It’s really cool the way that Save Your Tears just keeps sounding better and better each time you cut back to it after discussing each of these awful songs
@@CineHAMic he’s used absolute bangers for his worst list bumper music (Thank u next, Blow Me One Last Kiss, You Should Be Sad) and it always worries me that it means he thinks these are bad, but it’s always just a random lyric to denote being done with something
Also, in his 2015 worst songs list, he used Big Sean's "I don't fuck with you" as the interlude, and he referred back to it when he put that same song on his 2015 best list.
@@SahloFolina2161After drowning in this overproduced and somehow UNDERproduced BS, I listened to “Badlands” and BOY, the energy from the musicianship is shocking against a wall of audible mush.
"Can't make a wife out of a Ho-Oh" IS clearly referencing the pokemon Ho-Oh from generation 2. And hes right, while he could marry Ho-Oh he can't make a wife out of them because like most legendaries Ho-Oh is nongendered. Or maybe hes trying to say he likes Lugia the best? In which case hes sad and wrong. A lethal combo if I ever saw one.
@@Laticia1990 personally I think it’s an improvement because Cryus’ voice helps bring out the better parts of kids and covers up the weaker parts of his voice
I recommend Diamond Axe Studios videos, especially his seasonal Billboards Top 40 videos. His style is like Todd in the Shadows but with wayy more ambition in reviewing a shit ton of songs.
i didn't know about the drake "too sexy" song before the music youtubers i follow started to talk about it. would have liked to remain in the dark.......
I saw Gayle live. Its actually sad because her other songs weren't terrible. Alex was very obviously written by someone way too young to make songs about breakups. But otherwise it wasn't offensive. But that fucking abc song sounds like she wrote it when she was 5
Fun fact: only time I ever heard Peaches was on a shitty radio, and I could've sworn he was singing "I got my bitches I can torture" and believed he'd just gone a bit nuts for a few months. Then I realised it was "peaches" and thought "who wants to torture peaches?" And both of those misinterpretations make more sense than the actual meaning.
Just a note on Arcade: in the UK (and presumably also the Netherlands, given the context) arcades are not just little fun places to play Dave n Buster like games, but usually filled with gambling machines. In fact, arcades filled with only gambling machines are prrrrrrretty common, so yeah...some people do go to arcades and lose all their money to a game...
Was gonna leave a similar comment, but yeah, arcades over here are literally only casinos. It's extremely rare to find one that's not a Casino. 8-year-old me ran into one when I was a kid thinking it'd be like the Arcades I saw on cartoons made in America and was wholly disappointed the big bouncer guy wouldn't let me into the trashy gambling den.
Would that still apply here when he specifically references using pennies? Even if he was gambling, unless he's one of those assholes who pays his bills in pennies, how much could he possibly be losing? It's like that Maroon Five song about wasting change calling his ex on a payphone. What a sacrifice.
Yh arcades in the Netherlands were a real let down for me cause my first arcade experiences were in Hong Kong where back in the day it was way more like what we envision of arcades. I think arcades were more of a lifestyle thing in Asia and the States then they ever were in Europe. On the song itself. At the start i enjoyed it but as i heard it more and more is also has started to irritate me more and more. I think it is best taken in moderate amounts
@@devlinburgess2463 spending pennies are the fastest way to disassociate the game from the speed of losing money. Specifically when the game says "add more pennies to increase your chances of winning," plus making the game turnover be faster, and you have the tried and tested slots formula.
The “I just have to forget about everything Kanye has done in the past 5 years, up to and including THIS WEEK” line is perfectly written. Regardless of when you’re watching the video, it’s probably going to be evergreen.
"I'm so sick of vibes. Give me a RIFF, a HOOK." Todd. I hereby swear fealty, because you speak the truth, and have encapsulated the sentiment I have felt towards music the last 5 years but been unable to put into words. Thank you, Todd. Thank you. EDIT: Guys, get off your high horse. I know there's tons of riffs and hooks in indie and non-mainstream music. I listen to a LOT of indie rock. My point was that I wish there was more of this in the mainstream as well as regular pop.
The concept of overplay to me in 2021 is so alien because I can't remember the last time I listened to the radio consistently enough to get sick of anything. The only time I experience overplay is when I inflict it on myself and even then it's off my playlist long before it truly infuriates me
As Todd said in his Old Town Road review, songs don't get overplayed anymore. They get overtalked. Music today exists mainly as something for journalists to analyze.
Idk contrary to other years overplay was pretty present for me this summer while working at an ice cream place lmao Good god words cannot describe my hatred for Olivia rodrigo and bad habits by Ed sheeran after that job lol
@@Chuysgamer I've just gotten luck in that sense. I work at a factory job before and the only retail job I've worked was a burger king that was too cheap to pay for a music license thingy so we had to play royalty free music.
I liked her song but mostly because it made me do one of those "pay attention to the lyrics and my personal emotions" thing that led to me crying during a road trip bc i was thinking about it in terms of my bad relationship with my parents. I also just like her other music in general.
@@jaygandra Fair enough. Your 'parent' angle has made the song instantly better for some reason. Thank you and all the best to you with your mom and dad!!
@@morganqorishchi8181 white girls "bored with their own song" has become its own genre at this point. quite funny to watch this unfold if I'm being honest because my semi-boomer brain is unable to get the appeal so all i can really do is giggle
"If you don't like it, then just frickin go" is a weird thing to say from someone who wrote an entire song whining about how much the country he lives in sucks.
Behold the true patriot, who claims to love his country while hating 98% of the people in it. It's because he doesn't love his country, or America. He loves his idea of what his country should be in his mind - a fascist state where there is one religion and gay people are not permitted to exist. Because it makes him uncomfortable.
Right? The whole time he's insisting that he's the only one who thinks and feels the way he does but still has the never to tell everyone who doesn't agree with him to leave.
I'm so glad that Fancy Like made it on this list. I work at an Applebee's and I'm so tired of hearing it. It was a literal corporate deal between Applebee's and Hayes to promote certain dishes in exchange for money. Oh and also middle management offered bonuses if employees preformed the Fancy Like Tik Tok challenge, so screw that song.
Its maybe even worse for the frosty with fries lovers, Im not but i completely understand why they do. He literally compare frosty with fries to him and own wife genitalia, bleugh
There's something comforting to me about not knowing any of these songs. It's like when I hear about influencer drama between people I previously wasn't aware of. I have no stakes in this list and it's so calming.
There's something comforting to me about not knowing any of these songs. It's like when I hear about influencer drama between people I previously wasn't aware of. I have no stakes in this list and it's so calming.
@@thuankhiet_ I'm not. Idk where you got that from. I like and dislike songs based on how good or interesting they are. I don't care if they're popular. Like I said, I have no stakes in this list. How can I hate music I haven't heard?
He nailed the Walker Hayes thing. It's a song written by someone who's extremely rich and hasn't been to an Applebee's in so long he has no idea what it's really like. Hayes is a rich guy trying to write a song as if he's not rich and it comes off as tasteless. If rich people had a "live like the poors" night, this song would be the theme for it. "Am I doing it right? Is this what poor people do? They put on clean clothes and go to Applebee's and Chili's and drink cheap beer? Oh, how quaint. Can I try it just for one song?" Also, I had never heard of Dan & Shay until this video. It looks to me like the label was desperate. It's like they had these two potentials but neither was that good. Dan can't play guitar but he can sorta sing and Shay is the opposite. So. Put em together and make em a duet. It worked for Simon & Garfunkel, right? Mostly, though, screw Aaron Lewis.
What's comforting about Todd's videos isn't that I agree necessarily, I don't and probably never will 100% agree with any single critic, but the best reviewers make me understand their point of view about why they picked what they did. I go away feeling entertained rather than bad about my own tastes. Todd is fantastic about that, and it's why I love watching his reviews especially the end of the year lists. His deep dives into specific songs and bands are really cool too, I learn so much history I didn't know before. Thanks for the hard work Todd, here's to another year of fantastic content.
same! even as a taylor swift fan, i still enjoy todd's negative reviews of her music bc 1) he's funny, and 2) he explains himself eloquently, noting his own biases as much as possible
Yeah I honestly disagree with a few of his takes on this list but god damn if he doesn't have a point about every single song on this list, including ones that I like.
I always have 1 or 2 songs I always disagree with but that’s the great part about opinions, they’re subjective. And Todd explains his opinions thoroughly enough
I agree. I started watching his videos when I was younger and getting more into music. I feel like the first time I really disagreed with one of his opinions and could fully understand why I didn't agree, was when I felt like I can really understand my own subjective taste. I find his videos as a great way to just see what someone else thinks but I never feel forced to agree with his opinion. Instead I just understand the point of view and in a way, it helps me understand mine better both in the times where I completely agree and when I don't. I also have been introduced to so many great songs and artists through his recommendations. Todd in the Shadows is easily one of my favorite youtubers.
@Daniel P the rules that todd follows is either on the year end chart or ranked in the top 20 at any time and am i the the only one peaked at number 14 so is following his rules
fun fact: drake has been on todd's worst list the most times out of any artist with 7 times. oddly enough, he is also tied with katy perry for being on todd's best list the second most at 6 times. he is also the only artist not including honourable mentions to be included on both lists in the same year more than once, being on both lists in 2016 and 2018.
Now we can add 2 for Drake from the worst list for 2023. He's probably not going to lose that top spot for a long time. (Who is the most on the best list? I feel like I should be able to guess but can't.)
@@aeddiefarmer yeah, drake's not getting touched, second place is a four way tie between chris brown, justin bieber, maroon 5, and taylor swift with 6. the most on the best list is bruno mars, but it's much closer, only one ahead of drake.
@@courtneyevie I love this, do you compile these yourself? And does it count if someone is a collaborator/feature credit? I was gonna take a guess at it being Bruno Mars for the most but I didn't say it so I have no proof. 😂
@@aeddiefarmer yeah, i started a document after the 2022 lists came out and started noticing a ton of patterns, notably how many times people ended up on both lists in the same year, so i just started writing down a ton of stats. one of my favourites is that there are three people who have been at number one on both lists (rihanna, taylor swift, and now morgan wallen), with rihanna being number one on both lists in the same year, 2012. i count featured artists but only if they're listed by todd, so drake isn't credited for sicko mode even though that would have him tie with bruno. that rule also affects groups like bad meets evil, one direction, and silk sonic, so bruno doesn't get any credit for that honourable mention even though he is in silk sonic.
I wouldn’t have guessed Bruno as being one of the highest artists on the best list! Then again it’s been a while since I’ve seen some of the early episodes, when he would’ve been on the hit train. Him and Katy Perry topping the best lists feels interesting, though, like pop was way more centralized at the start of the 2010s.
Heat Waves is going to go down in history as one of the WEIRDEST reasons a song became a hit, alongside "Margaret Thatcher died" and "Everyone thought they were the Beatles reunited"
I remember when Thatcher died, “ding dong the witch is dead” going to number two in the charts was the least weird thing about that time. The weirdest thing was the tonal dissonance between the people spontaneously lighting bonfires in the street in celebration and the grown men in charge of the country at the time openly crying at the state funeral. That was weird
if he really wanted to stay angry, he should've never left Staind. I'm not even a big Staind fan, but they're more suited to Aaron's grouch factor. Granted, I don't think the rest of the band can tolerate Aaron, either
imagine thinking you're the real tough guy... and then censoring yourself saying the f-word in your music video. what a corporate coward. it's very funny that he thinks that's being assertive, when it comes across as more pathetic.
It will always kill me that glass animals is now known for this. Unless people take the time to listen to other music they just think of that one annoying synth pop song from 2021. Their prior work was a staple in my life from 2014 to 2018 and then i hear them again and it’s this.
Ima be genuine if ANY song should’ve blown up from tiktok it should’ve been Take a Slice… their How to Be a Human Being album is great but Dreamland? Im sorry the only really good standout parts of the album were the verses of Denzel Curry on Tokyo Drifting and Arlo Parks on Tangerine and thats depressingly sad when the features outshine the band…
For me most of these songs fall into "bland but harmless" or "don't like the singing but would listen to the instrumentals". Fancy-like however, had me physically recoiling.
What the Billie Eilish copycats don’t understand is her soft singing works because underneath it is a simmering rage. Billie is angry, she’s just not loud about it. It’s the kind of anger where you’ve been angry so long you don’t have the energy to shout, it just doesn’t feel like anyone is listening anyway.
Exactly! You can't just copy the most superficial parts of her aesthetic and expect the same results, because there is far more to her music than just singing in a quiet moody voice. Your unique selling point can't be "I sound exactly like that really unique girl that you like for being different and edgy, except I'm singing a song written by someone else, and I'm wearing a cardigan."
