Chart Chat Edition 796 – W/C 22.02.15

Chart Chat Edition 796 – Week Commencing Sunday 22nd February 2015

Introduction

Welcome to edition 796 of Chart Chat, the music review site which has been running for over fifteen years.  You can find us on Twitter as @ChartChatUK so feel free to follow us and pass comment on the weeks new releases yourselves.  As always we will take a look at the current top forty followed by some reviews of the weeks new releases.  There is a new edition published weekly so if you are new here then I hope you will choose to revisit.

Chart Review

There were four new entries, thirteen climbers, sixteen songs going down and seven non movers on this weeks chart. There was no change at the top as Ellie Goulding held on for a third week with ‘Love Me Like You Do’ while Hozier was a non mover at no.2 with ‘Take Me To Church’ which spent its thirtieth week on the chart.

Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars got a non mover at no.3 with ‘Uptown Funk’ and The Weeknd climbed six to no.4 with ‘Earned It’. Rihanna, Kanye West & Paul McCartney got a non mover at no.5 with ‘FourFiveSeconds’ and DJ Fresh featuring Ella Eyre went down two to no.6 with ‘Gravity’. Maroon 5 climbed four to no.7 with ‘Sugar’ and Avicii went back up one to no.8 with ‘The Nights’. Charli XCX featuring Rita Ora fell one to no.9 with ‘Doing It’ and Ed Sheeran fell three to no.10 with ‘Thinking Out Loud’.

There were four climbers and two new entries to be found in what remained of the top twenty. Sia went back up one to no.11 with ‘Elastic Heart’ and James Bay climbed four to no.13 with ‘Hold Back The River’. Olly Murs featuring Demi Lovato went back up two to no.16 with ‘Up’ and LuvBug scored a new entry at no.17 with ‘Revive (Say Something)’. Alesso featuring Tove Lo climbed two to no.19 with ‘Heroes (We Could Be)’ and David Guetta featuring Emeli Sande got a new entry at no.20 with ‘What I Did For Love’.

There were two new entries and six climbers in the lower half of the chart this week. Sia climbed two places to no.22 with ‘Chandalier’ and Meghan Trainor went up three to no.27 with ‘All About That Bass’.  Taylor Swift climbed back up two to no.29 with ‘Blank Space’ and George Ezra went up four to no.30 with ‘Budapest’. Clean Bandit & Jess Glynne climbed one place to no.31 with ‘Real Love’ while Jessie J, Ariana Grande & Nicki Minaj went back up one to no.35 with ‘Bang Bang’. Taylor Swift got a new entry at no.36 with ‘Style’ and Florence & The Machine went straight in at no.37 with ‘What Kind Of Man’.

New Releases

David Guetta featuring Emeli Sande – ‘What I Did For Love’

French DJ and producer David Guetta gets us underway this week with ‘What I Did For Love’, a track which sees him team up with Emeli Sande. He has enjoyed a great chart career so far with twenty seven top forty hits to his name including six number ones. This latest single is released as a digital bundle containing six brand new mixes including the VINAI Remix, the Morten Remix, the Quentin Mosimann Remix, the TEEMID Remix, the PANG! Remix and the Extended Version. The original version of the track features on his ‘Listen’ album and a lyric video has been generating interest with over 8.5m views during its first five weeks of upload. The track has already received plenty of airplay on both radio and TV and is safely inside the top twenty. As such the release of this remix EP should serve to send it further up the chart next Sunday afternoon.

Disciples – ‘They Don’t Know’

Next up are the London based trio The Disciples who release their brand new single ‘They Don’t Know’ this week. The track first appeared last Summer and Pete Tong first selected it as his Essential New Tune on the 29th August. It then became Radio 1’s Track Of The Day on the 16th January and it has been picking up airplay ever since then. The video to the track was first uploaded on the bands YouTube channel on 16th January and it managed to achieve over 30k views during its first week. They performed at Club Mojo earlier this month but currently don’t have any other UK appearances confirmed. The band have also remixed tracks for several other major artists including John Newman, Milky Chance and Lana Del Rey but this track could finally secure them a hit in their own right.  Watch out for this appearing inside the top forty next weekend.

GotSome featuring Wiley – ‘Vibe Out’

Bristol based house and bass production duo GotSome have teamed up with Grime legend Wiley for the release of their brand new single ‘Vibe Out’. While GotSome will be newcomers to the chart Wiley has has already eight hits as a solo artist with his most recent coming back in 2013 when ‘Lights On’ reached no.9. He has also enjoyed significant success as part of Roll Deep who had two no.1 hits back in 2010. Although they are less known as artists the duo have worked on remixes by a number of different artists including Basement Jaxx, Moko, Jus Now and Junior Jack. Next weekend sees them play at Canal Mills in Leeds while in March they will appear at venues in Loughborough, Glasgow and their home city of Bristol. This track has been attracting plenty of attention in recent weeks and could yet be a hit for them next Sunday afternoon.

