If the compilers were hoping for some exciting, memorable weeks to liven up the first few charts after the shift to Fridays, it seems they’re going to be disappointed.  This is one of the deadest charts I’ve ever seen outside the Christmas-New Year break.  How dead?  Try this for the lowest new entry…

6.  Avicii – “Waiting for Love”

It’s Avicii, you know what you’re getting.  This one is actually a collaboration with Martin Garrix, not that the difference is particularly noticeable.  The singer on this one (uncredited, as always with Avicii) is Simon Aldred of Cherry Ghost.  You might remember their version of “People Help the People”, which was a minor hit in 2007.

That video doesn’t work at all, does it?  Apparently the idea is that she’s left him, but it sure comes across more as if she’s been abducted or something, which makes the rest of it feel decidedly odd.  For the gimmick-lovers out there, YouTube also has a “360 degree” video for it, the idea being that you can control the camera.  What this actually means in practice is a camera sitting in the middle of a fairly ordinary dance routine, but watch it here if you want.  File it under “proof of concept” if you’re feeling charitable.

4.  Sam Feldt featuring Kimberly Anne – “Show Me Love”

Yes, another cover of the Robin S track – a top ten hit in 1993 and 1997, and it just missed the top 10 in a cover by Steve Angello and Laidback Luke (featuring Robin S herself) in 2009.  This one dumps the original house backing and, I guess, focusses more on the song.  On its own terms it’s fine, but it’s inviting comparison with a classic, you know?

Sam Feldt is a Dutch DJ.  Kimberly Anne is a singer from London, and this version apparently stems in part from her covering “Show Me Love” in acoustic sets.

1.  Little Mix – “Black Magic”

Little Mix started life in the 2011 series of X Factor, where they were one of the obligatory bands formed out of offcut auditionees who had entered for the singles categories.  This was a staple of the show’s imperial phase, with the judges “spontaneously” deciding every year to encourage a group of B-listers to form a band.

By all appearances, the actual reason for doing this, at least in the early series, was that the format required them to find a bunch of groups to put on live TV, and finding passable groups is a hell of a lot harder than finding passable solo acts – there are fewer of them to start with, and presumably they’re also more likely to follow a more conventional career path if they’re organised enough to form a band in the first place.  So the function of these bands – especially the girl bands – was to get eliminated in the first couple of weeks while the viewers were getting to know the people who actually mattered.

Somewhere along the line this seems to have changed, with Little Mix and One Direction.  Perhaps it finally dawned on somebody that putting together a bunch of solo auditionees is how most manufactured boy and girl bands are formed anyway.  Perhaps they just got lucky.  Of course, Little Mix haven’t achieved anything approaching the international success of One Direction – in fact, they pretty much sell in Britain and Ireland, with some modest popularity in Australasia – but they have at least joined the ranks of X Factor alumni who have to be counted as graduating from the show to genuine success in their own right.

“Black Magic” is the lead single from their third album, and their third number one.  Their first was their winners single, a rote cover of “Cannonball” which sounds nothing like anything else they’ve ever made and which they’d probably prefer to forget; the second was their first proper single, “Wings”.  So “Black Magic” returns them to the top for the first time in three years.  From the looks of it, there’s also a course correction at play here.  The previous album – the one that kept them in the top ten but didn’t give them any number ones – saw them trying to be a vaguely grown-up R&B act.  Singles like “Move” and “Salute” are decent enough songs but put them heavily in the shadow of American acts that were obviously the template.

This time it’s 80s-style pop – but, y’know, for the kids.  No showing off the harmony vocals.  A video that looks as if it’s designed for those Saturday morning kids shows that don’t exist any more.  And there’s probably more of a gap in the market for that.  They do it pretty well, too.  It’s got a good chorus, it’s blithely unserious.  It’s a bit of a chameleonic change of approach, but probably the smart thing to do.

 

The album chart is dead too:

• “Communion” by Years & Years at 1.  Another triumph for the end of year Ones To Watch lists.  “Shine” drops to 2 this week.
• “Reflection” by Fifth Harmony at 18.  The single “Worth It” drops to 10.
• “The Way Back Up” by Prides at 24.  Debut album from Glasgow synthpop trio.  Not been much else of note this week, so let’s finish with their track “Messiah”.