Top 10 Worst Songs of 2020

  With the best and worst hit songs' lists out of the way, it's time to take a dive into the music that most affected me throughout the year, for better or for worse. What better place to start than with the latter, and the songs that drove me close to insanity, making my ears bleed and my head ring. If you're wondering what qualified for this list, it's any song released between December 2019 and November 2020, and of course if something landed on here it has to have a pretty good reason for me to hate it. Here we go, my selections for the...

10

"why are girls?"

blackbear

I don't think blackbear's absolute failure to convey emotions aside from pettiness, want and frustration are what makes him a bad artist, but they're definitely contributing factors. What's more concerning perhaps is his decision to make a whole album of synthpop in which he tries oh so hard to squeeze out relatable sadness and love, neither of which he's able to achieve with any quality or reason to listen to him. That said, if there's one emotion he proves to have down to a T, it's the utter bafflement of "why are girls?".

The premise to this song? Why is it that blackbear just keeps getting his heart broken and abandoned by all these girls he longs for, why does he trust them when all they'll do is leave him? Well, in his own words it's their beauty that's to blame. Yes, he literally admits to being shallow enough to allow these girls to "ruin his life" simply because they're "so beautiful". Aside from the obvious cringe, this alone wouldn't be reason enough for this song's placement on this list, but the album that surrounds it is so rife with sexism and misogyny, it's clear that blackbear is the one to blame for these girls abandoning him, all of which leads to the real reason blackbear is on this list. 

He's incredibly unlikeable, unbearably cringy and the music he's writing is clearly aimed at angsty teenagers with a tryhard "edgy" music taste - except, wait for it, he's a 30 year old man. At least let the teens make music for the teens, any pass you might have gotten has just been revoked.

9

"i hate myself"

lovelytheband

What's worse than a 30 year old making music pandering to angsty teens about not understanding just how unfair it is that girls are so attractive and mean? Why, of course it's got to be a 32 year old man making music pandering to angsty teens about how sad and lonely they are in a toxic relationship. I'm not going to lie, I definitely have a bias against this kind of music centred on a shallow kind of depression, given the total absence of any real substance or depth when describing the sadness they apparently feel, comfortable with leaving it at base level with lines like "I'm a sadboy" and "I may hate myself but baby I love you". Because that says sooo much.

With the established cringe of the cookie-cutter lyrics in which the singer makes kindergarten level observations on sadness, even playing into clichés like the stereotypical sadness of the colour blue, what I find really intolerable is the toxic relationship that takes centre stage, and the inconsistency of the lyrics describing it. When most of the song sets up how this lover of his is the only good thing in his life, but then at the end of the chorus he adds the "at least I want to" qualify when describing his supposed love, it just tears apart any sympathy I would maybe have had for them, particularly when you contrast that later on with the line "I think that I was made for you". Stop this emotional manipulation! It isn't edgy, it's just annoying.

Don't even get me started on the whistling. *shudders*

8

"Bang!"

AJR

You have no idea how privileged I feel to have never heard AJR until this year, the warnings of fellow critics keeping me well clear of what have become known as one of the worst modern bands in existence for their unjustified melodrama, over-the-top experimentation that lacks purpose, quality or style... and yeah that's exactly how I would describe this song, my first exposure to the trio (outside of "Sober Up") and a truly abhorrent assault on the ears with some of the most unnecessarily loud and compressed instruments practically screaming in my ears, and screaming for attention.

Now of course let's move on to the lyrics. If you read through the genius lyrics to this song, the comments and annotations are full of fans dissecting each and every line, applying some genuinely deep thought into the trio's presentation of change and becoming an adult, a theme that yes is genuinely interesting. The problem? Well, for as great as those annotations are, and I do want to commend their fans for the work they put in, the lyrics themselves don't hold any of the weight of the theme they explore, creating a void between the lyrics and their actual meaning, and a void I'm unable to cross, particularly when the instrumental is working overtime to keep from doing so. It's not for me, now let me get back to my 100 gecs.

7

"Hard to Forget"

Sam Hunt

And now, from the man that brought you country bangers like "Break Up in a Small Town" and "Body Like a Backroad", meet the new single "Hard to Forget", a truly revolutionary take on the R&B and hip hop crossover with country that will knock your cowboy boots right off.

I don't talk about much country on my blog, and I definitely don't consider myself an expert in the genre, but if I know one thing then I know bad music, and this song is pretty much textbook. Ever attempting to be taken seriously as a pioneering musician, Sam Hunt takes the leap and blends three genres that we've never heard fused befo- wait, what's that? Old Town Road? A Billy Rae Cyrus remix? Longest running number one in the US ever? Now you mention it, I have been living under a rock for the past decade - wait, is Taylor Swift still the hottest new country star?

