Chord In A Minor
Even the Americans are puzzled by it all.
Superstar performances at the half time show of the Super Bowl have been a thing for more than 30 years, dating back to Michael Jackson's appearance in 1993 as a result of the Fox network successfully counterprogramming the previous year and stealing a large chunk of the audience for the second half of the game.
But never have these appearances on what is always the most-watched TV event of the year caused a noticeable and ongoing spike of interest in the music of said performers. What is different though is that most of the time the Super Bowl performance is a rapid 15 minute run through the best of the greatest hits. This year Kendrick Lamar did it differently, showcasing mostly his current music - and with particular emphasis on what has become the song of the moment Not Like Us.
It is all the more extraordinary that this impact has spread globally, even to a country like Britain where the Super Bowl took place late at night. But then again with YouTube we can just timeshift it anyway. And now the ripple effect of that has been taken to its ultimate finish. After surging to No.2 last week Kendrick Lamar's Not Like Us takes over in some style at No.1 on the Official UK Singles chart.
It is the culmination of what has been a long and steady journey for the man known by his two first names (because "Duckworth" is an achingly uncool name for a rapper). He first appeared on the UK charts way back in 2012 with his track Swimming Pools (Drank) dripping its way to No.57. His first Top 40 hit came a year later as a guest on Robin Thicke's Give It 2 U (No.15), while it was his appearance on Taylor Swift's Bad Blood which took him into the Top 10 for the first time when it reached No.4 in 2015. Ten years on from that moment he is top of the charts for the very first time.
Much of what there is to say about Not Like Us has already been said - and that is simply because the track has been around for such a long time already. This is a single with the longest of long tails, originally released in May last year and one which made the Top 10 three times over during a reasonably extended chart run. You will note it is the second No.1 single in a row to date from last May, Lola Young's Messy itself having been first released just a couple of weeks after Not Like Us. There is perhaps no greater illustration of the way release dates and initial chart runs mean nothing any more. If a track is going to blow up it will do so in its own time and its own way. Almost as if these things are beyond the control of record pluggers themselves.
It does still bear saying that Not Like Us, whatever its merits as an actual pop record may be, is like any good hip-hop track one drenched in controversy. Not for profanity, its depictions of drugs or sex or violence. No, just because it is an extended explicit loathing-filled and legally dubious rant about one Aubrey Drake Graham. Dealing with everything from his inveigling his way into the culture of a city he did not originate from to his alleged sexual tastes. Gossip blogs refer to him euphemistically as "the wheelchair actor" when implying he has things in common with R Kelly. Lamar just comes right out and says it. If you had to pick any record to become Kendrick Lamar's first No.1 single it surely would not have been this one, a track thrown together in five minutes as an angry riposte and in marked contrast to the lavish production values he uses on many of his other hits. Yet the more you listen to it the more it works. Even his usual Tweety Bird delivery somehow sits comfortably with the invective of the rhymes. The greatest record of his career perhaps, hauled out of his backside on a whim.
If you want to know a little more about the full context of what he is banging on about, check out the SongbookLM audio I uploaded about it last week.
Lavish Quacking
Whichever way you spin it this is Lamar's week. He is not only No.1 but has a sweep of the Top 10 that normally requires you to either release a new album or be Sabrina Carpenter to achieve. No.10 last week, Luther raises itself to a brand new peak of No.4 while one place behind is the more vintage All The Stars which matches the No.5 peak it first scaled exactly seven years ago this week. Both of these two halo hits, as noted last week, just so happen to feature SZA on co-vocals. Both are, in many ways, a more conventional introduction to Kendrick Lamar and more reflective of his usual output. So it almost seems appropriate they are here alongside their fellow behemoth.
A nod here for Chappell Roan's Pink Pony Club (as it so happens another single of considerable vintage) which climbs to a new peak of No.3 to become her second Top 3 hit single.
Oh God She's Back
Seeing as we have invoked the spirit of Sabrina Carpenter, let's deal with her as well. Because if not for Kendrick Lamar she would be grabbing all the headlines for some batshit chart moves of her own. Her album Short N Sweet returns to the top of the long player charts for the third time (its first visit since Christmas week) as a result of the release of a new deluxe edition to celebrate - we are told - its board-sweeping Grammy nominations. And in its wake she surges back into form on the singles charts as well.
