@@MoreEriksson it was just so overplayed, it was fine until I was hearing the song everytime the raido was turned on. Then you actually want it to f off for real.
Having that song be on the worst list was honestly such catharsis for me. It's just so annoyingly immature and petty. As a teenager who is constantly around other teenagers, that is the bare minimum insult anyone could hurl at someone that they just broke up with.
I was wondering if it was on his Worst of 2021 list while reading your comment. I was at the point where Todd mentioned that ABCDEFU was an honorable mention on the Worst of 2021 list, so I *wasn’t* going crazy or dreaming. I’m also angry with Todd that *this* mid 2000s angst anthem was on the Best Song of the Year list
I remember being a huge fan of Jax before she wrote this song. She had fun parodies. She wrote this for a girl she babysat in all fairness then she just got obnoxious about this song.
It would have probably hit harder if she changed the lyrics to “He’s an old man who lives in Ohio and was friends with a Pedophile” considering the old man was best friends with Jeffery Epstein AND Epstein was his personal accountant.
My take on Lin Manuel as a proud theatre dork is that he just got way more famous than he was ever supposed to be. He was supposed to keep making fun musicals for other musical theatre dorks to dork out about in our own corner, largely unnoticed by larger pop culture. Hamilton became a runaway hit and made him way too prominent and he started taking on projects that were way outside of his strengths. I don’t even really blame him because he keeps doing the same thing that made him famous, just in a context that is totally wrong for him. Hopefully in the next couple years the LMM mania will die down and he will return to his natural habitat.
@@annnee6818 He has a son he wants to build up money for, for the kid's future. You can do that a lot better working than not working, if you're a parent. IDK, I'd be cringe for a full-time job too if I thought it'd help my kid out.
I feel like this is precisely it. I also think LMM wouldn't get half the hate he gets if he wasn't so terribly overexposed, and like featured in ways that do not flatter him. Like, his song writing is objectively successful. (I don't think they're all gems, but whatever.) But his performances are not and never really had been... so why are we putting his awkwardness on screen, instead of just an actual actor?
The thing is though, it was only a matter of time before he was going to be writing for Disney ( they usually hire Broadway guys to write their musicals). I also feel like people are appreciating him a lot more after the disasterpiece that was Wish. His overexposure has caused people to severely downplay his talent, but he does have a lot of range and is famous for a resson
@@ashtonholtgreven7328 Not even that, it's like the boring music that was made in-spite of all the psychedelic, prog-rock, and the ensuing Brit-invasion.
When I realized that the FU song was the bumper I was so disappointed because the bumper has never actually been a part of the list all these years. I cannot express the happiness I felt when he broke the tradition. Todd always finds ways to keep the videos different and interesting.
@margaretgibbs6673it feels like a very clear "poor man abused by a feminazi system by being falsely accused of abusing a feeeeeemale" analogy even Reddit wouldn't touch
@@ashen_roses Incredibly proud (and embarrassed) that after everyone and their mom had a gamergate phase and grew out of it, we're JUST NOW getting songs that reflect that moment 😂
The closest thing to a hit as mentioned in the video was his DMs Honestly Todd should’ve put the Black Eyed Peas song interpolating those DMs as the placeholder Maroon 5 song for the list
The first time I saw that video of Rita Ora over-singing "Running Up That Hill", I was desperately waiting for a giant cane to come in from the side and yank her offstage. It never came.
The first time I saw or heard it was this video, and now having witnessed that fucking abomination, if a big hook started coming in from the side to drag her away I'd start screaming at it and tell it to take me first.
Todd please don’t stop the worst lists. what you said a couple of years ago about you being a historian in an era where rabid fan positivity is the only “acceptable” way of consuming music is so true. even as someone who only casually interacts w popular music scenes it’s mind numbing. your hater ways are greatly appreciated
Someone said that the internet is in a constant fluctuation between ‘let people enjoy things!’ and ‘it’s good to punish people for being annoying’ and I think the trend is currently ebbing towards ‘hating is good and fun actually’ again. I can only cross my fingers and hope
@@SomeBF That fluctuation is because modern culture has entirely forgotten how do do anything in moderation. The statements "It's okay to like things that are bad," and, "It's good to criticize things that are bad," are both true and can coexist peacefully. However, people exist in an all or nothing mindset these days, thus pitting these statements into a false dichotomy. If you enjoy something, you are not allowed to say anything bad about it. If you hate something, you are not allowed to like any aspect of it. People can't tolerate extremism for too long, however, which creates the pendulum swing back and forth. People will embrace toxic positivity until it becomes annoying and swap to the other side. Then they'll embrace toxic negativity until it becomes annoying and swap back. It's a fascinating, if idiotic, phenomenon.
@@Celestia282 I think the moderation does exist it’s just not as engaged with anymore. Reminds me how in the old days of the internet you’d call two people arguing a ‘flame war’, implying both sides have their ammunition and are fighting. But you’re more likely to describe it as someone getting ‘dunked on’ and ‘ratio-d’ etc. as if the other person is just left baffled without a leg to stand on. The moderate commentary isn’t the norm anymore I feel.
Rabid fan positivity is the only way a person *could* consume music today. Music doesn't cost money anymore. It only has worth to the extent that someone give it some other type of attention.
I was completely unaware "I'm Good" was a project from 5 years ago, but it really validates my first impression of it which was "Jesus, it's almost nostalgic how much this feels like a generic club banger from the early-mid 2010s." All it's missing is a Pitbull verse.
That is a disturbingly accurate description of it and probably why a part of me actually kind of likes it if only because it reminds me of the time when that music was popular
@@TheSufferingDarkness ah I mean Ariana,Rihanna,Whitney Houston, and britney spears aren't really song writers either I mean some if them have credits but aren't famed for writing a lot of there songs but there voices are still impressive it's not that big of a deal if you don't write
@@TheSufferingDarkness yeah I guess writen like a non writer does fit music for a sushi restaurant I suppose it could also mean writen by a boardroom with Micheal buble and his song writers trying desperately to make a commercial funk tune would also fit the song
I don't know what's funnier. The fact that the charts forced Todd to cover a Disney song of all things, or that him disliking Encanto is by far the most controversial take he's had in years.
He's no stranger to animated movies and bad takes. Reminder that this is the same guy along with his cancelled girlfriend that also crapped all over Wreck It Ralph.
I honestly though Encanto was more of a disappointment than it was terrible. I still liked it ok but I wasn’t head over heals with this movie like everyone else was, and the songs’ overplay on the radio droving me insane until they vanished without a trace didn’t help the fact at all
@@the-NightStar lol it isn't a "bad take" to dislike something. You're just an ant in the anthill of millions of comments he's recieved over the years. You're nobody lmao
I spent the year liking music for a sushi restaurant just fine, and then the line “Uptown Funk if Michael Bublé wrote it” managed to shred every last good feeling I associated with it.
Tbh, I hadn't even heard the song before (I don't know, could just be that it didn't get that much air time in my neck of the woods) and my first thoughts even before Todd made the comment was "this kinda sounds like Uptown Funk without the funk or believable machismo". I believe Bruno Mars is cool (or at the very least is very confident that he is) when listening to Uptown Funk. Harry just isn't even close to that energy level on sushi restaurant, which feels more like hearing about his coolness while he's laying on the couch hungover the night after the actual party.
@@gee8419 It is sad, but somewhat true. Todd putting Arcade on the list last year didn't ruin it, because I felt Todd's critique of it was flawed, because an Arcade in Europe is different than here, and he didn't take that into consideration. But there was one a few years ago that did effect me, but not enough to remember it now. Heck, my wife saying she doesn't like a song had an effect, enough that I have asked her to not say anything. I'm gonna love what I love... until someone else's opinion stops me. Then I'll probably still like it, just not as much. I mean, I still have Michael Jackson in my playlists, it just doesn't play as often.
@@Moonhermit- Music for a Sushi Restaurant is not about Harry Styles being cool and it does not contain any machismo, it is about being in love. If you are seeking machismo in the song you are not going to find it because Harry Styles is not a macho guy.
The FU song was always controversial because it was supposedly written as a response to a comment suggesting “write a song that involves the alphabet” but then people traced back that account and it was someone connected with her work already so it’s viral origin story was staged
But first, let me take a selfie! Man, reminds me of looking into the account selfie music video to reveal how shallow the roots were. All there was before a few joke videos with nothing to recommend them. Usually you'd see many videos and a slow refinement of content over years. But nope, not if you have connections you can just skip years of hard work straight to 15 minutes of fame. And also why this ugly plant? She doesn't have a great voice or personality on the mic. I could've shoved anyone from work in front of the camera and got the same kind of proformance. SMH
I think what makes Todd’s year-end worst lists so good are that they AREN’T truly relentlessly negative. Todd likes pop music, he likes many of the artists that he features on the list, and he rarely has any special hatred for the ones that he doesn’t. Most of the time, when he REALLY hates a song, it’s because it has disappointed him. You see him remark as such several times in this very video- ‘I’ve defended this artist, I know they had the potential to do better, and this is the shit the pump out? Unacceptable!’ His “teacher” analogy is pretty apt, I’d say.
Exactly. I can't tell you how many times I've seen these kinds of lists that were clearly made by someone who clearly has no love, respect or knowledge of this kind of music. (I'm looking at you A Dose of Buckley.)
@@grahamkristensen9301 To defend A Dose of Buckley, he is a comedian more than anything else. He likes music but he likes making fun of bad pop music more than Todd does. Todd sounds hurt by some of the songs but Buckley actually sounds like he thinks its fun to massacre the stupid in the song.
@@Moviefantasi Buckley isn't a music fan. I'm not saying he doesn't like music, but it isn't his life (and he's annoyed by most "music fans" as most of them only like one type of music and think all the other ones are crap). He makes fun of songs but that's because they're usually ubiquitous and so he people get exposed to their stupid aspects constantly.
that's no surprise to me, it's basically history repeating itself to 2003. back when liz phair (an already big name in the indie music industry in her mid 30s) sold out and tried hard to sound like the big female pop names at that time like avril lavigne, michelle branch, norah jones and pink (female pop artists in their late teens-early 20s at that time). however, the difference is that liz phair actually has talent, as evidence in her previous first two albums and her most recent album that came out around 2021 while jax definitely has no talent at all, as evidence in her previous two songs (u love u and 90s kids) and her most recent song cinderella snapped (all very godawful songs) hell even liz phair's sellout song why can't i is still more tolerable than jax's so called sellout song "victoria's secret. hoping jax's career flops big time and doesn't go far like halsey, olivia rodrigo, taylor swift and dua lipa.
@@nv52895Like seriously, she’d originally made a TikTok career off of the girl she babysat who was like 10 years old (exploitive much?) and those were all her posts for a while, a friend of mine did some digging into the account and god is it awful.
@@liamneedsauniquehandle well, i heard a rumor that she's releasing her first ep on june 28 (be afraid!). hope anthony fantano rips it apart by giving it either a NOT GOOD or a 0/10 is he reviews it.
jax was actually from my hometown and when she was on american idol we all had to pretend we cared about american idol. the local schools did events where they celebrated her, but she hadn't even studied at any of them. she was homeschooled. that was a weird time
I was one of the students that was brought over to celebrate Jax. The high school chorus sang at her hometown concert, and we had to act excited even though nobody knew who she was.
She gives off the impression of having good intentions and being a good person, but this song just kinda falls flat imo. I don’t hate it, or even really dislike it. It’s just kinda middle of the road.
@@culwin It was not a good year for music. When the charts are dominated by holdovers from 2021 and even 2020, a Disney soundtrack song, and a 40-year old song, that’s a very bad sign.
even if this wasn't true, I don't think it matters if this is "helping" musicians, it's quality entertainment, isn't that enough? why must the justification for it staying be altruistic anyway?
@@Readyforit7723 If I wanted to make money I would exploit other people's labour. I'm interest in making unique and interesting art; not just what sells the best.
8:20 - _"Pineapple juice, I giver her sweet... sweet... sweet semen"_ is officially my favourite hilariously-bad line ever; I burst out laughing when I heard that.
"Stepford" is the perfect description from Todd. It's fake to the point of unsettling. Almost all of her songs drip with this creepy and manipulative energy. There's a reason we dropped her hard and fast once more impactful body image singers appeared.
The fact that most of these songs were popular on Tik Tok makes me feel like we’ve entered the modern version of Ringtone Rap. And as someone pushing 30, I can’t tell if I’m just jaded or unimpressed with the quality of what the app is pushing out.
@@pervertedalchemist9944 Beggin by Maneskin is a decent song. Mary On A Cross by Ghost is also good (though it's not Ghost's best song by far, they have really good metal/rock albums).
@@AFellowCyberman Måneskin's Beggin' is just a worse cover of the actually interesting Madcon cover of a song from the 60s. It's only bearable because the song it's based on is great
That number one was absolutely brutal. No rage, no extreme frustration, just a cold, calculated obliteration of a song that's so bad that it's not even worth talking about. If I was BeBe Rexha and I heard that I think I would stop making music altogether.
There was a movie critic who rated movies from 1 to 10. Once he said of some movie "I won't give it a rating, I'll give 3 extra points to everything else I've seen this year."
i remember absolutely despising a hit she had on one of her albums a few years ago but i cant even remember the name of the song now. i think i put too much of my time into hating her music lol, not even worth it to get annoyed.
I didn't know Fingers Crossed came from this year. My god that's my number one worst song for me. It plays SO often at my work and it feels like it plays at like twice the volume of all the other songs
That line has always pissed me off! You’re more likely to be looked at while naked, come on now! I feel like music artists are getting lazier with their lyrics :/
“I can’t stand Megan Trainor, but to me she’ll always be worth 1,000 Bebe Rexhas” Holy s*** that was BRUTAL. And considering how badly she wants to be a star and how many attempts she’s had at it, it’s downright saddening.
@@lukee76 boggles the mind, eh? I was watching CrowbCat’s E3 2017 video, and it reminded me she was there shilling the Ubisoft dancing game…and when I was watching the event live back in 2017, I was wondering _"wait, they’re still trying to make her a thing?!"_
the saddest part about baby rexha is that she's an absolute hit maker....for OTHERS. any song she writes for other artists goes to the top of the chart. if she had stuck to songwriting for famous artists, she'd remain one of the biggest forces of 2010's and beyond pop hits. but now you just look at 'i'm good' and go '....SHE wrote shinee lucifer???'
Reminds me of Bruce Springsteen before Hungry Heart. He wrote a lot of songs for others that became hits while his only hit was Born To Run. His manager got fed up with it and told Bruce to record and release a song the latter originally wrote for the ramones. Hungry Heart fortunately became Bruce's first top 5 Billboard hit.
The "Made You Look" video is so strange because they clearly tried to make her as sexy as possible to fit with the song, really make her into a hot pop diva style. But they *really* whiffed it to the point where I thought she was at least a decade older than she actually is.
Meghan Trainor, singer, songwriter, aspiring MILF. (Yes I know she actually has a kid now, I’ve been holding onto that line for long enough already let me have this)
Yeah, she is going for a playful "mommy still got it" vibe that's just weird for a woman born in 1993. 30 is not MILF age, no matter what the 'hub says.
