#95: "Adventure of a Lifetime" by Coldplay
This is about the only song I have any hope of being good, and only then because last year's "A Sky Full of Stars" was surprisingly fun for a Coldplay song.
That's a good sign. The song opens with a pretty cool guitar riff that's really easy to get stuck in your head and dance to. In fact, the music overall has a bit of a nice groove to it. It's not exactly a dance or club song, but far more fun than the average Coldplay song. Chris Martin's vocals are pretty good as well, showing off a decent rock vocal. He doesn't exactly strain to show a lot of range, but then again, he doesn't really need to.
This is basically a "feel-good" love song, with Chris Martin telling some woman that she makes him feel like he's alive again.
This is pretty much what I was hoping for after "A Sky Full of Stars", and it did not disappoint. It may not necessarily be groundbreaking, but the main riff of the song is a lot of fun and forms a strong base to build off of, Chris Martin is clearly having a good time on vocals, and the lyrics are not great, but don't impact the song quality, either. This is the kind of song you pop on just to sit back and have a good time for a few minutes.
#94: "Starving" by Hailee Steinfeld and Grey feat. Zedd
Hailee Steinfeld is an actor/singer/model, one of her bigger acting roles being that of Mattie in the True Grit remake, getting a record deal after she sang "Flashlight" in Pitch Perfect 2. Grey is an electronic music duo made up of brothers Kyle and Michael Trewartha, while Zedd is a Russian-German DJ who has had a number of hits in years past, with "Clarity" being an example that comes to mind.
That wasn't the music I was expecting, to put it mildly. The song opens with an acoustic guitar riff. That's not to say there is no influence by Grey, however, as the chorus has a definite electronic music style, and the bridge has heavy synth production that, to me, is a bit overdone. That said, Hailee Steinfeld has a very pretty voice, but that may actually work against the song to a degree, because her voice just sounds too pure and innocent to fit with the lyrics.
Those lyrics are of a...well "love" song. The title comes in through a metaphor, with Hailee saying she didn't know she was starving until she tasted the guy. The problem comes in when she uses lines like "Don't need no butterflies/When you give me the whole damned zoo" or "By the way, by the way, you do things to my body".
This is a song that is mostly good, but does have some noticeable issues. The production is overdone for the bridge, but the rest of the time, sounds quite nice. Hailee herself has a very clean, pure voice, but that works against her, as some of the raunchier lyrics lose impact when she sounds as innocent as she does. Not a bad song, though.
#93: "All In My Head (Flex)" by Fifth Harmony feat. Fetty Wap
Fifth Harmony is a band I reviewed last year, as they had "Worth It" on that list. I did not care for that song. As for Fetty Wap, he had 3 songs last year. I didn't like any of them. I do not have high hopes for this one.
Not a bad musical line, to be honest. The song mainly has hip hop style bass and drums, but there is a guitar line that reminds me somewhat of "Roxanne" by The Police, and the bridge to the chorus has a decent piano line. Fifth Harmony's vocals are mixed, unfortunately. Some of the singers sound quite strong, such as the one in the chorus, but other members have pretty weak vocals. Fetty Wap sounds absolutely terrible in his guest verses. It almost sounds like he is mocking the listener for tuning in, as he isn't even attempting to keep in rhythm, much less pitch.
This song is about exactly what you'd think a song subtitled "Flex" would be about. Fetty Wap want to flex, or show off, to each other, with Fifth Harmony being sure to clarify that it's "all in my head", as in, they aren't actually going to go up to the guy and do it, but just imagine doing it.
This song frustrated me more than I expected, because parts of it are good. The music line is decent, and half of Fifth Harmony sounds strong. Unfortunately, the other half does not, and Fetty Wap sounds, if anything, worse than he did last year. This is a song that has a surprising amount of squandered potential.
#92: "Really Really" by Kevin Gates
Kevin Gates is a rapper from Atlanta, Georgia. He's been around on the Rap charts for a while, with several of his mixtapes getting to the Top 200, but this year, he released his first album, which gave him his first Hot 100 success with this song.
The music is nothing special. It has your hip-hop bass line, synth buildup, and drums. The strength of any good rap song is more on the rapper, and less on the music. Kevin Gates more than delivers on that front. Kevin Gates has great flow, but the thing that really stands out with Kevin Gates is his tone. Many rappers seem to be taking themselves quite seriously, but Kevin Gates seems to be having a lot of fun with this song.
