Finally someone dragging Focus and Good For You (am so tired of all the Selena praises in here)
Doing It, Uptown Funk and King
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Originally posted by Remmy
The Q&A I'm living.
This looks nice. Great graphics!
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Originally posted by Girlicious
I died at the GFY drag
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Originally posted by Halien4Life
oh gerl,
okay I must admit listening to the worst of's was a good decision after classes, cauz I kinda giggled @ Mr. Liar and Gently. The former has the worst AND laziest "Ooh ooh-ooh OOH" hook of all-time, and the latter is just....INCREDIBLY boring, I could not get past that 1 minute, and it reminds me of the 2011-2012 K-HORROR of dubstep in every goddamn song
Oh K-pop, how I love you
P.S. Hilarious commentary. Esp. Dope and Good For You
Thanks! Glad some people are enjoying.
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Originally posted by Red
"Stressed Out"...how did we get to this point with 21p? And the worst part is that it's severely overplayed now...and it's only going to get worse from here.
"Uptown Funk" is still cool, though.
Haven't looked very much into twenty-one pilots past this. Kind of scared to! Appreciate the rounds you and Remmy are doing on everyone's best ofs.
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Originally posted by Suilen
Doing It, Crazy and Dope I agree with the worst non-kpop entries and I don't think I want to get closely acquainted with the worst of k-pop.
Haha save yourself the misery tbh
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Another final today and need to practice a routine, but writeups and #27-25 should still happen today!
Worst Hits: I've only heard a few songs of twenty one pilots and I really don't like the singer's voice. I didn't like GFY at first but it grew on me. The drag though. Focus is brilliant but I'm probably the only person who stans for it.
Best Hits: Doing It Definitely a fave on SUCKER. I agree with BTR being trash too. Uptown Funk is catchy/nice but I don't really care for it too much and King is pretty good.
I like that you have two separate countdowns (Hits and Kpop) that are sure to attract a wide range of ATRLers.
I've missed a bit of this and fell behind so let me catch up!
OMG The 4 Walls drag in your DM. I actually still really enjoy it. But it's the kind of music up my alley. I also really love One Call Away, it's a shame it's becoming a non-event like Charlie's career!
I literally agree with everything about Good For You though, it's a mess, and nn @ the ads.
Dear god, I can never shame Mamamoo for their lame blues songs ever again because Tahiti released this clunker back in January. This is honestly worse than anything Mamamoo's done: I just don't like blues music, but Mamamoo has never released a song that sounds as thoughtlessly composed as Phone Number. Tahiti scream their heads off, and are sure to clean out any small insects that may be taking up residence in your ears and brain. The instrumental is clunky, and the hook is comically bad: "gimme phone, phone, phone number" Tahiti dispassionately moan as they dial their crotches like a rotary. Luckily this turd flopped so they went back to putting out the pop that they usually excel at (But they'll still flop anyway, so whatever).
26. Playback - Playback
There's one scene in this MV where the girls are swinging scissors around each other and waving them in front of their eyes while making aegyo faces - very unsafe girls, didn't anyone ever tell them not to play with scissors? I mention scissors because OH BOY the arranger of this track went crazy with the snip, cut, and paste tools. There's basically only two bars of unique music in this three minute song, with the producer taking Playback's name literally by just retriggering one line to make the entire chorus of this song. To say this song is redundant would be an understatement. To say this song is redundant would be an understatement. An understatement. An understatement.
25. Untouchable - Crayon
I knew something was up when I noticed the number 18 was in the hook to this song (That will be elaborated on later.). Translations I looked up said that this song has some heavy wordplay going on and that it was supposed to be an ironic lampooning of yolo-swag Korean rap, but cheekiness doesn't magically make a song better than it actually is when the song is this poor. Crayon sounds like a very, very straight take on the looming and obnoxious beats of the trap side of Korean hip-hop, with an instrumental ripped right out of 2014's equally awful No Flex Zone. That clever hook is just as irritating, as Untouchable bark it out over and over again. Sort of off-topic, but I wonder if TS Entertainment got any shit for letting Hyosung pop out her puppies and do bends in a mini-dress in front of a minor like it was a scene out of Poison? Speaking of which, I'm pretty sure that's the last promotion Secret's gotten in years, maybe I should appreciate the fact that TS has given Hyosung employment somewhere.
Fetty Wap surprised me with Trap Queen earlier the year simply on virtue of it being a decent rap song, but he made sure to turn up the suck for his follow-up single. Most rap music today is super repetitive and sounds just as flat as the rap track before it, so My Way's ridiculous vamping really wouldn't be remarkable if not for the fact that rap vocals generally employ different rhythmic structure for different verses. Not My Way! My Way has only two gears: two barely functional bars of distinct rhythm replayed a few times and a seven-note "melody" that sounds like intermittent signals on a radio. In case that wasn't enough for listeners, the producers decide to put a late delay on Fetty's singing to give you two repetitions of what sounds like a masturbating elephant. Just what I wanted for Christmas!
25. The Weeknd - The Hills
The first seven seconds of this song are really cool because it sounds like it could be an Arca instrumental, but then it turns into your average hip-hop song immediately after that, oh well. This song sounds scary as hell, which I'd say would be good production if it was meant to be scary, but the only truly horrific thing in this song is the part where The Weeknd goes castrato in the bridge and namedrops The Hills Have Eyes. Everything else is about a booty call, but you wouldn't be able to tell by ripping out The Weeknd's shrill and weak vocals. From the high-pitched metal noise sounding off before the chorus (At least I think it's inorganic, it could easily just be an overdub from The Weeknd) and tinny strings ripped out of Ao Oni I would have assumed that this song is from the soundtrack to some freaky sci-fi movie.
