YEAR END LISTS: The Top 10 WORST ALBUMS of 2020

This article was a big hit among my friends last year so guess what? We're back! The albums on this list range from extremely boring or disappointing to albums that are just painful to listen to. Last year I felt I went a little too hard on rap with 6 of 10 albums being rap albums. Thankfully, well, not really thankfully, there were more bad albums from ALL across the spectrum this year. So let's not waste any more time. These are what I think are the 10 worst albums of 2020.

10. Eminem - Music To Be Murdered By

You know, maybe it's a good thing that Eminem prefers surprise drops now because if I would've gotten my hopes up and had expectations set for this album, I guarantee it would be a lot lower on this list. Now, this album, I don't think is awful, I just have the same problems with it that I've had with the last few Eminem albums. The flows are good but the bars are either funny in a bad way or just bad, the beats are either amazing or terrible and while this one hasn't been as prevalent in his past few releases, the longer this album goes, the more I want it to be over. Another problem I have with this album is just how inconsistent it is because there are some genuinely great songs on here. Royce Da 5'9" and Em's verses fit well on top of the insanely produced You Gon' Learn and the song Darkness might be one of the most dramatic songs Em has released in a long time. I also have to mention the big hit single off of this album Godzilla featuring the late, great Juice Wrld who comes through with a solid hook on the track while Em shows off once again that he can rap very fast. But for every one good song, there are three or four head-scratchers, for example, the song Those Kinda Nights featuring Ed Sheeran who is definitely featured on the song, for sure. But what hurts more are Em's bars on the song. Whether it's the one at the beginning of the second verse where he says, "This beat keeps takin' me back like my ex does / Only 'cause how good the sex was" or later on where he says, "'Seriously though, jokes aside, how you doin'? You straight?' / She said, 'No, I'm bi.'" I think the worst offender on this song though is the bar "Gettin' head in a bucket / Marshmello." There's also the song Leaving Heaven which, man, I wish I had someone who had as much faith in me as Eminem does in Skylar Grey because it's been 7 years since her first appearance on an Eminem album and she still does not have a career for herself. I don't think there's a single memorable track after Yah Yah and while Em could definitely do worse, this isn't good either. 

9. Glass Animals - Dreamland

This here is a fantastic example of singles being very deceptive, because I went into this album with high hopes after hearing songs like Your Love (Deja Vu), with some of the best production I've heard all year, and Heat Waves which, along with the album, really capture the sound of summer slipping away. But the rest of the songs on this album are either some of Glass Animals' best work or worst work. For example, I think the song It's All So Incredibly Loud is genuinely one of the best songs the band has ever released. The song is about those few seconds after you tell someone something that you know is just gonna crush them, whether it's breaking up with them or telling them about a death close to them. Just the deafening silence of those few seconds. Tangerine and Space Ghost Coast to Coast are songs that are the Glass Animals bread and butter and will be a blast to eventually hear live. But this album falls off real quick. I've grown more and more indifferent to Tokyo Drifting the more I listen to it, because while the beat is insane and Denzel Curry's feature on the song is fantastic, Dave Bailey trying to rap while his voice is layered in effects is almost laughable. There's also the song Melon and the Coconut that I talked about in my Worst Songs of 2020 list so I won't waste any more time with that. There's also the song Waterfalls Coming Out Of Your Mouth which I'm surprised even made the final cut. The lyrics on this song are very very rough. Whether it's the randomly yelled "Big d*cks and big ol' t*tties on the sly" chant at the beginning of the song, or the horrid verses where Dave sings zingers like, "It's chemical warfare / Red lips and television eyewear / Raspberry soda hair / In the pool in a blow-up gummy bear" or even better, "Cheap booze, Pepsi blue / You got bottles in from 2002 / Hot glue, vape juice / Hit undo, how the hell are you so cool?" Yes, there are bright spots on the album, but the weight of the bad on this album weighs it down and gives it a spot here. 

8. Lil Uzi Vert - Lil Uzi Vert vs. The World 2

I had a tough time choosing between which Lil Uzi Vert album I wanted to choose for this list but after some thought and relistening to both, I had to go with this one. And while I do find Uzi to be a bit overrated, that has nothing to do with him being on this list. This has nothing to do with his popularity or his postition in rap music, I just think he's already ridden this sound and style to death. At least with Eternal Atake he was coming through with some fresh ideas while also giving his fans the standard trap bangers they wanted. This album honestly just feels like a bunch of B-Sides that were leftover from the Eternal Atake sessions. Also, it's no secret that Uzi isn't exactly a lyrical genius and that weakness really hurts this album. His vocal performances a handful of songs here like Lotus where Uzi comes in almost yelping. The mixing on this song is also terrible with Uzi's voice mixed so high that you can almost forget the beat is there. There's also that hilarious line in the chorus where he says, "On the real, yeah, you a ten / But you cannot pay your rent." While the song Strawberry Peels is without a doubt a banger, it's so short that by the time it gets going, it's over. Gunna's verse on the song also hurts as I don't think any of his bars connect to one another, like he'll jump from name dropping VLONE and Chrome Hearts then in the next line say "she can't talk right now 'cause she's suckin' this d*ck." There's also the weird line he starts the song off with saying, "Let my bro hit her, I'm good with assist." It still confuses me, I don't know why you'd be proud to let your friend have a turn with a girlfriend. I think even worse is the chorus of the song No Auto where Uzi just repeats this phrase of "Oh you scared huh? Oh, you PUSSY!" The way he delivers that "Oh, you PUSSY" part always makes me crack up. I'm praying in the future we see more albums like Eternal Atake that have their own identity rather than more Part 2s that just please the Twitter crowd.

7. Shawn Mendes - Wonder

I wish I got as much out of Shawn Mendes's music as the thirsty 14-year-old girls I see in his IG comments because once again, I sat through an entire Shawn Mendes and didn't feel a single emotion. I don't think there is a single memorable song on here and if a song is memorable, it's not for a good reason. Take for example the song Song for No One which is memorable to me because it sounds like something that got left off of Radiohead's last album A Moon Shaped Pool. Why Shawn decided to try and rip off Radiohead of all bands is compelling to me. But what's even more compelling is when the beat switches up and the song changes into somethin almost Beatles-esque? Or like something from Born to Run but in half-time. Either way, it's a weird clash right next to each other. There's also the opening song Intro which is hideously mixed. It starts off sort of sweet and cute and then BOOM! A giant wall of synths comes from out of nowhere and kicks your legs out from under you. I honestly don't mind the song Wonder just becuase Shawn somehow manages to make super surface level lyrics kind of compelling, singing about wanting to live in a world that isn't black or white, or wondering if crying into his hands makes him less masculine. Call My Friends is almost on an AJR level lyrically and it's another mixing nightmare. The chorus features this huge, super unneeded, distorted bassline that makes no sense in this song. The chorus is quite honestly pointless with Shawn singing, "I should call my friends and go get high / I need a vacation from my mind." And the song Monster is definitely a song here. Lyrically, it's like if Idle Worship by Paramore was lame, and instrumentally it almost feels like a John Mayer song. And the Justin Bieber feature on here is rough. Brushing off your controversial past by saying, "Made some bad moves tryin' to act cool" won't get my sympathy. I hope Shawn Mendes can bounce back from this one but knowing who he has to appeal too, I only see his albums getting more and more dumbed down. 

