45 Reasons Our President is a Terrible Person

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

1. January 6th

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

2. Pardoning the Jan 6th insurrectionists

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

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

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

5. Canada as a 51st State

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

6. Canada tariffs

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

7. Really just tariffs in general

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

8. Ukraine

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

9. JD Vance

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

10-19. Elon Musk

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

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

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

20. DEI

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

21. Golf

Dude just golfs too much. 

22. Selling his dumbass merch

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

23. Using Christianity

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

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

24. Nazis/KKK/Proud Boys

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

25. Guantanamo Bay

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

26. Getting rid of birthright citizenship

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

27. Saying Kamala Harris wasn't black

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

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

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

31. Gulf of America

I mean, come on.

32. He's ugly

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

33. USAID

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

34. Getting rid of Roe v. Wade

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

35. Threats to cut funding to schools that allow protests

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

36. Hulk Hogan

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

37-38. NATO & Putin

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

39. Withdrawing from the World Health Organization

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

40. COVID

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

41. He never stopped claiming the 2020 election was stolen

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

42. He wants to abolish the Department of Education

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

43. He served McDonalds to the visiting championship college team

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

44. TRUMP COIN

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

45. Hurricane Maria

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

----------------------------------------------------------------

UPDATE LATE MARCH 2025

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

46. The El Salvador Jail

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

47. Tesla Sales and Favoritism

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Looking Back at My First Music Review

(Wrote this months ago and never posted it)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Best and Worst Hit Songs of 2024

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

THE 9 WORSTS:

9. Dua Lipa - Training Season

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

4. Nicki Minaj - FTCU

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

3. Kanye West / Ty Dolla $ign - CARNIVAL

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

2. Jelly Roll / Dustin Lynch - Chevrolet

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

1. Eminem - Houdini

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

THE BEST SONGS!

9. Noah Kahan - Stick Season

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

8. Kendrick Lamar - Not Like Us

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

7. Hozier - Too Sweet

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

6. Tommy Richman - Million Dollar Baby

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

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

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

4. Billie Eilish - Lunch

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

3. Chapell Roan - Good Luck, Babe!

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

2. Billie Eilish - Birds of a Feather

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

1. Sabrina Carpenter - Espresso

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

What a way to end this list... sigh. 

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

TOP 10 ALBUMS (not in any particular order)

MICHELLE - Songs About You Specifically (Indie/pop)

EVERYTHING EVERYTHING - Mountainhead (Indie Rock)

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

NXWORRIES - Why Lawd? (Hip/hop)

VINCE STAPLES - Dark Times (Hip/hop)

LAST DINNER PARTY - Prelude to Ecstasy (Indie rock)

THE MARIAS - Submarine (Indie/pop)

GREEN DAY - Saviors

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

REMI WOLF - Big Ideas (Indie Pop)

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

Twenty One Pilots - Clancy (???)

Orla Gartland - Everybody Needs a Hero (Indie rock)

ScHoolboy Q - Blue Lips (Hip/Hop)

Frances of Delirium - Lighthouse (Indie rock)

Clairo - Charm (Indie pop)

Amyl and the Sniffers - Cartoon Darkness (punk)

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

Poppy - Negative Spaces (Hardcore/rock)

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

Beetlejuice BeetleJuice and the Hollywood Nostalgia Sequel

 This isn't going to be a full review of the movie Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, but more about how Hollywood is pushing out these nostalgia sequels to an annoying degree. I will talk about the new Beetlejuice movie and how I felt about it too, but also about the state of Hollywood and how it has been bringing back a lot of dead franchises to try to bring audiences back to the theatres. 

In the past few years, we've seen a lot of sequels come out to movies that are decades old and were perfectly fine staying in the past. Movies like Twister, Beverly Hills Cop, Chicken Run, Indiana Jones, Top Gun, Coming To America, Gladiator, and The Exorcists have all gotten or are getting sequels pretty soon. Really the only one on that list that actually felt worth making was Top Gun Maverick. Well, Gladiator 2 is still coming, but I'm not super excited about that one as of now. Then of course there's Beetlejuice Beetlejuice which just came out recently...

I honestly thought the new Beetlejuice movie was okay. It certainly didn't live up to the first movie's greatness, but I think most people didn't expect it would. The cast did a good job going back to the characters they played over 30 years ago, especially Michael Keaton. That being said the story of the movie just didn't work for me as it was pretty all over the place and it felt like it didn't know which characters to focus on so it tried to give 4 characters equal time in the story to poor results. That and the fact that the two big villains both end up not really having much impact to the story. There was certainly an interesting story they could have told here, but it ended up being a little too all over the place and unfocused. That and Beetlejuice himself felt like he could have been handled better. He was still the best part of the movie though and the moments we see him onscreen are pretty fun overall. It just sucks that his part of the story felt so insignificant. The practical effects were great to see and the makeup and costumes were pretty spot-on. Even the villain played by Monica Bellucci was interesting in design, but her character was so pointless to the story it didn't really feel like her story even belonged in this movie. Overall I'd say it was a grade-C movie, it will be a fun movie to watch on a marathon along with the first one, but it fails to reach the highs of the original. 

But all this brings me to the Hollywood sequel problem we've been seeing a lot recently. Not that Hollywood hasn't been making sequels and reboots before this time, but it just feels like lately they've been obsessed with making sequels after 20+ years and bringing back the original cast after they've aged out of their original characters. Like watching a 70-year-old Indiana Jones is a super great idea, no offense to Harrison Ford who is still a great actor today, but that role should be put to rest already for him. There are a few times where this has actually worked, as I mentioned before with Top Gun Maverick. Also, movies like Blade Runner 2049, Doctor Sleep, and T2 Trainspotting. Those movies actually had an interesting idea that used the real passage of time to tell good stories about where the characters ended up after the original movies and their new struggles. But that's not as common as just a movie that's trying desperately to recapture some magic from the past without actually doing anything interesting with its old characters. For them, name recognition alone is enough to just make them think people are going to watch the movie no matter what. The annoying thing is that it actually ends up working a lot of the time, as audiences see that the original cast is returning and will tune in to see their favorite characters return to the screen. But really most of the time it just takes the great endings they had in the original movies and ruins them by putting them in new stories that are disappointing or sometimes even ruin all the growth the characters had in the original movies. Another way you could potentially handle a sequel and make it interesting is by introducing a new cast of characters to possibly replace the original ones like in the recent Creed movies or the last two Mad Max movies. They take place in the same timeline as the originals but either recast the main characters or introduce new ones to take the place of the old ones. I think this method has had a bit more success, which also applies to Doctor Sleep and Blade Runner 2049. 

Hollywood continues its overreliance on sequels and well-known franchises instead of trying to create new ones for audiences to fall in love with. Or just make original movies that don't have to get 10 sequels. I also don't want you to think that I hate anything that is part of a huge franchise because that's not true. There are plenty of great movies that ARE sequels the problem lies more in Hollywood trying to force more sequels when there aren't really any more stories to tell in a franchise. Things like Jurassic Park keep getting sequels even when they haven't actually had an interesting story to tell since the original. But it's all about the money anyway, and if that money the studios were making ended up being used to make more original franchises then maybe it would all even out, but really it just ends up going into another franchise movie that costs 100 million to make... you know like Gladiator 2... I promise I'll give it a chance, but jeez that budget is making it so this movie pretty much HAS to be successful. It might also be Ridley Scott's last chance to prove to studios he can still make a big-budget movie that doesn't lose a ton of money, cause he has had some stinkers lately. 

Worst Songs of the 90s

 THE 90s! Tamagotchi, Nickelodeon, Power Rangers, Palm Pilots, FRIENDS, and lots of novelty songs that stayed stuck in your head for the rest of your life. Still, to this day I can't count to 5 without it turning into the opening lines of "Mambo No. 5". As iconic and memorable as a lot of the music of the 90s was, there are plenty of songs I only remember for being terrible and trying to erase them from my memory all these years. Actually, it was harder than I thought to find songs that I truly hated from the 90s as I looked back through all the playlists and hits. Lots of songs I thought I would hate I actually ended up being a lot kinder to now. I'll probably name some of those songs that get a lot of hate, but I still like. As for the worst songs, I'll put songs that are recognizable or by famous artists so that it's not just a bunch of indie stuff no one's actually listened to. But first... here are the songs that I actually ended up liking despite how much hate they seem to get from a lot of other people. 

Snow - "Informer"

I'll admit I can't understand most of what he's saying in his fake accent, but I don't care it's too catchy to hate. Also... A licky boom boom down? Does anyone know what that's about? 

Right Said Fred - "I'm Too Sexy"

I remember this song being a huge joke back in the day. Everyone just naming random objects that they were too sexy for was pretty fun I guess? A song so iconic that Drake and Taylor Swift used the melody in their own songs to terrible results. Still, this one is fun and harmless. 

Billy Ray Cyrus - "Achy Breaky Heart"

Yes, the achy breaky fart song. A wonderful mulleted man singing with all his heart about how breaky his achy heart is sounds like a dumb idea for a song... and that's because it is. But it's so fun anyway, why does it need to be hated? It breaks my achy bre- never mind. 

Los Del Rio - "Macarena"

It's the fucking Macarena, how can you hate the Macarena? You think you're too good for the Macarena? Get over yourself. HEYYY MACARENA!!

ANYWAY, one to the list proper here:

10. Creed - "With Arms Wide OPAAAN"

A band that probably gets more hate then they deserve, but sometimes I understand that hate when I listen to a song like "With Arms Wide Open". The message of the song isn't bad, a song about his doubts about being a father soon and how he's going to do everything he can for his new child despite the fears that come with being a new father. There's something about this song that always makes me feel strangely awful and I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because of how depressing and dreary it all sounds that just puts me in a bad mood whenever it plays. Scott's vocals aren't the worst in this particular song, but everything around him is just sucking all the life out of whatever room this is playing in. 

9. Savage Garden - "I Knew I Loved You" (1999)

There's a certain level of cheesy romantic song I enjoy and this certainly crosses that line. The overly sappy lyrics paired with the stereotypical acoustic guitar and even using chimes to go into the chorus are just too much. The vocals don't really help with the super breathy verses and falsetto choruses really taking the song from cheesy to unlistenable. I don't know, I've always found this song annoying even as a kid when I heard it on the radio in the car. It's just one of those songs that never clicked with me and I often found myself annoyed when it came on. 

