NEW MUSIC FRIDAY: Releases For The Week of April 5, 2024

Friday is a beautiful thing.

The fireworks are flying on New Music Friday, including new sparklers from Ava Max, Imagine Dragons, Khalid and many others…

Notable albums out this week: Benson Boone‘s Fireworks & Rollerblades (Stream), Bryson Tiller‘s Bryson Tiller (Stream), Conan Gray‘s Found Heaven (Stream), Doja Cat‘s Scarlet II: Claude (Stream), Five Finger Death Punch‘s AfterLife (Deluxe/2024) (Stream), GloRilla‘s Ehhthang Ehhthang (Stream), Ian Munsick‘s White Buffalo (Introduce You To God) (Stream), Katie Pruitt‘s Mantras (Stream), Lizzy McAlpine‘s Older (Stream), Maggie Rose‘s No One Gets Out Alive (Stream), Marcus King‘s Mood Swings (Stream), Medium Build‘s Country (Stream), The Black Keys‘s Ohio Players (Stream), The Libertines‘s All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade (Stream), Tori Kelly‘s Tori. (Stream), Vampire Weekend‘s Only God Was Above Us (Stream), X Ambassadors‘s Townie (Stream), Zach Top‘s Cold Beer & Country Music (Stream), The New Look (Soundtrack) (Stream)

Notable EPs out this week: Amelia Moore‘s He’s Just Not That Into You! (Stream), George Birge‘s Cowboy Songs (Stream), Griff‘s Ver2igo (Vol. 2) (Stream), Jesse McCartney‘s All’s Well (Stream), Nate Smith‘s Through The Smoke (Stream), Pet Shop Boys‘s Dancing Star (Stream), Sam Hunt‘s Locked Up (Stream), Smallpools‘s Ghost Town Road (East) (Stream), Tomorrow x Together‘s Minisode 3: Tomorrow (Stream), Wisp‘s Pandora (Stream)

New digital singles that you can buy/stream this week include:
“After Hours”, Kehlani (Stream)
“American Horror Story”, Birksie (Stream)
“Annie”, Devin Kennedy (Stream)
“B2B” / “Club Classics”, Charli XCX (Stream)
“Better Days”, Benjamin Ingrosso (Stream)
“Big Brown Eyes”, Lola Young (Stream)
“Blame”, Will Linley (Stream)
“Bruised One”, Mackenzy Mackay (Stream)
“Can’t Get Enough (Remix)”, Jennifer Lopez featuring Sean Paul (Stream)
“Cartwheels”, Soft Launch (Stream)
“Changes”, Empire Of The Sun (Stream)
“Clairvoyant”, Tyler Shaw (Stream)
“Comin’ Around Again”, Amber Mark (Stream)
“Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond Of Each Other”, Orville Peck & Willie Nelson (Stream)
“Creatures In Heaven”, Glass Animals (Stream)
“Damn”, Kacy Hill (Stream)
“Don’t Reach For Me”, Knocked Loose (Stream)
“Down Under”, Tones And I (Stream)
“Eat Pray Love”, Paul Russell (Stream)
“Eyes Closed”, Imagine Dragons (Stream)
“Femme Fatale”, G-Eazy featuring Coi Leray & Kaliii (Stream)
“Glad You Did”, Sasha Alex Sloan (Stream)
“Good Luck, Babe!”, Chappell Roan (Stream)
“Good Time”, Cage The Elephant (Stream)
“Guy I Used To Be”, Lawrence (Stream)
“Honeydew”, Zachary Knowles (Stream)
“House”, London Grammar (Stream)
“How Ya Doin’ Now Kid”, Matt Haughey (Stream)
“I Can’t Even Cry”, Hope Tala (Stream)
“I Don’t Wanna Wait”, David Guetta & OneRepublic (Stream)
“In The Cards”, Jamie Miller (Stream)
“Incredible”, Sia featuring Labrinth (Stream)
“Is It Too Late?”, Almost Monday (Stream)
“Karma”, JoJo Siwa (Stream)
“Keep It Up”, Good Neighbours (Stream)
“Lejos De Ti”, The Marías (Stream)
“Let It Burn”, Jared Benjamin (Stream)
“Little Altar Boy”, Smith & Thell (Stream)
“Love Me Like You Mean It (Reimagined)”, Kelsea Ballerini (Stream)
“Love You, Miss You, Mean It”, Luke Bryan (Stream)
“Midas Touch” / “Nothing”, Kiss Of Life (Stream)
“Mine”, Michael Gerow (Stream)
“My Oh My”, Ava Max (Stream)
“My Place”, Carly Pearce (Stream)
“Nice Things”, JORDY (Stream)
“Not Good For You”, Adam Melchor (Stream)
“Oh Emma”, Astrid S (Stream)
“Overtime”, Rainbow Kitten Surprise featuring Kacey Musgraves (Stream)
“Please Don’t Fall In Love With Me”, Khalid (Stream)
“Ride Or Die”, Baby Queen (Stream)
“Say I”, Darren Kiely (Stream)
“Should Be Us”, MaryJo (Stream)
“Sideshow”, Carla Wehbe (Stream)
“Siren”, RIIZE (Stream)
“Small Town Scandal”, Zolita (Stream)
“Southern Accents”, Dolly Parton (Stream)
“Spite”, Omar Apollo (Stream)
“Stained Glass Window”, Sunday (1994) (Stream)
“Sumac”, Mat Kearney (Stream)
“Take Me As I Come”, Evan Honer & Wyatt Flores (Stream)
“The Weather”, Fly By Midnight (Stream)
“Wildfire”, Austin Snell (Stream)
“Your Mama Would Hate Me”, Dean Brody & James Barker Band (Stream)

