I kinda get why, though. The charts were weird this year, there was too much stuff from last year, some really unnoticeable stuff from this year (I didn't even realize Jessie Murph had more than one awful song from the new album charting), and then Ms. Industry Juggernaut releases her worse album, makes the rollout be THEE topic of conversation for months and her fandom puts the whole thing in the charts? It was bound to happen.
Oh vicious Todd is so back. And he should be. "Ordinary" sucks.
EDIT: Jesus Christ and laying into Morgan Wallen so hard that he invokes the fear of potential domestic violence from his ex. The pop charts were BAD this year, huh? And I expect it'll only get worse until 2029, if society still exists then
I was just astonished by this point LOL. And I have to agree, the five-six punches of Swift (even if I didn't mind some from the list) and Wallen's projects were just truly nuts this year
Also, the McRae additions. I have never felt so seen with the double. FINALLY. SOMEONE WHO HATES THOSE WITH ME
...there's never been a good song about the internet, there probably won't ever be a good song about the internet
I thought Bo Burnham's "Welcome to the Internet" was pretty good, though it isn't really a pop song, and I wonder if Todd thought it was too on-the-nose of if he just forgot about it. Either way, I do think it's jumping the gun to say that no one's ever gonna crack the code on singing about the web somehow.
Enjoyed the video as always, though. That whole string of honorable mentions is a great bit for this year, particularly.
I mean, the way Todd phrased it made it sound like he was talking about that across all genres, not just specific ones. I'd wager a guess he'd have the same thinking if, say, Lil Dicky tried to write about the web instead.
Plus, half the songs on Inside are about Burnham's own mental health being all over the place - I'd say that's pretty serious for what's ostensibly a comedy album.
Matty Healy has been great in exploring the influence of internet on communication and society through songs. Most obviously on 'Love It if We Made It' which is basically a song about the craziness of internet age, but great puns in 'Change of Heart', 'Somebody Else', 'I Always Wanna Die' and many others
Okay this is a niche pull, but ANTONYMPH by Vylet Pony is such a great song about the internet from the perspective of a trans MLP fan during the late 2000s. It is more a nostalgic song rather then a song about the current web, but its soooo good. It makes me believe there is fertile song writing ground about the internet, you just need the right angle and not be a fabously wealthy pop star that treats the internet like an annoying raccoon in your yard.
Online by Brad Paisley is not only a good song about the Internet it was made in the early 00s and the message of lying about who you are online to seem cooler than you really are has withstood the test of time.
'that funny feeling' by Burnham is very internet themed too, and a much better song (although I can't stop thinking about whoever called it "we didn't start the fire" for depressed millennials)
I thought of Kate Bush's "Deeper Understanding" from 1989. It's a song about being addicted to a computer that provides a false sense of companionship and comfort, but it's from before the internet was commonly understood, so it's just "a new program," and although it's not a *bad* song, it is one of Bush's lesser works, so only good-ish. Super prescient, though.
I went to check and there are only 4 songs from The Life of a Showgirl that didn't make the list or Dishonorable Mentions: "Elizabeth Taylor", "Opalite", "Ruin the Friendship" (he highlighted this as the 'okay one' in the brutal stretch of the tracklist from "Father Figure" to "Honey" during the "The Fate of Ophelia" review) and "Honey".
She also gets criticism for that song because it's her bringing up high school again. Which in fairness, it actually makes sense this time, but she's just done it way too much over the years
Opalite is interesting to me because it’s pretty good… well the chorus is anyway. The verses are a mixed bag. But also musically the whole thing is built from parts of better songs, including Hold Me Now, Be My Baby and even mothafukkin Twist and Shout. So it’s a good song but also kind of a creatively bereft song too. I’d support it being on a good list or a bad list depending on how you want to talk about it.
As an eldest daughter, the song Eldest Daughter pisses me off on principle for not actually having anything to do with being an eldest daughter, so kudos to Todd for highlighting that.
To be fair, I think those tracks are where the albums shines best, especially on the second half of Opalite's chorus, Elizabeth Taylor's production, and the closer.
The #1 choice fills me with much dread about the state of pop music as #7 fills him with a lot of dread about the state of pop music
I have nothing against that type of music, but there is something about the attempt of jamming resonance with the youth + the rise of megachurches to be ABSOLUTELY creepy.
Yeah, this list was basically a lot of "I don't know what this is" or "I know this artist, but not this song." I think "Ordinary" was the only non-honorable mention I'd heard in a while.
Then again, my local "pop" station hardly plays any new pop music. That whole discourse about pop music's decline this year? I barely even noticed there was a decline. It was awesome.
Yeah, Nathanson's definitely gone down a bit of a rabbit hole, this year
Which is fine. It was an entertaining video, even if I never need to hear anything (good or bad) about Drake or Morgan Wallen again for as long as I live
Tbf Ordinary isn't THAT bad. It's not good either, but its biggest crimes are being bland and overplayed. If it had been on the charts for a couple weeks and then quickly fell off, none of us would remember it. #7 is a good spot for it because it's even mediocre and forgettable in a list of worst songs.
As a moderately practicing Christian I felt shocked by it. To me Jesus is the most cutting edge brave provocative humanistic mind imaginable and I always have problems with his representation as a conservative symbol, so there's nothing new with Christian music sucking. But nothing has ever sound so unironically like this
What kills me about Christian songs like the #1 pick is that they don't actually say anything about Jesus or how Christianity makes their lives better. It's always "Jesus makes me happy" without any specifics.
Speaking as a Christian who sometimes plays electric lead guitar in a Christian church: They talk to God like he’s their distant, depressed boyfriend who just needs words of affirmation to come home. I genuinely don’t know if it’s because they’re shallow, have a fundamental misunderstanding of Jesus, or because some marketing exec in Nashville figured out it sells. Probably all of the above.
