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!

First time reviewing Hits 1 in this format - Hitbound, Abyss & Airplay 1/18/25

Hi! As you probably saw in my last countdown post and/or on my updated posting schedule page, I have a new format for reviewing Hits 1. Instead of having one big post for Hits 1 every week, I will post a review of the Weekend Countdown on Sunday, and then a separate Hitbound overview on Monday. Anyway, let's get into it!

Hitbound:

Tyla - Push 2 Start (Debut)

Hayes Warner - Oh! (Debut)

Morgan Wallen - Smile

Vella - All My Love (Debut)

Sza - Drive

Crash Adams - Optimist

Griff - Last Night's Mascara

Marshmello & Jonas Brothers - Slow Motion (Debut)

Dasha - Bye Bye Bye

Alessi Rose - IKYK (Debut)

Teddy Swims & Giveon - Are You Even Real

Kesha - Delusional

Rose - Toxic Till The End (Reentry)

Willow Avalon - Baby Blue (Debut)

Twice & Megan Thee Stallion - Strategy

Nessa Barrett - Pins And Needles

Alright, this week's debuts were mostly pretty good. Let's get my "least favorites" out of the way first. Tyla returns with Push 2 Start. This is alright. It's got nice-sounding production but it feels a bit overproduced at times. The lyrics are also fine but not the best.

Next, we have Marshmello and the Jonas Brothers with a song called Slow Motion. This is actually better than most Jonas Brothers songs I've heard, but it's still not that great. The production is very generic and boring and the lyrics aren't very well-written. I have to say, not only is it funny that there's already been two songs on Hitbound this year called Slow Motion, but it's even funnier to me that Marshmello's last song was Miles On It, a song about wanting to go fast... and this song is literally the polar opposite.

We have a few newcomers this week, including Vella with her new song All My Love. This is okay. The production here is kinda catchy and I like some of the lyrics, but overall it's not a super memorable song.

Then, there's IKYK from Alessi Rose. This song kind of feels like it's trying to sound like Sabrina Carpenter or Chappell Roan, mostly in a good way, but the production can be slightly over-the-top at times, and the lyrics are okay but forgettable.

Hayes Warner brings us another song one week early, this is called Oh! which might be the shortest song title I've seen ever since Me! by Taylor Swift. Anyway, this is actually a really good song. This reminds me of Sabrina in a great way. The rock production is amazing and I love the lyrics here.

You may remember former H1TW Willow Avalon from her 2023 song Stranger, which basically just rotted at the bottom of the countdown. I actually sorta enjoyed that song more than others, but I hated her other Hits 1 song, Honey Ain't No Sweeter, which spent a few weeks on Hitbound about a year ago during one of my absences from blogging. But her new song, Baby Blue, was a pleasant surprise. The main guitar riff is similar to that of HANS, but it sounds so much better here, and the instrumentation feels more full and evolving. The lyrics are also a massive step up, actually being quite well-written.

Finally, Rose's former Hitbound song Toxic Till The End reentered Hitbound this week. This is so nice to see, I actually like this song better than Drinks Or Coffee, as the lyrics are so well-written here and it has really well-made catchy production. Let's hope this does well.

Dropouts:

Balu Brigada - So Cold

Almost Monday - Can't Slow Down

Ariana Grande & Cynthia Erivo - What Is This Feeling?

Rose - Drinks Or Coffee

Twenty One Pilots - The Line

Raye - Oscar Winning Tears

The Marias - No One Noticed

Good riddance to So Cold, which lasted as long on Hitbound as Hot To Go & Antihero lasted on the countdown and absolutely did not need to. Can't Slow Down was also on for a bit too long and didn't need to. What Is This Feeling is alright but doesn't feel like a radio song. Drinks Or Coffee is great but TTTE is better. The Line will be missed. And luckily Oscar Winning Tears & No One Noticed are currently in the abyss so it would be amazing to see them debut.

Abyss:

Harry Styles - Daylight

Akon - Akon's Beautiful Day

Megan Moroney - Am I Okay?

Myles Smith - Nice To Meet You

Lady Gaga - Disease

Jennie - Mantra

Raye - Oscar Winning Tears

The Marias - No One Noticed

Other than Oscar Winning Tears, No One Noticed, Am I Okay, and maybe Nice To Meet You, I don't see any of the others climbing out of the abyss anytime soon. Mantra, Disease, and Beautiful Day have been off the countdown for a while, and I have absolutely no clue why Daylight is still recurrent on Hits 1 as if it was ever a big hit, even though it's a random non-single from 2022 and never made the countdown or even Hitbound. It would be hilarious if Daylight ever decided to randomly enter the countdown after four years in the abyss. I know this is probably hard to track since the abyss didn't become a "thing" until 2020 when the countdown was shortened, but Daylight is definitely setting a record for the longest time spent in the abyss, right?

That's all for now! Byeeeeeeeeee!

Alright, now you know I'm at least following the schedule from the start - Hits 1 Weekend Countdown 1/18/25

Hi! So, I've decided to make a small change to the schedule. Since I sometimes am not able to listen to Hitbound before I've tracked the week's countdown, I'm going to post Hitbound separately every Monday. This week's countdown was alright but I don't have that much to say about it, so let's get into it!

Exits:

The Weeknd - Dancing In The Flames

Jack Harlow - Hello Miss Johnson

Gracie Abrams - Close To You

Countdown:

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

#29: The Weeknd & Playboi Carti - Timeless (Debut)

#28: Katseye - Touch (+1)

#27: Sza - Bmf (Debut)

#26: Tate McRae - It's Ok I'm Ok (+2)

#25: Lola Young - Messy (Debut)

#24: Charli XCX - Apple (=)

#23: Kendrick Lamar & Sza - Luther (+4)

#22: Alex Warren & Joe Jonas - Burning Down (+1)

#21: David Guetta, Alphaville & Ava Max - Forever Young (+1)

#20: Teddy Swims - Bad Dreams (+5)

#19: Tate McRae - 2 Hands (+1)

#18: Morgan Wallen - Love Somebody (-3)

#17: Lisa - Moonlit Floor (+2)

#16: Shaboozey - Good News (-5)

Extra: The Marias - No One Noticed

#15: Cynthia Erivo & Ariana Grande - Defying Gravity (+1)

#14: Damiano David - Born With A Broken Heart (+4)

#13: Gracie Abrams - I Love You, I'm Sorry (+8)

#12: Meghan Trainor - Criminals (=)

#11: Gigi Perez - Sailor Song (+6)

#10: Sabrina Carpenter - Taste (-8)

#9: Ariana Grande - Popular (+4)

#8: Jelly Roll - I Am Not Okay (=)

#7: Billie Eilish - Birds Of A Feather (-3)

#6: Myles Smith - Stargazing (=)

#5: Gracie Abrams - That's So True (+2)

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

#3: Sabrina Carpenter - Bed Chem (+6)

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

Last year's #1: Tate McRae - Greedy

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

Debuts:

The Weeknd replaces himself with Timeless, featuring Playboi Carti. This is ok but not great. I do think it's a step up from DITF but it's very forgettable and kind of boring.

