2021 was......a year. The music......it existed. There were good songs, there were bad songs, and you know what we're starting with, so let's just get into it.
10
And we start off with a song that reminds me of what my number one worst of last year should've been.
10) Song: Time Today Artist: Moneybagg Yo Year-End Position: 76
Moneybagg Yo is an artist that started out with promise and even looked as though he would become a well beloved talent if he achieved massive chart success. And then the bullshit with Tory Lanez shooting Megan Thee Stallion in the foot happened, and Moneybagg Yo not only flushed his credibility down the toilet by siding with Lanez in the whole debacle, he also preceded to release a string of crap that showed that any glimpses of talent he had were thoroughly gone, at least for the most part. In hindsight, as godawful as Hard To Forget was and really still is, I really should've listed Said Sum as the worst hit of 2020, not just for how dismissive and condescending the lyrical content and MBY's delivery was on that song, but also for the fact that that zippy violin and inconsistent groove in the bass combined to raise my anxiety to an uncomfortable degree. Well, in the several months that followed, he had several charting songs that were pretty hit or miss in terms of quality, and two of them made this year's year-end chart, and while his other hit on the list, Wockesha, was fine enough (even if it is biting hard off that obvious sample), Time Today wore out its welcome in record time. Essentially a slightly less annoying version of Said Sum, this song is just flat out junk, from the creepy synths that sound like someone scratching a knife blade on a glass back and forth multiple times, the cheap trap skitters, and the complete vacuum of charisma that is Moneybagg Yo himself. His delivery has always toed the line between being confident and self-assured and just outright dickish and like he's talking down to his audience. This is especially true when compounded with the lyrics about how no one can understand his grind and how hard he had to work to achieve his success, which, if this is what all that "hard work" has come to, it was apparently all for naught. Throw in some generic flexing and a girl that apparently gave him fellatio whilst he still had his underwear on, and you've got a disposable nothing of a song that is best forgotten about. Let's move on.
I'll be real with y'all, I was just planning on leaving this one off entirely, maybe giving it a dishonorable mention at worst. At this point, we all know the glaring issues with what has essentially become nothing more than Adam Levine's shitty vanity project, so going over all of that for the umpteenth time would be nothing short of just redundant. After all, this really is nothing but air taking up radio waves, so wasting any time would be completely meaningless. Hell, at one point in the year, I even liked the song for the guitar line. Needless to say, that has obviously faded into oblivion, and after having to hear this turd one too many times, something just absolutely chipped because, for the, what, twentieth(?) time now, this "group" keeps on finding ways to waste mine and everyone else's time all the while taking up space on the radio, streaming services, and places in peoples' cerebral cortexes even when the final product winds up being absolute garbage. The washed out guitar line over the forgettable trap beat is incredibly underwhelming, Levine sounds checked out as usual, and the jerky melody that has blackbear's stench all over it, it's so much of a huge nothing burger, and yet it rubs just enough of the wrong nerves to absolutely piss me off. Megan sounds fine because, well, she's Megan, but even she's not at her best here as she sounds like she'd rather be literally anywhere else, although it's not like I blame her given that that is the bog-standard reaction and response to finding out that you're gonna be the featured artist to a song by Adam Levine & Co. But what really landed this song here is the content. In this song, Adam Levine is having the most pathetic fantasies that he is hate fucking his ex. This would be an interesting concept if executed properly, but there's two major problems. One, Adam's lifeless as usual performance squashes any chance for this to be sold properly, and two, "beautiful mistakes"? In what way is that flattering? I mean, I've heard of "happy accidents," but there are limits to how far a metaphor should be taken, and this goes beyond those limits easily. Even when Megan states on her verse that she had to fucking block him on social media in the song, Levine still prattles on about his hate sex fantasies like the disinterested, pathetic loser he is. Yeah, to the surprise of no one, Maroon 5 tested my patience yet again. It's just a shame they had to drag someone talented down along with them......again.
8
By contrast, here's a song that was always gonna be destined for this list......
