Heartwarming / Todd in the Shadows

Todd's Pop Song Reviews (and Year-End Lists)

• His "relationship" with Katy Perry can be seen as this. At the beginning of Todd's career, Katy Perry was a guilty pleasure of his. In 2012 when he was ready to just submit to, she released numerous songs he couldn't get into at all, which Todd attributes to her divorce from Russell Brand at the time. Todd declares at the beginning of 2013 that he has "divorced" Katy Perry because he doesn't enjoy her new music. He found himself being very scathing of Perry throughout 2014, but then came crawling back in 2015 to declare Birthday one of his favorite songs of the previous year. Almost like a real couple. But in pop music form.
• Todd's willingness to accept Chris Brown, a person he had previously harshly berated for his infamous assault of Rihanna, back into the pop music world at the beginning of his "Deuces" review. That is of course, before he realizes that "Deuces" is one of the douchebaggiest songs he's ever heard.
• The little spazflail Todd does in the Top 10 Best Hit Songs of 2010 when he realizes he can use the lyrics from "Nothin' On You" to win Obscurus Lupa over. Though it doesn't QUITE work out...
• While filming a scene for the "Give Me Everything" review, Lindsay's pet puppy attempts to chase off Todd after he gets a little too close to Lupa. The three of them find this both hilarious and cute.
• His defense of Michael Vick in his "Turn Up The Music" review saying that unlike Brown, Vick has paid his debt to society, and given how Todd is a huge dog lover, it makes it even more heartwarming for him to defend Vick.
• A record number for Todd in "We Are Young/Somebody That I Used To Know". Then there was the cut other songs in the top 5, but it was nice to see Todd, who's had to put up with songs like "Sexy and I Know It", finally getting a moment of happiness.
  • Subtle one: Todd spent the majority of the review pronouncing Gotye's name wrong (FYI, it's GO-tee-ay), but at the end, after checking out more of his music, Todd finally gets his name right, showing that he's come to really respect, perhaps even LIKE him.
  • Basically the last 5 minutes were one long Crowning Moment of Heartwarming and Awesome.
  • As it turned out, not only did Todd add "Somebody That I Used To Know" to his top list of that year; but he also declared that Gotye should be the next King of Pop. It's a sweet thought and a nice moment of recognizing a great talent in music that needs more love.
• After being hard on two of Flo Rida's songs - "Club Can't Handle Me" and especially "Whistle", seeing "I Cry" on his Best Hit Songs of 2012 list was rather nice of him.
  • Likewise, after how he certainly wasn't nice to Pitbull's "Back in Time", putting "International Love" on his honorable mentions list was also giving some good credit, even if Chris Brown's act in it was disappointing to him.
• Todd warming up to One Republic, saying that they were "off the shit list" (of course, it was at the expense of Imagine Dragons).
• Even though he's pointed out the implications of their music several times, Todd does believe the members of One Direction are genuinely nice people and is glad to see them take over the Teen Idol Crown from Justin Bieber.
• Him relating The Neighborhoods' "Sweater Weather" to putting puppies in sweaters in his Top 10 Best Songs of 2013 was pretty nice in its own way.
• Just how happy he was to talk about his favorite songs of 2013, especially in regards to "#Beautiful", "Suit and Tie", "Treasure", and "Get Lucky".
• Despite his distaste for "All About That Bass," he makes clear that he has nothing but support for its message.
• Even though it becomes a subversion, seeing his enthusiastic support for "Blank Space" is rather nice. And he still holds out hope that the song (officially a parody of Swift's media portrayal) has some honest Reality Subtext about herself, even after her statements call the song a joke.
• Much like how he was happy after talking about the songs from 2013 that he enjoyed so much, after having to endure 2014, a year he considered even worse for music, it was great seeing how thrilled he was to talk about how 2014 had a very happy ending with the song that made the #1 spot on his Best Hit Songs of 2014 list, Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars' "Uptown Funk".
• In his review of "We Are the World 25 for Haiti", he makes it clear that there will be absolutely no jokes about the disaster in Haiti and says that, however narmy they may seem, he has nothing but respect for musicians who try to make a difference with their art. Best summed up with:
  "I will take an insincere display of charity over a genuine display of apathy any day of the week."
• He starts his list of the worst songs of 2015 by saying he didn't actually want to make it, as the new music of the year was such a pleasant surprise after how horrible the last two years were and he just wants to focus on the good stuff.
  • Then, come the best list, he is ecstatic over how enjoyable the music of the year is (especially his top 5), more so than even his happiest best-of lists.
  • Putting "Hello" as an honorable mention on his best list because, while he didn't love the song, he's grateful for the singer and can't understand what humanity did to even deserve an Adele in the first place.
• Todd's speech at the end of the "Black Beatles" review about how important and wonderful The Beatles are. Even after all that's been said about them in the past, it still manages to reinvigorate the love people have for the group.
• Todd's justification for calling "Closer" the best hit song of 2016: in a year as bleak as that one, he needed at least one song that made him happy, no matter how many faults it had. When so many pop songs just reminded him of how bad the world was, this was one of the few that made him happy every time.
