1. Khalid f/ Disclosure - "Talk" 
Khalid started his career on R&B radio with "Location" but has pretty much lived on pop radio ever since, so I was curious if his second album would spin off any R&B radio hits. And I really didn't think the one to do that would be the song with British electronic duo Disclosure, whose brief moment of R&B crossover was 5 years ago. It's a good song, though, I can see why it travels across radio formats so well. Some rap stations play the remix with Yo Gotti and Megan Thee Stallion, which isn't bad but feels kind of unnecessary and not a perfect match for the track. Here's my favorite 2019 singles playlist I update with songs ever month. 

2. Billie Eilish - "Bad Guy" 
For most of the past few weeks the top 3 songs on the Hot 100 have been by Lil Nas X, Khalid, and Billie Eilish, and the average age between them is 19. So it really feels like we're in a moment of generational change in pop music, and the youngest of them, Billie Eilish, is probably the first musician a whole 20 years younger than me who I've really enjoyed stuff by. And I didn't really think much of her album when it came out, it's taken time for her whole odd sound to grow on me. "Bad Guy" in particular is a song that sounds better to me the bigger it gets, it felt a little broad in the context of her album but on the radio it sticks out and sounds uncompromising, the way she did something kind of playful and uptempo but still in her strange dry claustrophobic sound. She grew up idolizing Justin Bieber and was understandably excited to have him on the remix, but he sounds pretty ridiculous, it's a perfect illustration of what a change of pace Eilish is from the teen pop stars that preceded her.

3. DaBaby - "Suge"  
DaBaby's unapologetically silly videos have earned some comparisons to the kind of court jester rap stars like Busta Rhymes and Ludacris that used to be more common, which does help explain a little bit just how DaBaby stands out from his contemporaries. But that's not entirely it, I think, it is interesting that his big hit is kind of lampooning the classic Suge Knight archetype of a hip hop tough guy kingpin, but DaBaby also has a pretty well earned tough guy rep. But mostly it's just about how relentless his flow is and how swift and clever his punchlines and funny little asides are.

4. The 1975 - "It's Not Living (If It's Not With You)"
I'm glad that The 1975 are doing back-to-back albums in quick succession and am excited to hear the next one. But I'm kind of glad they've pumped the breaks on releasing the next record's lead single (which at one point was going to come out in May but hasn't yet). A Brief Inquiry had several good singles and it's good that there's some breathing room for another one to get a run on alt-rock radio (although I fucking love "Sincerity Is Scary" and that one I'm sure will never get radio play). 

5. Panic! At The Disco - "Hey Look Ma, I Made It"  
I never particularly liked Panic! At The Disco in the early days, and with Brendon Urie's recent insufferable ubiquity with "High Hopes" and "ME!" I definitely didn't expect to like their next single. But this is really good, lot of interesting layers to the track and a lot of different vocal melodies coming one after another. 

6. Jacquees f/ Lil Baby - "Your Peace"
I think the perception of Jacquees that was cemented last year is probably not gonna change much with this upcoming new album, but I'm still looking forward to it. This track really has kind of a early 2000s vibe without sampling or interpolating a hit from that era, which I think is to his credit, he kind of needs to get away from samples and remixes for a bit and prove that he makes good songs on his own. 

7. Katy Perry - "Never Really Over"
I was calling Katy Perry her generation's Paula Abdul years before she became an "American Idol" judge, so I really feel vindicated now, especially with her latest single peaking on the charts right around where Abdul's most notable flop "Vibeology" did. All that said, "Never Really Over" is a pretty good song and I wish someone with a better voice sang it. 

8. Mason Ramsey - "Twang" 
12-year-old Mason Ramsey has navigated fame fairly well since going viral with a video of him singing in a Walmart last year, releasing a string of singles and, last week, appearing on a remix of "Old Town Road." But "Twang" is the first song of his that really impressed me and made me kind of root for him to get some country radio airplay, it's just a really great catchy track that takes advantage of that twangy yodel that made him famous to begin with. 

9. Robin Thicke - "That's What Love Can Do"  
I'm moderately annoyed that this sweetly romantic track has a title very close to one of my all-time favorite songs, War's haunting epic "That's What Love Will Do." But otherwise, I'm happy to hear Thicke back in his groove, doing what he does best after years out of the spotlight, this has kind of a Stylistics vibe to it. 

10. Monica - "Commitment"
A really strong midtempo record right in Monica's comfort zone, always loved her voice and am happy to hear her still as consistent as anyone from her generation of R&B stars. 

The Worst Single of the Month: Lizzo - "Truth Hurts"
I wasn't wild about Cuz I Love You when it was released but it seemed clear that she was going to have a big pop hit this year and a lot of the songs on there seemed like they'd be fine as radio singles. But the same day in April that the album was released, Netflix released a rom com, Someone Great, that prominently featured a 2017 song, "Truth Hurts," that subsequently blew up bigger than anything on the album and was quickly added to a deluxe edition of it. And I find this song really, really irritating, way more than anything that was on the original album. 

This entry was posted on Monday, July 15, 2019 at 11:02 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.