The first time this year that I have to spend longer writing this (Week of 2/15/2025)

 

Hello everyone, and happy late Valentine's Day if you celebrate. This was a decent week, it contains the most songs I have to talk about this year, but I don't exactly mind yet. Let's just get into it, here are our exits:

Sabrina Carpenter- Taste (#9 last week)

David Guetta/ Alphaville/ Ava Max- Forever Young (#11 last week)
Damiano David- Born With A Broken Heart (#15 last week)

The Weeknd/ Playboi Carti- Timeless (#29 last week)

Hayes Warner- Oh (#29 last week)

Countdown: 

30. Doechii- Denial Is A River (Debut)

29. Marshmello/ Jonas Brothers- Slow Motion (-3)

28. Kendrick Lamar- Squabble Up (+2)

27. Tyla- Push 2 Start (Debut)

26. Megan Moroney- Am I Okay (-3)

25. Lisa/ Doja Cat/ Raye- Born Again (Debut)

24. Teddy Swims- Guilty (Re-entry)

23. Tate McRae- Sports Car (+4)

22. Sexyy Red/ Bruno Mars- Fat Juicy & (+3)

21. Lady Gaga- Abracadabra (+3)

20. Addison Rae- Diet Pepsi (-2)

19. The Weeknd- Cry For Me (+1)

18. Raye- Oscar Winning Tears (+3)

17. Kendrick Lamar/ Sza- Luther (+5)

16. Rosé- Toxic Till The End (Debut)

15. Alex Warren/ Joe Jonas- Burning Down (-3)

14. Lisa- Moonlit Floor (-1)

13. Morgan Wallen- Love Somebody (+6)

12. Gracie Abrams- I Love You I'm Sorry (-2)

11. Lola Young- Messy (+3)

10. Sza- BMF (+6)

9. Gigi Perez- Sailor Song (+8)

8. Billie Eilish- Birds Of A Feather (-1)

7. Teddy Swims- Bad Dreams (+1)

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

5. Shaboozey- Good News (+1)

4. Sabrina Carpenter- Bed Chem (=)

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

2. Chappell Roan- Pink Pony Club (=)

1. Rosé/ Bruno Mars- APT (=)

Countdown Extra: Alessi Rose- IKYK

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: Alok/ Kylie Minogue- Last Night I Dreamt I Fell In Love

Fuck. We have to start off by talking about the most questionable song I've talked about in a hot minute, Denial Is A River by Doechii. This is 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.

The good news is that our next two debuts are so much better, starting with Push 2 Start by Tyla. I kinda dig this. It's a bit fun and Tyla sounds really good. I haven't listened to the remix with Sean Paul yet, but I'd say this style of production would definitely fit his voice.

The good debuts keep on continuing, because next up is Born Again by Lisa, 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.

Guilty by Teddy Swims re-entered. Ok then.

Unfortunately, we end our list of debuts on a low note, with Toxic Til The End by Rosé. And yeah, This isn't that good. It feels a little bit boring and generic, something I feel like I've heard various times before. Rosé sounds pretty good, so that does save the song slightly. I still don't think this needed to debut as high as it did.

Hitbound:

Alessi Rose IKYK
Selena Gomez/ Benny Blanco- Scared Of Loving You (Debut)

Shinedown- Three Six Five

Anne Marie- Don't Panic (Debut)

Sabrina Carpenter- Busy Woman (Debut)

Alex Warren- Ordinary

FlowerOvLove- I've Seen Ur Ex (Debut)

Jisoo- Your Love (Debut)

Djo- Basic Being Basic

Sza- Take You Down (Debut)

Alessia Cara- Nighttime Thing (Debut)

Jennie/ Dominic Fike- Love Hangover

Sam Smith- Love Is A Stillness (Debut)
Addison Rae- High Fashion (Debut)

Kane Brown/ Katelyn Brown- Body Talk

Justice/ Tame Impala- Neverender

Yeah, this list is definitely rough to talk about. Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco recently got engaged, and now they are making a collab album that I'm blanking on the name of. Now we have the lead single from it, Scared Of Loving You. Yeah, this sucks. It's just another generic love ballad where Benny Blanco's production is just about as bad as his hygiene, preferably worse than his production in Lonely with Justin Bieber, at least he co-produced that with Finneas. Selena Gomez sounds alright, but it's not even close to enough to save the song from any faults it has. Yeah, fuck this, Benny Blanco and Selena Gomez may be in an unhealthy relationship if this song is any indication to what the rest of their album will be like.

