The Top 10 Worst Hit Songs of 2015

I was 9 years old when I watched Ohio State win the inaugural College Football Playoff National Championship on January 12th, 2015. That was a pivotal moment for me, as it was the first time I had really gotten invested in football. This was the start of a year that was really exciting. Star Wars was back in theaters for the first time since I was 1 month old, people were arguing over the colors of a dress for some reason, and a dead guy won an election in Vermont!

What was the pop music of 2015 like? Well, it seemed to be pretty normal as far as pop music years go. There were some very high highs and some pretty interesting lows. I don't think I'd say this is my favorite year of pop music ever, but I definitely think it's one of the more intriguing ones to discuss. And, as we begin, I'd like to say that the worst music of 2015 wasn't necessarily offensive, but it was tasteless by the true definition of the word. I'm here to talk about the worst of it. Let's go.

As said in the last list, the rules are as follows: A song must've: a) peaked within the top 50 of the Billboard Hot 100, and b) have had spent 15 weeks or less on the charts by the time the year started. If it fit those qualifications, I put it in a spreadsheet. I then proceeded to listen to every single song on that spreadsheet to determine my thoughts and gave them a score out of ten. I listened to 125 songs, and decided on my top 20 before ranking those to decide a top ten. We have to get this started, so let's watch as we whip and nae nae our way through 2015's worst music. I'm sorry that line was so cringe but that's what the worst music of 2015 deserved. Let's hop to it.

THE TOP TEN WORST HIT SONGS of 2015

#10.

So, you're probably wondering why there's a car in the thumbnail for this article, and truth be told I wanted to be a bit funny. I feel like most of you knew exactly what song I was going to talk about with that reference, so we're just gonna start off with it. If you remember where my "Worst Hit Songs of 2016" list ended, I started off my discussion with this:

"X Ambassadors might honestly be one of the worst bands I've ever heard. You know how everyone says Imagine Dragons is soulless and corporate? Well, X Ambassadors is that and so much more. Their biggest hit is "Renegades", a song that was quite literally made to feature in a Jeep Commercial."

Yep. That tracks.

10. "Renegades" by X Ambassadors

The only positive thing I have to say about "Renegades" by X Ambassadors is that at least it's not "Unsteady", but that's such a low bar I'm pretty sure every single other song they've ever made has cleared it. I don't really understand how this band got popular to begin with. There's just something so corporate about the music they make. They don't sound authentic. They sound like they're trying way too hard to be featured in commercials. You wanna know something funny, though? It turns out that is exactly what they were aiming for! 

Jeep approached Interscope Records and asked them to have a song made for their newest car, the Jeep Renegade. X Ambassadors was working on a song, and they were asked by the label to make some changes to tie it in. I don't think this song works with that title, though. You're telling me this song is about being rebellious? I can't feel that whatsoever. In fact, it sounds like the opposite. When I hear this song, it sounds like conformity. Nothing it does goes outside the scope of what music can be like a song with this title should. Nothing changes throughout. There's no chord change, the lyrics are all generic "rebel" nonsense, and it doesn't seem to be trying hard enough.

I have to say, though, the worst aspect of this song is the chorus. The lyrics are "And I say hey, hey, hey, hey, living like we're renegades." What is that supposed to make me feel? Rebellious? Not over this overtly happy, safe-sounding music, it's not! I'll tell you exactly what this song is supposed to make me feel. It's supposed to make me feel like I want to buy a Jeep Renegade. The only purpose this song has in your life is to make you want to buy a car. That's the artistic expression we should be aiming for, said Sam Harris apparently!

I talked about how "at least this isn't 'Unsteady'", but the reason "Unsteady" was such a bad song is because they tried to do something meaningful and failed miserably. The reason this song is bad is because it doesn't try to do anything and is nothing because of that. I understand that it has a purpose, but... come on man. How did a song meant to target potential Jeep buyers become one of the biggest hit songs of 2015? Were there that many people interested in Jeeps? I guess.

#9.

