History ToddInTheShadows / QToS

This page covers tropes in ''WebVideo/ToddInTheShadows''.

[[ToddInTheShadows/AToC Tropes A To C]] | [[ToddInTheShadows/DToF Tropes D to F]] | [[ToddInTheShadows/GToI Tropes G to I]] | [[ToddInTheShadows/JToM Tropes J to M]] | [[ToddInTheShadows/NToP Tropes N to P]] | '''Tropes Q to S''' | [[ToddInTheShadows/TToV Tropes T to V]] | [[ToddInTheShadows/WToZ Tropes W to Z]]

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* QuestionableConsent: Brought up in the "Blurred Lines" video when he's describing the controversy surrounding the song. Years after the fact, he says that while the initial description of it as a "rape anthem" might be over the top, he can't blame anyone if the song reminds them of "every pushy asshole who wouldn't leave them alone at the bar."
* TheQuisling: Played with when Todd mentions that with Music/{{Lorde}} taking over the charts in 2013, and Kimbra assisting Music/{{Gotye}} the year before, Todd figures he'll help the viewers understand our "Kiwi-driven future" by covering the OneHitWonder group OMC and their 1997 smash hit "How Bizarre."
* RageBreakingPoint:
** Happens in "Sexy and I Know It", after several minutes of Deep Lyrical Analysis. After going into depth about why he doesn't like the song -- comparing it to "I'm Too Sexy" by Right Said Fred, and how that song pulled off the same thing that "Sexy and I Know It" couldn't -- Todd drops all of the analysis and says that "[[ShapedLikeItself it sucks because it sucks]]".
** During his Top 10 Songs of 2020, his recap of Lil Baby's "The Bigger Picture" escalated to the point that viewers speculated that his scream of anguish was unscripted.
--->'''Todd:''' Every fuckin' thing that happened these last few years, including this last week where I was supposed to be trying to make this god damn video, but I kept ''getting distracted by more horrible fucking news! THIS SHIT FUCKIN' SUCKS, '''AND IT'S GOTTA FUCKIN' STOP!!!'''''
* RatedGForGangsta: Todd notes that Far*East Movement defines "poppin' bottles in the crib" as "gangsta". He then proceeds to demonstrate by unscrewing the cap of a liquor bottle, which is accompanied by the caption "[=STRAIGHT UP THUGGIN'=]" and the chorus of Music/{{NWA}}'s "Gangsta Gangsta".
* ReadingsBlewUpTheScale: He implements a "Douche-O-Meter" to analyze the lyrics of ''Music/JustinBieber'''s "Sorry." It ended up breaking after the first line, or so Todd thought.
-->'''Justin:''' You gotta go and get angry at all of my honesty. [METER REACHES 100% AND CRACKS]\\
'''Todd:''' Th-the Douche-O-Meter's busted. He broke the scale with the first line!\\
'''Justin:''' I'll take every single piece of the blame if you want me too, but you know that there is no innocent one in this game for two. [METER REACHES 10000% AND BLOWS UP]\\
'''Todd:''' Wha-I-I thought it was.. brok... the Douche-O-Meter wasn't even on!
* RealLifeWritesThePlot:
** A minor occurrence: The "[[NoodleIncident DL Incident]]" referenced in "Like A [=G6=]" actually happened.
** Todd alludes to the 2014 Polar Vortex as the main reason why Neighborhood's "Sweater Weather" made his Top 10 Best Songs of 2013.
** In the "Sweetest Pie" review, he noted that he considered scrapping the video until the [[UsefulNotes/AcademyAward Academy Awards]] happened, and he saw the craziest thing that happened that night... "besides [[Creator/WillSmith the other thing]]", alluding to Music/MeganTheeStallion's verse in the Oscars performance for "[[WesternAnimation/{{Encanto}} We Don't Talk About Bruno]]". Following that, "the other thing" would be the primary reasoning for why he decided to cover the person in question on ''Trainwreckords'' immediately after.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech
** He gives Mike Posner one of these during his review of "Cooler Than Me", saying that Posner comes across as insufferably smug in the song, and yet him trying to win back the girl he's singing the song to somehow makes him even more pathetic.
** Todd's "Deep Lyrical Analysis" of LMFAO's "Sexy and I Know It" breaks down into one of these. Even though the Deep Lyrical Analysis gives some insightful critique, Todd can't keep it up and just starts yelling about how the song "sucks because it sucks," refusing to go any further.
** The "Turn Up the Music" review is essentially a 14-minute speech directed towards Chris Brown about how Chris Brown is wholly unlikeable, how he's shown no remorse for beating up Rihanna in a way that just makes him look even worse, and how he's nowhere near talented enough to get all of the cult-like worship he gets from his fans in Team Breezy. Todd barely even touches on the song itself during the "review," essentially just using the whole video to rant at Chris Brown for a while.
** "The Top 10 Worst Songs of 1991" has his reaction to Music/BryanAdams requesting [=AllMusic=] to get rid of all information about him:
--->'''Todd:''' He threatened to sue [=AllMusic=].com unless every bit of information about him was erased. They're a reference publication; that's like suing the dictionary! They didn't have to just delete negative reviews, they can't even list basic information like his name or his albums! Rock stars have been assholes since the dawn of time, but I have never heard of artists using their power to bully critics into erasing reviews! This offends me on a level I didn't even realize I was capable of!
** In the "7 Years" review, once he hears the part with the crowd chanting "LUKAS GRAHAM!!!" he goes on one of these and even points out how he named the band AND both of their albums "Lukas Graham".
--->'''Todd:''' EAT MY BALLS, you raging egomaniac! "Oh, I don't care about glory, so in the middle of my song about aging, I'm gonna insert the sound of a roaring crowd screaming my name"! "Oh, fame. How boring." Bullshit! I knew you were lying about that because you named the band after yourself! Why would you even do that? Like, if you're the guitarist or something, that'd make sense so you don't get overlooked, but you're already the goddamn frontman! Were you not getting enough attention? It doesn't even sound like the name of a group of people. It sounds like you're trying to trick people into thinking that the other guys don't exist. Like, at least the name "The Dave Matthews Band" lets you know that it's a band. But no, it's not enough that Lukas Graham named his band Lukas Graham, he also has to have a crowd shout "Lukas Graham", on his song from the album, Lukas Graham. Not to be confused with their previous album named, no joke, Lukas Graham. I'm surprised the name of this song isn't "Lukas Graham."
** In "Top Ten Worst Hit Songs of 2019 (Pt. 2)", he gives one to Lewis Capaldi:
-->'''Todd:''' When I said in the intro that no-one was brave enough to really suck, Capaldi was the exception. He threw himself into utterly, transparently sucking with unrestrained gusto. Lewis Capaldi sings like a cross between Creator/GilbertGottfried and an angry Velociraptor. Lewis Capaldi writes lyrics with the same care as a bathroom graffiti artist writing dirty limericks. Lewis Capaldi is bad at music in a way that suggests he only recently found out what it even is. He is one of the most purely talentless artists of the 2010s, and he tries to mask it with self-deprecation, like how his album's named "Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent". Ha ha ha, it's funny 'cause it's true.
** The "Fancy Like" review opens with Todd discussing why he listened to so much more country music in 2020 than in years past, to the point that a country song ("More Than My Hometown" by Music/MorganWallen) was his year-end favorite. Then, only weeks later, Wallen was caught on-camera using the N-word, which opened the floodgates on discussions pertaining to racism in country. Naturally, Todd does not take this well, and launches into a tirade against Wallen for his actions.
* RecordNeedleScratch: When the innuendo of "Suit & Tie" dawns on Todd.
-->'''Justin Timberlake:''' Oooh, so thick/ Now I know why they call it a fatty--\\
[=*scratch*=]\\
''(Todd thinks for a moment)''\\
'''Todd:''' Did... Are you talking about her ''ass?!''
** Used again in the Top Ten Worst Songs of 2014 (Part 1):
--->'''5 Seconds of Summer:''' She looks so perfect standing there / in my [[ProductPlacement American Apparel underwear]]...\\
[=*scratch*=] \\
'''Todd:''' I'm sorry. I believe I just heard a lyric so bad that it made my ''digital internet video'' make a ''record scratch noise'' [[LampshadeHanging somehow]].
** {{Lampshaded}} in his review of "Closer" by Music/TheChainsmokers.
--->'''Todd:''' [retrieves and slips a vinyl record back into its case] Sorry. I-I do keep an actual record player down here for uh, for when I need that sound.
** By his 2021 "Astronaut in the Ocean" review, Todd simply puts the record back into its slipcase while not even stopping to acknowledge it.
* RecurringCharacter: Due to the nature of the pop charts and the music industry, many artists have been featured multiple times, including but not limited to Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift, Ke$ha, Jay Sean, Lil Wayne, the Black Eyed Peas, Music/BrunoMars, Music/KatyPerry, and Music/LadyGaga.
* RecycledInSpace: In the Worst Pop Songs of 2012 list, he calls Music/HunterHayes "country Music/JustinBieber".
* RedHerring:
** In his review of "Fifteen" by Taylor Swift, he tells a very sad story about how when he was fifteen, his girlfriend started acting strangely, before breaking up with him at the school dance. Then he reveals that it didn't happen to him, it happened to Zach from ''Series/SavedByTheBell''. Todd uses it to make a point about how "Fifteen" doesn't work as a song, because instead of having the listener feel bad for Taylor, it's instead a song about Taylor telling the listener to feel bad for someone else, which deadens the emotional impact.[[spoiler:Subverted later on, as he mentions in the Blip intro to the review that most of what he described ''did'' happen to him]].
** In two of his "Top Ten Worst Songs" lists to date, he starts a diatribe that leads to an easily mocked song by an easily mocked artist... and then reveals that he ''likes'' the song in question. 2009 has the Black Eyed Peas' "I Gotta Feeling" and 1987 has Starship's "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now". He also [[SayMyName curses the name of]] Music/BarryManilow in his 1976 list before revealing that he really has nothing against the guy.
** In his "Best Songs of 2010" list, when he reaches #5, he plays Katy Perry's "California Gurls" before tiredly laughing it away and ranting about how much he hates her... and yet keeps finding songs of hers that he likes. After listing a number of them, including begrudgingly not being able to hate "California Gurls" despite its many flaws, he gets into his song of choice, "Teenage Dream". [[spoiler:And then "California Gurls" turns out to be #2]].
** His [[CrossOver ill-fated attempt]] to review "What's My Name" by Rihanna and Drake.
** While reviewing Rihanna's "S&M", he comes to the conclusion that the reason he likes it is because it samples Music/DepecheMode... And then remembers that he doesn't care for Depeche Mode either.