Look, I could talk about the cheap, skittering trap beat, the awkward integration of a sample chosen seemingly at random with no purpose other than to bolster Hunt's country credibility, and the generic bro country lyrics that sound immediately outdated after almost a decade of the subgenre's dominance and... oh, I guess I DID talk about it. Huh. Can I move on now?

6

"YAYA"

6ix9ine

It's 6ix9ine doing a reggaetón track. Need I say more?

5

"Hearing Double"

Jason Mraz

Now here's something I can almost guarantee you haven't heard from an artist you've probably not thought about for the best part of a decade.

Remember Jason Mraz? One of the worst offenders of the white-guy-with-acoustic-guitar music that heavily dominated all the way up until it was replaced with sadboy trap pop ballads over the last two years? Well, if you don't remember him then please consider yourself lucky. If you remember him fondly then I'm going to look at you puzzled for a bit, confess my hatred of his music and person and inform you I respect you enjoying whatever music you like. Now, onto what makes THIS song so terrible, in my opinion of course.

Firstly, I've got to address the novelty and concept. For this song, "Hearing Double", Mraz thought it would be a good idea for every single word to be said twice. You heard me right. Every single word. An example of this? "I I love love you you so so much much I I have have to to say say it it twice twice". This is the first line of the song, and it also helpfully explains the song's bizarre writing choice and why each subsequent word is repeated. Sound fun? It isn't, particularly when the lyrics themselves are quaintly bland and frustratingly lovestruck, culminating in the worst line of the song, "Do do I I even even stand stand a a chance chance to to score score a a date date", which would be faceplant worthy even without the duplicated words. My case rests.

4

"Birthday"

Anne-Marie

It's no secret that I'm not exactly a fan of Anne-Marie, a popstar who's output is indistinct and bland at best and, well, a worst songs of the year level of bad at her worst. Whilst my music taste has in fact shifted greatly over the last two years, if there's one thing that stands it's my hatred of Anne-Marie's music, and quite frankly this song, her first release after a welcome two year hiatus, has obtained a new level of quality, or lack thereof.

Despite an interesting foray into more contemporary pop music with the intriguing beat that opens out the song, it isn't long until the overwhelming, brash synths take control of the mix, removing any of the subtleties the song may have had. That said, this is by no means the worst instrumental she's had, as dated and numb as the chorus is, and what earns this a place on my worst list comes from the lyrics.

The concept of this song? It's Anne-Marie's birthday, and she's going to have fun just to spite her ex, because no way is she still "thinking 'bout you"...except, wait. She's fallen into the age old trap, contradicting her alleged lack of caring by constantly bringing up this one ex. So, she is still "thinking 'bout you". Huh. Well, I guess I can still enjoy this song about spiteful partying, I mean Lorde's "Green Light" was about the same thing and that was amazing. Yeah, not everyone is Lorde when it comes to the writing, and this song is just executed in such an ugly fashion, not to mention the tiresome birthday themes and the flat trap beat that she should have realised sounds terrible opposite the instrumental and her bland vocals. Next...

3

"Man Up"

Hailee Steinfeld

Oh, so you thought there was only room for one bitter, to-spite-an-ex song on this list? Yeah, well I'm afraid that Hailee Steinfeld wanted to continue to pursue her music career, an album apparently scheduled to release some time next year. In the meantime, she treated us to an awful EP in which she tries to convince us she's a serious pop artist with a clear focus on lyrics and... yeah that was a mistake. For as much as I respect this song for getting across how much of a terrible person Hailee's ex was, that's about the only thing it does achieve.

For one, at a surface level you might assume the title is problematic, "man up" as a phrase being a product of a sexist, stereotypical society that only encourages toxic masculinity. Here though, it's used to illustrate how pathetic this guy is, except Hailee clearly wasn't confident she'd got this point across so she adds the hasty qualify "and I don't mean society's version I just mean be a better person for once", which in the context of the song is a crammed in line with no room to breathe, coming across as an afterthought to justify something I'm not convinced needed justifying, framing everything far more awkwardly than was necessary.

Outside of this distracting, poorly executed problem with the chorus, the song doesn't exactly fire on all cylinders elsewhere. For example, in order to further hammer home the point that this song really doesn't insinuate toxic masculinity, the annoying sounds of a baby crying and a toddler saying "ok" are interspersed between the stiff beat (yes, it's one of many generic pop-trap beats on this list. I'm allowed to have recurring criticisms). Moreover, Hailee's delivery is incredibly inconsistent, her half-rapped speaking easily coming in at last place and failing to compare to the lower register that does actually sound good throughout the rest of the song. Thankfully too she leaves alone her upper register, else I fear I may have some flashbacks to "Starving" that could have pushed this song to a worse place on this list.

