Worst Songs of 2023
Nov 9, 2023 16:54:15 GMT -5
Post by SabrinaFan on Nov 9, 2023 16:54:15 GMT -5
As we approach the end of 2023 and year-end list season gets closer, what are the least favorite songs that you’ve heard this year?
For me, as I mentioned in the Pulse 2023 survey, I felt like this was a rather polarizing year for music. We had quite a few highs, but there were also lots of lows, like the conservative country stuff imo. I haven't heard "Try That in a Small Town" and "Rich Menn North of Richmond," simply because I don't want to even give songs like that attention, so I'm not including them here (I have read the lyrics though, and both of them would be at the top of my list if I'd heard them) I may have forgotten some, but here are my least favorites:
11. Oliver Tree & Robin Schulz - "Miss You" - Oliver's vocals are pitched up so high that it sounds like he's a 10-year-old child whining to his mom for a candy bar. His vocals are so annoying here, and the beat is super jumpy and unpleasant.
10. Pitbull & Nile Rodgers - "Freak 54 (Freak Out)" - I know Pitbull has sampled/interpolated songs way before it was popular, but the sample here feels so lazily interpolated. He literally just copied the exact chorus of "Le Freak" and slapped on a couple of his own ad libs, then called it a day. I usually doesn't mind Pitbull as much as others on here, but this is just so lazy that it's a new low for his career imo.
9. Morgan Wallen - "Last Night" - Not really a fan of his vocals, and the whole vibe of "I know I got drunk and treated you like crap, but you'll come crawling back, you always do!" is a turnoff for me.
8. Antwon Lee & Dust - "Chocolate Milk" - this is extremely cringey, not to mention the music video is just him and some kids chugging full gallons of milk for some reason lmao.
7. Lonnie - "One Night Stand" - another very uncreatively interpolated sample of "Lovefool" by the Cardigans, and he drowned his voice so much in autotune that his vocals are just unpleasant and devoid of any personality.
6. Hardnox - "Taylor Swift Tickets" - omg, I don't know if I've ever heard a worse use of autotune, his vocals sound awful here. The lyrics, which have the singer trying woo his ex-girlfriend by getting her Taylor Swift tickets, are very cringey, particularly how at one point he literally tries to rhyme "talk to me" with "Taylor A. Swift-y" lol. It's clearly intended as a joke song, but this is so offensively awful and obnoxious between the awful lyrics and the trap beat that's so generic it hurts.
5. Darryl Worley - “Have We Forgotten?” - I found “Have You Forgotten?” to be one of the worst songs of the 2000s, and while perhaps not quite as bad as the original, it’s still one of the worst songs of this year. Considering the message of the original is “there’s some things worth fighting for,” the message of this song being “our country needs to stop all the silly fighting” comes off quite tone-deaf and feels like it’s talking down to the listener. There wouldn’t be a fight if there weren’t bigoted people trying to take away rights from women and marginalized communities, so the lyrics acting as if the country being divided is some trivial little feud comes off as kinda insulting. It isn’t nearly as bad as the lyrics of some of the other conservative country songs this year, but this is still really bad
4. Chris Brown - "Under the Influence" - Chris's vocals sound so awful here, and it seems like the title of this song is quite accurate as he sounds like he's slurring his words here. No idea how this had a resurgence, this should have stayed in 2019 tbh.
3. The Rose - "Back to Me" - I heard this on the radio and I was repulsed by it on the first listen. It's so overly angry and toxic, particularly illustrated by the chorus being shouting about how he can make his ex-girlfriend cry and scream, but he can't make her come back to him. Maybe this would be more enjoyable for somebody who likes hard rock, but yeah, the vibe of this was just toxic and yucky for me. Hard pass here.
2. Randy Houser - "Cancel" - I hate the couple songs I've heard in this guy's discography in general, but the message of this song is particularly awful for its gimmicky political pandering. Perhaps the worst part is that Randy contradicts himself in the lyrics. At one point, he preaches that it's important to him to teach kids that nobody's better than anyone else...but then he blatantly others anyone who doesn't share his religious beliefs. As I mentioned in the song's thread, the lyrics also feel vague in a calculated way, where he's padding the song with a bunch of generically positive messages to hide the "us vs. them" narratives he's embedding within the lyrics.
1. Savana Santos - “Messy” - for those that don’t know, this is the same girl that was the lead singer of the band who put out the TikTok hit “F2020.” I found some of the band’s other stuff to be kinda cute, but this is so bad. The song talks about how she’s happy that her breakup was messy and explosive, despite that the lyrics don’t imply the ex doing anything wrong. In her words, “I’m glad that it was messy, because at least you won’t forget me.” The song would have been better if it would have taken the tone of clapping back at a toxic ex, or something like Lewis Capaldi’s “Forget Me,” where the listener can tell he’s terrified of being forgotten because he still cares for his ex. The song doesn’t at all take this tone, though. It comes off extremely attention-seeking and that she doesn’t care who she hurts as long she gets attention, which is just gross. Honestly, it’s probably a good thing her ex left, because it’s clear this girl is not mature enough to be in a relationship where there is mutual give and take. Considering this girl’s ex is literally the co-writer of most of the songs on Kelsea Ballerini’s Rolling Up the Welcome Mat (aka an excellent masterpiece intimately highlighting the feelings behind a relationship ending from divorce), this is just embarrassing in comparison lol.
