2020 Movie Preview

New year, a new decade, 100s of new movies to go watch in the theaters and stream at home. It's honestly so hard to keep up these days with the amount of media we get thrown at us on a weekly basis. With multiple streaming platforms now coming out last year and more coming this year, it's going to be crazy to watch everything that's worth watching. That being said, I still plan to go watch as many interesting movies as possible and still maybe review them here when I have time. I've been sort of off and on with my reviews here, which has hurt my views for my lack of consistency. Still, it's not really the views I do this for mainly, it's just a fun side hobby that I get enjoyment out of. I do appreciate anyone who still reads these though, so thanks for that. I usually do these previews here of movies I plan on watching and am excited for in the coming year. 2020 Looks to be full of lots of interesting new ideas and of course the usual yearly releases of comic book movies, remakes, and sequels that Hollywood craps out every year by the dozens. Here's a look at some interesting/important ones...

I'll try to include some indie movies as well since those usually end up being some of my favorites of the year. The problem is that it's harder to find official release info on the ones coming out later in the year or that are floating around the festivals. Usually those movies I find out about closer to release or after hearing the buzz from early screening and go watch them if they end up coming out around here.

I included links to the movies that have trailers, so click on the movie titles to go check them out if you want. Only the movies that have posters have trailers here.

January

10th - 1917

By the time I post this, I should already have a review up for this movie. All I can say is that this movie looks beautifully shot and I can't wait to stare at it in awe for two hours. The story takes place in WWI of course, where a young soldier is asked to reach a squad of men and warn them of an attack before they are massacred by the enemy. It looks like a gripping and tense movie with lots of great emotional moments. Hopefully, it lives up to the hype.

*This is technically a movie from 2019, but it opens wide in 2020. 

17th - Dolittle

Rober Downey Jr. returns to the big screen in a brand new role... well not entirely brand new. This is the second reboot of the Dolittle character following the Eddie Murphy reboot of the original movie from the 60s. So I guess they find this character profitable enough to bring back every few decades. I'll say this movie actually looks pretty bad and I'm disappointed to see Robert Downey's next project is a CGI filled kids movie. From a marketing standpoint, it makes sense, since kids/families know who he is from the Marvel movies and will likely go see this because of that. I might check this out if it gets good buzz, but for now, I think I'm going to avoid this. 

17th - Bad Boys for Life

I don't know about this one. It's always interesting to see sequels coming out way after the last movie was even relevant. It's been over a decade since the last Bad Boys movie and I didn't really care if we ever saw one again. They are OK movies, with typical Michael Bay action and lame dialog that tries really hard to be funny. Bad Boys were some of Michael Bay's better movies though and Will Smith returning with Martin could make for a fun reunion. It looks like the boys are back for one last job as they team up with newer and younger members to find out who's trying to kill Will Smith's character. 

24th - The Gentleman

The aesthetic here reminds me a lot of the Kingsman movies, but I don't think this is going to be like that. Guy Ritchie has always been hit or miss with me as a director. I can't say I've really hated any of his movies that I've seen, but I also can't say I've loved any of them either. The cast in this movie is very strong and it looks like it has the potential to be a really silly and fun crime movie with some over the top performances. This is one I'll probably be checking out when it's released. 

31st - The Assistant

A movie that looks to be based loosely on the Harvey Weinstein case follows Julia Garner as she plays a new assistant at a New York office. As she spends more time working there she slowly starts to learn of the bad culture and activities that some of the workers take part in and how far up it goes. It looks like a slow-building thriller that's probably going to get pretty dark at times, but it's an important and interesting story to tell. Not sure if this will come out around here, but I'd like to go see it if it does. 

February

7th - Birds of Prey

I really didn't like Suicide Squad, so hearing about this movie's release didn't excite me much. After seeing a little more from the trailer and seeing the great cast they got I think I got a bit of excitement in me. I'm going in skeptical because I really hated the last one, but I think this has a chance to take the few good parts of Suicide Squad and expand on those ideas. Harley Quinn is an interesting enough character and I hope the rest of the cast can bring something good to play off of her insane personality. 

14th - Sonic The Hedgehog

There's a lot of movies coming out this day, but this seems like the most obvious choice to me. After being delayed a few months to completely change the design of the main character (thankfully), they re-released the trailer with the new visuals and it honestly looks a lot better. It's great that they actually listened to fans and all, but that doesn't necessarily mean that this movie is going to be good now. I think it's at least worth a watch to see how they handled everything. 

21st - Call of the Wild

Harrison Ford and a CGI dog set out on an adventure to find the passion Ford once had for filmmaking. I'm not really sure what to think about this movie. On one hand, I'm excited to see Harrison Ford leading a new movie in 2020. On the other hand, I'm not sure this looks like the kind of movie I would've liked to have seen him in. At least it looks a lot better than Dolittle, and I'm sure they'll be plenty of emotionally manipulative moments where the dog will be put in danger... at least it's not a real dog I guess. 

March

6th - Onward

Disney's first big movie of the year, not including their Fox projects, is Pixar's Onward. In this movie, Chris Pratt and Tom Holland voice two elf bros that go on a journey in a fantasy world mixed with modern-day elements to find their father. It sort of has a 70s/80s fantasy feel to it all judging from the trailer. As much as I love fantasy, this movie doesn't look so great judging solely off the trailers. It's Pixar though, so there's always a chance that I could be pleasantly surprised and really love this movie. To be honest, this seems more like something Disney's main animation studio would make and not so much Pixar. The humor and story just feel more like a Frozen or Wreck-it-Ralph style movie, but those movies are good so I guess I'm not too worried. 

The Way Back

Also opening this week is a new Ben Affleck movie where he's a struggling alcoholic trying to get over a loss in his life. He's offered a position as a basketball coach at his old school where he possibly finds motivation and a new passion in life to change things. It's made by the same person who directed Warrior and The Accountant, two movies that I really enjoyed so I want to give this one a watch for sure. 

20th - A Quiet Place Part II

Two years ago, the first movie was a big surprise hit so it was a no brainer to make a sequel. It was a great concept for a movie that was executed very well with many memorable moments of suspense and awe. The movie also had some of the best sound design in a movie that year. It will be interesting to see how they can top the first one and also expand on the world and characters introduced in the first film.

27th - Mulan

The first and possibly only Disney live-action remake of the year? Compared to last year's FIVE remakes (including Lady and the Tramp from Disney+) seems like Disney has opted to spread them out a little more. That's a very good thing because they are already blowing through a lot of their bigger classics with these remakes and at the pace they were going they would have been done in two-three years. I think it's better to just release one (with maybe another on the app) a year and focus all their attention on the single remake. So far these remakes have been more miss than hit in my opinion, with Lion King being the worst one so far. I think out of all of them, this one is the one I'm most optimistic about. The trailer looks stunning and beautiful and looks to change things up enough to make the movie interesting and different from the original animated one. Hopefully, this is more like Aladdin and Jungle Book and less like Beauty and the Beast and Dumbo (in terms of remake quality). 

April

3rd - The New Mutants

A movie that's been delayed to the point that no one thought this would actually be released. It got stuck with last year's Dark Phoenix in the Fox and Disney merger as movies that had to be reshot and reworked a lot after it's initial shooting was all wrapped. Usually, when movies undergo situations like that it's never a good sign for its final quality. There have been exceptions, and I truly hope this is one of them, but if Dark Phoenix is any sort of sign then it's not looking good for this one. Things this one has going for it are a great cast and an interesting genre mix of horror and comic-book movies. There's no telling if this movie was supposed to eventually connect to the other X-Men movies, but since that series is basically dead now that question feels pointless. 

10th - No Time to Die

This might just be my most anticipated big-budget movie of the year right now. Officially declared the last movie starring Daniel Craig as Bond, it looks to be a great sendoff for his and an introduction to new characters that could stick around in future movies. It looks it has all the great things you'd expect from a Bond movie with all the action, romance, gadgets and a weird gimmicky villain. If it follows the recent pattern of Bond movie, where they alternate from being good to bad, then this one should be good. Also, Rami Malek. 

24th - Antebellum 

I have no clue what this is actually about, but it's being promoted as a sort-of follow up to Get Out and Us, which were two really enjoyable movies. The thing is, Jordan Peele doesn't seem to have anything to do with this movie, so it kind of feels like they are trying to trick people into thinking this is by him. Either way, the trailer looks interesting enough... I think.

May

1st - Black Widow

It feels a little late for this, but Black Widow finally gets her own movie. This, of course, being the first Marvel movie of the year out of two (MCU related). This movie takes place between the Civil War and Infinity War movies, where Natasha returns to her home to take care of some loose ends I guess. There we are introduced to some new characters that she teams up with to take on some baddies. Not sure if this is going to tie into future MCU movies, but I'm sure they'll find a way to bring some of these new characters into future movies.

15th - Scoob!

I think it's safe to say that the Scooby-Doo franchise is never gonna go away. That being said, this one doesn't look too bad actually. The animation looks pretty good and the humor looks like it could actually be pretty good and clever like The Lego Movie was. Not the kind of movie I'd go rush out and see, but if I hear good things I might give it a shot. The movie looks to tell the story of how The Mystery Gang meets, more specifically the friendship between Scooby and Shaggy.  

22nd - Fast and Furious 9

Speaking of franchises that never die, here's Vin Diesel the series. Out of all the franchises that are still going, this one seems to be the one that just keeps losing steam after every new movie. I'm not really sure where else they could go with this, and I don't think the writers do either, which makes me even less excited to go watch this one. But hey, they added John Cena as a villain so there's that? I'd bet a lot of money he turns good and joins the Vin Diesel FAMILY by the end of this one. But hey, sometimes a little mindless fun is good. 

