Mr.Myoozik 
Music Connoisseur
Top ten worst songs of 2020:
Now that we got the best list out of the way, now let’s dive into the shit that this godforsaken year had to give us. I mostly liked the majority of the songs that became hits, but there were a few that were just really awful and made me think that they really belonged on this year. IMPORTANT NOTE: Just like the last list, this one isn’t objective either so if you do like any of these songs, then that’s understandable. I just want to do this for entertainment. With that, let’s get into it.
10. I Hope by Gabby Barrett (Hot 100 peak: #3) – I’ve said that country music has had a strong grip in the Top 40 for years and has moved on from the bro-country trend by increasing its quality. Even then, some bad stuff tends to slip through the cracks and get just as big as this song. A newcomer to the genre, Gabby Barrett decided to take pages from Carrie Underwood’s smash hit “Before He Cheats” and make it her own. The revenge fantasy aspect is honestly weaker than from Carrie’s song because instead of enacting it, she hopes and thinks about it which takes away any satisfaction out of it. Plagiarism aside, the singing sounds a lot like Miley Cyrus but a lot more processed and doesn’t sound natural. The production is too loud and has parts that don’t fit, like the synthesized finger snaps which sounds an awful lot like a Nintendo Switch click and feels very unfitting and awkward. Lastly, it has a pop remix version with Charlie Puth that doesn’t add anything and makes it feel very unnecessary. The sad part is that this is one of the biggest country songs of the year when other songs are much worthy of that title and honestly, if you want a better revenge fantasy country song, then stick with Carrie Underwood’s song cause this song just sucks the fun out of it and adds artificial flavoring to it. I hope that I won’t have to listen to this again.
9. Supalonely by BENEE feat. Gus Dapperton (Hot 100 peak: #39) – It’s safe to say that Tik Tok changed the way we consume music and make it popular, for better or worse. On one hand, it revives old songs and brings them exposure to a new generation like what happened with “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac. On the other hand, it lets mediocre trash creep onto the charts like this. Now the song is supposedly about the singer making fun of herself, but good luck figuring that out cause the first thing that came into my mind was about being lonely and alone like the title implies. The lyrics hold no weight and is all just random phrases and words strung together with no cohesion that doesn’t sound fun to listen to. Seeing as this song is trying to be a more upbeat Billie Eilish song, it misses the mark by not making it sound personal and making it too dissonantly upbeat to the lyrics. The production itself is passable, but it doesn’t fit into the lyrics and it sounds jarring. Lastly, Benee’s singing is really weak and Gus Dapperton’s guest verse doesn’t belong at all. It’s way too short to make any impact, the lyrics don’t make sense and his voice is awful. It’s the kind of song that gives Tik Tok a bad name and proof that anything can get popular if you use it to get popularity rather than for the quality. It’s unlikely that Benee will have another hit so after this, she’s gonna go back to being “supalonely” from chart success.
8. Go Crazy by Chris Brown & Young Thug (Hot 100 peak: #9) – Oh look, one of the most loathed R&B singers and an awful rapper decided to collab, and the results are just what you expect. The production is incredibly bland and uses an out of place sample of an old hip hop song called “Drag Rap”. It clashes badly with the R&B piano and feels like two separate beats played on top of one another. Chris Brown is bad with his singing as usual and Young Thug raps in an undeciphered language from millennia ago and the lyrics don’t need much analyzing since it’s standard R&B and rap clichés but sung in a douchey way. Lastly, it doesn’t feel much like a collab since Chris Brown has more verses and lines than Young Thug, so it doesn’t feel even and feels more like a Chris Brown feat. Young Thug song rather than a real duet collab. Overall, it’s an incredibly disposable song from an artist who’s still relevant for some reason and a rapper who I’m shocked is even relevant in the first place. Listen to it some more and you will go crazy.
7. Yummy by Justin Bieber (Hot 100 peak: #2) – If there’s one artist who’s definitely changed musically it’s Justin Bieber. He went from being one of the most loathed artists ever to one who’s mostly decent but can still make some bad stuff like this. The singing is the least of the song’s problems since it’s mostly fine but at some parts it can get pretty grating. The production is incredibly generic and doesn’t do anything new, it’s just a standard trap beat with very faint keys that might as well not be there at all and that repeats throughout. But the absolute worst thing about this song are the lyrics, it’s terrible with its unfitting rap clichés for a pop-R&B song and that annoying chorus. It gets into your head for all the wrong reasons and the fact that it uses yummy to describe his wife is gross and juvenile. If it didn’t work for bubblegum pop band The Ohio Express with their song “Yummy, Yummy, Yummy”, then it sure as hell wasn’t gonna work for an artist like Bieber. Since this song is about his wife Hailie Baldwin, if I was her and I listened to this, I would’ve grossed out and demanded more from him than this generic borefest.