  • In fact, the whole goal of the list is to include the year's happier songs as antidote for how awful the year itself was (and how 2017 is looking to be). He even gives honorable mentions to songs he finds kind of lame just because they were at least trying to be happy, and even spared one of his least favorite artists because she was upbeat and at least had a personality.
  • This line:
    In a year where I felt so much older, I wanted a song about not getting older. About two stupid kids in love.
• At the end of his "Something Just Like This" review, it gets to the point where Todd usually has a premature verdict and the song does something to let him down. Instead, it's exactly the opposite - Coldplay including a guitar solo during an EDM drop is enough to make Todd bump his rating up a few notches, leaving the review in high spirits.
• Todd being decent enough to not jump to any conclusions about Taylor Swift's personality and whether or not she's the snake in the grass she's painted as by some. He doesn't care at all about the gossip surrounding her and even says that he leans more toward her side, even if he doesn't care for "Look What You Made Me Do" and didn't buy the Darker and Edgier persona she was pushing.
• During his "Best Songs of 2017" list, Todd admits that while he's never really cared about Katy Perry as a person, he still felt sorry for her since 2017 was a bad year for her career-wise. He uses this as justification for putting "Chained to the Rhythm" on his list, explaining that Perry's bad year, combined with the fact that she's basically pulling a Self-Deprecation with the song, makes it incredibly dark.
• During his review of "God's Plan" by Drake, Todd notes that the opening captions say Drake got one million dollars to create the video, and instead gave most of it away, with the music video showing some of the people Drake gave the money to. Todd notes that the captions also say "don't tell the label", but Drake clearly would have had to get the label's permission to do that with the money. Even so, Todd calls the act of giving away money to people who need it "awesome" and says that "Drake is awesome for doing it", showing that Todd recognizes the generosity involved either way.
• In the "Best Songs of 2018" list, Todd talks about his love of Street Fighter, and how Chun-Li was the perfect pop culture reference for Nicki Minaj to use in the titular song, as they've both been considered the top leading ladies in their respective "games."
  • His reason for putting "Breathin'" by Ariana Grande as his number one pick? Because the song helped him deal with his anxiety.
• "Best of 2019" is probably one of Todd's most heartwarming lists, where he seems genuinely excited about all the fresh new talent and good stuff from already-established artists. He even walks back from some of his comments on Panic! at the Disco, putting "Hey Look Ma, I Made It" on the list and saying Brendon Urie's probably not going to become the new Adam Levine.
  • While Todd still isn't the biggest Post Malone fan, he definitely doesn't hate the guy, and even believes that Post could have a successful career as a folk-pop singer if he really wanted to. Todd also declares that Post's song "Circles" absolutely deserves to be a #1 hit, because it's that good.
  • A minor detail, but Todd uses the proper pronouns for Sam Smith (who came out as non-binary and has been using they/them pronouns since September 2019) when he talks about Smith's single "Dancing with a Stranger" (featuring Normani).
  • Todd once again admits that he feels sympathy for Katy Perry, viewing her as someone who has a lot of regrets about her career. Despite this, he's glad that she was still able to release one last good song in "Never Really Over," flat-out calling it one of the best songs she's ever made; he also admits that he does have a lot of positive memories of Perry's other songs, and he's grateful for that.
  • Todd notes that while DaBaby's song "Intro" is a fairly serious, somber song^note It's about how DaBaby's father passed away right as he was becoming famous, and his dealing with the mixed emotions that come with this, the song's video shows DaBaby yukking it up like he normally does, giving the video an unintentional message: even when bad things happen in your life, nothing is so bad that you can't come out the other side laughing.
  • After spending the entirety of 2019 being noticeably quiet about Billie Eilish, Todd puts "Bad Guy" as his #1 song of 2019, praising both the song itself and how Eilish can effortlessly portray the Teens Are Monsters trope leagues better than others who have tried and failed before her, yet appearing "perfectly wholesome" off the mic.
• From the "Worst Hit Songs of 2020" list, Todd admits that while he put Justin Bieber's "Lonely" on the list, it's primarily because Bieber's performance left the subject behind it something to be desired. Regarding the actual subject, however — Bieber's plea for sympathy as a Former Child Star whose maturation was a turbulent mess partially out of his control — Todd takes it as coming from a genuinely authentic place in Bieber's heart. Despite Todd's past (and present) criticisms, he does feel sorry for the guy for all the pressure and torment he had to endure throughout his life and wished that Bieber was better able to express it.
• The "Best Hit Songs of 2020" features Todd at possibly his most sentimental and nostalgic, as despite how much of a trainwreck 2020 was, he thought the year was still surprisingly great for pop music (so great that apparently songs that would've made it in the top 5 of previous years still didn't make the cut), with many of the entries being tied to positive memories that helped get through it all.

  Todd: I mean, a lot of you might have missed that because as the pandemic scrambled all our brains, habits, and daily routines, I know many people were completely unable to think about music. For me, it was the only thing I could think about. I have many other interests besides music, but after about two months of quarantine [...] I could play video games and listen to music. That was it. Pop music was really there for me this year.

