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View Full Version : Mason's Observations On Forever Young, The Door & Tik Tok



Colorado Media Newsroom
November 20th, 2024, 02:02 PM
From Radio Insight:

https://i0.wp.com/radioinsight.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/foreveryoung-200x200.jpeg?resize=200%2C200&ssl=1David Guetta, Alphaville & Ava Max – Forever Young:*I was so happy when “I’m Good (Blue)” became a #1 hit all over the world. It launched after a 10-second teaser went viral on TikTok before its release. David Guetta is one of the great producers and DJs of all time, but before his 2022 cover of Eiffel 65’s “Blue”, a mainstream hit hadn’t been a part of his discography for nearly 8 years (“Hey Mama”, also with Bebe). Since then, he?s continued to put out loads of new music and remixes, none of which had the impact or Top 40 support of “I’m Good”. Alphaville’s original 1984 “Forever Young” is one of the most iconic and covered songs of all time (notably by Jay-Z in 2009, for which we still get a many requests for. Ava Max seems to be the queen of mid-chart stiffs, and while this song is not obvious to be going Top 10 on CHR, it adds a missing dance beat to the Pop format which brings variety and broad demo appeal. Currently #21 in airplay and has generated a few dozen requests from Liveline listeners already. It does not appear in the Top 100 on Spotify USA or Global. But what’s old is new again. Nostalgia and gold familiarity seem to be the direction of winning Pop music radio in the past 5 years (but “do you*really*want to live forever?”).
Teddy Swims –*“The Door”: “Lose Control”*was a massive hit, reaching #1 on Billboard, Top 40, Hot AC, AC and even #13 on Rhythmic. #1 Shazam on the USA and Global chart (and*STILL*in the top 10). The song has lingered in the Top 50 on Spotify for months. But now it’s time for the critical follow-up: “The Door” has just reached #7 on Pop airplay without achieving any of the same chart success of his previous single. It doesn’t even appear in the Top 200 on Spotify. #31 on Billboard and since it’s April release, we’ve only had*one*request for it on Liveline. This is what Gen Z refers to as “radio music”, songs they don’t consume, identify with or want to hear on a personal playlist of theirs. It is usually the result of labels hyping songs to high chart positions AND a lack of great new songs in sub-powers to move into Power rotation. If it’s not something you can imagine on your station or the format in a year, does it make sense to ever add it at all? If there?s no corollary chart impact anywhere except the airplay charts, does anyone really care about it? Worse, is it a big tune-out?
Songs That Aren’t Getting RequestsSuccess with hit music is not as much what you play as what you DON?T play.* We process* 500+ calls, texts and dm?s on our social accounts every week. We keep it real and don’t exaggerate this number or the response a song gets or doesn’t get. Here are titles that are working their way up the Pop airplay chart which have yet to receive even a single request: The Weeknd –*“Dancing In The Flames” (#9),*Meghan Trainor –*“Criminals”*and every song she has ever released since ?All About the Bass? (#13), Jelly Roll –*“I Am Not Okay”*(#15), Addison Rae –“Diet Pepsi”, Gracie Abrams –*“Close To You”*(#19) (see our post about her from last week), Khalid –*“Heatstroke”*(#20), Akon’s*“Beautiful Day”*(#24) and Damiano David*– “Born With a Broken Heart”*(up 550 spins at #25). There are many others in the Top 40 as well, but these are getting the most upward airplay movement with no passion or consumption available to us from listeners or streaming.
Buried Treasures of the WeekWaka Flocka Flame – No Hands: Statistically speaking this song wasn’t*top 10 on Pop radio when it came out. Peaked at #13 on Billboard, #28 on Top 40 and #3 on Rhythmic radio. Looking back at John Garabedian’s “Monday Morning Update” from Open House Party, it held the #1 spot for three weeks in November 2010 and remained in the Top 20 until January. That list was tabulated by over 1,500 weekly requests on a Saturday night. Today, it’s a Gen Z party classic with 711 million streams on Spotify and still getting loads of requests on Liveline. It’s obviously a rap record, but the chorus is strong and musical, it’s well produced and adds cool variety to a playlist dominated by cheesy white pop. A defining moment of early 2010’s culture!
https://i0.wp.com/radioinsight.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/tiktok-200x200.jpeg?resize=200%2C200&ssl=1Ke$ha – Tik Tok: #1 song of 2010 in dozens of countries. Nearly every Top 40 station played it as a Gold until the ?Diddy situation? this year. Some program directors thought it was best to drop it altogether, because it says “wake up in the mornin’ feelin’ like P Diddy”. The song and video also briefly features him. A few stations actually created their own edit, including Z100/New York who basically cuts the first three lines of the song. Others bleeped out his name, or the line before it to say “wake up in the mornin’ f——- P Diddy” which is what Kesha herself said she would change the lyrics to in all future performances. Continuing to play it is a fine line to walk, but we’re here to tell you that the requests haven’t slowed down for it. It seems that the majority of people either don’t know or don’t care about his alleged criminal behavior. They like the SONG. While we don’t defend their actions, we still get a few requests for “Ignition” by R. Kelly and “I’ll Be Missing You” by Puff Daddy. Because we have a large list of affiliates to not offend, we don’t play them. “The audience won’t notice that it isn’t playing anymore, and they can just go stream it if they wanna hear it so badly” is something I’ve heard from a handful of PDs. The last time this happened was 2022, when DaBaby and his homophobic remarks got him removed from the Top 40 version of “Levitating” by Dua Lipa. The streams and requests never slowed down for the dual version. Kanye West on the other hand? Yeah, though his offensive remarks have caused widespread drops, “Gold Digger”, “Heartless” and “Stronger” are still all big requests.



more (https://radioinsight.com/blogs/287511/masons-observations-on-forever-young-the-door-tik-tok/)