Panic! At The Disco (8) - Week of 12/1/18

Hi everyone. The countdown looks pretty good, even if our #1 has been at the top a tad bit too long. I still like it, but jeez. Anyways, here are the exits:

• NF - Lie (#41)
• Walk The Moon - Kamikaze (#39)
• Juice WRLD - Lucid Dreams (#43)
• LSD - Thunderclouds (#33)

45. Shawn Mendes - In My Blood (#42) [-3] {2 Weeks At #1}
44. Ariana Grande - God is a woman (#31) [-13]
43. Bazzi/Camila Cabello - Beautiful (#45) [+2]
42. George Ezra - Shotgun (#44) [+2]
41. Calvin Harris/Sam Smith - Promises (#22) [-19]
40. Taylor Swift - Delicate (#40) [=] {3 Weeks At #1}
39. NOTD/Bea Miller - I Wanna Know (#38) [-1]
38. Charlie Puth - The Way I Am (#37)  [-1]
37. Zedd/Maren Morris/Grey - The Middle (#35) [-2] {9 Weeks At #1}
36. Panic! At The Disco - Say Amen (Saturday Night) (#36) [=] {4 Weeks At #1}
35. Loud Luxury/brando - Body (#20) [-15]
34. Lauv/Julia Michaels - There's No Way (DEBUT)
33. Little Mix/Nicki Minaj - Woman Like Me (DEBUT)
32. Imagine Dragons - Whatever It Takes (#29) [-3] {1 Week At #1}
31. Shawn Mendes/Zedd - Lost In Japan (Remix) (#13) [-18]
30. Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper - Shallow (#21) [-9]
29. David Guetta/Anne-Marie - Don't Leave Me Alone (DEBUT)
28. Alec Benjamin - Let Me Down Slowly (#34) [+6]
27. Ariana Grande - thank u, next (DEBUT)
26. Alex Aiono - Big Mistake (#26) [=]
25. Panic! At The Disco - Hey Look Ma, I Made It (#23) [-2]
24. Selena Gomez - Back To You (#24) [=]
23. Twenty One Pilots - My Blood (#27) [+4]
22. Silk City/Dua Lipa - Electricity (#16) [-6]
21. Camila Cabello - Consequences (#28)  [+7]
20. Backstreet Boys - Don't Go Breaking My Heart (#17) [-3]
19. Shawn Mendes - Nervous (#32) [+13]
18. benny blanco/Halsey/Khalid - Eastside (#18) [=]
17. Maroon 5/Cardi B - Girls Like You (#19)  [+2]
16. Post Malone/Swae Lee - Sunflower (#30) [+14]
15. The Struts/Kesha - Body Talks (#15) [=]
14. The Chainsmokers/Emily Warren - Side Effects (#11) [-3]
13. lovelytheband - broken (#12) [-1]
12. Ariana Grande - breathin (#14) [+2]
11. Dan + Shay - Tequila (#25) [+14]
10. Khalid/Normani - Love Lies (#9) [-1]
9. Fall Out Boy - The Last of The Real Ones (#6) [-3] {2 Weeks At #1}
8. Bebe Rexha - I'm A Mess (#7) [-1]
7. The Chainsmokers/Kelsea Ballerini - This Feeling (#5) [-2]
6. Imagine Dragons - Natural (#8) [+2] {1 Week At #1}
5. Halsey - Without Me (#3) [-2]
4. Marshmello/Bastille - Happier (#4) [=] {2 Weeks At #1}
3. Anne-Marie - 2002 (#10) [+7]
2. 5 Seconds of Summer - Youngblood (#1) [-1] {4 Weeks At #1}
1. Panic! At The Disco - High Hopes (#2) [+1] {8th Week At #1}

Biggest Jump of the Week: Tie between Post Malone/Swae Lee - Sunflower & Dan + Shay - Tequila (+14)

Biggest DROP!!!!!..... of the Week: Calvin Harris/Sam Smith - Promises (-19)

#1 Song This Week One Year Ago: Ed Sheehan - Galway Girl (4)

New Entrants

~Our lowest debut this week also happens to be easily the worst of the bunch. As I said when this song debuted Hit-Bound, Lauv and Julia Michaels are basically made for each other they have so many things in common. They're terrible singers, their biggest hits aren't any good, they're only gonna ever have one hit, and lastly they each have one song I kinda like (Paris In The Rain/Jump). However, they certainly didn't bring any of magic from either of those songs. The beat here is a complete nothing. Which puts most of the focus on the performance and holy shit the performances. Lauv sounds checked out and he goes way out of his range. Michales also has plenty of voice cracks and basically no vocal presence. The lyrics are generic as hell. Overall, I hope this doesn't get big here because it's absolutely awful.

