DW (00:35.68)
Somebody kiss me kiss me Yeah, yeah, you know what I'll kiss the fans Static static. I can't hear you. can't hear you

Taj Williams (00:38.446)
Should acquaintance be forgot? look, I left my drink over there. I'll be right back.

Damon (00:48.585)
Tush.

Damon (00:55.217)
wait, my headphones aren't working.

Taj Williams (01:01.738)
Right?

DW (01:03.065)
Welcome back to the Ultimate Playlist Podcast full of choice tracks. I'm Dietrich.

Taj Williams (01:09.78)
I'm Taj. yeah. Sorry, I'm jumping in there. It's eager. I owe you something.

Damon (01:09.833)
I'm Damon. Da tash, da minda tash.

Damon (01:19.381)
Jinx, you owe me something. Well, I'm Damon, and who's the other guy?

Taj Williams (01:25.524)
I'm Taj. You know, just wrapping up, bringing up the rear, know, watching your six.

DW (01:30.492)
I guess I'm the only one drunk. That's what it is. Okay. That's what you do on New Year's. You get drunk unless you get old. Then you stay in the house and fall asleep before the ball drops and wake up the next day like, my bank account's still the same. Damn. Okay. Anyway.

Taj Williams (01:46.235)
Or you fall asleep at like nine and then wake up at midnight. You're like, I fell.

DW (01:49.62)
You know, I've won that before. Yeah, but then I got the wrong cousin and others regretting it the next day. yeah, definitely. so. speaking of New Year's, before we get to the actual point, we're actually going to be wrapping up what was called the year of two thousand and twenty four. This has been a crazy year, to say the least.

A couple of highlights of the year that we're not going to get too far off into. We do have a new president, which is not really a new president. He's an old president and he's had everything thrown in against the book, but he's coming back into office. We also had a whole bunch of change when it came time to bring some bad folks down. Some music artists, some music execs, some...

you know, film artists and execs and things of that nature. It really was an awakening when it came time for people to find out how crazy people actually are in Hollywood. We've had, you know, some passing. We definitely have had our share of ups and downs. still COVID is still around for those that have to deal with it, you for those who get it now, that's more like a common cold than it is actually like hitting people, but it's still knocking off a couple of folks. So for us though,

We're still dealing with the after effects of situation. Outside of that though, it was a crazy time with music. And that's what we're here to talk about because there were some highlights through the year that we covered a lot of stuff, but there were some songs that we just didn't cover. So in this particular situation, what we're going to do is kind of like a wild card. We are going to bring up music that we wanted to get in onto the playlist before the year closes out.

And we want to make sure that we highlight those those tracks because they were important to us in each our own individual way. And it kind of let us, you know, let us through this year without pulling our hair out too much. I don't have too much left on my head. But, you know, everybody else seems like we got hair on our face, so we don't have to pull that out too much. You we kind of want to do that when it comes to my particular choice. My choice was based off of the summer.

Taj Williams (03:49.902)
you

DW (04:04.32)
which was the craziest summer that I've seen in a very long time. It was basically Ten Con versus Godzilla. if you know who won, you know. You know who won. it was basically, it came down to the hip hop situation where we had two or three of the biggest giants actually going at each other and throwing bar for bar. One person thought it was easy and this person was gonna let things go and they just got.

Taj Williams (04:05.39)
you

Taj Williams (04:16.408)
you

DW (04:32.618)
completely blind sighted by not only the lyrics that were being played in a particular song, but the hype of that song. So much so that he wanted to sue the label because he felt like they gave them the opportunity to unfair advantage. And that's still going on right now. But what we're going to talk about is a song that basically took over the whole damn charts in the summer and the whole nine. And I'm talking about Kendrick Lamar, They Not Like Us.

Taj Williams (05:17.774)
Right.

DW (05:17.856)
It's still the names. If you were talking about the uppercut that said down goes Frazier, down goes Frazier. It was Muhammad Ali and Frazier. was King Kong, Godzilla. It was Rocky Balboa and the Russian. It was everything that you wanted in a particular battle and then song. It was, you know, our juggernauts when you're talking about hip hop and those that were going at each other. You had the social media prince who basically ruled the charts for years.

You had the underdog who basically was up there and considered one of the best, but you know, didn't really want to collab with each other. And next thing you know, they're going off on each other. And it was a whole tangent on how they went off on each other. We actually covered a mini version of that. We were going even forth over the beef. We're not going to highlight beef itself per se. We're just going to highlight the knockout below. And that's what this particular song. And I say that, I say that with all

Taj Williams (06:11.522)
Yeah.

DW (06:17.028)
judgment, judgment put to the side, right? It's you have to go back and look at the battle for what it was. there were shots thrown back and forth, but this particular person, Kendrick Lamar did something to Drake that nobody else has been able to do. And that was make a hit song out of talking about you, which is what Drake is known for. That's his forte. He can't do anything else. He's going to make a hit song out of talking bad about you.

And he'll throw in a couple of lines, a couple of jabs, a couple of bars, and you can't do anything about it because it's being played on the radio like crazy. Well, that's exactly what happened to him. He got hit with his own medicine. So in this situation, Kendrick Lamar got with DJ Mustard. They made a track. This track literally took over everybody's airwaves. It took over everybody's ringtones. It took over everybody's dance parties, playlists, bar mitzvahs, you name it. It was there. It was a party for kids.

where the five year old kids were sick with assault. They were like, and it's probably a minor and the whole environment. So what do y'all think about kids with Glamour? Is they not like us?

Taj Williams (07:17.324)
All right.

Taj Williams (07:26.798)
So I was super late to the beef and then I knew about this song, but I had heard I hadn't like listened to it and then I listened to it and then I watched like a YouTube video, like a reaction video on it. And you're like, yeah, it is a crazy song. I can see why it came out in the clubs like. But yeah, it it's it's like three songs in one. Like there's chord changes, melody changes, but it's like a.

Jammer. mean, like, and there's certain parts that just stick out to you like whole. And you're like that part, the A minor part, like the song just like grows and evolves as you listen to it. You're like, yeah, like there's no way that you do not get addicted to this. And then the music video itself was like it was interesting because it starts in the in like a school setting, you know, but everybody kind of dancing in their school seats. And it's what I.

thing is sometimes hidden on it. It's him kind of bringing the two halves together and say like, hey, we're stronger together, but you not one of us. Like, and he's like acknowledging both halves. Like he's acknowledging the crypts and luds. And he's like, yeah, we're together. Where are you? Yeah. So.

DW (08:42.88)
Well.

Definitely, definitely. Amy, what's your thought on that?

Damon (08:53.277)
Yeah, this is like, this is a battle for sure. Yeah, so like, I don't understand half what he's saying. Like, I don't know the context of it. You know what I mean? Like, I know what he's saying, but like, I don't know the stories behind all the beefs. So, pretty damn good though. Like, this is like, really involved. There's a lot, you know, of lyrics to this song.

Taj Williams (08:54.574)
Thank

Taj Williams (09:02.491)
No!

DW (09:03.168)
Bye.

DW (09:22.174)
Yes.

Damon (09:23.113)
But like, Yeah, like, you guys are laughing about the A minor thing. You know, that's just one dis. Like, he's dissing everywhere. Like, I don't think he gives a fuck, but like... Nobody's mad at him, right?

Taj Williams (09:31.926)
Yeah.

DW (09:33.872)
it's an old thing.

DW (09:38.976)
yeah. yeah. Hot steaming. The OVO camp, know, as far as they're concerned, Kenjic is public enemy no one and it is what it is. Let me just give you just that line that we just talked about right there. Just a little bit of a breakdown. It's a triple entendre. you know, entendre, yomeli means that you have a double meaning in a situation. You can use the same word, but it's got a different meaning for two different parts, right? This is a triple entendre.

Damon (09:41.024)
they're as shit in them? Okay.

DW (10:08.478)
So one, he said that A minor referring to Drake messing with little girls or messing with young women. He basically called him a pedophile within the song. He's talking about the keynote of A minor, which is not a black key. So essentially he's saying that Drake is not black in the situation. And he sung it in the actual key of A minor.

Taj Williams (10:29.281)
Okay.

Damon (10:31.197)
He's dissing his shit all over the place.

DW (10:37.312)
which took it to the whole other level. And there's a reason why everybody loved it. Yes. Yes. So he said, certified level boys, pedophile and better hide your sisters and the whole nine. And then he took it to the other verse is where he literally, the end of the last verse is where he literally took us on a ride showing that Drake was a colonizer saying basically he took styles.

Taj Williams (10:40.366)
You

Damon (10:40.511)
It sounded very fucked up and white and all that shit. Yeah.

Taj Williams (10:43.15)
you

Taj Williams (11:02.087)
yeah.

DW (11:02.826)
from Two Chains, he's took styles from Lil Baby, he took styles from everybody from Atlanta. All the popular artists is who he used in order to stay on top when he wanted to get a quick dollar and stay relevant in a situation. But he's really not from that area. He's not representing that area. He's not representing the culture of hip hop. He's just a pop artist being used or using hip hop as a way in order to get on top. And he's got 20 ghost writers.

from what Jindra was saying and literally he threw everything out there to discredit Drake and used it in a catchy tune which got played everywhere and then so.

Damon (11:41.631)
Well, I like that shit. I love it for that.

DW (11:41.824)
That's the right day. Yeah.

Taj Williams (11:44.566)
Yeah. And I want to say it's still on the charts. Like it's still in the top 100. And it's been there like months, months.

DW (11:49.78)
Yeah, still killing.

Yeah, it's gonna stay there because Kendrick actually dropped another album, an album that nobody saw coming. It's called GNX, basically, I will Grand National Car. And literally, he's still throwing shots in there. And he's like, before I take a truce, I'd take him to hell. And literally going off on any and everybody associated with OVO and whole not one. And, you know, it's one of those things like,

Taj Williams (12:16.686)
Dang.

DW (12:24.54)
If I'm going to bury you, I'm going to make sure that nobody finds your damn body. That's how he's going to have him. It's like, there's never going to be a truce. We're never going to call it quits. We're never going to be friends. And he got, not only did he get popularized with this particular song to go back on the top, but he got the Super Bowl performance based off of this. And, and literally now everybody's skeptical as to where he's actually going to say the song. Are you going to throw a lawsuit at him where you can't use the song?

situation may be it's gonna be crazy. so it's gonna be a situation. It ain't even have to sing the song. He's just start the lines on up and everybody will start singing. It's probably a minor. You'll hear the whole damn crowd singing after it. And it's like it's bringing the **** right back up again. And so this to me like was one of the highlights of 2024 because it's basically taking down the king and on top of that solidified that you can you can you can put rap beats.

Taj Williams (12:54.533)
yeah.

Taj Williams (13:08.302)
Right

DW (13:23.998)
you know, on wax and make it make it something. Now there were some other skirmishes that happened in between time. You'll drink drunk water. Drake's security guards got shot in front of his house. They were trying to make a thing out of that. And this like, it's not connected to Kendrick, but it definitely got a little bit serious and he had to pull it back and tell me down a little bit. Some other key figures got involved. They weren't supposed to be getting involved and everybody's trying to try to guess what the next moves are.

in a situation, but when it comes down to it, you know, a loss is a loss. You take it and move on or you sue somebody over it. And that is something that's unheard of in the hip hop realm. Like as far as hip hop goes, one of the unwritten rules is you don't sue somebody over something they said about you, whether it's defamation or not, you just get into it. But in this particular situation, both of them belong to the same label, just saying that the label did unfair practices in order to push.

one song versus the other. They said that they knew that that part was in the song could be damaging to the career and they let it be released anyway. And it's like, it's a whole, whole different situation. it's a petition, you know, not a lawsuit, but a petition in order to find out who was the one that was behind all this and behind the bots that being used in order to make the song popular and all this other stuff. But you're actually exposing the record industry at the same time because they use bots that are going to get your songs.

So, you know, it's a little situation, whoever comes out in the head of it. But at the end of the day, this was one of the biggest highlights of 2024, period, to me.

Taj Williams (14:52.814)
Right.