@@BambiTrout Music industry will not accept this though, as whatever made her profitable _must_ be easily repeatable and mass marketable in the most low effort way. Capitalism = Low Energy Clones
I love how he sings that line about Springsteen with such conviction despite the fact that it means literally nothing. Springsteen was always a liberal, he always had subtle Anti-American lyrics in his songs, hell, he was one of THE first big artists speaking out for LGBTQ-rights, not to mention that his biggest hit is a passionate Anti-War song critisizing the treatment of Veterans and the military complex that breakes them in the first place. If you just now stopped singing along to Springsteen because he is suddenly "too liberal" for you, that simply means you have not been paying attention until now.
Not to mention that Bruce Springsteen could not give a damn if someone stops listening to him. He lost a lot of fans who were police officers because of American Skin (41 Shots). Didn't make him change his position on anything.
Given how a lot of conservatives are reacting to Rage Against The Machine "suddenly getting too political"... it's VERY likely they aren't paying attention until now. Like... even dipshit pre-teen and teenage me understood Rage Against The Machine was ALWAYS a political band.
Please put ABCDEFU on the list. Not only is it a weak summer ear worm song, she tried to pass it off that her social media followers gave her the idea for the song when it was a worker for her record company that commented the idea for it. Quite literally the most insulting thing to her own fans
I love the fact that Aaron Lewis' petty diss on Bruce Springsteen infuriated Todd so much that he brings it up again and even makes a video conclusion out of it
@@teddyhaines6613 Part of me has to wonder if Aaron Lewis EVER enjoyed making music at one point or if this is just a job to him at this point. Like... have the Staind royalties dried up THAT MUCH that you can't just fuck off out of the public eye for good and you have to keep making music?
@@SeanStrife considering radio still plays It’s Been Awhile and So Far Away on repeat and he’s the main songwriter of both, I doubt it’s financial obligation
I'm Dutch, and I actually really like eurovision. Not even national pride could get me to care about Arcade. Though, Todd, I should tell you, arcades in the Netherlands actually ARE pretty much casinos.
And no'one actually wanted it to win ofcourse. The Jurys wanted North Macedonia and the people wanted Norway. It only won thanks to the whole stupid 50-50 voting.
@@00KiryuZero00 not hard when we keep sending in the same boring shit year after year. So many great other bands from other genres to send, but we keep doing these boring ass singer songwriters. Or if we don't want to do bands, send someone with a strong voice for once.
"You're not even southern, you clam chowder-eating (M)asshole. You don't even go here." Ahh. That makes me smile every time. Thank you for pointing out the conservative everyman cosplay that seems to work its way into all the country songs.
Plenty of that. Walker Hayes is southern but went to a fancy private school growing up. He wasn't driving any tractor. His daddy was a rich realtor. Pop crap was popular then. I roll my eyes at his country boy schtick. What the country club didn't have a table?
"Like, let's be clear. If Aaron Lewis expressed the exact opposite sentiments that he does on this song, this would still probably be the worst song I heard all year" This. Just... all of this.
"If you don't like it, there's the frickin door" instantly turns that song from one of the most miserable slogs of the year to one of the most hysterical... that was glorious, holy shit
@@JayKayEllEmm It sounds like a randomly generated hook. I know it came from a """""""fan's""""""" Tik Tok comment, but it almost feels like these generic pop writers are running out of already-lazy ideas
This is the first year of the Worst list where I just genuinely haven't heard 50% of the songs. I don't know if these mostly got radio play, but Spotify didn't push these and I never heard them from my friends so I missed out. Thanks for making my year that much worse Todd.
2021 was just mind numbingly exhausting. I hate to always just default to "I am old now" that just puts yourself down. You're still young, you still have energy, value, you can still add so much to the world. 2021 had endless music, endless things to barely care about or people were trying to get you into which frustrated me personally. It was just easy to miss things when every relevant band had an album this year it seemed like and yet so little actually HIT.
Seeing Todd’s thoughts on heat waves is so funny to me because the first time I heard it I literally thought “oh this sounds nice, I better not overplay it though since it’s so repetitive.” and then I didn’t… and I still like it. Funny how that works.
Same, I've heard it like three or four times since it came out, and I think it sounds pretty cool. It's 'one of the good ones' on the playlist my work always has on.
I'll admit it's been a while since I paid super close attention to the charts and radio, so I didn't even know this song became a Billboard hit. My partner's been playing it a lot all year because they got super into Glass Animals after hearing "Cocoa Hooves" in a cafe they were working at.
I heard the remix version of the song in Forza Horizon 5 and thought it sounded nice personally, plus it fitted with the summary vibe of the game. Never heard the original on radio believe it or not 😅
"No emotion, no beat - just 'vibes'" I, TOO, AM INCREDIBLY SICK OF "VIBES," TODD. Thank you for saying it out loud. There's a lot of bland pop tunes out there lately. Here's to hoping 2022 has a little more musical chutzpah.
As much as I am a fan of Ariana, I can agree that, at least with thank u, next (the album), I feel like there’s a lot of songs that are liked because they’re “vibes”, not because they’re actually good. Aside from the obvious example of 7 rings, there’s also makeup. That song is just so bland. And, you can argue that some songs on sweetener and positions are also like that, but it’s less of a problem with those albums than TUN.
When songs from anime-style idol franchise like Takagaki Kaede's _Koi Kaze_ single-handedly outperforms Hollywood pop songs by a mile away in terms of emotion, you'll instantly know something is completely wrong. And we are not yet talking about _Koi Kaze Hanaba._
@@prettierjesus3119 i haven't liked any Ariana song for a long time (includinf ty, next) because they were too quiet and bland. I think Ariana's voice is better suited for louder and more energetic songs
I love how no matter how much these awful songs drain Todd’s will to live, his “were counting down” still sounds just as passionate as ever. Keep up the great work man.
@@stuatagovailoa7536 It was for anyone listening to Glass Animals. But mainstream radio is about a year behind at this point, especially when it comes to indie and alt-rock.
Every time I hear it I'm more convinced "Fancy Like" is actually a classist screed making fun of (what Walker Hayes imagines is) rural working peoples' lifestyle
As someone raised in a blue collar rural family, I completely agree. This song makes me NOT WANT to go to Applebee's if he's gonna be so cringe about it whereas previously Applebee's was just a perfectly normal place to go for a date night.
I choose to hear it as: “can’t make a wife out of a Ho-oh” and that makes the song WAY more enjoyable. Like indeed, I’d certainly hope you’re not tryna marry a Pokémon
well, Flo Rida never had a good album, M5 did have Songs About Jane at least. but yes, they should be banished to the shadow realm with Pitbull and Flo Rida, never to make new music again.
@@MelMelodyWerner People sleep on It Won't Be Soon Before Long-Wake Up Call AND Makes Me Wonder? Honestly, the only bad song is "Kiwi" and that's mainly because I don't want to hear Adam Levine sing about my juices dripping down his chin.
I've been a fan of Glass Animals for years, but I have to agree that Heat Waves is one of their least good songs lol. I definitely prefer their previous album, How to Be a Human Being, since it has a more energetic sound to it and it feels closer to normal rock music than their other stuff. Great video as always.
perfectly said. Ive been a fan for years but heat waves has become kinda unlistenable. I still think dreamland is a good album but htbahb wins any day.
i love glass animals but i have to agree on the heat waves situation. i would probably like it more if it wasn’t so overplayed. it’s also pretty difficult to make something better than htbahb ngl. waterfalls coming out your mouth and space ghost coast to coast are my favorite songs off of dreamland btw
@@jun-hs4eo I enjoyed Waterfalls, until I realized it was 100% a blatant rewrite of Other Side of Paradise from the album before, which is a significantly better song imo
Todd dropping "I love cheap thrills" is probably the best thing to happen to Sia this year. She didn't make it on the list but woof what a horrible year for her
@@tylarjackson7928 She made an ableist movie that paints people of autism in a negative light, and also promotes bad techniques at “handling” autistic people, also her soundtrack album for the movie was terrible, if you want to see for yourself it’s called “Music”.
I think there is actually the hint of a good song behind Beautiful Mistakes, but the production fucking murders it. I personally think it could work great as a chilled R&B ballad by someone actually cool/smooth, or it might even work if you changed it back into Maroon 5's classic Songs About Jane style - a bit bluesier and more organic. This soulless electronic non-music that Maroon 5 has been pumping out for the past 5 years just destroys any feeling in the song that could have elevated the formulaic lyrics. You can't even call it minimalist, because minimalism still has style. This is barely one step up from the Rick & Morty "Human Music".
I would agree, never heard it before this video but the harmony part when he sings “beautiful” was super cool to me, and I could totally see that being in a good song, but any potential it has is ruined by the production and the voice of Adam Levine singing it. In a way, I think what could also work for it is to make it even more artificial in certain ways, like heavy 80s synth pop like what The Weeknd did on his last album, as the song doesn’t have the power behind its instrumental I think it needs or that genre could provide.
I’m not sure in which list he said this, but Todd has mentioned that Maroon 5 has a tendency to find a good melody and completely smother it with garbage trying to make it more commercial
@@doctordrizzles1281 I think I’ve seen nearly every TITS video and I don’t remember that, but that sounds absolutely right. Payphone for example has a really great melody but it’s too overproduced, also Adam Levine’s voice, or at least whatever the hell they do to it in production since he’s sounded fine before, ruins almost anything it touches.
@@doctordrizzles1281 this is the main reason that makes M5’s continued decline down the slope of mediocrity so painful; they’re genuinely talented but they feel the need to sell out every time despite being set for life several times over.
i definitely think beautiful mistakes is one of maroon 5's less offensively bad songs in recent years. unfortunately, its still shit (and i actually like some of their pop stuff! v was a fun era and im not nearly as annoyed by songs like payphone or animals)
You know it'll be a good Christmas when the Worst list is on time, uncontroversial and has a perfect number one pick. Thank you, Todd, for the gift of being the voice of reason.
I remember in 2006, when Lithuania lost out to "Hard Rock Hallelujah" with their jumpin' little record "We Are The Winners of Eurovision." It was truly a magical year for Eurovision which hasn't been matched before or since.
I disagree, I think 2010 was probably the last year Eurovision was good. That year offered tonnes of good songs, even though the actual winner Lena had probably the 4th or 5th song that year. Not that I minded because my then 12 year old self had a huge crush on her.
I was surprised to see Glass Animals on this list since I was a big fan of their song with Tove Lo a few years back, but the back-to-back hits of actually hearing the song and hearing the words "real person slash fiction" instantly pumped me full of dread Edit: Apparently that was Years & Years, not Glass Animals. The mislabeled mp3 joke was spot on LMAO
Yeah the Heat Waves thing is unfortunate. Glass Animals have some stunning songs like Gooey and Life Itself, plus the main singer/songwriter has produced some really cool bests for hip-hop records - so it’s annoying that they got massive with one of their blander songs. Luckily they’re still excellent live!
A load of fantastic music came out this year, much like every year. Little Simz, King Gizzard, Arlo Parks, Magdalena Bay, Genesis Owusu, Pond, Silk Sonic, Dave, Ghetts, Mdou Moctar, Vince Staples, Jungle, Tyler the Creator, Lingua Ignota, The War on Drugs, IDLES, Cassandra Jenkins, Faye Webster, Jasmine Sullivan, Low, Clairo, St Vincent, Wolf Alice, Slowthai, Self Esteem, Wet Leg, among many others (probably will remember 10 more the moment I post this) all released fantastic projects. The year in music isn’t bound to what’s played on the radio, every year is an incredible year for music and 2021 was no exception
Oh my gosh... I always thought the lyrics to "Without You" were "So where did you go/Oh, chemical wife?/I'll never know, oh" and that the song was actually about addiction with drugs being personified as a spouse. The actual lyrics are so much less poetic haha
I'd be way more willing to hear a joke song about marrying your favorite Pokémon than a teen fumble his way through serious breakup song... mostly because we have plently of the latter.
I couldn't even fucking understand the line, it sounded like something about "chemical wifi". I had to Google it. Am I getting that old or is the guy just that incomprehensible? Ugh.
I gotta say, it’s so refreshing seing someonen having legit reasons to dislike these songs and still recognising the artsts talents, rather than some edgelord just going ”new music bad”
@@superjchamma Ugh. that guy's top 10 worst songs of 2021 showed up on my recommended, and he put Adele in it because her song was too "somber and boring" and made a very cruel quip about Demi Lovato's overdose while also misgendering them, so yeah. That guy can eat shit. hit the "don't recommend channel" on that real quick.
