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Alright, Billboard BREAKDOWN is live late but it's here - new Jhene Aiko album bomb, that rules! Enjoy! youtu.be/wUu69BcB5L8?...

Billboard BREAKDOWN - Hot 100 - September 26, 2026 (Westside Whimsy, So Good, onsra, Washed)

YouTube video by Billboard BREAKDOWN

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Mark Grondin @spectrum-pulse.ca · 28/09/2026

I hope I'm done with the Ella Langley conversation here. I'm so tired of this. www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxxw...

youtube.com

Ella Langley - Dandelion - Album Review

Todd in the Shadows @shadowtodd.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

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Reposted by Mark Grondin

"Choosin' Texas" sucks and I *like* country musi-- no you fucking don't, shut the fuck up

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I think this is why so many folks are comfortable saying 'well, I never heard of this song' - because if Nashville had bothered to send 'Be Her' or 'I Can't Love You Anymore' to pop radio - you know, TOP TEN HITS, popular culture would have no choice but to acknowledge she's THE hitmaker in 2026.

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Which is the same thing they've done with Ella Langley's other songs - Music Row runs on a formula with radio promotion that's pretty rigid when you look at the timelines. And here's the kicker: they didn't send ANY other Ella Langley songs to pop radio - ironic because 'Be Her' is a pop song!

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And that's not where the story ends, because after Nashville gave it a proper run, they then dropped the song from country radio airplay, and it's only lasted this long because of the exceedingly rare shipment of the song to pop. Because country radio gives folks their season, and MOVES ON.

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Now they'll SAY they weren't - I saw that Billboard article earlier this year - but the reality is that unless your name is Morgan Wallen, you're not getting the immediate radio traction out the gate, especially if you're a woman (insert digression about systemic sexism in country radio here).

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I'm going to add a few quick notes onto this: "Choosin Texas was a country radio thing, and I don't listen to that -" When I hear this, I know folks are just not tapped in and let me explain why: Ella Langley blew up first on streaming. Nashville radio was late to the punch in its success.

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And the other reality is that if in the early 90s Nashville had bothered to send country songs to pop radio for single circulation, they would have been dominant too, and the charts would have been vastly different. All of this... Ugh, I wish some of y'all were better than this, that's all. /end

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I think why all of this bothers me is the proud ignorance of it all. It's not just that folks don't know, they refuse to know. For as much as folks rip on the right for this, how is this shit better, especially when the song has been in popular culture for damn near a year?

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Like I get it, if you're older you're not looking to seek out new music the same way, especially outside of your favoured genre. And you might be carrying a bunch of dated-ass stereotypes about country leftover from that hacky Bo Burnham joke. Or, you know, you might just be out of touch?

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I think there's a few sides to the "I never heard Choosin Texas" thing. Some of it is an increasingly segmented market (because it's HUGE on streaming, not just radio). Some of it is the collapse of monoculture. But some of it... y'all are pretty proud to not know nor care.

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(incidentally I have a very similar opinion about discographies when it comes to making 'top 5' lists - no one-album wonders, good albums need to outweigh the bad, you stick the landing at the end... and it takes a long time to get to many an end when it comes to careers)

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For as much as Taylor Swift is getting backlash, I REALLY wish more was directed at Max Martin, because boy have the 2020s not been good for his legacy. Was chatting with @yawexperience.bsky.social and he highlighted how Martin has been chasing a sound in the 2020s than leading and... Well, yeah.

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Saw the list of the 'best TV shows of the 21st century so far', saw no 'You're the Worst', and immediately tuned out. Maybe it's just me, but a.) I'm no big fan of one season wonders, b.) your good seasons need to outweigh the bad, and c.) you need to stick the landing.

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Alright, Billboard BREAKDOWN is live late but it's here - new Jhene Aiko album bomb, that rules! Enjoy! youtu.be/wUu69BcB5L8?...

Billboard BREAKDOWN - Hot 100 - September 26, 2026 (Westside Whimsy, So Good, onsra, Washed)

YouTube video by Billboard BREAKDOWN

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Reposted by Mark Grondin

Mark Grondin @spectrum-pulse.ca · 19/09/2026

Oh look, an actual album review? Talking about how the new Jhene Aiko album 'Westside Whimsy' is one of the best of 2026? Plus comments on 'artistic accountability' and R&B? Yeah, that's the ticket. Enjoy! youtu.be/YSteL2XhSx4

Jhene Aiko with ‘Westside Whimsy’ just made the best R&B album of 2026... or maybe just best album

Mark Grondin @spectrum-pulse.ca · 24/09/2026

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The former broke Mariah's record for the longest running #1 on the Hot 100 this week with 'Choosin' Texas'. The latter is a Morgan Wallen ripoff who has had a few minor hits this year with his biggest coming this year with - I shit you not - 'Brunette'. It's been a year, 2026 has.

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Mark Grondin @spectrum-pulse.ca · 24/09/2026

It's a bad thing when I can say that I both know who Tucker Wetmore is (he's a Morgan Wallen ripoff who broke out a few years ago), but also that his biggest hit this year was named... And I'm not kidding... 'Brunette'.

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Mark Grondin @spectrum-pulse.ca · 24/09/2026

I do appreciate that for once, Bluesky appears to have been more normal about the Massachusetts lesbian bar thing than a) I expected and b) than the other site expected. Mostly thanks to the most obvious Simpsons joke imaginable, but hey, a win's a win!

