Update your playlist: chart scorchers
Chart scorchers from across genres to keep you tapping your feet all this month. Plug in those headphones and get ready to be bowled over.
Ex’s & Oh’s by Elle
King With elements of Blues and Country sprinkled in abundance over an Alternative Rock beat, Ex’s & Oh’s hooks you from that first strum on the guitar. King’s voice perfectly complements the rough instrumentation of the song that describes how her ex-relationships with needy men still haunt her. The number hit the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 in September this year and has lingered close since, making it only the second song by a solo female to reach the top since 1996 after Lorde’s Royals in 2013. The production quality is so flawless that it’s difficult to move to another single after your first date with this one.
Cold Summer by Fuel
Even though this one’s included in the band’s latest album, Puppet Strings, it was originally composed by lead singer, Brett Scallions, in 2000. It’s a riff-centric hard-rock song that rose from the dead when album producer, Eddie Wohl, heard him play it and has stayed on the Top 20 list for weeks now. The guitars make the right noise and you’re thankful that they still continue to do so at the time of over-electro junk. We, frankly, loved it!
Lean on by Major
Lazer & DJ Snake (ft. MO) The song starts with a light reverberation and echoes of chords as a half tempo hits your ears and never alternates with a faster version till the end. Relatively unknown vocalist, MO, surprises with a strong voice. Unlike other Major Lazer compositions that feature bone-rattling beats and eardrum-piercing air horns, this one gently washes over you with its exotic sounds, and a warm chorus that makes it very pop. It brings out the best of all the collaborators. P.S. The video is inspired by theme India and has also been shot here!
Writing’s on the Wall by Sam
Smith The theme song for the latest Bond flick, Spectre, is a bit of a monster that is really slow and restrained. The 23-year old British singer, Sam Smith, steals the show with his intense, tremulous vocals and a flow so soft that even the faintest brushstroke of orchestra builds tension in the tune. It’s an amazingly well executed follow-up of Adele’s smash-hit, Skyfall, for the previous Bond film, though quite the opposite.
Break-up With Him by Old
Dominion Matt Ramsey, the lead singer of the band, has a boyish charm in his voice and so does the music of this number; but not in the traditional kinda way. It has honesty, angst and sincerity-both in lyrics and rendition, despite a non-serious theme. It unwraps the story about a guy who loves a girl but has a boyfriend; so he sings to her, ‘Girl, you know it can’t wait. Rip it off just like a band-aid’. The composition mixes styles of R&B with country that gives it a refreshing definition by adding peppy beats to an amplified sound of the guitar.
From the November 2015 issue of FHM India.
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