‘Heartbeat Song’ by Kelly Clarkson

‘Piece By Piece’ marks the release of the seventh studio album by Kelly Clarkson, and this week sees  her brand new single ‘Heartbeat Song’ become the first track to be lifted from it. If successful it will become her fifteenth UK top forty hit and her first since the 2013 festive hit ‘Underneath The Tree’. The promotional video to the track was first uploaded on 5th February and it managed to notch up over 3m views during its first fortnight. It’s a typical upbeat rock / pop song and her performance on the Graham Norton TV show is bound to have given sales a boost. It seems hard to believe that it is now over twelve years since she won the original series of American Idol and since then her career has gone from strength to strength with eight top ten hits in the UK. I’m sure that this will pick up plenty of airplay and will add another hit to her already impressive tally.

Madonna – ‘Living For Love’

Although it only contained one top forty hit her last album ‘MDNA’ still sold enough to become her twelfth no.1 album. Now she is back with her brand new album ‘Rebel Heart’ and from that comes her brand new single ‘Living For Love’. The track is decent enough and it has more of a dance feel to it than some of her other material. That is something which has also been found in some of the other tracks which have already been made available from ‘Rebel Heart’ and in particular I am thinking of ‘Bitch I’m Madonna’ which sees her team up with Nicki Minaj. Certain elements of the press seem to have been very much against her in recent months / years and so despite her stature I wonder just how much airplay this will manage to generate. She does however remain a force to be reckoned with and I expect the album to see her back at the top of the charts.

Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – ‘Ballad Of The Mighty I’

How the mighty have fallen.  When you compare this track to any of the early Oasis albums it reminds you just what heights Noel is capable of, and just how far away from them he now is. This track has already been made available to download ahead of the release of his new album ‘Chasing Yesterday’ which is due out on the 2nd March. However this week sees its official release on 7″ vinyl which comes with ‘Revolution Song’ on the b side.  Noel was recently quoted as saying he didn’t want to live in a world where Ed Sheeran can fill Wembley Stadium but his days of being able to fill such a huge venue appear to be behind him. Paul Weller has advised Noel against reforming Oasis but I wonder if he hears this he might advise Noel against putting out second rate material such as this. This will be purchased by fans / collectors only and with many just waiting on the album I don’t think it will be a hit.

Orange Hill featuring RDX – ‘Loud’

Orange Hill are a production duo consisting of Ras Kwame and Jnr Tubby. This week sees them team up with RDX for their new single ‘Loud’. The track comes released as a number of different remixes / downloads including the Instrumental, Electrobashy Vocal Mix, the Electrobashy Dub Mix, the Oh 2Step N Bass Vocal Remix, the Oh 2Step N Bass Dub Remix, the Whojax EDM Vocal Remix and the Whojax EDM Dub Remix. The video to accompany the track was uploaded to their Vevo account in late January and it soon picked up thousands of views during its first month. Fans keen to hear more from them can check out their Soundcloud page which also includes remixes of this track. I can see this becoming a big dancefloor hit but not sure if it will pick up enough mainstream airplay for it to reach the top forty next Sunday afternoon.

Redlight – ‘Gold Teeth’

The Bristol based DJ and producer Redlight is up next with ‘Gold Teeth’, the follow up to his 2014 top 75 hit ‘9TS (90s Baby)’. His last hit single came with ‘Lost In Your Love’ which reached top five back in 2012 while his only other top forty appearance came with ‘Get Out Of My Head’. An audio version of this track was first uploaded back in October last year and now gets a full release as a single. The video was uploaded to his Vevo account during January and it quickly notched up 30k views during its first week. Fans wishing to see him live can catch him at Chibuku in Liverpool and Lakota in Bristol later this week. Aside from his work as an artist he also regularly provides remixes for other artists and has recently worked on Rae Morris’ track ‘Closer’. I think that this track will do well for him and we could see him around the lower reaches of the top forty next Sunday afternoon.

