31. Beyonce – 7/11
Gabrielle Bondi: I love this song. The infectious beat and funky vocals make this hip-hop track interesting and just so much fun. I love that it’s quintessential Beyonce, while being fresh and different. A-
Melody Rice: Remember: this was one that she kept off her album. B+
32. Sam Hunt – Take Your Time
Ryan Gibbs: It’s always interesting to see what pure country songs tumble into the bottom of the Top 40 based on sales and genre radio airplay. This song basically runs off a near-rapped spoken word gimmick that doesn’t really work. Like, it feels very Shawn Mullins to me. Not interested in hearing this a second time. C-
33. Vance Joy – Riptide
Ryan Gibbs: Snoozy and unremarkable post-Mumford ukulele folk stomper. I thought were past this stuff. D-
34. Nick Jonas – Chains
Melody Rice: Oh hey, look at that. A-
35. Maroon 5 – Animals
Ryan Gibbs: In the video for “Animals,” Adam Levine hangs around a meat locker and is drenched in blood. I have no idea if this was intended to be a joke or not. It’s funny either way, though. In conjunction with the ridiculous lyrics (do you really buy Levine sincerely singing that he’s going to “hunt you down and eat you alive”?), the whole thing strikes me as absurd. “Animals mals”? There’s no way he recorded this with a straight face. I wasn’t planning on rating this because it’s a novelty song, but Shellback’s production isn’t great and I don’t know where the other five people (yes, they’re a six-piece now, but can you really tell?) in Maroon 5 factor in here. D+
36. Big Sean feat. Drake – Blessings
Kevin Montes: Out of all of Big Sean’s albums, not mixtapes, I tend to only like one or two songs out of the bunch. It goes “High” on Finally Famous, “First Chain” on Hall of Fame, and now with Dark Sky Paradise the singular track to blow-up (for me), is this song. The instrumental is ominous as well incorporating some hard-hitting drums. Drake adds a hypnotic hook, but the song does feel very generic. Haven’t rappers obviously thanked people for their luxury before? I mean this just sounds like a dark version of any Big Sean verse. Despite this setback the track is still fire in it’s own way. B-
37. Kelly Clarkson – Heartbeat Song
Gabrielle Bondi: I was excited for Kelly Clarkson’s new album until I heard this song. “Heartbeat Song” is underwhelming work from the person who gave us some great pop-rock moments. C-
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38. Sia – Chandelier
Gabrielle Bondi: I’m always down for a pop ballad, and Sia’s “Chandelier” is one of my recent favorites. The fact that it’s still on this list says a lot about the power and popularity of this song. It’s a good one that we’re not ready to let go of just yet. A
Melody Rice: I’m usually not big on bombast, so it took me most of last year to finally get this. Once I did, it seemed spectacular. The lyricism, which present a sad story of excess and self-destruction, sold me on it more than anything, and the huge sound offers a musical equivalent to the lyrics. So maybe I don’t hate bombast, I just prefer it to have a purpose. A-
39. Rae Sremmurd – No Type
Kev: Umm…what? All this has going for it is the beat. And even that is a slightly uneven. They sound like children going through puberty, badly. I’m sorry, I can bump to “No Flex Zone” with ease. That’s a banger, but this is just bad. F+
Melody Rice: Prediction: Kev is going to hate “Throw Sum Mo.” This isn’t one of their best songs, nor one of their worst, but plenty likable. B-
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40. Drake – Energy
Kevin Montes: One thing I have yet to do is fully express my thoughts on the most recent Drake album, an album I thought was intentionally bad. Unless you are a d*ck rider, you can really see how his album is just a loop instrumentally. They all sound the same (but not actually 100% true, just not much for variety), but out of all the tracks I do f*ck wit’ Energy. Drake is also on some IDGF ignant sh*t. He raps about how many enemies he has made but compared to him, they are some broke ass haters. Drake has some gravitas in flow and the beat is probably one of the better ones on the album. It has variety and doesn’t retain a constant loop. Lyrically he is very mundane but he’s very blunt so at least he doesn’t mirror his mentor Lil Wayne. B-
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