To me Jesus is the most cutting edge brave provocative humanistic mind imaginable and I always have problems with his representation as a conservative symbol
If Jesus was alive in the 80s, he'd listen to The Clash.
But really, why is the only "Christian band" I know of that I think have made good music P.O.D?
It really is amazing how almost all media explicitly targeting a Christian audience these days is the most bland and shallow stuff imaginable. And it’s not like there hasn’t been good Christian media made in the past. Lilies of the Field is a great movie and is super Christian. My favorite Christmas movie is The Bishop’s Wife, and that might be one of the most Christian movies ever made. The people making modern Christian radio music and God’s Not Dead movies just don’t have much interest in making interesting stuff that might challenge their audience.
For having the “most cutting edge brave provocative humanistic mind imaginable,” Jesus couldn’t even condemn enslavement. His representation as a conservative symbol is fitting.
Every time I hear it, I think "This isn't that bad. There's a nice groove to it." Then we get to the "moonbeam, ice cream, taking off your blue jeans" pre-chorus and that annoying falsetto, and I'm like "Oh, it's this song. I don't like this song."
I think I'm just never going to like his voice, but it's at least a tiny step up from "Beautiful Things."
I can understand that, And I went from hating him bc of Beautiful Things to having a soft spot for him... Admittedly from the PHCJ subreddit of all things lmfao
I like it regardless I think because I'm just not as big a lyric person as most people to me it's so shameless in its forced dumbness that I kind of enjoy it
I think because you can tell he is trying his hardest in a year when most people are giving nothing , like it's endearing i guess like a toddler who is trying to walk but falls on his face you can't do nothing but root for him
He needs a writing partner or something to get him to stop making ridiculous lyrics and stop trying to sing out of his range, but hes clearly trying and seems to have a decent ear for hooks, which is a lot compared to some other artists on the charts
The funny part about this is that he actually does have a writing partner, and the writing partner wrote the lyric haha. Apparently, they don't really take shit seriously but they got writer's block while working on the song when his writing partner came up with the lyric. It was supposed to be a placeholder but they ended up keeping it haha.
I share Todd’s sentiment that boone will one day make a half decent song. There’s just something about him that makes me think, you’ll get it right someday lil buddy, I believe in you lol
I find what he's released really irritating, but I also wouldn't be surprised if he dropped something that was interesting one day. He has more about him than many other pop starts atm
For me, the worst part of the #1 spot on the list was the whole "youth group pastors trying WAY too hard to connect with the kids" energy. The song itself, the rather "fake" crowd in the stadium concert and the coreography...
So 20 years ago I played in a Christian rock band. This was back when you could still be in a Christian band and your ambition could be to sound like Radiohead, before these youth pastors with acoustic guitars and open chords chased us all away. One of our first explicit rules was “we are not cool” by which we meant “let’s not do anything dorky to try to look like we’re trying to make Jesus down with the streets” or whatever. It was an explicit principle of the band. When you decide to be a Christian band you have to resign yourself to this. If there’s value in what you’re doing, it has to be something in the songs, period.
So, of course, we would play gigs on the bill with other Christian artists and usually be the most interesting band musically while getting golf claps. And that’s whatever. But we brought on a new bassist and we had this one show where he brought these goofy wigs - like big puffy clown Afros - and he said we should start the gig with them on. And I wasn’t sure about it. Apart from whether a white dude in a fake Afro is problematic, it seemed like youth pastor schtick. But what the hell, right.
So we went out with the silly wigs on and did our usual songs… the crowd loved it. Like that was one of our best gigs and it had something to do with creating a goofy feedback energy with the sort of crowd that goes to these shows. It was the same songs as ever but something about this one presentational move made us safe to enjoy.
That’s a long way to say that there’s a chicken and egg problem with Christian music. They do corny shit partly because the main audience for it likes corny shit. But that proves fatal when a song like this “Your Way’s Better” one escapes church grounds.
Not only is this the first time the #1 worst song barely even charted on the worst list, it's also Todd's longest video since the Mission Earth Trainwreckord video, and Todd's longest Pop Song Review since "Am I The Only One".
The only argument I have with the list is “Sports Car” being in the honourable mentions. It’s dumb but it’s a bop imo. I get why people are not super into Tate McRae but that’s been the song that got me into her so 🤷
Yeah, her lyrics are usually not interesting at all (excluding a couple of songs that I did find more compelling) but I simply like the vibes of her faster-paced songs lol.
Like, for example, “Miss Possessive” doesn’t have a groundbreaking concept or some revolutionary execution, but it’s easy to listen to. I liked her last album overall well enough. Didn’t mind the deluxe tracks either.
I am probably never gonna get another chance to mention this anywhere where it's even as tangentially relevant as it is here, so here it goes.
I'm subbed to a Japanese youtube channel called The First Take. They bring musicians on, mostly of course Japanese ones although admittedly not always, and have them perform live in the studio, the conceit being that they only have one take to actually do the song. (I've been following it for a while now and have never seen anyone obviously flub so I have no idea how true this is, but the performances tend to be good so hey, who am I to puncture the magic.)
I bring this up because, near the start of the year, Tate McRae was inexplicably on the show. She isn't the first artist from the anglosphere who's been on the channel (you better believe Avril Lavigne has been there), but there haven't been many of them, so it was so weird to me to see Tate fucking McRae of all people in the same row as like, MyGO from BanG Dream or whatever. It's just such a vibe mismatch in a way I can't quite explain.
Anyway, that massive tangent aside, gosh, this might be one of the least varied lists he's ever done. Not that I really blame him, but it kind of loops back around to funny when half the list is by two people.