Sam Smith – ‘Lay Me Down’

This track original made no.46 in March last year but we can expect it to perform much better this time around.  Since then we have seen his four top ten singles (‘Money On My Mind’, ‘Stay With Me’, ‘Like I Can’ and ‘I’m Not The Only One’) spend 133 weeks on the chart. This will be the fifth top forty hit to come from his debut album ‘The Lonely Hour’ which has spent six weeks at the top of the charts since its release last June. The dramatic video which accompanies this track was uploaded to his Vevo account on the 5th February and it managed an impressive 13m views during its first two weeks. He recently won four Grammy Awards and he will also have high hopes of success at the forthcoming Brit Awards. However with such significant album sales its hard to see this making a big impression on the top ten next weekend.

Also released this week are ‘All This I’ve Heard Before / Watch Me Fall Again’ by Andy Burrows, ‘Something New’ by Axwell & Ingrosso, ‘Tusk Vegas EP’ by Movie, ‘Gas Pipe’ by Show N Prove & Big Narstie, ‘In The Dark’ by Tiesto featuring Christian Burns and ‘I Want You To Know’ by Zedd featuring Selena Gomez.

Next Week…

I expect Ellie Goulding to hold on at the top but David Guetta featuring Emeli Sande should climb into the top three and Kelly Clarkson is aiming for a high new entry. Don’t forget to stop by next week when artists releasing new singles look set to include Alex Adair, Marlon Roudette, Stacy Solomon and Take That. Until then have yourself a good week.

Ian Anderson

Chart Chat Edition 795 – W/C 15.02.15

Chart Chat Edition 795 – Week Commencing Sunday 15th February 2015

Introduction

Welcome to edition 795 of Chart Chat, the music review site which has been running for over fifteen years.  You can find us on Twitter as @ChartChatUK so feel free to follow us and pass comment on the weeks new releases yourselves.  As always we will take a look at the current top forty followed by some reviews of the weeks new releases.  There is a new edition published weekly so if you are new here then I hope you will choose to revisit.

Chart Review

There were six new entries, six climbers, twenty five songs going down and three non movers on this weeks chart. Ellie Goulding held on at the top for a second week with ‘Love Me Like You Do’ and Hozier went back up one to no.2 with ‘Take Me To Church’.

Mark Ronson fell one to no.3 with ‘Uptown Funk’ and DJ Fresh featuring Ella Eyre got a new entry at no.4 with ‘Gravity’. Kanye West, Rihanna & Paul McCartney went down one to no.5 with ‘FourFiveSeconds’ and Chris Brown & Tygo got a new entry at no.6 with ‘Ayo’. Ed Sheeran was a non mover at no.7 with ‘Thinking Out Loud’ and Charli XCX featuring Rita Ora went straight in at no.8 with ‘Doing It’. Avicii fell three to no.9 with ‘The Nights’ and The Weeknd completed the top ten climbing eight to no.10 with ‘Earned It’.

A further new entry and climber were to be found in what remained of the top twenty. Maroon 5 went up three to no.11 with ‘Sugar’ and Ne-Yo got a new entry at no.14 with ‘Coming With You’.

There were two new entries and three climbers in the lower half of the chart. Bakermat got a new entry at no.22 with ‘Teach Me’ while Sam Smith went back up ten places to no.23 with ‘Stay With Me’. Sia climbed one to no.24 with ‘Chandalier’ and Sam Smith appeared again at no.26 with ‘I’m Not The Only One’ going back up five places. The other new entry came at no.27 and went to Imagine Dragons with ‘I Bet My Life’.

New Releases

Bars & Melody – ‘Keep Smiling’

Former Britains Got Talent finalists Bars & Melody are back this week with their new single ‘Keep Smiling’.  While their debut ‘Hopeful’ reached the top five that was released on Simon Cowell’s Simco label while this latest offering is on the 143 Records label. A video of their performance on Britains Got Talent has received over 64m views while the promo that accompanied ‘Hopeless’ notched up over 20m views. Early indications on ‘Keep Smiling’ are positive with the video being viewed well over 100k times during its first week of upload. Most people in the music industry will acknowledge the importance of marketing and without the Simon Cowell bandwagon behind them the boys face an uphill struggle. That said I still think they can do enough to reach the top forty and if they can then a better record deal might be just around the corner.

Cashtastic – ‘808’

South London rapper Cashtastic releases his brand new Distortion produced single ‘808’ on the All Around The World label this week. He recorded his first track aged just ten and has seen his career take off over the past few years. He has been living in Jamaica during recent months and this marks his first release since his 2014 album ‘Alarm Clock’. He has appeared at the Wireless Festival, and achieved a top thirty hit on the iTunes hip hop chart with his mixtape ‘A Little Bit Of Cash’. He has also worked on tracks by other artists including Wiley and Krept & Konan but now is aiming for chart success on his own. This track premiered on Charlie Sloth’s Radio 1Xtra show last November and has been picking up airplay ever since. While I certainly like this track I don’t think this will pick up enough mainstream airplay for it to become a hit single.

