Best Songs of the 2020s (Half-Way Point)

 Already halfway through the 2020s, isn't that great?! I mean, I'm glad we made it passed those first few years of the decade, but maybe it's cool if it slows down a little bit now. Throughout the past 5 years, music has been seeing a shift, and it's not quite the one I was expecting, but... even so, there were a lot of great songs released. Some are groundbreaking and others are just perfecting an already existing sound. Tons of great artists grabbed my attention for the first time, while lots of already established artists released new projects that also caught my attention in good ways. I wanted to look back at those songs that I loved the last 5 years and give them a shoutout and hopefully get people to maybe give some new artists a shot, or go back and listen to some of these great songs and albums you've heard before. So here's my personal favorite 20 songs of the last 5 years! I'm going to try to somewhat put them in order from least favorite to most favorite, but it will be harder the closer to number one I get. Obviously, I haven't listened to every single album that's come out in the last five years, so if you see a great song missing, feel free to recommend it to me. It might have been on the verge of making the list, but I'm going to have to leave out some really good songs to make this list of 20... plus a few extra bonus mentions HERE WE GO!?

A few honorable mentions:

Chapell Roan - Pink Pony Club (2023)

It's Chappell Roan, it's the Pink Pony Club, what else needs to be said? 

MICHELLE - Akira (2024)

I discovered this album late in 2024, so I didn't get a lot of time with it before the year ended. It didn't take too long for the track "Akira" to become one of my favorite songs of 2024. It's one of those songs that grabs your attention from the first second with its interesting guitar intro, followed shortly by a busy bassline that really drives the song. That and the awesome vocals and signature catchy melodies by the band really make this one stand out.

Taylor Swift - August (2020)

Taylor's first new album of the decade, which would be the first of many. It still remains the best overall album by Taylor in my opinion, and most people would probably agree in saying that "August" is the standout track in this album. It's got the great lyrics you expect from Taylor, but it's got an interesting mix of sadness and hope in the music that makes it stand out. It also has one of the best bridges I can remember from a Taylor Swift song. 

Remi Wolf - Toro (2024)

Another one of my favorites from last year. I hadn't heard of Remi Wolf until this album was released, and I became a fan pretty fast after hearing a few of the singles from her last album. This song (Toro) in particular really stood out as a showcase for Remi's awesome vocals. That, on top of some awesome bass and guitar work, made this a song I played repeatedly a lot. 

Magdalena Bay - Killing Time (2024)

Notice a lot of songs from last year on the list. Mostly because I haven't had enough time with some of these songs to truly know if it's more recency bias or if they really do belong on the list. I think over time, these songs might have made the list, but it's hard to say with so many other good songs to have to replace. This song was another one I got to later in the year, but it also didn't take long for it to become one of my favorites of the year. 

20. Amyl and the Sniffers - Hertz (2021)

Australia's own Amyl and the Sniffers have become a big name in the punk scene this decade. Back in 2021, they released a fantastic punk album called "Comfort to Me" that was full of some awesome tracks. To me, "Hertz" has always stood out in that album with its iconic bass line and rowdy energy that's hard not to join in on. Amy's energy is felt through the vocals, and it feels like she's having a blast singing this song. I think that's what I like about the band the most, the big energy you feel from every song. 

19. Perfume Genius - On the Floor (2020)

Mike Hadreas found success after releasing his first album under the Perfume Genius name back in 2014. Since then, he's released lots of great music over the last 10 years. I think his best work came from the 2020 album Set My Heart On  Fire Immediately, specifically the song "On the Floor". Right away, it comes in with this fantastic guitar that plays throughout the song, giving the song a nice, bright sound in the background. Mike's vocals are, of course, fantastic too, but the lyrics convey a sick feeling you get when you want someone and they don't want you back. The ending of the song is so beautiful as the music slowly fades out into this interesting strings and vocals section, which really elevates the song from great to amazing. 

18. Jessie Ware - Begin Again (2023)

Jessie's 2023 album "That! Feels Good!" was my introduction to her music, and what an introduction it was. It ended up being one of my favorite albums of that year, and it's still an album I like going back to. The song "Begin Again" has this amazing big sound and feels completely different than anything I really heard back in 2023 and probably since then. Jessie's vocals are insanely good in this album, but this song really showcases her range. A song about the feeling of wanting to start over, begin anew, because you feel stuck in life or like you need something new to inspire you.  

17. Carly Rae Jepsen - Psychedelic Switch (2023)

One of the most beloved pop artists of modern music, Carly doesn't miss. Proving that by releasing two fantastic albums back to back years. This song (Psychedelic Switch) is one of the best songs she's released. It's got one of the best bass lines I've heard in a pop song, and it's got really great energy, almost impossible to not want to dance to this one. 

16. Vince Staples - Étouffée (2024)

One of the more recent songs on this list comes from Vince Staples' latest album, "Dark Times". One of the best albums of the decade so far, easily, but also has one of the best songs in "Etouffee." It's the best of Vince Staples with the lyricism and amazing beats and an earworm of a chorus. If you haven't heard the album, definitely go check it out, but yeah, it's just amazing. 

15. Fountaines D.C. - Jackie Down The Line (2022)

A band that really took off in the last few years to become one of the more popular rock bands around. Really, it seems like the rock scene is a lot stronger over in the UK and Ireland these days than it is over here, but maybe I've just missed more of the bands around here. In 2022 the band released the album that I think really put them on the map with "Skinty Fia", which is an old Irish saying that means "Damnation of the Deer". Now, what that means exactly, I haven't a clue, but hopefully I'll find some Irish lad to help me out there. "Jackie Down The Line" is a really great song, with lyrics that are about the Irish and British relationship and the identity of people from Dublin. I like the sound of the song, it feels really original for a modern rock song, and it's got this great repetitive riff that really drives the song along. 

14. Caroline Polachek - Bunny Is A Rider (2023)

One of the best pop artists of the decade dropped her best album yet in 2023. "Bunny is a Rider" is a song about being free and just doing life on your own time and having space. A chill song with a really cool bassline that's just fun to listen to over and over. It feels like a simple song, but it still has great production and, of course, great vocals. 

13. Hayley Williams - Why We Ever (2020)

Taking a break from Paramore after their 2017 album "After Laughter", Hayley spent some time releasing some solo albums. It ended up being better than I would have even hoped, especially her first solo album, "Petals for Armor". It was something completely different than Paramore, felt a lot darker and moodier at times than anything she'd done to this point. Either way, it worked well with her songwriting and vocals. "Why We Ever" is a song I frequently go back to because of its interesting lyrics and music. It's a song about losing your connection to somebody, maybe they hurt you, maybe you hurt them. Missing someone so much that you forget just why you lost the connection to them in the first place. 

12. The Japanese House - Sad To Breath (2023)

The Japanese House returned with only her second full-length album in 2023 after about 4 years since her first album. It was yet another hit for me as it was just as good as the first album. "Sad To Breath" is a sad song (title gives it away?) with a more hopeful sound than the lyrics give off. The song is about the struggles one feels after a relationship ends, feeling like you could have done something to save the relationship. I love how the song starts off with the slow piano and vocals and ramps up to a more upbeat pop sound after a minute. Hopefully, I won't have to wait another 4 years for another album? Please? 

11. Five Iron Frenzy - Lonesome For Her Heroes (2021)

Five Iron Frenzy released their second album since reuniting in 2013, after nearly a decade away from music. This time, they release what's probably their best album they've made up to this point, with some of the best music and lyrics. The album has a lot of songs that are calling out the state of our country and American Christianity, but my favorite is "Lonesome For Her Heroes". The song is about the band's hometown of Denver, Colorado, and how frustrated they are with the city's growing prices and heavy focus on consumerism and disregard for the environment. Even though it's about Denver, it's still relatable to me and probably a lot of people in the USA these days. 

10. Phoenix - Tonight (ft. Ezra Koenig) (2022)

Sometimes you just want to hear a fun song to put you in a better mood, and this song is what that is for me. A band that knows how to make catchy and danceable songs continued to make more of that in this new decade. Phoenix has been around since at least the year 2000, and they haven't stopped making great music in those 25 years. It's a fun song, but I think it might be one of those happy songs that is actually sad when you see the lyrics. I don't know, in a way, I think those are the best songs. 

9. Young The Giant - Otherside (2022)

Young The Giant released a 4-part album back in 2022 called "American Bollywood," and it ended up being the best album they've released since probably their second album. It was really cool to see after a somewhat disappointing album before this one. The album has a lot of sounds and lyrics that are rooted in India and its culture, like the lead singer. Those sounds mixed with the signature Young The Giant sound made for a fantastic album. "Otherside" is my favorite from the album, but it's hard to pick because I really enjoyed a lot of the tracks. The chorus in "Otherside" is so powerful that I ended up sticking with that one. The lyrics feel like a struggle with identity and the two sides of a person trying to find balance or peace to make the best version of themselves, or at least that's how I see it. It feels very emotional, and it always gets me right in the feels when I hear it. 

8. The Last Dinner Part - The Feminine Urge (2024)

This group really came out of nowhere in 2023, but man, that first single was amazing (the song Nothing Matters). I was completely excited to finally hear the full album in early 2024, and it did not disappoint. The album has this interesting, unique sound I'm not sure I've heard before. At times, it feels like a sadder album, but it has its moments of big, almost operatic sounds and epic choruses. I think the song "The Feminine Urge" has a good mix of those sadder and bigger moments, with its slower darker darker-sounding verses jumping into the big, catchy chorus. The song is meant to be about the generational trauma between the singer and her mother.