Also not surprised to see "What'd I Miss" on here that song is ass.
(I've been following it for a while now and have never seen anyone obviously flub so I have no idea how true this is, but the performances tend to be good so hey, who am I to puncture the magic.)
Fully qualifies for a dishonorable mention though. He usually puts a non-hit. I guess technically the "non-hit" was #1 this time since it was borderline enough and presumably big on tiktok
I would think "Cousins" is just as bad. Granted, I've never heard it until I saw ADoseOfBuckley's video where he describes it as the most awful song of all time. And I agree with him.
That’s super harsh, people have a lot of nostalgia for her hit songs, even non hits like Breaking Dishes is getting play in the wild (or maybe it’s bc I go to gay clubs so my perspective is skewed)
Rihanna also was signficantly more successful than any of those people. Look at her streaming numbers, they are one of (maybe the) highest among people who no longer make music
I wondered why Blue Strips wasn't on more "Worst Of" lists. Most put 1965 probably because of just how wildly problematic it is and the toungue-in-cheekness of it all not coming through.
Both songs are bad and have too much of her grating "we have Amy Winehouse at home" voice but one stuck out for just being a bit more offensive in more ways I guess.
Honestly I think its because if you just hear it on the radio, you barely register the lyrics as words, and if you arent registering that the lyrics are nonsense, it goes by as a decent if by the numbers radio hit
1965 is a joke song that Todd left off the list because he thought way too many people were taking it too seriously... but if the song was actually written and sang well-enough, it wouldn’t have offended everyone. Blue Strips is also a bad song that isn’t written very well, but at least it has a discernible hook. I’ll take “messy, nonsensical” lyrics over “failed tongue-in cheek” lyrics any day.
That list just highlighted to me what I hate most about current music. It's all just so low-energy.
I really don't like that this makes me sound like one of those dreadful "music in my day was better" tossers, but over the last decade or two and particularly this year, music has really gotten bland. I mean, there was bland shit in the past too, but it's never been so completely and utterly dominant.
It arguably started with "Royals", but I really felt it hard in 2017. The year end 100 reflects it too. Even the "happier" songs on the list either aren't really bops or were holdovers from the previous year. Even Katy Perry's top song that year was kinda a bummer.
Indeed - I totally get the David Guetta criticism these days and not denying some of his stuff can be incredibly lazy these days. But at least his tunes sound fun and have a bit of energy. Even some of the lazier samples (looking at you Rudimental's Alibi) have some life to them.
Honestly I get why he’s so pissed about this because me and my friend group feel the same. I never was a Swiftie but her hits are typically ear worms so I normally gave all of her albums a once over to see if there’s anything worth adding to my mega playlist. And then “Folklore” comes out and suddenly It feels like she’s evolving and becoming an artist I can respect and not just a guilty pleasure. And she reinforced that perspective with “Evermore”and “Midnights”. I convinced people to give these albums a try and they really liked them. “The Tortured Poets Department” wasn’t as good but it wasn’t bad either.
And then she drops the pile of crap that is “The Life of a Showgirl”. We all got mad because it felt like she tricked us into respecting her as an Artist and she then gives us something like “Wood”. I imagine Todd feels the same kind of anger. We know she can do better. She chose not to.
Unrelated but it always makes me smile a little when Todd shouts out Lindsay Ellis. Nice to see that they are still on good terms.
At this point though I do start to feel part of an older generation when I wonder how much of Todd’s current audience have any awareness of Channel Awesome. It has been seven years since we was a part of that company and he (understandably) doesn’t really talk about it. I have to imagine a sizeable amount of his viewers only know him as an online music reviewer.
Where's Lupa in nowadays ?. Have to ask because I never watch Channel Awesome at all. Only knowing her from Todd's Pitbull "Give Me Everything" Pop Song Review that I watch one-two months ago.
I’m happy that Todd mentioned his non-hate for Benson Boone and left Mystical Magical as a dishonorable mention. Way too much of the YouTube music community tore that song apart. I guess I don’t hate that song as much everyone else does; I mean it’s not a good song, but what part of it is so extremely offensive other than it being mildly annoying and having two bars of stupid lyrics?
I feel that way except about Beautiful Things. I didn't even know that people hated it that much until after it was out for awhile. I remember Mic The Snare mentioning liking it in one of his videos, too.
For all this talk about pop music's supposed decline this year, I barely even noticed there was a decline. Listening to other forms of music is great, you guys.
For example, this is the first time I've heard Jessie Murph outside of that Koe Wetzel song. That wasn't my favorite song or anything, but she sounded fine on it. Here? My god, it's like Megahan Trainor had hay fever.
The number 1 might be the most I've cringed at a song in a long time. Zero authenticity, reeks of a youth pastor that shouldn't be left alone around teens doing the how do you do fellow kids shtick.
Well I predicted the top 3 of the worst list correctly, but Drake and Cody Johnson were a surprise to me and I thought the Chris Brown song was going to be It Depends.
I yelled "WAIT THAT'S A BLACK GUY?!" when Nice To Meet You came up. It's so aggressively white (and I say that as a very white guy) and I fucking hate it. The main "rock/alt" station in my area is how I know it and it's the one song that makes me truly understand why people say rock radio is dying.
TLOAS was an absolute pile of dreck, in spite of sales numbers. It's like she was trying to re-create the fresh new style vibe captured with 1989 and ran straight into the brick wall of not being able to catch that lightning in a bottle twice. Alex Warren is like a discount Imagine Dragons, only worse, if that's even possible.
Almost every year there's at least one song on the list I either completely disagree with or at least find decent (with Training Season, Vampire and Surface Pressure being the latest).
This year, it's Sports Car, a song I'd deem okay at best and couldn't defend if I tried. What a shit year.