The song itself is mostly a bragging song, which I usually do not like. What makes this song work more than most bragging rap songs is threefold. First, Kevin Gates, as mentioned above, has a playful tone, making the bragging come off as less serious. Secondly, he is a fantastic lyricist, with his wordplay working great. Thirdly, he takes some time out from the bragging to tear down other rappers for how they treat women, saying "When yo ***** over here I don't mess with her/No detective work I don't be questioning/Where she been, trying to read all of her messages/I don't speak on no man that's irregular/Take her phone disconnecting her cellular". That's not only an example of how strong of a writer he is, but it shows that he doesn't tolerate how controlling over women other rappers try to be.
This song worked out a lot better than I thought it would. I don't usually like bragging rap, and I find rappers tend to either play it safe with their crossover debuts, with the only real exception I can think of being Kendrick Lamar's debut of "Swimming Pools (Drank)". Here, though, Kevin Gates finds a happy medium between mainstream success and having his own style. Production is basic, but he has strong rapping skills, and the lyrics bounce between playful bragging and knocking down the attitudes of other rappers. I quite liked this song.
#91: "Cut It" by O.T. Genasis feat. Young Dolph
O.T. Genasis had a song in the top 100 last year, "CoCo". I liked the lyrics to it, but nothing else. Young Dolph is a rapper from Memphis, who released his first two albums this year, with his debut having decent charting success, but both reaching the top 200. He also had another rap hit this year, "California", but that one peaked at the 101st spot on the main charts, despite reaching the top 10 on the Rap charts and top 40 on the R&B/Hip-Hop charts.
It's not everyday you hear a rap song with a piano line. There are trap-style drums in there, but they almost clash with the piano line. O. T. Genasis is not that great. He has average flow, but he seems more like he's shouting or reading off a list than rapping, even in the part that was apparently to prove he could rap fast. Young Dolph sounds almost the same as O.T., to the point where watching the video is the easier way to tell who is rapping when. That said, I think Young Dolph shouts more than O.T.
The lyrics are about telling someone they need to cut their prices, and to cut their cocaine to make it less "hot", as he puts it. There is also some bragging in there, because of course there is.
This is what I was expecting, and not in a good way. Both rappers lack any real identity, the lyrics are bland, stupid, or both, and the music does not really do anything with its unique piano line, which seems to be there just to make the song stand out. As a matter of fact, the entire song sounds like an attempt to get another viral hit like "CoCo", and succeeded. O.T., your viral nature is way too much, you need to cut it out.
There was some surprisingly good stuff in that set, but the two bad songs were...pretty bad.
Previously: #100-96 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.945148-2016-Billboard-Review-100-96]
Next: #90-86 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.945914-2016-Billboard-Review-90-86]
This is about the only song I have any hope of being good, and only then because last year's "A Sky Full of Stars" was surprisingly fun for a Coldplay song.
That's a good sign. The song opens with a pretty cool guitar riff that's really easy to get stuck in your head and dance to. In fact, the music overall has a bit of a nice groove to it. It's not exactly a dance or club song, but far more fun than the average Coldplay song. Chris Martin's vocals are pretty good as well, showing off a decent rock vocal. He doesn't exactly strain to show a lot of range, but then again, he doesn't really need to.
This is basically a "feel-good" love song, with Chris Martin telling some woman that she makes him feel like he's alive again.
This is pretty much what I was hoping for after "A Sky Full of Stars", and it did not disappoint. It may not necessarily be groundbreaking, but the main riff of the song is a lot of fun and forms a strong base to build off of, Chris Martin is clearly having a good time on vocals, and the lyrics are not great, but don't impact the song quality, either. This is the kind of song you pop on just to sit back and have a good time for a few minutes.
#94: "Starving" by Hailee Steinfeld and Grey feat. Zedd
Hailee Steinfeld is an actor/singer/model, one of her bigger acting roles being that of Mattie in the True Grit remake, getting a record deal after she sang "Flashlight" in Pitch Perfect 2. Grey is an electronic music duo made up of brothers Kyle and Michael Trewartha, while Zedd is a Russian-German DJ who has had a number of hits in years past, with "Clarity" being an example that comes to mind.
That wasn't the music I was expecting, to put it mildly. The song opens with an acoustic guitar riff. That's not to say there is no influence by Grey, however, as the chorus has a definite electronic music style, and the bridge has heavy synth production that, to me, is a bit overdone. That said, Hailee Steinfeld has a very pretty voice, but that may actually work against the song to a degree, because her voice just sounds too pure and innocent to fit with the lyrics.
Those lyrics are of a...well "love" song. The title comes in through a metaphor, with Hailee saying she didn't know she was starving until she tasted the guy. The problem comes in when she uses lines like "Don't need no butterflies/When you give me the whole damned zoo" or "By the way, by the way, you do things to my body".
This is a song that is mostly good, but does have some noticeable issues. The production is overdone for the bridge, but the rest of the time, sounds quite nice. Hailee herself has a very clean, pure voice, but that works against her, as some of the raunchier lyrics lose impact when she sounds as innocent as she does. Not a bad song, though.