7. Bonny Light Horseman - 10,000 Miles (2020)

Bonny Light Horseman released their first album in January of 2020, very early into the start of the decade. Honestly, that album really helped get me through the first year of COVID. I probably listened to it a hundred times that first year. So many beautiful songs, but "10,000 Miles" is one of my favorite songs ever, really. I guess the only thing stopping it from being higher on this list is how it reminds me of that first year of COVID, pretty rough times. The duet vocals of Anais Mitchell and Eric D. Johnson are so amazing and just bring this nice calm over me with the slow music. 

6. Silk Sonic - Smoking Out The Window (2021)

The team-up between Bruno Mars and Anderson Paak led to one of the best albums of the last 5 years. It was a charisma overlord with both artists bringing out the best in each other with awesome throwback songs to 70s-80s  Soul, Funk, and R&B. "Smoking Out The Window" feels like a more comedic song about how the guys are in a relationship where they're spending tons of money on their girls and their kids. Ultimately, the relationship doesn't work out, so they are angry/sad about all the time that was wasted and having to be single again. It always makes me laugh when Paak says the line "not to be dramatic, but I wanna die". It's just a funny song with fantastic music and even better vocals. 

5. Paramore - Big Man, Little Dignity (2023)

Two years ago, Paramore made their big comeback after taking a break for about 5 years or so. While Hayley Williams released a few albums in that time, even made a song on this list back at number 13, I was still hoping the band would eventually return. They released "This Is Why" in 2023, and it was a completely different album than anything they'd done before. It felt like a good coming together of where they left off in 2017 and what Hayley was doing in her solo albums. "Big Man, Little Dignity" was a song I really got behind lyrically, as well as musically. It's just a song calling out all the men in the world who abuse their power and keep getting away with it. Hayley's frustrations about how she wants justice, but they keep getting away with it, are sad but relatable. 

4. GROUPTHERAPY - Nasty (2023)

One of the biggest surprises of 2023 was GROUPTHERAPY's album, released that year. It ended up as one of my favorites of that year. I hadn't heard of this rap group before then, but they won me over very fast with their great beats and lots of variety on the album. My favorite song on the album "Nasty" is a fun, upbeat song with fun lyrics and a great beat. Sad news about a year later when one of the three members decided to leave the group. They go by PARTYOF2 and I recommend giving them a listen if you haven't heard of them before this. The new single "Mad Love" is fantastic. 

3. The Weeknd - Out of Time (2022)

The genius of using a sample from "Midnight Pretenders" is still so amazing to me. If you haven't listened to Tomoko Aran's "Midnight Pretenders", please go do that at some point; it's one of the best 80s Japanese pop songs out there... really just go listen to City Pop in general. But to go back to The Weeknd's "Out of Time," I love the song past the sample, although that's what really carries the song. The melodies that that he adds on top of the samples are brilliant, and the chorus of "Out of Time" is so damn good. Also, Jim Carrey comes in for the outro of this song, and that's really cool. 

2. Sam Fender - Spit Of You (2021)

There aren't many songs that can completely blow me away in their opening seconds, but this is one of those songs. I mean, the intro to this song is so perfect with the guitar opening riff that sounds so perfect for a Sam Fender song. The lyrics are very relatable and emotional, as Sam talks about his relationship with his father. The song is about how both of them are pretty bad at expressing their emotions, especially to each other. Sam brings up the moment when he saw his dad cry for the first time at his grandma's funeral, and how it made him realize he'd be doing that to his own father someday. It's very powerful, and it's what Sam Fender does best: telling stories in his songs. 

1. Everything Everything - Pizza Boy (2022)

Everything Everything has released two albums in the decade so far, and both of them have been my favorites of the years they came out. The 2022 album Raw Data Feel was my introduction to this band, and I instantly fell in love with their music. I had a hard time picking which song would be on here, but ultimately I went with "Pizza Boy". Mostly because it was the song I think really hooked me on the band, but it's a song I haven't gotten tired of listening to after almost 3 years now. I could say that for most of the songs on that 2022 album, to be fair. The song Pizza Boy is about the act/dangers of buying products and consuming to fill empty voids in your life. Like being alone, but finding satisfaction in just constantly buying things and letting that alone keep you feeling alive. It's an interesting topic for sure, and the music is also done so well with the bass line and the clapping effects that come in at random times. The chorus brings in the heavier synth sounds that really bring the song to life. It's just all so amazing, and I love every second. 

Anyway, here's a playlist of a bunch of songs I considered for this list and all the ones that DID make the list as well. Have fun?!

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Reasons Our President is a Terrible Person PART 2

Just a few months ago (March), I made a post here with 45 reasons our President is a terrible person. Originally I called it 45 reasons he's a piece of shit but I wanted to title to not have curse words on it. In the last post, I talked about a lot of his terrible actions since becoming President again, with things like his weird relationship with Musk, his awful treatment of Zelensky, and his dumb tariffs. Just a few months have passed, and I already feel like there's enough bad to make another one of these. Not 45 reasons long this time, but more than enough to make a post about it for sure. 

1. Selling Tesla cars at the White House - Trump being a carny and selling Teslas at the White House after the Tesla stock plummeted because of Elon being a terrible, unlikable person. It's just so pathetic to see him awkwardly sell a car he probably couldn't care less about as he reads from a script and doesn't even pronounce the company name right. Just like when he sold Trump Bibles and his stupid shitcoin, it's all just bullshit from a President who has no shame. 

2/3. Selling Merch for 2028 Presidential Election - The official Trump merch store... actually, that existing is probably enough to get its own point. Anyway, this store started selling merch with the TRUMP 2028 words on it, because of course. Pay 50 dollars plus shipping for a basic ass hat with the same giant font that all his other hats have. Maybe get some pink ones for the women in your life you hope will lose all their rights. Excuse me while I delete my browser history after visiting that site. 

4. Birthday Parade - June 14th is the President's birthday, where he turns 79 and holy shit he's old. So he decided to throw a nice parade in honor of himself and the anniversary of the Army. Let's face it, if it wasn't on his birthday, he wouldn't have cared to throw a parade for the Army. So let's waste all the money and resources to throw a parade for a terrible human! This also happens to take place the same day as Warped Tour in DC, so hopefully Avril Lavigne will drown out most of the parade. 

5. Qatar - Just recently, Trump took a nice brib- I mean a gift from the country of Qatar. A 600 million dollar luxury jet, what a nice gift from Qatar for nothing in return. A plane he wanted to use as the new Air Force One, but he won't be able to until they turn it into a safe replacement. Most likely, he'll just use it as a private plane when he's no longer President, how convenient. Just what a rich guy needs is a free plane. This was so bad that even a lot of his defenders, like Ben Shapiro, thought this was a pretty gross move. 

6. Golf - Dude continues to golf too much. 

7. Tariffs PART TWO- So Trump has continued his obsession with Tariffs since my last post, really going even further into it with heavy Tariffs on China recently. There was also that hilarious moment where he created a holiday called Liberation Day and was showing all his planned Tariffs as the stock market sank at the same time. Even worse, he threw his Truth Social followers a wink-wink moment to buy stocks right before declaring a pause on his tariffs. Just totally normal shit that a normal not terrible human would do. 

8. Constitution, what's that?- Let's see what PRESIDENT Trump said when asked if he should uphold the Constitution. 

Interviewer: "... Do you (Trump) think you should uphold the Constitution of the United States?"

Trump: "I DON'T KNOW, BUT I HAVE BRILLIANT LAWYERS"

Interviewer probably: "How the fuck are you President right now?"

Okay, she didn't actually say that at the end, but she might as well have because Jesus Christ, what the hell is he doing? It's the easiest question you could ask a sitting President, and he answers with "I don't know". Remember that oath you took, dummy? Do you know what an oath is? It's like the one you gave to your wife when you married her... actually, no bad example, he broke that one. 

 9. Kilmar Abrego Garcia - Honestly, this one is probably worth like 30 points on its own, but here we go. Trump has had countless chances to bring back Abrego Garcia to the United States, the country that he is a citizen of. If you don't know for some reason, Abrego Garcia was sent to the notoriously bad prison in El Salvador when he was mistaken for a gang member because of his tattoos. Later, it was confirmed that his tattoos had no real connection with the gang he was accused of being a part of, but it's been brushed off by Trump and his goons, and he remained inside the prison. He wasn't the only one this happened to, just one of the first ones to become a big story. Later, in an interview, Trump claimed he had evidence that he had gang tattoos as he pulled out a picture of Abrego Garcia's knuckles and pointed to the tattoos that had the gang name. Turns out it was a clearly photoshopped picture, and Trump couldn't tell because he's old and out of touch. The interviewer tried to correct him multiple times, and he just brushed him off. Really, the main thing is him not even given due process and was just shipped out to prison without being able to defend himself or prove his innocence. 

10. El Salvador Prison - Since I just talked about it, that El Salvador prison they've been sending people to is notoriously terrible. Like the kind of place that is basically 24/7 torture to the inmates. The lights remain on at all times, they sleep on what looks like hard metal bunks with no mattress, and it seems like they're not given any clothes except underwear. They look like they barely have enough space in their cells with the number of people stuffed into each one, and only get an hour or probably less of time outside every day. 