6. We Paid by Lil Baby & 42 Dugg (Hot 100 peak: #10) – One of the biggest rappers of 2020 is Lil Baby, who I do have mixed feelings over. I’m not a fan of a majority of his songs because of his mumble rap style, but he’s someone who I respect for doing a lot of good like paying respect to his religion (Grace) and being very involved in social issues (The Bigger Picture). This song is NOT one of his strong suits and one that should’ve been given a pass during development. The lyrics about being rich and wealthy is boring and uninspired, the beat is lifeless and sounds like no effort was put into it with the pianos and angelic choirs doing nothing to make it better. Lastly, the rapping from both him and 42 Dugg (which btw, is a terrible rap stage name just like Lil Baby) is awful, sounds phoned in and like it was recorded in one take. All in all, it’s a very lazy song which sounds like album filler rather than an actual song that charts on the Hot 100. Whatever they got paid for this, it wasn’t worth it at all.
5. Hot by Young Thug feat. Gunna (Hot 100 peak: #11) – I don’t like Young Thug at all, I think he’s an awful rapper and the one who made mumble rap mainstream, which for the most part I don’t like. This song is no different than his other songs where his rapping is incomprehensible and starts with a faint echo effect that doesn’t work and ad libs that are more annoying than anything. Gunna’s guest verse is also bad where he also mumbles his lines despite not being a mumble rapper at all and he can prove to be a competent rapper himself. As an addendum to this, the song does have a remix version with Travis Scott, but even with him it doesn’t save the song. The lyrics about being fly and looking good are mediocre and the same stuff we’ve heard before with nothing to differentiate it from other songs I like it. The beat is really obnoxious with a very weak marching band sound and a flute which sounds like it was taken from another song. Just an awful rap song which instead of being listened to again, it should be burned into fire so no one should listen to it again.
4. Sunday Best by Surfaces (Hot 100 peak: #19) – While rap, R&B, country and even rock/alternative flourished or got significant boosts, pop music was put on the wayside and wasn’t big as it once was years before, and this song really doesn’t help it in becoming popular again. To put it bluntly, nothing in this song works and all feel dissonant to one another. The lyrics about looking good and wearing comfortable clothes deserves an upbeat and powerful pop voice, and brothers Forrest and Colin don’t have that because their singing voices and harmonies are atrocious. They’re incredibly off key and struggle to stay on beat and makes horrible attempts at harmonies, which sucks out any joy and fun that this song is supposed to convey. Lastly, the production is pathetically underwhelming, completely going against the lyrics and singing by sounding so midtempo when it should be loud and bouncier. Even if the production was weak, it would still be ruined by the singing, which is enemy number one to this entire trainwreck. What’s supposed to be a fun and happy song to cheer us up during the quarantine is all sucked out by bad choices that makes you question why Tik Tok even exists in the first place. Since these guys are pretty much one hit wonders, it just makes me shake my head that this is their contribution to popular music, how sad.
3. If The World Was Ending by JP Saxe feat. Julia Michaels (Hot 100 peak: #27) – With the world being under lockdown and quarantine due to the COVID-19 pandemic, everyone was caught by surprised and raised fears about their situation and the future. Because of this, it led to songs that vaguely make reference to anything relating to the pandemic and quarantine become popular, like this song. One important note before I get into it is that this song was starting to get popular before the virus even spread worldwide so the subject matter and chorus was incredibly coincidental and appeared at the wrong time. Even then, this song is boringly bad through and through. It portrays a hypothetical scenario where if the world was ending, would he and his lover spend one more night together. It’s not cute or inspirational, it’s stupid and juvenile, like something a high schooler would write to his crush who’s afraid of asking for her number. The production is boring as all hell and makes the song all the more sleep inducing without any trace of sentiment or charm to it. It’s like a really bad early 2000’s Coldplay song or a forgettable early 80’s love duet. To round it out, both JP and Julia are bad singers who show no chemistry for one another, which breaks any illusion of love. Luckily, the world hasn’t ended yet but it looks like JP Saxe’s career has.