It then gets slightly better, because next up, we have Don't Panic by Ann Marie. This is a good song. It actually has a beat and Anne Marie sounds pretty good, it's just a bit forgettable. That's all I have to say here.

Yup, that's right guys, the world hasn't moved on from the Short N Sweet era of Sabrina Carpenter, and to make it worse, we have a deluxe version that contains a remix of Please Please Please with Dolly Parton and this next song, Busy Woman. Yeah, just what I expected, complete mediocracy. It's way too forgettable for now (until this makes the top 5 on the countdown like her other songs from the past couple of years did), in a key that I don't exactly care for. So yeah, after this, I'll need an indefinite break from Sabrina Carpenter (*aside from my three songs from her, which are Thumbs, Looking At Me, and On My Way with Alan Walker and Farruko).

Uhh... does anyone remember FlowerOvLove from her HB dropout Boys from last year? If not, I don't blame you. Well, she's now back with I've Seen Your Ex. And this is solid. It's a bit interesting and FlowerOvLove sounds pretty good. So I'll take it.

Well, I can safely state that all four Blackpink members have a solo song on either the countdown or Hitbound. Lisa has Moonlit Floor and Born Again, Jennie has Love Hangover, Rosé has APT and Toxic Till The End, and now Jisoo has Your Love. Aside from the fact that she blatantly jacked the title from both the most goated song from the 80s and a major track from Nicki Minaj's album Pink Friday 1, this is pretty good. The beat is pretty good and Jisoo sounds pretty good. Honestly, great song.

I don't think anyone was asking for a deluxe version to Sza's album Lana, which is the deluxe version of her album SOS. That's brain food right there. So from this second deluxe version, we have Take You Down. Yeah, just what I expected this to be, which is just another decent R&B song, as if she didn't make enough of those. She sounds fine, but it doesn't help the song all that much. It's also really forgettable like more than 50% of the album.

Well, it's been a hot minute since I last talked about Alessia Cara, and she's back this week with Nighttime Thing. This is kind of good. The beat's tolerable and I think she sounds alright. So I'll take it. Unlike...

Yeah, we have two snoozefests on this HB to deal with, now I have to talk about Love Is A Stillness by Sam Smith. You see, I prefer their upbeat songs, such as Like I Can, Promises, Dancing With A Stranger, How Do You Sleep, I'm Ready, Diamonds, and Unholy, with their only good ballad being Stay With Me. And yeah, Love Is A Stillness is not good at all. This has really similar issues to Scared Of Loving You by Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco in the sense that both songs have almost no production. Sam Smith sounds fine, I guess, but again, doesn't save the song at all. I hope this flops hard.

Lastly, ending this exhausting list of debuts on a high note, we have High Fashion by Addison Rae. I'm going to be honest, despite claims that this sounds a bit like Diet Pepsi, this is thankfully a lot better than that song, mainly because there is no key change down a half step at the end of the song, in fact, no key change at all. The melodies are really solid and Addison Rae sells them pretty well, and this has a good beat. So yeah, easily my favorite debut from this week.

We lost Pick Your Poison, Lost Your Faith, American Beauty, Baby Blue, Pray, and I'm The Problem. Pick Your Poison is in the abyss, so hopefully it debuts next week, and I'm fine with the rest of them leaving except Pray and maybe I'm The Problem.

Blurbs:

Our exits were Taste, Forever Young, Born With A Broken Heart, Timeless, and Oh. I'm surprised Taste left from that high up, but I'm fine with that as it was getting time for that to leave long ago. Forever Young did exactly what I didn't want it to do, which was leave after jumping huge the week before... again. Bor With A Broken Heart was fading on me, so I'm fine with that leaving. Timeless did exactly what Not Like Us did, which was that Hits 1 picked up on both songs way too late and they just lurked in the bottom 5 for a month, and now I'm a bit worried that that's what they'll do to Tweaker by LiAngelo Ball. Lastly, Oh is gone, proving that it just might be time for Hits 1 to give up on Hayes Warner, they at least need to stop adding all of her songs one week before they come out as "Hits 1 exclusives."

Umm, Slow Motion shouldn't have dropped three spots yet.

Yeah, I'm definitely surprised Fat Juicy & jumped off the debut. I'm definitely not complaining though, unlike Hallett.

Luther finally made the top 15, a bit overdue if you ask me.

Love Somebody just can't decide what to do. I still like the song, though.

BMF and Sailor Song both entered the top 10. I'm more happy about the latter.

Good News is in the top 5... I hope this makes it to #1 soon, because APT is still #1, and we need a new #1 soon.

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