@@andreantunes8615 Well, that explains why the video looks so off-putting - she's three years younger than me, and yet looks like she's trying to pass for at least a decade older. There's something uncanny about it.
I will shed a tear when the worst lists come to an end. I know you can’t do content forever, so I enjoy each video like it might be the last. You’ve helped me understand pop music for over 10 years now, and I can’t imagine how different so many people’s lives would be if we didn’t share so many moments with you, good and bad. Your smart analysis, emotive delivery, and occasional factual errors has helped me develop my own sense of those things, and has made me smile through many difficult times. You’ll never be forgotten, Todd. Thank you for everything you do.
I hope the best list at least sticks around. I really like getting his recommendations on what's good each year. Some of those have become favorites of mine.
plus industry plants just kinda don’t exist. like if it’s being “stolen” from a more deserving artist, who is the more deserving artist. ultimately just a matter of taste.
I mean, that’s at least something that someone might not know if they are only marginally aware of an artist known as “Eminem” (who probably thinks it’s spelled like M&M) and might not even realize the joke.
Todd pulling out PERFECT analogies again with calling Music For A Sushi Restaurant "Uptown Funk if Micheal Buble wrote it". He could've literally just said that and I would've understood the song's placement on the list, because even though I like the song I can't deny that is exactly the vibe of it
Harry's house reminded me of 80s yuppie music. Music for a sushi restaurant is exactly what i imagine patrick Bateman listening to walking through Manhattan. I like it, but that's what this album reminds me of.
@@rayelgatubelo It doesn't sound anything like a BTS song to me at all. Also it wasn't supposed to sound "japanese" (which is just as well cuz it doesn't) the title was supposed to be a joke. At least that's what I understand
At this point I'm so far removed from pop culture that Todd is my one and only link to what's even close to popular. I hope he never stops these top 10s
The only song on this list I'm familiar with is the one that samples "Genius Of Love", but only because I think I've heard it at Walmart and wondered if it was "Fantasy", or something different.
Am I the only one who suspects that Todd is holding off on simply doing Top 10 Best and Worst lists for pre-“In the Shadows” years, until he knows that his time as a video creator is winding down? Or is he simply never intending to do those?
I agree that "industry plant" is not a real criticism, and has been repeated ad nauseam and became a buzz word, but with Gayle, its so nakedly obvious her success is manufactured, and in a post Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo world (who ironically have also been accused of being plants) blatantly inauthentic songs _SHOULDN'T_ exist, but I clearly underestimate the music industry's willingness to pander for cash.
I mean calling both billie and Olivia industry plants isn't a stretch especially the latter one who owns her fame to Disney. The difference is they're really good original artists unlike gayle
@@ajpoopfucker this type of comment is exactly why we need to retire the term “industry plant” since the majority of people just don’t understand wtf it actually is. being a Disney girl makes her the OPPOSITE of a plant considering the whole point of an industry plant is that they HIDE the fact that they have connections and huge backing towards their career, something Olivia didn’t and could not do even if she wanted to.
Honestly, it makes sense that we're living in an age of lazy sampling. Vinyl sales are on the rise, Spotify has increased accessibility to retro music, and older music is outselling new music for the first time ever. Labels have found that it's literally more profitable to buy out the catalogues of older artists rather than to support new ones, so of course the natural response from new songwriters is to make their new songs directly based off of old ones.
Huh, good point. Think this is the worst of it, or is 2023 gonna be an even bigger sampling shitshow? I guess that depends on if Tiktok ever actually gets banned or not…
earlier this year, i thought to myself, 'it's been a while since i've listened to pop music, let's see what's charting' only to immediately start laughing when i saw Kate Bush at the top of the charts. I would hope that would mean labels giving more chances to bands and artists with more 'traditional' production, maybe even lesser known artists that really capture the spirit of older artists, but no, you're right--they're doing the lazy cash grab thing of abusing samples instead.
Don’t forget the 90s was the sampling decade, because hip hop made it cool to sample at the time so everyone followed that formula, 90s nostalgia is a huge thing now so that’s why you’re going to see more sampling in the coming future.
The funniest thing about ABCDEFU is how weak an insult "F U" is. Like if someone said "F U" to me I'd assume we were still on friendly terms because they wouldn't even say "fuck"
There is this weird trend where people allude to swear words without actually using them, or do use them but censor them in the title themselves. The most egregious example of this is those self help books I keep finding in the psychology sections of book stores like 'get your sh*t together' or 'stop f*cking up your life'. Maybe it's because I'm autistic and I'm missing some layer of social understanding but if you're not going to actually use the swear word then just... use a clean word? I guess it's similar to how people say 'time of the month' instead of 'period'. Just say period for Christ's sake, it's not a bad word. And using the censored version or initials makes you look like a kid that desperately wants to be an edgy teenager but would burst into tears if an adult called them out on it. Which is exactly the vibe I get from Gayle, so I guess the shoe fits.
@@goingunder2548most of the time, it’s because of ratings. They want their piece of media to reach the largest possible audience, while seeming „cool“ and „up-to-date“. That’s the reason why movies are only allowed to feature one swear word, and why a lot of swear words are either implied (à la „What the --“) or replaced by „friendlier“ words (example: saying „heck“ or „damn“ instead of „hell“ or the f-bomb)
Todd’s comments about “negativity” in music criticism was so spot on. I think one of the worst thing about this wave of “toxic positivity” is the conflating of criticism with hatred/malice. People are allowed to like things, but they’re also allowed to DISlike things - and explain why they dislike them
I suspect there's a war against intelligence. Show me any time period where any of these buffoons in the "top 10 payola billboards" used a triplet, drum solo, a 7th chord, or anything else remotely creative, and I'll show you a year before 2003. Seriously, it's been 20 years of nothing on those billboards. Kendrick Lamar sat at 94th at one point, like 2015 or something. Guy has more talent in his pinky finger than all the top 10s of the last 10 years combined. "Musical elitism". Nah, it's called having standards. 3 done-to-death chords and an Imagine Dragons drum machine doesn't "inspire" me. There's people out there tearing up bass, drum and guitar solos, and singing in the key of "how in the world did they do that", and that never gets anywhere close to even the top 1,000. TL;DR, people dumb. I can't be convinced otherwise.
YES! It’s sad I see in some of Todd’s videos where he’ll talk about a song related to a social issue, and even though he talks solely about the musical elements of the song, he repeats over and over again he doesn’t hate the creators for their political opinions or for some social issue, it’s sad that you can’t criticize anything anymore without people jumping to the “well you just hate X”
I like hearing nuanced mixed detailed complex opinions on media often a lot better than full "sing it's praise!" or "damn it to the trash bin". Todd always tries to give nuance and explanations and as many opposing counter views possible, no matter fully how he feels one way or the other. Even with some of the best songs to him, he can still laugh at himself or the artist or the music video or the lyrics, and call aspects of it stupid. Or when something is bad, he generally tries to at least find something between the lines if ever he can. He may not always see it, but you know he tries to.
agree 100%, but then he ruined his point by immediately proceeding to give *no* explanation of *why* he disliked a song beyond maybe "I don't like the writer's face"
@@pseudonymous9153 I don’t think that’s true; he gave plenty of reasons for why he didn’t like Pressure, mainly it’s poor relation to the rest of the movie and how tired he was of Miranda’s schtick. He made a joke about being sick of his face, but that wasn’t his *only* reason for disliking the song
You were absolutely right about "if you quit telling lies about me, I won't tell the truth about you" being a threat, because Kendrick dropped a series of diss tracks where he practically says that verbatim and then completely eviscerates Drake. Much better usage of that line than Mitchy Dimes here.
Seriously, I wasn't sure if it was just recency bias as I haven't watched one of his "worst of" lists in like...a year. But honestly, this video was in point.
Tbh I hadn't heard of the Victoria's Secret song before. But as always with these things, five slim and conventionally attractive women dancing and telling me to love myself is the opposite of helpful for my body issues.
Not every song has to be about YOU. Fat people don't own the body positivity movement, and I'm so fucking sick of them acting like they do. Jax actually suffered from a severe Eating Disorder for a decade and is still recovering. The way fat people immediately dismiss anything a thin person says about body image is so hypocritical and reeks of obvious jealousy.
The only way I could see Todd no longer making “Worst” lists is if he personally wants to stop. If that’s the case, I respect that decision. Otherwise, there’s no other reason to stop. These lists are phenomenal and (importantly) don’t just disparage the quality of music - they’re legitimately critical insights into why certain music may age poorly or lack staying power, mishandle social issues, create problematic messages, et cetera. I look forward to these every year.
What i don’t get is that Todd started as the bad pop song reviewer. All his video for the first 3 years were “trashing on bad songs” (outside of the best list). So him not wanting to do the worst list, but continue making pop song reviews is confusing to me. Both are the same. Criticizing songs.
I’m laughing hysterically at the Meghan Trainor segment because my former best friend (nothing happened, we just drifted apart over time) was and still is *_obsessed_* with Meghan Trainor. In a Twitter thread under Todd’s very justified backlash towards “Mother”, someone said that she’s clearly making music for, or at least pretending to make music for, a gay fanbase that does not exist. Well I’m here to tell you that it improbably does exist, among a very, very specific type of gay man. I bit my tongue for years when she came up and it’s so freeing to hear someone say all the shit I thought but was too polite to externalize.
Hey, that means she has at least 2 fans lol :D I'm number two, also gay of course. I am embarassed about it though, my sister used to make fun of me for it, so I only listen to her in total secret (and only admit it in anonymity)
Todd, I agree that you have "mellowed out" a bit in recent years, but it's a good thing. The way you present yourself seems more open-minded and less abrasive than before, yet you don't compromise on giving your honest opinion. That is a difficult balance to strike, and I think you do it well. Anyway, thanks for entertaining me this past decade, Todd. Whenever you release a video it makes my day. Keep up the amazing work, I hope 2023 is a better year for you!
In Germany “I’m good” was to be heard EVERYWHERE on the radio. We have the radio on at my work and so I was basically forced to listen to it daily…. Needless to say seeing its placement on the list has felt like justice served
Weiß nicht warum, aber bei uns war es richtig weit verbreitet und überspielt. Liegt vielleicht daran, dass wir in den deutschen Charts neben Deutschrap und Pop schon seit Jahren immer ein paar Plätze für "generic festival dance music" haben. Irgendwas released auf "Selected." Würde sogar sagen wir waren ahead of the curve mit den Bad Samples seit Jahren mit sowas wie den Desire und Around the World Versions.
@@zoeboey why i have radio with usb, and listen to my own music at work. I don't care about radio, i want to chill and work and listen to my playlist. And my boss is fine with it as long as i do good job.
todd you can’t ever stop making worst of lists because i spend all year FUMING and then achieve vindication via your lists and we yell and scream in rage about how lazy the music industry is rn together. it’s cathartic
I love it when I casually say “Oh god, I hate this song” to a friend who replies “Whaaaaat but it’s so good” and then five months later said song ends up on Todd’s worst list. It’s one of the favorite parts of my year, I feel so validated lol
i love the point made about “empowerment anthems” not going beyond addressing an issue. it’s basically the “noooo don’t kill urself you’re so sexy ahahah” meme wrapped in girl power marketing. it feels both preachy and hollow. artists like lizzo understand the empowerment angle and resonate much better with me. i listen to a lizzo song and i hear a woman who is confident in herself, and that makes me feel confident by proxy. she’s having fun and living her life. i don’t get that with other empowerment anthems. there’s nothing wrong with singing about insecurities but marketing it as “you’re sad? don’t be!” isn’t helpful and can even feel invalidating. as the target demographic for songs like “victoria’s secret” i feel like my insecurities are being exploited. i doubt that was jax’s intention and she seems like she truly cares, but i don’t feel seen by this type of music. i feel patronized.
I mean yeah I may not like Lizzo 100% but shit if she does not sell confidence like the wolf of wall street. Lizzo understands the assignment, and I can't fault her for not giving it her all. I'll believe her claims of empowerment far easier than anything Jax might try to shove down my throat.
I'm reminded of a vocaloid song called "I Want to be Your God" by Kanzaki Iori, it's like the opposite of an empowerment anthem for the singer, it's lyrics are about how the song they're singing can't really help you even though they really want it to. Course I know vocaloid isn't for everybody but maybe just try reading the lyrics if you don't like vocaloid, but it's also really sad forewarning.
Yeah. All these 'female empowerment anthems' just don't do it for me for some reason.. even though I agree with the overall message?? I don't know, it feels cheap.
You probably won’t see this comment but please don’t stop doing worst lists. I feel like professional music criticism has taken a nosedive with all the unconditional “yass queen” praise, it feels disingenuous and more harmful than anything, and negative criticism I believe has an important role in society: we need to keep the big artists in check otherwise they will get the impression that they can put out any turd they want and still get rewarded for it with Grammys.
At least in the passed woman empowerment songs had presents and it felt assessable to everyone, like I Will Survive, Bills Bills Bills, What a Man, Hello, Stronger, Since You’ve Been Gone and even Wannabe all had timeless hooks and a universal message for girls and felt inclusive abcdefu and Victoria Secret felt like it was ripped right out of a 13 year old girls tumblr blog from 2013.
"we need to keep the big artists in check otherwise they will get the impression that they can put out any turd they want and still get rewarded for it with Grammys." I feel like this like a third of what happened to make Kanye as horrible as he is.
^This. Media criticism has been institutionally captured by the media it's meant to criticize. Rubber stamping all output, no matter how trash, to remain in the good graces of the entertainment industries. We need someone who will put their foot down and say, "Uh, no, actually the Emperor has no clothes".
@@y2craze I honestly think those songs are fine. They're just getting outsized scrutiny. You should still be able to write your tumblr blog or put out a little soundcloud song. But of course they're not going to hold up to massive pop hits. The problem is the artists with label support can't give anyone songs they actually want to listen to so they're chasing TikTok popularity.
If Rita applied the effort of her social climbing skills to her actual music career she'd be a real popstar. She seems more content being a footnote in more talented people's Wikipedia pages, though.
Please don't stop making these lists, you're extremely fair and we need voices that aren't always positive in the current climate where 'stanning' is a thing
I mean, it's hardly like it's a different thing in practice in "the current climate" from how fans of artists in the 20th century acted (beatlemania anyone?) music criticism still definitely exists, alongside big fans of artists who won't criticise them. Same as it always has
I'm pretty sure we have enough negativity in a cultural climate where media critics' most successful reviews are always negative ones and have been for the last 70 years, and where "XYZ is bad and here's why" is the easiest video essay title to get clicks.
@@crptpyr What Todd & some of the commenters are getting at, i think, is how many more critics are behaving like those fans nowadays when music criticism was a bastion of negativity for so long. Think of how, for example, every major critic except Lester Bangs completely shit all over Black Sabbath when they first showed up. They got a lot of up-and-coming artists wrong this way, but it also means they nailed it wrt the Milli Vanillis of the world.
Suffering through this just made the year even worse. America is a very truly fucked up country beyond redemption if this is the shit that gets accepted by the masses. The lowest common denominator bar just keeps sliding lower.