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Mark Grondin @spectrum-pulse.ca · 23/09/2026

You put Blake Slatkin, Julia Michaels, and Dylan Brady (of 100 gecs!) behind the boards for a debut and you only get this? ...sadly not surprising, but also not as weird as it should be. (So no, no juice at all, but more on that later)

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Mark Grondin @spectrum-pulse.ca · 22/09/2026

The reality is that it's just dependent on the role. I generally wouldn't do it because the roles I'm interviewing for now normally come through a more conservative structure where appearing professional is valued - I'm not bringing any drinks. But in other cases... eh, your choice, I guess?

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Mark Grondin @spectrum-pulse.ca · 22/09/2026

I'm seeing multiple social media sites argue (for days) about whether it's okay to bring an iced coffee to a job interview. I'm assuming on some level this is bad algorithmic capture, because there's inane, there's asinine, and then there's this. Get a hobby or special interest, please.

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Mark Grondin @spectrum-pulse.ca · 20/09/2026

I think with the benefit of distance, 'art school "provocateur"' is a good way to frame much of that material. A lot of the theory is there, the execution can follow through and making some damn great art... But then the requirement to engage with the rest of the world makes things fall apart.

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Mark Grondin @spectrum-pulse.ca · 19/09/2026

Jhene Aiko with ‘Westside Whimsy’ just made the best R&B album of 2026... or maybe just best album

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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

You know, whenever I see articles going off about hacking, especially within LLM shops, I look at my cybersecurity designations and wonder when some of these ACTUAL FUCKING CRIMES will be prosecuted. Then I sigh heavily.

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Reposted by Mark Grondin

There have always been humans who thought: 1) The world will end soon 2) It will happen in a cool, exciting way 3) It’ll happen to me personally 4) I’ll be a martyred prophet, or a warlord, or otherwise special 5) People who don’t see this are lesser “Sexy apocalypse” is a great phrase for that

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Mark Grondin @spectrum-pulse.ca · 17/09/2026

20 y/o me was an asshole, I don't particularly value his opinion and neither should anyone else.

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Reposted by Mark Grondin

Live for everyone, because ooh man, this was a trip. Because This Is Not A Stella Lefty Review, it's a breakdown youtu.be/v4kZSyH9emQ

This Is Not A Stella Lefty Review, it's a breakdown

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Today might be one of the most overstuffed release days this year... So naturally I started the morning with a Duke Deuce album I didn't even know dropped lol. (and it slapped - God, this is everything I wanted The Scythe to be)

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Glen, Lord of Pikmin @glennlovespikmin.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Feels like if the Doctor isn't trans or enby at this point, what are we even doing? You want brave in that political climate, BE brave.

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Reposted by Mark Grondin

phenomenal video, it's reawakening my urge to hide in a hole and do nothing but listen to indie country for several hours.

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Mark Grondin @spectrum-pulse.ca · 17/09/2026

Live for everyone, because ooh man, this was a trip. Because This Is Not A Stella Lefty Review, it's a breakdown youtu.be/v4kZSyH9emQ

This Is Not A Stella Lefty Review, it's a breakdown

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Finally, Carly Rae and Kylie... hate to say it, but even if they make every pride playlist and SHOULD be getting more, they're for the niche pop fans... And they don't need the validation of Spotify monthly listener totals. They deserve better, but I don't grade them there. Neither should you. /end

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And that's not counting the acts that aren't especially active (OutKast) or are dead (Amy, 2Pac), where unless a song goes viral or they get a major cross-platform sync or shoutout, I don't see their numbers spiking back up. What catalogs stand in popular memory only tend to shrink with time.

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Secondly, you're looking at a lot of older rock acts - and between the bands and their fans have not exactly taken to streaming, where the only one that kind of surprises me are the Foos (and it would have been circa 2023). And how many of them are releasing albums that are well-received?

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...gotta be honest, I'm not as surprised as I think I'm supposed to be? First, Spotify monthly listeners are based off of how many people within a specific month are listening to an act, not all time, and there's a LOT of acts here that pre-date streaming and have fanbases predominantly stateside.

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Just resurfacing this again :)

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And the reason I know any of this is because I was among the HP fanfic writers reaming that godawful POS fifteen fucking years ago where he had that meltdown. I don't know if I wound up less weird, but certainly more respectable (somehow). bsky.app/profile/spec...

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Let's keep this clear: Yudkowsky doesn't have advanced degrees. He's not an academic, he writes with enough academic lingo to try and sound smart, networking with a lot of Silicon Valley types where that's the only criterion to show up to the gangbang. And when confronted on that, he implodes.

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Let's make this abundantly clear, this was true of Yudkowsky over fifteen fucking years ago, when he got gentle criticism about the science in Harry Potter & Methods of Rationality, specifically that he didn't understand Bayesian probability (critique from an actual physicist), he threw a tantrum.

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Gwen Snyder is uncivil @gwensnyder.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

I think everyone online WAY over-estimates how many folks are tapped into pop music discourse the way they are, and how much influence they have. (the poster child in 2026 is Ella Langley, which for the offline folks is easily the biggest star of this year, but how folks are saying '...who?')

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Reposted by Mark Grondin

My freshman year in college I got assigned to the dorm that had long been the opt-in favorite of some very annoying libertarianish LARPers who really had no interest in showers or social skills and sometimes liked to performatively do group sex stuff in common spaces. This is the same vibe

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