2. Suicidal by YNW Melly & Juice WRLD (Hot 100 peak: #20) – This song is just bad in a very damaging way that I don’t have anything to preface it and it’s gonna be hard for me to criticize it. Let’s start with the lyrics, which is about a breakup and the one who got his heart broken copes by taking drugs and feeling suicidal about it. I really hate the message that this song conveys because no, just because you suffer through a breakup, no matter how nasty, doesn’t mean you have to end it all that easily. You reach out to your family or friends or even a therapist so they can help you in moving on and finding someone else instead of jamming yourself with drugs to deal with it. Obviously, taking any form of drugs from illegal to overdosing on prescription pills is bad and you shouldn’t do that, just find other healthier ways to deal with the pain. Awful and damaging lyrics aside, the rest of the song isn’t better with a very melodramatic production that doesn’t do any favors and the rapping from YNW Melly is terrible. Juice WRLD’s rapping is decent, but his lyrics are also terrible like Melly’s. Really, it’s the chorus that brings it all down which gives the song a very wrong impression and as someone who has helped people who were feeling suicidal, it makes me feel uncomfortable listening to it. I think I’ve said all that needs to be said because it’s a godawful song from a rapper who’s in jail for murder and another who died from a seizure.
Now that we got the best list out of the way, now let’s dive into the shit that this godforsaken year had to give us. I mostly liked the majority of the songs that became hits, but there were a few that were just really awful and made me think that they really belonged on this year. IMPORTANT NOTE: Just like the last list, this one isn’t objective either so if you do like any of these songs, then that’s understandable. I just want to do this for entertainment. With that, let’s get into it.
10. I Hope by Gabby Barrett (Hot 100 peak: #3) – I’ve said that country music has had a strong grip in the Top 40 for years and has moved on from the bro-country trend by increasing its quality. Even then, some bad stuff tends to slip through the cracks and get just as big as this song. A newcomer to the genre, Gabby Barrett decided to take pages from Carrie Underwood’s smash hit “Before He Cheats” and make it her own. The revenge fantasy aspect is honestly weaker than from Carrie’s song because instead of enacting it, she hopes and thinks about it which takes away any satisfaction out of it. Plagiarism aside, the singing sounds a lot like Miley Cyrus but a lot more processed and doesn’t sound natural. The production is too loud and has parts that don’t fit, like the synthesized finger snaps which sounds an awful lot like a Nintendo Switch click and feels very unfitting and awkward. Lastly, it has a pop remix version with Charlie Puth that doesn’t add anything and makes it feel very unnecessary. The sad part is that this is one of the biggest country songs of the year when other songs are much worthy of that title and honestly, if you want a better revenge fantasy country song, then stick with Carrie Underwood’s song cause this song just sucks the fun out of it and adds artificial flavoring to it. I hope that I won’t have to listen to this again.
9. Supalonely by BENEE feat. Gus Dapperton (Hot 100 peak: #39) – It’s safe to say that Tik Tok changed the way we consume music and make it popular, for better or worse. On one hand, it revives old songs and brings them exposure to a new generation like what happened with “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac. On the other hand, it lets mediocre trash creep onto the charts like this. Now the song is supposedly about the singer making fun of herself, but good luck figuring that out cause the first thing that came into my mind was about being lonely and alone like the title implies. The lyrics hold no weight and is all just random phrases and words strung together with no cohesion that doesn’t sound fun to listen to. Seeing as this song is trying to be a more upbeat Billie Eilish song, it misses the mark by not making it sound personal and making it too dissonantly upbeat to the lyrics. The production itself is passable, but it doesn’t fit into the lyrics and it sounds jarring. Lastly, Benee’s singing is really weak and Gus Dapperton’s guest verse doesn’t belong at all. It’s way too short to make any impact, the lyrics don’t make sense and his voice is awful. It’s the kind of song that gives Tik Tok a bad name and proof that anything can get popular if you use it to get popularity rather than for the quality. It’s unlikely that Benee will have another hit so after this, she’s gonna go back to being “supalonely” from chart success.
