Monthly Report: August 2021 Singles
1. Cole Swindell - "Single Saturday Night"
Cole Swindell has been making country radio hits for almost a decade now, but I never found any of his previous singles memorable enough to put in my year-end best or worst country lists (I guess "Ain't Worth The Whiskey" was alright). "Single Saturday Night" really leapt out at me the first time I heard it on the radio, though, I'm not surprised this is his biggest Hot 100 hit to date, it does a great job of painting a picture with a few well chosen words. Here's the 2021 singles Spotify playlist I update with new songs every month.
2. Brent Faiyaz f/ Drake - "Wasting Time"
It's a quirk of Drake's skill set that, aside from the occasional smash like "Girls Need Love" or "No Guidance," he rarely does guest verses for R&B singers anymore, something that he excels at, because he usually just does his own R&B tracks and most uses features to align himself with cool newer rappers. So I'm glad that he saw fit to lend his starpower to Brent Faiyaz, someone who's seemed destined for major things in the 4 years since "Crew" but hadn't quite gotten there yet. And it's almost weird to hear Drake on a Neptunes beat after the Pusha T feud presumably got between for a long time.
3. Camila Cabello - "Don't Go Yet"
Here's why I can never really get down with stan culture -- even when I root for some artists, at the end of the day I'm gonna listen to whoever has the best song. Ever since the Fifth Harmony split I've been rooting for Normani and, I'll admit, kind of rooting against Camila Cabello. But they both just released singles, and this time Cabello has the far better song. Ricky Reed gave her a big sparkly cliched version of a latin pop banger, and that little hoarse edge in her voice really works on the verses, and the video is really fun and entertaining. Shame this came out at a time when her career seems to be flagging a little and everyone's making fun of that Cinderella trailer.
4. BIA - "Whole Lotta Money"
I didn't like Russ's "Best On Earth" because it was Russ, but I liked BIA's verse and started checking for her solo stuff after that, she has a great deadpan sort of rapping style. And it's been cool to watch "Whole Lotta Money" became the breakout streaming hit of the For Certain EP and eventually get radio spins and a Nicki Minaj remix.
5. Coldplay - "Higher Power"
Coldplay have survived commercially over the years in part by leaning more and more pop with collaborations with the Chainsmokers, Rihanna, etc. and at times I've joked that this is all leading to a Max Martin-produced Chris Martin solo album. And I was half right, because after Max Martin worked on one song on Coldplay's last album, he's producing all of their new record. And so far it doesn't seem like the kind of world-beating combination I assumed it would be -- "Higher Power" got to #4 on alternative radio, which is weak by Coldplay standards, and hasn't really impacted pop radio much at all -- but I like the song and am curious about the album.
6. Carly Pearce - "Next Girl"
"Next Girl" will be a year old in a few weeks but it's just now really gaining steam on country radio and her 29 EP is getting expanded into an album in September. It's weird to think of Pearce as an underdog since her last single, "I Hope You're Happy Now," went to #1, but I've been rooting for this song, glad it's become a hit.
7. Royal Blood - "Typhoons"
The whole Typhoons album is excellent and the title track was a good choice to follow up "Trouble's Coming," love the way the disco hi-hats lead to the big build up at the end of the song.
8. Bella Poarch - "Build A Bitch"
I'm pretty suspicious when TikTok celebrities wind up on the Hot 100, especially with a song title like "Build A Bitch," but this is really a pretty clever and catchy song, it's a little goofy and over-the-top but it works.
9. J. Cole f/ 21 Savage and Morray - "My Life"
In 2002, Rawkus Records released the Soundbombing III compilation, which was full of collaborations that kind of bridged the gap between the Rawkus roster and the rest of the rap world, including the lead single "The Life," which paired Styles P., fresh off the success of "Good Times," with Pharoahe Monch. I always thought it was weird to relegate Monch to being just a hook singer on that song, and those kinds of "backpack rap meets commercial rap" events feel like a relic of the pre-Kanye era now. But J. Cole is exactly the kind of guy who'd remember and cherish a half-forgotten song like "The Life," and probably thinks of his collaborations with 21 Savage as representing the same kind of merging of two worlds, so he had Morray sing that hook on his new album (and again, I think Morray should have a verse on the song just like Monch should have). It's good, though, the Cole/21 tandem really does kind of bring out the best in both of them.
10. Chris Stapleton - "You Should Probably Leave"
I found Chris Stapleton kind of bland as a singles artist early on, but his last two singles "Starting Over" and "You Should Probably Leave" are two of my favorite songs of his. I love seeing the Heartbreakers pop up on other people's records more since Tom Petty died, and Benmont Tench's organ really completes the vibe of this song.
The Worst Single of the Month: Nic D - "Fine Apple"
This podcasting dork is climbing up the pop radio and streaming charts with some of the cheesiest pickup lines I've ever heard, including "if you were a fruit, you'd be a fine apple." Shut down the podcaster-to-pop star pipeline before anybody gets through it, please.
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