29th - Artemis Fowl

Based on a book that was popular when I was in middle school is the new Disney movie Artemis Fowl. It certainly seems like it's a little late for a movie based on this book, but maybe the books have remained popular over time. I can't say I'm very excited, especially since the last time Disney tried to adapt a popular book it was one of the worst movies of that year (Wrinkle in Time). Looking at the trailer, this might be a good movie for much younger audiences, because I don't really have much interest in it. The world looks interesting enough, but maybe a little too similar to other YA stories recently adapted like Hunger Games and Percy Jackson. 

June

5th - Wonder Woman 1984

The DC movie-verse has been on the upswing this last year and a half, and it looks to continue rising with the new Wonder Woman movie. This movie is about... something in the 80s. It does look like it's going to introduce two major characters/villains in The Cheetah and Max Lord, what their role is going to be is TBD. One of the more interesting aspects of the film though is the return of Chris Pine, who apparently didn't die in the last movie? It will be interesting to see him and Diana change roles, as this time he is the one who is out of place in this time period. 

19th - Soul

Now THIS looks like a Pixar film. Right away the animation looks mind-blowingly good and highly detailed, but still stylized. Not much is known about the story yet, but it looks like it's going to be possibly about death (go figure) and human passion. The story focuses on a Jazz musician who apparently dies or goes into a coma of some sort and becomes a floating soul. There he meets other souls that will help him find his passion again and probably learn about what it means to be alive and follow your dream (kind of guessing here). Tears are inevitable and so is that warm feeling in your heart. 

26th - Top Gun Maverick

I don't really have much of a connection to the original movie, so I'm not as excited as others seem to be for this one. Tom Cruise and some of the other originals are back along with some new faces in this movie about pilots. Actually, the visuals do look really interesting and some of the shots of the flying sequences look great, along with Tom Cruise putting his life on the line to get some great shots. This could end up being a great movie.

July

3rd - Free Guy

Ryan Renolds returns with a brand new action-comedy movie where it looks like he's a character in a video game. Judging from the trailer it looks like maybe he's an NPC in a video game that decides he wants to be the hero instead of being a nothing character in a world of crazy violence and action. The idea is an interesting one, though movies that revolve around video game concepts don't have the best track record. The trailer looks interesting enough, definitely worth checking out in the summertime. At the moment I'd say this movie will probably be a good time, but not something I'll love. There's always a chance for a nice surprise though. 

There's also a Minions sequel that's supposed to drop this week, but it doesn't have much info yet. It's supposed to take place before the first Despicable Me where the minions meet Gru. Please stop making these movies. 

10th - Ghostbusters: Afterlife

The last Ghostbusters movie was a huge mess, though I still think it made a decent amount of money. The problem was the budget was so high that it still ended up as an overall loss of money. So that means Sony has to try something different and instead, make the thing that fans of the franchise wanted to begin with (sort of), a sequel to the originals. This isn't exactly what fans probably had in mind for a sequel since it doesn't revolve around the original cast. Instead, it takes place in the same timeline and follows new characters that are much younger and Paul Rudd. This could be good, the cast looks good and the idea is interesting, but the tone looks much different than the originals so far. Pretty excited to see how it turns out. 

17th - Tenet

Movie lovers rejoice for a new Nolan movie is coming this year! Nolan returns with a new mind-bending action movie that plays with the rules of time, kind of like a new Inception-style landscape. I have more questions than answers after the first trailer, but all I can say is that I'm expecting something pretty crazy and memorable, as you would from Nolan at this point.

There's also a Bob's Burgers movie set to release this week, but I couldn't find anything other than the release date. It's possible that it could be a prequel to the show of sorts, but there's no info on anything I could find. The only confirmed detail is that it's gonna be a musical, which totally makes sense for the show honestly. 

24th - Jungle Cruise

Disney has had a bit of a bad track record with these Disney rides becoming movies thing they do every so often. The Pirates franchise was a huge success for them in the 2000s and of course, it makes sense to try to replicate that in new franchises. Haunted Mansion and Tomorrowland (not technically a ride, but area) were two misses that didn't come close to hitting the success of Pirates. Jungle Cruise is an idea that's been in the works for a movie for years now, and I believe The Rock was very interested in this for a long time. Now it's finally coming out and it looks... alright? The cast is a good one and of course, the special effects are going to be top-notch because it's Disney. Still, this could be another big flop and possibly the last time Disney tries to do this kind of thing, at least in theaters. 

The second half of the year

At this point, most of the movies announced have little to no information outside of possible release dates. So I'll just jump around and pick the ones that have some buzz or look interesting. 

Aug 21st - Bill and Ted Face the Music

The last Bill and Ted movie came out in 1991, so it's going to be close to thirty years later that this sequel takes place. Bill and Ted are dads now and they still suck at making music I assume, but they will most likely go on a time-travel adventure. That's all I know. Keanu Reeves is coming off his biggest year in 2019 after becoming everyone's favorite human, so that should bring a lot of attention to this. 

Sep 18th - The King's Man

One of the few second-half of the year movies that actually has a trailer already. If a franchise becomes popular, there usually comes a prequel not too far from the originals. This one travels back to World War I to see the creating of the Kingsmen that we know from the first two movies. A brand new cast with lots of great actors replace the characters from the first movies, but it still looks like a crazy action-packed movie with strange villains and over-the-top fights. 

Sep 25th - Last Night in Soho

Edgar Wright finally returns with a new horror movie Last Night in Soho. Not much else is known except some of it's cast like Ana-Taylor Joy, Matt Smith and Thomasin Mckenzie. It's also interesting to know that this will be a time-travel movie set in 1960s London. Edgar Wright is one of my favorite film-makers so I'm very excited to see this one. 

Oct 2nd - Venooooooom 2

Less Eminem this time, please. The follow-up to the successful Venom brings back the cast from the original with some new faces thrown in. Most likely, it will take place soon after the first and introduce Woody Harrelson's character teased last time. Most likely, it will be a Venom takes on Carnage story without Spider-Man, but who knows, maybe he'll make an appearance?

Oct 16th - Halloween Kills

The second in the final trilogy for the Halloween series (until they reboot it). The first one in 2018 was a big hit and I doubt this one will be any different. Though I guess knowing there's one more coming after this one maybe takes some of the suspense away, but I'm sure that won't affect the story much. 

Nov 6th - The Eternals

The other big MCU movie of the year. An all-star cast will play the immortal heroes including Salma Hayek, Jolie, Kit Harrington and Richard Madden (GoT alumni) and a few others. I'm not too familiar with the comics so I'm not sure what this is going to be or how it's going to be connected to the rest of the MCU. It's still exciting to see a lot of great actors join the MCU, though at this point most of Hollywood will be part of some comic book universe franchise. 

Nov 20th - Godzilla VS Kong

The fourth movie in the Gozilla and Kong franchise is the one where both will clash head to head and destroy an entire city no doubt. The franchise hasn't been the best in terms of quality, most of the movies have been fine, but nothing I really found myself connecting to. I can't say I'm super excited to see two giant CGI monsters I don't care too much about fight each other, but it could still be pretty great as a spectacle. As long as they focus more on the monsters and not try to give us a bunch of human drama with weak characters. 

Thanksgiving - Raya and the Last Dragon

Disney continues its trend of releasing it's animated movies on Thanksgiving with the new movie Raya and the Last Dragon. The movie is about a warrior voiced by Cassie Steele who goes on a journey to search for the last living dragon, who is voiced by Awkwafina. The setting is inspired by Southeast Asian landscapes from places like Thailand and Indonesia. 

December

A couple of movies are slated for December release, but still not 100%. We got another take on the Sci-fi classic "Dune" that could be coming out this month, but at this point who knows. There's also Steven Spielberg's remake of West Side Story that could hit in December, so that's a pretty big name there. Eddie Murphy's sequel to Coming to America is also slated for this month, but again, who knows if it's official. A couple of animated family movies are coming out around Christmas too, this time it's a sequel to Dreamwork's The Croods (because we've been wanting one of those?) and a Tom and Jerry movie. 

That's basically most of the big movies that are announced for 2020. There's definitely going to be a lot more (like Sony/Marvel's Morbius that I forgot to put on the list) and there are always tons of good indie movies that come in from the Festivals and smaller studios. Let's also not forget the 30+ streaming platforms like Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon that are going to release their own movies exclusively on their platforms. 

Much like the past few years, there's gonna be a lot of comic book movies, sequels, and remakes that dominate the box-office this year, so don't forget to go check out some original films and support indie filmmakers so that we can keep getting more original ideas on the big-screen/streaming. 

1917

1917 is the latest film by long-time director Sam Mendes (Skyfall, American Beauty) and it's set in a WWI battle-torn France. The movie follows two young British soldiers, Blake and Schofield, that are tasked with a special mission from the General. The mission is to deliver a message and stop about 1,600 fellow soldiers from attacking the fleeing Germans the next morning. The Germans have been planning this false retreat to lure the British soldiers into a death trap. So the two young soldiers are forced to cross through battlefields and enemy territory to save those 1,600 soldiers before the morning comes and they set out to battle, one of those 1,600 soldiers being Blake's older brother. 

The movie starts off in the first 10-15 minutes explaining the situation and setting up the journey the two young men are about to set off on. Right after that, the tension starts off high right away as the movie shows you to the horrors that come with war and the constant fear soldiers face in the battlefields and warzones. Once the tension starts it doesn't go away for the rest of the movie as the two main characters go across different parts of war-torn France. This is all executed masterfully with the mix of great acting, locations, cinematography and epic score. I really felt the fear in the actors as they crossed dangerous territories, and the movie did a good job of making the danger feel real for these characters. It doesn't take long for you to care about the two main characters as the actors do a great job even without a ton of dialog at getting you to connect with them. The fact that you care about them and the importance of their mission are what make the movie work. If you don't care about the characters than the danger they are put in is a lot less effective and dramatic. I was rooting for their success because I cared about the two characters and their mission. 

