#850-#846

#850. alt-J - U&ME (#95, 2021)

87th of 2021

You can't put it all down to a science but if you look at alt-J's general downward slide with every album, it's very surprising that they managed to make the cut off once more, even if only slightly. I always find it interesting when you can spot the last hurrah as it's happening, because unless alt-J hit the right nostalgia point, this has to be the last Hottest 100 entry they ever get.

Then again, maybe this already is that nostalgia wave. We'll get to more alt-J songs from the middle of this list that have some different ideas in what to do to stand out. This song plays it all as gimmick free (in alt-J's terms) as their debut album. If not for the punchy guitar solo, it wouldn't feel too out of place there.

It's not really a song that I've been able to latch onto. It doesn't manage to get me excited when it's largely just stuck in its lax tempo. The chorus feels a little underbaked, and any intimacy it might put across is killed when it's the one line of the song that's shouted with backing vocals.

#849. The Amity Affliction - This Could Be Heartbreak (#76, 2016)

86th of 2016

I don't want to say that this Amity Affliction song is completely by the numbers. I think the main guitar riff that leads us in and comes back for the chorus leans it into pop punk territory, or at the very least something that doesn't sound too objectionable on the radio.

I can't really engage with it in any case as Ahren's delivery just feels flat. The imagery is fairly vivid, but the sadness is blocked out when the performance doesn't really commit to it. He does a better job on the pre-chorus, but it just feels so constructed when he's filling in space to say 'I think this could be heartbreak'. I've written sentences with more certainty than that, possibly.

#848. G Flip - Hyperfine (#7, 2020)

84th of 2020

Something I could say about a handful of G Flip songs rears its head most strongly on this song. I've never really seen anyone point it out so it might be something that I, someone who doesn't usually partake would take issue with. There is no artist I can think of that is as bad at swearing as G Flip.

I absolutely don't have a problem with explicit language in music. I'll be the first to point out that it's often cheaply used as a scapegoat to justify disinterest in rap music. I just don't think G Flip tends to do it right. Once the notion of someone putting it in to sound edgy takes root, I can't help but notice it. Just like how they can't avoid the crutch, and I think it diminishes the song. If they want to use it for emphasis, that might be hyperfine, but you get the f-bomb in this song followed up immediately by another one. If they got rid of the first one it might actually work, but it sounds so ridiculous here, like there was no way to keep up the syllable pattern against the already laboured song title. I just zone out completely because I can't take the song seriously anymore.

Otherwise I do think the song is hyperfine. There's a good pulse to it that keeps it moving. Maybe a better version exists where the chorus really pops out. When it was performed as an original for Like A Version, the live guitars & drums give it a bit more kick. I can almost forgive my minor squabble but when I already wrote two paragraphs about it, I'm probably condemning myself to die on that hill.

#847. Post Malone - Wow. (#93, 2019)

82nd of 2019

If I had a nickel for every time Post Malone had the 7th biggest hit of the year but it only landed in the 90s in that year's Hottest 100, I'd have two nickels, which isn't a lot but it's weird that it happened twice, right? For how much 2019 was another big year for him on the charts, "Circles" (#883) really just swallowed up all his votes that year. "I Had Some Help" was also the 7th biggest hit of 2024 and faired reasonably better. Actually "Circles" was the 7th biggest hit of 2019 too; I've discovered something else that's weird.

If you choose to look at this in a charts perspective, then this point in time is a good representation of Post Malone's stranglehold he had over them. He's had plenty of bigger hits than this, but none that sound so ill-suited for the job. From the opening seconds of "Wow.", you're greeted by a faint wisp of a beat that's already cowering away from you. It picks up afterwards but largely just meanders behind one of Post Malone's most casual performances. I have no idea why US radio loved this so much, even more than the super radio friendly soundtrack single he released just before it, which will eventually appear on this list. Australian radio was very hesitant on the other hand, but it still managed to climb to #2 here. The chart run makes it look like it's due to him touring, but it pre-empts his Australian tour by a month, it's thanks to a remix with Roddy Ricch & Tyga that it peaked at #2 instead of #4. That remix is a footnote now but it shaped chart history in that brief moment, and there are plenty more examples of that along the ride.

Like with "Circles", I know I liked this a touch more initially but the charm has worn off a bit. Still, it's hard to get too mad at it when it's never showing its face anywhere. Not a song to ever encounter in the wild.

#846. Vance Joy - Lay It On Me (#9, 2017)

86th of 2017

Everything I said about "Mess Is Mine" (#881) re-applies here. So you had a successful album-and-a-bit cycle off the back of one very big song? That don't impress me much. Now you gotta do it again from scratch. So your next lead single spent half a year in the top 50? Fair play actually. With "Lay It On Me", Vance Joy is back and hornier than ever. What? Listen to those horns, what else did you think I meant?

I'm always curious of song title politics. I can't help but wonder if Vance Joy came up with this song, and was going to call it "Lay It All On Me", but then remembered Rudimental & Ed Sheeran already did that recently so he did a slight alternation. It's probably the best choice out of all the tweaks you could do, not too wordy, not too succinct.

"Lay It On Me" was released in the middle of July which hits the sweet spot in the Hottest 100 I think. He also let the song go out on its own for most of that year, save a late release for "Like Gold" that mostly went under the radar. Everything came together to get him back in the Hottest 100 top 10, the only song of his other than "Riptide" (#885) to do so.

I don't begrudge it I suppose. We're arbitrarily up to the point in the list where I might find myself able to utter the bombastic praise of 'It's somewhat likeable'. It's all working up to that big blast of energy in the chorus, but I don't love the promenade getting there.