Hey, everyone. Anthony Fantano here, the internet's busiest music nerd. I hope you're doing well.

Let's talk about chart-topping tunes, number one songs, and we've got a big one here for this video. That would be Alex Warren's "Ordinary", a track that has spent multiple weeks at number one at this point, and in a way, despite its widespread commercial success, has done so almost quietly.

Alex Warren isn't one of these artists who tends to stir up a lot of drama and get hotly discussed in the music social media sphere. In fact, I think the first time I ran across him was for that Chappell Roan video that I did where I was talking about all of the "Pink Pony Club" covers. His was pretty piss poor, in my opinion.

But yeah, this almost covert expert aspect of Alex Warren's popularity. It's surprising when you consider this guy is a former Hype House creator, and after a pretty tumultuous upbringing, had a super legitimate and huge potential career in social media content creation, the influencer space.

But he seems to have made a pretty clean and effective break into the music world, where songs like "Ordinary" here are not only holding that number one spot on the pretty firmly. But Warren actually deprived Drake of that number one spot with his latest single, "What Did I Miss?" A track that clearly Champagne Papi was anticipating was going to take that number one spot.

In fact, Drake took to social media to voice his displeasure with landing merely at number two with the song. But really, how can we be surprised, considering it's such a boring song where he's whining about people who used to be his friends. He can't be friends with them anymore because, Kendrick, because "Not Like Us". Maybe another reason for a Drake to sue, who knows?

But yeah, Alex Warren had a bit of a cheeky response as well to Drake being unsatisfied with not dethroning "Ordinary". And it wasn't an aggressive or over-the-top response, more evidence of Alex being, I guess, a relatively chill guy. There really does seem to be something to the appeal of the song, given that it is just not being ejected from number one right now.

Now, to get into the nitty-gritty of the track, I will say from the outset, I don't enjoy this track. In fact, if I can avoid listening to it, I will. It has been one of my least favorite songs I have heard over the past year, but still, I feel like its popularity makes sense because aesthetically and musically, I feel like it carries the fingerprints of so many other corny number one artists and hits that we've heard in decades past.

First off, you've got those big stomp clap rhythms and choruses with lots of layered vocal harmonies, which are really coming back in style. I really don't know how culturally that is the case right now, especially given how much flak Brendon Abernathy got for his little "Married in a Year" song with people saying, "Oh, this is just stomp clap crap. This is like Kyle Gordon music, but for real," which the entire internet convened to hate on that, but you let this fucking thing slip by you?! Clearly, these people are not tending the goal. No ill will toward Alex, though. I'm riffing. I'm riffing.

Yeah, there is a bit of a folksiness to the stop clap vibe on this track, but I will say the groove, the progression of it, also reeks of Imagine Dragons influence. But if you could strip back anything about that band that was just the least bit rock and roll and the least bit arena and hype and exciting, and then replace that with Christian music.

So you're essentially looking at through this song, this revival of dramatic millennial, over-the-top, spotlit balladry, paired with some stomp clap grooves, some bland, acoustic instrumentation with a bit of an Imagine Dragons, Christian twist. And there you have the formula this song is bringing to the table.

Then there's also the matter of Alex's vocals, which I don't really care for either. It's got this deep, measured, polite vibrato to it that feels British a little bit in some way. And yet Alex is an American himself, from what I understand. There's something that's a little Sleep Token-coded about it as well. I don't know what it is about this male style of singing at the moment, but it seems to do really well.

But you know what? I will say this. For all of my criticisms in terms of how bland and agreeable and formulaic this song is, I do think when you look at the lyrics and the content of the song at its core, it is coming from a real place, an emotional place, a personal place. To me, this doesn't feel like a cynical piece of pop slop that is desperately trying to do whatever it to appeal to the largest number of people possible. I mean, if in fact that was the case, I would have to call Alex an evil mastermind of music because he really did pull off a grand emotional manipulation here.

But no, I will give it to Alex because it does feel like this song on some level is a real, genuine expression of emotion. It doesn't change the fact that it does feel like I'm reading a Hallmark greeting card. But you know what? Sometimes those can be given with love as well, with a little bit of a big Imagine Dragons chorus and a stomp clap groove. I guess the question from here is that it remains to be seen whether or not Alex will legitimately be able to off-ramp this hit song into a massive solo career and a successful album, too.

And lo and behold, Alex's brand new album, his second album, is set to drop tomorrow, Friday, July 18. There are features from Jelly Roll as well as a Rosé of Blackpink fame in the mix on this one, too. And with backing from Atlantic on this one, it feels like all of the major pieces are there to turn Alex into the next male, acoustic, sad, Benson Boone sensation. I guess we'll just have to see whether or not he can pull off a backflip on live television or something like that in the upcoming months.

But what are you going to do? It's an emotional white boy summer, everybody. An emotional white boy summer. Let me know what you guys think about this track down in the comments. I'm absolutely positively sure that you will.

Anthony Fantano. Alex Warren. "Ordinary". Forever.