#920-#916

#920. Robert DeLong - Global Concepts (#45, 2013)

95th of 2013

I vividly recall the first time I ever heard this song on triple j. I always think of this as a strange hit but at the same time, maybe it isn't. In the same way as "Thrift Shop", which popped up on the radio about a month before this did, it has a certain something about it that makes you immediately notice it. It's probably the bit where he says 'f**king dance' and then drops the beat. Do you remember "Twin Cities" by Hungry Kids of Hungary, which was getting played just as much on triple j at the time? I didn't until I looked it up and got hit with vague nostalgia. Not gonna forget this one any time soon though.

If that's not enough though, look at that title. There was a song hovering around the ARIA top 50 for months called "Global Concepts", what a concept. Even the guy's name, a mix of a very generic Robert but with the strange French surname DeLong. The capitalised L is fairly common for that name but it stands out so much. If that's not even enough, I look at the artwork for the single and album, as well as the music video, where he's throwing around lowercase x's like there isn't already a band who will absolutely appear in this list that made it their entire iconography. It's a brashness that fits this 'f**king dance' song.

With all this being said, I'll admit I surprised myself with just how low I put this. Going back to it a decade removed from the shock value, and it just kinda landed a bit flat for me. I do think part of the problem is the way the song is structured. Once the beat settles down, it feels like you're stuck in pre-chorus mode, waiting for him to say it, waiting for it to start sounding a bit funny, but it never really surprises after the first time. It's a little cute when he drops in another swear just before the last drop, but it's still the same drop. Lil Jon and his not-yet-to-be-named producer on "Turn Down For What" had the right idea there. Switch it up a little, get crazier, do something.

#919. Hilltop Hoods (feat Montaigne & Tom Thum) - A Whole Day's Night (#54, 2022)

95th of 2022

I don't like subscribing to the baseline obvious take whenever it shows up. I like to give some benefit of the doubt to it all. Like, people see the success of "Espresso" by Sabrina Carpenter and just say that it's cribbing from those previous Doja Cat hits. I don't buy it. For me it instantly evokes the soundtrack to "Paradise Killer", dabbling into those city pop & synthwave vibes. I understand that hardly anyone played that game, but there's just too much of a difference for me to buy into the original claim.

"A Whole Day's Night" makes it very difficult for me to grant the same liberties. I really wanted to. You see the guest list on this song and think 'hey, wait a minute, we've been here before'. We have been here before, but for the purposes of this list, we'll be here later instead. I wonder though if Hilltop Hoods ever look at their all-time streaming numbers, notice what's ahead of the pack and wonder if they can recapture the vibe.

It's pretty shameless in the end. Sometimes when this song starts I get tricked into thinking it's the other song. The main beat feels barely different. Montaigne is doing the same thing more or less. If there's a major difference it's that Tom Thum is a lot harder to notice so I'm not entirely sure what he's contributing to the song. He's a very talented beat boxer so it could be literally anything, but he's also way more noticeable in the music video where he's got some contributions that don't appear on the actual single. At least it's not called "Up All Night". 

We're well removed from the initial peak era of Hilltop Hoods (although Suffa does reference "What A Great Night" here), but there's still no shortage of entries for them here, so strap in.

#918. The 1975 - Oh Caroline (#88, 2022)

94th of 2022

I'm in a similar boat to "I'm In Love With You" for this one. Not especially enthused by the lightweight sound they've got going here, but at least the chorus isn't as irritating. The only thing that this song really evokes for me is the realisation that all the Carolines of the world have probably rolled natural 1's for getting hassled through song lyrics. Between this, OutKast, Aminé and Neil 'Bloody' Diamond (bonus Shaggy & The Peep Tempel points if you want), I can't think of many other names that have gotten so much cross-generational torture. Although really the ubiquity of "Sweet Caroline" probably could win this battle on its own. The lesson to take away though is to not torment people with these coincidences, you probably aren't the first and you probably won't be the last either. Leave all the genuine article Karens out of it as well while you're at it. I wish there were a more interesting song by The 1975 to talk about here, but this is all we've got.

#917. Khalid - Talk (#55, 2019)

91st of 2019

The crediting of this song is very inconsistent. It was produced by a pair of UK brothers who will eventually appear on this list. Depending on where you look, they're sometimes actually given a feature credit here. There's no right or wrong option here but I decided to go for the succinct route here. I think it looks better that way. With just 10 letters in the metadata, it's one of the shortest tracks to type out here.

This song came out right in the middle of the Khalid absolute saturation era. He couldn't stop turning up on new hits, and from March 2018 to February 2020, he literally had a new top 50 debut every 2 months without fail. I don't think any artist has ever so consistently offloaded hits like that. I find that he's the prime example of that algorithmic need to stay present. That roughly 2 year period I just mentioned netted him 19 different top 50 hits. He's had just 2 more since, and went from an album that spent 2 weeks at #2 to one that debuted at #46. He's ironed on a lot of listeners (his Spotify numbers actually have stayed steady for 6 years straight but he's fallen from #4 to #39 in the rankings), but the interest in new music from him has just evaporated.

What about this song though? I felt like I needed to lay on the context for him because it's hard to separate my feelings. The sheer constant regularity at the time of Khalid releasing new music meant that it would constantly take away the shine from it. There's nothing to relish because you're just expecting it to be pushed aside any moment. Some of my favourite songs of his ("Self", "Suncity", "Rollin") just feel like throwaways. Sadly this song does too.

It's a shame because I could see it maybe working for me. The production does evoke a bit of a different shiny feel to it (mostly some of the earlier work from the unmentioned "Rollin'" producer), but it just loses the spark for me so quickly. I don't think there was a song around in mid-2019 that I dreaded hearing more than this at the time. I like what he brings to the table, but it's just too much.

#916. Angus & Julia Stone - Snow (#98, 2017)

92nd of 2017

It might be surprising to realise that there are only 3 Angus & Julia Stone entries to talk about here, and that's including this one which only barely got over the line. If I were being extremely pedantic, I would point out that Julia Stone still has an entry of her own and this is simply a band that she's a member of, so I'd continue to not mention her by name. I have some limits I suppose.

This is the title track to an album that came at the right time to do great numbers. Angus & Julia Stone were a bit of an odd fit to sell so well in the digital download era, but the world of streaming is absolutely their oyster. They had a huge hit that I'll eventually get to in this list.

This song feels like it's been dragged along by association. Not entirely without its charms but it does tend to fade into the background a bit. When they had a big haul in the 2010 ARIA Awards, there were comments to the tune of them appearing bored and sleepy. I don't know how many of the people who said that were keeping up 7 years later because my biggest take away from this song is how much it sounds like Julia is genuinely singing through a yawn in the lead-in to the final chorus. That's the enthusiasm this song aspires to.