Lola Young makes her countdown debut with Messy. This is alright but not something I'll be listening to much.

The best debut of the week comes from Sza, this is Bmf. I really like this song. The lyrics are clever and well-written and I enjoy the way the production sounds here. I hope this does well unlike Drive.

Biggest Jump: Gracie Abrams - I Love You, I'm Sorry (+8)

Biggest Drop: Sabrina Carpenter - Taste (-8)

Missed song: Halsey - Colors

Recommendation for Hits 1: Beabadoobee - This Is How It Went

Blurbs:

We lost Dancing In The Flames, Close To You and Hello Miss Johnson. DITF was medioce, Hello Miss Johnson was alright, and I wish Close To You hit #1.

Diet Pepsi is pulling a Calm Down. I don't think it'll ever get higher than the bottom 10, and it'll probably leave soon enough.

Looks like Touch might not be dead after all.

Neither is Apple somehow. You'd think it'd be rotten right to the core now that it's almost a whole month into Brat winter.

Finally ILYIS got the rebound I've been waiting for ever since it started dropping. It's now at my lucky number position on the countdown... something tells me this'll ultimately reach decently high.

The area surrounding the low top 10 is confusing me right now. Somehow we gave Sailor Song a giant rise after a million years floating in the bottom half of the countdown, Taste is obviously not going to have a fifth non-consecutive run at #1, Popular is suddenly here for whatever reason even though it should be Defying Gravity getting this attention, and Birds Of A Feather may or may not be setting a record for the longest run on the countdown ever since it became two thirds the original length, I don't know for sure but I think it is. Also, BOAF didn't leave from #4 like I expected, but it had spent about half of its run in the top 5 and now for the first time in four months, it's not in the top 5. However, it's still been in the top 10 for five months and counting.

Bed Chem is in the top 5 unsurprisingly. Okayyyyy...

And we still have Apt at #1. I'm hoping Pink Pony Club has a chance at the top spot at some point.

That's all for now! Byeeeeeeeeee!

{First Weekly Post} Every Taylor Swift music video ranked!

Hello and welcome to my first weekly post now that I have an actual schedule! By the way, if you haven't already, I recommend that you check the page above titled "My Posting Schedule", which has all the details for how I'll manage my blog posting. And if for some reason you don't want to look at that, I also have a slightly more basic outline of the schedule in my "secret post" from the 13th day of Christmas (which, unsurprisingly, I think most of you found).

Before you ask, no, not all of my weekly posts will be this big. I just wanted to make this one special because it's the first one. So, I'll be ranking all of Taylor Swift's music videos. Yep, literally all of them, including collaborations with other artists, officially released concert videos, and the many compilation videos. (The Best Day is just counted as one video even though she remade it with Fearless TV.) At first I thought there were just a few, but I found out there are actually 64 of them. They've changed a lot over time, and some are definitely better than others.

Please note that this is ranked based on how much I like the VIDEOS. Some of these are songs I genuinely can't stand but have awesome videos, and some of these are songs I absolutely love but have boring videos. This is purely based on the visuals, and I tried to avoid being biased by how much I like each song. Also, this will update whenever Taylor releases new music videos, so I've linked this in the list of pages at the top of the blog so you can come back to it to see how I rank Taylor's new videos. (Imagine she surprise drops a video for So High School tomorrow...) Anyway, without further ado, let's get into it.

#64: I Don't Wanna Live Forever (with Zayn) 🤕 - Thanks for destroying my vision. My eyes don't seem to be able to handle a video that looks like... whatever this is.

#63: Should've Said No 🎞️ - Such a missed opportunity to make an actual deep music video reflecting the complex story of the song, when this is literally just a straight-up concert performance with nothing else to it.

#62: The Last Time (with Gary Lightbody) 🎤 - Another story-less concert video. I like the song and red aesthetic better than SSN so I guess it gets some extra points for that.

#61: Beautiful Eyes 👁️ - This is a cute and underrated song with a video that I truly believed for a year was a fan-made compilation. This could've had an awesome romantic video like You Belong With Me, but instead it has this. Also, I think a video for I Heart ? would've been fire.

#60: New Romantics 🏙️ - My least favorite of the five "tour compilation" videos. I actually quite like the concept of these, but this video isn't hitting it for me as there's not much beyond the song which is already pretty mediocre on its own.

#59: Change 💃 - If you exclude collabs, concerts, and compilations (aka the 3 Cs) then this is my least favorite Taylor video. Three minutes of Taylor awkwardly dancing around her band and nearly falling over 1,234,567,890,987,654,321 times.

#58: White Horse 𐂃 - Well, this is the first music video on this ranking that at least feels like a "proper music video" with a story and everything. (Change isn't technically considered a performance video but it might as well be.) I love this song, but I hate how this video misrepresents the actually very profound theme behind the lyrics of the song as just being a generic breakup story, with over half of the video being the same scene of Taylor crying in the corner of a room.

#57: Tim McGraw 💚 - Her first song and her first music video. It's quite obvious that Taylor was on a low budget when she made it, which unfortunately resulted in a lot of awkward camera movement and some unusual shots.

#56: Two Is Better Than One (with Boys Like Girls) 2️⃣ - Anyone else know this exists?

#55: Highway Don't Care (with Tim McGraw & Keith Urban) 🛣️ - Like I said for the last one.

#54: I'm Only Me When I'm With You 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 - This compilation thing would seem like a cooler idea if she only did it for one song rather than four.

#53: The Best Day 👨‍👩‍👦 - Again, this doesn't really work as well as it should when it's so similar to other videos. Love this song though.

#52: Christmas Tree Farm 🎄 - The last of the compilations. I would've much rather had a music video for Christmases When You Were Mine, a shiny golden ornament that does not deserve to be at the back of the tree.

#51: Mean 🪕 - Yeehaw?

#50: Red ❤️ - A pretty generic performance video.

#49: Sparks Fly⚡ - Drop everything now. Meet me in the pouring rain. Make a better video for this fire song and take away the pain. Yeah, I'm kinda kidding, this video actually has some nice moments from the Speak Now tour but overall there's not much to it.

#48: Fifteen 🏫- Uhhhhh why is there a school in the middle of the forest?

#47: Back To December ❄️ - Taylor crying, her ex-boyfriend wandering through snow, a decent country ballad playing in the background, and... that's it.

#46: Both Of Us (with B.o.B.) 💨 - Why do three of her four "Speak Red" country collab videos have basically the same setting? I do like this one significantly more than the previous two though. (Also, yes, I came up with the term "Speak Red" to refer to the five non-album songs she released between and surrounding Speak Now & Red, i.e. this song, Highway Don't Care, Two Is Better Than One, Half Of My Heart, and Crazier.)

#45: Half Of My Heart (with John Mayer) 💔- And speaking of Speak Red, this is the one Speak Red video that's not in that green foresty country plain setting we saw in the last three. (I don't know how to describe it.) I wasn't sure whether to even include this in the ranking because of how little Taylor contributed to this, but I did anyway because I'm including EVERYTHING.

#44: Fearless 💛 - I actually really enjoy what Taylor did with her first video and her first major tour. From the circle at the beginning to the iconic number 13 to the chair scene to the rain performance... it's just so fearless. But then again, it's just a tour video.

#43: I Can Do It With A Broken Heart 🩶 - Unsurprisingly Taylor's best tour compilation video was her most recent one, giving an intriguing behind-the-scenes look at the Eras Tour.

#42: Crazier 😍 - The best Speak Red video. A generic but sweet little romantic video for an obscure Hannah Montana song.

#41: Shake It Off 🫨 - I didn't really know where else to put this.

#40: Picture To Burn 🖼️ - This is actually my least favorite Taylor Swift song. I love Taylor, but I find this song unlistenable. But the video is actually kinda cool especially considering she was still just getting started when she released this. I might've psychologically enjoyed this more if it was a song I actually liked, like Better Than Revenge or maybe Should've Said No.

#39: Mine 💜 - Not her most interesting work but it's got a cute story and I like the scenes of the forest of photographs. The repetitive scenes of the little girl watching her parents fight seems so obviously like a mistake though. There's no way they actually wanted the exact same scene three times in this video, right?

#38: Ours 💼 - The Office? Is that you? I don't quite understand it, but I guess I kinda enjoy it. (Yikes, Speak Now wasn't a great era of cinematography. We're still in the bottom half of the ranking and we've already seen five out of the seven Speak Now videos along with all five of the Speak Red videos. Missed opportunity for an Enchanted or Haunted video. The last two are pretty high though.)

#37: Our Song🌻- Flowers. Flowers. And more flowers. Everywhere.

#36: Everything Has Changed (with Ed Sheeran) 🤗 - The concept of a young Tay & Ed is really cool to me, but it's not a super interesting video otherwise.

#35: ...Ready For It? 🖤 - I know the Swifties are gonna kill me for ranking this so low, but this is still a good video. Most of her videos are good. I love the song and this video has some cool Easter eggs, but it feels a bit generic to me. (There's a black heart emoji there, sorry if it's not very visible.)

#34: End Game (with Ed Sheeran & Future) 🚢 - There's not much story, but the lighting and setting changes are really cool and the flashing lights don't get in the way here.

#33: Lavender Haze 🔮 - My least favorite song on Midnights, but I love the purple aesthetic here so I don't care that much. It was obvious foreshadowing for Speak Now TV, but not quite as obvious as Bejeweled.

#32: Teardrops On My Guitar 🎸 - This video is kinda cute. Oh wait... let me check something... can this be so? We've already got our first era completely knocked out! All five music videos from Taylor Swift's self-titled debut album have been eliminated within the first half of the ranking. Not surprised her earliest era of videos was the most failed.

#31: 22 🎉 - I don't know about you... but I wish I could rank this exactly nine spots higher.

#30: Delicate 👗 - I can never tell whether I'm absolutely obsessed with this video or despise it, but it's hilarious either way.

#29: The Joker & The Queen (with Ed Sheeran) 🃏 - Awesome how they cast the original Tay & Ed actors from Everything Has Changed to play the characters in this teen romance story. If you don't count Safe & Sound which was included in the More Red chapter, this is the highest-ranked non-album music video on this ranking.

#28: Me! (with Brendon Urie) 🪅 - Imagine if Taylor's album announcements were actually those massive algebraic equations people keep making up. If you're one of those Swifties, may I ask you, do you remember how Taylor announced the title of Lover? Oh right, through a bright pink billboard in this music video. This music video is so colorful and it's... certainly something.

#27: We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together📱 - The animal costumes are a bit much. I like it.

#26: Karma (with Ice Spice) 🪐 - I don't know why they used the Ice Spice remix instead of the original for this video, but I'll take it.

#25: Bejeweled 💎 - It was quite obvious which Taylor's Version album was coming next after this video. I mean, one of the guest stars literally says "speak not" at the beginning... yeah, we know how to change one letter. It's a pretty cool video though.

#24: Safe & Sound (with Civil Wars) 🐦 - Hunger Games songs are almost always great, and apparently so are Hunger Games music videos. A video for Eyes Open would've been so iconic though. This means that technically every music video for a non-album single has now been eliminated.

#23: Better Man (with Little Big Town) 🥺 - Call me crazy for putting this random obscure collab video so high, but I love the aesthetic and story here so much.

#22: Babe (with Sugarland) 🚿 - This video is so awesome. It definitely feels like a Taylor video even though she's not the main artist here. Also, look where this is ranked. I don't know about you... 

#21: Love Story 🏰 - This video and song both have such a great story to them, and they're clearly connected but not to the point of feeling like the video adds nothing.

#20: Begin Again ☕ - A Wednesday in a cafe that happens to be in Paris. I don't know how it gets better than this. (But, well, it does.)

#19: Fortnight (with Post Malone) 📅 - The black and white aesthetic here is really cool, and the Easter eggs here are well-done without taking away from the storytelling. Now, exactly 13 videos after the last time this happened, The Tortured Poets Department becomes the second era to be fully eliminated. Interestingly, that means we've had the first album and the most recent album be the first two eliminated.

#18: Look What You Made Me Do 🐍 - As much as this song refuses to grow on me, this video has grown on me a lot since I first saw it. This starts like a straight-up horror movie and then we see an absolutely savage side of Taylor... it's interesting and I see why people love it. Reputation now becomes the third era to have all of its videos eliminated.

#17: I Bet You Think About Me (with Chris Stapleton) 🎂 - This FTV video manages to be funny, chaotic, romantic, angry, and extremely RED! Also, this is the highest-ranked collab video on the ranking, so congratulations to Chris Stapleton!

#16: The Man 👨🏻‍💼 - This video gave us the iconic Mr. Swift, a very creative and almost scary transition for Tay. Also, KARMA.

#15: You Need To Calm Down 🌈 - The many cameos here were so iconic, especially the Katy Perry moment at the end.

#14: Bad Blood 🔥 - The emoji says it all.

#13: I Can See You 🕶️ - Lucky number 13, and our first appearance on the ranking from Speak Now in a while, even though this is technically a FTV video. The concept about reclaiming her eras is really well-done. Also, I know it's on the nose, but I think it's cool how the time at the beginning said July 9th at 1:58 AM.

#12: Blank Space 🩵 - InsaniTAY at her best.

#11: Style 🪟 - Am I the only person who actually loves this video significantly more than the actual song? The visuals are not boring at all. They are extremely well-made and beautiful. 

#10: You Belong With Me 🪧 - Perhaps Taylor's most "iconic" video. Fearless is now the fourth era eliminated from the rankdown, which means we still have about one song from each era left.

#9: Out Of The Woods 🌵 - Although I still believe that 1989 is a bit overrated as an album, there are SO MANY 1989 videos near the top. This video is one of Taylor's most aesthetically intriguing.

#8: The Story Of Us 📓 - The library aesthetic and the early insaniTAY moments make for an incredibly underrated video. Speak Now is now the fifth era eliminated.

#7: Antihero 👻 - A funny yet well-crafted self-deprecating music video that pairs well with the song. With Midnights being the sixth era eliminated, we are now officially past halfway through every era.

#6: I Knew You Were Trouble 🌄 - I love this video possibly more than I should. It's just got such a cool-looking setting and contrast between the desert and club scenes.

#5: Cardigan 🤍 - Only one video from Folklore & Evermore was not enough, but I guess that makes sense with COVID. This video must have been so hard to make! Since this is the only video from it, Folklore is now the seventh era eliminated.

#4: Willow 🤎 - Bewitching. Haunting. Powerful. All filmed during the pandemic. Once again, there's only one video from this era, so it's the eighth one eliminated.

#3: Lover 🩷 - Oh my gosh, the colors. The way each room represents an era and has a distinct storyline while still keeping it in one cohesive romantic plot, all inside of a snowglobe... wow. I love this, again, possibly more than I should. Lover is the ninth era eliminated, which means we have just two eras left in the ranking.

#2: Wildest Dreams 🦒 - These last two videos are just absolutely stellar. This video is so cinematic. I know it was "problematic" and all, but it's beautiful nonetheless. The outfits, the animals, the setting, from the desert to the camera scene in the city, all while having such a profoundly told story. Taylor has been a mastermind since 1989. Alright, that means 1989 is the penultimate era to be eliminated from the ranking. What's number one? I think you all know...

#1: All Too Well 🧣 - I mean, what else would it be? You all know I love this song, and making the ten-minute version into a full-blown short film was so impressive. I love that the video reflects on the themes of the song without seeming like a complete visual rework of the lyrics, and the way the song plays throughout is cleverly done. Taylor could totally direct a movie. This means that Red is the eleventh and final era eliminated. Red is just a masterpiece all around, period.

Whew... that took a while. Thanks for reading my first weekly post and my first rankdown! That's all for now! Byeeeeeeeeee!

I have returned, for real this time - Hits 1 1/11/25

Hello and welcome to my first post with an actual schedule! This week's countdown was alright I guess, but a bit boring, as expected. Anyway, let's get into it.

Exits:

Nonsentient Air Molecules - Complete Silence

The Nobody - State Of Absolute Nonexistence

Countdown:

#30: Jack Harlow - Hello Miss Johnson (-1)

#29: Katseye - Touch (-4)

#28: Tate McRae - It's Ok I'm Ok (-5)

#27: Kendrick Lamar & Sza - Luther (-1)

#26: Addison Rae - Diet Pepsi (+2)

#25: Teddy Swims - Bad Dreams (-3)

#24: Charli XCX - Apple (-3)

#23: Alex Warren & Joe Jonas - Burning Down (-3)

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

#21: Gracie Abrams - I Love You I'm Sorry (-2)

#20: Tate McRae - 2 Hands (+10)

#19: Lisa - Moonlit Floor (-5)

#18: Damiano David - Born With A Broken Heart (+9)

#17: Gigi Perez - Sailor Song (+7)

#16: Cynthia Erivo & Ariana Grande - Defying Gravity (-1)

Extra: Sza - Bmf

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

#14: Gracie Abrams - Close To You (-10)

#13: Ariana Grande - Popular (=)

#12: Meghan Trainor - Criminals (-2)

#11: Shaboozey - Good News (+7)

#10: The Weeknd - Dancing In The Flames (-3)

#9: Sabrina Carpenter - Bed Chem (-3)

#8: Jelly Roll - I Am Not Okay (+3)

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

#6: Myles Smith - Stargazing (+3)

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

#4: Billie Eilish - Birds Of A Feather (+1)

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

#2: Sabrina Carpenter - Taste (-1)

Last year's #1: Tate McRae - Greedy

#1: Rose & Bruno Mars - Apt (+2)

Debuts:

Nonsentient Air Molecules and The Nobody both replaced themselves with each of their new songs, Total Nothingness and Song That Isn't.

Biggest Jump: Tate McRae - 2 Hands (+10)

Biggest Drop: Gracie Abrams - Close To You (-10)

Missed song: Billie Eilish - Everything I Wanted

Recommendation for Hits 1: Katseye - My Way

Hitbound:

Twice & Megan Thee Stallion - Strategy

Teddy Swims & Giveon - Are You Even Real (Debut)

Balu Brigada - So Cold

Kesha - Delusional

Nessa Barrett - Pins And Needles

Twenty One Pilots - The Line

Sza - Drive

Ariana Grande & Cynthia Erivo - What Is This Feeling

Griff - Last Night's Mascara

Crash Adams - Optimist

Rose - Drinks Or Coffee

Morgan Wallen - Smile (Debut)

Raye - Oscar Winning Tears

The Marias - No One Noticed

Dasha - Bye Bye Bye

Almost Monday - Can't Slow Down

This week's Hitbound gave us just two debuts. First is Are You Even Real from Teddy Swims & Giveon. This isn't great, but I think it's my favorite song I've heard from Teddy Swims. It's got nice production and decent lyrics but it's nothing too amazing

Next is a song that I actually predicted somehow, if you've seen my secret post for the 13th day of Christmas. This is Morgan Wallen's new song Smile. I generally do not like Morgan Wallen but this is actually pretty good. The production's pretty cool-sounding and the lyrics are solid but forgettable.

Dropouts:

Sza - Bmf

Lola Young - Messy

These are currently in the abyss, and I hope Bmf debuts, but I don't care about Messy.

All that you ever blurbed from me was blurb nothing:

State Of Absolute Nonexistence and Complete Silence were our exits this week. Enough said.

I wish Touch could get more success on here, but I doubt it'll last much longer.

Really hoping ILYIS rebounds soon, it didn't deserve to fall so hard after its massive debut.

I'm shocked Apple has lasted so long. It's survived Brat summer, Brat autumn, and Brat winter, and now it's feeling twenty-twoooooooooo. It'll probably be out of here next week.

I have no clue why 2 Hands decided to make a huge climb, and even less of a clue why Sailor Song did the same. Sailor Song really should be sailing its way off the countdown by now.

Great to see that my current favorite countdown song managed to return to the top 5.

Geez Louise, we've had a whopping three songs this past year that lasted over 30 weeks on the countdown! First it was Austin, then I Can Do It With A Broken Heart, and now Birds Of A Feather. BOAF has been spinning around taking up space in the top 5 for a million years now. I honestly see this song leaving the whole countdown from #4 next week.

Well, after many non-consecutive runs at the top spot, Taste has been re-re-dethroned by Bruno Mars once again. But this time it's not Die With A Smile, it's Apt. This song has actually grown on me significantly since I first heard it. I don't like it as much as Taste but it's a nice catchy song that I don't mind having at #1. I do hope Pink Pony Club can take #1 soon though.

That's all for now! Byeeeeeeeeee!

{12th Day Of Christmas} 2024 Year In Review + 2025 Goals

Hi! Happy late holidays and thank you for reading my 12 days of Christmas series! In this post, I will reflect on the crazy year that was 2024, and what I plan to do with my blog in 2025!

What went well for my blog in 2024?

• My blog successfully managed to sustain itself for a whole year without being deleted, which it couldn't in 2023.
• A greater community of regular viewers began to develop.
• I reached over 6,000 pageviews.
• I managed to crank out 16 complete album reviews.
• Scheduling improved toward the end of the year.

What didn't go well for my blog in 2024?

• For most of the year, any semblance of a posting schedule was thrown out the window.
• I promised to post a lot of things that I ultimately never did.
• Out of the 52 weeks of the year, I posted a grand pathetic total of fourteen Hits 1 Weekend Countdown/Hitbound overviews.
• Overall, I only released 41 posts out of the 52 weeks of the year, which means, considering my original schedule of one post per week, my blog cumulatively had approximately three months of complete downtime throughout the year.
• I randomly lost interest in pop music multiple times, and therefore I had a lot of delays and hiatus. That also made many of my H1WC/HB overviews (especially those in the second half of the year) hard to make and a bit hard to read also.

What were some general changes that occurred throughout 2024?

• My blog title was changed from "Hallett's Countdown Reviews" to "Hallett's Music Reviews".
• As the name change suggests, my blog became primarily taken up by album reviews rather than reviews of the Hits 1 Weekend Countdown.
• I gradually became a Swiftie, and my many Swift-related posts in the second half of the year reflect that. (So many that I needed to create a whole new label to mark posts as "Taylor Swift".)
• My song rating system became much more intentional in attempt to save extreme "great" and "terrible" ratings for songs I truly believed should deserve it.
• I tried to make each review I created as "unique" as I could, without making things hard on myself.

What are my goals for 2025?

• I want to try to get out two posts per week: one H1WC/HB review and one other post, which will be an album review at least every other week.
• I want to review albums from a wider range of music genres: so far my biggest "deviation" from my usual genres was when I reviewed Pearl Jam's Dark Matter.
• I want to hold some kind of decently successful event on my blog.
• I want to reach 13,000 views by the end of the year.
• If I say I'm going do something, I have to actually do it!!! (500-page reviews of each individual song that's ever been written ever are going to be posted soon...)

Happy 2025 everyone, and I hope this year is better than the last. That's all for now! Byeeeeeeeeee!

{11th Day Of Christmas} UFOs (OR3 Concept) (Hallett's Version)

Hi! I'm sorry this post was so late, I had some changes in my plans for the final days of the series, and then my internet went down... Anyway, I haven't talked about Olivia Rodrigo in a while, mostly because she just hasn't released new music in a while. I'm still very much a Livie, and I'm super excited for 2025 because if Olivia's two-year album cycles continue, she's projected to release another new album this year! Here are my predictions for this upcoming release:

• I think this album will to some extent "explore new territory", whether that be musically or lyrically.
• It will have some more love songs and probably some songs about her life outside of romance (similar predictions to my Taylor Swift album concept).
• I imagine this album as being a darker purple or burgundy color.
• The name I chose for my concept is "UFOs" which can symbolize exploring and discovering new things, but it could also represent "soaring" whether in love or in the music world.
• Part of the reason I chose that name is for some reason I imagine this album having a lot of space-y imagery and motifs.

