Today, 23rd November 2018, is the release of Now! #101! It’s also mine and Geth’s sixth wedding anniversary 🙂
We’re now entering a new exciting era of Now! compilations where I only have to review them every four months! The first hundred compilations were characterised by a gradually worsening quality of music. I pray this trend will not continue. Pop music can’t get any worse than it currently is. Right?
Track 1: Little Mix and Nicki Minaj – Woman Like Me
Great reggae-style rhythm, but the tune’s pretty dull.
Track 2: Calvin Harris and Sam Smith – Promises
Sam Smith’s voice is great as ever, but the tune is pretty forgettable. Somehow got to number one for weeks on end.
Track 3: Ariana Grande – God Is A Woman
I really like the tune on this one – nice and epic.
Track 4: George Ezra – Hold My Girl
A little slow for me, but it’s a nice tune. Only entered the charts today, so it was definitely not a hit when chosen for this Now! compilation!
Track 5: Rita Ora – Let You Love Me
Great atmosphere on the chorus – tune’s a bit generic, but it’s an okay pop track.
Track 6: Benny Blanco, Halsey and Khalid – Eastside
I reviewed this one for New Hits Friday. It’s grown on me a bit since then!
Track 7: Jess Glynne – All I Am
I’ve never been much of a Jess Glynne fan – I find her stuff very boring and the lyrical content very saccharine, and this track is no exception.
Track 8: Cardi B, Bad Bunny and J Balvin – I Like It
Not super keen on the rap (except the enjoyable nonsense in the first verse about Balenciaga et al.!), but I do love the Latin tinge, and it’s very danceable.
Track 9: The Weeknd and Kendrick Lamar – Pray For Me
Black Panther soundtrack song – really like this epic track.
Track 10: Silk City, Dua Lipa, Diplo and Mark Ronson – Electricity
Bored of these ’90s dance-inspired beats now. The tune is very generic too.
Track 11: Dynoro and Gigi D’Agostino – In My Mind
I really like the eerie atmosphere – there’s some great instrumentals here. Not keen on the dance beat though.
Track 12: Loud Luxury and Brando – Body
I reviewed this one for New Hits Friday. I’m still not hugely keen, but it’s a really irritatingly catchy track that’s constantly ending up on my daily earworm playlists.
Track 13: Maroon 5 and Cardi B – Girls Like You
Repeated artist alert! We’ve already had Cardi B on track 8.
It’s a bit saccharine, but it’s a nice tune.
Track 14: Marshmello and Bastille – Happier
Too slow for me, and the tune’s very dull and generic.
Track 15: Clean Bandit, Marina & The Diamonds and Luis Fonsi – Baby
The vocalist on this is calling herself Marina now, but she was formerly known as Marina & The Diamonds (not a band, just a solo artist with a band name, kind of like Florence & The Machine – this was a bizarre 2009/2010 micro trend). I’ve missed her vocal style and way with a tune. This is very Latin-inspired, especially due to the involvement of Luis Fonsi. Great party pop tune.
Track 16: Ellie Goulding, Diplo and Swae Lee – Close To Me
Repeated artist alert! We’ve already had Diplo on track 10.
Not exciting or original enough for me, but at least it’s got some semblance of a melody, and it’s starting to grow on me with time.
Track 17: Cheryl – Love Made Me Do It
The lyrics are okay if kind of cheesy, but the tune is terrible.
Track 18: Panic! At The Disco – High Hopes
I reviewed this one for New Hits Friday. It’s become one of my songs of the year – really like this track.
Track 19: The 1975 – Too Time Too Time Too Time
Yes, I know the title’s supposed to be written in all caps with no spaces, but I won’t be having any of that nonsense here. This is a dignified blog.
Lovely upbeat tune, though – really like this one. One of my favourites of 2018.
Track 20: Mabel – One Shot
Not a hit – only got to number 44.
It’s a pretty tune, but it’s very generic.
Track 21: Take That – Out Of Our Heads
Not a hit yet (as of 23rd November 2018)! They did perform it on Strictly last weekend, so maybe it’s not even out yet.
There’s a nice old-fashioned big-band feel about this one – it’s very jaunty.
Track 22: Lily James, Jessica Keenan Wynn, Alexa Davies and Celia Imrie – When I Kissed The Teacher
Taken from Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. Songs from musicals have been a bit of a chart trend this year. It’s a fairly bog-standard cover of the Abba song, as is normally the case with jukebox musicals.
Track 23: Andrea Bocelli and Dua Lipa – If Only
Repeated artist alert! We’ve already had Dua Lipa on track 10.
Not a hit yet (as of 23rd November 2018).
Standard pretty, slow romantic song from Andrea Bocelli – I never get sick of his voice. Dua Lipa does fine, but she can’t hold a candle to Bocelli.