8. Go Crazy by Chris Brown & Young Thug (Hot 100 peak: #9) – Oh look, one of the most loathed R&B singers and an awful rapper decided to collab, and the results are just what you expect. The production is incredibly bland and uses an out of place sample of an old hip hop song called “Drag Rap”. It clashes badly with the R&B piano and feels like two separate beats played on top of one another. Chris Brown is bad with his singing as usual and Young Thug raps in an undeciphered language from millennia ago and the lyrics don’t need much analyzing since it’s standard R&B and rap clichés but sung in a douchey way. Lastly, it doesn’t feel much like a collab since Chris Brown has more verses and lines than Young Thug, so it doesn’t feel even and feels more like a Chris Brown feat. Young Thug song rather than a real duet collab. Overall, it’s an incredibly disposable song from an artist who’s still relevant for some reason and a rapper who I’m shocked is even relevant in the first place. Listen to it some more and you will go crazy.
7. Yummy by Justin Bieber (Hot 100 peak: #2) – If there’s one artist who’s definitely changed musically it’s Justin Bieber. He went from being one of the most loathed artists ever to one who’s mostly decent but can still make some bad stuff like this. The singing is the least of the song’s problems since it’s mostly fine but at some parts it can get pretty grating. The production is incredibly generic and doesn’t do anything new, it’s just a standard trap beat with very faint keys that might as well not be there at all and that repeats throughout. But the absolute worst thing about this song are the lyrics, it’s terrible with its unfitting rap clichés for a pop-R&B song and that annoying chorus. It gets into your head for all the wrong reasons and the fact that it uses yummy to describe his wife is gross and juvenile. If it didn’t work for bubblegum pop band The Ohio Express with their song “Yummy, Yummy, Yummy”, then it sure as hell wasn’t gonna work for an artist like Bieber. Since this song is about his wife Hailie Baldwin, if I was her and I listened to this, I would’ve grossed out and demanded more from him than this generic borefest.
6. We Paid by Lil Baby & 42 Dugg (Hot 100 peak: #10) – One of the biggest rappers of 2020 is Lil Baby, who I do have mixed feelings over. I’m not a fan of a majority of his songs because of his mumble rap style, but he’s someone who I respect for doing a lot of good like paying respect to his religion (Grace) and being very involved in social issues (The Bigger Picture). This song is NOT one of his strong suits and one that should’ve been given a pass during development. The lyrics about being rich and wealthy is boring and uninspired, the beat is lifeless and sounds like no effort was put into it with the pianos and angelic choirs doing nothing to make it better. Lastly, the rapping from both him and 42 Dugg (which btw, is a terrible rap stage name just like Lil Baby) is awful, sounds phoned in and like it was recorded in one take. All in all, it’s a very lazy song which sounds like album filler rather than an actual song that charts on the Hot 100. Whatever they got paid for this, it wasn’t worth it at all.
5. Hot by Young Thug feat. Gunna (Hot 100 peak: #11) – I don’t like Young Thug at all, I think he’s an awful rapper and the one who made mumble rap mainstream, which for the most part I don’t like. This song is no different than his other songs where his rapping is incomprehensible and starts with a faint echo effect that doesn’t work and ad libs that are more annoying than anything. Gunna’s guest verse is also bad where he also mumbles his lines despite not being a mumble rapper at all and he can prove to be a competent rapper himself. As an addendum to this, the song does have a remix version with Travis Scott, but even with him it doesn’t save the song. The lyrics about being fly and looking good are mediocre and the same stuff we’ve heard before with nothing to differentiate it from other songs I like it. The beat is really obnoxious with a very weak marching band sound and a flute which sounds like it was taken from another song. Just an awful rap song which instead of being listened to again, it should be burned into fire so no one should listen to it again.
4. Sunday Best by Surfaces (Hot 100 peak: #19) – While rap, R&B, country and even rock/alternative flourished or got significant boosts, pop music was put on the wayside and wasn’t big as it once was years before, and this song really doesn’t help it in becoming popular again. To put it bluntly, nothing in this song works and all feel dissonant to one another. The lyrics about looking good and wearing comfortable clothes deserves an upbeat and powerful pop voice, and brothers Forrest and Colin don’t have that because their singing voices and harmonies are atrocious. They’re incredibly off key and struggle to stay on beat and makes horrible attempts at harmonies, which sucks out any joy and fun that this song is supposed to convey. Lastly, the production is pathetically underwhelming, completely going against the lyrics and singing by sounding so midtempo when it should be loud and bouncier. Even if the production was weak, it would still be ruined by the singing, which is enemy number one to this entire trainwreck. What’s supposed to be a fun and happy song to cheer us up during the quarantine is all sucked out by bad choices that makes you question why Tik Tok even exists in the first place. Since these guys are pretty much one hit wonders, it just makes me shake my head that this is their contribution to popular music, how sad.
