Top 6 best moments of 2020 (songs)

Why not. I'd like to start posting here again. Let this be the year of Reclaiming Myself, or some mess like that.

Hit songs only, or I'd be here all day.

1. "Ooh!" Miley Cyrus, Midnight Sky

2. "Oh, no!" Dua Lipa, Break My Heart

3. "As long as I'm here, no one can hurt you" Billie Eilish, Everything I Wanted

4. "Hey! Hey! Hey! *SYNTHBOMB*" The Weeknd, Blinding Lights

5. "la la la la I'm a lonely bitch" - Benee, Supalonely

6. "I don't need to be loved... by... YOU" - Midnight Sky again. That was totally my jam of 2020.

New Weezer album tomorrow! The first single slaps. I'm... cautiously stoked.

Bye, Twitter.

 Something happened last week that shouldn't have bothered me. I mean, it tweaked me a bit in the moment but I thought I'd get over it. A week later, I'm still thinking about it. Because it's a problem with social media and the way we engage with each other now that's way, way bigger than I am. 

I was blocked by someone I have never interacted with, someone who seems to champion, of all things, women in country music - you know, that thing I talk about and support constantly?? (In my own small way.) This isn't about me, personally, getting blocked and being "offended." This is about the bigger picture. That someone I seem to be on the same side with, on the same issue, would just immediately discard someone who doesn't fall LOCK. STEP. into their own narrow world view is everything that's wrong right now. 

I completely understand blocking someone who posts offensive content, even if it's not blatantly so. But immediately going NOPE to anyone who just says "I disagree on this one thing" is kind of insane? I didn't even say "I'm right and you're wrong," I just was like, "this is my own experience." But I guess that kind of discourse can't happen anymore. It's 100% or nothing, baby! No wonder we're in this giant horrible mess as a society. Also, again: I never even interacted directly with this person. They blocked me, I'm guessing, because I said something in favour of someone I felt was wrongly accused. Like I wasn't even shit-talking anyone, the freaking opposite!

I'm one of the least aggressive people out there, I'm very opinionated when it comes to movies and music, but I rarely make anything personal. So if this shit can happen to me, it can happen to anyone. That's how widespread it is. It's very bizarre that the only person I know to have blocked me is, likely, on the same "side." I'm progressive/leftist/whatever because I'm so strongly in favour of fair, equal rights for all people. But this "you must fall in lockstep or be banished, I won't even listen to you, lalala I can't hear you!" mindset is something the left needs to address. It alienates allies, and makes anyone who thinks for themselves just want to say BYE. Twitter reminds me of how insane and broken the world is, and that is not a thing I want to be reminded of. 

We don't talk to each other like people anymore, we're all just ideologies and identities and sides. No thank you, I'm turning off the noise and going back to my treehouse.

(And of course I'll still be on Letterboxd :))

Ooh maybe Letterboxd IS my treehouse!

The last one of these 2020 music things, probably?

A few more thoughts on the year that was, and will hopefully never be again. 

Looking at the charts and... Lemonade, Watermelon Sugar, One Margarita, Blueberry Faygo, WAP? Damn, y'all were thirsty this year! 😂 Oh also Ice Cream, which would maybe quench your thirst. Pour one out for the summer that never was, yet somehow had the summeriest soundtrack in years.

AJR - Why do I, and so many music youtubers, have such a viscerally negative reaction to these guys? They're not cruel, or misogynistic, or tough guy posturing or really harmful in any way, and yet? They are so deliriously punchable on such a primal level I'm not sure I can find the words. I don't even want to punch them, I want them to like, endlessly punch each other. They're not even lazy exactly, they try real, real, REAL hard, but they're maybe... accidentally lazy? Like they're trying to make this big statement but it's just "ugh taxes" and adulting and the sort of clueless privileged white guy crap, like they're approaching a bunch of us ordinary schlubs like, "what's up, fellow ordinary people?" Yeah, I guess they stink of privilege. I guess that's it. They're like twenty one pilots left out in the sun too long, like TOP are clever and subtle enough to get away with corny lines like "I'll take the latter/ladder" but if AJR did it there'd be a giant wink and a slide whistle going off or something. It's all just noise, literal white noise, made by the kind of aggressively white people we're all sick of. And I say that as a white person.

Green Day - In a year that pop punk made a comeback, Green Day laid a giant egg. A giant green egg... and ham? Anywayy this whole thing feels like a troll, but who are they trolling? The music industry, us fans, themselves... Sweden?? What a waste. "Graffitia" slaps though.

I can't process how bad that "Party Girl" song is. It's so bad it makes me miss "Party Rock Anthem," which at least sounded like a party. Also the lyric "don't be scared to party" in the one year you ACTUALLY HAVE TO BE SCARED TO PARTY is just, worst timing ever? This song is so bad it gives people coronavirus, is what I'm saying. Even if they're not partying and are just alone in their house.

2020 Miley Cyrus is the new 2017 Kesha; an artist I thought had very little merit just blowing the hell up. (In a good way.) I'm so sorry I ever disparaged Miley's low register, it's actually badass just... not suited to pop music. Rock n roll will save your soul. 🤘

Gabby Barrett, "I Hope" - I said in a previous entry I didn't think this was too bad other than the ear-bleedy production. Then I listened to it a little more and... this song is hilarious. Like, that punch lands the first time - "I hope you meet the girl of your dreams and have a wonderful magical night full of rainbows and unicorns and you fall more in love every day and then I hope she CHEATS, cause you cheated on me motherfucker!" Totally fair. 

But... then she punches again. "I hope you get back together AFTER she cheats and you buy her a ring and blah blah blah and then I hope she cheats AGAIN" and it just doesn't hit the same, y'know? Like how far are we gonna take this? "I hope you celebrate 50 golden years together and then BOOM! she cheats with some guy in the nursing home! Take that!" "I hope she's there for you on your deathbed, holding your hand as you draw your last breath but then I hope she CHEATS and that's the last thing you see!" "I hope she cries at your funeral as she says her last goodbye and then I hope she CHEATS as you're being lowered into the ground! Dumb dead motherfucker." I'm seeing a lifetime of this guy getting pwned and never learning his lesson like he's cursed by some shady carnival fortuneteller and I'm kinda here for it, honestly.

Also: remixes in 2020 - I remember when a remix like, served a purpose other than cheating a song up the charts. They were usually done by djs as dance mixes for clubs; they had their place and didn't chart because that's not what they were for. They were for getting drunk and sweaty and making poor life choices, and I'm fine with that. Now there are all these shoehorned-in remixes (probably the most egregious being "I Hope" with Charlie Puth as it makes the song NOT MAKE SENSE), and they're like the straight-to-DVD sequels of the original song. They're technically canon, but they add nothing. Imagine a world without cheap cash grabs. We can do it if we try.

Stop engaging with shitty people.

Don't give them clicks. Don't give them ratings. The algorithm doesn't care if you click/watch because you like it or hate it, and the algorithm rules. Instead of clicking on something you know is going to be bad, engage with something you find worthy. Whether it's a candidate, a movement, a charity, a business, a dog, whatever! - only click on the things you want to see MORE of.

Sometimes we have to read about negative things (pandemic, plane crash, earthquake, etc.) to stay informed, and that's fine. Engaging with those things won't make more of them. It won't empower planes to crash more often or the earthquake knock down more buildings for attention. But if "being informed" about something is not only going to make you dumber, but encourage bad faith through engagement - resist. Please.

This is something literally everyone can do to help prevent what's been going on in the U.S. the last several years from happening again. Don't encourage it, even with your hate. This cycle has to end.