I think I've pinpointed what I specifically dislike about "Victoria's Secret," at least in what I assume is the music video shown here: just the tone that Jax sings the verses with, coupled with her facial expressions. It's this strange combination of condescending and thinking she's dropping these truth bombs that nobody was aware of beforehand. Bodies come in many different shapes and sizes? "Thunder thighs" are actually quite common? Victoria is just a name for marketing purposes? I don't think this is as mind-blowing as her delivery implies, even if you're in the intended demographic, and there are probably better ways to discover these things even if you weren't already aware of them. It just stinks of someone who thinks they're more knowledgeable than everyone around them while not knowing as much as they think they do, and I know I've been there often.
Made better that Jax also did a flash mob of the song (in front of a Victoria’s Secret of course-though /totally/ not targeting a particular brand instead of the actual societal issue) with almost entirely thin women with only a few plus sizes dancers. At least All About That Bass had the decency to have different bodies in the music video
@@omensoffate For a song meant to be a "fuck beauty standards" anthem. she seemed to really not want anyone in the video who didn't fit those standards.
It's just another "look at us we care" song that just reminds you that the F your beauty standards thing was never about making women who look like me feel welcome it's about marketing to us so we'll buy more shit in the hopes people will like us... it sucks. it another reminder that bigger women like myself are only okay as long as a thin person is talking about the problem.
Honestly, Todd, your annual "worst of" video is something I look forward to every single year. Like you mentioned in the Victoria's Secret entry, too much positivity can be sort of nauseating after a while. I feel like we've gotten to a place where saying anything negative about anyone gets you labeled as "toxic" or a "narcissist" or a "hater" or whatever label is trendy these days. And the music industry, more than anything else, really needs to be called out on their laziness more often.
Toxic positivity is a real thing, and that's where the cultural pendulum is sitting, and as bad as everything being sad and limping was, I can't wait for it to swing back.
I mean I get it somewhat. After 2 years of the roaring 20s I think we've just gotten tired of being miserable 24/7 and want to have some fun. I get that, lord knows I've been asking for pop music to get a fucking pulse and have some fucking energy to it. But uh yeah, it can go too much in the opposite direction as well. And this direction feels like regressing back into the late 2000s and early 2010s in a bad way. We left behind the club anthems and stupid party songs for a reason people. And while I'm okay with a few every now and then let's not start making them a trend again. We're better than that.
For a long time I had the name Meghan Trainor erased from my memory. When I heard this song for the first time, I had a visceral reaction, like when you've eaten a fruit to find out it was rotten inside. And I went to look up the song only to find out it was her again. The worst part is that my partner will never hesitate to sing along to it. And I just have to pretend like I'm unaffected by that song. But I can't stand it, it's like nails on a chalkboard. And the radio plays it ad nauseam. Please make it stop. I hate it so much.
When I heard that song in the charts I thought it was proof of simulation theory. I was like pretty sure this song fell through a portal from 2010 along with this brand of 'girlpower'. Also I'm British and I hadn't had the pleasure of that Victoria's secret song and boy does that scream "woman who bullied girls relentlessly in high school for being overweight rebrands as shallow feminist to get famous". Really is this the level we are at people?
Meghan Trainor makes music for middle age middle school teachers to play in their classrooms, as they dilute themselves into thinking they're the cool teacher. It's Jim Crowe pop.
Every time I hear people talk about Bebe Rexha I just think of that one time she was a guest on the America's Got Talent finale, and the contestent she sung with absolutely blew her out of the water, both with her stage presence and her musical abilities.
That never happened though. Bebe stole the show and you're probably a close friend of the contestant! No hard feelings, mate! Just recognize that not everybody can be cool like Bebe!
@@manifestationsofasort It's actually pretty easy to tell. It has to be sarcasm, because there's no chance in hell that actual Bebe stans exist in this plane of existence.
@@pervertedalchemist9944 i would argue they’ve never made a good song or album period, tried to listen to songs about Jane and while it’s better than whatever the hell they’re doing now it’s still deeply mediocre imo
@@pervertedalchemist9944 I'd say there's a few gems over the years. Misery was their last good hit until Maps, and Maps was their last good hit in general, at least to me.
"The only dance I can ever imagine anyone doing to it is the Boy Maguire" has to be one of the most brutal and hilarious takedowns Todd has ever delivered.
Amazing. Although, I'm not sure I agree with the broader Styles assessment on Todd's part. No one wanted to like a Harry Styles song less than me and I think As It Was is a brilliant song. If that's not on the best list....I dunno man.
The thing that irritates me the most about Victoria's Secret is that it honestly isn't that body positive. The lyrics basically read as 'media made me think I was fat, but actually I'm normal', which is... not that positive? At all? Some people don't have 'average' bodies. Some people are, believe it or not, fat. Those people are still beautiful and worthy of respect, and certainly don't deserve to be talked down to by a thin woman whose only concept of 'body positivity' seems to come from Twitter circa 2012.
Yeah, that's what bugs me the most about several songs on this list - they sound dated (like they're at least 10 years old). Remember when Taylor Swift came out with a song celebrating the LGBTQ+ community? Lonngggg after it had any real stakes or risk to her career for saying it. Worse, it places undue attention on her, and not the targeted group she's singing about. Taylor Swift could have included a LGBTQ+ guest singer on that track, and Jax could have included people of all shapes and sizes in her music video instead focusing on herself (someone who fits conventional beauty standards perfectly)
Seriously, the only thing I got out of that song wasn't body positivity, it was a thin white woman saying "thank god i'm not fat that would be icky am i right girlypops?"
Honestly I think Lizzo's juice is one of the few body positivity songs that is actually a genuinely great song in it's own right. In my opinion its because it manages to be self-confident and fun and also lifts other people up, but not in a way that sounds patronising. Also Lizzo just has the charisma and writing skills to pull off appearing self-confident while not seeming like she's trying too hard. She also does it while being funny as hell. "No, I'm not a snack at all. Look, baby, I'm the whole damn meal" is one of my all time favourite lyrics.
The only body positivity song I like (where that is the explicit subject of the song) is Biggie Smalls by Cupcakke, whose message is "do whatever the fuck you want, whether you're skinny or fat, btw remember how Biggie was successful af and didn't give a fuck that he was fat?"
@@r.r.4809 she meant it in the way you would say “but in a positive light”. She didn’t mean it as like a belittling way. There’s multiple ways to use just.
"divorced guy at a custody hearing anthem", "what's with the end where he starts honking like a goose?" - I'm glad todd leaned into his dark side. These songs deserve it.
Is it just me, or does Todd seem really happy to be making this list this year? Easily one of my favorite lists he's dropped, and I don't even have any attachment to the songs anymore! Hate long and prosper, Todd
I think it’s because this year had some of the worst songs. Even without maroon 5 been active. Same for a dose of buckley, he did a worst song list as well and it’s similar to todd but just like todd the list didn’t include nicki minaj or iggy azelea (they are his maroon 5 on his list). 2022 was a bad year in music.
jax’s latest album has an interlude about how “everyone’s a little bit neurospicy” NO JAX, I LITERALLY HAVE TO TAKE MEDICINE EVERY DAY TO FUNCTION NORMALLY
Songs like "Victoria's Secret" are actually perfect examples of the things they criticize. They prey on people's insecurities, cause those insecurities to get heightened by giving them an ideal to look up to (as the Euphoria clip shows, a lot of "self-love" is sold to us as an essential we can't live without) and then promises to deliver us closer to that ideal by consuming products. In this case, the product is the song.
Also, if this is really the video of the song, these girls are conventionally attractive and thin and have no thunder thighs or anything. So, if a slightly overweight or an average but not beautiful girl is watching this, she thinks that the song claims that the girls in the video are not perfect like Victoria's secret girls and she feels even worse because those girls are really pretty, like top 10% in any school and if even they aren't perfect, what does it make her.
@@analogueapples yeah I am really getting sick of skinny folks trying to be the face of body positivity. Yes, body dysmorphia can affect anyone and that's a legitimately hard thing to struggle with, but they are not the one's who face actual anti-fat discrimination (which a lot of people still think doesn't exist!)
@@crackandredbull1474 They're featured more towards the end. Anyone who doesn't have the patience to hear Jax repeat the same thing a million times will never see the plus sized and disabled dancers. They should've been put at the beginning, if Jax was confident about the message of the song.
The one nice thing about "Big Energy" is that one time I thought I heard it start up at the grocery store and then felt the most astounding relief when it was just actually Genius of Love.
You had it absolutely right the first time - Harry has a whiff of Robbie Williams about him. Torn between "sensitive boy your mom loves" and "ain't I a stinker?" gurning for the camera. They're posterboys for the word "cheeky".
Robbie had the advantage of people downplaying him and creating low expectations because he was never supposed to be the breakout of his group. Then he did in a big way. He had a bit of "told you so" to his smug that was earned. Harry is...more or less doing what is expected of him (and all of his bandmates are also doing pretty well).
@@Adamdidit It's quite funny, I've mellowed so much on Robbie because there's so many worse artists out there and he at least basically appears to give a shit.
I remember in college my poetry professor read out the lyrics to "I'm blue" as an example of extremely bad poetry. It amazes me that Bebe Rexha could look at those lyrics and say "hold my beer."
why would your poetry teacher read out the lyrics to an intentionally jokey song as an example? its sort of like showing off aqua teen hunger force as an example of bad animation
@@brodstarpadpen6949 Not only that but song lyrics and poetry are not the same thing. There’s overlap but judging lyrics solely as poetry misses the fact that the music part adds meaning.
The hook on the Jack Harlow song could’ve been so good if he continued the theme of the first three lines. Something like this: I’ve been a (G) Throw up the (L) Sex in the (A-M) I make her (O) Don’t know who you (R) I’m F-A-M (O-U-S) Not saying I did an amazing job but it’s still miles better than just “uh huh”
Ooh. How long did that take you to think of? It's pretty good. I guess it isn't amazing, but I'd think to myself, "That's the cleverest lyric I've heard in this grocery store all day."
According to Todd, you've probably listened to most of the songs on the charts already since the samples are used so lazily they might as well just be really bad covers. Including MULTIPLE nursery rhymes.
Todd’s description of Bebe Rexha’s image as a singer and aspiring pop star has got to be one of the most accurate but brutal descriptions to date on these year-end lists.This song appeared during shuffle mode while I was listening to music and I quickly swiped to the next one. Luckily, I forgot about it until today and now I remember why. I also agree with the observation that 2022 was truly the year of lazy sampling. I wonder if we’re ever going to see any risk taking on the pop charts in the years to come.
I said in another comment, there’s that point he made in his Katy Perry TrainWreckords about the two types of pop stars. BeBe Rexba is undeniably the second kind he mentioned (the flash-in-the-pan ones who quickly go away once their hits dry up), but one who seems to be in denial and is trying desperately hard to stay relevant.
It's so funny that I'm Good offends me on two separate levels: the one where I'm offended at atrocious music, and the one where I'm offended on behalf of the song sampled. I'm Blue might be godawful but it's a classic.
I was looking at the music video for that song, wondering who Bebe reminded me of. Then it hit me: Bebe is trying to look like Britney Spears in her Oops! I Did It Again… video…only Bebe is the dollar store version of Britney with worse hair and makeup…
Honestly, I'm surprised Bebe wven got away with this song. Sampling is one thing, but this is basically ripping the entire song. How did she not get sued for it? My guess is that she's just too irrelevant for anyone to care?
@@bewilderbeastie8899 What you expect ? It's David Guetta and he's always been a talentless lazy hack compare to his French house contemporaries like Daft Punk, Justice, Kavinsky and Eric Prydz combine that with Bebe Rexha incessant need to be recognize as a pop star and you have a recipe for that diatribe of a song.
You should’ve heard me scream “I KNEW IT!” When number 1 started playing. There was already so much music with bad sampling on the list; it was truly inevitable! That maroon 5 slot was glorious. Please never stop making these lists, or any videos at all for that matter. Happy New Year, Todd!
i feel like many "body positivity" pop songs are super commercialized, so the message feels disingenuous. when i connect more with music on the topic, it's because it's more genuine, they aren't just trying to sell records. the artist actually lives that way and usually, they aren't the typical beauty standard/reject it with alternative fashion. (not trying to be mean, it's just easier to say when you already look conventionally attractive)
Jax literally suffered from an Eating Disorder for a decade. That's what her song is about. Calling her disingenuous because she's thin is such hypocritical garbage.
@@rommix0 that's something that has happened to like, almost any genre. it doesnt mean anything. also people are still making edm seriously, what are you on about?
@@rommix0 Just cause it's not on the charts or radio doesn't mean it's not still popular, there are plenty of labels releasing a bunch of EDM every week, a lot of which gets more than a million streams.
@@rommix0 EDM isn't a genre, it'll keep living as long as the genres within it keep changing. House music has been a thing since the early 80s, and until house music reaches peak stagnation, it'll keep going. ...that being said David Guetta sucks.
Todd's description of Harry Styles' music as sounding like middle age white guy artists from the '80s and '90s like Sting attempting to sound funky and upbeat makes so much sense to me. Also, "Music For A Sushi Restaurant" is one of those titles that does not need to be sung in the song, so hearing Harry sing it a lot is so weird.
That Harry song is one of the most baffling hit songs of the year for sure. There’s no hook at all outside of some bad horns and the verses are astonishingly boring. It was a hit because it’s a Harry song.
The worst part of that Victoria's Secret song was the fact she could have easily rhymed "issues" with "tissues," referring to the thing some women do where they stuff their bras with tissue to make their breasts seem bigger. But instead she chose the dumb route. What a hack.
I'm the target demographic of that Victoria's Secret song, and I'll say I hate the shit out of it. The problem isn't that I didn't *know* why I feel bad all the time, it's that it's still there even when I ignore it. I know I'm supposed to love myself, I know this stuff was invented to make me feel insecure so that I'd buy products. Knowing that doesn't change the inherent problems I have with myself. That scene from Euphoria summed it up perfectly; this constant barrage of positivity is just forcing me to hold myself to yet another standard.
Plus it’s too unoriginal it gets spun but the whole your beautiful just the way you are message ignores personal growth and overcoming and it’s also been done better before so if you’re doing it lazy why do it at all?
To me, it comes across as condescending. Most girls I know around my age know that most megacorps are owned by men who just want our money and how bad of an effect they can have. Young-er girls are a lot more aware than most people think. We don't need someone telling us these things like we've never heard about it before, especially when it comes packaged as a mediocre TikTok song.
Yeah. Ive personally been trying to go the route of body neutrality. Not love or hate. Just nothing. Its a body. I have it. It is. Has this been working? Absolutely not
One of my favorite bands this year was RONDÉ. They came somewhat out of nowhere on the Dutch charts with a song that spent more than 10 weeks at #5. Not powerful enough for #1, but with staying power to keep it in the top ten for a few months, Hard to Say Goodbye was just a great song in the middle of literal crap. I looked into their back catalog and found some gems like City Lights. Then came the follow up, Love Myself. And I was hoping one of two things. It's a song about masturbation, or it's a song about being a bitch and embracing it, because if it turned into a song about body acceptance (not that there's anything wrong with that) it was going to be a real turn off. It's a song about coming out of the other side of depression due to a breakup and loving one's self when it felt nobody else would. Whew, thank god! I'm a fat bald guy, last thing I need to be told is that it's okay to be the way I am, I already know this. I feel people who don't know that missed the bus a long time ago (and yes, Todd's video of top ten '90s buses is recommended to me on the left right now, I had to use that phrase). Making a song to tell me it's okay, I just don't get it.