Just want to point out the absolute horror when Todd mentioned that Noted Alcoholic™ Morgan Wallen’s idol is Keith Whitley… for those who aren’t familiar with country music, Whitley famously died young from alcohol poisoning
Half the list being "oops all Taylor" makes me wonder if Taylor really has misread the extent to which she can write songs by herself. I remember in a thread a couple months back I asked how she could go from lyrics like "So casually cruel in the name of being honest" to "Karma is a cat, purring in my lap cause it loves me" and someone mentioned around that time she had a co-writer. Jack Antonoff really was the last person keeping her honest - a lot of the best songs on Tortured were result of his production. Actually Romantic sounds like something I would have written as a fucking teenager. Either that, or something seriously broke her brain during the Eras tour and she never recovered.
Oh yeah, also if you're gonna rhyme "daughter" and "slaughter", take a page from Iron Maiden's book and sing it in the most stupidly over the top way possible.
the honorable mentions basically being "Oops, All Taylor!" killed me 😭
And a little bit of Morgan Wallen.
Taylor and Morgan have to do a duet next year.
And they need to call it "Not Mad".
as a swiftie I CANNOT TAKE ANY MORE L’S THIS YEAR
it's only a matter of time at this point
And well add in Adam Levine and somehow David Guetta purely for Todd's benefit.
I read that to the tune of Mambo number 5
And Tate
I fucking died when he had a different artist then jumped back to taylor and morgan 😭
Same lol. That was a good bit.
Taylor will 100% make a diss track against Todd on her next album.
I honestly thought he was just going to put that entire album in there
I kinda get why, though. The charts were weird this year, there was too much stuff from last year, some really unnoticeable stuff from this year (I didn't even realize Jessie Murph had more than one awful song from the new album charting), and then Ms. Industry Juggernaut releases her worse album, makes the rollout be THEE topic of conversation for months and her fandom puts the whole thing in the charts? It was bound to happen.
Same lmao.
Oh vicious Todd is so back. And he should be. "Ordinary" sucks.
EDIT: Jesus Christ and laying into Morgan Wallen so hard that he invokes the fear of potential domestic violence from his ex. The pop charts were BAD this year, huh? And I expect it'll only get worse until 2029, if society still exists then
The honorable mentions 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I was just astonished by this point LOL. And I have to agree, the five-six punches of Swift (even if I didn't mind some from the list) and Wallen's projects were just truly nuts this year
Also, the McRae additions. I have never felt so seen with the double. FINALLY. SOMEONE WHO HATES THOSE WITH ME
I thought Bo Burnham's "Welcome to the Internet" was pretty good, though it isn't really a pop song, and I wonder if Todd thought it was too on-the-nose of if he just forgot about it. Either way, I do think it's jumping the gun to say that no one's ever gonna crack the code on singing about the web somehow.
Enjoyed the video as always, though. That whole string of honorable mentions is a great bit for this year, particularly.
I assume he wasn't counting musical comedy and only meant music made by "serious" artists
I mean, the way Todd phrased it made it sound like he was talking about that across all genres, not just specific ones. I'd wager a guess he'd have the same thinking if, say, Lil Dicky tried to write about the web instead.
Plus, half the songs on Inside are about Burnham's own mental health being all over the place - I'd say that's pretty serious for what's ostensibly a comedy album.
“Look at the internet, it’s cracking as hell!”
He already kind of did it.
My first thought was "The Internet Is For Porn" from Avenue Q.
Ayo Technology is a banger
https://youtu.be/5RDSkR8_AQ0?si=bz8ZxEw3Kz7Jha98
Don't forget the album "Because The Internet"
WORLDSTAR is a legit banger.
I guess Todd hasn't heard about Ninajirachi's album this year
Ninajirachi was exactly who I thought of. Sometimes it feels like Todd only listens to music in the Top 40. That feels so exhausting.
Californication (the song) is tangentially about the internet?
No, that song (like every other Red Hot Chili Peppers song) is about California.
... and fornication.
I have been listening to that song, nearly my entire life, and it just dawned on me about the pun in the name
Patt Finnerty finally made me realize why they write about California so goddamn much.
Because they are dogshit at writing lyrics.
"California" has four syllables. Job half done. Good thing they aren't from Maine.
Not really while it was around in 98 it didn't really have the mass adoption it saw later and was still seen as something for nerds.
Sorry, I’m not home right now 🚶♂️🕸️
Mainly basing off the “getting high on information” line.
Matty Healy has been great in exploring the influence of internet on communication and society through songs. Most obviously on 'Love It if We Made It' which is basically a song about the craziness of internet age, but great puns in 'Change of Heart', 'Somebody Else', 'I Always Wanna Die' and many others
Ahem:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBTsFZGzoho&list=RDwBTsFZGzoho&start_radio=1
Okay this is a niche pull, but ANTONYMPH by Vylet Pony is such a great song about the internet from the perspective of a trans MLP fan during the late 2000s. It is more a nostalgic song rather then a song about the current web, but its soooo good. It makes me believe there is fertile song writing ground about the internet, you just need the right angle and not be a fabously wealthy pop star that treats the internet like an annoying raccoon in your yard.
Online by Brad Paisley is not only a good song about the Internet it was made in the early 00s and the message of lying about who you are online to seem cooler than you really are has withstood the test of time.
