hooked.evd/Juliet&Romeo: Sam Smith, Stormzy, Dua Lipa, Tones and I, Martin Solveig, Selena Gomez, Harry Styles, Sigala

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This week's Hooked is based around Martin Solveig's newest single, Juliet & Romeo. It's got a beat that gets stuck in your head and you can't help but dance to in the car.

I tried to complement the track with other recent dance tracks, such as "I Feel Love," and some not so obvious hits like Harry Styles' "Adore You" which doesn't feel like it should make sense but does.

"Fetish" is the oldest track on the list but I love this remix and it's been stuck in my head on and off since its release in 2017.

Martin Solveig fans - What do you want to hear next? Let me know in the comments.

- Erin

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dolphinbright, "January Rebirth" with HAIM, St. Vincent, Phoebe Bridgers, Angel Olsen, Maggie Rogers, Shura

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Leslie puts us through the emotional wringer with this compact, well-constructed treatise on the complexities of romance.

Soft and hopeful, not without its edges.

- Matt

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Top Tunes 1911-12 / Hot 100: Lizzo, Arizona Zervas, Shawn Mendes, Selena Gomez, The Weeknd, Lewis Capaldi, Mariah Carey, Post Malone

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NEW
#1  GOOD AS HELL / Lizzo
Written: E.B.Frederic, M.Jefferson
Produced: Ricky Reed

Erin - ⭐️⭐️ "Leave it on" There are a number of places I love to sing along. “In their/ swim wear/ going to the pool shit,” is spectacular. Fun and clever. “I gotta bottle of tequila I’ve been saving for you” isn’t particularly smart but it’s fun and I like the attitude. Great song.

Matt - ⭐️⭐️⭐️ "Turn it up" A fantastic song. I hope she can get out of her orbit as representative of the body-acceptance movement and be appreciated for these wonderful pop songs she's adding to our zeitgeist. Lunch Money Lewis featured Doja Cat on his song "Make That Cake." Despite Doja also being body-positive, there's just now way Lizzo could be featured in this way, based on body-shape alone. We've got a ways to go on this issue.


NEW
#2  ROXANNE / Arizona Zervas
Written: A.Zervas, J.Jennings, J.Greenspan, L.LaRue
Produced: 94Skrt, JaeGreen

Erin - ⭐️⭐️⭐️ "Turn it up" “If you ain't got a foreign, then she laugh at you.” I can’t explain it, I just like this song.

Matt - ⭐️⭐️ "Leave it on" Sure, why not? These Migos-style chirps and choppy cadence have jumped the shark with this one. I don't think we're going to be hearing much more from Zervas.


DOWN 1
#3  SEÑORITA / Shawn Mendes
Written: S.Mendes, K.C.Cabello, A.Wotman, B.J.Levin, A.Tamposi, C.E.Aitchison, J.Patterson, M.A.Hoiberg
Produced: Andrew Watt, benny blanco

Erin - ⭐️⭐️ "Leave it on" I like this song if I think of it as a Camila Cabello song when she’s singing, and a Shawn Mendes song during his part. Them being a “couple” has really changed the way I feel about them as a duet for the negative.

Matt - ⭐️ "Turn it off" OK, enough already. Cabello brings it as she usually does, but this gringo fantasy is starting to sound creepy.


NEW
#4  LOSE YOU TO LOVE ME / Selena Gomez
Written: S.Gomez, Julia Michaels, J.D.Tranter, M.Larsson, R.Fredriksson
Produced: Mattman & Robin

Erin - ⭐️⭐️ "Leave it on" I’ve been a Selena Gomez fan since Wizards of Waverly Place but it feels like she’s been milking this breakup with Justin for too long. I’m happy she’s moving on, but I need a song about something else.

Matt - ⭐️⭐️⭐️ "Turn it up" I don't usually go for this type of song, which is why I'm so surprised this one caught me. I still don't get why. When I think of it as sort of a pop take on Sigur Rós, it makes more sense to me.


NEW
#5  HEARTLESS / The Weeknd
Written: A.Tesfaye, L.T.Wayne, Ilangelo, A.E.Proctor
Produced: Metro Boomin, The Weeknd, Illangelo

Erin - ⭐️⭐️ "Leave it on" Just The Weeknd being The Weeknd. I’m not a big enough fan to hear the nuances in his music so each new single feels like “Is this new, or did I not get into this song when it was released?” I think he’s great, but not for me.

Matt - ⭐️⭐️ "Leave it on" I happen to like this type of moody, epic, rhythmic music. That said, this sounds like the cash-grab sequel to "Starboy."


DOWN 5
#6  TRUTH HURTS / Lizzo
Written: E.B.Frederic, M.Jefferson, S.Cheung, Jesse Saint John
Produced: Ricky Reed, Tele

Erin - ⭐️⭐️ "Leave it on" I’m running out of commentary here. Lizzo is certainly a force, but she has 3 years of back music to release singles from. It’s impressive still, but it makes me wonder about her staying power and where we go from here.

Matt - ⭐️⭐️⭐️ "Turn it up" Old? Yes. Still a jam? Yes.


UP 1
#7  SOMEONE YOU LOVED / Lewis Capaldi
Written: L.Capaldi, ROMANS, B.Kohn, P.Kelleher, T.Barnes
Produced: TMS

Erin - ⭐️ "Turn it off" I just can’t get into this track. It’s so whiney with nothing interesting melodically. It’s not fun to sing along to and I’m not at a place where I connect with the lyrics. This song and I are just two ships passing in the night.