Donae’o featuring Lumidee & D Double E – ‘I Want Your Love’

Rapper and singer Donae’o has teamed up with Lumidee and D Double E on his new single ‘I Want Your Love’. To date he has only one top forty hit to his name which was his collaboration with Vato Gonzales and Lethal Bizzle on ‘Not A Saint’ although he did feature on a remix of The Streets ‘Fit But You Know It’.  ‘Not A Saint’ peaked at no.20 back in 2013 while ‘Fit But You Know It’ reached the top five in 2004. Lumidee has more experience of life higher up the chart having reached no.2 with his 2003 single ‘Never Leave You (Uh Oooh Uh Oooh)’ but D Double E has yet to chart in any form. The track received its official premier on Mistajam’s Radio 1Xtra show back in November and Donae’o uploaded an audio version of it in early December. However versions of the song can be found all the way back to 2013. I think this could be a hit for him next weekend.

Europe – ‘War Of Kings’

The last time we saw Swedish rockers Europe inside the UK top forty it was with the 2000 remix of their chart topping hit ‘The Final Countdown’. However the band are far from one hit wonders with their tenth studio album ‘War Of Kings’ about to hit the shops. This week sees the release of the title track from it, and if you haven’t heard any of the bands more recent output then it is well worth a listen. The promotional video to this track was directed by Patric Ullaeus and was uploaded to the internet last week. UK fans wishing to catch them playing live can do so during March when they undertake an extensive fourteen date tour of the UK. The album of the same name comes out in two weeks time but for now fans will have to get by with this one track. Based on this single the fans are in for a treat when the long player comes out.

Jess Mattic – ‘Sweet Harmony’

Last month saw the electronic duo Jess Mattic release their track ‘The Theme’ and now this month it’s the turn of ‘Sweet Harmony’. While its predcessor had more of a 1970’s feel thanks to the funky bassline this latest offering has more of a 1990’s feel to it with its synthesizer backdrop. The video to this track first appeared back in August last year and so fans will be very familiary with the song already. They don’t have to wait too long for the release of ‘Loopin” which is the next single in the series as it comes out on the 17th March. Sadly their last single did not grace the top forty, and I suspect a similar fate awaits this release. However there are plenty more singles coming in the next few months so hopefully their reputation will begin to grow.

Luvbug – ‘Revive (Say Something)’

Last time that we heard from Luvbug was with their Talay Riley collaboration ‘Resonance’ which reached no.13 at the end of last year. Now they are aiming for a second consecutive hit with ‘Revive (Say Something)’ which is released this week. They are a trio consisting of JKAY, White N3rd and former JLS member Marvin Humes. Aside from releasing their own material they have also worked on remixes for various other artists including Leah McFall & Will.i.am, Inner City and Case & Foxy Brown. The accompanying promotional video to the track was originally uploaded to their Vevo account in the middle of December and it has managed to pick up 180k views since then. I feel very confident that this will give them another hit, and the scene is set for an album to be released at some point during this year.

Wulf – ‘Lairs EP’

Indie trio Wulf round off this weeks column as they release their brand new four track EP ‘Lairs’ on the BMG label this week. Alongside the title track it also contains ‘Fire’ (which has been available to download for the past few weeks), ‘Waves’ and ‘Gold’. Fans of the band have been able to hear ‘Fire’ since it was uploaded on YouTube back in November while since then the title track has been featured on both Zane Lowe’s Radio 1 show and Dermot O’Leary’s Radio 2 show. Their reputation has been slowly growing over the past few months and if you want to catch them live their only confirmed up and coming live show is at the Social in London on the 10th March but they are likely to add further dates as the year progresses. The future certainly looks bright for the band although I am not certain if they will be able to hit the top forty at their first attempt.

Also released this week are ‘Show Me Love’ by Sam Feldt and ‘Never Gonna Let You Go’ by Si Cranstoun.

Next Week…

It’s hard to see anyone stopping Ellie Goulding notching up a third week at the top of the chart but Kanye West, Rihanna & Paul McCartney could yet narrow the gap on her. Don’t forget to stop by next week when artists releasing new singles look set to include David Guetta featuring Emeli Sande, Disciples, Le Youth and Madonna. Until then have yourself a good week.

