In The Quantity Ones, I’m reviewing each single #1 single within the historical past of the Billboard Sizzling 100, beginning with the chart’s starting, in 1958, and dealing my means up into the current. E book Bonus Beat: The Quantity Ones: Twenty Chart-Topping Hits That Reveal the Historical past of Pop Music.
“My Favourite Issues” isn’t precisely a grand, showstopping quantity when it arrives in The Sound Of Music. As a substitute, it’s a zippy little earworm supposed to point out our ex-nun hero Maria’s rising bond with the anarchic mob of Von Trapp youngsters that she now oversees. Perhaps there’s only a contact of social commentary in there. Maria tells these youngsters that she simply thinks about her favourite issues — raindrops on roses, whiskers on kittens, and many others. — at any time when she needs to cease feeling down. That optimistic psychological perspective is a superb factor, however it’s not sufficient to cease the rising menace of Nazi energy in Austria. Even with Nazis in there, although, The Sound Of Music isn’t an particularly worrying story. When Hitler annexes Austria, the Von Trapp household merely walks over the Alps to security. No person dies. No person even comes near dying. Perhaps the story implies that these raindrops on roses had one thing to do with the comfortable ending.
The Sound Of Music was the final nice Broadway triumph for the writing duo of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. The 2 of them wrote collectively for the primary time once they had been Columbia classmates in 1920, after which they reconnected years later to make a string of immediately acquainted musicals: Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, The King And I. Should you made it by your teenage years with out having to witness no less than one high-school manufacturing of a Rodgers and Hammerstein present, then you definately weren’t hanging out with sufficient theater youngsters. The Sound Of Music opened in 1959, after which Hammerstein died of abdomen most cancers 9 months later.
Mary Martin performed Broadway’s first Maria Von Trapp, which implies that she sang the unique model of “My Favourite Issues.” The solid recording of The Sound Of Music was the biggest-selling album in America in 1960, so lots of people heard it. However the model of “My Favourite Issues” that almost all of us know is from the 1965 film model of The Sound Of Music. That one had Julie Andrews, a yr out from Mary Poppins, as Maria. The movie was a blockbuster that performed in theaters for greater than 4 years, probably saving twentieth Century Fox Studios and ultimately making sufficient cash to exchange Gone With The Wind because the highest-grossing movie in Hollywood historical past to that time. (Julie Andrews’ solely Sizzling 100 hit, 1964’s “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,” peaked at #66.)
In 1960, only one yr after The Sound Of Music debuted on Broadway, John Coltrane recorded his well-known 14-minute instrumental model of “My Favourite Issues,” utilizing Rodgers and Hammerstein’s easy melody as a launching level. That turned “My Favourite Issues” right into a jazz normal. Nate Patrin as soon as wrote a Stereogum column in regards to the many jazz variations of “My Favourite Issues” — Sarah Vaughan, Dave Brubeck, Solar Ra, Alice Coltrane, a really younger Al Jarreau, loads of others. The tune resonated outdoors of jazz, too. One way or the other, it entered the Christmas-music canon regardless of not being about Christmas in any respect. It’s been recorded by Herb Alpert’s Tijuana Brass, the Supremes, Kenny Rogers, Mary J. Blige, Me First And The Gimme Gimmes, numerous others. In 2003, London group Huge Brovaz had a #2 UK hit with “Favorite Issues,” a flossy rap tackle “My Favourite Issues.” It wouldn’t be the final time somebody tried one thing like that.
Six a long time after The Sound Of Music opened on Broadway, theater-kid pop star Ariana Grande scored a huge hit through the use of the tune from “My Favourite Issues” to sing about shopping for her means out of disappointment. Her tackle the tune finally isn’t that completely different from the unique. “7 Rings” is a pure ode to client tradition, however it’s not like raindrops on roses are confirmed to treatment despair any extra successfully than breakfast at Tiffany’s or bottles of bubbles. Grande has mentioned that she and her buddies wrote “7 Rings” after a procuring expedition that was supposed to assist her recover from a darkish interval. Perhaps “7 Rings,” like “My Favourite Issues” earlier than it, represents an finally deluded try and gloss over previous issues, or to disregard the larger societal ones that loom proper in entrance of you.
