During the week of January 25th, 1964, When I was 6 months old, the Beatles had their first # 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. During November of 2023, when I was 60 years old, The Beatles again had a brand new song enter into the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. “Now and Then” peaked at number 7 on the chart! When this remarkable thing happened, I decided to do something I NEVER do… Listen to the top Billboard hits. My musical tastes generally have very little to do with what’s popular, and the very nature of pop songwriting has changed so much over the past few decades. But it was an interesting exercise, and I must say that overall, I was pleasantly surprised! It’s taken me awhile to get this blogpost together, but here are my impressions of the top hits from a year ago. I decided to give my impressions of the top 7 hits rather than top ten. I figured that since the Beatles held the number 7 slot, I would stop right there!
Billboard Hot 100 week of 11/18/23
1. Taylor Swift – Cruel Summer
2. Doja Cat – Paint the Town Red
3. Taylor Swift – Is It Over Now?
4. SZA – Snooze
5. Jung Kook – Standing Next to You
6. Zack Bryan & Kacey Musgraves – I Remember Everything
7. Beatles – Now & Then
#1. Taylor Swift – Cruel Summer – In August of 2019, Taylor Swift released her album “Lover”. “Cruel Summer” is track 2 off that album. Four singles were released off the record and this song was NOT one of them. Live versions of this song got lots of attention from fans during Taylor’s 2023 Eras tour. So, four years later, this song became a huge hit. It’s quite incredible that a thing like this could happen! Taylor co-wrote this song with Annie Clark (St Vincent) who also plays guitar on the track. Both of these ladies know a thing or two about writing a great pop tune! A not so deep, but super catchy song about a summer romance.
#2. Doja Cat – Paint The Town Red – The most notable thing about this song is that the entire hook is lifted from Dione Warwick’s classic song “Walk On By”. I’m no purist when it comes to sampling, borrowing, or referencing works by previous artists, but when the entire “catchiness” or hook of a song is a direct sample of another previous certified hit single, I feel that it’s a bit of a cop out. I hated it when MC Hammer had a huge hit through sampling Rick James’ terrific “Super Freak” hook! “Of course, he’s going to have a hit” I thought to myself, “This riff is SO catchy.” Call me “old school” but I’m just sure that many Doja Cat fans will have no idea that this song is based on Dione Warwick’s song, and that bugs me! This song’s success is largely a tribute to the brilliance of songwriter Burt Bacharach. Still, Doja Cat does some decent rapping, and put a fairly catchy vocal counter melody over the chorus that fits in well with Bacharach’s iconic horn line. I’m unimpressed with the lyrics though, as they feel mean spirited, narcissistic and are mostly straight up bravado. My least favorite song on this list.
#3. Taylor Swift – Is It Over Now? – Taylor Swift is the only artist with 2 songs on this “Top 7” list. “Is It Over Now?”, is a kind of obsessive and confused love song. A portrait of an ill-defined relationship in which the ending is also unclear, vague and painful. Of the two Taylor songs on this list, this one carries more depth of meaning. One of the things that stands out in this song are the incredible sonics in the mix and arrangement. This song is well worth a listen on a quality pair of headphones. Big shout out to Serban Ghenea for his masterful mix!
#4. SZA – Snooze – There’ s style of vocal that has evolved over the last 3 decades in modern pop music that rides the edge somewhere between singing and rapping. SZA is a master at this and all the verses in Snooze are in this style. A romantic sounding R&B ballad with a dark undercurrent. Nice groove with great vocals from SZA. The song has a strong chorus. The main thing that bothers me about this track is all the autotune on SZA’s voice. She’s such a great singer and I would much prefer to hear her natural voice.
#5. Jung Kook – Standing Next to You – I had never heard of Jung Kook prior to seeing his song on this billboard list. I discovered that he is a member of the South Korean megastar boyband BTS. I have to say, “Standing Next to You” is a real banger! It’s a pop-funk song in the classic style of Michael Jackson or Justin Timberlake. It grooves hard, is super catchy, and he has a great soulful voice. I give it a thumbs up!
#6. Zach Bryan with Kacey Musgraves – I Remember Everything – This is an era in country music where it is typical for literally scores of producers and songwriters to collaborate on singles and albums. Enter Zach Bryan who writes his own songs and self-produced his album “Zach Bryan”. “I Remember Everything” was cowritten with Kacey Musgraves. Beautiful suggestive lyrics which let you in on parts of a story without telling you everything. Emotions soaked in regret, passion and pain. Beautiful string arrangement. Zach Bryan’s voice is soulful, vulnerable and real, and Kacey’s is smooth as butter. Not a waisted note! I love this song!
#7. The Beatles – Now and Then – I have been a Beatles fan at least since I was a toddler. My earliest musical memory was dancing with my big sister Vickie in her bedroom to her 45 single of “She Loves You”. I can remember at that young age belting out “She Loves You Yeah Yeah Yeah!” At the top of my lungs, embodying the energy that great music can bring!
“Now and Then” is remarkable! John Lennon recorded this raw demo of a new song alone at his piano in his New York apartment the Dakota in 1977 onto a cassette tape. Who could have ever guessed that 18 years later, in 1995, George, Paul, and Ringo would be laying down tracks to this recording. Then again, 28 years later, in 2023, Paul & Ringo would continue work this project along with George Martin’s son Giles, aided by new technology which cold actually isolate John’s voice from that original demo tape. This first time I heard the song, I was underwhelmed. I’m not really sure why. The second time I heard it I was crying! I really love the song, arrangement and the beautiful string parts put together by McCartney, Giles Martin and Ben Foster! How did this possibly work out?? This is a modern miracle and in this life long Beatles fanatic’s opinion, it’s very existence makes it beyond criticism!