There will be no further explanation. There will just be... UFOs.

1. You, Only You

2. Way 2 In Luv

3. It's Not Easy?

4. So Many Stars

5. I'm Ok

6. Somewhere Else

7. Like Tears From The Moon

8. Envisioned

9. Down In The Sky

10. Love Fell

11. Not What You Make Me

12. Mars Butterfly

13. I'm Alone (But You're More Alone)

{10th Day Of Christmas} FLAMES (TS12 Concept) (Hallett's Version)

Hi! As you probably remember, earlier I made a few concepts for re-recorded Taylor Swift albums. Well, I also decided to share my own concept/predictions for Taylor's 12th studio album. Since this is a brand new album rather than a re-recording, we know almost nothing about it, so I made a list of some of my general predictions for it:

• I think the album will be released in 2026 after all re-recordings are completed.
• As many Swifties predict, the main color for this era will probably be orange.
• I hope this album returns to the country-rock infused sound she hasn't done in a while. It would be great to hear more songs like The Way I Loved You, Better Than Revenge, State Of Grace, and Eyes Open.
• I also hope to hear more jazz influence in some songs like we saw a bit of on Lover, False God, and Christmas Tree Farm.
• Lyrically, I think this album will have a good number of love songs about Travis Kelce, and some reflections on past relationships, but also focus on some other things outside of romance, such as fame, mental health, and owning all her albums.
• A title I think would be great for this era is "FLAMES" - it can mean a lot of things: love, anger, revenge, disasters, etc. It also fits with the orange aesthetic of the era.

As far as I'm aware, all of the songs listed below are simply my own fan-made concepts, not actual confirmed Taylor Swift songs. I did pay attention to the order of the tracklist when I made it though, so you might notice some details that are characteristic of Taylor Swift.

There will be no further explanation. There will just be... FLAMES.

1. Burning Love

2. 2am

3. Usually...

4. Omg Omg Omg

5. Help Me

6. Orange (with Girl In Red)

7. Slipping Away From The Sky

8. After U

9. Ok You Can Stop Now

10. Do You Love Me? (with Laufey)

11. I Don't Know Anything

12. THe WHOLe TIMe (with Gracie Abrams)

13. Unfortunate

14. Ratings Are Overrated?

15. Loving You Is Good (with Sabrina Carpenter)

16. Your Musically Inclined Affairs

17. Astronomical

18. That's So Annoying!!!

19. Passing By Again

20. No Way Out (with Billie Eilish)

21. Universe (with Brandi Carlile)

22. Red Herring

{9th Day Of Christmas} This album will be adored, ever and evermore

Hi! Sorry if this post was a bit later than you were expecting. Well... you may remember one of my other Taylor Swift album reviews, for The Tortured Poets Department, beginning with the following sentence:

"So, I'm not a massive Swiftie."

Have I become a "massive Swiftie" in the seven and a half months since then? I think so. You also may remember this revelation I made in my album review for another Taylor Swift album, Midnights, which states:

"You all know Taylor Swift, and you all know that I've recently become a Swiftie, but what you may not know is that since it released, I've considered Midnights one of my top three albums of hers, along with Speak Now & Red."

Did I also decide that there's another Taylor album that I like even more than those three I mentioned? Definitely yes. In the past few months, I decided that Evermore is by far my favorite TS album. Every song on it is a good song at the very least, a vast majority are amazing, a good number of them are probably in my top 30 favorite Taylor Swift songs, at least three of them would definitely be in my top 13, and one of them might just be my second favorite after All Too Well. The lyrics and aesthetic on this album are also great for the holiday season, if you like sad winter songs as much as I do. And I also have an unpopular opinion that it's very different from Folklore. I acknowledge that this and Folklore are complementary to each other, but I still think of them as very distinct albums. To me, Folklore feels more deep, mellow and haunting, while Evermore is slightly brighter and also more sonically experimental. I like both of those albums, but Evermore is still my favorite by far. Alright, now let's get started with the album review.

1. Willow

My rating: 5/5 Great

Alright, we're starting off with a very strong song. I'm glad this was the lead single (there are a few other songs that would've worked as a single but this is definitely a strong choice). One thing that in my opinion differentiates Folklore and Evermore is that Evermore's production tends to have more country elements. There are songs later on that would be more aptly considered "country", but this song has some elements of it. I love the guitar production and the subtle synths in the background. And the lyrics are amazingly written. It's a love song (probably about Joe Alwyn) with a chorus that seems to significantly parallel Lover. And yes, I can even get behind that line that everyone else cringes at - "I come back stronger than a 90s trend". I'd like to add that the music video is incredible. I think this song has my second favorite Taylor Swift music video, just after the All Too Well short film. Great way of starting this album, but the best is yet to come.

2. Champagne Problems

My rating: 5/5 Great

So... this used to be my favorite song on the album. Has that changed? Well, yes, but I'd say it's still at least one of my top 5 favorites. It's a great song. It reminds me of All Too Well (aka my favorite TS song) with the dense storytelling, and it's in the same key with the same chords. I consider this song almost like a sequel to All Too Well, and a prequel to the ten minute version. The lyrics are the main strong point of this song. It tells a story of a failed love due to a rejected marriage proposal in front of a crowd of friends, and ends with Taylor reflecting on how the ex-love will find someone who's ultimately better for him. I love when Taylor changes a chorus slightly throughout the song. This song does it (and so does All Too Well) and it really adds a lot of depth to the lyrics. Overall, although it's not my favorite anymore, it's a fantastically written song.

3. Gold Rush

My rating: 5/5 Great

This song is magical. As you probably all know by now, I love songs with production that evolves throughout. This song is a wonderful example of that. It begins very subtle and atmospheric but grows into an epic orchestral soundscape. The way the sound builds itself up throughout is incredible. And the lyrics are also beautiful - I love the powerful simplicity. While some think the lyrics are too simple, as almost every line is repeated, the simplicity really works. It uses the same chorus and verse twice, but with slight lyrical changes. As I mentioned previously, I love when Taylor does that. It's one of my favorite songwriting techniques, and it's done so well here, transforming a love song into a breakup song with just a few subtle changes. Wonderful song.