The procuring expedition is the origin story for “7 Rings.” Shortly after the only’s launch, Ariana Grande tweeted, “‘twas a fairly tough day in nyc. my buddies took me to tiffany’s. we had an excessive amount of champagne. i purchased us all rings. 💍 it was very insane and humorous. & on the best way again to the stu njomza was like ‘bitch, this gotta be a tune lol’. so we wrote it that afternoon.” Njomza is Njomza Vitia, one of many co-writers who labored on Grande’s earlier smash “thank u, subsequent.” She obtained one of many rings. So did Victoria Monét, Kayla Parx, and Kimberly “Kaydence” Krysiuk, three of the opposite “thank u, subsequent” co-writers. I feel it’s good that Grande’s closest songwriting collaborators are additionally amongst her closest buddies. (The opposite two rings went to Grande’s childhood besties Alexia Luria and Courtney Chipolone. Victoria Monét is now an R&B star, and her highest-charting single, 2023’s “On My Mama,” peaked at #33.)
In that tweet, Grande doesn’t say why she was having a “tough day,” however I can consider loads of causes. Across the time that she recorded “7 Rings,” Grande ended her engagement to Pete Davidson whereas mourning her ex Mac Miller. “thank u, subsequent” is a tune about shifting previous her exes and discovering happiness in herself, however that’s not all the time the simplest factor to do. Perhaps the procuring journey helped, and perhaps it didn’t. I like the concept the tune got here out of Grande’s buddies attempting to assist cheer her up. The one time I ever went to a monster truck rally was in highschool, when a bunch of my buddies had been attempting to assist one child really feel higher after his girlfriend dumped him. Perhaps the Tiffany spree was the pop-star model of that.
The group who labored on “7 Rings” is strictly the identical because the one who made “thank u, subsequent.” Grande co-wrote the monitor with Njomza, Monét, Parx, and Kaydence. She introduced the tune concept to the producers of “thank u, subsequent” — longtime collaborator Tommy Brown and the duo often called Social Home. Grande requested her producers to provide you with one thing that seemed like “My Favourite Issues,” they usually labored up the easy interpolation that you just hear on “7 Rings” — the “My Favourite Issues” melody rendered in eerie plinky-plonk keyboard sounds over lure 808s. Grande and her co-writers are huge followers of musicals and rap, and “7 Rings” is a fairly profitable try and fuse these two issues. The mix ought to be hopelessly awkward, however it works an entire fuck of rather a lot higher than the final pop hit constructed on a Sound Of Music pattern, former Quantity Ones artist Gwen Stefani’s genuinely ghastly 2006 monitor “Wind It Up.” (“Wind It Up” peaked at #6. It’s a 1.)
Victoria Monét and Kayla Parx weren’t truly on the Tiffany procuring journey. Grande shocked each of them with rings, and she or he additionally introduced them the thought for the tune. Grande and her co-writers had a good time within the studio arising with the monitor and dancing to the top consequence. Monét informed E! Information that all of them dropped their new rings into champagne glasses at one level — “simply doing probably the most.” The monitor got here collectively rapidly, and the ultimate model isn’t tremendously completely different from the demo that they recorded that day. The one factor that got here later was the bridge, the place Grande sings in a uneven however fluid speed-rap cadence.
Victoria Monét tells E! Information that the unique concept was to have a guest-rapper on “7 Rings,” however they got here up with the thought to have Grande almost-rap it as an alternative: “We needed to do one thing that that felt extra rhythmic as a result of we had been singing within the verses fairly melancholy. So once I went in, I simply sort of needed to provide a juxtaposition to the opposite verses and likewise nonetheless be on theme and braggy and thrilling and actually impressed by the hip-hop-type ad-libs within the background and simply extra free. And so she heard it, she’s like ‘I’m reducing this. I really like this.’” Monét, Parx, Njomza, and Kaydence all sang backup on “7 Rings,” and Parx credit Monét with the thought for the bridge. Because the bridge got here collectively, Parx was in Indonesia, they usually all traded strains over group-chat and FaceTime. “7 Rings” was a bunch effort. It took eight folks to put in writing the tune however these eight folks had been already functioning as a artistic unit. It’s not that completely different from a band arising with a tune within the studio or the apply area.
