“Moderately funky, but entering low and falling swiftly.”
Tom: Remember LunchMoney Lewis?
Tim: The name, yes. The song…no, remind me.
Tom: He was the sound of the summer back in 2015, and — although we talked about the song a bit too early to cover it — that one song did end up being a smash on both sides of the Atlantic. Since then, he’s… well, yes, “one-hit wonder” would sum it up pretty well, albeit a one-hit wonder who’ll be doing well from the songs he’s written for other people.
So: here’s the next attempt at the charts. And the result from today’s Chart Forecast is:
Tom: Moderately funky, but entering low and falling swiftly.
“This might be an absolute barnstormer over here.”
Tom: It might not have troubled the US charts on its release there a few months ago, but this hit Number 1 in Australia. It’s getting a proper release in the UK next month, and I reckon this might be an absolute barnstormer over here.
Tom: Yes, the lyrics are probably the weak point, and the video is mostly just “let’s act out those lyrics”: but let’s be honest, that’s never stopped any pop music before.
Tim: No, and I think you’re right – definitely got potential, and it’s starting to get airplay on Radio 1, always a help.
Tom: I reckon everything else about this is brilliant, and will basically be on every single “summer picnic” playlist. Walk through Hyde Park in a month or two, you’ll hear half a dozen different tinny iPhones blasting this out to each group of sunburnt hipsters.
Tim: Again, can’t disagree – there are many, many parts in there that could make up a summer hit.
Tom: There’s an incredibly catchy piano riff, a ridiculous happy trumpet solo to take you into the middle-eight; and a gorgeous vocal performance over the top of it. The production is absolutely top-notch. Even those lyrics, simple as they are, have a pretty positive message attached to them. It’s danceable, it’s sing-along-able, it’s catchy, and it’s exactly what a British chart-topping summer song sounds like.
Tim: Most notable thing, though, with a song like this: I actually really like it as well. Normally I’d be put off by the old-soundingness or whatever of it, but nope – I reckon this is just great.
Tom: Number 1? Maybe, maybe not. Top 10? I’ll be very surprised if not, and it’s really rare for me to try and call something like that.
