IF YOU LIKE IT PUT A ZING TO IT: Before I get any further, let me state that I like Beyoncé Knowles. She is a very talented performer, and has made some classic music and videos as well. She has a long career going back to the 1990's, first as part of Destiny's Child, and then launching a successful solo career. She has had five #1 songs (most recently, "Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)", in 2009), and a slew of other top 10's. Her albums have all reached the top spot as well, including the recent Lemonade, which many have hailed as a groundbreaking album. She has also appeared in the Super Bowl halftime show, once as the star performer and another supporting Coldplay, that occurring in 2016.
Lemonade was nominated for several Grammy's, including Album of the Year, which lost out to Adele's 25, at the latest awards, telecast on February 12. Many felt that Beyoncé should have won, and even Adele, in her acceptance speech, felt that way, even breaking her award in two to "give" it to Beyoncé.
But she has her detractors as well. Carlos Santana had said that Adele should definitely have won the award, calling Beyoncé "not a singer" and more of a "model", remarks that caused a bit of controversy, causing Santana to retract them. Also, Billboard provided an article stating concern that top 40 radio didn't play much Beyoncé from the album, given its status. One single from the album "Formation" did skim the top 10 and two others landed in the top 15, but perhaps, more should have been expected, and those songs were more generated by sales and streaming.
It seemed from the masses that Beyoncé should have been held in the highest regard throughout her career. After all, it was her music that caused Kanye West to take the stage from Taylor Swift at the Video Music Awards in 2009 and again from Beck at the 2015 Grammys, stating that Beyoncé should have won and her artistry should have been respected. The media also claim the Beyoncé "stole" the halftime show (in a "good" way, along with Bruno Mars) from the headliner, rock band Coldplay.
As I said, I think Beyoncé is talented, but let's not get too carried away. She is a very good artist, but, and maybe its because her music isn't necessarily my genre, but she isn't immortal. I haven't heard Lemonade, so I can't judge it, much less compare it to Adele's 25, which is a very good album (although not as good as her first two efforts). But, artists come and go, especially in this day of disposable pop music. Pop radio, and much as it leaves much of a desire, imposes what they play on the general public, unlike back in the 1950's and 60's, where a local radio station has its own identity, and takes its playlist from reports from local record stores, often resulting in some local artist having a big local hit, and perhaps spreading from there to national status.
Nowadays, it doesn't matter what the public buys, downloads or streams; the owner of the stations (often groups of stations) have basically the same playlists regarding of what the public actually buys, and they are the ones who determine what gets played, and what artists care considered "passé". Some of them were around for a few years, some others longer as well.
And if there was a "conspiracy" of Top 40 radio not to play Beyoncé, then she isn't alone. While its not apparent because of the artists involved are still making big concert dates and are still featured on media talk and entertainment shows, many other artists have been deemed over the hill, not just Ms. Knowles. While Beyoncé may not have had a radio hit since "Single Ladies", Kelly Clarkson's last #1 radio song was "Stronger", released several years ago. Katy Perry's last few single releases have been ignored by radio, and wasn't it just a few years ago, she strung five consecutive number ones from an album? Lady Gaga is another that hasn't had a radio hit, since "Applause". Even Bruno Mars, in spite of 2015's huge song as featured artists on "Uptown Funk", hasn't hit #1 as a lead artist since 2013, with this latest "24K Gold" settling for the top 10 and not #1. It should be noted that all of these artists have had recent top 10's, but only when you factor in sales, and many of these performers have been featured on television recently as well.
Top 40 radio has turned to a fresh new set of artists, including Ariana Grande, Alessia Cara, The Chainsmokers and others. That's pretty much what they do, and they pretty much dictate what you are going to hear on the radio. It's a shame, really, because radio station airplay is an essential part of the Billboard Hot 100, which reflected popularity, but in essence, much of it is determined by what the corporate suits of radio will determine.
Still, I have to wonder about a couple of things. If Santana put down Adele instead of Beyoncé, would he have come under fire? And I will leave it to the music pundits to decide who is "better" or whether they are talented within their own genre of music and style. I, myself, have been attracted to substance, not style, thus I would lean towards Adele, especially since I followed her all the way since her 2008 breakthrough. Beyoncé will of course always have her fans as well, and, heck, the industry is better off for it. Finally, Beyoncé, like others that were 'retired' by the radio suits, will shine on based on being in the public eye.
SHE WILL EVER WIN: Speaking of pop stars, a rare occurrence for my blog in that a pop artist has the number one song on my blog this week, as Rihanna's haunting "Love on the Brain", which is slowly approaching the Billboard top 10, takes the top spot. It's only the third time since I started this in 2010 that an established pop star has hit the summit. She follows Pink, and Ed Sheeran in that category. Note that this does not include Adele or Ellie Goulding, who reached the top of my list before they broke through to the masses. Rihanna is no stranger to my blog list, in fact this is her 12th appearance, which also includes shared entries with Enimem, Kanye West, Paul McCartney and Drake. She also had an entry on my pre-blog year-end Top 100 of 2009 as well.