Even with the enormous international success of “7 Rings,” none of these writers ended up getting paid all that a lot. That’s as a result of “7 Rings” has ten credited writers, and two of them are Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. Rodgers and Hammerstein had been clearly long-dead by the point Ariana Grande recorded “7 Rings,” and even by the point that Grande was born. (Rodgers died in 1979.) In 2009, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s estates offered the rights to their songs to Imagem, a Dutch music writer that makes a speciality of stage musicals. Harmony, a much bigger writer, purchased Imagem in 2017, and the Rodgers and Hammerstein songbook was the largest a part of that transaction.
When Grande’s reps introduced the already-completed “7 Rings” to Harmony for approval, the corporate drove a tough cut price: Grande may use that “My Favourite Issues” melody, however provided that Harmony obtained 90% of the “7 Rings” songwriting royalties. (Grande nonetheless will get the common quantity of efficiency royalties, which is a special cut up.) Grande’s reps didn’t even hassle to barter; they only agreed to these phrases. It could be one factor if Rodgers and Hammerstein’s households had been getting paid for “7 Rings.” As a substitute, these songwriting royalties are a company asset. That’s simply the best way issues work nowadays. Companies management every thing, and perhaps they’ll throw you a couple of scraps should you make them sufficient cash. It’s not certainly one of my favourite issues.
Maybe Ariana Grande’s folks didn’t have a alternative there. They needed to make a deal rapidly as a result of Grande needed to launch “7 Rings” rapidly. Grande had an infinite quantity of success by surprise-releasing “thank u, subsequent” as a one-off single. She talked about how she needed to work extra like a rapper — simply dropping music when it felt proper, somewhat than going by the rigamarole of a protracted album cycle, as pop stars are sometimes anticipated to do. She teased “7 Rings” within the “thank u, subsequent” video, taking part in a little bit of the “My Favourite Issues” melody and exhibiting a license plate with the tune’s title. Judging by this New York Occasions report on the “7 Rings” royalty scenario, Grande’s group hadn’t negotiated these royalties when the video dropped. “7 Rings” can’t exist with out the “My Favourite Issues” melody; you’d just about must scrap the tune and begin once more. I suppose Grande didn’t wish to try this. She needed to launch “7 Rings” straight away, and the tune got here out very quickly after the negotiations had been over. Perhaps she ought to’ve found out the royalties earlier, however it was most likely sensible to maintain her momentum going.
In any case, “7 Rings” got here out on the actual proper second. “thank u, subsequent” was nonetheless excessive up on the Sizzling 100, and the world was evidently craving a rap-adajent, Broadway-referencing money-spending anthem from Grande. Given the entire backstory that I simply laid out, I want I may hear extra of that post-heartbreak camaraderie on the finished monitor. “7 Rings” works much less as a tune about relying in your buddies whenever you’re in a nasty place, extra as an ecstatic dive into the Scrooge McDuck cash financial institution. Grande lovingly describes jewellery and fancy footwear and hair extensions like she’s a rapper, however the context is completely different. There are exceptions, however rappers often use client items as signifiers of their very own up-from-nothing narratives and as a approach to present their attachment to prison tradition, the place you would possibly as effectively blow all of your cash straight away as a result of you already know it’s not protected in a checking account and you can be useless tomorrow anyway. Grande doesn’t come from that world. It’s somewhat foolish to listen to her bragging about her extensions — “You want my hair? Gee thanks, simply purchased it” — when she’s a white woman whose actual hair most likely wouldn’t look that completely different. (White ladies purchase hair extensions, too, however that was a typical criticism when “7 Rings” blew up.)