And Taylor Swift appears in the music video as a backup dancer for Brad
'Phobia' by Nothing But Thieves is the first good Internet song I thought of
'that funny feeling' by Burnham is very internet themed too, and a much better song (although I can't stop thinking about whoever called it "we didn't start the fire" for depressed millennials)
I thought of Kate Bush's "Deeper Understanding" from 1989. It's a song about being addicted to a computer that provides a false sense of companionship and comfort, but it's from before the internet was commonly understood, so it's just "a new program," and although it's not a *bad* song, it is one of Bush's lesser works, so only good-ish. Super prescient, though.
that was get off the internet by le tigre erasure
I went to check and there are only 4 songs from The Life of a Showgirl that didn't make the list or Dishonorable Mentions: "Elizabeth Taylor", "Opalite", "Ruin the Friendship" (he highlighted this as the 'okay one' in the brutal stretch of the tracklist from "Father Figure" to "Honey" during the "The Fate of Ophelia" review) and "Honey".
i don't think he mentioned the closer with sabrina either
He did not. Me personally, it’s just kind of okay, while the ones that made the list are actually bad.
The title track was the only one I found as passable, but I read a lot of people said it was too stomp/clap for them.
...Every time I think i know what stomp/clap is, I see it get applied to another song that makes me even more confused.
Which is amazing since the opening stanza might be the worst set of lyrics on the whole album
Is it really worse than any run on Wood? Or “my dick’s bigger?” Or “everything’s just trolling and memes”?
None of those are as bad as "legitly"
Maybe it’s just me I thought ruin the friendship was weird too. Making the guys suicide about herself lmaooo
She also gets criticism for that song because it's her bringing up high school again. Which in fairness, it actually makes sense this time, but she's just done it way too much over the years
Opalite is interesting to me because it’s pretty good… well the chorus is anyway. The verses are a mixed bag. But also musically the whole thing is built from parts of better songs, including Hold Me Now, Be My Baby and even mothafukkin Twist and Shout. So it’s a good song but also kind of a creatively bereft song too. I’d support it being on a good list or a bad list depending on how you want to talk about it.
The chorus is so similar to one of the firsts songs of Luis Miguel, 1+1=2 Enamorados.
yeah, there are about 4, maybe 5 songs on tloas that i stream. cannot believe this woman released eldest daughter and thought it ate 💀
As an eldest daughter, the song Eldest Daughter pisses me off on principle for not actually having anything to do with being an eldest daughter, so kudos to Todd for highlighting that.
“Opalite” best-song-by-default train keeps rolling 🥳
To be fair, I think those tracks are where the albums shines best, especially on the second half of Opalite's chorus, Elizabeth Taylor's production, and the closer.
Except for Honey. I really do not like that song.
The #1 was a surprising twist.
But also good lord what shit do they feed you people?
The #1 choice fills me with much dread about the state of pop music as #7 fills him with a lot of dread about the state of pop music
I have nothing against that type of music, but there is something about the attempt of jamming resonance with the youth + the rise of megachurches to be ABSOLUTELY creepy.
Also, it just sucks as a song
I wrote this song for the Christian youth...
I recognized 2 songs on this entire list (including honorable mentions), and one of them was just because Todd reviewed it already.
Yeah, this list was basically a lot of "I don't know what this is" or "I know this artist, but not this song." I think "Ordinary" was the only non-honorable mention I'd heard in a while.
Then again, my local "pop" station hardly plays any new pop music. That whole discourse about pop music's decline this year? I barely even noticed there was a decline. It was awesome.
I only recognised ophelia, and the cody johnson song. Not bad, Im hoping i'll recognise more off the best list.
Yeah, Nathanson's definitely gone down a bit of a rabbit hole, this year
Which is fine. It was an entertaining video, even if I never need to hear anything (good or bad) about Drake or Morgan Wallen again for as long as I live
Ordinary is surprisingly low.
Seeing that song being that low was a chilling omen for the rest of the list...
I mean number one makes ordinary sound like Beat it
Tbf Ordinary isn't THAT bad. It's not good either, but its biggest crimes are being bland and overplayed. If it had been on the charts for a couple weeks and then quickly fell off, none of us would remember it. #7 is a good spot for it because it's even mediocre and forgettable in a list of worst songs.
I kind of like it because its so bland lol
It’s helped by the fact that it’s so bland and forgettable
Next year is just gonna be a dick measuring contest between Morgan and Taylor to see who can get the most spots and dishonorable mentions
Morgan has a good chance, but Taylors dick is bigger
I never even heard of Your Way is Better, but the moment he played that clip I was like, yeah, worst song of the year. No arguments here.
It just keeps proving the King of the Hill joke right. They aren’t making Christianity cooler, they’re making pop worse.
As a moderately practicing Christian I felt shocked by it. To me Jesus is the most cutting edge brave provocative humanistic mind imaginable and I always have problems with his representation as a conservative symbol, so there's nothing new with Christian music sucking. But nothing has ever sound so unironically like this
https://preview.redd.it/1629ic3p1j8g1.png?width=900&format=png&auto=webp&s=0a4d34426a1be76a701ef11d14fa9026c081151b
What kills me about Christian songs like the #1 pick is that they don't actually say anything about Jesus or how Christianity makes their lives better. It's always "Jesus makes me happy" without any specifics.
Speaking as a Christian who sometimes plays electric lead guitar in a Christian church: They talk to God like he’s their distant, depressed boyfriend who just needs words of affirmation to come home. I genuinely don’t know if it’s because they’re shallow, have a fundamental misunderstanding of Jesus, or because some marketing exec in Nashville figured out it sells. Probably all of the above.
I still think the Taylor song was worse though.
If Jesus was alive in the 80s, he'd listen to The Clash.
But really, why is the only "Christian band" I know of that I think have made good music P.O.D?
It really is amazing how almost all media explicitly targeting a Christian audience these days is the most bland and shallow stuff imaginable. And it’s not like there hasn’t been good Christian media made in the past. Lilies of the Field is a great movie and is super Christian. My favorite Christmas movie is The Bishop’s Wife, and that might be one of the most Christian movies ever made. The people making modern Christian radio music and God’s Not Dead movies just don’t have much interest in making interesting stuff that might challenge their audience.