For me, as I mentioned in the Pulse 2023 survey, I felt like this was a rather polarizing year for music. We had quite a few highs, but there were also lots of lows, like the conservative country stuff imo. I haven't heard "Try That in a Small Town" and "Rich Menn North of Richmond," simply because I don't want to even give songs like that attention, so I'm not including them here (I have read the lyrics though, and both of them would be at the top of my list if I'd heard them) I may have forgotten some, but here are my least favorites:
11. Oliver Tree & Robin Schulz - "Miss You" - Oliver's vocals are pitched up so high that it sounds like he's a 10-year-old child whining to his mom for a candy bar. His vocals are so annoying here, and the beat is super jumpy and unpleasant.
10. Pitbull & Nile Rodgers - "Freak 54 (Freak Out)" - I know Pitbull has sampled/interpolated songs way before it was popular, but the sample here feels so lazily interpolated. He literally just copied the exact chorus of "Le Freak" and slapped on a couple of his own ad libs, then called it a day. I usually doesn't mind Pitbull as much as others on here, but this is just so lazy that it's a new low for his career imo.
9. Morgan Wallen - "Last Night" - Not really a fan of his vocals, and the whole vibe of "I know I got drunk and treated you like crap, but you'll come crawling back, you always do!" is a turnoff for me.
8. Antwon Lee & Dust - "Chocolate Milk" - this is extremely cringey, not to mention the music video is just him and some kids chugging full gallons of milk for some reason lmao.
7. Lonnie - "One Night Stand" - another very uncreatively interpolated sample of "Lovefool" by the Cardigans, and he drowned his voice so much in autotune that his vocals are just unpleasant and devoid of any personality.
6. Hardnox - "Taylor Swift Tickets" - omg, I don't know if I've ever heard a worse use of autotune, his vocals sound awful here. The lyrics, which have the singer trying woo his ex-girlfriend by getting her Taylor Swift tickets, are very cringey, particularly how at one point he literally tries to rhyme "talk to me" with "Taylor A. Swift-y" lol. It's clearly intended as a joke song, but this is so offensively awful and obnoxious between the awful lyrics and the trap beat that's so generic it hurts.
5. Darryl Worley - “Have We Forgotten?” - I found “Have You Forgotten?” to be one of the worst songs of the 2000s, and while perhaps not quite as bad as the original, it’s still one of the worst songs of this year. Considering the message of the original is “there’s some things worth fighting for,” the message of this song being “our country needs to stop all the silly fighting” comes off quite tone-deaf and feels like it’s talking down to the listener. There wouldn’t be a fight if there weren’t bigoted people trying to take away rights from women and marginalized communities, so the lyrics acting as if the country being divided is some trivial little feud comes off as kinda insulting. It isn’t nearly as bad as the lyrics of some of the other conservative country songs this year, but this is still really bad
4. Chris Brown - "Under the Influence" - Chris's vocals sound so awful here, and it seems like the title of this song is quite accurate as he sounds like he's slurring his words here. No idea how this had a resurgence, this should have stayed in 2019 tbh.
3. The Rose - "Back to Me" - I heard this on the radio and I was repulsed by it on the first listen. It's so overly angry and toxic, particularly illustrated by the chorus being shouting about how he can make his ex-girlfriend cry and scream, but he can't make her come back to him. Maybe this would be more enjoyable for somebody who likes hard rock, but yeah, the vibe of this was just toxic and yucky for me. Hard pass here.
2. Randy Houser - "Cancel" - I hate the couple songs I've heard in this guy's discography in general, but the message of this song is particularly awful for its gimmicky political pandering. Perhaps the worst part is that Randy contradicts himself in the lyrics. At one point, he preaches that it's important to him to teach kids that nobody's better than anyone else...but then he blatantly others anyone who doesn't share his religious beliefs. As I mentioned in the song's thread, the lyrics also feel vague in a calculated way, where he's padding the song with a bunch of generically positive messages to hide the "us vs. them" narratives he's embedding within the lyrics.
1. Savana Santos - “Messy” - for those that don’t know, this is the same girl that was the lead singer of the band who put out the TikTok hit “F2020.” I found some of the band’s other stuff to be kinda cute, but this is so bad. The song talks about how she’s happy that her breakup was messy and explosive, despite that the lyrics don’t imply the ex doing anything wrong. In her words, “I’m glad that it was messy, because at least you won’t forget me.” The song would have been better if it would have taken the tone of clapping back at a toxic ex, or something like Lewis Capaldi’s “Forget Me,” where the listener can tell he’s terrified of being forgotten because he still cares for his ex. The song doesn’t at all take this tone, though. It comes off extremely attention-seeking and that she doesn’t care who she hurts as long she gets attention, which is just gross. Honestly, it’s probably a good thing her ex left, because it’s clear this girl is not mature enough to be in a relationship where there is mutual give and take. Considering this girl’s ex is literally the co-writer of most of the songs on Kelsea Ballerini’s Rolling Up the Welcome Mat (aka an excellent masterpiece intimately highlighting the feelings behind a relationship ending from divorce), this is just embarrassing in comparison lol.