I work in a retail store and I'm trapped with the radio every day so this video was cathartic. the lazy sampling is killing me so much you're so right.
which is why i want todd to keep doing these worst songs of the year and add that creeping song by the weeknd feat 21 savage (which samples that bland 2004 song i don't wanna know by mario winnas featuring puff daddy and enya) on the worst songs of 2023 list.
The only good thing that lazy sampling is good for is that EXACT situation, and only if the volume is turned down enough that you don’t need to hear it completely. The background music effect. But that’s also not the point of pop music.
@Musical Reverie i would still add it on the worst of 2023 if i was todd. like i said, the original is boring and bland but if it gets a pass, it's probably because of the weeknd, 21 savage and metro boomin. i don't remember where i said this but sometimes a certain artist(s) is worth ten thousand praises. i do understand covers and i sometimes see that sometimes they can be as good or if not, better than the original but with i don't want to know, they choose the most boring song from that year to cover imo. and no, not saying that the weeknd is a bad singer and metro boomin is a bad producer, they're good but i think they can do way better than that.
I worked at The Barking Botique until I got laid off recently. For whatever damn reason, we would not get Spotify Premium or at least the cracked version, so we had to listen to the most mind-numbing pop music day in and day out. That included the same six 70's-80's pop hits, Ke$ha songs (so much for these mixes being "family friendly"), country music (because when I come in for a puppy, I totally want to listen to depressing songs about dead husbands and breakups!), and, of course, modern pop hits. To make matters worse, the mixes Spotify provides must've been pretty small, because songs often repeated. "Sugar, We're Going Down Swinging" once played four times on the same day. My point is I only worked there for a year and yet I'm sure I will hear "Made You Look" on my deathbed.
I totally disagree with critics that refuse to do “worst of” lists saying they hate negativity. If they really love the art form they review, they help it by showing what not to do as much as what to do. Good on you Todd for keeping up the fight.
But there's spectacle to it, no? Like, I love Worst Of lists admittedly, but this isn't just criticism. There's a certain meanness to any Worst Of list that keeps it enjoyable for people that also don't like the songs; it's not just "here's what didn't work".
@@broudwauy I don’t know if I agree with that. If you like something but I don’t, any criticism I have, no matter how factually based is going come off like an attack because I am telling you that you are wrong about your opinion. In every case, Todd explained why he put that song on the list. I mean also put it like this, no one ever condemns “Best of” lists for just being nothing but praise. They always explain why those entries went above and beyond for the year. And at the end of the day, every video has to have a little spectacle otherwise they’d be boring to watch and the creator wouldn’t get any views and continue doing what we love them for.
Me and my boyfriend have been watching your "worst hit songs" vids for years, it's basically our non-cringe UA-cam rewind of the year. Please, please don't stop giving us these amazing videos.
Dear Todd, I’ve been following you since 2014 or so, and I wanna kindly ask you - don’t stop making the worst list videos. I’m Ukrainian and this is literally the best thing that has happened to me all year. Literally.
@@rommix0 well, I’m alive, my fam too, I’ve had electricity for more than 5h yesterday, so life ain’t too shabby :) staying positive! thanks for the well wishes :) happy holidays to you!
@@eliholli it actually was! we were really proud! Kalush - the guys who won - have a lot of great songs :) you can try checking out Fayna (“beautiful”) or Zori (“stars”), maybe you like it
'This is a beat that needs Akon or Flo Rida on it' While that is staggeringly accurate, there's one name that comes to mind immediately that's all that is missing from I'm Good to make it PEAK late-2000s EDM pop banger. Pitbull.
Thank you Todd for sharing in my hatred of body positivity/beauty/self esteem themed pop songs. Even when I was in the exact target demographic for them I still hated them. I always found them very surface level, always telling me to love myself without really ever addressing where the negative feelings might come from, outside of just blaming it on pop culture at large.
I feel like in terms of pop culture and spoken standards I was getting more "don't worry about your body", but my entire family on the other hand... Pop culture and magazines isn't the only contributing factor to body image issues and disordered eating, comments from friends and family are also a huge thing
I mean not to seem racist, but another white person telling a sadder white person blatantly dont worry be happy youre all white in the world so why cry...is very condescending.
The only time I ever was not made annoyed by it was in f*cking Nicki Minaj's Anaconda. That line about all the big bitches in the club. Not to say it was a particularly GOOD line, it was just the only one to not make me want to stand up and leave the room or flip the channel in discomfort.
The first time I heard that Bebe Rexha/David Guetta track was when I went to a college football game. I got stoked because I thought they made an I'm Blue instrumental remix a part of their crowd hyping playlist in 2022 and that's really funny but then the chorus kicked in and my soul got sucked out of my body. Insane and bad sample, thank you for making it #1, Todd.
Yeah, my reaction when hearing it for the first time was “Wow, this sample does not work!”. It truly is a bad song. It’s really sad when Flo Rida managed to better incorporate a sample of “I’m Blue” in “Sugar”. That song wasn’t great, but it was less unnatural sounding and more listenable than David Guetta’s dud imo.
Maroon 5 not appearing on a worst list for once has to be a major historical event.
They should win a lifetime achievement award for worst lol
That transistion afterwards really made me think imagine dragons would be number 1, big suprise
Todd did forget to put "Don't Wanna Know" on the Worst of 2016 list.
I mean, they did appear! They just had no songs
That's what I'm TOASTING to the New Year, BABY! No, I'm toasting Rihanna's sloooooow comeback, but it'd be a close one.
That gag of Todd playing the ABCDEFU song repeatedly as a transition and then telling the transition itself not to stop was golden
I was so glad when it made the list, was already getting pissed hearing it between entries.
@@MoreEriksson it was just so overplayed, it was fine until I was hearing the song everytime the raido was turned on. Then you actually want it to f off for real.
Having that song be on the worst list was honestly such catharsis for me. It's just so annoyingly immature and petty. As a teenager who is constantly around other teenagers, that is the bare minimum insult anyone could hurl at someone that they just broke up with.
I was wondering if it was on his Worst of 2021 list while reading your comment. I was at the point where Todd mentioned that ABCDEFU was an honorable mention on the Worst of 2021 list, so I *wasn’t* going crazy or dreaming.
I’m also angry with Todd that *this* mid 2000s angst anthem was on the Best Song of the Year list
That part made me audibly laugh
A song about Victoria’s Secret being a terrible company in 2022 feels like a uni student just came up to me in outrage about Kony 2012
Underrated, niche comment lmao you couldn't be more right
We're gonna find him soon guys I promise
I remember being a huge fan of Jax before she wrote this song. She had fun parodies. She wrote this for a girl she babysat in all fairness then she just got obnoxious about this song.
It would have probably hit harder if she changed the lyrics to “He’s an old man who lives in Ohio and was friends with a Pedophile” considering the old man was best friends with Jeffery Epstein AND Epstein was his personal accountant.
its funny how she only has conventionally attractive women in the video too
My take on Lin Manuel as a proud theatre dork is that he just got way more famous than he was ever supposed to be. He was supposed to keep making fun musicals for other musical theatre dorks to dork out about in our own corner, largely unnoticed by larger pop culture. Hamilton became a runaway hit and made him way too prominent and he started taking on projects that were way outside of his strengths. I don’t even really blame him because he keeps doing the same thing that made him famous, just in a context that is totally wrong for him. Hopefully in the next couple years the LMM mania will die down and he will return to his natural habitat.
I'd be less charitable, he was supposed to have career completing able to retire success with Hamilton then disappear
@@annnee6818 He has a son he wants to build up money for, for the kid's future. You can do that a lot better working than not working, if you're a parent. IDK, I'd be cringe for a full-time job too if I thought it'd help my kid out.
I feel like this is precisely it. I also think LMM wouldn't get half the hate he gets if he wasn't so terribly overexposed, and like featured in ways that do not flatter him. Like, his song writing is objectively successful. (I don't think they're all gems, but whatever.) But his performances are not and never really had been... so why are we putting his awkwardness on screen, instead of just an actual actor?
The thing is though, it was only a matter of time before he was going to be writing for Disney ( they usually hire Broadway guys to write their musicals).
I also feel like people are appreciating him a lot more after the disasterpiece that was Wish.
His overexposure has caused people to severely downplay his talent, but he does have a lot of range and is famous for a resson
could not agree more. that man needs to keep making weird musicals and stay away from hollywood, for his OWN sake.
"Uptown funk if Micheal Buble wrote it"
TODD IN THE SHADOWS WITH NO REGARD FOR HUMAN LIFE
Accurate though 😭😂
Knowing Michael, he probably would have covered it sounding like that.
That's one of the greatest things that Todd has ever said.
💀
Harries don't attack reviewers we have dignity lol
Meghan Trainor's music could be described as 'Early 60s nonsense filtered through a Target ad'
Yeah, not like the cool 60's though. The vapid, bubblegum 60's
@@ashtonholtgreven7328 Even the bubblegum pop stuff has more grit sonically than anything Trainor's ever done.
@@ashtonholtgreven7328 Not even that, it's like the boring music that was made in-spite of all the psychedelic, prog-rock, and the ensuing Brit-invasion.
@@afterdinnercreations936so… vapid bubblegum music?
kinda makes me think of the Partridge Family. Or Donny Osmond.
When I realized that the FU song was the bumper I was so disappointed because the bumper has never actually been a part of the list all these years. I cannot express the happiness I felt when he broke the tradition. Todd always finds ways to keep the videos different and interesting.
24:00
"I didn't tell you to stop."
That blew my drink to my nose.
Yo, I screamed of joy like I just had nailed a buzzer beater
SAME I WAS SO SURPRISED
I had the exact same reaction!
Same
creepy thing about the tenpenny song.
people don't usually get arrested for a normal breakup...
No... they don't
@margaretgibbs6673it feels like a very clear "poor man abused by a feminazi system by being falsely accused of abusing a feeeeeemale" analogy even Reddit wouldn't touch
@@ashen_roses Incredibly proud (and embarrassed) that after everyone and their mom had a gamergate phase and grew out of it, we're JUST NOW getting songs that reflect that moment 😂
Tenpenny makes me sympathize with the girlfriend. Like, she cheated because her boyfriend is a scumbag who lifts lines from Kendrick Lamar.
Adam Levine/Maroon 5 getting an honorable mention on the worst list purely for still existing. That's a whole new level of badness right there.
He might be the GOAT marathon for bad music. Every year for at least 12-13 years now he carves out a spot... until now.
They didn’t make the list… that might be an achievement for Maroon 5 lmao.
He didn't have ''hit'' in 2022
The closest thing to a hit as mentioned in the video was his DMs
Honestly Todd should’ve put the Black Eyed Peas song interpolating those DMs as the placeholder Maroon 5 song for the list
@@hambor12 wait what, the B.E.P did that??
Edit: DOUBLE D'Z : Black Eyed Peas.
The first time I saw that video of Rita Ora over-singing "Running Up That Hill", I was desperately waiting for a giant cane to come in from the side and yank her offstage.
It never came.
The first time I saw or heard it was this video, and now having witnessed that fucking abomination, if a big hook started coming in from the side to drag her away I'd start screaming at it and tell it to take me first.
It’s a shame because she’s actually a good singer
Todd please don’t stop the worst lists. what you said a couple of years ago about you being a historian in an era where rabid fan positivity is the only “acceptable” way of consuming music is so true. even as someone who only casually interacts w popular music scenes it’s mind numbing. your hater ways are greatly appreciated
He's never going to stop the worst lists.
It gets the most views all year.
Negativity sells
Someone said that the internet is in a constant fluctuation between ‘let people enjoy things!’ and ‘it’s good to punish people for being annoying’ and I think the trend is currently ebbing towards ‘hating is good and fun actually’ again. I can only cross my fingers and hope
@@SomeBF That fluctuation is because modern culture has entirely forgotten how do do anything in moderation. The statements "It's okay to like things that are bad," and, "It's good to criticize things that are bad," are both true and can coexist peacefully. However, people exist in an all or nothing mindset these days, thus pitting these statements into a false dichotomy. If you enjoy something, you are not allowed to say anything bad about it. If you hate something, you are not allowed to like any aspect of it.
People can't tolerate extremism for too long, however, which creates the pendulum swing back and forth. People will embrace toxic positivity until it becomes annoying and swap to the other side. Then they'll embrace toxic negativity until it becomes annoying and swap back. It's a fascinating, if idiotic, phenomenon.
@@Celestia282 I think the moderation does exist it’s just not as engaged with anymore. Reminds me how in the old days of the internet you’d call two people arguing a ‘flame war’, implying both sides have their ammunition and are fighting. But you’re more likely to describe it as someone getting ‘dunked on’ and ‘ratio-d’ etc. as if the other person is just left baffled without a leg to stand on. The moderate commentary isn’t the norm anymore I feel.
Rabid fan positivity is the only way a person *could* consume music today. Music doesn't cost money anymore. It only has worth to the extent that someone give it some other type of attention.
We have reached the “I’m not angry I’m disappointed” stage of Todd
Todd has reached his dad phase
And that's just worse
I'm BOTH.... largely because I work in retail and am pretty much forced to listen to this crap...
"Our expectations were already low but holy fuck" vibe.
@@MaiaPalazzo nobody asked
I was completely unaware "I'm Good" was a project from 5 years ago, but it really validates my first impression of it which was "Jesus, it's almost nostalgic how much this feels like a generic club banger from the early-mid 2010s."
All it's missing is a Pitbull verse.
That is a disturbingly accurate description of it and probably why a part of me actually kind of likes it if only because it reminds me of the time when that music was popular
Its like an edm zombie pulling you back into the 2016 pop grave
@@NS-xx1ze Oh no! The Party Rock zombie apocalypse has returned!
The nostalgic NUMBER TWOOOOO
honestly a pitbull verse would have made it much better
“It’s Uptown Funk if Michael Bublé wrote it” is one of the coldest lines of journalistic criticism I’ve heard all year
I dont think micheal buble even writes he's more a performer
@@possum1093even colder
@@TheSufferingDarkness ah I mean Ariana,Rihanna,Whitney Houston, and britney spears aren't really song writers either I mean some if them have credits but aren't famed for writing a lot of there songs but there voices are still impressive it's not that big of a deal if you don't write
@@possum1093 I know. I’m just saying that if you insulted something by saying a non-writer wrote it, that would add an extra dimension of derision
@@TheSufferingDarkness yeah I guess writen like a non writer does fit music for a sushi restaurant I suppose it could also mean writen by a boardroom with Micheal buble and his song writers trying desperately to make a commercial funk tune would also fit the song
I don't know what's funnier. The fact that the charts forced Todd to cover a Disney song of all things, or that him disliking Encanto is by far the most controversial take he's had in years.