~Next up is Little Mix brining along Nicki Minaj in Woman Like Me. I seem to be the only person who doesn't like this song, which is a little confusing to me. Because this isn't very good. Little Mix frankly cannot sell this type of badass song. They just sound really out of place over this trap beat. Nicki's verse doesn't redeem the song that much, as she delivers quality lines such as "Greatest of all time, 'cause I'm a chameleon". But my biggest problem with Nicki's verse is it kinda feels exactly like her verse from MotorSport, but she never speeds up her flow like she did there. This is much closer to red than green.

~I don't tend to like David Guetta all that much. I find most of his drops messy and his production to be generic a lot of the time. I also don't like Anne-Marie that much, as she does have a good voice but doesn't use it all that much. However, I do think she sounds really good here. And I actually like Guetta's production, including the drop. After listening to Guetta's album, I thought that this was for sure the stand out. Overall, a very good song that blends both artists's styles together very nicely. I don't have all that much to say about it, except that it's my favorite debut this week. I hope this one gets big, but since it's already flopped elsewhere I doubt it.

~I'm reviewing thank u, next for what feels like the millionth time. Ariana sounds great here. I honestly think this is one of her best vocal performances this year. Though some may find the production here pretty underwhelming, I think it fits the vibe pretty well. And obviously the best part are the lyrics, where Ari thanks all of her famous exes, including the late Mac Miller. Since this was her first #1 on the Hot 100, hopefully it can be her first #1 here as well.

Best Debut of the Week: David Guetta/Anne-Marie - Don't Leave Me Alone (#29)

Hit-Bound

• Ellie Goulding & Diplo/Swae Lee - Close To Me
• Dean Lewis - Be Alright (DEBUT)
• Zara Larson - Ruin My Life
• Imagine Dragons - Machine
• Lauren Jauregui - Expectations
• Dan + Shay - Speechless (DEBUT)
• 5 Seconds of Summer - Killer Queen
• Olly Murs/Snoop Dogg - Moves
• Alessia Cara - Trust My Lonely (DEBUT)
• Khalid - Better (DEBUT)
• James Arthur - Empty Space
• Ava Max - Sweet But Psycho
• Steve Aoki/BTS - Waste It On Me
• Twenty One Pilots - Chlorine

~I really enjoy Be Alright. In a way, this reminds me of Marry Me by Thomas Rhett. They both feature deeper male vocals singing over slower production with an interesting concept. Though Marry Me is way better, I still like this one quite a bit. More on this if it debuts. 

~I do believe that Speechless is a big step up from Tequila. Perhaps it has to do with the fact that Tequila is a really downbeat song, where as this song is more upbeat and positive. The vocals here are a big standout, as are the lyrics. This is gaining pretty big elsewhere, and it appears like it'll be another hit for the country duo. I certainly hope it is. 

~Trust My Lonely is awful. Like really really awful. Props to Alessia for trying to sing this, and god she tries so hard. I honestly don't hate her vocal performance here one bit. But where it all falls apart is the beat. Because that beat is just unlistenably (apparently this is not a word) bad. So I decided to do a bit of research on producer duo Pop & Oak who made this beat, and I find something special: they produced a collab between Jason Derulo and Julia Michaels. I think that says more than I every could.

~I did not like Better at first. And even now, it is just good, not quite great. Part of the reason for this is that I have to be in a certain mood to enjoy this song. It's a vibe song, I don't think anyone will disagree with that. And when I'm in the mood for that sort of song, this song hits the sweet spot. Other times, it's just kinda there. Overall, I hope this does become a hit, but I won't be mad if it doesn't.

