Music Review: Now! That’s What I Call Music #99

Day 99 brings us to Now! #99, which was released on 23rd March 2018.

March 2018
This is how the world looked in March 2018. I have hundreds of photos from that month depicting things that I was getting rid of in my clothes cull – the joys of digital hoarding – but this is the only one I have of me, although I suspect Mum and Dad probably have some from their visit to Newcastle that month that I’ve not seen yet. Winning my Slimming World group’s Greatest Loser award was one of my highlights of my journey to target. The house, meanwhile, was even messier and full of boxes than it is now.

I’m starting to get a little suspicious that some of the tracks on these latest Now! compilations weren’t actually hits at all.  I know that a) the charts change so rapidly that there too many songs to remember and b) most chart music these days is so generic that it all blurs into one, but my memory is pretty good, and given that all of these songs are supposed to have been in the charts just a few months ago, I’m surprised that there are so many song titles I don’t recognise.  I will have to do some research as we go through them.

We’ve finally reached the current year, 2018!  Let’s see what pop music has come to these days.

Now! That's What I Call Music #99
Track 1: Rudimental, Jess Glynne, Macklemore and Dan Caplen – These Days

Now I know I’m nearly at the end of this long Now! marathon – this track is still currently (as of today, 19th July 2018) in the Top 40.  We’re so close to the end!

I find the tune pretty irritating and the theme a bit awkward, but there’s some good stuff going on with the lyrics.

Track 2: Dua Lipa – IDGAF

Another tune that really annoys me.

Track 3: Portugal The Man – Feel It Still

Great tune, great danceable beat, and a lyric like ‘let me kick it like it’s 1986 now‘ is always going to go down well with me.  Love this one.

Track 4: Justin Timberlake and Chris Stapleton – Say Something

I really like this tune – it builds very nicely.

Track 5: Taylor Swift – Ready For It?

Good atmosphere, but the tune is very forgettable.

Track 6: Marshmello and Anne-Marie – Friends

This one is insidiously catchy and was stuck in my head for weeks earlier this year.  I’m not a fan of the tune or the theme, so it wasn’t pleasant.

Track 7: Bruno Mars and Cardi B – Finesse

I do like that early ’90s feel (which, judging by the style of the video, is deliberate).  Like the callback to Walk This Way too.

Track 8: Sigala and Paloma Faith – Lullaby

Another annoying tune, but it’s got a good beat.

Track 9: Craig David and Bastille – I Know You

I really like the rhythm, but I find the song a bit cheesy.

Track 10: Jason Derulo and French Montana – Tiptoe

Good solid danceable pop song – really like this one.

Track 11: Jax Jones and Ina Wroldsen – Breathe

Good beat, good tune – quite like this track.

Track 12: George Ezra – Paradise

I really like George Ezra’s stuff – it’s so different to the generic EDM-hip-hop-pop lyrically-vapid tuneless mush that makes up the bulk of the charts these days.  This is an upbeat feelgood song with great lyrics and an awesome chant-along bit near the end.

Track 13: Kylie Minogue – Dancing

There is something indescribably comforting about the fact that, thirty years after I Should Be So Lucky became the favourite song of every girl in my nursery school class, Kylie Minogue is still featuring on Now! compilations.  I feel warm and fuzzy inside.

I really like the guitar on this one – it’s a nice, pretty tune with a retro feel.

Track 14: Camila Cabello – Never Be The Same

Pretty tune, but it’s a little slow for me.

Track 15: Mabel and Notes – Fine Line

I quite like the tinkly instrumentals on this one, and it’s a good tune.

Track 16: Sigrid – Strangers

It’s got a good rhythm, but the tune annoys me.

Track 17: Paloma Faith – Guilty

Repeated artist alert!  We’ve already had Paloma Faith on track 8.

As I explained in the intro, there have been a few tracks on Now! compilations recently I’ve not recognised, including this one.  Looking it up, I now know why.  This wasn’t actually a hit – not in the UK or anywhere else.  As such, I’m not sure why it’s been included!

It’s got a great atmosphere and a nice classic feel, though.

Track 18: Pink – Beautiful Trauma

I find this one a bit depressing, though the tune is very pretty.

Track 19: James Arthur – Naked

Too slow for me, and I don’t like the tune.

