Hi, I'm Stellar, and welcome to Stellar in Neverland. So, last week I said I was doing this post that was "both lengthy and concise". What did I mean by that? I was going to sum up 50 currently popular songs in a single sentence. I'm not doing that, though, because I didn't have enough time to listen to 50 songs. Instead I'm going to make a list of some songs I really like at the moment. During the vacation I went on and was talking about last week, I used a free trial for Spotify Premium. I downloaded a ton of songs I really liked onto my phone, and I listened to those songs all throughout the trip. A bunch of them I've already talked about in other posts, but there are some that I haven't discussed yet! This is gonna be like all the other posts (tagged under "playlists" for your convenience) where I talk about songs I like or am currently obsessed with. Pretty self-explanatory.
#1. "God Is A Woman" by Ariana Grande
This song came out the first day of my trip (July 13). Despite the fact that I would have to wake up early the next morning, I stayed up until midnight like a good Ariana stan to listen to it as soon as it dropped, and I downloaded it instantly. This is my favorite song to come out this year so far, and if the new album Sweetener is anything like it, it will be an amazing record. I'll save my full thoughts for the album review, but for now I'll just say it's a sexy, empowering BOP with amazing vocals and a visually stunning music video.
#2. "Fade" by Kanye West ft. Post Malone & Ty Dolla $ign
I should write a thinkpiece called "Can I Call Myself An Intersectional Feminist And Still Listen To Kanye West?" Oh wait, I shouldn't do that because I would be in way over my head. He's a fantastic producer and true visionary. He also supports Donald Trump, has used misogynistic lyrics in his music many times, and thinks slavery was a choice. It's a battle of "Do I separate the art from the artist and listen to Kanye's music, even though his actions are morally incorrect?" or "Do I 'cancel' him because listening to his music is giving him power to say stupid stuff?" It's a tough question that I'm not sure I'm ready to answer, but I guess I'm leaning towards the former viewpoint. "Fade" came out two years or so ago, but I'm just now reluctantly getting into it. It's got a really cool beat and has some interesting uses of sampling (although I'm not sure what song/s it samples and I'm too lazy to look it up). I also really love all of Post's contributions, especially the part when he's like autotune-yelling "I BEEN ON MY SH*T, WHOLE WORLD ON MY D*CK, I JUST NEED TO KNOWWWWW". That part makes me happy. Also, I could have easily put "Black Skinhead" on here, but I already felt wrong for putting one Kanye song on here, I'm not gonna add a second.
#3. "Often" by The Weeknd
Okay, I already talked about this one in some other post, but I didn't go into detail much about it. And I'm probably not into go into much detail about it here, either. It's dark and seductive, one of those songs that makes me feel like a stripper every time I listen to it. The lyrics are pretty much about sex and drugs, which are The Weeknd's two favorite topics to sing about, based off of what I've heard from him. I don't really care about what a song's about (unless it's about killing or raping someone or something else I find morally offensive. In that case it makes me hate the song), so I can get into this one easily.
#4. "Consideration" by Rihanna ft. SZA
I know I've been all "AHH 'DISTURBIA' IS RIHANNA'S BEST SONG EVER OMG" in the past, but I think this song's taken its place at the top for me. This song was the opener to Rih's most recent album Anti, and I think it's fantastic. It has a killer laid-back groove and I love how Rihanna and SZA (more on her in a minute) play off each other. There's sort of a reggae hint to it, specifically in the way Rihanna sings it. I also think the lyrics and message are pretty cool. It's about how Rihanna wants to take creative control over her career, and considering she has writing credits on nearly every song on Anti, it's nice that she did get that control. Also worth mentioning, I love the line "Let me cover your sh*t in glitter, I could make it gold". It's basically saying "Let me take your mediocre song you wrote for me and make it a chart-topper", and it's kind of awesome how she's being so blunt. It's also a pretty witty lyric IMO.
#5. "Drew Barrymore" by SZA
Confession time: When it comes to music, I like to say I don't care about lyrics, but it's more that I'm too stupid to understand what makes a "good lyric". I can tell what a bad lyric is (either it's grammatically incorrect, mind-bogglingly stupid, or horribly offensive), but when it comes to good lyrics, I'm lost. Most lines that people cite as "good" usually have metaphors that go way over my head. I guess if you want to have a well-written song in my book, either a.) be straightforward, raw, and relatable, b.) be witty and/or quotable (see that Rihanna lyric above), or c.) just use words I like. I bring this up because "Drew Barrymore" by SZA is a Type A well-written song. The song's about SZA's insecurities, and the lyrics are straightforward and specific but universally relatable. My favorite lines are "You came with your new friends and her mom jeans and her new Vans and she's perfect and I hate it" and "I'm sorry I'm not more ladylike, I'm sorry I don't shave my legs at night". The song also has a chill, laid-back groove that makes it easy to get into. I've heard SZA's album is really good, and if this song is anything like its parent album, I should check it out.