There's a sequence towards the end of the movie that completely blew me away. It wasn't even anything crazy, but it was the first part of the movie that took place at night. The music was so powerful along with the shots of a war-torn town. The lighting was used so brilliantly and it made the whole scene somehow incredibly beautiful and scary at the same time. It was one of the best things I've seen in a film in a long time. Every bit of this movie was like that though, it was visually stunning and presented War in a really intense and scary way. 

This is the kind of movie that makes for a great theater experience and deserves to be seen on the biggest screen possible. For the two hour run-time, it keeps you on your toes and invested in the story and characters. Thanks to great performances by everyone involved and a lot of attention to detail by the filmmakers, this is one of the best movies I've seen in a while. Definitely go check it out. 

Uncut Gems / Adam Sandler's Worst Movies

Growing up in the 90s, Adam Sandler was a name I knew very well. I grew up watching a lot of his earlier movies and really enjoyed them at the time they were released. Movies like The Waterboy, Big Daddy, Mr. Deeds, and Billy Madison were movies I watched over and over again when I was younger because I thought they were hilarious. Looking back now that I'm older and time has passed, a lot of those movies aren't as funny as I remember them being, some of them actually being pretty terrible. A lot of people say Adam Sandler used to be really funny back in the 90s and his movies were really good, but a lot of those people haven't gone back to watch them and see how they haven't really held up. Recently Adam Sandler starred in a movie critics are raving about and are calling Adam Sandler's performance "legendary". I figured before I review this new movie of his and see if his performance really is as good as they say, I'd go back and look at some of his worst performances ever in some of the worst comedy movies ever made. So here's the list of my five worst Adam Sandler movies in all of their glory.

5. PIXELS

Pixels was the last big movie released theatrically by Sandler's production company Happy Madison. Shortly after this movie's release, Sandler entered into his big contract with Netflix and stayed out of the theaters since then (thankfully). This movie was loosely based on a short film by Patrick Jean where iconic arcade games came to life to destroy a city. In this movie, the same basic concept happens, except we have to put up with Adam Sandler the whole time. Adam Sandler plays an old loser who once almost won an arcade tournament when he was young. In this universe, Kevin James is the president and he asks for Sandler's help when arcade game characters come from space and start destroying cities around the world. Adam Sandler doesn't even really try in this movie and it's obvious. Some of the actors around him are trying to do something with the terrible script, mainly Josh Gad and Peter Dinklage, but it's not enough to make this movie worth watching. The only good thing here is the special effects, but even that's not enough to make this movie interesting. The idea of the movie sounds like it could have been fun, but they just waste it with a terrible unfunny script and bad performances. 

4. Eight Crazy Nights

The thing that sucks the most about this movie is how beautifully done the animation is on such a terrible movie. The movie mostly consists of Adam Sandler doing annoying voice-over work and lots and LOTS of poop/fart/piss jokes. The idea of making a good animated movie for Hanukkah is cool, but this doesn't do anything with that idea. The movie isn't even about Hanukkah at all, so the title of the movie is really misleading. The main character in the movie is incredibly unlikeable, which is done on purpose at first. The problem is when he finally has the turn at the end of the movie, it doesn't really make much sense since it's rushed and doesn't feel earned. He's a giant asshole the entire movie only to turn good in like the last few minutes for no reason at all. 

3. Jack and Jill

Adam Sandler dresses up as a lady and does a high pitched voice. That followed by a bunch of poop, fart and race jokes and you have the movie, Jack and Jill. There's also this really weird part of the movie that's just a giant commercial for Royal Caribbean Cruises and feels not only at a place but so obvious as a dumb way for the movie to make money off of advertising. Actually, there's a lot of advertisements in the movie that they don't really try very hard to make subtle. Coca Cola, Dunkin Donuts, Royal Carribean and Sony products are all blatantly shown off to the camera. People like to hate on Adam Sandler, especially in his later years, for setting his movies in tropical locations as a way to take a vacation with his friends while filming movies. Most of the time the settings for the movies don't really feel that important to the plot, so I get why people feel that way. It's really bad here when it feels like a completely out of place advertisement for a cruise line. The only slightly decent part is Al Pacino's weird performance because he's Al Pacino and what the hell is he doing in this movie. 

2. Grown Ups 2

This movie starts with a deer pissing on Sandler and ends with Sandler burping, farting and sneezing at the same time. 5 stars.

Okay, but actually this movie is about as pointless as a movie can get. Everyone here is phoning it in and it's obvious. It sucks to see some talented funny people like Chris Rock and Maya Rudolph in this movie do absolutely nothing. Nick Swardson and Kevin James are possibly the two worst comedy actors of all time and they are the worst part of this terrible movie. Nothing in this movie feels like it's saying anything about life or growing up or having a family. It's got no real plot and it's basically just a bunch of joke scenes randomly put together to make a 101-minute movie, which is just about the amount of time a theatrical movie has to be. None of the characters are likable and none of the jokes really land. Usually, Adam Sandler movies have at least one actor who seems to be trying in it like Josh Gad was in Pixels or Steve Buscemi in his older movies, but this one has NONE. 

1. That's My Boy

This movie is gross. It makes fun of statutory rape and incest in a really disgusting way that's not at all funny or interesting. Adam Sandler gives his worst performance here, and that's saying something considering all the bad movies he's been making for the past two decades. The problem here is that his sense of humor, or at least the writer's sense of humor is awful. The weird thing is that the writer of this movie also created one of my favorite comedy shows called Happy Endings that was still on air when this movie was released. It's strange how the same writer who worked on a show with lots of clever jokes and lovable characters made one of the worst unfunny movies ever. Of course, this is also a Happy Madison production, so there's a good chance they had their hands all over the script for this movie. One thing I'm happy about is that this movie didn't ruin Andy Samber's career because he is way more talented than this movie showed and honestly, so is Adam Sandler when he actually tries and isn't making movies under his own production company. Which leads me to his latest performance...

Uncut Gems

Uncut Gems is the latest movie by the Safdie brothers, who previously made the really good movie "Good Time". This time they teamed up with Adam Sandler, who they desperately wanted for this part in a movie they've been trying to make for over a decade. The movie follows Adam Sandler's character named Howard Ratner, who owns a jewelry store in New York City. Howard is quickly introduced as a fast-talking man who can talk his way out of any situation and is very charismatic. He's always looking for the next thing to sell or bet on to make more money, and it seems like he loves the rush of betting and working deals with big customers. As the movie moves at a quick pace, you wonder if Howard can keep up with all his deals and bets because as a viewer I felt like I could barely keep up myself. 

Right of the bat the movie starts at a fast pace and barely slows down throughout its run-time. You follow Adam Sandler's character as he's making deals and placing bets and making the wrong enemies and it all starts to build anxiety in me as a viewer. It's an uncomfortable feeling that doesn't go away until the very end of the movie. Adam Sandler's performance really drives this movie, with his great fast-talking character that's constantly running around and getting into new situations that add more anxiety to the viewer. The rest of the cast are all top-notch as well, especially this newcomer Julia Fox, who plays Sandler's girlfriend. She does such a great job at playing off of Sandler's fast-talking character and using that against him in some ways. All the characters just feel so real and are very well written. The dialog is fantastic and it's what makes this movie so believable and the characters so enjoyable. 

The film is shot amazingly too, really adding to the anxiety the story is giving the audience. Especially later in the movie where certain things happen to up the stakes, it really helps amp up the tension with specific camera shots and of course the movie score. I find it hard to really find anything wrong with this movie, though maybe with a rewatch I'd notice more things. The thing is, the movie does a good job of keeping you interested I didn't really notice a lot of flaws. Maybe that's because the movie doesn't really have many. The one thing I'd say is maybe bad about this movie is that I don't really want to rewatch this movie anytime soon because of the amount of anxiety it gave me, almost feeling uncomfortable at times. Of course, that was exactly what the movie was going for and it did it masterfully. 

This is one of those movies I think is a must-watch. The performances are all really great, the movie is fast-paced and really keeps you interested in the story the entire run-time and it's just different from anything I've seen recently. One of the best movies of the year (2019) for sure. It also shows that when Adam Sandler is working with people that actually care about their movies, he can actually give a great performance. Movies like this one, Punch-Drunk Love and Meyerowitz Stories prove that. 

Rise of Skywalker Spoiler Review

Back in 2015, a new Star Wars trilogy was started by the big corporation: Disney. This was to be the final three chapters of the Skywalker story that started all the way back in 1977. The characters we all loved back in the day were all coming back to reprise their roles and pass the baton off to new young actors and also try to bring back quality to the Star Wars after the critical failure that was the prequels. The Force Awakens was a nice welcome back to the universe. It played it safe for the big return and it got fans excited again to see the familiar characters and the interesting new ones. The introduction of Rey, Finn, Poe, and Kylo was a success. Then came The Last Jedi, a movie that split many fans of the franchise in half. Some hated it, some loved it. The Last Jedi took a lot more risks and twist and turns on the franchise and it tried some new things out, which pleased some fans and angered the others. Personally, I thought it was an OKAY movie, I liked some of its ideas but now with everything wrapped up it feels a lot less important in the trilogy. This leads us to the Grand Finale... (warning: Spoilers for the new movie are going to be on here!!!!!!!!!!!!!).

Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker

Rise of Skywalker picks up several months to maybe a year after The Last Jedi, where the Resistance is picking up the pieces and trying to find a way to finally put an end to the First Order and Kylo Ren. The movie quickly re-introduces us to the main villain in Palpatine, who apparently didn't die all those years ago at the Death Star for some reason. His plan is to recruit Kylo Ren to bring him Rey so he can turn her to the dark side and he can once again start to rebuild the sith. The idea of bringing back Palpatine felt pretty unnecessary to me, although it was nice to see him and his crazy over-the-top performance again. It just felt like it was thrown in just to have another connection to the original movies everyone loves. The previous movies didn't feel like they were building up towards this reveal, so it just felt like it came out of nowhere and it didn't make as much sense as they probably thought it would. 

Later on, in the movie, it's revealed that Rey is actually a descendant of Palpatine, his granddaughter to be specific. This goes against the idea established in The Last Jedi that Rey's parents aren't important people. It makes the message of that movie weaker because it felt like it was trying to say something interesting in that you don't need to be a Skywalker or a Solo to be a hero. Not every hero in Star Wars has to be connected to a bloodline that is well-known in the franchise to be a Jedi, but that's apparently untrue since it turns out Rey was a Palpatine all along. 

It also turns out that Palpatine was behind the First Order from the start and that he created Supreme Leader Snoke in his weird lab, so Snoke was actually just Palpatine all along. It feels like that was just thrown in to put some meaning behind Snoke since he died in The Last Jedi before we really learned anything about him. It just doesn't feel like the story here was fully thought out and a lot of the story elements in this movie were put in to "fix" some of the plot points from The Last Jedi. This happens quite a bit in the movie actually.

Some things that happen in Rise of Skywalker that feel like they were just put in to try and fix or go against The Last Jedi:

- Rey actually being a Palpatine

- Snoke being a clone created by Palpatine

- Rose Rico and Finn's relationship being completely ignored

- Luke stopping Rey from throwing away her lightsaber

- Killing off General Hux pretty quickly and establishing General Pryde

Another annoying part of the movie was the whole dagger storyline. A good chunk of the movie revolved around getting this rare sith dagger that would help them find Palpatine's location with its inscription. There's a lot of coincidences that happen in order for them to even find this dagger. First, they randomly find Lando on a desert planet, then they get in a random speeder chase with troopers where they crash land onto some sort of quicksand. Inside the quicksand is a bunch of tunnels where they randomly find the dagger they were looking for. Towards the end of the movie, Rey finds a random hidden compass inside the dagger that just happens to show the location of Palpatine on the Death Star wreckage near Endor. It all just feels... a little too lucky? 

The movie also does this thing where it pretends to kill important characters and then brings them back to life or reveal it was fake all along later. It does this with Chewbacca, Kylo, Zori Bliss and C-3PO. It's like they are trying to get emotions out of the audience by pretending to kill off important characters you love only to bring them back. Plus it takes away from Kylo's actual death later on at the ending of the movie when you already thought he was going to die once when he was stabbed. 

It also feels like the movie doesn't really know what to do with Finn as a character. Since they completely erase his relationship with Rose from the last movie, we don't get to see what happens between them and if Finn actually feels anything for her. Much later in the movie, they do give him a new interesting character he connects with, a woman he also abandoned the First Order like Finn did in the first movie. This relationship sadly doesn't go much further than just them bonding over the fact that they both were forced to join the First Order when they were young. At the end of the movie, they just randomly stick her in a scene with Lando that doesn't go anywhere and feels a little too random. 

To talk about some things I did like though, the cast really brings it in this movie like they have in the previous entries. I really like the 4 main actors (Rey, Finn, Poe, Kylo) and I hope to see them more in the future, not just in Star Wars. They have great chemistry with each other and play off each other very well. I think this was the best of Poe we got in this trilogy, his character felt like it was handled well and I had a lot of fun watching him. Poe and Finn's relationship is the most fun one and seeing them on-screen together is always really good. This was also the first time we really got to see Rey and Poe do a lot together and it was also really good the way they played off each other. 

Something I wasn't too sure about that turned out to be really nice was how the movie handled Leia's character. I think they used her character well and did great with what little they had to work with. The only strange part was her death were they kind of just put a blanket over her entire body for the last part of her performance as she lay on a bed. It's understandable though because there was only so much they could have done. 

The best scene in the movie is actually the most surprising scene too. Han Solo makes a nice final return to have a really well done emotional moment with his son Kylo. Kylo declares himself once again to be Ben Solo and it's honestly really well done and Harrison Ford really brought it. 

The action in the movie is still pretty fun even if it sometimes doesn't make a lot of sense, like the weird final battle sequence where they are trying to destroy some kind of navigation system to prevent an entire fleet of star destroyers from being able to go destroy the galaxy. Along with some of the best visual effects you can find in a movie (this is Disney and Star Wars so that's not surprising). AND of course, there's the amazing score by John Williams that always deserves to be praised. 

Rise of Skywalker was probably never going to make every Star Wars fan happy, especially after The Last Jedi divided a lot of them. Its options seemed to be to either go along with the changes that The Last Jedi brought to the story or try to fix them somehow in two and a half hours. The movie seemed to mostly try to ignore a lot of what happened in the last movie or try to fix it by adding a new twist or new plot. I think by doing that it made the whole trilogy feel very uneven. It feels like nothing was really fully planned out from the beginning to the end of the trilogy and it was all made up as each movie was made. It could have worked out, but the problem was that this last movie tries too hard to pretend a lot of what The Last Jedi was setting up didn't matter. It also introduces a lot of new ideas that don't get a full payoff. Ideas like Finn maybe being able to control the force and also Finn never really tell Rey the thing that he tries the whole movie to tell her. They also introduce new characters like Zori and Jannah that don't really get to do much and ignore already established characters like Rose. 

Despite all of this, I still enjoyed watching the movie for the most part. It was hard to ignore its flaws and for that reason, I don't really see myself coming back to this movie very often. The only reason to return is to see Rey, Finn, Poe, and Kylo because they are the only reason this new trilogy worked at all. Their performances and chemistry kept this trilogy from being a total mess, even though it was still a mess. It's a trilogy that had a ton of potential after the first movie, but in my opinion, it fell apart with the next two movies. I think many people will still enjoy this movie and I know a lot of people really liked it. I thought it was okay and it had enough good in it to entertain me for most of its run-time. In the end, it's just disappointing to see this new trilogy end in on a low note without bringing much excitement to what's in store next for the Star Wars movies. I think there's still plenty of great stories that can be told in this universe, The Mandalorian and Fallen Order have recently proven that to be true.  

Best/Worst Songs of 2019

We're just a month away from the end of the year and also the end of the decade (at least when I started writing this). Yeah, the decade went by pretty fast and this year went by even faster. Music is often categorized by decades and over time we like to look back and see what kind of music defined the decade. We make fun of the terrible music people used to like back in the day or argue that music hasn't been great since the '90s or '80s or whatever decade you grew up in. I think there can be an argument made for every decade and why it could be considered the best. Maybe that's a good idea for another day, writing an argument as to why each decade could be considered the best of all time musically. But today I just want to make a list of the best and worst songs of the last year of this decade. I do have to say it might be hard for me to argue the 2010s as the best decade for music though. 2019 was a pretty forgettable year for pop music. Most of the songs that were popular and on the charts this year were just boring and not really worth talking about. Looking through a lot of the popular songs of the year when trying to make this list, it was hard to really choose anything I really hated or loved. Thankfully I think it was at least an improvement on last year and outside of the pop charts music was actually pretty great. So I'm going to rank the top 10 worst and best songs of the year. It's going to be in order from bad to worst and good to best (if that makes any sense?).

Honorable Mentions for Bad Songs:

- Con Calma by Daddy Yankee / Katy Perry: A very strange sample of an old 90s hit "Informant" by Canadian artist Snow. A typical club song about sex or something where Katy Perry pretends to be attracted to Daddy Yankee and he tries his best to make sense but fails. It's still surprising that this guy keeps getting hits after a decade of doing the same exact thing over and over and rarely trying anything new. Why is Katy Perry even in this song? 

-The Git Up by Blanco Brown: Whenever a song gets huge there's always bound to be people who try to steal its style to make a quick hit off the popular song's success. In this case, Blanco Brown saw how huge the song "Old Town Road" was in the year 2019 and decided to try to cash in on the hip-hop with a bit of country trend. This is a really lazy song that sounds like it was made in a couple of hours and thrown out in a single to get as much airplay as possible off of "Old Town Road" and all the popularity around it. 

- Knockin' Boots by Luke Bryan: It's a song that refers to sex as "knockin' boots". Haha, get it? Because of people that like country music like wearing boots! Maybe I should make a hipster version of this song and call it "Knockin' TOMS". Get it? Because of hipsters usually wea---

-Wow. by Post Malone: Maybe I'll never understand Post Malone's music. To me, it's just boring and lifeless with nothing interesting to say. It's actually strange how two of the biggest artists of the decade in Post Malone and Drake both seem to make such boring and lifeless music and people just keep eating it up. The sad part is I know both artists are capable of making good songs because both have made some pretty great songs in the past. 

Bad Song 10: Closed on Sunday by Kanye West

Honestly, this one made the list for pretty much one reason:

"Closed on Sunday, you're my Chick-fil-a. You're my number one, with the lemonade"

Seriously, who gets a lemonade with the number one from Chick-fil-a? They put way too much sugar in that crap.

Joking aside, Just a really weird line in a song that's not actually that bad. It just feels completely out of place with the rest of the song to throw in a weird commercial for a fast-food franchise in a song that's supposed to be a worship song. It also doesn't make any sense. Who is he referring to when saying they are closed on Sunday? Is it God? That doesn't really make much sense.

