#860-#856

#860. Hilltop Hoods (feat James Chatburn) - Higher (#49, 2016)

89th of 2016

Hilltop Hoods might be excessively represented in the Hottest 100 but it comes with some bearing of standards. They don't have the ability to just occupy the pointy end of the list by default. Or maybe they do but not with everything. "Higher" might be unlucky in that regard. If we want to talk about the worst time of year to release something for Hottest 100 viability, if it isn't the very end of November, then it's the start of December. I feel like the average person still doesn't compartmentalise the cut off and doesn't get at all hyped to vote for these 'start of the cut off' songs. This is one of Hilltop Hoods' 5 ARIA top 10 hits. The other four all landed in the Hottest 100 top 10, but this one was so overshadowed by what followed it that it only barely made the top half.

I've only used the word 'perfunctory' throughout these entries 3 times before now so I hope I'm not overdoing it. It's the time to say it though. As a returning single, it does everything it needs to, showing that they've not lost a step in being able to rap. Just like their previous lead single "Won't Let You Down" (#910), it features a singer with no built-in fanbase overlap. This is more for the fact that I don't really know James Chatburn for anything else, and never noticed him after the fact either. Perfectly competent, doesn't thrill, doesn't bother. This was also the lead off to what wasn't a proper studio album, but another Restrung affair like they did back in 2007. This song and another I'll get to eventually are crammed into the track listings of their previous two albums on here as if they were always there. I've never minded the Restrung concept. It's basically a decades old Simpsons joke, but one that works surprisingly well. This song on its own just isn't much to write home about, or here as it were.

#859. Travis Scott - HIGHEST IN THE ROOM (#41, 2019)

83rd of 2019

Travis Scott fans are not especially good at getting themselves organised for the Hottest 100 vote. For someone who is consistently one of the most streamed artists in Australia with regular triple j airplay for nearly a decade, he only has two Hottest 100 entries to his name thus far (plus a feature credit he barely snuck in with in 2024). It all just feels like a very incomplete snapshot of his career, especially with this song being one of the two.

I do feel a bit of a disconnect with the fandom in general. I recently witnessed the chart spillage that came from his Australian tour and it just felt like a different kind of incoherent snapshot. One where "BUTTERFLY EFFECT" and this are apparently the go-to songs from his back catalogue. The former has always felt like a throwaway that was salvaged into a bigger hit just by getting housed on "ASTROWORLD", and this has always felt like a throwaway with the perfect imperial era release window to smash out the gate. Maybe I'm way off the mark but I feel like Travis Scott had a lot of songs that just sound like this already and there was nothing to get excited about. The only brief change of pace you get is the song's outro, but even that doesn't live up to the excitement because it just ends.

#858. Rudimental (feat Emile Sandé) - Free (#47, 2013)

90th of 2013

Back when I was inclined to scope out any cheap deal I could come across, I bought Rudimental's first album. I didn't have many strong feelings about the album and only really took away from it the song "Powerless" which seemed like a logical progression with the drum & bass hits they'd had at the time. It also introduced me to an artist who wouldn't make their Hottest 100 debut until many years later, on a song I'll eventually write about. Usually the release of an album marks the end of a run of hits. It's way harder to build up buzz for a song in the streaming age that's already been available to hear. Against all odds, many months later, Rudimental pulled it off with "Free" becoming one of their biggest hits in Australia.

If I was ranking the 2013 list at the time, I suspect I'd have put this song right near the bottom. I've previously had a feeling of resentment whenever a song becomes a hit independently of triple j, but sneaks onto the voting list and gets into the poll. It's the feeling of betrayal when I think I've gotten away with being able to ignore a song until it turns up in my Hottest 100 collection forever. Especially true when I can justify to myself the lack of regular rotation through the song's quality. "Free" wasn't entirely unspun on triple j, but it did get the majority of its plays by that point during Rudimental's feature album stint. They played it 3 more times in 2013 after that.

The resentment was probably stronger too as I felt betrayed. Rudimental had quickly asserted themselves as a reliable hitmaking machine, and justifiably through their intense drum & bass hits that managed to be crossover friendly. "Free" had none of that energy and was just a 5 minute repetitive slog. I couldn't see the appeal at all. Even Emile Sandé was betraying me a little, as I'd generally enjoyed what she was putting out at that time too. Teaming up with Rudimental to possibly make something like "Heaven" just seemed natural, but that's not what we got.

