billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - may 30, 2020

You know, I’d love to come up here this week and say that I was on the ball completely for once: we got the Future album bomb as I predicted, but most of it was below the top 40 and thus can be mostly deflected, and even my longshot prediction surrounding what would take the #1 got there against all odds. So yeah, I was prepared to be pretty pleased one way or the other… and then I realized I completely forgot Polo G. Which is strange, given that I like the songs I’ve heard from the guy, but he got an album bomb of his own, also mostly below the top 40. In other words, this week has an odd feel to it, and might wind up easier to cover than I expected…

But of course, we first must discuss the drama of the top 10, where as I’ve been saying the past couple of weeks, ‘Savage’ by Megan Thee Stallion ft. Beyonce is at #1. Again, this shouldn’t be a surprise, given strength across the board, but just in case they threw on a sales discount this week to seal the #1 - well timed, especially as the airplay hasn’t hit its peak yet. And unlike many of the past weeks… this might be sustainable, especially if her streaming remains robust and airplay’s on the upswing. Hell, it moved past ‘Say So’ by Doja Cat with Nicki Minaj at #2, which might be better on the radio but lags everywhere else - it is worth mentioning, though, that given radio’s downturn in the pandemic, Nielsen audience statistics were adjusted downwards, which naturally gives streaming and sales a boost without Billboard having to change their formula. That’s probably why ‘Blinding Lights’, despite still being at the top on the radio and gaining only hit #3, especially as streaming took a dip this week. Probably also a boon for ‘ROCKSTAR’ by DaBaby and Roddy Ricch up big to #4, because it rules streaming and looks to be making a solid radio run, even if the sales are not worth caring about. Then we had Drake pick up a spot for ‘Toosie Slide’ at #5 - not altogether surprising, given how otherwise consistent it is in streaming and radio, but then we see the first boon for the album bomb: ‘Life Is Good’ by Future ft. Drake rebounded to #6 - a big surge on streaming will do that for you. Then we had ‘The Box’ by Roddy Ricch holding steady at #7 - yes, it’s plummeting on the radio but YouTube and streaming is still keeping it afloat - and ‘Don’t Start Now’ by Dua Lipa actually picking up a spot to #8 - most of what it still has is radio, but there’s a lot of it. Unfortunately, this also allowed ‘Intentions’ by Justin Bieber and Quavo to sneak back into the top ten at #9 - I’ve said this before that it’s a lot more consistent than it should be and it even had a radio this week - and bringing up the rear we have ‘Circles’ by Post Malone at #10, because even if it looks like his radio is finally on its way out, it still has a lot and good streaming - go figure.

But on a similar note, given that we had a double album bomb and radio readjusted downwards, the double album bomb led to a hefty list of losers and dropouts, and while in the latter category ‘Heart On Ice’ by Rod Wave and ‘you should be sad’ by Halsey clinched their year-end list spots, a whole lot of songs got swept out, like ‘I Love Me’ by Demi Lovato but in particularly country and country-adjacent cuts like ‘More Hearts Than Mine’ by Ingrid Andress, ‘Catch’ by Brett Young, ‘Homemade’ by Jake Owen, and ‘Slow Dance In A Parking Lot’ by Jordan Davis. And there was a lot of country that took hits among our losers here too: ‘Be A Light’ by Thomas Rhett and co. at 100, ‘Drinking Alone’ by Carrie Underwood at 99, ‘I Love My Country’ by Florida Georgia Line at 89, ‘In Between’ by Scotty McCreery at 83, and even ‘Here And Now’ by Kenny Chesney down to 77. But our list of losers goes beyond that: off debuts we had ‘Stuck With U’ by Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber predictably falling to 13, as well as ‘Go Crazy’ by Chris Brown and Young Thug to 94 and ‘3 Headed Goat’ by Lil Durk, Lil Baby and Polo G at 96; from gains cut short we had ‘Level Of Concern’ by twenty one pilots down to 66, ‘If The World Was Ending’ by JP Saxe and Julia Michaels tumble to 73 - interesting - ‘Ride It’ by DJ Regard at 74, ‘Pu$$y Fairy’ by Jhene Aiko at 78, ‘OUT WEST’ by JACKBOYS and Young Thug at 80, and ‘Turks’ by NAV, Gunna and Travis Scott at 91. And for our continued losers… both were from Drake, with ‘Chicago Freestyle’ at 56 and ‘Pain 1993’ with Playboi Carti at 86. And for what’s left… well, we’ve got songs that have clinched their spot making their exit like ‘Godzilla’ by Eminem and the late Juice WRLD at 90, as well as ‘RITMO’ by the Black Eyed Peas and J Balvin at 41 and ‘Hot Girl Bummer’ by blackbear at 46, but outside of that… ‘Be Kind’ by Marshmello and Halsey sliding to 43, ‘Righteous’ by Juice WRLD at 63, and ‘We Paid’ by Lil Baby and 42 Dugg at 70.