Taj Williams (15:05.902)
For sure, yeah. I mean, this defined part of 2024. Yeah, for sure. I agree with that.

DW (15:15.709)
Okay.

Damon (15:16.213)
What a way to end the year, man. That's a good one. Good pick, dude.

DW (15:19.712)
Yep. Thank you. Damon, what do you have next for us, man? What was your pick of 2024 that kind of made you feel something going into this year?

Damon (15:32.341)
Yeah, so there's a lot of songs that I liked throughout the year, but not really. I think a lot of albums that came out, there was a lot of older bands that came out with some stuff, a lot of singles, and there were some duets, stuff like that. So what really drew me to, I guess, my favorite pick for 2024 was a song

that was basically, it's not just one artist, you know, I can't just go with one. So I don't know if you've heard of Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga, they did a little bit of a, I guess like a duet where they got together and they wrote a song and they're kind of country looking. They look country for it, but it doesn't really sound country.

Taj Williams (16:08.334)
you

Damon (16:30.919)
It's kind of a cool look, guess, but two of my favorite artists and can't go wrong with that. So I picked Di with a smile.

Damon (16:57.693)
Yeah, so you probably heard this song on the radio a lot. It's one of the big hits. I heard a lot of hits on the radio, because I like to enter contests all year long. And so I'm always forced to hear stuff that maybe I like and maybe I don't. yeah, so this was produced through Interscope Records. got Lady Gaga, Mars. Bruno Mars has been one of my favorites for a long time. Lady Gaga.

Definitely one of my favorites for a long time. I say a long time, but it lasts 10 years. that's, to me, that's most definitely most relevant. But yeah, they kind of pushed us pretty quick to get out a single to do this together, but glad they did it. So what do you guys think?

Taj Williams (17:50.072)
So I like Bruno Mars. I've always liked Bruno Mars. I almost did his unorthodox jukebox album a couple of times. But like, yeah, I like that. I mean, this is a strong, powerful song. it's a sappy, romantic song. I was trying to look it up here because the only thing I was trying to figure out is like this was used in Joker 2, right?

Or was it not used in Joker 2? OK, which that's the weird thing about the song. Like the song itself is fine. But then when you tie it to the fact that it was used in that movie, which I haven't seen the movie beyond this, I haven't seen either Joker movies. I've just seen YouTube reviews of Joker 2 movie. And it's like the fact that the second movie decided to be a musical like.

DW (18:19.984)
Yep. No, it was using Joker and Harley Quinn. Yes.

DW (18:43.936)
.

Taj Williams (18:49.494)
I can see the song being sung in musical. yeah. once you put in that vibe, you're like, yeah, this is kind of a musical number. Like this is a movie duet song. So yeah. But I liked it.

DW (18:52.926)
Yes.

DW (19:08.074)
So yeah. Yeah, no, no, no, you're good. I was going straight there, yeah.

Damon (19:08.499)
Well, this is also nominated for son of the year. Sorry, teacher.

Yeah, so like whether whether it was in a movie or not or like you like the style of the song or the them together I think it's not great together, but they definitely were There this this was a hit for everybody and being nominated You know for song of year is pretty damn good. So But what'd you what'd you have to say teacher?

DW (19:40.608)
Nah, you were good. yeah, this is from, you know, Joker, Falle Ado. No matter what you think about the actual movie itself, the song itself is fire. It stayed on top 200 globally for five weeks. It was nominated for a Grammy. It's literally one of those songs from two of the biggest artists that you know that when it got together, it was gonna be faker. And so, you know, it's one of those feel-good times.

situations and yes got a little bit of a message behind it a little bit of a dark tone but at the same time it's it's related to Joker movie like the first one dodge you gotta see the first one first one definitely origin story love this one i was not thinking it was going to be a musical i didn't know what was going on going into it 20 minutes into it i'm like what the hell is going on and then from there it's kind of it was what it was

It's not as horrible as Madame Web, but it's one of those things. It's like, Yeah But it's Lady Gaga like smash I'm all about Lady Gaga whatever whatever she wants to do whenever she wants to come out she wants to come out and sing musical and be a Villain at the same time like I'm for it. So as far as the song goes like sonically

Taj Williams (20:43.0)
Yeah.