8. Lou Bega - "Mambo No. 5" (1999)

ONE-TWO-THREE-FOUR-FIVE is an instantly recognizable line from 90s pop music and if you were alive in the year 1999 this song was everywhere. When I say everywhere, I MEAN EVERYWHERE. Not only becoming the number one song in dozens of countries (except, the USA for some reason), but also getting tons of play on TV, commercials, and sporting events. There was even a Disney version where Lou replaced all the girls' names with Disney characters... that's how big the song was. The song was originally created in 1950 in Cuba by a Mambo/Jazz musician named Damasco Perez Prado. Lou Bega mixed the original music with more modern pop elements and added his iconic lyrics where he talks about all the women he's sleeping with by name-dropping them all in the chorus. It's hard not to deny the song has a bit of charm musically, but it doesn't make up for a lot of the annoying things Lou does with his parts. He doesn't have the best voice and his charm (if you can call it that?) leaves a lot to be desired. 

7. LFO - "Summer Girls" (1999)

Starting the song with the lines "New Kids on the Block had a bunch of hits, Chinese food makes me sick" has to be one of the worst ways to open a song. Like right out of the gate you know you're in for disappointment. The song doesn't get any better from there, with even more awful lines coming from three guys with less charisma combined than one Lou Bega. Each verse is somehow worse than the last followed by one fart of a chorus that leaves you wondering how this song was actually ever a hit. The funniest thing is how they repeat the line "You look like a girl from Abercrombie and Fitch" multiple times like it's the best pickup line ever created by humankind. Either that or the song was somehow sponsored by the clothing brand itself. The song came out at the peak of the boy band craze, which makes how popular the song became make a little more sense. These guys weren't even as good as most of the other big names like Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, and Boyzone. Yes, Boyzone. 

6. Rednex - "Cotton Eye Joe"

I feel like a lot of people might be annoyed by the placement of this song on this list, but hear me out... this song is really annoying. The song has been a staple at weddings and other similar events for decades now, but it doesn't make me hate it any less. When the DJ puts this one on the playlist, well I lose a little respect for him honestly. To be fair, people do seem to enjoy this song and I'm totally okay with that. Personally, the song just feels like a loud mess of Europop and country dance mixed into a very annoying 3 minutes. The mix of the different genres just never really did it for me along with the vocals that give the song no help in being any less annoying. So yeah, perfect time to go to the bathroom or get some air when this song comes on.

5. Bryan Adams - "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You

Listening to this Bryan Adams song is the equivalent of watching paint dry. The only thing worse than an annoying dance song is a really boring generic love song. I don't know why, but I have a strange hatred for this song... which feels like a lot of the songs on this list. Maybe it's how much it played on the radio and TV growing up, but even after all these years this song still does nothing for me. This feels like the kind of song an AI would make if you asked it to make the most generic 80s love song ever made. 

4. Shawn Mullins - "Lullaby" (1998)

Anyone under the age of 20 is probably wondering who this guy is, and you really don't need to know. He had one big hit, which was this song called "Lullaby". A song that had a mildly catchy chorus, but that's about all it had. The music sounds like any other alternative radio song you'd hear in the late 90s. The verses verge on creepy as Shawn sort of talks/mumbles his way through them saying a bunch of useless stuff until he can finally get to the hook. Look I don't know a ton about this guy, but from the other songs I listened to, it sounds like he makes decent country music. Unfortunately, his biggest hit is also one of the worst songs to really get to know his music. 

3. Collective Soul - "Shine" (1994)

I have a strange hatred for this song and it's probably not completely fair. You know when you hear about how amazing something is over and over and then when you finally experience it you feel completely underwhelmed. That was this song for me, all I ever heard was how great it was, and when I finally gave it a listen it completely let me down. I will say that this song does have a few moments I kinda like, mostly the solo in the middle of the song really. Besides that, it's a typical grunge song without much that makes it stand out. The vocals aren't very interesting and the chorus isn't as memorable as everyone seems to think it is. Outside of that small solo, the guitar riff that plays throughout most of the song is pretty boring too. The song just feels like it's a little bit too slow and it just annoys me. Maybe it's not bad enough to really belong on this list, but I just feel annoyed by how much love this mediocre song gets I suppose. Maybe one day it'll grow on me... I can only hope. 

2. S Club - "Bring It All Back" (1999)

A group that was much much bigger in the UK, but still had decent success outside of that area too. S Club 7 was a pop group with 7 members who were all fairly young (late teens-early twenties). The group was actually started by Simon Fuller who had just been recently fired as the manager of the Spice Girls. S Club was more for younger audiences and the music was meant to appeal to the youth of the 90s, probably comparable to One Direction in the 2010s or a lot of those Disney pop stars like Hannah Montana and The Jonas Brothers. They have a few decent songs and they're actually still doing shows to this day. But "Bring It All Back" is a song that I really do not like. Even as a kid, I found this song to be too positive and cheesy, it just sounds like it's trying too hard to be this super happy song. Really it just feels so fake and corporate in its execution, like real people don't write music like this even when they're trying to be positive. It's like the Flinstones Vitamins of music, yeah it's good for you and it sounds like something you should like... but you're much happier when it's finally over.  