8) Song: Fancy Like Artist: Walker Hayes Year-End Position: 27
And cue the amount of eyebrows raising from how low on the list this song is. Oh, this is bad, but in all honesty, even with all of the corporate cynicism that this song wreaks of, after a while, I just got wore down with it. Ultimately, that is an earworm of a hook, and I can see how one would be able to enjoy it at least in a guilty pleasure sort of way. Make no mistake, though, this is not a good song in any way, shape or form. The ugly, formless guitar line set against percussion that has no sense of groove whatsoever, the uncomfortable amount of empty space in the mix that just leaves the final product feeling unfinished, Hayes' smug ass delivery that postures as suave and effortlessly cool but in reality just ends up being smarmy and obnoxious, it's just insufferable from start to finish. And of course, you have the sheer overabundance of stupidity within the lyrics from Walker saying his girl has a "double wide" (gross), talking about how his girl likes to "dip [him] like them fries in her frosty" (even more gross), and finally, the big elephant in the room surrounding this song, the fact that the hook is nothing but a glorified advertisement for fucking Applebee's of all goddamn places. And don't get me wrong, I like the food there every now and again, but the smug tone when he leads into the hook by sarcastically referring to it as an "upgrade" (god, what dumps are you and your wife visiting, Walker?) is just way too unsettling for a song like this. What gets me the most about this song, though, is something that I haven't seen anyone other than Todd point out, and that is the fact that the song is supposed to be all about how Hayes and his wife don't need a bunch of expensive amenities to make them happy, and yet in the process of talking about she doesn't need a Tesla, Walker Hayes says that his girl is "happy rollin' on a Vespa," and from what I understand, while nowhere near as costly as a Tesla would be, Vespas typically end up costing a pretty penny themselves, so way to undercut the entire message of your song, dumbass. Look, as a meme, if I squint, I guess I can see it as okay(?), but as a song on its own, no, I can't give it a pass. Do better, Hayes.
7
Alright, Aldean, this shit is getting old.
7) Song: If I Didn't Love You
Artist: Jason Aldean & Carrie Underwood
Year-End Position: 85
Jason Aldean has been a thorn in my side for a long ass time. I already expressed my issues with him in last year's list, and, to the surprise of absolutely nobody, none of them have had any effort in being resolved whatsoever. All of the issues I expressed with Aldean are still very much present from when I talked about Got What I Got last year, which, in hindsight, should've been way higher than it was, and while If I Didn't Love You isn't quite as bad as that song was, it's still a complete waste of space. Production wise, it's a spare piano line, unnecessary whooshing sound effects that don't fit with anything, an incredibly poor blending of trap and live drums, and an overblown guitar line for the hook that hits like an absolute brick. It's just so synthetic and not at all pleasant to listen to. Lyrically, it's about how if both parties didn't love each other post break-up the way they did, they could just move on with their lives as normal and not have to worry about one another and blah-de-blah-de-blah. Look, I get that breaking up with someone leaves a fuckton of lingering emotions and tangled feelings that, needless to say, aren't always the easiest thing to parse out. The problem is that this song does diddly shit with that concept and just lists off the sterile platitudes that come along with these types of songs without providing any reason to care about or sympathize with either of the parties in this song. And the worst part is, as it usually comes down to with Jason Aldean, the lifeless as hell delivery. He damn near always has a bad habit of dropping back into his lazy, nasal tone that stinks of macho posturing without any of the energy to sell it properly, and in a song where we're supposed to be invested emotionally, that's a massive problem, especially when that vacuum of charisma drags Carrie Underwood down with him and makes her oversing to compensate for his flat ass. I don't know about you guys, but if I didn't like this song-oh wait, I don't. NEXT!
6
Oh I have a feeling I am not gonna make a lot of fans with this one.
Glass Animals are an act that I had never heard of until the beginning of this year, and to be fair, as soon as I heard there was backlash to this group and this song in particular, I was thinking to myself "c'mon, are they really that bad?" So I listened and, while I wasn't really that impressed, I thought to myself "I mean, it wasn't great by any means, but it wasn't that terrible." Then I heard that hook a lot more and was like "okay, this is starting to get on my nerves now, especially with all that pitch shifting." But then, something happened: a lot more people were coming to this song's defense, to which I decided to give the song another go with fresh ears in hopes I could join that crowd. And then another go. And then another. And it had the exact opposite effect on me because holy god, this song just continued to slowly buy sure grate on my nerves with every subsequent listen. The weak-ass guitar line that gets buried under all the swampy, leaden bass, the numerous filters and pitch shifts placed over the vocals that are a complete mess, and the completely dour atmosphere all were enough to turn me away from this song instantly, not helped by Dave Bailey's singing which sounds like he had to record this directly after running a marathon, that's how out of breath he sounds. But then I took a closer look at the lyrics, and my god, the attitude is just rancid. I get reminiscing about what could have been in a relationship post-breakup, but with lines like this...