Sometimes, songs made by bad people chart. That doesn't necessarily mean the song itself is bad. Lord knows how many songs I haven't put on worst lists despite the artist being, well, awful. For example, Chris Brown's "Residuals" did not make my worst list this past year because, in spite of Chris Brown's awful personality, it wasn't terrible. You go back 10 years from that, however, you got two idiots trying their hardest to prove they shouldn't have been allowed to make music in the first place.

9. "Ayo" by Chris Brown & Tyga

Chris Brown and Tyga. What a pairing! You have one guy who almost killed Rihanna and another guy who is a straight up pedophile who bragged about while sampling "Children" by Robert Miles. Yep. That's where we're going with this. Except, it's not. I don't care that these two are terrible people, it's just the only interesting I can say about this formless glob that is 2015 rap music in a nutshell. This is genuinely the perfect representative for 2015's hip-hop scene, and I'll explain that further now.

This is another of the ripoffs of DJ Mustard that came around after his big 2014, and it sounds even worse than what Mustard was actually producing. It's just not good. It's generic, it's too dour to be fun, and it's too obnoxious to be anything special. With these two idiots on it, that's the worst possible thing you can be. However, this is not the reason I hate this song. The two numbskulls here sound fine. I honestly couldn't care less how they sound because the lyrics of this song are so absolutely bonkers and braindead that I have to devote the entire next two paragraphs to it.

We'll start with Tyga's verse. It starts off pretty normal, but it goes off the rails with "I got an engine full of trunk space". You don't put your stuff where the engine is, you put it in the trunk. The engine does not have trunk space, the car does. Then, there's "I make that bitch walk for some cheesecake". I genuinely have no clue what metaphor this is, so I'm assuming he's not one and he's just making a girl go get cheesecake. "Lookin' in the mirror like I wish I can be me" is one of my favorite lines here because... Tyga, do you not know who you are? You don't have to want to be yourself... you are yourself. Congrats. I don't even know what to say to this verse it's so unbelievably stupid. It'd be funny if it wasn't written by a pedophile.

Unfortunately, we have to talk about Chris Brown next. He honestly does a better job than Tyga, but once again, that's a very very low bar. He says "rehabilitation just had me worried about f*ckin'" and... yeah that makes sense. You don't seem like you've actually learned anything. "Money, decision-makin', only worried 'bout stuntin'"... Chris, everyone knows what you're doing you don't have to say it. He then, no joke, tells this girl to "just bring the animal right out of me". 

This man is beyond parody. I have nothing else to say. Go to prison, Chris. Take Tyga with you.

#8.

You ever walk up to a girl at a bar, and she's obviously not interested? I'm sure you'd try the classic pick-up line "girl, you got a body like a back road", and she'd probably throw your drink at you if you tried that. If she doesn't, you're lucky that she didn't do that and more. So, I don't really know what to tell you. Maybe she's just being nice and assuming you're not a creep. What do you do if you're former UAB quarterback Sam Hunt? That's a good question.

8. "Take Your Time" by Sam Hunt

Sam Hunt is an artist I have very conflicted feelings about. On the one hand, he's made some really good songs, like "House Party", "23", and "Kinfolks". Meanwhile, he's made some absolute junk like "Body Like A Back Road", "Make You Miss Me", and... this. "Take Your Time". A song where Sam Hunt proves he has absolutely no idea what he's doing. He's trying his best to get to know this girl, but she seems to be ignoring his advances. Hmm... I wonder why, Sam. Maybe it's because you keep comparing her body to dirt. Well, you haven't actually done that yet. Wait 2 years, and then don't. Please, I'm begging you.

The story starts like this. Sam walks into this bar, sees this girl, and he thinks she's looking at him. He says he "doesn't mean to bother" her and that he "couldn't just walk by and not say hi", which is a little weird but not really creepy yet. After this, though, is where that starts. He says that "everybody in here knows [her] name" and that she's "not looking for anything right now". So why approach her? If she's not looking for anything, why are you going out of your way to try to prove her wrong? That seems a little weird, man. 

