Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Chainsmokers and Coldplay “Something Just Like This” premiered at Brit Awards

Something Just Like This

The Chainsmokers with Coldplay

Writer(s): Andrew Taggart, Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, Will Champion, Chris Martin (see lyrics here)

Released: February 22, 2017

First Charted: March 11, 2017

Peak: 3 US, 11 RR, 14 AC, 17 A40, 15 AA, 16 MR, 2 UK, 3 CN, 2 AU, 22 DF (Click for codes to charts.)

Sales (in millions): 10.0 US, 0.76 UK, 21.50 world (includes US + UK)

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 2802.5 video, 2194.29 streaming

Awards:

Click on award for more details.

About the Song:

The DJ and production duo of Alex Pall and Drew Taggart formed The Chainsmokers in 2012. They experienced their first chart success with 2014’s “#Selfie,” a #16 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. They followed with top-ten hits “Roses,” “Don’t Let Me Down,” “Paris,” and, most notably, “Closer,” a chart-topper for 12 weeks. “Something Just Like This” was the second single from Memories…Do Not Open, a #3 album in the UK and a million-selling, chart-topper in the United States.

Coldplay had an even deeper history, forming in London in 1997. They’d already chalked up seventeen top-ten hits in the UK, including #1 songs “Viva La Vida” and “Paradise,” before their collaboration with the Chainsmokers hit #2. In the United States, it was their fourth top-ten. Meanwhile, they’d topped the album chart eight times in the UK and four in the United States.

Both bands were involved in writing the song. Most of the song was written when the Chainsmokers first met with Chris Martin, the lead singer of Coldplay. SF The Chainsmokers said, “We found some chords that everyone loved and then Chris…freestyled for an hour.” SF

The Chainsmokers explained it is about “a relationship that doesn’t need to be superhumanly perfect, an ordinary love.” SF Martin sings about wanting to be like Hercules or Batman, he knows he isn’t like them but fortunately his girlfriend just wants “a simple relationship with a straightforward guy.” SF

The lyric video set a record for single-day views with more than nine million in its first 24 hours. SF The previous record holder, with 8.2 million plays, was Justin Bieber’s “What Do You Mean?” SF “Just Like This” has gone on to amass more than two billion views.

The song was premiered with a live performance by both bands at the Brit Awards on February 22, 2017. It debuted at #56 on the Billboard Hot 100 and soared to #5 the next week.

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First posted 7/30/2023.

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Songwriters Friends - Songwriters Hall of Fame

image from pastemagazine.com

The Songwriters Friends isn’t an actual award given out by the Songwriters Hall of Fame, but an acknowledgement of the relationship between the songwriter and the singer. As it says on the website, “The artists listed in this section include the top recording artists of hit songs written by Hall of Fame inductees from the late 1800’s to present day. These artists are chart-topping performers who have all added something unique to the sound of American popular music.”

This honor appears to have been given only once (as opposed to annual Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees) although the website doesn’t indicate when.

Note: click on the name to see the act’s entry in Dave’s Music Databse Music Maker Encyclopedia. Click on “SHOF Bio” to see the act’s entry on the Songwriters Hall of Fame website.

A

B

C

D-E

F

G

H

I-J

K-L

M

N-O

P-Q

R

S

T-U-V

W-X-Y-Z

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Monday, February 13, 2017

50 years ago: The Beatles released “Strawberry Fields Forever”

Strawberry Fields Forever

The Beatles

Writer(s): John Lennon, Paul McCartney (see lyrics here)

Released: February 13, 1967

First Charted: February 23, 1967

Peak: 8 US, 10 CB, 9 HR, 1 CL, 2 UK, 15 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.)

Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, -- UK, 1.0 world (includes US + UK)

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 1.0 radio, 26.7 video, -- streaming

Awards:

Click on award for more details.

About the Song:

The real Strawberry Field was a Salavation Army orphanage near John Lennon’s childhood home in Liverpool. TC John would go there to play, which his Aunt Mimi disapproved of, fearing the children there would lead John astray. However, John felt a kinship with them having lost his own parents. SF

The song itself isn’t really about a physical place but “a childlike state of mind” LW or “inner state of being.” AMG Far from being about “a utopia, though...it could be interpreted as an unhealthy escapist withdrawal.” AMG It also expresses Lennon’s experimentation with LSD and his attempt to find a sound that was its “aural equivalent.” LW “Strawberry Fields” took the Beatles experimentation from 1966 album Revolver to the next step. LW

During the recording process, however, Lennon grew frustrated after working on the song for a month TC and asked producer George Martin to merge two versions. Martin responded that they were in different keys and tempos TC but Lennon merely quipped, “Well, you can fix it.” TC Martin decreased the pitch on one section and sped up one piece while slowing down another TC in his greatest production effort. AMG

The result was the era’s most complicated pop song, TC showcasing “Lennon’s distant dreaming voice” LW and “new worlds of sound imagery” LW in what Lennon considered “his greatest accomplishment with the Beatles.” RS500 Indeed, it is one of the groups finest efforts and “one of the greatest psychedelic singles ever released.” BBC

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Last updated 11/25/2022.