  • With Miley Cyrus' "Midnight Sky" making it at #4, Todd admits that over the years, he realized that while he never really liked her previous work, he actually had a sense of admiration for her in at least being interesting and out-there with her career, culminating in "Midnight Sky" representing a very successful foray into 80s-inspired pop-rock. After a decade of negative-to-lukewarm reactions, Todd almost sounds proud with how Miley finally found a sound she sounds great at.
• Despite his otherwise negative view of the song "Fancy Like", Todd does seem to respect Walker Hayes for his persistence in achieving his success over a long period of time and continuing even after being dropped by two labels and even seems fairly happy to see him achieve such notable success after so long.
• For Todd's "Top 10 Best Songs of 2021" list, he does something a little different: despite liking a lot of mainstream popular songs throughout the year, he never considered them candidates for his best list. So instead, his list has a lot of songs from artists he's not as familiar with (though he does include some more mainstream artists), allowing him to introduce these lesser-known songs and artists to his viewers.
  • Todd reveals that he's excited to hear what else Olivia Rodrigo has to offer, especially once she's finished writing songs about teenage angst. He also notes that, similar to the way he described Ariana Grande, one of Olivia's strengths is that she's both a good singer and a good actress, showcasing her song "Brutal" as an example of how she's capable of not taking herself seriously (which makes sense, since she started out in sitcoms).
  • Todd's number one song of 2021 is "Meet Me at Our Spot" by Willow Smith and her band with her boyfriend Tyler Cole, The Anxiety. Similar to his reaction to "Midnight Sky" the previous year, Todd was pleasantly surprised to learn that Willow Smith of "Whip My Hair" fame has a genuine interest in music, and managed to make a well-crafted song about the optimism for the future that comes from being young.
    Todd: [Willow Smith] is the girl who made fucking "Whip My Hair"; now she's one of the best artists of the year. If she can do it, maybe we all can do it. I mean, granted, we don't all have that Will Smith money coming after us, but if she can go from that to here, maybe there's something better coming for all of us. Dear God, this song's fucking good.
• Todd's #7 on his "Top 10 Best Songs of 2022" list is "About Damn Time" by Lizzo, and while he wastes no time talking about why he loves the song musically and lyrically, he ends the segment by saying why he appreciates Lizzo as an artist:
  Todd: But I think the most amazing thing is that I know Lizzo has down days. Some of her most famous songs she's said she's written to cheer herself up. But I have never once listened to her and thought that she was faking it. That's what makes her such a pick-me-up for everyone. She just believes in herself, and she makes you believe in yourself.
• During Todd's review of Luke Combs's cover of "Fast Car," he initially identifies Tracy Chapman as a lesbian (based on public perception of her), but immediately clarifies that Chapman herself has never publicly revealed her sexuality; therefore, he feels it is not his place to speculate on something she prefers to keep private.
• For the most part, Todd's Best Of 2023 is one of his most positive videos and has several heartwarming moments.
  • While he continues the narrative from his "Worst of 2023" list that the year is probably going to be remembered very unfavorably by historians due to its broader trends, Todd mentions that he actually had a hard time finding much negative to say about the less obvious targets (describing it as realizing while filming the list that he had no #4, so he just adlibbed something about a forgettable David Guetta track). Conversely, he had much more to say about the good stuff of 2023, and was eager to declare that 2024 was starting off on a good note because of it.
  • Todd brings up how in his "Best of 2022" list that after Taylor Swift won him over with "Anti-Hero", he was going to find a way to see her on tour. He actually did, and happily described the experience — as well as Taylor's series of updated recordings — as having massively elevated his opinion on "Cruel Summer".
  • His delight that Usher had a Top Ten hit in 2023.
  "How did we let this man disappear from the pop charts? Absolutely disgraceful. We should all be ashamed."
  • Highlighting "Cupid" by Fifty Fifty over other K-Pop acts because they're underdogs and went all in on just making really good songs as opposed to focusing on their image. Todd really appreciates the "Music First" approach.
  • Becoming increasingly impressed by Sabrina Carpenter, even seeing her live that year.
  • Giving the #1 to Olivia Rodrigo because she just wrote a fun pop-rock song.

One Hit Wonderland episodes

• Really, any time Todd states that a band or artists featured on One Hit Wonderland deserved better. Such as Midnight Oil, where he clarifies that they were more than successful in their native Australia, but deserve a much bigger audience stateside.
  • Sometimes, such as in the case of Cameo and The Buggles, he'll admit that they still deserved better even if they did well outside of their big hit.
• Todd being upset about how the couple from the music video of a-ha's "Take On Me" had their relationship end in the music video of "The Sun Always Shines on TV" due to the comic book sketch person reverting back into a comic book sketch. He really cared about that couple and was upset about how it ended.
• The last minutes of the One Hit Wonderland on "Come On Eileen", when Todd declares the band definitely deserved better.
  Todd: [Dexys Midnight Runners] were just such a strikingly different band from much of the rest of the 80s. I daresay that the entire decade would've been a lot different, and probably for the better, if Dexys had managed to notch a few more hits in this country.
