Chart Talk

Hot 100 Roundup: Eric Church And Luke Bryan Milk It, Eminem Gets Silly, And More

By Robert Myers Thu., Aug. 30 2012 at 2:00 PM
Categories: Chart Talk, Chief Keef, Eminem, Eric Church, Lil Reese, Luke Bryan, Muse, Robert Myers, Slaughterhouse, The Script, Trey Songz, will.i.am

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It's almost September (it already is on the Hot 100, which is dated over a week ahead of time), and the labels are starting to roll out the medium-sized guns: Muse! The Script! Trey Songz! Slaughterhouse? The best stuff is older, though: The Chief Keef track is from a mixtape released in March, and the Eric Church and Luke Bryan tracks are both over a year old and milking best-selling albums. None of this week's entries is great, and three of them are awful (guess), but the fall season has officially started. Don't forget to duck.

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New Releases

Trey Songz Opens A Much-Read Book To Chapter V

By Jonah Bromwich Thu., Aug. 23 2012 at 9:00 AM
Categories: Jonah Bromwich, New Releases, Trey Songz

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Much of R&B has been devoted to negotiating the relationship between men and women, and Trey Songz has always been traditional in that regard. His new album, Chapter V is organized neatly into three sections. The first and longest section is a hedonistic celebration of the player lifestyle (note the line "I only came for the bitches and the drinks," from the song "2 Reasons"). That's followed by slowed-down laments of a love wasted; the album ends with two alternate-ending anthems. Spoiler alert: Trey ends up happy and/or sad, depending on which song you take more seriously.

Songz hasn't released an album since 2010, and one might think that Chapter V would at least react to recent developments in R&B—perhaps it would include a couple of existential investigations into the idea of religion as a metaphor for unrequited love, or detail a drug-sparked orgy. Musically, he's hardly shifted from the sounds of his last album, an upbeat, high-sheen R&B with the occasional synth pattern or guitar thrown in for exoticism. And though he does rap a bit on "Playin' Hard" and (the great) "Pretty Girl's Lie," he mostly sticks to his guns (gunz?), a decaf version of R. Kelly with a slightly weaker voice and without Kelly's gift for tawdry, compelling songwriting.

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Chart Talk

Radio Hits One: Lil Wayne Tops The Chart Ubiquity Index

By Al Shipley Fri., Jun. 3 2011 at 11:00 AM
Categories: Adele, Al Shipley, Chart Talk, Chris Brown, Drake, Featured, Lady Gaga, Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, Rick Ross, Trey Songz

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This week "How To Love," the third single from Lil Wayne's forthcoming (if delayed) album Tha Carter IV, debuts on several Billboard charts, including bows at No. 69 on the Hot 100 and No. 50 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. "How To Love" is also the 15th song by or featuring Lil Wayne to appear on a Billboard chart this week; on the R&B chart alone, he's on 12% of the entries in the top 100, and he appears on three songs in that chart's top ten that include its current No. 1, Kelly Rowland's "Motivation." Put simply, Wayne is everywhere.

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Last Night

Live: Drake And Trey Songz Sneak Into Best Buy Theater, Purr Some Innuendos

By Puja Patel Wed., Oct. 6 2010 at 12:06 PM
Categories: Best Buy Theater, Drake, Featured, Last Night, Live, Puja Patel, Trey Songz

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Hopefully Drake got a free camera out of this. Pic by Puja.
Drake/Trey Songz
Best Buy Theater
Tuesday, October 5

Secret, invite-only hip-hop shows don't exist, even if we went to one last night. Then again, with a lineup of Drake, Trey Songz, and Pitbull, we couldn't be too surprised at the line of hopeful teenagers wrapped around Best Buy Theater. The three stars were on hand to celebrate the launch of SoKodak, a new Internet-savvy camera, which means this invite-only crowd consisted of suited industry guys, brand representatives, and a handful of young, dolled-up contest-winners screaming at the foot of the stage. Time to get awkward.


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