A View From The Top #36

How Drake has managed to stay at the top spot for nine weeks is utterly beyond me. Sure, I love One Dance; I think it’s a great dance tune and I will definitely still dance to it if it comes on while I’m in da club. But really, who is still buying it? It’s not that great a track. That said, I didn’t really rate Leona Lewis’ Bleeding Love, which equalled One Dance’s nine weeks at number one back in 2009.

Anyway, since we’re all bored to death of discussing Drake, how about a look at the rest of the charts? At number two is Justin Timberlake’s insultingly cheesy CAN’T STOP THE FEELING!, whose title looks like text you might receive from someone on MDMA. Meanwhile at number three, we have the repetitive This Is What You Came For, a track that seems to be about a woman (Rihanna) telling someone that another really attractive woman finds them attractive. Rihanna clearly wants to get the point across that this woman is looking at her listener, hence the line, “She’s looking at you-oo-oo-oo-ooo-oo” on and on ad infinitum.

Number four offers some hope with Kungs vs Cookin’ On 3 Burners’ This Girl. If you’re wondering about the name, the track is a collaboration between French DJ and producer, Kungs and Australian funk trio Cookin’ On 3 Burners. This Girl is wonderfully nostalgic, drawing on 70s disco melodies, slick guitar sounds and sassy brass; yet it also feels current, thanks to the house influence of Kungs.

The number five spot is home to another interesting collaboration: Clean Bandit and X Factor-winner, Lousia Johnson’s Tears. Louisa’s powerhouse vocals soaring atop classic R&B motifs develops the track’s melodrama and lends it a Destiny’s Child vibe. This is combined with Clean Bandit’s dance beats and electronic textures, making it an appealing club banger. Notably, this is Louisa’s first single since her X Factor single, a cover of Bob Dylan’s Forever Young, which briefly topped charts in December. The decision to release a collaboration with Clean Bandit as her first single is a brave move – perhaps an attempt to evade the manufactured image that X Factor winners so often have. Cynicism aside, Tears is a definite success.

And finally, to cast a glace down towards the bottom of the charts, Adele is currently at number 26 with Send My Love (To Your New Lover), which was released on May 16th. After the phenomenal success of Hello, it’s surprising that Send My Love hasn’t skyrocketed straight to the top, especially as it’s a great track. The most upbeat material I’ve ever heard from Adele, the song boasts a catchy rhythm and the usual stunning vocals. And yet there it sits at number 26 while One Dance prances on at number one. While this week has brought us some new material in the form of This Girl and Tears, the charts are still in dire need of a shakeup. Does anyone know if there’s a rain dance we can do for abundant catchy pop music?