** For his 2012 Top 10 Best Pop Songs list, Todd brags about not having a Katy Perry song on his list for the first time. [[spoiler: Ke$ha's Die Young is instead. Todd promptly snarks, "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss."]]
** Even he's disturbed by how all of his criticisms of Music/OneDirection's "Best Song Ever" end up turning into compliments by the end of the sentence.
** The entirety of the Worst and Best of 2013 videos are done using the hashtag font from "Blurred Lines". It's only one of the honorable mentions for the Worst list (which does ''not'' use that font).
** When he starts talking about Nicki's music in "Anaconda", he says that it is one of the worst, most unlistenable songs ever, only to reveal that he's talking about "Starships". He then moves on to talking about how she's better when she's spitting fire like in "Anaconda"... [[SubvertedTrope and then reveals that he doesn't like that song either]].
** Music/MichaelBolton is a RunningGag on the "Top 10 Worst Hit Songs of 1991". Just before the #1 entry, Todd notes how Bolton enters AcceptableTargets, and after relistening to his songs for the list he came to the conclusion he's not that bad, especially compared to the actual list-topper, Music/BryanAdams.
** More than two years after throwing in some negative jabs at Rockwell in his "Party Rock Anthem" review, he finally does a One Hit Wonderland on "Somebody's Watching Me." He starts off talking about the hit by saying "I'm not going to say too many nice things about Rockwell in this video, so let me get this out of the way now: 'Somebody's Watching Me' is just an awesome song." Admit it: you thought he was going to say "awful" too.
** For his #1 song of 2016, he starts talking about the Chainsmokers' inconsistent body of work, from the awful "Selfie" and "Don't Let Me Down" to the better but clumsy "Closer". This eventually leads him to bring up their first hit of 2016, a duet with Rozes called "Roses". He plays the song for a few seconds, [[spoiler:then tosses it out and goes back to "Closer" as his #1 pick]].
* RenaissanceMan: Dieter Maier from Music/{{Yello}} is this - he's a singer, concept artist, millionaire industrialist, professional gambler and member of the Swiss golf team - and because of that, on their One Hit Wonderland episode, Todd is utterly fascinated by him. PlayedForLaughs, of course - at one point, Todd jokes that he half-expects to find out Maier runs an eccentric chocolate factory (a rib on the band's Swiss background) - and [[JokeAndReceive cut to an interview]] where Maier discusses ''doing just that.'' Todd is floored.
-->'''Todd:''' Maier invested his "Oh Yeah" royalties in various other businesses, so he can only do music in between his ''billion'' other activities, such as: directing music videos, various tech projects, designing watches, his restaurant, the aforementioned chocolate factory... I also assume he's an international art thief, ninja warrior...
* RepurposedPopSong: His review of "Thunder" by Music/ImagineDragons and "Feel It Still" by Music/PortugalTheMan delves into the issue of these bands selling their music for commercials. Todd had no problem with them doing it, because if it means affording to pay the bills in this day and age, more power to them. What he finds fault with, is that both of these bands are IndieRock bands, and totally flips the {{Hipster}} archetype on its side when he wonders if all this new music from unknown bands are intentionally being created for commercial purposes in the first place.
* ReRun: Two of his Website/YouTube reviews, "Sexy Chick" and "Carry Out," were brought over to TGWTG early on, probably because, at the time, they were still recent enough to pass as current pop music. Todd had initially said he wouldn't bring ''all'' of his old Website/YouTube videos over, but he changed his mind on September 2011, uploading them with short intros to provide context.
* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: [[invoked]]
** In his opinion, Kenny G's sax solo in [[Music/KatyPerry Last Friday Night]] was a lifetime of suck nearly redeemed!'
** "Die Young" did this for {{Music/Kesha}} to him.
** While he had put ''three'' of Music/OneDirection's songs on the "Worst of 2012" list as dishonorable mentions and called them "con artists" with "no goddamn personality", Todd softened his opinion of them after they released "Best Song Ever", which avoided many of his previous criticisms. He later put it as the 6th best song of 2013, and admitted he never hated the group on a personal level, unlike Music/JustinBieber or Music/ChrisBrown.
** Subverted with Music/BrunoMars, as while Todd mentions that he likes Bruno again, it's only when he's not being himself ("Locked Out of Heaven", "Treasure", "Uptown Funk"). Otherwise, he states in the "Holy Grail" review that "Bruno Mars makes a bad Bruno Mars".
** After his harsh criticism of Music/EdSheeran when reviewing "Little Things", including listing plenty of problems with "The A-Team" and pointing out that this is one of his ''good'' songs, he is visibly alarmed when two of Sheeran's songs ("Sing" and "Don't") end up on his Best of 2014 list. Complete with "Most Improved" award.
** After tearing apart [[Music/CarlyRaeJepsen "Call Me Maybe"]] just a few years earlier, Todd calls "Run Away with Me" one of the best songs he's ever heard, and laments that he can't put it on the Top 10 Best Songs of 2015 list because it didn't chart on the Billboard Hot 100. He stated on Twitter that it would probably have topped his Best Of list had it been eligible.
** Having made it no secret that he has loathed Music/{{Beyonce}} for so long, ''Lemonade'' is one of the very few things in 2016 that he thoroughly enjoyed.
** Music/{{Coldplay}}. Todd found them boring and lifeless until "Viva la Vida," and says that the songs they released ''after'' people got tired of them were actually better than their earlier songs. He proves this by putting "A Sky Full of Stars" in the honorable mentions of his Best of 2014 list and "Adventure of a Lifetime" at #10 on the Best of 2016 list. [[note]] He hates "Paradise," though. [[/note]]
** Mike Posner was pretty much a joke for Todd until his surprising comeback with "I Took a Pill in Ibiza." The song impressed Todd so much it was #4 on the Best of 2016 list.
** Although he flip-flopped a bit with the Chainsmokers, the duo managed to [[spoiler:top the Best Hit Songs of 2016 list with "Closer", and reach second on the Best Hit Songs of 2017 list with "Paris"]].
** Retroactive example: Despite hating "The Right Stuff", he's pleasantly surprised when he does a deep dive into the discography of Music/NewKidsOnTheBlock, considering them an interesting and elastic group who were largely SoBadItsGood at worst.
** He is downright amazed at how often this occurs on his Best of 2017 list. Aside from unexpected and appreciated tone shifts in several aforementioned artists, his newest three surprises are hearing "Slide" (a Calvin Harris song featuring Frank Ocean), listing "There's Nothing Holdin' Me Back" by Shawn Mendes in the honorable mentions, and most shocking of all, actually putting a song by Music/CharliePuth on the list, thanks to "Attention".
** Todd didn't have much time for Music/PostMalone before 2018, but has come to appreciate some of his work, especially "Circles".
** For his #1 song of 2021, Todd speaks at length about how he is often surprised by the existence of many of the above example as buildup to his reveal that his top pick was The Anxiety's "Meet Me At Our Spot". After all, the lead singer is Willow Smith, who was previously best known for "Whip My Hair".
** His Best of 2022 list has almost as many examples as 2017. He declares Tate [=McRae=] his most improved artist of the year, admits that "Enemy" might be the song that makes him appreciate Music/ImagineDragons again, and puts Music/SamHunt's "23" as his #5 entry and his favorite country song of the year.
* ReviewIronicEcho:
** He uses one to summarize his feelings about Music/{{Metallica}}'s "Some Kind of Monster".
--->"It sure is some kind of monster -- some bloated, fat, stupid monster plodding across the landscape."
** He closes out his double review of Music/{{Zedd}} & Music/MarenMorris' "The Middle" and Music/BebeRexha's "Meant to Be" with a twofer riffing on the titles of both songs:
--->"If this is where country and pop meet, then they should not have met in '''the middle''', and I certainly hope it's not '''meant to be'''."
* RidiculouslyCuteCritter: Todd's opinion on Carly Rae Jepsen. "Even her name is cutesy!"
** Kali (the dog he shares with Lindsay) and Amy (his own dog).
* RimShot: "'''[[Music/BritneySpears 3]]''', what? I dunno. 3 years past her expiration date?" (''plays RimShot by setting his keyboard to the drum settings'')
* RockBottom: "Tonight..." [[{{Inuniverse}} according to him.]]
* RomanticizedAbuse: Calls out Enrique Iglesias for this, in his review of "Tonight...". And he finds this in so many songs later ("E.T.", "Blurred Lines", "Gorilla") that at a certain points complains that "#rapey" songs have become a RunningGag of the show.
* {{Rule 34}}:
** In his review of "S&M," when he's explaining how nothing shocks him anymore, Todd mentions that he's seen porn of himself.
** When naming "Boy With Luv" at #5 on his list of the best songs of 2019, he noted that he was bracing himself for the Music/{{BTS}} ARMY to write SlashFic of him and the band.
* RuleAbidingRebel: How he sees Music/BillieEilish. On "Bad Guy", for instance, he notes that she's only talking about how she ''might'' seduce your dad. In this case, [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools it's not a bad thing]]; "Bad Guy" was his favorite hit song of 2019, and he finds it a testament to her talent that she can pull off her DarkerAndEdgier pop star persona while also making it no secret that she's a kind-hearted, well-adjusted goofball sweetheart in real life, especially in light of artists whose aren't half as intimidating as her even with legitimate "bad guy" reputations (such as Music/JustinBieber, whose verses on a remix of "Bad Guy" saw him completely outshined by Billie).
* RunningGag: Todd himself said he tries to avert this during videos. However he still has at least three (besides the Lupa obsession).
** "Finish the Rhyme."
** And conversely, "NOT A RHYME."
--->'''Todd:''' Oh my god. I'm hitting the "Not A Rhyme" button as hard as I '''possibly''' can!
*** After a long dormant period, this gag finally popped up again in his review of Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines", when Thicke asks "what rhymes with hug me", with the implication being [[spoiler:"fuck me"]]. After Todd thought about this, he admits that it's kinda clever, but still not a rhyme.
*** In Jason Derulo's "Wiggle", after hearing the lyric "Wiggle wiggle wiggle, shake it shake it girl, just a little bittle...", the joke is expanded to "NOT A RHYME - OR A WORD - [[EvenTheSubtitlerIsStumped SERIOUSLY WTF"]].
*** The joke also briefly resurfaced when Todd is covering "Juju on that Beat", with subtitles later complaining that the artists aren't even trying to rhyme things together.
** His lack of ethnicity. Though in "Accidental Racist" he declares he is white with nothing disputing it, and in "This Is America" he states that he is many things, but black isn't one of them.
** Punctuating his unfounded claims about his appearance with the "as far as you know" caption is a notable running gag unto itself. He eventually claims to be sick of this gag in the review for "This Is America".
** '''[[GutturalGrowler BIEEEEBEEEEERRRRR.]]'''
** On his {{Website/Twitter}}, Todd frequently mentions watching a film that one of his Website/ChannelAwesome partners did a review for and yells "WHY DID NO ONE WARN ME!"
** On the ''Glitter'' review, Todd guessing if something will become a plot point, followed by "NOPE." He has a meltdown after [[RuleOfThree the third.]] And goes "I hate this movie" by the fourth.
** "Music/{{Nirvana}} killed my career." When reviewing early '90s rock bands on [=OHW=] or misguided attempts for '80s acts to stay relevant on Trainwreckords, Todd tends to find that the band's musical style was seen as the wave of the future, before cutting to Music/{{Nirvana}}'s [[Music/{{Nevermind}} "Smells Like Teen Spirit"]] to show how the overnight success of {{Grunge}} and alternative rock put a kibosh on that. Todd finds that trend so often that he'll {{lampshade|Hanging}} any subverted example, such as the [=OHW=] of "Pepper", noting that Music/ButtholeSurfers actually were ''helped'' by Nirvana's success because they were one of Kurt Cobain's favorite bands.
** By Music/BrunoMars' "Gorilla", Todd is shocked that songs that sound #RAPEY are becoming a running gag.
** If a song uses TheFourChordsOfPop he always points it out: "Pop song chords - they own the world, they own you. Deal with it!" or "Pop song chords - No. No. Yes!" or, "Pop song cho- AAAAAAAAAAGH"
** In his "Top 10 Best Hit Songs" retrospects, the "fluke indie hit sweepstakes", where a vaguely indie-rockish song makes it onto the Top 40, uncomfortably sitting alongside Usher and Lady Gaga.
*** 2009: "Good Girls Go Bad" by Cobra Starship ft. Leighton Meester, although the "fluke indie hit sweepstakes" didn't start earnestly until 2010.
*** 2010: "Animal" by Neon Trees.
*** 2011: "Pumped Up Kicks" by Foster the People.
*** 2012: "It's Time" by Imagine Dragons, "Somebody That I Used to Know" by Gotye ft. Kimbra, and "Some Nights" by fun.
*** 2013: "Sweater Weather" by The Neighbourhood, "I Will Wait" by Mumford & Sons and "Safe and Sound" by Capital Cities, although the latter two only made his honorable mentions.
*** 2015: After no "fluke indie hit" songs made his best list in 2014, the sweepstakes returns with "Ex's and Oh's" by Elle King and "Shut Up and Dance" by Walk the Moon.
*** 2017: "Feel It Still" by Portugal. The Man as an honorable mention.
*** In his review of "Pompeii" by Bastille, Todd has remarked that due to the changing pop scene making songs with an "indie" sound much more common, he should rename the phrase "Increasingly Common Vaguely Alternative Electro-Pop Hit Entitlement Program".
*** In his "All of Me" review, he calls Pharrell the winner of the "fluke retro soul hit sweepstakes", [[LampshadeHanging Lampshading]] it by that saying old jokes don't die, they just adapt to the times.
*** Defied in 2018, when "Broken" by lovelytheband made the dishonorable mentions of that year's Worst List. Todd called "Broken" a ripoff of Foster the People's "Pumped Up Kicks" and [=MGMT's=] "Kids".
** "Toddstradamus", his inability to predict anything. Anytime he predicts that someone's song will go away or they won't matter and he's wrong he uses clips to showcase it.
** Todd almost always refers to Music/LilWayne as a human lizard.
** His hate-crush on Katy Perry.
** An unintentional one that pops up by virtue of the topic he discusses--one-hit wonder artists turning out to have a follow-up Christmas song, often remaking the original.
* RunningGagged: Todd retires the "As far as you know" gag in the "This is America" review.
-->'''Todd:''' I'm not black. In case that wasn't excruciatingly obvious from everything I've ever thought and said, no, I'm not black. I'm a shitload of other things, but no, black isn't one of them.
* RussianReversal: From the One Hit Wonderland episode on "Macarena" by Los Del Rio:
-->'''Todd:''' No one actually ''did'' the Macarena, the Macarena did ''you''.
* SanitySlippage: He thinks Bruno Mars got a touch of this during "Grenade."
** After noting the increasingly bizarre lyrics of their songs, Todd believes Train lead singer Pat Monahan has gone insane.
* SarcasmFailure:
** In his "[=BedRock=]" review.
--->'''Gudda:''' And I got her, nigga... grocery bag.\\
'''Todd:''' ... I got nothing.
** Also played with in his "Tonight..." review:
--->'''Todd:''' You know, as a comedy reviewer, this is where I'm supposed to put in a funny analogy, you know?\\
'''Enrique:''' Tonight I'm fuckin' you!\\
'''Todd:''' "Oh, my God, I can't believe he said that! That's so bad, that's like if he--" If he... what? If he ''what''?! I... I can't come up with anything worse!
** In his Trainwreckords episode on "Music/VanHalen III", Todd tries to parody "One I Want", but struggles to come up with anything more ridiculous than the actual lyrics to the original song.
** In his Trainwreckords episode on Music/KatyPerry's "Witness":
-->'''Katy''': Cute as an old coupon, expired!\\
'''Todd''': Huh? I don't even have a joke, just... what?
* SarcasmMode:
** In ''Series/HannahMontana: TheMovie'', when Billy Ray Cyrus mentions that they created Hannah so that Miley could have a normal life.
--->'''Todd:''' Yeah, she's clearly already beset by paparazzi, and if a child star's life isn't screwed up ''enough'', why not add a thick layer of secrecy and lies? Yeah, that's an interesting definition of "normal life," Billy Ray.
** "Let's keep listening. I can't wait to hear more!"
* SassyBlackWoman: The Weather Girls used to be two pretty heavyset black women originally named "Two Tons of Fun", but were convinced to change their name when "It's Raining Men" was pitched towards them (after many rejections from notoriously famous singers of the 70's and 80's.) While they were a serious band under their previous name, Todd can't help but point out that both ladies took this trope stereotype and ran with it, noting how much fun they were having in the music video for the song.
* SayMyName: '''[[GutturalGrowler BIEEEEBEEEEERRRRR.]]'''
** '''''[[Series/TheColbertReport MANILOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW]]!''''' [[spoiler:He doesn't really have anything against him, though.]]
* TheScapegoat: In "Want U Back", Todd rags on how much worse British pop music will FOREVER be compared to American pop music. Now matter how bad it is over here, It will always be worse across the pond. He says that if any British people are offended or disagree with his opinion, they should send all their hate mail to [[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall lewislovhaug@channelawesome.com]]...
* ScareChord: Uses one in his Top 10 Worst Songs of 2004 video after wondering why there was barely any rock on the list. Cue Nickelback.
** Has a minor one in the "Tonight, Tonight" review when talking about Christian Rock.
** Uses one to introduce Music/JustinBieber in the "Eenie Meenie" review.
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere:
** His first video for Website/ChannelAwesome has him talking about the massive opportunity he's been given... then quitting when he finds out he's got to review Kesha's "Blah Blah Blah". Credits roll... and he comes back and demolishes the song.
** At the end of his crossover review with The Rap Critic, they agree to do another review together and Rap Critic suggests the new Music/LadyGaga song. Todd promptly [[OffscreenTeleportation vanishes]]. He later pulls the same trick on [[WebVideo/BadMovieBeatdown Film Brain]].
** He threatens to do this in his "I'm the One"/"Wild Thoughts" episode, saying that he's used to hearing songs sampled from his childhood, but Santana's "Maria Maria" is too recent, and if they start sampling songs from his adulthood, he'll just quit without saying a word. This is illustrated with a shot of his chair and piano set with a "GONE FOREVER" sign taped to the wall.
* SelfFulfillingProphecy:
** Todd concludes that "Whip My Hair" singlehandedly created the very detractors it was meant to be dissing.
** In his comparison of "Counting Stars" and "Demons", he concludes that the song about taking risks to achieve dreams did just that, and the song about admitting to one's flawed and greedy nature ultimately felt like a sell-out.
--->'''Todd:''' Maybe if I stop [[SelfDeprecation constantly making jokes about how broke and alone I am]], I'll stop being broke and alone!
* SelfPlagiarism: Todd defends that while "E.T." was bad, Katy Perry did something unique - unlike Ke$ha, who "released the same song five times" and Lady Gaga, who tanked with "Judas" because "it was just like 'Bad Romance,' including being about a bad romance".
** He also says one of the songs in ''Theatre/SpiderManTurnOffTheDark'' (songs composed by Bono and The Edge) is Music/{{U2}}'s "Vertigo", only with different lyrics.
** In a cross with SingleIssueWonk, he complains that "Stronger" is Music/KellyClarkson doing the same BreakupSong for at least the fifth time, comparing it to if Music/MichaelJackson did something similar with songs about [[Music/BillieJean how the kid was not his son]].
** Due to ExecutiveMeddling[[invoked]], Wild Cherry couldn't come up with another hit song because they pretty much created the exact same song as their only hit.
* SellOut: Todd is usually not a fan, but also admits that Administrivia/TropesAreTools, specifically pointing to Music/SugarRay and {{Music/Coldplay}} as two bands he felt got much better after they sold out. For added {{Irony}} points, Coldplay's sellout involved a transition towards EDM, normally one of Todd's most hated genres.
** Todd finds "Moves Like Jagger" to represent this for Music/MaroonFive, but retroactively felt the song was still a brief positive sellout experience for the band, especially after sinking lower than ever with "Payphone".
** Also, considering how Katy Perry and Lady Gaga weren't known for inspirational ballads, "Firework" and "Born this Way" also fit.
** He goes further on Maroon 5's decay on "Payphone" -- which features ProductPlacement to show Todd himself sells out at times.
** Subverted in his One Hit Wonderland video on Chumbawamba, where he described selling out as a "fun experiment" for the band and said he couldn't really disagree with their reasons for temporarily signing on with mega-label [=EMI=]. As he put it, if other angry political bands like Music/RageAgainstTheMachine had recorded the odd [[BreatherEpisode silly dance-and-drinking song]], they might not have burnt out so quickly.
** He considered "Demons" to be this for Music/ImagineDragons, in spite of the temporal FridgeLogic (the song was on their first EP), and their career trajectory since then has confirmed his suspicions; "Radioactive" is the last song of theirs that he likes.
** He also considers "Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)" to be this for Music/KellyClarkson.
** Music/TaylorSwift goes straight into this with "Shake It Off" after showing traces in songs such as "I Knew You Were Trouble". He admits that while he's not Swift's biggest fan, he respects her earlier albums for their sincerity and uniqueness, but considers nearly all the singles released from her album ''RED'' as generic pop music. Subverted when two singles from ''1989'', her first fully pop album, made it onto Todd's Best of 2015 list, with "Style" straight-out topping the list specifically for being as sincere and unique as her older songs, but also a lot more mature.
** He had no sympathy for the Baha Men's sellout, especially since they weren't exactly making pop-unfriendly music prior to signing their first record deal. Todd speculates this is why [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere the band's original lead singer decided this was a good time to join Lenny Kravitz's backing band]].
** He feels that [[IndiePop indie rock]] as a whole has done this in the 2010s, particularly as the genre has become the soundtrack to commercials, citing "Thunder" by Imagine Dragons and "Feel It Still" by Portugal. The Man as examples. While he can sympathize with artists licensing their music to marketing firms to sell products, with the collapse of the record industry in the '00s making this one of the few surefire ways for mid-tier musicians to make a living, he worries that the association of indie rock with advertising has warped his perception of the entire genre, especially since it now seems like bands are recording songs specifically for use in such. As he sees it, every time an indie song gets used in an advertisement, the line between "indie rock" and "commercial jingles" grows ever blurrier. Appropriately enough, that episode's closing song was "Sell Out" by Music/ReelBigFish.
** He initially feared that Music/PanicAtTheDisco was going the Maroon 5 route of selling out, but instead, he concluded that they had become the new Music/{{Weezer}}, a band that got a lot DenserAndWackier but one where critics and fans still vigorously debate whether or not they're still good. He said that he wanted to go back in time to 2006 and tell a group of {{Emo Teen}}s that their favorite band would become "a cheesy lounge act". In this case, he actually didn't mind; he put "Hey Look Ma, I Made It" at #10 on his list of the best songs of 2019, acknowledging that Brendan Urie had sold out but admiring the sheer gusto with which he threw himself into it, right down to the fact that the song is [[HeavyMeta literally about selling out]], and noting that his band always had a sheen of self-conscious artificiality to it.
* SerialEscalation: Todd and WebVideo/TheRapCritic get into a debate over Music/BradPaisley and Music/LLCoolJ's "Accidental Racist" over whose participation in the song is stupider. Todd tries to claim that Brad is stupider because he's the one who pitched the idea of the song and wrote it. J somehow ends up showing respect to the Civil War generals who tried to ensure the complete subjugation of his entire race. By the end of the video, both of them just start bickering at each other due to the song.
-->'''Rap Critic''': Quit telling me what I should be offended by!
* SequelHook: "Your Love is My Drug" sets up "Alejandro", "Give Me Everything" sets up "Tonight, Tonight".
* SevenMinuteLull: He references this trope in his review of Usher's "OMG", as the backup chanting breaks off just in time for Usher to deliver the lamest lines in the song. He even mentions in that episode's commentary that the idea came from TV Tropes.
* ShallowParody: Invoked. He points out that the chorus of "The Time (Dirty Bit)," which uses the chorus of "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes, can't get the lyrics right. Instead of "And I swear, ''it's the truth,''" the Peas instead sing "And I swear, ''this is true.''"
** He says that the sampling of the riff from "Take On Me" in "Feel This Moment" by Pitbull ft. Christina Aguilera is the musical equivalent of the pop-cultural reference humour used in the Seltzer & Friedberg 'Movie' movies.
** And "#selfie" is not a good parody of the shallow girls that like to take pictures of herself.
* ShapedLikeItself:
** (On Kesha) "It's like Fergie, but with severe brain damage...so it's like Fergie."
** "I define bad as the absence of good." [[note]] Although in this case, it is a valid distinction: The song in question had nothing wrong with it, but was so utterly lacking in any redeeming value that it was put higher on his 10 worst list than songs such as the one titled "Tonight (I'm Fucking You)" or the song whose video almost literally rubbed its testicles in his face. [[/note]]
** "Play That Funky Music" by Wild Cherry is a funk song performed by white musicians singing about playing funk music as a bunch of white musicians.
** "There is basically one trick and one trick only to Rednex's Europop re-working of 'Cotton-Eye Joe': mainly, that it's a Europop re-working of 'Cotton-Eye Joe'."
** From "Someone You Loved": "The way you make {{Understatement}} work is by understating it."
** While reviewing "death bed (coffee for your head)", Todd compares Powfu to "a thirteen-year-old Jason Mraz... so, you know, like Music/JasonMraz."
* SharedUniverse: As a notable Channel Awesome reviewer who was part of most of the anniversary specials, he's automatically part of the Reviewaverse, though the cameos and crossovers help.
* ShipSinking: After ''WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee'' ended with Obscurus Lupa agreeing to go on a date with Todd, his review of "Want U Back" shows just how disasterous that went, as the two of them quickly realized they had nothing in common with each other. After this, Todd [[RunningGagged never brought up his crush on Lupa ever again]].
* ShipperOnDeck: The character has an OT3: [=Ke$ha=] and [=3Oh!3=]. His only wish is that this doesn't yield children.
** After Miley and Lily fight over who has to impersonate Hannah, Todd comments that they have fantastic makeup sex.
** He also ships Music/{{Adele}} and Music/{{Drake}}, because he thinks that [[PlayingWithATrope a romance between them, and their inevitable falling-out, would result in them writing some awesome]] [[BreakupSong Breakup Songs]].
* ShoutOut: Enough to have [[ShoutOut/ToddInTheShadows his own page.]]
* ShownTheirWork:
** In the "One Hit Wonderland" episodes, he does a complete rundown on artists' careers, often pointing out some rather obscure details. For instance, in the "[[Music/BillyRayCyrus Achy Breaky Heart]]" review, he points out that the song was originally recorded by an obscure group called the Marcy Brothers (albeit under the title "Don't Tell My Heart"), and even shows footage of them singing it.
** He also researches the functions of different parts of the brain so he can make fun of an awkward metaphor in "[[Music/{{Train}} Hey, Soul Sister]]":
--->'''Todd:''' I did some research on what the left side of your frontal lobe does. Apparently [it] controls the language centre...let's just say that explains a lot about the rest of these lyrics.
** In the Chumbawamba "One Hit Wonderland" episode he actually had to skip over entire years of their career just to get the video done as they [[LongRunner had a career spanning over three decades.]]
** In the "[[Music/BebeRexha Meant to Be]]"/"The Middle" dual review, he differentiates between the two CountryMusic charts when measuring the former song's success, pointing out that the song has topped both Hot Country Songs (which factors in streaming, downloads, and sales) ''and'' Country Airplay (which measures only radio airplay).
* SincerityMode:
** In the One Hit Wonderland episode on Debby Boone's "You Light Up My Life", he spends most of the review criticizing Debby's entire body of work, but points out that she at least seems like a genuinely nice lady, and looks amazing for her age.
** In his "Worst Hit Songs of 2016" video, he criticizes "Jumpman" and says that "Hit 'em High" from the ''Film/SpaceJam'' soundtrack is a better song when it comes to [[OverlyNarrowSuperlative basketball rap songs relating to Michael Jordan]], then clarifies "I'm not making a joke, it's seriously a much better song."
** In the ''Cinemadonna'' review of the Madonna documentary ''I'm Going to Tell You a Secret'', he goes out of his way to say that he finds Madonna's children adorable.
* SitcomArchNemesis:
** As of the year-end list of 2019, Todd declares Music/LilDicky to be one for him.
--->'''Todd:''' 2019 was the first year in a long time I felt like I really had a nemesis. I mean, I can name plenty of people whose music I consistently dislike, but people like Chris Brown, Adam Levine, I don't wanna cover them. I just want them to go away. But Lil Dicky? I will happily watch every day for the rest of my life. I ''love'' hating this mugging hack. I will follow Lil Dicky's every move to the ends of the earth.
** This is also his relationship with Music/Maroon5, who have managed to appear on every one of his Top Ten Worst Hit Songs lists for years on end.
* SkewedPriorities:
** Calls Henry Gross out on this for finding the death of [[Music/TheBeachBoys Carl Wilson's]] dog to be a worthy topic for a song, while Carl's brother Brian was in the middle of a mental breakdown.
** Discussed in the review of "Trollz". Todd notes that cancel culture tends to primarily target artists that nobody really liked to begin with, rather than those who actually did the worst things. Hence, people like Music/IggyAzalea and Music/RobinThicke had their careers ended over relatively minor controversies, while far more problematic artists like serial domestic abuser Music/ChrisBrown and convicted child molester and murder-conspirator Tekashi 6ix9ine have had their careers largely untouched simply because they were more popular to begin with.
** Todd also calls the witch character in Lil' Dicky's song "Freaky Friday" out for this, when it turns out that the reason she cast a spell on Chris Brown was to teach him the importance of self-confidence, rather than to teach him a lesson about his long history of domestic violence.
* SlobsVersusSnobs: His "[[Music/{{Macklemore}} Thrift Shop]] vs. [[Music/JustinTimberlake Suit & Tie]]" review is about him wanting to change his sense of fashion and pitching the two songs against each other to decide which style to copy: the former being a song about buying cheap second-hand clothes, while the latter being about how cool it is to be a SharpDressedMan. [[spoiler:He eventually decides that he can't pick a side because both songs are better than everything else on the radio at the time.]]
* SoBadItsGood: Averted In-Universe. Todd categorizes the songs he listens to as either "Bad" or "Good", so songs that are So Bad It's Good for him (such as "Good Vibrations" by Marky Mark) are categorized as "Good".
** Though he mentions Big Sean's "Dance (A$$)" is horrible, but somewhat fascinating in its awfulness - unlike "Sexy and I Know It". Unfortunately, he admits that it didn't quite reach that point when he compiles his list of 2012 favorites.
*** Similarly, in the "Worst Songs of 2013" review, he mentions that "this was the broiest year in country music history" and couldn't decide which song best represented that. He dismisses Music/BlakeShelton's "Boys 'Round Here" as too silly and Music/LukeBryan's "That's My Kind of Night" as awful but "an interesting awful; it at least has some kind of flavor to it."
** Subverted when reviewing Rihanna's "S&M". He's aware the song is bad, but he still likes it... and notices this is basically sadomasochistic in itself!
--->"It's so bad it hurts. More, please! Can I have another? It's so bad! That's why I don't show my face."
** He discusses this concept reviewing Music/{{PSY}}'s "Gangnam Style", stating that any song that enters So Bad It's Good is because of [[QualityByPopularVote having enough fans to be massively successful]] or filling some prejudice (against [[Music/{{Friday}} shallow girls with]] {{Autotune}}, Music/InsaneClownPosse, or [[WidgetSeries crazy Asians]]).
** This is how he views Biz Markie's "Just A Friend" - Biz clearly didn't take either the song or himself too seriously, which is precisely why it sounds ridiculous, but at the same time, [[BigFun he's what makes it so very enjoyable to listen to]].
** In his Worst Songs of 2014 video, he talks about the fact that while most of the songs on that list just piss him off, he calls [[{{Music/Maroon5}} "Animals"]], his #10 pick, "the funniest piece of hilari-garbage of the year".
*** In the same video, he lists [[Music/NickiMinaj "Anaconda"]] as an honourable mention, but states that he'll be putting it in the Best of 2014 honourable mentions as well - and does.
** His verdict on Crazy Town's "Butterfly". The song was immediately mocked, and rightly so, but he considers it original, upbeat and amusingly bad compared to the rest of the band's output, which was just bad.
* SoOkayItsAverage: Todd calls "Replay" this, as well as boring. He even opens the review (and later the blip intro) saying that a bland song is hard to discuss, unlike [[SugarWiki/GushingAboutShowsYouLike a good one]] or [[AccentuateTheNegative a bad one]].[[invoked]]
** He also describes both "Born This Way" and "Firework" as "acceptably mediocre".
** He puts Deep Blue Something's "Breakfast at Tiffany's" at the top of its "Top Ten Songs About Mediocre Romance" because the song is as mediocre as the love story described in it (where a guy decides to stay with his girl because both like ''Film/BreakfastAtTiffanys'').
** In the "Just a Kiss" review, he says that most of Music/LadyAntebellum's output is this, although he did list "Need You Now" as his favorite pop song of 2010 and said that he liked "I Run to You" as well.
** He doesn't hate "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together", but he admits he's certainly heard better. The main reason why he doesn't hate it is because the subject content is stupidly realistic. It's stupid, but it's something you would expect people to actually say and describe their ex's quirks and issues, unlike villainizing them like a Saturday morning cartoon like other break-up songs tend to do. Not only that, but he compares it to the other chart-toppers that were present then [[note]]"Call Me Maybe", which he had previously reviewed negatively, [[Music/NickiMinaj Starships]], which he says is Nicki completely ridding herself of personality, and [[{{Music/Rihanna}} Diamonds]], who was by an artist on autopilot with her music and getting it out quickly without regarding quality[[/note]].
--->'''Todd:''' I am giving it my prestigious "Not That Bad" Award.
*** Todd also found "Fifteen" to be this. While he didn't hate the song, he found it to be pretty mundane and undeserving of its acclaim.
*** Actually, he seems to feel this way about Music/TaylorSwift in general. That is until he called Blank Space a very solid, witty pop song, placed two of Swift's songs [[note]]"Wildest Dreams" (#9) and "Style" (#1)[[/note]] on his Best of 2015 list, and called her 'one of the defining talents of our time'.
** In the prelude for his review of "[[{{Music/Pitbull}} Feel This Moment]]", he briefly discusses Pitbull's previous hit, "Don't Stop the Party", which he considers to be this, but says that Pitbull should not be going for a mood more serious than [[IncomingHam the yodel he does before his verses]], saying it's "at least harder than it looks".
** The dual "Meant to Be"/"The Middle" review has him showing this opinion of Music/MarenMorris's singing voice.
** Brings this up in the review of "Mardi Gras" regarding Doug Clifford's contributions on the album. Pointing out that while not good, they're some of the better (or at least not outright offensive) efforts on the album. ''[[DamnedByFaintPraise Especially]]'' [[DamnedByFaintPraise when compared to Stu Cook's songs, or most of John Fogerty's for that matter]].
* SomethingSomethingLeonardBernstein: He specifically references this trope (and [[Music/{{REM}} the actual song]]) during his review of Flo Rida's "Club Can't Handle Me," saying, "But of course, it doesn't matter that it didn't rhyme, because all Flo Rida songs are basically gibberish till the chorus anyway. No one cares. Blah blah blah blah, Leonard Bernstein, ''whatever''."
** Then he does it with the actual song in "Top Ten Songs About Mediocre Romance".
* SophisticatedAsHell: Every once in a while, he sarcastically uses slang in the middle of musical analysis.
-->'''Todd:''' How dare thy stain mine good lady's name. Her! The most sexiest of all biatches!
** Pushed one point further in "Niggas in Paris", where he does an impression of a British Music/KanyeWest.
* SoundEffectBleep:
** Parodied in his "Sexy Bitch" review.
--->'''Todd:''' ... but even though I did like "I Gotta Feeling", I'll admit you could ''maybe'' call it a little repetitive. ... Yeah. But at least they were repeating something besides "Sexy Bi-''Chick''" In case I haven't made myself clear, I think this song is a ''chick''-king piece of dog sh-''chick''!
** Kenny G's "Songbird" being one of the most popular ''pop'' songs of 1987 led him into [[ClusterBleepBomb a cursing rant that had to be bleeped out]].
** He ends his pseudo-review of "Turn Up the Music" with another bleeped cursing rant.
** In most of his reviews, Todd is inconsistent about how much he censors. Most of the time, Todd only censors F-bombs from himself (unless he's directly quoting a lyric or title, or [[PrecisionFStrike if he wants to make a point]]) and refuses to say [[NWordPrivileges anything worse]]. The songs he reviews are generally uncensored.
* SpearCounterpart: Refers to John Legend as the male equivalent of Alicia Keys, including the strengths and weaknesses of their bodies of work.
* SpecialEffectsFailure: Invoked. "It's Raining Men" by The Weather Girls is your typical early 80's affair in this department. Todd points out how even he can do a better green-screen effect in his video editing, and demonstrates the trope upon himself to make it look like the corner of the room that Todd films his reviews in is itself a part of a really bad green-screen effect.
* SpringtimeForHitler: In Todd's One Hit Wonderland of "Timothy" by The Buoys, songwriter Rupert Holmes (of "Escape: The Pina Colada Song" fame) explained his thought process for writing a song about [[ImAHumanitarian trapped miners who resorted to cannibalism to survive]]. He wanted to write a song that would intentionally be controversial and get banned from the airwaves. Radio stations eventually began pulling the song after they [[IsntItIronic realized the lyrics]]. Todd points out that teenagers were edgelords just as much back then as they are today, so they started to call up other radio stations to start playing it, and eventually the song rose to #4 on the charts while the entire music industry had to collectively acknowledge it, including radio stations trying to claim that the titular Timothy in the lyrics was actually a donkey, not a human. It wasn't his intention for the song to become a hit, but he certainly wasn't disappointed by the results.
* {{Squick}}:
** [[invoked]]His reaction to will.i.am comparing himself to a sperm bank in "Imma Be".
** Also his reaction to the line "she wanna dip me like them fries in her Frosty" from Walker Hayes' "Fancy Like". He points out that he was originally disgusted the first time he saw someone dip French fries in a Frosty at Wendy's, but admits that now that he's heard Walker use the concept as a DoubleEntendre, he no longer wishes to try it at all.
* StandardSnippet: When Miley/Hannah has a TwoTimerDate in ''Hannah Montana: The Movie'', Todd reacts by grabbing a saxophone and pretending to play "[[Series/TheBennyHillShow Yakety Sax]]".
** Also, given "Come On Eileen" starts with a violin playing "Those Endearing Young Charms", he confesses that he can't hear it without expecting WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck [[XylophoneGag blowing up]].
* StealthHiBye: In two crossovers - first when WebVideo/TheRapCritic suggests a Gaga review, and when [[WebVideo/BadMovieBeatdown Film Brain]] suggests another Asylum movie.
* StealthInsult:
** The songs he uses as transitions in his "Worst of" videos are all stealth {{Take That}}s at the songs he considers the worst.
*** "Worst Hit Songs of 2009" has Music/ThePussycatDolls' "I Hate This Part".
*** Averted with "Worst Hit Songs of 2010", with is very blatantly "Fuck You!" (Music/CeeLoGreen)
*** "Worst of 2011" had "Blow" by Ke$ha.
*** "Worst of 2012" had "Blow Me (One Last Kiss)" by P!nk. ("I think I finally had enough, I think it's time for you to [[TakeThat BLOW ME!]]")
*** "Worst of 1987" had "Bad" by Music/MichaelJackson.
*** Averted with his "Worst of 1976" list, as it had "Silly Love Songs" by Wings.
*** "Worst of 2004" had "Sorry 2004" by Ruben Studdard.
*** Worst of 2013 had "I Knew You Were Trouble" by Taylor Swift
*** Worst of 2014 had "Break Free" by Zedd featuring Ariana Grande ("This is the part where I say I don't want it...")
*** Worst of 1991 had "Here We Go" by C+C Music Factory, which could be another way to say ThisIsGonnaSuck.
*** Worst of 2015 had "I Don't Fuck with You" by Big Sean featuring E-40.
*** Worst of 2016 had "Sucker for Pain" by Lil Wayne, Wiz Khalifa and Imagine Dragons featuring Logic, Ty Dolla $ign and X Ambassadors. Although this one could be directed more at Todd since the main line highlighted is "I'm just a sucker for pain".
*** Worst of 2017 had "All Time Low" by Jon Bellion.
*** Worst of 2018 had "Thank You, Next" by Ariana Grande.
*** Worst of 2019 had "Leave Me Alone" by Flipp Dinero.
*** Worst of 2020 had "You Should Be Sad" by Halsey ("Oh I feel so sad...").
*** Worst of 2021 had "Save Your Tears" by The Weeknd.
*** Worst of 2022 had "ABCDEFU"... which downright entered the list, with Todd admitting that after so many years he found one song insulting enough to be used in the bumpers while bad enough to warrant an entry.
** His review of "I Took a Pill in Ibiza (Remix)" by Mike Posner shows that even reviews of songs he likes can drip with sarcasm and backhanded compliments.
--> "You know, there are plenty of depressed has-beens in the world. This song needed something that only Mike Posner could provide."
* StealthParody:
** He can only assume that Akon's "Sexy Chick" is one of these. Right? ''[[TemptingFate Right?]]''
** He also believes [=Ke$ha=]'s "Tik Tok" to be more suited to ''Creator/DrDemento'' than mainstream pop radio.
** And he finds himself forced to wonder if "Carry Out" is Justin Timberlake doing a throwback to his ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' appearances.
** Wasn't entirely sure if 3OH!3 were faking being douchey fratboy singers or if they were serious, though once they said "Who I is" in Ke$ha's "Blah Blah Blah", he decided that they were trying too hard, as "No one says that".
** Wondered the same thing about LMFAO, although their lack of talent and wit, especially in "Sexy and I Know It" seemed to render it all moot.
* StealthPun: Todd says that in "Born This Way", Lady Gaga talks about you being free to be who you are no matter the way you choose to "express yourself." (which kinda doubles as {{Foreshadowing}} - see the entry on SuspiciouslySimilarSong)
** He gets away with two in a row in the "Hey, Soul Sister" review, both of which are lampshaded by the captions.
--->'''Todd''': And that was 7 years ago. And I hadn't heard a single thing from them since, so I just assumed that Train's career had derailed. But to my eternal surprise, Train kept rolling.
** A ''very'' sneaky one, but at the very end of his "Top 10 Best Hit Songs of 2012" video, after he finishes discussing the number-one song on the list, he says, "I'm Todd in the Shadows and I'm out. [[spoiler:Take care]]."
** "[[Literature/GreenEggsAndHam I do not like this,]] [[Music/TheBlackEyedPeas will.i.am]]!"
** On Music/JustinBieber in his "Worst Hit Songs of 2013" review: "Once his testicles finally dropped, he basically became just another vacuous pop singer, and in 2013, I saw a lot less of him as him demographic started moving in ''[[Music/OneDirection one direction]]'' away from him."
** His conclusion on Eiffel 65 in his One-Hit Wonderland on "Blue (Da Ba Dee)": "Eiffel 65 [[spoiler:''blew'']]."
** In his "Worst Hit Songs of 1991" video, he refers to UB40 lead singer Ali Campbell's vocals as a "dead, dead whine", playing on their chart-topping hit Red Red Wine (which he introduces their segment with).
** Some of his credits music is a pun on the artist. Train: [[Music/BobMarley "Stop That Train"]]; Robin Thicke: [[Music/JethroTull "Thick as a Brick"]]; Ed Sheeran: the ''Series/MrEd'' theme; Magic!: "Magic"; The Weeknd: "Lonely Weekends"; Alessia Cara: "Cara Mia"; Marshmello: [[Music/DeanMartin "A Marshmallow World"]]; Halsey: [[Music/PaulMcCartney "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey"]].
* TheStinger: Employed in the end of his review for "Thinking Out Loud" by Music/EdSheeran, where after the names of his Patrons are shown, the video cuts to footage of Todd playing "Wonderwall" by Oasis on his piano (until he realizes [[IsThisThingStillOn that he left his camera on]]).
* StonerFlick: Reviews ''Mac and Devin Go To High School'' with WebVideo/TheRapCritic, where one of their biggest complaints is the opening BreakingTheFourthWall to ''demand'' that the audience get high before watching it, rebutting that a StonerFlick should be funny on its own merits and not just because you're high while watching it.
* StopBeingStereotypical: Inverted. He lauds Far*East Movement for defying stereotypes associated with Asians which include being intelligent, respectable, and ''[[TakeThat good at music]].''
** Played straight with Ke$ha's "Blah Blah Blah", which he says is what pop music must sound like to people who hate pop music.
** Geraldo Mejia received criticism from the Latino community for his one hit "Rico Suave". After many failed follow up songs where he sampled other people's music while still basically rapping about the exact same thing as "Rico Suave", future albums revealed that it was pretty blatant that he was entirely stealing songs. Todd mentions that the Latino community was right: He DOES perpetuate negative stereotypes -- that Latinos like to steal and are lazy.
* StrawmanHasAPoint: InUniverse, Todd has this reaction to both "Cooler Than Me" and "Rude", remarking that the the narrators in both songs come off as whiny, self-absorbed douchebags and the other characters' dismissal of them seems entirely justified.
* StunnedSilence
-->'''Bruno Mars:''' ''Yes, I would die for you, baby / But you won't do the same?''\\
'''Todd:''' ... Holy shit, dude.
** Also on "Deuces", after the line "Like Tina did to Ike in the limo, it finally hit me".
** When Music/TheBlackEyedPeas shift from sampling "Time of My Life" to their "DIRTY BIT!"
** And Mars causes it again with the second stanza of "The Lazy Song".
** During the "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer" One Hit Wonderland, when it's asked if Elmo and Patsy deserved better, Todd just sits there, motionless. He doesn't even speak for about 15 seconds.
-->"... This episode was a mistake."
** Happens again in "Freaky Friday" when Music/ChrisBrown says "ain't nobody judging 'cause I'm black, or my controversial past." He describes the subsequent silence as his brain crashing.
** The Trainwreckords for Music/LizPhair's ''Funstyle'' has one line ("You're being a peñis-- colada, that is") that along with silence, has Todd tapping out.
** Todd can't form the words to react to Gregg Alexander's early solo career in his OHW episode on "You Get What You Give", since the music and performance was equal parts bizarre and shockingly tasteless.
* StuffyOldSongsAboutTheButtocks: Todd tackles the issue head-on in his review of Anaconda;
-->'''Todd:''' Butts. Butts butts butts butts. Lots of butts. Piles of butts. Miles of butts. Butts as far as can be seen with the naked butt. Great big gobs of greasy grimy gopher butts. Asses and backdoors and rear ends and butts! (sigh) '''Butts'''.
* StupidSexyFlanders: He admits that {{Music/Rihanna}} dressed as [[Music/GunsNRoses Slash]] is "really hot in a really confusing way."
** "Ah Music/{{Usher}}. [[ChickMagnet The women want him]] [[EvenTheGuysWantHim and the men]] [[FreudianSlip want him.]] [[ThatCameOutWrong Want to be him]]. [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial I meant want to be him.]]"
* SturgeonsLaw: Todd invokes it twice, saying in his Top 10 of 2010 that "Nothin' On You" really stands out because "songs with bad pickup lines are all I hear", and in his Worst 10 of 1976 that the good music of that year makes the bad ones look even worse than they are.
* StylisticSuck:
** For the [[https://www.deviantart.com/thebutterfly/art/The-Lazy-Song-215095920 title card]] for the "Lazy Song" review, Todd's title card artist Krin leaves the card half-finished, specifically the part with Music/BrunoMars.
** For the title card [[https://www.deviantart.com/thebutterfly/art/Feel-This-Moment-373309441 "Feel This Moment"]] review, Krin literally recycles the [[https://www.deviantart.com/thebutterfly/art/Give-Me-Everything-255465571 "Give Me Everything"]] title card, perfectly demonstrating how recycled the song in question is.
** For the title card [[https://www.deviantart.com/thebutterfly/art/7-Years-616884095 "7 Years"]] review, Krin drew it as if a 7 year old had drawn it. Krin states that she drew it as a joke, since the music video didn't give her sufficient inspiration; however, Todd said he liked it, and it stuck.
* SubvertedRhymeEveryOccasion: During his FINISH THE RHYME segment in his review of "Black and Yellow", Todd had to mockingly give kudos to Wiz Khalifa for completely DESTROYING the rhyme track of the song and not even attempting to find a suitable substitute for the line that came before it.
* SuckinessIsPainful:
** "Break Up" by Mario featuring Gucci Mane and Sean Garrett is so horrible that it made Todd's hair fall out in clumps and made his nose bleed. The song's SuckinessIsPainful enough that Todd later says he's lucky it [[WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}} didn't give him cancer.]] (and in the TGWTG forums, Todd called it the worst song he's reviewed)
** Yet in his [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wX5OCwAkPg Top Ten Worst Hit Songs of 2009]], "Break Up" only managed to be '''Number 2 on the list'''. "Diva" by Music/{{Beyonce}} was '''Number 1''', and was apparently so bad, it gave him bouts of nausea.
** Miley Cyrus' "Hoedown Throwdown" induces agonized writhing (plus [[DespairEventHorizon depression]] and [[DrivenToSuicide suicide threats]]) throughout its course.
%%** Kenny G's "Songbird".
** And Todd's contortions during ''Hannah Montana'' are [[StockFootage recycled]] when he discusses the [[Film/{{Transformers}} Transformers film]].
** He states that "Drive-By" is "[[Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy Vogon poetry]] bad" and he feels bad reviewing it.
** In his One-Hit Wonderland on "Play that Funky Music", he says that he'd rather be tased than listen to "Ebony and Ivory".
* SuddenlyShouting: From time to time, perhaps most notably in his "Eenie Meanie" review.
** Also done to illustrate a point in "Someone You Loved". When describing how to use understatement, he speaks very slowly and quietly; then, to demonstrate how Lewis Capaldi takes the exact wrong approach with his histrionic vocals, he quickly ramps up to a shout.
* SugarApocalypse: Played with. Todd points out how Men Without Hats borderline-qualified as a OneHitWonder because they did have another song that peaked at #20 on the charts called "Pop Goes The World". He says that as far as cheery 80's synth pop music goes, it's probably as cheerful and sugary as they come, but there is a noticeable apocalyptic undertone with the lyrics, specifically just "pop goes the world" by itself.
* SurprisinglyImprovedSequel:[[invoked]]
** In his review of Music/OneDirection's "Best Song Ever", he admits that he actually likes the song despite all of their previous songs being creepy and not that great.
** He notes that [=OneRepublic=]'s "Counting Stars" was a major improvement over their previous work, although he was less surprised due to his belief that "Good Life" was a step in the right direction.
* SurrealMusicVideo: Something that always makes him question his sanity, as "Bad Romance", "Alejandro", "S&M" and "We Can't Stop" proved.
* SuspiciouslySimilarSong:[[invoked]]
** He discusses how "Born This Way" is accused of being an "[[{{Music/Madonna}} Express Yourself]]" rip-off.
** In his "Blank Space" review, he notes that the song in question sounds similar to Leona Lewis's "Bleeding Love."
** Todd is amazed at how 1991 offered two forgettable easy listening songs in the year-end Hot 100, which not only sound alike but have similar-named artists (Stevie B and Timmy T).
** His "Rhythm of the Night" review notes the uncanny similarity between the chorus melody of "Save Me" by Say When (which served as the basis for the video's eponymous song) and that of "Stand Back" by Music/StevieNicks.
* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: What Todd thinks of ''Sorry'''s line "I'm missing more than just your body."
-->'''Todd:''' These are the words of a guy who knows what the wrong answer is, just not necessarily the right one. [...] "Hey Bieber, where were you the night of the murder?" "Why, I remember I was definitely at 'not at the victim's house between 12:45 and 1:30 then driving to the river to dispose of the murder weapon'"
* SweetOnPollyOliver: In the video for One Direction's "Best Song Ever", one of the band members dresses up as a woman and Todd admits that he is strangely attracted to this woman.
----

* His Best of 2022 list has almost as many examples as 2017. He declares Tate [=McRae=] his most improved artist of the year, admits that "Enemy" might be the song that makes him appreciate Music/ImagineDragons again, and puts Music/SamHunt's "23" as his #5 entry and his favorite country song of the year.

* RepurposedPopSong: His review of "Thunder" by Music/ImagineDragons and "Feel It Still" by Music/PortugalTheMan delves into the issue of these bands selling their music for commercials. Todd had no problem with them doing it, because if it means affording to pay the bills in this day and age, more power to them. What he finds fault with, is that both of these bands are IndieRock bands, and totally flips the {{Hipster}} archetype on its side when he wonders if all this new music from unknown bands are intentionally being created for commercial purposes in the first place.

* ReviewIronicEcho: He uses one to summarize his feelings about Music/{{Metallica}}'s "Some Kind of Monster".
-->"It sure is some kind of monster -- some bloated, fat, stupid monster plodding across the landscape."

* SkewedPriorities: Calls Henry Gross out on this for finding the death of [[Music/TheBeachBoys Carl Wilson's]] dog to be a worthy topic for a song, while Carl's brother Brian was in the middle of a mental breakdown.

* RepurposedPopSong: His review of "Thunder" by ''Music/ImagineDragons'' and "Feel It" by ''Music/PortugalTheMan'' delves into the issue of these bands selling their music for commercials. Todd had no problem with them doing it, because if it means affording to pay the bills in this day and age, more power to them. What he finds fault with, is that both of these bands are UsefulNotes/IndieRock bands, and totally flips the {{Hipster}} archetype on its side when he wonders if all this new music from unknown bands are intentionally being created for commercial purposes in the first place.