DW (21:06.666)
can't go wrong with this. And got out together, put on Mars, that's gold automatically. So back then, they were involved in the writing, that didn't have to tell them they were involved in it and actually came through and recorded it. It was like,

Taj Williams (21:26.126)
So get cask a weird side question. But do you feel like it maybe I'm misinterpreting, but do you feel like Bruno Mars is underrated or underappreciated? Because I feel like John Legend gets more more credit or recognition than Bruno Mars does. And I feel like Bruno Mars is a pretty good artist, but maybe I'm just being biased.

DW (21:50.048)
So here's the thing about Bruno Bruno is He's been in the industry for a very long time Even as a kid, you know, he was you know playing Elvis and hold on so he knows about the entertainment business. he gets a little bit of flack Because they think he's trying to be you know, culture appropriator or whatever the situation may be but artists art

When you're an artist and you literally come up with all these songs and all the style then you've got the flow in order to go with it Some people love it. Some people hate it. Some people is just be in between and I really care about whatever the situation may be He's definitely got his notoriety. He's definitely been nominated a bunch of times I have to look to see if he's won any Grammys I want to say he has don't quote me on that just yet. But as far as being like a top-tier a-list artist

Bruno has that. Now his moves would dictate something different. Like we all know, not saying we all know, but it's been alleged that he has an issue with drugs, with the powdery substance. It's been also alleged that he has a gambling issue. know, it's those things that kind of got to tie him down. Like he's good for music, but he is a bad boy at the end of the day. Most like singing artists,

are really thugs when you come down to it. But he, as far as giving credit runs, it really depends on who you talk to. I think Bruno is definitely up there. And for him, Lady Gaga, him, him, any other collaboration he does, Cardi B, like, he just kills it. He comes, he steps to the plate, and he's there. So.

Taj Williams (23:15.712)
you

DW (23:36.672)
With the worldwide recognition, you know, he's always been on tour. He's always done different charts and different things He can go pretty much anywhere that he wants and that's part of the issue, right? It's you know, you're caught up in the limelight You can't really stay grounded when you're you know, having me as a people fearing a name So as far as industry recognition, he's written so many songs in the background, too So he definitely gets there. He did the Super Bowl performance. He's all over the place

Taj Williams (24:01.581)
Right.

Taj Williams (24:07.596)
Yeah, for sure. Okay.

Damon (24:09.533)
I was going to mention the Super Bowl, yeah, for sure. And he had won a few different awards, not for this one. He was nominated for the Grammy, but we haven't seen that yet.

Taj Williams (24:23.086)
So, okay.

DW (24:23.166)
Right, we gotta see what other songs are in that category that's going against, but this is a strong contender for a winner for sure.

Damon (24:33.855)
Hope so, man. Yeah, he's one of my favorites.

DW (24:36.714)
This almost reminds me of a Bond song.

Taj Williams (24:40.258)
Yeah, no, for sure.

Damon (24:42.471)
It could easily be that. It could easily. Yeah.

DW (24:44.085)
Yep.

I can see a bomb movie coming out saying, die with a smile and, and, you know, make millions of dollars in it. So.

Taj Williams (24:46.734)
and

Taj Williams (24:54.766)
It's the. other thing is, it's it's timeless in the sense that like you could play this song any season like this could be a summer jam. You know, this could be a winter song. It could be spring, fall like this song kind of goes with any season with any like event type of thing. You know what I'm trying to say? Yeah, it's a slower ballad, but like it kind of feels timeless as far as you could listen to this whenever so.

Damon (24:55.805)
Intro song,

DW (24:57.343)
Mm-hmm.

DW (25:15.284)
Yeah. Yeah.

DW (25:24.042)
Yeah, it's not so slow that you get tired of it because it definitely has the tempo to it. It definitely is on the up and up and yeah, man, it's just beautifully written, beautifully sung. I love the work, so not mad.

Taj Williams (25:28.471)
Right.

Taj Williams (25:37.516)
Yeah. Yeah.

Damon (25:39.517)
And they both did Super Bowl performances.