#6. "Under Your Skin" by Seeb ft. R. City
I can't even remember how I found this song, but it's a bop. It's a remix of the song "Make Up" by R. City, a song I vaguely remember getting kind of popular in 2015. The remix spins the original (a catchy, reggae-esque pop ditty) into a tropical house banger that wouldn't sound out of place among big hits from 2016 and 2017. I didn't really care for the original that much for some reason, but this remix is amazing to me. I think it's just because I like the production more. The chorus is still really catchy and it all-around sounds like a summer hit.
#7. "Crew" by GoldLink ft. Brent Faiyaz and Shy Glizzy
I think I found this one in some "Try Not To Rap Along" video and I thought it sounded really good so I added it to my playlist. Apparently this one was a minor hit (peaking at #45 on the Hot 100), but I had never heard of it, or any of the artists on it, until that video. I'd recommend it if you like Drake or Post Malone. The chorus is effortlessly catchy and cool, and both GoldLink and Shy Glizzy have pretty solid rap verses. It's just a really nice song to vibe out to, not much else to say about it.
#8. "The Man" by The Killers
This is probably the number one song I listened to most on the road trip. In some other post, I said I was going to make an effort to listen to more of the Killers' work, and while I haven't really done that much, I have been listening to this song for pretty much the entire summer. The funny thing is, this song doesn't sound like "Mr. Brightside" or "Human" or any other songs from them I've heard, but it's still amazing. For whatever reason, this song reminds me of like...cowboys and old Westerns, and I have no idea why that is, because it isn't country at all. It's this upbeat disco-rock jam that's very egotistical, but in a joking way. You just feel awesome and like you can take on the world while you're listening to it. Plus, it's fun to sing along to and pretty quotable, especially the "USDA CERTI-FIED LEAN!" part. That part is amazing.
#9. "Done For Me" by Charlie Puth ft. Kehlani
I still think it's insane how much Charlie Puth has improved since his career began. He started out with a feature on Wiz Khalifa's "See You Again", a song I initially loved but grew tired of quickly. After that, he released "Marvin Gaye", "One Call Away", and "We Don't Talk Anymore", three songs that were just boring to me. His first album was one of the worst-reviewed ever on Metacritic, so I'm guessing he took the immense criticism he got from it as a message of "Hey, I need to make better music." He started releasing more 80s/90s R&B-inspired songs like "Attention", "How Long", and "Done For Me", and the results were actually pretty great. "Done For Me" is a duet with R&B singer Kehlani, and I love how the two singers play off of each other. Basically Charlie's like, "You cheated on me and treated me horribly" and Kehlani's like, "Um...no I didn't". It works well as a concept for a song and it makes perfect sense as a duet. Combine that with a great, 80s-inspired beat and you get a killer pop song.
#10. "Sad Story (Out of Luck" by Merk & Kremont ft. Ady Suleiman
This may be the single most obscure song in my playlist. I had never heard of any of these artists or any of their songs until I found this one in a video about 50 underrated songs from 2017. I love watching videos containing "underrated songs" because it's a great way to find songs I maybe would have never noticed. This song is an EDM banger, but more on the chill, tropical-house side of the spectrum. It's got this really cool, laid-back guitar riff and the chorus is a complete earworm. It's also one of those songs where the music is happy but the lyrics are downbeat. This song is about some guy who had a bad childhood, didn't have many opportunities in life, killed a man, and ended up in jail at 21. Well...at least it's catchy. Also one last thing worth mentioning: I find the Genius page for this song hilarious because, well, Genius is a resource site, and I don't think resource sites are supposed to be biased. Yet the page for this song (at least the "about" section is, I think the annotations were deleted. I remember them being pretty biased too, though) is completely biased and goes on about how great it is. I quote:
"Great sounds from Italian duo Merk & Kremont! They’re back with a magnificent tune that everybody will enjoy. Sad Story (Out Of Luck) is a beautiful soundscape that brings a delicate beat combined with a smooth guitar lick, glorious basslines and luscious vocals that tell an amazing story."