I still don't love the song but time has done it a bit of favour. It's fairly rare to see a hit song nowadays that actually commits to a build-up all the way to the end. The steady strumming & keys give it an amicable warmth as well. The song also holds up fairly well with the foresight of what Rudimental have done since. They've exercised their creative right to try on a whole lot of hats, enough to make them near unrecognisable. Any criticism I may have put towards "Free" 10 years ago can now instead get put onto "These Days", a true nothing-burger of a song that's easily their biggest hit now. triple j were kind enough to properly pull the plug before that, though we will still have more Rudimental to get to in this list. As for Miss Sandé, this sole entry still makes her the only woman named Adele to make the Hottest 100, unless you include the extra-curricular lists. C'est la vie.

(Also as a side note: For the entire time this song was in the ARIA top 50, it was credited as the version featuring Nas. Said version was not at all driving its popularity but technically it's Nas's biggest hit in Australia by a big margin. I assume these sorts of things make Wikipedia editors so mad that they won't even acknowledge that it's objectively what the chart says).

#857. Illy (feat Vera Blue) - Papercuts (#7, 2016)

88th of 2016

I keep wanting to say that this song is Illy's full transition into crossover pop rap. I think it's just the chart positions egging me on though. In 2010 Illy released the song "It Can Wait", with a guest vocalist who was a finalist on Australian Idol 2 years prior, and achieved decent success. In 2016, Illy released "Papercuts", with a guest vocalist who was a finalist on The Voice Australia 3 years prior, and came within an inch of becoming an ARIA #1 hit, until the instant success of a new song by MØ and two other future list entrants spoiled the party. Don't bring fire to a cold water fight.

In any case, this song is one of the most obvious pitches to be a hit to go around. Everyone involved was primed to go bigger, and the song itself follows the classic template of rap/sung collaborations with intense imagery to go with the dramatics of the performance. Think "Love The Way You Lie" by Eminem and Rihanna, or "Battle Scars" by Lupe Fiasco and another Australian Idol who will eventually appear in this list. It feels like one of the last of its kind too. An Australian song that just immediately blows up and has the streaming numbers to back it up. "Be Alright" by Dean Lewis (#986) is just about the only song since that feels comparable.

I am once again reporting that the song did not really gel with me on release. I spent all of 2016 just quietly happy to see Illy & Vera Blue have this sort of success (at the height of tropical house, this song sticks out so jarringly during its ARIA top 10 stint), but not really ever wanting to listen to this song. For the most part, it's a song that accomplishes what it's going for so well, that it's a largely thrill-free listen. It's the kind of song that has you surprised it didn't exist sooner. The metaphors aren't particularly laboured and it gets it across without effort. I could almost see it working in America if not for that one glaring issue.

The drop in this song isn't very good. It's a sharp synth stab that just doesn't sound very good next to Vera Blue and her own sharp tones. It's probably still the trendiest thing about it; you can hear shades of Flume in the chirpier parts of it. But it's something that's never rested well on my ears and comes across as the amateur Australian version of something that Americans are doing better. It has grown on me a little over time. I think it almost works in the final chorus, and maybe live instrumentation has it go down a treat. In any case, welcome Vera Blue, I'll have a lot more to write about her in the future.

#856. Panama - Always (#80, 2013)

89th of 2013

I forget where I first heard it, but an observation I've always thought about is how the worst Maroon 5 songs tend to be the ones that start with Adam Levine's voice being the first thing you hear. It's an immediate jump scare that you get no chance to steel yourself for. It's not just a Maroon 5 phenomenon though, I think it's a first impression that runs the risk of souring any song. You get sick of something much sooner if the first thing you think of when you hear it, is also the first thing you hear.

There's a surprising amount of pedigree to this song. Late 2000s triple j listeners might just recognise primary member Jarrah McCleary as the lead singer for The Dirty Secrets. It appears that the project has morphed into just a solo identity now, but he's also had Tim from Operator Please as a drummer on hand as well. Panama is still around now, racking up fairly impressive streaming numbers that aren't exclusive to this song. "Always" was featured in "Grand Theft Auto V" which is not bad in terms of audience reach.

The Dirty Secrets connection hits close for me. They never really made it big but were a personal favourite for me with their run of singles at the time. The exact kind of intense up-tempo rock I was into with a tinge of electronica. It's very hard to recognise anything resembling it here. It's probably for the best that he developed his vocal approach. It's a blessing and a curse in this instance with how well it blends into this song's steady mood.

To go back to my initial point, it is a problem for me that the worst part of the song is how it starts and it's always the only way I can think of the song. Once you get past that, the song does get better, but it also doesn't do enough to get you engaged. Starting with the chorus means that it never feels like catharsis in the long run, especially when the song stays at pretty much the same pace the whole way.