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What Was That Again? I Have a Pillow in My Ear: Hot 100 Roundup—2/20/16

Zayn “Pillowtalk” #1 There are pleasurable and inspiring hooks, the ones that get you on your feet and make your heart soar. There are mediocre hooks, the ones you register and maybe even remember, but...

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Don’t Step On My Blue Suede Choo’s:Hot 100 Roundup—2/27/16

Future “Low Life” (featuring The Weeknd), #52 “Fly Shit Only”, #67 Future is still Future: moody and depressed but defiant and proud, using autotune and a lugubrious pace in an attempt to signify...

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Sounds Like… Hot 100 Roundup—3/5/16

Gwen Stefani “Make Me Like You” #54 “Make Me Like You” would have sounded flat a decade ago, when Stefani was in her prime, mixing and matching genres and styles with abandon. It sounds even worse now....

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Lost Pandas and Other Wild Things: Hot 100 Roundup—3/12/16

Ruth B “Lost Boy” #75 I have a hard time understanding the hatred directed toward “Lost Boy”. Yes, it’s the worst sort of high-school sophomore poetry, self-congratulatory and self-pitying at the same...

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In Pieces: Hot 100 Roundup—3/19/16

Kelly Clarkson “Piece By Piece” #8 The original album version of “Piece by Piece” was about liberation, breaking free of the pains of the past without ever denying their existence. The American Idol...

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Easy to Say No: Hot 100 Roundup—3/26/16

Meghan Trainor “No” #11 “No” is too easy: all surface without a hint of depth or feeling—even, or maybe especially, Trainor’s. I approve of the message, but the overall attitude is smug and...

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The Fast and the Dangerous: Hot 100 Roundup—4/2/16

Ariana Grande “Dangerous Woman” #10 Paint by numbers R&B, and obvious about it, too: this sounds so much like “A Natural Woman” that Grande better hope Carole King doesn’t hook up with the Gaye...

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Working My Way Back: Hot 100 Roundup—4/9/16

2016 was a bad year for everybody, including this blog. It wasn’t only politics that made it difficult for me to write, or the quality of this year’s pop hits. There were also personal things going on:...

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Huntin’, Fishin’, and Uber Everyday: Hot 100 Roundup—4/16/16

Nick Jonas Featuring Tove Lo “Close” #27 Yes, the chorus is good, maybe even great, but you’ve heard it before, and it illuminates the weaknesses in Jonas’s voice in a way that almost makes me laugh....

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Ultra-Light: Hot 100 Roundup—4/23/16

Drake “Pop Style” (Featuring The Throne), #16 “One Dance” (Featuring WizKid & Kyla), #21 Drake’s range of subject matter is so narrow that it’s a minor miracle he’s managed to hold onto his...

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