As a radio host, I was always taught that if you had nothing to say to simply say nothing. And that applies to newsletters too. There was nothing to say last week, but plenty to trigger the story-sniffers this time around. New music, new puzzles and lots and lots of Brits hot takes.
Coming up in the search for Mo Gilligan’s joke book:
Who is Pinkpantheress? It turns out there is a clue(so).
Morgan Wallen continues his journey from Voice to superstar.
Did a Saturday show do the BRITs any good?
Telling The Truth
With the very top end of the singles chart caught in a logjam of its own making, the Top 3 singles having remained the same for the last four weeks running (for only the third time in four years fact fans), we have to peer a little lower for some of the more interesting stories of the week.
It perhaps deserves more of a celebration than it has received so far, but with the release of the “Pt.2” version featuring a new guest rap from American rapper Ice Spice it is a pleasure to note that Boys A Liar has rocketed dramatically into the Top 10 to give Pinkpantheress her first true huge smash hit single.
You have to hope that she’s finally ready to take this leap. As the evolution of the British singer-songwriter’s career to date has been characterised by her extreme reluctance to have any kind of celebrity or public image. She states in interviews that this was mainly out of a reluctance to be judged by anything other than the music she made rather than the way she looks (basically trying to be a one-woman edition of The Voice if you like), although a more cynical take is that she and her management were keen to avoid any sneering at her relatively privileged middle-class Cambridgeshire background and to perpetuate her street poet image for as long as possible. All that went out the window when a Sunday newspaper “outed” her at the start of last year, and it isn’t a coincidence that this also marked the point when she finally started to show her face in videos.
Above is a grab of her YouTube channel. It wasn’t until the visualiser for I Must Apologise that her real identity was associated with her music - and even then we only learned that retrospectively, the girl in the photo unidentified at the time. Just out of shot is the clip for her single Where You Are from April last year, the first video in which she appeared performing.
Still officially under wraps, simply not spoken of, is Pinkpantheress’ real name. This extensive NME “cover” story from earlier this month goes to great lengths to call her “Pink” throughout as if to try to maintain the mystique. Even her own Wikipedia page doesn’t tell you her real name, although that is partly because the only place it has ever been properly published is in the Mail On Sunday and Wikipedia editors reject links to it as an unreliable source - even if on this occasion it probably was correct.
A few other journalists have referenced her name online, but those articles all mysteriously get edited in short order as if PRs lean on them to take it down. For example, the BBC News piece on her “Sound of 2022” victory last year currently reads “her real name remains a secret”, but when originally published it referenced the name under which all her songs are published (which you can find in the ASCAP and BMI databases) while hedging its bets about whether that is her real identity or not.
Does any of this matter? Almost certainly not. But pseudonymous acts have operated happily for years without the mystique being spoiled by their true identities also being known. Lady Gaga is still Lady Gaga even though we knew from the start she spends her life outside work as Stefani Germanotta. And Stormzy is Stormzy, and frankly that’s less of a mouthful than having to reference that he’s also Michael Omari Owuo Jnr every time he pops up.
Meanwhile Pinkpantheress is still officially anonymous. But with a Top 10 record (one that seems to be heading to the Top 5) to her name right now her baby steps towards becoming a much-lauded celebrity are about to become giant ones. I just hope she’s happy about this.
Throw A Party
Of all the sudden chart returns of recent months, the surprise reappearance in this week’s Top 20 of George Ezra’s long-running 2022 hit Green Green Grass is one of the most curious of all.
The track’s jump from 61-19 this week is, almost needless to say, thanks to a sudden ACR reset. But the exact reasons for this are a curiosity. The semi-official reason, as speculated upon in forums during the week and even reproduced in Music Week, is that the label asked for a reset “in anticipation of the Brit Awards”. But that makes precisely zero sense given that Ezra was never scheduled to feature at the ceremony (did he even attend?) and while he was nominated in two categories (Gender Neutral Exclusively Male Artist Of The Year and Song of The Year) he was, let’s face it, never in contention for either.
I’m still convinced it has more to do with letting the track have a renewed moment in the winter sun thanks to the recent release of an official sped-up version, Ezra becoming one of the first acts to fully embrace the current Tik Tok trend for featuring pop hits pitched up to new-found levels. The sped-up version of Green Green Grass landed on YouTube and Spotify etc. on January 19th and has largely been responsible for the track spending most of 2023 to date in the 60-65 area of the singles chart. It previously sank out of sight in November, well before the full Christmas invasion. You wonder if the label wanted it put back to normal just to see what effect attention for the sped-up remix beyond meme-world would have.
As ACR resets go, this is easily one of the most artificial. Despite the chart leap, consumption (the overall audience for the song across all platforms) has actually remained static from last week to this.
Make Some Noise London
If you’ve just come crawling from your personal rock you will be pleased to learn that this weekend also saw the 2023 incarnation of the BRIT Awards, Saturday night’s event at the O2 and screened live on ITV1 not only the first full-blown staging of the event post-pandemic but also the first to be moved from its traditional midweek slot to weekend prime time.
The purpose of the BRIT awards these days appears to be to as much about encouraging hot takes across the music press as it does celebrating the best music of the year. So while Harry Styles cleaned up in every category he was nominated and Beyonce inevitably won the Beyonce award for Being Beyonce despite reportedly pricing herself out of appearing in person, most talk has been around the fallout from acceptance speeches, off-colour remarks by award presenters, Mo Gilligan’s lack of small talk skills (or indeed funny jokes) and wondering just why Rising Star winners FLO (hitless to date) didn’t even get to perform like their predecessors in the role.