11. Signal Gate - Well, I couldn't NOT bring this one up. Not that it was Trump himself who did this, but it was a person whom he chose to put in a high position, his name is Mike Waltz. It all led to an extremely embarrassing moment where the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic was accidentally included in a private chat between Waltz and other important figures, where they talked about war plans against Yemen. Pete Hegseth was apparently the one who put out the plans on the chat, another one of Trump's buddies he brought in. It was all very stupid and showed how bad these people are at doing the most basic shit to make sure no one else is seeing this very private information. These are the guys in charge, god help us all. 

12. Alcatraz - For some stupid reason, Trump has now decided he wants to bring back Alcatraz as a legit prison. Probably watched the movie "Escape From Alcatraz" and thought it was a great idea to bring this back. Great movie and all, but the last thing you'd want to do after watching that movie is bring back Alcatraz. 

13. Cutting Funding of NPR and PBS - Fuck you for trying to take down PBS, like seriously, what are you even on at this point? Trump is actively trying to take down platforms that people use to learn things, because when people learn things, they become smart and smart people... don't like Trump. Now I don't know if this is actually going to happen, but the fact that he's even trying to do this is not good. Silencing (or trying to) any media outlet that you don't agree with your Presidential power is dangerous. I don't even think PBS is especially left-leaning in that case, so I'm not sure what he's on about here, trying to do this, but I think my point stands about Trump just trying to stop people from learning or having news sources that he specifically doesn't approve of. 

14. War on Peaceful Protests in Colleges - Trump seems to be going hard on his war with colleges and trying to take away their money if they have peaceful protests or are "too liberal," I guess. Sort of goes with the last point on Trump hating education. The point is that these students are having peaceful protests, and Trump wants to punish schools for it. But he also wants to allow religion (well, Christianity anyway) to be in schools. 

15. Trying to Destroy the Press - Pretty much just wanting questions directed at him from the press to be the most softball questions possible. It also helps when the questions are pretty much like: "Trump, you are doing a great job deporting every illegal that's in the USA, how are you so amazing?" and Trump will be like "OH great question, I like this guy, he's very smart." 

16. He's Fat - Being fat doesn't make you a terrible person or even a bad person at all. I just wanted to point it out for educational purposes. 

17. Bitching out Celebs - I don't know a single other President in recent history who took celebs speaking out against him so personal. His weird war with Taylor Swift after she stood by Harris last year, and now recently with Springsteen. Clearly, he cares what these people think, because he gets so bent out of shape about it. Really, anyone who speaks out against him is his enemy, and he really wants to somehow get rid of anyone who speaks out against him. If I mysteriously disappear in the next few weeks after posting this, you know why. (I say this like this has any chance of reaching him)

18. USA taking the Gaza Strip - I think he mentioned something like this in January, but recently he doubled down on it, saying he wants to make it a "Freedom Zone", whatever the hell that is. I guess I'd imagine his idea of freedom is getting rid of everyone there and moving them to some other country. 

19. Ruining the World Cup (probably) - I'm incredibly excited for the World Cup next year, because it's the best sporting event in the world and it's always tons of fun... well, maybe not as fun anymore. Besides the USA national team being somehow worse than usual recently, there's the Trump of it all and how he's ruined relationships with so many countries around the world. People are afraid to come here now because of how immigrants are being treated. It didn't help that JD Vance made a joke about deporting all the visitors coming to see the games. Like, why make such a stupid joke, and why do you think it's even funny at all to mess with people in that way? Nobody likes JD Vance anyway, but dude is such an unlikable prick since becoming Trump's cheerleader. I kind of hope nobody shows up to the games just to show them a message about the state of this place. 

20. Kristi Noem - Just... ugh. 

Well, that's it for now. As you can see, things are only getting better, and we're only like 4 months into this term. God help us all. But not the version of God that apparently chose Trump to be president. Anyway, below are some articles about some of the points I put on this list if you want to read up. Stay safe and keep fighting. 

https://www.npr.org/2025/03/17/g-s1-54206/el-salvador-mega-prison-cecot

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/global-trends/us-news-mike-waltz-quits-nsa-head-what-is-signal-gate-scandal-that-prompted-nsa-head-mike-waltz-to-quit-white-house-post-explained/articleshow/120798910.cms?from=mdr

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-signs-executive-order-directing-federal-funding-cuts-to-pbs-and-npr

https://apnews.com/article/poll-college-trump-harvard-higher-education-109dae2e19d5fe570a7c02e105bab6e6

https://time.com/7285602/trump-plans-for-gaza-freedom-zone/

https://www.buzzfeed.com/michaelabramwell/jd-vance-disturbing-joke-about-world-cup-deportations

https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2025/05/19/trump-wants-investigation-into-springsteen-and-beyonces-endorsement-of-harris/

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/09/first-chinese-goods-145percent-plus-tariffs-arriving-us-ports.html

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/experts-question-trump-claiming-asked-duty-uphold-constitution/story?id=121473077

https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/12/media/maga-media-shapiro-loomer-levin-trump-qatar-plane-gift

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/kilmar-abrego-garcia-deported-el-salvador-trump-immigration-what-know-rcna201708

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Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones REWATCH/REVIEW

Last year, I rewatched and reviewed 1999's Phantom Menace in honor of its anniversary rerelease. I ended up having a good amount of fun reliving that first movie after not watching it for years, so I decided to revisit the sequel. Still have a few years before the 25th anniversary of Attack of the Clones, but I really don't feel like waiting years to do this rewatch, so I'm just doing it now. Also, it will get me ready to do the rewatch and review of Revenge of the Sith, which has its 20th anniversary in May this year... that actually hurt to type.  Much like the Episode I rewatch, I haven't seen this one in years, so I am going in pretty fresh and hopefully go in with a more positive outlook. I remember always liking this movie a decent amount more than Phantom Menace, but I guess I'll see if that's still true.

The movie kicks off 10 years after Phantom Menace as the Republic continues the struggle to keep peace in the galaxy and the Jedi struggle to keep up with all the conflicts. A new foe named Count Dooku is leading the separatist movement; he was a former Jedi who left the order. Padme returns to the story, this time as a senator of Naboo who is trying to keep the peace in the galaxy. As soon as the movie starts, Padme is almost assassinated by a bomb on her ship, but she is spared as her decoy is killed instead. This sets up the rest of the movie for her as she's constantly in need of protection from these attempts on her life. Enter Obi-Wan and Anakin, who haven't seen Padme in a decade but agree to protect her. Right away, one of the biggest problems in this movie presents itself here. 

One of the main focuses of this story is the romance between Anakin and Padme. In the first movie, Padme was a lot older than Anakin, and their relationship in that movie felt more like big sister and little brother. This time around, Anakin immediately starts flirting with her as soon as he sees her. It's kind of a nice moment to see Anakin super nervous to see her again after 10 years, like his crush on her never went away after a decade. That goes from cute to creepy faster than you'd expect as Anakin's crush on Padme starts to feel inappropriate. One of the main problems with their romance in this movie is that Anakin spends A LOT of his time with Padme crying and complaining about the Jedi and how they keep holding him back. I'll get to this more later as they spend more time together, but right away, you see Padme's not super into Anakin's constant whining and creepy flirting. 

The next scene is the first big action sequence, where Obi-Wan and Anakin are chasing an assassin. After using Padme as bait, they are able to find one of the assassins, but she gets away, and they are forced to chase her across the city in a flying car. We get to see a little more of Obi-Wan and Anakin's relationship here as they constantly bicker at each other, and Obi-Wan complains about Anakin's style of flying and recklessness. I mentioned in my last review how I felt it was a missed opportunity that Obi-Wan and Anakin barely interacted in the first movie. Here, they do get split up pretty early in the movie, so yet again, we don't get to see them together much, but this is done to further the romance between Ani and Padme. It makes sense for that, but it's yet again another movie where we don't get to see Obi-Wan and Anakin's friendship. It would have made the third movie even more impactful if they had an established friendship in the first two movies and weren't just bickering at each other for most of this movie. 

Obi-Wan eventually ends up going into a club/bar in town to chase the assassin, and this leads to the greatest scene in Star Wars history. 

"You wanna buy some death sticks?"

"You don't want to sell me death sticks."

"I don't want to sell you death sticks."

"You want to go home and rethink your life."

"I want to go home and rethink my life."

Pure genius. George Lucas, you've done it again. 

The next couple of scenes are just the characters talking and building to the next part of the movie where Obi-Wan searches for the bounty hunter who tried to kill Padme while Anakin and Padme go into hiding. It's here that I noticed how much CGI is used in this movie, even when compared to the last one. Seems like most scenes are filmed on a green screen and feature the characters walking and talking in CGI rooms. It's actually more distracting than I would have thought, especially with how dated a lot of the effects look. I praised Yoda's effects in the last movie, but it was only because compared to the original puppet they used, the CGI version was much better. Seeing him more in this movie, it really stands out how outdated the effects are, but I think at the time this was some of the best effects you could get so it's understandable. Maybe watching it on a remastered Blu-ray also makes the outdated parts stand out more too. Really should have brought out the CRTV for this one. 

I'm going to split the Anakin/Padme and Obi-Wan stories and talk about them each one at a time. Starting with the Anakin/Padme storyline since it's a little slower and more about the romance between the two characters.  I mentioned before how the romance between the two characters isn't very convincing, and the middle part of the movie where they spend a lot of alone time is the main reason why. Anakin is presented as an emotional, naive, and impatient man. He's constantly complaining about being held back from his true potential and he doesn't hide the fact that he has feelings for Padme, despite the fact it's forbidden for him to be with her. Yoda and the Jedi council deciding to put them alone together was stupid unless Yoda knew what would happen and was cool with it. Anakin continues complaining to Padme about his Jedi training and he often makes her uncomfortable with his flirting and he even argues with her in front of her peers. At the end of the day though, these are two young attractive people spending all their time together on a beautiful planet so I guess it's not too strange that they still end up in a romance. After Anakin has a nightmare about his mother, he decides to take Padme to visit his home planet and check in on her. 

