verse to accentuate that siren and negative space. So yeah, I’d say this is pretty damn solid, and a very pleasant surprise.

In fact… yeah, Bad Bunny gets Honourable Mention, Best of the Week to Post Malone for ‘Mourning’, which really stuck for me more than I expected. Worst of the week is easy with ‘Baby Don’t Hurt Me’ by David Guetta, Anne-Marie, and Coi Leray, with Dishonourable Mention falling to ‘TQM’ by Fuerza Regida - between the subject matter and those horns, I can’t get behind it. Next week is Lil Durk, we’ll have to see how much impact that album bomb lands, it’s going to be interesting…