NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Entertainment

Sound of the Overground: The X Factor takes the top spot again

By Duncan Greive
Volume·
30 Mar, 2012 01:00 AM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Third place winner of US X Factor 2011, Chris Rene has stormed to the top of the NZ Chart with his single 'Young Homie'. Photo / Supplied

Third place winner of US X Factor 2011, Chris Rene has stormed to the top of the NZ Chart with his single 'Young Homie'. Photo / Supplied

Opinion

Each week Duncan Greive performs some low grade analysis on the week’s New Zealand Singles Chart and reviews a few new release pop singles.

Chris Rene swoops from the US X Factor to go straight in at number one, with Carly Rae Jepsen breathing down his neck, a prospect he should love but probably finds deeply uncomfortable because her dress isn't made from fair-trade organic cotton. Such a piss-weak song. Jepsen should roll him by next week, hopefully. The big gainer is "DJ" Havana Brown's We Run the Night, rising from 30 to five, giving lie to my poorly founded predictions of an end to pop trance's chart domination.

The big moves don't end there, with last week's number one single, K'Naan's Is There Anybody Out There? dropping to number seven, and the week prior's a slot behind it at eight.

The only new entry aside from the chart topper is Taylor Swift's Safe and Sound from The Hunger Games soundtrack, in at 22. Given how wowed the crowd was at her shows last week that could go a little higher, and she's also got three albums in the long trousers chart, including her cute debut album finally entering a mere five-and-a-half-years after it was released.

Other charts of note include the US, where One Direction's debut album just debuted at number one, and the UKs singles chart, where Kimbra and Gotye's Somebody That I Used to Know has its fourth week at number one, and is the best-selling single of the year so far. Who knew it would run like that, huh?

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

RIANZ Top 10 New Zealand singles chart

1 Chris Rene - Young Homie
2 Carly Rae Jepsen - Call Me Maybe
3 Fun. Ft. Janelle Monae - We Are Young
4 Nicki Minaj - Starships
5 Havana Brown - We Run the Night
6 Emeli Sande - Next To Me
7 K'Naan ft. Nelly Furtado - Is Anybody Out There?
8 Reece Mastin - Good Night
9 Train - Drive By
10 Cher Lloyd - Want U Back

SINGLE OF THE WEEK: Lana Del Ray - Blue Jeans
VOLUME rating: 8/11
I was trying really hard not to pay attention to all that Lana Del Ray stuff that was going round. Are we really still worried about whether someone's "indie" or whatever? Jesus Christ. Anyway, this song has a few things which are great, namely the slow-burning immensity of the production and the deep-seated longing of the chorus. I'm also okay with the r'n'b affectations of the lyrics ("fresh to death", "gangsta", "ride or die") - that's the world we live in, or we'd want to, right?

I do have a problem with that "You were like/ James Dean" line, though. I mean seriously, does anyone think she's seen anything other than a Rebel poster? THERE HAVE BEEN OTHER HANDSOME MEN. What's with continuing to venerate these boomer icons? That cannot be all we're good for, endlessly repeating the falsehoods handed down to us by that most self-obsessed generation. That stars and drugs and f**king and music and everything were never so good as when they were growing up. It crushes us, diminishes our power and makes the future a game of "who can do the most with what tiny fragments of uncharted cultural territory are left". Um, no.

Still, it's a neat song.

B.O.B. - So Good
VOLUME rating: 4/11
I'm sure this guy used to be good. Like he came out and people would talk about him. Now he's just some schmuck, maybe the least credible rapper this side of Flo Rida. It's like he's been taken into a room and told you can have hits, or be great, but not both. Maybe there are some people who still believe that, but a large percentage of the biggest rappers of the last 10 years (DMX/Jay-Z/50 Cent/Eminem/Game/Outkast/Lil Wayne/T.I./Kanye West/Drake et al) have been untouchably great at some point in their arc. I'm certain that B.o.B. had it in him to be more than what he has ever been. Instead we get this bouncy, empty petrol station forecourt rap produced by OneRepublic. No fun at all. If you're going to listen to a song named So Good, let it be by Electrik Red, okay?

Discover more

Entertainment

TV Pick of the Week: X Factor USA and X Factor Australia

21 Dec 08:30 PM
Entertainment

X Factor winner announced

23 Dec 05:05 PM
Entertainment

Sound of the Overground: It's a brand new era, but it feels great

15 Mar 01:00 AM
Opinion

Sound of the Overground: A Somali, a Canadian, and a glimmer of hope

22 Mar 01:00 AM

Chris Rene - Young Homie
VOLUME rating: 2/11
Bruno Mars' new single Young Homie features the trilby king singing about happiness and good times over a lush, piano-led production. This is his third number one single, following that one where he wears a trilby and plays with a cassette tape, and that one where he wears a trilby in a convertible (a dangerous game, but Mars has never been anything but a "crazy guy"). Young Homie should cement Mars' place in the hearts of hip dads everywhere. Oh damn. Just realised this isn't by Bruno Mars. Eh. Same diff.

Stan Walker - Music Won't Break Your Heart
VOLUME rating: 3/11
Ironic title alert! Stan Walker's approach is basically a neutered version of late-period Chris Brown. Which wasn't the most teste-heavy music ever created to begin with. It's sort of Ne-Yo's fault, all this stuff. While Because of You was a killer single, it basically invited all the erstwhile r'n'b singers to the club, and they just got smooth and curiously unsexual (for such a nominally arousing environment). As I said last week, the charts appear to be tiring of this stuff, and this only enters at 17 in the New Zealand singles charts, so probably sold somewhere in the region of 12 digital downloads. Party on!

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

To submit or suggest a track for review email singles@volumemagazine.co.nz or tweet @duncangreive.

Follow Volume on Twitter
Like Volume on Facebook
- Volume

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Entertainment

Entertainment

‘I’ve been put up on the shelf’: Temuera Morrison laments Star Wars limbo

17 Jun 03:16 AM
Entertainment

Justin Bieber reveals 'broken' state, admits to anger issues

17 Jun 01:08 AM
Entertainment

Doctor to plead guilty in Matthew Perry drug case, faces 40 years

16 Jun 11:30 PM

Sponsored: Embrace the senses

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Entertainment

‘I’ve been put up on the shelf’: Temuera Morrison laments Star Wars limbo

‘I’ve been put up on the shelf’: Temuera Morrison laments Star Wars limbo

17 Jun 03:16 AM

The Kiwi actor has been part of the Star Wars universe for more than 20 years.

Justin Bieber reveals 'broken' state, admits to anger issues

Justin Bieber reveals 'broken' state, admits to anger issues

17 Jun 01:08 AM
Doctor to plead guilty in Matthew Perry drug case, faces 40 years

Doctor to plead guilty in Matthew Perry drug case, faces 40 years

16 Jun 11:30 PM
Why 'Prime Minister' is a must-watch for political enthusiasts

Why 'Prime Minister' is a must-watch for political enthusiasts

16 Jun 06:00 PM
Help for those helping hardest-hit
sponsored

Help for those helping hardest-hit

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP