The official contest to see what was the "song of the summer", according to Billboard magazine wasn't really a contest at all. It's definitely no surprise that "Old Town Road", by Lil Nas X, featuring Billy Ray Cyrus was named Billboard's "Song of the Summer" for 2019. The trade publication measures chart performance on its Hot 100 chart to determine that honor. Thirteen of that song's record-breaking 19 weeks at the top of that list occurred during the measuring period from June 8 to September 7 of this summer. And while my friends didn't embrace the song (there were no posts of the song on my Facebook News Feed at all), I did get a piece of the action when we saw Billy Ray Cyrus perform a nine minute jam of "Old Town Road" at Sussex County's Skylands Park in late August; and the song, which I added in mid July, rose to the top spot for four non-consecutive weeks on my SNS 100, my personal weekly chart which also serves as my "currents" playlist.
However, I also have a personal, running, "songs of the summer" tally as well, which I have been awarding my own award since this blog's inception in 2010. As opposed to Billboard's, my measuring period goes from mid-May, when pretty much the unofficial summer season starts, right onto mid-September. This year, that would be from my chart of May 12, to that of September 15. And, while "Old Town Road" did make the top 20 list (it landed at #14), it was far from my top song of the season.
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| "I've Been Waiting" an alt-pop song by hip-hop artists Lil Peep (top left) and ilovemakonnen, and rock band Fall Out Boy, is my "song of the summer". |
For me, it was a summer with some really great songs, most of them, however, not heard, posted, or charting anywhere, so it was a personal thing for me. Several songs had "summer" in the title, such as "Heat of the Summer" by Young the Giant, Incubus' "Into the Summer", The Villagers' "Summer Song", and Haim's "Summer Girl", ironically most of these coming out at the end of the season. In addition, "summer" was mentioned in many of the lyrics, including "Go" by The Black Keys ("In the summertime when it's hot outside..."); my current #1 song "Imagination" by Foster the People ("..it's summer somewhere so you shouldn't be so cold..."), and the current Billboard Alternative #1, "Doin' Time" by Lana Del Rey ("Summertime, and the livin's easy...), which is a cover of a 1990's Sublime song.
However, my "song of the summer" wasn't any of these. Like Billboard's topper, the artist also had a "Lil" in the name. While the song only mid-charted on the Hot 100 as well as on the Hot AC chart, it was a fixture on Sirius XM's "Alt Nation" channel. And unusual for me, in that the lead artist was a 21-year-old rapper who died of an overdose last year, accompanied by another hip-hop artist, as well as a rock band. Yet, the output of the that song reminded me of some eighties concoction with a lot of soul, emotions and guts.
My #1 song of 2019 is "I've Been Waiting", by Lil Peep and ILoveMakonnen featuring Fall Out Boy.
It was a close race of the top spot, narrowly beating out "Lo/Hi" by The Black Keys. In what might be viewed as a bit of bias favoring songs from the early part of the summer (in that these songs had a lot of points to begin with, but still accumulating points as they head down the charts...both songs are still on my SNS 100, as opposed to songs added during the summer that had no points at the beginning), these two entries do remind me of events earlier in the summer, like the annual camping week and myself and friends go on Memorial Day weekend. Both songs were in high rotation on the Sirius XM Alt-Nation channel, so these were both heard frequently by others. The Keys narrowly missed out on having their third song on my "Summer" tally; "Tighten Up" won honors in 2010 and "Fever" did the trick in 2014.
"Kombucha", by Winnetka Bowling League, which I didn't add until June 9, but spent three weeks at the top and is still in the Top 10 this week, came in a solid third. Mid Hudson Valley reggae/pop outfit The Big Takeover was #4 with the Motown-esque "Shy", and The Driver Era's "Low" rounded out the top five.
The Black Keys were a formidable force this summer, with two songs making the top 10. In addition to the #2 "Lo/Hi", the follow-up, "Go" came in at #6; the song has spent nine weeks on top of the Triple-A chart in Billboard.
Another trend this summer was the "Country Trap" movement, which included "Old Town Road". A similar song, Blanco Brown's "The Git Up" came in at #20 this summer. Jersey-based pop outfit Jonas Brothers made it to #8 with the #1 pop song "Sucker" and classic rocker Elton John, whose biopic Rocketman was released at the beginning of the summer, made it to #10 with "I'm Gonna Love Me Again", a duet with that film's star Taron Egerton, which like the Big Takeover song, has a Motown feel to it. Probably the only disappointment of the summer was the lack of any of the modern Carolina "Beach Music" entries to have an impact; the highest song on the list in that genre was The Holiday Band's "Yours" at #32.
Some other frequently heard songs this summer that were posted or mentioned by friends were "100 Bad Days" by AJR (#28), "Bad Guy" by Billie Eilish (#74), "This Life" by Vampire Weekend (#57), and "I Don't Care" by Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber (#55).
