Hallett's Hits 3/3/25 (chart cleanup & updates)

Hi! So, I've made a lot of changes to my personal chart system...

• I'm broadening the name to Hallett's Hits, since it's not just Hallett's Top 20. You'll see.
• I'm making Hallett's Top 20 a weekly chart since once a month felt too infrequent. I will release it every Monday. It will sort of replace the Weekend Countdown/Hitbound reviews I originally planned on doing every week.
• I'm expanding the cutoff time to one year. Any song that released and/or charted in the past year is eligible before getting purged. So, this means that the Eternal Sunshine & Bewitched Goddess tracks are eligible for one more week, Guts (spilled) tracks are eligible for approximately another month, and The Tortured Poets Department & Dark Matter tracks are eligible for two more months.
• I'm adding a 10-song collection each week called Almost There, which is like my equivalent of Hitbound. The cutoff time for Almost There is the same as the Top 20.
• I'm incorporating two extras throughout the countdown: the Almost There Extra, and the Throwback Extra. There will be two of each every week.
• Finally, I'm also including a list of abyss/recurrent songs each week. These don't have a cutoff time.

Alright, now that we've gotten the announcements out of the way, let's get the list started!

Hallett's Top 20

Giant list of exits:

Kesha - Delusional (1 wk: Peak #20)

Nessa Barrett - Pins & Needles (1 wk: Peak #19)

Lola Young - Messy (1 wk: Peak #18)

Griff - Last Night's Mascara (1 wk: Peak #17)

Charli XCX & Troye Sivan - Talk Talk (1 wk: Peak #16)

Sabrina Carpenter - Please Please Please (1 wk: Peak #15)

Chappell Roan - Good Luck Babe (1 wk: Peak #14)

Gracie Abrams - Close To You (1 wk: Peak #13)

Camila Cabello - Godspeed (1 wk: Peak #12)

Halsey - Panic Attack (1 wk: Peak #11)

Raye - Oscar Winning Tears (1 wk: Peak #10)

Rose - Toxic Till The End (1 wk: Peak #8)

Throwback Extra: Taylor Swift - All Too Well

#20: Pearl Jam - Upper Hand (Debut) (1 wk: Peak #20)

#19: Olivia Rodrigo - Scared Of My Guitar (Debut) (1 wk: Peak #19)

#18: Olivia Rodrigo - Stranger (Debut) (1 wk: Peak #18)

#17: Ariana Grande - Imperfect For You (Debut) (1 wk: Peak #17)

#16: Gracie Abrams - I Love You I'm Sorry (-12) (2 wk: Peak #4)

Almost There Extra: Doechii - Denial Is A River

#15: Laufey - Trouble (Debut) (1 wk: Peak #15)

#14: The Marias - No One Noticed (-5) (2 wk: Peak #9)

#13: Taylor Swift - I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can) (Debut) (1 wk: Peak #13)

#12: Beabadoobee - Beaches (-5) (2 wk: Peak #7)

#11: Taylor Swift - The Manuscript (Debut) (1 wk: Peak #11)

Throwback Extra: Katy Perry - Firework

#10: Chappell Roan - Pink Pony Club (-9) (2 wk: Peak #1 for 1 wk)

#9: Cynthia Erivo & Ariana Grande - Defying Gravity (-7) (2 wk: Peak #2)

#8: Finneas - For Crying Out Loud (Debut) (1 wk: Peak #8)

#7: Finneas - Lotus Eater (-1) (2 wk: Peak #6)

#6: Finneas - Little Window (Debut) (1 wk: Peak #6)

Almost There Extra: Benson Boone - Sorry I'm Here For Someone Else

#5: Finneas - Same Old Story (Debut) (1 wk: Peak #5)

#4: Halsey - Ego (+1) (2 wk: Peak #4)

#3: Sabrina Carpenter - Dumb & Poetic (=) (2 wk: Peak #3)

#2: Taylor Swift - The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived (Debut) (1 wk: Peak #2)

#1: Laufey - Goddess (Debut) (1 wk: Peak #1 for 1 wk)

Almost There

Doechii - Denial Is A River

Sza - Bmf

Cynthia Erivo - I'm Not That Girl

Shinedown - Three Six Five

Lizzy McAlpine - Drunk, Running

Finneas - What's It Gonna Take To Break Your Heart?

Alessi Rose - IKYK

Sabrina Carpenter - Busy Woman

Selena Gomez, Benny Blanco & Gracie Abrams - Call Me When You Break Up

Benson Boone - Sorry I'm Here For Someone Else

Abyss/Recurrent

Ariana Grande - We Can't Be Friends

Brandi Carlile - The Joke

Brandi Carlile - The Mother

Camila Cabello - First Man

Gracie Abrams - I Know It Won't Work

Katy Perry - Firework

Laufey - From The Start

Laufey - Second Best

Lizzy McAlpine - Ceilings

Mitski - My Love Mine All Mine

Olivia Rodrigo - Teenage Dream

Olivia Rodrigo - Vampire

Taylor Swift - All Too Well

Taylor Swift - Closure

Taylor Swift - Death By A Thousand Cuts

Taylor Swift - Enchanted

Taylor Swift - Epiphany

Taylor Swift - Happiness

Taylor Swift - Last Kiss

Taylor Swift - State Of Grace

Taylor Swift - The Best Day

Taylor Swift - The Way I Loved You

Taylor Swift - Timeless

Taylor Swift - Tolerate It

I'll add more to that list later, but that's all for now! Byeeeeeeeeee!

{She's Feeling Twenty-Two Pt.3} Every Olivia Rodrigo song ranked!

Hi! So, for the finale of this three-part series in celebration of Olivia Rodrigo's belated 22nd birthday, I decided to do a post that I've been wanting to do for a while now: a complete ranking of all 41 Olivia Rodrigo songs. Since this is my first time ranking every song by an artist, I have a lot of disclaimers to get out of the way. For one, as always, this is subjective, and some of my choices are probably somewhat controversial, but I don't want to wake up with 8 trillion comments saying "you are cancelled". Also, Olivia Rodrigo has way more than these 41 songs, so here's a quick rundown of what's included and what's not.

What I included:

- Every song on Sour

- Every song on Guts, both the main edition and the (spilled) edition

- Original songs that Olivia sings for High School Musical: The Musical: The Series

- Other released non-album songs by Olivia

What I didn't include:

- Unreleased songs

- Covers

- Remixes or other alternate versions of existing songs

- Bizaardvark soundtrack songs (many of these are great by the way, but they're really not meant as "proper songs" so it wouldn't be fair to include them)

Also, I'm color coding the ranking. The color code has no correlation to how much I like the songs: it's based on what album they come from.

Blue = Sour

Purple = Guts

White = non-album

Finally, I'm splitting the songs into tiers, using Olivia Rodrigo lyrics to name them. Alright, without further ado, let's get into this special ranking!

Dude nice try (2/5 - they have their redeeming qualities, but overall they're not very good):

#41: Youth Actors Conservatory Alma Mater - Since numerous songs on Guts grew on me significantly, Olivia Rodrigo has no songs that I think of as truly bad, but this was the one I had to choose for last place. It's admittedly a cool concept to have Olivia sing an acoustic ballad version of this HSMTMTS alma mater, but it feels inauthentic and honestly kinda boring at times. Also, it's only one minute long. I wasn't sure whether to include this or not, but it technically meets the criteria, so I did.

#40: Girl I've Always Been - My choice for her lowest-ranked album song. This has some nice lyrics, and the production is fine? But I really cannot get into this vocal stylization. I don't think it sounds like Olivia, which is primarily why I don't like to listen to this song.

A stranger I know everything about (3/5 - not great, not bad, just existent):

#39: Baby Is You - Yes, I'm counting this one. Since it was technically "released" even though it was just a snippet from the credits of the movie Driving Home 2 U, it meets the criteria of "other released non-album songs by Olivia". The version I'm ranking is not the full unreleased version: this is the minute-long phone-recorded snippet from the credits, so naturally it can't be very high up, but I would love it if she released a full version of it.

#38: Granted - This is one of those songs where a longer, updated version separate from HSMTMTS might be better.

#37: Bad Idea Right - My "least favorite" song across the main album editions, and also my least favorite single from Olivia Rodrigo. I don't really think this had to be a single. It's fun, it's cute, it's just far from one of Olivia's best works.

#36: Wondering (with Julia Lester) - A nice little ballad, but extremely forgettable in the grand scheme of things.

#35: Just For A Moment (with Joshua Bassett) - Major plot moment and some strong vocals, but there's not much to it outside the show.

Ur ok (4/5 - songs I like but don't willingly come back to very often):

#34: Born To Be Brave (with Dara Renee) - Fun song with a good message.

#33: Brutal - My "least favorite" song on Sour. The way it's written is very creative, but at times somewhat distracting.

#32: Obsessed - The first bonus track I heard, since it was on my edition of the album, and she performed it on the Guts tour before the (spilled) edition was released. The song that leaves us all wondering what her boyfriend's ex's star sign and blood type are.

#31: Even When / The Best Part (with Joshua Bassett) - Really cool concept to have Nini & Ricky write two songs that mash up together. I like Olivia's part significantly more though.

#30: All American Bitch - I stand by my theory that this song is a list of things Olivia tells herself whenever she feels like everything she describes in Brutal. Olivia's two opening tracks are two sides of the same coin.

#29: The Grudge - My opinions on either side of the Taylivia feud songs are naturally kinda biased. Let's just pretend the only song either one of them wrote about each other is Taylor Swift's Clara Bow...

#28: Love Is Embarrassing - The title alone is relatable, but the choice to sing like a 50s Broadway star in the bridge baffles me to this day.

#27: Second Chance (with Joshua Bassett, Matt Cornett, and Sofia Wylie) - I guess this was a nice moment for all four of these characters in HSMTMTS.

#26: I Think I Kinda, You Know (with Joshua Bassett) - So cute.

#25: Jealousy, Jealousy - This has faded on me slightly, as the "jealousy" concept was much improved by Pretty Isn't Pretty. But it's still a good song with an all too relatable concept at its core.