God, the opinions on this one were so sharp. I liked Heat Waves, but the metaphor with TV dinner potatoes…. I GOT it. Songs I was indifferent to like Peaches were cut with a laser’s accuracy to shreds. I’m SO happy.
Part of me is loving that Glass Animals is getting its love when I was in college in 2014 when they first came out. I’m not happy this song is their most popular song.
@@CardsNHorns04 I think that it's still OK, although I would've liked to see Your Love get the same attention. However, the success of this will get them bigger venues on tours and further up festival lineups
@@HornetHK oh my gosh literally, the other side of paradise and life itself and youth and I could list every song potentially, they're all just such good hits
Let's put it out there - even the trashiest Kesha's songs (like My First Kiss, Dinosaurs or Blah Blah Blah) are lyrical masterpieces compared to Applebee's song (which has a remix with Kesha... Why Kesha? Why?).
To be fair in My First Kiss, she only sings like 3 lines. And it's repeating. Also unfortunately, she probably needed the money bc she's not as popular as she used to be
@@latayesha you'd think something like "Praying" would revitalise her image and give her serious cred as a serious, deep and thoughtful artist, specially in a #MeToo world... I don't give much care for Kesha, but that makes me wonder what happened there.
The only plus is that Ke$ha sounds like she's having fun for a change. The loser on lead sounds like the guy who married the wrong girl and is now stuck in the sticks. Where there is only football, cheap beer and the restuarants by the interstate (Applebees and McDs). Why he doesn't leave and move back to the city is an open mystery.
I am begging you to put ABCDEFU on the worst list for 2022. I don’t get annoyed with pop songs often- quite the opposite actually but this was the first mainstream song in a long time that I find physically hard to listen to. Please Todd, we all want it to ABCDESTFU anyways
@@peanut4668 YOOOOOOOOOO I'm so glad somebody noticed. I've gotten myself into a really deep horror rpg maker phase recently and Pocket Mirror really solidified itself as a fave of mine, that's so cool
@@ray1509 same I love horror rpg maker games like ib, mad father, witches house, and pocket mirror of course. I think their remaking pocket mirror too so that’s something to look forward to
Managed to not hear of this "Am I the Only One" song until now, and I completely agree that even if his politics of what he was singing about were completely reversed it'd still be a trash song. Never heard such a whiney self entitled boomer anthem in my life.
"abcdefu" is really no different from "do-re-mi-fa-so eff-in done with you, girl" or "shawty is an eenie-meenie-miney-mo lover" when it comes to stupid chorus gimmicks. The song should work in theory, but it is so spiteful and bitter without having any of the catharsis that made other songs like it compelling.
@@neckpeck2738 idk, on first listen, I thought that line was cute as well, but it got really odd in the context of the entire chorus. the song only paints the ex as being a true asshole (even his friends seem to dislike him), but her insulting all his friends and family in the chorus is just overly bitter, so the dog part now feels like a glass of water thrown on a wildfire.
Aaron Lewis: “If you don’t like it there’s a fricken door!” Also Aaron Lewis: Shows his affection for statues of people who tried to secede from the United States
Also also Aaron Lewis: Whines about Bruce Springsteen being liberal. Seriously, fuck these "iF yOu DoN't LiKe iT, jUsT LeAvE!!!!11!1" dipshits. They'll call people protesting against police brutality "snowflakes," then absolutely shit themselves in rage when someone utters the phrase "Happy Holidays" within a fifty-mile radius. They are always, _without fucking fail,_ more easily offended than the people they're constantly complaining about, and I have absolutely zero respect for them. Fuck them all. Sorry. Rant over.
@@grafphal5103 more like if you want to show affection those statues from traitors there’s a fricken door. I bet that sounded better in your head, huh?
dude you hit the nail on the head when you said you're sick of vibes. like vibes are great and there's a time and place but nine times out of ten i wanna rock out and jam and you can't do either of those things when it's just vibes.
0:30 Intro 1:40 10. “Beautiful Mistakes” Maroon 5 5:00 9. “You Broke Me First” Tate McRae 8:10 8. “Heat Waves” Glass Animals 11:05 7. “Way 2 Sexy” Drake 14:40 6. “Fancy Like” Walker Hayes 17:45 CAPITALISM 18:50 AD OVER 5. “Peaches” Justin Bieber 22:10 5. “Without You” The Kid LAROI 25:55 4. “Glad You Exist” Dan + Shay 28:00 Worst Two Seconds of the Year 29:10 “Beggin” Maneskin 30:05 2. “Arcade” Duncan Laurence 32:50 Honorable Mentions 34:50 1. “Am I the Only One” Aaron Lewis I found this channel this year, and it made my rough year a little bit better. Thanks Todd!
If you think Todd’s upload schedule is sparse, wait ‘til you find out about those of other high-quality RUclipsrs out there. Like, I’m pretty sure Internet Historian uploads once a year now.
It's amazing... seven years I've been watching you, and throughout all that time your year-end lists have never failed to be my single most anticipated video by any RUclipsr each year.
16:00 Being smug about one's own mediocrity is the single worst trend in country music. The MAGA/Let's Go Brandon stuff is the overspill of that septic tank.
The tragic thing about the whole Let's go Brandon situation is that the person most harmed by it was Brandon Brown himself. He didn't do anything, didn't say anything, and has tried to distance himself from the movement. But it still ruined a promising young talented driver's career.
I love these videos because to me it's a window into two things alien to me: Pop Music and American Culture. Also, I guess nobody talks about Way 2 Sexy because trying to riff on I'm Too Sexy while comletely missing the joke and the charm is just embarrasing.
My wife: Drake's not trying to be funny; he's being sincere. The "dad bod on the beach" is him saying he's impregnated plenty of women, a message he reiterates on the cover. Me: ... ... I want to argue against that but ...
"Without You" is the best example of my least favorite pop trend of the last year, which is the singing of a bunch of dense nonstop words with no space to breathe over uninteresting music. There's so much of a "drunk poetry read out loud to an uncomfortable audience" vibe to them.
As another Eurovision watcher, Arcade BROKE MY BRAIN when this came on the radio lmao. The first time I heard it on the radio I went “wait a minute, I know this from somewhere.” It was honestly so boring to me I’d forgotten it was the winner 😂
Eurovision really is a weird beast, you have winners that are absurd and then you also have winners that are the blandest, most forgettable crap. Hell, if you look at the winner before that, it's an over the top pop song that had fucking chicken sounds in it.
Heat Waves was actually made with a friend of theirs in mind who committed suicide, not really about a break up even if it seems like it's framed like/sang like one. It's one of the reason's why the romanticization of it is kinda weird, especially when realizing why it was made gives the lyrics a sadder meaning.
the public in general don't really care about these nuances, the deeper meanings and all of that. remember how people literally blasted swimming pools by kendrick lamar all the time at alcohol-fueled parties back in the day... when the song is about struggling with alcohol addiction? yeah lol. same thing. so at the end of the day all that matters is if it has a catchy tune or not i guess
@@funwiththoughts It might be talking about how they couldn't help and the "something new" is more of an afterlife/reincarnation concept as now they don't have to suffer with what plagued them in their life
As a European I am 1) Surprised that Americans know what eurovision is 2) pleased that Maneskin are popular 3) deeply saddened by the resurgence of Arcade - duncan seems lovely but its one of the blandest winners we ever could have had - Soldi was robbed frankly, i'm so pleased italy has got the win they deserved for years
I get where you're coming from but Soldi was also incredibly bland... I'd argue much more so. It sounds much more similar to the majority of other songs on the radio rn, being that the charts in general have moved away from pop/ adult alternative and towards contemporary r&b. The chorus hook of soldi repeating and handclap just does not deserve the Eurovision win in my opinion.
A lot of us Americans DO either keep up with European pop music or have friends who have smartened us up to Eurovision... plus, I think at this point, everybody knows the "Epic Sax Guy" meme came out of their Eurovision performance.
@Perverted Alchemist Probably a one hit wonder that's very popular. I just noticed a pattern between him doing more overlooked ones after doing one on a more popular one.
@@teddyhaines6613 Country hit... not a pop hit. Billy Ray Cyrus had some other hits on the country charts, but he still technically counts as a one hit wonder (or at least did, depending on where you stand on the debate of his inclusion on the "Old Town Road" remix negates his status as a one hit wonder or not).
@@SeanStrife But Todd has discounted artists with additional hits on their respective genre charts, like Modest Mouse. And on the other hand he has included bands with two Hot 100 hits like A-ha and Blue Swede. He goes back and forth a lot, honestly.
I think what irritates me more than anything else about "Am I the Only One" is that he sings "Am I the only one willin' to bleed/Or take a bullet for bein' free" when he never served in the military himself. I wasn't in the military either, but that's because I'm not brave enough or patriotic enough to risk death or disability for the red white and starry blue, especially when my generation's wars were fought for the price of Halliburton stock, and I'll freely admit to that and that why I don't shout about taking a bullet for being free. But a civilian talks about taking a bullet for his country, to me that's disrespectful to the soldiers who actually took a bullet (or at least risked it) for theirs.
@@EricTheKartoonKing No, no. He also said he'll scream, "What the f**k?!" at his TV. He'll then probably go on to Facebook and write WTF. I just realized his song sounds a lot like a Facebook rant. Is that on purpose? Did he do that on purpose?
Funny thing is, he actually was going to join the military, but his father, who was a Vietnam vet, discouraged him. His father has seen the true horrors of war, while Aaron himself probably fetishizes war and sees it as glorious. Unless you've been to war, whether as a soldier, or some poor civilian caught in the war, you'll be more likely to believe the stories of glory. As Niko from GTA IV said, "War is where the old and bitter, trick the young and stupid, into killing eachother"
So, as a veteran, I think the most annoying thing is that vets and soldiers are always being told their opinions by these flabby uncooked conservative donuts. Not to say that the military isn't right leaning or/and soldiers wouldn't agree with him, but one of the things we're supposed to take oath to is the freedom to protest which we sometimes do actually take bullets for. Plenty of vets and active duty soldiers are not just supportive of protesting, but actively do it too (just not in uniform, obvi). A-A-Ron would probably shit himself if he was stuck in a room listening to a pair of protesters talk about long division or something
Definitely the Sheeran track that deserved a spot here. "Bad Habits" is tolerable as a song, and probably wouldn't have raised any flags if the video wasn't so stupid.
@@cocolime6496 idk it’s so annoying to me and just another product of the mass-producing pop machine. Nothing special to it (but don’t assume I dislike pop, because I do listen to it a fair bit).
I came back to this video cause I actually saw ,, You broke me first" in some teenage, love story, movie trailer and started laughing 🤣🤣 The one time Tostradamus guessed correctly.
I really just have one thing to say: In this, the era of cancel culture, why in the name of Selene is Chris Brown *still* allowed to not only have any sort of career, but have one of the biggest hits of the year?!
Maybe he's just gonna go the R Kelly route where some documentary comes out outlining the abuse some years from now and since his popularity isn't as high as it used to be people just dogpile on him. Only reason Chris Brown never got persecuted was because the community loved his music
I feel like the biggest problem i had with music that came out this year, was how often I'd hear a song on the radio and think "wow talk about a throwback, i haven't heard this song since highschool" only to find out that it came out 3 months ago and just sounded really familiar. The standout good songs from this year were absolutely songs that caught me by surprise or sounded fresh and fun. But the overall vibe of 2021 for me was "ugh, can we please play a song that sounds like something I haven't heard a billion times!"
I got to add, "Heat Waves" by Glass Animals also suffers from structural problems. The guy just repeats the chorus waaaaaaaaaay too much. That song screams to me the story of someone who had a chorus they liked, but couldn't really come up with adequate verses to go with it. They really should have worked on it a little more.
I can't remember the last time I 100% agreed with Todd's worst list. So cathartic to hear someone *finally* call out the whining/insincerity/general insufferability of some of these songs. Telling that a lot of these songs for big because of TikTok and wherever TikTok videos run off like Instagram and RUclips Shorts.
"Arcade" in Europe is synonymous with "Casino". That's why the metaphore worked on the Eurovision stage, but not in the US. Most european countries never had arcades like you in the US but only casinos for gambling.
This isn’t true for all of Europe. In Scandinavia, an arcade is very much about games. I’ve never even thought about arcades having anything to do with gambling/casinos.
When kid LAROI showed up, I honestly thought Todd put two Justin Bieber songs in a row. They look so much alike that I couldn't believe he was talking about a completely different person. Then the LAROI/Bieber collab he mentioned made me realize: Someone cloned Justin ten years ago in the highly plausible outcome that he would OD or die in prison by 25 and need to be replaced before anyone noticed.