6. Green Day - Father of All...

The more time that passes, the more I'm convinced that this was a troll album just to get out of their contract because I don't want to believe that Green Day spent a year recording, writing, and producing an album this bad. I don't know why the band is so hellbent on trying to ruin their legacy but it's not a good look for any of them. The album is 26 minutes, 10 songs, and it is the most blown-out rock album released this year. Now being honest, I still really like the title track and lead single from this album. It's high energy, super punchy, and while Billie Joe's vocals are strange, I've grown to enjoy them. After this song though, it feels like the band started throwing random ideas at the wall to see what stuck. Fire, Ready, Aim sounds like they weren't satisfied with the title track so they just did it again. I Was A Teenage Teenager might be one of the most obnoxious songs the band has ever released. Billie Joe is nearing 50 and he's still singing about being in high school in the most cheesy way possible. He also does the Mr. Brightside style of writing where instead of writing out a second verse, he just repeats the first one again, even though part of me is glad he didn't write a second verse because I can't imagine it being any better than the first one. Stab You In The Heart sounds ripped straight from the 60s with more distortion than you would hear on a Metallica song and is also the closest thing this album comes to having another decent song. And just in case you forgot what Boulevard of Broken Dreams sounds like, the song Junkies On A High is here to remind you what it sounds like. I know that this album is only 26 minutes but it feels like an hour. For as short as it is, I don't think it needs to be this long or as filled with crap as it is. At this point, I'm not even sure if I want to hear another Green Day album because this has left such a poor taste in my mouth. 

5. The Smashing Pumpkins - Cyr

Billy Corgan going synthpop? That sounds pretty rough just reading it back, now imagine sitting through 20 songs, or an hour and 12 minutes of it. It's not very enjoyable. While it is great that Corgan was able to get the core members of the band back together, why are you bringing them back to play synth-pop songs? If James Iha and Jeff Schroeder are back in the fold, why not try to make some more guitar-based music? I hate to say that they should go back to their classic sound but Siamese Dream and Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness are both ambitious and exciting alternative rock albums that really shine from the 90s scene. The latter of the two is nearly 45 minutes longer than this mess and it manages to be interesting all throughout. There's also the elephant in the room that everyone needs to address, Billy Corgan's voice. We all know it's bad, and we all know it hurts to listen to, but if you hated his voice before, you're really gonna hate it now. And last but not least, the way that Billy is wearing his influences on his sleeve on this album really detracts from trying to enjoy this album. For example, if you played me the instrumental from the opening song The Colour of Love, and told me it was a song by The Cure, I would've believed you. Or if you told me that Purple Blood was something that got left off of MGMT's last album Little Dark Age, I would've asked why it got cut. While I do think it's bold that the band is trying to reinvent themselves, why are you waiting until this late in your career to do it? And yes, synthpop is definitely an interesting direction to go in, half of these songs sound like me going into Garage Band out of boredom. I think it's pretty telling when Deftones are putting out an album that has better Smashing Pumpkins songs than a Smashing Pumpkins album. 

4. Florida Georgia Line - 6-Pack

Well, I'm glad that one thing has stayed consistent this year, Florida Georgia Line is still making horrible pop-country music. I try my best not to hate on Florida Georgia Line for no reason but this album is a really good reason to hate on them. The album opens with the song Beer:30 which, the more I listen to it, the more I realize I should've had it lower on my worst songs of the year list because it just gets worse every time I hear it. Super compressed instrumental, blown-out drums that sound like a firework going off every time they come in and the lyrics are the closest you could get to celebrating alcoholism in a song. Ain't Worried Bout It has this annoying refrain with Tyler Hubbard singing "ain't worried bout NOTHIN, ain't worried bout NOTHIN guuuuuurl." Once again, the lyrics are the highlight as the song starts off with the lines, "Bills stacked / Money's tight / Truck's jacked up / and I ain't talkin' sitting high." No clue what that means but okay. Once again, the drums are just pounding into my skull, whoever mixed them needs to be fired. The song Second Guessing makes me super mad because at the core it's not bad. The instrumental on here is the best on the entire album, and the chorus on this song is amazingly written, but it's Tyler and Brian Kelley's vocals that ruin the song. If you put Tim McGraw or Chris Young on top of this song, I would be head over heels for it. Countryside features something that should never be in a pop-country song no matter what. Ad libs. Every line Tyler sings in the first verse is followed up by this stupid "yuuUUUUP" ad lib. At this point, I'm convinced that there are too many yes men in the studio for this to be happening. And the album ends on I Love My Country which gives us one more final taste of why we hate this duo. Distorted guitar and banjos are having a fistfight to see who can be louder in the mix. I honestly think the producer accidentally hit the loop button on the banjo riff because the same riff plays for the entire song, not changing once. It's a song that will probably go down well at their shows but hearing it on Spotify is painful. This is the type of music to drive down a crowded highway with a confederate flag waving in the bed of your Ford F-450 Dually too. 

3. Trippie Redd - Pegasus

Usually, when I publish a list like this, I get some pushback or I feel bad for including certain albums because I know I have friends or followers that love said albums. For example, I already know I'm gonna catch some flack for putting the Glass Animals album on the list. This album, however, I don't know a single person who enjoys it so I have no remorse writing this. There are few artists who can pull off 26 song, 75 minute long albums, and Trippie Redd is not one of those people. In rap alone, the last project of that length that I actually enjoyed was To Pimp A Butterfly and that's just because that's one of the best albums I've ever listened to. I think the main problem with this album is that Trippie doesn't know what he wants it to be. It's like he went into the studio with the idea that this was going to be an R&B album but halfway through decided, "Nah, we need to make some hard sh*t. Call Future and Young Thug." The pacing is just bad with smooth R&B slow-burners right next to bland trap bangers with bass clipping like crazy. Seriously, I don't mind a little thump from bass every now and then but songs like Love Scars 4 push my subwoofer almost to its limit. And it's so overpowering that it distorts everything else around it when it hits. It also hurts the album that a lot of these songs start off with similar piano or synth intros before either going to a standard hi-hat and 808 beats or going to a drawn-out R&B beat, so a lot of the songs end up meshing together and becoming forgettable. There are a few notable exceptions though, and I don't mean that in a positive way. Chris Brown and Trippie Redd pair up on the song Mood and the two mix together as well as Dua Lipa would over a Merzbow song. And even though I hate Chris Brown with a burning passion, it hurts me to admit that he kind of killed the chorus on here. The song Spaceships is great for about 5 seconds until Trippie changes his delivery and starts his yelping, rasp voice thing. There's a bar on here where he says, "I just flew in two bitches from overseas / They both from Portugal, they both Portuguese," which, are we sure Kendrick didn't write this? Are we sure J. Cole didn't write this? It's just SUCH a god-tier bar that your fave could never write. I hope Trippie has a little more focus next time he rolls out an album because this definitely is not pleasing anyone. 

