Chart Chasers #32

It’s that time of the week where I check out the latest music to hit the UK chart. This week is a bumper edition with TEN songs to listen to!

There are some artists which make me groan with despair when I see they have done a new song which I have to listen to for this feature. One of these is Conor Maynard who brings us our first track of the day, Turn Around. Another of these is Ne-Yo who features on this track. I have extremely low expectations for this one.

I was right to have low expectations. By having Ne-Yo on the track, Maynard has proved how terrible a singer he is in comparison. He’s literally only got where he is thanks to his looks. And whilst that nearly sounded like a compliment to Ne-Yo, it wasn’t. Ne-Yo continues to make annoying noises and put on a silly voice when singing. It’s still better than Conor Maynard though. 0/5.

Next up is PSY with Gangnam Style. This has been quite a hit on the internet and I often spot it trending on Twitter, though it’s still not very high in the chart. Time to see what all the fuss is about.

It’s pretty rare that something from South Korea makes the UK chart. This is big because of the dance moves in it. If you watch that video for the first time and don’t laugh there is something wrong with you.Surprisingly though the track itself isn’t that bad. It’s pretty catchy and I’ve got it stuck in my head already. I’m quite confused about what I watched but I’m going to go for it and give this 4/5.

The next song is called Clique and it’s by Kanye West who gets a little help from Big Sean and Jay-Z. I’m not a rap fan at all but I have to admit that some of the stuff Kanye and Jay-Z have been putting together lately has been pretty decent so this might be ok.

Oh. This is not at all ok. There’s a bit of rapping in this but it’s more like talking. The chorus just consists of Kanye saying “clique” lots of times. This is flipping dreadful. Give me the words and I could record Kanye’s part in an afternoon no problem. Not that I’d want to. 0/5.

This edition of Chart Chasers has already become the most crazy one ever. Next up is the mysterious Otto Knows. He is mysterious because I’ve never heard of him before, have no idea what sort of music he does and I have no idea what he knows. The secret to life? Who knows? Well Otto does I suppose. Anyway, this track is called Million Voices.

Ah, this is a club song which was apparently pretty popular in places like Ibiza this year. Otto is Swedish but I have still haven’t found out what he knows. I imagine this track would sound pretty good at a club but it’s not so good sat here at my desk. It’s a decent track and I can see why it was popular this summer but it’s one of those that should stay in the club scene and not everyday life. 3/5.

I usually think that when I see the name David Guetta we’ve got a good track coming. Akon is featured on it, which worked brilliantly well for the track “Sexy Bitch” a few years back. Unfortunately they’ve invited Ne-Yo along to the party. Why would you do that? If anything I’d make sure I invited him to a party that doesn’t exist on the other side of the world to ensure he couldn’t be at my party. This is called Play Hard.

The ever reliable Youtube comments on this inform me it’s some kind of mix of “Better Off Alone” by Alice Deejay and “Work Hard Play Hard” by Wiz Khalifa. It’s difficult to tell whether this is what it really is or whether it just sounds like it as I don’t know either of those tracks. Not that it matters because this is pretty rubbish. The melody is ok at best and the singing is pretty annoying. 1/5.

To view the next set of songs you might need to press “read more” below. Please give it a few moments to loads, there’s a lot of songs!

The second half begins very promisingly. The Killers are back with a new album and Runaways is the first single from that album. I love The Killers so I am very excited to hear this for the first time.

Now this is more like it. I love this track. It’s got Brandon Flowers’ fantastic voice, some brilliant guitar playing and I really like the marching feel it has. This is a great track for travelling to. Fantastic stuff and a great return from The Killers. 5/5.

Next is another song I’m very excited about. It’s the return of Mumford and Sons, whose first album in my opinion was phenomenal. This new song is called I Will Wait which is ironic really as it’s been quite a wait for new material. Can Mumford and Sons create more brilliance?

Well they’ve not gone for a change of styles which is good because their style sounds great. I particularly like the chorus on this one, it works brilliantly and I am pretty sure I’ll be singing along to this in days to come. 4/5.

We’ve got another David Guetta track next and this a proper original track. Like the hit song “Titanium”, this features Sia. It’s called She Wolf (Falling to Pieces). I’m not really a fan of female canines disintegrating but maybe the song will be ok. If it can get anywhere near the heights of “Titanium” it’ll be brilliant.

This isn’t bad but it’s no “Titanium”. It’s been quite a while since Guetta produced a track I really loved. Parts in the mix of this just sounds awful. Sia’s vocals are excellent as they always seem to be but I just don’t think Guetta has mixed it very well. 3/5.

It’s time for what now appears to be the obligatory song from a N-Dubz member. This time it’s Tulisa again and she’s got help from a Tyga. It has the rather generic name of Live It Up. I somehow doubt this is going to be any good…

The main vocals in this are ok but it’s what been done to the rest of it that ruin them. The backing vocals are terrible and this track gives the impression that the producer got an airhorn for his birthday and was really desperate to use it in the track at literally every opportunity. It has the potential to be ok but it doesn’t live up to it. 2/5.

Our final song for the day comes from X Factor reject Amelia Lily. It’s called You Bring Me Joy and is apparently about Niall from One Direction.

I get the impression that Amelia has a good voice but has been severely let down by her record label with this song. The verses are ok and it feels like it’s going to go into a great chorus. But instead it does into that, where the lyrics barely fit the tune. The chorus just sounds like a mess. 2/5.

And that’s it for another week. Overall pretty disappointing but The Killers and Mumford and Sons were in there to raise the standard a bit. As always let me know your thoughts on any of these songs, did you agree with me? Thank you for reading and goodbye!