Track 24: DJ Khaled, Justin Bieber, Chance The Rapper and Quavo – No Brainer
I reviewed this one for New Hits Friday. I still find it really dull.
Track 25: Dave and Fredo – Funky Friday
This track is:
- The second number one this year to get to number one after exhortation from the previous number one artist (in this case Sam Smith with Promises – the previous example was George Ezra (Shotgun) telling people to stream Baddiel & Skinner and the Lightning Seeds’ Three Lions).
- The second number one this year to feature the word ‘Friday’ in the title (after Lil’ Dicky and Chris Brown with Freaky Friday).
Nothing much else interesting about this song. It’s very dull and unmelodious and repetitive – no idea why enough people were listening to it to get it to number one. Oh, wait, there’s a good instrumental electro bit for three seconds – then it goes back to the boring rap.
Track 26: DJ Snake, Selena Gomez, Ozuna and Cardi B – Taki Taki
Repeated artist mega alert! We’ve already had Cardi B on both track 8 and track 13. That is far too much of one artist for one Now! compilation!
I do like the background instrumentals, especially the atmospheric whistling, and the Latin vocals are nice, but the rap is very dull.
Track 27: French Montana and Drake – No Stylist
I quite like the atmosphere, but it’s very repetitive. Are they trying to win a competition to see who can say ‘Gucci’ the most times in a song?
Track 28: Dennis Lloyd – Nevermind
Great rhythm, very noddable.
Track 29: Khalid – Better
Repeated artist alert! We’ve already had Khalid on track 6.
The track is so boring that I couldn’t even concentrate on writing this sentence.
Track 30: Martin Garrix feat. Khalid – Ocean
Repeated artist mega alert! We’ve already had Khalid on track 6 and track 29. That’s two mega alerts on one compilation, which is not an auspicious start for the second century of Now! entries!
It’s a pretty tune with a gorgeous atmosphere – I really quite like this one.
Track 31: Halsey – Without Me
Repeated artist alert! We’ve already had Halsey on track 6.
Urgh, this track is so slow! I do like the synthy background instrumentals though.
Track 32: B Young – 079ME
I reviewed this one for New Hits Friday. I still think it’s too similar to Jumanji.
Track 33: Stay Flee Get Lizzy, Fredo, Young T and Bugsey – Ay Caramba
Repeated artist alert! We’ve already had Fredo on track 25.
I reviewed this one for New Hits Friday. I’m still not keen on it at all.
Track 34: Travis Scott – Sicko Mode
There’s no tune, and the rap is extremely generic, but I quite like the eerie quality of the backing track.
Track 35: Shawn Mendes and Zedd – Lost In Japan [Remix]
Good atmosphere, but the tune’s a bit dull.
Track 36: MK, Jonas Blue and Becky Hill – Back And Forth
More ’90s-inspired instrumentals. Very generic tune.
Track 37: Jonas Blue, Liam Payne and Lennon Stella – Polaroid
Repeated artist alert! We’ve only just had Jonas Blue on track 36.
Okay tune with a good pop beat, but it’s not super exciting.
Track 38: Au/Ra and CamelPhat – Panic Room
I quite like the atmosphere, but it’s a bit repetitive.
Track 39: Sigala, Ella Eyre, Meghan Trainor and French Montana – Just Got Paid
Repeated artist alert! We’ve already had French Montana on track 27.
Daft song about payday. The tune’s pretty uninspired, but it’s got a good beat and it’s quite fun – it’s a good danceable party track.
Track 40: David Guetta and Anne-Marie – Don’t Leave Me Alone
The tune is very generic and forgettable. I quite like the electro instrumentals, but on the whole there’s nothing interesting going on here.
Track 41: Hardy Caprio and One Acen – Best Life
Very repetitive, not very inspired, highly boring tune, dull rap.
Track 42: ZieZie – Fine Girl
I quite like the tune, but there’s some very irritating stuff with the vocals going on here.
Track 43: Sigrid – Sucker Punch
Not a hit yet (as of 23rd November 2018).
Nice bit of classic pop with a good atmosphere.
Track 44: Selena Gomez – Back To You
Repeated artist alert! We’ve already had Selena Gomez on track 26.
The verse is nice, but the tune on the chorus irritates me.
Track 45: LSD – Thunderclouds
LSD are a collaborative project between Labrinth, Sia, and Diplo, hence the name.
It’s the mobile phone advert music. I actually had it stuck in my head before it got into the charts – it’s a really incessant earworm. It’s a bit of a messy track, but quite a good tune.
Track 46: Dean Lewis – Be Alright
Dull, acoustic-y ballad. I never thought I’d type this sentence, but the Streets did this theme much better in Dry Your Eyes back in the ’00s.