2. Sam Hunt - SOUTHSIDE

A "sophomore slump" is a music term that describes when an artist or band's second project doesn't live up to the expectation or standards set by their debut project. Don't understand the term? Go back and listen to Sam Hunt's debut album Montevallo then listen to this new album, SOUTHSIDE. (I just realized while writing this that Montevallo is 6 years old, where has the time gone.) Everything about Sam Hunt that has pissed off traditional country fans for his whole career is turned up to 11 on this new album. Snap beats? You got it. That talk/singing thing he does on top of a lot of songs? You got it. I do want to say though that there is one song on this album that I really enjoy and that is the song Hard To Forget because the beat on this song is genuinely great and it's the classic Sam Hunt sound that I enjoy. I want to hate it but I really can't. The chorus is catchy as hell and I can't help liking it. But the rest of this album is probably what Pop Country sounds like to people who hate Pop Country. Kinfolks has one of the most annoying hooks I've heard all year and the snare drums on the song might cause my head to explode if they're any louder. Young Once has one of the worst written pre-choruses in all of country music this year with Sam singing this one line about how as time goes by, it'll "dull like a razor." Let It Down is a hideous blend of R&B and country. The chorus has these tasteful distorted guitars and acoustic guitars blending together and a banjo lick going too and if this was all that was in the chorus, I would love this song, but there's a trap beat over the top for some reason that's mixed so high that it distracts from the rest of the song. The last two songs on this album, Breaking Up Was Easy In the 90s and Drinkin' Too Much are my favorites because hearing them means the album is over. Breaking Up Was Easy In the 90s shows Sam upset that he can't get over a breakup because he keeps seeing this girl's Instagram pictures and she's gotten "twice as pretty" and finally got to go to New York. And Drinkin' Too Much is just Sam on his hands and knees begging for this girl to take him back apologizing profusely for "naming an album Montevallo" and sorry that he's the reason that random strangers hit her up on social media or that she can't listen to the radio. He also says this one line about how he respects that she wants her privacy but he still wants to pay off her student loans? Yes, that's real. The only thing that saves this album from being in the #1 spot is the song Hard To Forget because even though the lyrics are creepy, at least it's enjoyable. And somehow, even worse than that this year, coming in at #1...

1. Justin Bieber - Changes

I want to be super upfront about something before I go in on Mr. Bieber. I don't think this album is horrible because JuStIn BiEbEr BaD and because he's pop music's punching bag, in fact, that's why I wanted to like this album when it got announced. I didn't want to just dismiss it because I still enjoy quite a few songs off of his previous album, Purpose, and I still remember clear as day begging my mom to take me to Walmart so I could buy the My World 2.0 CD. But as I listened to this album for the first time, I really wished I would've let it just slip by. I should've known we were in trouble from the second Yummy dropped. The chorus is about the laziest thing I've heard in a very long time. Just so devoid of any emotion or life. The other big single Intentions featuring Quavo isn't that much better. Sure, the chorus is kind of catchy and yeah, Quavo flows kind of well but geez this song is a lyrical nightmare. Especially that one "shoutout to your Mom and Dad for making youUu" line, sheesh. The lyrics continually drag this album down and Justin's performances don't really sell them. You can sometimes trick me into liking terrible lyrics with a good performance but once Justin reaches into that falsetto, all bets are off. There's another thing that continually kills this album and that is the production and the beats. This album has some of the blandest production and blandest beats on every. single. song. Almost all of the songs on here sound like they were ringtones at one point in time and Bieber even got his bluff called at one point for using a royalty-free loop in the song Running Over featuring Lil Dicky which might be my least favorite song on this album. That's another thing, all of the features on this album either severely underperform or just make you scratch your head and wonder "Why are they on this album?" Take for example, Travis Scott on the song Second Emotion. It's not the fact that Travis is on the song, he and Justin have worked together before on Maria, I'm Drunk, one of my favorite Travis Scott songs of all time, it's how terribly he performs on here. I really hope Travis got a big paycheck from this because he truly did not care when he recorded this. His verse does not have one single good bar and he sort of just shows up and leaves by the time you realize he's there. I understand that Justin wants to move past the cheesy pop music he blew up on and wants to make some more mature music now that he's married, but after listening to this again to do this writeup, I really don't have a doubt in my mind that this album fell flat on its face. This is no question, the worst album of 2020.

YEAR END LISTS: The Top 15 WORST SONGS of 2020

 I think all of us can admit that 2020 was a rough year. A lot of hard times, a lot of anger, and a lot of confusion have been clouding over us ever since March. Usually, music can work wonders and will help bring us together, help us celebrate what we have but these songs definitely did not do that. In fact, I think a few of the songs on this list actually made this year just a little bit worse. Here are what I think are the 15 worst songs of 2020.

15. Lil Baby - Woah

I don't think this song is downright horrible, I just think it's incredibly boring. Lil Baby's voice manages to be front and center yet so buried in the mix at the same time. I'm not sure how it happened but I can't be the only one who thinks this song is too quiet? Like my brother will decide to play it in the car and it almost sounds like my phone is below 1/4 of the volume. Maybe it's just because the bass is weighing it down so much but it's always a hassle to have to turn the volume up, listen to this boring one-trick pony sing a bland rap song, then turn it back down to cleanse my ears. Once again, I don't think this song is horrible, it's decent enough to be a hit but it's stupid enough to hype up the 20 year olds that don't care about the lyrics, they just care about the vibe and how hard it goes. The same type of people that'll snatch up Rolling Loud tickets the second they go on sale just for the experience. 

14. blackbear - hot girl bummer

I'm not sure what bugs me the most about this song. The super-flat beat, blackbear's annoying vocals, or the absolutely painful lyrics on the song. There's also this really random pitch-shifting throughout the verses that does not fit whatsoever. I don't get it. As I touched on earlier, the lyrics on this song are really bad, I don't even understand who he's trying to appeal to on here. The second verse might be the worst of all of it with blackbear rapping, "This that drip, it's more like oceans / They can't fit me in a Trojan / Out of pocket, but I'm always in my bag / Yeah, that's the slogan / This that, 'Who's all there?' / I'm pullin' up wit' a emo chick that's broken," and the repetitive "f*ck you, and you, and youUuUuuu" chorus drives me up the wall. I don't think I'll ever understand blackbear's appeal and songs like this don't help his case at all. 