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Sunday, February 12, 2017

Adele wins the Grammy for Album of the Year…Again

25

Adele

Released: November 20, 2015

Peak: 110 US, 113 UK, 112 CN, 18 AU

Sales (in millions): 11.0 US, 3.9 UK, 23.36 world (includes US and UK)

Genre: pop/blue-eyed soul

Tracks:

(Click for codes to charts.)

Song Title (Writers) [Time] (chart date, peaks on charts)

  1. Hello (Adele Adkins/Greg Kurstin) [4:55] (10/23/15, 110 US, 13 UK, 17 CN, 16 AU, 116 AC, 17 A40, 14 AAA, 10a RB, sales: 13.45 million worldwide)
  2. Send My Love to Your New Lover (Adkins/Max Martin/Shellback) [3:43] (12/12/15, 8 US, 5 UK, 10 CN, 13 AU, 13 AC, 12 A40, 2 AAA, sales: 1.55 million worldwide)
  3. I Miss You (Adkins/Paul Epworth) [5:48]
  4. When We Were Young (Adkins/Tobias Jesso Jr.) [4:51] (12/12/15, 14 US, 9 UK, 9 CN, 13 AU, 6 AC, 3 A40, 10 AAA, sales: 1.55 million worldwide)
  5. Remedy (Adkins/Ryan Tedder) [4:05] (12/12/15, 87 US)
  6. Water Under the Bridge (Adkins/Kurstin) [4:00] (12/12/15, 26 US, 16 AAA, sales: 0.5 million)
  7. River Lea (Adkins/Brian Burton) [3:45]
  8. Love in the Dark (Adkins/Samuel Dixon) [4:46]
  9. Million Years Ago (Adkins/Kurstin) [3:47]
  10. All I Ask (Adkins/Bruno Mars/Philip Lawrence/Christopher Brody Brown) [4:32] (3/5/16, 77 US)
  11. Sweetest Devotion (Adkins/Epworth) [4:12]

Total Running Time: 48:24

Rating:

3.847 out of 5.00 (average of 37 ratings)

Awards:

(Click on award to learn more).

About the Album:

After the monstrous success of her 2011 sophomore album 21, Adele considered quitting music. After all, how do you follow-up one of the most successful albums of all time? She suffered from writer’s block, but was inspired to work again after the birth of her first child in October 2012. She said then that she wanted her son to “know what I do.” WK She met with producer Greg Kurstin, after which she said “it all poured right out of me.” WK

She made a conscious attempt to move away from the break-up themes which dominated 21 and also added added synths and drum pads to give the album a modern sound. WK She initially wrote an entire album about motherhood which she scrapped because it was “too boring,” WK although she did keep Sweetest Devotion, an uplifting track written as a tribute to her son. WK

She told Rolling Stone the final product was about “yearning for her old self” and “melancholia about the passage of time.” WK To that end, she crafted songs such as When We Were Young, which explored Adele’s “uneasy acceptable of adulthood,” the album’s key theme. WK

“25 didn’t quite achieve the cultural impact of 21,” BB “but by no means did Adele disappoint on her third studio album.” BB “It was still an industry phenomenon, scoring the largest sales week in SoundScan history with over 3 million copies sold in its first week – an unfathomable figure in any era, let alone where sales totals have long been shrinking.” BB It went on to easily be the best-selling album of 2015, moving more than 17 million by year’s end. WK With sales continuing into 2016, it became the biggest selling album of that year as well. WK

“The set contains the perfect melancholy soul hits to put her unbeatable vocals on full display, from Water Under the Bridge to ‘When We Were Young’ to Hello – all of which are the type of crossover smashes that made us fall in love with the British powerhouse in the first place.” BB “Hello” was a soul-driven piano ballad which Telegraph described as having “a very luscious wall of sound.” WK It was the first single and a monstrous #1. It went on to win Grammys for Record and Song of the Year and racked up more than 2 billion views on YouTube. The song took six months to finish. WK

In addition to working with Tedder and Paul Epworth again, Adele also collaborated with Max Martin and Shellback, Danger Mouse, and the Smeezingtons (which includes Bruno Mars). WK

The track Send My Love Your New Lover was a reworking of a song Adele wrote when she was thirteen and inspired by Amy Winehouse’s Frank album. She and Ryan Tedder, who worked with her on 21 and 25, went to lunch after unfruitful sessions and Adele heard Taylor Swift’s single “I Knew Your Were Trouble.” When Tedder told Adele it was produced by Max Martin, she reached out to him and they reworked “Lover.” WK

On February 12, 2017, Adele made Grammy history as only the second woman (after Taylor Swift) to win the Album of the Year twice for a solo effort. Adele first pulled off the feat with 21. In fact, Adele won all five Grammys for which she was nominated.

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First posted 3/1/2019; last updated 3/5/2024.

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