Track 20: Tom Walker – Leave A Light On

Again it’s a little too slow for me, but it’s got a good epic atmosphere.

Track 21: Calum Scott – You Are The Reason

Another one that wasn’t a hit – it only got to number 43!

This one’s too slow for me, and the tune’s very depressing.

Track 22: Sam Smith – One Last Song

I quite like the retro-sounding instrumentals on this track.

Track 23: Stormzy and MNEK – Blinded By Your Grace [Part II]

Good tune – quite like this one.

Track 24: Post Malone and Ty Dolla Sign – Psycho

Interesting instrumentals, but I don’t like the tune – it’s very repetitive.

Track 25: Blocboy JB and Drake – Look Alive

Not enough melody for me.

Track 26: Khalid – Location

Another non-hit – this only got to number 67!

Great atmosphere and classic feel – quite like this one.

Track 27: NF – Let You Down

I can’t stand this track – the tune and the high-pitched vocals are so irritating.

Track 28: Ramz – Barking

Great track!  Endearing theme, interesting tune.  Big fan of this one.

Track 29: J Hus – Bouff Daddy

Good atmosphere, but the tune’s boring.

Track 30: Cliq and Alika – Wavey

Also not a hit – this one only got to number 44!

It’s got a good rhythm, but I could do with some more melody.

Track 31: Dave and Mostack – No Words

Nice tune, but the rap’s too messy for me.

Track 32: B Young – Jumanji

It’s got an okay beat, but the tune’s very uninspired.

Track 33: Raye and Mr Eazi – Decline

It’s based heavily around an interpolation of 2002 hit Always On Time by Ja Rule and Ashanti.  I just find it very unoriginal.

Track 34: Notes and Mabel – My Lover

Double repeated artist alert!  We’ve already had both Notes and Mabel on track 15.

This tune really irritates me.

Track 35: Rak-Su, Wyclef Jean and Naughty Boy – Dimelo

This is an interesting one.  It was the X Factor winner’s single for 2017, and for the last couple of years the X Factor winner’s single has not been featured on the spring Now! compilation like it used to be – both Louisa Johnson’s Forever Young and Matt Terry’s When Christmas Comes Around were left out, the latter presumably partly because nobody wants to hear an explicitly Christmas-themed song in the spring.  Part of this, I believe, is because of the X Factor‘s decline in popularity recently, but it’s meant we’ve not been following an interesting change.  Louisa Johnson’s winner’s single was a cover as usual – Forever Young was originally a Bob Dylan song – but Matt Terry’s When Christmas Comes Around was an original song (written by Ed Sheeran), which was a first for the X Factor since Shayne Ward’s That’s My Goal, and signalled an interesting move away from its irritating karaoke format.  This move towards original songs continued in the 2017 competition, with many of the contestants (notably Rak-Su and Grace Davies) performing tracks they had written themselves.

As such, this winner’s single from Rak-Su is self-written – an upbeat Latin-tinged hip-hop track with great lyrics and a clever interpolation of Wyclef Jean’s lines from Hips Don’t Lie – and as a result it’s the only X Factor winner’s single I’ve ever liked.  It’s a great track.  It’s just a shame we had to put up with years of awful pointless cover versions to get to this stage.

(I should note that, despite the above essay, I’ve never actually watched the X Factor.  My interest in this stuff is purely from a chart geek perspective.)

Track 36: G-Eazy and Halsey – Him And I

Pretty tune, quite like this one.

Track 37: Sza and Calvin Harris – The Weekend

Another non-hit!  This only got to number 55.

I’m not hugely keen on the tune on this one, but it’s got a good retro-sounding beat.

Track 38: Hailee Steinfeld, Alesso, Florida-Georgia Line and Watt – Let Me Go

Another generic, irritating tune.

Track 39: 5 Seconds Of Summer – Want You Back

Nice tune, but the verse is too slow and cheesy for me.  The chorus is good though – and I love that rock guitar.

Track 40: Demi Lovato – Tell Me You Love Me

Yet another one that wasn’t a hit – this one only got to number 85!

It’s got a good atmosphere though – really like those instrumentals.  The tune’s nice, but it’s a bit slow for me.

Track 41: Maroon 5 – Wait

And another non-hit – number 79 for this song.

Not keen on this tune – it’s pretty generic.

Track 42: James Bay – Wild Love

This one’s too slow for me.  Nice tune though.

