Today’s Top 40: September 18, 2024: Road Trip Edition

EDITOR’S NOTE: Welcome back to my blog, everyone! I took the summer off to spend time with my family so today’s post marks my first completed effort since the end of June. Thanks to those of you who spent the past two months patiently combing through my archives. Not that it matters in the grand scheme of things but my daily “numbers” stayed steady through my hiatus. That gives me room for optimism that this coming year will be a good one in terms of continued readership growth and interaction. In the meantime, instead of writing, I spent the summer circumnavigating Lake Ontario with my family, attending my 40th high school reunion in Cape Breton Island and then, to close the summer, driving my eldest daughter to university for the first time. She has left the nest and is spending her days on the Nova Scotia side of the Bay of Fundy. Her absence has certainly changed our the feel of what it means to be home in Ontario. But we couldn’t be prouder of her and we wouldn’t want the evolution of our family story to have turned out any other way. Over the course of the next few months, I am sure that the experiences I had this summer will weave their way into these posts that you are reading. For today, I am going to concentrate on a discovery I made about music and the state of the broadcasting in this country. In doing so, I will review a collection of songs that can all be said to define most Songs of the Summer playlists in North America. So buckle up and come along for the ride. It is always good to have you in the passenger seat for these musical journeys. Away we go!

Over the course of my adult life, I have made the drive from Ontario to Cape Breton Island and back again dozens of times. In my younger days, I would make the 20-hour trip in two days flat. Twelve hours from Oshawa, Ontario (where I used to live) to Fredericton, New Brunswick on the first day and the rest from there to Cape Breton on the day that followed. It was a tough slog but it was doable back when I drove alone with only the tunes from my radio and the beautiful Canadian countryside for company. However, this time the drive back home to the east coast was going to be decidedly different. This was the family trek that would see us drop our daughter off in Nova Scotia at university and return back to Ontario without her. The usual excitement of traveling together tempered by the shared emotional realization of how it was all going to end made this a family vacation like no other. So it was in this spirit that we crammed our car to the brim with boxes, bags and totes and shoehorned ourselves into the tiny personal spaces that remained. Once inside of the car, we fastened our seatbelts and looked at each other, from one to the other, one last time as our original family unit. Then we backed away from our home and headed for the 401 highway. A new chapter in our family story unfolding for us in real time.

But this journey was not to be like the ones made when I wore a younger man’s clothes as Billy Joel so famously said in “The Piano Man”. I am not a young man any longer. I am older and my bones now have a weariness within them. As well, as it turns out, I am no longer in charge of the musical playlist like I once was. For those reasons, the old two-day trip format transformed into a seven-day odyssey. We drove each day as far as our spirits allowed, crammed together as we were into the small spaces we had left after packing up my daughter’s worldly possessions. Restaurants, pit stops and hotels became as important a factor as any in terms of planning the itinerary for our trip. Along the way, we would take a detour to visit with my 93 year old mother on Cape Breton Island. We would also see my sister and her husband in Halifax the day before university move-in day. This journey may have been about my daughter and her future but like everything that preceded it, this trip was built upon a foundation of family and of love. The evening before we left Ontario, a double rainbow appeared in the sky by our house. I am not an overly religious man but in the mood my heart was in, I took that rainbow as a sign that our journey was blessed by a higher power and that everything would turn out to be ok in the end. 

Our trip took us to Cornwall, Ontario on that first day out. Cornwall was always one of those places on the highway that we had passed in the past while on the way to somewhere else. On this day, we made the drive in pouring rain. To distract us from the rain and from the emotions of the trip, my wife took charge of the radio dial. The ladies I live with all possess Pop music sensibilities so that meant that they constantly sought access to radio stations all along our route through Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Island that would provide them with the steady diet of the most popular Pop songs from the summer of 2024 that they craved. With my wife and daughters in charge of the radio, I got to hear a handful of hits on repeat as we traversed the rolling mountainsides, farmland and coastal areas of this great land of ours. Of the songs we heard during our drive, a few stood out from the rest in terms of the frequency with which we heard them played. It didn’t seem to matter what province we were in, the six songs that I am about to highlight could be easily found because they were so regularly played absolutely everywhere we went. So, if I had to listen to the following six songs twenty times or more, you can listen to them once. Here are the songs of the summer for 2024 and also the soundtrack of this emotional family journey. Enjoy.

Too Sweet by Hozier.

Hozier is an Irish born singer who burst onto the music scene several years ago with a song called “Take Me To Church” which made it all the way to the top of the charts. “Take Me To Church” was even nominated for a Grammy award as Song of the Year.  Hozier has a deep, rich voice and is a handsome young man. However, for a while it looked as though he might fall prey to the curse of being a one-hit wonder. Fast forward to this year, Hozier released a new album. He had so many songs at the ready for it that he actually released a follow-up EP with four additional leftover tunes on it. One of those four tunes was called “Too Sweet”. This song is famous for containing the line in the chorus about Hozier wanting to “take my whiskey neat”. As a whole, the song is a conversation between a couple, with the man (Hozier) stating that he likes to enjoy the finer things in life (like whiskey) but his partner doesn’t have to do that because she is already “too sweet”. Despite the emphasis on alcohol in this song, Hozier is a religious man…a Quaker by faith…and is involved in numerous causes that support the rights of women, people of colour and of those with non-heteronormative lifestyles. He seems like a fine human being. Hopefully this new hit will enable his message to reach a wide audience and bring some peace and happiness to our world.

You can listen to “Too Sweet” by Hozier by clicking on the link here. ***The lyrics version is here. His official website is here.

The Bar Song (Tipsy) by Shaboozey. 

One of the big current trends in Pop music is Country songs and Country singers. Shaboozey adds an interesting wrinkle to this trend. When you first listen to this song, the voice that you hear bears all of the stereotypical trademarks that tend to be associated with male Country and Western singers. Shaboozey is singing a song about drinking, which is a common theme in Country songs. He possesses a manly voice but one that certainly has that southern drawl that we have come to associate with male Country singers. The funny thing, at least to me anyway, is that Shaboozey is not your typical white guy in a cowboy hat. In fact, Shaboozey is a black singer of Nigerian descent. He grew up in the U.S. after his parents moved there from Africa. The more interesting thing, at least to me anyway, is that Shaboozey’s biggest claim to fame prior to the release of “The Bar Song (Tipsy)” was that he worked on two songs on Beyonce’s groundbreaking Country album called Cowboy Carter. The cultural significance of a music titan such as Beyonce seeking to open up the predominantly white world of Country music has opened the door for a singer such as Shaboozey, whose real name is Collins Obinna Chibueze. “The Bar Song (Tipsy)” is easily my wife’s favourite song of the summer. She is no drinker but she enjoys a glass of wine on occasion and, as such, she knows the liberated feeling of being tipsy and having fun with family and friends in such a state. “The Bar Song (Tipsy)” speaks to her sense of what happens when the buttoned-down start partying.  

You can listen to “The Bar Song (Tipsy)” by Shaboozey by clicking on the link here. ***The lyrics version is here. The link to Shaboozey’s official website can be found here.

Miles On It by Kane Brown and Marshmello.

“Miles On It” is as classic a Country song as there can be. That DJ Marshmallo is involved in it just goes to show you how wide a swath Country music is cutting across all musical genres this summer. The song itself is about a man and his truck and hooking up with some girl so that they can put some “miles on it”…the truck, I mean. The song plays as a harmless, fun sort of song. One of the reasons for that is Kane Brown’s personality. He first came to my family’s attention because of his appearance on a TV show that had nothing to do with Country music. Kane Brown and his wife Katie appeared on an episode of a home organizing show on HGTV that we like called The Home Edit. *(Click here to watch that highlights of that episode. It starts around the 2:00 mark of this video). In this episode, the designers of The Home Edit redesigned and organized his family’s pantry. Brown had an “aw shucks” demeanor all throughout the show, as his snacking and video game playing habits were dissected by his wife and the ladies with host the show. As it turns out, Kane Brown has not had an easy life. Brown was raised by a single mom and experienced much transience during his childhood. Money was always hard to come by. He changed schools often which meant that Brown had trouble establishing friendships. But one fortuitous friendship happened to Brown when he was a teenager. He met a girl named Lauren Alaina. Alaina loved to sing. She ended up auditioning for American Idol and ended up being the runner up in Season #10. Her success encouraged Kane Brown to try his own hand at singing. Like many of today’s singers, Brown first came to the attention of the public via social media videos of himself singing original tunes , as well as covers. Nothing has ever come easily for Kane Brown in his life so to see him having such a hoot and a holler with a song like “Miles On It” makes me smile even if a Country song like this isn’t my thing. Go ahead and grab a snack from your spiffy new pantry if you want to, Kane Brown. You’ve earned it!

You can listen to “Miles On It” by Kane Brown and Marshmello here. ***The lyrics version is here. You can find Kane Brown’s official website by clicking here.  

Beautiful Things by Benson Boone.

The first time I ever heard this song, I noticed the slow, smoldering introduction of the opening verses. Coming on the heels of the folk-pop sensation “Stick Season” by Noah Kahan, I figured that 2024’s big musical trend was going to be acoustic folk-rock pretty boy crooners. However, the musical structure of “Beautiful Things” changes as the song goes along, making comparisons to “Stick Season” *(which you can read about here) moot. If anything, the way in which Benson Boone tears into the chorus of “Beautiful Things” makes me fear for the longevity of his singing career. You see, Benson Boone is a screamer. By the time he finishes the line “These beautiful things….” my own throat is raw and I’m not even singing along. Like Adele after “Rolling in the Deep” and Lewis Capaldi with all of his hits, Benson Boone will have vocal cord issues sooner or later, mark my words. In the meantime, he conveys passion through volume, taking “Beautiful Things” all the way to No.1 on the charts.

You can listen to “Beautiful Things” by Benson Boone by clicking on the link here. ***The lyrics version is here. The link to his official website is here.

I Had Some Help by Post Malone and Morgan Wallen.

Collaborations are such a trendy thing these days. As noted above, Country singer Kane Brown has a hit on his hands after collaborating with DJ Marshmello. Now, singer/rapper Post Malone has jumped on the Country music bandwagon with a collaboration of his own with Country star Morgan Wallen. Their song “I Had Some Help” is racing up the charts. It is essentially about celebrating the fact that they are flawed men (who got that way with “some help” from folks such as the women in their lives), who end up doing what they want, driving big trucks and having their pick of the other women in the bar, all of it unfolding under the fluttering banner of the American flag in the background of the music video. It is patriotism dressed up as a summer party song. However, it is a peppy little tune and lots of people seem to be liking that. It is also an election year in the U.S. and, as with many things at this time, there is a political element to “I Had Some Help” becoming a song on such high rotation. As was the case with his collaboration with Taylor Swift on “Fortnite”, I don’t hear much of Post Malone’s voice on “I Had Some Help”, either. For my money, this is a Morgan Wallen song. Fair enough, if you like Country music.

You can listen to “I Had Some Help” by Post Malone and Morgan Wallen by clicking on the link here. ***The lyrics version is here. The links to the official websites for Post Malone and Morgan Wallen can be found here and here.

Espresso by Sabrina Carpenter.  

When the year-end lists are compiled, “Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter may very well end up being the top song for 2024. The song is essentially about a woman who feels empowered because of the attention she receives from men and the seeming effortlessness of how that attention comes to her. But what makes this pure Pop song different is the unconventional metre the lyrics have. The words, as written, don’t seem like they would flow because of the herky-jerky manner in which they are structured. But, when Sabrina Carpenter opens her mouth, a story of female empowerment emerges in a fresh and invigorating way. My family and I have known Carpenter since she was a child star on the TV series Girl Meets World. It has been very satisfying to watch her career evolve into something with legs akin to those careers of singers such as Olivia Rodrigo and Selena Gomez, to name two who also started out as child actors. As you read this post, Sabrina Carpenter has multiple songs in the Top 10 of the Pop charts and is easily one of the biggest music stars of 2024. 

You can listen to “Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter by clicking here.  ***The lyrics version is here. The link to her official website can be found here.

As my windshield wipers swished this way and that on that first day out, we heard these songs until the local Cobourg radio stations faded from earshot. We heard them again as we passed by Kingston. We heard them a third time as we took the offramp and came to our final destination at the Ontario-Quebec border at Cornwall, Ontario for the night. These songs were destined to follow us all throughout our journey. That these six songs stand as the core part of the soundtrack of our final family road trip together is something that helped to make the journey bearable for my wife and daughters. They liked these songs and would happily sing along with them as they played. As long as they were singing and laughing, they weren’t thinking about the goodbyes that were soon to come. In view of that, I am grateful for the emotional reprieve granted by this playlist. However, for me, the lack of variety of musical offerings as we crisscrossed the country left me with a sense of unease. When did Canada become so homogeneous? Where were the unique cultural identifiers that marked French heritage in Quebec, the Acadian part of New Brunswick and the Celtic part of Nova Scotia? I can’t recall hearing a good fiddle tune even one time during our stay back home. In a sense, these songs granted me an emotional reprieve too, by focussing my attention on matters of politics as I drove further and further from our family home. While I learned many things about myself and my family on this trip, I also had many things confirmed for me about the nature of the world we find ourselves living in. One of those things was the uniformity of broadcast offerings available today. The broadcasting market (along with newspapers and magazines) has shrunk dramatically in recent years as a handful of companies have come to swallow up most local stations and newspaper chains. A prime example of this was the music available to us on radio as we drove across multiple Canadian provinces and then, on my own, as I drove home through multiple American states as I made my way back to Ontario. A Pop music/Top 40- formatted radio station in Ontario is, quite likely, airing the exact same programming as a similarly formatted station in New Brunswick or Nova Scotia. Local programming seems to be disappearing, with centrally-produced content airing across multiple geographic areas at the same time. The only local content appears to be advertising and some minor news updates.

This brings me back to the subject of musical playlists. Saying goodbye can be complicated. For now, as we sat in our Cornwall hotel room, the raindrops plopping all around us, the moment of farewell was somewhere off in the distance. That suited us all just fine. 

Thanks for making this journey with me and my family so far. There will be more to come in future posts. For now, let’s stop for the night in Cornwall, Ontario which, as it turned out, was a lovely little spot. If you ever find yourself in the area, you should stop in and check it out. Perhaps you’ll find yourself at the local McDonalds, as we did. If so, maybe you’ll park next to this car, as we did. What a world! And this was just the first day of the journey!

Have a great rest of your day. Bye for now.