BILLIONS CLUB: Arctic Monkeys (4/381)

BILLIONS CLUB

Arctic Monkeys (4/381)

133/381* =  35%

* there should actually be 383 songs on the list but there are only 381 songs on the playlist even after two were added this week.

     I've been dubious of the BILLIONS CLUB claim that it has "every Spotify song with one billion streams."  My suspicions have been confirmed after this week, when two new songs were added but they overall track count remained at 381, which means either the total track count is inaccurate, which seems impossible OR that two tracks were rotated off the playlist to keep the overall number of tracks at 381.   So I'm going to keep it at 381 because that is what the actual playlist says, but we all know there are at least 383 songs with one billion streams or more, not 381.

   One of the tracks from this week is I Wanna Be Yours, the third track from their 2013 album AM to make it into the Billions Club.  This is the first non-single to make it- the other two billion streamers from AM are Do I Wanna Know? and Why'd You Only Call Me When Your High?  Their fourth track is from their 2007 record, Favourite Worst Nightmare- 505.  Not sure what the deal is with that last song- big on tik-tok?  Used in a teen vampire flick?   Arctic Monkey's are the first rock band on this list that you could plausibly call "cool."  The billion streams for three songs off AM likely reflects their tremendous popularity in the UK & EU and their moderate popularity here in the US.   They are also a perennial favorite on alt rock radio, and I think regular play is a significant factor in whether rock tunes can get one billion streams.

Audiobook Review: Age of Vice (2023) by Deepti Kapoor

Audiobook Review

Age of Vice (2023)

by Deepti Kapoor

   Age of Vice by Indian author Deepti Kapoor was on my radar as soon as I read this lede from the New York Times, which appeared on January 5th of this year:

Deepti Kapoor’s second novel, “Age of Vice,” is a luxe thriller, set in New Delhi, that rides the line between commercial and literary fiction so adroitly that it will almost certainly move a lot of units, as I’ve heard publishers say about their best sellers.

    The line between commercial and literary fiction is an obsession of this blog, and I love literary fiction that comes from south Asia- be it Pakistani, Indian, Sri Lankan or Bangladeshi, so Age of Vice appealed to me all the way around.  I considered buying a hardback version but based on the length it seemed like a bit much.  I've observed that subcontinental fiction that makes it to publication in the United States tends towards the Dickensian in a sense that all locales for fiction have a 19th century vibe, even when the book, like Age of Vice is set mostly in India in the first decade of the 21st century.

   There is a ton I could write about this book and contemporary subcontinental fiction that "crosses over" to achieve an impact in the United States, where the native interest in stories FROM south asia (vs. stories written by the American descendants of immigrants who are writing about their experience in America) is roughly zero.    The bottom line is that Kapoor has done something very impressive here as a writer who is actually FROM India:  She has written a book with characters and a plot which appeals to American readers of literary and commercial fiction.  BRAVO.

  I waited to get the Audiobook from the library because of the sprawling, polyphonic nature of the plot which starts out written from the perspective of Aja, a low caste/dalit from Utter Pradesh who is sold into slavery by her mother after his father is murdered by some local goons for a minor property crime (letting his goat graze the fields of a higher caste neighbor).

   Aja is working in a Himalayan mountain cafe when he gloms onto Sonny, who is the scion of a Godfather-esque figure operating out of Delhi with roots in the wilds of Uttar Pradesh which has a population north of 200 million in addition to the metro area of Delhi.  In a certain, very Hindu centric sense Uttar Pradesh IS India proper, but at the same time Delhi has a very cosmopolitan air thanks to the permissive Muslim rulers, the Mughal Emperors, who controlled the Indian heartland before the arrival of the British.  

    The length of Age of Vice works against it's impact and overall merit as a work of literature, but it also probably plays a large part in why FX optioned it for a limited television series- 500 pages- several distinct voices, Age of Vice works better as prestige television adaptation then it does as a work of serious literary fiction.  However, as a work of commercial fiction, it is an absolute 100% banger.  Hit city baby.  

BILLIONS CLUB: Olivia Rodrigo (4/381)

BILLIONS CLUB

Olivia Rodrigo (4/381)

129/381 = 34%

    Olivia Rodrigo is the first of the artists on this list who rose to prominence after the introduction of the Billions Club playlist in July of 2021.  Her first LP, Sour was released in May of 2021 and Drivers License, the lead single from that record, was added to the Billions Club playlist in August followed by Good For U in October.  Deja vu and traitor, two non-singles if I'm not mistaken, were added in September and November of 2022.  Rodrigo seems like a good opportunity to discuss the role of Disney in laying the groundwork for young artists to make it into the Billions Club.  Rodrigo is the first so far- Selena Gomez and Ariana Grande are the other two.   Obviously, being on television as the face of a Disney television channel show- which- I will say I've never watched the Disney channel since I didn't have it as a kid and don't hang around kids who watch it- but artists like Grande, Gomez and Rodrigo already have a built in audience for their music and as an added bonus it is mostly children who will have essentially never listened to music before they fall in love with an artist like Grande, Gomez or Rodrigo.

  If you, are an artist, are a 1/1 for a particular fan, you are going to rack up a ton of plays. Also, this fan is more likely to be a young person and thus almost guaranteed to stream music on a service like Spotify or Spotify itself.  

  

  In terms of my personal experiences with Rodrigo- they are limited.  During the pandemic, there was a no-contact activation event at the car wash down the block, and they've kept the Rodrigo shade of purple (#807EBF) as their paint color ever since.  I've heard... Good For U but I wouldn't be able to identify any of the other hits.  Rodrigo shares a booking agent with an artist my boo manages- not an artist I've ever mentioned here- but I haven't heard any bad things about her "around town" as it were.  

   She seems to be independent minded- her record came out on Geffen- not on Disney owned Hollywood Records and hired a new manager late last year- going with Selena Gomez's manager, which seems almost too on the nose.  Anyway, seems like she could have plenty more billion stream hits since she popped four off her first LP.  

BILLIONS CLUB: Selena Gomez (5/381)

BILLIONS CLUB:

Selena Gomez (5/381)

125/381 =  32%

    I think Selena might be the last artist/act in the BILLIONS CLUB with five cuts and she only barely- she is the current cover girl of the playlist:  Lose You to Love Me from her 2020 record (?!) Rare is the most recent song to make the list- two days ago.  That is actually the only song she has in the billions club as a solo artist.  Her collaborators in the billions club include: Marshmello, Kygo, Charlie Puth & DJ Snake.  I guess that is pretty good for a woman who obviously considers herself more of an actress/all around celebrity than working musician.  She hasn't done a tour since 2016(!) and only a small basket's worth of live performances since then-- mostly doing a single song or two songs on television.

  If you stop to think about it, that actually makes her presence in the BILLIONS CLUB more impressive since all of the other artists I've written about on this list continue to perform live- even Queen- who I saw just announced another tour with Adam Lambert playing Freddy Mercury.   I actually genuinely like Gomez as an actress- Spring Breakers was a bit of a revelation as far as her performance went, and while I don't actually like or watch Only Murders in the Building I've seen enough here and there to recognize her dry wit and success playing opposite Steve Martin and Martin Short.  She's no fool, Selena Gomez.

  Gomez is also the first artist on this list who defines herself primarily as something OTHER than a musician/singer/musical performer- if you asked her today she'd probably call herself an actress with a past in music, which is impressive, because it seems to me that recency- the fact that an artist is continuing to produce new music, even if that music doesn't contain hits, and maintaining something like an active release and touring schedule is key to keeping a song in the public eye long enough for it to get to one billion streams.