While the rest of the top 10 remains the same, with just some minor changing of positions, some interesting things are going on in the second ten. First of all, Ed Sheeran's current national chart topper, "Shape of You", which, on the 3rd listen all of a sudden blew my mind, jumps from 44 to 11 becoming his third straight SNS hit. And it's the 80's all over again as The Pretenders, led by the venerable Chrissie Hynde, become the latest vintage band to hit my top 20, following most recently, Santana. Then there's two songstresses who keep their long-running top 20 streaks intact. Both Adele and Rachel Allyn garner their 12th and 13th straight entry in that elusive circle. SNS faves Foxygen and The XX also enter that portion of the chart.
The list of debuts is led off by the third single from Cage the Elephant's fourth album, Tell Me I'm Pretty, "Cold, Cold, Cold", released appropriately enough, in the winter. Another gutsy performance by one of the premier rock bands out there today. Following right on its heels is Coin's "I Don't Wanna Dance", which echos CTE's "Come A Little Closer" as well as the band Phoenix. This one should equal their "Run" SNS top 10 from last year. Another sorely underrated act is Tennis, the husband and wife duo from Denver, which previously topped my chart in 2012 with "Origins", and then hit #4 with "I'm Calling", from their previous two sets. They are releasing their fourth album, Yours Conditionally, in March, and the first single from it, "Ladies Don't Play Guitar" is a nice start-off from it.
Lauren Pritchard has already been on my blog list as featured performer on Panic! at the Disco's "Miss Jackson" in 2013, and has had a solo career going back to 2010. Performing as Lolo, she releases her second full length album, In Loving Memory of When I Gave A Shit, and from it, the palatable track "Not Gonna Let You Walk Away". Kelly Clarkson is still one of the best singers around, and, as mentioned above, even though mainstream pop radio has shied away from her, that isn't going to stop her. Her heartfelt performance of "It's Quiet Uptown", from the hit Broadway musical "Hamilton" is one of her best.
Has it been over three years since we last heard Portugal. The Man? Yep, that's true, but we finally get some new product from them in the form of "Noise Pollution", which presumably will be from their album. Their most recent, 2013's Evil Friends, produced two #8 SNS songs in the title track and "Purple Yellow Red and Blue". Hippo Campus follow up "Suicide Saturday", a #11 SNS song, with 'Boyish", and Mayer Hawthorne dives head first in to 1970's funk with "Time For Love". Train takes the Hoagy Carmichael classic "Heart and Soul", puts new lyrics to it and comes up with "Play That Song", as the former rock band still caters to the pop crowd, but they do pull it off. Finally, Anderson Paak, a hip-hop artist with a funky sort of edge, rounds out the debuts with "Come Down".
Scenes ‘n’ Soundwaves 100
February 19, 2017| This Week | Last Week | ARTIST-Title | Weeks on List |
| 1 | 3 | NUMBER ONE:
"Love On the
Brain"
Album: Anti
|
6 |
| 2 | 2 | Jake Owen - If He Ain't Gonna Love You | 15 |
| 3 | 1 | Wild Belle - Our Love Will Survive | 13 |
| 4 | 4 | Capital Cities - Vowels | 11 |
| 5 | 5 | Phoebe Ryan - Boyz n Poizn | 9 |
| 6 | 8 | Jim James- Same Old Lie | 8 |
| 7 | 9 | Michael Kiwanuka - One More Night | 19 |
| 8 | 6 | Maybird - Turning Into Water | 14 |
| 9 | 7 | Sam Roberts Band - If You Want It | 13 |
| 10 | 10 | Calvin Harris - My Way | 11 |
| 11 | 44 | TOP 20 IMPACT OF THE WEEK
"Shape of You"
Album: Divide
|
3 |
| 12 | 15 | The Knocks and Matthew Koma - I Wish (My Taylor Swift) | 10 |
| 13 | 11 | Fitz and the Tantrums - Roll Up | 12 |
| 14 | 12 | Kings of Leon - Waste A Moment | 14 |
| 15 | 23 | Pretenders - Holy Commotion | 9 |
| 16 | 22 | Adele - Water Under the Bridge | 6 |
| 17 | 25 | The XX - On Hold | 7 |
| 18 | 14 | The Chainsmokers f. Phoebe Ryan - All We Know | 12 |
| 19 | 32 | Foxygen - Follow the Leader | 3 |
| 20 | 27 | Rachel Allyn - No Second Chances (Tennessee) | 6 |
|
|
Songs
with the greatest increase in favorite points over the prior week.
● Songs
with 25 or more plays on my iPod.
▲ Songs with 50 or more plays on my iPod. 