Idolator
Anyone who watches the pop charts these days can be forgiven for feeling whiplashed. Not since the '60s have so many songs yo-yo'd up and down the Billboard Hot 100, as consumers flock to iTunes' latest hits and then move on to the next thing. The 99-cent digital single is to the '00s economy what the 45 was to the age when Beatles and Supremes roamed the earth: an insta-indicator of pop whim. "Can't Buy Me Love," meet "This Is Why I'm Hot."
That makes it hard nowadays to score a hit the '70s-'80s-'90s way: earning it. Pop hits don't unfold anymore, they explode. Which makes a couple of hits closing in on the pop Top 10 right now special.
Pink had to know she was asking for ironic headlines a year ago when she titled an album I'm Not Dead. But coming off a flop album, Try This (2003), that followed a quintuple-platinum smash, M!sundaztood (2001), had placed a rather large chip on her shoulder. Last spring, Dead's first single, the buzzy, Paris-and-Lindsay-hating "Stupid Girls," followed the iTunes trajectory and slammed onto the charts quickly, peaked just outside the top 10, then died within a couple of months, taking Pink's CD down with it. Nary a peep was heard from the erstwhile Alecia Moore the rest of '06.
One year later, you may be agog to hear to hear Pink back on the radio. This week, her go-home-and-whack kiss-off "U + Ur Hand" becomes Pink's first Top 10 hit since 2002's "Just Like a Pill." The notable feat: Zomba, Pink's label, actually waited out slow-moving radio stations rather than trying to push the song on iTunes. One by one, Top 40 stations added "U + Ur Hand"—beguiled by the song's sticky hook (which owes more than a little to Bon Jovi's "It's My Life," but nevermind)—and digital sales eventually followed. Zomba's Tom Carraba, thumping his chest a bit overmuch, told Billboard a few weeks ago that the song was "reignit[ing] the U.S. marketplace. We think we have a number-one record on our hands." We wouldn't go that far, but it's fair for him to crow. A decade or two ago, a 17-week climb into the Top 10 wouldn't be a big deal, but these days it's a major achievement.
Speaking of slow-climbing hits: Pink thinks she's had a long slog? Check out Carrie Underwood, whose nearly year-old country hit "Before He Cheats" is up to #11 in its 34th week. Hmmm: Pink's song is about telling a no-good bar pickup to get reacquainted with his kung-fu grip; Carrie's is about going all Angela Bassett on a faithless man's pickup. And they're both on Sony BMG. Yo, Clive: we smell duet!
The Billboard Hot 100 [Billboard]
Comments
Yeah, the rise of this song has been pretty interesting to watch, as was the somewhat similiar trajectory of Chamillionaire's "Ridin'" last year. It makes me optimistic that maybe iTunes and the industry's obsession with first week SoundScan projections haven't killed the phenomenon of the sleeper hit.
As much as I like "U + Ur Hand," though, I'm not gonna wave the 'yay quality triumphs' flag on this one, because I liked the 2nd single "Who Knew" even more, and that one really really tanked, barely cracking the Hot 100.
I honestly really liked Try This. In fact, I prefer it over the new one. Her Try This duet with Peaches - "Oh My God" - is pretty freakin' great.
Don't forget Pink has been opening for Justin Timberlake this spring; that can't be hurting sales.
As for Carrie Underwood, it's not just the fact that Before He Cheats has been on the Hot 100 for 34 weeks, but that it was on the country charts for 46 weeks, including five at number one, before that. It would still be on there, too, and probably in the top twenty, if Billboard didn't have rules about how long a record can stay on its charts. The last week it was listed on the Hot Country Songs chart, it was number 8. It's now number six on the Country Recurrents chart. (More information than anyone needs, I know)
I saw Pink with Justin Timberlake and realized that she's actually a pretty legit entertainer... She puts on a good show-really good lights and some cool Cirque du Soleil kinda gymnastics... I was kinda shocked...After I left MSG I went home and put her in my ipod. She's surprisingly listenable. And don't forget her strategically placed song in the teaser for October Road. That's def. helped her cred in my social circle.
@heidiho: I second that.
Pink was playing clubs as a headliner last summer (HOB, etc.) and selling them out, and as The Illiterate pointed out, opening for JT doesn't hurt. Carrie Underwood has done some openers on tours (I believe she was on Chesney's last summer). It's all about building your audience.
@The Illiterate: All good points, and all true. You're especially apt to note the artificial rule for song retirement on the Country chart.
What's unusual/unique about Underwood's single, though, is it really is breaking at Top 40 radio a year after it peaked at country. That's rare. The Hot 100 radio panel does include country stations, and I'm sure they're still playing "Cheats" plenty; but they've had several other Underwood hits to chew on since "Cheats" topped the country chart, so I doubt they're still playing it as much as, say, current hit "Wasted." Something's gotta be making up the difference.
According to a short item I read in Billboard last week, BMG really has convinced a number of A/C-leaning pop stations to spin the record, Kenny-Rogers-crossing-over-to-pop-in-1981 style. And that's what accounts for the late-blooming chart placement.
@Snikolas: I saw her too at a Timberlake gig, and WORD! Her band was a little underwhelming (and the Garden sound mix did her no favors), but she is a born performer. My buddy and I were slack-jawed watching her do that ceiling-to-floor hanging twirl trick. I walked out of the show modestly more impressed with her.
@dennisobell: Are they doing the same thing with Martina McBride, as well? Same label, and "Anyway", which has been removed from the country chart, jumped from 64 to 32 on the Hot 100 last week.
Also worth mentioning that the country song chart is based entirely on airplay, since until the advent of digital you couldn't buy many of these records as individual tracks. That's why most country record never broke into the top 30 on the Hot 100, which is based on radio and sales. Now that you can by country singles again, and the country audience is catching on to downloading, I think you're going to start seeing a singles top ten that looks a lot like the one for albums, where there are currently four country LPs.
And just to really freak people out, the new Big and Rich album has guest spots by Wyclef Jean and John Legend (and an AC/DC cover).
Interestingly, Bon Jovi didn't really write "It's My Life." Jon Bon and Richie Sambora got cowrite credits on the track, but really it was Max Martin, mastermind behind songs for Backstreet Boys, 'N Sync, Britney Spears, etc. So really Pink should be mailing Mr. Martin a big fat royalty check.
update:
I shoulda done my research. Pink is already writing Max Martin a royalty check seeing as he produced "U & Ur hand." Doh! Great catch, Idolators.
Max Martin needs to stop using that hook. I always thought that U + Ur Hand was too close to 4Ever, that ridiculously catchy song by The Veronicas - two Australian girls who aren't actually called Veronica(!) - even closer than It's My Life.
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