Track 43: Rag ‘N’ Bone Man – As You Are

The complete opposite of a hit.  This didn’t chart at all!

I like the instrumentals at the start, but again it’s not upbeat enough for my liking.

Track 44: U2 – You’re The Best Thing About Me

This one, meanwhile, only got to number 92.

It’s nice to hear some rock music, but the tune’s a bit dull.  It’s got a good retro-sounding instrumental in the middle though.

Track 45: Oasis – Live Forever

This wasn’t actually back in the charts this year (so it’s yet another non-hit, although of course it was a hit on its original release in 1994), but there was an increased awareness of it due to Liam Gallagher performing it at the Brits in tribute to the Manchester Arena bombing victims.

One more thing: I just want to add a quick note about all the non-hits that have littered this playlist.  While I’ve only just noticed it with this one, I suspect non-hits have been a thing for quite a few Now! compilations leading up to this, as there have been quite a few instances where I’m surprised I recognise so few of the tracks (as I mentioned in the intro, while it is tough to remember hundreds of generic songs, I have followed the charts religiously this decade and have a good memory).

I’m not sure how I feel about this.  I can sort of understand it in a way, as 95% of chart music in the late ’10s is woefully, utterly dire.  It’s awful – the worst quality it has ever been in my lifetime.  Most of it is completely generic, uninspired and half-arsed, and so I have a bit of sympathy for the Now! compilers deciding to include songs that they think are good but didn’t trouble the charts for whatever reason, rather than yet another terrible identical-sounding EDM track that somehow managed to get to number 24 for a few weeks.

At the same time, what I’ve always liked about the Now! compilations is that they do reflect the most popular music of the time – good and bad.  I feel that including songs that weren’t hits, that weren’t soundtracking people’s lives by being played on the radio and on TV shows and at sports events – well, it kind of takes away from the status of these albums as cultural artefacts of the time.  I’m a little sad about that.  We’ll see what tomorrow brings with the release of the 100th entry in this long music marathon.

Music Review: Now! That’s What I Call Music #94

Day 94, and Now! #94, which came out on 22nd July 2016.

July 2016
This is the way the world looked in July 2016. Geth and I were in Bents Park, South Shields, to see Lindisfarne and the Proclaimers doing an open-air gig, and it was a very typical British summer’s day of the type that required both suncream and an umbrella.

Sadly, I don’t think we’ll hear either Lindisfarne or the Proclaimers on this particular Now! compilation, though the latter have appeared twice in the past.

Now! That's What I Call Music #94
Track 1: Calvin Harris and Rihanna – This Is What You Came For

Lovely tune, good solid dance track.

Track 2: Justin Timberlake – Can’t Stop The Feeling

Geth adores this upbeat party song.  I find it a little irritating.

Track 3: Kungs and Cookin’ On 3 Burners – This Girl

I find this perky summer tune really grating.

Track 4: Sia and Sean Paul – Cheap Thrills

Much as I like Sean Paul’s vocal style, I prefer the Sia solo version of this song, which is one of my favourite pop tracks of the decade.  This version’s still fantastic though.

Track 5: Fifth Harmony and Ty Dolla Sign – Work From Home

The tune’s a bit generic, but it’s nice and danceable.

Track 6: DNCE – Cake By The Ocean

I love this one!  They were playing it in the pub after my first Great North Run in 2016, and I’ll always associate it with that day.  Wonderful tune.

Track 7: Clean Bandit and Louisa Johnson – Tears

Another lovely tune, and it builds beautifully.  Great stuff.

Track 8: Little Mix and Sean Paul – Hair

Repeated artist alert!  We’ve already had Sean Paul on track 4.

Great beat – it’s a bit of a messy track otherwise, though.

Track 9: The Chainsmokers and Daya – Don’t Let Me Down

The tune’s a bit irritating, but it’s got a good atmosphere.

Track 10: Justin Bieber – Company

It’s got a nice beat, but the tune’s pretty dull.

Track 11: Calum Scott – Dancing On My Own

Utterly depressing.

Track 12: Pink – Just Like Fire

I like the tune, but it’s a little too acoustic-y for me.

Track 13: Ariana Grande – Dangerous Woman

Great atmosphere – I just wish it were a bit more upbeat.  Love the rock guitar though.