• The end of "Monster Mash", when he asks if Bobby Pickett deserved better:
  Todd: Deserve better?! My God, this guy had one of the most amazing lives I've ever read about! I'd consider myself lucky if I accomplished even a fraction of the things this guy did!
  • The fact that Pickett himself was completely fine with only having one real hit to his name. He did so much after it that he didn't need to feel bad about not being a huge musical star. It's also clear that he genuinely loved "Monster Mash" and how engraved it is in popular culture, to the point that he continued performing it until his death.
• His OHW dedicated to Semisonic's "Closing Time", which was essentially a love letter to a band who had an influence on who he is today.
• The video on "It's Raining Men", where he defends the song as being Narm Charm incarnate, and even manages to make clear that none of his fat jokes about the Weather Girls are anything but good-natured.
• Title card for his "Who Let the Dogs Out" review, which features a smiling Todd surrounded by happy dogs.
  • During the actual video he uses Lindsey's dog, Kali, a couple of times, fussing over her like a father fussing over a baby.
• In his "You Light Up My Life" review, he says that despite his distaste for Debby Boone's music, he thinks that she is one of the nicest people in the world.
• Much like how he grew to admire Pickett despite knowing little about him at first, his newfound adoration of Biz Markie while reviewing "Just a Friend" definitely counts. As technically bad as the song is, Markie himself is just a tremendously lovable teddy bear, and Todd completely goes with it.
  • Especially when he finds some of the other works Biz got involved in. Particularly his addition to Yo Gabba Gabba!.
    Todd: That just makes you proud to be a human being, ya know?
  • Todd's response to whether or not Biz deserved better?
    Todd: Abso-friggin'-lutely. Biz Markie is an original. There's been none like him, and there won't be another like him anytime soon.
• Admitting that he doesn't hate Shawn Mullins' "Lullaby" nearly as much as you'd think given his thoughts on certain similar songs.
• In his OHW episode for "Turning Japanese" by The Vapors, Todd makes it clear that he thinks the fact that the lead singer became a lawyer for the musicians' union, helping other artists out, is actually really cool. He also says that the idea of a former rock star becoming a lawyer to help out the little guy and prevent other musicians from being screwed over by "the man" would make a great TV show.
  Todd: He could be played by James Spader...
• Despite his hatred of the song "Mickey", he clearly has a ton of respect for Toni Basil, from her physicality in the video despite pushing 40 at the time, to the surprising breadth of everything else she's accomplished in her life. When it comes time to decide "Did she deserve better?":
  Todd: I feel like if you asked her, she'd laugh pretty hard at the thought that she actually needed to do "better".
  • Also: chastising the movie Bring It On for using the word "retarded" and stopping himself from saying it accidentally, which is considerate of him.
• While reviewing "Eve of Destruction", he gets into Barry Maguire's move to Christian rock in the '70s, a genre he's been very clear on his utter contempt for. But he actually ends up liking several of Maguire's songs from the era, discovering that back then the music could actually give real messages in an engaging way rather than the bland platitudes it's been reduced to today.
  • When asked if Barry Maguire deserved better, Todd's response is actually respectful.
  "(light hearted laugh) Eh, he's fine."
• Gushing about The Darkness, and how despite being formed as a novelty joke band, they were good enough to make it as a genuine heavy metal act (and he thinks their big mistake in their later work was leaning too far into the parody elements).
• Despite being slightly uncomfortable with its subject matter, Todd gushes about how great "I Touch Myself" is and how talented the Divinyls are. He also sincerely states that he thinks Chrissy Amphlett was a great singer and unrecognized talent when he acknowledges her passing.
  Todd: The Divinyls. They touched themselves. They also touched all of us.
• That Todd is considerate enough to (briefly) tone down his hatred of Christian rock and Jars of Clay's religious music out of respect for the person who requested the review (a pastor) of "Flood". He even sounds almost apologetic when he talks about how he doesn't know much about traditional church music either. It goes into heartwarming when Todd is pleasantly surprised that the song featured actually doesn't have the "lack of edge" that is his main criticism with Christian music, and even when he's disappointed by the band's follow-ups, he still notes that Jars of Clay's songs seem to have a recurring theme of people simply looking for comfort in their belief, as opposed to more arrogant displays of most Christian media he has seen.
  • And then he gets to the part where the band drew ire from their own fans in 2014 when the lead singer stated it was pointless to oppose gay marriage.
• While he originally covered D4L's Laffy Taffy on One Hit Wonderland as a quick episode, when he discovered that one of the defunct group's members, Shawty Lo, died last year, he tried to give some dedication to him before going into Laffy Taffy. After talking about it and their only other charting song, he went more into Shawty Lo's discography, and discovered he was pretty decent as a solo artist after creating his solo album! Considering that he didn't want to talk shit about the guy while the guy was still being mourned, it was quite the nice moment there.