The romance here takes a break as Anakin visits his mother's new home only to learn that she's been taken by raiders. The family had given up hope of her return and presumed her to be dead, but Anakin still feels like she's out there and needs his help. This leads to one of the more important scenes in the movie where we see Anakin finally lose control of his emotions. After finding his mother right as she's dying he loses all control and slaughters an entire village of Tuskens. It's clear that this scene is supposed to be one of the main catalysts of Anakin's eventual turn to the dark side. I guess in that sense it works, though it still makes no sense why the Jedi continue to train him after this, despite Yoda knowing how much of a risk Anakin is becoming. It's also strange that Padme continues her romance with Anakin after his scary rant about how he enjoyed killing all the Tuskens, including the women and children. Nothing says husband material like a man talking about how much he enjoyed killing a whole village. Are there no other men in the universe who are a little more... not crazy? Is therapy not a thing in this universe? We can create a clone army, but we haven't discovered the concept of therapy yet. Joking aside, I will say I did enjoy Hayden's acting here. I haven't really talked about Hayden Christensen much actually, and how much hate he got for these movies. Maybe not as bad as Jake Lloyd from the first movie, although he was worse cause he was just a child and is still new to acting, at least Hayden is a grown man. That being said, I think Hayden did a good job and was mostly held back by the awkward romance writing and direction. I mean that's what made a lot of great actors in this trilogy look bad, the bad writing and directing when it came to dialog. Not saying that Hayden couldn't have done better, but that it was far from his fault in my opinion. Although the other movies I saw him in after this weren't great either so... maybe it's a bit of both. Sorry, Hayden. I was still very happy to see him in the role again in the Obi-Wan show (one of the few good moments in that show). 

Obi-Wan's story is all about him tracking down the bounty hunter who's trying to kill Padme. It's mildly interesting as it leads to Obi-Wan finding a planet that's been deleted from the Jedi archives. This leads to one of the more important reveals in the Star Wars movies, the clone army. For some reason, I thought it was Qui-Gon who was the one who set the cloning army plan in motion, but I guess it was actually a Jedi named Sifo-Dyas whose not really known at this point in the Star Wars movies. Actually, I don't think he's really mentioned again after this movie. He only appears in the Clone Wars cartoon show a few times, but that's about it outside of maybe books and comics. The introduction of the Fetts is kind of interesting, although seeing Boba Fett as a child doesn't really add to his character from the original trilogy, although it's interesting to know his dad was the template for all the clones. Jango Fett felt like a missed opportunity as he really didn't do much outside of just helping make the clones. He has an awesome suit though. It reminds me of Darth Maul from the last movie, a villain who could have done a lot more before getting killed rather quickly. I think it's one of those things where we didn't really need to see Boba Fett in these movies, but for whatever reason Lucas thought it would be a cool fanservice moment. If he really wanted to please the fans we could have gotten more Darth Maul. 

I also forgot to mention Dexter Jettster. And now I have. 

The two stories come together on the planet Geonosis, a very ugly red planet that looks like Kissimmee on Mars, no offense to Mars. Obi-Wan has been captured by Count Dooku and Anakin and Padme must rescue him by going against the Jedi Council's orders. Something Anakin has no real issue with. This leads to a pretty fun scene where Anakin and Padme are on a droid conveyor belt trying not to be killed by the machines and the local Geonosians. Geonosians are these giant bug-like people with the ability to fly with their dragonfly-like wings. It's understandable why Anakin would want to kill them, but really they were clearly trying to help him off the machinery and he reacted poorly. C-3PO and R2D2 join in the fun as comic reliefs during this whole sequence, and it's kinda alright. The continued tradition from the original trilogy of 3PO getting himself into trouble until R2 saves him continues. I will say seeing 3PO forced to shoot at his friends was pretty funny. At some point, Padme falls into a giant pot that reminds me of a Mofongo mortar so that was cool.

After all the hijinks in the droid factory, we get the epic battle where Anakin, Padme, and Obi-Wan fight in the Coliseum against three cool-looking monsters. I guess epic was too strong a word, but it is an entertaining sequence where we finally get to see Anakin and Obi-Wan fight together again for a bit. This eventually leads to the Jedi reinforcements arriving and a full-on battle against the droids/monsters happening. Unfortunately, we also get to see Jango Fett get embarrassed by Mace Windo, as he barely struggles to pop his head off with his purple lightsaber. After the Jedi are eventually outnumbered by the Droid army, Yoda shows up at the last second with the clone army from earlier in the movie now ready to fight back... and thus begins the Clone Wars TM. The idea of the Clone Wars was cool, but really ended up not being much of anything in the movies, but at least we got the animated show that was loved by many fans. This whole Geonisis part of the movie is very enjoyable, despite some of its flaws at least it's fun action. All this is setting up the final battle of the movie where Anakin and Obi-Wan battle the Sith Count Dooku. 

It is interesting to see how powerful a Sith can truly be when seeing Count Dooku fight two Jedis and eventually even get the better of Yoda himself. Seeing that Anakin is not quite on the level of all of his peers, but knowing he eventually becomes the most powerful Sith in the galaxy is interesting. Despite not being on that level yet, he keeps up with one of the strongest Sith for a decent amount of time, showing just how much potential he has even without being a Jedi Master. But after losing we finally get to see Yoda battle for the first time in the Star Wars movies. It was... weird? I always find it a little funny to see Yoda bouncing off the walls and doing 360 spins with a lightsaber even though he looks so old and walks with a cane most of the time. Weird dude. So, much like the second movie in the original trilogy (Empire Strikes Back) this one ends with the good guys losing a big fight and Anakin losing a hand like his son. Padme and Anakin get married in secret and probably break a bunch of other Jedi rules that night. Yoda's gonna be sensing a lot of disturbances in the force if you catch my drift. 

I had a good time watching this movie again after many years, but it's still a very flawed movie. The romantic parts of the film aren't great and yet again we split up Obi-Wan and Anakin for most of the movie. The movie has its first tease at Anakin's dark side turn, but by the end of the movie it seems like it's all forgotten and moved past. In a few months, I'll be watching Episode III for the 20th anniversary and will probably drop another long-ass review. Many people still love episode III, even a lot of people who dislike the first two episodes. It'll be interesting to see what's changed since the last time I saw it in terms of my opinion on it. Until then, go force choke yourself. I mean, may the force be with you. 

Final grade: 3/5 Death Sticks

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45 Reasons Our President is a Terrible Person

 The past month and a half have felt like a lifetime here in the US of A. It's honestly exhausting being here in this country right now with what feels like an infinite amount of news headlines about how our president is fucking our shit up here. I've honestly never felt this ashamed to be a citizen of this country and also never felt this hopeless about how far things can fall. Being tired of just kind of ranting to myself all the time about how things are going, I decided to try to put some of my feelings to words on this here blog to maybe help myself feel slightly better. Also, to try and maybe show other people who maybe don't pay too much attention to politics or the history of Trump why he's such a terrible person. Some of these reasons will be more serious than others. Also, some might require a bit of explaining, while others are just pretty straightforward. Anyway, here are 45 reasons why our president is a piece of shit. 

1. January 6th

The day Trump, in my eyes, became a traitor to this country and should have been put behind bars. Well, he probably should have been behind bars before this for other reasons, I guess, but this one was the one that truly should have stopped any future presidential campaign. It's amazingly stupid how he got no punishment for this.

2. Pardoning the Jan 6th insurrectionists

Because it wasn't bad enough he got away with it. Everyone else who was involved in this also gets a pass from any punishment. That includes the ones who were actually violent and harmed the police officers who tried to stop them from entering the building. When you betray your country and attack the capitol and get pardoned, that makes you think that maybe these actions against your political enemies don't have true consequences, and that's pretty scary. 

3-4. He's also a convicted criminal you know, and possibly paid to sleep with a porn star (while married)

The first president to be convicted of felony crimes. Found guilty on 34 charges for influencing the 2016 election with hush money. He tried to hide the fact that he slept with a porn star from voters. I guess I should add that he paid to do that. 

5. Canada as a 51st State

Just Trump trying to piss off our closest ally by threatening to make them a US state. 

6. Canada tariffs

Just further pissing off Canada by putting tariffs on goods. Then, backing down. Then putting tariffs again. Backing down again. Then, starting again? What? I don't know anymore.

7. Really just tariffs in general

For whatever reason Trump is obsessed with giving everyone tariffs, and so far, it hasn't gone well. Stock Market looks terrible, prices going up, and allies are pissed at us. Cool. 

8. Ukraine

Just recently, Trump had an interview with President Zelensky where he acted like a baby, along with idiot VP JD Vance getting annoyed at Zelensky for not saying thank you to the USA. It was hard to watch and it made Trump look like an idiot along with all his goons in the room. He also called Zelensky a dictator recently. You know, the guy who got elected in 2019 and hasn't been able to have an election because of war. But not the guy over in Russia though, right? 

9. JD Vance

I just mentioned JD Vance so I figured I'd put him on the list too. Just a weird weird boy who tries really really hard to seem tough and smart. He was really unpopular last year when he was chosen as the VP. Said some really stupid things about women and everyone made fun of him for having sex with couches... allegedly. 

