#725-#721

#725. G Flip (feat mxmtoon) - Queen (#64, 2021)

79th of 2021

This is going to sound like a complete non-sequitur and it just makes me want to open up with it even more as a result, but there's an odd sequence of actions when it comes to the popularity of BTS in western markets. They have a lot of fans, but are constantly fighting against a language and culture barrier that prevents them from being taken seriously. In response to this, their fanbase acts aggressively upon the opportunity to pump up their numbers so much that they have to be taken seriously. This works in that the band and some of their members have accumulated multiple #1 hits, but it also backfires by not passing the sniff test for a lot of people, disregarding all the fanfare for one of the most popular musical groups in the world as illegitimate.

I can never get myself to do this because I've seen how the charts operate. I know that despite the filtering that comes about from streaming numbers being so high, most people just don't listen to these songs all that much to really put the idea across that they're uncatchable. I'm writing this on a day where only one song has been able to double the daily listens of "Iris" by The Goo Goo Dolls. Once you're working with that, I'm ready to believe that BTS fans very much are listening to their music that much, because no fanbase comes anywhere near as close to being ride-or-die.

This is all to say that if you look at the YouTube comments for this song, it's flooded by BTS fans. The only reason being that during a birthday stream not long after it was released, BTS's j-hope was listening to this song. I think of myself being the only person in a crowded setting at times consciously observing music being played, because why would anyone else? But for a fanbase this large, there are enough people just digging into every possible surrounding detail that such a thing is possible. I think it's cute too that G Flip & j-hope have similar naming conventions, that probably helps bridge the gap too.

G Flip is not alone on this song though; they also recruit the much more famous YouTuber mxmtoon on here. When it comes to most famous YouTubers, I'm willing to admit respectful ignorance. If you're not trying to keep up with that scene, it's inevitably going to produce famous stars completely off your radar and that's completely fine. mxmtoon has about 1 million subscribers which is more than nearly anyone I subscribe to, and that's fine. I was poised and ready for this one though because I had heard of her a year earlier. She put out a song with Carly Rae Jepsen called "ok on your own" which I adore. I can never make negative accusations about the merits of the ukulele when it so perfectly anchors the sorrow of that song.

Admittedly I probably wouldn't recognise her on this song without being told about it. Similar to Lauren Sanderson on "GAY 4 ME" (#783), her verse could easily just pass as G Flip putting on a slightly different inflection. She doesn't even show up in the music video to until a little later, so it all makes for a nice clickbait credit that doesn't drastically change what we're working with here.

It's an odd sounding song. The main thing you're going to remember from it is that one looping guitar riff that sounds like it needs a little more time in the oven. I do like when they switch it up during the verses, gives it a Shocking Blue, "Venus" kind of angle. Can't disagree with the message too, despite getting off to a rocky start, I really thought Makoto (Queen) was one of the most reliably powerful party members in "Persona 5", and I'm quite proud of her.

#724. Bring Me The Horizon - DiE4u (#43, 2021)

78th of 2021

It's weird to say this about an entry here but despite this song being released in 2021, the album that it comes from only got a full physical release about 6 weeks before I started this blog. POST HUMAN era Bring Me The Horizon is a lot of constantly drip fed singles which has served them very well in the Hottest 100. They've managed to poll 7 years in a row. It's not clear yet if they'll maintain this as all they have to show for 2025 so far is a cover of "Wonderwall".

"DiE4u" is also the second time here we've had production from BloodPop. You may as well have it be the first time because his first contribution was with Haim's "Want You Back" (#787) where he's not always credited. He'll be back one more time with another Bring Me The Horizon song. He hasn't really become a staple for them, it's just these two songs of theirs that he's produced and co-written. Still, it's an interesting change of pace for someone best known for working with a certain Canadian pop star I still can't say the name of at the height of their career.

Without ever really getting a break from Bring Me The Horizon over the years, I've found a lot of the songs they've released around this point in time have blended in together. They're usually kind enough to put in song titles that call a hook to mind, but I have trouble sorting out my various opinions on them all. "DiE4u" I probably fall the harshest on because I do think the hook is the weakest part of it. Oli's voice sticks out in just the right way to sound jarring and distracting. When the rest of the band is in their element it can be fun though, a lot of energy to spare and I love the cheesy guitar solo near the end.

#723. Thundamentals (feat Thom Crawford) - Something I Said (#30, 2014)

74th of 2014

It doesn't really stand up to long term scrutiny, but my years of watching the ARIA Charts make this out to be Thundamentals' biggest hit song. It has the peak position advantage (it got to #66), but the key difference which generally doesn't show up when viewing chart positions like this is that "Something I Said" really hung around. All their other top 100 hits spent a single week on the chart, but this one made it to 11 weeks. The only caveat I should add to it is that it happened during the last 6 or so months before streaming was added to the chart. The numbers were starting to get pretty low and you couldn't help but spot some real oddities holding up the fort by that point.

On some level it made sense though. Thundamentals were having a breakthrough moment, and after it felt like they'd properly made it, this is the first new song they had out. It's a song that doesn't stray too much away from the formula set up by their previous hit (which we'll get to at some point), but also makes it out to be a more upbeat affair. It comes with a poppier chorus and a handful of attention grabbing lyrics.

It's those lyrics that I found increasingly distracting over the years. From a distance it's a very pleasant sounding song but you zoom in and it's just full of toilet humour, sometimes literally talking about the toilet. Jeswon is the prime candidate in his verse, cracking a juvenile joke in pretty much every second bar. He has the nerve afterwards to explain that he's cheeky after all this. Tuka fairs a bit better as the only person in the song that doesn't tell on himself. His opening line about Billy, Susie and Milly feels like he's telling on the rest of the song. It's his Kimbra in "Somebody That I Used To Know" moment. He might still also be the asshole in the song but at the very least he doesn't give me any ammunition for it, just a pretty solid verse to see us out.