"Today I see our reflections in Hollywood" "You can't fight it, you can't breathe" "You know that it hurts me too" "You look so broken when you cry" "One more and then I'll say goodbye"
......it just sounds so manipulative. Like, dude, if you're really so intent on letting her go and allowing her to move on with her life after things didn't work out between you two, then do that. You giving into your urges for no discernible reason and continuing to bother despite promise after promise that you'll leave her alone is just sickening. The surface level issues were bad enough already, but it was the underlying ugliness that ultimately lead to this souring on me in the end. If anyone reading this likes this song, great, more power to you, but for me, even as the seasons changed, my feelings on this song just continued to grow cold.
5
Just......why???????
5) Song: Bang!
Artist: AJR
Year-End Position: 56
AJR are a band that has been achieving consistent chart success since 2013, but they've never quite been able to stick the landing with any real solid success, and that is more than likely for one reason: their music blows hot ass. It's three brothers continuously whinging about how hard it is to grow up and take actual accountability as they get older with no self-awareness, clever writing, or even a modicum of quality control to be found anywhere. Not helping is the fact that they all sound nasal as hell and choose the cheapest, most blaring, incompetently mixed production there is so that not only are they saying absolutely nothing, but they're not even making any attempt to have even a single bit of it sound good. Bang! isn't the worst thing they've ever made, especially not when you have trash like Bud Like You, I'm Ready, Weak, Burn The House Down, Way Less Sad, etc., but it's still a complete clusterfuck that has absolutely no reason to exist. The limp piano line that just goes nowhere, the jarring transition into the blaring utterances of "BANG BANG BANG" that never shut the fuck up throughout the entire song, horns that loudly toot along with no rhyme or reason, mechanical percussion that has no groove, the fucking announcer voice that is completely out of place and sounds terrible. The whole thing is just so cluttered and confused, and with how overpowering the mix is, it's just a migraine that overstayed its welcome on the charts fast, so the fact that this was a top 10 hit, on top of just being flat out infuriating, it also makes no goddamn sense. But then you get the lyrics, which are filled with nonsensical lines about having leftover quinoa in their fridge, trying to remember their password, and being rooted in just plain giving up. Seriously, look at this line:
"I'm way too young to lie here forever, I'm way too old to try, so whatever"
Uh, yeah, what the hell else is that supposed to mean? The song is trying to be big and aspirational, but when the main focus of your song is just nothing but encouragement for complete complacency, that clashes horribly with what you're aiming for. And really, this "whatever" attitude is something that most sensible people outgrow as they get older, so for these overgrown manchildren to flagrantly promote this type of toxicity in their music, uh, yeah, no, I've got no patience for that shit. So yeah, this is awful, but then again, it's AJR. I didn't expect anything else.
4
So the next three songs on this list are all gonna be country songs because, let's be real, between these songs and Fancy Like, this genre did not have a good year whatsoever. So let's start off with the most obviously horrible song of this lot......
4) Song: Good Time
Artist: Niko Moon
Year-End Position: 84
Okay, from just the first twenty seconds alone, you can already pinpoint all of the issues that this song is gonna have throughout the rest of the song. Basic as hell bro-country party lyrics, a directionless, clumsy acoustic guitar line that offers little in terms of distinct presence or melody, overpowering bass over some stock trap hi-hats, and a front man turning in a completely anonymous performance. But let's back up for a second because who the hell is this Niko Moon fellow? Well, from what I'm able to gather, he's been a country music insider for the past decade or so and has been a writer for big names in the genre such as Dierks Bentley, Rascal Flatts, Morgan Wallen, and most notably, the Zac Brown Band. It wasn't until the mid-2010s that he actually decided to do some work in the front of the house musically, and in 2019, he got signed with RCA Nashville. Look, I'm sure the dude is a decent writer, and I wouldn't be surprised if any of his other work was something that I could at least find some enjoyment in, but I'm sorry, I keep getting this nagging feeling that he only got the success he did because of corporate meddling of some fashion, and if ever there was a song that had the stench of corporate cynicism all over it, it's Good Time. Putting aside that not only do we have a great pop song with that title by Owl City & Carly Rae Jepsen, but we also have a great country song with that title courtesy of the legend himself, Mr. Alan Jackson, this is just a turd from start to finish. Everything about this song just feels wrong. It's meant to be some sort of campfire song that you just sing when you're drunk with your buddies around a campfire, but the whole thing just sounds so cold and calculated that any attempt to be relatable just has "how do you do, fellow kids" vibes written all over it. It's just so sour, and the way that slide guitar on the hook is so poorly tuned and tacked on has always managed to just set my teeth on edge. Moon himself has no presence behind the mic, so any attempts he makes to add any sort of life to the track just ends up dead on arrival. But then we have the content, and if it were just the stock cliches of the bro-country genre, that'd be one thing. However, this feels so goddamn gentrified and like a yuppie with only a vague idea of what southern culture is like trying to write a country song. Mentioning campfires, southern drawls, picking on a guitar, singing Dixieland Delight, fishing, there is no cohesion to any of it, so it just ends up being a grab bag of stereotypes with no rhyme or reason to the point where it's just so gross and condescending in what it's trying to do. Again, I'm sure Niko Moon has talent somewhere, but this ain't it, chief. Also, "apple pie moonshine"? There's no way that tastes good.
