TOP 20 SONGS OF 2016

So 2016 is finally over, and regardless of how you feel about the year in general, it has undoubtedly been a great year for music. When looking back it's incredible just how many big artists released albums this year, from Radiohead to Beyonce to Drake to the Red Hot Chili Peppers to Frank Ocean, it's the kind of line up that any contemporary music fan would scramble for. Obviously some of these were better than others, but that's not what you're here for - so I present you with my personal top 20 favourite songs of 2016!

20. D.R.A.M ft. Lil Yachty - Broccoli



Broccoli is the biggest hit on this list, in a year which has been one of the all-time worst in terms of chart music. It's catchy, charming and ludicrously happy, cutting through the bland overproduced nonsense on the radio like nothing else this year has. That said, this song would be even higher if it didn't have Lil Yachty almost spoiling the first half - luckily the rest is so good it still nabs a spot on this list.

19. Jamie T - Tescoland



One of the highlights from Jamie's album 'Trick', 'Tescoland' describes how fame hasn't changed him, but that he wishes it had, and does so in an upbeat, riff heavy rock and roll banger. It's also the most english song I've heard all year, with references to London buses and of course Tesco.

18. Angel Olson - Shut up Kiss me



The poppiest song on 'MY WOMAN' was also my favourite, with big 80s guitars and a typically warbly and off-kilter vocal from Olson. Way too many songs of recent times have centred around the words 'Shut up', but if they were all this good I wouldn't complain.

17. Frank Ocean - Solo/Solo (Reprise)

Frank Ocean teams up with Andre 3000 for two tracks which are linked through the theme of loneliness, but like all of 'Blonde' (Or 'Blond' if we're going to look at the album cover. I don't get it, I mean his hair isn't even blonde in the cover it's green- Ok I'll stop.) it's a subtle, relaxing piece. That it, at least until Andre 3000 drops one of the best guest verses of the year which unsurprisingly became one of the main talking points of the LP.

16. Kendrick Lamar - Untitled 07 levitate

Only Kendrick Lamar could release B-sides and throwaways and end up with music as fully formed, brilliant and interesting as seen on 'Untitled Unmastered'. 'Levitate' may have a contradictory title (It's the only song on the collection with a given title) but it's the best song off 'Unmastered', with several different parts all as interesting as each other, from a kid singing about Compton to four minutes of Kendrick essentially messing around on a guitar with some friends. Surprisingly brilliant.

15. Shura - Touch




Shura made one of the best debut albums of 2016, and this was the jewel in the crown - a haunting, hook heavy minimalist ballad that bafflingly wasn't a hit despite being completely in line with the criteria for a smash this year and being way better than the competition.

14. The 1975 - A Change of Heart



The 1975's creepily titled album more or less lives up to the hype it had surrounding it as long as you take out the 3 tracks making up 15 minutes of ambient nothingness, but this song threatens to overshadow most of 'i like it when you sleep'. It's heartbreaking, bleak and danceable all at once, making the best thing the band has ever done.

13. Beyonce ft. Kendrick Lamar - Freedom



*VIDEO CONTAINS STROBE LIGHTING* and while I'm at it the live version has quite afew differences to the studio version but whatever.

Of course there was going to be a song from Beyonce on here, after she dropped maybe the biggest and most critically acclaimed (but one) album of the year. I could have put pretty much any song from 'Lemonade' on here - 'Sorry' and 'Don't hurt yourself' in particular - but 'Freedom' is my pick. Incredibly catchy, incredible guest verse and like 'Formation' is extremely relevant to 2016.

12. Two Door Cinema Club - Bad decisions



An amazing tune from from a mediocre album, 'Bad decisions' is unlike anything Two Door Cinema Club have ever done, and makes you wish it wasn't an anomaly. A warm, buzzing 80s inspired, funky single it certainly isn't a bad decision to check this song out.

11. YG & Nipsey Hussle - FDT



2016 has been filled with atrocious political music from musicians who are so terrified of the idea of a Trump presidency that they forget that songs are supposed to sound good, and after his election I'm expecting even more. The biggest problem with this for me is that we don't need any more anti-Trump music after 'F**k Donald Trump' by YG and Hussle. The bluntest and biggest middle-finger of the year - backed with production that could get even Trump to start nodding his head.

10. Radiohead - Burn the Witch



Coupled with the best video of the year, Radiohead surprise released their best song since 2008 at the turn of May. Being a Radiohead song, 'Burn the witch' needs little explanation but in short, its paranoid, tense and has a chilling chorus that made me remember why I love them so much.