For me, the BRIT Awards highlight the strange way the entire music industry is desperate to keep its foot in as many conflicting camps as it can. An enterprise born from the debauchery and shock value of Rock and Roll and its attendant lifestyle appears to now be staffed by people desperate to be as achingly correct as they can (sexism: bad, racial awareness: good, excluding women from nominations: we’ll get back to you on that) but also keen to nod enthusiastically as Sam Smith and Kim Petras be as outrageous as they can get away with on prime time ITV and Lizzo wanders around the stage dressed as a giant clitoris.
Meanwhile everyone is pretending they didn’t see Stormzy’s rictus smile as the Best Hip-Hop/Grime/Rap award was handed to the only white man among the nominees.
The move from midweeks to Saturday was apparently prompted by concerns from the TV network about the declining ratings draw of the gongfest. But I’d also suggest it is to counter the problem of a Wednesday night ceremony coming too late in the chart week for marketing to be able to point to positive sales boosts from the TV show. With five days for the effect to sink it we will properly be able to see just how many people discovered the joys of Lizzo.
Imagine the horror if it turns out the BRITs now have zero sales effect at all.
Superb Owl Sunday
Continuing the trend of recent weeks, Miley remains supreme atop the American charts just as she does here (four weeks and counting the UK and US charts have been in sync).
Making enormous waves this week however and with what is now his biggest US chart hit ever is the uncancellable accidental racist Morgan Wallen who is now well on his way to becoming the biggest crossover country star since Garth Brooks. Last Night, which rockets to No.3 on the Hot 100 is the third hit single from his forthcoming new album One Thing At A Time, due for release in early March.
Speaking of country stars though, notice how Shania Twain has spent the whole of the last week in the UK and has been rewarded with the No.1 spot for Queen Of Me. Said album can only make No.11 on its Billboard 200 debut. SZA remains top of the chart for the eighth week in a row.
Aus Tra Lia
A small shake-up in the Australian charts since last we were here a fortnight ago, The Kid Laroi planted firmly in the Top 10 with Love Again, Australia happy to celebrate him as a native act even though he calls America his home.
The highest new entry of the week in Australia is, I’m pleased to note, by a British act. Boy’s A Liar from Pinkpantheress lands at No.25.
Soy Charts
A five minute wonder in the English-speaking world, Bizarrap’s collaboration with Shakira is No.1 in Spain, just as it is in Italy.
Miley Cyrus is holding her own for international stars, but the EPDM charts are largely clogged up with tracks from Quevedo’s album Donde Quiero Estar which has topped the albums chart for the three weeks since its release.
But let’s focus here on Spain’s No.2 record of the week, Yandel 150 from Puerto Rican reggaeton star Yandel who almost out of nowhere has lucked into the biggest European hit of his career.
Gratuitous Archive Flashback Feature
Five years ago: Hot takes on Justin Timberlake are the top of the week as he suddenly finds himself the subject of some alarming re-evaluations. The record that will eventually replace God’s Plan at the top of the charts begins its patient wait, and the worlds of Grim and Afrobeats are just starting their chart toeholds.
Ten years ago: Self-released songs are all the rage right now, and indeed they were back then as one of the most famous independent releases of its era barges its way to No.1.
Twenty Years ago: Tatu still grab all the headlines, denying Justin Timberlake - yes, him again - a No.1 single with the track that everyone would end up dragging him for 15 years later. Funny old world.
Midweek Teases
It is, alas, too early to determine just whether the BRIT awards effect will have any, er effect, the midweeks for Monday night featuring just sales from Sunday. Although given the casual nature of the audience that’s where you’d expect any consumption bump to come from.
So in the meantime we note that the Top 3 could well end up the same for the fifth week in a row (we have until Friday to work out if that has ever happened before), unless Pinkpantheress and her American friend have something to do with it.
Set for the highest new entry seem - surprisingly - Linkin Park with Lost, a previously unheard track released ahead of the 20th anniversary edition of their famous Meteora album. Meaning Chester Bennington is set for a hit beyond the grave as for now it is on course to land in the Top 20.
The post-BRITs album chart should see Paramore at No.1 in a spectacular comeback. But yes, you can already see the glimmering of the BRITS effect. Harry Style’s Harry’s House is back in the Top 3, and Wet Leg’s album is for now back in the Top 40 after being outside the Top 100 last week. But that still only represents a few hundred extra sales or so. And several million people watched the show…
If you have enjoyed this newsletter, please tell everyone you know and send them the link to subscribe. Share this email with a friend, tweet a link or post on Facebook about it.
The new UK charts are announced by Radio One from 4pm every Friday, can be seen in full on officialcharts.com and musicweek.com, and you can read by own detailed charts analysis - now celebrating its 30th year online - at chart-watch.uk.
There’s no charge for this newsletter, and never will be. However much Substack begs me to turn on that feature. But if you fancy thanking me for the work that goes into putting it together, then you can always buy me a coffee. A man has to get his sugar rush from somewhere. My grateful thanks to Tasos for their loyal and ongoing support.
"SZA remains top of the chart for the eighth week in a row."
8 weeks...yes....Consecutively...Nope.
I applaud Pinkpantheress efforts to resist the "celebrity" tag. Artists are so much more interesting when we don't know anything about them.