What makes it worse is just how pushy he is about it. He's trying so hard to get this girl to like him, but he is well aware that she doesn't want him, and yet he's still continuing to basically force himself onto her. He justifies it because she's just ignoring him, but he just seems so desperate, and it's ugly. Very ugly. He says he "doesn't want to steal [her] freedom" or "change [her] mind", but he's more than willing to just do whatever he wants, even if it makes her uncomfortable. He does this same thing in "Body Like A Back Road", where it takes him 6 weeks to find this girl's number. I wonder if this is the same girl. I feel bad for her.

Sam Hunt doesn't understand what he's doing. The fact that this is a repeated problem in his music concerns me. He's also had problems with the law multiple times, so who knows if this is how he acts in real life. The dour feel sours the entire song, and the guitar solo emphasizes just how awful this song truly is. The fact that this is only at #8 is astounding, because I could make the argument that it's even worse than "Body Like A Back Road". It's not, but I could absolutely spin it that way. If he didn't have "House Party" this year, he'd have been arguably the worst mainstream country artist of 2015.

#7.

I talked about how pushy and creepy Sam Hunt was in the last song, but you know what's worse than that? When two consenting adults make a song about how they want to "Marvin Gaye and get it on", that is more uncomfortable than anything good ol' Sammy boy could possibly present to us. Thank you, Charlie Puth and Meghan Trainor!

7. "Marvin Gaye" by Charlie Puth and Meghan Trainor

The audacity of Charlie and Meghan to make a song that trivializes the name of one of the most popular singers of all time and turn into a euphemism is... something, for sure. I don't know how to exclaim how disrespectful this is, Marvin Gaye had been dead for 30 years when this song came out, and now he's been dead for over 40. I have absolutely no idea why they thought this was a good idea. I have even less of an idea who actually thought this was a good song, and how they lost their sense of taste.

I kid you not when I say that this was the only song on this entire list that was dead from concept. Even "Take Your Time" or "Renegades" could have been good if a little more thought was put into the ramifications of the lyrics or the edginess of the instrumental, respectively. With this one? How do you make Marvin Gaye's name a verb and expect it to work. The answer is... you don't! Don't do that, Charlie! What makes you think you, the single most unsexy person to ever live at the time of recording this song, could pull this off? I have to ask even further, what made Meghan Trainor the ideal duet partner for this? 

I don't even want to mention how absolutely incoherent this song sounds. It sounds nothing like anything Marvin Gaye himself ever made, and it has a ... trap drop in the middle of the 2nd verse? It sounds absurd. This doo-wop nonsense that Meghan Trainor's been making her entire career has sounded terrible, and it honestly may be at its worst here. They just clash so hard against one another and it doesn't work as a coherent song.

"Marvin Gaye" is on this list for the fact that it's an embarrassing mess that has no idea what it's trying to be. I don't even know what it's trying to be. Charlie Puth is a talented musician, and Meghan Trainor has a good voice, but this was an awful choice for a duet for the simple reason that I don't want to have to think about these two "Marvin Gaye and [getting] it on" while I'm listening to pop music. I'm glad both of these artists made better music later on, because we absolutely need to forget about this. Let's Kevin Powers and move on.

#6.

2015's worst music is a lot of things. It's incoherent, it's monotonous, and it tries so hard to be something cool or profound and fails at it. I guarantee you Charlie Puth thought that title line was cool when he wrote it. I guarantee you Sam Hunt thought he was being profound instead of creepy. However, what if a song was trying to be edgy, and went over the line? Actually, I have a better question. What if 4 of the biggest artists of the 2010s teamed up to make a song with a Nazi-themed lyric video and it could only manage to get to #6 on this list.

6. "Only" by Nicki Minaj, Drake, Lil Wayne, and Chris Brown

Nicki Minaj's legacy as an influential hip-hop artist is a very hard one to untangle. Then again, she has some very good and very bad songs. This is probably her worst, outside of "Big Foot". Have I actually ever talked about Nicki on here? I think "Super Freaky Girl" might have been a dishonorable mention at one point, but this is the first she's had make the proper worst list, and what an introduction this is. It's a collaboration with Drake, Lil Wayne, and... Chris Brown. Of course. This had potential, though. I think all of these artists are talented, and they've all made good songs (yes, even Chris). So, what did this one offer?