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Next week’s releases include: new albums/EPs from ERNEST, Girl In Red, Maggie Rogers and others.

NEW MUSIC FRIDAY: Releases For The Week of May 3, 2019

All in a Weekend’s listening.

Father’s Day may be more than a month away, but the daddy of this week’s notable releases could come from a band that’s looking for their first #1 album in six years. Sink your teeth into this, because here come the top new albums and singles hitting the market:

JUDAH & THE LION – Pep Talks (iTunes)
Features: “Over My Head”, a top ten Alternative radio hit, and follow-up single “Why Did You Run?”

VAMPIRE WEEKEND – Father Of The Bride (iTunes)
Features: “Harmony Hall”, a recent #1 Triple A and top ten Alternative radio hit, and follow-up single “This Life”

Notable albums out this week: Ashley Tisdale‘s Symptoms (iTunes), Donovan Woods‘s The Other Way (iTunes), Joy Williams‘s Front Porch (iTunes), Passenger‘s Sometimes It’s Something, Sometimes It’s Nothing At All (iTunes), PnB Rock‘s TrapStar Turnt PopStar (iTunes), Sam Grow‘s Love And Whiskey (iTunes), SYML‘s SYML (iTunes), NOW That’s What I Call Music!, Vol. 70 (iTunes)

Notable EPs out this week: Corey Hart‘s Dreaming Time Again (iTunes), Diplo‘s Higher Ground (iTunes), Izzy Bizu‘s Glita (iTunes), Jeremy Zucker & Chelsea Cutler‘s Brent (iTunes), Kim Churchill‘s I Am (iTunes), Lo Lo‘s Sweater Collection (iTunes), Mags‘s Conversations I’ve Had With Myself (iTunes), New Dialogue‘s Teach Me How To Feel (iTunes), No Rome‘s Crying In The Prettiest Places (iTunes), Qveen Herby‘s EP 6 (iTunes), Ruben‘s Melancholic (iTunes)

New digital singles that you can buy this week include:
“28 Grams”, Wolfgang Gartner (iTunes)
“Alligator”, Of Monsters And Men (iTunes)
“All My Friends (Eden Prince Remix)”, AJ Mitchell (iTunes)
“All This Love”, Robin Schulz featuring Harlœ (iTunes)
“Bestie”, Bhad Bhabie featuring Megan Thee Stallion (iTunes)
“Body Parts”, Ina Wroldsen (iTunes)
“Breaking Free”, Jon Lemmon (iTunes)
“Casual Love”, Autograf x The Griswolds (iTunes)
“Close By”, OBB (iTunes)
“Colder When It Rains”, X Lovers (iTunes)
“Drunk Me (R3HAB Remix)”, Mitchell Tenpenny (iTunes)
“Empire”, Nick Fradiani (iTunes)
“Exhale”, Sabrina Carpenter (iTunes)
“Fire Alarm”, Castlecomer featuring Welshly Arms (iTunes)
“Ghosts”, Wylder (iTunes)
“Gimme”, BANKS (iTunes)
“Got My Number”, Kim Petras (iTunes)
“Gravy Train”, Yung Gravy (iTunes)
“Gucci Down”, Luke Christopher (iTunes)
“Headcase”, Kyan Palmer x Nicopop. (iTunes)
“Hold Me While You Wait”, Lewis Capaldi (iTunes)
“Homicide”, Logic featuring Eminem (iTunes)
“I Just Don’t Care That Much (Acoustic)”, Matt Maeson (iTunes)
“I Like (The Idea Of) You”, Tessa Violet (iTunes)
“I Lost A Friend”, FINNEAS (iTunes)
“I Miss Myself”, NOTD featuring HRVY (iTunes)
“I Need Help!”, Fitz And The Tantrums (iTunes)
“I Rise”, Madonna (iTunes)
“If I Can’t Have You”, Shawn Mendes (iTunes)
“Insecurities”, Drumaq (iTunes)
“Joy”, Bastille (iTunes)
“Life”, Conrad Sewell (iTunes)
“Lipstick Stains”, Brasko featuring Saint Pressure (iTunes)
“Love Again”, New Hope Club (iTunes)
“Midnight In Prague”, Lil Xan (iTunes)
“Misfits”, Apollo LTD (iTunes)
“Multiple Choice”, Dawin (iTunes)
“New York City”, Kylie Minogue (iTunes)
“Painkiller”, Ruel (iTunes)
“People Need A Melody”, The Head And The Heart (iTunes)
“Rebel Girl”, Angels & Airwaves (iTunes)
“Rocket Man”, Taron Egerton (iTunes)
“Shadows Will Fall”, Nighttime Crowd featuring Sam Fischer (iTunes)
“Shine (Alex Adair Remix)”, Brother Leo (iTunes)
“Sing It With Me”, JP Cooper featuring Astrid S (iTunes)
“Slo”, Des Rocs (iTunes)
“Some People Do”, Old Dominion (iTunes)
“Started”, Iggy Azalea (iTunes)
“Taller”, Jamie Cullum (iTunes)
“The Real Thing”, Wrabel (iTunes)
“Tiny Victories”, Christina Perri (iTunes)
“Where We Going”, Josey Greenwell (iTunes)
“You Are The Night”, Marc Scibilia (iTunes)
“You Can Tell Him”, Delta Rae (iTunes)

Next week, look out for new albums and EPs from Ciara, Parachute and more. For Adam’s personal picks of the week, listen to the PGTC Friday Faves list on Spotify!

RADIO REPORT: POP! Goes The Picks (May 2014)

If you follow the radio charts like I do, you’ll want to be on top of only the freshest music being serviced across the nation. So, I’m bringing back an early PGTC feature with a bit of a revamp. With this monthly series, I’ll be highlighting some great tracks at a few different radio formats I enjoy that will be fighting for airspace over the next few months. So, what are we waiting for? Let the battles begin.

CHR (*) and HOT AC (**)

Running up the charts.

ONEREPUBLIC – “Love Runs Out” (May 6) (*)
Label: Mosley/Interscope
Giving up a release of “I Lived” for this “Rumour Has It” clone, Ryan Tedder and his crew are gaining early support at the band’s core radio formats as the song continues to sell at a moderate clip. You can find it on a rerelease of their 2013 album Native, complete with a fresh cover and added tracks. It’s far from their best, but it should do fairly well.

A standing O.

RITA ORA – “I Will Never Let You Down” (May 6) (*)
Label: Columbia
Before she heads to the big screen in a much-anticipated adaptation of best-seller Fifty Shades Of Grey, the performer born in Kosovo is laying some new songs down for an album due this fall. “Never” sounds like Ora’s best shot at a U.S. hit and could do better than her previous two singles, “How We Do (Party)” and “R.I.P.”, which charted back in 2012.

Set to be back.

THE READY SET – “Higher” (May 6) (*)
Label: Razor & Tie
It’s been a little over a year since the singer born Jordan Witzigreuter last hit the CHR chart with “Give Me Your Hand (Best Song Ever)”, which just dented the top 30. “Higher” marks his debut with Razor & Tie, known for a slew of rock bands like recent Active Rock chart-toppers The Pretty Reckless. Stay tuned to see if radio gives it love… like woe.

Finding a “Home” on air.

ANDY GRAMMER – “Back Home” (May 13) (**)
Label: S-Curve
Already out for a few weeks and currently top 50 at the Hot AC format, Grammer’s latest anthem is a folksy song and the official leadoff from his forthcoming second album, due later this year. The feel good single doesn’t compare with the material from his self-titled 2011 effort, but still has a resonating lyric and a growing fan base waiting to sing along.

“Waiting” for a hit this era.

DAUGHTRY – “Battleships” (May 13) (**)
Label: RCA
And the cannon goes… (not quite) boom. Given this group’s past radio history, first single “Waiting For Superman” off their latest album Baptized should’ve lifted them to a higher peak than #11 on the Hot AC chart. Well, it didn’t leap tall buildings in a single bound, and nor will this long rumored second release, but the waters should invite this in initially.

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ALTERNATIVE (*) and AAA (**)

From whom the Bells toll.

BROKEN BELLS – “Control” (May 6) (*)
Label: Columbia
With the second radio cut from their former top 5 album, After The Disco, the duo of Brian Burton and James Mercer are looking to keep their Alternative record as shiny as their platform shoes. “Control” is the followup to “Holding On For Life”, which recently rose to the top 20 at the format. It’s another solid song from them and should chart quickly.

Cat got your ears (but not your tongue.)

NIGHTMARE AND THE CAT – “Undercover” (May 6) (*)
Label: Capitol
This quintet from California are newcomers here, having recently opened for labelmates Bastille. A recent EP which features this new single, Simple, was released four weeks ago. Will the five members be able to join top artists like Cat Stevens, Curiosity Killed The Cat and the Stray Cats to purr to the peak of pop perfection? It may just happen.

Pacing towards popularity again.

VAMPIRE WEEKEND – “Step” (May 6) (*) + (**)
Label: XL
Two singles from the GRAMMY winner for Best Alternative Music Album, Modern Vampires Of The City, crashed the survey in recent months: “Diane Young” and “Unbelievers”. “Step” was originally the b-side of “Diane”, but given this song’s popularity, it’s a no-brainer to issue it as the third radio release. We’ll see how far that fast footwork gets them.

“It’s about time” their second single came out.

YOUNG THE GIANT – “Mind Over Matter” (May 6) (*)
Label: Roadrunner
This five-piece band from California has made Giant leaps over the past few years. Not only have they managed three top five singles on these airwaves since their debut three years prior, but their sophomore album, from which the title track is now being serviced, debuted at #7 on the Billboard 200 this year. Rocking on is the most important “Matter”.

“Alive” and kicking.