1. Warrant - "Cherry Pie" (1990)

With the rest of the songs on this list, I can at least find some positives in them. Every other song on this list I will listen to again at some point for nostalgia reasons or just because I know other people can have fun with them. This fucking song though... I can't find a single reason to be positive about this piece of crap. I'm honestly pretty sure this song was a huge reason why the hair metal genre died in the early 90s. To be fair, that genre was already on its way out but this song certainly sped up the process of hair metal's death. It's such a sleazy and gross song with some of the worst lyrics you'll hear in a rock song. Clearly, these guys wanted to be the new Poison or Motley Crue, but all they ended up being was a one-hit wonder whose song was mostly used as a punchline for bad jokes. Like when the characters in a movie go to a strip club and the dancer comes out to this song, but it turns out the stripper is one of the character's mom. That kind of joke. It's interesting because this is really similar to what happened to grunge music in the early 2000s. Lots of artists trying to ride the final wave of grunge's popularity and scoring one-hit wonder status. Thankfully lots of great rock music that actually innovated the genre came out after this and we got a ton of great rock music in those 10 years. But it wasn't before some growing pains and the last of the 80s trends finally died off. By the way the song "Cherry Pie" is about sex in case you didn't get that listening to it. 

I should probably mention I quite enjoy some hair metal bands, it's just that the early '90s had a lot of trash that just wasn't doing the genre any favors, and the fact that it had already been years past its peak popularity and was only going down. It was time to let it go. 

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace 25th Anniversary Rewatch/Review

 It's not really shocking anymore to see something I loved as a kid turning 25 years old in just a few months. 

My relationship with Star Wars has changed a lot in the last 10 years. It was a franchise I loved growing up and I even loved the prequel movies as a kid because, of course, I didn't really see all of their flaws until I was older. Star Wars has become something that I don't really care too much about these days with it being one of the two Disney properties that's been overused since they acquired it. But that's what happening now, today I want to look back at how the franchise was seen in 1999 and the quality of the first Star Wars movie after the original trilogy. 

It had been 16 years since Return of the Jedi had hit theatres and audiences had been waiting over a decade and a half for a new movie to finally be released. 1999 was the year, as The Phantom Menace was set to be released in the early summer window. Fans were so excited to see this movie that many even bought tickets to see a movie in the theatre just to watch the new Star Wars trailer and then leave before the actual movie started (Imagine buying Tickets to see "Never Been Kissed" just to see the Star Wars trailer). This was maybe the most anticipated movie of all time at that point. The day finally came to watch the big movie and audiences were left...  confused? I think the excitement for the movie was so big that a lot of fans were left just wanting to defend the movie because there's no way they waited all this time for a mediocre movie like this.  There are certainly true defenders of The Phantom Menace, but most fans will tell you it's probably the worst Star Wars movie out of all of them, though there have been some contenders for that title after its release. But just how bad is this movie?

Look, there are certainly moments where this movie shines, but those few times aren't enough to keep this from being a bad film overall. Pretty much everyone always says that the final fight against Darth Maul is what saves this movie from being a total disaster and they do have a point, but we'll get to that later. I want to actually rewatch the movie and see what holds up and what doesn't. Also, I want to try to maybe remember the things I liked as a kid and if I still feel the same way or not. So here's my review of the classic film Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace!? 

I must admit the opening seconds of the movie where the main theme plays just before the iconic word crawl begins got me pretty excited despite knowing the movie isn't good. That excitement faded quickly as the text crawl just goes on about trade and tax disputes, how exciting. That leads me to my first big problem with the movie... the Trade Federation. As a kid, it's something you just sit through while waiting for the action sequences or seeing more Jedi. As an adult, it's somehow even more boring when you can actually understand what they're talking about. It's all a big struggle that has to do with blockades and the growing tension between the Trade Federation and The Republic. This was the spark that would eventually lead to the Clone Wars in the second movie and beyond. This movie starts with the Jedi finally being asked to get involved only to almost be assassinated immediately before the peace talks even begin. The two Jedi, Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon, easily escape the assassination attempt and they now need to warn the Republic of the army that's being prepared to attack Naboo. The stakes are set pretty early and at least the movie starts off with some action, though they make it known pretty fast just how useless the droids are against the Jedi. 

So Jar-Jar is introduced very early on in the movie. He has become a notorious character for his annoying dialog and stupid hijinks that bring the story down and don't work well with the other characters. I thought maybe it had gotten overblown over time, but after watching the movie again I can say that he is in fact, incredibly annoying. Just twenty minutes into the movie I wanted him to stop talking and go away. The point of his character was to keep the kids entertained throughout the boring Trade Federation dispute and act as a comic relief like C-3PO in the original trilogy. He was so bad that they just brought back C-3PO in the next movie to be the comic relief again. His main problem is how he just never stops talking and how he annoys everyone around him by being clumsy and rude to his "friends". But Qui-Gon seems like he's just keeping him around out of pity and because it's given Jar Jar's life some meaning. He just never feels like he belongs in this story. 

