Welcome to a new year of music, BHS! I fell like these 10 songs have been played all over the place for the past few weeks. Let’s see if they deserve all the hype. After the usual top 10 songs, I’ve included three bonus songs that were submitted for review by a senior here at BHS.

1) The Box – Roddy Ricch – The song starts with a beat that resembles the knife noise in Psycho, and it continues to the end, piercing your ears all the way. Ricch came in showing some potential, but that potential faded as he continued singing. The “verses” aren’t appealing, but the chorus is tolerable. The lyrics are crude, but at least I can understand them!

2) Life is Good – Future ft. Drake – The first line hooks you and the calm music and rhythmic beat lulls you out to sea. Drake’s lines aren’t my favorite of his, but a story can be heard. Suddenly Future comes in like a shark to the calm waters and sends the song in a completely different direction. Future’s portion of the song is much less enjoyable, sounding less and less like music with notes.

3) Godzilla – Eminem ft. Juice WRLD – Eminem grabs our attention with a well paced, bopping rap, then speed raps the listener into confusion far enough to make Juice’s entrance seem like clarity, though the lyrics were still a little trippy. The musical portions are pretty cool, then Eminem blows up rapping so quickly I could barely listen fast enough. Overall the song is interesting, but not exactly a musical composition.

4) Memories – Maroon 5 – This ballad is not what I expected from Maroon 5, but it is exactly what I wanted. The slow, breathy and elegant sound of this song is wonderfully paced and the lyrics fit so beautifully in this sound. The subtle harmonies and electric guitar being played in such a melodic way makes this short three-minute-long song feel like it could go on forever.

5) 10,000 Hours – Dan + Shay & Justin Bieber – I would never have thought to pair these artists, but they create such a sweet song, I’d like to hear another combo song. Shay sings first with the guitar, introducing the country feel before Bieber comes in adding a pop feel, while maintaining the authentic emotions. Bieber’s singing style in this song resembles that of early songs from his career- very youthful and invested.

6) Dance Monkey – Tones and I – This song could get a crowd excited. It has a quick, exciting rhythm, simple lyrics, and an energetic beat for dancing. The simplicity of the song seems to be its downfall when one listens a little closer. The same lines drone on over and over in the singer’s ironic money voice. I don’t recommend listening to it more than once in a day or it will become more annoying than it already is.

7) Roxanne – Arizona Zervas – The beat on this song is overused and the auto-tune speaks through more than the actual singer, but I have to admit that this song is extremely catchy. Some of the lyrics aren’t tasteful, but I could sing this song all afternoon.

8) Lose You to Love Me – Selena Gomez – Gomez sings a story about moving on from a toxic relationship in this heartfelt song, similar to some of her others. The music is not unique, but that doesn’t stop it from being catchy. The easy ebb and flow of her metaphors shares her pain with the listener and keeps the tune from feeling rushed. This song paints the perfect picture of a break-up; it was drawn out and painful.

9) Yummy – Justin Bieber – This song is one of my least favorite of Bieber’s. It makes very little sense, has no engaging melody, and the singing in combination with the auto-tune ruins any chance there was of enjoying it. The only thing I was able to draw from this was that Bieber likes a girl. That’s about it. Very little substance over the beat.

10) Good as Hell – Lizzo – This positive, inspirational anthem is a great way to get your mood up! It is very fun to listen to and not hard to sing, considering there are no more than five unique lines in the song, making it a little repetitious. Since the song is short, one can get over the repetition and just have a good time jamming out to this catchy, happy tune.

Bonus 1) Hot – Young Thug ft. Travis Scott – The first minute of this song consists of nearly incoherent mumbling over the same beat and rhythm with nothing interesting happening. The beat and flute sections sound okay, but become boring after the first 45 seconds of no change in lyrics. Then the beat cuts out to switch over to the next rapper. His babbling is bland until Scott comes in and at least starts to sing real lyrics. Overall this song is very monotonous, with no impressive or exciting moments anywhere in the entire five minutes.

Bonus 2) Camelot – NLE Choppa – I really like the bass line that starts off the song and follows the rapper to the end. There’s a really nice groove created by it that raises the level of the song. I appreciate that I can understand Choppa, as well. I don’t appreciate some of his language or the topic of the song, but the music itself isn’t half bad.

Reader Requested
Bonus 3) HIGHEST IN THE ROOM – Travis Scott – The touch of classical guitar in the background was the second thing I noticed about this song after the excessive amount of auto-tune. Natural voice would complement the guitar and the style of this song a little better. The honest sound of the lyrics are much more appealing than Scott’s usual acid trip tracks, which I expected when I saw that the title of the song was in all caps. Not super interesting, but overall a decent song.

We want to hear from you! Let us know what songs you think will make it into the top 10 next issue, or some songs that you want to see be reviewed in the paper by emailing [email protected] or by leaving us a note in our dropbox on the second floor.