For having the “most cutting edge brave provocative humanistic mind imaginable,” Jesus couldn’t even condemn enslavement. His representation as a conservative symbol is fitting.
He discussed it during the Ordinary review lol
I knew mystical magical wasn't gonna be in the main list and expected it to be in the honorable mentions.
What surprised me was Todd having a soft spot for the Boone.
Those backflips count for a lot
There's so few pop guys of any kind any more, at least he's trying something.
Every time I hear it, I think "This isn't that bad. There's a nice groove to it." Then we get to the "moonbeam, ice cream, taking off your blue jeans" pre-chorus and that annoying falsetto, and I'm like "Oh, it's this song. I don't like this song."
I think I'm just never going to like his voice, but it's at least a tiny step up from "Beautiful Things."
I can understand that, And I went from hating him bc of Beautiful Things to having a soft spot for him... Admittedly from the PHCJ subreddit of all things lmfao
I like it regardless I think because I'm just not as big a lyric person as most people to me it's so shameless in its forced dumbness that I kind of enjoy it
I think because you can tell he is trying his hardest in a year when most people are giving nothing , like it's endearing i guess like a toddler who is trying to walk but falls on his face you can't do nothing but root for him
I kinda agree, people rag on him for being a “try hard” and “disingenuous”, I don’t think he’d get half those criticisms if his songs weren’t terrible
I get it. I have never heard a song of his I actually like but at least he's trying. I think he has potential.
I think Mystical Magical is goofy AF but I think it's also cute so I like it. It's a huge upgrade from beautiful things which I absolutely hated.
I think he'll get there soon.
He needs a writing partner or something to get him to stop making ridiculous lyrics and stop trying to sing out of his range, but hes clearly trying and seems to have a decent ear for hooks, which is a lot compared to some other artists on the charts
The funny part about this is that he actually does have a writing partner, and the writing partner wrote the lyric haha. Apparently, they don't really take shit seriously but they got writer's block while working on the song when his writing partner came up with the lyric. It was supposed to be a placeholder but they ended up keeping it haha.
Ok then he needs a better writing partner
I share Todd’s sentiment that boone will one day make a half decent song. There’s just something about him that makes me think, you’ll get it right someday lil buddy, I believe in you lol
He's already there for me bc I like mystical magical.
Don't take my comment as an insult because it was more me expressing surprise that Todd and I both have a soft spot for the same artist haha.
I think it's down to Boone at least trying to be a showman and having a personality.
Boone gives theatre kid energy. And the 'Moonbeam Ice Cream' lyric has been so clowned on that it's lameness and corniness has grown on me a little.
I find what he's released really irritating, but I also wouldn't be surprised if he dropped something that was interesting one day. He has more about him than many other pop starts atm
Proof that Morgan Wallen is Country Drake in the video.
I still like "Saloon 5"
“Certified Country Boy”.
Certified Countryphile?
For me, the worst part of the #1 spot on the list was the whole "youth group pastors trying WAY too hard to connect with the kids" energy. The song itself, the rather "fake" crowd in the stadium concert and the coreography...
Sweet baby Jesus, the coreography.
(Sorry for how long this is)
So 20 years ago I played in a Christian rock band. This was back when you could still be in a Christian band and your ambition could be to sound like Radiohead, before these youth pastors with acoustic guitars and open chords chased us all away. One of our first explicit rules was “we are not cool” by which we meant “let’s not do anything dorky to try to look like we’re trying to make Jesus down with the streets” or whatever. It was an explicit principle of the band. When you decide to be a Christian band you have to resign yourself to this. If there’s value in what you’re doing, it has to be something in the songs, period.
So, of course, we would play gigs on the bill with other Christian artists and usually be the most interesting band musically while getting golf claps. And that’s whatever. But we brought on a new bassist and we had this one show where he brought these goofy wigs - like big puffy clown Afros - and he said we should start the gig with them on. And I wasn’t sure about it. Apart from whether a white dude in a fake Afro is problematic, it seemed like youth pastor schtick. But what the hell, right.
So we went out with the silly wigs on and did our usual songs… the crowd loved it. Like that was one of our best gigs and it had something to do with creating a goofy feedback energy with the sort of crowd that goes to these shows. It was the same songs as ever but something about this one presentational move made us safe to enjoy.
That’s a long way to say that there’s a chicken and egg problem with Christian music. They do corny shit partly because the main audience for it likes corny shit. But that proves fatal when a song like this “Your Way’s Better” one escapes church grounds.
Not only is this the first time the #1 worst song barely even charted on the worst list, it's also Todd's longest video since the Mission Earth Trainwreckord video, and Todd's longest Pop Song Review since "Am I The Only One".
Excluding the James Somerton video of course.
The only argument I have with the list is “Sports Car” being in the honourable mentions. It’s dumb but it’s a bop imo. I get why people are not super into Tate McRae but that’s been the song that got me into her so 🤷
It's objectively a good pop song, and when he played the clip I thought he was including it in the countdown and I was about to protest
I would not call it objectively good. It basically combines all the least interesting tropes of modern pop into something even less interesting
“Objectively good” is not a thing that exists in art. Thats what opinions are, subjectivity.
Yeah, her lyrics are usually not interesting at all (excluding a couple of songs that I did find more compelling) but I simply like the vibes of her faster-paced songs lol.
Like, for example, “Miss Possessive” doesn’t have a groundbreaking concept or some revolutionary execution, but it’s easy to listen to. I liked her last album overall well enough. Didn’t mind the deluxe tracks either.
Sports car by Tate McRae has been named pitchfork best song of 2025
I am probably never gonna get another chance to mention this anywhere where it's even as tangentially relevant as it is here, so here it goes.