Something I loved as a kid and still love now is the great use of practical effects, real sets, and good costumes. Everything looks like it took forever to make with great detail and I still appreciate it and how it makes the world feel more real. It's really nice to see the actors interacting with actual props and sets instead of just green/blue screens. The special effects are mostly good too, obviously dated but a lot of it still looks quite good even after all these years. The only things that stand out as outdated are some of the CGI characters like Jar Jar who is often around the actors and it makes it stand out a lot more. One of the things I missed was the puppet version of Yoda that was replaced by the CGI Yoda to match his appearance in episodes II and III. It makes sense, especially when you see how hideous they made the puppet Yoda in Phantom Menace compared to the original movies. After seeing the pictures of the original puppet Yoda, I have to say it's a good thing they replaced him with CGI because he was one hideous puppet. 

I find it funny how Star Wars was able to create a more useless army than the Stormtroopers with the new droid army. People make fun of the original trilogy and how bad the Stormtroopers were at hitting any target, but the droids are so weak that a Jedi can just lightly push them over and they stop working. The basic droids are so small and weak, it's impossible to see them as anything other than a joke. The movie also uses them as comic relief as they constantly mess things up in battle and have a hard time doing simple tasks. At least some of the other models look cooler and deadlier, but we don't get to see as many in this movie. From what I remember, Episode II makes the droids look more threatening, but in this first movie, they are a joke. 

Before I go back to the story, I wanted to mention how much I like the cast in this movie. I mean, the cast was mostly made up of great established actors or actors who would go on to be really great in other movies like Portman and McGregor. The one unfortunate casting was poor Jake Lloyd as young Anakin. He got a lot of hate over the years for this movie and it's sad to see because I really don't see it being his fault entirely. The writing they gave him was pretty awful and I'm certain the directing didn't help him either as we saw many great talents put on poor performances in the prequel trilogy. The way a lot of the characters talk to each other often just feels unnatural, especially when it comes to romance... but that's more of an Episode II problem. 

I really think having Anakin introduced as a child was a big mistake anyway because it really takes away from his story of eventually becoming Darth Vader. A lot of the qualities he has in this movie, like being a great pilot and really tech-savvy, aren't really expanded upon in the following movies much. That's why this whole story felt like it should have started when he was at least an older teen and already a Jedi training with Obi-Wan. Meeting his future wife Padme as a little kid was also pretty weird, not helped by the overly cheesy dialog that foreshadows their romance. 

Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan finding Anakin in the first place feels like a huge coincidence as they find themselves stranded on the desert planet Tatooine trying to fix their ship. We're introduced to the beautiful Watto and all his charisma. He is a sleazy slave owner who owns Anakin and his mother and has them work at his shop. He's one of the more interesting side characters in the prequels, but mostly just because of his connection to Anakin and his memorable design.  The whole Tatooine part of the movie is there to show Anakin's background and skills before he eventually gets to become a Jedi. I actually forgot how they completely sideline Obi-Wan for the entire Tatooine section of the movie, leaving him on the ship to do nothing. It feels like a missed opportunity to not have Obi-Wan and Anakin interact more in this first movie to build on their future friendship. I wonder if the story would have been slightly better if the Qui-Gon role was erased and Obi-Wan just took over his role. 

Anakin is shown to be a selfless boy genius and Qui-Gon immediately takes a liking to him and senses something special in him. To prove his point he agrees to let Anakin race for him in the Podrace coming up to win enough money to repair their broken ship. This leads to one of the scenes that many Star Wars fans despise... While fixing a cut Anakin got while fixing his racer, Qui-Gon decides to take a small sample of his blood to get tested by Obi-Wan. This results in Obi-Wan scanning his blood for midi-chlorians and finding out he has the highest count he's ever seen. A new twist was added to the Jedi lore that made it so certain people are born with special blood cells that give them the potential to become stronger with the Force. The more midi-chlorians the more potential to be a powerful Jedi. It made it so that certain people were born to become Jedi and not that it was something anyone could do with training and dedication. It felt like it was just created to have a way to tell audiences that Anakin was a one-of-a-kind prospect to be a Jedi. I guess Qui-Gon could have just said he feels the Force from Anakin more than he's felt from anyone else his age? Would that not have been good enough?

One small side note: Jar-Jar becomes doubly annoying throughout their stay at Tatooine. They should have left him there. 

After an hour of mostly mediocre scenes, we finally get to one of the standout parts of the movie, PODRACING. It's still a lot of fun, though the CGI does look dated at times, it's easy to look past. There's a great sense of speed in these scenes that really makes it look like it's incredibly dangerous. The Podracer designs mostly look cool, some being a little too silly. The only awkward part is when they show Anakin's face during the race and it looks pretty bad, unfortunately. It's all fun though, a part of Star Wars that wasn't ever really touched on again in the movies but it was fun to see what a sport in the Star Wars universe would look like. 