#24: So American - I have a random theory about the second verse of this song: she changes the pronouns from "he" to "you", which makes me think she's singing about a different person there. According to my interpretation, "he" refers to Louis, her current boyfriend, and "you" refers to her exes who did her wrong, so this song is about showing her exes that she's found someone who makes her happier. "God, I'm so boring, and I'm so rude / Can't have a conversation if it's not all about you" would mean she's "boring" and "rude" for talking to Louis about her exes who did her wrong. "The way you dress and the books you read" would therefore be an insult, like "you have no taste in fashion or books compared to Louis". Just a thought :}

I might just be in lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-love (5/5 - great songs I listen to frequently):

#23: Making The Bed - Doesn't everyone have those moments where it's you who's been making the bed?

#22: Pretty Isn't Pretty - She's feeling twenty-twoooooo, and conveniently the song in this placement is about something we can all probably relate to All Too Well (22 Minute Version) (Olivia's Version).

#21: Out Of The Old - Underrated HSMTMTS gem.

#20: Enough For You - Omg she sang this on the moon.

#19: The Rose Song - One of Liv's earliest moments where her songwriting is on full display.

#18: Traitor - He didn't cheat, but he's still a traitor.

#17: All I Want - Very popular opinion: this is the best song from HSMTMTS.

#16: Scared Of My Guitar - I wouldn't be scared of her guitar.

#15: Stranger - Essentially Olivia's version of the magnificent Clean by Taylor Swift, and my favorite Guts (spilled) bonus track.

#14: Happier - I love the story behind this song, which she explained on the Guts tour, about how she wrote it on a bathroom break between takes on HSMTMTS. Never thought I'd say this, but I hope she writes more songs in the bathroom.

#13: 1 Step Foward, 3 Steps Back - The one song that she got permission to sample a Taylor Swift song on is conveniently placed at lucky 13. I honestly like this quite a bit more than New Years Day, the Taylor song that this interpolates.

#12: Drivers License - Who could ever forget this song? The Olivia Rodrigo song, her debut single, which broke tons of records, and was literally everywhere in 2021. And it was never a single bit overplayed.

#11: Get Him Back - I'll recycle what I said in my water analysis from yesterday: she could either get him back, or she could G E T   H I M   B A C K .

#10: Deja Vu - On the drive to the Olivia Rodrigo concert, I was listening to Olivia Rodrigo on shuffle, and I cannot tell you how many times this song played. Let's just say I had deja vu every time I heard it.

#9: Logical - The sky. The grass. Iykyk.

#8: Hope Ur Ok - Olivia's most narrative song with a very Swiftian writing style. I kinda want her to write more songs in this style, and I'm sure she will.

#7: Favorite Crime - I love how she captures the excitement and the toxicity of the relationship in such simplistic lyrics.

#6: Ballad Of A Homeschooled Girl - Love Is Embarrassing walked so Ballad Of A Homeschooled Girl could break a glass and trip and fall, tell secrets it shouldn't tell, stumble over all its words, make it weird, make it worse, and make it better.

#5: Lacy - One of this album's biggest growers that I think is about Sabrina Carpenter.

#4: Good 4 U - Already an absolute classic in Olivia's catalog, and a rare case of a major radio single being my favorite song on an album. Every song on Sour has now been eliminated.

#3: Can't Catch Me Now - My favorite non-album song from Olivia by a long shot. She's here, she's there, she's everywhere. Every non-album song has now been eliminated, so Guts is the only album left.

Cuts right through to my heart (6/5 - an extremely special song):

#2: Vampire - Another rare single choice that I think is absolutely amazing, enough to get the elusive 6/5 rating. Easily my favorite single by Olivia Rodrigo, and one of my favorite singles by anyone. The evolution, the lyrics, the power... it's the type of song we need so much more of!!! But what if I told you there's one song that's even higher ranked than this? Yeah, you all know what #1 is...

Aren't you the greatest thing to ever exist? (10/5 - my second-favorite song of all time!!!!!!!!!!):

#1: Teenage Dream - There will be no further explanation. With Guts finally being eliminated, that concludes my ranking.

Happy 22 to Olivia Rodrigo again! That's all for now! Byeeeeeeeeee!

{She's Feeling Twenty-Two Pt.2} Olivia Rodrigo & water: an analysis nobody asked for

Hi! If you're reading this, happy late birthday Olivia Rodrigo! In celebration of the amazing Liv Rod feeling twenty-twoooooo as of nine days ago, I decided to make a triple-post. Earlier I posted a ranking of all of Olivia Rodrigo's music videos (which I'll update regularly), and now I have this possibly unnecessarily deep analysis of one symbol that appears in almost every Liv vid: WATER. Yeah, I know what you're thinking. "Hallett, you've officially gone insane." As if I hadn't already gone insane 1,234,567,890,987,654,321 years ago.

I genuinely see water as a symbol in many Olivia Rodrigo videos. I don't know if anyone else has noticed this before me, or if it's intentional or not, but it seems to symbolize an idea of escape, whether that be from a past relationship, or the everyday challenges that come with growing up, or maybe something else entirely. So, next time you watch an Olivia music video, pay attention to any appearance of water. I've connected every music video to a use of water as a symbol of escape, and it's actually more interesting than you're probably thinking...

..ooooooookay fine. I'll admit, at least two of these are stretching this a little bit, and one of them is actually referencing a movie I've never watched so I don't quite understand the video, but most of them are more interesting than you're probably thinking. Also, I know that this is a "common"-ish motif. It's also used in Taylor Swift songs & videos... and in the book Fahrenheit 451... and a lot of other things. And I know it's also mentioned in a few lyrics of Olivia's, but I'm not going to go through all of those right now. This is just her music videos.

(I'll just say quickly, my favorite three uses of the water motif in her lyrics are "I fell for you like waterfalls from the February sky / But now the current's stronger and I couldn't get out if I tried / You convinced me, baby" from Logical, "In the shower, in the car, in the mirror before bed" from The Grudge, possibly referencing the car from the Drivers License video, which I'll get to later, and even though it's a common phrase, the clever choice of "Crying on the floor of my bathroom" to convey a longing for escape in Good 4 U.)

Anyway let's start now!

All I Want: feeling extremely close to an escape

Since the very beginning, Olivia has been making super well-crafted videos, and her debut music video already has a genuinely great use of the water motif. For most of the second half of the video, Olivia is playing a piano directly on top of what appears to be a large body of water. However, she never seems to go inside this water. This means she feels like she's so close to this water (i.e. escaping her sadness through finding someone who makes her happy) but never quite reaches it. Additionally, this might seem like a stretch, but since the piano and the bench are standing directly on top of the water, it looks like the water may not actually be real, which might reference the fact that her expectations of an escape aren't actually realistic.

Drivers License: illusion of escape when an ex is thought about the most

Yes, before you ask, rain counts as water, because... well, rain is literally water, why shouldn't I count it? I'm not sure if this is actually rain or not, but in the closeup scenes of Olivia driving in the car, there are noticeable lines on the window that resemble rain. This means that Olivia is at least faintly seeing the escape while inside the car, i.e. the place where she thinks about her ex the most. However, the escape doesn't actually exist. This is because in literally every scene that takes place outside of the car, there is no rain. The rain from inside the car is simply an illusion caused by thinking intensely about the relationship: that's when she begins to believe that there is an escape.

Deja Vu: being pulled away from escape

While it's not my #1 favorite video of hers, this is my favorite use of the water symbolism. A prominent scene in this music video is a scene of Olivia walking on the beach, slowly moving towards water. But just as she's nearing this escape, something happens every time - the scene rewinds. So, essentially, she's being pulled away from escape every time she comes close. It's pretty self-explanatory: she feels like she's going to come close to escape, but constantly becomes farther away from it. It's super simple, but I really love this one.

Good 4 U: finding escape in the end

This is my favorite overall music video Olivia Rodrigo has. This is the first one where Olivia actually does escape. A huge theme in this video (which may be symbolized by the fire) is revenge. But the iconic room at the end of the video is not only on fire: it's flooded with water. This notably appears during the line "crying on the floor of my bathroom", which makes me think this water is Olivia's tears. So the escape here was found through "crying" about the situation and pouring it out into a song to express her feelings about her ex. In the end, the water beats out the fire, and the escape beats out the revenge, so the final scene is in a very simplistic setting: just Olivia and water. This video is probably her most Easter-egg-packed video, while still having a well-made story, which is why it's my favorite Liv vid so far.

Traitor: lack of a lasting escape

So, this is kinda the video that made me first realize this motif. Water is very prominent in this video. At first, Olivia is surrounded by it but never fully in it, and therefore not escaping the anger & depression brought on by her ex's betrayal of her. When she reaches this water, her first instinct is to jump into it for an immediate escape. But here's the thing about escape: it can't last forever. She can't stay submerged underwater forever, so she has to lift her head out of it sometimes. This is another one that's pretty straightforward, but I love how it's done here.

Brutal: escape piled on by others & the escape itself beginning to escape

This is a weird one, but trust me, it makes sense if you really think about it. Normally, I wouldn't think of crying as a part of this escape motif, but this video has very bold, exaggerated crying filters that somehow manage to highlight the fact that tears are, indeed, water. This could very well be unintentional, but I couldn't help but notice the fact that the tear filters in this video appear almost as if they were water dripping down her face after it was poured on by someone else, which makes me think that here it's symbolizing someone expecting (almost "forcing") her to escape from the challenges she describes in this song, which ultimately doesn't work because it'll spill right down her face. Also, there's a scene in this video with popping bubbles, which could mean the escape itself is escaping from her, or "popping".

Vampire: holding on to false escape

This is another one of my favorite uses of the water symbolism. In the first half of this video, we just see Olivia near water, which is something that appears in a lot of these videos: being close to escape but not quite reaching it. But there's a twist: after the first chorus, it is clearly revealed that this is all staged. The water is not real. In the song, she mentions the escape of reminiscing about the past relationship ("I see the parties and the diamonds sometimes when I close my eyes") but this is when she realizes that this won't work in the long term as an escape ("Six months of torture you sold as some forbidden paradise"). I love how this scenery change so subtly captures these two simple yet powerful lines. As the video progresses, she gets farther and farther away from this false escape, and eventually even starts flying. But the thing is, she doesn't want to. She wants to go back on the stage, because she'll even settle for a false escape in this situation. She just doesn't want to be completely removed from escape.