9. Glass Animals - Life itself



The song that brought Glass animals to my attention, 'Life itself' has an exotic and unique instrumental paired with an intriguing character study about a nerdy Camden-bound boy. Topped off with the years most explosive chorus and you've got a quirky masterpiece.

8. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Goodbye Angels



'Goodbye' angels is a pretty great song by itself for the first 3 and half minutes. But when Kiedis yells 'Kiss this!' and Flea starts slapping the bass like mad in a riff that is the coolest you will feel listening to music all year. That's not the official video by the way, it's weird even for Chili's standards.

7. Weezer - L.A. Girlz



Talking of weird videos, Weezer's self titled 10th LP had it's fair share, including the one for standout track 'L.A. Girlz', which surpasses it's terrible song title to be a sunny, happy tune with the best solo of the year. I can't explain why I love the solo so much, but then again I can't explain why there's a LIL WAYNE GUEST VERSE ON A WEEZER ALBUM- but yeah, this song rules.

6. Drive-by Truckers - Darkened Flags at The Cusp of Dawn

Riff of the year. Drive-by Truckers took everyone by surprise by releasing an incredibly well-received political album and while there's many contenders for the best song off it, 'Darkened flags' carries that killer riff throughout most of the song while moving through bleak images that include the one which was chosen to present the whole album - a half masted flag.

5. Danny Brown - Ain't it funny



The most insane, restless song of the year, 'Ain't it funny' may turn some listeners away with Brown's Mickey mouse-voiced rhymes and production like nothing else before it, but this just makes it one of the many highlights off of 'Atrocity exhibition'.

4. Tegan and Sara - U-turn



BEST POP SONG OF 2016! This is the song I've listened to most over the year, and even though I've heard it every other day since 'Love you to Death' dropped in Spring I'm not tired of it yet. The synth line has been lodged in my head for days on end, along with the explosive chorus. About as perfect as a pop song can be.

3. Car Seat Headrest - Drunk drivers/ Killer whales



'Drunk drivers/ Killer whales' is in many ways similar to most of Car Seat Headrest's modern masterpiece 'Teens of Denial': It starts off slow, is filled with surprising and brilliant musical choices that mean, much like a drunk driver, you never know what's going to happen to next. I almost feel like I should put a spoiler warning here, since the false start of the first two choruses lull the listener into thinking they're listening to a mid-tempo relaxing ballad about the dangers of intoxication. Then THAT CHORUS hits and you're singing along in seconds. Triumphant, pained and confused it's the best rock song to come out this year.

2. David Bowie - I can't give Everything Away




It should be obvious why this song is so high even if you've never heard it - Bowie was an icon and a genius, and anybody that can release an album two days before they die deserves a lot of respect. That 'Blackstar' is one of the best albums of the year and that 'I can't give everything away' is the final song on Bowie's final album ensures that it will never be forgotten. The song is heartbreaking with context, and even without context it's uplifting and experimental in the best way.

1. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Magneto



'Magneto' is crushing. More accurately, All of 'Skeleton tree' is crushing, almost too crushing to listen to at some points. Nick Cave's album about his deceased son's unexpected and terrifying death is the most emotionally affecting album to come out this decade - maybe even this millennia, and 'Magneto' is the bleak core, focusing more than any other track on the LP on how Nick Cave was personally affected by the tragedy. The lyrics are out of the league of everything else released this year, with imagery so strong you can almost taste sick in your mouth when Cave sings "in the bathroom mirror I see me vomit in the sink" and the chorus with it's refrain "one more time with feeling" is the most destroying sentence I've heard in almost any song ever. It feels a bit cheap to call this the best song of the year, since it's so personal and affecting, but I can honestly say no song had a greater impact on me in 2016 than 'Magneto'.

Black Beatles and Juju on that beat review

I've long given up on pop music in 2016, so at this point in the year I just want to see how low the Billboard top 10 can drop in quality. When I saw today that there is FINALLY a new number one (See my 'Closer' review for the reasons why) I was overjoyed. Then I found out that it was 'Black Beatles' by Rae Sremmurd - but I'll get into that in a minute. Another song that caught my attention was 'Juju on that beat' by Zay Hilfigerrr (Yes it is really written like that) and Zayion McCall, which had remained at number 8. Since I live in the UK where neither song is a big hit yet, I hadn't heard either so I checked them both out. What did I find?