After another couple of boring scenes building up to the big finale we finally get to see the battle of Naboo. The battle is separated into three major parts: the Gungan army vs the Droid army, the space battle where the Republic army is trying to destroy the Droid command center, and the battle of the Jedi vs the Sith. We get a main character to take us through each battle with Anakin in space, Jar-Jar with the Gungans, and of course, Obi-Wan and Qu-Gon taking on the Sith. Actually, there's also Padme leading her royal troops to take back the throne. The movie cuts between those four battles going on as they all affect each other. The epic music does a lot of heavy lifting as "Dual of the Fates" is one of the most iconic songs in Star Wars and probably movies in general. I think a lot of the battles don't really feel that interesting because it's mostly showing characters I don't really care too much about and the battle I want to see the most (Jedi vs Sith) is interrupted a lot. 

Jar-Jar proves yet again how worthless he is as he fumbles around like a coward on the battlefield, but all his clumsiness somehow ends up working for the most part as he accidentally destroys multiple Droids. All that leads to nothing as the Gungan army ends up losing the battle anyway and they are forced to surrender. You know your army sucks when you lose to the Droids, but I guess their sheer numbers are impossible to match. That all changes when Anakin accidentally flies into the Droid control center and destroys it, leading the entire droid army to shut down entirely and ensuring victory for The Republic and the Gungans. It's just funny how the entire victory was all based on an accident by Anakin who had no idea what he was doing. The fact that the entire battle would be lost if the Droid control ship was destroyed seems like a terrible plan by the Trade Federation. Having one specific weak point that your enemy already knows about is really stupid war tactics, get a grip. I guess Anakin didn't learn from this experience here when he eventually made the Death Star with the Emperor. 

Now to talk about fan-favorite Darth Maul. He's introduced around the halfway point of the movie as Palpatine chooses him to take out Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon. He is a Sith Lord who uses the iconic saberstaff, which I believe was the first time we saw a different type of lightsaber in the Star Wars universe. It was awesome and his design is so iconic, even in his short appearance he left a lasting impression. Unfortunately, he didn't make it past this movie because he could have been a great villain to keep around and torment Obi-Wan in the following movies. Maybe Lucas wasn't expecting him to be such a standout, but he did eventually come back in the animated series Clone Wars and even made a cameo in the Han Solo movie... which went nowhere. The battle in this movie is totally different than all the battles we saw in the original trilogy. Here it's all about flair, acrobatics, and speed, unlike the first movies where it was all emotion and power. It actually seems pretty tame in this movie when compared to what we'll see in episodes II and III. 

Maul defeats Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan later outsmarts Maul and cuts him clean in half as he falls down a neverending hole. Qui-Gon was a mildly interesting character, but one that I feel could have been completely replaced by Obi-Wan as I said earlier. His character is meant to be the one who discovers Anakin and sets him on the path to becoming a Jedi, but I don't see why Obi-Wan couldn't have been the one to do that. It could have made their relationship even stronger going into the next movie and not have Obi-Wan feel like he's forced to train Anakin as a favor to his master. Considering how much they bicker and complain about each other in the next movie, maybe they could've changed that relationship completely. One of the main issues with this trilogy is how they treat the Obi-Wan and Anakin relationship, which is more of a problem in the next two movies so if I ever do those I'll dive deeper into those issues. 

So the good guys win in the end and they celebrate their victory with a parade as peace once again finds Naboo. Obi-Wan is left to train Anakin as that's what Qui-Gon wants to see in the end, as he believes Anakin is the key to the future of the Force. The Phantom Menace is an interesting movie for sure, one that has a special place in my life as the first Star Wars movie I saw and a movie I loved dearly growing up. There's still nostalgia when watching this movie that makes me feel happy and remember the good times, but man does this movie kind of suck. For all the good things it does, it feels like it does 5 wrong things to make up for it. Wasting a great cast of actors by having them read boring dialog and find ways to not have any chemistry with each other. Introduce a completely useless character in Jar-Jar who does nothing but annoy his "friends" the entire movie and almost get everyone killed. Having Anakin introduced as a child also felt like a huge mistake as a lot of the qualities they showed in him in this movie don't even really get brought up in the next two movies. Not having Anakin and Obi-Wan interact outside of just saying hello to each other felt like another missed opportunity. The movie feels like it wastes too much time on things that don't really end up mattering in the trilogy and is held back by bad writing and pacing. The good things I'll remember from this movie are the great effects (that still mostly look good especially considering it's been 25 years), the score, sets, costumes, and makeup. Some great ideas with the world-building and cool iconic designs for the ships, droids, cities, and alien races. The beautiful Watto who I want to marry, Darth Maul, and Podracing. And the last thing I'll remember is Samuel L Jackson as a Jedi because that's just awesome. 

So yeah, this movie is not good but it's still pretty entertaining to watch despite all its flaws. It could all just be nostalgia, but it's nice to look back at something I loved as a kid and see how different I feel about it 25 years later. Thankfully I won't have to review the even worse Attack of the Clones... unless you really want me to? 