4. Tis The Damn Season

My rating: 5/5 Great

Other than Christmas Tree Farm and the holiday EP, this is considered Taylor's most "holiday-y" song. I almost added it to my Christmas playlist I made last week but I figured there were already enough Taylor songs on that. I used to not particularly love this song but it's significantly grown on me with multiple listens. I don't necessarily think of it as a Christmas song, more so just a love song that happens to be taking place during the holiday season. It's about visiting an ex-love over the holidays and reconnecting, and it's got really cool-sounding country-rock production going on that I want to hear more from Taylor's newer music. Another great song, but the best is near...

5. Tolerate It

My rating: 6/5 How Could I Ever Just "Tolerate" This Song That's Amazing And Very Few Songs Can Top It Because It's A Heartbreaking Masterpiece

Alright, now here's where things reach top 13 territory. Track 5 is always an emotional hard-hitter (Cold As You, White Horse, Dear John, All Too Well, All You Had To Do Was Stay, Delicate, The Archer, My Tears Ricochet, You're On Your Own Kid, So Long London) but this is one of my favorites of the bunch. First of all, let's talk about this production. It's mostly based around a simple piano line, and not only is it in my favorite key (A major) but it's also an unusual 5/4 time signature, contributing to the uncertainty of this song. It evolves so nicely, with subtle strings as the emotion progresses, and a slight drum beat picking up toward the end. And let's talk about these lyrics. They are absolutely devastating in the best way possible. The concept is that Taylor does everything for her partner, but he doesn't reciprocate it - he just tolerates it. This song describes relatable relationship scenarios breaking down in such a straightforward yet masterful way, and Taylor's vocal delivery really supports that so nicely, with her signature "talking" style of singing working so well to get this message across, and the ranting bridge is simply amazing. This is definitely one of my top 13 songs of Taylor's discography... but my #1 favorite song on the album is still yet to come.

6. No Body, No Crime (with Haim)

My rating: 5/5 Great

In theory, it should be nearly impossible for Taylor Swift have a song that I can still think of as "great" when it's sandwiched right between two of her greatest songs ever. But I think this is one of my top 5 favorite songs on the album. Taylor somehow manages to effectively convey a deep, complex fictional crime story in a three and a half minute song. Simply put, the storyline of this song is told from Taylor Swift's point of view about Este Haim and her husband. Este tells Taylor that her husband seems to be cheating, but she can't prove it. Then, Este goes missing, and after her ex-husband's new mistress moves in, Taylor suspects that he murdered Este to get away with his infidelity, but again can't prove it. Taylor then murders Este's ex-husband for his wrongdoing and hides his body in a lake to cover up the scene, and then nobody can prove who murdered him. Taylor's storytelling skills are truly impressive. I love the way she uses essentially the same chorus throughout the song to mean different things - "I think he did it but I just can't prove it", and then later "They think she did it..." and "She thinks I did it...", not to mention the way the country production complements the song so well. I love it.

7. Happiness

My rating: 6/5 Listening To This Brings Me Unexplainable Happiness Even Though It's A Really Sad Song Which I Absolutely Love Because It's Absolutely Incredible

Yes. Yes. Just yes. Not only is this my favorite consecutive three-track run of Taylor Swift's entire discography (Tolerate It - No Body, No Crime - Happiness) but this song is my favorite song on Evermore, and I've recently decided it's my second favorite song of Taylor's entire discography, right after All Too Well. As I've been saying a lot here, Taylor Swift's songwriting is incredible. So, I'll just put the whole chorus here: "There'll be happiness after you, but there was happiness because of you / Both of these things can be true / There is happiness past the blood and bruise, past the curses and cries / Beyond the terror in the nightfall haunted by the look in my eyes that would've loved you for a lifetime / Leave it all behind and there is happiness." This song also uses the songwriting technique I mentioned earlier where Taylor changes the chorus slightly to show a different point of view: "There'll be happiness after me, but there was happiness because of me / Both of these things I believe / There is happiness in our history / Across our great divide there is a glorious sunrise dappled with the flickers of light from the dress I wore at midnight / Leave it all behind and there is happiness". This is one of Taylor's most poetic songs, and it works so well. The emotion here is so raw, giving authentic delivery of finding hope while still having sadness and anxiety running through the whole time. Not to mention the genius of this production - it's only two chords for most of it, which can be boring if done wrong, but in this case it adds to the buildup, and it begins with just one very soft synth under Taylor's vocals, giving an otherworldly sound quality, but then a piano comes in, and numerous synthesizer sounds begin to build on top of it until it reaches the bridge - I consider it the "climax" of the song, and it's the quietest little climax ever, and I'm obsessed with it. And the quiver of her voice when she says "No one teaches you what to do when a good man hurts you and you know you hurt him too" is not talked about enough. This song is just an absolute masterpiece and it's easy to see why. Whew... that is now officially my second-longest song review ever, just after my Mamushi rant.

(TL;DR - This is my second favorite song Taylor Swift has released, just after All Too Well, containing some of Taylor's most authentic emotion and genius production.)

8. Dorothea

My rating: 4/5 Good

Welp, even Evermore by Taylor Swift isn't perfect. This is probably my least favorite song on this whole album, and it's still good. I quite like the lyrics about reflecting on a previous relationship and wanting to potentially reconnect with an ex-love, but Taylor has better songs with this concept. Also, I like the piano production. However, this song feels a bit repetitive and boring at times. It's not bad at all, just not one of the songs I'll be listening to frequently. Anyway, moving on.

9. Coney Island (with The National)

My rating: 5/5 Great

Apparently this was a single? Weird considering it seems to have gotten almost no recognition on pop radio. Anyway, it took me a while to grow into this song, but I've decided I actually quite like it. It's got an interesting sound to it that Taylor doesn't seem to do much of - it's like a dark, alternative, folk ballad. The lyrics are really well-written: it's about being surrounded by memories of the relationship while metaphorically "on a bench in Coney Island", i.e. watching people having fun making her more sad. It's such a relatable concept and it's executed well here. And Taylor and whoever's singing in The National sound oddly good together. Way better than their more recent collab on The Alcott.