• In his One-Hit Wonderland for "Give It To You" by Jordan Knight, Todd isn't too happy to find that Knight covered "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man" (and ends up hating the cover when it turns out to be a slowed-down ballad instead of the original's Lyrical Dissonance). The heartwarming part is when Todd explains that "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man" is his favorite Prince song, and while he admits that there are a ton of good Prince covers out there, he'd rather this song be left alone because it means too much to him. He then says something that music lovers everywhere can agree with:
  Todd: God, I miss Prince.
  • Todd also reappraises the discography of New Kids on the Block and even though he finds some of it So Bad, It's Good, he actually thinks some of their stuff is genuinely pretty good, and that they were a surprisingly eclectic group. And at the end of the episode, Todd says that Knight absolutely deserved better because, even if he doesn't really care for a lot of his music, he admits that he's a talented guy who proved surprisingly influential for the future of a good chunk of pop music.
• The "Scatman" episode of One Hit Wonderland has a few. It brings to mind the fondness Todd developed in the Biz Markie review, as by the end, Scatman John's sheer likability completely won him over.
  • Todd pointing out that he enjoys doing request episodes, because they expose him to music that he wouldn't have heard otherwise.
    Todd: But I am glad that I got this one for a request, because the Scatman's story and music is just heartwarmingly wonderful.
  • Pointing out that Scatman John was "cheesy" but also sincere. The song is essentially a message song about Scatman John overcoming his stutter.
    Todd: He wants to make the world a better place, and who can deny that?
  • After pointing out that Scatman John collapsed at a concert and died of lung cancer, Todd points out that Scatman John was "inspiring" for how he managed to capitalize on musical success so late in life. When asked if he deserved better, Todd has this to say:
    Todd: Yes. Definitely. Abso-skibbity-dibbity-lutely. This was just a stupid novelty song to me before I did this episode. And now, it is a song from one of my favorite artists I've ever covered here. I feel nothing but happiness listening to this.
• The first half of his review on The Calling is a looooong tear against the band and their hit "Wherever You Will Go", the disdain for which he makes very clear in describing them as born out of nepotism and insipid songwriting clichés. Then the second half hits — Todd admits that after getting everything out of his system, he still does manage to have some level of affection for the song, if only because of those four chords, and even gives it some credit upon learning it wasn't written about a breakup as he previously believed, but mourning the death of a loved one. The rest of the episode sees Todd overall going much softer on the band, making it clear he still doesn't like them, but understanding why they got big, if only for a moment. Todd considers them decent musicians who are ready for the primetime on a technical level, and that Alex Band (even if Todd doesn't like his style of singing) is clearly giving it his all, overall giving an impression that Todd is personally disappointed that they didn't have the songwriting chops or artistic freedom to back it up or sustain further success.
• It may be a little backhanded, but after covering the career of S Club 7, he concludes that, despite not liking them overall, they had better and catchier songs that were more worthy of being bigger hits than "Never Had a Dream Come True" (their only hit in America), and that they deserved better "the same way every child star deserves better than to be ground up and spit out by the pop machine".
  • In the same video, his rant defending Hanson after S Club 7 took a swipe at them on their TV show.
• Todd mentions in the review of "You Get What You Give" by the New Radicals that it's one of the few songs that makes him wanna get up and dance, and he doesn't dance. Just before the credits, he gets up and does just that, and there's just something so honest and wonderful about it.
  • All of the most recent comments for the songs music video are Todd fans who are listening to the song in full and AGREEING that it's an amazing song.
• Reviews where he has blatant, overwhelming affection for the song in question are always fun. Besides "You Get What You Give" above, his enthusiasm for "Jump Around" (which he foreshadowed as far back as 2011, when he mentioned in his Q&A that it was his favorite one-hit wonder and he can rap the first verse in under thirty seconds - which he does in the review, and well) is very infectious.
  • Happens again with his review of Modern English's "I Melt with You," which he states upfront is probably one of his all-time favorite songs. He spends most of the review excitedly analyzing why it's so good, and even when he finds most of the group's post-"I Melt with You" discography underwhelming, he still says they deserve better than they got (especially since their one "hit" never even cracked the Top 40).
  • And with this review of "Your Woman" by White Town where Todd gives extensive praise for the lyrics and song structure and notes how it hasn't aged a day since it's debut, even getting the attention and praise of Jyoti Mishra himself for his analysis. Really, anytime Todd genuinely likes the songs he covers and respects the people involved, it's sweet to see.
• His review of "I Love College" doubles as a ten-year anniversary special. While he's tongue-in-cheek for part of it, he also acknowledges how grateful he is to have fans and make a living doing what he's doing, and thanks his supporters for sticking around at the end. It also allows him to look at the song in question slightly more warmly, as he relates to Asher Roth's nostalgically looking back at the good old days.
• Todd's resurrection of the One Hit Wonderland "Spooktacular Edition" for Halloween 2020. In a year full of chaos, the return to an old tradition was a welcome surprise. (The song's subject matter, not so much.)
• After reviewing "I Know What Boys Like" by The Waitresses for One Hit Wonderland ^note and "Christmas Wrapping", but anyway, band leader Chris Butler reached out to Todd on Twitter and asked him where he got footage of one of the band's TV appearances. It turned out to not be the footage he was looking for, but it was sweet that the song's actual writer reached out.
