Monthly Report: June 2020 Singles
Travis Denning has written songs for Jason Aldean and Justin Moore, and I thought his first major label single "David Ashley Parker From Powder Springs" deserved to be a much bigger hit than it was a couple years ago. So I was rooting for "After A Few" to become his breakthrough, and it finally hit #1 on its 65th week on the country charts. His recent EP is good, hopefully he's got a full-length on the way now. Here's the 2020 singles Spotify playlist I update every month.
2. The HU - "Wolf Totem"
I don't know if The HU's name sounds like 'The Who,' but if it does, that's a pretty good bit. This Mongolian metal band tjat combines traditional bowed instruments and throat singing with huge hard rock riffs is pretty badass. "Wolf Totem" is getting played on rock radio with a remix featuring Papa Roach's Jacoby Shaddix adding lyrics in English, and I prefer the original, but either way I think it would be cool if these guys became huge in America.
3. Harry Styles - "Watermelon Sugar"
When Fine Line as released 6 months ago, the Top 40 format was going through an especially ballad-heavy patch, and I pessimistically predicted that Harry Styles wouldn't finally get a big U.S. radio hit unless he released "Falling" as a single. So I was pretty pleased that "Adore You" blew up and one of the other funky uptempo songs leaped ahead of "Falling" as its radio follow-up, good summer single.
4. JackBoys f/ Young Thug - "Out West"
Travis Scott and Young Thug have so many songs together where I just kind of tolerate Travis's presence, but this is a pretty ideal one because it's basically a Thug song with a 40-second Travis cameo. It's weird that this song came out on a project that was meant to promote the roster of Travis Scott's label, but fine by me I guess.
5. Roddy Ricch f/ Mustard - "High Fashion"
Roddy Ricch and Mustard had such perfect chemistry on "Ballin'" that I was a little disappointed that Please Excuse Me For Being Antisocial only had one Mustard track. But "High Fashion" is great, too, leans into that sparkling R&B piano sound even more, makes for a good contrast to follow up "The Box." And Roddy's Young Thug influence has probably never been more obvious than it is on "High Fashion," it's almost like his "Lifestyle."
6. Migos f/ YoungBoy Never Broke Again - "Need It"
I always liked Hi-Tek's beats for 50 Cent's The Massacre, it's cool to hear a deep cut like "Get In My Car" get sampled on a current hit, particularly by someone I wouldn't expect like Migos and YoungBoy. I love the part where Quavo and Takeoff share a verse and go back and forth, I wish they did that more often.
7. Toni Braxton - "Do It"
Babyface's recent Verzuz battle with Teddy Riley got people nostalgic for Toni and Babyface's old hits, but they've still got great chemistry, that Love, Marriage & Divorce album was great and I was glad to see that Face wrote her new solo single too.
Babyface's recent Verzuz battle with Teddy Riley got people nostalgic for Toni and Babyface's old hits, but they've still got great chemistry, that Love, Marriage & Divorce album was great and I was glad to see that Face wrote her new solo single too.
8. Ellie Goulding - "Power"
Ellie Goulding's last couple singles were midtempo records with guest rappers so I kind of figured her next album was going in a different direction. But maybe Dua Lipa's success has reassured Goulding that the EDM anthems can still do well, because her excellent new single interpolates "Be The One," one of my favorite songs from Dua's first album.
9. Foxes - "Love Not Loving You"
The first couple Foxes albums had some excellent UK dance pop that never did as well in America as Ellie Goulding or Dua Lipa. But I'm glad that she's still releasing stuff, her new indie single has a nice funky bass-driven sound.
10. Luke Combs f/ Eric Church - "Does To Me"
Luke "Puffy" Combs keeps the the hits coming, his 8th consecutive #1 single on country radio. He and Eric Church are good at wistful longing for days gone by, so this was a good song for them to collaborate on.
The Worst Single Of The Month: StaySolidRocky - "Party Girl"
These days the Hot 100 is peppered with songs that got popular on TikTok by previously unknown artists with goofy names like beabadobee, BENEE, and surf mesa. Richmond, Virginia rapper StaySolidRocky is one of those acts, and "Party Girl" is probably the worst of those songs, just a total piece of crap that has no right to share a title with one of my favorite Elvis Costello deep cuts.
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