Track 14: Nick Jonas and Tove Lo – Close

I really like those steel drums on the intro, but the vocals are a bit bland.

Track 15: Meghan Trainor – No

I like the theme on this one, even if it’s a bit more serious than I personally like my pop to be.  Good rhythm too.

Track 16: Shawn Mendes – Treat You Better

Urgh, I can’t stand this ‘nice guy’ anthem!  Irritating tune, appalling theme.

Track 17: Years & Years and Tove Lo – Desire

Repeated artist alert!  We’ve already had Tove Lo on track 14.

Good beat, forgettable tune.

Track 18: Sigma and Take That – Cry

I find the tune a bit generic, which I wouldn’t normally expect from Take That in any incarnation.

Track 19: Bastille – Good Grief

Really like the bassline at the start, and the tune on the vocals is great too.

Track 20: Viola Beach – Boys That Sing

Nice jaunty instrumentals on the intro, then it launches into some cheesy rhyming I can’t get behind.  The tune’s okay on the whole.

Track 21: Coldplay – Up And Up

Slow and boring.

Track 22: Gnash and Olivia O’Brien – I Hate U, I Love U

Annoying chorus, annoying rap verses, annoying theme.

Track 23: Drake – Hotline Bling

At my brother and sister-in-law’s wedding, my sister-in-law’s bridesmaids all sang a version of this with altered lyrics about the wedding couple, so it tends to be that version I think of when I hear this song.

Track 24: Galantis – No Money

I find this one insanely irritating – awful tune, appalling kiddie-sounding vocals.

Track 25: DJ Snake and Bipolar Sunshine – Middle

Slow and depressing.

Track 26: Desiigner – Panda

Great brooding atmosphere, but I could do with a bit more melody.

Track 27: Kent Jones – Don’t Mind

Irritating theme, irritating tune, irritating lyrics.  Not keen on this one at all.

Track 28: Cheat Codes and Kris Kross Amsterdam – Sex

Dodgy dance cover of Salt-N-Pepa’s ’90s hit Let’s Talk About Sex, with new verses in order to bastardise the original safe sex theme into one about general horniness.  Have I mentioned before that I hate this century?

Track 29: Sigala, Imani Williams and DJ Fresh – Say You Do

Boring tune on the vocals, but I quite like the instrumentals (steel drums again!).

Track 30: Blonde and Craig David – Nothing Like This

Nice beat, and the vocals are quite interesting, but the tune’s a bit repetitive.

Track 31: Charlie Puth and Selena Gomez – We Don’t Talk Anymore

Beautiful tune – really like this one.

Track 32: Ariana Grande – Into You

Repeated artist alert!  We’ve already had Ariana Grande on track 13.

I’m a big fan of this song though – it’s probably my favourite Ariana Grande track.  Great solid piece of pop.

Track 33: David Guetta and Zara Larsson – This One’s For You

Not keen on this tune, but the track builds quite well.

Track 34: Jonas Blue and JP Cooper – Perfect Strangers

I’ve always found this tune really grating.

Track 35: Dua Lipa – Hotter Than Hell

Good beat, very danceable.

Track 36: Kygo and Kodaline – Raging

I quite like the guitar on this one, but it’s not upbeat enough for me.

Track 37: Selena Gomez – Kill ‘Em With Kindness

Repeated artist alert!  We’ve already had Selena Gomez on track 31.

I quite like this tune though, even if the chorus is a bit repetitive.

Track 38: will.i.am and Pia Mia – Boys And Girls

Great beat on this one – happily nodding along right now.

Track 39: Reggie ‘N’ Bollie – New Girl

Daft theme and lyrics that I’m not wholly keen on.  The tune’s nice and feelgood, though, and I like the beat.

Track 40: Tinie Tempah and Wizkid – Mamacita

Love the Latin tinge on this one!  Great stuff.

Track 41: Craig David – One More Time

Repeated artist alert!  We’ve already had Craig David on track 30.

I really like the rhythm and the vocal style, but the tune’s fairly bland.

Track 42: Sigala, John Newman, Nile Rodgers, Cedric Gervais and Laurent Simeca – Give Me Your Love

Repeated artist alert!  We’ve already had Sigala on track 29.

That is a long list of artists for a not-especially-inspiring song.  The tune’s okay, but it’s nothing special.