Matt - ⭐️ "Turn it off" OK, fine, yes, every once in a while one of these types of songs gets a turn on the charts. We can just let it run its course. In the meantime, I'll be on another station.


NEW
#8  ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS YOU / Mariah Carey
Written: M.Carey, W.Afanasieff
Produced: W.Afanasieff, M.Carey

Erin - ⭐️⭐️ "Leave it on" Two weeks ago this was three stars but I’ve been playing Christmas music on repeat since November 25th and I need a break. Congrats to Mariah for finally hitting #1! I’m shocked it didn’t happen sooner, but better late than never.

Matt - ⭐️⭐️ "Leave it on" OK, so here's the thing: I think this is a good song, not just a good Christmas song. That's why I think it deserves a spin or two outside of the season. An out of context listen can reveal something new.


NEW
#9  CIRCLES / Post Malone
Written: L.B.Bell, A.R.Post, A.Feeny, W.T.Walsh, K.Gunesberk
Produced: Post Malone, Frank Dukes, L.Bell

Erin - ⭐️ "Turn it off" If you’ve been following the blog, you may have picked up on the fact that we’re not exactly Post Malone fans which makes covering the top 40 tricky – he’s such a presence. For me the perfect balance of his rapping and singing was Wow and this song is too much singing for my taste. I heard Niall Horan do a cover and it made more sense.

Matt - ⭐️ "Turn it off" Pop Pap, Milqutoast Musique. It's Posty's world and we're just living in it.

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Guest List / Gabe 01: "Winter Samba" Sérgio Mendes, Walter Wanderley, Bebel Gilberto, Les Baxter, Chet Atkins, Quincy Jones, Astrud Gilberto, Beatriz Nunes, Henry Mancini

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While winter envelopes the northern hemisphere, the folks down in Brazil just recently observed their summer solstice, and you can bet they celebrated with a samba or two!

Brazilian music enjoyed a massive surge of popularity in 1960s America that would have a long lasting effect on western music in general. The propulsive beat of the samba helped shape the specific rhythmic qualities of disco, house and hip-hop, to name just a few genres.

This playlist highlights the "first generation" fusion of samba with American jazz and adult pop. A few more contemporary tracks from Brazil and Portugal are also thrown in to the mix. Relentless rhythms against smooth, sophisticated harmony make for a sweet and salty combo that is irresistable to the ears (and the hips).

- Gabe

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hooked.evd/OMG: Bebe Rexha, Camila Cabello, Arash, Little Mix, Mark Ronson, Gryffin, Girls' Generation-TTS, Marteria

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While "(Not) The One" seems to be out of place on this list, it was the inspiration for the whole thing. I frequently find myself stuck with Bebe's voice in my head singing "Oh my gah-ad here we go," and I wanted to turn that into a playlist. This list is packed with some of my favorites (looking at you Camila, Mark, Carly, Little Mix) and a few new tracks I discovered along the way.

What's your favorite track on here? Any obvious choices I missed? Let me know in the comments

- Erin

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Monday Mix 191223: Dua Lipa, Stacey Q, Madonna, Magazine 60, Chromeo, Grum, Roxette

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Among my favorite Eighties sounds is that sunny, chic, stuttering, funky, four-on-the-floor Italo sound, godfathered by, among others, the disco greats Giorgio Moroder and Cerrone.

Producers and remixers Initial Talk construct, in my opinion, a new Italo classic with their remix of Dua Lipa's cheeky "New Rules." PLEASE take the time to check out another DL/IT collaboration, a remix of "IDGAF." It was hard to leave that one off this list. It scratches that New Jack Swing itchy handily.

A few months ago, "Listen to Your Heart came on the radio, and my first thought that the chorus was being used for some G-Eazy/Halsey-esque duet à la "Him & I" or NF's "Let You Down."

When a new artist uses a sample, it's often because that snippet itself is so powerful that the artist thinks it's worth building a new song around. As I listened to "LTYH," thinking of it as a powerful piece of pop history, something beyond a passing fad, something future generations could refer to as a touchstone, its power struck me.

It may seem tacked on to this list, but my effort here is to give weight to the preceding songs. This sort of dancy pop music can seem to be fluffy, disposable. Not to me. To me, it's heavy stuff, ladened with melancholy and tension that only that bright simplicity in the melody can keep it afloat.

Roxette's Marie Fredriksson died two weeks ago from brain cancer. Billboard Magazine took a deep look at this and their other Hot 100 Number One's in their "Forever No.1" feature, which honors recently deceased artists. From the article:

“This is us trying to recreate that overblown American FM-rock sound,” [bandmate] [Per] Gessle wrote, “to the point where it almost becomes absurd. We really wanted to see how far we could take it.” Quite a ways, it turned out: the song includes four mini-solos, nipping at each other’s heels like it was the end of Abbey Road. Fredriksson herself split into a multitude, tracking earnest backing vocals to match the liturgic synthesized organ. 

[...]

The song was loaded with layered detail: the bongo taps in the intro; the grim synthesized horns at the end; the color combination of Per and Marie’s timbres, deployed judiciously; the way that Marie’s topline and countermelodies perform a sort of overlapping dance at the song’s emotional apex.

Pop music can pander to the lowest common denominator. It can also appeal to our rawest emotions, our basic human experiences, the ones that unite us across distance, ideology, and time.

- Matt

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