10-19. Elon Musk

Yes, Musk deserves to be counted for at least 10 reasons why Trump is a piece of shit. Trump bringing him on and giving him all this power is one of the worst things he's done as president. Just to show you where Trump's head is at, he had three of the richest men who control Amazon, Twitter, and Meta/Facebook at his inauguration. These are his people. 

BUT Elon is the worst of them because not only is he the richest person, but also the one Trump is letting run a lot of things. The whole Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE sigh) has been just a complete mess so far that's hurt a lot of people and will probably hurt more. He even hired a bunch of young employees, some of whom had some pretty sketchy pasts. One of them had a tweet in the past that said "normalize Indian hate" and another one was suspected of leaking information at a previous job. These are the kind of people working with very sensitive information, huh? OUR sensitive information.  

Can't forget that Elon did a heil sieg on stage twice back in January. Thankfully, this seems to have led to his company, Tesla, losing a ton of sales, especially overseas. Elon has promoted a lot of traditional ideas on his Twitter page, often speaking about the importance of families being a husband and wife with kids. Very traditional sort of family values. Meanwhile, the guy has 14 kids himself and is unmarried. 

20. DEI

Trump sure hates DEI. Thinks it's one of the things ruining the USA because he hates when people get jobs because of diversity and not "merit". He says this while putting a bunch of people in charge who don't really have any or little experience in the positions he's putting them in. Like recently picking his close friend Linda McMahon to be in charge of Education, who has little experience working in that field. The same goes for Trump putting Pete Hegseth in the Department of Defense. It wasn't so much about "merit" there, but more about putting people you know will be loyal to you and your bullshit. Trump himself got tons of positions and opportunities because of his family wealth and not because of "merit". 

21. Golf

Dude just golfs too much. 

22. Selling his dumbass merch

One of the annoying things Trump loves to do is sell overpriced merchandise with his name or face on it. When your ego is bigger than your brain, this makes sense. But as a president now it just feels so stupid to see him selling guitars and Bibles. You know, that book he's totally read before. The book he awkwardly posed with when he was president the first time while the country rioted for George Floyd. The book that he is never able to name a favorite verse from. That book. And on that note...

23. Using Christianity

One of the things that always annoys/confuses me the most about Trump is his ties to Christianity. As someone who grew up in that scene (not really in it anymore), it always confused me why the church in the USA seems to think this guy is God's choice and some kind of Christian hero. I know Christianity has always favored Republicans in the USA because the morals of that party align more with Christianity. But to me, Trump always felt like the antithesis of what Christianity is supposed to stand for. I mean, selling Bibles for 100$ because it has your name on them is pretty shady stuff.  

There was also that whole debacle where a Bishop pleaded with Trump to have mercy on immigrants and trans people, and he took it in the worst way possible as his goons demanded an apology from her. In what ways is Trump anything like what God calls his followers to be like? When does he ever show empathy for the misfortunate? When does he ever act humble? As I mentioned before, he took pictures holding the Bible, and he may have had a hand in clearing out peaceful protesters with force to get this picture. It's all about the image he's trying to create to make the Christians in this country think he's one of them. I can't just blame Trump here; there are so many people in the USA using Christianity as a way to profit and buy jets and mansions that it's not just a Trump problem. It's just frustrating how the people being used can't see them for what they are. 

24. Nazis/KKK/Proud Boys

Besides the Elon Musk salute, it's been known how much the Nazis and other hate groups around the USA support Trump. Sure, he's never outright stood by them in support himself, but he's also had multiple chances to denounce them and their ways, and he always finds a way to avoid doing so. There's a reason why these groups are out there marching and showing themselves more, and it's because they feel more comfortable now that Trump is back. "There's very fine people on both sides" and "stand back and stand by". 

25. Guantanamo Bay

Trump's idea of making one of the most notorious prisons in the world a place to send illegal immigrants is just bad. 

26. Getting rid of birthright citizenship

It didn't happen, but he sure as hell tried. 

27. Saying Kamala Harris wasn't black

One of the weirder parts of the campaign last year was Trump doing an interview at a convention for Black Journalists. During the interview, he claimed that Harris wasn't Black until recently and that she was always Indian but decided to turn Black for the campaign. It made no sense and made him look like an idiot. 

28-30. USA owning Gaza, Greenland, and the Panama Canal

About a month ago, Trump proposed the idea of the USA taking over the Gaza Strip and relocating all the Palestinians to other countries. Just another territory Trump wants to claim along with Greenland and the Panama Canal. Greenland has already stated that it wants no part of the USA. Trump seems to have this obsession with claiming these territories, maybe as a way to make a name for himself or because he's just a piece of shit. I think it's both things. 

31. Gulf of America

I mean, come on.

32. He's ugly

Being ugly doesn't make you a piece of shit, but I just wanted to point out that on top of being a piece of shit, he is also ugly. 

33. USAID

Trump and Elon have pretty much wanted to target USAID since they got into office again this year. Putting a 90-day work freeze on USAID to begin with and probably going to do more cuts to it. Tons of USAID workers who were overseas were forced to come back and leave their posts. This could and probably will hurt a lot of people overseas and in countries where USAID was helping with disease prevention and other foreign aid. 

34. Getting rid of Roe v. Wade

This one was a disaster. But it was Trump's takeover of the Supreme Court that led to this happening amongst other really stupid things. Even if it happened while someone else was in office, he still likes to take credit for it... well, it was his choices while he was president that ultimately led to this happening. 

35. Threats to cut funding to schools that allow protests

So now schools that have peaceful protests could be in danger of losing federal funding, and any protesters could be deported or imprisoned. I'm assuming it's only if you protest something he doesn't agree with? For someone who claims to love freedom of speech, this seems like the opposite of that. 

36. Hulk Hogan

This one is a bit more personal to me, but ew, Hulk Hogan. I find it pretty interesting how celebrities who are found out to be pieces of shit and lose a lot of their fans seem to love to turn to the MAGA world to find a new audience. It's almost like those kinds of people are willing to put up with past racist behavior more easily? Interesting.

37-38. NATO & Putin

Recently, Trump's favorite son, Musk has been calling for the USA to exit NATO. Trump himself has been calling out Ukraine's President Zelensky a lot recently (as I mentioned before) and even called him a dictator. Not sure what Trump is even going for these days, it seems like he's just trying to piss everyone off at this point. At a UN meeting last month, Trump even sided with Russia as he refused to agree with the statement that Moscow was the aggressor in the ongoing war. Ultimately I have no idea where Trump's real alligance lies, but I don't like what he's doing here. 

39. Withdrawing from the World Health Organization

One of his first acts as President (again) was to remove the USA from the World Health Organization. I assume it was to save money because the USA is one of the biggest contributors, or maybe it's because Trump doesn't really get what the WHO even is? I mean it's like he already forgot what a huge mess COVID-19 was the last time he was President. 

40. COVID

I'm trying to focus more on things he's done more recently, but since I just brought it up, it's worth putting it here. He fumbled the COVID response here in the USA hard and, if done better, could have saved lives. Trump loved to call it the "China virus" because he wanted all the blame to fall on them. Also, it was a big deal to the MAGA people to not wear masks because of freedom or something stupid like that. His not correcting that behavior no doubt cost a lot of his followers their lives, along with a lot of them not wanting to get vaccinated. 

41. He never stopped claiming the 2020 election was stolen

At least until now when he became President again and it doesn't matter anymore. I remember during the election last year he still wouldn't give a clear answer on his stance and even JD Vance was too afraid to tell the truth because it would piss Trump and his fanatics off. 

42. He wants to abolish the Department of Education

It's bad enough that he brought in Linda McMahon of all people to run education, but apparently he wants to abolish the DoE as a whole. There was that whole Critical Race Theory debacle where it seems like all the MAGA people thought it was ruining their kids. I don't know if he's doing it for that reason or just another way to save money, but it's not good. 

43. He served McDonalds to the visiting championship college team

Okay, this is honestly pretty funny looking back at it, but still really stupid. On the list of awful things he's done this is far from the worst, but his obsession with giving everyone McDonald's is pretty weird. Lots of teams at this point decline the traditional White House visit after winning a championship. The Eagles just declined it recently after winning the Super Bowl, and honestly good for them. 

44. TRUMP COIN

Of course Trump had to get in on the meme coin trend and just like most of them it lost a lot of people money. What kind of President releases a meme coin? The grifter kind. 

45. Hurricane Maria

This one always pisses me off personally, but his horrificly slow response to the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico was insane. The viral moment of him throwing a roll of paper towels into a crowd will live on in infamy in Puerto Rico forever. There's no doubt he cost lives because of this and it could have been different if he actually gave a shit.

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UPDATE LATE MARCH 2025

It's so annoying how much more stupid shit has happened since I posted this. Like I could literally make another list of 45 things just with things he did after I posted this originally. But here's some more to add to the list because 2025 sucks.

46. The El Salvador Jail

This was a whole mess and it only keeps getting worse. Originally, Trump wanted to target Venezuelan gang members who were in the USA and deport them out of the country. The plan was to now send them to a jail in El Salvador as they struck a deal with them to hold around 300 prisoners from the USA there. It ended up being a huge fiasco when a federal Judge (Boasberg) asked that the prisoners be kept in the country but was told the planes had already left and it was too late to bring them back. Now those people who were deported are in a notorious jail that treats its prisoners about as awful as you could get away with. There was even a story that one of the men sent to that prison was a soccer player with Real Madrid tattoos who was confused for a gang member. But really the point is all these people were thrown into jail without due process and that's a very scary thing for anyone in this country who came to live here from another part of the world. Imagine being put into jail and not having a single chance to prove your innocence, that's what this is. 

