#290-#286

#290. Tash Sultana - Cigarettes (#84, 2018)

31st of 2018

Something that tends to happen if you're not one of the biggest stars in the world is that you'll probably get that one hit from the album that takes off. Ostensibly it advertises the album on its own but I'm not sure how often it actually works. I think a lot of people take the message that there's one really good song and you don't need to hear the rest. What's interesting about it is that it's not always something that goes to plan.

When labels push out new albums, they tend to inform all the relevant platforms about the 'focus tracks'. They're the songs they want radio stations to play and streaming platforms to prioritise, so they aren't overwhelmed trying to pluck something out of the track list themselves. They do well with this, and in most cases, that focus track tends to be the highest new entry for the album on the first week. Sometimes the public appears to go rogue with it and the real big hit will assert itself in any number of subsequent days, so the former focus track gets abandoned, though you might not know if you aren't paying super close attention to this. Billie Eilish still landed at #17 with "LUNCH" despite it having been overtaken by numerous other songs at that point, just because it made enough of an impression on release that a lot of people probably still thought it was 'the' song from that album.

I don't have an exciting revelation to make about this with Tash Sultana. If anything it's a surprise case of it just going along according to plan. "Cigarettes" comes from their debut album, which already had 5 singles released from it at that point. The earlier ones in 2018 were likely being treated as promotional singles, when you just get a new song waved in front of you every few weeks, and a chance for them to road test which ones get a better reaction. "Cigarettes" was the focus single when the album came out. I remember the first time I heard it, on New Music Friday. It stood out a bit to me, and if you're familiar with the song you can probably guess why. I was a little surprised to see it make the Hottest 100, actually the only Tash Sultana song to do so that year, but I guess everyone else heard the same song I was hearing.

For the most part, it's a pretty standard affair, if even a little forgettable. I had to double check myself if this was the 'I'm on a permanent vacation to the soul' song or if I had it mixed up with another one. This was right after I just listened to it. Maybe if you're super into Tash Sultana, that's your kind of thing anyway. On the other hand, behind the first 3 minutes of the song, the biggest treat is being hidden away. Just this huge 2 minute instrumental section at the end. I can imagine the hesitation on hearing that. "Electric Feel" (#951) was just a year ago and might represent the worst version of what that would entail. I've never felt that trepidation in "Cigarettes", just a nonstop thrill ride. The drums are completely locked in like it's that British post-punk revival band from the 2000s at their peak, and the guitar strikes the perfect balance between playing to the crowd and showing off. I always get excited, knowing it's coming. Very cute music video too, I must say.

#289. Teenage Joans - Three Leaf Clover (#87, 2020)

19th of 2020

When I was in 11th grade English class, I'd constantly be set assignments to write essays about books that were way out of my depth. It was the ultimate case of faking it until you make it, because I completely lacked the skill to dig greater meaning out of text beyond what was being said. I still don't think I can do it. Whenever someone does it, I can never tell if they're faking it as well. I never really learnt how to do it. Maybe that was the time when I should have learnt it, but every time I handed something in, I'd just get it back a few days later with maybe a couple of spelling error corrections and a 13/20 with absolutely no notes. No insight on how to get better, no clarity in what I was doing right or wrong. I didn't really get a chance to see anyone else's work either, so I was just flying blindly, waiting until I no longer had to take this torturous class. I was especially bad at meeting word counts. You'd go into a paragraph with a set of things you want to mention, rattle them off and suddenly you're out of things to say. I always wanted to see how everyone else did it. The art of saying the same thing but with more words. I probably have gotten better at it now, but I'll never get the chance to compare my work line for line with someone else. I guess I'll have to settle for being critical of a song written by a high schooler.

I jest, but I did just proofread my own post for "Wine" (#381) and realised I don't really have more to say about Teenage Joans. They just have two songs here and I like this one more. It's probably how many people feel. "Three Leaf Clover" was their breakout hit, the one that earned them the exposure. Maybe they'll come up with something better in the future, but the spontaneity won't be matched.