Anyway, it's just a really bad line that completely takes away from what could have been an interesting song. Kanye has always had a strange sense of humor so maybe this is just a dumb dad joke he decided to include in the song, but that doesn't really make it any better. 

Good Song 10: Old Town Road by Lil Nas X (Ft. Billy Ray Cyrus)

Yeah, this song was everywhere for a few months and it felt inescapable. The fact that I still enjoy this song for what it is and am still not bothered by it shows that this song is actually a good song. Normally a song with this much overplay can start to annoy me, but this one hasn't gotten to that point yet, though I'm sure some people won't agree with that. As I've written before, this song is very catchy and feels completely different than anything else on the charts this year. That's why his follow-up was so disappointing, it felt very unoriginal and boring. While I don't love this song, I completely understand why it got the attention it did and I think it deserved it.

Bad Song 9: Sweet But Psycho by Ava Max

You ever listen to a new song and immediately hate it? Yeah, that was this song for me. There's something just very annoying about this song that makes it hard to listen to. The melody used in the chorus is so annoying and the lyrics don't help either. I've never heard of Ava Max before, but she's not very impressive. Her two big hits sound very similar to each other actually, but this one is slightly worse. The music in the song is very generic pop sounds that don't really add anything to an already boring song. I'd probably forget this song even exists in a couple hours if it wasn't annoyingly constantly used on Tinder profiles.

Good Song 9: Bury a Friend by Billie Eilish   

If Myspace were still a thing, this song would definitely by every high school girl's profile song. That being said, this song is still pretty great. Most people didn't know the name Billie Eilish until this song came out of nowhere and started gaining traction. Who knew that this would lead to the creation of a new mega-star who would go on to dominate the year. Billie was exactly what the mainstream music world needed in 2019, something fresh and different. While I can't say I love this song, I really appreciate it for bringing something new to the airwaves. Of course, lots of copycats are going to try to use this style now to make a quick profit, but that's what happens to all great new artists. The song has a dark mood to it that's basically become Billie's signature sound, at least for her big album this year. It will be interesting where she goes from here. 

Bad Song 8: I Don't Care by Ed Sheeran & Justin Bieber

The last time these two teamed up, they made the biggest song of 2016 in "Love Yourself". This time they made one of the most forgettable songs in "I Don't Care". This was still the 16th biggest song of the year, but that's still pretty surprising considering the star power in this song. The problem is that the song is so boring that I think even the biggest fans of these two weren't very impressed. As every reviewer will probably say, the problem with this song is that they truly sound like they don't care. As if this song isn't even worth making, and they are just doing it because it's a guaranteed hit since they are two of pop music's favorite men... okay, boys. Maybe next time they'll actually make something that feels like some work was put into it. 

Good Song 8: Juice by Lizzo

This definitely sounds like something Bruno Mars and Mark Ronson would have made a few years ago. I'm honestly surprised this song wasn't a bigger hit, cause it's pretty damn great. I honestly wonder if it had been released by Bruno Mars would it have been a bigger hit? Probably. The lyrics wouldn't make as much sense coming from Bruno though. 

I love the music though, it's got a cool 70s/80s pop vibe to it with some really great bass. Lizzo has all the charm to make a song like this work and her vocal ability always shines. 2019 was a big year for Lizzo, who seems to be the exact opposite of Billie Eilish in her musical persona. There will always be space for some fun pop personalities like Lizzo's on the charts and I'm glad to see it there.

Bad Song 7: Harleys in Hawaii by Katy Perry

Oh, Katy, what are you doing? After her last album being a huge letdown for her with no big hits, Katy made a comeback in 2019. So far, it hasn't been a very good comeback. She's released a couple of new singles that are probably leading to a new album in 2020. None of those singles have made much traction in the charts and none of them were even close to reaching the top of the charts. "Harleys in Hawaii" was the worst of them all, not even getting in the hot 100 for one week.

The song is the kind of thing that Katy Perry just doesn't do very well in my opinion. Katy is at her best when she's belting out or at least having fun in songs like "Firework" and "California Gurls", not boring songs like this were she's barely singing along to some mediocre music. Also, if you're going to have a song that takes place in Hawaii, would it kill you to make it a little more tropical and fun... maybe that's too obvious?  

Good Song 7: Cruel Summer by Taylor Swift

Taylor's new album was pretty hit or miss overall, but it did have this gem of a song early on in the album. This feels like the perfect Taylor Swift song, and it also sounds like something that could have been on her "1989" album which is good. Taylor usually feels at her best when she's singing about real relationships and being more honest about them and her feelings. This song works in that way and the music is simple but works well with Taylor's voice in this case. Overall it's a very catchy song that's short and sweet that I can listen to over and over without getting tired of... yet? 

Bad Song 6: High Hopes by Panic! at the Disco

I've always been a fan of Panic! at the Disco's music, especially the early years of their discography but this song just really sucks along with the album it came from. It's a very loud and irritating song that I wish it would just chill out a bit and stop screaming in my ear. Bradon's vocals are very grating in this song, and the production just sounds very ugly and overdone. I seriously have to turn the volume down a significant amount when listening to this song or my head will start to hurt. Brandon's vocals are usually pretty good to great and I don't think he's really the main problem with the song. The problem is all in the production and the music. It makes what would have been a mediocre song even worse. 

Good Song 6: Shallow by Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper

I've talked a lot about this song in previous posts, so I'll keep it short to not repeat myself too much. This song is a great moment for the movie and it works as a song on its own outside of the movie. I think listening to the song outside of the movie is a lot less impactful of course because the moment this song takes place is a big moment full of emotion. Still a great song outside of the movie and I think it's worthy of the praise it gets.

Bad Song 5: Earth by Lil Dicky (Feat. Tons of celebrity cameos)

This is supposed to be a comedy song that's also a call to action for us to take better care of our planet. While the message of taking care of our planet Earth is one worthy of being promoted, this song doesn't really do a good job at it. Throughout time there's been a lot of songs like this where a lot of famous singers come together to promote a good cause. The most famous example of that is "We are the World" from back in the 80s, and that song was also pretty awful. This song (Earth) features lots of famous singers and pop stars vocals as they all pretend to be different animals on Earth and say gross things. It's basically just one joke throughout the entire song that's not actually funny. 

"I'm a Baboon, but I sound like Justin Bieber"

"I'm a Zebra, but I sound like Ariana Grande"

"I'm a Koala, but I sound like Ed Sheeran"

That's the joke. And it goes on for almost five minutes repeating that over and over again. The only funny one is Kevin Hart pretending to be Kanye West, but that's only because Lil Dicky couldn't get the real Kanye West to play himself. So yeah, I'll save you time and tell you that YES, it is important that we take care of our Earth while we still have time. Now you don't have to listen to this song. 

Good Song 5: Watermelon Sugar by Harry Styles

When I first heard this song I thought it would be going on my worst list for this year, but something strange happened. I found the chorus very annoying at first, with the repetition of the phrase "Watermelon sugar high" over and over again till it made absolutely no sense. Over time and a couple dozen listens I think I really like this song now... I think. Never has a song made me feel more confused. The song has a lot of good things about it, mainly the music that has a good guitar and good bass lines throughout with a fun beat. There are also nice little details throughout like the horns that slowly build in the verses and become more powerful at the final chorus. The verses are really well done, it's just the chorus that I feel holds this song back a little. It could have been better, but I still enjoy it a lot for what it is. 

Bad Song 4: Senorita by Shawn Mendes and Camila Hair

I think I'd prefer to just forget this song even existed like I'm sure the rest of the world already has. It's a boring song with no chemistry between two people who are or were supposedly a real couple. Camila does the same thing she always does, by not really adding anything to the song and Shawn Mendes isn't doing much better. By the way, did you guys know that Camila is Latin? I don't think her music refers to that fact enough.

Good Song 4: Lover by Taylor Swift

*For some reason my blog here decided to delete all the text I had written for the next few songs, so I have to try to write everything out again, which is fun*

Taylor comes back with a simpler love song and it's really enjoyable. What I like a lot about this song is how the instruments are actually real and really back up Taylor's vocals really well. The song just has a nice vibe to it that's both relaxing and romantic, which matches perfectly with the lyrics. Taylor's vocals also work really well because the way she sings the song totally matches the mood the song is aiming for. 

Bad Song 3: Lose You to Love Me By Selena Gomez

Selena Gomez might just be the most boring artist of the decade. I don't think I've heard a single song from her that was actually impressive or even worth listening to. This one is no different as she returns with a new single that brings absolutely nothing new and exciting from an artist that really needs it. This is another song full of cliches and boring music where Selena fails to show any kind of emotion about what she's singing about. That's the difference between an artist like Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez, Taylor can actually convey emotion in her vocals and match the lyrical content of her songs. While not all of Taylor's songs are good, at least she's got that while Selena doesn't really have much of anything. I might be being extra mean because I had to write this whole thing out again and listen to this song one more time. I really hope to hear something different from Selena soon, cause I really want to see what she truly has to offer, this can't be all of it.

Good Song 3: Bad Guy by Billie Eilish

That bass line is enough to put this song in the top ten list, and the electronic melody in the chorus is enough to put it in the top 5. Listening to this song I do have to wonder how a song like this will stand the test of time. It's different than anything else on the charts for sure, and like I said about "Bury a Friend" it's a breath of fresh air at a time where a lot of music just kind of sounds the same. Although, a lot of music does have this sort of "dark" vibe nowadays, and emo-rap is at its peak popularity which this doesn't differ too much from. This actually kind of reminds me of that song "Heathens" by Twenty One Pilots, just with a little less energy. 

