A View From The Top #88

The last time I wrote this column, I started by gushing about how it was the first time A View From The Top has had three different singles as the subject for three consecutive weeks. Did I jinx it? Ever since, Luis Fonzi and Daddy Yankee’s Despacito featuring Bieber has effortlessly clung to the top spot, and this week is no exception.

As much as I love the non-Bieber version of this song, there’s only so much to be said about a upbeat Latin-pop track with suggestive lyrics and a melody that refuses to get out of your head after one listen. Fortunately, even though the top single hasn’t changed in 5 weeks, the Top 5 have.

In second place, we have Ariana Grande’s One Last Time, re-released for the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund as a charity single, and it is as enjoyable as ever. I personally am pleased to see the attention it’s been getting. French Montana and Swae Lee’s Unforgettable in third place has a really catchy beat and a chilled club-like vibe that makes it pretty pleasant to listen to. However, to me, it just sounds like an improved imitation of One Dance, especially lyrically, because of course, this is yet another song about wanting a girl in a club. Both songs use the lyrics as a filler for the music more than anything else, however, Unforgettable’s are far more cringeworthy, with lines like “I got to give it to her like we in a marriage” and “Cause I pulled out a million cash told her plank on it”.

The real surprise in the charts this week for me was Liam Payne’s Strip That Down, which is in fourth place. Its understated, acoustic backing shows off the best of Payne’s voice, which I barely even noticed during his time in One Direction. While I found the forced change of subject from Payne’s life in the verses to a love interest in the chorus pretty annoying, I have to admit that the lyrics still have more thought put into them than most of the singles on the charts right now. All the elements of the song come together cohesively to create a really great track.

All of this being said, what I should really focus on in this article should probably be the song in fifth place - sadly, because I think it might just be the song that knocks Despacito off the top spot. I don’t say “sadly” because I think Despacito should stay on the top, but because the song I’m about to mention features Bieber once again. David Guetta and Bieber’s 2U entered the charts just this week, and is already in the Top 10. I think we have seen enough of Bieber in the charts to predicts how this song will do. As expected, it’s a EDM track, with incredibly cheesy, wishy-washy lyrics about being in love. While I don’t completely hate David Guetta’s involvement in the song, I don’t have anything too nice to say about Bieber here. His vocals are smooth as always, but nothing particularly impressive or even memorable.

I suppose I’m also quite biased against Bieber by this point - more than anything, I’m just sick of seeing him either as the main or the featuring artist on every other song in the charts. I feel like the “refreshing” singer who pleasantly surprised me back in 2015 with What Do You Mean? has now overstayed his welcome. Sadly, most of the people streaming pop music don’t seem to agree.