Most of the same comments I made before still apply here. It's all very 'first draft' and incredibly low stakes. A lot of materialistic discussion on clothing and the limited number of things you have going on in your life at that point. I wonder if there really was a Stacy at their school when they wrote this though. It feels like getting revenge on the cool kids by making fun of them on a song that got played on national radio and I bet it'd sound like a sick burn at the moment. Mostly though, I just find it curious that this is a song about not fitting in that uses the metaphor of being a three leaf clover. You know, the normal ones, the ones that fit in. Maybe there's some truth to the experience. If you're surrounded by people who tend to stick out in their own ways, maybe you will feel inadequate. It's ironic that these elements make their songs stick out a bit on this list. Maybe it's not a universal thing, but one can only hope they maintain future access to their diary of banal thoughts growing up. It'll show you just how far you've come.

#288. Skin On Skin - Burn Dem Bridges (#52, 2022)

22nd of 2022

There's been a strange micro-trend popping up in the Hottest 100 recently. You'll get these entries that seem to defy expectations. The Hottest 100 is supposed to be filled with the biggest names and the biggest hits, and then these obscure producers just pop up and do their thing, potentially to never be heard from again. I'm told it's TikTok influence, but it's so unusual to see it pop up like this when there isn't much of a chart showing for it. Like there's been this secret hit song that pops up here because the people who like it, really like it. We had "A Little Closer" by Diffrent in 2024, an unusual entry not just for the obscurity of it, but because it doesn't even sound like a 2024 hit. It's rooted in UK garage sounds that were big over 20 years ago. I don't doubt there's a craving for it, I'm just surprised it comes in such big numbers. It helps to stand out, I suppose.

We had "Burn Dem Bridges" by Skin On Skin in 2022. I would not say it sounds like "A Little Closer", but it also feels extremely influenced by UK dance music. Skin On Skin is actually Australian, and the whole thing is a big left turn for him. It's possible you'd already heard his music many years ago when he was recording as UV boi. I mainly remember the song "If She, If He" with EASTGHOST. I probably haven't thought about the song in nearly a decade but it's very vivid and holds up pretty well. It doesn't sound remotely like this song too, so the rebranding makes sense. In the extremely white world of Australian EDM, here's a South Sudanese producer making the leap with one enviable hit.

I was immediately obsessed with this song. When the dust settled on the 2022 countdown, it was the song I wanted to listen to the most. I use the word a lot but it really is relentless. There's a little repetition to it, but it's used well. Just that one double talk line of 'If it ain't, if it ain't' gets a lot of mileage for me. Just nice to hear something with some pounding bass though.

#287. Beyoncé - Hold Up (#66, 2016)

31st of 2016

A few weeks ago I wrote about Taylor Swift with the pretence of talking about Tkay Maidza (#322). If you can believe it, I had to cut that entry down a little shorter than I'd like. I'd promised that I'd talk about the relation between fans of pop music, indie music, and the spectrum surrounding it all, but I couldn't find a way to get into it without veering off on an additional tangent and losing the pace. Allow me to finally indulge with a relevant byproduct of it.

People tend to like different kinds of music. What makes our brains work the way they do, I cannot say for certain, just that we're all going to respond differently to different stimuli. It's a fact of life that's maybe weird, but mostly interesting. It does likely extend beyond the music and onto the image itself, but that's a whole other tangent on its own. This isn't a callout post to anyone for doing this, because everyone does it, whether you think about it or not.

In the parts of the internet I frequent, a lot of it can boil down to some variation of pop vs. indie. The big conveyer belt of shiny hit songs vs. the more custom built specialties. The latter can boast its own credibility out of that, but the former has always got the populism war won before it's even begun. It's a classic dichotomy. I don't know which one's Jacob and which one's Edward, but if you're outspoken about what you like and dislike in music, you're probably going to run into something along these lines. Deep down, we're all a little convinced that we're right and everyone who disagrees isn't giving it enough credit because it's either too popular or not popular enough.

