Hey guys, welcome back to Musical McCool, my weekly series dissecting the Irish charts!
At long last, we FINALLY have a quieter week, which was sorely needed after the last few onslaughts which have been delaying these weekly posts further and further!
The Top 10
In fact, the biggest upsets are summed up right in our Top 10:
1. A Bar Song (Tipsy) - Shaboozey [LW: #2 / WOC: 7]
2. espresso - Sabrina Carpenter [LW: #1 / WOC: 7]
3. I Had Some Help - Post Malone (Ft. Morgan Wallen) [LW: #4 / WOC: 3]
4. Lunch - Billie Eilish [LW: #5 / WOC: 2]
5. Birds of a Feather - Billie Eilish [LW: #11 / WOC: 2]
6. Stargazing - Myles Smith [LW: #15 / WOC: 3]
7. Austin - Dasha [LW: #9 / WOC: 15]
8. MILLION DOLLAR BABY - Tommy Richman [LW: #6 / WOC: 5]
9. Belong Together - Mark Ambor [LW: #8 / WOC: 13]
10. Pink Skies - Zach Bryan [LW: - / WOC: 1]
That's right, we have a new number 1, and it's Shaboozey's A Bar Song (Tipsy)! Frankly, I'm a little shocked it managed to secure the Top spot, but it makes sense when you account for a slip-up in steaming for both Sabrina Carpenter and Post Malone, as well as an unfortunate loss from our Top 10 which we'll get to in a minute. Either way, I'm just happy to see a newcomer beating out all the huge stars to the number 1, especially when the song's pretty good.
But that wasn't the only upset, as we had 3 new entries to the Top 10! The first is Billie's Birds of a Feather getting a surprising boost up to number 5 to replace Chihiro, wouldn't have called that since I know the latter's such a fan favourite. We also saw the expected success for Myles Smith's Stargazing, a song I'm still not crazy about (it's fine), but hey, at least it hasn't resulted in Solo charting again! Finally, we have the brand new song from Zach Bryan Pink Skies debuting in the Top 10! Not expected, but VERY welcome, glad we're so intent on keeping him around!
The Punished and the New
As for our Losers for the week... MAN we had a couple of HUGE victims to ACR rules:
Neither of these are all that surprising, they've each had great runs in the Top 10... but MAN does that Hozier loss sting, especially with some of the trash that sticks around for months in spite of ACR rules. Hopefully it bounces back a little next week or at least lingers in the Top 20 for a while?
As for our other losers, most were Eurovision-related: The Code by Nemo collapses to 51, and Europapa by Joost Klein loses its remaining momentum to 56. Also Ain't No Love In Oklahoma is predictably Luke Combs' least popular single in years because again, it goes against an image he's spent years creating, immediately dropping to 86.
As for our winners outside of the Top 10, we had The Door by Teddy Swims shaping up to be his second hit at 44, Revival by Zach Bryan unsurprisingly rose up to 49 off the back of Pink Skies, Kisses by BL3SS & Camrinwatsin reached new heights at 50, HOT TO GO by Chappell Roan reached brand new heights up to 70, and finally Mind Still by Sonny Fodera jumped up to 79 off its debut lost week!
And now, a few new entries:
Title: Pink Skies by Zach Bryan
Position: #10
So I heard about the buzz for the song quite a bit before I heard the song itself. And look, Zach Bryan has had a phenomenal track record on this series, even the stuff I like a bit less is usually some of his older stuff - with the obvious exception of Heading South. So with this new song Pink Skies... well, it's interesting.
The song is very harmonica-driven, really organic and noticeably rougher in its composition. And the lyrics focus on attending the funeral of this person's ghost, where it seems as if he's either the partner giving a pep talk to the deceased's spirit, or the spirit themselves hyping themselves up to go there and attend the funeral for their kids' sakes. It's a tangled concept that I've probably interpreted entirely wrong, but the tone is also a little hard to pin down, this odd mix of cheery optimism and teary-eyed grief. And honestly, I do wish there was more commitment to one tone or the other, and while the production is awesome, I do wish the hook were a little more strongly defined.
I dunno, the song sounds great and has a lot of lyrical detail, but it's missing some of the heart for me. Still, having a song with so many harmonicas THIS HIGH on the Hot 100 os just so cool, and if Zach Bryan wants to lean more into this rough and tumble organic sound going forward, I'm completely for it. Also I can fully understand why he was angry that this song was apparently pushed to American pop radio, because it's about as indie country as you can get on the charts! Really good stuff.
Title: BAND4BAND by Central Cee (Ft. Lil Baby)
Position: #14
This feels so weird. Sure, I'd probably put Central C and Lil Baby on similar levels of talent - fight me - but their styles are so fucking different that I never would have pictured them on a track together. And while the drill beat here is very much in Central's wheelhouse, Lil Baby just sounds so out of place.
That being said, I don't actually think this is that bad. Central's certainly dropped worse verses in 2024, he's just kind of generic here, and the back-and-forth between him and Lil Baby is actually kind of cool! I always love it when rappers trade bars instead of just each doing their own verse, it's so much more dynamic and interesting.