Are you sure about that? I don't like either artist but they don't sound similar at all. Justin Bieber has a pretty generic voice that doesn't stand out, but LAROI is out of tune and really rough
@@BlackLotusVisualArchive I said they look alike, not sound alike. But LAROI probably sounds more rough and out of tune because Bieber has more vocal training and better sound editing. LAROI could also be going for some "male Billie Eilish" vibes.
@@BlackLotusVisualArchive When I hear Stay, I literally cannot tell which part is Justin Bieber, partly because I never cared about it enough to watch the video or search the lyrics, but otherwise there's no notable distinction on that particular song.
Hey buddy, would you take a paper cut for your moderate republican neighbor? Nope, this is all about how *somebody else* needs to change their beliefs to align themselves to *you* because your the right one. This is totally not an extremist position that feeds on conflict even if they have to make it.
Had an Uber driver a few months ago who was working on his country music career, had a few releases out already. I bit my tongue when he told me the person writing his next song with him was Walker Hayes. Hope his song does well, seemed like a really nice guy, but I also hope it’s not as pandering as Fancy Like.
Walker Hayes actually has written a few good songs - "Briefcase" is great (though probably because of Lori McKenna), and while "Beer in the Fridge" doesn't sound good (at all), it does have a good lyric. Hope it works out for that Uber driver.
![ARGENTINA vs. PERÚ [1-0] | RESUMEN | ELIMINATORIAS SUDAMERICANAS | FECHA 12](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/xtI25ENDDSY/mqdefault.jpg)
There's no criticism you could make that's as devastating as "These songs were worse than 'Fancy Like'".
I honestly didn’t think they were
fancy like is so catchy…. i kinda like it
@@doubleh333lix I kinda like Peaches
@@RRAAII17 it is pretty catchy, and far from the most offensive song Bieber has put out in recent years.
@@RRAAII17 I like Peaches as far as Bieber songs go but I also understand Todd's logic. He makes a really good point.
Todd's hatred of Maroon 5 is somehow comforting. No matter what happens in the world, they will keep showing up on the year end worst list.
And Justin Bieber!
It’s just not a T.I.T.S. worst list without them.
Adam Levine is the eternal.
And now I feel like I can't live without keep on hating Maroon 5 and kinda being nostalgic about its old hits.
@@schris3 I guess This Love Has Taken Control, Of You.
It’s really cool the way that Save Your Tears just keeps sounding better and better each time you cut back to it after discussing each of these awful songs
I was so scared he was going to rank Save Your Tears when he kept on using it as an interlude 😭
@@CineHAMic he’s used absolute bangers for his worst list bumper music (Thank u next, Blow Me One Last Kiss, You Should Be Sad) and it always worries me that it means he thinks these are bad, but it’s always just a random lyric to denote being done with something
@@CineHAMic the only time I know of Todd doing something like this was giving I Knew You Were Trouble a dishonourable mention
Fr I just realized that
Also, in his 2015 worst songs list, he used Big Sean's "I don't fuck with you" as the interlude, and he referred back to it when he put that same song on his 2015 best list.
"I'm so sick of vibes" What a fucking mood that is, I want instruments to make a major comeback so bad
I kinda like the vibe, but I do really agree with you guys. Actual instruments should really come back.
@@SahloFolina2161After drowning in this overproduced and somehow UNDERproduced BS, I listened to “Badlands” and BOY, the energy from the musicianship is shocking against a wall of audible mush.
I want the big, stupid, happy songs from the late 2000s/early 2010s to come back. I miss happy music!
Who asked
@@n.e.r.d.2213 It was part of the video. The person was just agreeing.
"Can't make a wife out of a Ho-Oh" IS clearly referencing the pokemon Ho-Oh from generation 2. And hes right, while he could marry Ho-Oh he can't make a wife out of them because like most legendaries Ho-Oh is nongendered. Or maybe hes trying to say he likes Lugia the best? In which case hes sad and wrong. A lethal combo if I ever saw one.
I love the idea that Without you is about being dumped by a legendary Pokémon. For some reason I find this so funny.
Not gonna lie...... they had us at the first half.
As someone who knows nothing about Pokémon and also didn’t know that song existed before I watched this vid, this is extremely plausible
Ohhhh *now* I get that verse where he goes “and I stumble / and I fall / just couldn’t ever / catch them all / without you”
As a Pokemon stan, your comment had me rolling 😂
“What I’m saying is, Kid LAROI is a less charming Lewis Capaldi.”
Christ Todd, at least warn the guy before you give him third degree burns.
best comment right here lol
I had to pause the damn video lol
More to the point: did Bieber clone himself because I honestly would not be able to tell a Kid LAROI song from a Bieber song.
I was hoping he would mention the version with Miley Cyrus and if that improved the song or made it worse?
@@Laticia1990 personally I think it’s an improvement because Cryus’ voice helps bring out the better parts of kids and covers up the weaker parts of his voice
I’m so disconnected from the current music scene that I rely on these lists to know what the popular songs even are.
I recommend Diamond Axe Studios videos, especially his seasonal Billboards Top 40 videos. His style is like Todd in the Shadows but with wayy more ambition in reviewing a shit ton of songs.
Agreed. Now all I listen to are classic songs and none mainstream songs
i didn't know about the drake "too sexy" song before the music youtubers i follow started to talk about it. would have liked to remain in the dark.......
Wow good for you want a cookie??
@@Denny-sq3he did you bring enough cookies for everybody?
"If [abcdefu] sticks around maybe next year I'll hate it enough to put it on the list proper."
Guess what, it did! BOY DID IT FUCKING EVER
He kept his word too.
@@NEEDbacon The prophecy has been fulfilled
And it’s the bumper music for the worst list
Yeah
I saw Gayle live. Its actually sad because her other songs weren't terrible. Alex was very obviously written by someone way too young to make songs about breakups. But otherwise it wasn't offensive. But that fucking abc song sounds like she wrote it when she was 5
Fun fact: only time I ever heard Peaches was on a shitty radio, and I could've sworn he was singing "I got my bitches I can torture" and believed he'd just gone a bit nuts for a few months. Then I realised it was "peaches" and thought "who wants to torture peaches?" And both of those misinterpretations make more sense than the actual meaning.
Justin enters his bdsm phase
@@ianbyrne465 I should NOT have found this as funny as I did
Now I’m not gonna unhear that, and tbh it just makes the song much better
@@ianbyrne465 It's gonna be so much worse than Rihanna's.
Hell it's gonna be worse than Madonna's.
Honestly bro I think I’d prefer that
Evil Justin Bieber arc
Just a note on Arcade: in the UK (and presumably also the Netherlands, given the context) arcades are not just little fun places to play Dave n Buster like games, but usually filled with gambling machines. In fact, arcades filled with only gambling machines are prrrrrrretty common, so yeah...some people do go to arcades and lose all their money to a game...
Was gonna leave a similar comment, but yeah, arcades over here are literally only casinos. It's extremely rare to find one that's not a Casino. 8-year-old me ran into one when I was a kid thinking it'd be like the Arcades I saw on cartoons made in America and was wholly disappointed the big bouncer guy wouldn't let me into the trashy gambling den.
Would that still apply here when he specifically references using pennies? Even if he was gambling, unless he's one of those assholes who pays his bills in pennies, how much could he possibly be losing? It's like that Maroon Five song about wasting change calling his ex on a payphone. What a sacrifice.
Yh arcades in the Netherlands were a real let down for me cause my first arcade experiences were in Hong Kong where back in the day it was way more like what we envision of arcades. I think arcades were more of a lifestyle thing in Asia and the States then they ever were in Europe.
On the song itself. At the start i enjoyed it but as i heard it more and more is also has started to irritate me more and more. I think it is best taken in moderate amounts
Even more so that this isn't about gambling at all. It was about Duncan losing a childhood friend with whom he used to go play games.
@@devlinburgess2463 spending pennies are the fastest way to disassociate the game from the speed of losing money. Specifically when the game says "add more pennies to increase your chances of winning," plus making the game turnover be faster, and you have the tried and tested slots formula.
Hearing Todd hit me with the "WE'RE COUNTING DOWN" makes me feel alive again.
Same, I love it when he says that!
When he said, "we're counting down"
I felt that
Save your tears with arianna was a great song
UGH I KNOW RIGHT!!! His videos make me so happy 😡😡😡🎸
SAME
The “I just have to forget about everything Kanye has done in the past 5 years, up to and including THIS WEEK” line is perfectly written. Regardless of when you’re watching the video, it’s probably going to be evergreen.
Lol so accurate especially from today with the Hitler stuff
.......... yup.
14:25
Lol yeah
@@vanillainfusion And next week won't be better either
"I'm so sick of vibes. Give me a RIFF, a HOOK."
Todd. I hereby swear fealty, because you speak the truth, and have encapsulated the sentiment I have felt towards music the last 5 years but been unable to put into words.
Thank you, Todd. Thank you.
EDIT: Guys, get off your high horse. I know there's tons of riffs and hooks in indie and non-mainstream music. I listen to a LOT of indie rock. My point was that I wish there was more of this in the mainstream as well as regular pop.
No power. No tension
At this point if some band just copy pasted a song by The Pillows and it rose to the top 100 i'd honestly be happy
+
Yeah I felt this. It all sounds the same to me. Is this the future of Rock music! That sucks.
Agreed completely! This is why i'm so happy Good 4 U blew up just as much if not more than Driver's Licence. Fingers crossed we get hooks back 😭
The concept of overplay to me in 2021 is so alien because I can't remember the last time I listened to the radio consistently enough to get sick of anything. The only time I experience overplay is when I inflict it on myself and even then it's off my playlist long before it truly infuriates me
As Todd said in his Old Town Road review, songs don't get overplayed anymore. They get overtalked.
Music today exists mainly as something for journalists to analyze.
Idk contrary to other years overplay was pretty present for me this summer while working at an ice cream place lmao
Good god words cannot describe my hatred for Olivia rodrigo and bad habits by Ed sheeran after that job lol
Same. I stopped listening to the radio in 2007.
@@Chuysgamer I've just gotten luck in that sense. I work at a factory job before and the only retail job I've worked was a burger king that was too cheap to pay for a music license thingy so we had to play royalty free music.
I’m not sure if this counts, but if you’re a “Spotify top hits” playlist user, it simulates the radio frighteningly well!
"You Broke Me First" hit a certain market. Other teenagers who are thinking about heartbreak but haven't experienced the real thing yet.
I liked her song but mostly because it made me do one of those "pay attention to the lyrics and my personal emotions" thing that led to me crying during a road trip bc i was thinking about it in terms of my bad relationship with my parents. I also just like her other music in general.
@@jaygandra Fair enough. Your 'parent' angle has made the song instantly better for some reason. Thank you and all the best to you with your mom and dad!!
Even when I was a teenager who hadn't experienced heartbreak yet, I listened to music where the singer didn't sound bored with her own song.
its just really catchy
@@morganqorishchi8181 white girls "bored with their own song" has become its own genre at this point. quite funny to watch this unfold if I'm being honest because my semi-boomer brain is unable to get the appeal so all i can really do is giggle
"If you don't like it, then just frickin go" is a weird thing to say from someone who wrote an entire song whining about how much the country he lives in sucks.
Behold the true patriot, who claims to love his country while hating 98% of the people in it.
It's because he doesn't love his country, or America. He loves his idea of what his country should be in his mind - a fascist state where there is one religion and gay people are not permitted to exist. Because it makes him uncomfortable.
He says "There's the fricking door", which is arguably even weirder
Right? The whole time he's insisting that he's the only one who thinks and feels the way he does but still has the never to tell everyone who doesn't agree with him to leave.
@@RectPropagation there was an episode of Kino's Journey about that
It’s literally just a bunch of conservative one liners stitched together
I'm so glad that Fancy Like made it on this list. I work at an Applebee's and I'm so tired of hearing it. It was a literal corporate deal between Applebee's and Hayes to promote certain dishes in exchange for money.
Oh and also middle management offered bonuses if employees preformed the Fancy Like Tik Tok challenge, so screw that song.
Fucking seriously? Man, I’m sorry, that sounds like a nightmare.
I’m so sorry you’ve been subjected to that, that’s awful.
Its maybe even worse for the frosty with fries lovers, Im not but i completely understand why they do. He literally compare frosty with fries to him and own wife genitalia, bleugh
I shed a tear for the fallen and salute our troops
Goddamn I’m so fucking sorry you had to deal with that…
Ew. I'm so sorry dude.
There's something comforting to me about not knowing any of these songs. It's like when I hear about influencer drama between people I previously wasn't aware of. I have no stakes in this list and it's so calming.
@@ranivacar Schadenfreude. That's what it is for me anyway.
There's something comforting to me about not knowing any of these songs. It's like when I hear about influencer drama between people I previously wasn't aware of. I have no stakes in this list and it's so calming.
you sound like one of those people who hate on popular songs because theyre popular.
@@thuankhiet_ I'm not. Idk where you got that from. I like and dislike songs based on how good or interesting they are. I don't care if they're popular. Like I said, I have no stakes in this list. How can I hate music I haven't heard?
@@moongem4489 That's definitely why I also watch them lol.
He nailed the Walker Hayes thing. It's a song written by someone who's extremely rich and hasn't been to an Applebee's in so long he has no idea what it's really like. Hayes is a rich guy trying to write a song as if he's not rich and it comes off as tasteless. If rich people had a "live like the poors" night, this song would be the theme for it.
"Am I doing it right? Is this what poor people do? They put on clean clothes and go to Applebee's and Chili's and drink cheap beer? Oh, how quaint. Can I try it just for one song?"
Also, I had never heard of Dan & Shay until this video. It looks to me like the label was desperate. It's like they had these two potentials but neither was that good. Dan can't play guitar but he can sorta sing and Shay is the opposite. So. Put em together and make em a duet. It worked for Simon & Garfunkel, right?
Mostly, though, screw Aaron Lewis.
Go watch Pat Finnerty’s video on this song and thank me later! :)
@@Uhohlisa Which one? There's 10 in the video and I commented about 3.
The music aside, Dan is actually an incredible vocalist. I say this as a singer, songwriter, and performer.
It's like a perfect recreation of the Bo Burnham skit
It’s like Bo Burnham’s Country Song but unironic
"Screaming what the fuck at my TV" is the funniest lyric ever. I cannot believe that that's a serious song.
Ive said to so many people that if Id been told it was from a South Park episode, id 100% believe it. It sounds like a parody of political songs.
My senior relatives do it a lot, and it's just sad. Still not as disturbing as when they clap at the TV.
@@toddjones1480 people clapping at their tv is probably on top of the list of things that make me feel like i'm in a simulation
What's comforting about Todd's videos isn't that I agree necessarily, I don't and probably never will 100% agree with any single critic, but the best reviewers make me understand their point of view about why they picked what they did. I go away feeling entertained rather than bad about my own tastes. Todd is fantastic about that, and it's why I love watching his reviews especially the end of the year lists. His deep dives into specific songs and bands are really cool too, I learn so much history I didn't know before. Thanks for the hard work Todd, here's to another year of fantastic content.
Well put, I agree
same! even as a taylor swift fan, i still enjoy todd's negative reviews of her music bc 1) he's funny, and 2) he explains himself eloquently, noting his own biases as much as possible
Yeah I honestly disagree with a few of his takes on this list but god damn if he doesn't have a point about every single song on this list, including ones that I like.
I always have 1 or 2 songs I always disagree with but that’s the great part about opinions, they’re subjective. And Todd explains his opinions thoroughly enough
I agree. I started watching his videos when I was younger and getting more into music. I feel like the first time I really disagreed with one of his opinions and could fully understand why I didn't agree, was when I felt like I can really understand my own subjective taste. I find his videos as a great way to just see what someone else thinks but I never feel forced to agree with his opinion. Instead I just understand the point of view and in a way, it helps me understand mine better both in the times where I completely agree and when I don't. I also have been introduced to so many great songs and artists through his recommendations. Todd in the Shadows is easily one of my favorite youtubers.
It’s always a blessed Christmas when Todd drops his worst songs list
Fo sho
Amen
On time too!
True dat.
fr fr marry crisis
"Am I the only one" being number one is only shocking because I can't believe Todd remembered that it exists
I mean, he did do a review on it and everything...
THANK YOU for spoiling it
@Daniel P the rules that todd follows is either on the year end chart or ranked in the top 20 at any time and am i the the only one peaked at number 14 so is following his rules
Yeah, my response was "Oh! That garbage"
@@-aquamarine-324 it didn’t really spoil anything, it was basically guaranteed
fun fact: drake has been on todd's worst list the most times out of any artist with 7 times. oddly enough, he is also tied with katy perry for being on todd's best list the second most at 6 times. he is also the only artist not including honourable mentions to be included on both lists in the same year more than once, being on both lists in 2016 and 2018.
Now we can add 2 for Drake from the worst list for 2023. He's probably not going to lose that top spot for a long time. (Who is the most on the best list? I feel like I should be able to guess but can't.)
@@aeddiefarmer yeah, drake's not getting touched, second place is a four way tie between chris brown, justin bieber, maroon 5, and taylor swift with 6. the most on the best list is bruno mars, but it's much closer, only one ahead of drake.
@@courtneyevie I love this, do you compile these yourself? And does it count if someone is a collaborator/feature credit? I was gonna take a guess at it being Bruno Mars for the most but I didn't say it so I have no proof. 😂
@@aeddiefarmer yeah, i started a document after the 2022 lists came out and started noticing a ton of patterns, notably how many times people ended up on both lists in the same year, so i just started writing down a ton of stats. one of my favourites is that there are three people who have been at number one on both lists (rihanna, taylor swift, and now morgan wallen), with rihanna being number one on both lists in the same year, 2012. i count featured artists but only if they're listed by todd, so drake isn't credited for sicko mode even though that would have him tie with bruno. that rule also affects groups like bad meets evil, one direction, and silk sonic, so bruno doesn't get any credit for that honourable mention even though he is in silk sonic.
I wouldn’t have guessed Bruno as being one of the highest artists on the best list! Then again it’s been a while since I’ve seen some of the early episodes, when he would’ve been on the hit train. Him and Katy Perry topping the best lists feels interesting, though, like pop was way more centralized at the start of the 2010s.
Heat Waves is going to go down in history as one of the WEIRDEST reasons a song became a hit, alongside "Margaret Thatcher died" and "Everyone thought they were the Beatles reunited"
don't forget Kiling In The Name hitting #1 in the UK to protest Simon Cowell
‘Margaret thatcher died’ is very valid and expected imo
I remember when Thatcher died, “ding dong the witch is dead” going to number two in the charts was the least weird thing about that time. The weirdest thing was the tonal dissonance between the people spontaneously lighting bonfires in the street in celebration and the grown men in charge of the country at the time openly crying at the state funeral. That was weird
Can you explain why Heat Waves got popular? Because I don't get it.
What do you mean “everyone thought the were the Beatles reunited?”
Todd: You don’t see kids crying in an arcade!
Me, who works in an arcade: Oh Todd, if you only knew...
People under 30 still go to those things?
@@stevethepocket Yes, people over 30 take their kids.
@@SuperWoodgod Me, a childless 22-year old who likes arcades: :(
@@stevethepocket Yes, very much so. We're down by the beach, we have thousands of people every day in the summer.
what games make kids cry the most? I bet it's the crane games/claw machines. Those are riiiigged.
Hearing "there's the FRICKEN door" in overwrought vocals is one of the funniest things to me.
It's kinda perfect isn't it? The lyrical equivalent of sticking your chin out at someone whilst backing off out of striking distance.
if he really wanted to stay angry, he should've never left Staind. I'm not even a big Staind fan, but they're more suited to Aaron's grouch factor.
Granted, I don't think the rest of the band can tolerate Aaron, either
imagine thinking you're the real tough guy... and then censoring yourself saying the f-word in your music video. what a corporate coward. it's very funny that he thinks that's being assertive, when it comes across as more pathetic.
If you wanna disagree with me, there's the frickin' door.
I'm so darned hard-poop, I almost kinda swore.
Had a good laugh at that one too. Sounds exactly like South Park's take on that kind of music. And I do mean exactly, damn.
It will always kill me that glass animals is now known for this. Unless people take the time to listen to other music they just think of that one annoying synth pop song from 2021. Their prior work was a staple in my life from 2014 to 2018 and then i hear them again and it’s this.
Their earlier music is so good and deserves more love.
I kinda feel that way Panic now since High Hopes is now their biggest hit. I hate it so much.
Right 👀☝️👏👏 I was shocked by the change
@@KrisRN23935 girl. This. ☝️👀 even on that album it wasn't the best song 😡🥲
Ima be genuine if ANY song should’ve blown up from tiktok it should’ve been Take a Slice… their How to Be a Human Being album is great but Dreamland? Im sorry the only really good standout parts of the album were the verses of Denzel Curry on Tokyo Drifting and Arlo Parks on Tangerine and thats depressingly sad when the features outshine the band…
For me most of these songs fall into "bland but harmless" or "don't like the singing but would listen to the instrumentals". Fancy-like however, had me physically recoiling.
This is true. It's the first song in a while that's solicited a physical reaction from me. Walter Hayes makes me embarrassed to exist.
What the Billie Eilish copycats don’t understand is her soft singing works because underneath it is a simmering rage. Billie is angry, she’s just not loud about it. It’s the kind of anger where you’ve been angry so long you don’t have the energy to shout, it just doesn’t feel like anyone is listening anyway.
Exactly! You can't just copy the most superficial parts of her aesthetic and expect the same results, because there is far more to her music than just singing in a quiet moody voice. Your unique selling point can't be "I sound exactly like that really unique girl that you like for being different and edgy, except I'm singing a song written by someone else, and I'm wearing a cardigan."
@@BambiTrout
Music industry will not accept this though, as whatever made her profitable _must_ be easily repeatable and mass marketable in the most low effort way. Capitalism = Low Energy Clones
Thank you for this description because it made her music click for me. I'm going to give her songs another try.
I’d find that more believable if her music wasn’t dull as dishwater. She lacks passion and conviction. She comes off as kind of a shitty person too
thanks for reminding me why i like her music
I love how he sings that line about Springsteen with such conviction despite the fact that it means literally nothing. Springsteen was always a liberal, he always had subtle Anti-American lyrics in his songs, hell, he was one of THE first big artists speaking out for LGBTQ-rights, not to mention that his biggest hit is a passionate Anti-War song critisizing the treatment of Veterans and the military complex that breakes them in the first place.
If you just now stopped singing along to Springsteen because he is suddenly "too liberal" for you, that simply means you have not been paying attention until now.
Not to mention that Bruce Springsteen could not give a damn if someone stops listening to him. He lost a lot of fans who were police officers because of American Skin (41 Shots). Didn't make him change his position on anything.
Given how a lot of conservatives are reacting to Rage Against The Machine "suddenly getting too political"... it's VERY likely they aren't paying attention until now. Like... even dipshit pre-teen and teenage me understood Rage Against The Machine was ALWAYS a political band.
Nice, love Springsteen even more now
@@jadedheartsz Then again, we have Trump playing fucking Fortunate Son at his rallies, which makes me think they’re doing it on purpose.
@@SeanStrife Yeah, even the name of the band itself should tell people that it is probably a political band.
Please put ABCDEFU on the list. Not only is it a weak summer ear worm song, she tried to pass it off that her social media followers gave her the idea for the song when it was a worker for her record company that commented the idea for it. Quite literally the most insulting thing to her own fans
I hate that song
Kept Take my Breath from #1, so I have reason to hate it.
I am not surprised at all that that song had to be astroturfed its way up to the charts.
maude latour's music sounds like gayle's done right, just for some reason gayle was the one who got big
She has a decent song called "Z" but that's it, she's tramp stamps minus the racism
I love the fact that Aaron Lewis' petty diss on Bruce Springsteen infuriated Todd so much that he brings it up again and even makes a video conclusion out of it
It shows that Aaron Lewis takes his politics so far as to ruin his own ability to enjoy music. Really, what could be more pathetic for a musician?
@@teddyhaines6613 Part of me has to wonder if Aaron Lewis EVER enjoyed making music at one point or if this is just a job to him at this point. Like... have the Staind royalties dried up THAT MUCH that you can't just fuck off out of the public eye for good and you have to keep making music?
@@SeanStrife considering radio still plays It’s Been Awhile and So Far Away on repeat and he’s the main songwriter of both, I doubt it’s financial obligation
I like to think that Lewis just sits in front of his tv sulking while watching fox at full volume because his kids are playing Springsteen
@@jay7568 this is so credible it hurts
There's a metal version of "You Broke Me First" that hits way harder than the original song. I would definitely recommend it.
Which artist? I need to find the right one
@@Firegen1 It's a cover from a band called Our Last Night.
Our Last Night has some pretty amazing covers across the board.
That actually sounds listenable nice
yoo I didn't know it was a cover! That song's fire.
I'm Dutch, and I actually really like eurovision. Not even national pride could get me to care about Arcade.
Though, Todd, I should tell you, arcades in the Netherlands actually ARE pretty much casinos.
Arcades in America can also be casinos. Sometimes we call those "adult arcades," but they're far more common than the other type nowadays.