The funny thing about it all is that in a chart discussion context, they both need each other. I was thinking the other day how no matter where I look, in the world of chart discussion, you're always finding people who might perhaps seem too cool for the charts based on what they listen to. The kind of person who bemoans the popularity of Morgan Wallen and thinks those people should be listening to Clipse instead. I know because I've been that person. They need each other though because based on what people complain about in the charts, the last thing they need is for more people to be aware of the chart. You need people who are insistent with digging up new releases, hyping up the newcomers that are soaring up the chart...and then immediately get sick of them and never listen to them again. The reign of Alex Warren cannot end until enough gatekeepers come around and reinforce how severely unhip he is. For the indie fans, nothing's better for your credibility if you have an easy reference of what you're sitting above. A lot of outrage towards pop music is probably equal parts genuine and performative, but I think a lot of those same people aren't prepared for how readily they'd get the same things said back at their favourite artist if there wasn't a bigger target on the fairway. A lot of the time they are just the same people. The Popheads subreddit was built from within the Indieheads subreddit, created by members who wanted to be able to discuss Carly Rae Jepsen's banger of a new album. Maybe that's the best sign that this schism isn't as powerful as it once was, and people are much more regularly crossing the aisle with their music preferences.

It's a nice thought, but any change of this nature is bound to be slow, and kept in place because not everyone gets the same memo, or even wants it. I'm writing this during the closing days of voting in the Hottest 100, and in the past few days I've seen several posts that have taken strange offence to the very female dominated voting turn out, suggesting something has to be done because of the negative implications of that. Their pop is gonna get in front of my indie, something like that. Music is such a personal thing that we're all gonna have our hangups over what will always be a bridge too far. For many in 2016, Beyoncé was that bridge.

The easiest arguments to make are the ones that just make sense on the surface. It doesn't require a lot of explanation to say that Beyoncé doesn't pass the sniff test. She'd gone about her business as one of the biggest stars on the planet while triple j sat in another corner leaving her be. You will not find "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)" on the 2008 Hottest 100 list. The winning song that year was arguably a bigger hit song (and admittedly a problem in its own right depending on who you ask), but it wasn't going to cause the same hysteria as Beyoncé. The reality of the situation is that triple j had actually played Beyoncé before. I don't have the actual data behind this because I wasn't monitoring it at the time, but her early solo single "Work It Out" made it to the voting list when it came out, so I have to assume it was getting played. Maybe that seems strange in hindsight, but you really have to put in consideration that this is a fledgling Beyoncé who wouldn't start making world conquering hits for another year. That first year of your career when everyone's trying to figure out what to do with you can be so strange. Remember when triple j played Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran briefly?

"Work It Out" is just a weird technicality though, what I'd have to say would hold just as strongly without it. In the same way that we all established what Beyoncé meant to us all in the 2000s, it would be unfair to say she didn't make her own way about challenging that notion once the 2010s started. In 2011, her first new lead single was "Run The World (Girls)". An abrasive song for certain, but one that was effectively Beyoncé doing her thing on top of a Major Lazer instrumental, a song that had literally been heard often on triple j not long prior to this. It was one of the first signs that showed that Beyoncé was done with utter annihilation, she's big enough to do whatever she wants.

That's also what continued to happen with subsequent releases. She famously released her self-titled album in December 2013 with no warning whatsoever, at the time coining Beyoncé as a verb for whenever anyone emulated this. Something also changed, which is that Beyoncé started getting very favourable reviews. If you look at Metacritic aggregates, Beyoncé's first 4 albums generally hover around the 60 to 70 mark, very underwhelming, and the signs of an album that's there as an obligation to house the hits. "Beyoncé" scored an average of 85, and every subsequent album has gone over 90. Beyoncé had gone from an artist for whom it would be bold to defend, to someone who you have to be very careful not to say the wrong thing about.

"Beyoncé" was a very successful album if you look at how much it sold, but do you know any of the songs on it? Maybe if you're deeply invested in the charts you do, or maybe if someone mentions "Drunk In Love" that might ring a bell (assuming you don't confuse it for the other JAY-Z collaboration with a similar name), but it was a Beyoncé album without a "Halo". It didn't even have an "If I Were A Boy". I had trouble with what to think about it. I was so used to being mostly anti-Beyoncé because of her huge chart smashes that always overstayed their welcome, but how do you do that when the songs just aren't omnipresent. I was a little into it, but it wasn't really a priority for me so there wasn't much to make of it, just a weird career pivot that seemed to please people more invested in it. I like it a fair bit more now, "Partition" is one of the best songs she's ever put out. I can't believe all of those bits are in the same song. In hindsight, it probably still is the strangest pivot in her career, but that's not to say she was done playing with our expectations.

