So, I really don't have anything planned for this blog except for reviewing The Rise of Skywalker when it comes out and counting down my Top 5 Movies of 2019 and my Top 10 Favorite Albums of 2019 (Which probably won't come out until the end of the month or the start of this year), so I'd figured I'd fill in the time with something else. In case you don't know what this is, Spotify does a yearly wrap-up where you get to view which artists you listened to the most, what songs you listened to the most, where a lot of the bands you listened to are from, etc. I'd figured I would talk about it, since I listen to music 3-4 hours a day, and I had some results that really surprised me. Let's get into it.
So, let's first talk about the artist I listened to the most in 2019, which is (Insert drumroll here)...
Weezer. Yeah, I was surprised by this, but I really shouldn't have been. They're on almost all of my playlists, they have a charm at their best that makes me never hit the skip button, and I regularly listen to their albums. I love this band, despite their shortcomings in 2019 with both The Black Album and The Teal Album, and I'm looking forward to their next release, Van Weezer (I'm not making this up; It's real). Also, if you're wondering, my most listened to song by the band this year was Hash Pipe. That was also not a surprise for me, since it, once again, makes the cut in many of my playlists and it's one of my favorite Weezer songs. So, while Weezer isn't my all-time favorite band (Even though they're up their in my favorites list), this isn't surprising to me in retrospect.
So now that we've touched upon my number, let's move onto the top 5, shall we?
So, this is my top 5 artists of 2019 by listens. We've already talked about Weezer, so I won't touch on that any further. Instead, let's talk about my number 2, Deftones. Honestly, this is the band I originally expect to be number 1. I listen to them when I need to calm down with tracks like Sextape and especially Entombed, when I want to scream my head off with Elite and Rats!Rats!Rats!, and just whenever I want to listen to music. I regularly play their albums, in particular Koi No Yokan, fairly regularly, and you can almost guarantee at least a song or two from them will make any of my playlists. This isn't much of a surprise and I'm glad they're here. They're one of my top 5 favorite bands and they've helped me through a lot.
So, next up is Skillet. I'm surprised they made this list, especially since they cracked the top 3. I guess it was from the streams of my favorite songs from their last album, Victorious (We'll get to that when we get to top 10 most streamed songs). I also enjoy listening to them when I want to blast some modern rock, and they're a childhood favorite of mine, so they have a nostalgic factor to them as well. I'm not upset that they're here, since I do really like them and I thought Victorious was a decent comeback for them after the bland and boring Unleashed, so this isn't the worst pick ever, but I'm just surprised. That's all.
Number 4 is no surprise to me; It's Rush. If you know me, you know this is my all-time favorite band. They're incredibly talented musicians, great songwriters, and their live shows were amazing. Rush is one of those bands I consistently listen to, and albums like Permanent Waves, Moving Pictures, 2112, Clockwork Angels, and Power Windows are ones that I always put on for whatever mood. They also have a lot of variety in their 19 album discography, ranging from hard rock (Counterparts, Clockwork Angels) to progressive craziness (Hemispheres, A Farewell to Kings) or even progressive pop and new wave (Signals, Power Windows), so there's at least a few songs for any mood that I'm in, so I'm not surprised that they're here, but I am surprised they're not higher.
Number 5 is the real shocker: Blink-182. You wanna know why? Because, save for a few songs from Enema of the State, I really only listened to their latest Nine this year consistently, and I didn't realized how much I listened to it, and while I did listen to it a lot (Spoiler alert for this year's best list: I really like that album), the fact that I listened to it enough to scratch the top 5 really caught me off guard. I do think they deserve it this year though; Like I said, I really enjoyed Nine, and they proved their fans wrong by delivering a really solid album after the departure of original member Tom Delonge and after the bland pop tune Blame It On My Youth. There's a lot to offer on Nine, and I'd recommend check it out, it's good stuff.
As for acts I expect to get in, the biggest one that surprised me is Tool. I loved Fear Inoculum and listened to it constantly when it came out, and that's a super long album with almost all the songs running 10 minutes plus (I listened to many of the song individually as well), so that would add to the stream time. I also listened to quite a bit of their older material, particularly stuff from Aenima and Lateralus that was also pretty lengthy. If there's a number 6, if it isn't these guys, I'm shocked. Audioslave would also be pretty high. I listen to tracks like Cochise, Like A Stone, and Be Yourself all the time, and they're pretty high up there too. Billie Eilish also gets quite a few streams from me, and while I didn't expect her to make it, she's pretty high up there in terms of artists I listened to this year.
So, let's talk about my top 5 genres before getting into some shockers with the top 10 songs list.
