Liam Payne heading for UK singles chart
Liam Payne is heading for the UK singles chart as the he became the latest One Direction member to release a solo single. The 23 year old and new dad with partner Cheryl Tweed has released ‘Strip That Down’ a trap/ hip hop/ R&B track featuring Quavo. The song is co-penned by Payne with Ed Sheeran and Steve Mac.
Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee and Justin Bieber hold sway over the UK singles chart as ‘Despacito’ has extended its stay at the No: 1 position for a second week. The song is largely in Spanish, but with Justin Bieber’s remix coming in, his segment of the song is in English which now can be termed as a Spanglish hit. ‘Despacito’ means “slowly” in English. Lead singer Luis Fonsi is no stranger to the English language and UK. He has studied in the US and also being a member of the university choir and toured London as well. The Latin pop/ reggaeton hit has streamed 7.9 million to retain the top spot on the UK singles chart. The song has also topped the charts in Canada, Australia, France, Mexico, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. ‘Despacito’ is produced by Andres Torres and Mauricio Rengifo.
Elsewhere on the UK top 10 singles chart, four other songs remain unmoved from their previous week positions. Harry Styles ‘Sign Of The Times’ which topped the chart a fortnight ago and then dropped down has regained momentum mainly owing to the video for the song. This week ‘Sign Of The Times’ has moved four places from 10 to No: 6. Meanwhile Styles self titled debut album has also topped the UK albums chart this week.
The only song to be able to crossover to the top 10 this week is the rap track ‘Did You See’ by J Hus. The 20 year old Stratford born artist has thus scored his debut top 10 hit after his previous four releases failed. ‘Did You See’ is the first track to be released from the album ‘Common Sense’ by J Hus. The rap artist is of Gambian origin.
Pop star Pharrell Williams has been conferred an honorary degree by New York’s Tisch School of Fine Arts. The ‘Happy’ hitmaker received the Doctor of Fine Arts award on 17th May.
Pink has taken part in a 100 mile cycling charity event to raise funds to end childhood hunger in the US. The pop star and her husband Carey Hart cycled for the No Kid Hungry outing on 18th May in Santa Rosa, California.
It has been revealed that the late Freddie Mercury of the band Queen had lost most of his foot owing to AIDS before his death in 1991. Surviving member and guitarist Brian May told the UK Sunday Times that Mercury had shown other members of the band his foot and said he was having an illness. May has said that Mercury died just months before antiretroviral therapy drugs were introduced in the UK. Freddie Mercury the flamboyant leader of Queen disclosed he had AIDS just 24 hours before his death. He died aged 45 on 24th November 1991.
UK Top 10
TW LW
1 1 Despacito (Remix) – Luis Fonsi/ Daddy Yankee/ Justin Bieber
2 2 I’m The One – DJ Khaled/ Justin Bieber/ Quavo/ Chance/ Lil Wayne
3 3 Symphony – Clean Bandit ft: Zara Larsson
4 5 There’s No Holding Me Back – Shawn Mendes
5 4 Shape Of You – Ed Sheeran
6 10 Sign Of The Times – Harry Styles
7 7 Swalla – Jason Derulo/ Nicki Minaj/ TY
8 8 Unforgettable – French Montana ft: Swae Lee
9 12 Did You See – J Hus
10 6 Galway Girl – Ed Sheeran