Top 10 Worst Music Moments of 2023
2023 has been quite a mixed bag in terms of music. It had some high highs, but also some low lows. What do you think were the worst moments in music in 2023?
It's the worst apology that's ever been made on the internet.
Country music has reached a new peak in popularity this year, thanks to the success of hits by Morgan Wallen, Luke Combs, Zach Bryan, and others. However, it also saw Jason Aldean release what is probably the worst country song of the year: "Try That in a Small Town". This song and its accompanying music video received a lot of backlash for being a glorification of racism and lynching, and a demonization of big cities. The extensive media coverage led to the song reaching the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100, which is truly a disgrace. This song will very likely go down as one of the worst songs to have reached the top of the Hot 100.
This year, a lot of artists had objects thrown at them during concerts, and some of them even got injured, including Bebe Rexha after she got hit in the face by someone's smartphone. After the incident, she posted a picture of her bruised face on Instagram.
Again, this will surely be one of the worst songs to have ever reached number one on the Hot 100. Not only is it whiny, but it's also fatphobic, classist, and misguided.
This song kept "Fast Car" by Luke Combs out of the number one position. "Fast Car" should have been number one, not this.
The causes of her death have just been revealed and, contrary to what most of us may have believed, she didn't die by suicide or self-inflicted wounds. The causes of her death were natural. Still, it's so sad she died. She was apparently recording a new album before she died. Maybe it will be released posthumously?
Ireland lost perhaps its queen of rock 'n' roll too soon on July 26th. She was known for her 1990 cover of Nothing Compares 2 U by Prince and the Family. It's too bad she had a troubled and rebellious life and struggled too much with depression after her son Shane's suicide, which was followed by her retirement. R.I.P. to both legends.
The queen of rock 'n' roll left us on May 24th, 2023. She was known for songs such as The Best, What's Love Got to Do With It, Proud Mary, etc. She lost her battle to long multiple illnesses, which led to her final retirement in 2020. R.I.P. (1939-2023).
Meghan Trainor's newfound success, thanks to TikTok and her viral 2022 hit "Made You Look", must have gone to her head. In early 2023, she released a new song called "Mother", which features more misandristic lyrics from Meghan, such as an awkward use of the word "mansplaining" in the chorus, and an appalling use of the "bum bum bum" hook from "Mr. Sandman" by The Chordettes. Later in the year, she released "Hands On Me" (with Jason Derulo), which mercilessly ruined "Stand By Me" by Ben E. King and grossly turned it into a sexual fetish. I really hope she fades into obscurity for good in 2024.
Ben E. King's family needs to sue Jason Derulo for mercilessly ruining "Stand By Me" by draining everything that made it iconic in the first place and turning it into some cheesy "sex for dummies" story. In a year full of gimmicky samples, this song definitely takes the prize for the grossest song sample of the year.
Before the end of 2023, Jason Derulo collaborated with Meghan Trainor and released another mess. Hands on Me was a direct insult to Ben E. King and his song Stand by Me. Sean Kingston did so much better with Beautiful Girls than Jason Derulo and Meghan Trainor did with this. They could have done a better tribute to Stand by Me, but they wasted their potential and oversexualized it. R.I.P. Ben (1938-2015).
After releasing easily their best album in 15 years, Fall Out Boy then released a trainwreck remake of the classic Billy Joel track "We Didn't Start The Fire". It's easy to see why it made so many worst songs of 2023 lists, including Fantano's. I'm starting to think it's worse than some of the stuff from "Mania". There was no reason for them to remake this song, and there are lots of questionable moments, such as the events not being in chronological order, rhyming George Floyd with Metroid, and not mentioning specific events, most notably the Covid-19 pandemic.
Love or hate Smash Mouth, Steve Harwell's death is definitely very sad. He rocked many people's childhoods with hits such as "All Star", "Walkin' On the Sun", and "I'm a Believer". Far Far Away lost its true king. R.I.P.
They were one-hit wonders anyway, with their signature hit Song 2 reaching #2 on the U.K. Singles Chart, #4 on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart, and #6 on the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks.
This was such a huge loss to start 2023 with in music. She had sudden cardiac arrest during the Golden Globes and passed away at the hospital. R.I.P. to the princess of rock 'n' roll (1968-2023).
One of the co-founding members of the Chicks, formerly known as the Dixie Chicks, was killed in a crash on Christmas Eve. It was a truly devastating event for the Chicks as Christmas was approaching. Nobody should ever have to go through something like this when a special day is around the corner. R.I.P. (1958-2023).
There are so many reasons this song was really bad. The first part sounds like Drake trying to do an emo rap song, and then there's this faux-Eminem fast rap that is followed up by a gross transition to metalcore and some faux-Rick Ross grunts. The song even has lyrical gems like "about to go Darth, about to go Disney". It also once again showed that Ronnie Radke is a total douchebag because when Anthony Fantano gave the song a negative review, Ronie started a feud with him. He followed it up with a "reimagined" version of Papa Roach's "Last Resort", which is just a "symphonic" version of the latter with violins that are sappier than Canada's maple syrups and Ronnie trying and failing to do his best Chester Bennington impression.
The R&B singer known for hits such as "Truth Hurts" and "About Damn Time" has been accused of toxic behavior by many of her former co-workers, mainly backup dancers. The accusations include sexual, religious and racial harassment, disability discrimination, assault, creating a toxic work environment and body-shaming. Until then, she was known for being body-positive and nice. Now we all know she's just another narcissist and hypocrite who let fame go to her head.