• While Todd doesn't like "Disco Duck", he doesn't hate Rick Dees as a person or begrudge him being able to spin it into a 40-plus-year career in radio.
• Todd praises The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus for "Face Down". While admitting the song is just okay to him, Todd appreciates the fact that the song is a no-holds-barred insult towards domestic abusers that justifies sounding so angry, which makes it better in Todd's eyes compared to whiny self-indulgence that pop punk is sometimes known for. Todd also mentions how the band got hundreds of letters from people explaining that the song helped them leave their abusive partners while also doing anti-domestic violence PSAs, which makes Todd drop his sarcasm and say that it was a genuinely good thing for them to do and becomes noticeably more sober and sympathetic when discussing how the song came from the brothers' own experience growing up in an abusive household. At the end of the episode, he says that for all the good the band did with the song, maybe The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus did deserve a little better, in spite of not liking most of their other songs.
  • Todd also takes the time to mention that RJA have been very warm and accepting of their LGBT fans, in sharp contrast to a lot of other Christian bands.
  • As gathered from some band interviews Todd found, RJA seemed to be aware of the possibility of becoming "one hit wonders", and that was exactly why they pushed for "Face Down" to be released as the lead single from their debut album - if they were only going to have one song enter the public consciousness, they felt it should be something that raised awareness of an important social issue and might have some positive impact.
• Although not to the extent of Bobby "Boris" Pickett and Scatman John, Todd ultimately concludes that he respects Lou Bega for his tenacity at spending decades making one very specific thing (mambo/pop/rap songs about loving the ladies) and having a lot of fun doing it, especially since he retired for a few years to escape "Mambo No. 5" and then came back to it on his own terms once the hype had finally died down.
• Todd clearly respects Mr. Big for not only getting a hair metal hit in 1992, after Grunge exploded on to the scene, but surviving through out the nineties and seems happy that they have found massive success in Japan. He also gives praise to singer Eric Martin, noting that he commits to "To Be With You" and makes it sincere and charming in sharp contrast to the many other metal ballads which are just tedious. He even closes the review saying that the band were the last hair metal band to reach that level of success and "made for a good send-off to the genre".
• Todd's response to the question of whether Los del Río deserved better:
  Todd: Can you imagine being these guys and being unsatisfied with what life has brought you? I'm pretty sure Los del Río are pretty happy with being the guys who conquered the fucking world in 1996. They were hard-working musicians who played for decades, built up a solid living, and for one moment had the biggest song in the universe. I can not imagine they are anything but proud of every second of their careers, their biggest hit naturally included.
  • Todd also makes clear the song's popularity was in no small part to it just being very catchy, enjoyable and well-produced with it's fantastic rhythm and the vocal performance of the female singer.
• Todd notes that Jyoti Mishra, the One-Man Band behind White Town’s “Your Woman,” is in fact active on YouTube and social media, and therefore has a strong chance of seeing Todd’s review. Knowing that, Todd makes sure to personally thank Mishra for creating such an awesome, remarkably ahead-of-its-time song (which he’s already spent most of the review praising as a timeless tune that effectively pioneered the Bedroom Pop sound that rules the charts today), and commending him for still consistently making music even after his label screwed him over by basically ignoring him and his follow-ups didn’t match “Your Woman”’s success. Sure enough, not only did Mishra quickly appear in the comments, thanking and praising Todd for his review, but Mishra can also be found replying to other commenters and answering questions, in a nice bit of internet wholesomeness, and he even updated the original music video's description on YouTube to reference Todd's video.
  Jyoti Mishra: THANK YOU, Todd, I'm honoured you did my song and I love how you explained everything. 😀 LLAP! 🖖
• The episode on Frankie Goes to Hollywood ends with Todd earnestly praising Holly's decision to live openly after getting his HIV diagnosis, to use what he thought was his limited time to show the world that people with the disease could still lead happy lives, even if he ended up living well into the present. Todd then proceeds to say that the band deserves more Americans to be aware of their work outside of "Relax" and is happy to see them performing to great acclaim just the previous year.

Cinemadonna

• While reviewing Dick Tracy, he pauses in his bashing of the film to note that in the middle of all the crappiness, Madonna herself is a shining beacon of talent and gives easily the best performance of her acting career.
• A similar moment happens in his review of Evita. While noting the film is an extremely mixed bag, feeling that Madonna's performance is also occasionally inconsistent, Todd almost sounds proud to announce that the parts that work from her really work, not just in her singing, but even in subtler moments like in Evita's reaction when she learns that she's dying.
  Todd: My god, I... I feel... moved. I don't know how to deal with this...
• Literally the one good thing he has to say about The Next Best Thing is how great it is to see a film made in 2000 that takes the issues faced by homosexuals seriously and portrays a gay man as a loving father.
• This bit from his review of I'm Going to Tell You a Secret:
  "I say this, Madonna, if you're listening, your children are adorable."