I guess he really didn't want to talk about Bruno, LMAO!!!
He's no stranger to animated movies and bad takes. Reminder that this is the same guy along with his cancelled girlfriend that also crapped all over Wreck It Ralph.
I honestly though Encanto was more of a disappointment than it was terrible. I still liked it ok but I wasn’t head over heals with this movie like everyone else was, and the songs’ overplay on the radio droving me insane until they vanished without a trace didn’t help the fact at all
@@the-NightStar lol it isn't a "bad take" to dislike something. You're just an ant in the anthill of millions of comments he's recieved over the years. You're nobody lmao
Honestly I’m more shocked this was a 2022 song. Feels like that movie has been around for years!
Having Harry Styles on both the best and worst list at least proves he has RANGE
Range in terms of how good and bad he could be.
or inconsistent quality
I spent the year liking music for a sushi restaurant just fine, and then the line “Uptown Funk if Michael Bublé wrote it” managed to shred every last good feeling I associated with it.
Kind of sad that your enjoyment of a song can be ruined by one dude's opinion.
Tbh, I hadn't even heard the song before (I don't know, could just be that it didn't get that much air time in my neck of the woods) and my first thoughts even before Todd made the comment was "this kinda sounds like Uptown Funk without the funk or believable machismo". I believe Bruno Mars is cool (or at the very least is very confident that he is) when listening to Uptown Funk. Harry just isn't even close to that energy level on sushi restaurant, which feels more like hearing about his coolness while he's laying on the couch hungover the night after the actual party.
@@gee8419 It is sad, but somewhat true. Todd putting Arcade on the list last year didn't ruin it, because I felt Todd's critique of it was flawed, because an Arcade in Europe is different than here, and he didn't take that into consideration. But there was one a few years ago that did effect me, but not enough to remember it now. Heck, my wife saying she doesn't like a song had an effect, enough that I have asked her to not say anything. I'm gonna love what I love... until someone else's opinion stops me. Then I'll probably still like it, just not as much. I mean, I still have Michael Jackson in my playlists, it just doesn't play as often.
@@Moonhermit- Music for a Sushi Restaurant is not about Harry Styles being cool and it does not contain any machismo, it is about being in love. If you are seeking machismo in the song you are not going to find it because Harry Styles is not a macho guy.
@@gtt8428 White bashing isn't real you weirdo.
The FU song was always controversial because it was supposedly written as a response to a comment suggesting “write a song that involves the alphabet” but then people traced back that account and it was someone connected with her work already so it’s viral origin story was staged
But first, let me take a selfie!
Man, reminds me of looking into the account selfie music video to reveal how shallow the roots were. All there was before a few joke videos with nothing to recommend them. Usually you'd see many videos and a slow refinement of content over years. But nope, not if you have connections you can just skip years of hard work straight to 15 minutes of fame.
And also why this ugly plant? She doesn't have a great voice or personality on the mic. I could've shoved anyone from work in front of the camera and got the same kind of proformance. SMH
No way
Wow. Not only did she pick teh worst idea for a song, but the person who made said idea was her boss. More minus respect for Gayle.
That makes a whole lotta sense now btw did she disappear already cause it seems no one cares or talks about her
YES italked about this to
I think what makes Todd’s year-end worst lists so good are that they AREN’T truly relentlessly negative. Todd likes pop music, he likes many of the artists that he features on the list, and he rarely has any special hatred for the ones that he doesn’t. Most of the time, when he REALLY hates a song, it’s because it has disappointed him. You see him remark as such several times in this very video- ‘I’ve defended this artist, I know they had the potential to do better, and this is the shit the pump out? Unacceptable!’ His “teacher” analogy is pretty apt, I’d say.
It's very accurate. He's not just trolling or throwing shade needlessly.
Exactly. I can't tell you how many times I've seen these kinds of lists that were clearly made by someone who clearly has no love, respect or knowledge of this kind of music. (I'm looking at you A Dose of Buckley.)
@@grahamkristensen9301 To defend A Dose of Buckley, he is a comedian more than anything else. He likes music but he likes making fun of bad pop music more than Todd does. Todd sounds hurt by some of the songs but Buckley actually sounds like he thinks its fun to massacre the stupid in the song.
@@Moviefantasi Buckley isn't a music fan. I'm not saying he doesn't like music, but it isn't his life (and he's annoyed by most "music fans" as most of them only like one type of music and think all the other ones are crap). He makes fun of songs but that's because they're usually ubiquitous and so he people get exposed to their stupid aspects constantly.
Well he was a teacher when he first started doing this.
I was shocked to find out that Jax is an adult woman in her mid 20s and not a 16 year old girl.
that's no surprise to me, it's basically history repeating itself to 2003. back when liz phair (an already big name in the indie music industry in her mid 30s) sold out and tried hard to sound like the big female pop names at that time like avril lavigne, michelle branch, norah jones and pink (female pop artists in their late teens-early 20s at that time). however, the difference is that liz phair actually has talent, as evidence in her previous first two albums and her most recent album that came out around 2021 while jax definitely has no talent at all, as evidence in her previous two songs (u love u and 90s kids) and her most recent song cinderella snapped (all very godawful songs) hell even liz phair's sellout song why can't i is still more tolerable than jax's so called sellout song "victoria's secret. hoping jax's career flops big time and doesn't go far like halsey, olivia rodrigo, taylor swift and dua lipa.
@@nv52895Like seriously, she’d originally made a TikTok career off of the girl she babysat who was like 10 years old (exploitive much?) and those were all her posts for a while, a friend of mine did some digging into the account and god is it awful.
She’s only in her mid-20s? Woof, life has been rough to her
@@nv52895 are we gonna get a funstyle by jax
@@liamneedsauniquehandle well, i heard a rumor that she's releasing her first ep on june 28 (be afraid!). hope anthony fantano rips it apart by giving it either a NOT GOOD or a 0/10 is he reviews it.
jax was actually from my hometown and when she was on american idol we all had to pretend we cared about american idol. the local schools did events where they celebrated her, but she hadn't even studied at any of them. she was homeschooled. that was a weird time
I was one of the students that was brought over to celebrate Jax. The high school chorus sang at her hometown concert, and we had to act excited even though nobody knew who she was.
She gives off the impression of having good intentions and being a good person, but this song just kinda falls flat imo. I don’t hate it, or even really dislike it. It’s just kinda middle of the road.
@@terminallumbago6465 In 2022 that's good enough to become famous, because music is terrible.
@@culwin It was not a good year for music. When the charts are dominated by holdovers from 2021 and even 2020, a Disney soundtrack song, and a 40-year old song, that’s a very bad sign.
@Terminal Lumbago it was a great year for music, look at rap release and even metal
Don't get rid of worst lists! You're not "spreading negativity," you're helping musicians know what not to do!
even if this wasn't true, I don't think it matters if this is "helping" musicians, it's quality entertainment, isn't that enough? why must the justification for it staying be altruistic anyway?
I play in a band and I definitely have had some what not to do takeaways.
I like half these songs and I completely agree
Except these musicians are making millions sooo
@@Readyforit7723 If I wanted to make money I would exploit other people's labour. I'm interest in making unique and interesting art; not just what sells the best.
The only bad thing about watching this video was hearing ABCDEFU 10 times
God I hate that song
I just always assume a transistion song won't make the list
Real. Todd forcing us to listen to it so many times is a war crime
11*
@@zingzing9162 facts. We don’t deserve this
8:20 - _"Pineapple juice, I giver her sweet... sweet... sweet semen"_ is officially my favourite hilariously-bad line ever; I burst out laughing when I heard that.
😂😂😂😂😂
Grocery Bag
I don't believe in T-H-O-T but I believe in G-O-D
Hefty bag
“White Lizzo” is both the most accurate and the most damning description of Meghan Trainor I’ve ever heard
@@gtt8428 OK boomer
Lizzo at least seems like someone who would be interesting as a person though - the whole flute thing won me over hardcore
Unlike Lizzo, she can't be sexy because it's impossible to imagine her wanting to have sex with someone who would want to have sex with her.
"Sounding like if Uptown Funk was written by Micheal Bublè" was also a really damning description
"Stepford" is the perfect description from Todd. It's fake to the point of unsettling. Almost all of her songs drip with this creepy and manipulative energy. There's a reason we dropped her hard and fast once more impactful body image singers appeared.
Congratulations to David Guetta on topping this chart.
And shout out to his family.
Just spat out my drink at this. Good stuff my dude.
Underrated comment
@@vaelethun You are welcome.
David Guetta feat. Martin Luther King Jr.
I feel like I'm missing something
Todd, please never stop the worst lists. They are the greatest annual rewind on UA-cam
Honestly, him stopping his worst list would make me sad, but this would definitely not be a bad episode to end on
edit: weird mistake
Absolutely. It's helpful to know why exactly things are bad.
this video kind of sucked honestly
It's part of my year!
i also don't want him to retire the worst list of the year. if he wants to retire a list, he should retire the best lists of the year.
I think having to listen to ABCDEFU 11 times just knocked 30 years off my life span.
Mine too but I ain't mad😆
I had to hear it twice a week (minimum) for seven months. Take from that what you will.
It's the one song that does deserve a warning label. Not from the PMRC. From the Surgeon General.
yeah when i realized it was gonna be the transition i audibly groaned
He literally could have used "i hate u" by SZA instead. "And if you wonder if I hate you, I do..."
The fact that most of these songs were popular on Tik Tok makes me feel like we’ve entered the modern version of Ringtone Rap. And as someone pushing 30, I can’t tell if I’m just jaded or unimpressed with the quality of what the app is pushing out.
It's the lack of quality.
Modern version of Ringtone Rap, so true
Ever notice it's the worst songs that trend on TikTok? I will be surprised if a good song from this era actually does.
@@pervertedalchemist9944 Beggin by Maneskin is a decent song. Mary On A Cross by Ghost is also good (though it's not Ghost's best song by far, they have really good metal/rock albums).
@@AFellowCyberman Måneskin's Beggin' is just a worse cover of the actually interesting Madcon cover of a song from the 60s. It's only bearable because the song it's based on is great
That number one was absolutely brutal. No rage, no extreme frustration, just a cold, calculated obliteration of a song that's so bad that it's not even worth talking about. If I was BeBe Rexha and I heard that I think I would stop making music altogether.
There was a movie critic who rated movies from 1 to 10. Once he said of some movie "I won't give it a rating, I'll give 3 extra points to everything else I've seen this year."
@@NJGuy1973 Oh that is *ice* cold.
@@NJGuy1973 that's a pretty accurate way to describe 'I'm good'. That critic is a genius.
i remember absolutely despising a hit she had on one of her albums a few years ago but i cant even remember the name of the song now. i think i put too much of my time into hating her music lol, not even worth it to get annoyed.
If Bebe Rexha heard that she'd be here in the comment section to rage and curse at Todd and tell him why he's wrong. She's that much of a tryhard.
The amount of vindication I feel when the songs on the worst list are the songs that drive me the most insane at work is unparalleled.
I feel you, I waited a year for "ABCDEFU" to be on this list, I've changed jobs three times since then but it still feels so good.
I didn't know Fingers Crossed came from this year. My god that's my number one worst song for me. It plays SO often at my work and it feels like it plays at like twice the volume of all the other songs
When number two came up, I SCREAMED out of sheer catharsis. HELL YES, I'm SO glad this trash got its deserved time in the ringer
YES, I was BRACING for Sunroof to come up and shocked that it didn’t
Yessss. Especially the #1 song and the Harry Styles one. Quintessential retail muzak.
“But even with nothin’ on, I made you look.”…yes, Meghan. That’s generally how it works when you see a naked person.
That line has always pissed me off! You’re more likely to be looked at while naked, come on now! I feel like music artists are getting lazier with their lyrics :/
“ma’am, I’m gonna have to ask you to leave the Arby’s”
“I can’t stand Megan Trainor, but to me she’ll always be worth 1,000 Bebe Rexhas”
Holy s*** that was BRUTAL. And considering how badly she wants to be a star and how many attempts she’s had at it, it’s downright saddening.
that meant to be song with Florida Georgia Line is fucking awful
Is she performing on New Years Rockin Eve again??? I feel like she's been on it over and over and that just screams desperation
For real, who is still pushing her? I'm so curious about what her label thinks about her and what to do with her
@@lukee76 boggles the mind, eh? I was watching CrowbCat’s E3 2017 video, and it reminded me she was there shilling the Ubisoft dancing game…and when I was watching the event live back in 2017, I was wondering _"wait, they’re still trying to make her a thing?!"_
Wonder how much more progressive Rexha is the Trainor? And I’m not gonna say that I’m the queen of progressiveness or anything.
Every time Todd says he's done with "Worst" lists a recording artist gets the inexplicable urge to make a career-ending bomb.
Who was it this time?
Annually the most viewed video = $$$
*Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!" ~Todd, probably
@@maxpowr90 and the best. Im here for this. Let the man have his $$$
the saddest part about baby rexha is that she's an absolute hit maker....for OTHERS. any song she writes for other artists goes to the top of the chart. if she had stuck to songwriting for famous artists, she'd remain one of the biggest forces of 2010's and beyond pop hits. but now you just look at 'i'm good' and go '....SHE wrote shinee lucifer???'
“I Also Took a Pill in Ibiza” by Bebe Rexha, 2025
@@parasaur2 ...to show David Guetta I was cool
What's sad is those songs are equally awful, and she's profited from those songs.
Bebe Rexha wrote the hook for The Monster by Eminem and Rihanna. She also did the ghost-like vocals on the post-chorus.
Reminds me of Bruce Springsteen before Hungry Heart. He wrote a lot of songs for others that became hits while his only hit was Born To Run. His manager got fed up with it and told Bruce to record and release a song the latter originally wrote for the ramones. Hungry Heart fortunately became Bruce's first top 5 Billboard hit.
The "Made You Look" video is so strange because they clearly tried to make her as sexy as possible to fit with the song, really make her into a hot pop diva style. But they *really* whiffed it to the point where I thought she was at least a decade older than she actually is.
Meghan Trainor, singer, songwriter, aspiring MILF.
(Yes I know she actually has a kid now, I’ve been holding onto that line for long enough already let me have this)
Yeah, she is going for a playful "mommy still got it" vibe that's just weird for a woman born in 1993. 30 is not MILF age, no matter what the 'hub says.
@@Vickyeverythingelsewastaken megan trainor is only 30??
@@synthesiageek4667 No... she's actually 29. Her birthday was just last month.
@@andreantunes8615 Well, that explains why the video looks so off-putting - she's three years younger than me, and yet looks like she's trying to pass for at least a decade older. There's something uncanny about it.
I will shed a tear when the worst lists come to an end. I know you can’t do content forever, so I enjoy each video like it might be the last. You’ve helped me understand pop music for over 10 years now, and I can’t imagine how different so many people’s lives would be if we didn’t share so many moments with you, good and bad. Your smart analysis, emotive delivery, and occasional factual errors has helped me develop my own sense of those things, and has made me smile through many difficult times.
You’ll never be forgotten, Todd. Thank you for everything you do.
Is Todd stopping on UA-cam?
