Nearly two years ago, I made a list of the first 10 current songs I’d loved when I started listening to contemporary music. The songs were hits (national or local) between January and August 1967, meaning that they’d taken hold when I was less than 5 years old (younger than most of my friends when they discovered radio and pop music) and stayed with me for a lifetime.
I needed to consult the charts and radio station hit lists of the time to be confident in the timeline, but it wasn’t a hard list to make otherwise. At the outset, every new song was coming to me via radio — radio discard stacks of non-hit 45s would become a reality soon, but not yet — and it was easy to recall what I liked or didn’t. I might not enjoy my first favorite, the kid-friendly “Wack Wack” by the Young Holt Trio, as much as “I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)” by Aretha Franklin now. But I felt no need to alter the list for what I like (or think I should like) today.
But putting together a list of the last 10 songs I liked? There’s still something that catches my ear every day. But it’s harder to commit. Not everything gets sustained airplay quickly — particularly not everything I like. Also, there’s a new pile of listening that distracts from those songs not heard on the radio almost immediately. If I feel the need to listen more than once, that’s a big deal. I don’t have as many stories these days about playing “Just What I Needed” for hours, so when Miranda Lambert, “Mess With My Head” went on repeat last November, it meant something.
After a few months of sustained airplay, I can still commit to “Dance Monkey,” “Circles,” “Everything I Wanted,” “Hot Girl Bummer,” “RITMO (Bad Boys for Life),” the Kygo x Whitney Houston version of “Higher Love.” (I already shouted out my 2019 faves at the end of the year). What follows are 10 (or so) recent discoveries, working backwards chronologically. I feel like sharing them now; we’ll see what still holds a place in the firmament when another five songs come along.
Unlike my 1967 favorites, the new crop was mostly discovered outside the radio — a few of them have ended up there, but the initial listen was typically via a promotional blast, or seeing a song in the lower reaches of the charts, or on Spotify’s Today’s Top Hits. Many, I admit, are made for somebody whose tastes were formed in an era where up-tempo 4/4 songs with melodies and a decent amount of self-propulsion were what we expected from a song that “sounded like a hit.”
But play ball on my lawn if you want, kids. I liked “Roxanne” right away, although it’s faded for me. I’m coming around on “The Box.” I haven’t decided personally about Lil Uzi Vert, “That Way,” yet, but as a programmer, I’d embrace it with the same initial enthusiasm as Spotify, based on both the genius and timing of its Backstreet Boys sample.
Because it’s ruled by whim, this is not the definitive list of every recent release that I liked in recent weeks. Today, that list also includes Doja Cat, “Say So”; Bazzi, “Young And Alive”; Camila Cabello, “My Oh My”; Bryce Vine, “Baby Girl”; Canadian hit “Better Man” by Virginia to Vegas; both Lauv’s “Modern Loneliness” and the U.K. single, “Tattoos Together,” Dua Lipa’s “Don’t Stop Now”; Ashe, “Moral of the Story”; H.E.R. & YG’s “Slide,” Grouplove’s “Deleter”; Mandy Moore, “Save A Little For Yourself”; Mike Campbell & the Dirty Knobs’ “Wreckless Abandon.” That I chose others to write about is in part a function of what I had to say about them.
And now, what we’re going to do is go back, but not way back. Starting with….
Haim, “The Steps” (first heard on Tuesday, March 17) – When streaming international radio was new, I might have discovered this from BBC Radio 2 airplay. Yesterday, I saw it on a Radio 2 playlist and have listened 4-5 times since. In my mind, this is the song — elusive during their consumer press (but not radio) stardom of 2013 — that has the bounce, energy, focus of a hit song. But it’s hard to imagine today’s CHR agreeing. And there’s also considerable early ‘70s in its DNA that I’m likely responding to.
Michael Kiwanuka, “You Ain’t The Problem” (Monday, March 16); “Hero” (March 9) – Over the years, he’s made a lot of melodic, up-tempo songs that almost worked for me. But in two weeks, two different songs from last year’s Kiwanuka album have connected. “Hero” was a recommendation from Ross on Radio editor Ken Barnes. “You Ain’t the Problem” came from an early-morning listen to non-comm KVOQ (Indie 102.3) Denver. Both songs have plenty of retro DNA of their own, although “You Ain’t the Problem” also reminds me of Kenna, “Say Goodbye to Love,” an early 2000s, ahead-of-its-time venture into retro-disco/turbo-pop from the Neptunes’ Chad Hugo.
Tucker Beathard, “You Would Think” (March 15); Old Dominion, “Some People Do” (Feb. 9) – They’re too glib, too pop for some, but I’ve actually found Old Dominion to be a bright spot in Country’s recent doldrums: always radio-compliant, but usually up-tempo, and always clever in a way that defies formula. “Some People Do,” which first played on Radio Disney Country last summer, reminds me of Sawyer Brown’s “All These Years,” another fun, reliable chart act that suddenly unleashed a devastating record in the early ‘90s. “You Would Think” is pulsating, midtempo Country that could be generic, but with a great lyrical turn that also propels it toward the classic.
