Most interesting list of songs to talk about in a while (Week of 2/8/2025)

 

Hello everyone, welcome to another post. So yeah, this was an average normal week, we have some solid debuts to talk about in both the countdown and Hitbound. Let's just get into it, ere are our exits:

Charli XCX- Apple (#13 last week)
Myles Smith- Stargazing (#10 last week)

Myles Smith- Nice To Meet You (#19 last week)

Teddy Swims- Guilty (#28 last week)

Countdown:

30. Kendrick Lamar- Squabble Up (Debut)
29. Hayes Warner- Oh (=)

28. The Weeknd/ Playboi Carti- Timeless (-2)

27. Tate McRae- Sports Car (=)

26. Marshmello/ Jonas Brothers- Slow Motion (+4)

25. Sexyy Red/ Bruno Mars- Fat Juicy & (Debut)

24. Lady Gaga- Abracadabra (Debut)

23. Megan Moroney- Am I Okay (=)

22. Kendrick Lamar/ Sza- Luther (+2)

21. Raye- Oscar Winning Tears (+4)
20. The Weeknd- Cry For Me (Debut)

19. Morgan Wallen- Love Somebody (-7)

18. Addison Rae- Diet Pepsi (+4)

17. Gigi Perez- Sailor Song (-1)

16. Sza- BMF (+4)

15. Damiano David- Born With A Broken Heart (+2)

14. Lola Young- Messy (+7)

13. Lisa- Moonlit Floor (+2)

12. Alex Warren/ Joe Jonas- Burning Down (+2)

11. David Guetta/ Alphaville/ Ava Max- Forever Young (+7)

10. Gracie Abrams- I Love You I'm Sorry (+1)

9. Sabrina Carpenter- Taste (=)

8. Teddy Swims- Bad Dreams (=)

7. Billie Eilish- Birds Of A Feather (=)

6. Shabozey- Good News (=)

5. Gracie Abrams- That's So True (-1)

4. Sabrina Carpenter- Bed Chem (+1)

3. Lady Gaga/ Bruno Mars- Die With A Smile (-1)

2. Chappell Roan- Pink Pony Club (+1)

1. Rosé/ Bruno Mars- APT (=)

Countdown Extra: Jennie/ Dominic Fike- Love Hangover

Last Year's #1: Dua Lipa- Houdini

#1 Two Years Ago: Miley Cyrus- Flowers

My Favorite Song Last Year: People R Ugly- Brain Dead

My Favorite Song Two Years Ago: Fall Out Boy- Love From The Other Side

#1 Recommendation For Hits 1: The Weeknd- Give Me Mercy

Our first debut I'm a bit surprised debuted after only one week in HB, it's Squabble Up by Kendrick Lamar. This is quite good. It reminds me a little bit of Not Like Us, except he's not making insults towards Drake throughout the song. The point is it has a similar beat to that song and he kind of sounds like he does in Not Like Us here too. So great song.

Two weeks ago, I was surprised that Sexyy Red was making her Hits 1 debut, and I'm even more surprised that she's making her first appearance on the countdown. And my opinion on Fat Juicy & still stands. It slaps so hard and both of them do a great job here. Also, I should point out that when I said that Sexyy Red endorsed Trump during the election when I reviewed this a couple weeks ago, I recently fact checked myself, and she used to support Trump but voted for Kamala during the election. So I don't think I really hate her music anymore.

This next debut isn't even a week old but is quickly making its way on to the countdown, this is Abracadabra by Lady Gaga. When it comes to songs from her upcoming album, this is my favorite so far. It honestly gives off the vibes of various classic songs of hers from 2008-2012 and she sounds great here per usual. Great song.

Lastly, debuting all the way up at #20, we have Cry For Me by The Weeknd. If I'm being honest, this is my favorite from that album thus far, yes, it's even better than Timeless. The song is in Bb major and has amazing melodies, and The Weeknd sounds good like he always does. Plus, the song has similar lyrical content to songs like Hardest To Love or Out Of Time, and he can sell that type of song really well. I hope this has major success here.

Hitbound:

Djo- Basic Being Basic

Doechii- Denial Is A River (Debut)

Knox- Pick Your Poison

Ava Max- Lost Your Faith (Debut)

Lisa/ Doja Cat/ Raye- Born Again (Debut)
Shinedown- Three Six Five (Debut)

Nessa Barrett- American Beauty (Debut)

Jennie/ Dominic Fike- Love Hangover

Kane Brown/ Katelyn Brown- Body Talk

Alessi Rose- IKYK
Alex Warren- Ordinary (Debut)
Willow Avalon- Baby Blue

Justice/ Tame Impala- Neverender (Debut)

Tyla- Push 2 Start (Re-entry)

Lauren Spencer-Smith- Pray

Morgan Wallen- I'm The Problem

Doechii recently won a Grammy for Best Rap Album, and afterwards... we have whatever the fuck this is on Hitbound. It's just not my thing. It's basically a rap version of Selfie by The Chainsmokers from 2014, if you even call that a song. It's essentially a similar concept, but with some occasional bars from Doechii being thrown in. Not sure I really needed to hear this.

Ava Max is back with a new solo song, this is called Lost Your Faith. Honestly, she's done better in my opinion. The beat is just all right and Ava Max sounds pretty good, the hook is rather underwhelming and not all that memorable, except at the end where it literally sounds like she interpolated Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen, and we all know the best song from the Shrek soundtrack is All Star by Smash Mouth. So yeah, among the most underwhelming Ava Max songs I've heard, I hope her next song is better.

Lisa's debut solo album comes out soon, and from it, we have Born Again with Doja Cat and Raye. This is really good, probably my favorite Raye song since Bed with Joel Corry and David Guetta in 2021. The beat is cool, all three of them sound great and have solid chemistry, and it's in a key that makes this work. So great song.

Looks like A Symptom Of Being Human wasn't a one off for Shinedown, as they're back again with Three Six Five. And yes, I like this. It's a lot more upbeat than what they last had on here and Brent Smith sounds quite good here per usual. I'm happy to know that Shinedown is still relevant in the present day.

What the actual fuck? Still no Tweaker by LiAngelo Ball, but they picked up on yet another Nessa Barrett song that I have absolutely no fucking interest in caring about. This is called American Beauty, and honestly, it's better than the song of hers that I talked about last week, but that's not saying a shit ton, because this is forgettable as hell to the point that the only thing I remember about it was that it is upbeat. So yeah, I'm hoping I don't have to talk about Nessa Barrett again for the rest of 2025.

It gets slightly better, as Alex Warren is back with a new song, this is called Ordinary. I'm not completely sold on this yet, the beat is alright and Alex Warren sounds pretty good, it's in a key that makes it not as good as it's supposed to be. But maybe this will grow on me like Burning down did.

Up next is the second of two songs that recently won a Grammy, this is Neverender by Justice and Tame Impala. I don't think I've talked about either act here before, but Justice had a song on the countdown in 2007 called D.A.N.C.E. and this marks Tame Impala's first appearance on Hits 1, not counting the songs from Dua Lipa's album Radical Optimism that he produced (weird side note, but one of those songs, Houdini, was #1 this week one year ago). On to this collab, yeah, I like this one a decent bit. I like the production from Justice here and Tame Impala sounds really good here, I don't mind the falsetto vocals at all. My one real complaint is that it's a bit repetitive in a few spots, but it's fine. It's catchy, what else can I say?

Lastly, Push 2 Start by Tyla re-entered. No major comment about that.

We lost Optimist, All My Love, Love Looks Pretty On You, Dear Me, and Strategy. The first two are in the abyss, with All My Love being on the countdown for one week already. Love Looks Pretty On You was replaced by a slightly better Nessa Barrett song, Dear Me sucked ass, and Strategy probably should have debuted.

Blurbs:

Our exits were Apple, Stargazing, Nice To Meet You, and Guilty. It was time for Apple to leave long ago, so good riddance to that. Stargazing is still good but it was also time to that to leave too. Nice To Meet You probably shouldn't have debuted a few months after dropping out of HB if it was only going to last a few weeks, and I'm not sure if Guilty is done for good or not, it is likely still in the abyss.

Great to see Slow Motion jumping off the debut.

Love Somebody can't exactly decide what to do at this point.

Ok why did Diet Pepsi jump into the top 20 again?

Looks like Messy is finally starting to do something.

Forever Young jumped huge to #11 again. Let's hope what happened the last time this song jumped huge to #11 doesn't happen again.

I Love You I'm Sorry has finally surpassed its previous peak and is now in the top 10.

I was going to wait four weeks to bring this up, but why is Birds Of A Feather still here? This is its 36th week on the countdown, I've moved it down a tier from where I initially had it, and it's still at #7. I really hope this leaves soon and doesn't make it to 40 weeks. 

That's really it, aside from Pink Pony Club jumping to #2. I kind of want this to make #1 next week as I'm starting to get a little bit tired of APT being #1.

I guess that does it for me this week, see you guys next week.