2

"Yummy - Country Remix"

Justin Bieber ft. Florida Georgia Line

Yes, "Yummy" by Justin Bieber also made my worst hit songs list. The country remix though? This is a different beast, the flaws of the original functioning as a withstanding basis from which generic bro country tropes find themselves littered across, the additional instruments sounding like nothing more than background noise, as if I'm listening to the song on my headphones whilst walking past a cowshed where an ageing country band is rehearsing for their next set of covers at the local bar.

There is more here that makes this remix worse than the original, and the majority is found in the lyrics. Now, the song as it stood wasn't exactly notorious for its good writing, from the awkward repetition of the titular word "yummy" in the chorus to random ad-libs such as "yeah you stay flexing on me" or the peculiar "made my toes curl", a line that perplexes me due to how off topic it is given the premise of the song is Bieber talking about how delicious his wife is, his toes curling a reaction antithetical to the positive comments that make up the rest of the song. The remix though?

Let's just say Florida Georgia Line and Justin Bieber are a surprisingly good fit, both artists cosplaying genres they're desperate to be a part of despite little to no content of their delivery convincing me or anyone else of their place within country music and R&B respectively. Now, as similar as that may make them, the results when combining them are nothing short of terrifying and hilarious, and I highly recommend you listening to this song purely to laugh at the ridiculous lyrics. Never has a song this bad brought me this much joy.

1

"Good Day"

Bombay Bicycle Club

If you've read my other lists, then you know I place a pretty high value on context, and particularly the impact that context has on me. In the case of this song, I'm not sure there's a single year since the 1930's that this song could have been released in whereby it would be more out of place and downright disrespectful.

Bombay Bicycle Club are not a bad band. Sure, they're not a very interesting band, many have called them bland, but you'd be hard pressed to call them bad, even if you particularly disliked them. With the release of their latest album, the band were returning from a three year hiatus and a six year break from releasing new music, and they were determined to shake things up. Sonically I'd say this song is the most pleasant sounding on this whole list, it's certainly the closest to being something I would like, with increased electronic elements and sweet, simple melodies forming the backing to their most lyrically focused release yet. The problem? You guessed it, the lyrics.

"Good Day" is, like many of the songs on the album, an incredibly existential song, as much concerned with the state of the world as with growing older, making reference to both "melting ice caps" and losing "my looks". As simultaneously confused and pretentious as these themes do get on many songs on the album, the problem here does not so much reside in the themes but in specific lyrics put into context. You see, not only have the members of the band generally come from privileged, well-off backgrounds, some with connections to producers, industry-insiders and acclaimed artists, but they're also an incredibly lucky band, gaining success before the members were even out of secondary school and committing to their music full time without the inbetween struggle of part or full time employment that many other musicians constantly struggle with.

Okay, I hear you say, but what does that have to do with the song? Everything. In the prechorus, with singer Jack Steadman singing the lines "I would quit my job / if I had a job / if I had a job I would have everything I want". Now, not only is unemployment an experience that none of the members of the band have had to deal with, and putting yourself into the shoes of another to tell a good story is perfectly fine, it's the casual delivery of the specific lines that present the problem, the worth of a job hugely undervalued by a band who've never had to struggle in this way leaving them thoroughly underprepared to tell this kind of story. It's insensitive and it should have been a line they didn't cross, but that alone doesn't justify its placement as the worst song of the year. Welcome, context.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic's ongoing clutch on the world, millions found (and still find) themselves out of work, unemployed during a time in which everyone is at their most vulnerable, the hit against the economy a hit against humanity that nowhere was ready for and nowhere has found the solution to. The severity differs from country to country, region to region, but in the US unemployment rates almost quadrupled, rising higher in two months than in over three years of the Great Recession of the 2000s, rivalling the devastation of the Great Depression. The timing couldn't have been better for a song like "Good Day", a track to symbolise the collective misery of those suffering from unemployment and existential fear both personal and global, but we didn't get a song like "Good Day", we got "Good Day", a song from successful musicians with a big audience who've never had to worry about employment, who had every leg-up to success possible and who's song about unemployment presents their misunderstanding of its severity with the line "I would quit my job", inadvertently showing off the privilege they have and aggrieving me in the process.

Ladies and gentlemen, humans and beasts, my least favourite song of 2020.

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As ever, thank you so much for reading, it means everything to me that the opinions of a teenager online mean anything to anyone and I can't thank you enough. It's come to my attention that my Worst Hit Songs list has somewhat exploded, becoming my second most viewed post ever, and whilst I very much doubt that signals any kind of growth for my blog I admit I'm proud nonetheless. Coming next is my least favourite albums of the year, followed by the final few best lists. Until then stay safe, enjoy yourselves if you can and I'll see you next time.

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