Monthly Report: August 2020 Singles
A lot of Scott Storch beats from his hitmaking heyday have aged poorly, and when he started to return to the music industry a few years ago, I remember people would make fun of these videos where he was jamming on tracks that sounded like they should be on a 2004 video game soundtrack. But he's been quietly notching some really good, current-sounding beats here and there the last couple years (I especially liked T.I.'s "Wraith"). And now Storch has helped Chloe and Halle fashion their weird art pop into something that fits in on R&B radio, with the help of frequent Ariana Grande co-writer Victoria Monet. I've been amused to see this song kind of cross paths over the past few weeks with another "Do It," by Toni Braxton, on the R&B airplay charts. Here's the 2020 singles playlist I add songs to every month.
2. Billie Eilish - "My Future"
I really love hearing this song, but nothing will top the first listen, when it opened as this placid ballad and I sat there wondering whether the whole song would sound like that like "When The Party's Over" or whether there'd be some dramatic 'drop.' And then this gorgeous, kind of unexpected groove comes gliding in, and man, it just bowled me over, just in how much it didn't care about bowling me over.
3. Lil Baby - "Emotionally Scarred"
Lil Baby has so many hits out right now, one on top of another, he's really in that breakthrough moment that only happens for a rapper every few years, "We Paid" seems to be a favorite with a lot of people but I think this and "Bigger Picture" are much better songs personally. Plus it always reminds me of that livestream he made when the song was new that's become kind of a meme because he's emphatically over-explaining lyrics that aren't hard to understand ("two hundred each occasion! each occasion two hundred!").
4. Cardi B f/ Megan Thee Stallion - "WAP"
I really enjoyed writing my Vulture piece about Al "T" McLaran, the "Whores in This House" voice sampled on "WAP" and there's been a lot of great response to the article, I hope Al gets a big payday out of this song. But it's funny, after the song dropped and I heard the sample, knowing I had an interview on my archives with McLaran, I spent the first 36 hours that "WAP" was out thinking about and listening to the song constantly, reaching out to McLaran and doing a new interview and writing the article and pitching it to Dee Lockett at Vulture. So I didn't really stop and enjoy the song or even think about whether I really enjoyed it until that was all over. But it's good, not my favorite by Cardi or Megan, but Meg's verses are killer and I'm generally big fan of raunchy rap.
5. 2 Chainz f/ Lil Wayne - "Money Maker"
I'm glad that 2 Chainz used his moment in the spotlight in the Verzuz with Rick Ross as an opportunity to drop a new single and announce an album, this song is great. It features a sample of "Piece of My Love," a Guy album track that's become really heavily sampled over the years, on Big Sean's hit "Play No Games" as well as songs by 2Pac, Mariah Carey, Jay Rock, and others, but "Money Maker" puts a fresh twist on it with an HBCU marching band playing the melody with these cool glitchy noises here and there.
6. Pink Sweat$ - "17"
I'm kind of surprised this song hasn't been bigger than it is, it's such a perfect couple's first dance at weddings kind of song that usually goes multi-platinum. I think Pink Sweat$ is gonna be big whether it's this song or another, I hear a lot of potential in his recent EP.
7. Cyn - "Drinks"
Another recent minor pop radio hit that I thought should've been bigger, it's got this dry staccato chorus but then the verses take so many catchy melodic twists and turns that make it stick with me.
8. Rezz & Grabbitz - "Someone Else"
I was surprised to look up Rezz and Grabbitz and see that they're both DJ/producers in the EDM world, because "Someone Else" is one of the better brooding rock songs that's been on alternative radio lately, reminds me of something a band like Highly Suspect would write.
9. Beyonce - "Black Parade"
I feel like Beyonce really took a lot of creative liberty with her My Chemical Romance cover, but I like it.
10. Yella Beezy f/ Young Thug -"Headlocc"
As I said a few months ago, one of my favorite strains of southern rap production is simple left-hand-on-the-keyboard piano riffs, and Moneybagg Yo's "1 2 3" is one of the best in recent memory, I feel like "Headlocc" was maybe made to emulate its success a little. It was released in the early weeks of the pandemic, and I really like the slightly lo-fi sound of the Young Thug verse, which sounds like it was recorded at home, same thing with the Trina verse on the "Bitch From Da Souf" remix.
The Worst Single of the Month: Powfu f/ Beabadoobee - "Death Bed"
I don't think anything will top StaySolidRocky as my least favorite song by an unknown launched onto the Hot 100 by TikTok this year, but this one is pretty cloying and irritating to me in its own right. Also why do these TikTok artists always have the goofiest names?
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on Tuesday, August 18, 2020 at 11:44 AM.
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