2019 Year-End Post #2: The 10 Worst Songs of 2019

Hey guys! I hope that you all had a great Christmas, or whatever you celebrate! I cannot believe that it is the end of 2019 already, it feels like the year just started. I can definitely say that this seems like it was one of the fastest years that I have ever seen go by...but maybe that's just because they seem to go by faster and faster each time. Anyways, with the end of the year, also comes my year end posts. I have already released one, so if you haven't had a chance to see that yet, please give it a look right here. 

To start reviewing this year on Hits 1, I will begin by counting down my least favorite songs of the year that managed to make it onto the air on Hits 1. There were several songs that I was not a fan of this year that made it to my favorite station, which was pretty sad, but with all the good, there must come a little bad...right? So, in order to be eligible for this list, songs had to have been part of the Hits 1 Weekend Countdown from the week of December 15, 2018 to December 14, 2018 and could not have been previously mentioned on lists in earlier years.  

For this list, I will be counting down my 10 worst songs of 2019 that appeared on Hits 1. It was easy to come up with a list of every song that I didn't like this year, but it was pretty difficult to whittle it down to just a mere 10. However, somehow I managed to do it. I first cut my list down to 20 songs, but only selected the worst of the worst. Those songs that did not make the list, but were close, will be chronicled below in my 2019 list of dishonorable mentions.

Jax Jones & Bebe Rexha - Harder

As a typical Bebe Rexha fan, I found Harder very below-the-mark in comparison to her other releases. I mean...I kind of see what they were going for here...but it just did not turn out well sonically. Bebe Rexha doesn't sound bad by any means. The only major sonic issues I have with this song are how the lyrics sound awkwardly out of place in the verses and how it is overproduced with a lackluster beat. It's not completely awful, but Jax Jones didn't do a great job with the production here, which was a major influence on my typical decision to give this one a pass.

Khalid - Talk

While I understood all the hype around this song at first, it just got old real quick. Khalid is not a bad singer in my personal opinion, but this song just got completely killed by the radio. There's always those songs, and this was one of them, just like another that is coming up on this list. The production and the vocals had just the perfect sound to hook you in, but also had just the perfect sound to make you grow completely sick of it after its one-hundredth time on during your car ride home. Hopefully the overplay bug doesn't hit Khalid again like it did with this one, because this just really hurt. 

Katy Perry - Small Talk

 I really thought Katy Perry was going to bring us a year of good music after she released the superb Never Really Over. I mean, that was just great. However, what we got next was just far below the level we had. Small Talk is an incredibly stale and lazy pop track that is further corroboration that Katy Perry just doesn't have it in her anymore. The day we call repetitive "bla bla blas" quality music is a day I would not like to see. 

Fall Out Boy/Wyclef Jean - Dear Future Self (Hands Up)

Dear Future Self (Hands Up) is further proof that Fall Out Boy's career is slowly diminishing. I haven't heard of this song outside of Hits 1 so it is clear that its rise to the station was purely due to bias. Truth be told, this is probably one of the worst songs I have heard from them in a while. They just awkwardly put Wyclef Jean on this track, maybe to cover up their poor contributions, but it just doesn't sound good. The chorus is boring and repetitive, and Patrick Stump really isn't at his best vocally here. In all, it's not awful enough to reach the final list, but it is certainly not something I would ever listen to voluntarily.

Maroon 5 - Memories

I tried to get into this, but it just didn't end up working. This song is just incredibly boring and stale. Adam Levine doesn't sound awful per say, but it seems like it is just a chore to have to listen to Memories. It feels as if Maroon 5 has been getting worse and worse as the years go by. Their last album was generally awful, and if they continue to go along with this trend, I don't know if they will even be listenable anymore.

Ed Sheeran & Justin Bieber - I Don't Care

I liked I Don't Care at first, but that went downhill real quick. Radio completely killed this song. I mean, I think I heard it almost every day on my two minute ride to school. Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber just know how to make an objectively annoying earworm...I guess.

Public - Make You Mine

Talk about boring. I almost fall asleep every time I listen to this song. Not to mention, it came out like what...five years ago or something? What are we doing trying to make this a thing now? I mean I kind of understand the whole resurfacing thing with old songs (ex. Lizzo - Truth Hurts), but this just seems too old to be pushing on radio when it isn't really played anywhere else. Public seems like they have the potential to make a good song, this just wasn't it for me. 

Maren Morris - Girl

Maren Morris did very good on her first album, but her latest work hasn't been all that good in my book. I liked The Bones from her recent album and a few other tracks that can't come to my mind right now, but other than that, it was not good. Girl is one of those songs of hers that didn't quite live up to my expectations. I do not like her vocals all that much paired with the guitar accompaniment, but that just be my deep-rooted, general dislike for country despite my coming around for some of it a little bit more lately.

Meghan Trainor - All The Ways

Meghan Trainor is practically a one-hit wonder whom I typically find no interest listening to. So, I was not surprised when I found that I was not prone to liking All The Ways. All of her songs kind of sound the same to me in one way or another, and this just sounds like a lazy remake of several of her older tracks that I also didn't have a liking to. Her voice here is nothing to write home about, either. In all, this one is just "meh", and not worth my time. 

BTS/Halsey - Boy With Luv

BTS shouldn't have even given Halsey a credit on this song...I mean where is she? She is so overshadowed by their lackluster vocals on Boy With Luv that it just seems unnecessary. Halsey sounds fine, but her brief performance on this track doesn't solely gauge my opinion of this song. What does though, is the annoying vocals from BTS combined with the stale production that it presents. 

That does it with this year's dishonorable mentions. Now, before we get to my bottom 10 songs of 2019, let's review last year's list.

10. PNAU - Go Bang

9. Meghan Trainor - Let You Be Right

8. Dustin Atlas & Erin Bowman - Fake Ass Friends

7. DJ Khaled/Justin Bieber/Chance The Rapper/Quavo - No Brainer

6. Echosmith - Over My Head

5. Maren Morris - Rick

4. Brown & Gray - Top Down

3. Zedd, Maren Morris, & Grey - The Middle

2. Dan + Shay - Tequila

1. Train/Cam/Travie McCoy - Call Me Sir 

Now that we had that little review, it is onto this year's list!

10. Austin Brown - In Betweenin'

In true modern fashion, we are continuing to entertain Jacob Sartorious-esque aspiring teen musicians who seem to think they have loads of talent when what is true is quite the opposite. Austin Brown reminds me all too well of these individuals who are trying to make it with very overly autotuned music that is too busy focusing on the vocals to even try and sound remotely good in other aspects of the song. In Betweenin' is a song with poorly delivered vocals from Austin Brown that accompany hard-to-take serious lyrics when you come to terms with the fact that you are listening to a throwaway track from a seventeen year old fame-obsessed kid who made it big on Instagram of all places.

9. Kaskade & Meghan Trainor - With You

Another example of a poorly conducted track that Meghan Trainor has been attributed to. Kaskade, who I have heard produce good tracks in the past, isn't even at his peak with With You--in fact, he is far below it. The production here is below the mark for the most part, at least in my personal opinion. The drop is not much to talk about and Meghan Trainor didn't bring the vocals (unsurprisingly). Meghan Trainor surprisingly brought me something worth listening to with Mike Sabath on Wave this year, I will give her that. But it took a damn long time to get there, and doesn't change the fact that most of her discography is just reminiscent of lazy and boring pop trash, and will likely continue to be.

8. AJR - Dear Winter

I will give it to this song that the lyrics are somewhat nice, but everything else simply overshadows that aspect. Dear Winter may be objectively a sweet sentiment dedicated to a future child but subjectively--I do not see the appeal whatsoever. Over the years, I have seen AJR continually deteriorate when it came to the quality of their music. Dear Winter, as I see it, is a new low for them. Adam Met sounds pretty terrible here, and it is actually hard to sit there and listen to the song. His vocals are so scratchy and shrill here that it makes it extremely hard to listen to Dear Winter in a single sitting. Given the fact that I had to skip forward on this song due to its terrible vocal content on my first listen despite it still being under three minutes is the biggest indicator that this is a no from me.

7. Dan + Shay - Speechless

I know I get a lot of disagreement from others over my general dislike towards Dan + Shay's music, but I just do not like it. I understand that it is generally seen as good, and that my opinion is typically unpopular--but I just can't get around to liking it most of the time. Both of their voices just sound annoying to me, and the song may be just a little too "over-countrified" for a song that was being pushed to pop radio for my taste. Speechless has nice lyrics, but I just cannot get past my general dislike for the vocal offerings and the production that we were given on this track.  

6. Bruno Mars & Cardi B - Please Me

This song was incredibly overrated for what it had to offer. Sure, Finesse was good, but it certainly seemed like a fluke after I heard Please Me. I mean, this one is just terrible. It is extremely repetitive and not in the good way, and the goal of this song becomes extremely overshot when you come to find that both Bruno Mars and Cardi B tried way too hard to make this song come across as sexy that it becomes just laughable. The vocals from Bruno Mars are so awkward and out-of-place that it just seems wrong and Cardi B does not do the song justice and just makes things worse. It seems as if all Bruno Mars is going for at this point is to make shittily produced music about sex (his only defining quality with his music at this point), dropping a few features here and there, and getting a quick cash grab. In my eyes, it is not a good look. Please Me is a rather unpleasant pill to swallow. 