13. Green Day - Take The Money and Crawl

Being the worst song on a really bad Green Day album seems almost like an achievement in itself. It sounds like Billie Joe found a few chords, went into the mixing booth and said, "that sounds good, layer it 30 times." The riff on this song might be the textbook definition of uninspired. If you sat me down in a studio, put a distortion pedal and a guitar in front of me, I could probably write a more inspired and interesting riff than this one. I really wish Billie Joe was doing something more interesting with his vocal performance on the song but instead he decides to just sing on top of distorted guitar that's hitting the same notes as his voice is, almost like he heard the chorus of the song Hook, Line & Sinker by Royal Blood and said, "I wanna do that the whole time." And the lyrics don't help the song one bit. The fact that Billie Joe is almost 50 and still drops lines like "You can take a walk or you can suck my c*ck!" is almost embarrassing. 

12. Travis Scott - FRANCHISE (ft. Young Thug & MIA)

I guess I shouldn't be surprised by just how average this song is. Maybe it's my fault for holding Travis to such a high standard musically and artistically but I know he's capable of so much better but he's been on a super cold streak ever since ASTROWORLD dropped. I can't even remember his last great feature on a song. Of all the lukewarm singles and features he's dropped in that time, this one is the worst and it hurts to say that because I was anticipating this song for a while after he played it on his Beats 1 radio show but now that it's here...eh. The siren that's constantly going off in the beat is annoying and serves no purpose, and while I understand that Travis isn't exactly a lyrical genius, his weakness really shows here, especially that one line where he says he and longtime DJ Chase B are "connected like we siamese." There's also a super confusing and out of place M.I.A. feature that feels so brief that I don't even understand why she's on the song, by the time you realize it's her she's gone. I really hope Travis snaps out of whatever funk he's in because if he keeps dropping songs at this quality level, we're in trouble.

11. Florida Georgia Line - Beer:30

Well if anyone was still trying to take Florida Georgia Line seriously, this song ought to be proof that you shouldn't be. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind a good drinking song, but this song goes way past just being a fun drinking song, it actively makes me want to stay sober. This dead-serious might be the official anthem of alcoholism. I guess I should've sensed trouble from the opening line "It's beer thirty, and I'm thirsty," but just let the song keep playing out, that's just the tip of the iceberg. Tyler Hubbard's voice is still awful all of these years later, the drawl on his voice almost sounds forced at this point, like the band got popular off of that voice so now he has to keep it going to keep the fans happy. And I've never been someone to complain about mixing and mastering but whoever mixed the drums on this song needs to be fired, immediately. There's no way that they should be this front and center in the mix. The lyrics on the rest of the song don't save it either, with Hubbard singing in the first verse, "Get a bottle, get a can / I'll probably get a couple in each hand / Either I'm half-lit or there's a keg in the corner / I'm considerin' of doin' me a keg-stand." I hate using Florida Georgia Line as a punching bag for why pop country music is so bad today but they make it almost too easy when they drop songs like this. 

10. Justin Bieber - Running Over (ft. Lil Dicky)

Why is Lil Dicky still relevant in 2020? I guess the Hulu show sort of left him in the spotlight but I have no clue why he is as popular as he is off of what, 2 big songs, both of which were horrible. I think I have to blame Justin's team for this one for deciding to get Lil Dicky instead of Ski Mask the Slump God who was originally supposed to be featured on this song but was taken off because he wasn't "commercially successful" enough. And that hurts because Lil Dicky's verse on this song ruins it, truly and honestly. But before I waste any more time on Dicky, Justin's performances on this song aren't exactly perfect either. And if you need a testament to the effort put into making this song, Justin was accused of stealing a melody from singer-songwriter Asher Monroe, but the confusion came from Justin using a royalty-free loop in the song. Being honest, I don't hate the chorus on this song, but it's the verses that really dig the song it's grave, with Justin saying in his verse that he had to get "a lesson in anatomy" because his breakup was so bad, and once again, that Lil Dicky verse is just, why? I don't know which part is worse, the lines about him scrolling through his exes Instagram all the way back to 2015, or that awful "More buns than a Shop Rite" line, it's a really rough listen and I really wish Ski Mask could've been on it. 

9. Eminem - Stepdad

I'm lucky to have two parents that have loved each other for a very long time so I don't have to be in the position that Eminem was in growing up. HOWEVER, had I been in a situation like his, I guarantee you I would try my absolute hardest not to write a song about the experience quite as bad as this one. Whether it's the bars about the dad stomps on the family chihuahua for peeing in the house and the weird followup line after ("He killed my chihuahua! This motherf*cker") or saying that the reason he's always so angry inside is because of "this motherf*cker, who sticks his d*ck in my mom." I think this song hurts the most to put on this list because it is such a waste of a great beat from The Alchemist. I'm glad that Eminem is still making music and still enjoying his career, but it's songs like this that make me wish he'd thrown in the towel already. If you're almost 50 and still dropping bars like some of the ones in this song, it might be smart to take a step back and reevaluate yourself. 

8. Lil Uzi Vert - Money Spread (ft. Young Nudy)

Lil Uzi Vert had a HUUUUUGE 2020. Two brand new albums, tons of features, and tons of critical praise from all around the musical world, however, as someone who does enjoy his music, why was it these albums? Both Eternal Atake and LUV vs. The World 2 are overloaded with filler, odd production choices, and Uzi's very hit or miss lyrics. If there's one song across both projects that showcases all of his weaknesses in full display, it's this one. What annoys me the most is just how cocky Uzi is on the intro of this song, saying how all of his peers are working way too hard and how he just does nothing. He even goes as far as saying, "Y'all want it? Come on, you can have it / Huh-huh-huh, huh, hurry up, hurry up, take this sh*t." The lyrics on the song are even worse with Uzi rapping in the chorus, "She said, 'Lil Uzi, please, can you eat me out?' / I said, 'No, I cannot, I could beat it out' / Put it in her, she screamin' like, 'Take it out' (Ouch)." I don't know who in the studio said that those lines were good but they need to reevaluate their life choices. The verses show his lyrical laziness on an even worse display, with amazing lyrics such as "I don't wear boots, but I'm off the boot," or perhaps the best lyric of the entire song, "Put it right in her neck just like a tie." And if you thought the Young Nudy feature was gonna save the song, it doesn't. Starting off his verse off by saying "Hahaha, I got your b*tch over here promotin' my nuts," is very bold but at this point, I'm guessing anything went. I'll always consider Uzi to be borderline overrated and it's songs like this that really prove that point. 