Grande does sing about her buddies on “7 Rings”: “Carrying a hoop, however ain’t gon’ be no Mrs./ Purchased matching diamonds for six of my bitches/ I’d somewhat spoil all my buddies with my riches/ Assume retail remedy my new dependancy.” However the focus is much less on spoiling her buddies, extra on all of the shit that she will be able to purchase and you may’t. She actually sings that “happiness is similar worth as crimson bottoms,” and the world would most likely be an easier place if that had been true. Should you suppose too onerous in regards to the message of “7 Rings,” the shit simply will get miserable. The tune works higher should you let it work as aspirational absurdity. On the primary verse, Grande sings, “Lashes and diamonds, ATM machines/ Purchase myself all of my favourite issues.” The implication there may be that she buys herself ATM machines, which is fairly humorous, as flexes go. Should you owned an ATM machine, you’d simply must inventory it with your personal money, proper? That’s like Macaulay Culkin having a totally useful McDonald’s franchise in his mansion within the Richie Wealthy film, or like Grande’s fellow theater-kid pop star Barbra Streisand having a hidden shopping center beneath her home as a result of she’s too wealthy to go to an actual one. The impracticality is what makes it enjoyable.
Perhaps I’m pondering an excessive amount of in regards to the lyrics. As a pure musical development, “7 Rings” is terribly sharp. It takes actual finesse to make “My Favourite Issues,” a tune that doesn’t precisely radiate swagger, work in a ’10s quasi-rap context. Tommy Brown and Social Home’s manufacturing is comparatively spacious and minimal. The opening bloops works as a bigger-budget model of ringtone-era snap music. The way in which Grande sings that acquainted melody jogs my memory of dancehall deejays iterating on pop requirements. When the drums drop in, Grande leaves that melody behind and locks right into a stop-start stream, virtually as if she’s panting: “My wrist? Cease watchin’. My neck? Is flossy.” That turns right into a hypnotic chant in regards to the freedom to purchase any shit you need: “I see it, I prefer it, I need it, I obtained it.” Should be good. Fuck, I’m occupied with the lyrics once more.
It by no means sounds compelled, the best way Ariana Grande retains toggling backwards and forwards between that outdated Broadway melody and people almost-rap cadences. It ought to really feel messy and glued-together, however she sells the transitions. When she sings the melody, she and her backup singers add multi-tracked hums, lending it a little bit of a weightless Child Cudi feeling. These hums lengthen to the rap components, which works to make the entire thing extra cohesive. Grande’s ad-libs are catchy and foolish, very similar to precise rap ad-libs. When she launches into the bridge, she’s shockingly easy and effotless: “Shoot, go from the shop to the sales space/ Make all of it again in a single loop/ Gimme the loot/ Nevermind, I obtained the juice/ Nothing however web after we shoot.” It’s simple to think about somebody like Nicki Minaj coming in and dealing with that half, however the tune flows higher with Grande working as her personal guest-rapper. Individuals had been used to listening to rapping and singing as the identical factor by 2019. It didn’t even really feel like a stretch.
Nonetheless, that doesn’t imply everybody was excited to listen to Grande messing round with rap signifiers fairly so freely. The New York rapper Princess Nokia angrily accused Grande of ripping off her 2017 monitor “Mine.” That’s a tune particularly about hair extensions, and it’s obtained Nokia chanting, “It’s mine, I purchased it,” so she may need a degree. Different folks heard echoes of different rap songs, like former Quantity Ones artist Soulja Boy’s 2010 single “Fairly Boy Swag,” which peaked at #34, or like 2 Chainz’ 2011 mixtape hit “Spend It.” The “7 Rings” hook actually does sound just like the “Spend It” hook, however 2 Chainz successfully granted Grande permission to make use of his stream when he rapped on a “Spend It” remix. Later in 2019, Grande additionally sang the hook on “Rule The World,” a 2 Chainz single that peaked at #94. (2 Chainz’ highest-charting lead artist single is 2013’s “We Personal It (Quick & Livid),” the soundtrack tune that he recorded with Wiz Khalifa, which peaked at #16 regardless that I can’t bear in mind ever listening to it as soon as in my life. 2 Chainz additionally made it to #3 as a visitor on Jason Derulo’s 2013 tune “Speak Soiled.” That’s an 8.)