Airborne Toxic Event, “Come On Out” (March 6) – Their Alternative radio hit of a decade ago was “Sometime Around Midnight,” but I preferred the crunch and directness of 2013’s “Hell and Back.” This sounds like a “hit” to me, too, but I’ll also always remember hearing it for the first time because of the irony of when I got the promotional e-blast, literal seconds ahead of the announcement that SXSW had been cancelled by the world’s current toxic (but we hope not airborne) event.
Katy Perry, “Never Worn White” (March 5) – This one came with its own unfortunate irony, landing about 10 days before most spring weddings had to be put on hold. But after several years when Perry’s attempts to hold on to pop stardom felt increasingly labored, this ballad was effortlessly good. When the weddings resume, I hope it gets a second chance.
Demi Lovato, “I Love Me” (March 5); Selena Gomez, “Rare” (January 9) – When CHR was in its morass of 85 bpm ballads, Gomez charged into summer 2017 with a song that was both up-tempo and different. Duly chastened for “Bad Liar” within six weeks’ time, she soon gave radio what it wanted, and the results were “Back to You” and “Lose You to Love Me.” Now, radio is more receptive to pop tempo, although often it’s most comfortable when it’s a change-up from Post Malone or the Weeknd. Six weeks later, “Rare” is struggling in the wake of its still-strong predecessor, while Demi has released an effortlessly good mid-tempo song informed by Lizzo’s hits. Both songs represent their artists at peak output and confidence, and radio would benefit from both.
Dixie Chicks, “Gaslighter” (March 4) – I played this about six times in the first two days as well, and I got to hear it twice on the radio. That in itself was a surprise — a Dixie Chicks single given a far-from-tentative first-day premiere when even the group’s most fervent radio defenders were worn down in the early ‘00s. It’s hard to tell what the more meaningful, long-term response will be. Clear Channel’s “ban” of the act was apocryphal. But it was still surprising when iHeart station were the heaviest supporter of “Gaslighter” in its first days, then tapered off quickly before a handful of stations worked back up to meaningful airplay. Cumulus did banish the Chicks at the time under previous management, but several of its stations are among the heaviest supporters now. And so far, the song’s best market is socially conservative, but musically liberal Salt Lake City.
Lady Gaga, “Stupid Love” (February 28) – When “Shallow” forced its way on to radio twice, my prediction that she would make her way back to CHR on a regular basis still seemed like wishful thinking. For some radio resisters, “Shallow” was like Natalie Cole’s “Unforgettable,” an event record grudgingly given a place on the radio at a time of musical confusion. Plus, in “A Star Is Born” itself, the artist had seemingly mocked the notion of ever making an “old Gaga” record. But three weeks after its release, “Stupid Love” is already top 15.
Bedouin Soundclash, “Born Into Bad Times” (February 4) — You still hear 2005’s “When the Night Feels My Song” on AC and even Classic Hits radio in Canada, because it sounds like “Graceland”-era Paul Simon, which ironically also puts them 5-10 years ahead of all the subsequent Triple-A acts that channeled “Graceland” as well. Bedouin Soundclash has released a number of songs I like even better since then. They’re long out of radio’s consideration set, even at home, but if you wanted an affirmation for our dangerous times beyond R.E.M. and Gloria Gaynor again, this would be it.
And a few older songs, still in play at radio, that rate a mention:
Usher f/Ella Mai, “Don’t Waste My Time” – Like Gomez, Usher has made a few attempts to float both pop and R&B tempo through the system, usually facing resistance. This is his best single in a while, currently pushing up both Urban AC and R&B/Hip-Hop with some help from a hot collaborator. Worth a listen if only for its early ‘80s SOS Band feel.
Rapsody f/P.J. Morton, “Afeni” – For a while, R&B radio was maintaining what felt like a separate pile of more retro, radio friendly Hip-Hop. Now, it seems to have aligned itself more with what’s coming from streaming, but this currently-in-play title both samples and replies to 2Pac’s “Keep Ya Head Up.”
Beaches, “Want What You Got” – I like The Weeknd, “Blinding Lights” just fine, but it’s not even the best ‘80s-flavored throwback by a Canadian act this week. That would be Canada’s No. 1 Alternative single by a female power-pop act that’s been having hits at the format for the last three years. It also speaks to the accessibility (and durability) of the Canadian rock format that it’s also No. 7 at Active Rock.
Parker McCollum, “Pretty Heart” – KILT Houston PD Chris Huff played it for me last September, but it also got a mention on Jeff Green’s Country Radio Seminar panel about metrics as a left-field hit identifiable through Shazams, streams, etc. But even if you found your hits the old-fashioned way, by looking for a radio story, the evidence is there. This song has gotten meaningful airplay on eight stations and seems to be a real hit on seven of them. Like other “red dirt/Texas Country” titles, it’s very mainstream Country, but distinguished by its rawer darkness.
“Gaslighter” has been getting airplay on WNWV “JenY 107.3” in Cleveland. It is actually a good song. I’d say even better than “Not Ready to Make Nice.” I do wonder if sister station 94.9 WQMX will play it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if “JenY” ends up being the only one of the two playing the song. Still, I think it’s a hit, and it’s catchy!