7. Sam Hunt - That Ain't Beautiful

I didn't have Sam Hunt using the word "slut" in a song on my 2020 bingo card but here we are. Now before I start this blurb, I do have to say that I am a little biased because I'm not a Sam Hunt fan, but I genuinely think Montevallo had some great songs on it. I don't think he's destroying country music but he's definitely not saving it either. But geez, rumor has it if you go to a dictionary and go to the term "gaslighting," this song comes up because that's essentially what Sam is doing over the song's 3-minute runtime. Pretty much telling her, "it's okay, you can do all of these bad things, but you could be doing better if you and I were dating." Sam's talk-rap style will always be annoying to listen to and on this song, it is on full display. He honestly sounds like he's offbeat for all of the verses and this style just doesn't fit the song at all. As I sort of mentioned earlier, the lyrics on this song don't help it at all. I wish I could tell you what Sam was trying to say in this song but I honestly don't have a clue besides the gaslighting I mentioned earlier. The first verse features true poeticism such as "And you can split an Adderal / With a stranger in the bathroom stall / Send a misspelled text to an ex / Who put his fist through your bedroom wall." The second verse makes matters even worse with Sam singing "Get pissed at your plus one / Even though he's just a friend / For lookin' up the girl from LSU on Instagram." I hope whoever wanted a new Sam Hunt album this bad is happy because this is barely the tip of the horrible iceberg. More on that next list. 

6. Meghan Trainor - Babygirl

Do you have a subwoofer anywhere near you that you don't use? Do you want to destroy it? Go ahead and throw this song on and your subwoofer will be gone in no time. I despise the beat on this song. Truly and honestly. The super-compressed bass mixed with those shots of synths sound horrible on top of each other. It also annoys me that Meghan's voice is so buried in the mix. It's no secret that she has an amazing voice, just listen to Like I'm Gonna Lose You. But someone behind the board decided, "you know what, let's mix this like a Billie Eilish song." And I like the message behind the song, it's empowering and motivational, but you won't get that from listening to it as Meghan's performance and delivery is rough. It's so underdone that it's hard to get any positive influence out of it. Also that "LOVE YOURSELF OOOOOOH" chorus is so, so, so annoying. It might just because I'm not Meghan's intended audience in this song but this whole thing comes off as super surface level, nothing really pushing the envelope or groundbreaking. I don't know how but this song manages to be so inoffensive and safe that it almost is offensive and a burden to listen to. I mainly blame that with how overproduced the song is. Just dripping in echo, a random choir pops up every now and then. This song manages to be so grand yet so flat at the same time. Now that I'm thinking about it, it's kind of ironic that a girl who sang a song named "All About That Bass" dropped a song this year that could destroy subwoofers and bass amps. 

5. Theory of a Deadman - Affluenza

This song might have the worst lyrics of 2020, point blank period. And I'm not saying I hate this singer or this band because he used to be poor and I'm not saying that writing about coming from rags to riches is a bad thing, I'm saying that writing about it in this way is horrible and I can't even sympathize for the guy because it's written so badly. There are so many cringe lines throughout the song, starting off hot in the first verse singing, "Had a matching shirt and slacks, yeah, my mom made those / Rich kids smiling ear to ear / Catch 'em saying, 'Smells like broke in here.'" Or even worse in the second verse singing, "SoundCloud rapper, all silver and gold / But he ain’t got enough to buy a soul / Get them Yeezys and cars for cash, ha / Ain't got a dollar to wipe his ass." There's also this horrible "We're all on welfare / Ain't that the life?" refrain that pops up close to the end of the song that just, sheesh. There's also the final verse where they're trying really hard to appeal to childhood innocence, singing about when "the worst thing in life was a brain freeze" and "ghost riding down the street by the Mickey D's," but the super monotone and lifeless vocals on this song don't really bring the same feelings across. Also, I can't go without saying that the instrumental here is super rough as well. It's probably the blandest pop-rock beat I've heard all year. There's also this awful clash near the end of the song where these overly distorted, blown-out guitar chords come in and collide with this super soft piano and drum beat that's been playing throughout the entire song. It's really rough and I really regret stumbling across this song because now that's it's in my life, I really want it to get out. 

4. Jason Derulo, Jawsh 685 - Savage Love

Before we start, I'll answer everyone's question. NO! I don't hate this song because it's a TikTok song. I hate it because the beat is horrible and Jason Derulo being relevant in 2020 blows my mind. This has to be the worst hit song of 2020 just because of that horn or saxophone or whatever the hell it is that's just looping through the entire track. It sounds so incredibly boring and honestly like something out of a bad children's TV show. I honestly thought that's what it was from the first time I heard this on TikTok, I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that this was a real song. And does Jason Derulo singing on top of the already horrible beat make the song better? Well. Polish a turd and it's still a turd. On the song, Jason is singing about a girl who is falling in love with him just to stick a finger to her ex. At least, that's what I'm picking up, but it leads to one of the funniest one-liners I've heard all year when he says "When you kiss me I know you don't give two f*cks." I also can't help but laugh watching the music video as Jason is hitting all these dance moves with a huge smile on his face but he's singing lines like, "I just found out, the only reason that you lovin' me / Was to get back at your ex lover but before you leave." There's also a hilarious line in the second verse where Jason sings "Usually don't be fallin', be fallin', fallin' fast / You got a way of makin' me spend up all my cash." Tell me that doesn't sound like something out of a Nav song. Please tell me that it doesn't. I really hope this song just fades into obscurity and soon. Every time it came on the radio or every time I would hear it while trying to study or do homework in the Student Union Building, I would try my best to ignore it, but that damn horn sample and the jAsOn DeRuLo intro tag would always get to me. 

3. The Network - Flat Earth

As if Green Day couldn't do bad enough under their own name, they also had to be terrible as The Network, a new wave/synthpop side project that the trio still denies having any involvement with. It's not so much the music that I have a problem with, even though it's about as bland of new wave as you could ever create. There's also that super high pitched, almost bird chirping sound that plays throughout the whole song that drives me crazy. The vocals are also terrible and don't fit the song at all. There so monotone and emotionless that I don't feel anything listening to this song. And look, I'm sure this song is supposed to be satire, or a joke, but usually jokes are funny. This is just dumb. The chorus has this horrible phrase of "If you think the world is round you're totally wrong / Flat Earth, flat Earth / It's what we're living on / If you think the world is round then you're probably a moron." The second verse is even worse with The Snoo(?) singing "Some say that Magellan / Circled 'round the globe / But there wasn't Google / So how could they know." For only being two minutes long, this song really overstays its welcome and if the rest of the album is anything like this, I will just go ahead and avoid it. 