 

Here's to me being out of touch with modern music: Episode 540142

 It's been a few months since I checked in on what's going on in the mainstream music charts. Usually, for the first month or so of the year, it's a lot of carryover from the last year as the new big singles start to drop from big artists throughout the early months. I also just happened to check the list out when the Grammy-boosted songs came back to the top 10 (Flowers and Fast Car shooting back up to the top 10 after winning awards last week). This week, only 2 songs on the top 10 are from 2024 and the rest are from last year or older. We still got Cruel Summer by Taylor from 2019 hanging out in the charts right now. Actually, most of the songs in the top 10 have been on the Hot 100 charts for over 4 months now. Things don't seem to want to change in the music scene these days. At least not until the big names start dropping new singles. Taylor Swift, Dua Lipa, Ariana Grande, and Billie Eilish are all dropping new albums this year, and most likely other big artists who haven't announced it yet. There are also a lot of newer names in the charts I am not really familiar with so I'll be interested to see what they have to offer too. 

I'll be looking at the biggest songs in the USA here, but I will be skipping a few that I've talked about multiple times already because of how long they've been on the charts now. But here's my feelings on each of those anyway:

#4 Taylor Swift - "Cruel Summer"

Well, this song is close to lasting the entire winter season on the charts. Do people miss Summer that much? With how bad the weather has been I can't say I blame them. The song is still great, easily the best from her "Lover" album. With new music coming out soon this one should be replaced by a new song of hers soon anyway. 

#5 SZA - "Snooze"

This one has been on the charts for almost 14 months, which is A LOT. Even though I enjoy this song I don't think many songs can stay in the mainstream that long without me eventually getting tired of them. This song is okay overall, but I'd be happy to see it finally drop out of the charts. SZA is dropping some new music sometime this year so there will be something to look forward to there. 

#8 Luke Combs - "Fast Car"

Another song that's been here for far too long. Much like "Snooze", I don't mind this song overall but also would be happy to see it go. To be fair it was on its way down until it got a new boost after the Grammy Awards. It's also brought more attention to Tracy Chapman, which is never a bad thing.

#10 Miley Cyrus - "Flowers"

Just a few weeks away from being on the charts for a whole year. "Flowers" ended up winning Record of the Year at the Grammy Awards, which probably explains this boost back into the top 10. I think I've had enough of this song for a long time, I can probably go a year or two without listening to this one again. It was fun while it lasted, but you need to go away now, please. 

Now, let's look at some of the newer songs...

1. Jack Harlow - "Lovin On Me"

Harlow's latest single climbed up the charts and after spending a week at number 2, this week it took over the 1 spot from Megan's "HISS" (we'll talk about that one later). When it comes to Harlow, it's been hit or miss throughout a lot of his career for me. His most anticipated album came out while he was white-hot in popularity back in 2022. That album (Come Home the Kids Miss You) ended up being a big letdown considering the hype around it. He quickly came back with a new album "Jackman." the following year that was a big improvement. Late last year we got a new single "Lovin On Me" that climbed up the charts until getting to number 1. The new song samples Cadillac Dale's 1995 song "Whatever" of course with a modern twist. It actually ends up working really well with Harlow's verses connecting the sample that's the song's hook. At least this one feels finished, unlike the time he tried to sample Fergie's "Glamorous" to mediocre results. I don't know where this really leaves Harlow as a big name for me... I see the potential here for a truly big star, but I still want to see more consistency in his quality of music. 

Overall Grade: B+

2. Teddy Swims - "Lose Control"

Yeah, this is where I find myself at a place where I don't really know a lot about what's going on in modern music anymore. Who is Teddy Swims? Why is Teddy Swims? How? Well from what I've heard so far it seems like his music had some classic soul vibes like maybe Leon Bridges or maybe Black Pumas. It's a style that has seems to have a big audience right now, maybe with a mix of people wanting some throwbacks to a time they were younger or people who just appreciate that style of music. You can't really do this style of music if you can't sing your ass off, and Teddy Swims can certainly do that. While I am a fan of artists in this genre, I don't think this particular artist is going to be for me. I'll give his music more listens for sure, but just from what I've heard so far it doesn't really click with me, unfortunately, because I do see the appeal. 

Overall Grade: C+

3. Benson Boone - "Beautiful Things"

To my surprise, Benson Boone is actually an artist I have some knowledge of. I remember listening to his singles "In the Stars" and "Ghost Town" a few years ago and enjoying them enough. After listening to this newer single "Beautiful Things" I think I understand the appeal a lot more. It's funny because the first minute of the song I was afraid this was going to be just another generic pop-rock song from an artist I thought could do more. Thankfully the chorus really pulls a  180 and drops some passionate loud vocals with some actual energy behind them and really brings the song to life. If not for that, this could have just been any other song I've heard by this kind of artist. It's enough to keep my interest in Boone, but not enough to really become a fan of his just yet. 

Overall Grade: C+

6. Zach Bryan & Kacey Musgraves - "I Remember Everything"

Two of modern country music's biggest names team up in this new single. A very slow and melancholy song where Bryan remembers an old relationship that didn't last. Nothing but regret and feeling bad about how things went as he struggles with the memories of the person he was with. Kacey plays his ex as she sings about how he just can't get his life together enough for her to feel like she's getting enough attention from him. It's an interesting topic and it's done pretty well. This is also the kind of song I just can't see myself listening to very often unless I'm just looking for a certain type of sadness or melancholy. 