@@KatDjuice No, but he hinted that this might be the last top 10 worst list
I hope the best list at least sticks around. I really like getting his recommendations on what's good each year. Some of those have become favorites of mine.
Good news everyone! He said on Twitter he was never planning to stop making these, cause it makes him money.
@@mr.froglegs you mean more money for chamillionaire
I cannot believe someone had the gall to sample BARNEY THE DINOSAUR of all things. What a time to be alive.
props, its funny seeing grown ass adults get angry about Barney
I’m too old to have watched Barney but o recognised that Melody, can’t put my finger on it but it’s way older than the 90s
@@youngwt1 i recognise it as the "this old man, he played one, he played knick knack on my thumb" nursery rhyme... ive never really seen barney
@@Feasco It's not really "angry" so much as just not liking it and not wanting to hear it.
What a time to completely ignore what's on the pop charts.
"I admire a well-kept garden, I don't care who planted it," has got to be my perfect way of describing my stance on Industry Plants as a whole
Sage words in this moment of increasingly-cringy “nepo baby” discourse.
That statement could also double as a dirty joke. I'll see myself out, LMAO!
@@fishflake1209 “nepo baby” talk isn’t cringe. It’s a literal reality whether you like it or not.
plus industry plants just kinda don’t exist. like if it’s being “stolen” from a more deserving artist, who is the more deserving artist. ultimately just a matter of taste.
Exactly, Billie Eilish used to get industry plant accusations, but after a while people stopped caring because the music KEPT BEING GOOD.
"Victoria's secret is that she's a man" is like saying "Gee, did you know that Eminem's real name is Marshall Mathers?"
...Wait really? Eminem isn't his name?
I mean, that’s at least something that someone might not know if they are only marginally aware of an artist known as “Eminem” (who probably thinks it’s spelled like M&M) and might not even realize the joke.
That edit of Toby Maguire dancing to Music for a Sushi Restaurant had me in tears.
Todd pulling out PERFECT analogies again with calling Music For A Sushi Restaurant "Uptown Funk if Micheal Buble wrote it". He could've literally just said that and I would've understood the song's placement on the list, because even though I like the song I can't deny that is exactly the vibe of it
It is the vibe. But I kinda like it, too.
I feel like he probably confused Japanese food for Korean food, as it comes out like a white guy trying to make a BTS song.
Harry's house reminded me of 80s yuppie music. Music for a sushi restaurant is exactly what i imagine patrick Bateman listening to walking through Manhattan.
I like it, but that's what this album reminds me of.
@@rayelgatubelo It doesn't sound anything like a BTS song to me at all. Also it wasn't supposed to sound "japanese" (which is just as well cuz it doesn't) the title was supposed to be a joke. At least that's what I understand
@@johnindigo5477 Lol, I can see that
At this point I'm so far removed from pop culture that Todd is my one and only link to what's even close to popular. I hope he never stops these top 10s
I basically only find new music these days thanks to his Best List
The only song on this list I'm familiar with is the one that samples "Genius Of Love", but only because I think I've heard it at Walmart and wondered if it was "Fantasy", or something different.
Same. All this shit just bleeds together to me. I have no interest in pop after the 80's.
Am I the only one who suspects that Todd is holding off on simply doing Top 10 Best and Worst lists for pre-“In the Shadows” years, until he knows that his time as a video creator is winding down?
Or is he simply never intending to do those?
The only song on this list that I've even heard was "I'm good". And I agree, it's horrible.
I agree that "industry plant" is not a real criticism, and has been repeated ad nauseam and became a buzz word, but with Gayle, its so nakedly obvious her success is manufactured, and in a post Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo world (who ironically have also been accused of being plants) blatantly inauthentic songs _SHOULDN'T_ exist, but I clearly underestimate the music industry's willingness to pander for cash.
I mean calling both billie and Olivia industry plants isn't a stretch especially the latter one who owns her fame to Disney. The difference is they're really good original artists unlike gayle
@@ajpoopfuckerputting Olivia Rodriguez and ‘original’ in the same sentence is a crime
@@ajpoopfuckertbf, that doesnt really make her a plant. like, by that logic, selena gomez was a plant
@@ajpoopfucker this type of comment is exactly why we need to retire the term “industry plant” since the majority of people just don’t understand wtf it actually is.
being a Disney girl makes her the OPPOSITE of a plant considering the whole point of an industry plant is that they HIDE the fact that they have connections and huge backing towards their career, something Olivia didn’t and could not do even if she wanted to.
Honestly, it makes sense that we're living in an age of lazy sampling. Vinyl sales are on the rise, Spotify has increased accessibility to retro music, and older music is outselling new music for the first time ever. Labels have found that it's literally more profitable to buy out the catalogues of older artists rather than to support new ones, so of course the natural response from new songwriters is to make their new songs directly based off of old ones.
Huh, good point. Think this is the worst of it, or is 2023 gonna be an even bigger sampling shitshow? I guess that depends on if Tiktok ever actually gets banned or not…
@@PineappleLiar the users of tiktok would just jump over to Instagram reels if it got banned
earlier this year, i thought to myself, 'it's been a while since i've listened to pop music, let's see what's charting' only to immediately start laughing when i saw Kate Bush at the top of the charts. I would hope that would mean labels giving more chances to bands and artists with more 'traditional' production, maybe even lesser known artists that really capture the spirit of older artists, but no, you're right--they're doing the lazy cash grab thing of abusing samples instead.
I'm shocked so many people resorted to nursery rhymes and that shit though . . . *_fucking TikTok._*
Don’t forget the 90s was the sampling decade, because hip hop made it cool to sample at the time so everyone followed that formula, 90s nostalgia is a huge thing now so that’s why you’re going to see more sampling in the coming future.
The funniest thing about ABCDEFU is how weak an insult "F U" is. Like if someone said "F U" to me I'd assume we were still on friendly terms because they wouldn't even say "fuck"
Even though the song straightly features the F word in its lyrics.
Which makes the censored version even funnier. 😂
There is this weird trend where people allude to swear words without actually using them, or do use them but censor them in the title themselves. The most egregious example of this is those self help books I keep finding in the psychology sections of book stores like 'get your sh*t together' or 'stop f*cking up your life'.
Maybe it's because I'm autistic and I'm missing some layer of social understanding but if you're not going to actually use the swear word then just... use a clean word? I guess it's similar to how people say 'time of the month' instead of 'period'. Just say period for Christ's sake, it's not a bad word. And using the censored version or initials makes you look like a kid that desperately wants to be an edgy teenager but would burst into tears if an adult called them out on it. Which is exactly the vibe I get from Gayle, so I guess the shoe fits.
@@goingunder2548most of the time, it’s because of ratings. They want their piece of media to reach the largest possible audience, while seeming „cool“ and „up-to-date“. That’s the reason why movies are only allowed to feature one swear word, and why a lot of swear words are either implied (à la „What the --“) or replaced by „friendlier“ words (example: saying „heck“ or „damn“ instead of „hell“ or the f-bomb)
Todd’s comments about “negativity” in music criticism was so spot on. I think one of the worst thing about this wave of “toxic positivity” is the conflating of criticism with hatred/malice. People are allowed to like things, but they’re also allowed to DISlike things - and explain why they dislike them
I suspect there's a war against intelligence. Show me any time period where any of these buffoons in the "top 10 payola billboards" used a triplet, drum solo, a 7th chord, or anything else remotely creative, and I'll show you a year before 2003. Seriously, it's been 20 years of nothing on those billboards. Kendrick Lamar sat at 94th at one point, like 2015 or something. Guy has more talent in his pinky finger than all the top 10s of the last 10 years combined.
"Musical elitism". Nah, it's called having standards. 3 done-to-death chords and an Imagine Dragons drum machine doesn't "inspire" me. There's people out there tearing up bass, drum and guitar solos, and singing in the key of "how in the world did they do that", and that never gets anywhere close to even the top 1,000.
TL;DR, people dumb. I can't be convinced otherwise.
YES! It’s sad I see in some of Todd’s videos where he’ll talk about a song related to a social issue, and even though he talks solely about the musical elements of the song, he repeats over and over again he doesn’t hate the creators for their political opinions or for some social issue, it’s sad that you can’t criticize anything anymore without people jumping to the “well you just hate X”
I like hearing nuanced mixed detailed complex opinions on media often a lot better than full "sing it's praise!" or "damn it to the trash bin". Todd always tries to give nuance and explanations and as many opposing counter views possible, no matter fully how he feels one way or the other. Even with some of the best songs to him, he can still laugh at himself or the artist or the music video or the lyrics, and call aspects of it stupid. Or when something is bad, he generally tries to at least find something between the lines if ever he can. He may not always see it, but you know he tries to.
agree 100%, but then he ruined his point by immediately proceeding to give *no* explanation of *why* he disliked a song beyond maybe "I don't like the writer's face"
@@pseudonymous9153 I don’t think that’s true; he gave plenty of reasons for why he didn’t like Pressure, mainly it’s poor relation to the rest of the movie and how tired he was of Miranda’s schtick. He made a joke about being sick of his face, but that wasn’t his *only* reason for disliking the song
You were absolutely right about "if you quit telling lies about me, I won't tell the truth about you" being a threat, because Kendrick dropped a series of diss tracks where he practically says that verbatim and then completely eviscerates Drake. Much better usage of that line than Mitchy Dimes here.
Man, Todd has honed his writing and delivery to razor-sharpness over the last 13 years. This video was an absolute pleasure from beginning to end.
The man doesn't miss.
Seriously, I wasn't sure if it was just recency bias as I haven't watched one of his "worst of" lists in like...a year. But honestly, this video was in point.
Easily his best one in a least a long while. He has become a master of this.
Well said :D Amazing video!
Agreed. 42 minutes just flew by the first time I watched this.
Tbh I hadn't heard of the Victoria's Secret song before. But as always with these things, five slim and conventionally attractive women dancing and telling me to love myself is the opposite of helpful for my body issues.
Not every song has to be about YOU. Fat people don't own the body positivity movement, and I'm so fucking sick of them acting like they do. Jax actually suffered from a severe Eating Disorder for a decade and is still recovering. The way fat people immediately dismiss anything a thin person says about body image is so hypocritical and reeks of obvious jealousy.
@@amityislandchum Really giving the game away about these body "positivity" songs, huh
They waited until the end of the music video to include plus sized and disabled dancers.
The only way I could see Todd no longer making “Worst” lists is if he personally wants to stop. If that’s the case, I respect that decision.
Otherwise, there’s no other reason to stop. These lists are phenomenal and (importantly) don’t just disparage the quality of music - they’re legitimately critical insights into why certain music may age poorly or lack staying power, mishandle social issues, create problematic messages, et cetera. I look forward to these every year.
I do too, it hit December and I remembered Todd's worst list and I was so excited
What i don’t get is that Todd started as the bad pop song reviewer. All his video for the first 3 years were “trashing on bad songs” (outside of the best list). So him not wanting to do the worst list, but continue making pop song reviews is confusing to me. Both are the same. Criticizing songs.
@@gtt8428 “Anti-White agenda”? What’s that got to do with anything? Maybe the gift you should’ve gotten over the holidays was a real problem, my guy.
I’m laughing hysterically at the Meghan Trainor segment because my former best friend (nothing happened, we just drifted apart over time) was and still is *_obsessed_* with Meghan Trainor. In a Twitter thread under Todd’s very justified backlash towards “Mother”, someone said that she’s clearly making music for, or at least pretending to make music for, a gay fanbase that does not exist. Well I’m here to tell you that it improbably does exist, among a very, very specific type of gay man. I bit my tongue for years when she came up and it’s so freeing to hear someone say all the shit I thought but was too polite to externalize.
Hey, that means she has at least 2 fans lol :D I'm number two, also gay of course. I am embarassed about it though, my sister used to make fun of me for it, so I only listen to her in total secret (and only admit it in anonymity)
And here I thought her fanbase mostly consisted of my mom and like. 5th grade me.
@@baguettegott3409I 100% promise I’ve seen your name here before ages ago I thought I had deja vu for a moment
@@vignotum132 Entirely possible, I have a bad habit of commenting way too much under youtube videos lol
@@baguettegott3409 lmao yeah me too
Todd, I agree that you have "mellowed out" a bit in recent years, but it's a good thing. The way you present yourself seems more open-minded and less abrasive than before, yet you don't compromise on giving your honest opinion. That is a difficult balance to strike, and I think you do it well. Anyway, thanks for entertaining me this past decade, Todd. Whenever you release a video it makes my day. Keep up the amazing work, I hope 2023 is a better year for you!
He's the only person allowed to talk shit about Encanto as far as I care
At least hes not telling artists to go bankrupt and die like before
In Germany “I’m good” was to be heard EVERYWHERE on the radio. We have the radio on at my work and so I was basically forced to listen to it daily…. Needless to say seeing its placement on the list has felt like justice served
Weiß nicht warum, aber bei uns war es richtig weit verbreitet und überspielt. Liegt vielleicht daran, dass wir in den deutschen Charts neben Deutschrap und Pop schon seit Jahren immer ein paar Plätze für "generic festival dance music" haben. Irgendwas released auf "Selected." Würde sogar sagen wir waren ahead of the curve mit den Bad Samples seit Jahren mit sowas wie den Desire und Around the World Versions.
@@m00nrac00n
:( Besser Captain Bra oder Sarah Connor, ich hasse diese USA cringe Lieder.
Its the answer to " Im loving angels instead"
Now--
" Im hating dumbshit as well"
same here in australia, working at a cafe where we play top hits was mind-numbing during that time;;
@@zoeboey
why i have radio with usb, and listen to my own music at work. I don't care about radio, i want to chill and work and listen to my playlist. And my boss is fine with it as long as i do good job.
todd you can’t ever stop making worst of lists because i spend all year FUMING and then achieve vindication via your lists and we yell and scream in rage about how lazy the music industry is rn together. it’s cathartic
Yes and when I’m in a shop hearing garbage songs for the thousandth time, I recall Todd’s scornful words and it helps
neither of you sound like you have a healthy relationship with either music or popular things, honestly.
@@TheEvilCheesecake lol
@@TheEvilCheesecake who give a shit - renee descarte
I love it when I casually say “Oh god, I hate this song” to a friend who replies “Whaaaaat but it’s so good” and then five months later said song ends up on Todd’s worst list. It’s one of the favorite parts of my year, I feel so validated lol
i love the point made about “empowerment anthems” not going beyond addressing an issue. it’s basically the “noooo don’t kill urself you’re so sexy ahahah” meme wrapped in girl power marketing. it feels both preachy and hollow.
artists like lizzo understand the empowerment angle and resonate much better with me. i listen to a lizzo song and i hear a woman who is confident in herself, and that makes me feel confident by proxy. she’s having fun and living her life. i don’t get that with other empowerment anthems.
there’s nothing wrong with singing about insecurities but marketing it as “you’re sad? don’t be!” isn’t helpful and can even feel invalidating. as the target demographic for songs like “victoria’s secret” i feel like my insecurities are being exploited. i doubt that was jax’s intention and she seems like she truly cares, but i don’t feel seen by this type of music. i feel patronized.