Bad Idea Right: escape becoming more powerful and tempting

Of course, every artist has to have... the rain video. That one music video where all you ever see is rain everywhere. But just like with Taylor Swift's Delicate video, Livrod uses this rain as a symbol for finally reaching escape. As the video continues, the rain continues, and gets more and more powerful... and more tempting to meet with her ex as an escape from the pain of their breakup, even though she knows deep inside that it's a bad idea. The rain is just screaming her name this whole time. Not much to say for this one, it's another straightforward use of the motif.

Get Him Back: being surrounded by vague signs of escape

Uh... so, these last three are definitely the stretchiest. This particular video actually doesn't have any water in it, but I noticed that an insane amount of this video is a water-like teal-ish color, from the walls to the furniture to quite a few of the cars. And the breaking windows kinda vaguely resemble water here. I think the point here is that she's not truly finding escape, but she's seeing so many signs that remind her of the fact that there's an escape somewhere out there, which exactly reflects on the theme of this song being about conflicting feelings regarding what to do to her ex: she could either get him back, or she could G E T   H I M   B A C K . (Literally just came up with that right as I'm typing this, I don't know why.)

Obsessed: there's no escape

Because there's no water. Except for that one random person crying, but that doesn't count here. And the blue carpeting on the stairs, but it's such a rich, vivid blue that no water could ever be. There's not even really a slight sign of true escape: just pure obsession. Ok, moving on.

Can't Catch Me Now: escape being very distant... maybe?

Yeah I don't know for this one. I still haven't watched the movie that this song was featured in, so I don't know all the lore behind this song or this video. From what I've seen, it seems like there is an escape but it's just very distant, as we see a body of water way off into the background, which would fit the theme of this song about feeling like you could escape someone but not. But there's this one scene of someone who appears to be putting a dead human body into this water, and I'm not quite sure what that's all about. I might eventually update this if I watch the movie and figure out what all this means, but for now I'll just stick with this.

That's all for now! Byeeeeeeeeee!

{She's Feeling Twenty-Two Pt.1} Every Olivia Rodrigo music video ranked!

Hi! Happy (sorry I'm nine whole days late) 22nd birthday to Olivia Rodrigo! So, you may be wondering, "Hallett, why is this post so small?" Well, this is a three-part series in celebration of Olivia's big year and (hopefully) her third album coming soon. The first part is very small, but it's related to both of the next few posts. I've done this with Taylor, so now I'm doing it with Olivia. This page will regularly update whenever Liv has a new video. Anyway, here are all... eleven videos of hers, ranked from my least favorite to my favorite. The criteria remains the same: these are only official music videos, I'm not counting scenes from TV shows as videos, and I'm ranking them based on the visuals, not the songs. Anyway, here is my ranking!

#11: All I Want 🎹 - Well, it was hard to choose a last place. This video is undeniably really cool, but of course it was her first music video so it wasn't super developed yet, and it's really just a performance of the song out in the desert with an orchestra behind her. Love the scenery, it just doesn't match up to the stunning visuals in some of her other videos.

#10: Obsessed 🎖- Interestingly, the first two videos eliminated were her earliest and her most recent. I don't quite understand this one. The setting's a little out-of-place, but there are a lot of funny moments throughout.

#9: Brutal 📱 - A bit of an unusual video. Some distracting effects, but I think that's kinda the whole point.

#8: Bad Idea Right? ☔️ - The rain scenes are cool. Not much to say.

#7: Can't Catch Me Now 🐍 - As someone who hasn't seen this movie and doesn't get a lot of the references here, I still love this aesthetic. I've said this before, but I'll say it again: Hunger Games songs are pretty much always good, and so are Hunger Games music videos! This means that, unsurprisingly, non-album singles was the first "album" eliminated from the ranking.

#6: Drivers License 🚗 - Her first video for an album single, and right from the start, she knew what she was doing.

#5: Traitor 🐠 - One of the things I love about Liv vids is that they have a common motif of water as a metaphor for escape. This is done really well here.

#4: Deja Vu 🌴 - Honestly my favorite use of the water symbolism, and one of her most aesthetically pleasing videos.

#3: Get Him Back 🔪 - I'm gonna guess this was one of her hardest videos to make.

#2: Vampire 🧛 - Just one word: gorgeous. Guts is now the first real album eliminated from the ranking.

#1: Good 4 U 🔥 - This has to have been the hardest video to make. Obviously the highlight is that the fire and water at the end is real... omg. And the Easter eggs are great: she's dressed as a cheerleader because she's sarcastically pretending to cheer her ex on for doing better without her, and she commits Taylor Swift-style arson by burning said ex's house down, and of course she buys popcorn at the store to eat as she observes the scene. This was her third video and she was already making top-tier cinematography. With Sour being the last album eliminated, that concludes my ranking!

That's all for now! Byeeeeeeeeee!

So... about this whole "schedule" thing...

Great... another one of these. These aren't always fun to make, but I feel that sometimes they're necessary. Anyway, I made this post because... *sigh* I already want to get rid of my blogging schedule.

(Yes, this isn't a troll. I legitimately couldn't sustain a schedule for more than one month. I'm that lazy.)

No, I'm not lazy. It's not even that I just get burnt out easily. I'm just so busy outside of blogging. I don't like to reveal anything about my personal life on this platform, and that still very much stands, but I'll just say it truthfully: I do stuff. I have a life. And blogging isn't always my top priority. In fact, it's almost never my top priority. 

Really the reason I created a schedule for myself is not that I like schedules. It's that I felt like somehow I wasn't posting as much as I should, and so I didn't get as many views as I'd hoped just because the viewers can never predict when I'll release one post, or when I'll release a special series of twenty posts, or when I'll disappear for two weeks, or when I'll have my blog deactivated for months on end, with the constant worry that I could at any moment be gone forever without any announcement. But it's not like I was getting pressured, or made fun of, or even lacking recognition. I have viewers, and not once has anyone said anything bad about my blog, except myself, over and over and over. This is not to say I want to stop blogging. I have good ideas for posts, and I'm usually able to have fun with blogging if it's content I enjoy reviewing. I actually have a series of fun Olivia Rodrigo-related posts planned for her big twenty-twooooooo birthday this week! I just think I'll feel better if I go back to how I was before: posting whenever I feel motivated, even if that means posting less than once a week.

Additionally, this might sound like I'm repeating the same things I had said in that post from June 2024 (iykyk) but the countdown & Hitbound posts in particular sometimes feel *ahem* robotic. And as I've said before, I don't just mean that I have more fun reviewing good songs as opposed to bad songs. For example, as much as I despise that monstrosity of a song that is Fat Juicy & Wet, it gave me interesting material for blogging content since it was so laughably bad that it's at least kinda fun to analyze. But it's not fun to review a whole Hitbound full of songs that are just decently tolerable and have no positive or negative qualities and are just gonna be forgotten in three days. So I don't think I'm gonna post any countdown or Hitbound reviews anytime soon unless it either becomes drastically amazing or drastically horrible.

It doesn't necessarily have to be exactly how it was before where it was completely unpredictable when I'd post or when I'd take weeks off. Some things will remain semi-scheduled. I'll still (for now) try my best to post an album review every month, a personal chart every month, at least one other post every month, and bigger projects for special events like holidays or hitting a milestone number of blog views. But I want to be more flexible so that blogging doesn't feel like a chore. Blogging was never a requirement for me. The whole point for why I blog has always stayed the same throughout my on-and-off two years in the community: as a fun way of sharing my opinions on today's music. If it doesn't feel fun, then there's no point in it.

Anyway, I also want to take this time to give a shoutout to bloggers like Ethan & Hippo for actually being able to live with having a schedule and (particularly in Ethan's case) the occasional pressure from viewers, and Bubby for the sheer amount of posts they get out and their quite versatile posting genres. I must commend your dedication to blogging and I genuinely can't even fully imagine all of the work you put into it. Once again, I'm don't plan on leaving this community. I definitely want to continue blogging for at least one more year, depending on what happens in my life up to that point. I'm just trying not to care as much about what people think of my blog, so I'll be a much less regular poster in order to give me time to focus on my life outside of blogging.

(TL;DR - My blog will no longer operate on a strict schedule, partially due to a recent lack of interest in Hitbound, but mostly because of an increasingly busy personal life and not wanting to prioritize blogging as if it is a requirement. I'll still plan on monthly album reviews, personal charts, and other random posts, but I'll be more flexible with my schedule. Also, special shoutouts to bloggers who put in the work to regularly post. I could never.)

That's all for now! Byeeeeeeeeee!

This album deserves more recognition for cryin' out loud!

Hello and welcome to my second monthly album review of 2025! This is a review of an album by someone who's pretty famous but, in my opinion, not quite famous enough: Finneas. Some of you might not know who Finneas is, some of you might remember him from previous songs on Hits 1 like For Cryin' Out Loud, Till Forever Falls Apart, or Let's Fall In Love For The Night, and some of you might just know him as the brother of Billie Eilish. Well, I think of him as Finneas. His solo music is actually quite great. It does have its similarities to Billie, but there are obviously many notable distinctions. So, I decided to review his most recent album, titled For Cryin' Out Loud!

I just noticed as I'm writing this that this is my first review of an album by a solo male artist, and only my second review of any album by male artists, which was previously only held by Pearl Jam. Kinda surprising, but kinda not considering most of the major celebrities in the music world right now are female.

Also... yes, I know I have not been following my schedule recently. Part of that in the last few days has been due to seeing Finneas in concert, having some power & internet issues due to winter weather, and other things I'd rather not discuss here (pls don't worry), but I will go a little bit more into detail about that tomorrow in a separate post. Anyway, let's just get into the album review!

