A Look Back: 2 0 1 2

2012 was believed by dozens to be the end of the world, the year that earth would explode and the sun would come crashing into us and end all of life as we know it or something like that. That didn't actually happen obviously (probably), but it did inspire a great year of pop music... or at least that's the only reasonable explanation. 2012 was one of the best years for pop music and the charts in general. So many great songs this year and lots of variety coming in from different genres and new artists. Like always, there were plenty of terrible songs, but it felt like a lot less this year and the good music seemed to stick around more than the bad from what I can remember. So I'll be listing all my favorite songs and my least favorite songs from 2012 here. But before that here's some songs I wasn't really sure about:

Good?: Jessie J - Domino

This song is really weird. I want to like it because of it's pretty catchy and Jessie J's vocals are pretty fantastic. The problem is I have no idea what she's singing about. I assume it's about love or some kind of relationship, but some of the lyrics just don't make much sense. Lines like "You strum me like a guitar", "You're like a shot of pure gold" and "Take me down like I'm a domino" are a few of the lines from this song that really don't make much sense. Besides that, I think it's an alright song... just really weird. 

Ugh?: Toby Keith - Red Solo Cup

I was gonna put this in the bad song list, but that would mean I have to admit that whatever this is, is actually a song. I guess it's supposed to be funny, but I'm certain that after listening to this "song" I'll never laugh again. 

Uhhh?: Psy -  Gangnam Style

THIS SONG WAS EVERYWHERE and honestly, I didn't hate it. It got old after a while, sure, and it's not the kind of song I'm going to be listening to outside of doing things like this list. It's a catchy song and it knows what it's supposed to be. It takes itself as seriously as you'd expect a song like this to, which is not serious at all. It's fun and dumb and had a very memorable music video with an insane amount of views on YouTube. For that, it will always be remembered but as a song... it's OKAY. 

Meh?: One Direction - What Makes You Beautiful

This was around the start of the One Direction craze of the 2010s. This song was a massive step into getting One Direction into becoming one of the biggest groups in recent memory. This song is okay, not the worst they made or the best. The chorus is insanely catchy and powerful in that pop earworm sort of way. The lyrics are the one thing that keeps this from being good. They are pretty pandering to their younger fanbase and the lyrics aren't specific enough to be talking about anyone in particular so it's easy to put yourself into the song.

alright now here's the actual best/worst list...

Worst: Flo Rida - Whistle

Very clever Mr. Flo Rida, making a song about blowjobs under the "clever" double meaning of blowing whistles. Everyone knows what this song is about, and it was still played everywhere. Flo Rida is the king of commercial pop jingles, cause all his hit songs are featured in commercials. This one I remember being on vacation and cruise ads for families. The funny part is most of the commercials cut out his vocals, probably cause they aren't TV appropriate and also kinda suck. This song is pretty standard Flo Rida. A catchy chorus that gets played everywhere with meaningless verses you can barely understand. The music isn't terrible I guess, but Flo Rida sucks all the joy out of this song with his anti-talent non-personality. 

Best: Gotye - Somebody That I Used to Know

This was the number one song of 2012 and it still doesn't really make sense to me. Not because it's a bad song, because I really like this song. The reason it doesn't make sense is the fact that Gotye kind of came out of nowhere and then disappeared along with his massive hit. It didn't fit in with any of the trends of the year, nor is it a genre you usually expect to get hits from. Still, this song was HUGE and it was everywhere in 2012. It's really interesting musically, with a nice buildup to the chorus. The verses are almost whispered until the chorus where they really take off. The second part features Kimbra, an artist who didn't take off as much as I thought she would, considering how talented she is. Both artists are still around making music, though will probably never find the same success as they found with this song. Gotye still plays for his band The Basics, who might be worth checking out if you were a Gotye fan. 

Worst: Train - Drive By

I think I might have liked this song at one point in my life, which is pretty scary to think about. I'll always love Train's "Drops of Jupiter" despite all its weirdness, it still has enough charm to keep it fun. This song though has all the weirdness of "Drops of Jupiter" with none of the charm. The lyrics somehow make even less sense than a lot of their other songs. The chorus includes the lines "Just a shy guy looking for a two-ply, Hefty bag to hold my love". Pat Monahan's vocals are pretty grating too, not making it any easier to listen to this garbage. This song belongs in a Hefty bag.

Best: Carly Rae Jepsen - Call Me Maybe

My feelings on Carly Rae Jepsen have changed a lot since this song came out. Of course, my feelings on music, in general, have changed a lot these last few years. This song was a joke when it first came out. It's one of those songs that I felt like I wasn't supposed to like because of it's super poppy and cheesy sound. Carly Rae has shown a lot of growth as an artist since this song came out and has some really good songs in her catalog. Coming back to "Call Me Maybe" I can appreciate the fact that she's moved on from this and made a lot of improvements. Still, this song is fun despite all its flaws like the weak lyrics and repetitive music.