'Black beatles' by Rae Sremmurd ft. Gucci Mane



I kind of love Rae Sremmurd in a so-bad-they're-good way. 'No flex zone' is still one of my go to brilliantly terrible rap tunes I bang out from time to time, usually in Skype calls very loudly. The rest of their discography is just as bad if not worse - 'No type' especially. That's why I was concerned to see them at number one: Has America really fallen this far? Well, 'Black beatles' isn't at number one because of the song, rather because of the #MannequinChallenge, where large groups of people freeze in position as somebody films the whole experience while this song plays in the background. The trend itself is probably the best I've seen so far online, it's entertaining to watch and seems fun to be part of - but anyway, onto the song.

I actually like it... unironically. It's not amazing or anything, but it's got a decent tune and decent production, which is more than can be said of most of this year's big hits. The backing vocals in the chorus are especially great, and fit with the dark, grimey tone very well. Honestly, the most annoying thing about the song is that Rae Sremmurd are comparing themselves to the Beatles, which is obviously not something anybody should do, let alone the creators of perhaps some of the worst songs of the decade. The lyrics aren't even that bad, at least by Sremmurd's standards. I'm not sure if this is the first number-one to feature the words 'Old Geezer' but I certainly hope it isn't the last.

6/10

'Juju on That Beat' by Zay Hilfigerrr &Zayion McCall


This song on the other hand, is trash. You guys remember 'Watch me Whip/Nae Nae', the inexplicable smash hit from last year that repeated other people's already established dances behind a four second loop of a generic beat? If you added in two AWFUL rap verses and swapped out the dances it would become 'Juju on That Beat'. It's not quite as bad as 'Watch me', as the production, while incredibly annoying is still not as bad as Silento's and there are at least actual lyrics in this song.

There's very little to really say about the production, it sounds like a stock beat. The rapping is bad, especially the second guy (I can't be arsed to research which of these two he is, it's not like he's gonna have another hit) who doesn't even try to make some of his lines rhyme and seems suspiciously like he was the first guys friend and just spontaneously decided to be a rapper, practiced for about a week and then recorded this verse. It's still not the worst song of the year, but it's close.

2/10

The Chainsmokers ft. Halsey - Closer review

It's fair to say that 'Closer' is the biggest song on the planet right now. It's spent 11 weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, and it's still there as I write this, with no signs of slowing down. So does it deserve to be in that position?


Nope. The song's bland minimalist verses are filled with finger clicks that were prominent in the Chainsmokers big hit 'Roses' - which was a lot better than 'Closer', but anyway - and with the voice of Andrew Taggart, who's one half of the Chainsmokers. His voice lacks any kind of charisma or energy and I would be incredibly surprised if it hasn't been autotuned. Halsey handles the other verses and manages to match Taggart with her energy-sucking performance. This is far from the worst thing Halsey's done *Cough*New Americana*Cough*, but that just highlights how little good material she's been involved with.

My biggest problem with the song is the drop. In general I don't like the concept of the drop, but it can still be done brilliantly - SeeB's massive remix of Mike Posner's 'I took a pill in Ibiza' for example - but 'Closer' has a drop worse than most. For one thing it's exactly the same as a piano riff from the Fray's timeless 2005 hit 'Over my Head (Cable Car)', so similar that the Chainsmokers later credited the Fray as songwriters on 'Closer'. The synth used in the drop sounds brittle and cheap, and with no other instrumentation backing it up it sounds pretty awful.

To be honest I'm not even sure why this song is as big as it is. It's more boring than cringingly terrible, which makes it another tired, generic and generally uninteresting number one single of 2016.

3/10

Maroon 5 ft. Kendrick Lamar - Don't wanna know review

Maroon 5 have got worse and worse every album they've released with remarkable consistency. Few bands have such a simple and obvious downward slide, and it seems to be because of Adam Levine's obsession with popularity. Every album Maroon 5 get less and less like a band and more like Adam Levine's solo career - as shown aptly by 'Don't wanna know'.



This is by far the limpest Adam Lev- er, I mean, Maroon 5 song yet. The tropical house instrumentation sounds like a stock beat and also like everything on the radio. There is no build-up, there is no variation and the chorus is extremely repetitive. Last time Kendrick Lamar and Adam Levine collaborated it was on 'YOLO' with The Lonely Island, a super-catchy song that I still adore to this day. On this song he gets under 20 seconds to spit 4 bars which are all a bit rubbish (At this point it's pretty evident Lamar is saving his best material for his more highly held-features.).

The positives of the song aren't really positives as much as they are correcting previous things that were wrong with the band. Levine's falsetto is thankfully toned down and the song isn't creepy and makes sense lyrically. If you need to fall asleep quickly just put this song on repeat. Also, the music video was outdated the day it was released.

2/10