2. Glass Animals - Melon and the Coconut

Dreamland had a lot of swings and misses and this has to be the worst offender, what in the world was Dave Bailey thinking when he recorded this one. I can tell he was trying to go for something super dreamy, sort of psychedelic, but that's about the only thing he does right as this song does sound like summer coming to an end. But when he starts singing, it's an instant nosedive in quality. The mix of Dave's voice and the chipmunk autotune in the background does not pair well together at all. The song is quite literally sung from the perspective of a melon and a coconut and if you think that sounds dumb from the jump, just wait until we dive into the lyrics because it gets worse, trust me. We're supposed to believe that this melon and this coconut were in a relationship and now they're just venting to each other about why they should end it. The second verse coming from the melon's perspective is possibly the worst writing on this album with Bailey singing at the beginning of the verse "Melly said to Coco, 'You can't do this anymore / One day, you'll see you're f*ckin' wrong / Sometimes B-sides are the best songs." and even worse at the end of the verse is the lines, "Off-White Air Force Ones in boxes / You're a fucking coconut, can't even put 'em on / Even if you could, you couldn't even pull 'em off." But what makes this song so bad is the guitar solos here. I feel like what Dave was going for was something super raw and unrefined but what we get is guitar solos that sound like me when I'm trying to practice, horrid. It honestly sounds like Dave hit his head really hard on his desk before he started recording, forgot how to play guitar, but just left it there. I think it's telling that I had a hard time choosing between which song to feature on this list since there is a handful to choose from, but this has to be one of the worst songs that Dave has ever released under the Glass Animals name. 

1. AJR - Bummerland

COVID-19 symptoms begin mild, usually with a fever or dry coughs, possibly even losing the sense of taste and smell. They slowly progress in severity with new symptoms including shortness of breath, muscle and body aches, and body fatigue. A severe case will eventually land you in the ICU and hooked up to a ventilator but a mild case will start subsiding after about 10-14 days. There have also been studies that lasting effects include heart and kidney damage. And I would much rather endure that two weeks of hell than to ever have to listen to this song again. If you like this song, or if you think this song is good, I am begging you to either email me or DM me on Instagram to please explain how. There is not a single likable quality to this song. Whether it's the tambourine that starts having a seizure and doesn't shut up for the rest of the song 10 seconds in, or lead singer Jack Met doing his best Tyler Joseph impression for 4 minutes, it's painful. The lyrics range from bad to cringeworthy. The song starts off with the lyrical genius lines:

This month I got seven haircuts

And now my hair is all gone

And if it was possible, the second verse is even worse with Jack saying that he wants his bank account to hit $0 so that when he buys a beer next year, he'll "be a god damn hero." The chorus wants to be catchy so bad, it's on its hands and knees begging to be stuck in my head, and when it does, I'm instantly reaching for Ibuprofen to help my headache. Please avoid this song at all costs. I didn't think it could get worse than Bang! but once again, AJR has managed to outdo themselves. I don't want to rush an AJR album out because I honestly don't want it, but I want to see if they can manage to outdo themselves yet once again.

If for some reason you want to listen to all of these songs, here is a Spotify playlist with all of the songs on this list:

 

YEAR END LISTS: My 10 Favorite Quarantine Albums

 

HERE WE ARE LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! IT'S MY FAVORITE TIME OF YEAR ON THE BLOG! YEAR-END LISTS!!! I'm super excited to share all of these with you and I hope you guys enjoy them!

Like many people this year, being locked down and forced to stay home was a burden. But as I started getting more used to the stay at home life, I realized I had more time to dive into albums and artists that I hadn't given myself a proper chance to. I started trying to do something I heard Tyler, The Creator mention on an interview with Nardwuar where he wakes up every morning and listens to two hours of new music that he's never listened to before. Of course, I couldn't end up keeping up with that, but I still got to immerse myself in a lot of new sounds and albums that I had been putting off for a long while. Here is a list of 10 albums that I either discovered for the first time or that finally clicked for me while in isolation.

Queens of the Stone Age: ...Like Clockwork

I've been a huge QOTSA fan for quite a while and while I had listened to various songs off of this album, mainly My God is the Sun and If I Had A Tail, for some reason, I never got around to listening to the album in full. I'm glad I finally did because the way this album all flows together is fantastic. A lot of the songs either transition into another or pair next to each other really well. For example, a synth line at the end of I Sat By The Ocean leads right into The Vampyre of Time and Memory. Or even funnier, lead singer Joshua Homme saying "I don't give a sh*t about them anyways." leads right into the intro of Smooth Sailing. The music itself is probably QOTSA's best work since 2002s Songs for the Deaf. There's a lot of fantastic high energy, stadium rock bangers on here like the previously mentioned My God is the Sun and Fairweather Friends. But there's also a lot of great slower songs on here too, most notably, the best and my favorite song from this album I Appear Missing. It starts off with this really sweet descending then ascending guitar lick that fits nicely on top of the guitar and bass. The choruses are these explosive bursts of cymbals and distorted guitar, and I absolutely adore the outro guitar solo. It literally pulls my soul out of my body every time. I'm so glad I gave this one a shot because it has slowly become my favorite QOTSA album. 

Gorillaz: Demon Days

If you've gotten annoyed with me talking about how great Gorillaz are in the past 7 or 8 months, you can blame the fact that I finally decided to listen to this album while cooped up in my bedroom. For a while, I just could not get into Gorillaz. One night while bored, I decided, "Eh why not, I'll watch this Gorillaz set from Outside Lands Festival." and I was blown away. The next morning I woke up and immediately threw on this album and it finally clicked for me. The production is super dark and 2D's vocal performances are always super sad, almost like he sounds hopeless most of the time. The album is a nice mix between slow burners and dance tunes, there's also a nice portion of fantastic features and rap verses on here. The most notable for me is MF DOOM's verse on November Has Come. The song itself is fantastic with DOOM's verses and 2D's chorus pairing so well together. And if you know anything about DOOM, you know that he can pack a punch in a short amount of time. There's also the absolutely timeless Feel Good Inc. which could probably drop today and still be a hit. The bass line is hypnotic and groovy and De La Soul fits on this track like a glove. I also can't end this writeup without talking about the closing tracks on this album, Don't Get Lost In Heaven and Demon Days because it might be my favorite closing run on any album ever. Don't Get Lost In Heaven is a piano-led track backed by this huge choir while the title track has these lush strings and an electric guitar picking away while that same choir sings these really dark lyrics about how "you can't trust the air you breathe because Mother Nature wants us all to leave." but it ends on a positive note with the choir saying "pick yourself up, it's a brand new day, so turn yourself around." This album is such a fantastic listen every time and I highly suggest everyone give it a shot. 