Worst: Justin Bieber - Boyfriend

Just a really boring Justin Bieber song. I feel like Justin was trying way too hard to be "Sexyback" era Justin Timberlake in this song and it doesn't work at all. This whole song just feels wrong. Like a little kid trying his best to be the "sexy bad boy", but you know he's way too young to pull it off. The music is also pretty much crap with some weak beats and some light acoustic guitar and whistling noises in the background. 

Best: Imagine Dragons - It's Time

Imagine Dragon's first album was a pretty decent one that showed lots of potential for this group. "It's Time" has some good music behind it and a simple message that can resonate with most people. Imagine Dragons always kind of felt like a rock band for people who are trying to get into rock music. It's easy to listen and get into these early Imagine Dragons songs and maybe it's something for people who aren't into rock music to ease their way into other bands. Sadly, this was the peak for Imagine Dragons in my opinion. With every new release, they have gotten worse and worse musically. Even a decent song like "It's Time" is hard to find in their new albums.

Worst: Tyga - Rack City

Probably the most boring song ever made by the most boring human-like creature that goes by the name Tyga. Here he doesn't even pretend to sound remotely human with all his emotionless babble about having sex with your grandma alongside the usual garbage DJ Mustard production. Tyga's career is one of the saddest parts of modern music charts. How a boring repetitive song like this ever got popular is so baffling and confusing to me. Further proof that it doesn't take talent to be famous.

Best: fun. - We Are Young

Much like Gotye, fun was a band that came and went within a year after their big hit. The difference here is that fun had two pretty big hits before going away (Some Nights being the other one). Just like Gotye, this song felt like it was an outsider in the pop charts because it didn't really sound like a lot of the music on it. This song has was definitely used as every high school graduation song in the year 2012 unless you went to an art school. The song has a nice epic feel while somehow being a pretty chill song at the same time. The lyrics (specifically the chorus) are a bit cliche, but the music gives it a unique feel. It has a nice buildup, gradually increasing in intensity with every verse and chorus. Then the song finally explodes after the second chorus until the final slowdown chorus. It's very catchy and really gets me pumped up to go day drinking and do some stupid shit. Well, I guess I wouldn't go that far. The band Fun is around anymore and this was their last album. The lead singer Nate Ruess went on to find his own fame outside of the group, while Jack went on to focus on his project "Bleachers" and make more great music. 

Worst: Nicki Minaj - Starships

Nicki tried her hand at going full pop singer with her song "Starships". It sort of sounds like a mix of Ke$ha and Flo Rida style pop music and it kinda works at first but doesn't hold up throughout its runtime. The chorus isn't terrible, it has a certain charm to it and it's incredibly catchy in a way that's not too annoying. What is annoying though is when Nicki uses her weird voices during the verses and the really loud music after the chorus is pretty bad too. Nicki tries her best to be relatable to "normal" people in the lyrics, but it's not very convincing. This song could have worked if Nicki stayed away from her weird quirks she was doing back then and the music chilled out a bit. 

Best: Ellie Goulding - Lights

I talked about this song recently so here's what I thought about it to not repeat myself again:

 I've always found Ellie Goulding to be a pretty dull artist, but there was always one song that I enjoyed by her, and that song is Lights. The soft background music backed with the heavy bass works really well, in my opinion, and the build to the louder and stronger chorus is pretty great. The song is about a simple subject, the fear of sleeping in the dark. I find it really cool that Ellie was open enough to write a song about this and be open about this fear, which a lot of people could be embarrassed by. The lights give her comfort and make her feel at home, being surrounded by loved ones. As a pop song, it works really well because it's catchy and the music does a good job at supporting the vocals, lyrics and the theme of the song. 

Special thanks for whoever wrote this gem of a song description on the Genius site. Brilliant. (still funny a few months later).

Worst: Selena Gomez - Love You Like A Love Song (barf)

One of the worst choruses of the decade and it still sounds as stupid as it did back then. "I love you like a love song" might be the dumbest/laziest simile in any pop song ever made. well, I guess Train comparing a one night stand to a drive-by shooting is up there too. Besides that though, this is a really boring song with no redeeming qualities : )

Best: Neon Trees - Everybody Talks (except me, I write)

I suppose this song is about how much people love to gossip about other people. Yet another song indie rock that came out of nowhere and hit pretty big. It's pretty easy to see why though, it's extremely catchy. A poppy beat with a simple, but effective bass to back it up. There's a way to make simplicity in music work well and this is a great example of how to do that. 