"Only" may actually be the most repulsive song on this list on an objective level. The music sounds like if you slowed the theme song for the show "Chain Reaction" by 500%. It's one of the worst beats I've ever heard in my entire life. This was produced by, of course, Dr. Luke. It sounds like one of the most lazy jobs I've ever heard. I'm willing to bet the drum production was done by Cirkut or JMIKE, the other two credited producers on this song, because at least that TRIED. This also goes on for 5 minutes and 12 seconds, and I got tired of listening to it after the first minute. What a good job these producers did. I'm so glad we gave the abuser a 2nd chance instead of giving it to someone who actually deserved it. Great job, music industry. You let him go unpunished and he turns in beats that sound like garbage. 

Let's get to the actual content of this song. The entire song is Drake and Lil Wayne ogling over Nicki Minaj while she talks about how she didn't have sex with them. Of course she has to use some really... odd imagery to talk about that, which I'm not going to go into detail on. Lil Wayne straight up insults whoever Nicki was with at the time and says, "she acts like she need d**k in her life". Drake says "I never f***ed Nicki cause she got a man but when that's over I'm first in line." Why are you collaborating with these guys? It says something that the only good part of this song comes from Chris Brown. Why is he the only one that gets to do something good? Why is his part so disconnected from everything else? Why does this song suck so bad?

I know that people are going to remember Nicki for songs like "Starships", "Super Bass", and this same album's "The Night Is Still Young" (I'll talk about that one in a future article, don't worry!), but I'm worried that I'll remember her for this, "Trollz", and "Big Foot". Either way, though... this might be her worst song. We knew she was washed when those songs came out. She wasn't here. She still had "Chun-Li" left in her. She had "The Night Is Still Young" on this same album. Nicki Minaj, and everyone else on this song for that matter, have tarnished their legacies. They'll all be remembered as the biggest rappers in the world who rose into the highest heights, but fell so low it makes a bottomless pit seems like Mount Everest. I hope it was worth it, Nicki.

#5.

Before this next entry, I want to talk about why I have "Only" so low on the list at #6. You figure a song that bad, where I get that mad at everybody on it, would be higher, right? Well, the thing is... no. The next 5 songs on this list were songs that tried to be something special. "Only" could've been great, but the only person who put in any effort on that song was Chris Brown, and... yeah. #5 on this list is the song that is the biggest waste of potential on the entire list. It was trying so hard to be great. It had great intentions behind it. Yet, when the world needed to hear it, it gave up every ounce of sincerity it had.

5. "Prayer In C" by Lilly Wood and the Prick feat. Robin Schulz

This song isn't on the list because of anything Lilly Wood and the Prick did wrong. They seem like genuine artists who are trying to make profound music. I've listened to some of their other stuff, and it's pretty good. The only bad song they have is "Prayer In C", which might be the single most misguided song on this entire list. The idea of the song isn't bad, but man this needed to be executed better. I don't know what target audience "song about the world's issues with a dance beat under it" hits, but that is not a target audience I am a part of in any way.

The problem with this song is fairly obvious based on what I've said, but I want to take a little bit of a different approach. I do not think this song was dead on arrival. It was dead when they got Robin Schulz to make it, but I think another producer could've done it justice. However, it was not done by another producer. It was done by Schulz, who seems to not understand what the song is about, instead opting to make a ... tropical house song. Uh, question for you Robin. Did you listen to this song? This song needs a backbone. It needs to have force behind it and help you understand the themes. When you do this, the song lacks that. No one is focused on the lyrics. We're focused on the sound. And this sounds awful.

"Prayer in C" uses so much reverb that it makes an echo chamber sound like it isn't able to make any noise at all. I can hear it in every aspect of this song. That guitar loop that goes throughout. The drum production that sounds eerily wet. I can feel this song, and it sends chills down my spine. This combined with the weirdly grating way that Nili Hadida's voice is produced is just a terrible sound. I guess I am just paying too much attention to detail but it just sounds wrong. It sounds... weird.