3. If The World Was Ending by JP Saxe feat. Julia Michaels (Hot 100 peak: #27) – With the world being under lockdown and quarantine due to the COVID-19 pandemic, everyone was caught by surprised and raised fears about their situation and the future. Because of this, it led to songs that vaguely make reference to anything relating to the pandemic and quarantine become popular, like this song. One important note before I get into it is that this song was starting to get popular before the virus even spread worldwide so the subject matter and chorus was incredibly coincidental and appeared at the wrong time. Even then, this song is boringly bad through and through. It portrays a hypothetical scenario where if the world was ending, would he and his lover spend one more night together. It’s not cute or inspirational, it’s stupid and juvenile, like something a high schooler would write to his crush who’s afraid of asking for her number. The production is boring as all hell and makes the song all the more sleep inducing without any trace of sentiment or charm to it. It’s like a really bad early 2000’s Coldplay song or a forgettable early 80’s love duet. To round it out, both JP and Julia are bad singers who show no chemistry for one another, which breaks any illusion of love. Luckily, the world hasn’t ended yet but it looks like JP Saxe’s career has.
2. Suicidal by YNW Melly & Juice WRLD (Hot 100 peak: #20) – This song is just bad in a very damaging way that I don’t have anything to preface it and it’s gonna be hard for me to criticize it. Let’s start with the lyrics, which is about a breakup and the one who got his heart broken copes by taking drugs and feeling suicidal about it. I really hate the message that this song conveys because no, just because you suffer through a breakup, no matter how nasty, doesn’t mean you have to end it all that easily. You reach out to your family or friends or even a therapist so they can help you in moving on and finding someone else instead of jamming yourself with drugs to deal with it. Obviously, taking any form of drugs from illegal to overdosing on prescription pills is bad and you shouldn’t do that, just find other healthier ways to deal with the pain. Awful and damaging lyrics aside, the rest of the song isn’t better with a very melodramatic production that doesn’t do any favors and the rapping from YNW Melly is terrible. Juice WRLD’s rapping is decent, but his lyrics are also terrible like Melly’s. Really, it’s the chorus that brings it all down which gives the song a very wrong impression and as someone who has helped people who were feeling suicidal, it makes me feel uncomfortable listening to it. I think I’ve said all that needs to be said because it’s a godawful song from a rapper who’s in jail for murder and another who died from a seizure.
- RITMO (Bad Boys For Life) by The Black Eyed Peas x J Balvin (Hot 100 peak: #26) – One of the most unwanted comebacks of 2020, The Black Eyed Peas make their unceremonious return without Fergie as a Latin rap group in an attempt to go back to their roots while pandering to the Latin explosion of the late 2010’s by collaborating with J. Balvin to soundtrack the third Bad Boys movie. Just like Sunday Best above, nothing about this song works, but this time adding something new to the mix: Sheer annoyance. To start with, the production is absolutely horrendous that feels out of date, sounding like something from the mid 2010’s. It sounds like they listened to the songs “Truffle Butter” by Nicki Minaj and “You Know You Like It” by DJ Snake, which are both from 2015 and decided to not only steal them but clumsily combine them both with a beat and bassline that makes you want to bang your head on the wall. That’s not all, it also contains a sample of the mid 90’s Eurodance hit “The Rhythm Of The Night” by Corona, which unfortunate timing aside, you will get annoyed by it faster than the original song itself. The rapping from everyone around and the lyrics aren’t that better either, with will.i.am. having terrible lines that makes him unlikeable, especially the “Puta, I learned that shit down in Mexico” line and apl.de.ap. being utterly forgettable. J. Balvin doesn’t do anything new with his verse and feels like a standard song by him, which again makes it feel like The Black Eyed Peas just chose him because of star power and nothing else. Overall, it’s a song that doesn’t need to exist for a sequel that nobody asked for from a group who are way past their prime and should just break up.
And that concludes the worst songs list. Which one was the worst to you and what is your worst song of 2020? Alright now that I’m done, I’ll see you all at the end of 2021 to talk about the songs from that year.
