Trying to do this season’s edition of top 20 ranked has been
difficult…not just due to time constraints but because a lot of the songs in
the top 20 are songs that are still very much from 2018 and the Ariana Grande
album bomb of a few weeks ago however I am going to go back to the week of 17th
February and base my ranking on that chart week.
Let’s begin with the total
garbage
Awful
20. “Sicko Mode” by Travis Scott feat. Drake
I think I have made my hatred of this song clear and the
fact some people are labelling it a modern hip hop classic is an absolute
slight to hip hop that has actual quality and bars to go with it. Ugh.
19. “7 Rings” by Ariana Grande
Ariana Grande cooing over a trap beat is not something I
have any desire to hear again and interpolating “Favourite Things” makes it
even worse. Sadly, the next single isn’t good, and I was starting to LIKE YOU,
ARIANA!
Bad
18. “Without Me” by Halsey
I am actively now sick of Halsey writing melodramatic bad
relationship songs without anything that would make what she is trying to sell
remotely interesting. Also G-Eazy was (unfortunately) a vacuous boring thing
before you arrived on the pop scene, Halsey, you weren’t the one to put him
there.
17. “Happier” by Marshmello and Bastille
I really don’t understand the appeal of this song at all.
Bastille sounds better on their own tracks rather than braying over this
electronic mess. We eventually need to start asking questions about when
Marshmello is going to release music of a good quality because at this point
I’m getting to where I don’t care.
Meh
16. “Thank U, Next” by Ariana Grande
This song is okay but I’ve generally forgotten about it five
minutes after having heard it. Not the most memorable number one that Australia
has ever had if I am going to be blunt.
15. “Middle Child” by J Cole
I have never really cared or taken much interest in J Cole’s
music and this song doesn’t spark any interest in checking out this guy’s
music. It’s tolerable but not anything that makes me want to go and see what
else he has done.
14. “Wow” by Post Malone
Hey Post, Fall out Boy have no idea what ‘rock’ is so I am
not sure what album you were listening to you when you wrote “Rocking out to
Fall out Boy” line. I like to think Posty was listening to “Uma Thurman” while
writing this song. It’s got a good beat but the lyrics kind of suck.
Decent
13. “7 Minutes” by Dean Lewis
So “Be Alright” has faded on me hard, that song just makes
me want to throw things now and this one is kind of better in terms of the
framing where Dean Lewis is berating himself for losing this girl and is
working out how he let her down and all these memories he has of their time
together. The only issue with this song is how painfully repetitive that chorus
is.
12. “Waiting” by Kian
A song I am surprised that has stuck around but Kian has
shown plenty of promise as a song writer so yeah, all in all “Waiting” is a
pleasant listen and I don’t change the station if this song comes on the radio.
That guitar line is good and Kian has a pretty strong vocal presence, just wish
that the hook was a little better.
11. “Confidence” by Ocean Alley
This is high up because of how good that hook is and not
much else because to be honest, I find Ocean Alley’s music to be sleepy surfer
rock but “Confidence” works on that person to person level for me that most of
Ocean Alley’s other music, but that hook is probably why it topped the hot 100
Good.
10. “Eastside” by Benny Blanco feat. Halsey and Khalid
This is the only GOOD song Benny Blanco has released so far.
I am not going to repeat my thoughts on this song that I wrote in a previous
edition of top 20 ranked
9. “Sunflower” by Post Malone and Swae Lee
I finally decided to stop lying to myself and admit that
this song is actually pretty good. Post Malone sounds great and Swae Lee can
sound like The Weeknd if you really squint hard. Really, I can’t explain what
clicked for me but yeah, I admit I like this song a lot.
8. “Better” by Khalid
Why is Khalid moving away from this kind of sound? “Better”
is the sort of song that suits him more than the increasingly grating “Talk”.
The “SunCity” EP was excellent and this was one of the best songs from it, a
delicious slice of moody R ‘n’ B where Khalid is meeting up with this girl he
has made a connection with and how nothing feels better than when he is with
her. It’s a good song and really deserved to be the hit that “Talk” looks like
being.
7. “Sweet but Psycho” by Ava Max
You know when you hear a song where the lyrics get more
ridiculous the more you think about it but somehow the song overcomes the
ridiculousness by being insanely catchy and full of hooks that you are left singing
along? Well yeah, that’s the appeal of “Sweet but Psycho” to me, it’s just a
silly song that arrived at a time when we do with some fun and kind of stupid
songs on the chart.
Great.
6. “Bury A Friend” by Billie Eilish
This song is so creepy, and the video just adds to that but
its just dark and twisted enough to suck you in, it’s Billie talking to that
monster lurking under her bed. There’s just enough groove and energy to keep
the song moving, it’s one of the more twisted songs that Billie has written but
it’s also one of her best.
5. “Nothing Breaks Like a Heart” by Mark Ronson and Miley
Cyrus
My heart breaks knowing this song isn’t the huge world wide
smash that it deserved to be. Miley sounds fantastic over the music provided by
Mark Ronson with its country sounding groove that sounds better than anything
out of Nashville in the last six months. Oh well, at least I know I can rest
easy with the idea that it will make the ARIA year end chart for 2019.
4. “Shallow” by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper
It’s taken awhile but the song connected for me in the last
couple of months. Bradley Cooper is surprisingly good but Lady Gaga really does
steal the show with her vocals, she just sounds amazing and I am so happy that
this song finally became a number one hit in the US. Will be a decade defining
classic in the years ahead. Nice one, Lady Gaga and Bradley!
3. “Shotgun” by George Ezra
Keeping this short because I’ve already talked about this
song and how good it is. Great song from George Ezra. So happy he got it to
number one last year deserved.
2. “Dancing With a stranger” by Sam Smith and Normani
Sam Smith and Normani have a surprising amount of chemistry
for a song that uses all its elements well with that fizzy crack of a beat and
just enough guitar to keep things moving. Also, Sam Smith sounds amazing on
this song as song as he sounded on “Promises”, can he keep going on dance songs,
pleas
So that leaves the number one and this doesn’t surprise me
one little bit considering how much I have listened to it and loved it.
1.
“Leave Me Lonely” by Hilltop Hoods
This is the kind of hip hop I love, one that makes me smile
and want to jump around with it’s prominent guitar rollick and the Hoods
rapping about how they’d rather be left alone than hearing bullshit talk and
that line “Me and my friends, we aren’t here for your BS” (have to paraphrase
that last word!) is just ridiculously catchy and slipping in a line or two
about Paul Manafort is priceless. If you haven’t checked out the Hilltop Hoods and
their new album “The Great Expanse” than please do so because its excellent.
Final score: 63/100
Comment: Wow. I didn’t realize how good the chart was a few
weeks ago. Obviously that score may well have come down a little since but yeah
despite the bad, there’s a lot of good to great. Feeling optimistic about this
year.
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