Beyoncé has been married to JAY-Z since 2008. In a world of celebrity couples feeling more like business arrangements as they seem to come and go so frequently, this is pop music's power couple and they've stood together all this time. It didn't always seem like this though, and rumours of JAY-Z's infidelity began to swirl. The oft-remembered incident of Solange Knowles hitting JAY-Z in an elevator comes up here, and while they did complete a tour together, it didn't look optimistic.

The strange career moves continued. Beyoncé released the song "Formation" in early 2016, except it's not on the regular DSPs, and for a while it was unlisted on YouTube. Perhaps the biggest hit video that couldn't be searched for, or at least, I can't find one that's bigger. Two months later, Beyoncé Beyoncés, except Beyoncé doesn't Beyoncé "Beyoncé" again, she Beyoncés "Lemonade". For the second year in a row, good going Buffalo for not getting eliminated from the playoffs before I wrote this. "Lemonade" streams exclusively on TIDAL, meaning that most of the world is cut off from listening to it, but it doesn't prevent the album from doing titanic numbers. It came out on the same week that Prince died which meant that it was competing with another source of monster sales, but did end up winning out, and it meant that the two of them worked together to produce an all-time great ARIA Chart. I basically already said it before, but "Lemonade" was beloved by many. It was beloved by me, too. Just a complete revelation that had me put down my skeptic hat and put all my stock into the album instead. "Lemonade" is banger after banger after banger. It's so varied as to not feel redundant, and felt like a lock for my favourite album of the year depending on how much credit I wanted to give to that funny BABYMETAL album at the time.

The success of "Lemonade" has become one of the biggest 'what if' questions for me. While sales still had a good hold of the chart in 2016, not being on Spotify meant a crushingly low ceiling for all the songs, which we had every reason to believe would have been dominating the chart. We saw last year with Lily Allen's album just how much a relationship drama tabloid album can generate, and this was the mother of all of those. Madeline wishes she was Becky with the good hair. Just Total Righteous Anger Towards JAY-Z: The album. It might have just been a pantomime but it was hard not to take it seriously, especially when JAY-Z's next album "4:44" responded to the whole situation with remorse. That's another album whose potential chart fortunes were squandered for the same reason. Very good album too.

At the time, the biggest hit from the album was "Formation". It was probably an obvious choice given the leading treatment. If you weren't prepared to tackle a whole album right away, it was a chance to finally buy that single that's been almost everywhere but not on the charts. In an ideal world, maybe I'd be talking about "Formation" here too, but triple j didn't really stop at that station. I can understand it's a bit of a tougher sell, but it really is a stellar single. Incredible what you can do with a goofy spring sound.

This is where the pop and indie war resumes. "Lemonade" was the point where triple j decided they were fine with playing Beyoncé more regularly. On one hand it's a little out of nowhere, but on the other hand it makes complete sense. The one thing I neglected to mention about "Lemonade" is that you could effectively call it Beyoncé's indie rock album. In lieu of working with the world's biggest producers, Beyoncé worked with Jack White, Father John Misty, Jameela Jamil's boyfriend, people like that. All the rock critics loved it. Once you got past the word Beyoncé, this album was right at home on triple j. When you're in this position though, it can be a bit of a lose-lose.

I'm going to assume that the phrase 'Oh, of course you like THAT one', or some variation of it is familiar. Whether you've used it or thought it, or had it thrown your way, it doesn't matter. It's one of the biggest pieces of ammunition in the pop and indie war because both sides have valid situations to use it. Because it's one thing to completely disregard an artist's work for not appealing to you. It's another to do this, but then take that one exception, the one time when they're playing to your side of the court and say that's the good one. It's screaming the superficial quantities of your taste in music out to the world, you only like them when they stop doing the thing they usually do.

To me, it's an adage that says one thing. The person making the claim has already decided in their head they're above the other person and won't give an inch. It's possible that it's warranted, perhaps the person in question is making a big deal out of their transaction, rubbing it in the other person's face that their side has decided it's the only good one. Maybe those people do deserve it, but for me, it's catching a lot of people in the crossfire who've done nothing wrong.

That's the part that has always gotten to me, because for so many years now I've been at peace in this war, but it's those bad actors that take the main stage and both control the discourse and get it pointed their way. When Taylor Swift was voted into the Hottest 100, that's what it was about. Taking revenge on those snobs who can't appreciate pop music. I may have exhibited some of those traits at some point in time, but I think in hindsight it was never about a quest for superiority. I was just being very protective of something that was vitally important to my upbringing. I get that from the outside, triple j is just the source of those occasionally annoying crossover songs from say Operator Please, San Cisco, Ocean Alley (pick your time frame), but for me it was a feeling of belonging and community through music I just did not have. Yes, some people can be very annoying about it (I won't pretend I wasn't), but there isn't a worse look for me than getting caught up in whether a mutual (or a stranger) likes X but doesn't like Y, and there are better ways to go about it than smugly placing yourself at the top of the podium because you've figured the other person out. Your post pointing out that your favourite artist has less writers and producers than Beyoncé is stupid, your post that stereotypes a strawman because they like "Imaginal Disk" and Cameron Winter is also stupid, but I don't think you're stupid. You just need to get out of that mindset, lest you create a spiteful schism that emboldens the very person you're trying to lambast.

To those who think Beyoncé should never be played on triple j, perhaps you're right. On the other hand, it's not necessarily the apocalypse that it's made out to be. As much as no one likes to admit it, triple j does need artists of her stature. If they just played Unearthed bands all day every day, do you think the station would be anywhere near as relevant as it is? Big hits are an essential component of radio station rotation, because they provide a usually familiar and sticky reprieve. Basically anyone who's ever told their origin story with triple j or laments the state of it nowadays will cite their favourite artists, and they're usually always hugely popular ones. They might sound more credible because they're local rock bands, but Silverchair, Spiderbait, You Am I, they're all chart topping, platinum selling bands. They were filling the same role. Maybe you actually liked triple j for the Pollyanna and Insurge they played in the middle, the ones that felt more special, but it's the big hitters that stick in your brain. It was the same for me, loving all the weird and wacky things that'd get played, but come Hottest 100 day and I'm voting for Queens of the Stone Age, Muse, and UK #1 hit song "Ruby" by Kaiser Chiefs. That article that gets written about Beyoncé outrage is gonna generate way more discussion and attention than 'hey check out this cool Vallis Alps song that just got added to rotation'. But then in turn, you can potentially put more eyes on those smaller stories. It was like when a while back, I linked one of my posts on social media to draw focus to one of the more 'important' entries, but a friend seemed to instead recall a different entry I had written in the same post, for a less notable song. If I link this post, it's because the Beyoncé rant is there, but it's completely surrounded on all sides by more niche Australian artists. Sometimes we just need a good excuse to bring up our hyperfixations to others.

Anyway, this is the entry for "Hold Up" and I want to talk about this song specifically for what is usually one of those constant grievances about Beyoncé, but in this case is the most fascinating thing about the song. "Hold Up" has an enormous list of songwriters attached to it. I can see 15 names on it which includes Beyoncé, Diplo, MNEK, Ezra Koenig, Father John Misty, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Soulja Boy. That's not even acknowledging the song's Andy Williams sample which adds on two more, less contemporary names in Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman. How on earth did all of this happen? Well Diplo & Ezra wrote a demo together in 2014, based around that Andy Williams sample. The hook is actually something Ezra tweeted as a joke years ago, transforming the chorus of Yeah Yeah Yeahs' "Maps" by changing a few of the words. MNEK expanded on this demo which then got to Beyoncé. She contacted Father John Misty and he contributed a verse, and then on the bridge, Beyoncé quoted Soulja Boy's "Turn My Swag On", creating this utterly bizarre meeting of minds that no one's really sure what to take away from it.

