Sia's idiosyncrasies are on full display on this track. With a unique, wavering instrumental and interesting lyrical metaphors, this was definitely one of the quirkiest hits of 2015. I'm a big fan of her vocals during the verses, as she limits her vocal runs and makes the song sound dramatic and emotionally heavy. However, this song burned fairly quickly for me, with the chorus moving from "kind of catchy" status to "kind of annoying" status in the span of about a month. This occurred partially due to the fact that songs of this nature aren't quite my favorite thing to listen to on a hot summer day, and partially due to the fact that her lack of enunciation can be irritating. Furthermore, the song's production carries an artificial feel to it that also got tiring, and I wish she released a more stripped-down version just to hear what that would be like. All in all, this is a fascinating song, though not without aspects that prevent it from fully coming together.
Pros: Originality, vocals during the verses Cons: The chorus (not very engaging for me, a bit mellow, even), the artificial feel of the production
Trey Songz served up another solid offering in 2015 with this clean, soft R&B ode to his girl. The song progresses very naturally, and the chorus is surprisingly catchy, especially his great layered falsetto ("we can take, we can take, we can take our time, baby..."). It's slickly produced, and he doesn't try to do much with what could have ended up being a cringeworthy, overdone attempt at a love song. The handclaps during the prechorus and snaps in the instrumental help to make sure it's not a complete snoozefest outside of the chorus, and the midtempo pace of the song makes it listenable in many more situations than if it were a slow song. Despite all of these good things, the song is admittedly generic, sliding right into place on any rhythmic or urban radio station's playlist. It's not innovative in any sense of the word, and subsequently it's nothing more than a very well-executed standard R&B track.
Pros: Great production, good vocal performance Cons: Very generic, standard melodies and lyrics
Rihanna - Bitch Better Have My Money
alexanderao's rating: 7.4/10
Rihanna's second and final appearance on my year-end lists comes courtesy to this jam, which provides plenty of quotable lines along with the sass that fans have missed from her over the last two and a half years. The instrumental is good, as it is infectious, polished, and even mysterious-sounding at times (especially during the outro). Rihanna's delivery is great here, giving the song its spunk and demanding attitude. Although it does feel like one of those quick club-style hits that I end up completely forgetting about in a year's time, for now it still feels like a good track to party with. The one major issue that I have with this song is its outro; the instrumental is alright, I quickly change the song whenever the distorted "muh MONEY" voice comes in, as I could only hear that a certain number of times before it became grating and a literal turnoff. This was a smart song to release for Rihanna, though, as it is just a straight-up banger.
Pros: Rihanna's sass, the chorus Cons: The outro, the somewhat one-dimensional instrumental, potential to sound horrible in a year
This position in 2014: Tinashe f/A$AP Rocky - Pretend
I love Elastic Heart. Probably prefer the version ft The Weeknd, but either way the production is unique and it stands out among all other releases this year. Good lyrics too.