I mean yeah I may not like Lizzo 100% but shit if she does not sell confidence like the wolf of wall street. Lizzo understands the assignment, and I can't fault her for not giving it her all. I'll believe her claims of empowerment far easier than anything Jax might try to shove down my throat.
I'm reminded of a vocaloid song called "I Want to be Your God" by Kanzaki Iori, it's like the opposite of an empowerment anthem for the singer, it's lyrics are about how the song they're singing can't really help you even though they really want it to.
Course I know vocaloid isn't for everybody but maybe just try reading the lyrics if you don't like vocaloid, but it's also really sad forewarning.
At the risk of sounding trite, the only empowerment anthem you really need is "We're Not Gonna Take It."
Its positivity without empathy.
Yeah. All these 'female empowerment anthems' just don't do it for me for some reason.. even though I agree with the overall message?? I don't know, it feels cheap.
You probably won’t see this comment but please don’t stop doing worst lists. I feel like professional music criticism has taken a nosedive with all the unconditional “yass queen” praise, it feels disingenuous and more harmful than anything, and negative criticism I believe has an important role in society: we need to keep the big artists in check otherwise they will get the impression that they can put out any turd they want and still get rewarded for it with Grammys.
At least in the passed woman empowerment songs had presents and it felt assessable to everyone, like I Will Survive, Bills Bills Bills, What a Man, Hello, Stronger, Since You’ve Been Gone and even Wannabe all had timeless hooks and a universal message for girls and felt inclusive abcdefu and Victoria Secret felt like it was ripped right out of a 13 year old girls tumblr blog from 2013.
"we need to keep the big artists in check otherwise they will get the impression that they can put out any turd they want and still get rewarded for it with Grammys."
I feel like this like a third of what happened to make Kanye as horrible as he is.
@gtt8428 Um, what? Please expand.
^This. Media criticism has been institutionally captured by the media it's meant to criticize. Rubber stamping all output, no matter how trash, to remain in the good graces of the entertainment industries.
We need someone who will put their foot down and say, "Uh, no, actually the Emperor has no clothes".
@@y2craze I honestly think those songs are fine. They're just getting outsized scrutiny. You should still be able to write your tumblr blog or put out a little soundcloud song. But of course they're not going to hold up to massive pop hits. The problem is the artists with label support can't give anyone songs they actually want to listen to so they're chasing TikTok popularity.
"Bebe Rexha has only ever been a clip art stock photo of a pop star" That also applies to Rita Ora.
I honestly just confused the two reading this comment 💀
If Rita applied the effort of her social climbing skills to her actual music career she'd be a real popstar. She seems more content being a footnote in more talented people's Wikipedia pages, though.
Them and Ava Max are in the weird category of awful literal who’s that are also Albanian. I couldn’t tell them apart even with a gun to my head.
Who is Rita ora
I feel like she was listed in the video but already forgotten her
"I don't know who this Tenpenny guy is, but he ain't worth a dime."
Best joke in the video.
I missed it until I found this-
Please don't stop making these lists, you're extremely fair and we need voices that aren't always positive in the current climate where 'stanning' is a thing
I mean, it's hardly like it's a different thing in practice in "the current climate" from how fans of artists in the 20th century acted (beatlemania anyone?) music criticism still definitely exists, alongside big fans of artists who won't criticise them. Same as it always has
I'm pretty sure we have enough negativity in a cultural climate where media critics' most successful reviews are always negative ones and have been for the last 70 years, and where "XYZ is bad and here's why" is the easiest video essay title to get clicks.
We need negativity now?
@@crptpyr What Todd & some of the commenters are getting at, i think, is how many more critics are behaving like those fans nowadays when music criticism was a bastion of negativity for so long. Think of how, for example, every major critic except Lester Bangs completely shit all over Black Sabbath when they first showed up. They got a lot of up-and-coming artists wrong this way, but it also means they nailed it wrt the Milli Vanillis of the world.
No matter how bad the year was, these always brighten up the end of it. Thanks, Todd
Exactly! Only thing i look forward after xmas. Hate new years but these are always appreciated.
Hear hear ❤
Suffering through this just made the year even worse. America is a very truly fucked up country beyond redemption if this is the shit that gets accepted by the masses. The lowest common denominator bar just keeps sliding lower.
amen. goated UA-camr
I look forward to them as well they are fun to watch
I think I've pinpointed what I specifically dislike about "Victoria's Secret," at least in what I assume is the music video shown here: just the tone that Jax sings the verses with, coupled with her facial expressions. It's this strange combination of condescending and thinking she's dropping these truth bombs that nobody was aware of beforehand. Bodies come in many different shapes and sizes? "Thunder thighs" are actually quite common? Victoria is just a name for marketing purposes? I don't think this is as mind-blowing as her delivery implies, even if you're in the intended demographic, and there are probably better ways to discover these things even if you weren't already aware of them. It just stinks of someone who thinks they're more knowledgeable than everyone around them while not knowing as much as they think they do, and I know I've been there often.
The cherry on this cake is the final clip Todd showed where you could see how self-satisfied she was at the end of the song.
In summary, then, this song is the definition of "I'm 14 and this is deep".
I find it really interesting that the Victoria's Secret video is about body positivity and only features thin women. Perfect.
Made better that Jax also did a flash mob of the song (in front of a Victoria’s Secret of course-though /totally/ not targeting a particular brand instead of the actual societal issue) with almost entirely thin women with only a few plus sizes dancers. At least All About That Bass had the decency to have different bodies in the music video
Like a watered down lizzo
I see a bunch of positive comments about how no ones talking about this issue
What is your point ?
@@omensoffate For a song meant to be a "fuck beauty standards" anthem. she seemed to really not want anyone in the video who didn't fit those standards.
It's just another "look at us we care" song that just reminds you that the F your beauty standards thing was never about making women who look like me feel welcome it's about marketing to us so we'll buy more shit in the hopes people will like us... it sucks. it another reminder that bigger women like myself are only okay as long as a thin person is talking about the problem.
Honestly, Todd, your annual "worst of" video is something I look forward to every single year. Like you mentioned in the Victoria's Secret entry, too much positivity can be sort of nauseating after a while. I feel like we've gotten to a place where saying anything negative about anyone gets you labeled as "toxic" or a "narcissist" or a "hater" or whatever label is trendy these days. And the music industry, more than anything else, really needs to be called out on their laziness more often.
Toxic positivity is a real thing, and that's where the cultural pendulum is sitting, and as bad as everything being sad and limping was, I can't wait for it to swing back.
Tysm for saying this!!! Toxic positivity and sugar coating has plagued the internet and it makes me want to disintegrate.
I mean I get it somewhat. After 2 years of the roaring 20s I think we've just gotten tired of being miserable 24/7 and want to have some fun. I get that, lord knows I've been asking for pop music to get a fucking pulse and have some fucking energy to it.
But uh yeah, it can go too much in the opposite direction as well. And this direction feels like regressing back into the late 2000s and early 2010s in a bad way. We left behind the club anthems and stupid party songs for a reason people. And while I'm okay with a few every now and then let's not start making them a trend again. We're better than that.
For a long time I had the name Meghan Trainor erased from my memory. When I heard this song for the first time, I had a visceral reaction, like when you've eaten a fruit to find out it was rotten inside. And I went to look up the song only to find out it was her again. The worst part is that my partner will never hesitate to sing along to it. And I just have to pretend like I'm unaffected by that song. But I can't stand it, it's like nails on a chalkboard. And the radio plays it ad nauseam. Please make it stop. I hate it so much.
I feel the same. Sends shivers down my spine. Eww.
When I heard that song in the charts I thought it was proof of simulation theory. I was like pretty sure this song fell through a portal from 2010 along with this brand of 'girlpower'. Also I'm British and I hadn't had the pleasure of that Victoria's secret song and boy does that scream "woman who bullied girls relentlessly in high school for being overweight rebrands as shallow feminist to get famous". Really is this the level we are at people?
You know how she married the Spy Kids dude? Can't he get her an acting gig? Just to keep her from singing?
Meghan Trainor makes music for middle age middle school teachers to play in their classrooms, as they dilute themselves into thinking they're the cool teacher. It's Jim Crowe pop.
Delude, not dilute but accurate take
bruh
@@raizelle8829no, no, the teacher is literally being turned into a liquid and being mixed with cold water. That’s why she’s so cool!
Every time I hear people talk about Bebe Rexha I just think of that one time she was a guest on the America's Got Talent finale, and the contestent she sung with absolutely blew her out of the water, both with her stage presence and her musical abilities.
That never happened though. Bebe stole the show and you're probably a close friend of the contestant! No hard feelings, mate! Just recognize that not everybody can be cool like Bebe!
@gullgutten5374 I hate that I can't tell what is and isn't sarcasm anymore 😭
@@manifestationsofasort It's actually pretty easy to tell. It has to be sarcasm, because there's no chance in hell that actual Bebe stans exist in this plane of existence.
@@NotoriousLightning gr8 b8 m8
@@Moonhermit- harsh but so true
Todd, bold of you to put every Maroon 5 song on the list this year
I mean...they haven't made a great song or album in almost fifteen years, so he's not wrong.
Lord forbid he do a top ten worst Maroon 5 songs...no seriously give us a top 10 worst songs from Maroon 5 without lumping them all at number 1
@@pervertedalchemist9944 i would argue they’ve never made a good song or album period, tried to listen to songs about Jane and while it’s better than whatever the hell they’re doing now it’s still deeply mediocre imo
@@pervertedalchemist9944 I'd say there's a few gems over the years.
Misery was their last good hit until Maps, and Maps was their last good hit in general, at least to me.
Ik this ain’t true but honestly if he choose to do that who could argue with it 😁
"The only dance I can ever imagine anyone doing to it is the Boy Maguire" has to be one of the most brutal and hilarious takedowns Todd has ever delivered.
Bully* Maguire
Amazing. Although, I'm not sure I agree with the broader Styles assessment on Todd's part. No one wanted to like a Harry Styles song less than me and I think As It Was is a brilliant song. If that's not on the best list....I dunno man.
Is the awful 80's corny old dad impression of funk of it all
Those takes are why I've followed him for more than 10 years
The thing that irritates me the most about Victoria's Secret is that it honestly isn't that body positive. The lyrics basically read as 'media made me think I was fat, but actually I'm normal', which is... not that positive? At all? Some people don't have 'average' bodies. Some people are, believe it or not, fat. Those people are still beautiful and worthy of respect, and certainly don't deserve to be talked down to by a thin woman whose only concept of 'body positivity' seems to come from Twitter circa 2012.
Yeah, that's what bugs me the most about several songs on this list - they sound dated (like they're at least 10 years old). Remember when Taylor Swift came out with a song celebrating the LGBTQ+ community? Lonngggg after it had any real stakes or risk to her career for saying it. Worse, it places undue attention on her, and not the targeted group she's singing about. Taylor Swift could have included a LGBTQ+ guest singer on that track, and Jax could have included people of all shapes and sizes in her music video instead focusing on herself (someone who fits conventional beauty standards perfectly)
Seriously, the only thing I got out of that song wasn't body positivity, it was a thin white woman saying "thank god i'm not fat that would be icky am i right girlypops?"
Honestly I think Lizzo's juice is one of the few body positivity songs that is actually a genuinely great song in it's own right. In my opinion its because it manages to be self-confident and fun and also lifts other people up, but not in a way that sounds patronising. Also Lizzo just has the charisma and writing skills to pull off appearing self-confident while not seeming like she's trying too hard. She also does it while being funny as hell. "No, I'm not a snack at all. Look, baby, I'm the whole damn meal" is one of my all time favourite lyrics.
@@sarahlott8755 "I, and also the fat girls, have too many haters."
The only body positivity song I like (where that is the explicit subject of the song) is Biggie Smalls by Cupcakke, whose message is "do whatever the fuck you want, whether you're skinny or fat, btw remember how Biggie was successful af and didn't give a fuck that he was fat?"
My main issue with that Victoria’s Secret sing is that “cashing in on body issues” is kind of what she’s doing too, just in a positive light…
"just in a positive light" is kind of a major thing to throw into a "just" phrase lmfao
@@r.r.4809 she meant it in the way you would say “but in a positive light”. She didn’t mean it as like a belittling way. There’s multiple ways to use just.
That song sounds like Adam Conover wrote it.
I think it's alright as a video, but I can't imagine wanting to listen to it more than once.
"divorced guy at a custody hearing anthem", "what's with the end where he starts honking like a goose?" - I'm glad todd leaned into his dark side. These songs deserve it.
Is it just me, or does Todd seem really happy to be making this list this year? Easily one of my favorite lists he's dropped, and I don't even have any attachment to the songs anymore! Hate long and prosper, Todd
He's missed getting to be a hateful bag of shit, welcome back, glad to be able to joyfully hate stuff with you again, Todd.
I think it’s because this year had some of the worst songs. Even without maroon 5 been active.
Same for a dose of buckley, he did a worst song list as well and it’s similar to todd but just like todd the list didn’t include nicki minaj or iggy azelea (they are his maroon 5 on his list).
2022 was a bad year in music.
jax’s latest album has an interlude about how “everyone’s a little bit neurospicy”
NO JAX, I LITERALLY HAVE TO TAKE MEDICINE EVERY DAY TO FUNCTION NORMALLY
god i hate the term "neurospicy" it completely downplays what we have to go through
Songs like "Victoria's Secret" are actually perfect examples of the things they criticize. They prey on people's insecurities, cause those insecurities to get heightened by giving them an ideal to look up to (as the Euphoria clip shows, a lot of "self-love" is sold to us as an essential we can't live without) and then promises to deliver us closer to that ideal by consuming products. In this case, the product is the song.
Also, if this is really the video of the song, these girls are conventionally attractive and thin and have no thunder thighs or anything. So, if a slightly overweight or an average but not beautiful girl is watching this, she thinks that the song claims that the girls in the video are not perfect like Victoria's secret girls and she feels even worse because those girls are really pretty, like top 10% in any school and if even they aren't perfect, what does it make her.
@@analogueapples yeah I am really getting sick of skinny folks trying to be the face of body positivity. Yes, body dysmorphia can affect anyone and that's a legitimately hard thing to struggle with, but they are not the one's who face actual anti-fat discrimination (which a lot of people still think doesn't exist!)
This is so perfectly summed up, thank you for sharing
@@analogueapplesthat’s what I’m saying!!
@@crackandredbull1474 They're featured more towards the end. Anyone who doesn't have the patience to hear Jax repeat the same thing a million times will never see the plus sized and disabled dancers. They should've been put at the beginning, if Jax was confident about the message of the song.
Bebe Rexha trying to be a star has similar energy to Gretchen Wieners trying to make "fetch" happen
After all this time at least fetch survived the test of time.
Was recently wondering if Todd was going to wait until 2023 to drop his worst of list again, what a pleasant surprise!
Now, that leaves us wondering how far into 2023 is he gonna drop the best list.
His best of is coming out in 2024
agreed
You never know. There could be a song that comes out later this year that's bad enough that it should have made this list.
Ha
The one nice thing about "Big Energy" is that one time I thought I heard it start up at the grocery store and then felt the most astounding relief when it was just actually Genius of Love.