3
You know, I was expecting this artist's last hit to be the one I'd hate more. Moreover, I expected this artist to just go the fuck away......yeah, much to the chagrin of I and many others, that didn't exactly happen.
3) Song: The Good Ones Artist: Gabby Barrett Year-End Position: 62
Uuuuuuuggggggghhhhhh. For the love of god, of all the people to give a second hit, why why why why WHY?!?!?!?!? did it have to be Gabby fucking Barrett? I thought we all collectively agreed that her politics were absolute trash, she cannot sing to save her goddamn life, and after the absolute brainrot that was I Hope last year, which stuck around way longer than it should have and was only made worse by that godforsaken Charlie Puth remix, and overall she was best left in the dumpster fire that was 2020. But no, we just haaaaad to give her a follow up hit, and what for? Out of pity? Bleh, fine, whatever, this is the song she decided to release directly after I Hope, and wow, this is so much worse. At least her first hit had some sort of interesting premise to build off of. It did absolutely nothing with it, but at least there was a foundation. The Good Ones, on the other hand, plays it safe the entire time, and it's so fucking boring. Seriously, I dare you to listen to this song for longer than 30 seconds and not want to immediately switch the radio station/go to the next song in the playlist/want to listen to literally anything other than this. The tempo this song moves at is such a snail's pace that every time I listen to it, I feel the residual slime from the trail it leaves behind, and that is for two reasons. The first is this instrumentation. For one thing, the guitars are crushed into this tuneless slurry to the point where they sound heavy and sludgy, and with how barely audible they are coupled with the almost non-existent drums, it creates this mushy, ugly atmosphere not helped by that tinny, squawking synth slathered all over the verses that clashes horribly with what is supposed to be this lovey-dovey song about how great her significant other is and how he's on-.....*sigh* one of "the good ones." Look, I get that there most likely wasn't any ill will on Gabby's part when she made this song, but really, did you have to describe him like that? It just wreaks of your own insecurity issues, and it's not helped when the rest of the lyrics describe him as being nothing more than this squeaky clean Mr. Right who always treats her like he should and does everything so perfectly and holy shit I do not care. Look, I'm glad the relationship is going well, don't get me wrong, but this is just sheer overkill. At least with I Hope, there was some semblance of an interesting idea that just got squandered. This is just dead on arrival, and I hope we never have to hear from Barrett ever again, music or otherwise.
2
Okay, look, I am still very much willing to defend the first hit the featured artist on this song had, but the main band themselves, at least from what I've heard, seem pretty indefensible, and in the case of all of these men, this is just plain not excusable.