47. Tesla Sales and Favoritism

In one of the most bizarre and stupid moments of the year so far, we got to see Trump doing an ad read for Tesla cars at the White House. Then not too long after that declare that any vandalism to Tesla cars and dealerships will now be seen as domestic terrorism. This came after Elon Musk was crying over how much the Tesla stock has fallen and sales are doing poorly. The amount of favoritism Trump is showing Musk and Tesla is just infuriating. Like the poor billionaire needs help to make more money, the poor guy might lose some of his billions and be left with only... more billions. Idiots.

I could go on and on listing reasons why our current President is a piece of shit, but I don't have all the time in the world to do that. These are just some of the things he's done recently or in his last term and not all the things he did before he was even President. There are countless stories and you can go look them up if you're interested, but the point of this was to show you just how much damage one man has done in such a short time. I'm tired of waking up every morning and reading about another stupid choice our President has made that will affect our lives in a negative way. Not only us here in the USA but also countries around the world could suffer now because of Trump's choices. Getting rid of a lot of foreign aid and slowly pissing off every one of our allies in just the first two months of a four-year term is quite concerning. I didn't even mention all the terrible people he's putting in positions of power alongside himself. 

Down below will be a list of articles I was reading or looking at for some of the points I made on this post. If you want more information about some of the things I was mentioning or just want to read more detailed stories of Trumps bullshit, well here you go. 

https://apnews.com/article/trump-trial-deliberations-jury-testimony-verdict-85558c6d08efb434d05b694364470aa0

https://www.npr.org/2025/01/06/nx-s1-5197697/a-capitol-police-officer-assaulted-during-the-jan-6-riot-says-he-feels-betrayed

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/granting-pardons-and-commutation-of-sentences-for-certain-offenses-relating-to-the-events-at-or-near-the-united-states-capitol-on-january-6-2021/

https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/07/business/tariffs-trump-canada/index.html

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c62e2158mkpt

https://www.npr.org/2025/02/06/nx-s1-5289337/elon-musk-doge-treasury

https://www.npr.org/2025/02/08/nx-s1-5251642/linda-mcmahon-trump-wwe-education-secretary-nominee

https://www.livenowfox.com/news/pete-hegseth-military-experience

https://www.ap.org/news-highlights/best-of-the-week/second-winner/2024/ap-traces-the-printing-of-trumps-god-bless-america-bibles-to-the-country-he-accuses-of-stealing-american-jobs-china/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump_photo_op_at_St._John%27s_Church

https://people.com/all-about-elon-musk-children-11678749

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/24/trump-pardon-proud-boys-enrique-tarrio

https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/31/politics/donald-trump-kamala-harris-black-nabj/index.html

https://www.npr.org/2025/02/12/1230862336/trump-says-the-us-will-own-gaza-what-that-could-mean-for-the-middle-east

https://www.kff.org/u-s-foreign-aid-freeze-dissolution-of-usaid-timeline-of-events/

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-says-federal-funding-will-stop-colleges-schools-allowing-illegal-protests-2025-03-04/

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c7435pnle0go

https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2025/the-consequences-of-the-us-withdrawal-from-the-who

https://www.cnet.com/news/politics/what-happens-if-the-department-of-education-is-abolished-what-we-know/

https://www.vox.com/2020/6/8/21242003/trump-failed-coronavirus-response

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/22/hurricane-maria-puerto-rico-trump-delayed-aid

https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/17/americas/el-salvador-prison-trump-deportations-gangs-intl-latam/index.html

 

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Looking Back at My First Music Review

(Wrote this months ago and never posted it)

About 8 years ago I started "reviewing" popular music on here. It was a way to express my love for music and also my frustration with the direction pop music was going in at the time. My opinions on music have changed a lot in the last 8 years and I think a part of that is because of this blog. Listening to more pop music because I wanted to review it actually got me to listen to a lot of stuff I probably wouldn't have listened to otherwise and now I love pop music more than I ever have. I've also been able to get into more genres I didn't really like too much back in the day. So with that, I thought it would be interesting to go back and read my first-ever post about music on this here blog and see how much I agree or disagree with my past self from 2016. So I'll post the original review and then follow it up with my updated thoughts afterward in brackets. Hopefully, my writing back then wasn't too bad... is it any better after 8 years? I hope so. This is the Top 10 songs list from back in September 2016. (I'm leaving my old typos in there too lol)

(2016) Closer by Chainsmokers ft. Halsey: Just okay, boring lyrics, generic modern music, feels lifeless, Halsey is okay i guess. feeling sleepy now. must change song. Seriously though, songs like these are why I can’t take the pop music charts seriously. It’s all boring and repetitive dance music that feels lifeless strangely enough. Nothing feels special here- and this is the number one song in the country right now. I know pop music isn’t always amazingly creative or groundbreaking, and it’s okay to have this kind of music in the world. I just don’t understand how something like this can be the NUMBER 1 song in the world. Just my taste I guess. Again, I don’t hate it! It’s listenable for sure, just pretty boring.

(2024) [Remeber the Chainsmokers? I barely do. They never did get much better at making music, though I have to admit I grew to like this song a lot more than I did in my original post. Halsey definitely carries this song as the vocals by Chainsmoker guy are barely passable for a big song like this. You don't have a great voice, my dude, just get someone else to do that part for you. There was potential here for a great pop song without the weak vocals, maybe getting a real male singer here to match Halsey. I think I gave it a little more hate than it deserved. It's not a bad song but certainly could be better.]

(2016) Cold Water by Major Lazer ft. Bieber: Fun riffs and pretty good music, boring Justin Bieber singing and cliche boring lyrics. Overall if feels very repetitive after a while and gets boring to listen to. You know I didn’t think this song was even bad until I heard another song called “Let Me Love You” by DJ Snake. These two songs sound so similar I though I was listening to the same song again. Okay not really… BUT, seriously these two songs are so similar it makes me wonder how they got away with it. How are two songs that sound this similar allowed to be so high in the charts at the same time? Do people think it’s the same song? I don’t know, but I hope I see more creativity in the next songs. 

(2024) [I think I focused way too much on the fact this song sounds like another Bieber-featured song "Let Me Love You". There are certainly similar aspects, but it's not as bad as I seem to have thought 8 years ago. I like "Cold Water" more than "Let Me Love You" anyway, so there's that. "Cold Water" is a pretty good song actually, I'll give it more credit than I did in my first review. I like the production and the music choices and I don't even hate Bieber's vocals at all. The cool use of guitar in the song gives it this nice tropical vibe. The only thing I don't love is the music for the hook is a letdown. Feels a bit generic for the time, but nothing bad.]

(2016) Heathens by Twenty One Pilots: I really love Twenty One Pilots. The last two albums they released were great and I can listen to them from front to back easily. This song though… it just feels so boring and lifeless. The lyrics are interesting at least talking about trust issues and letting people in. Still the rest of the song feels slow and boring, not the kind of song i’ll be listening to very often if at all. Hopefully the next music they release won’t be anything like this.

(2024) [Yeah, I still don't like this song. I still think it's pretty boring musically and the lyrics aren't enough to save this. It picks up a bit during the end, but it only makes me sadder seeing the potential the song actually had. It probably doesn't help that the song is from one of my most hated movies of all time Suicide Squad.]

Cheap Thrills by Sia: Rich artists singing about not needing money to have fun and party is kinda my new pet peeve. I do love Sia’s voice, but I feel like they are being wasted with yet another boring song in the top 10. It’s not a bad song, it’s just incredibly meh. I think someone with Sia’s talent should be making much better music. Much like most songs in the top 10 right now, it’s another decent song with nothing special about it. 

(2024) [My hatred for rich people has only grown in the last 8 years, but I think I get this song a little more. I guess the idea of famous celebrities trying to make a song relatable to normal people isn't going away ever as even Beyonce made one not too long ago. While they might not understand the struggle of not having money to have fun and go out anymore, there might have been a point in their lives where that was true and that's what they are channeling. Just trying to be positive here I guess. It's interesting to hear a lot of the tropes that were being used in the mid-2010s pop music and this song has a lot of that. A lot of the production elements sound very similar in a lot of these songs (the overuse of tropical/reggae vibes in a lot of these songs is pretty notable). This is yet another song I quite like here and I feel I was a bit too hard on it 8 years ago.]

(2016) Ride by Twenty One Pilots: The best of the top 10 for sure. A fun song with fun vocals and music and interesting lyrics about a person’s thoughts. It’s nice to see a song with originality and some life in it reach the top 10. Of course it makes it more annoying that a good song like this can make it to the top 10 and yet we still get mostly boring generic music up here. Hope to see more songs like this in the future. 

(2024)[Well clearly I loved this song 8 years, but I guess anything that wasn't pop music on the charts always got me excited. I still think this is the best song on this list, but I think it's closer than I thought back then. I mean "Cheap Thrills" isn't that far off from this. It's funny how I just talked about the overused reggae vibes in pop songs back then and here's another one that uses that too. I guess even the alternative artists fell into that trap. I still enjoy the music in this one with the great percussion and interesting lyrics presented in quick rap verses followed by a very catchy chorus. Twenty-One Pilots have always had interesting storytelling in their songs, though it doesn't always make for great music. It's more hit than miss for sure and this song is still one of their best.]