To me, there's an even more interesting use of sampling on the album's slightly deeper cut "6 Inch" with The Weeknd. That song samples "Walk On By", the same song Doja Cat sampled when she won the Hottest 100 a number of years later though you'd be forgiven for not connecting the two. It also credits Animal Collective, simply because her reading of 'too smart to crave material things' sounds a little bit like the line from "My Girls" that also ends on the same two words. It's an absolute stretch and I understand that it wasn't even intentional, just an accidental arrival on something similar. This was sorted out before the album was released, so someone on team Beyoncé noticed it, and got it cleared to credit Animal Collective in case there might be an issue later on. Maybe it's a bit silly but I sorta love it because it's a huge pop star paying dividends to a niche indie band in a way that benefits them both. When you think of all the social media accounts who pull in massive numbers by just stealing viral posts from other smaller accounts without accreditation, or use AI art which is essentially the same thing but with extra steps, I guess it's just nice to see things work out like this. I'd say this is foreshadowing, but I think I've done this before, and I'm starting to get déjà vu over it.

"Hold Up" is the second track on "Lemonade", just after "Pray You Catch Me" which feels like more of an intro. It's here where the rift is made immediately clear. Basically a whole song about how JAY-Z's a fool for sleeping around and they're not worth it compared to what you've got. She doesn't actually say 'you're married to Beyoncé, what the hell is wrong with you?', but it's certainly what I'm getting from it. She makes this clearer over the next couple of tracks, where "Don't Hurt Yourself" is the righteous anger of a woman scorned, and "Sorry" is the immediate response to the theoretical defence. Maybe under ideal conditions I'd be doing a whole lot more Beyoncé entries but this was the only one from the album that made the cut. It's a song that I think does have a place here and it's not too distracting. Of all those names I mentioned, Diplo is probably the most pertinent influence, because the song's dancehall/reggae sound immediately recalls earlier Major Lazer work. Not a stretch to say that some of the many people who voted "Get Free" in at #6 for 2012 might find something to like in this one. I just want to enjoy great music, whether it's from Beyoncé or Broods.

#286. Peking Duk (feat Benjamin Joseph) - Say My Name (#30, 2015)

38th of 2015

I think a lot of recent criticism of Peking Duk amounts to them being high on their own supply. It's possible this is true, it's also possible that they play up the persona a bit because that's what they're supposed to do. The one thing I always think about though is how in 2015, they were out here making a larger than life persona for Ben from SAFIA. They'd worked together before, and just credited him as SAFIA (#337). Benjamin Joseph is just the name he uses when he records solo nowadays. Perhaps they just missed the cut off the first time around, because the same credit appears on a Citizen Kay album, one month after "Take Me Over" came out. I just remember it feeling odd the way they were hyping him up on this release, a song that didn't really live up to their recent string of hits. It just felt like a sign they were losing touch with what the people wanted.

Anyway, when they performed at the AFLW Grand Final last year, they played both of these songs back to back and he was just credited as Ben Woolner, his actual name for both of them. Just makes the most sense nowadays I guess, I just don't know exactly what to say when he asks me to say his name. Imagine though after I post this, he shows up at my house and gets me to re-enact that scene from Breaking Bad. Would it be funny for how low stakes but dramatic it would be? You're goddamn right.

It might not necessarily be the makings of a hit song, but for me, "Say My Name" is a classic throwback to that specific kind of electronica that would do the rounds on triple j. The kind that blended it with guitars and you could no longer really tell if it was rock music or dance music (though it usually felt marketed as the latter). Bands like Midnight Juggernauts, Art vs. Science, Dukes of Windsor had absolutely enormous (to me) songs in this vein. To an extent it's always been Peking Duk's realm, but this is their most deliberate rock song. The drums pack so much into it.

That said, it wasn't an instant winner for me either. I had some of the same hesitation that also showed when the song couldn't take off quite as much as the singles before it. When "Stranger" (#349) became a huge hit a year later, it made this feel even more like the odd one out. I think I was thrown off a bit by the song's chorus that didn't connect with me. Perhaps it was more for the SAFIA connection, who by contrast I thought could do no wrong at this point, so I was expecting more. At some point it clicked with me and it's become one of my favourite Peking Duk songs. In particular, I've become drawn to the switch up on the last chorus where Ben sings it at a lower register, at a complete contrast to every single other time he's done it. Just one of those little things that give you something to latch onto and look forward to.