I respect what this song is trying to do, but the fact that it needed a dance remix to get popular and the failure of that dance remix to understand the song's structure and style leave it with much to be desired. This song is what happens when you want to make it commercially and are willing to sacrifice the authenticity you aimed for originally. It's one of the worst examples of this I've ever heard, and for that I'm willing to call it one of the worst hit songs of 2015.

#4.

If you're reading this, you probably don't agree with me on the last pick. I'm not expecting you to. "Prayer In C" was popular for a reason and, while I didn't like it, I can see why someone would. These next 4 songs are songs I don't see many people disagreeing with. They're all songs that started from an interesting place, but did not live up to what they could've been. Well, except for #4. #4 was bad from the moment it was conceived. It may have some good things about it, but the core idea behind this song is so absolutely stupid and awful that it had to go here. 

4. "Honey, I'm Good." by Andy Grammer

Andy Grammer may be good, but the song certainly is not. I wish that's all I had to say about this, but it can't be. This is a song that I just can't stand. Every time I hear it, it makes me go crazy. I'm honestly surprised how often I hear it, considering I'd be embarrassed if I played this in front of somebody. Andy Grammer doesn't have a sense of irony in his entire bloodstream, so I'm not shocked that he'd make something this wimpy. This sounds like what they would play in a waiting room for getting your balls chopped off. 

Let me start with the music. It's got this faux-uplifting, too-catchy-for-its-own-good vibe that sounds completely sarcastic. Nothing about this feels sincere. The entire song continues with that rhythm and the only break you get is the pre-chorus, which is just as bad. It doesn't help that Andy's voice sounds like if Andy Samberg was an octave higher, and it's just grating. This song is somehow both extremely catchy but also hard to listen to. That's such an outlandish accomplishment that I don't even know how they managed it.

The worst part about this song, though, is the "holier-than-thou" attitude Grammer has about the whole thing. He acts like it's some great thing he's doing not cheating on his wife, even saying "better men than me have failed", when it's just basic human decency. I don't want to hear a song like this. Every single aspect of this song's personality is tied into what it's about, and what it's about is pretty simple. "Honey, I'm Good" is a man saying no to a woman despite complimenting her throughout the entire song ("These long, long legs are damn near everywhere", "And you've got that ass"). He obviously wants to cheat, and that defeats the entire purpose. If it wasn't taboo, he would do it.

"Honey, I'm Good." is the worst kind of song. It's overly obnoxious. It's too catchy for its own good. It has a lead singer who thinks he's being clever and cool, when in actuality he's being cringy. That's what this song is, without question. This song makes me cringe when I hear it. I can't understand how any person with a sense of irony can enjoy this. I don't see how this isn't seen as one of the worst songs ever made, because it's all Grammer will be remembered for, and that's just sad.

#3.

I'm just going to steal a line from Todd in the Shadows to start this segment. He summed this song up perfectly in one quote. I can't really add anything to it, so I'm just going to put it below.

If this is your fight song, you're going to lose.

3. "Fight Song" by Rachel Platten

I'm not going to spend a lot of time insulting this song. Rachel Platten seems like a nice person, so I'm not really feeling like turning this into a mean, over-the-top discussion. Honestly, there really isn't much I can add. "Fight Song" is boring. It's one of the most lackluster hits in the history of popular music. Nothing about it projects any kind of power or fight towards anybody. But, I don't really feel any negativity towards it. I know this song has helped a lot of people, the same way I'd guess that "1-800-273-8255" by Logic has. That right there is the thing.

That Logic song was #4 on my 2017 list for basically the exact reason this song is. While it has helped a lot of people, it doesn't come across that way to me. That's not me trying to be mean, that's just how I feel when I listen to either of them. When I listen to "Fight Song", I'm not imagining someone coming back down from being punched. I'm not imagining overcoming addiction or illness. What I imagine when I hear this song... is Hillary Clinton losing the 2016 election because she didn't understand how to get with the times. That's not an endorsement of her, but it is the best example I can think of including this song. When I hear "Fight Song", I hear the sound of executives in an office not understanding how to connect with younger people, so they slap a song like this onto something to make it seem "relatable." 