I'm subbed to a Japanese youtube channel called The First Take. They bring musicians on, mostly of course Japanese ones although admittedly not always, and have them perform live in the studio, the conceit being that they only have one take to actually do the song. (I've been following it for a while now and have never seen anyone obviously flub so I have no idea how true this is, but the performances tend to be good so hey, who am I to puncture the magic.)
I bring this up because, near the start of the year, Tate McRae was inexplicably on the show. She isn't the first artist from the anglosphere who's been on the channel (you better believe Avril Lavigne has been there), but there haven't been many of them, so it was so weird to me to see Tate fucking McRae of all people in the same row as like, MyGO from BanG Dream or whatever. It's just such a vibe mismatch in a way I can't quite explain.
Anyway, that massive tangent aside, gosh, this might be one of the least varied lists he's ever done. Not that I really blame him, but it kind of loops back around to funny when half the list is by two people.
Also not surprised to see "What'd I Miss" on here that song is ass.
It says a lot about my brain that I'm now imagining Stephen A Smith delivering hot takes about Jpop.
Ado the GOAT
Not to puncture the magic about The First Take, but the only reason I know about them are other Youtubers puncturing their magic
This is the only mistake I've seen on there, and it was so wholesome.
I can’t believe number 10 is real. That sounds like a fucking south park bit from 2005 about country music
"Sings it like a commercial for BBQ sauce" is an all-timer
No good songs about the internet is “The Internet is For Porn” erasure.
And don't forget Welcome to the Internet!
Most validating line: Todd straight-up calling Taylor a child. I feel like she's the dumbest and least empathetic she's ever been.
I’ve been getting into “Taylor is a horrible narc” videos recently and after watching those none of this is surprising to me
Say more please
A year so bad for music that Kanye's H*** H***** doesn't even make the dishonorable mentions list
It wasn't a hit. Todd only ranks hits.
Fully qualifies for a dishonorable mention though. He usually puts a non-hit. I guess technically the "non-hit" was #1 this time since it was borderline enough and presumably big on tiktok
Good it's time to ignore kanye and not give him an ounce of the attention he craves for maybe he will stop and try to fix whatever is left of himself
I think it's for the best we don't give that guy any more attention.
I would think "Cousins" is just as bad. Granted, I've never heard it until I saw ADoseOfBuckley's video where he describes it as the most awful song of all time. And I agree with him.
Saw someone say that Rihanna being a popstar is going to be remembered the same way Will Smith, John Travolta & Tracy Ullman used to be popstars.
You mean noted star of the masterpiece Battleship, Rihanna?
Voice of Smurfette, Rihanna?
That’s super harsh, people have a lot of nostalgia for her hit songs, even non hits like Breaking Dishes is getting play in the wild (or maybe it’s bc I go to gay clubs so my perspective is skewed)
Rihanna also was signficantly more successful than any of those people. Look at her streaming numbers, they are one of (maybe the) highest among people who no longer make music
Saying Tate sounds like a Rugrat is so mean lol
But is he wrong?
Never forget his first introduction to Nicki Minaj was saying she sounded like a Rugrat
Thta line made me LMAO
I wondered why Blue Strips wasn't on more "Worst Of" lists. Most put 1965 probably because of just how wildly problematic it is and the toungue-in-cheekness of it all not coming through.
Both songs are bad and have too much of her grating "we have Amy Winehouse at home" voice but one stuck out for just being a bit more offensive in more ways I guess.
I think it's honestly the most confusing lyrics I've ever heard, maybe there's some strip club cultural references we're missing.
I still don't know who was stripping.
Honestly I think its because if you just hear it on the radio, you barely register the lyrics as words, and if you arent registering that the lyrics are nonsense, it goes by as a decent if by the numbers radio hit
1965 is a joke song that Todd left off the list because he thought way too many people were taking it too seriously... but if the song was actually written and sang well-enough, it wouldn’t have offended everyone. Blue Strips is also a bad song that isn’t written very well, but at least it has a discernible hook. I’ll take “messy, nonsensical” lyrics over “failed tongue-in cheek” lyrics any day.
That list just highlighted to me what I hate most about current music. It's all just so low-energy.
I really don't like that this makes me sound like one of those dreadful "music in my day was better" tossers, but over the last decade or two and particularly this year, music has really gotten bland. I mean, there was bland shit in the past too, but it's never been so completely and utterly dominant.
It arguably started with "Royals", but I really felt it hard in 2017. The year end 100 reflects it too. Even the "happier" songs on the list either aren't really bops or were holdovers from the previous year. Even Katy Perry's top song that year was kinda a bummer.
Indeed - I totally get the David Guetta criticism these days and not denying some of his stuff can be incredibly lazy these days. But at least his tunes sound fun and have a bit of energy. Even some of the lazier samples (looking at you Rudimental's Alibi) have some life to them.
The Chris Brown hate is BACK, baby! It never left - but it’s BACK!
He's right about tate mcrae but I won't take sports car slander #wearesportscar
They say love hate relationships end in one way or the other, and it looks like Todd's love hate relationship with Taylor Swift has ended in hatred.
(Though probably not to the extent that it has with Drake)
Honestly I get why he’s so pissed about this because me and my friend group feel the same. I never was a Swiftie but her hits are typically ear worms so I normally gave all of her albums a once over to see if there’s anything worth adding to my mega playlist. And then “Folklore” comes out and suddenly It feels like she’s evolving and becoming an artist I can respect and not just a guilty pleasure. And she reinforced that perspective with “Evermore”and “Midnights”. I convinced people to give these albums a try and they really liked them. “The Tortured Poets Department” wasn’t as good but it wasn’t bad either.