And no'one actually wanted it to win ofcourse. The Jurys wanted North Macedonia and the people wanted Norway. It only won thanks to the whole stupid 50-50 voting.
Hi Dutch
Arcade is still better than almost every other entree song we've ever had if you ask me
@@00KiryuZero00 not hard when we keep sending in the same boring shit year after year. So many great other bands from other genres to send, but we keep doing these boring ass singer songwriters. Or if we don't want to do bands, send someone with a strong voice for once.
"You're not even southern, you clam chowder-eating (M)asshole. You don't even go here." Ahh. That makes me smile every time. Thank you for pointing out the conservative everyman cosplay that seems to work its way into all the country songs.
Plenty of that. Walker Hayes is southern but went to a fancy private school growing up. He wasn't driving any tractor. His daddy was a rich realtor. Pop crap was popular then. I roll my eyes at his country boy schtick. What the country club didn't have a table?
"Like, let's be clear. If Aaron Lewis expressed the exact opposite sentiments that he does on this song, this would still probably be the worst song I heard all year"
This. Just... all of this.
"Probably" being the key word here 😅
"If you don't like it, there's the frickin door" instantly turns that song from one of the most miserable slogs of the year to one of the most hysterical... that was glorious, holy shit
Im more partial to the "screaming what the fuck at my tv" line
Never fails to get a chuckle out of me
"If you don't like it, git out!" says dude who constantly whines about how bad America is.
i'm glad he apparently only drops REAL f-bombs in private and is kind enough to watch his language when telling you to get out of his safe space
I'm sure it did. 🙄
It's such a bad edit and a weak word to replace it. They would've been better off replacing it with that missing 'bucket' from the WAP edit somehow.
What makes "Fancy Like" even worse is that Weird Al did an actual good version of this song years ago
“Whatever You Like” for those who don’t know. “Hottest shorty I know, if you had some lipo, you could be second-runner-up Miss Ohio…”
"My wallet's fat
Full of ones
Cause it's all
About the Washingtons."
And that’s basically the main issue that people have with the song. It’s the Weird Al parody of itself.
Young Jeffrey did a version of the song for Halloween called Scary Like. It was good too
ABCDEFU is Number 1 in Germany for seven (six consecutive) weeks now. I'm beggin', beggin' you to put it on 2022's Worst List.
It’ll be top 3, just for the main line (genuinely the worst line in anything ever. Not even fucking kidding).
I don't mind that song that much but the censored version.... holy shit they censored the u in abcdefu and replaced it with forget
Ikr! I also heard a version where it's replaces the chorus with "abcedfghi love you so"
@@JayKayEllEmm It sounds like a randomly generated hook. I know it came from a """""""fan's""""""" Tik Tok comment, but it almost feels like these generic pop writers are running out of already-lazy ideas
Idk its okay
This is the first year of the Worst list where I just genuinely haven't heard 50% of the songs. I don't know if these mostly got radio play, but Spotify didn't push these and I never heard them from my friends so I missed out. Thanks for making my year that much worse Todd.
If I hadn't seen Todd's review of Aaron Lewis song, it would be 100% for me.
2018 was worst for me. Just completely devoid of anything. A year long empty space.
TikTok. Most of these songs have a 15 second hook and that’s it. No substance in the song.
The only one I’ve heard in the wild is the “Maroon 5” song. I had only heard 2 other songs before and only in the boundaries of a RUclips critique.
2021 was just mind numbingly exhausting. I hate to always just default to "I am old now" that just puts yourself down. You're still young, you still have energy, value, you can still add so much to the world. 2021 had endless music, endless things to barely care about or people were trying to get you into which frustrated me personally. It was just easy to miss things when every relevant band had an album this year it seemed like and yet so little actually HIT.
Seeing Todd’s thoughts on heat waves is so funny to me because the first time I heard it I literally thought “oh this sounds nice, I better not overplay it though since it’s so repetitive.”
and then I didn’t… and I still like it. Funny how that works.
Same, I've heard it like three or four times since it came out, and I think it sounds pretty cool. It's 'one of the good ones' on the playlist my work always has on.
I'll admit it's been a while since I paid super close attention to the charts and radio, so I didn't even know this song became a Billboard hit. My partner's been playing it a lot all year because they got super into Glass Animals after hearing "Cocoa Hooves" in a cafe they were working at.
I heard the remix version of the song in Forza Horizon 5 and thought it sounded nice personally, plus it fitted with the summary vibe of the game. Never heard the original on radio believe it or not 😅
It's crazy, I love Glass Animals, and have for a number of years, but I normally have like one song of theirs per playlist. And I still like them.
I think it also hit because of that emotional TikTok trend. So I'll always have a soft spot for it.
"No emotion, no beat - just 'vibes'"
I, TOO, AM INCREDIBLY SICK OF "VIBES," TODD. Thank you for saying it out loud. There's a lot of bland pop tunes out there lately. Here's to hoping 2022 has a little more musical chutzpah.
As much as I am a fan of Ariana, I can agree that, at least with thank u, next (the album), I feel like there’s a lot of songs that are liked because they’re “vibes”, not because they’re actually good.
Aside from the obvious example of 7 rings, there’s also makeup. That song is just so bland.
And, you can argue that some songs on sweetener and positions are also like that, but it’s less of a problem with those albums than TUN.
When songs from anime-style idol franchise like Takagaki Kaede's _Koi Kaze_ single-handedly outperforms Hollywood pop songs by a mile away in terms of emotion, you'll instantly know something is completely wrong.
And we are not yet talking about _Koi Kaze Hanaba._
Yeah good luck. Gen z is gonna bring in the age vibey music. And honestly I like it.
@@prettierjesus3119 i haven't liked any Ariana song for a long time (includinf ty, next) because they were too quiet and bland. I think Ariana's voice is better suited for louder and more energetic songs
FINALLY, i thought i was the only one
I love how no matter how much these awful songs drain Todd’s will to live, his “were counting down” still sounds just as passionate as ever. Keep up the great work man.
I love "Heat Waves" and even I have to admit that Todd's criticism of it is on point.
Heatwaves was 2020 right?
@@stuatagovailoa7536 Technically it was released in June 2020, but it took a year to become a hit in the US.
@@stuatagovailoa7536 It was for anyone listening to Glass Animals. But mainstream radio is about a year behind at this point, especially when it comes to indie and alt-rock.
It's so frustrating when I love a song and every criticism Todd has of it is accurate so i can't even be mad
Yeah the songs but Glass animals has way better songs
Every time I hear it I'm more convinced "Fancy Like" is actually a classist screed making fun of (what Walker Hayes imagines is) rural working peoples' lifestyle
Pretty much
As someone raised in a blue collar rural family, I completely agree. This song makes me NOT WANT to go to Applebee's if he's gonna be so cringe about it whereas previously Applebee's was just a perfectly normal place to go for a date night.
@@elizabethashley42 I'll take it a step further; that song makes me want to fucking burn an Applebee's down.
I choose to hear it as: “can’t make a wife out of a Ho-oh” and that makes the song WAY more enjoyable. Like indeed, I’d certainly hope you’re not tryna marry a Pokémon
And if you were, everyone knows that it's Vaporeon, for...reasons.
Except Gardevoir. That's the one even the non-furries are into.
I legit thought he said "chemical wife", and I was like 'what the fuck does that even mean'?
@@TheGyrocop "chemical wife" sounds kinda cool lol
I'm assuming you've never heard of the married to Reshiram song?
There is literally no reason for maroon 5 to still be a thing. They should've faded out into oblivion like flo rida.
well, Flo Rida never had a good album, M5 did have Songs About Jane at least. but yes, they should be banished to the shadow realm with Pitbull and Flo Rida, never to make new music again.
@@MelMelodyWerner People sleep on It Won't Be Soon Before Long-Wake Up Call AND Makes Me Wonder? Honestly, the only bad song is "Kiwi" and that's mainly because I don't want to hear Adam Levine sing about my juices dripping down his chin.
Hey at least Flo Rida's one good song made it into Just Dance. Actually... wait no Moves Like Jagger was Maroon 5 wasn't it... fuck.
@@magicrainbowkitties1023 At least we have another Flo Rida song!
Wait...Maps was...as was Sugar... *sigh*
@@Valhalla05 Tbh I was originally going for 1 good song by Maroon 5 XD
Chaotic Evil Todd: "There's only one part that get stuck in your head"
Proceeds to replay it like... Fifteen times in a row.
No, see, he cut the actual part of the song where Bieber replays the line thirty times in a row. :P
*save your tears for another day!*
I've been a fan of Glass Animals for years, but I have to agree that Heat Waves is one of their least good songs lol. I definitely prefer their previous album, How to Be a Human Being, since it has a more energetic sound to it and it feels closer to normal rock music than their other stuff. Great video as always.
agreed. zaba and htbahb are so good, it’s so weird that this was what skyrocketed them
@@doubleh333lix it is weird but the reasoning for its popularity is hilarious
perfectly said. Ive been a fan for years but heat waves has become kinda unlistenable. I still think dreamland is a good album but htbahb wins any day.
i love glass animals but i have to agree on the heat waves situation. i would probably like it more if it wasn’t so overplayed. it’s also pretty difficult to make something better than htbahb ngl.
waterfalls coming out your mouth and space ghost coast to coast are my favorite songs off of dreamland btw
@@jun-hs4eo I enjoyed Waterfalls, until I realized it was 100% a blatant rewrite of Other Side of Paradise from the album before, which is a significantly better song imo
"Kid Laroi is a less charming Lewis Capaldi"
That... is probably the most accurate phrase I've heard all year
He's more of a less charming Juice WRLD. Really wish he didn't try to be Juice.
Juice WRLD was his music mentor
@@j.d.t.5761Well that makes Juice WRLD a bad mentor.
@@RenaldyCalixtehe didnt have much time to mentor him, he died the same year they met
@@AndTheirShed That was a joke my dude.
I thought “I got my peaches out in Georgia” meant like….”I moon people in Georgia” and I was terrified but not sure its intended meaning is any better
Same
That sounds like something Justin Bieber would do, he's a complete douchebag
that's hilarious
If I ever become a musical artist or song writer, this is gonna be on my song bucket list for sure.
I think peaches may be some weird slang word for some drug. Anyway what ,,I moon people" even means??
Todd dropping "I love cheap thrills" is probably the best thing to happen to Sia this year. She didn't make it on the list but woof what a horrible year for her
Deservingly so
Why was it a bad year for her? Did I miss something?
@@tylarjackson7928 She made an ableist movie that paints people of autism in a negative light, and also promotes bad techniques at “handling” autistic people, also her soundtrack album for the movie was terrible, if you want to see for yourself it’s called “Music”.
@@Jackrabbit7 Fucking christ. As a human being, that upsets me, but as a human with a Bachelor's in Psychology, that REALLY upsets me.
@@Jackrabbit7 Deadass forgot that happened in 2021
I think there is actually the hint of a good song behind Beautiful Mistakes, but the production fucking murders it. I personally think it could work great as a chilled R&B ballad by someone actually cool/smooth, or it might even work if you changed it back into Maroon 5's classic Songs About Jane style - a bit bluesier and more organic. This soulless electronic non-music that Maroon 5 has been pumping out for the past 5 years just destroys any feeling in the song that could have elevated the formulaic lyrics. You can't even call it minimalist, because minimalism still has style. This is barely one step up from the Rick & Morty "Human Music".
I would agree, never heard it before this video but the harmony part when he sings “beautiful” was super cool to me, and I could totally see that being in a good song, but any potential it has is ruined by the production and the voice of Adam Levine singing it.
In a way, I think what could also work for it is to make it even more artificial in certain ways, like heavy 80s synth pop like what The Weeknd did on his last album, as the song doesn’t have the power behind its instrumental I think it needs or that genre could provide.
I’m not sure in which list he said this, but Todd has mentioned that Maroon 5 has a tendency to find a good melody and completely smother it with garbage trying to make it more commercial
@@doctordrizzles1281 I think I’ve seen nearly every TITS video and I don’t remember that, but that sounds absolutely right. Payphone for example has a really great melody but it’s too overproduced, also Adam Levine’s voice, or at least whatever the hell they do to it in production since he’s sounded fine before, ruins almost anything it touches.
@@doctordrizzles1281 this is the main reason that makes M5’s continued decline down the slope of mediocrity so painful; they’re genuinely talented but they feel the need to sell out every time despite being set for life several times over.
i definitely think beautiful mistakes is one of maroon 5's less offensively bad songs in recent years. unfortunately, its still shit (and i actually like some of their pop stuff! v was a fun era and im not nearly as annoyed by songs like payphone or animals)
You know it'll be a good Christmas when the Worst list is on time, uncontroversial and has a perfect number one pick. Thank you, Todd, for the gift of being the voice of reason.