A positive message does not always mean a song is good. I do think there's something to this. The lyric "I might only have one match, but I can make an explosion". That's a decent lyric right there. That's about it, though. The song has a very generic chord progression, no unique instrumentation. It seems like it was made to be as unhateable as possible. It doesn't even explain what Rachel is fighting. That's why it struck a chord with so many people. If you don't explain what your situation is, it can fit anything. That's what makes this song so bad, though, in my opinion.

Without actually having a concrete motivation behind making a song like this, you don't really capture the genuine feeling of having something you're fighting. Wikipedia says she was a struggling musician at the time, so why not hint at that? There's nothing in this song to hint at that whatsoever. It's just ... nothing. I feel bad that I'm putting it this high, but when a song has no distinctive characteristics, that's worse than being bad on purpose.

#2.

The top two songs on this list are songs that just feel strange. For a list called "The Top 10 Worst Hit Songs of 2015", you would think the top 2 would be something truly offensive. And to that I say... no. They are not. 

If you remember correctly, my #2 for 2016 was "Back To Sleep" by Chris Brown, a song where he brags about basically raping a girl. It's one of the worst songs I've ever talked about on this site, and I'm just angry it exists.

My #2 for 2015 is the debut hit of a 17-year-old kid who tried to follow in the footsteps of Justin Bieber.

2. "Stitches" by Shawn Mendes

Despite the fact that he's made my top 3 for both 2015 and 2016, I don't hate Shawn Mendes. I hated his music up until he started actually trying, which was in 2020. Ever since, he's actually made some songs I really love. "Wonder" and "When You're Gone" are probably my favorites of his, with the latter making my best list in 2022. He's really improved as an artist, and that's for the best. His 2016 hit "Treat You Better" is his worst song, but "Stitches" isn't too far off. While "Treat You Better" was ugly and weird, "Stitches" is pathetic and awkward in the worst kind of way. 

The song starts with this basic guitar intro, and it seems fine, but that's where the good parts end. Shawn starts singing and it's just these hack, generic lyrics that I wouldn't expect a 17-year-old to write better than. I would expect the other two songwriters, Danny Parker and Teddy Geiger, to know better, though. The analogy of "you hurt me with your words" is so drawn out and overdone to the point of radioactivity. Every single thing this song is trying to be has been done before, numerous times. That wouldn't be a problem if the lyrics had any discernable personality to them. It just uses basic phrases like "moth to a flame" or "reap what I sow" to describe exactly what you think they do. It's songwriting for people who want a hit, and don't care how generic they sound to do it.

Of course, I would not call this song in particular generic. The verses and the pre-chorus aren't the star of the show. The chorus is, and that's the real reason this song made the list. To put it bluntly, I have never cringed harder than when hearing the title line of this song. "And now that I'm without your kisses, I'll be needing stitches" is one of the worst lyrics I've ever heard, with no exaggeration. It's worse than anything on "Treat You Better" or any other song on this list. Shawn clearly thought this was some zinger, but it tears down anything the song was doing before. It's one of the worst writing decisions I've seen, and the fact that this worked in such a way that this song has over 1.7 billion views on YouTube is baffling. 

The production of this song isn't anything to write home about, but at least it's something. Having your title line be... that... tells me you're trying way too hard to be emotionally compelling and instead come off as pathetic and weak. I'm not a Justin Bieber fan, but I'll always respect "Eenie Meanie" and "Baby" way more than I respect this. At least those songs sounded good. I can dance to those. There's no situation in which I can imagine myself listening to "Stitches". The stomp-clap background takes away from the emotional intensity it's trying to pull off, and the lyrics make it sound overdramatic and cringey. Overall, now that I'm without this song, I'll be needing things to stay that way.

And now, before I reveal what the worst hit song of 2015 was, here are some dishonorable mentions. 