Most of this isn't too surprising to me. Rock music being number 1? No surprise here. Rock is overall my favorite genre of music, and acts like Rush, AC/DC, and Foo Fighters all elevated this to number 1. Number 2 is alternative metal, and this isn't overly surprising either. Some of the heavier acts I enjoyed this year like Slipknot, Tool, and Demon Hunter got the big plays from me, so this is a pretty expected for me. Number 3 is modern rock, and I'm fairly surprised this isn't number 2. I'm always looking out for new rock acts so I can support them, and acts like Ice Nine Kills, Saint Asonia, Starset, and The Damned Things all had songs that I streamed regularly, so it's surprising that this isn't higher. Pop is number 4, which is no surprise because, even though there are few pop acts that I truly love, when I discover one, I can't stop listening to them. Billie Eilish was the big one this year, but Lorde also got quite a few streams, because I'm a big fan of hers, and there's certainly others to mention, but those are the two big ones. Metalcore being number 5 is a similar situation to pop, where when I discover an act in that genre I love, I can't stop listening to them. Demon Hunter's heavier material and Oh, Sleeper had some songs that were fantastic and consistently were listened to by me, but there's only a select few acts, so it just scratching the top 5 is no surprise to me.
Okay, last but not least, let's discuss my top 10 most streamed songs of 2019!
I know you can only somewhat see the album covers here, but I'll tell you what these songs are. Number 1 is Reach by Skillet. I expected this to make the top 10, but I don't know how it got to number 1. I did listen to it regularly, but I didn't realize how regularly. This isn't even my favorite song from Victorious, even though I actually do really like it. I think the chorus is catchy and it's overall an enjoyable experience, but number 1 most streamed? That's shocking to me.
Number 2... Not so much. Invincible by The Damned Things is my favorite track from their album High Crimes; The rhythm section is fun and subtly complex, the chorus is catchy, the lyrics keep things interesting enough, and it's addictive. A great song, and I'm happy that it's here.
Number 3 is somewhat surprising to me, which is Diamond Eyes by Deftones, which is my most streamed song not realized in 2019. I do love this song; The guitars are suitably heavy, the chorus soars, and it's easily one of Deftones best tracks period. I did listen to this a lot, but if it even made it in, I expected it to be somewhere in the 8-10 range, not in the top 3. I'm not upset by this, but it is interesting.
Number 4 is Darkside by Blink-182. This is no surprise to me, because I streamed the crap out of this song when I first heard it. Sure, it's not the deepest song out there, but you can't tell me that it's not super fun. It's a good pop-rock jam that's got one heck of a hook and, like Invincible, it's addictive and keeps you coming back for more. Well deserved and unsurprising.
Number 5 is one I did not expect to reach the top 10, that being Swerve City by Deftones. This is another one not realized in 2019 (This is from 2012), and it's the opener to my favorite Deftones album, Koi No Yokan. The song grabs you right away with the heavy, but simple guitar riff, and the bass riff in the verses (It's a bit buried, but when you hear it, you'll realize you found an underrated bass line), and then chorus comes in, and it sells you. It's one of my favorite songs from one my favorite album, and one I'm happy made the list, even when I wasn't expecting it. Great song.
Number 6 is another Deftones song from Koi No Yokan, Entombed. I'm honestly shocked that both Swerve City and Diamond Eyes are higher than this, because this is my all-time favorite Deftones track. The beautiful guitar riff, the simple but entrancing lyrics, and that chorus top off a beautiful song. I listen to this track when I need to calm down, and it's so effective. It's soothing, but just heavy enough to keep you awake. Beautiful stuff, and I'm surprised this didn't crack the top 3. Amazing song.
Number 7 is another song from The Damned Things, that being Omen. This is a slower song, but it's still got bluesy groove and it's one of the heavier cuts from High Crimes. That groove grabs you immediately and the chorus makes it itself distinct, but still follows that awesome groove. This shows the variety in this band; When you have a band that has members of Fall Out Boy, Anthrax, Every Time I Die, and Alkaline Trio, you know you're gonna have a whole lot of creativity going on, and this proves it. I streamed this one a lot, particularly near the beginning of the year, and this placing makes me happy, but it's also unexpected. Another great Damned Things banger.
Number 8 is another Skillet song, this being Finish Line, once again from Victorious. This is definitely one of the more modern tracks on the album, and I wasn't sure how to feel about it at first, but I really dig it now. It feels like a hard rock version of Imagine Dragons done well; The production is nice and heavy, the groove is nice, and the chorus is catchy. Definitely radio-friendly, but in a good way. Not surprised this is here, because for a while, I was addicted to this. This is solid stuff, and this isn't a bad place for it.
Number 9 is Spider by Slipknot, which is surprisingly enough the only Slipknot song on this list. I expected Unsainted, Birth of the Cruel, or even the deep cut Critical Darling to make it, but I guess this makes sense since it's easily the catchiest on the album. The chorus and industrial vibes I get from this song make it worth the dark, twisted ride it sends you on. It's a bizarre cut from the record, but one of the album's most experimental and effective moments. It took a couple listens to get used to, but I love this now. I'm happy it's here, and surprised it's not higher. It's that good.
Number 10 is Save Me by Skillet. Again, no surprise here and I'm surprised it's not the highest ranking on the album. I got super excited when this realized because this is what I wanted from Skillet; The haunting piano, the crunchy, 2000s era guitar sound, an effective chorus, and a solo that takes me back to the Collide era. This is great, and I hope to hear Skillet to more like this in the future.
So, that was a look at my Spotify wrapped. If you want to look at yours, you can here. Hope you enjoyed reading as much as I was surprised by some of these picks. Look forward to my end of the year list and have a Merry Christmas. Bye.
No comments:
Post a Comment