Overall Grade: C

7. Tate McRae - "Greedy"

Ah yes, Tate McRae, one of the biggest pop artists in the world apparently. The first time I heard about this artist was on Twitter when everyone was shocked to find out she had over 50 million monthly listeners on Spotify. Since then I've checked out a few of her songs and I unfortunately just can't get into it at all. Her music just doesn't make me feel anything other than bored most of the time because I feel she lacks an identity. I will say "Greedy" is probably the best song I've heard from her at this point. It's at least decent, with a catchier chorus than a lot of her other songs and a decent beat. I would say this is a step in the right direction, but this song came out like 6 months ago. Not an artist I'm interested in hearing more from at all, but it looks like she's going to be around for a while. 

Overall Grade: C-

9. Doja Cat - "Agora Hills"

The second biggest single from Doja Cat's latest album climbed into the top 10 after the first single "Paint the Town Red" slipped down the charts. Doja's latest album dropped early in the fall last year to mixed reception. Clocking at nearly an hour long because pop artists don't know how to keep an album at a decent length when it doesn't even have enough good material in it to last 30 minutes. I will say "Agora Hills" is one of the best songs on the album. It's a slower moodier song, which feels different than a lot of their other hits. I really like the beat and atmosphere the song has going for it and Doja also does a good job with her flow to make it really interesting. The song is all about how Doja wants to show off her man to the world while also doing it in public places and hoping to get caught? I guess it's a mixture of both things. But for whatever reason it's not something she can do so it feels like maybe she's singing about a fantasy she wants, but can't have with her current man. It's interesting and that paired with the music makes for a pretty great track. 

Overall Grade: B

11. Noah Kahan - "Stick Season"

Noah's stick season has been slowly rising through the charts since late last year. The album this song is from was released in late 2022, but only recently started gaining a big surge in popularity. Last year he even released an extended version of his "Stick Season" album from 2022. In that album, he released collabs with some pretty big names in music like Post Malone, Sam Fender, Hozier, and Kacey Musgrave. Clearly, he's got the potential to be a big name in music going forward. So is his big mainstream hit any good? Well... yeah it's really good actually. It reminds me of the kind of folk and singer-songwriter music that was getting popular around the late 2000s and early 2010s like Passenger, Vance Joy, and The Lumineers. A style of music that felt like it came and went pretty quickly from mainstream popularity. Is this the time for a full comeback? Probably not, but it's nice to see more songs in this style getting attention. "Stick Season" has one of the catchiest choruses I've heard in a while from this style of music, maybe since The Lumineers' "Ho Hey". I think Noah will have a good career now on his own, but time will tell if he will be a big mainstream success going forward. The way things usually play out for these types of artists tells me no he won't have that kind of success, but I can at least hope. 

Overall Grade: B+

12. Megan Thee Stallion - "HISS"

Megan's second big single of the past few months, this is the follow-up to "Cobra". The song has gotten a lot of attention for the lyrics Megan uses. It even led to Nicki Minaj writing a follow-up diss track to try to respond to what Megan said in this song "Hiss". Nicki's song was one of the worst things I've heard all year, so that's how that went. Megan's "Hiss" is a very solid song that goes into a lot of her personal life while calling out all the people who gave her shit or tried to go against her. I think it does a good job of doing what it's intended to do, which I guess is to make Megan look like a badass rapper. Yeah, Megan is good and after hearing what Nicki had to offer as a response in her diss track "Big Foot" I think it's safe to say Megan won this one by a landslide. To be fair, I don't really care about this beef, but I just judge it by the quality of the songs and it was clear that Nicki was out of ideas as soon as the song began.

Overall Grade: B-

-BONUS ROUND-

I started writing this a few days before the Billboard Hot 100 was updated and since I didn't finish it right away the new list has been released. So I will now cover the two new big songs that debuted in the top 10! Starting with the new hit song from... BEYONCE?!

Beyonce - "TEXAS HOLD 'EM"

Is writing song titles in all caps the cool thing to do these days? Beyonce returned to the charts this week with her new single which she dropped along with her big Super Bowl commercial. Well... it's certainly not what I was expecting from her. A big pop-country-style song from Beyonce was not on my 2024 bingo card, but honestly, I should have really known with how big country music was last year that this was possible. I don't know about this one though, it's honestly not bad but it's also pretty dull considering the artist making it. I think this has a chance to grow on me with time, but for now, I'll say it's a letdown compared to her last few singles. So Beyonce is doing country, does that mean Taylor Swift's new album is going to be a House album? 

Overall Grade: C

Kanye West - "CARNIVAL"

Man, I was really hoping I didn't have to talk about this one... So I won't. 

Overall Grade: Who gives a shit

Conclusion?

It actually ended up being mostly enjoyable listening to these new songs. There weren't really any terrible songs (that I actually covered), but also nothing really stood out as amazing. "Stick Season" and "Lovin On Me" are songs I will be listening to more for sure, and probably "Agora Hills" too. Maybe 2024 isn't going to be so bad after all. Well, it's still early in the year so there's time for anything to happen. Stay positive. Listen to good music.