SWITCHFOOT – “When We Come Alive” (May 13) (*)
Label: Atlantic
The last time these guys hit the top ten on Alternative radio was in the fall of 2011 when “Dark Horses” peaked at #5. I don’t what I would wager on this one for its peak on the Kentucky Derby we call the radio charts. Though reaction has been positive to the announcement, the era’s been a modest success. Much like that title, the spark is ready to return.

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Which track(s) would you like to see do well from the list above? Let me know! Comment below or click the “Get Social!” tab to find PGTC on social media.

100,000 Reasons To Say Thanks!

The hits go on.

It’s been a little over six months since I started my little blog here on WordPress and Saturday night as all you Fifth Harmony fans came along to view the premiere of their debut single, we topped the 100,000 mark here at POP! Goes The Charts. We’ve had 100,000 views since I first started posting in late November 2012 and that’s an amazing feat. I can’t thank you all enough for checking out the place and sticking around as I post about the newest music and acts, as well as my own favorites, both currently and in the past. It’s such a great feeling to know that this experiment has been so successful and continues to show up on sites and other places I never dreamed it would. I realize that there are other blogs out that get 100,000 views on a single day, but hey, this is just the start, and the sky is the limit.

Now, just in case you’re wondering how we got to that number, let me share with you about where you guys and gals are coming from and what topics have been most popular:

TOP COUNTRIES

Since my blog is based out of the United States, it would probably be pretty weird if the U.S. wasn’t the #1 country with the most views, right? Well, luckily, it does take the top spot – just over 52,000 clicks have been from all around our great country’s fifty states, although I have no information on individual state data. That total is nearly 8x greater than the next nation on the list, the United Kingdom, with 6,600 hits. Canada follows just behind the U.K. at #3 at a sum of 6,400 views. Probably most surprising is the Philippines at #4, but that number shall be explained farther down thanks to one particular post.

The top ten (totals as of 6:00PM, June 16):
01. United States | 52,090
02. United Kingdom | 6,618
03. Canada | 6,393
04. Philippines | 4,056
05. Australia | 3,095
06. Brazil | 2,756
07. Germany | 1,776
08. France | 1,688
09. Mexico | 1,174
10. The Netherlands | 1,070

TOP REFERRALS

Again, this probably isn’t a huge surprise, but Google searches amount for just under half the total views for my site, with a small portion of them from the Image Search function. Facebook and Twitter take second and third place, respectively, while a few specific sites like the Pulse Music Board (which I’m a member of) and MJ’s Big Blog (where several of my American Idol posts have been quoted, thank you muchly) appear in the top ten. (FYI: if individual WordPress blogs were tallied into that total, it would be much higher than 650. I got a ton of those after a GRAMMYs post of mine was noted as Freshly Pressed in December.)

The top ten (totals as of 6:00PM, June 16):
01. Google | 46,993
02. Facebook | 6,243
03. Twitter | 5,454
04. Pulse Music Board | 1,168
05. Yahoo! | 1,137
06. WordPress Reader and Tags | 650
07. Bing | 643
08. MJ’s Big Blog | 416
09. Wikipedia | 286
10. AOL | 201

TOP TOPICS AND POSTS

Nine of the ten top posts below are either song premiere or review topics, which I started posted more frequently as the spring came around. Due to an error by Interscope Records, the song by Jessica Sanchez was up two weeks earlier than expected and then taken down, while my post with the lyrics remained up. Thus, it is my biggest post so far, with a huge audience from the Philippines (as her mother is originally from there.) Michael Franti & Spearhead make a surprise entry at #4 with a song that continues to build at radio now, while Disney princesses Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez each rank in the top ten together.

