AccioEmpireBuilder

I'm hoping things are done and dusted by his last tour date. In the meantime... please touch some grass.

I love it. The song itself was a cheap throwaway (with TikTok buzz) that should not receive a visual budget and has the potential to go back to the Top 30 this week. This was a cost-effective way to connect back to the Jay-Z relationship origin story and tie in to the parent B'Day project it will be a component of (whether we agree or not). The song has already sold 300,000 units in the US, and is well on its way to being an Urban Radio top 10 single by September. Calm down. In the words of the chorus of my song of the summer... :

New "visualizer" from the "Upgrade U" archival footage.

Archival "Visuals" from the "Upgrade U" shoot. A smart idea.

Yup. "Criminal" doesn't hold a candle to "Seal It With A Kiss," "He About To Lose Me," "Trip To Your Heart," or "Inside Out" as singles with potential videos. Could've been a great eighth single to end the campaign when no one was checking chart stats anymore... but it broke all momentum.

Beyoncé took an entire slice of her discography, interpreting it in a way only Beyoncé could, leaving no room for error and spending weeks charting on the Jazz and Blues charts. Bonus track (not Etta's... but Etta esque)

100%. Given how "Thrifty" Blackground was, I expected to see some easy hunches on subsequent Toni Braxton projects and maybe JoJo's debut album... but nope.

Another great treasure chest of songwriting secrets open. Thank you for making this thread! I would definitely put these four in the hunch category:

Placing this song title ("Have You Ever Made Love In The City?") in the I Am... Sasha Fierce folder as Rico Love was on a roll in his B submissions that era: "Sweet Dreams," "Save The Hero," "Radio," "Scared Of Lonely," "Angel," "Paint This House." https://www.instagram.com/reel/DbywVCDBVyp/?igsh=MXh1eTZ6YWowaGI0aA==

I'm kinda glad it worked out that way because now people can see for themselves why she was credited alongside Pharrell on her demo, as a bunch of key elements did not appear in Ariana's final version (A bridge, the outro, Texas slang in the verses, Blue's appearance).

Do y'all spread this negativity around in your real lives, or is this your place to purge? If this is the former... I don't know how people could survive around this constant dark cloud. Not just you... there's a big group in here.

Who cares? Who wanted this on streaming? The song is already charting on the BB Hot 100 by itself and is 65% of the way to its first certification already. This remix was clearly a move for Urban radio to put the record on overdrive as summer ends and take it to the top. It's been the greatest gainer the past few weeks on Adult R&B (Original), Urban (Remix + Original), and Rhythmic (Remix + Original). Hope they send the Acoustic mix to Pop and all points East.

Between that water purification system he's been rolling out to underprivileged communities and one of those pay-what-you-can restaurants geared towards homeless people, he has clearly humbled himself. He just takes on vapid, nepo-baby side-hustles to finance his philanthropy, which is better than many. I will say I quite enjoyed his anime on Netflix Neo Yokio.

If we're just going pop, these are my favorite music moments off the dome: The push and pull of the pre-chorus in "Circus" All of Girls Aloud's "Biology" and its multitude of hooks The first five seconds of the "Only Girl (In The World)" chorus When Julia Michaels' ad-libs come into the subsequent choruses of "Bad Liar" and "Hands To Myself" The menacing minor chords in the chorus of "Single Ladies" and the intro of "Sweet Dreams" The latin-tango flavor of the "Come On Over (All I Want Is You)" pre-chorus All of Backstreet Boys "Shape Of My Heart" The chanting in "Run Away With Me" The Pre-chorus and Chorus of Avril Lavigne's "What The Hell" The final chorus of "Pills N' Potions" The first 50 seconds or so of Justin Bieber's "Boyfriend" All of "Locked Out Of Heaven" When the euphoric horns come into Rita Ora's "Falling To Pieces" and Jason Derulo's "Trumpets" The first verse of Ciara's "Tell Me What Your Name Is" Justin Timberlake's "LoveStoned" All of Usher's "Climax" Hilary Duff's "Come Clean" and "All About You" Taylor's "Message In A Bottle" Zara Larsson's "Poster Girl" Anytime The Weekend gets into his Michael Jackson bag.

Bianca Atterberry said SIX songs were written in that same session with the same team... adding two new songs to the hunch area as the team is virtually identical: