Todd In The Shadows Thread

@3197: I'm not a patron. I accidentally spoiled myself for the worst list by looking at the Funny and WMG sub-pages. That was a mistake I was sure not to make for this list.

It was a nice top 10. I didn't know #2, and I think it will make my "songs I listen to while working" Youtube list.

A few thoughts:

10. A reasonable opinion for him to have, as I also enjoy the song more than I rate it. It's definitely a lot more listenable than most songs that get a WTF reaction.

8. Seriously? Rob Schneider? I did not know that.

7. This isn't the first time his Worst List bumper made a Best List. That honor goes to Cee Lo Green... a year delayed, admittedly.

5. Mutter grumble "Say Say Say" was a hit a year after "Ebony & Ivory"...

3. I don't have "And We Danced" on album, but I do have "Day By Day", another Hooters single. And I am happy to say that I knew which song he was bringing up as soon as he mentioned the Hooters.

1. I never got into this one, but I blame myself for not really paying attention to the verses, which seem to have most of the aspects he loves about it.

edited 29th Jan '16 10:44:59 AM by FalconPain

I loved this list, but it just reminds me of how much I wished he did more positive reviews.

Musically I prefer his 2014 list to this one.

Just wanna make quick mention:

Last year, I was utterly baffled by the complete absence of "Am I Wrong" by Nico & Vinz. No place on either the list proper or the Honorable Mentions, and I was surprised because it's not often that a pop song really sticks with me like that one.

This year, I have similar feelings for two songs: "On My Mind" by Ellie Goulding and "Here" by Alessia Cara. The latter of the two I stand behind probably stronger than even "Am I Wrong" above.

Holyyyyy shiiiiit.

That divisive Macklemore single? The Weeknd? Paul Mc Cartney? Major Lazer? Demi Lovato? TWO TAYLOR SWIFT SONGS? Man, did not expect half the entries on this list. I honestly should have seen number one coming, but I thought he shrugged off everything else Swift after "Wildest Dreams". Bah.

The only one I haven't listened to is Number 7, Big Sean is... uh... not radio-friendly, especially for a conservative nation like Singapore >___>

Also, No "Cheerleader" in Honourable Mentions? :|

edited 29th Jan '16 5:14:37 PM by Pachylad

I kinda saw #6 and #4 coming. #3 was an obvious choice.

Before talking about each song individually, I do want to point out that four of his top ten songs were produced by Max Martin, including the #1 pick. Just something I felt was interesting.

That guy sure dominated last year.

edited 29th Jan '16 5:37:53 PM by BurntMario

He did off-handedly mention in a previous video that he found 'Cheerleader' to be boring. I forget which one, though.

Thank you.

edited 29th Jan '16 5:38:50 PM by TheHeroHartmut

It was his review of "The Hills."

He mentioned on Twitter recently he'd give it 6/10 so he doesn't hate it or anything. Guess it doesn't do anything for him.

As for his #2 pick, definitely didn't expect it. I could've sworn he said something negative about it on Twitter recently, but I went back and realized it was just intentionally misleading. Which is good by me, I love that song.

A part of me expected #2 to be somewhere on the list or maybe just an honorable mention. I didn't think it'd end up so high. I want to think that it wound up where it is because it's essentially a Katy Perry song without Katy Perry, so Todd can listen to it without guilt.

Dang, but understandable about "Cheerleader". Also surprised by #2 being so high. Obligatory link to one of the best reviews I've seen of "Four Five Seconds" BTW:

Sees Number 1

-Stromtrooper voice-

TRAITOR!

___

Number 3's reasoning is best... We need more songs like that.

Man That JB high praise

edited 29th Jan '16 9:29:24 PM by FrozenWolf2

I got to say his #3 is probably my song of the year.

7 was the only song that I didn't call being on the list in some fashion, and all of my favorite songs of the year were represented. I am surprised nonetheless that Ex's and Oh's made it, because as much as I adore it, I just didn't think Todd would go for it. And yet he did, for most of the same reasons I like it.

Was also surprised by #2's high position, I was sure it was going to be an honorary mention as of #4 or so.

Watched this with some friends via a simulwatch site, and one of them immediately went to check out #8 and its artist on the strength of the review.

edited 30th Jan '16 9:02:53 AM by TheEvilDrBolty

I'm of the same opinion. Of his top 10 (none of which I've heard before, besides #7, and I don't remember how that happened), #8 is definitely the one I like the most, due to that kind of sound being just the kind of thing I like. #3 and #2 are good too.

This best part of the list, for me, was a reminder of that Carly Rae song. That song makes me incredibly happy.

Pretty much that entire album makes me happy. Can't believe it wasn't bigger than it was.

As for the list, I expected 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, and 1 to be there, though not necessarily in that order (I had a feeling Style was going to be #1, though). 10, 2, and 7 were unexpected but not surprising, and I was really taken off guard by 9. I like it fine, but I didn't think he'd have two Swift songs there. Was surprised by him not mentioning any one of On My Mind, Drag Me Down, Chains, Budapest, or Waves.

EDIT: Whoops, must've missed that. I'll keep it there.

edited 30th Jan '16 8:43:12 PM by achilles_heel

That third one in your bottom list was an honorable mention for the worst list.

I'm gonna be honest, I have never heard half of the songs on that list. Hell, I haven't even heard anyone talking about them anywhere, especially pretty much all of the songs out of 10-5. I didn't even know that one person who did "Exes and Ohs" existed, forget knowing (or not) that she's Rob Schneider's daughter (didn't even know he was married or had a kid). I have nothing against the songs, but I have no experience with them so I can't really judge. Never even heard that lower-ranked Taylor Swift song.

As for "Style" I only ever heard it once on the radio early last year and never again. I actually kinda liked it, but I never really thought to seek it out.

I've heard of or heard most of these from following other people who talk about pop music on a more regular basis, and while the songs and performances at the core of most of these are great, dear god, excessive compression really is the production norm now, isn't it? About half of the songs on the list avoid it—"Can't Feel My Face" sounds particularly great—but the top three, while all well-performed, fun, intense songs, are really taken down a notch by their production ethos, which seems to be "NO BREATHING ROOM JUST MAKE IT LOUD FOR THE CLUB." Which is ironic given that the single real no-bones club track on the list avoids that issue entirely.

Compression can be used artfully; Sia's "Chandelier" uses it wonderfully, I think. But so many pop producers seem to think that just soaking their songs in it will make them punchier by default when it just as often saps them of real power and depth. Guuuhhhhh.

The thing I "love" is when on the radio they take a song that originally had excellent dynamics and either compress it or somehow screw with that so everything is blandly the same. I'll never forget the time I heard Green Day's "Longview" on the radio and as soon as it got to the chorus, the volume of the song immediately lowered by like 5 decibels, so either they really bumped up the quiet portions, softened the louds, or compressed the shit out of it.

I once heard that same thing done with Linkin Park's "What I've Done". The point where the guitar and drums come in got quieter than the piano intro.