Here are my top 20 songs of the summer for 2019:
The following are my "Songs of the Summer" from 2010 to 2019:
2010: The Black Keys, "Tighten Up"
2011: Rachel Allyn, "Say Hello to Goodbye"
2012: The Shins, "The Rifle's Spiral"
2013: Paul Czekaj, "At the Beach"
2014: The Black Keys, "Fever"
2015: Ed Sheeran, "Thinking Out Loud"
2016: Red Hot Chili Peppers, "Dark Necessities"
2017: Miley Cyrus, "Malibu"
2018: Neko Case, "Bad Luck"
2019: Lil Peek & ILoveMakonnen featuring Fall Out Boy, "I've Been Waiting"
CURRENTS: As indicated above, Foster the People's "Imagination" takes the top spot for the third week, holding off Nick Waterhouse's "Song For Winners" which holds at #2. Cage the Elephant and Offguard enter the top 10.
It's good news and bad news for Fitz and the Tantrums. Their "I Need Help" inches up to #3, becoming that band's 13th straight top 3 song (not counting their seasonal entry "Santa Stole My Lady"). The bad news is that the other song I added simultaneously, "Don't Ever Let 'Em", drops from 12 to 15, missing the Top 10. That's still a great showing, however. The band's fourth album, All the Feels, was released on September 20. Although the band has already previewed five songs from it, it'll be interesting to hear the whole album. While "123456", their most recent SNS #1 continued the trend to eclectic pop, "I Need Help" and "Don't Ever Let 'Em", while mostly retaining that sound, seem to hint at perhaps re-injecting soul-infused pop into the proceedings. We shall see.
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| ScreenAge, an alt-rock band from New Jersey, debuts this week with "Vague". The band plays the Roselle Park Arts Festival on Saturday September 28. |
And interesting batch of debuts this week. Heading the list is a singer-songwriter from Los Angeles, Delacey, who describes her music as "dark pop", with the song "My Man". And sure enough, the song, is a very haunting, but soulful trip. One listener described it as a "fusion of Lana Del Rey and Amy Winehouse". I can see that. The song gives me goose pimples. While this is her first solo single, she has written songs for other artists, including the Chainsmokers, Demi Lovato, and Halsey, the latter's "Without Me", written by Delacey, reached #1 on the Hot 100 earlier this year.
Right behind is a band called ScreenAge, with "Vague". The four-member band hails from New Jersey, although I don't know what towns, and have been together since 2016. They have played gigs around the state, and on Saturday, September 28, they will be playing at the Roselle Park Arts Festival in my hometown. They describe themselves as "alternative rock" and the song, though raw-sounding, is very palatable. Between this band, and Long Island's Offguard, it's nice to know that the young generation is still playing rock, swimming against the hip-hop and sparse trip-pop tides. Another band to follow their progress for.
Next is Eddie Money's title track from this final album, "Brand New Day". The artist, who passed away earlier this month, released the album and single in July, and watching the video, while seemingly optimistic is nonetheless sort of a swan song for him. Weezer comes right back to follow their "Black Album" last year, with a new track "The End of the Game" from their forthcoming thirteenth endeavor, Van Weezer, due in 2020. Two Feet, whose "I Feel Like Drowning" reached my #3 last year, with "Pink", Easy Life's "Nightmares", Soak, the Irish teen who impressed a couple years back with 2015's "Sea Creatures" (#15, SNS), returns with "Knock Me Off My Feet", while the latests from pop star Camila Cabello and The 1975 also enter the chart.
A WEEK OFF: This is a double issue; however, unlike the others which was an attempt to "catch up", I will be away next week; hence this blog is dated both September 22 and 29. The next blog will be for the week of October 6, 2019.
Scenes ‘n’ Soundwaves 100
September 22 and 29, 2019
| This Week | Last Week | ARTIST-Title | Weeks on List |
| 1 | 1 |
NUMBER ONE:
(Single Only)
(3 weeks at #1)
|
11 |
| 2 | 2 | Nick Waterhouse - Song For Winners | 10 |
| 3 | 4 | Fitz and the Tantrums - I Need Help | 12 |
| 4 | 3 | The Black Keys - Go | 15 |
| 5 | 5 | Band of Skulls - Love is All You Love | 13 |
| 6 | 6 | The Horrors - Point of No Reply | 15 |
| 7 | 11 | Cage the Elephant - Social Cues | 9 |
| 8 | 9 | Tommy James - I Think We're Alone Now (Acoustic) | 8 |
| 9 | 13 | Øffguard - Lights | 7 |
| 10 | 8 | Winnetka Bowling League - Kombucha | 16 |
| 11 | 14 | Zac Brown Band - Someone I Used to Know | 11 |
| 12 | 17 | Brittany Howard ft. Terry Crews- Stay High | 9 |
| 13 | 18 | Cold War Kids - Complainer | 12 |
| 14 | 7 | Amber Arcades - Something's Gonna Take Your Love Away | 15 |
| 15 | 12 | Fitz and the Tantrums - Don't Ever Let Em | 12 |
| 16 | 29 |
TOP 20 IMPACT OF THE WEEK:
Album: I Don't Want to Play the Victim, But I'm Really Good at It
|
5 |
| 17 | 21 | Wilco - Love is Everywhere (Beware) | 9 |
| 18 | 10 | Donna Missal - Transformer | 11 |
| 19 | 16 | Kungs ft Olly Murs and Coely - More Mess | 13 |
| 20 | 24 | The Heavy - Better As One | 9 |
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.
¨ Songs with 100 or more
plays on my iPod.
The “Scenes ‘n’ Soundwaves 100” is a list
of current and recent song playlist which I am listening to.
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