My Top 5 Hit-Bound Picks

1. Olly Murs/Snoop Dogg - Moves

2. Dan + Shay - Speechless

3. Dean Lewis - Be Alright

4. Ellie Goulding & Diplo/Swae Lee - Close To Me

5. Khalid - Better

My Bottom 5 Hit-Bound Picks

1. Imagine Dragons - Machine

2. Alessia Cara - Trust My Lonely

3. James Arthur - Empty Space

4. Twenty One Pilots - Chlorine

5. Steve Aoki/BTS - Waste It On Me

There's No Blurbs

~Let's start with our exits. I don't like Lie and probably never will. Those lyrics are just awful. I'll have more on Lucid Dreams when I rank the entire Billboard Year-End Hot 100. Kamikaze was very weird, and not in a good way. However, Thunderclouds was a great song on many levels and I'm very sad to see it go.

~Just as I thought it might become big here, Promises falls all the way to the bottom five. It most certainly did not deserve this. Calvin Harris and Sam Smith are both very talented artists and this really should've been a hit. Alas, it was not meant to be.

~You know what did deserve to enter the bottom 5 this week? God is a woman. This song doesn't play to Ariana's strengths as a performer and I'm pretty confused by all the love this gets from the Blogging community.

~Damn more good songs falling. Body is a total bop and deserves to be a hit in the US. But the one that shocks me is the Lost In Japan Remix. This has hit a hard peak on radio, but I didn't think that would matter to Hits 1 because it's Shawn Mendes and Zedd, Hits 1's favorites! But in the end, it was their inferior songs that became hits. What a shame.

~We had two songs tied for the biggest jump this week. I'm very happy that Sunflower appears to be catching on here. Post Malone and Swae Lee both deserve to have a legitimate hit here. However, I'm not as pleased with the jump from Tequila. This song has died out elsewhere, it should not still be hitting new peaks here.

~Nervous also took quite the jump. I'm really close to liking this song. What's holding it back? Well, I don't like the chorus all that much. But aside from that it's a good enough song.

~I'm still enjoying every week where Without Me is not #1.

~Speaking of the #1 spot, Brendon Urie is back up there this week with High Hopes. I still do like the song quite a bit, but 8 weeks? That's pushing it.

Top 20 Review

0-Awful

20. Halsey - Wihtout Me

19. Backstreet Boys - Don't Go Breaking My Heart

18. Bebe Rexha - I'm A Mess

1-Bad

None!

2-Mediocre

17. Imagine Dragons - Natural

16. Fall Out Boy - The Last of The Real Ones

3-Decent

15. lovelytheband - broken

14. Anne-Marie - 2002

13. Dan + Shay - Tequila

12. The Chainsmokers/Kelsea Ballerini - This Feeling

11. Shawn Mendes - Nervous

4-Good

10. 5 Seconds of Summer - Youngblood

5-Great

9. Maroon 5/Cardi B - Girls Like You

8. Khalid/Normani - Love Lies

7. Panic! At The Disco - High Hopes

6. Ariana Grande - breathin

5. The Sturts/Kesha - Body Talks

4. Marshmello/Bastille - Happier

3. The Chainsmokers/Emily Warren - Side Effects

2. Post Malone/Swae Lee - Sunflower

6-Best Song On The Countdown

1. benny blanco/Halsey/Khalid - Eastside

Score: 69/100 = 69%(B, Good)  (-3%)

My Top 5 Picks

1. benny blanco/Halsey/Khalid - Eastside

2. Post Malone/Swae Lee - Sunflower

3. Silk City/Dua Lipa - Electricity

4. The Chainsmokers/Emily Warren - Side Effects

5. Loud Luxury/brando - Body

My Bottom 5 Picks

1. Halsey - Wihtout Me

2. Lauv/Julia Michaels - There's No Way

3. NOTD/Bea Miller - I Wanna Know

4. Backstreet Boys - Don't Go Breaking My Heart

5. Alec Benjamin - Let Me Down Slowly

#1 Recommendation For Hits 1: benny blanco/Calvin Harris - I Found You