The top ten (totals as of 6:00PM, June 16):
01. Jessica Sanchez featuring Ne-Yo – “Tonight” | 5,251
02. Daft Punk featuring Pharrell – “Get Lucky” | 3,517
03. Vampire Weekend – “Diane Young” | 3,106
04. Michael Franti & Spearhead – “I’m Alive (Life Sounds Like)” | 2,899
05. Pitbull featuring Christina Aguilera – “Feel This Moment” | 2,751
06. Phillip Phillips – “Gone, Gone, Gone” | 2,488
07. Selena Gomez – “Come And Get It” | 2,243
08. Wondering About One-Hit Wonders: 2012′s Potential List | 2,203
09. Demi Lovato – “Heart Attack” | 2,196
10. Mariah Carey featuring Miguel – “#Beautiful” | 2,188

(NOTE: My homepage and archives have a total of 23,650 views; some of these hits may have been from searches that eventually led to one of the posts above.)

So, whether it was one post or one hundred posts, I thank you so much once again for giving me a chance here in the blogosphere and here’s to 100,000 more views and beyond!

With gratitude,
Adam Soybel

TURN IT UP TUESDAY: What’s New In Stores This Week (May 14)

I think she’ll have a chart attack.

Mamma mia! Here we go again. Here are the albums rocking the record stores and intriguing the internet for the week of May 14:

• Former Disney star turned pop princess Demi Lovato has a hot new album in stores today, simply titled Demi. First single, “Heart Attack”, was an instant hit at both radio and retail and is looking to become her biggest hit yet. Look for it to potentially debut at #1, knocking off the latest release from Lady Antebellum. (iTunes)
• Country legend George Strait is back with his twenty-eighth album of original material, Love Is Everything. His label, MCA, has launched a “60 For 60” campaign for the set’s first single, “Give It All We Got Tonight”, which could mark the 60th number-one single for the performer across four trade charts: Billboard, Mediabase 24/7, and the-now defunct Gavin Report and Radio & Records. (iTunes)
• They’re indie darlings and they recently performed on Saturday Night Live. New York-based band Vampire Weekend releases Modern Vampires Of The City, featuring one of the group’s biggest radio singles, “Diane Young”. (iTunes)
• Another Country singer and current The Celebrity Apprentice finalist Trace Adkins is out with his latest, Love Will…, featuring current single “Watch The World End” with singer Colbie Caillat. (iTunes)
• She made her way from the Christian music scene to the top of the pop charts and now she’s back to her home genre. Singer Amy Grant release How Mercy Looks From Here, her fifteenth studio album and second for Sparrow Records. Lead single “Don’t Try So Hard” features backing vocals from singer-songwriter James Taylor. (iTunes)
• Rapper Eve is back with her first new album in eleven years, the long-delayed Lip Lock, which was once led off by the single “Tambourine” back in 2007. That song is no longer present on it. It’s her first album to be independently released. (iTunes)
• He’s a God in the world of a cappella music, so don’t worry, be happy that he’s back with a new full-length album. Bobby McFerrin returns with Spirityouall. (iTunes)
• Formerly of ABBA, Agnetha Fältskog releases her first solo album of original material in 25 years, A. (iTunes)
• The disbanded R.E.M. is out with a twenty-fifth anniversary edition of their album Green, which featured the top ten hit, 1989’s “Stand”. (iTunes)
• Other albums out this week include: Mindless Self Indulgence‘s How I Learned To Stop Giving A Sh*t and Love Mindless Self Indulgence (iTunes) and MS MR‘s Secondhand Rapture (iTunes).

New digital-only singles that you can buy this week include:

• “Little Bit Of Everything”, a first single from Country singer Keith Urban‘s forthcoming album. (iTunes)
• “Someone Somewhere Tonight”, a new single from former American Idol contestant and current Dancing With The Stars contestant Kellie Pickler. (iTunes)

Next week, it’s all about the punks as Daft Punk release their highly-anticipated album, Random Access Memories. Will it ram itself into the top spot or can Darius Rucker roll his wagon wheel their first? A preview is coming in seven!

SINGLE PREMIERE: Vampire Weekend – “Diane Young” (+ Lyrics)

Forever “Young”.