Trainwreckords

• The episode on MC Hammer's The Funky Headhunter isn't quite as negative as one would expect, considering Hammer's modern reputation, with Todd going out of his way to point out all the very real strengths Hammer did possess as an entertainer. The entire thesis statement of the album trying to set Hammer on a Darker and Edgier "gangsta" path is just woefully misguided from the get-go, but Todd actually finds quite a bit to like about it ("Pumps And A Bump" is Todd's favorite Hammer song, the production is top-notch for the time, Hammer's at his best as a rapper). He finally closes on how, while MC Hammer has been relegated to being something of a joke in the modern day, there is still ultimately a lot of affection for the man regardless.
• The episode on The Clash's Cut the Crap ends on a rather sweet note; The song "We Are The Clash" was taken by critics as a pathetic attempt by the new line-up to establish their cred, but Joe Strummer says that wasn't his intention at all. What he hoped to convey is that all the fans are just as important to The Clash, if not more so.
  "It's almost un-punk how heartwarming that is, but since The Clash's music has proved to be so enduring, I think it's kind of true."
  • While The Clash never being capable of reuniting due to Joe Strummer passing away so suddenly is pretty sad, the fact he and Mick Jones did at least make up and even played together a few times before Strummer's death does keep it from being a full-on Downer Ending.
• While he spends a lot of the Trainwreckords episode on Funstyle criticizing Liz Phair's hollow commentary on the record industry and misguided belief that her bizarre riffs on pop songs would actually be hits, he does take the time to defend her more well-known, critically-maligned 2003 self-titled album. Although he's received many requests for it, he says he'll never discuss it because regardless of it actually being the most successful album of her career, he also thinks it isn't that bad and enjoys some of the songs from it.
• As much as he dislikes St. Anger, he concludes that it served its primary purpose of preventing Metallica from completely falling apart, and gives it credit for that.
  Todd: They were going through therapy, and St. Anger seems like it was also a therapy session. And like most therapy sessions, it should have stayed private, but it was cathartic and it was necessary. St. Anger, for all its faults, kept them together long enough to survive, to keep kicking ass on tour, and performing and recording new music afterwards that, even if it isn't exactly as good as the classics, it's at least good enough to keep them from being total embarrassments.
• The review on Carpenters' Passage has Todd not call it a terrible album, but mainly just odd, and mostly chalks up the "trainwreck" as some odd directions that Richard and Karen Carpenter took. He even found himself adoring their cover of "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft". Considering how soft and schmaltzy their music is and how much critical bashing they took for that during their heyday, it's nice that Todd has a palpable respect for Karen's and Richard's talents (important, since Richard often gets the short end of the stick by critics and fans). Todd closes the video with this downright adorable sentiment that echoes how much all Carpenters fans wish Karen were still with us:
  Todd: But you know what? Tonight, I'm gonna pull out this album, and I'll look at the stars, and I'll imagine that, somewhere, some way, Karen Carpenter's up there, in a giant flying saucer, also enjoying this ridiculous but somewhat wonderful piece of music she made. I wish you a good night, and a happy World Contact Day to you all.
• Long time viewers are well aware of Todd's mixed feelings about Katy Perry, feeling that purposefully making vapidity and bad taste her brand had the side effect of making her hard to relate to and didn't cultivate a dedicated fanbase the way Lady Gaga or Taylor Swift did. But after thoroughly dissecting her failed album Witness, Todd admits it had one positive side-effect; it made him care about Katy Perry as a person. Todd held off reviewing Witness because he wasn't sure he was ready to call time on Katy's relevance as a pop star, but he also heavily implies that he's now sincerely rooting for Katy to make a comeback.
  ...Good luck, Katy.
• Will Smith's Lost & Found ended the Fresh Prince's rap career on a bitter note, with the man feeling like the hip-hop community never gave him his due. But Todd acknowledges that Will Smith being more open about his personal life in recent years has made people appreciate him more as a person and not just as a superstar. Todd even noticed that after Lost & Found, Will started taking Darker and Edgier roles to maybe help express this pain inside himself. And in 2020, Joyner Lucas wrote a tribute that Will Smith found genuinely touching, going as far to jump on the remix and record music again for the first time in over a decade.
  Todd: If that kind of openness is what you're into, then on Lost & Found you'll hear this man bleed.
• As bad as the end result may have been, the genesis of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's American Dream was that Neil Young only agreed to do another album with the three if David Crosby, at the time on a wild decade-long bender of drugs and jail time, could manage to sober up and get his life together. In an amazing turn of events, he did. As Todd makes clear, Neil was notorious for suddenly quitting CSN with little to no warning, and could've easily gone back on a promise made when it seemed unlikely Crosby would be alive for much longer — but, as a testament to the strange friendship between two men who absolutely can't stand each other, he didn't. Some comments even give testimony of having revisited the review after Crosby's death in 2023, and stating that it ultimately didn't matter if the album ended up being a "trainwreckord" if it was the reason Crosby got 35 years more of life.
• When discussing "Crown Royal" by Run–D.M.C. while he doesn't relent on how bad it is, Todd also doesn't downplay just how important they were and still are to the rap game and to music in general with many "first" to their names. If anything, especially after Jam Master Jay's murder in 2002, he laments that such a legendary group deserved better than their last album going down as such a bomb.