DISHONORABLE MENTIONS

[DM1] "Watch Me" by Silento

I was originally planning on putting all of this, "Tuesday" by iLoveMakonnen, and "Hit The Quan" by iLoveMemphis as dishonorable mentions and expanding the pool to 12, but that felt like excess goods, so I instead decided to go with both the worst of the 3 and the one with a murderer on it. Silento, real named Richard Hawk, was sentenced to 30 years in prison for voluntary manslaughter and aggravated assault. This has nothing to do with the song, which just steals a bunch of dance crazes and lists them in an annoying, autotuned voice that really just makes it obnoxious.

[DM2] "Good For You" by Selena Gomez

Why was Selena Gomez making music that sounded so creepy? Is this supposed to be a love song? It sounds like a song a stalker would listen to before trying to come after you. How do you manage to be both boring and creepy? That's an achievement if I've ever seen one. Not to mention the video, which is just a bunch of disconnected clips of Selena either flopping around on the floor, flopping around on the couch, standing in a shower, or standing in a hallway. Take that as you will.

[DM3] "Dear Future Husband" by Meghan Trainor

This not making the actual list feels wrong. There's so many things I could rant about with this one. The faux doo-wop style, the demanding nature of this song that is intended to be funny but comes of as obnoxious, and the demeaning attitude of it all. Meghan doesn't want this guy to be anything but a yes-man. Am I reading too much into it? Probably, and that's why this isn't on the list. I don't want to read too much into this. It seems pointless, much like the song itself.

[DM4] "Girl Crush" by Little Big Town

A lot of people had this on their worst lists for "queer-baiting", but I have it here because it's one of the most boring songs I've ever heard in my entire life. It's slow and it's exhausting. The entire point of this song is that the lead singer has a "girl crush" because she wants to be this guy's lover, but she isn't. Sabrina Carpenter did this much better a decade later, so I don't really see a reason to come back to this. Also, a lot of people say Harry Styles did this justice... and... maybe? Sure. I'll give him that.

[DM5] "No Type" by Rae Sremmurd

"I ain't got no type. Bad bitches is the only thing that I like"

That... is a type.

Moving on.

[DM6] "Pretty Girls" by Britney Spears feat. Iggy Azaelea

Britney Spears making a song with Iggy Azalea must have been what doing the Cinnamon Challenge felt like. Sure, it's trendy and it'll get you attention, but it's... such a bad idea. Why would you do this? What did you see about this idea and think "yeah, that works"? There's also a scene in the music video where Iggy Azalea turns an old-style cell phone into a newer one using her "alien mind powers". I could be making that up, or telling the truth. I'd implore you not to watch the music video to find out, because either way, you're going to be let down.

[DM7] "Kick The Dust Up" by Luke Bryan

Here's a spoiler for the 2013 worst list that will probably be out in October or so. "That's My Kind of Night" by Luke Bryan and "Cruise" by Florida Georgia Line will not be appearing on the list. That being said, that doesn't mean these guys can't make bad music. "Kick The Dust Up" specifically takes all of the bro country cliches of Bryan's earlier work, and removes all of the fun. It's a boring, lifeless song that exemplifies everything bad people say about country music.

[DM8] "Bitch Better Have My Money" by Rihanna

This song is like if Sabrina Carpenter suddenly released a Gospel song. It's so unbelievably out-of-character and it does not fit what Rihanna usually did before this. Rihanna makes songs about being with someone, not about trying to be a gangster. Apparently, this song was co-written by Kanye West and Travis Scott. Yeah, that makes a lot more sense. These two can really be negative influences if you let them. I'm assuming that's what happened here.

[DM9] "7/11" by Beyoncé

When I put "Formation" as a dishonorable mention on my 2016 worst list, that was because I thought that song tried to be something profound and missed the mark. With "7/11", I have no clue at all what is going on. The production sounds terrible, with the percussion specifically being a very, very low point. This song sounds obnoxious. It grazes your ear with some of the worst-sounding moments you'll hear in pop music. It's low-effort, and it sounds like it.