Ariana Grande made one other goofy little cultural-appropriation snafu when “7 Rings” got here out. She celebrated the only’s launch by getting a tattoo on the palm of her hand — the Japanese characters for “7” and “ring.” However folks rapidly identified that these two kanji characters collectively don’t translate to “seven rings”; they imply “small charcoal grill.” She tried to return and alter the that means by including extra stuff to the tattoo, however then it grew to become “small charcoal grill, finger [heart].” I doubt that anybody truly obtained mad about that; it’s too humorous.
Grande launched “7 Rings” in January 2019. The video arrived concurrently the tune, and it’s obtained Grande starring alongside the six buddies who obtained these rings. (Director Hannah Lux Davis, who additionally did the “thank u, subsequent” video, obtained an eighth ring.) The clip works a bit like a hyper-girly parody of all of the rap movies the place dudes stand round flexing shirtless and speaking on cash telephones in McMansion kitchens, however I’m unsure it’s imagined to be a parody. Perhaps it’s only a slight tweak on a longtime cliché.
“7 Rings” debuted at #1 and stayed there for a very long time, with transient interruptions from a few smaller hits. The only dominated in each metric that Billboard measures — streaming, gross sales, radio play. I’d really feel somewhat responsible when it got here within the automobile and I’d hear my daughter singing alongside. Perhaps I used to be just a bit extra painfully acutely aware of pop-song messaging when she obtained sufficiently old to develop into an energetic, invested fan. However the guilt wasn’t sufficient to get me to show it off or to cease singing alongside myself. “7 Rings” is no one’s concept of a masterpiece, however it felt good when it got here on. You don’t must be loopy wealthy to internalize the “I need it, I obtained it” bit. Typically, that chant would loop in my thoughts once I purchased myself some Nerds Rope on the fuel station. Luxurious is available in many kinds.
The success of “7 Rings” launched Ariana Grande’s thank u, subsequent album, which got here out in February, simply six months after Grande’s earlier LP Sweetener. thank u, subsequent is an actual top-shelf pop album, top-of-the-line full-lengths that any A-lister has launched up to now decade. I like most of thank u, subsequent rather a lot higher than “7 Rings,” and I like “7 Rings” fairly effectively. The week after the album got here out, the “thank u, subsequent” single surged to #3 on the Sizzling 100, which meant that Grande held the highest three spots on her personal. (I’ll point out the #2 tune down beneath.)
After thank u, subsequent got here out, Ariana Grande headlined the final pre-pandemic Coachella after which went out on an enviornment tour. I took my daughter to see her that December. She was 10, and it was her first live performance. We had a good time. The present was super-choreographed, and it was spectacular to see Grande singing and dancing like that on the identical time. I don’t suppose all of the vocals had been dwell, however sufficient of them had been. There was an entire mini-set of Christmas songs, and I suppose Grande and her dancers had been throwing $100 Starbucks present playing cards into the gang, although we weren’t shut sufficient to catch one. Grande ended that present with “7 Rings,” and it sounded good on enviornment audio system. I’ll most likely all the time have somewhat additional affection for Grande due to that have, the identical means I do with Taylor Swift and Seaside Bunny and Chappell Roan and all the opposite acts I’ve taken my child to see since then.
Grande’s opening act at that present was Social Home, the duo who co-produced “thank u, subsequent” and “7 Rings.” In summer season 2019, Grande guested on their single “Boyfriend,” and her presence was sufficient to show that tune right into a #8 hit. (It’s a 6.) Perhaps Grande didn’t purchase rings for the Social Home guys, however she did give them an enormous tune. That was good of her. It took Grande a very long time to land her first #1 hit, however the twin successes of “thank u, subsequent” and “7 Rings” had been proof that she’d entered a brand new zone of pop-chart dominance. In spite of everything that point, Grande’s imperial period had arrived. She couldn’t miss. Because the thank u, subsequent album cycle wore down, Grande saved scoring hits simply by exhibiting up on one-off singles with different well-known singers. We’ll see much more of her on this column.
GRADE: 7/10