2) Song: Just The Way
Artist: Parmalee & Blanco Brown
Year-End Position: 88
Oh boy, this is a song that I was dreading talking about the most. For the uninitiated, this is Parmalee, a country band consisting of brothers Matt & Scott Thomas, their cousin Barry Knox, and childhood best friend Josh McSwain. They broke through around the beginning of the 2010s, and most of their discography is made up of cheap, meatheaded throwaway bro-country garbage mostly centered around how attractive they find certain women to be. Gee, haven't heard that before 😒. These guys aren't the worst thing ever, but my god, they're a waste. But of course, they had to find some way to scrounge up some chart success, and what better way than to team up with the first ever person to try and cash in and piggyback off of the success of Old Town Road, Blanco Brown. Look, to this day, I'm still a defender of The Git Up. Yes, it's cashing in on OTR's virality in an admittedly rather cheap way, but look, the simple steel guitar melody is likable, the jangly percussion has a nice groove to it, and for a dance song that essentially amounts to nothing more than some country line dancing, it does its job incredibly well and is able to be universal and inclusive. Blanco Brown doesn't really strike me as someone who ever needed a personality to work as an artist because, well, he was good with just the one hit. Here, though, they actually tried to give him a personality, if only barely, and...it does not work. At all. His faint whimper of a voice completely evaporates behind the filmy, over-compressed guitars, stale piano chords and snap beat that doesn't mesh with anything in the rest of the mix. I will say, though, that he does sound better than Matt Thomas. Seriously, that monstrous type growl he does sounds absolutely dreadful. Having grit in your voice is one thing, but this just takes it completely overboard to the point where it is just thoroughly unpleasant. Now for the reason this is so high: the lyrical content. This is a song all about how these guys love you, unspecified, nameless girl, for all of the imperfect things about you that make you perfect to them. This isn't a bad concept on paper, but the execution is just plain insulting. I thought we learned from songs like Little Things and All Of Me that when you run through a checklist of all of the faults of your partner, say that you love them for those faults because you can "look past them," and don't talk about any of the *actual* positives they have that you like them for, that raises at least a few red flags and just screams of only being willing to offer the superficial veneer of affection without any of the teeth to back up your claims. But if you'll notice, the line isn't just "I love you just the way you are," no no no, it's "I love you just the way GOD made you" and continues that your imperfections are so important because the big guy upstairs "doesn't make mistakes." So now we've got an unhealthy dollop of religious manipulation added into the mix and I'm just gonna go ahead to the dishonorable mentions before my blood pressure gets too high from the indescribable amounts of anger the message of this song gives me. Good fuck almighty.
Dishonorable Mentions
Song: you broke me first Artist: Tate McRae Year-End Position: 37
I guess this is fine on a lyrical level, but goddammit, this is way too stiff and overproduced, and Tate McRae cannot sing to save her life. No thank you.
Song: Way 2 Sexy Artist: Drake feat. Future & Young Thug
Year-End Position: 48
Say what you want about You're Mines Still and Girls Want Girls, at least the former went for some semblance of emotionality and the latter had a distinct if basic as hell melody. This is just disinterested, lifeless generic bragging over loud, squealing, tuneless synths. Pass.
Song: Glad You Exist Artist: Dan + Shay Year-End Position: 64
I've just about had it with Dan + Shay, and this nothing of a song is just one of the reasons why.
Song: Cry Baby
Artist: Megan Thee Stallion feat. DaBaby
Year-End Position: 77
Honestly, this would've made it pretty high on the list proper had the initial reaction of shock, horror, and disgust not worn off on me. Still doesn't excuse the fact that that mewling baby noise providing the main "melody" of the beat is annoying as hell. Oh, and DaBaby can run into a cactus.
Song: Need To Know
Artist: Doja Cat
Year-End Position: 46
Similar reasons as before. The production is claustrophobic, creepy and unsettling in a way that clashes horrifically with the seductive, intimate vibe it's going for, and Doja has done far better than this. Oh, and Dr. Luke can join DaBaby on that cactus.
Song: Throat Baby (Go Baby)
Artist: BRS Kash
Year-End Position: 97
Yuck.
Song: Arcade
Artist: Duncan Laurence
Year-End Position: 82
Faux indie fart in the wind with a bungled metaphor, warbly vocals, and instrumentation so dank and heavy with little in terms of distinct melody. I think I'll just let the shittiness speak for itself on this one.
Song: lonely
Artist: Justin Bieber & Benny Blanco
Year-End Position: 65
I actually don't mind the melancholic melody, and the concept of fame turning someone into a monster would be believable from literally anyone other than Justin Bieber. It's just a shame that that's whose hands it wound up in.
And now for five songs that hit the top 20 this year that would've made this list had they been eligible.
Song: a p p l y i n g . p r e s s u r e
Artist: J. Cole
Peak: 13
The beat is cool and the flow is alright. Too bad Cole had to waste it on pseudo-intellectual nonsense regarding basic economics, deflecting any and all blame for any wrongdoings of his, and showing how thin-skinned he is when he receives even the tiniest bit of criticism. C'mon, dude, you're better than this.
Song: Girls Want Girls
Artist: Drake feat. Lil Baby
Peak: 2
Hey, never said this schlock was good. Boring as sin production, checked out performances from both of our performers, and the cherry on top...
"say that you a lesbian, girl, me too"
......I don't think anything else needs to be said.
