Todd In The Shadows Thread

I said here back before his Earth review that I liked that Todd had acknowledged that Dicky isn't untalented, just seems to have chosen to be a hack instead of going for the actual cred that he claimed to want back in his "Professional Rapper" days. I think he pins down the reason pretty well in this thread (basically, that he's a lazy upper-middle class white dude who realized that rap, like any other job, requires work he didn't want to do and wasn't just glamour) from a few months later, but it seems like in his actual videos he's going more the route of all the other music critics justifiably dunking on him: pretending that his Earth and Freaky Friday verses are representative of his talent as a comic or rapper instead of being his version of selling out.

I'm not even really a fan, it's just interesting to see how quick people are to jump on a culture vulture when they get the chance.

Edit: sorry, terrible page topper

Edited by achilles_heel on Dec 26th 2019 at 10:58:55 AM

I realized that one of my reasons for disliking "Memories" is that Adam Levine has an uncool little AAVE affect. It would be hypocritical of me to jump all over Ariana's music but not Adam's for that reason.

Hasnt Taylor Swift started appearing rather frequently on Todd's worst of lists as well? Even this year's list has Me and You Need to Calm Down as D Ms.

Taylor Swift is one of two artists who has topped both a Best list and a Worst list. The other is Rihanna.

Best List is up on Patreon!

This one's spicy, I can immediately tell a lot of people will disagree with some picks.

10. Hey Look Ma, I Made It by Panic! At The Disco
9. Old Town Road by Lil Nas X feat. Billy Ray Cyrus
8. Hot Girl Summer by Megan Thee Stallion feat. Nicki Minaj and Ty Dolla $ign
7. A Lot by 21 Savage feat. J. Cole
6. Circles by Post Malone
5. Boy With Luv by BTS feat. Halsey
4. Dancing With a Stranger by Sam Smith feat. Normani
3. Never Really Over by Katy Perry
2. Intro by Dababy
1. Bad Guy by Billie Eilish

H Ms go to Eastside by Benny Blanco feat. Khalid and Halsey, Sunflower by Swae Lee feat. Post Malone, Money by Cardi B, Shallow by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper (specifically the Oscars performance) and in the "Would've made the list if they were hits" category are Too Much by Carly Rae Jepsen, The Archer by Taylor Swift, I Think I'm Okay by Machine Gun Kelly and YUNGBLUD, and Juice by Lizzo.

Edited by Nap1100 on Jan 15th 2020 at 2:09:16 PM

Wait, what? I thought he didn't have much to say about Bad Guy?

I think it's more he wanted to save gushing about Bad Guy for the year end list where he doesn't have to make a full 20 minute video about it. It's a lot easier to expand on negative points than positive ones, after all.

Best of 2019 is on Youtube.

I definitely agree with Bad Guy, Dancing With a Stranger, and Never Really Over being great songs but everything else ranges, in my opinion, from decent to meh to straight up detestable. But I love Todd’s opinions because he explains them well even if I don’t agree.

I love Megan Thee Stallion but I just can’t get into Hot Girl Summer for some reason. I’m VERY surprised that he liked Money by Cardi B, which is fun but I don’t know if I would call it good. I still can’t decide if I actually like Old Town Road unironically. 21 Savage and Dababy bore me as rappers, I’m sorry. Circles is okay.

Surprise snubs: Good as Hell by Lizzo, Lover by Taylor Swift, Talk by Khalid

Also agree with 4, 3, and 1, though I personally prefer Bury A Friend. And I totally get what he's talking about with 6.

I'm not familiar with the genres, but 5 and 7 are pretty good.

And Todd is absolutely right about Juice. How the hell was that not a hit? That'd my top pick out of all the songs he discussed.

What a strange year this was, for Todd's top 10 to include Post Malone, Katy Perry and a freaking Korean boys band.

That last one baffles me a bit to be honest. I haven't heard a lot of Korean music, but still enough to know that there are way better acts than this. Boy with Luv is just kind of obnoxious − but maybe it's just the overly sleek bubblegum color palette that turns me off, I dunno.

This is probably the list I've agreed the most since like... 2014? I really enjoy all of these, with the exception of 8 and 2, but even those are just kind of meh. Even #2 I can totally get behind the sentiment.

Intro is probably DaBaby's best song, so if any of them made the list, I'm glad it was that one.

Can someone tell me what is up with that chant that is in both "Boy with luv" and "Sweet but Psycho"? I swear I've heard it before.

Todd's Best of the Year lists always leave me feeling very self-conscious. They really highlight how awful my taste in music is.

Edited by GNinja on Jan 17th 2020 at 4:34:29 PM

Does anyone else disagree with his assertion that Dancing With A Stranger is a ripoff of Dancing On My Own by Robyn? I feel like that was a bit of a reach.

They don’t sound anything alike to me. The concepts are not even THAT similar.

And unpopular opinion: Dancing On My Own is an amazing song but I don’t see why critics calls it the “song of the decade”, especially over songs like Rolling In The Deep, We Found Love, Uptown Funk, Teenage Dream, Alright, Formation, and This is America which are pretty much classics that took the mainstream landscape by storm when they were released.

Edited by deuteragonist on Jan 17th 2020 at 7:49:01 AM

It reminds me of Lady Gaga, especially in "Sweet but Psycho".

Because you agree with them?

Regarding Bad Guy, while the song itself is stupidly addictive I'd say it works better in the context of the album (and damn, this album… are you alright, Billie? >.>)

Edited by Lyendith on Jan 17th 2020 at 8:19:55 PM

But his number one pick is straight up awful! Especially it's remix! I don't get why people like that song so much, and I've heard her other songs on the album are so much better which I totally believe. But I don't buy the "bad guy" act at all. She sounds like Lukas Graham talking about "burning liquor" or MC Hammer talking about being a "Gangsta" levels of unconvincing.

Ethan put it best when he pointed out how creepy it was that the song was written by her brother who has a girlfriend who looks quite like her. I'm wholly on the "when the party's over" train personally, that choir is gorgeous.

Edited by FirstSnow on Jan 18th 2020 at 7:11:22 PM

While I like Bad Guy, I do agree it's not the best one on the album − not even the best single. Speaking of which, did those other singles not chart high enough to be considered "hits"?

"when the party's over" and "bury a friend" were #67 and #73 on the year end charts respectively. "everything i wanted" has peaked at #8.

"all the good girls go to hell" is my personal favorite. But that's probably worse than "bad guy" in a lot of ways.

I feel the same way about Cameo's "Word Up", except that I'd probably pick "bad guy" over it if I really had to pick.

So Todd just got interviewed by Billboard:

https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop/8548829/todd-in-the-shadows-interview-youtube-critic