So maybe this song isn't as completely original as I maybe first though, but it's still a great song. I think I might actually like the music more than the subtle vocals by Billie Eilish though, but that's not really a bad thing. I still dislike the little breakdown at the last minute, so that keeps it from being any higher on this list.

Bad Song 2: 7 Rings by Ariana Grande

I wrote a lot about this song in one of my recent posts which you can see HERE. But I still really dislike this song and listening to it more hasn't really helped it. It's still boring and misguided with its very strange sample of "My Favorite Things" from the old musical "The Sound of Music". The whole song just feels ungenuine and Ariana just doesn't pull off the whole bragging about being rich thing off very well... despite the fact that she IS actually rich. The music is boring and Ariana just doesn't shine like she usually does. It's one of her weaker songs for sure, but I think every artist has these kinds of missteps every now and then. 

Good Song 2: Sunflower by Post Malone & Swae Lee

A also wrote a lot about this song in that recent post and most of that still applies. Both of these artists are more hit than miss for me usually but coming together for this song they really put together something great. Yeah, I'm sure lots of great producers and writers helped too, but the two artists still sound great in this song. It's a very easy song to listen to with a great flow and mood that works really well with these two artists. Usually, Post Malone is "singing" behind darker music and more moody, so hearing him in a more happy/chilled out song is really nice. The fact that it's so short is also really nice, by the time it ends it leaves you wanting more. 

THE WORST SONG: Someone You Loved by Lewis Capaldi

It didn't take long for me to realize that this is my least favorite song of the year. No one knew the name Lewis Capaldi until recently when this song randomly hit the charts pretty hard and even reached number one for some odd reason. Apparently, he's related to one of the doctors from Doctor Who so that's a thing. This song is pretty awful though and no amount of cool relatives is going to change that. It's a pretty generic "sad" song about a break-up. The entire song is pretty much just a piano playing basic chords in a standard pop-song chord progression, nothing else. The song feels empty in its minimal music. Having just a piano doesn't have to be a bad thing, the piano is an instrument that can be enough to carry a song. The problem here is that it's not really doing anything interesting. That means that it's up to the vocals and lyrics to really carry the song. Lewis' vocals aren't good enough to carry this song and the lyrics are just full of overused break-up song cliches you've no doubt heard too many times. It gets really bad when Lewis tries to belt out the chorus and sounds like he's about to blow out his voice with his raspy screeching. This song just fails in every way possible with boring music, generic lyrics, and weak vocals.

THE BEST SONG: thank u, next by Ariana Grande

 Leave it to Ariana to make one of the worst songs and one of the best songs of 2019. It was a tough choice between this and "Sunflower", but ultimately I think I enjoyed this one a little more than "Sunflower". This is just one of those songs that work on every level. Of course, Ariana's vocals are almost always on point and she has a great performance on this one. I admit the music isn't incredibly impressive, but it's nice and subtle and works well with the flow of the song. The real standout of this song though is the lyrics. The song is all about Ariana's real-life past relationships as she remembers all the things she's learned from each of them. There's even a nice shoutout to the late Mac Miller which is really nice. It's nice to see someone take a more positive spin on her past relationships and even using real names to compliment her exes. This song feels unique in that way, at least from all the other songs on the pop charts this year. It's a really catchy song with a great message featuring great vocals by Ariana. Definitely worthy of being my favorite pop song of the year.

Here's the playlist for the songs of the list. I also included another playlist I made recently that has 200 songs I really liked from the past decade if you're looking for some new music of all kinds.

Here's the 200 song playlist:

A Look Back: 2 0 1 4

Welcome to 2014, a year that definitely happened four years ago. I swear, listening to all the big songs from this year, I honestly couldn't believe that 2014 wasn't that long ago. A lot of the big hits from this year just sound so dated and feel like they came out at least 15 years ago. Maybe you'll agree with me once you start seeing some of the songs that came out this year. 2014 was a pretty decent year for pop music though, there's actually a lot I liked in this year. So like always I'm going to list my favorites and least favorite songs of 2014 usually saving the best and worst for last. At the end of the year, I'm going to do the best and worst of the decade list and actually rank it in order. I'm also working on a playlist with 100 good pop songs from the decade and hopefully, that turns out OK.

Before I start there were two songs I wasn't too sure where to put, but I think should be mentioned:

Fancy by Iggy Azalea, because I can't tell if I actually like the song or not. I remember liking at the time, but over the years Iggy has just kept releasing terrible music nonstop and I think maybe that's changed my opinion of this song. It definitely feels like a fluke, but I can't take away how HUGE this song was in 2014.

Bang Bang by Jessie J, Ariana Grande, and Nicki Minaj. A really catchy song with amazing vocals, but some of the dumbest lyrics of the year. To be fair Jessie J lyrics are always pretty dumb, and she still has some decent songs out there. This one just barely missed my good list but was beaten out by this song...

BEST: Imagine Dragons "Radioactive"

This one barely made the list, to be honest. This song was so awesome back in 2014 because of how different it was from anything else. Imagine Dragons have shown over the years that they will probably never make another song this epic and different, but instead will make generic pop-rock tracks for the radio/advertisements. That being said, this song is still really cool and different. It feels epic with its explosive drum sounds and screaming vocals in the chorus. The music has a lot of little details in it with the guitar and synth sounds in the background behind the giant drum explosions. It really feels like it takes place in some post-apocalyptic world. 

WORST: MAGIC! "Rude"

This pop-reggae song really popped out of nowhere in 2014 and became an instant hit. MAGIC!'s frontman Nasri had been writing songs for big pop stars for years before he decided to start his own project. That lead to this song about a man who wants to marry the love of his life, but can't seem to get her father's approval (understandable). He then goes on to complain about how rude he is for nearly 4 minutes. To me, this song hasn't really aged that well over the years. At one point I was a fan of this band and even bought the album, which I thought was actually a decent album. This song though (Rude) just kind of annoys me now, and I can't fully explain why. Maybe it's the overplay it got for an entire year or maybe it's the annoying lyrics and how whiny it comes across. I think maybe this song really isn't THAT bad, but on a personal level, it just annoys me. Musically it's fine, pretty simple reggae-lite beat with a pretty nice bassline. Reggae has been a huge part of this decade though, as it has been used in plenty of pop songs throughout these last 10 years. I think I'll eventually come back around on this song after some time passes, but for now, it's not a song I like very much. 

BEST: Coldplay "A Sky Full of Stars"

This song is like joy personified. The reason I love this song is how it just slowly builds throughout the verse and hook to the big musical explosion that's honestly pretty amazing. The moment feels earned because of the lyrics and music that lead up to it work so well together to get you pumped. You can feel the big musical climax coming and it actually pays off because of the music working so well together. It's one of those few songs that I feel like I could listen to just to feel better. It's no secret that this album was inspired by Chris Martin's divorce and the fact that a song like this came out of that is pretty cool. It's so full of hope and inspiration through just the music, even without the few lyrics this song has I think it could work with the music alone. But the music does give some context to the joy the music expresses and that's important too. 

WORST: John Legend "All of Me"

This song is like boredom personified. The reason I hate this song is that it puts me to sleep and doesn't give me a single emotion. This might be one of the most boring love songs ever written, it feels so emotionless and passionless as he describes his love for the poor woman he's with. If anything this song makes me not want to ever fall in love, because it doesn't seem very exciting. I know I'm being really overdramatic, which this song could have used some of that, but this song really does bore me. It's just a piano playing some normal chords with nothing else going on. John Legend has great vocals and I know he's a very talented piano player, but this song doesn't show any of that off. Instead, it's a song that desperately needs some more detail in the music and lyrics. 

BEST: Pharell Williams  "H A P P Y"

It's the NUMBER ONE SONG of 2014! Speaking of emotion, this song is literally named after one (kind of?). When you name a song Happy, the song better be freaking happy and thankfully this one totally is. Pharell knows how to write a catchy song, but this one is a little more than that. His vocals are soulful and smooth and along with the music really gives off a fun vibe the song is clearly aiming for. Later in the song, a chorus backs him up and really helps the song feel a little different from the first half. It's got an old-school feeling to it that makes it a nice throwback, but with enough modern elements in the production also give it a fresh feeling. Overall a fun neo-soul song that's pretty hard not to get into.

WORST: Katy Perry "Dark Horse"

Getting the obvious part out of the way, Katy Perry doesn't know what a Dark Horse is. In this song, Katy Perry tries her best to seem dark, mysterious and powerful. Katy Perry is none of those things as an artist and this song proves that she can't really pull that off. Katy Perry is usually at her best when she's singing power anthems that are more inspirational or fun not whatever this is. The music feels like it belongs more in the early 2000s than in 2014, which I guess might explain why Juicy J is the guest rapper here. He doesn't really make much sense to the rest of the song, just kinda rapping about sex or something. I think this song was the start of Katy Perry's decline in good music because after this song it didn't get much better. Although she does have a new album coming out soon, so maybe that will be good? 

BEST: Sia "Chandelier"

I believe Chandelier was Sia's first official solo hit. A few years before this she was featured on two pretty big songs in "Wild Ones" by Flo Rida and "Titanium" by David Guetta. This song (Chandelier) is almost like a showcase for how much of a powerhouse vocalist Sia really is. She is the star of this song and she owns it with her ability. The music does a good job of keeping up with her though. It's crazy to think she didn't actually get a number one hit until 2016 with "Cheap Thrills", which I don't think is anywhere near as good as this song. I think the song is about the dangers of party life and possibly addiction. When you can't stop yourself from doing something and it feels great at first, but in reality, you're hanging on for dear life trying not to fall and crash. 