Now again, in the week of a double album bomb, you wouldn’t expect much in terms of re-entries and gains, and indeed, in the former category ‘Go Stupid’ by Polo G ft. Stunna 4 Vegas and NLE Choppa is only back at 67 because of said album bomb and ‘Watermelon Sugar’ by Harry Styles is at 64 thanks to its video. But both of our gains are still on the upswing and that concerns me: ‘Party Girl’ by StaySolidRocky at 38 and ‘One Margarita’ by Luke Bryan at 48 - again, we should stop both of these sooner rather than later! But on the topic of two album bombs… they both actually qualify for my rules with over eight songs debuting, so outside of my best and worst… well, from Future, ‘Harlem Shake’ ft. Young Thug at 84, ‘One Of My’ at 82, ‘Touch The Sky’ at 81, ‘Posted With Demons’ at 79, ‘Too Comfortable’ at 75, ‘Hard To Choose One’ at 68, ‘All Bad’ with Lil Uzi Vert at 54, and ‘Trapped In The Sun’ at 53. And from Polo G, we have ‘I Know’ at 95, ‘33’ at 93, ‘Beautiful Pain (Losin My Mind)’ at 92, ‘Don’t Believe The Hype’ at 88, ‘21’ at 62, and ‘Be Something’ with Lil Baby at 57.

And as for what’s left of our new arrivals…

71. ‘HiTek Tek’ by Future - Future has both of the worst songs here, and it’s not particularly close - the offkey, off-rhythm clatter of keys looped behind some of the worst-sounding hi-hats and snares on the album, and Future’s voice sounding as frail and underpowered against the sloppily mixed bass groove as he does, even though the content is going to be completely empty, none of this is flattering to him, even as he once again tries to say he’s not swigging purple drank anymore… until the second verse where it’s the red in the cup that’ll kill him this time and his girl is now on the lean! Beyond that… it’s a Future song with luxury porn and guns, and not a good one. But you know what might be worse?

69. ‘Ridin Strikers’ by Future - yeah, this was the song I liked the least on High Off Life, and it’s for a lot of the same reasons as the last one: the tumble of acoustics sound even jankier against the cheap thin trap beat, and in addition to sounding generally a lot weaker in his delivery, Future’s verse is dropping rhymes and can’t even be bothered to feel coherent - which might be reflective of all the drugs he’s on while he’s riding, but it doesn’t fit any sort of mood to match the bank robbery the sample includes. And that’s the weird thing - if you’re so damn rich, why are you now trying to ride a bank with barely any coherent details, and why then are you suddenly going to switch the groove with what could be a chopped-n-screwed outro that somehow sounds even more leaden and flat before the shrill ‘Commas’ airhorns slip in to try and add a sense of menace that just isn’t here. As a whole piece it’s utterly incoherent in mood and execution, and Future trying to add gravitas in his last few lines doesn’t remotely feel earned or supported - so yeah, this really sucks, next!

61. ‘Martin & Gina’ by Polo G - so of the Polo G debuts this week, this is probably the one I like the most, mostly because even if it’s a hookup jam where Polo G is going to buy this girl a bunch of expensive brands, he doesn’t actually list them off like an advertisement and spends more time talking about the relationship, where tension comes from his insecurities and what seems like some genuine affection, especially when he can’t quite quantify it. More importantly, it takes a more interesting spiraling percussion rumble off the guitar and Polo G’s melodic flow is really on point here, especially in the change-up going into the hook, which is dark enough to still feel kind of imposing, but with a bright enough melody to play to a broader audience. If anything, if he pulled together a remix with maybe Kehlani or any other girl in trap or R&B who can convincingly play off the groove without sounding super hard, he’d have a smash on his hands, the hook is that good! So yeah, great song, a lot of promise, and while I was a little less wild about the other Polo G cuts I checked out, this one was worth it.

40. ‘Daisies’ by Katy Perry - this is going to sound bad, but Katy Perry’s career seems like it’s been running on fumes for a while if it seems like the past few years the music’s been a little better. That’s not saying she’s found a unique sound or identity for herself like others have, but she’s on a track to making better singles in the hope that an album might someday come. And ‘Daisies’… am I the only one reminded of a better-than-average P!nk album cut with just slightly busier percussion? The huge cushion of reverb splashing into acoustics, the attempt to build to the sort of swell that Perry has never tried to push vocally where you can her strain at the end of the hook; it’s her attempting to make a ‘big-sounding’ song where she’s not already not top and riding it like ‘Roar’. And I kind of like that - sure, she doesn’t have the intensity or charisma of P!nk and the lyrics are utterly boilerplate empowerment cliches - again, a lot like P!nk these days - but this shows effort and maybe because I’ve always had a soft spot for those fast-paced acoustics, I like this a fair bit. Check it out!

34. ‘Trillionaire’ by Future ft. YoungBoy Never Broke Again - in my brief review on High Off Life, I cited this as one of the better cuts… but I struggled to pin down why. Like most of the album it’s barebones in its melody and softer trap percussion, but the back-and-forth juxtaposition between Future and YoungBoy is good, as both are on different tiers but aspiring to be even bigger, and even if there are some obvious flubbed rhymes, it’s less about the flex now and more about the come-up. Hell, Future even manages a line about his sister’s sickle cell anemia, which all the money he has can’t buy a curre - which for a song called ‘trillionaire’ is an interesting concept. I dunno, I’m not going to call this great or anything, but for Future… yeah, it’s alright.

33. ‘X’ by Jonas Brothers ft. Karol G - hey, did y’all know the Jonas Brothers were putting out a new album? Better question, has anything in their comeback really inspired you to care - and this is coming from someone who was mostly behind ‘What A Man Gotta Do’, but that song ran out of momentum fast. So now teaming up with Karol G… and so of course they’re going for the flagrant Latin crossover with a ‘Bailando’ reference in the first verse, one of the most watery guitar pickups I’ve heard in a while and a big flashy horn section - honestly, with Joe Jonas going for his questionable falsetto on the hook, it reminds more of all those DNCE songs I wasn’t fond of than anything in their comeback thus far, except with a more developed and generally likable groove. Again, for as cynical as I am around the Jonas Brothers, this isn’t bad at all - as a hookup jam it’s a bit basic but Karol G gives it her all and the percussion and bass groove around the hook is actually pretty damn good - looks like they put that Shellback cowriting credit to good use for once. Hell, if this is well-promoted I could even see this being a decent summer hit… although I’m not sure I’m ready to endorse how cynical this feels, just saying.

32. ‘Solitaires’ by Future ft. Travis Scott - look, I know it’s bad form for me to come here and say, ‘look, I just don’t care, Future has the line ‘coronavirus diamonds, you can catch the flu’, there’s notthing more I can add to a song that’ll be instantly dated’… but this was Future’s biggest debut… despite having some of the worst mixing on the album which is a pretty scathing indictment of both Wheezy and Mike Dean here, and the content being bare-bones brand name flexing and drugs. I’m still waiting for the Travis Scott stimulus package to provide any distinctive content or energy, but he sounds about as checked out as Future, so I’m left wondering outside of the coronavirus line you couldn’t repackage these verses or this hook onto anything else. I mean, there’s worse on the album that we’ve already discussed… but man, for as much hype as both of these men have, this should be way better than it is.

30. ‘Flex’ by Polo G ft. Juice WRLD - I’m not surprised this is the biggest song this week - Polo G and Juice WRLD were apparently close friends, they worked together often, and when you throw on a Hit-Boy beat with its leaden bass and washed out guitar loop, it’s a natural fit for both artists. Shame they don’t do anything with it beyond a really basic flex song - frankly, I’m surprised Juice WRLD didn’t take the hook to give this song a little more melodic presence, instead of trying to be imposing on a verse where he literally says, ‘see you later alligator’. Thankfully Polo G is better - the brand name flexing opposite the gunplay is not his best look by any means, but he can sell it with some darker intensity, and it’s generally fine. I guess my larger point is that it kind of stings the more interesting storytelling and relationship drama that makes Polo G compelling isn’t attracting as much of an audience, which is kind of a letdown, because this is just okay - at best.

But it’s not all bad news for Polo G - he’s getting the best of the week with ‘Martin & Gina’, with Katy Perry coming up with ‘Daisies’ as the Honourable Mention - I’m about as surprised as anyone. To nobody’s surprise, Future’s getting both the worst of the week with ‘Ridin Strikers’ and Dishonourable Mention to ‘HiTek Tek’… and since knowing our luck a Gunna album bomb is incoming, we might want to brace ourselves for more on the way - fun stuff.