New York City’s indie darlings Vampire Weekend are back to take the City by storm. No, they won’t be sucking any blood, just sucking some fans into their new sounds with a brand new studio album and this first single.

“Young” leads off Modern Vampires Of The City, the 12-track album to be released on May 7. The label is listed as XL Records/Beggars Group, which marks a slight change. XL is a sub-label of Beggars Banquet, which the group has been on since their first album, but this is the band’s first release to include Beggars in the label crediting. Just an interesting note; I’m not sure if it means anything substantial.

The title itself is a play on the phrase “dying young”, which has been addressed in a number of songs lately, including a hit single by Ke$ha. The band, as we know, sounds nothing like the goddess of glitter. While the song does remain faithful to their old sound, particularly of their second album, holy pitch shifting! Do I hear shades of Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash in the repeated “baby” line? Maybe even a little bit of Yello‘s “Oh Yeah”. It’s an energetic single running at a length of 2:40, similar to some of their older material, and they’re never sounded better. You can tell that the song was influenced by the 1963 single “Wipe Out” by The Safaris with that rolling drum and guitar line in the middle of the song. Considering that summer is just around the corner, I’d say that’s a pretty good sign that you may just be surfing to this one in the next months. It’s very cool track that should do well at Alternative radio, where four of their singles have charted to date. We’ll just have to see if this cousin of “Cousins” can fight its way to the top of the family tree or be the “baby baby baby baby” of the bunch.

Fun fact: Ezra Koenig says the word “baby” 63 times in this song. (At least I think I counted correctly.)

(P.S. I apologize if some of these lyrics are wrong; some just go by really quickly and others could be a word or two off. Let me know if there are any corrections and I’d be happy to fix them. Thanks!)

Listen to the song here. Or here.

“DIANE YOUNG”

You torched a Saab like a pile of leaves
I’d gone to find some better wheels
Four or five meters running ’round the bend
When the government agents surround you again
If Diane Young won’t change your mind
Baby baby baby baby right on time

Out of control but you’re playing a role
You think you can go to the eighteenth hole
Well, you flip-flop the day of the championship
Try to go it alone, you roll for a bit
If Diane Young won’t change your mind
Baby baby baby baby right on time

Baby baby baby baby right on (X2)
Baby baby baby it’s a light on
Baby baby baby it’s a lifetime
Baby baby baby baby right on
Time (x5)
Baby baby baby baby right on time

Let ’em go
If Diane Young won’t change your mind
Baby baby baby baby right on time

Irish and proud baby naturally
But you got the luck of a Kennedy
So grab the wheel, keep holding it tight
‘Til you’re driving off in the black of the night
If Diane Young won’t change your mind
Baby baby baby baby right on time

Baby baby baby baby right on (X2)
Baby baby baby it’s a light on
Baby baby baby it’s a lifetime
Baby baby baby baby right on
Time (x5)
Baby baby baby baby right on time

Nobody knows what the future holds on
Said it’s bad enough just getting old
Live my life, they say it’s too fast
You know I love the past, ’cause I hate suspense
If Diane Young won’t change your mind
Baby baby baby baby right on time

ON THE REBOUND: Bands On The Comeback Trail

Bring on the bands! Here are two groups that ended their last eras on a sour note, but are ready to bring it back hard with their latest singles. Will they rise up the charts or stall out in the midst of heavy competition? Only time will tell, but I enjoy them both. They’re two more releases to add to what has already been a very diverse first quarter in the music biz. Let’s start this thing with a little twang…

Treat her like a Lady.

