BuzzJack's Favourite Top 100 Hit of 2023 / Week 12

1 'Baby again..' - really surprised I am such a big fan of this because I did not like the original Lil Baby song at all but somehow feel like the sample works much better in this clubby context, gives it a bit of a hypnotic quality, and excellent production as expected from... at least 2 of the 3 artists on this song (Skrillex is a bit more hit or miss x) 9/10

2 'It's Called: Freefall' - was not expecting this sound at all for some reason, I was picturing this being more of an emo / heavy song based on what I'd read about the lyrical content and whatnot, quite a beautiful song though and particularly loved the guitar solo at the end, definitely should be at least a minute longer but good stuff 8.5/10

3 'Welcome To The DCC' - sounds very Dawn FM inspired (I'd say I'm surprised to hear that from them but I did already know to expect that from reading other people's reactions to this song) but that's not a bad thing, definitely going over better than some other recent attempts at the 80s synth style. That riff was forcing me to groove ~ 8.5/10

4 'Flip A Switch.' - not the most artistically daring song on her album but it's a definite earworm, gives me similar 00s R&B vibes to what FLO have been doing, I thought this sounded like a potential hit when I listened to her album so glad to see that starting to hopefully come to fruition! 8/10

5 'JACKIE BROWN' - this somehow didn't really stick out much to me on his album for me last year (I actually forgot it was even on that album oops) and I still think there were better songs on there so not sure why this is the one that's blown up but relistening to it on its own rather than among a bunch of other Brent Faiyaz songs... it's one of the Brent Faiyaz songs of all the time which means I like it. Can't really go too wrong with his general sound, just so effortlessly cool. I do like the pitch shifting making it sound like a duet with himself, keep forgetting that's still his voice lol 7.5/10

6 'Eat Your Young' - think this one will grow on me more but I'm digging the retro soul aesthetic on first listen and can see the hook being a bit of an earworm too, still not sure how this suddenly gave him such a big hit again but here for it 7.5/10

7 'Christmas Kids' - sounds straight out of the 60s, if I didn't already know what the song was about I'm not sure I'd have realised how dark it is as I'd probably be ignoring the lyrics as usual and just grooving along to the sunny Beach Boys esque aesthetic. Interesting idea for a song anyway, again I could do with it being a bit longer but think this will probably also be a grower anyway 7.5/10

8 'How I'm Feeling Now' - well written song, some nice strings and his vocals definitely sound better than on his last couple of singles, still not one I'm desperate to return to but one of his better singles 7/10

9 'Set Me Free Pt.2' - there are parts of this I really like (the very grand instrumental, and I actually quite liked the sound of the rap verse, I can see why it's been divisive but I thought it was pretty cool, almost hyperpop esque) but it is dragged down a bit by the way too repetitive and slightly grating hook, still good overall but could have been a lot better (much like the j-hope song really, BTS solo guys are not good at choruses it seems) 7/10

10 'Hell N Back' - more retro soul vibes, sounds a bit Ronson/Winehouse and I do quite like his vocals even if they're a bit rough, don't think this is as strong a song as the Hozier one though but still nice and could be a grower 6/10

11 'DEATH' - was vibing to it for the first couple of minutes (reminds me a lot of Purity Ring / Grimes) but I really don't care for the chorus at all, very anticlimactic and the post chorus instrumental breakdown sounded pretty not great, that knocks it down several pegs unfortunately. The music video is also cursed 5.5/10

12 'All Of The Girls You Loved Before' - cute that she got it out there for the fans but I am definitely not mourning that this got cut from the album, sounds like a very unremarkable album track 5/10

13 'gutter' - the part where she goes full Anne-Marie just before the first chorus is almost enough to make me kind of hate this, it's pretty crap lyrically throughout but I do like the instrumental enough to think it's tolerable overall 4/10

14 '5 Leaf Clover' - enough with the Luke Combs entries please (I say knowing already there is yet another one next week). This again is not one of his worst songs as he's at least not shouting but it's a step back down from 'Love You Anyway', the accent is more grating on this one and it's just such a sickly song, I can see the appeal (the instrumentation is again quite nice at the very least) but it's not for me at all 3/10

Pretty strong week, voted for my whole top 7 and there are a few more beyond that which had elements I really liked but didn't quite come together enough as full songs (at least on first listen, maybe one or two of them could prove to be growers, also expecting some of the ones I did vote for to grow on me further).

New poll up shortly, yay that we have at least got to over 40 voters (we had 37 at the time I bumped so yay for the bump working somewhat).