This is like if the Wikipedia page for, say, The Lion King, was an essay about how it is the greatest Disney movie of all time. Oh well, the song's still a banger.
#11. "Hold Me Tight Or Don't" by Fall Out Boy
That "50 Underrated Songs" video also inspired me to add "Hold Me Tight Or Don't" to my playlist after I first discovered it for the Every Fall Out Boy Single, Ranked Worst To Best post. Initially, I thought it was good but nothing special, but it's grown on me a lot since then. It probably won't make the Top 20 Fall Out Boy songs post I'm doing at the end of the summer, but it is a pretty nice, lightweight summer jam. If you're not a fan of Fall Out Boy's poppier songs, you won't like it and you'll think it's a sellout move, but I'm more open-minded. The chorus is really catchy and the whistling melody is infectious. I also love Patrick Stump's voice on this song, especially the way he sings "down" in the chorus and the way he belts on the bridge. I would bump this up in the ranking post if I were to write it now, and it kind of makes me want to listen to the album Mania in it's entirety. Except I'm not gonna do that, because I don't want to listen to "Young and Menace" ever again.
#12. "Heatstroke" by Calvin Harris ft. Young Thug, Pharrell Williams, and Ariana Grande
Collaborations in music, especially with a larger amount of artists, can be tricky. You have to make sure every single artist on the track is pulling their share, and if even one of them isn't up to par, it can ruin the song. However, "Heatstroke" is a song where every single artist pulls their share and does amazingly well. Pharrell's chorus is pretty repetitive but it's really catchy, and his falsetto sounds light and breezy and pretty wonderful for the song's mood. Ariana's voice sounds buttery and smooth, and even though she just repeats "When you do things like this, and you set me free" throughout the song, she sounds gorgeous. I'd love to see her do more disco-style songs like this. Then we have Young Thug, whom I'm discovering I like quite a bit, considering his vocal stylings are comparable to an autotuned squawking parrot. I love the way he says "darlin'" on the intro, where he has sort of an over-the-top Southern accent. And finally we have Calvin Harris, the glue who holds all three of our performers together with a funky disco beat. I've said it before: every Calvin Harris song released from 2017 onward is perfect for summertime, and I'm quickly discovering that I might like this song more than "Slide", my other favorite Calvin Harris song. Everybody just sounds like they're having so much fun and it's a breezy, light, and fun summer song.
#13. "No Problem" by Chance the Rapper ft. 2 Chainz and Lil Wayne
One thing you're going to notice about this playlist is that a lot of these songs are from 2016 and 2017, which is to be expected from me. I usually add songs to my playlist way after they get popular, because there's only so much for me to listen to. In 2016, I was primarily listening to Fall Out Boy and Panic! At The Disco, so I missed out on some pretty great songs from that year, such as "No Problem". This song combines rap with gospel and is about how Chance the Rapper isn't going to sign to a big record label. It's immensely catchy, likable, and fun, and I think it should have charted a lot higher than #43 on the Hot 100. Another side note: I'm not too familiar with his music, but I have nothing but respect for Chance the Rapper as a person. I read that he donated $1 million to Chicago schools, and I think that's awesome.
#14. "Dancing On My Own" by Robyn
There was a stripped-down ballad cover of this song that got popular a few years ago, but I greatly prefer the original. In my humble opinion, the sad lyrics are way more effective when you combine them with upbeat synthpop. I'm such a sucker for songs that contrast happy music and sad lyrics! Robyn sounds utterly heartbroken and the lyrics are the depressing story of watching your ex be happy with something else. However, the beat is so glittering and happy-sounding so you can't tell. I think this is another example of a perfect pop song.
#15. "Better Now" by Post Malone
We started with a newer hit, and we're going to end with one, too. I'm just gonna quote that unpublished post I intended to write this week, the 50 Popular Songs Described In A Sentence thing. I talked about, like, a third of the songs I intended to write about, and "Better Now" was one of them. Basically, all I have to say is "Breaking news: Stellar continues to eat up every song she hears from Post Malone, and she continues to feel guilty about it. 9.5/10."
Okay, that's all I have for this week. Next week, I'm either going to review the Teen Titans Go movie or rank the Disney princesses, but both should be a nice departure from my usual music ramblings. I'm Stellar in Neverland and I'll see you then. Peace!
Stellar
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