Ian Anderson

Chart Chat Edition 794 – W/C 08.02.15

Chart Chat Edition 794 – Week Commencing Sunday 8th February 2015

Introduction

Welcome to edition 794 of Chart Chat, the music review site which has been running for over fifteen years.  You can find us on Twitter as @ChartChatUK so feel free to follow us and pass comment on the weeks new releases yourselves.  As always we will take a look at the current top forty followed by some reviews of the weeks new releases.  There is a new edition published weekly so if you are new here then I hope you will choose to revisit.

Chart Review

There were two new entries, seven climbers, twenty six songs going down and three non movers on this weeks chart.  Ellie Goulding went straight in at no.1 with ‘Love Me Like You Do’ benefitting from its video which gives fans their first glimpse at the new ‘Fifty Shades Of Grey’ film. That meant that Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars fell one place to no.2 with ‘Uptown Funk’.

Hozier fell one to no.3 with ‘Take Me To Church’ but Paul McCartney, Rihanna & Kanye West went up one to no.4 with ‘FourFiveSeconds’. Meghan Trainor fell one to no.5 with ‘Lips Are Movin” and Avicii climbed four to no.6 with ‘The Nights’. Ed Sheeran went up one to no.7 with ‘Thinking Out Loud’ while Mike Mago & Dragonette got a new entry at no.8 with ‘Outlines’. Philip George fell three to no.9 with ‘Wish You Were Mine’ and Fergie went down seven to no.10 with ‘L.A. Love (La La)’.

A further two climbers were to be found in what remained of the top twenty. Maroon climbed eight places to no.14 with ‘Sugar’ and The Weeknd went up fifteen places to no.18 with ‘Earned It’

There was one new entry and two climbers in the lower half of this weeks chart. John Legend went back up fifteen places to no.24 with ‘All Of Me’ while Ed Sheeran climbed two to no.35 with ‘Don’t’. The new entry came at no.39 and went to Kodaline with ‘Honest’.

New Releases

Bakermat – ‘Teach Me’

Bakermat achieved top twenty success with his single ‘One Day (Vandaag)’ and now he is aiming for another hit with his latest release ‘Teach Me’.  The track received its premier on Pete Tong’s Radio 1 show and has since received support from a variety of other DJs including Annie Mac, Zane Lowe, Danny Howard and Oliver Heldens. It will be hard to match ‘One Day (Vandaag)’ which topped the French charts and peaked at no.2 in Austria and Belgium. The curious video to the track which depicts some elderly folk having fun on a beach was uploaded to his Vevo account in December and notched up over 250k views during its first month. It features some impressive strings and samples ‘Teach Me Master’ by Shirley Caesar. This has all the hallmarks of a dance track which can also cut it on the mainstream chart too, so watch out for this in next weeks chart.

Bipolar Sunshine – ‘Daydreamer’

Bipolar Sunshine is the work of Adio Marchant, former co-vocalist in the Manchester six piece band Kid British. He released his first ever EP ‘Aesthetics’ back in 2013 and has gone on to release two further EP’s ‘Drowning Butterflies’ and ‘Where Did The Love Go’. This week sees the release of his latest single ‘Daydreamer’, a track which clocks in just short of three minutes. He is due to undertake an eighteen date tour of venues across the UK during March and April, concluding in Manchester on 17th April. The promotional video which accompanies the track was first uploaded to his Vevo account back in mid December and managed to pick up over 120k views before the end of the year. He has yet to enjoy any significant success on the singles chart, and so without picking up any commercial airplay this may struggle against some of the major label competition.

Charli XCX & Rita Ora – ‘Doing It’

Any single that contains the talents of both Charli XCX and Rita Ora has a pretty good chance of being a hit, and that certainly looks to be the case here. The track is set to feature on Charli’s album ‘Sucker’ which is released next week and already contains the hits ‘Break The Rules’ and ‘Boom Clap’. It comes released as a digital bundle which also features the Manhattan Clique Remix of the track. It should benefit from the current publicity surrounding Rita Ora’s appearance as a judge on the BBC reality TV series The Voice, although not all of the critique of her performance has been kind! However Rita has a formidable record against her name on the singles chart and has seen half of her eight top forty hits reach the top spot. We haven’t seen too many big singles so far this year but this should be in line to be the highest new entry next Sunday afternoon.

