This week, we punctuate the importance and success of Doechii’s “Anxiety”, a massive streaming hit by Lil Tecca that radio should be reacting to right now, and the surprisingly underwhelming first-week performance of Ariana Grande’s six new tracks.
Doechii – “Anxiety”: This song made one of the fastest jumps to #1 most-requested on Liveline last week. It’s no surprise though: #1 Shazam worldwide, tons of pre-release hype, making it familiar and popular upon debut. It’s extremely broad appeal because of all the different elements that make it a hit; the lyrics, the coolness and sampling one of the biggest songs of this century. Radio has reacted well and picked up the spins. It’s not too extreme, weird or offensive as some consider her other current monster track “DENIAL IS A RIVER”. This does seem like a record that could burn fast, and some people are calling this a “novelty”. Equal recent comparisons include “Beggin” by Maneskin, “Unholy” by Sam Smith and “abcdefu” by GAYLE which all hit #1 but quickly faded into obscurity.
Lil Tecca – “Dark Thoughts”: A stunning Rhythmic track that could be a great crossover for Top 40. Much like “MILLION DOLLAR BABY” by Tommy Richman and “The Box” by Roddy Ricch, which both started out as Gen Z-favorite streaming hits and then became certified on radio airplay, this song is clearly outside the normal formula of a pop hit but maintains a melodic, female-friendly chorus and track that can get stuck in your head. Top 40 radio thrives with variety and equal representation of the biggest songs from all genres. His 2019 smash “Ransom” has 1.6 billion streams on Spotify and gets requests on Liveline, despite its peak at #28 on Top 40 airplay, though scoring #4 on Billboard and #1 on Rhythmic. “Dark Thoughts” is just a really cool song with lots of requests from people in their young teens to late 20s. Older men and women can love the song too, but they aren’t discovering hits as quickly or online like younger people. It’s currently #2 on Spotify in America where it’s maintained a top 10 position since its release March 14. It’s #30 on Rhythmic and #116 on Top 40 with only 19 spins, all of which were KMVQ/San Francisco, a frequent leader in trending new music that actually matters. In the underwhelming world of hit songs and popular new sounds, something showing early signs of massive popularity (and not a temporary or initial spike) should not be overlooked.
Ariana Grande – “twilight zone”: It’s been a year since “eternal sunshine” came out, which is why Ariana celebrated with a new deluxe edition called “brighter days ahead” adding six new tracks and an accompanying short film. It’s safe to assume that the brilliant Republic Records team is waiting a week or two to see which of the songs performs best before announcing the official single, which by that assumption will be “twilight zone”, currently #4 on Spotify, where the other 5 tracks are all between #11-#60. It’s very similar to “we can’t be friends”, in fact it’s the same BPM and key, also co-written and produced by legendary hitmaker Max Martin. It received very little radio airplay in its first week, currently #55 on Top 40, most of which were spins from the first two days and not actual adds.
Buried Treasure of the Week
Bruno Mars – “Talking To The Moon”: From left field, the 2011 single between “The Lazy Song” and “Marry You”, all three of which are from Bruno’s massive debut album “Doo-Wops & Hooligans” starring two number-ones “Just The Way You Are” and “Grenade”. In initial performance, the song topped Brazilian charts but failed to make it in any other country. The song resurged in popularity once COVID started, prompting Jnr Choi to release a sample called “TO THE MOON!” (2021) which became a massive TikTok song and which got to #1 on Rhythmic and #18 on Top 40. “Talking To The Moon” is now among Bruno’s top ten tracks on Spotify, with over 1.7 billion streams (more than “Grenade” and “24k Magic”). We get requests for it all the time, though no major station in America plays it. It was never a radio hit, but listeners who stream their music don’t know that, creating potential for a possible fresh add by the world’s currently most-streamed artist! Perhaps it will get added to the list of songs that failed to hit top ten airplay on initial release yet hit the top ten in streaming and later ultimately tested for radio.
I thought “Unholy” and the others you mentioned were played more than long enough. If not being in rotation for 2 years straight means it’s a “novelty,” I say we need more novelty records!
“The Box” was underplayed by CHRs even though it tested well, i.e. the usual metric customarily pointed at as the excuse for why a “””rhythmic””” hit should be played only minimally or avoided outright. Roddy then sanded off more edges to his sound and added frivolous MJ references in the music video to “Late at Night” for y’all’s benefit, only to fail to get any more notice then tank so horribly with the album it was attached to that his career was sent immediately down the drain. A cautionary tale! At least “The Box” and “High Fashion” were classics, at least to those of us who don’t believe that Only CHR Matters.
Oh, and “Ballin’,” which despite my having forgotten it earlier is the classic-est of them all <3
“Anxiety” doesn’t feel novelty to me, particularly compared to “Denial,” which is the sort of comedy routine song that we used to hear on “Dr. Demento” and now lives mostly in Hip-Hop these days (but even there very occasionally). “Dark Thoughts” doesn’t sound so “not pop” to me either, because it’s melodic and bouncy. I’m happy there’s more crossover Hip-Hop. I hope some of the benefit spills over to Hip-Hop/R&B radio itself, which has never quite recovered from the effects of PPM.
One more note — I’m listening to Doechii’s “What It Is (Block Boy)” on a Top 40 station now and it’s a little like hearing Pink’s “There You Go” after she had switched gears. It sounds like another artist.
I would not say “Anxiety” is 100% a novelty song. However, I think I can understand in the sense that it feels “novelty” because it is the type of song made to be a hit appealing to nostalgia mostly (using a lazy sample). It does not feel like a brand new song, the song basically starts like STIUTK, and you might think so until the second 19. I love Doechii, and “Anxiety” is truly catchy and one of my favorite tracks right now, she does a great job both vocally and rap-wise, but I don’t deny the appeal comes mostly from the fact that I consider STIUTK one of the best songs this century. It feels a song that it is going.
Nevertheless, truly happy for the overwhelming success is having, it feels part of the breath of fresh air that Pop radio needed in a mainstream scene that feels very dry and stale this year. Callouts have been exceptional as well.
Moreover, “Beggin” thankfully didn’t reach #1 on Pop, and it didn’t fade out that quickly, it became an Alternative radio staple, and I still hear it sometimes on some Pop and HAC. Again, thankfully not that often.