** Brings this up in the review of "Mardi Gras" regarding Doug Clifford's contributions on the album. Pointing out that while not good, they're some of the better (or at least not outright offensive) efforts on the album. ''[[DamnedByFaintPraise Especailly]]'' [[DamnedByFaintPraise when compared to Stu Cook's songs, or most of John Fogerty's for that matter]].

** In a cross with SingleIssueWonk, he complains that "Stronger" is Music/KellyClarkson doing the same BreakupSong for at least the fifth time.

** "Music/{{Nirvana}} killed my career." When reviewing early '90s rock bands on [=OHW=] or misguided attempts for '80s acts to [[WereStillRelevantDammit stay relevant]] on Trainwreckords, Todd tends to find that the band's musical style was seen as the wave of the future, before cutting to Music/{{Nirvana}}'s [[Music/{{Nevermind}} "Smells Like Teen Spirit"]] to show how the overnight success of {{Grunge}} and alternative rock put a kibosh on that. Todd finds that trend so often that he'll {{lampshade|Hanging}} any subverted example, such as the [=OHW=] of "Pepper", noting that Music/ButtholeSurfers actually were ''helped'' by Nirvana's success because they were one of Kurt Cobain's favorite bands.

** "Music/{{Nirvana}} killed my career." When reviewing early 90s rock bands on [=OHW=] or misguided attempts for '80s acts to [[WereStillRelevantDammit stay relevant]] on Trainwreckords, Todd tends to find that the band's musical style was seen as the wave of the future, before cutting to Music/{{Nirvana}}'s [[Music/{{Nevermind}} "Smells Like Teen Spirit"]] to show how the overnight success of {{Grunge}} and alternative rock put a kibosh on that. Todd finds that trend so often that he'll {{lampshade|Hanging}} any subverted example, such as the [=OHW=] of "Pepper", noting that Music/ButtholeSurfers actually were ''helped'' by Nirvana's success because they were one of Kurt Cobain's favorite bands.

** When reviewing early 90s rock bands on [=OHW=], Todd tends to find that the band's musical style was seen as the wave of the future, before cutting to Music/{{Nirvana}}'s [[Music/{{Nevermind}} "Smells Like Teen Spirit"]] to show how the overnight success of {{Grunge}} and alternative rock put a kibosh on that. Todd finds that trend so often that he'll {{lampshade|Hanging}} any subverted example, such as the [=OHW=] of "Pepper", noting that Music/ButtholeSurfers actually were ''helped'' by Nirvana's success because they were one of Kurt Cobain's favorite bands.

*** In Jason Derulo's "Wiggle", after hearing the lyric "Wiggle wiggle wiggle, shake it shake it girl, just a little bittle...", the joke is expanded to "NOT A RHYME - [[UpToEleven OR A WORD]] - [[EvenTheSubtitlerIsStumped SERIOUSLY WTF"]].

* SlobsVersusSnobs: His "[[Music/{{Macklemore}} Thrift Shop]] vs. [[Music/JustinTimberlake Suit & Tie]]" review is about him wanting to change his sense of fashion and pitching the two songs against each other to decide which style to copy: the former a song about buying cheap second-hand clothes, while the latter is about how cool it is to be a SharpDressedMan. [[spoiler:He eventually decides that he can't pick a side because both songs are better than everything else on the radio at the time.]]

* RunningGagged: Retires the "As far as you know" gag in the "This is America" review.

* QuestionableConsent: Brought up in the "Blurred Lines" video when he's describing the controversy surrounding the song.

* RantInducingSlight: PlayedForLaughs with Todd's One Hit Wonderland review of "Right Now" by SR-71. When he learns that the band originated from Baltimore, he goes off on a rant about how crappy the very concept of Baltimore is, meanwhile being interrupted by official statements from the production stating that they don't agree with Todd's views and have nothing against Baltimore.

*** In Jason Derulo's "Wiggle", after hearing the lyric "Wiggle wiggle wiggle, shake it shake it girl, just a little bittle...", the joke is expanded to "NOT A RHYME - [[UpToEleven OR A WORD]] - SERIOUSLY WTF".

*** Worst of 2016 had "Sucker for Pain" by [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters Lil Wayne, Wiz Khalifa and Imagine Dragons featuring Logic, Ty Dolla $ign and X Ambassadors]]. Although this one could be directed more at Todd since the main line highlighted is "I'm just a sucker for pain".

'''Todd''': "Huh? I don't even have a joke, just... what?

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent: He decided to take a stab at movie reviewing with ''Series/HannahMontana: TheMovie''. He didn't like it. And followed it with the Guitar Video Game.
** Ironically, his "Club Can't Handle Me" review opens with him admitting that he was enjoying reviewing movies and video games...[[ExecutiveMeddling while the Critic forces him back into music reviews.]]
** He does it again for "The Top 5 Most Awful Moments in Music/{{U2}}'s ''Rattle and Hum''" (it opens at his keyboard, then he invites the viewer to come watch a movie).
** ''Glitter'' is similar. Todd is at his keyboard, says he likes Music/MariahCarey and follows with some exposition on her before going to the TV to watch it.
** His alleged "review" of Chris Brown's "Turn Up The Music" is ''actually'' an episode-long rant about his public image. Todd even admits that "this is gonna be a different episode for me". He spends about 15 seconds critiquing the song in question.
** Claiming writer's block, he puts out "Top Ten Groin Shots in Movies".
** His Trainwreckords episode on ''Two the Hard Way'' by [[Music/TheAllmanBrothersBand Gregg Allman]] and Music/{{Cher}}, which was not a career-killer for either performer, but was a ''relationship'' killer for Allman and Cher as a couple.
** Similar to "Turn Up the Music," his review of Tekashi 6ix9ine and Nicki Minaj's Trollz is more about mapping out Tekashi's career than the actual song.

*** In Jason Derulo's "Wiggle", after hearing the lyric "Wiggle wiggle wiggle, shake it shake it girl, just a little bittle...", the joke is expanded to "NOT A RHYME - OR A WORD - SERIOUSLY WTF".

-->'''Todd:''' Every fuckin' thing that happened these last few years, including this last week where I was supposed to be trying to make this god damn video, but I kept ''getting distracted by more horrible fucking news! THIS SHIT FUCKIN' SUCKS, '''AND IT'S GOTTA FUCKIN' STOP!!!'''''

-->'''Todd:''' EAT MY BALLS, you raging egomaniac! "Oh, I don't care about glory, so in the middle of my song about aging, I'm gonna insert the sound of a roaring crowd screaming my name"! "Oh, fame. How boring." Bullshit! I knew you were lying about that because you named the band after yourself! Why would you even do that? Like, if you're the guitarist or something, that'd make sense so you don't get overlooked, but you're already the goddamn frontman! Were you not getting enough attention? It doesn't even sound like the name of a group of people. It sounds like you're trying to trick people into thinking that the other guys don't exist. Like, at least the name "The Dave Matthews Band" lets you know that it's a band. But no, it's not enough that Lukas Graham named his band Lukas Graham, he also has to have a crowd shout "Lukas Graham", on his song from the album, Lukas Graham. Not to be confused with their previous album named, no joke, Lukas Graham. I'm surprised the name of this song isn't "Lukas Graham."

-->'''Justin Timberlake:''' Oooh, so thick [=/=] Now I know why they call it a fatty\\
[=*scratch*=] *Todd thinks for a moment*\\

-->'''Todd:''' [retrieves and slips a vinyl record back into its case] Sorry. I-I do keep an actual record player down here for uh, for when I need that sound.