Makes the season all the brighter
Uncontroversial? Not so sure about that; "Heat Waves" is almost universally beloved.
@@hiimemily Most people I know have never heard of it. I'm sure it's beloved somewhere but around here it's just some song.
24:00 I mean he's right. You can't make a wife out of a Ho-oh, I think marrying a Pokemon is illegal. Besides they'd probably incinerate you
Its actually (unfortunately) canon that pokemon and humans used to.. have some fun- sometimes-
@@Ghxstizz…I…never thought about that
Mr. Mime and Ash's mom would probably beg to differ lmao
Don't tell that to JustinRPG
I heard Ho-Ho… who’d want to make a wife out of snack food? 😆
I remember in 2006, when Lithuania lost out to "Hard Rock Hallelujah" with their jumpin' little record "We Are The Winners of Eurovision." It was truly a magical year for Eurovision which hasn't been matched before or since.
That one was funny. Iceland's joke song that year sucked IIRC. But yeah, a few songs taking the piss always livens up the show.
Nothing on Eurovision will ever match the pure epicness of lordi and hard rock hallelujah.
I disagree, I think 2010 was probably the last year Eurovision was good. That year offered tonnes of good songs, even though the actual winner Lena had probably the 4th or 5th song that year. Not that I minded because my then 12 year old self had a huge crush on her.
Damn, Hard Rock Hallelujah was so entertaining
Also everyone was practically on crack in 2007 with the extreme amount of joke songs
I was surprised to see Glass Animals on this list since I was a big fan of their song with Tove Lo a few years back, but the back-to-back hits of actually hearing the song and hearing the words "real person slash fiction" instantly pumped me full of dread
Edit: Apparently that was Years & Years, not Glass Animals. The mislabeled mp3 joke was spot on LMAO
i really like some of their songs (especially other side of paradise and poplar st) but god their recent stuff is so shit it depresses me
Oh hey, thanks, that Years & Years one is a fun song
Yeah the Heat Waves thing is unfortunate. Glass Animals have some stunning songs like Gooey and Life Itself, plus the main singer/songwriter has produced some really cool bests for hip-hop records - so it’s annoying that they got massive with one of their blander songs.
Luckily they’re still excellent live!
Desire was such a good song tbh. Just in general, Years & Years is good, but Tove Lo brought it to such a fun place.
the only glass animals song i really liked was their collaboration with denzel curry, that was amazing
You’re right. This list is disappointing in the fact that it showcases how unbelievably dull this year in music has been.
This year is a sequel of 2020, but has sequelitis.
I actually thought it was a pretty damn good year, just not for the mainstream charts.
A load of fantastic music came out this year, much like every year. Little Simz, King Gizzard, Arlo Parks, Magdalena Bay, Genesis Owusu, Pond, Silk Sonic, Dave, Ghetts, Mdou Moctar, Vince Staples, Jungle, Tyler the Creator, Lingua Ignota, The War on Drugs, IDLES, Cassandra Jenkins, Faye Webster, Jasmine Sullivan, Low, Clairo, St Vincent, Wolf Alice, Slowthai, Self Esteem, Wet Leg, among many others (probably will remember 10 more the moment I post this) all released fantastic projects. The year in music isn’t bound to what’s played on the radio, every year is an incredible year for music and 2021 was no exception
It was a great year for music. Don't just look to the top 100 for music.
@@tomschreier3319 Even there, there were very good songs.
Oh my gosh... I always thought the lyrics to "Without You" were "So where did you go/Oh, chemical wife?/I'll never know, oh" and that the song was actually about addiction with drugs being personified as a spouse. The actual lyrics are so much less poetic haha
Reminds me of a comment I read somewhere about an addict who refers to heroin as "The Lady" and talks about how she is not to be disrespected
That's so much better than the actual lyrics
Did you mean, Something I Can Never Have by Nine Inch Nails?
2021 was the year Todd fully embraced being a country simp and then immediately became snobbish about it. We stan.
Country snobs were the original genre gatekeepers, as evidenced by Barbara Mandrell doing the "before it was cool" joke before it was cool.
He's talked multiple times about growing up in the south (North Carolina as I recall?) and listening to country music.
"This just sounds like the movie trailer cover version of itself" what a line
Hits the nail on the head, too.
Man, the "You Broke Me" Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter trailer made me laugh so hard
"Can't make a wife out of a Ho-Oh."
Well I'd certainly hope he's not seriously trying to marry a pokemon.
I'd be way more willing to hear a joke song about marrying your favorite Pokémon than a teen fumble his way through serious breakup song... mostly because we have plently of the latter.
...stay away from certain sites...you're not going to like what you find...
@@christopherb501 especially ones with 4 in them
I couldn't even fucking understand the line, it sounded like something about "chemical wifi". I had to Google it. Am I getting that old or is the guy just that incomprehensible? Ugh.
I gotta say, it’s so refreshing seing someonen having legit reasons to dislike these songs and still recognising the artsts talents, rather than some edgelord just going ”new music bad”
cough cough a dose of buckley cough cough
@@superjchamma Ugh. that guy's top 10 worst songs of 2021 showed up on my recommended, and he put Adele in it because her song was too "somber and boring" and made a very cruel quip about Demi Lovato's overdose while also misgendering them, so yeah. That guy can eat shit. hit the "don't recommend channel" on that real quick.
You can say adoseofbuckley its ok.
New music is bad. With few exceptions.
@@129jasper1 okay
God, the opinions on this one were so sharp. I liked Heat Waves, but the metaphor with TV dinner potatoes…. I GOT it. Songs I was indifferent to like Peaches were cut with a laser’s accuracy to shreds. I’m SO happy.
Part of me is loving that Glass Animals is getting its love when I was in college in 2014 when they first came out.
I’m not happy this song is their most popular song.
I definitely get what he means too, especially when Glass Animals released a much better song with Space Ghost later on in the year.
@@CardsNHorns04 some of my favorite songs come off of How To Be A Human Being. i love that album jfccc
@@CardsNHorns04 I think that it's still OK, although I would've liked to see Your Love get the same attention. However, the success of this will get them bigger venues on tours and further up festival lineups
@@HornetHK oh my gosh literally, the other side of paradise and life itself and youth and I could list every song potentially, they're all just such good hits
Let's put it out there - even the trashiest Kesha's songs (like My First Kiss, Dinosaurs or Blah Blah Blah) are lyrical masterpieces compared to Applebee's song (which has a remix with Kesha... Why Kesha? Why?).
To be fair in My First Kiss, she only sings like 3 lines. And it's repeating. Also unfortunately, she probably needed the money bc she's not as popular as she used to be
@@latayesha you'd think something like "Praying" would revitalise her image and give her serious cred as a serious, deep and thoughtful artist, specially in a #MeToo world...
I don't give much care for Kesha, but that makes me wonder what happened there.
@@Cthulu1985 WTF are you on about?!
@@latayesha My First Kiss was a 3OH!3 song and Kesha was just a featuring artist.
The only plus is that Ke$ha sounds like she's having fun for a change. The loser on lead sounds like the guy who married the wrong girl and is now stuck in the sticks. Where there is only football, cheap beer and the restuarants by the interstate (Applebees and McDs). Why he doesn't leave and move back to the city is an open mystery.
I am begging you to put ABCDEFU on the worst list for 2022. I don’t get annoyed with pop songs often- quite the opposite actually but this was the first mainstream song in a long time that I find physically hard to listen to. Please Todd, we all want it to ABCDESTFU anyways
Oh my god YESSSS I would love to see him tear that song a new ass.
You got your wish.
Ok I know this isn’t apart of your comment but nice pfp! it’s so rare seeing someone with a pocket mirror character on anything
@@peanut4668 YOOOOOOOOOO I'm so glad somebody noticed. I've gotten myself into a really deep horror rpg maker phase recently and Pocket Mirror really solidified itself as a fave of mine, that's so cool
@@ray1509 same I love horror rpg maker games like ib, mad father, witches house, and pocket mirror of course. I think their remaking pocket mirror too so that’s something to look forward to
Managed to not hear of this "Am I the Only One" song until now, and I completely agree that even if his politics of what he was singing about were completely reversed it'd still be a trash song. Never heard such a whiney self entitled boomer anthem in my life.
lol nice username
Agreed
@@jadedheartsz I bet you like that train wreck song.
"abcdefu" is really no different from "do-re-mi-fa-so eff-in done with you, girl" or "shawty is an eenie-meenie-miney-mo lover" when it comes to stupid chorus gimmicks. The song should work in theory, but it is so spiteful and bitter without having any of the catharsis that made other songs like it compelling.
It worked a lot better when The Cleveland Show did it in like 2011
I didn’t need to be reminded of "shawty is an eenie-meenie-miney-moe lover".
I gotta give her one thing: the "everyone but your dog" line is kinda cute. Like she's a brat to everyone but she loves dogs. I respect that.
@@neckpeck2738 idk, on first listen, I thought that line was cute as well, but it got really odd in the context of the entire chorus. the song only paints the ex as being a true asshole (even his friends seem to dislike him), but her insulting all his friends and family in the chorus is just overly bitter, so the dog part now feels like a glass of water thrown on a wildfire.
Written by 10 year olds? Because good grief.
Aaron Lewis: “If you don’t like it there’s a fricken door!”
Also Aaron Lewis: Shows his affection for statues of people who tried to secede from the United States
Also also Aaron Lewis: Whines about Bruce Springsteen being liberal.
Seriously, fuck these "iF yOu DoN't LiKe iT, jUsT LeAvE!!!!11!1" dipshits. They'll call people protesting against police brutality "snowflakes," then absolutely shit themselves in rage when someone utters the phrase "Happy Holidays" within a fifty-mile radius. They are always, _without fucking fail,_ more easily offended than the people they're constantly complaining about, and I have absolutely zero respect for them. Fuck them all.
Sorry. Rant over.
So they tried to do exactlly what he is saying? I bet that sounded better in your head, huh?
@@grafphal5103 Liberals tend to be pretty fucking stupid when it comes to History and will buy any Jewish story they are told.
@@grafphal5103 more like if you want to show affection those statues from traitors there’s a fricken door. I bet that sounded better in your head, huh?
@@grafphal5103 No. He obviously hates these people. Because he called them brainwashed. But it’s apparently different with the confederates
dude you hit the nail on the head when you said you're sick of vibes. like vibes are great and there's a time and place but nine times out of ten i wanna rock out and jam and you can't do either of those things when it's just vibes.
0:30 Intro
1:40 10. “Beautiful Mistakes” Maroon 5
5:00 9. “You Broke Me First” Tate McRae
8:10 8. “Heat Waves” Glass Animals
11:05 7. “Way 2 Sexy” Drake
14:40 6. “Fancy Like” Walker Hayes
17:45 CAPITALISM
18:50 AD OVER 5. “Peaches” Justin Bieber
22:10 5. “Without You” The Kid LAROI
25:55 4. “Glad You Exist” Dan + Shay
28:00 Worst Two Seconds of the Year
29:10 “Beggin” Maneskin
30:05 2. “Arcade” Duncan Laurence
32:50 Honorable Mentions
34:50 1. “Am I the Only One” Aaron Lewis
I found this channel this year, and it made my rough year a little bit better. Thanks Todd!
Thank you very much Businessman Spheal
Yooo Flando!
Please correct numbering.
whats the piano song before the intro?
FLANDOOOOOO! Good to see you! I always look forward to seeing your posts. :)
Bruh that pop smoke cover took me to heaven
Wait, what was the Pop Smoke he played again?
What you know bout love
What are you referring to?
Woah read the room bro
@@Newyt93 ??
I heard Arcade while out shopping today, and it was really difficult to not belt out “I DIDN’T GET THE HIGH SCORE IN SKEEEEBALL!” during the chorus
Todd doesn't upload quite often but when he does it's totally worth the wait.
The podcast he does is good but no dogs in space is better
He uploads about every two weeks!
What the devil are you on about? Toddy uploads every month, child!
Compared to those weekly reviews others pump out, Todd is definitely quality over quantity
If you think Todd’s upload schedule is sparse, wait ‘til you find out about those of other high-quality RUclipsrs out there.
Like, I’m pretty sure Internet Historian uploads once a year now.
It's amazing... seven years I've been watching you, and throughout all that time your year-end lists have never failed to be my single most anticipated video by any RUclipsr each year.
Okay okay calm down there STAN 🤣. I'm subscribed to you by the way for a long time now . I love your videos.
End of 2010 for me, I remember when people were flipping out over Whip My Hair. (And now Willow Smith is making pop-punk, awww).