Chris Brown & Tyga – ‘Ayo’

Controversial singer Chris Brown teams up with the American rapperTyga for his brand new single ‘Ayo’. The duo first teamed up together back in 2010 on the single ‘Deuces’ but it missed out on the top forty.  They then reunited last year for ‘Loyal’ which became the twelfth top ten hit of Chris’s career. Tyga meanwhile has only one top forty hit on his own but he did appear on Tulisa’s no.11 hit ‘Live It Up’. The promotional video to the track was uploaded prior to Christmas and has notched up over 250k views since then. It will be good to see discussions around Chris return to his music following the recent news stories surrounding the revokation of his parole. He last appeared on the top forty just before Christmas when he teamed up with Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj on ‘Only’ and this should see him safely back inside the chart next weekend.

DJ Fresh featuring Ella Eyre – ‘Gravity’

DJ Fresh was on an impressive run of top ten hits but that came to an abrupt end when his Ellie Goulding collaboration ‘Flashlight’ peaked at no.47. This time around he has chosen Ella Eyre to provide vocal duties and she has been working on her debut solo album which should be released in May this year. She featured on Rudimentals 2013 no.1 hit ‘Waiting All Night’ and has two top twenty solo hits to her name.  The official video was uploaded to his Vevo account on Christmas Eve and it has been viewed over half a million times since then. This marks the fifth single to be released since his 2012 album ‘Next Levelism’ and so we should be able to expect another long player soon. I think that this will secure DJ Fresh a return to the top ten so watch out for this being one of the weeks highest new entries on Sunday afternoon.

Imagine Dragons ‘I Bet My Life’

Although they have yet to reach the top ten, American rock band Imagine Dragons are most famous for their track ‘Radioactive’ which has spent 60 weeks on the chart since it first appeared back in 2012.  It reached no.13, a peak matched last year by ‘Demons’ which also gained some new interest when it was performed by X Factor winner Ben Haenow.  This week sees them release ‘I Bet My Life’ which is due to feature on their latest album ‘Smoke & Mirrors’.  That hits the shops next week and it will have its work cut out if it is to match the success of their debut ‘Night Visions’ which sold 4m copies around the world. The video was uploaded to their Vevo account on 12th December and it has been viewed over 8m times since then. I think that this could go on to give them their biggest UK hit single to date next weekend.

Jive Aces – La Dolce Vita

The Jive Aces first came to the attention of the wider public when they reached the semi finals of Britains Got Talent although they had also featured on Opportunity Knocks some years earlier. Since then they have gone on to perform for Her Majesty The Queen as part of her Jubilee celebrations and they also appeared as part of both the Olympic and Paralympic celebrations.  This week sees the release of their brand new single ‘La Dolce Vita’ and fans can also watch the promotional video which was uploaded to their Vevo account earlier this month.  It will feature on their forthcoming album ‘Spread A Little Happiness’ but ahead of that release anyone wanting to catch them playing live can do so this week in Henley on Thames and Worthing before they head off for a series of concerts in the States. This is a talented and original band who deserve success so keep an eye out for them.

Ne-Yo – ‘Coming With You’

Rounding off proceedings this week is Ne-Yo who releases his brand new album ‘Non Fiction’ next week and from that comes his latest single ‘Coming With You’.  While it is in keeping with the rest of his material he has a winning formula so there is no need for him to really change it too much. So far Ne-Yo has enjoyed an impressive career which has contained four no.1 hits the last of which came back in 2012 with ‘Let Me Love You (Until You Learn To Love Yourself)’. He has also featured on a number of hits by other artists including 50 Cent, Pitbull, Rihanna and David Guetta. The promotional video to the track was uploaded to his Vevo account on the 14th January and was soon picking up over 100k views each day. The indications are that this will become a huge hit and is almost certain to be one of the weeks highest new entries next Sunday afternoon.

Also released this week is ‘Yesteryear’ by Little Kingdom, ‘Lucie Silvas EP’ by Lucie Silvas and ‘Nobody Love’ by Tori Kelly.

Next Week…

Ellie Goulding looks set to hold on at the top for a second week but expect strong challenges from DJ Fresh featuring Ella Eyre, Chris Brown & Tyga and Charli XCX & Rita Ora. Don’t forget to stop by next week when artists releasing new singles are set to include The Avener, Ellie Goulding, Jess Mattic and Wulf. Until then have yourself a good week.
Ian Anderson

Chart Chat Edition 793 – W/C 01.02.15

Chart Chat Edition 793 – Week Commencing Sunday 1st February 2015

Introduction

Welcome to edition 793 of Chart Chat, the music review site which has been running for over fifteen years.  You can find us on Twitter as @ChartChatUK so feel free to follow us and pass comment on the weeks new releases yourselves.  As always we will take a look at the current top forty followed by some reviews of the weeks new releases.  There is a new edition published weekly so if you are new here then I hope you will choose to revisit.

Chart Review

There were seven new entries, two climbers, twenty nine songs going down and two non movers on this weeks chart. Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars notched up a seventh week at the top with ‘Uptown Funk’, a record which is the best since Leona Lewis had that tally with ‘Bleeding Love’ back in 2007. Their closest rival this week at no.2 was Hozier who continued to see ‘Take Me To Church’ climb some six weeks after it first entered the charts.

Fergie returned to the chart this week going straight in at no.3 with ‘L.A.Love (La La)’ and Meghan Trainor fell two to no.4 with ‘Lips Are Movin”. Paul McCartney got his first top ten hit since 1989 by teaming up with Rihanna and Kanye West on ‘FourFiveSeconds’ which went straight in at no.5 while Philip George fell two places to no.6 with ‘Wish You Were Mine’. Karen Harding went straight in at no.7 with ‘Say Something’ and Ed Sheeran fell two to no.8 with ‘Thinking Out Loud’. Olly Murs featuring Demi Lovato went down two to no.9 with ‘Up’ and the top ten was rounded off by Avicii who fell two places to no.10.

There was one new entry and one climber to be found in the remainder of this weeks top twenty. Hannah Wants & Chris Lorenzo went straight in at no.13 with ‘Rhymes’ and James Bay climbed thirteen places to no.16 with ‘Hold Back The River’.

There were three new entries in the lower half of the chart this week. Maroon 5 went straight in at no.22 with ‘Sugar’ while Selena Gomez got a new entry at no.30 with ‘The Heart Wants What It Wants’.  The final new entry came at no.33 and went to The Weeknd with ‘Earned It’.

New Releases

Alex Mytton featuring Julia Biel – ‘Electric’

Made In Chelsea star Alex Mytton has teamed up with British singer / songwriter Julia Biel for the release of his debut single ‘Electric’.  He has been carving out a reputation for his DJ work and has won praise from critics for his remixing skills while Julia won Perrier Vocalist of the Year back in 2000. She has since worked with a number of artists including Oriole, the Unity Collective, Polar Bear and most notably Ben Watt of Everything But The Girl fame. Alex’s biggest success came last year when he remixed the classic ‘Rhythm Of The Night’ which has since appeared in bootleg form around the internet. The audio of ‘Electric’ first appeared in August last year but it has taken this long for it to gain a full release. This should certainly be a big hit in the clubs but whether it can crossover onto the mainstream chart remains to be seen.

Chocolate Puma featuring Kris Kiss, Shystie and Roya – ‘Step Back (Get Down)’

Dutch DJ and production duo Chocolate Puma have only appeared on the UK chart twice. The first time was with the massive top ten hit ‘I Wanna Be U’ which reached no.6 in 2001 and their only other appearance came five years later when ‘Always & Forever’ peaked at no.43. Now they are back with a little help from Kris Kiss, Shystie and Roya on their new single ‘Step Back (Get Down)’.  It is released as a single track download and a digital bundle which includes six new mixes; the Extended Remix, the Friction VIP Remix, the Low Steppa Remix, the Scales Extended Remix, the Loopers Remix and the Friction Remix. A video to the track was first uploaded back in May last year and has received over 150k views since then. I think that this will make the crossover from the dance chart to mainstream chart to give them a third UK hit next Sunday afternoon.

Ellie Goulding – ‘Love Me Like You Do’

Ellie Goulding looks almost certain to be putting in a challenge for the top spot next Sunday with her brand new single ‘Love Me Like You Do’. The video to the track was originally uploaded to her Vevo account on the 22nd January and it had passed the 20m view mark in just ten days. It will become her fifteenth top forty hit so far, and if successful it would become only her second no.1 single in the UK. The track features on the soundtrack to the forthcoming film ‘Fifty Shades Of Grey’ which also contains tracks by Sia, Rolling Stones, Beyonce, Laura Welsh, Annie Lennox and Jessie Ware. The fact that the video contains glimpses of the film is only adding to the curiosity around the track! It’s a great pop song too and with the additional fuss and promotion which will accompany it this will be dominating the charts over the next few weeks.

Fences featuring Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – ‘Arrows’

Seattle based Indie four piece Fences have teamed up with the American hip hop duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis for their new single ‘Arrows’ which is released as a single track download this week. Although it carries the band name the collaboration is more between lead singer Christopher Mansfield and Macklemore with only the duo depicted on the tracks cover art. The track has already been a hit in the US, and the promotional video has been viewed 4.3m times since it was first uploaded back in August. It features on Fences forthcoming second studio album ‘Lesser Oceans’ which is released in the UK next week. Fans who can’t wait for it to become available next week are able to download three tracks already ahead of its release date. This looks almost certain to become one of the weeks highest new entries on Sunday afternoon.