D.Holic debuted this year with the seriously boring I Don't Know but apparently dumped their old songwriter and hired a schizophrenic coke addict in his stead. That's my only theory on how someone could write songs as weird as Murphy and Sally (Really good song and could easily be slotted onto f(x)'s Red Light next to some of the more experimental tracks like Rainbow and Spit It Out.) and Chewy. Chewy draws parallel's to f(x)'s Nu ABO in the respect that their instrumentals are a potpourri of noises: kick drum playing a melodic figure? Sure. String solos out of the blue and gone just as fast as they came? Add it in. Weird windy synths just playing ascending scales? I guess it wouldn't hurt. Hoping these girls can stick around to release more of this weird shit 'cuz I'm all for it.
26. Jimin ft Iron - Puss
It must sting to be one of those Bobby asslickers who think idols are ruining "real hep-hap" what with their idol-try and hygienic, shower-having ways now that Jimin's rap career is going so well. GOD was a great song and Puss was even better, easily the best thing to come out of the Unpretty Rapstar franchise. The rapidfire delivery between Jimin and Iron that leads up to that nasty squashed brass hook provides great momentum, and the intro of "I'm the motherfucking top madam" is very memorable. The fact that Puss was one of the biggest hits of the year makes me really happy as I know that must've caused major butthurt to delusional YG stans.
25. MFBTY - Bang Diggy Bang Bang
This song reminds me of when American hip-hop was fun and wasn't running at some grueling 20BPM tempo. Bang Diggy Bang Bang is enjoyable to a ridiculous degree, and man, the percussion backing to this is intense. This song is basically carried entirely by the percussion section, yet it never sounds hollow, nor does it repeat itself. This song hasn't worn on me at all since I heard it back in March. Great energy and groove all around, especially the brilliant snare build to the final chorus.
Kind of glad Adele passed on this song, her pristine vocal would've scrubbed anything interesting right out of this track. This song would be totally unremarkable if Sia's straining, off-pitch voice wasn't on it. That's right: I enjoy it when Sia jumps for a note and falls flat on her face. I clap when Sia's voice breaks in the middle of a note. It's musical schadenfreude. In a genre where everyone's processed to the point where they end up sounding the same, Sia is refreshing in the fact she is distinct. Sia knows this is her selling point too: Note how on Titanium and Wild Ones her vocal is a lot tighter and tidied up, while in Chandelier and Alive she's a lot rougher. Trust me when I say that with the tools available to producers in post, it would be really simple to clean up Alive, so Sia's choosing to sound strained on purpose. (Also trust me when I say some of your faves likely sound more like Sia does on Alive than you'd might hope when you strip away the post-processing.) But goddamn, Sia wants to sing, and she's going to get up and do it even if she really can't and is likely shredding her voice. And I agree with that sentiment: anyone should be allowed to sing if they want to. Sia's more punk than pop, if you look at it in that mindset.
26. Tove Lo - Talking Body
Let's get this out of the way first, in case anyone is curious: I did not like Habits. Really flat song for me, and the notion of it being "so real and relate-able" (I guess if you're a jobless bum who fellates middle-aged men behind bushes while their kids take a ride on the swing set just out of sight it would be pertinent to you.) meant nothing to me as I don't smoke at all, and I'm certainly not a chronic, dependent stoner ("Stay high ALL the time", read the lyrics, folks). Moments is just a little less boring than Habits, Not on Drugs is pretty good, and Timebomb is the best song she's done, and would've fared very well on this list had it managed to become a hit. In any case, Talking Body is a pretty good substitute, lots of singing and melody, big chorus. In a year of slow, understated songs, Talking Body was just the kind of pop gem we needed.
25. Anthony Lewis ft TI - It's Not My Fault
Not quite sure who this punk is and I'm not very interested in finding out because he brings nothing to this track. TI isn't the reason this song made the Best Of list, either. No, the instrumental alone was good enough to lift this song up to number 25. It's honestly fantastic, but is hampered by the fairly unimaginative topline layered over it. The saxes in this are utilized in a unique way by actually involving them in the track beyond a stupid drop or hook, it uses the baritone sax to add a bit of bite to the already sinister backing. It's quite similar to TTS's excellent track Holler, except while that song probably has the better instrumental, the decision to have the group oversing on that probably brought it down to around this track's level. Shame this song was wasted on someone with as little presence as Anthony Lewis, could've been a major song for a more charismatic singer.
I just really can't put up with Sia, she's just one of those artists that leaves me sia-ing red when I listen to her, you know? I really did enjoy reading the write-ups for your songs though.
Agreed about The Hills and My Way also. The Hills sound be way better than it is, and mostly seems to get by on production to me. I liked most of what Fetty had to offer this year. The way I see it, his work is completely messy, and risks falling apart at any minute, but that makes it entertaining and catchy that few songs are. Didn't quite work on My Way. Can't say that I've heard what an elephant masturbating sound like though
Gonna just switch "Alive" and "Hello" and pretend that the opposite didn't happen...
Okay, seriously, though, I can totally see your argument against "The Hills". It's really, REALLY off-putting, and it actually baffles me that it became a #1 hit. I mean, The Weeknd is obviously one of the biggest artists going right now, but "Can't Feel My Face" and "Earned It" are both songs that sound destined to be played on the radio (even if I'm not the biggest fan of the latter). "The Hills"...jesus. Might be the most surprising hit of the year, considering HOW big it was. I like it for the exact reasons you don't, but, again, I completely understand why you wouldn't like it.