Now again, the content is nothing to write home about, yet more bragging about luxury porn, stealing guys' girls in clubs, flying in their private jets, and listing all of their expensive car brands, it's like a drill checklist without the violence. I wouldn't even say it's as introspective as either artist can be at their best, which could have been an interesting dynamic, but as is... it's okay.
Title: Fall Back by Lithe
Position: #64
I'm sorry What the fuck is this 2018 Soundcloud trap bullshit?
Apparently this is a guy from Australia, he blew up off the back of this thanks to TikTok (no surprise). And honestly, what is the appeal of this? The murky, muddy, cavernous production that doesn't build any sort of tension and sounds kind of miserable. Lithe's absolutely pathetic excuse for bars, essentially repeating the same thing over and over again, and none of it is remotely worth remembering, Central C's bars contain more fucking depth. And then there's his sleepy, deadpan delivery, as boring and monochrome as the "black and white on his wrist".
I have no idea of why we're still putting up with stuff like this in 2024, but it needs to stop. I'm sorry to sound harsh, but this doesn't deserve to be on the radio alongside real songs.
Title: 6 In The Morning by Flex (UK) (Ft. Nate Dogg)
Position: #83
So this is not the Flex UK I've come across before. One's a collective/boosting platform that champions independent artists and gives them airplay they normally would struggle to get, whereas this young guy is an artist from Soundcloud, who's made it big on that platform thanks to this song, earning him cosigns from many in the industry. And rather than joining some in screaming "industry plant", let me instead point out that this song is kind of a vibe!
The song is an interpolation of a 2016 song called Gangsta Walk by Los Angeles DJ SNBRN, which in turn sampled an acapella recording of Nate Dogg before his untimely death. Now, that song is decent, probably a B-tier Summer track purely off Nate's vocals. This takes it in a more minimal house direction, with the soft organ touches and pattering beat, none of which ever gets all that loud or builds to a crescendo, instead calmly evoking that hazey, tired feeling of wandering through the streets, bleary-eyed after a wild night. I dunno, while I do like the song it samples, to me this feels much closer to what Nate Dogg might have had in mind when he recorded the original. And I have to respect that, especially for such a young artist (apparently he's 17, fair fucking play), this level of restraint and nuance is cool to see get big.
Title: Miles On It by Kane Brown & Marshmello
Position: #100
Considering the last time these 2 collabed, it resulted in the absolutely awful One Thing Right, I was... well, frankly, a little horrified by the idea of another trainwreck of that scale! But after hearing it, it's a lot less interesting than that, albeit a much better song by default.
It's a country-electronica sex song where Kane Brown wants you guys to "put some miles on it", and if you thought that was subtle, he compares it to a California King and says "we could break it in, if you know what I mean?", which might be a contender for one of the dumbest lines I've heard in 2024. Also, the production just sucks, as all the country twang is reduced to this gummy mess and the electronic elements are barely there at all, resulting in this really muted drop where all you have to focus on is that weak punchline of a chorus.
So yeah, it's a pretty bad song, by every metric. BUT it's not One Thing Right, so at least they did one- no, at least they got that righ-... fuck it, both songs suck, this one just does it less.
So Worst is going to Fall Back by Lithe, because at least Marshmello & Kane Brown are showing improvement, while Best of the week goes to Pink Skies by Zach Bryan. I like the Flex track, but those harmonicas are irresistible.
National Treasures
And now it's time for our new entries to the Homegrown Top 20. And as it happens, our only 2 new songs are covers, albeit interesting ones, starting with:
Title: The Transit Van by One For The Road & Seamus Moore
Position: #7
So this is a Con Calma situation, where the new artist recruited the older one to be part of their cover. The Transit Van is a quintessential Seamus Moore track, filled with humour, colourful storytelling and lively instrumentation, it's a very feel-good song detailing the misadventures of a man and his pig as they tour in their transit van.
As for this version, I think it captures the charm of the original very well, even if I do think the production sounds. a bit too clean and compressed, and Seamus Moore sounds very wheezy in spots. I also feel like the back-and-forth between the 2 vocalists takes away from the story a bit, it's very much 1 man's story told by 2.
Still, this is effortlessly charming, it sounds good, and the dramatic bridge and pig sound effects can't help but make me smile. Honestly wouldn't mind if this stuck around, even if I'd still recommend checking out the original first.
Title: The Rocky Road To Dublin by Lankum
Position: #19
Yep, they're back, and in promotion of their upcoming Live In Dublin project, they released an official version of this cover that they've performed at a couple of concerts.
And look, the darker vibe with the low-voiced droning is both quintessential Lankum and a wonderful fit for this type of sea shanty! The perfectly harmonised chanting is haunting, the instrumental is low and subtle, perfectly setting the tone, and the songwriting is of course vivid as fuck, ending with an accordion solo that feels like it's jauntily trying to overcome the harrowing journey... but it never quite succeeds. That darkness is always there, as if the price of that journey lingers inescapably in the back of the survivors' minds. Awesome tune!
And that's our week! As always, let me know in the Comments what you thought of the songs covered this week, and leave a Like if you enjoyed! Please make sure to follow me everywhere so you don't miss a thing, and Subscribe to the blog to keep up with my weekly chart reflections. I hope life treats you kindly, and until the next time, I'm Fionn and this is The Social Tune signing off!
Comments