Kodaline – ‘Honest’

Irish rock band Kodaline enjoyed two top forty hits back in 2013 and are now aiming for a chart return with their new single ‘Honest’. Their debut album ‘In A Perfect World’ reached the top three and this is the first track to be taken from the follow up ‘Coming Up For Air’ which is due out next week. They are about to undertake a ten date tour of the UK after which they jet off to the States  for the “Ones To Watch North American Tour” which is sponsored by Skype. A lyric video to accompany the track was first released just before Christmas with the full promotional film following on their own Vevo channel a couple of weeks later. It has been viewed over 400k times since then and is picking up plenty of airplay too. This is a decent enough track and I think that this will do enough to secure them a third top forty hit single next weekend.

Mike Mago & Dragonette – ‘Outlines’

Canadian synthpop band Dragonette have teamed up with Dutch DJ Mike Mago on his new single ‘Outlines’. The track first surfaced last Summer and the promotional video has achieved over 3m plays since then. An instrumental version of the track has appeared on two Ministry Of Sound compilations while the Chris Larenzo remix has also featured on a separate album. This week sees the release of the Radio Edit and if successful it will be the first time that either act has appeared inside the UK top forty. Dragonette however do have two Canadian hits to their name, but have yet to better the no.92 peak achieved by their 2007 single ‘I Get Around’. This is one of those commercial dance tracks which stands a good chance of being able to make the transition over to the mainstream chart on Sunday afternoon.

Peking Duk featuring Nicole Miller – ‘High’

Australian electronic music duo Peking Duk have enjoyed top five success in their home country with their latest single ‘High’ and now they are hoping to replicate that performance in the UK charts. It also achieved top twenty status in neighbouring New Zealand while the follow up single ‘Take Me Over’ also reached the top forty there and in Australia. The track features vocals from Nicole Millar and the promotional video which accompanies the track has notched up over 1.4m views since it was first uploaded to YouTube back in February 2014. Their career went from strength to strength as following the track’s success in Australia they signed a worldwide distribution deal with Sony Music Entertainment in August. This time of year is often a good time for new acts to achieve hit singles and that could well be the case for Peking Duk next weekend.

Sam & The Womp – ‘Zeppelin’

British based trio Sam & The Womp resume their quest to avoid being known as one hit wonders this week with the release of new single ‘Zeppelin’. The band consists of singer Lady Oo, trumpeter Sam Richie and Aaron Horn who is the son of famous producer Trevor Horn. While ‘Bom Bom’ was a runaway hit, reaching no.1 and spending 22 weeks on the chart the follow up ‘Ravo’ missed the top 100 altogether. As you might expect this track has everything going on from a ska beat to a full on brass band. The official video was uploaded at the end of November last year but has only managed to pick up 30k views since then. Fans wishing to catch them live can do so at the London Remixed Festival later this month and the Sunrise Festival in Bristol during May. For now I fear this will miss the top forty unless it can pick up some much needed airplay on the commercial stations.

Shystie featuring Jalissa – ‘Let Me Go’

Shystie has teamed up with Jalissa once again for the release of their new single ‘Let Me Go’.  They previously teamed up on ‘Stop’, a track which featured the hookline from the Diana Ross hit of the same name. To date her only biggest hit came when she featured on Alesha Dixon’s 2010 hit single ‘Lipstick’ but she has also featured on tracks by Ms Dynamite, Azealia Banks and Estelle.  Her own track ‘One Wish’ reached the top forty back in 2004, while ‘Make It Easy’ narrowly missed out peaked at no.59 later the same year. She has also featured as the lead actress in the series ‘Dubplate Drama’ before also appearing in Noel Clarke’s film ‘Adulthood’. A lyric video to accompany the track was released in October last year while it has also received airplay on Radio 1Xtra. It would be fantastic if this could secure her a return to the top forty next Sunday afternoon.

Also released this week are ‘Ain’t Nobody’ by Fekky featuring Splurgeboys and  ‘The Lucie Silvas EP’ by Lucie Silvas.

Next Week…

Surely Ellie Goulding can end the reign of Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars next weekend but expect Mike Mago & Dragonette to be a high new entry. Don’t forget to stop by next week when artists releasing new singles look set to include Bakermat, DJ Fresh featuring Ella Eyre, Luvbug and Ne-Yo. Until then have yourself a good week.

Ian Anderson