LADY ANTEBELLUM – “Downtown”
Lady A’s been hitting the charts for about five years now, but their last ballad-heavy effort wasn’t as successful as their previous albums. Own The Night produced two number-one singles on the Country Chart, “Just A Kiss” and “We Owned The Night”, but it also gave them their lowest-peaking commercial release ever on the survey, “Wanted You More”, which only went as high as #20. Again, this might have been due to the adult contemporary trending sound of the record; country radio just didn’t want to embrace the more middle-of-the-road and not very, well, “country” material from the band after all the soft singles. Their latest single, the leadoff from their forthcoming album, is a song called “Downtown”, which is pretty much the most country-sounding thing from them in a while. (Although, watch me say that and then weeks down the line, the label remixes it for crossover airplay. Just an assumption, not a fact.) This is a bit of a new side to the group, originally recorded in demo form by Natalie Hemby. The lead vocal is done by Hillary Scott, with the background provided by Charles Kelley, and there’s a newfound spunk and attitude in them with lyrics like “knew the band, so we never paid our cover / Wrote our names on the bathroom tile,” while Scott appeals to her boyfriend or close friend, “I don’t know why you don’t take me downtown anymore.” Look at them being angst-ridden teenagers once again. Lady A, we hardly knew ye. She isn’t the most persuading gal in the world when she urges her significant other to “talk it up and give me the go ’round-round like a good time tease”, but the song overall is definitely a step in the right direction for the band after some misfires. I just sort of wish we had a Kelley lead vocal for the first single, but I’m sure there will be plenty of those on the new album. Look for it to become their next #1 record on the Country survey when it gets a digital release on February 5. (Listen) (Lyric Video)

Turn the “Beat” around.

THE GOO GOO DOLLS – “Rebel Beat”
It’s been almost eighteen years since this band out of Buffalo released their first hit single, “Name”, a #1 song on mainstream radio at a time when alternative rock dominated the charts. Obviously, things have changed a lot since then, but the trio continues on long after their biggest commercial peak. Their last album, 2010’s Something For The Rest Of Us, provided some uninspired and bland singles in “Home” and “Notbroken”, the former of which barely hit the top ten and the latter of which struggled to make the top 30 at the Hot AC format. Two years ago, their theme from Transformers: Dark Of The Moon, “All That You Are”, made the top 15 on the same chart, and that was a vast improvement. Still, it was bound to have a short chart life being from a film. Fast forward to 2013 and the band is back with a new track, “Rebel Beat”. It’s the first single from the band’s forthcoming album, Magnetic, out on May 7. “Whoa! Did Ryan Tedder produce this?” is probably the first thought out of the listener’s head when hearing the song for the first time. As far as I know, he didn’t, but yes, it does sound like OneRepublic‘s sound influence this particular song, specifically their 2011 hit “Good Life”. Hey, they’re going to need to do whatever they need to do to get a hit, and if that means shedding their edgier side once again to appeal to soccer moms, they’ll get at least one more chart hit. I’m sure there will be rockier stuff on the album to appease those long-time fans who still desire it. Anyways, the song itself is pretty good. The lyrics are nothing special, though they seem to explode in a well-engineered chorus: “Hey, you, look around / Can you hear that noise? It’s the rebel sound / We got nowhere else to go / And when the sun goes down and we fill the streets / We’re gonna dance ’til the morning to the rebel’s beat / You can take everything from me, ’cause this is all I need.” Yes, it’s ironic that the song is called “Rebel Beat” when the beat isn’t rebellious and more on the generic side, but give the guys credit for heading in a new direction. It’s a cool tune. It’ll probably take them into at least the top 30 again at Hot AC, though I’m not sure at this time how any followup singles are going to fare. At least we have this for now. (Listen)

Also look out for these new singles coming in the next few weeks:
* NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK – “Remix (I Like The)”: the new single from one of the biggest boy bands of all-time goes to radio on January 25 and to iTunes on January 28. Their new album, 10, is released on April 2. They’ll be touring with 98 Degrees and Boyz II Men this summer. Will the potential success of the band’s new single spur the other two bands to try out new material at mainstream radio? Those rumors will be swirling… (Listen)
* VAMPIRE WEEKEND – “[title TBA]”: the band led by Ezra Koenig returns with their third album on May 7. A single should be at Alternative radio by March.

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