#93: "All In My Head (Flex)" by Fifth Harmony feat. Fetty Wap
Fifth Harmony is a band I reviewed last year, as they had "Worth It" on that list. I did not care for that song. As for Fetty Wap, he had 3 songs last year. I didn't like any of them. I do not have high hopes for this one.
Not a bad musical line, to be honest. The song mainly has hip hop style bass and drums, but there is a guitar line that reminds me somewhat of "Roxanne" by The Police, and the bridge to the chorus has a decent piano line. Fifth Harmony's vocals are mixed, unfortunately. Some of the singers sound quite strong, such as the one in the chorus, but other members have pretty weak vocals. Fetty Wap sounds absolutely terrible in his guest verses. It almost sounds like he is mocking the listener for tuning in, as he isn't even attempting to keep in rhythm, much less pitch.
This song is about exactly what you'd think a song subtitled "Flex" would be about. Fetty Wap want to flex, or show off, to each other, with Fifth Harmony being sure to clarify that it's "all in my head", as in, they aren't actually going to go up to the guy and do it, but just imagine doing it.
This song frustrated me more than I expected, because parts of it are good. The music line is decent, and half of Fifth Harmony sounds strong. Unfortunately, the other half does not, and Fetty Wap sounds, if anything, worse than he did last year. This is a song that has a surprising amount of squandered potential.
#92: "Really Really" by Kevin Gates
Kevin Gates is a rapper from Atlanta, Georgia. He's been around on the Rap charts for a while, with several of his mixtapes getting to the Top 200, but this year, he released his first album, which gave him his first Hot 100 success with this song.
The music is nothing special. It has your hip-hop bass line, synth buildup, and drums. The strength of any good rap song is more on the rapper, and less on the music. Kevin Gates more than delivers on that front. Kevin Gates has great flow, but the thing that really stands out with Kevin Gates is his tone. Many rappers seem to be taking themselves quite seriously, but Kevin Gates seems to be having a lot of fun with this song.
The song itself is mostly a bragging song, which I usually do not like. What makes this song work more than most bragging rap songs is threefold. First, Kevin Gates, as mentioned above, has a playful tone, making the bragging come off as less serious. Secondly, he is a fantastic lyricist, with his wordplay working great. Thirdly, he takes some time out from the bragging to tear down other rappers for how they treat women, saying "When yo ***** over here I don't mess with her/No detective work I don't be questioning/Where she been, trying to read all of her messages/I don't speak on no man that's irregular/Take her phone disconnecting her cellular". That's not only an example of how strong of a writer he is, but it shows that he doesn't tolerate how controlling over women other rappers try to be.
This song worked out a lot better than I thought it would. I don't usually like bragging rap, and I find rappers tend to either play it safe with their crossover debuts, with the only real exception I can think of being Kendrick Lamar's debut of "Swimming Pools (Drank)". Here, though, Kevin Gates finds a happy medium between mainstream success and having his own style. Production is basic, but he has strong rapping skills, and the lyrics bounce between playful bragging and knocking down the attitudes of other rappers. I quite liked this song.
#91: "Cut It" by O.T. Genasis feat. Young Dolph
O.T. Genasis had a song in the top 100 last year, "CoCo". I liked the lyrics to it, but nothing else. Young Dolph is a rapper from Memphis, who released his first two albums this year, with his debut having decent charting success, but both reaching the top 200. He also had another rap hit this year, "California", but that one peaked at the 101st spot on the main charts, despite reaching the top 10 on the Rap charts and top 40 on the R&B/Hip-Hop charts.
It's not everyday you hear a rap song with a piano line. There are trap-style drums in there, but they almost clash with the piano line. O. T. Genasis is not that great. He has average flow, but he seems more like he's shouting or reading off a list than rapping, even in the part that was apparently to prove he could rap fast. Young Dolph sounds almost the same as O.T., to the point where watching the video is the easier way to tell who is rapping when. That said, I think Young Dolph shouts more than O.T.
The lyrics are about telling someone they need to cut their prices, and to cut their cocaine to make it less "hot", as he puts it. There is also some bragging in there, because of course there is.
This is what I was expecting, and not in a good way. Both rappers lack any real identity, the lyrics are bland, stupid, or both, and the music does not really do anything with its unique piano line, which seems to be there just to make the song stand out. As a matter of fact, the entire song sounds like an attempt to get another viral hit like "CoCo", and succeeded. O.T., your viral nature is way too much, you need to cut it out.
There was some surprisingly good stuff in that set, but the two bad songs were...pretty bad.
Previously: #100-96 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.945148-2016-Billboard-Review-100-96]
Next: #90-86 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.945914-2016-Billboard-Review-90-86]