But was it worth all the other times that big energy played? No. I all wanted to know was what I was gonna do when I got out of jail...
@@Itsyaboyharry98 well. get dicked down, obviously
You had it absolutely right the first time - Harry has a whiff of Robbie Williams about him. Torn between "sensitive boy your mom loves" and "ain't I a stinker?" gurning for the camera. They're posterboys for the word "cheeky".
Robbie had the advantage of people downplaying him and creating low expectations because he was never supposed to be the breakout of his group. Then he did in a big way. He had a bit of "told you so" to his smug that was earned.
Harry is...more or less doing what is expected of him (and all of his bandmates are also doing pretty well).
@@Adamdidit It's quite funny, I've mellowed so much on Robbie because there's so many worse artists out there and he at least basically appears to give a shit.
I remember in college my poetry professor read out the lyrics to "I'm blue" as an example of extremely bad poetry. It amazes me that Bebe Rexha could look at those lyrics and say "hold my beer."
why would your poetry teacher read out the lyrics to an intentionally jokey song as an example? its sort of like showing off aqua teen hunger force as an example of bad animation
@@brodstarpadpen6949yeah😭
@@brodstarpadpen6949 I don't know but it happened, I swear!
And she didn't even *try* with sampling it. She clearly has a few years before she hits The Wall, but once she does..that is DEFINITELY it....
@@brodstarpadpen6949 Not only that but song lyrics and poetry are not the same thing. There’s overlap but judging lyrics solely as poetry misses the fact that the music part adds meaning.
12:19 "Uptown Funk if Michael Buble wrote it" is absolutely DEVASTATING holy shit
The hook on the Jack Harlow song could’ve been so good if he continued the theme of the first three lines. Something like this:
I’ve been a (G)
Throw up the (L)
Sex in the (A-M)
I make her (O)
Don’t know who you (R)
I’m F-A-M (O-U-S)
Not saying I did an amazing job but it’s still miles better than just “uh huh”
that's a much better hook actually you nailed that respect
That's actually quite good
That's actually really good
It was that easy. It was THAT EASY, JACK.
Ooh. How long did that take you to think of? It's pretty good. I guess it isn't amazing, but I'd think to myself, "That's the cleverest lyric I've heard in this grocery store all day."
Finally, time for me to find out what songs I’ve never heard of because I haven’t actively listened to anything on the pop charts for years.
You're not missing anything at all.
@@pervertedalchemist9944 a thing I’ve realized since 2003.
I relate to this heavily
I'm happy to say I recognized none of these songs.
According to Todd, you've probably listened to most of the songs on the charts already since the samples are used so lazily they might as well just be really bad covers. Including MULTIPLE nursery rhymes.
Todd’s description of Bebe Rexha’s image as a singer and aspiring pop star has got to be one of the most accurate but brutal descriptions to date on these year-end lists.This song appeared during shuffle mode while I was listening to music and I quickly swiped to the next one. Luckily, I forgot about it until today and now I remember why.
I also agree with the observation that 2022 was truly the year of lazy sampling. I wonder if we’re ever going to see any risk taking on the pop charts in the years to come.
I said in another comment, there’s that point he made in his Katy Perry TrainWreckords about the two types of pop stars. BeBe Rexba is undeniably the second kind he mentioned (the flash-in-the-pan ones who quickly go away once their hits dry up), but one who seems to be in denial and is trying desperately hard to stay relevant.
It's so funny that I'm Good offends me on two separate levels: the one where I'm offended at atrocious music, and the one where I'm offended on behalf of the song sampled. I'm Blue might be godawful but it's a classic.
I was looking at the music video for that song, wondering who Bebe reminded me of. Then it hit me: Bebe is trying to look like Britney Spears in her Oops! I Did It Again… video…only Bebe is the dollar store version of Britney with worse hair and makeup…
Honestly, I'm surprised Bebe wven got away with this song. Sampling is one thing, but this is basically ripping the entire song. How did she not get sued for it? My guess is that she's just too irrelevant for anyone to care?
@@bewilderbeastie8899 What you expect ? It's David Guetta and he's always been a talentless lazy hack compare to his French house contemporaries like Daft Punk, Justice, Kavinsky and Eric Prydz combine that with Bebe Rexha incessant need to be recognize as a pop star and you have a recipe for that diatribe of a song.
You should’ve heard me scream “I KNEW IT!” When number 1 started playing. There was already so much music with bad sampling on the list; it was truly inevitable!
That maroon 5 slot was glorious. Please never stop making these lists, or any videos at all for that matter.
Happy New Year, Todd!
i feel like many "body positivity" pop songs are super commercialized, so the message feels disingenuous. when i connect more with music on the topic, it's because it's more genuine, they aren't just trying to sell records. the artist actually lives that way and usually, they aren't the typical beauty standard/reject it with alternative fashion. (not trying to be mean, it's just easier to say when you already look conventionally attractive)
Jax literally suffered from an Eating Disorder for a decade. That's what her song is about. Calling her disingenuous because she's thin is such hypocritical garbage.
@@amityislandchumRegardless of her personal experience, she was unable to capture that in her song. The song she wrote sounds artificial.
@amityslandchum my god she did a terrible job because not a single one of her authentic personal experiences comes through in the song
the absolute unstoppable audacity of David Guetta is frankly admirable
@@rommix0 i mean, edm isn't as common to see on the pop charts as it may have been at one point but i wouldn't say it's "dead"
@@rommix0 that's something that has happened to like, almost any genre. it doesnt mean anything.
also people are still making edm seriously, what are you on about?
@@rommix0 Just cause it's not on the charts or radio doesn't mean it's not still popular, there are plenty of labels releasing a bunch of EDM every week, a lot of which gets more than a million streams.
@@rommix0 EDM isn't a genre, it'll keep living as long as the genres within it keep changing. House music has been a thing since the early 80s, and until house music reaches peak stagnation, it'll keep going.
...that being said David Guetta sucks.
@@rommix0 EDM is still very much alive, the market is just more pivoted towards trap and pop rap rn.
Todd's description of Harry Styles' music as sounding like middle age white guy artists from the '80s and '90s like Sting attempting to sound funky and upbeat makes so much sense to me. Also, "Music For A Sushi Restaurant" is one of those titles that does not need to be sung in the song, so hearing Harry sing it a lot is so weird.
The Switched on Pop podcast made the Peter Gabriel comparison too, but painted it in a positive light. I think Todd’s Sting take is much more spot on.
That Harry song is one of the most baffling hit songs of the year for sure. There’s no hook at all outside of some bad horns and the verses are astonishingly boring. It was a hit because it’s a Harry song.
Todd’s lists are an annual tradition we always enjoy.
Facts!!
Facts!!!
Facts!!!!
Indeed
Mr.96! Love your videos man.
The worst part of that Victoria's Secret song was the fact she could have easily rhymed "issues" with "tissues," referring to the thing some women do where they stuff their bras with tissue to make their breasts seem bigger. But instead she chose the dumb route.
What a hack.
I feel like she stopped working on the song too early. It had a good hook and with better lyrics could have been decent.
@@tomorrow4eva the hook was not that good. The guitar riff was ok but she didn't add anything more to it to make it sound interesting.
@@RenaldyCalixteyou think she has the capability to do that? I doubt she knows what a guitar riff is
'The issue is your tissue!'
*'THAT IS NOT THE ISSUE'* iykyk
I'm the target demographic of that Victoria's Secret song, and I'll say I hate the shit out of it. The problem isn't that I didn't *know* why I feel bad all the time, it's that it's still there even when I ignore it. I know I'm supposed to love myself, I know this stuff was invented to make me feel insecure so that I'd buy products. Knowing that doesn't change the inherent problems I have with myself. That scene from Euphoria summed it up perfectly; this constant barrage of positivity is just forcing me to hold myself to yet another standard.
Plus it’s too unoriginal it gets spun but the whole your beautiful just the way you are message ignores personal growth and overcoming and it’s also been done better before so if you’re doing it lazy why do it at all?
To me, it comes across as condescending. Most girls I know around my age know that most megacorps are owned by men who just want our money and how bad of an effect they can have. Young-er girls are a lot more aware than most people think. We don't need someone telling us these things like we've never heard about it before, especially when it comes packaged as a mediocre TikTok song.
Yeah. Ive personally been trying to go the route of body neutrality. Not love or hate. Just nothing. Its a body. I have it. It is. Has this been working? Absolutely not
But what you said ab body positivity being just another standard just hits so hard
One of my favorite bands this year was RONDÉ. They came somewhat out of nowhere on the Dutch charts with a song that spent more than 10 weeks at #5. Not powerful enough for #1, but with staying power to keep it in the top ten for a few months, Hard to Say Goodbye was just a great song in the middle of literal crap. I looked into their back catalog and found some gems like City Lights. Then came the follow up, Love Myself. And I was hoping one of two things. It's a song about masturbation, or it's a song about being a bitch and embracing it, because if it turned into a song about body acceptance (not that there's anything wrong with that) it was going to be a real turn off. It's a song about coming out of the other side of depression due to a breakup and loving one's self when it felt nobody else would. Whew, thank god!
I'm a fat bald guy, last thing I need to be told is that it's okay to be the way I am, I already know this. I feel people who don't know that missed the bus a long time ago (and yes, Todd's video of top ten '90s buses is recommended to me on the left right now, I had to use that phrase). Making a song to tell me it's okay, I just don't get it.
I work in a retail store and I'm trapped with the radio every day so this video was cathartic. the lazy sampling is killing me so much you're so right.
which is why i want todd to keep doing these worst songs of the year and add that creeping song by the weeknd feat 21 savage (which samples that bland 2004 song i don't wanna know by mario winnas featuring puff daddy and enya) on the worst songs of 2023 list.
Same here....thank the Lord for headphones and Spotify...
The only good thing that lazy sampling is good for is that EXACT situation, and only if the volume is turned down enough that you don’t need to hear it completely.
The background music effect.
But that’s also not the point of pop music.
@Musical Reverie i would still add it on the worst of 2023 if i was todd. like i said, the original is boring and bland but if it gets a pass, it's probably because of the weeknd, 21 savage and metro boomin. i don't remember where i said this but sometimes a certain artist(s) is worth ten thousand praises. i do understand covers and i sometimes see that sometimes they can be as good or if not, better than the original but with i don't want to know, they choose the most boring song from that year to cover imo. and no, not saying that the weeknd is a bad singer and metro boomin is a bad producer, they're good but i think they can do way better than that.
I worked at The Barking Botique until I got laid off recently. For whatever damn reason, we would not get Spotify Premium or at least the cracked version, so we had to listen to the most mind-numbing pop music day in and day out. That included the same six 70's-80's pop hits, Ke$ha songs (so much for these mixes being "family friendly"), country music (because when I come in for a puppy, I totally want to listen to depressing songs about dead husbands and breakups!), and, of course, modern pop hits. To make matters worse, the mixes Spotify provides must've been pretty small, because songs often repeated. "Sugar, We're Going Down Swinging" once played four times on the same day.
My point is I only worked there for a year and yet I'm sure I will hear "Made You Look" on my deathbed.
I totally disagree with critics that refuse to do “worst of” lists saying they hate negativity. If they really love the art form they review, they help it by showing what not to do as much as what to do. Good on you Todd for keeping up the fight.
But there's spectacle to it, no? Like, I love Worst Of lists admittedly, but this isn't just criticism. There's a certain meanness to any Worst Of list that keeps it enjoyable for people that also don't like the songs; it's not just "here's what didn't work".
@@broudwauy I don’t know if I agree with that. If you like something but I don’t, any criticism I have, no matter how factually based is going come off like an attack because I am telling you that you are wrong about your opinion. In every case, Todd explained why he put that song on the list. I mean also put it like this, no one ever condemns “Best of” lists for just being nothing but praise. They always explain why those entries went above and beyond for the year. And at the end of the day, every video has to have a little spectacle otherwise they’d be boring to watch and the creator wouldn’t get any views and continue doing what we love them for.
Me and my boyfriend have been watching your "worst hit songs" vids for years, it's basically our non-cringe UA-cam rewind of the year. Please, please don't stop giving us these amazing videos.
Dear Todd, I’ve been following you since 2014 or so, and I wanna kindly ask you - don’t stop making the worst list videos. I’m Ukrainian and this is literally the best thing that has happened to me all year. Literally.
Was winning Eurovision a bright spot? I was rooting for Ukraine. Stay safe, f*ck Putin.
@@rommix0 well, I’m alive, my fam too, I’ve had electricity for more than 5h yesterday, so life ain’t too shabby :) staying positive! thanks for the well wishes :) happy holidays to you!
@@eliholli it actually was! we were really proud! Kalush - the guys who won - have a lot of great songs :) you can try checking out Fayna (“beautiful”) or Zori (“stars”), maybe you like it
@@neither4me I am so glad! and thank you for the recommendations. I am listening now. :)
'This is a beat that needs Akon or Flo Rida on it'
While that is staggeringly accurate, there's one name that comes to mind immediately that's all that is missing from I'm Good to make it PEAK late-2000s EDM pop banger.
Pitbull.
MISTA WURR WAHHH
Picture that with a Kodak
DALÉ
NUMBA TWOOOOOO
@@GentlemanJunkie95 brrrRRRR-WOOOOOO
Thank you Todd for sharing in my hatred of body positivity/beauty/self esteem themed pop songs. Even when I was in the exact target demographic for them I still hated them. I always found them very surface level, always telling me to love myself without really ever addressing where the negative feelings might come from, outside of just blaming it on pop culture at large.
I feel like in terms of pop culture and spoken standards I was getting more "don't worry about your body", but my entire family on the other hand... Pop culture and magazines isn't the only contributing factor to body image issues and disordered eating, comments from friends and family are also a huge thing
I mean not to seem racist, but another white person telling a sadder white person blatantly dont worry be happy youre all white in the world so why cry...is very condescending.
songwriters aren't your therapists 💀
The only time I ever was not made annoyed by it was in f*cking Nicki Minaj's Anaconda. That line about all the big bitches in the club. Not to say it was a particularly GOOD line, it was just the only one to not make me want to stand up and leave the room or flip the channel in discomfort.
it's just so patronising and on the nose
In my opinion, Todd is one of the rare content creators that gets better and better the longer he makes videos
The first time I heard that Bebe Rexha/David Guetta track was when I went to a college football game. I got stoked because I thought they made an I'm Blue instrumental remix a part of their crowd hyping playlist in 2022 and that's really funny but then the chorus kicked in and my soul got sucked out of my body. Insane and bad sample, thank you for making it #1, Todd.
I genuinely enjoyed the song at first and actually felt shame about enjoying it. That makes it the perfect #1 worst song of the year.
It got booed at the Thanksgiving day game in Detroit
Yeah, my reaction when hearing it for the first time was “Wow, this sample does not work!”. It truly is a bad song.
It’s really sad when Flo Rida managed to better incorporate a sample of “I’m Blue” in “Sugar”. That song wasn’t great, but it was less unnatural sounding and more listenable than David Guetta’s dud imo.
My sister is named Victoria and ever since I've heard the JAX song, I remind her every day that she was "made up by a dude"
DUDE!
I mean like she was half made by a man