And then she drops the pile of crap that is “The Life of a Showgirl”. We all got mad because it felt like she tricked us into respecting her as an Artist and she then gives us something like “Wood”. I imagine Todd feels the same kind of anger. We know she can do better. She chose not to.
Unrelated but it always makes me smile a little when Todd shouts out Lindsay Ellis. Nice to see that they are still on good terms.
At this point though I do start to feel part of an older generation when I wonder how much of Todd’s current audience have any awareness of Channel Awesome. It has been seven years since we was a part of that company and he (understandably) doesn’t really talk about it. I have to imagine a sizeable amount of his viewers only know him as an online music reviewer.
that's me. I'm the young one. I mostly hear it from y'all talking about it
Where's Lupa in nowadays ?. Have to ask because I never watch Channel Awesome at all. Only knowing her from Todd's Pitbull "Give Me Everything" Pop Song Review that I watch one-two months ago.
Isn’t she the one he does his podcast “Song vs Song” with?
They meant Lupa
She still does a ton of videos under her real name.
Ah thats making me old that people dont know him from that! I first watched him in 2010 as a teenager, and now im in my thirties.
Meanwhile Adam Levine and Maroon 5 crying that Todd forgetting him and his band completely. While Chris Brown still in his list.
it seems like finally the Maroon 5 monster has been vanquished
"All Night" actually a good song. But there's many artists that make sound like this and 100x better.
Lemme guess, it’s a song about Adam Levine having toxic yet sexy sex all night long?
His transition music choice was more than appropriate. Had he put any song from that film on there, he wouldn’t be ready for the takedown.
As someone who also loved the original Travelling Soldier, I don't think an entry has ever made me more angry then that fuck ass cover of it.
I’m happy that Todd mentioned his non-hate for Benson Boone and left Mystical Magical as a dishonorable mention. Way too much of the YouTube music community tore that song apart. I guess I don’t hate that song as much everyone else does; I mean it’s not a good song, but what part of it is so extremely offensive other than it being mildly annoying and having two bars of stupid lyrics?
I think people just hate his singing voice (tbh I do too)
Don't you know that being 'cringe' is the worst sin anyone can ever commit online?
I feel that way except about Beautiful Things. I didn't even know that people hated it that much until after it was out for awhile. I remember Mic The Snare mentioning liking it in one of his videos, too.
Well, that's a lot earlier than expected
we could have just made this list morgan, taylor and tate
The third worst song is the only one I've heard in public.
"There's never been a good song about the internet."
Wrong! "The Internet is for Porn" from Avenue Q
For all this talk about pop music's supposed decline this year, I barely even noticed there was a decline. Listening to other forms of music is great, you guys.
For example, this is the first time I've heard Jessie Murph outside of that Koe Wetzel song. That wasn't my favorite song or anything, but she sounded fine on it. Here? My god, it's like Megahan Trainor had hay fever.
The number 1 might be the most I've cringed at a song in a long time. Zero authenticity, reeks of a youth pastor that shouldn't be left alone around teens doing the how do you do fellow kids shtick.
Well I predicted the top 3 of the worst list correctly, but Drake and Cody Johnson were a surprise to me and I thought the Chris Brown song was going to be It Depends.
I yelled "WAIT THAT'S A BLACK GUY?!" when Nice To Meet You came up. It's so aggressively white (and I say that as a very white guy) and I fucking hate it. The main "rock/alt" station in my area is how I know it and it's the one song that makes me truly understand why people say rock radio is dying.
still surprised that Life of a Showgirl was not collectively #1
Of all the number one worst songs Todd has chosen, this one is the first that is pure "i want to kms" while listening to it
Todd would have made Taylor the entire list if he could.
TLOAS was an absolute pile of dreck, in spite of sales numbers. It's like she was trying to re-create the fresh new style vibe captured with 1989 and ran straight into the brick wall of not being able to catch that lightning in a bottle twice. Alex Warren is like a discount Imagine Dragons, only worse, if that's even possible.
I just left a job where the music control was split between a Swiftie and a country fan and it basically felt like this for 3 months straight
Almost every year there's at least one song on the list I either completely disagree with or at least find decent (with Training Season, Vampire and Surface Pressure being the latest).
This year, it's Sports Car, a song I'd deem okay at best and couldn't defend if I tried. What a shit year.
Those dishonorable mentions though.
I have never seen a video from this guy before but I am definitely enjoying this one, especially as a country fan who hates top 40 country these days.
What about worst kpop song of 2025 including soda pop by Saja Boys, gnarly by katseye, golden by huntr/x and apt by rosé and others kpoop
Just want to point out the absolute horror when Todd mentioned that Noted Alcoholic™ Morgan Wallen’s idol is Keith Whitley… for those who aren’t familiar with country music, Whitley famously died young from alcohol poisoning
My soul needed that takedown of Actually Romantic
Half the list being "oops all Taylor" makes me wonder if Taylor really has misread the extent to which she can write songs by herself. I remember in a thread a couple months back I asked how she could go from lyrics like "So casually cruel in the name of being honest" to "Karma is a cat, purring in my lap cause it loves me" and someone mentioned around that time she had a co-writer. Jack Antonoff really was the last person keeping her honest - a lot of the best songs on Tortured were result of his production. Actually Romantic sounds like something I would have written as a fucking teenager. Either that, or something seriously broke her brain during the Eras tour and she never recovered.
Oh yeah, also if you're gonna rhyme "daughter" and "slaughter", take a page from Iron Maiden's book and sing it in the most stupidly over the top way possible.
Surprised Priceless by Maroon 5 feat. LISA didn’t get mentioned given how Todd hates Adam Levine.
It flopped pretty hard so it wouldn’t count as a hit song