(2016)This is what you came for by Calvin Harris and Rihanna: God this song is annoyingly catchy, I kind of hate that I like this song. It’s everything I dislike about pop music of today, but somehow it just works in it’s own way. I’m not sure if it’s Harris’ music or Rihanna’s catchy vocals that get stuck in your head. I guess it’s a bit of both… It’s all so wonderfully catchy and I enjoy all the oohing. Good job Rihanna. Good job Harris. Never thought i’d say those words ever. 

(2024) [I don't know why I had some kind of hate towards Calvin Harris, cause he actually has a lot of good music out there. He's certainly way better than the Chainsmokers. I still like this song after all these years though. It's not the best thing either artist has ever done, even with each other ("We Found Love" is the standout). It's still simple, catchy, and it doesn't get old with multiple listens. 

(2016)Don’t Let Me Down by Chainsmokers w/ Daya: This song almost worked for me, it was so cloooooose. I love the music and vocals in the intro, verses and pre-chorus and even the bridge. BUT that chorus just kills the whole song for me. The chorus just feels so out of place with the rest of the song, it’s all peaceful and charming and then comes the annoying breakdown with the annoying music and vocals. What’s more annoying is the last chorus fixes that and is a little more simplified with more focus on the vocals. If it had been that way the whole song I would have actually gave this one a pass. I can see myself listening some more times, I do enjoy a lot of the parts. One of the better songs in the top 10 for sure. 

(2024) [Honestly, I still feel pretty much the same about this Chainsmokers song. I enjoy a lot of the song, but that chorus is so awful it really brings the whole song down. I didn't mention how awful the bridge also is in my original review so throw that in there too. I also mentioned how I thought the final chorus fixes some of the issues, but no I was wrong about that. The final chorus is also annoying with random sound effects that feel out of place. I guess I actually dislike this song way more now than I did back then. 

(2016)One Dance by Drake w/ WizKid and Kyla: Interesting opening with piano sounds and 1st verse is pretty good. Wait no… the whole song is the same exact thing? never mind. Go away Drake. 

(2024) [Ah yes, reggae vibes song number 214291. Over the years on this blog, I've pretty much had nothing but negative things to say about Drake. He's had dud after dud after dud the last 8 years and this song was one of the first in his long stretch of disappointing hits. Drake's energy in this song is just so lifeless I have no idea how anyone can dance to this without extra help... drugs, I'm talking about drugs. He also can't help but insert his whiny boy lyrics into this "club banger". If a girl doesn't reply to his text the second she gets it she's now his ex. Normal behavior that. I'm writing this the same day Kendrick released 4 diss tracks destroying this "man". The funny thing is Drake made the best song he's made in years this weekend only to be completely destroyed just a few hours later. Anyway... this song still sucks and the album it came from is trash too.]

(2016) Send my love by Adele:  I honestly don’t know how to feel about this song. Just like most songs on the top 10 it feels….boring. I know Adele is capable of some powerful work or at the very least I’ll be WOWed by her voice. This song just feels like she wasn’t really trying to hard. 

(2024) [I was too hard on Adele back then, she's certainly trying in this song. That doesn't really change the fact that I still don't enjoy this song very much. There's something about the chorus in this song that just doesn't click with me. The way she sings the hook just feels a bit annoying in the way she stretches out certain words. The lyrics are fine, but it's basically just a song meant for her ex, basically just saying how much better she is without him.]

Treat You Better by Shawn Boredes: Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, but it just doesn’t sound different at all from his last big hit Stitches. It’s a little slower i suppose, but the lyrics are pretty cliche like most pop songs. It doesn’t bring anything new or exiting to music and really doesn’t deserve any special recognition or fame. How many artists out there can do the same thing if not better things than Shawn Mendes. He just seems very vanilla, and it’s weird to me that an artists like this can beat out so many other bland artists for some reason. Anyway, it’s another mediocre song. Nothing truly bad, but nothing special here, it’s the kind of song that any decent artist or singer can pull off. I find Shawn Mendes so boring that I left his name unbolded in the song title. He doesn't deserve Bold. 

(2024) [I was way too nice to this garbage song 8 years ago. This song is a dumpster fire of awful lyrics and shitty music by an artist who has no idea what he's doing. I ended up putting this as my worst song of the decade when I did my list of worst songs of the 2010s a while back. Honestly, when I listen to this song now I just feel nothing, maybe I'm just numb to it now. I should probably note that Shawn Mendes is probably a cool person, but I just find his music to be really boring and generic-sounding pop music. I mean this was 8 years ago, I'm sure he's grown as an artist right? His last album was a decent step in making his music better, so maybe there's a chance the next one could actually be good?]

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Best and Worst Hit Songs of 2024

The shortest year of our lives, 2024. Ignoring the last few disastrous months of the year, it actually wasn't a terrible year this time around. When it came to music, it was actually pretty great I think, especially in the pop music charts. I mean there wasn't a lot I hated this time around and there were some pretty great hit songs I listened to a lot. Lots of returning artists on the charts like Billie Eilish, Taylor Swift, Kendrick, and Dua Lipa. Also, some new faces like Chapell Roan, Noah Kahan, and Tommy Richman (new to the charts anyway). I must admit this year was probably the least that I might have paid attention to the pop charts, just wasn't really feeling it this time around. That and the fact that I was mostly doing it to write on here about music, which I haven't been doing much of lately. But this year-end list is a tradition for me and it's always fun to go back to old lists and see what I was feeling in the past. So here we go: The best and worst hit songs of the year in my dumb opinion. Hope you hate it. 

THE 8 WORSTS:

9. Dua Lipa - Training Season

It really hurts to put this on the list, but man it was a bad year for Dua Lipa. Her last album "Future Nostalgia" is still one of the best albums of the last 5 years and it's got so many hits on it. After much anticipation, she finally released the follow-up album called "Radical Optimism" this year. The album was... well it was just okay really. Which is really a huge disappointment considering what came before it. Training Season is one of the few hits from the album and it's just okay. It kind of sounds like a leftover song from the last album that she stuck on here. Look, there are worse songs than this that could be on this list, but my expectations were so high for this and it just hurt to see a mediocre project from her. I don't think it's a career killer, but it's certainly going to put more pressure on her to make a better follow-up.

8. Camila Cabello - I LUV IT (w/ Playboi Carti)

The yearly tradition of including Camila on my worst songs list continues. Camila Cabello is always in her flop era, and nothing proves that more than yet another confusing mess of a song. She can't pull it off and yet she continues to try. This time with one of the most annoying choruses where she just repeats I LUV IT until it means nothing anymore. Nothing here fits her at all and feels like a bad attempt to go outside of her usual "Latin pop" single. The difference here is that even her own "fans" didn't buy into this one. 

7. MGK - Lonely Road (W/ Jelly Roll)

Yeah, it was not a good year for Jelly Roll. Actually, it was an amazing year for him considering how many hits he had in the year 2025, but I mean more that he made a ton of awful songs that hit the charts this last year. Two of them are just a famous chorus from the past reworked into modern country pop songs. In this one MGK and Jelly Roll take the famous John Denver chorus from Country Roads and slightly change the words. I feel like maybe this actually could have worked if it involved two other artists who had more talent and maybe put some more effort into it. MGK and Jelly Roll are not the two artists you want doing this. MGK already did this years ago with Camilla Cabello and the song "Bad Things" and that was somehow worse than this one. So is MGK doing country now? What genre will he fail at next time? 

6. Jessie Murph - Wild Ones (W/ Jelly Roll)

Oh look, it's Jelly Roll again. This time teaming up with... who the hell is Jessie Murph? Nobody I'm ever going to listen to that's for sure. Honestly, it's been a while since I've heard an artist so bad that it actually hurts to listen to their music, but I think Jessie Murph is in that category. Her vocals are maybe some of the worst I've heard in a while, especially in this genre. Say what you want about Jelly Roll, but at least he can actually sing pretty well. Pair him up with Jessie Murph and it makes him sound like an angel compared to whatever she's doing. Pair the awful vocals with the most boring lyrics you can write in a pop country song and you get one of the most forgettable songs of the decade. Nice. 

5. Drake - Rich Baby Daddy (W/ Sexxy Red and SZA)

Nothing makes me feel more dead inside than hearing Drake sing "The Dog Days Are Over" in his sleepy autone. It was a BAD year for Drake, like the kind of year you just want everyone to forget happened. It's not enough to keep releasing these garbage singles and getting hits out of them, but you had to go after Kendrick late in the year. That ended about as well as you could imagine with Drake pretty much destroying his credibility in record time. There was also that weird ass "Hey There Delilah" song he was a part of that was so bad people thought it was AI. Time will tell if Drake can bounce back from this, but it's clear that he's never going to be seen the same after 2025. 

4. Nicki Minaj - FTCU

The other artist who arguably had a worse year than Drake was your girl Nicki Minaj. Starting off the year trying to diss Megan Thee Stallion and completely falling on her face in the process. Then she went on to release the anticipated "Pink Friday 2" album, which was met with mostly negative reviews and reactions. Still, she did manage to get some hits from this album so it wasn't a complete failure I guess. Just a reminder that despite her talent, she still manages to make some of the most forgettable music you could make. Even though I don't like a lot of her recent music, I never really thought of Nicki as a very boring artist, even at her worst she's at least trying some interesting? But this song (FTCU) IS just boring and that's exactly what you don't want from her... or any artist really. The most interesting thing about this song is the Waka Flocka Flame sample, which is just a shittier version of the original. 