1. Starfucker

My rating: 5/5 Great

Well that's an interesting title. Immediately when I saw it, I thought of that line from Vampire by Olivia Rodrigo, and I wasn't quite sure what to expect out of this song. It's actually a semi-rare case of a great opening track. Right from the unique piano line at the beginning, I was instantly pretty certain that this album would be quite the awesome one. One thing that Finneas does really well in his music (and the same goes for Billie's music) is evolution. This song progresses from a melancholy reflection on a breakup to pure anger about a toxic person. I love the way the chorus changes from "I was yours before you were cool" to "I'd still be yours for sure but you're cruel", completely changing the meaning of the song. Already one of my top 5 favorites on the album.

2. What's It Gonna Take To Break Your Heart?

My rating: 5/5 Great

So, this album was promoted with three singles, two of which were great choices, and one of which, in my opinion, shouldn't have been a single, which we'll get to very soon. I know exactly what I would've chosen as a single instead: this song. This would've been such a great single! It's got a sound that's upbeat enough for radio but not to the point where it's unenjoyable to listen to, and the lyrics have a deep message behind them but are catchy and slightly repetitive, like a lot of radio singles. Also, this song sonically reminds me of Espresso for some reason. It's a really random comparison, I know, but I'll never be able to unhear it. (They both mention coffee in the lyrics also!) I feel like this is a vocal strong point on the album, showing off Finneas's incredible range, and even the backup singer, who I thought for sure was Billie when I first heard it but is apparently someone named Lucy Healey, sounds genuinely really good. Starting the album strong!

3. Cleats

My rating: 3/5 Decent

We've reached the first single on the tracklist, and... this is the one I mentioned before. I don't think this should've been a single, but it's still an okay song. (I mean, it's Finneas, how bad can it possibly get?) Although it's definitely my least favorite song on the album, it redeems itself in a lot of ways: the lyrics are quite clever in the verses, and there are some cool elements to this song's production also. However, I find a lot of it, particularly the chorus and the guitar riffs throughout, to be a bit too repetitive and not evolving enough, and therefore feeling boring compared to other songs on the album. Really nothing else I have to say here, just an incredibly generic song.

4. Little Window

My rating: 5/5 Great

If I were to re-review Hit Me Hard And Soft (which I'm not doing btw, but just hypothetically) most of the ratings wouldn't change, other than giving Wildflower a lower rating. I love how Wildflower sounds musically, but the lyrics fall flat for me. Well, this song gave me just what Wildflower was missing: some strong lyrics to fit with this similar production style. Most of the songs on this album (and really most music in general) are breakup songs, but this is thought to be an exception, with the lyrics being interpreted as written about feeling depressed due to spending too much time on social media: the "little window" motif mentioned throughout the song refers to a cell phone. And when I say the production sounds a lot like Wildflower, I mean that in a good way. It doesn't feel like he copied himself or his sister. It makes it seem like the two songs are connected in some way. I'm not sure exactly how, but there's probably some relation beyond just the artists. But that doesn't matter right now. Another great song!

5. 2001

My rating: 4/5 Good

Yeah, this one's a bit less interesting to me but still a solid song. According to Finneas as stated on the FCOL tour, this song is about getting stood up by a date. Some of the lyrics are quite cleverly written as usual for Finneas, but nothing is really standing out to me. The production is cool albeit a bit generic. There are a few particularly cool-sounding elements to it: I love the drums in this song. But yeah, overall just a generic but good song that I'll probably not come back to as much as other songs on the album, but it's not bad at all.

6. Same Old Story

My rating: 5/5 Great

Yes! I consider this my favorite song on the album. I must say, though it obviously didn't ruin my entire concert experience, I was disappointed at the fact that Finneas played every song on his album at the FCOL tour except Same Old Story, which just so happens to be my favorite song on the album (which I'm sure is an unpopular opinion so it doesn't surprise me much, but I still wish he did it). This is a bit of an odd comparison, but sonically, this song kinda reminds me of Happiness by Taylor Swift. It's in the same key (a key I don't usually like, unless it's with this style of song), and has a similar sort of progression, starting with sparse synths playing simple chords and adding more touches of synthesized sounds throughout. About halfway through, the drums kick in and the song reaches its climax. And of course, the lyrics here are also quite great. The title is pretty much self-explanatory: the song is about having to deal with... well, the same old story over and over in a relationship, never being able to escape the same routines. A lot of these lyrics I find relatable and well-written. Magnificent song, a definite favorite from the start.

7. Sweet Cherries

My rating: 4/5 Good

Well, after that masterpiece, now we have this song that's a bit less great. Don't get me wrong, I like this song. Some of the experimental synth sounds actually sound really cool. After a while that one that's really loud and scratchy-ish can get distracting, but it works for the most part. I like the lyrics and the story they tell, starting with interest in someone and ending in heartbreak, but there are other songs that do it better. I'm not always particularly a fan of the whole "two songs in one" concept (usually it's done well) and in this case it's fine but I think it could've been more connected. But overall, the lyrics are well-written and the production sounds pretty cool so I can't bring the song down very much at all. It's just, again, one of the few songs on this album that I don't imagine myself coming back to listen to regularly.

8. For Cryin' Out Loud

My rating: 5/5 Great

We've finally reached the title track and probably this album's "biggest hit", and it's a rare case of a radio single that I consider one of an album's top songs. This was the only song from the album that made it onto Hits 1, although it dropped out of Hitbound. (Unfortunately Finneas still, as far as I know, has yet to have any solo songs on the Hits 1 Weekend Countdown, not counting being featured on Ashe's top five hit Till Forever Falls Apart in 2021.) What stands out the most about this song is the production: this song showcases Finneas's genre-blending pretty much at its best. The combination of rock elements with jazz-like brass instrumentation sounds so great to me, and fits well with the lyrics. By the way, the lyrics are also very clever, even though they're about a concept some people might see as overused (I disagree): about being in love with someone who makes you insane. I think this was a great single choice, and also a great album title choice. But most importantly, it's just a flat-out great song.

9. Family Feud

My rating: 5/5 Great

Well, I had a feeling that Finneas probably wrote a song about his sister. They obviously have a close relationship especially in the music world, and this song gives imagery & descriptions of the usual interactions and relationship between Finneas & Billie, both the good and the bad. I love these types of songs, and Finneas unsurprisingly does it really well. The production also, as usual, sounds great and fits the lyrics in such a nice way. It has a very nostalgic, acoustic, pure sound to it that supports the lyrics gorgeously. I don't really have anything else to say for this one, it's just, once again, another great song.

10. Lotus Eater

My rating: 5/5 Great

Alright, the finale has arrived. And guess what? Surprise, this is one of few albums that starts and ends on a great song! Based on how many times I recommended this song to Hits 1 and when I placed it on my personal top 20 chart, you probably knew it was a favorite of mine. It's definitely my favorite of the three singles, and probably my third-favorite song on the album, just following Little Window & Same Old Story. It's a great, reflective closer that works especially well considering its lyrical & thematic parallels to the opening track, Starfucker. And also, the production is stellar. This is my favorite rock moment for Finneas. This song feels almost like punk-rock while still having the jazz elements I notice in a lot of his music. Really, this song is just such a great closer to such a great album. Great. Great. Great. Great!

Conclusion

Overall album rating: 92% (Great Album)

This album has the same score as Gracie Abrams' The Secret Of Us. I didn't quite know what to expect. I knew for sure it'd be great, but I wasn't sure whether it would have more of a low-great score comparable to that of Dark Matter or Eternal Sunshine, or an absolutely stunning score like Hit Me Hard And Soft, Evermore, or either Olivia Rodrigo album, but it got a score right in the middle of the "great album" spectrum. Overall, great album!

Favorite songs: What's It Gonna Take To Break Your Heart, Little Window, Same Old Story, For Cryin' Out Loud, Lotus Eater

"Least" favorite song: Cleats

That's all for now! Byeeeeeeeeee!

The Super Bowl of blogging challenges (maybe my funniest post yet) - Hits 1 Weekend Countdown 2/8/25

Hi! So, in case you didn't see, I posted a comment on Ethan's recent "story time" post that inadvertently turned into the biggest (and really the only) blogging challenge I've done on here. I posted a comment that pretty accurately describes what this post was going to be at first, and was challenged by an anonymous commenter to not do any of the numerous things I listed. Here is the list for reference:

*rants about Fat Juicy & Wet existing*
*rants about Chiefs losing*
*sighs with relief that the Chiefs at least got 22 points which is a Swiftian sign of good luck*
*clowns about how Kendrick Lamar will be on a Reputation TV FTV bonus track*
*lists random statistics about Birds Of A Feather's countdown run*
*makes a tiresome joke about the apple finally falling from the tree and not making it to Brat spring*
*celebrates Diet Pepsi's 22nd birthday one week early*
*refuses to meet Bruno & Rose at the apateu until they let Pink Pony Club hit number one*

*sigh* I have to go this whole blog post without doing any of those things, so I might as well just not say anything. Enjoy the emptiness.

(Fine, I'll do it...)

Monday, February 10, 2025

The Super Bowl of blogging challenges - Hits 1 Weekend Countdown 2/8/25 (the REAL post, definitely not a troll whatsoever in any way, shape, or form)

Hi! So, this week's countdown was pretty normal and absolutely nothing unusual happened. Let's get into it.

Exits:

Teddy Swims - Guilty

Charli XCX - Apple

Myles Smith - Stargazing

Myles Smith - Nice To Meet You

Countdown:

#30: Kendrick Lamar - Squabble Up (Debut)

#29: Hayes Warner - Oh! (=)

#28: The Weeknd & Playboi Carti - Timeless (-2)

#27: Tate McRae - Sports Car (=)

#26: Marshmello & Jonas Brothers - Slow Motion (+4)

#25: Bruno Mars & Sexyy Red - Fat Juicy & Wet (Debut) (uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...)