Deftones: White Pony 

I always knew this album was supposed to be special but similar ...Like Clockwork, I had only listened to a few songs off of it rather than digesting the whole thing. This album is, simply put, an experience. From front to back, it really pushes the boundaries of rap-rock and nu-metal, if you can even call it nu-metal, I hate putting that label on Deftones though. This was the first album I listened to when I wanted to do the "2 hours of new music every day" thing because I kept hearing rave reviews and a lot of critical acclaim about it. On first listen, the songs Back To School and Feiticiera didn't really strike me as anything amazing. The riffs were cool and the energy was cool but I was starting to think the album was gonna be something that was great at the time but hadn't aged well, then Digital Bath started which put any doubts I had to rest. The song starts off with this killer drum groove and some soft guitar chords while singer Chine Moreno sings in this really breathy voice. When the chorus drops in, it's an eargasm. Loud distorted guitars, even groovier drums, it's probably one of the best songs the band has ever released. Immediately after this, the song Elite is a high-energy, chaotic banger. I honestly can't tell if Chino is whispering or screaming during the verses but it works well so I don't care. The riff on this song is insanely good and is probably my second favorite riff on here, the top spot being taken by the song Passenger. I can't explain it but the song sounds like getting in your car, turning on to open road, and flooring it. Chino and Tool singer Maynard James Keenan have amazing chemistry on the song and bring out the best in each other on the track. I'm glad I gave this a shot because the production, the performances, the band was on fire recording this and I highly recommend it to anyone who is into that shoegazey/90's alternative stuff.

Cage The Elephant: Melophobia

I'm so mad that I slept on this album. If there's an album that should prove how great indie rock was in the 2010s, it should be this one. Across 10 songs and 37 minutes of runtime, Cage The Elephant just bring hit after hit after hit. The album consists of two types of songs. Loud, distorted, energetic rock songs that make you want to jump and dance, and lowkey, more midtempo numbers that hit different when you turn all the lights off in your room and put both headphones on. Of the first category, the first two songs that spring to mind are Spiderhead and Teeth. Spiderhead kicks off the album with a huge bang. I love how the piano and guitar pair together throughout the song and singer Matt Schultz's performance is fantastic. Meanwhile, Teeth is hands down the rowdiest song on the album. Blaring distorted guitars, pounding drums. Don't ask me to explain this but the song sounds thick. Of the second category, Telescope is definitely the standout song. It starts off super lowkey with these synth chords popping in and out. I absolutely adore the chorus of this song, especially the one line where Schultz sings "Time is like a leaf in the wind / Time is like a leaf in the wind / Either it's time worth spent / Or time I've wasted / Don't waste it." There's also this sort of breakdown where the song shifts into louder drums and a great guitar solo. It's probably my favorite Cage The Elephant song to date. I also can't not mention the song Cigarette Daydreams because if you've never cried listening to this song, you haven't lived. It's a really solid closer to the album with some strummed acoustic guitar chords, some drums and strings pop up on the back half of the song. But it's the lyrics that really steal the show where Schultz sings, "You can drive all night / Looking for the answers in the pouring rain / You wanna find peace of mind / Looking for the answer / If we can find a reason, a reason to change / Looking for the answer / If you can find a reason, a reason to stay / Standing in the pouring rain." I think it goes without saying that this isn't only my favorite Cage album, I think it's their best as well.

The Cure: Disintegration

Contrary to all of the other albums on this list, I knew I loved this album before I was forced to stay home. I'd even go as far as saying it's my favorite album of all time. This one really helped with that isolation. Every time I threw it on, it almost felt like I had just covered myself in a warm blanket, and I still get that feeling every time the synths and drums kick in on Plainsong, it's just so comforting. All of the songs on here feature super lush and super beautiful production, pair that with Robert Smith's incredible voice and writing over 12 songs and you have an amazing album. The album is full of hits. Whether it's Pictures of You, an epic 8-minute long song with Smith pining over the times in his life where he and his now-wife were split apart from each other. I usually cannot stand when a singer takes over 30 seconds to start singing but this is a song where I let it slide because the guitar riffing for the first 2 minutes of the song is beautiful. Lovesong is a cheesy song that Smith wrote as a wedding present for his then bride to be, and before you come at me for calling it cheesy, even Smith himself thinks the song is super weak and who's gonna fight the person who wrote it. My personal favorite song on this album has to be Last Dance. The lyrics tell a sad story of meeting a person you haven't seen in forever and realizing that they aren't the person they used to be with Smith singing "And the fur and the mouth and the innocence turned / To hair and contentment that hangs in abasement / A woman now standing where once there was only a girl." I also have to mention the title track as it's easily one of the best songs on the entire album. I love the slick guitar lead and fat snare drums leading the song. I also love how the fuzzy guitar and keyboard sync up right before the vocals come in. The lyrics are a gut punch once again with Smith singing about either infidelity, drug addiction, maybe even the band breaking up? No one still knows for sure, but it's definitely not a happy track. There's one line that always hits me super hard where Smith sings "I leave you with photographs, pictures of trickery / And stains on the carpet and stains on the memory." But despite all of the sad lyrics, this album is still a solid listen every single time and has aged beautifully in the past 31 years. 

Radiohead: In Rainbows

Hey guys, in case you didn't know, Radiohead is incredible. Want proof? Listen to In Rainbows while you're speeding down the highway at night. That's how I listened to it for the first time ever and it was magical. I think my fondest memory of my first listen was hitting the entrance ramp right as Bodysnatchers started and that still sticks with me. I had never gotten into Radiohead until one night after picking up dinner, this album cover stared at me when I opened Spotify so I said, "I might as well, let's see what happens." The result was me listening to this album any and every chance I got over the next few weeks. The production is beautiful, the band doesn't deliver a single bad performance, and all around, the whole album is a vibe. It all flows together super well and there's not a single dull spot on the album. From the glitchy but groovy opener, 15 Step to the slow but super passionate Nude to Weird Fishes/Arpeggi which has probably the best guitar work on the album. If you've never seen the video of them playing this song live in The Basement, please do. It's fantastic. The hits keep on coming later into the album. The song Reckoner has this sick drum groove driving the whole thing, the guitar licks throughout it are really great too. Thom Yorke's voice on top of the song takes it to the next level though. His falsetto is almost like a warm, sunny day after three days of rain. Videotape is a fantastic closing track to the album. The song is just Thom and a piano for the first minute and a half before some drums cover in and some strings start building up. I honestly wouldn't complain if it stayed all piano the whole time though because it's beautiful. I guess my only somewhat gripe is that the song builds up to nothing, I don't care though, it's still a great end to this otherwise perfect album. 

