Week in Review — June 15

It was, above all, a week of birthdays — an almost absurd run of them. Between June 17 and June 21, the calendar handed us Barry Manilow, Paul McCartney, Blake Shelton, Ann Wilson, Paula Abdul, Lionel Richie, and Lana Del Rey, among others, and we marked nearly every one with a fresh deep-dive. Add a record-breaking moment at the top of the American chart and a long-lost supergroup back in the spotlight, and here’s the best of the week on Music Videos Club.

← Last week’s review (June 7–13, 2026)

This Week on Music Videos Club

Lana Del Rey – Young and Beautiful (2013)
The signature ballad of Baz Luhrmann’s Great Gatsby wasn’t written for the film at all — Lana Del Rey had already recorded its chorus a year earlier for an album that left it off. We traced how a rejected song became one of the defining movie moments of the decade, the “memory cue for Daisy” Luhrmann asked for, and the strange Oscar snub that kept it off the ballot.

The Power Station – Some Like It Hot (1985)
It began as a throwaway favor and turned into one of the great supergroups of the ’80s: two restless members of Duran Duran, Chic’s Tony Thompson on drums, and Robert Palmer out front. The song was built, on purpose, to showcase a drummer — and this year its parent album turned 40, marked by an expanded reissue that includes the band’s 1985 Live Aid set.

Lionel Richie – All Night Long (All Night) (1983)
The Caribbean chant millions have sung for forty years — “Tom bo li de say de moi ya” — means absolutely nothing, and Richie made it up that way on purpose. We told the story of how the ballad king deliberately built a global party record, swept three Billboard charts at once, and sang it to a worldwide audience of two billion at the 1984 Olympics.

Paul McCartney – No More Lonely Nights (1984)
McCartney’s biggest ’80s ballad was carried by a guitar solo from a member of Pink Floyd — David Gilmour, who liked the song so much he gave away his session fee. A worldwide Top 10 hit that rose from one of McCartney’s most notorious flops.

Heart – Barracuda (1977)
Heart’s fiercest riff wasn’t written about a lover or a fight — it came out of a hotel room the night a record-company man sneered a vile rumor about the Wilson sisters to Ann’s face. We told the true story behind one of rock’s greatest riffs.

Ann Wilson – Straight On (1978)
As disco took over in 1978, the Wilson sisters answered with a song that borrowed the groove but kept its rock muscle — and decades later, Ann Wilson still summons every ounce of it live, as a 2021 performance proves.

Blake Shelton – God’s Country (2019)
It didn’t exist on New Year’s Day 2019. Written on January 7 and recorded within a week, it became a seven-week country No.1 and the CMA Single of the Year — one of the fastest hits of Shelton’s career.

Alison Moyet – Is This Love? (1986)
The co-writer of Moyet’s biggest solo hit was hidden behind a fake French name — “Jean Guiot” — who turned out to be Dave Stewart of Eurythmics. She kept up the disguise in interviews until journalists revealed the truth.

Paula Abdul – Straight Up (1989)
A Laker Girl turned choreographer recorded a song that wasn’t even written for her — partly in the songwriter’s bathroom, for about $3,000 — and a young director named David Fincher turned it into the video that made her a superstar.

Carly Simon – That’s the Way I’ve Always Heard It Should Be (1971)
A song sung from a woman’s point of view about the quiet despair of marriage was written, in its words, by a man — Carly’s friend Jacob Brackman. Her label feared it was too complex for a debut single; it hit the Top 10 and won her a Grammy.

And more from the week: Barry Manilow – I Write the Songs (1975), the ultimate songwriter’s boast that Manilow didn’t actually write; Los Bravos – Black Is Black (1966), the first international smash by a Spanish band, sung by a German who read the words phonetically; The Motels – Suddenly Last Summer (1983), the song Martha Davis carried for a decade before it woke her at 3 a.m.; and Kiss – Sure Know Something (1979), the gentle pop ballad whose acoustic 1995 performance helped reunite the original lineup.

This Week’s No. 1s

Billboard Hot 100: Taylor Swift, “I Knew It, I Knew You” — a new entry straight to the top, and a genuinely historic one (more below). See the full Billboard Hot 100.

UK Official Singles Chart: Olivia Rodrigo, “Stupid Song” — debuting at No. 1. See the full Official Singles Chart.

Music News This Week

Taylor Swift’s “I Knew It, I Knew You,” from the Toy Story 5 soundtrack, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 — her 15th career chart-topper, and a new record for the most Hot 100 No. 1s amassed by any act in the 21st century. For all the modern milestones, the all-time picture is a reminder of how the catalog era still towers over the present: the Beatles remain the most successful act in Hot 100 history with 20 No. 1s, and Mariah Carey sits second with 19. Swift, climbing fast, is now within striking distance of records set in the decades MVC spends most of its time chronicling. Read more at Billboard →

This Week’s Birthdays

A remarkable week for music birthdays — and we marked nearly all of them:

June 17 — Barry Manilow (born 1943), the prolific songwriter behind “Copacabana” and “Mandy” whose own favorite recording is one he didn’t write.

June 18 — Paul McCartney (born 1942), the most successful songwriter in popular-music history; Alison Moyet (born 1961), the bluesy contralto of Yazoo and a major solo voice; and Blake Shelton (born 1976), the 28-time country No. 1 artist.

June 19 — Ann Wilson (born 1950), one of the most powerful voices rock has ever produced; and Paula Abdul (born 1962), the choreographer-turned-pop-superstar.

June 20 — Lionel Richie (born 1949), the Commodores frontman turned global solo icon; and John Taylor of The Power Station and Duran Duran (born 1960). We also remember Brian Wilson, born this day in 1942, the Beach Boys’ troubled genius who reshaped popular music before his passing in 2025.

June 21 — Lana Del Rey (born 1985), one of the most distinctive and influential voices in modern pop.

Until Next Week

That’s the best of the week — a calendar full of birthdays and a fresh stack of stories behind the songs. We’ll see you next Sunday with another seven days in music, including a certain Queen of Quirky Pop whose own birthday just slipped past the deadline.