Day 75 brings us to Now! #75, which came out on 29th March 2010.
Can you believe we’re three quarters of the way through this Now! marathon? That’s like being 19.65 miles of the way into an actual marathon. Only 6.55 miles to go – that’s easy! I will remember this moment when I’m 19.65 miles of the way through the London Marathon next April (spoiler: I almost certainly will not).
Also, we’re finally into the 2010s, the fourth and final decade of the Now! compilations so far (and also my life so far). Having followed the charts very closely this decade, I can say with certainty that the remaining Now! compilations will definitely be better than the ’00s ones. The ’00s was a real low for music. (Except 2009, when it picked up.) Thankfully I don’t have to listen to those again!
Track 1: Lady Gaga – Bad Romance
Stunning, classic electropop track – brilliant right from the a cappella intro. Great stuff.
Track 2: 3OH!3 and Katy Perry – Starstrukk
I love this track, even with the silly whistling bit during the verse. Awesome party song.
Track 3: The Black Eyed Peas – Meet Me Halfway
Beautiful tune! The video‘s gorgeous too.
Track 4: JLS – Everybody In Love
Far too cheesy for me, I’m afraid!
Track 5: Iyaz – Replay
Another great tune – really like this one.
Track 6: Tinie Tempah and Labrinth – Pass Out
Love the daft lyrics, and it’s got a great atmosphere.
Track 7: Kesha – Tik Tok
Another good party song – and the vocal style was refreshingly different at this point.
Track 8: Timbaland and Katy Perry – If We Ever Meet Again
Repeated artist alert! We’ve already had Katy Perry on track 2.
Love the chorus though – good track.
Track 9: Jason Derulo – In My Head
The tune’s a bit generic, but it’s still a good danceable song.
Track 10: Rihanna – Rude Boy
Nice atmosphere, interesting vocals. Another great track.
Track 11: Chipmunk and Talay Riley – Look For Me
This one’s a bit bland and forgettable, and the chorus is annoying.
Track 12: Glee Cast – Don’t Stop Believin’
Cover of the ’80s Journey classic by the cast of hit TV show Glee. This cover resulted in the original version – which had never actually been a hit in the UK when it was released in the ’80s – becoming a huge song during 2010 and staying prominent for the rest of the decade so far (I hear it played at every half marathon I run). I’m not complaining – both versions are awesome and epic.
Track 13: Gabriella Cilmi – On A Mission
Great ’70s disco throwback track! Love it.
Track 14: Alexandra Burke – Broken Heels
Another great party tune – very danceable.
Track 15: Sugababes – About A Girl
Great dance beat, but the tune’s pretty generic.
Track 16: The Saturdays – Ego
There’s something about the tune that’s a little irritating, but it’s got a good beat.
Track 17: Jedward and Vanilla Ice – Under Pressure (Ice Ice Baby)
So we had Vanilla Ice sampling Queen and David Bowie’s 1981 song Under Pressure in 1989 for Ice Ice Baby, which was already considered fairly sacreligious, and then in 2010 we had Jedward doing a medley of both tracks and getting Vanilla Ice to help out with vocals. It’s as awful as you might expect, but it somehow got to number two in the charts.
Track 18: Justin Bieber – One Time
Bieber in his early ‘fifteen and squeaky’ era. It’s sort of half laughable and half headache-inducing.
Track 19: Jay Sean, Sean Paul and Lil’ Jon – Do You Remember
Good tune, but I can’t listen to it without hearing Sean Paul’s opening vocals as ‘got dirty egg‘, thanks to presenter Reggie Yates pointing it out on the Radio 1 chart show at the time.
Track 20: Pixie Lott – Cry Me Out
Too ballad-y and slow for me.
Track 21: Joe McElderry – The Climb
The annual inclusion of the previous year’s X Factor winner. This is the one from 2009 that didn’t get the Christmas number one thanks to the much-publicised campaign to get Rage Against The Machine’s Killing In The Name to number one instead. That campaign reinvigorated my interest in the music charts after a few years of being Too Busy Being Goth, and led to my decision to follow the charts for the entirety of the 2010s to see how the decade would pan out musically. Halfway through 2018, that particular habit is still going, and I expect it will last into the 2020s and beyond.
Anyway, the track. It’s a pointless cover of the Miley Cyrus song, and there’s nothing else to say about it.
Track 22: Helping Haiti – Everybody Hurts
Charity cover of the REM classic by too many artists to mention. There’s some interesting voice-spotting to be done, but the point of this cover, as ever with these things, was fundraising to help the victims of the Haiti earthquake.
Track 23: Alicia Keys – Empire State Of Mind [Part II]
It’s Part II because this is the slow piano version. Part I was a more upbeat song with Jay-Z rapping the main verses. I prefer Part I, but that’s mainly ’cause I’m not into slow songs – this is still a great tune.
Track 24: Owl City – Fireflies
It’s a bit twee, but it’s a gorgeous tune – love that chorus.
Track 25: Jay-Z and Mr Hudson – Young Forever
‘Not on Spotify’ Type 2: YouTube Pause (TM).
The track is mainly a cover of the chorus and first verse from Alphaville’s Forever Young, which is fairly pointless but still great, ’cause it’s a great song. The rest is filled in by rapping from Jay-Z, which is okay, but I’m definitely lining up the original to play later on.
Track 26: Cheryl and will.i.am – 3 Words
Lovely melancholy tune, quite like this one.
Track 27: Robbie Williams – You Know Me
Nice tune, but for some reason the music channels always put this on their Christmas playlists, so it’s got festive associations for me now.
Track 28: Journey – Don’t Stop Believin’
Well, we often have repeated artists on these Now! compilations, but I don’t think we’ve ever had a repeated song! We already had the Glee Cast doing this song on track 12.
As I explained up-page, the Glee cover made this one a big hit too, and deservedly so, seeing as how it was overlooked by the UK music-buying public in the ’80s. The piano intro is just beautiful, the lyrics are immense, and the tune is epic.
Track 29: Florence & The Machine – Dog Days Are Over
I find Florence & The Machine’s stuff a bit samey, and this is no exception. There’s not really anything interesting about the tune, though the vocals are nice.
Track 30: Marina & The Diamonds – Hollywood
Gorgeous, unique track! Great lyrics, awesomely different vocals. Love this one.
Track 31: Ellie Goulding – Starry Eyed
Beautiful tune. It was Ellie Goulding’s debut and, as far as I’m concerned, one of her best ever songs.
Track 32: Biffy Clyro – Many Of Horror
Wonderful rock track – I love the tune, and the way it builds is stunning! I’m almost certain we’ll hear the X Factor cover version in three days’ time so I’ll skip ranting about that for now.
Track 33: Plan B – Stay Too Long
Nice retro-sounding rock track, quite like this one. If I weren’t the queen of misheard lyrics, I’d make an effort to listen to the concept album of which it was part. As it is, I’d probably be better off just reading the lyrics to all the songs in order to understand the story.
Track 34: Naughty Boy, Wiley and Emeli Sandé – Never Be Your Woman
Fairly pointless cover of the White Town classic with added rapping. Always a great tune, but the original is obviously better.
Track 35: Example – Won’t Go Quietly
Great, atmospheric dance track. Really like this one.
Track 36: Sidney Samson and Wizard Sleeve – Riverside (Let’s Go!)
Another highly danceable track – I really like the rap style.
Track 37: Gramophonedzie – Why Don’t You
Interesting track based around a sample of Peggy Lee’s Why Don’t You Do Right? from 1947. Quite like this.
Track 38: Lemar – The Way Love Goes
I find this one a bit saccharine, but it’s got a good beat and the piano is nice.
Track 39: N-Dubz and Mr Hudson – Playing With Fire
Repeated artist alert! We’ve already had Mr Hudson on track 25.
Nice epic atmosphere on the chorus, but the rest of the tune’s fairly generic.
Track 40: Chiddy Bang – Opposite Of Adults
Love the electro hook, which is a sample from Kids by MDMT. Nothing much else interesting here, though.
Track 41: Young Money and Lloyd – BedRock
Irritatingly daft track based around the infamously appalling Fred Flintstone pick-up line. If you ignore the lyrics, it’s actually okay.
Track 42: McLean – My Name
I find the tune on this one pretty uninspired.
Track 43: Rihanna – Russian Roulette
Repeated artist alert! We’ve already had Rihanna on track 10.
I find both the lyrics and tune on this one a bit depressing. Not the best way to end what has been an excellent Now! compilation!
