Hey guys, welcome back to Musical McCool, my weekly series dissecting the Irish charts!
At long last, we have a pretty short week, with no new songs debuting in the Top 50! And good thing too, because it's the Midyear, meaning all my attention is dedicated to the Midyear list for 2024, coming very soon to this blog AND YouTube!
The Top 10
But hey, let's still give the time of day to out Top 10:
1. Please Please Please - Sabrina Carpenter [LW: #1 / WOC: 2]
2. espresso - Sabrina Carpenter [LW: #2 / WOC: 10]
3. A Bar Song (Tipsy) - Shaboozey [LW: #3 / WOC: 10]
4. Birds of a Feather - Billie Eilish [LW: #4 / WOC: 5]
5. I Had Some Help - Post Malone (Ft. Morgan Wallen) [LW: #6 / WOC: 6]
6. Houdini - Eminem [LW: #5 / WOC: 3]
7. Stargazing - Myles Smith [LW: #7 / WOC: 6]
8. Austin - Dasha [LW: #9 / WOC: 18]
9. Pink Skies - Zach Bryan [LW: #10 / WOC: 4]
10. Fortnight - Taylor Swift (Ft. Post Malone) [LW: #12 / WOC: 9]
As you can see, the top 10 appears pretty stable at the moment. I'm still surprised that Birds Of A Feather is the Billie Eilish song we're keeping around when Lunch feels so much more immediate, but since it dropped out of the Top 10, we did get Fortnight by Taylor Swift and Post Malone back in the Top 10, so I'm fine with that.
The Punished and the New
And the slow pace continues outside of our Top 10, with no ACR victims at all. As for general losers, Places To Be by Fred again.. unfortunately dropped down to 60, and Genesis by Raye just absolutely collapsed down to 88; neither are suprising, but both are disappointing, they're really good songs!
Where there was significantly more activity was with our winners: Good Luck Babe by Chappell Roan is RIGHT on the cusp of entering the Irish Top 10 at number 11, Kisses by Bl3ss & Camrinwatsin rocketed up to 26, and finally, misses by Dominic Fike built off its debut to reach 49, as did The Man He Sees In Me by Luke Combs at 50. Not sad about any of those, and as for that last one and the album it's on... well, we'll get to it.
Before that, we have a couple of new entries to discuss, starting with one some of you were probably anticipating:
Title: The Spark by Kabin Crew & Lisdoonvarna Crew
Position: #57
Okay, so I have seen a little bit of misinformation circling around for this song, so let me set the record straight!
Rhyme Island is an organisation that is all about funding musical arts for kids across Ireland, and they arranged for Kabin Crew, from County Cork, and Lisdoonvarna Crew, from Clare, to come together to make this absolute BANGER of a drum'n'bass tune! This sound has been absolutely dominating the Irish and UK charts for the last couple of years, and considering these are children, it's shocking how they manage to be more credible than most of the competing major label grown-up acts.
I love how positive the lyrics are, not only hyping themselves up to any doubters who think they could make anything half as cool as this, but also encouraging you to scream your passions from the rooftops, make your voice heard! It's a surprisingly endearing, positive song with WAY more charisma than I could ahve ever predicted. The kids all have a ton of energy, each play their part to perfection, and while the instrumental is pretty basic - it's just Disconnect by Becky Hill from last year - it's still decent for what it is.
With all the Irish music that goes overlooked, this year has been a really great one for us, and seeing this cross boundaries and get people talking is damn good to see! Good song, really encouraging to see charting on the mainstream charts, give us more silly, fun and positive vibes on the radio!
Title: DEVIL IS A LIE by Tommy Richman
Position: #71
So this is the follow-up from Tommy Richman, and considering I had no expectations for Million Dollar Baby - a fun little novelty song that's incredibly catchy and weirdly charming - I expected this to be a major step down. But... hey, egg on my face, colour me surprised!
Not only is Devil Is.A Lie pretty damn catchy in its own right, but against all odds, Tommy does manage to project more bravado! The song this reminds me of most is Justin Timberlake's Rock Your Body, a decent early 2000s dance tune that unironically projected "swagger" with a mix of pop, disco and hip hop, as does this... and it just kind of works? I mean don't get me wrong, I'm not sure how much this one will actually stick around - it simply has fewer hooks and memorable lyrics that stick in your head - but I did find myself smiling that how ridiculous it is that Tommy Fucking Richmond is flexing on you as a guy who made it from the bottom to the top... and by the end, of I actually kind of bought it. At least I believe that HE believes in himself!
So yeah, weirdly, I think the song is kind of good. Tentative recommendation, check it out.
Title: NIGHTS LIKE THIS by The Kid LAROI
Position: #73
Wow, LAROI, are you serious? I know it's been a while since you've had a hit, but ripping off Artemas, are you THAT desperate?!
That was my initial thought... until I realised this was from LAROI's last album from the tail end of 2023. And man, how that star has fallen, because I completely forgot he had dropped anything last year, let alone this. It's part-Artemas, part-d4vd, soaked in reverb, completely derivative, and the lyrics are kind of pointless.
That being said, it doesn't sound bad, I suppose it's decently atmospheric, and let's be real, it's not like LAROI made this to be huge, how was he to guess TikTok's ADHD ass would scoop this up. So yeah, it's painfully NOT special... but it's also not bad? I guess?
Title: Remember Him That Way by Luke Combs
Position: #76
So I mentioned last week that Luke Combs' Fathers & Sons project is kind of a cheat code for me... and dear GOD is that even more true for this song than The Man He Sees In Me.
I'm not going to lie, the mandolin on this KILLS me, the organic guitar interplay is SO charming (particularly on the bridge), and the lyrics... goddamn, any son who saw their dad as Superman when they were young is bound to choke up at this, as Luke Combs witnesses his father just getting older as age catches up to him. The man who used to be 10-feet tall, bulletproof and fearless, who used to be a charmer and always in control, is now grey, slower, frequently passes out on the recliner... but that doesn't change the way Luke will always see him, no matter how much that S on his chest may fade.
I'm not sure if I'd say it's my favourite on the album, but it's certainly up there! And of the Luke Combs songs that have risen to the mainstream charts, it's one of his best to date. Wonderful song, makes me smile without fail.
Title: Zeros by Cassö & Jazzy (Ft. Headie One)
Position: #91
Oof, whenever I see Jazzy charting, I immediately assume the worst. And frankly, I don't feel bad about that, he rise to success over the last 2 years has felt decidedly unearned, and she still projects absolutely NO personality as a singer. And yet... damn, this was another surprisingly good song!
It's another EDM song from Cassö, who rose to prominence last year thanks to Prada, a song that had surprising legs considering its fairly standard structure. And this follows the exact same pattern, melody, everything, it might as well be a sequel, only swapping out Raye for Jazzy, and D-Block Europe for Headie One, only with original lyrics... and again, it's weirdly pretty credible! Jazzy sounds better and more confident on this than she has over anything, as she and Headie both make the argument that they deserve more money - more zeros - if they're going to agree to entertain us. And while again, you could debate that - although at least Headie has Martin's Sofa to his name - based purely on this, I buy it, that "swagger" is real, yet again.
What is it with this week and oddly charismatic performances?! Because honestly, this is the song from this week I can see really taking off, and I'll be shocked if it doesn't.
That being said, Best of the week is still going to Remember Him That Way by Luke Combs, for just being an absolute delight! But I also don't feel like awarding anything here with Worst of the week, even The Kid LAROI was okay. First time in a while that's happened, damn! So you know what, honourable mention goes to Zeros by Cassö, Jazzy & Headie One for defying my expectations.
National Treasures
And now it's time for our new entries to the Homegrown Top 20. Might as well keep the dance music going with:
Title: Pretty Green Eyes (Sunset Ibiza Remix) by KETTAMA
Position: #9
So Kettama is an Irish DJ who's risen to prominence with a number of big tracks over the last year or so. Originally from Galway, having worked for years from his mother's house because he couldn't afford to rent anywhere - haha relatable - this is the latest of his songs to blow up right in time for summer.
And yeah, I actually think this is really damn good. It's a house song that does go on a little longer at 6 1/2 minutes - to the point where I could have sworn it and played multiple times over the course of a single listen - but the energy is fun, it's chill, even pretty beautiful in spots. And it debuted quite high this week thanks to being played at the festival, which makes sense as I'm sure it absolutely killed in that environment. However, I think it's telling that it didn't see any real airplay since its release 3 months before that.
In other words, it'll work fantastically on the festival circuit, and seeing it live will be an amazing experience, but outside of that, it might just be a little TOO bloated for me to revisit as a whole, as good as it does sound.
Title: Fine Art by KNEECAP
Position: #13
At long last, Kneecap's new album dropped and the title track has debuted on the Irish Homegrown charts! I'm actually a little shocked at how low it debuted considering all of the hype behind it... but then again, I've been surprised by how low Kojaque has debuted in the past as well, go figure.
Anyway, this is quite different for Kneecap, as it's much closer to Dublin's drill scene in terms of its structure. And while you'd think that would make it less interesting, these guys are still so damn talented that their energy carries the rather simpler beat. The trade-off of bars is great, the stand-out bars are great, the content is all about the art of revolution that Kneecap represents against the establishment - as the chorus sample of the 2022 piece on them says, despite the riots they cause with their music, the murals they paint/inspire still do make for fine art - and the song's undeniably catchy. Honestly, of the songs that have crossed over from that project, this title track is probably my favourite one, more so than Love Making or maybe even Sick In the Head. It's certainly a single that's built for that same wider crossover, but it does it while still showing what makes these lads so special. Nice job!
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!
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