 

10. Ivy

My rating: 4/5 Good

Okay, I guess this is kind of the "weaker" part of the album, which is not saying much since it's one of my favorite albums of all time. Trust me, this is about as low as it'll ever get here. The lyrics of this song are extremely... wordy? It parallels The Lakes in that it's overly poetic, almost Shakespearean in a way. I like the way the lyrics are written in some parts, but overall it can feel a bit cluttered at times. The production is also slightly boring, but I like how it ends. I guess this is one of my "least favorite" songs on this album but that's saying almost nothing as it's still a solid song.

 

11. Cowboy Like Me

My rating: 4/5 Good

So, I've been saying throughout this review that I love the country influence on this album. This song is very country-influenced, but it's not necessarily my favorite. I guess it's mostly just because the production here is moderately boring and doesn't do much. I like the lyrics, although I do agree with many fans who think Taylor could've come up with better lyrics than "the tennis court was covered up with some tentlike thing." I feel like this song could've been improved in a few ways but it's still a good song altogether. Alright, from this point on we're mostly back to great songs now.

 

12. Long Story Short

My rating: 5/5 Great

Almost all of this album is considered sad and slow-paced (in a good way, in my opinion), but this is the most upbeat song on the album. I really like the storyline behind this song. It's a love song likely written about her relationship with Joe Alwyn and how it helped her escape from significant drama arising in her life. Although I am notoriously known to not enjoy upbeat poppy production as much as more acoustic production, I actually like the way this song blends folk elements with electronic pop sounds. Great song.

 

13. Marjorie

My rating: 5/5 Great

I'm surprised that Taylor was even able to play this on her Eras Tour, as it seems like the kind of song that would be excluded simply due to being "too sad". But I'm so glad she did. This is such a heartfelt song. While the subject material is obviously very heavy (it's written about her late grandmother, opera singer Marjorie Finlay), it's ultimately a really uplifting song about holding onto good memories and being able to feel like Marjorie is still alive in her head. I like the production, and Marjorie's actual vocals being sampled at the end is a nice touch. A wonderful tribute all around.

14. Closure

My rating: 6/5 Yes I'm Doing Better After Listening To This Top-Tier Song And I Don't Care What People Say About This Song Because I Will Defend It To The Grave And Beyond

Alright, now it's time for another song that I absolutely adore. This seems to be the most widely hated song on this album, and I guess I see why people hate it, but I love it because... well, I'm Hallett. I love songs that everyone hates. This feels so experimental in a lot of ways - the obvious unconventional percussion sounds, but also the way they constantly fade in and out throughout the song, and how it's always switching between piano, atmospheric synths, and that percussion. Also, it's in 5/4, like Tolerate It, and as an added bonus it's also in A major, my favorite key. But it's not just the sheer uniqueness of the production that makes me love it, although that's the primary reason. The lyrics are also super well-written and not talked about nearly enough. You can just hear the anger when she sings "Don't treat me like some situation that needs to be handled, I'm fine with my spite and my tears and my beers and my candles". The lyrics could be thought of as being about a breakup, but mostly seem to be about Scooter Braun, which makes sense. The whole concept is that she knows it's over, and doesn't need any reminder that she was once involved with him. Also, as some random YouTube commenter suggested, the sounds at the beginning might represent... a Big Machine breaking? Okay, I love this song, and I don't care if everyone hates it, I love it, I love it, I love it.

15. Evermore (with Bon Iver)

My rating: 4/5 Good

*sigh* And now this one. This used to be one of my favorite songs on the album, but I firmly believe Exile is the better Taylor/Bon Iver collab, and I still like Renegade with Big Red Machine (Justin Vernon's other band) better than both of those. It seems like most people who don't particularly love this song mostly dislike Justin's verse, saying it's too chaotic and his voice doesn't sound his best. Ironically, that's actually my favorite part of this song. I love that little piano buildup, and it really works nicely. The main problem is the rest of the song - this can't be said of many songs in my opinion, but it's just simply too slow and dreary. Something about Taylor's high falsetto vocals here just doesn't seem to blend well with the low-pitched piano line, and it sounds like it's missing something. Maybe if it was in a different key I would like it slightly more. Also, I just want to point out that I love when she rhymes "catching my breath" with "catching my death". I wish she used it in a different song though. Anyway, that's it for the main album...

Deluxe Edition

16. Right Where You Left Me

My rating: 5/5 Great

This seems to be somewhat of a fan favorite on this album. I used to not understand all the appeal, but now I love this song. I love this story. It's a unique concept I haven't really seen anywhere else - being so caught up in a breakup that you feel like time stops moving, and you're right where you were left... It's really bizarre and I love it. The lyrics tell a really intriguing story and use the "changing chorus" technique I keep mentioning. And I love how the production goes along with it - it's very country-sounding and the vocal stylizations actually support this so nicely. If you don't love this song at first, it'll probably grow on you if you pay attention to the lyrics. Alright, almost done!

17. It's Time To Go

My rating: 5/5 Great

And we've arrived at the finish. I feel like this works so well as an album closer. It's sad, but one of the more hopeful songs on the album. This is widely thought to be another Scooter Braun song, and this is about how sometimes when situations become difficult, it might be best to just leave, using a simple refrain of "You know when it's time to go". The bridge has some really great quotes - "Sometimes giving up is the strong thing / Sometimes to run is the brave thing / Sometimes walking out is the one thing that'll find you the right thing." It's got a beautiful synth-folk sound to the production that feels like the end of a long journey, signaling that Taylor believes that, well, it's time to go... Amazing way to close out this powerful album.

 

Conclusion

Overall album rating: 99% (Great Album)

This album now has the second-highest score of any album so far on my blog, just behind my revised review of Olivia Rodrigo's Guts. I just noticed while I'm finishing up this post that this is Taylor's 9th album, and it's the 9th day of Christmas. I swear that was a complete accident.

Favorite songs: Happiness, Tolerate It, Closure

"Least favorite" songs: Dorothea, Ivy, Cowboy Like Me, Evermore

That's all for now! Byeeeeeeeeee!