WORST: Meghan Trainor "All About That Bass"

"All About That Bass". A song that was literally everywhere for a few months and introduced the world to Meghan Trainor. I've never been a fan of Meghan Trainor, especially now that she's released a lot more terrible music. This was the one that really kicked off her career though, it reached number one and even knocked Taylor Swift's big new hit "Shake It Off" out of the number one spot for eight whole weeks. "All About That Bass" is a doo-wop style song that's meant to be a body-positive anthem for girls with big butts. It was also kind of controversial at the time for skinny-shaming, with a specific line in the song calling out skinny girls, which she immediately tries to step back on anyway. I'm not sure if the world really needed a song about how great big butts are though since big butts have been the topic of many songs over the past decade and more (mostly rap songs). It's also strange that a song that's about "bass" doesn't really feature a heavy bass sound in the music. It's kind of a catchy song, but it's also annoying because Meghan Trainor just has that quality to her music. 

BEST: Charli XCX "Boom Clap"

Charli had a big year in 2014, mainly from her strong showing in one of the top songs of the year "Fancy". She did manage to get a hit on her own though, and it was a much-deserved one. Charli's vocals are very unique and she's got a lot of personality behind her vocals, the kind of voice you recognize instantly. Charli's proven herself as a show-stealer on other songs and here on her own, she brings it too. I really like the energy in this song a lot, the music never takes away from her vocals.

WORST: Imagine Dragons "Demons"

This was Imagine Dragon's third big hit from their first album, showing that they weren't going to be going away anytime soon. This was the first big letdown for me as someone who was pretty interested in this band early on. This song is a pretty boring song compared to what they had released so far. This song lacked the energy or uniqueness of their two previous hits and just felt like a step in the wrong direction. It's supposed to be a more serious song about keeping secrets and the things we hide from most people. An interesting topic for sure, but the song doesn't really tackle it very well. The music is pretty boring, along with the vocals, it just drags along at a slow and boring pace. It's disappointing because I do feel like the song it actually trying to say something, but the music just isn't interesting enough for me to really dive into the meanings. 

BEST: Clean Bandit "Rather Be"

 I've always had an interest in European dance/club music like the one Clean Bandit present here. This song has a lot of layers to its sound and Jess Glynne's vocals fit so perfectly. The mix of the strings, keys, and electronic work so well together and each give little details throughout the song that are really cool. This song just feels really unique even five years later after it's release. Sadly, I don't think Clean Bandit will ever have a hit as big as this one in America. Thankfully though, they have plenty of success outside of the USA. 

WORST: Chris Brown/Tyga/Lil Wayne "Loyal"

These guys make up the trinity of sleaziness. Three guys that probably have enough restraining orders between them to populate an entire city. Three guys who are so insecure they have to constantly remind you how much women love them. Anyway, this song is just... gross and awful. Here are some great lyrics that are actually in the song to show you:

Actually no, I don't feel comfortable writing any of the lyrics in this song on here. Basically, it's just these three "men" talking about having sex with girls that are already in relationships and then calling them hoes. Chris Brown is one of the most unlikable artists in the world. Also, I'm pretty sure this beat was ripped from another Chris Brown song or vice versa. 

BEST: Paramore "Ain't It Fun"

This is still Paramore's biggest hit to date, reaching number ten back in May of 2014. The song definitely has some good qualities to it, mainly the interesting guitar and bass work that work very well together throughout the whole song. Hayley's vocals are good as they usually are and the lyrics are pretty interesting too. The song has kind of a sarcastic tone, poking fun at the cliches that older people tell new adults that are going on their own for the first time in their lives. It works on multiple levels and I really enjoy the end where the song has multiple vocals going over each other and the guitar and bass just kinda jamming out over them.

WORST: Jason Derulo "Wiggle"

Proving that the world is definitely not short on songs appreciating big butts (Meghan Trainor). This song is just so incredibly stupid, and not in a funny way like it thinks it is. It's just incredibly lame and has no redeeming qualities. The lyrics don't really make any sense, for the most part, as he even compares someone's butt to two planets. Like her butt is so big, it's the size of two planets? O K A Y. 

The music is also pretty worthless, as the drop just sounds like it's being played on a crappy recorder. 

Here's a picture of Jason Derulo in the upcoming "Cats" movie for no reason whatsoever. Good luck sleeping tonight. 

BEST: Ed Sheeran "Don't"

Sometimes the more personal you get with your music the better it sounds, at least that's the case with this song. The song is very likely to be about Sheeran's relationship with artist Ellie Goulding, but that's never really been confirmed. Either way, it's about Sheeran being in a relationship with a woman. They grow closer throughout the months and he feels like it's something serious and is really into her. Later he finds out that she was playing him the whole time and has been seeing another man, even in the same hotel they were both staying at. The music is pretty simple, playing the same four chords throughout the whole song, but it works pretty well. The main focus of the song is the lyrics and Sheeran's delivery of the lyrics. He does a great job with the melody and the speed of his delivery that's impressive and really catchy. Still one of Sheeran's best songs. 

WORST: Maroon 5 "Animals"

Adam Levine, dear god what have you done. Any song that features Adam Levine howling like a wolf is gonna be terrible no matter what. Also hearing Adam Levine comparing his sex life to animals is pretty weird too. This song is just really creepy and offputting, to say the least. The only reason a song like this could be popular has to be because of how attractive Adam Levine is because anyone else trying to sing this song would probably be put in prison. This is still one of the worst Maroon 5 songs out there and it's gotta be the worst Adam Levine has ever sounded on a song. The way he squeals the falsetto in the chorus is just horrendous. Never again.

BEST?: The Neighborhood "Sweater Weather

Honestly, I only put this song here because I'm certain it's what I'm supposed to do. I mean this is a great song, right? 

I've never loved this song much, even though I felt like I should have because of the genre and similarities to other bands/songs I really like.  I still like it though, it's better than a lot of other pop songs from 2014 and it's also different in an interesting way. I just find it a bit too boring and a song I find myself not want to come back to very often it at all. This was the band's only big hit back in December of 2013 and a good chunk of early 2014. They have some decent songs in their catalog, but nothing I've ever felt strongly about. This is a decent song, good enough to put it in the list here.

*UPDATE: Okay I think I totally get it now. It's got a really cool chill vibe that fits in with a specific kind of mood. It probably works better as a song you might listen to with a specific someone, probably someone you're in a relationship with. 

WORST: Iggy Azalea/Rita Ora "Black Widow"

What. A. Mess. Iggy didn't take very long to show that her big hit "Fancy" was just a big fluke with this awful song. Terrible music, bad lyrics, and Rita Ora are all a recipe for a really bad song. All the charm that Iggy showed in "Fancy" is completely gone here, instead, we get the clunky Iggy who isn't very convincing as a rapper. This was her last song to reach the top 10, peaking at number three in October of 2014. It's been pretty downhill for Iggy ever since this song, not getting any songs past the top 20 since this song. Her last big single in 2019 peaked at 62 back in March. 

DA BEST: Bastille "Pompeii"

Every year at least one song from a relatively unknown band randomly jumps up the charts and starts playing everywhere. In 2014 one of those bands was Bastille with their huge breakout hit "Pompeii". It took a while for me to fully appreciate this song, but over time this song has become one of my favorites and this band has really grown on me. I enjoy pretty much all their music starting from this first album. Technically this was Bastille's only hit as a band, though they had another big hit recently tied to big-name producer Marshmello called "Happier". "Pompeii" quickly begs for attention as soon as it starts with its unique choir intro. The rest of the song is going back to the city of Pompeii before and during the disaster that befell it all those years ago. It's a really cool idea for a song and the choir makes sense alongside it, something that maybe you would've heard in ancient Rome. Over the years this song has held up and I still like going back to it pretty often. 

DA WORST: Rich Gang/Young Thug "Lifestyle"

This is one of the most unintentional hilarious songs I've probably ever heard. It's like the movie "The Room" where all the actors are trying their best and it's so bad you can't help but laugh at them. The beat is pretty bad and all of the rappers make absolutely no sense at all. Half the song sounds like gibberish because nobody knows how to correctly pronounce words or sound like a human. I do admit I put this song on pretty often when I just need a good laugh. Congralaturations on great being song, a winner is you! 

AND that is 2014! A year where lots of artists found their first big success and would continue to make hits over the next five years. Overall a decent year for pop music. Now all that's left for me to cover is 2015 before the end of the year where I can talk about 2019 and the entire decade as a whole. I'm working on a playlist with 200 great songs from this decade, a mix of mainstream and indie songs from the 2010s because 100 wasn't nearly enough as I found out. I'm basically already done with it, but there might be some good songs in the next two months that could be added. 

Special thanks to you, the person who is reading this! These posts take a decent amount of time to make and I appreciate you taking the time to read my amateur thoughts on music and movies. You da numba one. 

Trying to Understand Modern Music

With 2019 only a few months away from being over and the decade coming to a close, I thought maybe it would be a good idea to catch up on what's going on with the music scene right now. No better way to do that than by listening to the Billboard Hot 100 and seeing what's popular in the USA right now. I normally try to keep up with what's happening in the mainstream, but this year I really lost interest in mainstream music. It just seemed like it was going nowhere new, even heading into a brand new decade it doesn't seem like any interesting trends are coming out. Popular music is still very drab for the most part it seems, with some more upbeat songs sprinkled around here and there. There doesn't seem to be many new artists making interesting moves in the mainstream scene either with maybe a few exceptions like Billie Eilish, Lil Nas X, and Lizzo. As good as the songs those said artists made this year, everything around those songs is still the same old pop sound we've been hearing for the past few years. A sound that I feel desperately needs more energy. When the new Jonas Brothers song is probably the hardest/energetic song of the year, you know there's something missing.