#24: Lady Gaga - Abracadabra (Debut)

#23: Megan Moroney - Am I Okay? (=)

#22: Kendrick Lamar & Sza - Luther (+2)

#21: Raye - Oscar Winning Tears (+4)

#20: The Weeknd - Cry For Me (Debut)

#19: Morgan Wallen - Love Somebody (-7)

#18: Addison Rae - Diet Pepsi (+4)

#17: Gigi Perez - Sailor Song (-1)

#16: Sza - Bmf (+4)

Extra: Jennie & Dominic Fike - Love Hangover

#15: Damiano David - Born With A Broken Heart (+2)

#14: Lola Young - Messy (+7)

#13: Lisa - Moonlit Floor (+2) 

#12: Alex Warren & Joe Jonas - Burning Down (+2)

#11: David Guetta, Alphaville & Ava Max - Forever Young (+7)

#10: Gracie Abrams - I Love You, I'm Sorry (+1)

#9: Sabrina Carpenter - Taste (=)

#8: Teddy Swims - Bad Dreams (=)

#7: Billie Eilish - Birds Of A Feather (=)

#6: Shaboozey - Good News (=)

#5: Gracie Abrams - That's So True (-1)

#4: Sabrina Carpenter - Bed Chem (+1)

#3: Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars - Die With A Smile (-1)

#2: Chappell Roan - Pink Pony Club (+1)

Last year's #1: Dua Lipa - Houdini

#1: Rose & Bruno Mars - Apt (=)

Debuts:

Yeah, I guess Cry For Me, Squabble Up, and Abracadabra exist...

(And now, get ready for what might just be the most "iconic" moment ever on this dusty old blog forgotten by all...)

*painfully fakes a smile* Brandi Carlile - The Joke, Olivia Rodrigo - Teenage Dream, Camila Cabello - First Man, Billie Eilish - Everything I Wanted, Taylor Swift - All Too Well... Bruno Mars & Sexyy Red - Fat Juicy & Wet. What can I say? Fat Juicy & Wet is simply a *continues to painfully fake a smile* masterpiece of a song. First of all, the title is *smile starts to falter, but is adjusted back, progressively falling into a deeper pain* GENIUS. I mean, we've heard of juicy, and we've heard of wet... but the use of the word "fat" is certainly uncalled for. I-I-I-In a... good way? And secondly, the production. It's never been done before. It's *slowly breaking down into complete mental insanity* one of the greatest things I've ever heard. And the best thing about it? The lyrics. *goes full-on I Can Do It With A Broken Heart mode* Forget the raw agony of feeling less significant when growing up in Teenage Dream, or the masterfully crafted heartbreak storytelling in All Too Well. This song captures the essence of being... well... *Geez Louise I absolutely HATE even saying this title* ...Fat Juicy & Wet. I was already captivated from the relatable metaphor of "good kitty kitty good kitty kitty", but by the time we reached the pleasant imagery of "suck on my t**s", I knew this song was a complete *almost dies saying it* masterpiece. How could anybody not absolutely adore the genius that is... *I'm not even gonna say it again* ...this song. Wonderful job, Bruno Mars & Sexyy Red. Goodbye everyone. *falls straight down to the ground*

Biggest Jump: Lola Young - Messy, David Guetta, Alphaville & Ava Max - Forever Young (+7) (both "young" songs)

Biggest Drop: Morgan Wallen - Love Somebody (-7)

Missed songs: literally all of those other songs I mentioned above.

Recommendations for Hits 1: nothing. Fat Juicy & Wet has amazed me so much that I don't think any other song can match up to it.

Blurb Blurby & Blurb, That Good Blurby Blurby Good Blurby Blurby Make It My Blurb:

Apple left the countdown... okay. It was... getting old. Just getting old. Nothing else to say here. Guilty also left unexpectedly. More expectedly, both Myles Smith songs left, which was kinda good to make more room for new songs.

I don't know what Hits 1 is doing with Love Somebody or Sailor Song. I would neither love nor hate Love Somebody leaving, and I hope Sailor Song... yep, you guessed it, sails off the countdown. (Hey, no one ever said anything about not being allowed to say that in this post!)

"It's supposed to be fun turning twenty-one" - Addison Rae's Diet Pepsi, probably

...Birds Of A Feather has been on here for, like, a really long time, hasn't it? Yeah, those birds are flying high, aren't they?

There was almost no action in the top 10. I think it's so hilarious how most of the top half of the countdown is still so blue. "Oh damn, never seen that color blue." Goes to show how, uh... Delicate the countdown is. (I have no idea what that means, I just wanted to take advantage of the fact that I'm still technically allowed to make Taylor Swift references.)

Kendrick Lamar collaborated with Taylor Swift once, on a remix of Bad Blood. And that was not performed at the Super Bowl Halftime Show. Yes. Objective facts. No opinion. The clowns are running away.

Okay fine I'll meet you at the apateu-pateu, Bruno Mars & Rose. Pink Pony Club might hit #1 at some point, but if it doesn't, that's reasonable and acceptable, as it hit #2 and that's a really good run. Yeah...

I know this isn't part of the challenge, but I just wanted to say that Bed Chem is growing on me pretty rapidly. I love the windchimes, the overall nostalgic sound it has to it, and some clever lyrics (especially the bridge, and the second verse gets bonus points for "uponeth").

Well that was weird... but that's all for now! Byeeeeeeeeee!

My thoughts on every major Taylor Swift album theory

Hi! Sorry I'm late. So, this is a new style of post for me. Basically, I've compiled a list of five theories about albums Taylor Swift hasn't released, and giving my thoughts on how likely these theories are. I've created a rating system for these theories, using the same colors as my normal color code. This isn't necessarily to say that these albums will be released: this just means whether they exist or not. Alright, let's take a look at this!

Karma: somewhat likely

Yeah, I wasn't quite sure about this one, but the signs are all around. "All I think about is karma" in Look What You Made Me Do - all she thinks about are the songs she doesn't share because of a fear of worsening her own reputation. "Maybe I got mine but you'll all get yours" could allude to revealing these songs and this new side of herself to the world, not caring what people think of her... Karma. Obviously there's the giant sign in the music video for The Man. And the song called Karma that could easily fit this album may have originally been intended to be this album's title track. Most importantly, even if not Karma specifically, to me, it feels quite likely that Taylor would have been writing music during her hiatus, possibly even a full album's worth of songs. The music on Karma would probably be like that of the "revenge" songs on Reputation, like Look What You Made Me Do or This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, and maybe some of the angrier love songs like I Did Something Bad, Don't Blame Me, or Getaway Car. I feel like some of Karma was recycled for Reputation, but I don't think the entirety of the album was reused. I don't imagine Karma including songs like Gorgeous or King Of My Heart, and Karma probably had some songs that Reputation didn't have (possible Rep TV FTV tracks?) but overall, I lean towards Karma being a likely album theory.

Woodvale: very unlikely

Yeah I'm not buying this theory. Currently the only evidence that Woodvale may have even existed is a mistake on one edition of the Folklore album cover. It's almost unnoticeable because a sticker usually covers it up and it's already camouflaged with the background, but if you look closely at what is referred to as the "Hide And Seek" edition of the album, there's a word in the top right corner: Woodvale. I'm willing to believe that this had to have been a placeholder title that they just forgot to remove. I'm sorry to all the hardcore Woodvale truthers, if there are any, but I really don't think Woodvale exists.

Evermore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions: possible

Alright, this is kind of just something I really want to be true, but may not be. Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions gave us some intriguing acoustic performances of songs on Folklore, and I wish she did the same for my favorite album she has released: Evermore. There aren't too many signs of this being released or even conceptualized, but there's nothing telling us it's not happening. Not much else to say for this one, just a pretty normal, safe theory that I really want to be true.

Taylor Swift Holiday Collection (Taylor's Version): very likely

Of course. I don't even know why this has to count as a "theory", but I guess Swifties are split between whether Taylor will actually re-record this EP or not. I know this EP seems to have been mostly forgotten, but some Swifties (myself included) actually really like it. I want to be able to listen to a version of Christmases When You Were Mine that she owns! If anything, maybe she'll just re-record CWYWM and CMBSM and not do the covers, but it would be really cool if she also re-recorded the covers. It seems weird that people think Taylor will have two whole original songs that are officially released without owning them. I'm very much a CWYWM stan, and while unfortunately the re-recording may not quite capture the raw emotions that I loved so much in CWYWM, I'm hoping it's still just as good. Also, this EP might work as a good "home" for Christmas Tree Farm so that people can listen to that song on a physical edition, even if she doesn't re-record it (which would be highly unlikely since she already owns that song). Anyway, I'm rooting for TSHC TV to be real.

The Eras Tour: The Album: possible

Well, we already have the Eras Tour movie, so I'm not quite sure about her releasing a live album. Some people think she'll just release the live performances of all the songs on the normal setlist, while some people are theorizing that it'll just be a "surprise songs" album (which could be a plausible reason why she always redid the surprise songs that she made a mistake on) and she'd release live performances of her best surprise songs from throughout the tour. Since the movie already is released, I'm on the latter side. A surprise songs album could potentially work. No, I don't think she's releasing live performances of every surprise song she did, since that would be almost her entire discography with the exception of only That's When, Bye Bye Baby, Girl At Home, Forever Winter, Ronan, and Soon You'll Get Better. More likely, it would be the surprise songs that seemed to be the most loved by fans during their performances, or are maybe the most requested by Swifties after the tour has ended. Anyway, this seems like it could happen, but there's really nothing telling us that we'll get this.

That's all for now! Byeeeeeeeeee!

Hitbound, Abyss & Airplay 2/1/25

Hi! This week gave us a pretty boring Hitbound, other than one thing. Let's take a look at it.

Hitbound:

Alessi Rose - IKYK

The Weeknd - Cry For Me (Debut)

Crash Adams - Optimist

Jennie & Dominic Fike - Love Hangover (Debut)

Nessa Barrett - Love Looks Pretty On You (Debut)

Morgan Wallen - I'm The Problem (Debut)

Sexyy Red & Bruno Mars - Fat Juicy & Wet

Vella - All My Love (?????)