3. Kanye West / Ty Dolla $ign - CARNIVAL

Sigh, yeah Kanye had himself a big hit this year off of that weird VULTURES 1 album. It was a collab album between Ye and Ty Dolla $ign dropped early last year that I didn't pay much attention to. Then the song CARNIVAL ended up being a big hit this year and... well that sucked. I mean it does have an interesting beat, but that's about the only thing it does right. The problems lie in the lyrics and just how awful they are. Where you get Kanye comparing himself to Bill Cosby and R Kelly, a Columbine reference in 2024, and misogyny. I guess Kanye is still a big enough name that a bad song like this will still be a hit? Remember when he dropped that Christian album a few years ago? You think they'll let him play this one at his church? 

2. Jelly Roll / Dustin Lynch - Chevrolet

Okay, one more for Jelly Roll, third time's the charm. This time we get the butchering of the classic song "Drift Away" by Dobie Gray (or Uncle Kraker if you grew up in the 00s). People make jokes about generic pop music sounding like it belongs in car commercials, but here you get a song that was actually made for a car commercial with no shame. Actually, the song was so bad even Chevrolet didn't want to use it in their commercials... a little too on the nose they said (probably). The song is about making love to a Chevrolet in the middle of the forest where no one can judge you. I've never been good at figuring out these country songs so I might be way off on that. So yeah, I can maybe see the talent in Jelly Roll, but after putting three of his songs on the list this year, maybe I'll just stay away from his music for a while. Enough of these truck songs already. 

1. Eminem - Houdini

Guess who's back? Shady's back... on the worst list again. This was so painfully disappointing to listen to. Eminem came back with his most anticipated album in years "The Death of Slim Shady". It was supposed to be a big sendoff to his Slim Shady persona and a nostalgia trip to Eminem's earlier days. It just came across as a desperate try for a career revival and the lyrics often came across as too immature and out of touch. Houdini was the first big single to come out and at first, I felt kind of excited to hear Em return to an older style I remember from my childhood. The song claims he's about to drop some super controversial lyrics and then goes on to complain about participation trophies, makes a joke about his cat being trans, and makes an R Kelly pee joke in the year of our lord 2024. Then he thinks these lyrics are going to get him canceled and he's cool with it. Most of it just makes Em look so old and out of touch with the times. I thought this could be a nice return to form for him after releasing so many bad albums in a row, but no. It's just another bad album that maybe could finally put his career to rest. Maybe that's for the best now.

THE BEST SONGS!

9. Noah Kahan - Stick Season

Noah had his breakout hit this year with "Stick Season", his 2022 single that gradually gained momentum until it hit it big. The song feels like a throwback to the early 2010s folk-pop hits. It's heavy on the acoustic guitar with a bit of banjo and some light percussion. The song is about Noah living through the winter in Vermont and feeling the loneliness and regret of a past relationship that ended. It feels like one of those songs that's too happy for the subject material, but maybe it's supposed to signify some hope left in him, but judging by how the song ends it doesn't seem he's hopeful about moving on anytime soon. 

8. Kendrick Lamar - Not Like Us

I've talked about this song in a past post, but I'm still amused by how big of a hit this song completely destroying Drake became. It's insane how good this ended up being, but the lyrics are even crazier. Calling Drake a pedo and getting a Grammy nomination for it is pretty insane. I mean, if he does end up winning that Grammy, is he going to thank Drake in his speech for inspiring this hit? Kendrick dropped a full album months after this hit and it's got some great songs on it too, maybe some that would have made the list if they were bigger hits. 

7. Hozier - Too Sweet

Hozier got his first true number-one chart hit and his second hit after "Take Me to Church". Well deserved and it's good that he didn't end up being a one-hit-wonder because he's too good to be called that. Not that it's a terrible thing, plenty of one-hit-wonders have great music outside of their one hit. This one came from a short EP he released early 2024 as a follow-up to his big album "Unreal Unearth". The single "Too Sweet" ended up taking off as a big hit, eventually getting to the number one spot. The song is about a relationship where Hozier feels like he's not connecting with the person because of their differing lifestyles. The person he's with has a very healthy lifestyle and he feels like he either can't keep up or doesn't fully agree with it even though he respects their choices. 

6. Tommy Richman - Million Dollar Baby

This throwback from Tommy Richman was everywhere this year, especially in the last few months. I think it was also in a Taco Bell and Wingstop commercial so that's probably why I heard it so much. Normally, that would be a recipe for me getting sick of the song and calling it overplayed. It was overplayed, but I didn't really get sick of it. That's because it's a great song and it stands out amongst a lot of the hits this year. It's got this great energy that feels like it's missing from a lot of hip-hop, or at least it helps it stand out like I said before. Not sure if this is just the start of a big career for Tommy Richman, I mean usually these kinda hits tend to come and go but hopefully it's not the case for this one. 

5. Taylor Swift - I Can Do It With a Broken Heart

Taylor continued her year of music domination this year with the finale of her Eras tour, which went to several different countries and eventually back to North America. While that was going on she released a surprise double album called "The Tortured Poets Department". My pet peeve of pop artists dropping albums that are way too damn long continues. But the album itself was a mixed bag with great songs and some not-so-great songs. One of the the great songs was "I Can Do It With a Broken Hearth". It's one of the more upbeat songs from the first half of the album and it's got this cool energy about it I like. The song is about Taylor having to push through the pain of a breakup as she has to perform for all her fans. Taylor shows her confidence by saying that even through all the pain she can put on an amazing show for her fans because she's just that good. Considering how beloved the Eras Tour was it's safe to say the song tells no lies. I guess it also fits well with the "Tortured Poet" theme. 

4. Billie Eilish - Lunch

Billie released one of the most anticipated albums of the year back in May in "Hit Me Hard and Soft". I think the album is Billie's best work to date and it's got some of her best songs ever on it. The first big hit was "Lunch" a song that quickly rose up the charts to become a bit hit. The song is a pretty unsubtle metaphor for Billie's current obsession with a woman and wanting to pleasure her, possibly even wanting a real relationship with this person. It's easy to see why this song was the first big song from the album and why it was the one that was really used to push the new album. It's got a great bass line, which seems really important for pop music these days. The catchy melody along with the great lyrics are what make Billie such a great artist as well as her unique vocals that can't be matched. 

3. Chapell Roan - Good Luck, Babe!

It was Chapell's breakout year in 2024 as she went from pretty popular to one of the biggest stars in the USA. The release of her fantastic debut album and her touring with Olivia Rodrigo all helped push her to new heights. After her album's success, she released a single called "Good Luck, Babe!" that ended up reaching number 1 on the charts. In this song, Chapell is singing to an ex-girlfriend and trying to convince her to stop trying to force herself to be with men despite the fact that she's really into women. It could be seen as a cautionary tale of finding yourself unhappy in the future because you were too afraid to be who you truly are. A unique message for a pop song, but one that a lot of people might need to hear. 

2. Billie Eilish - Birds of a Feather

The first time I listened to Billie's new album, this song stood out right away. It quickly became my favorite from the album and probably the one I replayed the most. I think a lot of people share that feeling since it quickly became a hit after "Lunch" and it was very heavily used on social media. Pretty much everything I said about "Lunch" applies here too. Although this song has a sweeter sound than "Lunch", and the lyrics are a little vague about who exactly it's about. I feel like the song could be directed at anyone you love, not just a romantic partner (although it probably fits better for that). Not that I see a guy dedicating this song to his "bro", but it would be cool if that happened. Nothing like a guy referring to his bro as "my baby". 

1. Sabrina Carpenter - Espresso

The song of the summer last year. Much like the last song, this one was another star-making hit that took the artist to new heights, in this case, Sabrina Carpenter. The difference here is Sabrina had been around for a while making music already and even had a good following, but this year was the year where she truly became a world-famous artist. I mean this song is undeniable. The song is pretty much just about how Sabrina can make a guy think about her nonstop, staying awake like she's an espresso to them. Pretty simple, but the melodies and music take this simple subject and make it so much fun and addicting to listen to. Much like the album it came from: the song is short and sweet. 

What a way to end this list... sigh. 

But below I'll put some other albums I really enjoyed last year as I usually do. Hopefully, they can give you ideas on what to check out or see if you agree with any of them. 

TOP 10 ALBUMS (not in any particular order)

MICHELLE - Songs About You Specifically (Indie/pop)

EVERYTHING EVERYTHING - Mountainhead (Indie Rock)

BONNY LIGHT HORSEMAN - Keep Me On Your Mind / See You Free (Folk)

NXWORRIES - Why Lawd? (Hip/hop)

VINCE STAPLES - Dark Times (Hip/hop)

LAST DINNER PARTY - Prelude to Ecstasy (Indie rock)

THE MARIAS - Submarine (Indie/pop)

GREEN DAY - Saviors

KNOCKED LOOSE - You Won't Go Before You're Supposed To (Hardcore/punk)

REMI WOLF - Big Ideas (Indie Pop)

and some that were pretty close to making the top 10...

Twenty One Pilots - Clancy (???)

Orla Gartland - Everybody Needs a Hero (Indie rock)

ScHoolboy Q - Blue Lips (Hip/Hop)

Frances of Delirium - Lighthouse (Indie rock)

Clairo - Charm (Indie pop)

Amyl and the Sniffers - Cartoon Darkness (punk)

Childish Gambino - Bando Stone and The Real World (Hip/Hop)

Poppy - Negative Spaces (Hardcore/rock)

Cassandra Jenkins - My Light, My Destroyer (Indie/Folk)

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