So I listened to all the number one songs of the year so far. There are eleven songs so far this year to reach the number one spot on the charts and there's a lot of similarities in some of them. This is me trying to better understand popular music and see how I really feel about it. What I like and what I don't like and how I think it fits into the bigger picture. 

January 1-11: Ariane Grande "thank u, next"

Ariana dropped two back-to-back albums in 2018 and 2019 and this one was the first single of that second album. It was only officially a number one song for the first week of 2019 before moving down. It's actually a pretty decent song from Ariana. It's got some interesting music behind Ariana's great vocals and the lyrics are good too. The song is all about Ariana's past relationships and how she's learned a little something from all of them and thanks them as she moves on to her new relationship. It works well since it doesn't come across as bitter in any way, but genuinely thankful to her past relationships and hopeful for her future ones. I'd give this one a solid 3.5 Mean Girls out of 5, it's catchy and upbeat in a chill way and the lyrics are actually meaningful and personal. (3.5/5)

January 12-18 / January 26 - Feb 1: Halsey "Without Me"

Halsey's first number one hit was also the first new hit of 2019. Much like the last song, this one focuses on Halsey's personal life and her real-life relationship. The song is directly aimed at artist G-Eazy, who Halsey had a relationship with for a long period of time. Unlike the last song by Ariana though, this one is a much more negative view of her past relationship. It's clear Halsey was hurt and she's putting it out there in this song, while also dissing her ex. I'm not really sure how to feel about this song honestly. On one hand, I appreciate the honest lyrics and how open she seems to be. On the other hand, it feels like it's lacking something musically and maybe even in the vocals. There's also a Justin Timberlake's "Cry Me a River" reference which feels a little out of place with the rest of the song and a bit distracting (maybe a little TOO on the nose). While there was some potential here, overall I'd give this 3/5 stars. Bringing up "Cry Me a River" just reminds me of how a good break-up song like this could be. (3/5)

January 19-25: Post Malone / Swae Lee "Sunflower"

Originally from the Into the Spider-Verse soundtrack released in 2018, this song finally reached the number one spot for one week in January. This song replaced Halsey for a week and then was replaced by Halsey again the next week. Besides that, it managed to stay in the top 10 for 45 whole weeks. I really like the flow of this song, continuing with the chill vibe of the first song but this one feels happier. Swae Lee really kills it in this song with the catchy verses and great hook. Post Malone has always been hit-or-miss with me, but this is definitely one of his better showings. The song focuses on their relationships and how they have girls who stick by their side even when they're not always there. This song easily gets 4 Uncle Bens out of 5, always a good listen. (4/5)

Feb 2-Mar 2, Mar 23-April 6: Ariana Grande "7 Rings"

The first song of the year to stay number one consistently for longer than one week. Also, probably the second biggest song of the year so far. This was the second big single from her 2019 album "thank u, next". This one far less interesting than her last single, actually a pretty boring song that feels like it's missing something. The most interesting thing about this song is its verses, which are taken from the musical "The Sound of Music", specifically the famous song "My Favorite Things". It's not a terrible idea since both songs are naming off things that the singer loves, but the execution of it feels lacking. This song is just a brag song that comes across more fake than genuine since Ariana just can't quite pull it off. This is something that you see often from artists like Cardi B or Beyonce who can actually do it while being believable. When artists like Ariana, Taylor Swift or Katy Perry do it, it often feels fake or forced. This one gets 2 wigs out of 5, a boring song with boring music and lyrics that Ariana can't really pull off at the moment, maybe cause she doesn't sound too excited about all the things she has in this song. (2/5)

March 9-15: Lady Gaga / Bradley Cooper "Shallow"

Another number one song from a movie soundtrack? I like this trend. This one was only number one for a week, getting a big boost from its Oscar win the previous week no doubt. The song has the two main characters in the movie singing to each other. It's about diving into the deep end of the pool and staying away from the shallows. I think it's about going all-in in whatever you're doing in life or your passions, not half-assing it or being afraid to give your all to it. A message we hear a lot of these days, but still a good one that's always worth hearing. Bradley Cooper does a good job of blending his vocals with Gaga's. Of course, once Gaga gets going the song really picks up around her. In the movie, it's a great moment that the audience has been waiting for and I think the song still works really well on its own. This will probably be my favorite out of all of these songs with a score of 4 drunk Bradley Coopers out of 5. (4/5)

March 16-22: Jonas Brothers "Sucker"

The big comeback single for the Jonas Brothers was also their first number-one single as a band. They took the world by surprise by announcing their reunion and dropping this first single from their new album "Happiness Begins". The song is all about how the Jonas Brothers are a sucker for you. The song goes into small details about the lengths they go for the person that they are smitten with. The song is a bit of fresh air on the higher end of the charts with its poppy upbeat sound at a time where a lot of music is more chill/sad. The lyrics aren't much to talk about, pretty generic pop song lyrics that aren't really talking about anything specific enough to further dissect. The vocals are smooth along with the nice bass line that holds the song together. Besides that, there isn't too much special about this song, it's not really too memorable. "Sucker" from me gets 3 lovebugs out of 5, a decent song that I don't think I'll be returning to very often. (3/5)

April 13-August 23: Lil Nas X "Old Town Road" w/ Billy Ray Cyrus

This is it, the BIG one. No doubt the best selling song of the entire year, an artist that came out of nowhere to dominate the year with his rap/country mix. The song that made Lil Nas a household name is all about ridin' down the old town road. To me, the road signifies being yourself and not letting others stop you from doing what you like to do. It's a chill song (as most songs are these days on the charts) but this one has a lot more charm than a lot of the other ones out there. It mixes two genres really well and the music and vocals really match the theme of the song. Even better adding Billy Ray Cyrus who does a great job at changing things up a bit for his part. It's nice, short, and a good time all the way through. This song gets 4 whiskey bottles out of 5. (4/5)

August 24-30: Billie Eilish "Bad Guy"

It was only a matter of time before Billie Eilish would get a number one hit, she's really been the breakout star of 2019 with multiple hits on the charts throughout the entire year. The song starts right away with the heavy bass and Billie's signature soft vocals, and it is so G O O D. it's got a slightly creepy vibe to it which is cool and different. In the song, Billie is talking to a guy and kind of poking fun at him while also showing off own her "dark" side. This song just works on pretty much every level and it's so much fun to listen to. My only knock against it is the last 40 seconds where the song goes into this strange breakdown that felt unnecessary to me. This song clearly deserves 4.5 Lordes out of five. (4.5/5)

August 31-September 6: Shawn Mendes / Camila Cabello "Señorita"  

Stealing a number one spot for one week before quickly being dethroned comes "Señorita". This song is a big collab between real life "couple" Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello. I don't think I need to explain what this song is about and I also just don't want to. This song is just kinda... boring. For a song that features two people who are attracted to each other, it certainly feels pretty tame and passionless. It's got a sort of Latin vibe that a lot of Camila Cabello songs seem to have because she's like a Latina or something... I don't know. Camila still doesn't impress me with her vocals. She doesn't have a unique enough voice to really stand out and it still sounds like it's got a lot of effects on top of it to try to give it some flavor. I will say Sean Mendes has improved over the years from being a boring white guy with a guitar to being a very attractive boring white guy with a guitar. Also, he's made a few decent songs now, but this is not one of them. This song gets 2 fake relationships created to promote a new single out of 5. (2/5)

September 7-October 18, October 26-TBD: Lizzo "Truth Hurts"

Lizzo's first number one hit is also the current number one song in the country. Lizzo's rise to popularity this year has been really impressive. She released her third full album "Cuz I Love You" earlier this year and it's been a great success. It's actually a really fun album I recommend listening to. Actually "Truth Hurts" is probably one of my least favorite songs on the album, so of course, it was destined to become her most popular song to date. Actually, this song wasn't featured on the original release but was added to the album as a new single recently. The original recording of the song was released back in 2017 so that probably explains why it feels different than the rest of the album. Anyway, it's still a decent song. The beat is fine and of course, Lizzo's personality really comes through her vocals and makes what is an average song slightly above average. This one gets 3.5 DNA tests out of 5. (3.5/5)

October 19-25: Travis Scott "Highest in the Room"

Just as a was finishing this up, this song decided to reach number one for a week. Not sure how it managed to do it, but it's already dropped 5 spots since it's number one week. Probably cause it's not a good song and it lost all its momentum after its debut. Just another boring song that doesn't really have anything worth talking about. It's songs like this that make me feel old and out of touch, cause I just don't really get it. But maybe I'm not alone here because the fact that this song is dropping in chart position so fast maybe shows that even fans of this style of music didn't like this track. This song gets a 2 terrible Superbowl half-time shows out of 5. The fact that this song was number one for a week shows that this style of music is still very popular and probably won't be going away soon. It's not the kind of hip-hop/rap I'm really into, but I know it's what's most popular at the moment. (2/5)

Final Thoughts

The average score for this year would be 3.2 out of 5. Which means this year is just very slightly above average and I think that's about right. 

I think I'd say I liked most of these songs and the rest I didn't hate, which I think is an improvement from the last few years. I will say that I also don't love any of these songs. None of them really blew me away with their quality, probably the closest was Billie Eilish, but it definitely lost some of its charm with multiple listens. I'm still not really picking up on any new trends here with these massive singles, nothing to point the way to something new in the musical landscape. I think this decade might have seen the least amount of change in musical trends in recent memory. I'm still very interested to see where things go in the next few years and what artists are gonna come in and create a change in the landscape.