Kesha - Dear Me

Knox - Pick Your Poison

Kendrick Lamar - Squabble Up (Debut)

Lauren Spencer Smith - Pray

Djo - Basic Being Basic

Kane & Katelyn Brown - Body Talk (Debut)

Twice & Megan Thee Stallion - Strategy

Willow Avalon - Baby Blue

I don't feel like making a full review of every Hitbound song this week, as they were all incredibly forgettable. But none of them were bad, so that's good.

Only one "great" song on Hitbound this week? Wow...

All My Love by Vella is having a weird run in Hitbound. It Sunday Bested and stayed in Hitbound after leaving the countdown. This has only happened before with Until I Found You by Stephen Sanchez.

There don't seem to be any Hitbound songs getting external spins this week.

Dropouts:

Sza - Drive

Tyla - Push 2 Start

Morgan Wallen - Smile

Griff - Last Night's Mascara

The first three were forgettable, but Last Night's Mascara is in the abyss so I hope it debuts the countdown soon.

Abyss:

Harry Styles - Daylight (3 spins)

The Marias - No One Noticed (14 spins)

Jennie - Mantra (19 spins)

Akon - Akon's Beautiful Day (19 spins)

Griff - Last Night's Mascara (20 spins)

Lady Gaga - Disease (22 spins)

Alex Warren - Carry You Home (30 spins)

That's all for now! Byeeeeeeeeee!

It got normal again - Hits 1 Weekend Countdown 2/1/25

Hi! This week's countdown was pretty inactive. I don't have anything else to say here. Let's get started!

Exits:

Vella - All My Love

Ariana Grande - Popular

Cynthia Erivo & Ariana Grande - Defying Gravity

Countdown:

#30: Marshmello & Jonas Brothers - Slow Motion (Debut)

#29: Hayes Warner - Oh! (+1)

#28: Teddy Swims - Guilty (Debut)

#27: Tate McRae - Sports Car (Debut)

#26: The Weeknd & Playboi Carti - Timeless (+1)

#25: Raye - Oscar Winning Tears (-2)

#24: Kendrick Lamar & Sza - Luther (+5)

#23: Megan Moroney - Am I Okay? (+5)

#22: Addison Rae - Diet Pepsi (-4)

#21: Lola Young - Messy (=)

#20: Sza - Bmf (+2)

#19: Myles Smith - Nice To Meet You (+5)

#18: David Guetta, Alphaville & Ava Max - Forever Young (+8)

#17: Damiano David - Born With A Broken Heart (-3)

#16: Gigi Perez - Sailor Song (-3)

Extra: Knox - Pick Your Poison

#15: Lisa - Moonlit Floor (-6)

#14: Alex Warren & Joe Jonas - Burning Down (+5)

#13: Charli XCX - Apple (+3)

#12: Morgan Wallen - Love Somebody (+5)

#11: Gracie Abrams - I Love You I'm Sorry (+1)

#10: Myles Smith - Stargazing (-4)

#9: Sabrina Carpenter - Taste (+2)

#8: Teddy Swims - Bad Dreams (=)

#7: Billie Eilish - Birds Of A Feather (=)

#6: Shaboozey - Good News (+4)

#5: Sabrina Carpenter - Bed Chem (-1) 

#4: Gracie Abrams - That's So True (+1)

#3: Chappell Roan - Pink Pony Club (=)

#2: Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars - Die With A Smile (=)

Last year's #1: Dua Lipa - Houdini

#1: Rose & Bruno Mars - Apt (=)

Debuts:

My opinion still stands on Guilty & Sports Car since last week. They're both solid songs but very forgettable. And I think Slow Motion needs to be out of here soon.

Biggest Jump: David Guetta, Alphaville & Ava Max - Forever Young (+8)

Biggest Drop: Lisa - Moonlit Floor (-6)

Missed song: Mitski - My Love Mine All Mine

Recommendation for Hits 1: Teddy Swims - Funeral

Blurbs car:

Both of the songs from Wicked left this week. I'm fine with Popular going but I wish Defying Gravity got more success. All My Love also left the countdown this week, and it's still in Hitbound for some reason, but that tells me it's not gone yet. As Ethan mentioned on his blog, this is the first time since 2022 (Stephen Sanchez's Until I Found You) that a song has had a continuous countdown run during the time of a continuous Hitbound run.

Forever Young jumped again. This song's countdown run is so confusing.

Moonlit Floor took a big drop. I'm fine with this.

How in the universe is Burning Down still on the countdown, and jumping? It has almost no airplay. If anything, Carry You Home should be on the countdown since that song is still getting regular airplay long after its departure from the countdown.

At the rate it's going, Apple might survive all the way to Brat spring. It's been half a year and Apple is suddenly close to returning to its previous peak position.

I think it's hilarious that almost the entire top 15 is blue right now.

Birds Of A Feather has now reached 35 consecutive weeks on the countdown, 25 consecutive weeks in the top 10, and 3 consecutive weeks at #7.

Apt is still #1. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE can we get Pink Pony Club to #1 soon?

That's all for now! Byeeeeeeeeee!

Hallett's Top 20 - January

Hi! Welcome to my first personal top 20 post. Every month on the last empty Friday that's not taken up by an album review, I will post my own personal top 20 songs for the past month.

This is a bit different from the top 20 chart I did a while back on Crownnote. I'm no longer using Crownnote now that I've changed the schedule of the chart, but also because I don't want a large gap since the last time I made a Crownnote chart, and I found that site very challenging to use anyway, so I'd rather just post my charts on my blog. 

Additionally, I'm making one new "rule" for what songs can be on this chart, so that I don't have to deal with what happened with songs like Teenage Dream last year. A song is only eligible for this particular short-term-style chart if it either:

• Was released within the past six months, or...
• Was on the Hits 1 Weekend Countdown or Hitbound within the past six months

If a charting song exceeds one of these time limits, it's safe, but if it exceeds both of these time limits, it will have to be purged from the chart. For example, no songs by any of my top three artists (Olivia, Taylor, Laufey) are currently eligible for the chart. Also, remixes technically count as separate songs, in case you were wondering how Talk Talk is somehow on here even though it misses the cutoff - I just used the Troye Sivan version. Anyway, here is my chart for this week.

#20: Kesha - Delusional

#19: Nessa Barrett - Pins & Needles

#18: Lola Young - Messy

#17: Griff - Last Night's Mascara

#16: Charli XCX & Troye Sivan - Talk Talk

#15: Sabrina Carpenter - Please Please Please

#14: Chappell Roan - Good Luck Babe 

#13: Gracie Abrams - Close To You

#12: Camila Cabello - Godspeed

#11: Halsey - Panic Attack

#10: Raye - Oscar Winning Tears

#9: The Marias - No One Noticed

#8: Rose - Toxic Till The End

#7: Beabadoobee - Beaches

#6: Finneas - Lotus Eater

#5: Halsey - Ego

#4: Gracie Abrams - I Love You I'm Sorry

#3: Sabrina Carpenter - Dumb & Poetic 

#2: Cynthia Erivo & Ariana Grande - Defying Gravity

#1: Chappell Roan - Pink Pony Club

I think I know what will top my worst songs list for 2025 - Hitbound, Abyss & Airplay 1/25/25

Hi! So, this week's Hitbound was fairly active, with seven debuts, many of which have potential to become relatively big songs. Unfortunately, it wasn't a very good Hitbound. None of this week's debuts were great: some are okay at best, many are extremely forgettable, one borders on being bad, and one is... well, you'll see. Also, for the first time in a while, there are so few great songs on Hitbound that there are no light purple songs this week: just one dark purple song (Last Night's Mascara) like how my color code used to be.

Hitbound:

Griff - Last Night's Mascara

Knox - Pick Your Poison (Debut)

Vella - All My Love

Sexyy Red & Bruno Mars - Fat Juicy & Wet (Debut)

Tate McRae - Sports Car (Debut)

Willow Avalon - Baby Blue

Tyla - Push 2 Start

Kesha - Dear Me (Debut)

Crash Adams - Optimist

Lauren Spencer Smith - Pray (Debut)

Djo - Basic Being Basic (Debut)

Twice & Megan Thee Stallion - Strategy

Teddy Swims - Guilty (Debut)

Alessi Rose - IKYK

Sza - Drive

Morgan Wallen - Smile

Alright, let's get the obvious elephant in the room out of the way first: Bruno Mars is collaborating with Sexyy Red for some reason, and it's a song with one of the worst titles I've ever heard: Fat Juicy & Wet. First of all, no. Second of all, the lyrics are... well, they're just horribly written. Bruno went from Die With A Smile to Apt to this. And I haven't talked about Sexyy Red on here yet, but I just genuinely do not like any of the music I've ever heard by her, even less so than Megan Thee Stallion. If I ever redid my worst songs list for 2023, SkeeYee would definitely top that (and the original number one, Never Felt So Alone, would be significantly lower if not completely omitted from the list at this point). If this becomes big on radio (which I doubt it will considering the lyrical content), there will be serious problems.

We also got a new song from Djo. End Of Beginning from last year was okay but it got really old and overplayed. I really hope this new song, Basic Being Basic, isn't the same way. I know some people who are gonna love this, but I obviously don't. The production and lyrics both live up to the title of the song. And so does the weird talk-singing thing for that matter.

Knox is allegedly the Hits 1 To Watch for a second time, and so he's here with a new song called Pick Your Poison. This is okay but it's very forgettable and generic.

Kesha has a new song called Dear Me, and it's pretty good. The production sounds nice, and I like the way it evolves. The lyrics are self-reflective which is cool to see when done correctly, but these lyrics are somewhat basic and packed with cliches. The part that really makes me unsure about it is the end where she repeats "dear me, dear me, I'm writing you this letter". I don't know why, but it sounds a bit awkward to me.

Great, a Tate McRae song that's probably gonna last 13 weeks on the countdown and peak at #22. Sports Car is alright, but it isn't really doing anything different from Tate's last few songs. I do like this one a tad better because the production is more interesting and I enjoy the lyrics slightly more, but it's nothing too incredible.

Lauren Spencer Smith is an artist I generally like. Fingers Crossed was one of my favorite hits of 2022, and Best Friend Breakup, That Part, and especially Fantasy grew on me significantly since 2023. Pray is just another generic song though. I like the unique production and the lyrics are pretty well-written, but it's still not a great song.