Leading the way is a track that did not feature on early midweek flashes as it was awaiting a discretionary reset. But re-entering at No.9 after being stuck as her fourth biggest single since late October is former No.1 hit Please Please Please. This is all thanks to a new version that features on said deluxe album which adds new guest vocals from no less a figure than Dolly Parton to the mix. This is no jumo-on, but a totally re-recorded take which gives the former electropop track a more decidedly Nashville flavour. Here is where we have cause to lament the incumbent chart rules which do not automatically update the credit on a track when a guest performer is considered to be on the "secondary" version of the track. It means the reigning Queen of C&W is denied an acknowledgement on what would be her first Top 10 single since Islands In The Stream hit No.7 in early 1984. And shall we take a moment to note they perform the radio-friendly version of the lyrics to save the legend having to sing "motherfucker". Which would have been extraordinary.
Keeping Busy
Sabrina is also at No.10 with a genuine new entry, Busy Woman is a track that featured solely on a limited edition physical version of Short N' Sweet but which now becomes available digitally for the very first time thanks to the full Deluxe release. All it has for the moment is a lyric video which only serves to highlight the incongruity of the "my clothes are off, I'm coming over to your place" lyric about which everyone has seen fit to pass comment. Myself included, it appears.
Finally, her trifecta of hits is rounded off Bed Chem which itself lifts back to No.18. We just can't stop talking about the damn woman.
I Cannot Keep Up
Now, this is where it gets really fun. Because at the exact same moment Kendrick Lamar tops charts across the globe with ease, who should be back with new music? The target of his ire. That's who. Slotting in at No.3 on the albums chart is Some Sexy Songs 4 U, a collaborative album between PartyNextDoor and Mr Graham himself. The album spawns a trio of hits of its own, all of which land within a few places of each other. So we have at No.19 Nokia (credited to Drake solo), No.21 Gimmie A Hug (ditto) and at No.23 CN Town (credited to both men together). Drake has had so many hits now I'm bored of counting or noting them, but this is notably the best chart showing for PartyNextDoor for some considerable time, his first Top 40 single since Believe It hit No.12 in April 2020. But we had other things on our mind then so you may have forgotten it.
The reason there are only three of these hits here is down to a subtlety of the chart rules regarding the "primary artist". The performer of Some Sexy Songs 4 U is the entity of "Drake and PartyNextDoor" which entitles it to a place on the artists chart. Were the album a compilation of songs by both men individually it would be a compilation. But that carries over to singles, so tracks from the album are considered to be by the same "artist", hence only three are eligible. If Drake and PartyNextDoor each had solo tracks independent from the album that were streamed enough to chart, all would be eligible.
Flying The Flag
But what of the British I hear you cry. Well we do have one home-grown new entry to compensate for Lola Young being ejected from No.1 (to which she will not return as Messy dips to ACR next time). New at No.23 is Crush by the fascinating combination of AJ Tracey and Jorja Smith. It kind of feels like both have been away forever, although that isn't quite the case. AJ Tracey has been long overdue a chart comeback, this his first Top 40 hit single since his appearance on D-Block Europe's Make You Smile in early 2022 and his first under his own steam since Little More Love charted a year earlier. Jorja Smith has popped up a little more recently, her cover of East 17's Stay Another Day reached No.16 for Christmas 2023 just a few months after the still lovely Little Things peaked at No.11. In an era when everyone appears on everyone else's records it seems almost odd to note that neither have ever collaborated on a hit single before - at least not directly. It was after all her voice heard on Tracey's most famous hit Ladbroke Grove, via a sample from her previous track Wandering Romance. Appropriately enough this new track is also based on an otherwise uncredited female sample - in this case a sped up clip of Love Wouldn't Count Me Out by Brandy, a track from her 2002 album Full Moon.
Lastly, just to note that my worst fears were realised. Last week's huge globe-spanning superstar new entry Born Again by Lisa, Doja Cat and RAYE simply doesn't have the chops to survive a second week (at least for now) and dives 13-34. But then again, based on current trends it may well end up topping the charts after a nine month wait. Something to look forward to then