Paramore: After Laughter

I don't really know why I put off this album and Paramore as a whole for so long. It's almost like it's been a missing piece. I didn't know how much I needed it until I had it. This album was the soundtrack to many solo dance parties in my room and in my shower and was always great background noise driving to work when I was working. The album might be the textbook definition of happy but sad music as lead singer Hayley Williams is singing these really dark and sad lyrics over these incredible synth-pop and new wave instrumentals. The first two songs on the album really show that off well. Hard Times has this super fun guitar lead and these chimes in the same tune but Hayley starts off the album singing, "All that I want / Is to wake up fine / Tell me that I'm alright / That I ain't gonna die." The chorus is super catchy too even though Hayley is saying that hard times are "gonna make you wonder why you even try," how they're gonna "take you down and laugh when you cry." I also love the song Rose Colored Boy so so much. It's a song about a person in Hayley's life who's always cheery and always sees the bright side of life and that bothers Hayley singing "I'm so annoyed / 'Cause I just killed off what was left of / The optimist in me." The chorus on here is infectious with Hayley saying "Just let me cry a little bit longer / I ain't gon' smile if I don't want to." This song also ties into Fake Happy. A more mid-tempo groovy song about how on stage and online, we see Hayley as this super bubbly and fun person but on the inside, she's a mess, even saying in the first verse, "You see, it's easy when I'm stompin' on a beat

/ But no one sees me when I crawl back underneath." The song Idle Worship might honestly be my favorite song on this album. There's this weird synth lead and bassline that start off the song before Hayley comes in with these great lyrics about the pedestal that she's constantly put on, singing "Hey baby, I'm not your superhuman / And if that's what you want / I hate to let you down / I got your hopes up / Now I got you hoping / That I'm gonna be the one to let you down." I really hope the band continues with this sound because it fits them so well. 

The White Stripes: Elephant

I mean, what can you say about The White Stripes that hasn't been said already. This album was the soundtrack to many bike rides and many days out at the pool. It also inspired me to start playing my guitar more whenever I got the chance, just because of how fantastic Jack White is as a guitarist. Almost like Melophobia, there are two types of songs on this album. Super fuzzed-out and solo heavy ragers, and slower ballads led either by acoustic guitar, piano, or both. The first category holds songs like Black Math which has this awesome switch to half time in the middle of the song, I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself, which is a cover of an old Blues song that sounds nothing like the original. Jack And Meg White bring a completely different energy to the song. But my favorite song of the category has to be Ball and Biscuit because over the 7 minutes of runtime, Jack is constantly rubbing in my face how much better of a guitar player he is than me. Just face-melting solo after solo. The last one I wanna mention from this category is Girl, You Have No Faith In Medicine. I love the part in the middle of the song where Jack alternates between chunky guitar chords and little guitar solos. The second category is a little bit more hit or miss but the hits make up for it. I Want To Be The Boy Who Warms Your Mother's Heart is a piano ballad of Jack trying to impress a girl, asking what cartwheels does he have to do to attract her and saying that she even makes him want to finish high school just to make her notice he's around. After this, You've Got Her In Your Pocket is a cute acoustic number with Jack trying to hold onto this lover no matter what the cost is, he doesn't want to lose her. Jack's voice is super passionate and he packs a lot of emotion into his words. I think it goes without saying that this is the best White Stripes album and if you've ever wondered why I'm as obsessed with Jack White as I am, this album is why.  

Run The Jewels: Run The Jewels 2

Run the Jewels have probably been my favorite discovery in this period of time. Killer Mike and El-P are such a fantastic duo together and their chemistry is part of what makes this album as incredible as it is. The production on this album is super dark and grimey, it's very bass-heavy as well, and Mike and El flow very well over these beats coming through with these super clever or super funny bars, for example on the song Oh My Darling (Don't Cry) where they both come through with a handful of hilarious bars. My favorite bit being where El raps "My business cards says you're in luck / I do two things, I rap and f*ck," then Mike follows it up saying "I f*ck and rap, I tote the strap / I smoke the kush, I beat the puss." There's also an amazing beat switch near the end of the songs that always leads me to hitting a stank face. Close Your Eyes (And Count To F*ck) is the first Run The Jewels song I ever heard and I still think it's my favorite song by the duo. From Killer Mike's fantastic opening verse covering an uprising in a prison to El taunting the jury to the hilarious "A wise man once said 'We all dead, f*ck it."" It's a fantastic song and when you think it can't get any better, enter Zack De La Rocha, legendary Rage Against the Machine frontman and a man who I guess only comes out of his cave to record verses for RTJ. Early might be the most serious song on the album with Mike rapping about the effect that police brutality has on a victim's family. Mike details how out of the window from the back of the car, he can see that his wife is trying to fight to get her husband out but she's thrown on the ground and gets a gun pointed at her. He continues saying that he could hear his song begging for the cop to not hurt his mom but he's too late as Mike says, "My life changed with that sound." The versatility of Run The Jewels always blows me away, they can go from songs like this explaining a husband and son losing their mom to police brutality to on the song after dropping bars like "I'll beat you to the pulp, no fiction" or my personal favorite, "The beat gets abused like I wear a wife-beater." It's a fantastic rap album and if you need something lyrical that will also get you turned up, this is your album. 

Lorde: Melodrama

Where the hell am I supposed to start. Am I supposed to start with how consistent this album is? Or am I supposed to start how incredible Jack Antonoff's production is? Or do I need to start with how amazing Lorde's voice is? I have no clue. All I know is that this album is incredible. The opening song Green Light starts off with just some piano and Lorde coming through with some great harmonies before this amazing dance beat drops for the chorus. It's such an incredible opening song, probably the best on all of the albums on here. I love the beat on Sober so much. The percussion loops are that drive the song are fantastic and I love the horns that keep popping up in the chorus. I also love the non-drop in the first chorus, the song keeps building up and it just kind of stops to highlight her voice. Homemade Dynamite has probably my favorite chorus on the album. The harmonies are incredible and I love the distorted synth chords that randomly pop up throughout it. It's also super catchy and gets stuck in my head often. Liability is a beautiful piano ballad with these super sad lyrics with Lorde singing about troubles she has loving herself and in the second verse even questioning her fame, singing "The truth is I am a toy that people enjoy / 'Til all of the tricks don't work anymore / And then they are bored of me." The song Supercut almost sounds like it samples the same piano from the opening song but I don't care, it fantastic. It's another dance tune with a sad twist. Lorde is dreaming of this ideal relationship, thinking of how perfect her and this person would be, but she has to bring herself back down to reality after realizing the relationship she has isn't as perfect as the one she's thinking of, singing, "In my head, I do everything right / When you call, I'll forgive and not fight / Are the moments I play in the dark." This album is without a doubt pop perfection. I eagerly await the day Lorde drops another album because if this album is any sign, we're definitely in for a treat.