5. Lil Nas X/Billy Ray Cyrus - Old Town Road

Why I ask...did everyone make this a thing? I have no idea--that is just what America has resorted to doing in recent years. Sure, the song is unique, but unique doesn't mean good by definition, and Old Town Road is just that: not good. I do not like how Lil Nas X tried to cross over into the country genre with this song because it is simply just not that--it is of the rap spectacle. Just throwing Billy Ray Cyrus onto this track doesn't make it country, especially when he's been pretty much out of the loop for several years. The lyrical content here is just plain idiotic in nature and there is zero vocal appeal in my opinion. I think the only reason for this song's overwhelming success is the ability it had to satisfy the childish desires of meme culture. 

4. Pitbull & Rhea - Ocean To Ocean

I've never really been able to stand Pitbull's music and Ocean To Ocean with Rhea is no exception. I simply cringe every time I hear this song. It is incredibly awful and has no business sampling Toto's Africa--especially seeing that it is delivered to us via Pitbull--notorious in my book for terrible rap-influenced tracks. This is just a godawful mess. Rhea, who has zero relevance seeing as I can't even find a damn picture of her, is just terrible on here too. She brings zero vocal "wow" to this song, further corroborating to the fact that this song is barely listenable--especially when you think about doing so in your free time. 

3. Kelsy Karter - Harry

Kelsy Karter, someone else I have never even heard of before, managed to make it onto Hits 1 this year with Harry and I don't even know how. I credit Hits 1 with being able to pick up good, hidden gems of songs every now and then, but this was a huge disservice to my ears. Kelsy Karter has incredibly grating vocals on this sorry excuse for a tribute to Harry Styles substituted as an unnecessary filler on the countdown. I mean, she literally screams in the chorus, how in the the hell is that even pleasurable to listen to. Harry has to at the very least, not be taken seriously, to see that it is just useless throwaway music from an artist who seemingly has no talent from what she is trying to show. 

2. Imagine Dragons - Machine

Imagine Dragon's latest era brought us some pretty lackluster music, and Machine is one good example of that music. Dan Reynolds's yelling on this track is simply not needed and just makes it ten times worse. The beat here is incredibly messy and all over the place--just adding fuel to the unpleasant fire. I mean...what was the purpose of this song? Constantly shouting that you are the machine is just laughable because it leaves me trying to figure out what the hell the intent of this song was. The song is over-produced to try and cover up the fact that the vocals and lyrics--for that matter--here are nothing short of complete trash. It almost feels as if Machine was trying too hard to be a legendary rock track even if Imagine Dragons is an alternative band and ended up in the pool of castaways that missed that mark. It just goes to show that trying to cross between genres freely is not an easy task, especially when you do it unannounced. 

1. Blanco Brown - The Git Up

Nope, nope, and nope. This song is an atrocity. Blanco Brown was trying way too hard to be "cool" with this one and it just ended up as a cringe-inducing, childish, and hilarious heap of trash. This is practically Old Town Road 2.0. While I do admit that this song is more "country" in nature in comparison to Old Town Road, it still falls far from being a perfect fit in that genre. It just seems increasingly obvious the more you listen that all that Blanco Brown was after with The Git Up was a quick cash grab from someone else's sudden fame. I mean, seriously, he came out of nowhere with something this similar...it just cannot be a coincidence. Blanco Brown sure as hell does not have talent. He sounds godawful on this track that it is just incredibly hard to listen to. His aim with this one to make it the next big line dancing song was just hilarious. He has an awful voice and each and every thing in this song is weak. I simply cannot find a good thing about it. The lyrics here are simply stupid with zero appeal and make me want to cringe out of embarrasment of how outrageously bad they are. The production on The Git Up is terribly subpar and almost nonexistent--it sounds like it was just thrown together in a rush before everyone got off the Old Town Road train. I mean there is just truly nothing good about this song, and I seriously hope that we do not see anything from Blanco Brown in the near future or again for that matter.

Well, you have reached the end. Thank you all for taking the time to read! Do you agree with my picks? What are your picks? Tell me in the comments below! Next up is the review of Hits 1 in 2019 and after that comes my Top 45 Songs of 2019 based on those songs that charted on the Hits 1 Weekend Countdown. 

See you very soon!

~ jack.