Worst: Cher Lloyd - Want U Back (UGH!!!!)

Man, this song really sucks and I kind of like it for some strange reason. Maybe it's the random "UGH!" sounds every 30 seconds, maybe it's just so bad it's good? I really don't know. Either way, this song is obviously about Cher wanting to get back with her ex after seeing him with a new girlfriend even though she's the one who broke up with him. Basically, she only wants him back because he's moved on from her. The vocals aren't good and can actually be pretty annoying at times with all the grunts and the weird delivery of some lines. It's like she's trying really hard to give it some personality, but takes it a little too far. I'd still rather listen to this mess 100 times over listening to "Rack City" once though. It has a strange charm to it that's hypnotizing me and I can't seem to move on. Someone come rescue me, my address is-

Best: Owl City/Carly Rae Jepsen - Good Time

Yes, I have Carly Rae Jepson twice on this list and you know what, I really like her. It's also nice to have Owl City back from last year's charts proving to everyone that he's not a one-hit-wonder. I actually quite like the album this song is from, it's a solid one by Owl City. This is definitely the most pop song on the album, kind feels designed to be a hit. It's another catchy song in the same vane as "We Are Young" by Fun. This one has a lot more energy though and I love the pairing of Owl City and Carly Rae. It's a pop song where the singers actually sound like they are having fun, strangely hard to find sometimes. It has that great Owl City music, with lots of great synths and bass sounds. This song is indeed... a good time. *puts on sunglasses while explosion goes off*

Worst: Rihanna - Birthday Cake

I wanted to include the really awkward/gross version that had Chris Brown as a feature, which was their first collab after the assault. The only one I could find on Spotify was a heavily edited version that pretty much cuts out all of Chris Brown's parts, which is good. This song is still bad on its own, but having that Chris Brown presence while they sing to each other about dirty sex is just really bad. I don't really want to say anything else about this song.

Best: Adele - Set Fire to the Rain

Look it's Adele, we all know how good she is. This song is no different, she kills it. The end?

Worst: Pitbull - Back in Time

How to make a bad song in two steps:

1. Hire Pitbull

2. Refer to number one

This was the main theme to the third Men in Black movie, the last one with Will Smith. It's already disappointing enough that Will Smith himself didn't make the song, but did his replacement have to be Pitbull?! Men in Black 3 was a decent movie that I forget exists, nowhere near as good as the first but definitely better than the second. Compared to Will Smith's kids; Men in Black one is Willow, Men in Black 2 is Jaden and Men in Black 3 is... the other one. 

ANYWAY, this song sucks is what I'm trying to say. It has a really bad dubstep breakdown in the middle that sounds so out of place. The only good thing about this song is hearing Pitbull screaming "NUMBER TWOOOO!".  Yeah, it's a pretty low bar.

Best: Gavin Degraw - Not Over You

Probably one of the best mainstream breakup songs of the decade. It's so honest and relatable and Gavin Degraw really knows how to sell it perfectly. It's all about trying to save face during a hard breakup and trying to play it cool when in reality you are hurting inside trying and haven't moved on yet. The idea that there's still this sliver of hope that things might work out and you could get back together, even though it's probably not ideal or likely. The kind of hope that ends up leaving you with disappointment usually because the feelings aren't being reciprocated anymore. There's a hopeful tone to the song that really works well with the lyrics. This song is just great and it really captures the feelings that its lyrics are about.

THE WORST SONG OF 2012: Maroon 5 - Payphone

I think this was the song where I realized that Maroon 5 was going full pop and were going to stick to trying to write easy hit songs instead of just making good music. Not that hit songs can't be good, cause that's obviously not true. It's just that ever since this song, Maroon 5 have only made lazy pop songs that feature famous rappers. In this one, they feature the mediocre Wiz Khalifa who immediately goes against the theme of the song and just starts bragging about how rich and awesome he is. Not that it really matters cause the song has a dumb theme anyway. Focusing on payphones in an era where payphones aren't really a thing anymore is pretty dumb. It's also not like this song takes place in the past, cause Wiz mentions having a cell phone in his verse. The beginning of the end. 

THE BEST SONG OF 2012: The Lumineers - Ho Hey

I love The Lumineers and honestly forgot how big this song really was. 2012 really was the year of indie music coming out of nowhere into the charts. This song is fantastic though, it's about unrequited love or possibly a failed relationship. The singer is thinking about the love that could have been and the moments they could have shared but ultimately didn't. The song feels simple but has a lot of nice details in the music. The guitar alongside banjo and Tamborine make a nice sound, that folksy quality the Lumineers are known for. It was a great introduction to the band and I've grown to love their music over the years. An easy choice for my favorite charting song of  2012.