#1 Album

I’m regularly tempted by YouTube videos on the theme of “First Time Hearing…” where someone¹ listens to a classic song for the first time and goes wide-eyed at the fact that, I don’t know, Dolly Parton on Phil Collins or The Beastie Boys had some skills.

Yesterday I watched two:

I’ve Never Listened to Dolly Parton which was quite delightful, but how do you go through life never having heard Jolene or 9-5?!)² and
Ex-Music-Publisher BLIND reacts to Billie Eilish, which was also fun³

My amazement that these people who profess to love music had somehow missed these iconic songs and artists was tempered a bit when I remembered that I haven’t a clue about most popular music post-2003 ⁴.

Anyhoo…⁵

I decided to look up the current album charts and give some of them a listen⁶.

What’s Even In The Charts?

According to Billboard, the top 10 albums in the US today are:

Dandelion – Ellie Langley
You Seem Pretty Sad for A Girl So In Love – Olivia Rodrigo
I’m The Problem – Morgan Wallen
Prima – Adele
The Great Divide – Noah Kahan
Petal – Ariana Grande
Don’t Look Down – Rod Wave
B’Day – Beyonce
Iceman – Drake
The Art of Loving – Olivia Dean

I’m going to listen to them all⁷.

I started with Don’t Look Down by Rod Wave⁸

Don’t Look Down by Rod Wave

Let’s be honest. I missed most of hip hop’s and⁹ what’s now called R&B’s evolutions by virtue of growing up in the UK in the 70s, 80s, & 90s, where we got the occasional hip hop or rap breakthrough hit, but where House and Madchester music had much more of a hold on us.

So, yeah, Hamilton sent me down a rabbit hole of dipping into all the hip-hop influences in there (I spotted the pop, musical and operatta ones…), but I don’t have much emotional connection with “moderen’ rap, hip hop, soul or R&B as it stands today.

I get turned off by the over-production and the songs that glorify violence and exploitation. But that’s not all there is, so let’s jump in to Rod Wave

First Impressions

It’s…fine. Starts with a quote from Tears for Fears, so I’m already interested.

The lyrics seem to be addressing the tough life he has lived but with a note of hope. Musically it’s quite smooth, which is not always a plus for me¹⁰.

Going Deeper

There are a lot of songwriter credits on this album. Lots of different credits on each track, with some overlap. Rod himself seems to be the lyricist, but there’s a lot of other hands in this pie. Which is how this kind of music is often made¹¹.

There’s also a lot going on in each track, which is sometimes interesting and sometimes too much. The wall of noise with sometimes-interesting lyrics with a lack of melodic interest makes it wash over me without ever grabbing my emotions.

Example of a too-much track: War Wounds. At one point I even wondered if I had started another song in the background. Maybe this is the point. It’s not meant to be a comfortable listen, and maybe they’re leaning into that with the production as well as the lyrics.

Somewhere in the middle of the album (Lost and Insecure, Kiss Me Interlude) it started to get musically more interesting to me, with influences from jazz and the soul that I’m familiar with; real instruments — drums and keyboards — layered with the electronic sounds and effects. The vocals were less likely to be overly-processed and be more natural, which I liked. I found myself grooving along to “Toast”¹²which may say more about my 1970s roots than about Rod Wave.

Verdict

I liked bits of this. It’s not really my thing, but it was more ‘listenable’ for me than a lot of chart music in a similar style. In fact, it grew on me a bit and I’m glad I listened to the whole album.

It still skimmed the surface for me, and I wonder if that has something to do with that review that said: “Rod Wave makes music for everybody”.

I can see why people like it. I can see why it hit the top of the chart. Sort of¹³.

Next Up

Dandelion by Ellie Langley. This is another of the artists whose name rang no bells for me, so I’m interested to see what comes next. I might not like it but *actually listening* to a whole album is a different experience from flipping through looking for something to love. So I’m going to do it.

Who I invariably feel should know better… ↩︎
I originally read his description as ‘a Gen-X producer’, which I found highly improbably. Turns out it was my ability to read that was supect; He’s Gen-Z, which makes a bit more sense, but still… ↩︎
and taught me that I mostly like Billie Eilish when she’s being most un-Billie-like… ↩︎
When I had kids and transitioned into listening to mostly The Wiggles and whatever Phineas & Ferb served up. Not going to apologize either. Go and listen to When We Didn’t Get Along and tell me their composer isn’t a pop genius!) ↩︎
As Dr Doofenshmirtz might say… ↩︎
I hadn’t even HEARD of three of the artists, and could only point at one and say “Oh, I’ve liked some of their songs”. Retreats from position of superiority, instantly. ↩︎
With some trepidation. I skimmed the Olivia Rodriguez one a couple of weeks ago and nope-d right off it… ↩︎
Because I was on my phone and whatever site I went to first said it was #1. It has been #1 but apparently isn’t anymore. ↩︎
At the risk of sounding like my father ↩︎
One of the top-line reviews on Apple said “Rod Wave makes music for everybody”, which I do not consider a compliment. If everyone likes it does anyone love it, or is it an inoffensive grey-paisley pattern wallpaper? ↩︎
I’ve been listening to the OpenDAW Talks podcast with Lex Luca, which is introducing me to a whole new world of ‘producers’. ↩︎
but it’s Track 22. If not for this listening project I wonder if I would have got this far. ↩︎
Which is not a criticism of the music, but a reflection on my old codger status! ↩︎