Song: Miss The Rage
Artist: Trippie Red feat. Playboi Carti
Peak: 11
OW MY FRICKIN' EARS!!!!!!
Song: Wasted On You
Artist: Morgan Wallen
Peak: 9
Setting aside a certain......infamous thing that Wallen did in the beginning of this year that pretty much killed any and all good will the general public had towards this guy, this is just an ugly, misshapen song with nothing but vitriol without the nuance and catharsis to balance it out over one of the most thoroughly unpleasant fusions of trap and country there is. Dangerous: The Double Album had some legit great songs on it, but this was most certainly not one of them.
Song: Am I The Only One
Artist: Aaron Lewis
Peak: 14
And we cap off this section with the song that easily would've been right at the top of this list had it been eligible. Rank conservative propaganda that is as disingenuous as can be over a spare, bland acoustic guitar line, shrill, yarling vocals from the former frontman of Staind, and let's not forget blatant RACISM as he laments the removal of Confederate statues from many public squares across the country. Fuck this song and fuck Aaron Lewis.
And now to finish this shit.
1
I'm......surprised by this pick. Not because it's on this list, not in the slightest, I've always hated this song, but rather, I'm surprised by the fact that, by the end of the year, I ended up hating this so much that it ended up right at the top of this list. But at the end of the day, the more I thought about it, the more it just made sense, to the point where I really couldn't think of anything else more fitting for the top spot. And so, ladies, gentlemen, and everyone else in between......Ritt Momney.
1) Song: Put Your Records On
Artist: Ritt Momney
Year-End Position: 93
Now, on the surface, one might look at a song like this and go "really, this is what you're putting at the top of your worst list?" And, in any other circumstance, you might've been right. After all, what is it, really? Just a pretty mediocre cover of a largely forgotten song that few people, if any, think about to this day? Well, it goes a lot deeper than that for me. So let's back up a bit......that bit being 15 years ago:
This is Put Your Records On by Corinne Bailey Rae, an often forgot little slice of indie pop that was released in 2006. Before the last couple months of last year, I'd not heard anybody talk about this song due to the abomination we'll be getting to in a second, but in all honesty, if there was a song that deserved to be way bigger than it was, it would be this song because it genuinely is really damn good. The light, flowery acoustics play off of the bouncy percussion really well, CBR has the right amount of energy and bubbliness to make a song like this work, and for a song about one girl encouraging another to take it easy and relax after a break-up as things will begin to look up for her in the end, it really is comforting and the perfect song for anyone to throw on to put their mind at complete ease. So what would happen if one were to take this absolutely blissful song and turn it into a lo-fi bedroom pop song that was meant to be even slower and more chilled out? Enter Ritt Momney, a kid in his very early 20s from Salt Lake City, Utah who, yes, does have a stage name that is a spoonerism of the politician that ran against Obama for president in 2012 (and lost, thankfully), and it is as stupid as it sound. I didn't think that the results could turn out to be this disastrous, but...oh......oh good god, he deformed this song in so many different ways that it's difficult to decide where the hell to even begin. Well, for one, the song was from one girl to another to add a sense of ease and camaraderie to show that she's there for her whenever she needs something. Here, the tone being from the perspective of a guy sounds more like he's hitting on this girl, which has absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the song. It comes off more like "yeah, girl, you just need to put your mind at ease so go on, listen to some music, explore nature......and oh yeah, you can do it all with me and maybe we'll hit something off ourselves." Like, that just comes across as completely icky to me. This sense of underlying tactics that are skeevy and kinda vile, it just soils what the original song is going for on principle. But then you get to the vocals and production, and......it is just uncomfortable. The metallic, underweight keyboard line and synths and cluttered percussion are meant to sound pretty, but all they really do is just add layers upon layers of tension to the point where it almost feels suffocating. Ritt Momney himself uses this high falsetto that is just ear-piercing to the point that it just resonates on all the wrong frequencies for me. Not to mention all of the layers of reverb and autotune that just make him sound so robotic and processed. The worst moment, hands down, though, is that bridge that just warps and dements itself to the point of sheer anxiety. Hell, this whole thing is anxiety personified, and ultimately, that's why it tops this list, not just that it missed the point of the original, but that it transformed it into something so ugly and misshapen that why anyone would actively choose to listen to it just baffles me to no end. Hopefully this is the only thing Ritt Momney contributes to the pop scene because this has no reason to exist. Worst hit song of 2021 by a country mile. Best list coming soon, I will see y'all when that drops. Thanks for reading.
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