[DM10] "Dessert" by Dawin feat. Silento

I did not know that Silento and Dawin wanted to be members of Alvin and the Chipmunks. Unfortunately, I feel like they're a bit too bad at music to be a member of that group, as evidenced by this awful attempt at a single that wasn't even eligible for this list, but I just had to talk about it since it's one of the most nonsensical songs I've ever heard in my entire life.

And now, with those out of the way, it's time for my #1.

#1.

When it comes to these lists, the #1 is the culmination of everything I'm writing about. You need to make it make sense. It represents something about you as a person. For example, my worst list #1s all have some aspect of them that tells you something about me as a person. Here are some of the ones that I think are the most important of the ones I've picked.

2016 - "Unsteady" by X Ambassadors shows the level of emotional ugliness that pushes my limits.

2018 - "Gummo" by 6ix9ine shows that I am not going to be complacent when it comes to scumbags proudly 

2020 - "Got What I Got" by Jason Aldean is an example of some of the behavior that I have no respect for.

2024 - "Wine Into Whiskey" by Tucker Wetmore is the type of song that I believe has the power to destroy mental health.

What does my 2015 #1 mean? 

I don't know. I guess it means... I don't like songs that sound terrible?

#1. "I Bet My Life" by Imagine Dragons

Here's an interesting fact for you. Imagine Dragons has never had a song appear in the main list of any of my worst lists. Considering they've had eligible hits like "Thunder", "Believer", and "Natural", all of which are polarizing, this may be slightly surprising. What's even more surprising is that the song that finally broke them through isn't one that I've ever seen even make a worst list. Granted, this song didn't make the Year-End Hot 100 and only peaked at #28, but it was eligible for the list by my rules and I think I remember it being a much bigger hit than it apparently actually was. However, this doesn't feel like a normal #1. This feels like in a #1 in a year where not much was worthy of it, but I'm not going to act like this doesn't undoubtedly deserve it.

"I Bet My Life" is victim to what I call "unnecessary screeching", which is when Dan Reynolds decides to do random screeching noises in the 2nd half of the chorus and it ruins the entire song because it sounds like a cat getting run over by a tractor. There's also random screaming noises throughout the verses that sound egregious and take my mind off of any "profound" lyrics Dan is yelling throughout. That's not entirely fair, though, because the verses actually don't sound that bad outside of the screaming. Unfortunately, the lyrics don't really paint a picture of what's going on. Apparently, this song is about his mother, but I couldn't have told you that. I still have no clue what he means by the title line. Does he mean that he's risking his life for his mom to be successful, or just that he has faith in her? It's not very clear considering the chorus' lyrics are just "SO IIIIIIIIII, III BET MY LIIIIIIFE, III BET MY LIIIIIIFE,, III BET MY LIIIIIIFE ON YOUUUUU"

The song's lyrics feel more like "generic struggle-core", with some of the most uninspired, boring phrases being utilized. "Wildest dreams", "sleepless nights", "walked that road", and "please forgive me" all have come from different songs, and the song in its entirety doesn't paint a vivid picture of what happened between Reynolds and his mother. It just paints a song that sounds like it's meant to be in a commercial. The problem with that is that this song is too aesthetically obnoxious to work even in that environment. What you're left with is a song meant for nobody. I can't imagine what kind of person would like this song, and that's worse than knowing what person likes this song and hating it.

"I Bet My Life" is the worst song of 2015 not because it tried the least, not because it represents something profound about pop music, and not even because Dan Reynolds is a bad songwriter. I don't believe any of those things. What I do believe is that, out of all of the songs eligible for this list, "I Bet My Life" is the one that ruined any chance of it being good with production decisions that make no sense. The screeching from Reynolds during the chorus and the random screaming in the verses hurt my ears to listen to. It's one of the most frustrating songs I've ever heard in my entire life. It's a song that puts itself in an unknown category where it doesn't really have a concrete genre. Overall, I think it's the song from 2015 that I hate listening to the most. 

I bet my life that Imagine Dragons never makes another song this awful.

And that's it. I'd like to thank you for reading this, as I spent a lot of time making sure this was a good read. This is Lando from the Landoman Experiment, signing off.