I don't have very much insight into Thom Crawford. He's certainly the second musician I've seen who spells his name like that. It seems like he's caught the same bug that a lot of these Aussie hip-hop featured artists grab. He has no music on his official platforms and hasn't grabbed a big guest spot beyond this one. He did team up with another local rapper a few years ago who will eventually appear on this list. It's a long time between drinks and you'd never recognise him as the same vocalist. He's perfectly serviceable here at least, if I was gonna make fun of him, I'd do it behind his back, I don't know who's reading this.

#722. Kendrick Lamar (feat Zacari) - LOVE. (#92, 2017)

72nd of 2017

This is where I feel I can say 'At last!' as all the pieces are finally in place. All the main characters in this murder-free mystery have made their entrance. In this sense I mean artists with at least 10 entries all up. You could readily admit that there are still some key players out there, as I immediately call to mind two artists with 9 entries each that are still to show up, but you've got to draw the line somewhere. Just to be clear in this instance, I am talking about Kendrick Lamar, and not Zacari, for whom this is his only entry. Zacari is one of several artists on Top Dawg Entertainment who achieved their greatest success by being attached to a Kendrick Lamar project. In case you didn't know, he finally put out his debut album about a year ago. I thought it was pretty good, reminded me a lot of The Weeknd, both the old & new kind.

We're obviously talking about Kendrick here. There's a lot to cover with just the 12 entries he has. If there isn't enough to say, there could well be more to go along with it given enough time. Since I started this blog, Kendrick has scored his first lead artist #1 hit in Australia and nearly got a second one right after. We've spent the past year or so where every new day could mean a new unannounced drop. This is all to say that it's always going to be an incomplete story so the best I can do is deal with what fragments I have.

Just on its own, "DAMN." is an album that invites a lot of discussion. It's tempting to dismiss it as just Kendrick's most commercial project and not think much of it, but that's significantly overlooking everything that is going on with it. Don't take my word for it of course, this album won a Pulitzer Prize. That's one of those eternally enviable prizes that all the EGOT-adjacent accolades can only dream of competing with. Why aspire for anything else?

In any case, there's a strong pattern that's been developing of late when it comes to most new Kendrick albums. That pattern is the way that the albums themselves will frequently be abrasive, confronting or just overwhelmingly dense on most fronts, but he remains a significant prospect for his label. There needs to be something to comfortably promote the album without scaring anyone away. Enter the obligatory R&B radio hit. I don't get to really talk about most of them, "Die Hard" didn't quite make the list, "luther" is too new. Really it always turns these album rollouts into unintentional wars, as the general public tend to flock more to more hard hitting cuts, while playlists and promotion will ensure the R&B track remains competitive, and quite possibly goes the distance in the end.

With that in mind, it's a weird thing to think about because the distance in question usually amounts to a few more weeks on the chart without any clear signs of a smash. Most of Kendrick Lamar's songs will peak on release and then just quickly fall away unless they really cross over. It's his sheer following afterwards that tells the full story though. "LOVE." was not a massive hit, but it's never stopped being streamed, and now has over 1.5 billion streams on Spotify, only 3 of Kendrick's songs have it beaten. "Not Like Us" is at least 4 months away from catching it still.

Something has to kick us off. "LOVE." is still pretty good though. It feels at times like more than half of the song is the chorus. Just measuring it now I'd say it's about 65% give or take, but it's hard to say when the verses blend in so tightly. On the second verse, Zacari's hook gets peppered between lines as well. All very pleasant, just greater aspirations to be sought for.

#721. Winston Surfshirt - Be About You (#27, 2017)

71st of 2017

It's been many months since I wrote about "The Real Thing" (#915), where I spoke of Client Liaison's luck in building a Hottest 100 résumé. I specifically mentioned another artist whose fortunes were quite the opposite. I can finally take the proverbial sheet off the proverbial display on the proverbial stage to reveal that I was forward selling a reference to Winston Surfshirt.

They might be one of the unluckiest artists not named Royal Blood given their misfortunes over the proceeding years. "Be About You" remains their only entry, but they managed to land in the #101-#120 section in 2018, 2019 and 2020 (while not being too far away from that spot in 2017 as well). "Be About You" is a song that stuck with me very quickly but I've never been able to commit a second Winston Surfshirt song to memory. It's possible that they could be a band I've had to write about so many times in frustration with only this shining light around the corner. Like going through all those Dave Graney and Swoop songs in the '90s lists that aren't "Rock 'N' Roll Is Where I Hide" and "Apple Eyes".

There's another thing "Be About You" has in common with those songs which is that it feels like it's just completely out of touch with the sounds of then and only gets away with it because it so expertly accomplishes what it's trying to do. This is Australia, following global trends is optional. When I say this, I mean that "Be About You" is a slow burning song that feels like it has more in common with yacht rock than anything else. 

Winston Surfshirt are billed as a funk and hip-hop band. A lot of very white guys there, that's a red flag. The spoken word section that starts off this song? That's a red flag. I stop laying down my criticism after that because the rest of the song is very tidy. I think Mr. Surfshirt (he just goes by Winston) has a very pleasant singing voice, and it brings shades of a certain NZ/US band I anticipate glazing in the future on this blog. Then the rest of the band comes in and it completes the sparkling polish that it was building up to. Nothing much happens after that, but it's a satisfying enough trick on its own to satiate me.