@@gracecarpinter8623 Really good pop punk too... who the hell saw that coming
little does he know how many of us can say the same thing about his lists
@@DiamondAxeStudiosMusic oh? Time to go check out some songs.
"You don't see kids crying because they lost pacman" Well, you see-
It's very cute how wrong was on that one. Never change Todd.
Well, I probably cried when my mall's arcade closed when I was ten years old. Does that count?
16:00 Being smug about one's own mediocrity is the single worst trend in country music. The MAGA/Let's Go Brandon stuff is the overspill of that septic tank.
The tragic thing about the whole Let's go Brandon situation is that the person most harmed by it was Brandon Brown himself. He didn't do anything, didn't say anything, and has tried to distance himself from the movement. But it still ruined a promising young talented driver's career.
I love these videos because to me it's a window into two things alien to me: Pop Music and American Culture.
Also, I guess nobody talks about Way 2 Sexy because trying to riff on I'm Too Sexy while comletely missing the joke and the charm is just embarrasing.
American culture is disgusting, I only see blasphemous horrors from it
My wife: Drake's not trying to be funny; he's being sincere. The "dad bod on the beach" is him saying he's impregnated plenty of women, a message he reiterates on the cover.
Me: ...
...
I want to argue against that but ...
Yeah that’s exactly what I thought as well
Ugh
Wait, why does this actually makes sense 😭
"Without You" is the best example of my least favorite pop trend of the last year, which is the singing of a bunch of dense nonstop words with no space to breathe over uninteresting music. There's so much of a "drunk poetry read out loud to an uncomfortable audience" vibe to them.
"Beautiful Mistakes" now has a lot of context. Yikes.
Explain
@@Sam-gq3sw Adam Levine cheated on his wife
@@Sam-gq3sw Levine cheated on his wife lol
@@TANGIKAAWow...that's interesting.
As another Eurovision watcher, Arcade BROKE MY BRAIN when this came on the radio lmao. The first time I heard it on the radio I went “wait a minute, I know this from somewhere.” It was honestly so boring to me I’d forgotten it was the winner 😂
Eurovision really is a weird beast, you have winners that are absurd and then you also have winners that are the blandest, most forgettable crap. Hell, if you look at the winner before that, it's an over the top pop song that had fucking chicken sounds in it.
@@Sugarman96 oh God, that song! I really wanted to like that one when I heard it, but those chicken sounds were just too much.
@@Sugarman96 that was me looking at 2012. How the fuck did the Russian grandmas lose to that generic ass pop song that year?
@@markwilson4078 now imagine actually living there, especially after the actual win, you literally couldn't escape it.
@@Sugarman96 kinda reminds me of when Il Volo got robbed of first place by some forgettable Swede and a generic ass pop anthem
Heat Waves was actually made with a friend of theirs in mind who committed suicide, not really about a break up even if it seems like it's framed like/sang like one. It's one of the reason's why the romanticization of it is kinda weird, especially when realizing why it was made gives the lyrics a sadder meaning.
the public in general don't really care about these nuances, the deeper meanings and all of that. remember how people literally blasted swimming pools by kendrick lamar all the time at alcohol-fueled parties back in the day... when the song is about struggling with alcohol addiction? yeah lol. same thing. so at the end of the day all that matters is if it has a catchy tune or not i guess
Song still sucks though so the 'why' doesn't even matter.
@@JohnDarksoul69 a poorly made song with deep lyrics is still a poorly made song
Then why do they say "you'll be better off with someone new"?
@@funwiththoughts It might be talking about how they couldn't help and the "something new" is more of an afterlife/reincarnation concept as now they don't have to suffer with what plagued them in their life
As a European I am
1) Surprised that Americans know what eurovision is
2) pleased that Maneskin are popular
3) deeply saddened by the resurgence of Arcade - duncan seems lovely but its one of the blandest winners we ever could have had - Soldi was robbed frankly, i'm so pleased italy has got the win they deserved for years
I get where you're coming from but Soldi was also incredibly bland... I'd argue much more so. It sounds much more similar to the majority of other songs on the radio rn, being that the charts in general have moved away from pop/ adult alternative and towards contemporary r&b. The chorus hook of soldi repeating and handclap just does not deserve the Eurovision win in my opinion.
I think Soldi had to come so Zitte e buoni was able to win 😉
But yes, agreed, Arcade was quite bland…
Pump it by Eskimo Callboy for Eurovision !
Oh well, here in Italy it's be put almost all the time Maneskin be overly famous in America, opening for Rolling Stones and stuff.
A lot of us Americans DO either keep up with European pop music or have friends who have smartened us up to Eurovision... plus, I think at this point, everybody knows the "Epic Sax Guy" meme came out of their Eurovision performance.
"Movie trailer cover version of itself" is atomic weapon-level scorch
Seeing "Fancy Like" on here reminded me of how Todd should've waited a few years to put it on One Hit Wonderland
@Perverted Alchemist Probably a one hit wonder that's very popular. I just noticed a pattern between him doing more overlooked ones after doing one on a more popular one.
Walker Hayes already had a pretty big country hit a few years ago with You Broke Up With Me, so I don't think he counts as such.
@@teddyhaines6613 Country hit... not a pop hit. Billy Ray Cyrus had some other hits on the country charts, but he still technically counts as a one hit wonder (or at least did, depending on where you stand on the debate of his inclusion on the "Old Town Road" remix negates his status as a one hit wonder or not).
@@SeanStrife But Todd has discounted artists with additional hits on their respective genre charts, like Modest Mouse. And on the other hand he has included bands with two Hot 100 hits like A-ha and Blue Swede. He goes back and forth a lot, honestly.
I think what irritates me more than anything else about "Am I the Only One" is that he sings "Am I the only one willin' to bleed/Or take a bullet for bein' free" when he never served in the military himself. I wasn't in the military either, but that's because I'm not brave enough or patriotic enough to risk death or disability for the red white and starry blue, especially when my generation's wars were fought for the price of Halliburton stock, and I'll freely admit to that and that why I don't shout about taking a bullet for being free. But a civilian talks about taking a bullet for his country, to me that's disrespectful to the soldiers who actually took a bullet (or at least risked it) for theirs.
His version of “fighting for freedom” is picking bar fights with liberals.
@@EricTheKartoonKing No, no. He also said he'll scream, "What the f**k?!" at his TV. He'll then probably go on to Facebook and write WTF.
I just realized his song sounds a lot like a Facebook rant. Is that on purpose? Did he do that on purpose?
Funny thing is, he actually was going to join the military, but his father, who was a Vietnam vet, discouraged him. His father has seen the true horrors of war, while Aaron himself probably fetishizes war and sees it as glorious. Unless you've been to war, whether as a soldier, or some poor civilian caught in the war, you'll be more likely to believe the stories of glory.
As Niko from GTA IV said, "War is where the old and bitter, trick the young and stupid, into killing eachother"
@@EricTheKartoonKing Lmao. Best comment.
So, as a veteran, I think the most annoying thing is that vets and soldiers are always being told their opinions by these flabby uncooked conservative donuts. Not to say that the military isn't right leaning or/and soldiers wouldn't agree with him, but one of the things we're supposed to take oath to is the freedom to protest which we sometimes do actually take bullets for. Plenty of vets and active duty soldiers are not just supportive of protesting, but actively do it too (just not in uniform, obvi). A-A-Ron would probably shit himself if he was stuck in a room listening to a pair of protesters talk about long division or something
I’m disappointed that the awful Shivers by Ed Sheeran isn’t on this list. One of the few new songs this year I seriously can’t stand.
It was lukewarm but I've heard worse
Definitely the Sheeran track that deserved a spot here. "Bad Habits" is tolerable as a song, and probably wouldn't have raised any flags if the video wasn't so stupid.
@@coolyoutubename I can’t stand bad habits… maybe that’s just me tho
really? to me it's the first sing of his in a long time that had any life
@@cocolime6496 idk it’s so annoying to me and just another product of the mass-producing pop machine. Nothing special to it (but don’t assume I dislike pop, because I do listen to it a fair bit).
I came back to this video cause I actually saw ,, You broke me first" in some teenage, love story, movie trailer and started laughing 🤣🤣 The one time Tostradamus guessed correctly.
I really just have one thing to say: In this, the era of cancel culture, why in the name of Selene is Chris Brown *still* allowed to not only have any sort of career, but have one of the biggest hits of the year?!
he didn't though? unless you're talking Go Crazy (2020 song) because of radio, his whole career now is just radio
Because 'Fuck you' money. And people are blind.
Maybe he's just gonna go the R Kelly route where some documentary comes out outlining the abuse some years from now and since his popularity isn't as high as it used to be people just dogpile on him. Only reason Chris Brown never got persecuted was because the community loved his music
What'd he do?
Because "cancel culture" doesn't work the way people pretend it does. No actual rich celebrity gets "cancelled".
I feel like the biggest problem i had with music that came out this year, was how often I'd hear a song on the radio and think "wow talk about a throwback, i haven't heard this song since highschool" only to find out that it came out 3 months ago and just sounded really familiar.
The standout good songs from this year were absolutely songs that caught me by surprise or sounded fresh and fun. But the overall vibe of 2021 for me was "ugh, can we please play a song that sounds like something I haven't heard a billion times!"
Having my adolescence become the nostalgia trend time was very weird. I think that's where stuff like that comes from.
I got to add, "Heat Waves" by Glass Animals also suffers from structural problems. The guy just repeats the chorus waaaaaaaaaay too much. That song screams to me the story of someone who had a chorus they liked, but couldn't really come up with adequate verses to go with it. They really should have worked on it a little more.
I truly believe this is by design. Glass Animals know how to write a good song. This repetition is what makes it on tik tok and they know it.
Todd vs Adam Levine is a top tier rivalry.
I can't remember the last time I 100% agreed with Todd's worst list. So cathartic to hear someone *finally* call out the whining/insincerity/general insufferability of some of these songs.
Telling that a lot of these songs for big because of TikTok and wherever TikTok videos run off like Instagram and RUclips Shorts.
"Arcade" in Europe is synonymous with "Casino".
That's why the metaphore worked on the Eurovision stage, but not in the US.
Most european countries never had arcades like you in the US but only casinos for gambling.
Yeah just wanted to say, we dont have arcades, like we literally dont know what an arcade center is.
The Netherlands definitely has had (and still has some) arcades ("speelhallen")
But they do have gambling-type games there
This isn’t true for all of Europe. In Scandinavia, an arcade is very much about games. I’ve never even thought about arcades having anything to do with gambling/casinos.
@@IsaVarg Scandinavia? Well, guess Northern Europeans really do have everything better than us centrists...
When kid LAROI showed up, I honestly thought Todd put two Justin Bieber songs in a row. They look so much alike that I couldn't believe he was talking about a completely different person. Then the LAROI/Bieber collab he mentioned made me realize: Someone cloned Justin ten years ago in the highly plausible outcome that he would OD or die in prison by 25 and need to be replaced before anyone noticed.
Are you sure about that? I don't like either artist but they don't sound similar at all. Justin Bieber has a pretty generic voice that doesn't stand out, but LAROI is out of tune and really rough
@@BlackLotusVisualArchive I said they look alike, not sound alike. But LAROI probably sounds more rough and out of tune because Bieber has more vocal training and better sound editing. LAROI could also be going for some "male Billie Eilish" vibes.
@@BlackLotusVisualArchive When I hear Stay, I literally cannot tell which part is Justin Bieber, partly because I never cared about it enough to watch the video or search the lyrics, but otherwise there's no notable distinction on that particular song.
@@BlackLotusVisualArchive The Boys From Australia
@@BlackLotusVisualArchive kid laroi literally uses so much dang autotune
"Am I the only one willing to bleed?"
-guy who never served in the military
- Also not willing to get a lil prick
Hey buddy, would you take a paper cut for your moderate republican neighbor? Nope, this is all about how *somebody else* needs to change their beliefs to align themselves to *you* because your the right one. This is totally not an extremist position that feeds on conflict even if they have to make it.
@@nomobobby there is no such thing as a "moderate republican". they are all trash. neo-nazis in my eyes.
Wait, I thought he shouted plead?
"SCREAMIN 'WHAT THE FUCK' AT MY TV"
**video shows Black Lives Matter sign**
😐
Had an Uber driver a few months ago who was working on his country music career, had a few releases out already. I bit my tongue when he told me the person writing his next song with him was Walker Hayes. Hope his song does well, seemed like a really nice guy, but I also hope it’s not as pandering as Fancy Like.
Walker Hayes actually has written a few good songs - "Briefcase" is great (though probably because of Lori McKenna), and while "Beer in the Fridge" doesn't sound good (at all), it does have a good lyric. Hope it works out for that Uber driver.