  • There's a lyric where Reverend Run quotes a line from "Peter Piper" back in 1986, and Todd jumps right in to finish the lyric for him like an excited fanboy. It's a nice way to remind the audience that no matter how botched Crown Royal turned out to be, this is still Run–D.M.C..
• At the end of the episode on Ringo the 4th, Todd talks briefly about a concert of the All-Starr Band that he went to, shortly before making the episode, and how he noticed that today, Ringo looked just happy to do what he's doing now, just singing and playing the drums with his bandmates and not really caring about how relevant he is. Which is a pretty sweet note to end on.
• It's a minor thing, but while he starts the review of Nickelback's No Fixed Address claiming he still finds them as horrible as he did 20 years ago, as the review goes on, he builds up a bit of sympathy for his old arch-enemies, and finds it in his heart to give them their flowers as a band far more versatile than their reputation suggests and doesn't begrudge them getting a reappraisal and even admits the backlash was overblown for a band whose only crime was making popular music many people didn't like. Too bad that same willingness to diversify came back to haunt them.

Everything Else

• Most, if not all, of his Magfest 2011 Vlog, where he meekly thanks his fans and all the reviewers he met while there. It almost seemed like he was close to tearing up half the time. Aw.
• The end of his joint review of Head with Pushing Up Roses and Paw Dugan, where they sing "Daydream Believer" while Todd plays it on his keyboard. It really cements the image of the TGWTG Team being one giant group of True Companions.
• In his "Ask Todd In The Shadows" thread, when asked if he likes hugs, he proclaimed himself an "epic hugger". Aw...
• After Lupa declared on her Twitter that she felt worthless and insignificant, Todd replied: "Yeah, you matter to a lot of people. Whatever else you worry about, don't worry about that." So sweet, especially considering Todd's on-camera relationship with Lupa.
• Also from Twitter, is his tweets from on his birthday. He references his sad birthday shown in the Hannah Montana video and says how loved and happy he is this year. He just seems so... very happy with life. Also extra sweet since in-character Todd seems quite a depressed fellow.
  • And after that, any time he mentioned his relationship (even more when she tweets...)
• After gay marriage equality passed in New York, Todd tweeted, "Gay marriage passed in NY. Against my better instincts, I'm throwing "Born This Way" onto the stereo." And then, immediately after, "And you know what, f**k it, I'm gonna throw it on a second time." Nice to see Todd will be supportive with a song he must be warming up to.
• In the Vlog for Captain America: The First Avenger, there's a few times when Todd strokes Lindsay's back and shoulder. It's so sweet, especially with how happy and relaxed in general he looks.
• There's a line in his Glitter review about pretty girls who can sing and live in New York. Apply a bit of Reality Subtext and it's fairly clear who he's talking about.
• This is possibly the most adorable moment between Lindsay and Todd yet. She's sitting at his keyboard, sounding like Beaker doing "Party Rock Anthem".^note She's recording it for the Party Rock Anthem review. Todd is suggesting that the hook is better than the chorus by showing Beaker singing it. He puts the audio over the footage from The Muppet Show shown in the Rickroll "Hilarious Muppet Bloopers".
  • Listen closely at the end, he calls her "babydoll"!
  • He and Lindsay, out of character, review Les Misérables (2012). Lindsay says that everyone should read the book. He says "I've heard that... a lot!" It's obvious that his teasing Lindsay for her love of the book is affectionate, which is further supported by a kiss on her forehead.
• Todd made a tweet about how he finds that dogs are made of love. While it could be applied to most dogs, it's most likely he's referring to Lindsay's Boston terrier.
• In several tweets, he has referred to Lindsay's dog Kali as his own. They're officially a couple now.
  • Todd often brings up Kali's small size as a thing to admire/ponder on Twitter. Which can be seen as either really cute, or really creepy. Possibly even both.
• Sometime in 2014, Todd contracted MRSA again and it appears as though he could have persister bacteria, meaning he could get MRSA over and over again. He asked his title card artist on Twitter if he was going to die and his fans flocked to support him when it seemed like he was genuinely terrified about what might happen to him.
• His tweet early in 2015 where he states he already has 3 songs contending for the best song of 2015, followed by "I love music". It's nice to see that he is enjoying pop music again after the terrible years 2013 and 2014.
• On Todd's Twitter, for a few weeks he had some mysterious tweets regarding an "Amy". Well, wonder no longer.
  • Todd quickly grew to love Amy so much that his Twitter quickly became 140-character existential crises pondering the nature of dogs, whether or not Amy realized she was a dog, why he loved Amy so much when she, as a dog, could never fully comprehend his love, and so forth. He also now posts pictures Amy and Lindsay's dog Kali on play-dates.
• Although Lindsay posted a blog offhandedly mentioning that she and Todd were no longer together, it's very clear that this hasn't affected their friendship.
• Todd thinking that the 2017 total eclipse is how David Bowie, Chris Cornell, and Chester Bennington tell the world they're still watching over us and want us to be happy.

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