Somehow, of all artists, Teddy Swims has this week's "best" debut with Guilty. I've Tried Everything But Therapy Part 1 was in my opinion a very generic album that sounds incredibly similar throughout, but the songs I've heard from ITEBT Part 2 have been significantly better and more unique in their style. Guilty, while not great, has a sound to the production that I like to hear from Teddy, and the lyrics are pretty good. Overall, I wouldn't mind this doing well.

Dropouts:

Rose - Toxic Till The End

Kesha - Delusional

Nessa Barrett - Pins And Needles

Teddy Swims & Giveon - Are You Even Real

Dasha - Bye Bye Bye

Marshmello & Jonas Brothers - Slow Motion

The first three were great, and luckily TTTE entered the abyss, so hopefully it gets to the countdown. Unfortunately, Slow Motion is also in the abyss. The other two were just kinda there.

HB songs getting played outside of HB:

Teddy Swims - Guilty (6 spins)

Crash Adams - Optimist (18 spins)

Griff - Last Night's Mascara (23 spins)

I decided to start tracking which Hitbound songs are getting played on Hits 1 outside of Hitbound (according to xmplaylist.com, which isn't always accurate), just to see what songs are generally on pace to make the countdown the next week. These three songs, particularly LNM, have a good chance at making their countdown debuts soon.

Abyss:

Teddy Swims - Lose Control (2 spins)

Harry Styles - Daylight (3 spins)

Neighborhood - Sweater Weather (6 spins)

Marshmello & Jonas Brothers - Slow Motion (10 spins)

The Marias - No One Noticed (14 spins)

Jennie - Mantra (19 spins)

Akon - Akon's Beautiful Day (19 spins)

Teddy Swims - The Door (21 spins)

Jack Harlow - Hello Miss Johnson (23 spins)

Rose - Toxic Till The End (24 spins)

Lady Gaga - Disease (27 spins)

Alex Warren - Carry You Home (56 spins)

Daylight & Sweater Weather's airplays continue to confuse me. And I don't know how Carry You Home left the countdown but Burning Down stayed on, considering Carry You Home sustained its airplay and Burning Down already lost most of it. Also, technically Lose Control & The Door are in the abyss since they were on the survey, but don't ask why they're playing ITEBT1 tracks in celebration of ITEBT2.

That's all for now! Byeeeeeeeeee!

This is the kind of countdown I like to review - Hits 1 Weekend Countdown 1/25/25

Hi! We finally got an active week, with a lot of debuts and some big movements. So, let's get into it!

Exits:

Katseye - Touch

Meghan Trainor - Criminals

Jelly Roll - I Am Not Ok

Tate McRae - It's Ok I'm Ok

Tate McRae - 2 Hands

Countdown:

#30: Hayes Warner - Oh! (Debut)

#29: Kendrick Lamar & Sza - Luther (-6)

#28: Megan Moroney - Am I Okay? (Debut)

#27: The Weeknd & Playboi Carti - Timeless (+2)

#26: David Guetta, Alphaville & Ava Max - Forever Young (-5)

#25: Vella - All My Love (Debut)

#24: Myles Smith - Nice To Meet You (Debut)

#23: Raye - Oscar Winning Tears (Debut)

#22: Sza - Bmf (+5)

#21: Lola Young - Messy (+4)

#20: Ariana Grande - Popular (-11)

#19: Alex Warren & Jonas Brothers - Burning Down (+3)

#18: Addison Rae - Diet Pepsi (+12)

#17: Morgan Wallen - Love Somebody (+1)

#16: Charli XCX - Apple (+8)

Extra: Marshmello & Jonas Brothers - Slow Motion

#15: Cynthia Erivo & Ariana Grande - Defying Gravity (=)

#14: Damiano David - Born With A Broken Heart (=)

#13: Gigi Perez - Sailor Song (-2)

#12: Gracie Abrams - I Love You I'm Sorry (+1)

#11: Sabrina Carpenter - Taste (-1)

#10: Shaboozey - Good News (+6)

#9: Lisa - Moonlit Floor (+8)

#8: Teddy Swims - Bad Dreams (+12)

#7: Billie Eilish - Birds Of A Feather (=)

#6: Myles Smith - Stargazing (=)

#5: Gracie Abrams - That's So True (=)

#4: Sabrina Carpenter - Bed Chem (-1)

#3: Chappell Roan - Pink Pony Club (+1)

#2: Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars - Die With A Smile (=)

Last year's #1: Tate McRae - Greedy

#1: Rose & Bruno Mars - Apt (=)

Debuts:

Hayes Warner debuts with Oh, a song that just released this week. I talked about this last week. The rock production sounds great and the lyrics are cleverly written.

I Am Not Okay and It's Ok I'm Ok replace themselves with Am I Okay, a former abyss song that's... well, okay. This might grow on me, but it's really just another generic country-pop song.

Vella gets her first countdown appearance with All My Love. I feel like this is also going to grow on me at some point, but for now it's just good. My opinion stands from when I first reviewed it.

Myles Smith is here again with Nice To Meet You, and it's... well, better than Stargazing? Yeah, I don't think we need any more Myles Smith on the countdown, this is a very boring song.

And finally, the best debut comes from Raye. Oscar Winning Tears is an amazing song. The lyrics are amazingly written and its genre-blending production gives it such a nice sound.

Biggest Jump: Teddy Swims - Bad Dreams, Addison Rae - Diet Pepsi (+12)

Biggest Drop: Ariana Grande - Popular (-11)

Missed song: Ariana Grande - One Last Time

Recommendation for Hits 1: Lucy Dacus - Ankles

Blurb me at the apt:

Touch will be greatly missed. Otherwise... Criminals was okay. 2 Hands was okay. And both songs with "okay" in the name were okay.

Messy is growing on me a lot.

Popular took a hard fall. I'm okay with this, I'd rather have Defying Gravity get success on pop radio.

Diet Pepsi jumped to a new peak, and still after over four months, it hasn't seen the top half of the countdown yet.

I have no idea why Burning Down is still on here after losing all of its airplay momentum on Hits 1 this week.

How has Apple survived over one month into winter now, and now climbing up the countdown again? This never even reached the top 10 and it's looking like it might eventually join the 30+ weeks club with Before You Go, You Broke Me First, I Like You, Lose Control, Austin, I Can Do It With A Broken Heart, and Birds Of A Feather.

Speaking of which, Birds Of A Feather still continues to surpass its own record for the longest run on the top 30 countdown, and one of the longest times spent in the top 10, although it seems like Shut Up And Dance still holds that record.

Taste is feeling twenty-twooooo as of this week.

Bad Dreams got a giant climb into the top 10. Luckily Teddy Swims' newer songs from volume two of ITEBT seem to be a great improvement over volume one.

Countdown action was minimal in the top 7, and Apt is still number one. Can we please have Pink Pony Club at number one for just one week, Hits 1? (If it does hit number one, that would mean that every Chappell song to make the countdown so far has reached the top spot, because her other two previously charting songs Good Luck Babe & Hot To Go both got to number one.)

That's all for now! Byeeeeeeeeee!

I listened to this BEWITCHINGLY great album for the first time since last year (and it's one of my favorites now!)

Hi! Yes, I know this album is from 2023, so it's a bit older than what I usually review, but I just had to. This is an album by Laufey, who is a very popular artist so you've probably heard of her at some point, although Hits 1 never picked up on any of her music for whatever reason. (How has Hits 1 has had so many relatively unknown artists make Hitbound, some debuting the countdown, some becoming top 10 hits, some even reaching number one for multiple weeks, but no Laufey songs have come even remotely close to Hits 1?) I had heard a few Laufey songs and loved them, but I never before brought myself to listen to her entire Bewitched album until late last year. Well, I recently rediscovered it and listened to it a few times, and it's easily one of my favorite albums of the 2020s, if not the entire 2000s. Her music style is really cool and unique from anything else recent, and I love it. I describe it as "noir jazz pop". It's clearly very contemporary, but a heavy jazz influence runs throughout the entire album, and many of the songs have dark sounds and lyrical themes to them. It's just an incredible blend of genres. Another thing this album does well is reusing melodic motifs throughout, but bringing new meaning to them, and managing to sustain interest throughout even when many songs have such similar qualities. Overall, I just love this album.

(Oh yeah, also I just realized how hard album reviews are to make, so I've decided to update my schedule again. *sigh* One album review per month.)

So, let's get into the songs now!

1. Dreamer

My rating: 5/5 Great

A rare occurrence of a very strong opening track on an album. While it may not be one of my favorites on the whole album, it's a great song. I wasn't sure about it from the introduction, but it evolves a lot throughout, in a great way. This song really does a good job of introducing the jazz production we'll hear a lot of throughout the album. But also, it's a nice lyrical introduction as well. This album touches on all aspects of love, and I think it's funny how it starts with this song about... well, giving up on love. The lyrics are very cleverly written and a bit funny at times, which I think Laufey is surprisingly good at. Overall, although not one of my very favorites on the whole album, it's a wonderful introductory track.

2. Second Best

My rating: 5/5 Great

I love this song. This is one of my favorites for sure. I think it was clever that she put the song Second Best as the second song on the tracklist. Like I said before, this album talks about every aspect of love, with this song being about the pain of a relationship where you give someone everything and they still love someone else more, as reflected by a simple refrain of "you were my everything, I was your second best". This song kind of reminds me of Tolerate It, one of my favorite Taylor Swift songs, mostly because of the lyrics. The production is so well-made also, somehow managing to feel like a more traditional pop ballad while still maintaining great influence from jazz. This is something that Laufey does better than almost anyone else I've listened to: blending genres. Laufey manages to somehow integrate elements of pop, jazz, classical, folk, rock, and more, while still making her music sound cohesive. This song, using just a simple guitar line, manages to succeed at that. Overall, great song.

3. Haunted

My rating: 5/5 Great

Interestingly, this song shares a title with a Taylor Swift song. I was surprised to see that this song doesn't actually ever sing the title in the lyrics. (Technically it says "haunt" and "haunts", but never "haunted".) I love this song. The production is gorgeous, reflecting the haunting tone of the lyrics. And this honestly has some of Laufey's best lyricism. I love how Laufey is able to have a balance of great music and lyrics, and this song has vivid imagery of feeling "haunted" by the idea of love beginning to develop. It's a nice twist from the more cynical previous two songs, while still having the uncertain undertone to it. The album has been amazing so far.

4. Must Be Love

My rating: 5/5 Great

The title describes exactly what I think of this song. I love how this album has such a nice storyline to it: we start with avoidance of love, and then we have reflections on a loss of love, followed by uncertain desires for love, building up to... just flat-out desires for love. This song is lyrically similar to Haunted, but instead of being about nervous and, well, "haunted", this song is about how love makes her life unusually joyous in a way she wasn't expecting. I love how the slow jazz production supports this in such a nice way also. Another solid little song, not much else to say about it.

5. While You Were Sleeping

My rating: 5/5 Great

We've reached track 5! Unlike Taylor Swift, however, Laufey seems to typically place a more hopeful song as track 5. On her early EP, Typical Of Me, track 5 was James, which is, although really more angsty than happy, still delivered in a playful and upbeat way, about a crush on a boy named James but finding out he's actually annoying to be with. On her debut album, Everything I Know About Love, track 5 was a song called Dear Soulmate, which is about dreaming of a soulmate. After building up such uncertainty in the previous tracks, this song is about truly being in love with someone. The production is magnificent, with a "spacey" sound to it that reflects on the themes of the song about how being in love really feels like. This song is just beautiful.

6. Lovesick

My rating: 4/5 Good

Well, not every song is ever great. This song is close to being called "great" but I decided it doesn't quite match up to some of the others. Some of the lyrics are actually written so beautifully, but... unfortunately most of those are toward the beginning of the song. This song, particularly the second verse, feels like it's kind of saying the same things about love as some of the last few songs. Of course, it does touch on a different aspect of it: a fear of heartbreak and sadness about knowing love will be lost eventually. But... there are many other songs about the same thing that just do it a bit better. I will say though, I love the production. The way the verses build up to a climactic chorus sounds really good, and it feels almost rock-influenced which Laufey doesn't do very often. I do think some other songs on here do it a bit better, but this song is still quite good.

7. California & Me

My rating: 5/5 Great

Alright, we're now halfway through the main album, and this is yet another amazing song. After building up the storyline with love songs, this is where things change... yep, it's a breakup song. It actually has such well-written lyrics: the peaceful relationship is represented by California and the ocean, with an ex leaving her for an "old flame" - a more intense and passionate relationship from the past. And of course, there's the production. The orchestral production sounds so great with Laufey's voice and the storytelling of this song. Not much to say for this one either, it's just another wonderful song from Laufey.

8. Nocturne (Interlude)

My rating: 5/5 Great

(But Hallett, this is an instrumental interlude! This shouldn't count toward the album score!)

Okay, let me clarify something: any song that has musical quality counts toward the album score. I don't exclude instrumental music like this from album scores. The only things that don't count toward my album scores are tracks that are merely meant as spoken interludes and don't have a proper musical structure, e.g. Ariana Grande's Saturn Returns, and Camila Cabello's Koshi Xoxo & 305tilidie. This nocturne counts to the score because it is inherently meant as a music track, even though there are no vocals. This is just as much a piece of music as any other track on this album is. I love this so much. Basically, she uses a piano line from California & Me with melodies from Lovesick & Bewitched, along with some subtle elements of other songs on the album. So, essentially the whole album in one song. The title "Nocturne" makes me think - what does this represent? Is this about things that have happened to her at night (as we hear explicitly in While You Were Sleeping)? Or is it just about what she thinks about at night in a similar manner to Taylor Swift's Midnights? I don't know, but I do know that this song is genius!

9. Promise

My rating: 5/5 Great

Yes! This! This is one of my favorite songs on the whole album. In this part of the album, we begin to hear more reflection on how Laufey feels going through a breakup. This song actually reflects on a specific topic I found intriguing: trying to distance from someone after a breakup, but ultimately being inevitably drawn to someone no matter what. I am kinda obsessed with the production. I know, it's just a regular good-old-fashioned piano ballad, but it's got such a well-crafted production and melody. Also, the storytelling in this song is on another level, in both the lyricism and the evolution of the production. Overall, this song is wonderful. We're now halfway through the complete album.

10. From the Start

My rating: 5/5 Great

This is definitely the biggest hit on this album, and I'm surprised it never made Hits 1 because it was a pretty huge song most places. I guess it wasn't so big on pop radio specifically, but with Hits 1's expansion of genres in recent years, you'd think this song would at least be a Hitbound dropout. Anyway, I can't say this for most albums, but the biggest hit is actually one of my favorites on the album. Obviously the primary genre of the album is jazz, but it's presented in different ways. This song has more of a midtempo bossa nova feel to it, which I honestly think more songs should use. It sounds so great, especially with this type of song. This is also a style of lyricism that Laufey does so well with: reflecting on a breakup, but in a playful & humorous way. "The burning pain listening to you harp on about some new soulmate, 'she's so perfect', blah blah blah." I love it more than I should. This song is so gooooorgeous, I can't say anything to its face, cuz look at its face.

11. Misty

My rating: 4/5 Good

Well, this is good, but definitely not one of the best. This is actually a cover of a jazz standard, which is partially why I'm not giving it full credit as "great", but some covers qualify as great (Taylor Swift's Untouchable and most of her holiday collection EP meet these standards). I find this song a bit boring at times, and the lyrics are pretty good but... well, Laufey obviously didn't write them. I don't know, this cover just doesn't feel like it's doing anything too different from other versions of it, and I prefer her original songs. But of course, there's nothing wrong with covers. This is just a bit generic compared to other songs on the album. But it's still good. This album has no bad songs.

12. Serendipity

My rating: 5/5 Great

Alright, now we're back to the greatness. This song is great, moving from the breakup songs into a territory of a theme this album seems to talk a lot about - accidental love. This song reflects on how she feels lucky to be with who she's found, referring to it as the titular "serendipity". Just like with Promise, I love the piano line possibly more than I should. The way the chorus changes keys is just magical, and I'm not even sure why. This just has such an addicting piano line, gorgeously written lyrics, and is overall yet another (oh my what a) marvelous tune.

13. Letter To My 13 Year Old Self

My rating: 5/5 Great

We're almost to the end of the main album, and the lucky track 13 is a song about being 13, and it's one of this album's strongest songs. This is a song about something that obviously a lot of people have written about, but I think Laufey does it better than most: wishing you could tell your younger self that life will get better. Well, Laufey goes into everything that made her feel weaker at the age of 13 - mostly her differences from others, and feeling like she's falling behind on love (which she references in another song on her previous album), and this song is meant to let herself know that these things improve with age. And the production is magical. I love the way the jazz & pop influences are integrated just as other songs are, but the way it swells sounds so nice. One of my favorites.

14. Bewitched

My rating: 5/5 Great

Alright, we're closing out the main album with a romantic orchestral masterpiece. This is another love song and the title track, representing the feeling of being bewitched by love. The orchestral swells are so amazing. Laufey is truly a genius. This song's production is so well-done that I don't even care that the lyrics rhyme "heart" with "apart" in the chorus - honestly it's done in a way that makes sense and doesn't sound awkward at all. And otherwise the lyrics are actually so poetic and powerful. Great way of closing the album! Alright, now let's begin the bonus tracks!

The Goddess Edition

15. Bored

My rating: 3/5 Decent

Yeah... these bonus tracks are ever so slightly inconsistent. Both my favorite song on the album and my least favorite song on the album are Goddess edition bonus tracks... this is the latter. It's still a decent song, with just as many, if not more, noticeable redeeming qualities as it has slight drawbacks. First off, there's the melody. It seems like a somewhat popular opinion among Lauvers that this song's melody is on another level. Unfortunately, it's very slow-moving and doesn't evolve much, and so after a few minutes I start to get a bit... uh... *whilst searching for literally any other word*... bored. The lyrics are slightly repetitive but kind of creatively written, about someone who makes you... just what the title suggests. I honestly can't say I relate to this specific scenario, but maybe I've just been lucky with not meeting someone who is genuinely boring and doesn't even notice. Anyway, this may be my least favorite song on the album, but it's far from bad.

16. Trouble

My rating: 5/5 Great

Yes! This is an amazing song. This could've fit so well on the main album. I'm going to redirect you to my year-end post of the best songs of 2024, which this song made (most of the songs on this album were ineligible for that year-end list, but the Goddess tracks were). It wasn't exactly a long in-depth review, but I still have two more songs to review and I don't really feel like doing a longer review for it right now.

17. It Could Happen To You

My rating: 4/5 Good

Alright, this song isn't great, but once again... every song on this album redeems itself in some ways. This kinda suffers from the same inevitable issue as Misty in that I can't give Laufey full credit for the song, and it doesn't do that much different from other recordings of the popular jazz standard it's covering. I'm also not a huge fan of the way the production is done here, something about it just doesn't feel as great as some of the other songs on here. I do like the little piano intro and there are some cool sections, but overall, it's not amazing. Still good tho. We just have one song left... the album closer... and it's... yep... THAT song...

18. Goddess

My rating: 6/5 Best Song of 2024

See the link from two songs above :)

Conclusion

Overall album rating: 97% (Great Album)

Wow, I knew this album was great, but after re-listening multiple times, I'm truly impressed and I can't wait to see what Laufey does next. This is now in my top 5 albums I've reviewed on my blog, currently only beaten by Billie Eilish's Hit Me Hard And Soft, Taylor Swift's Evermore, and both Olivia Rodrigo albums.

Favorite songs on main album: Second Best, Nocturne, Promise, From the Start, Letter To My 13 Year Old Self

Favorite song including bonus tracks: Goddess

"Least favorite" songs on main album: Misty, Lovesick

"Least favorite" song including bonus tracks: Bored

That's all for now! Byeeeeeeeeeeee!