DW (25:42.976)
Uh-huh. Uh-huh. That just tells you the level of what's wrong because not everybody gets hit for Super Bowl. Like, they don't. So, huge. So the fact that you get it and did it...

Damon (25:47.285)
Yeah

they don't. Yeah, that's a huge deal.

Taj Williams (25:56.43)
I meant the Beatles never got picked. No. I'm kidding. Okay. okay.

Damon (26:01.397)
Well, if you want to talk about Legends, alright, let's go into it.

DW (26:01.536)
Just do it.

All right.

DW (26:13.458)
I joke I joke I kid I What was it? Ralph the dog or Rex the dog? was the Rottweiler. was insulting everybody and then some the public. Yeah, try it. Yeah. Crazy.

Taj Williams (26:26.424)
yeah, Triumph, the insult comic. So, Yeah. Okay. What does, should I go into my pick then?

DW (26:39.424)
Yeah, Taj, just go ahead and do what you got. Yeah, he was around in 2024 so yeah, it kind of makes sense.

Damon (26:41.654)
you have a pick?

Taj Williams (26:42.698)
Yeah, I have a pick. So all right.

So I picked a song that stood out to me when I first heard it because the lyrics, it's a it was a jam of a song. The crazy thing. I mean, I think there's a lot of crazy things about this song came out as a single in April. The album itself that's on didn't come out till August and the song stayed on the charts from April till August. Right.

So this song was kind of like a spring song, but it was kind of a summer jam. But the album didn't come out till after the end of summer. Right. And the the artist has been around for a bit, has had other albums. But this song has kind of made everybody feel like she's a new artist when she's not. But it's kind of put her on the map. And so the.

artist I'm talking about is Sabrina Carpenter and the song is Expresso.

Taj Williams (28:04.856)
So I'm going to be honest as far as geekdom. The reason why this song first stood out to me was because she said the word Nintendo. I was like, really? What is this song doing on the radio? It has the word Nintendo in it. And then it's an earworm. You know, it has espresso. I drink lots of coffee, so I like espresso. so good. You're playing it twice.

Right. I think he likes it. He wanted a double shot of espresso. I got you, Right. He really likes it. Yeah. It's all good.

DW (28:37.16)
I think he likes it.

DW (28:42.036)
He likes it. He likes it. Hey Mikey.

Damon (28:47.957)
I think that was a slight of hand there, but yeah, yeah sure.

DW (28:52.746)
Glitch in the Matrix, it's all good. If you're gonna glitch, I would glitch on that song. Yeah, for sure, I had no problem.

Damon (28:56.789)
That was a glitch in the Matrix, yeah.

Taj Williams (29:00.594)
Right. Yeah. So. but yeah, it was I really when we start doing chart chart toppers, I kept hoping that we would pick this song and we never hit the dice on the expresso. And it was like, no, why? And then, you know, the album came out, the album's OK. It's short and sweet is is the name of her album. But I just I felt like.

Damon (29:02.343)
I can't get enough of her anyway. But yeah. She's good.

Taj Williams (29:30.318)
This song, like it's crazy. Like, I don't know. I don't think I'm going to say a bold move here. I don't think any of Taylor Swift's songs were as big as this song. Like, I don't think she had a couple of big hits on there, one with Post Malone. But like, I don't think any of them got as big as Expresso, but maybe that's just me.

Damon (29:54.651)
We're talking about her latest album that came out this year.

Taj Williams (29:56.526)
Yeah, tortured poet.

Damon (30:03.603)
Yeah, I was tortured listening to it. I do feel like it was an okay album by Taylor Swift, but it was definitely hyped up. She gets what she wants because she put in the work, she put in the hours. But like you said, Sabrina Carpenter did too. I think she's probably just as big or bigger in some way. She's also an actress too, right?

Taj Williams (30:04.942)
Taj Williams (30:29.187)
I think so. think she was an ex Disney actress, right? If I remember. Yeah. So and that's the thing. It's kind of like, I know it's hard sometimes for those child actors to break into adulthood, you know, but like she stayed in the game and then she finally hit it this year or so. And yeah, I think it's a good song.

DW (30:33.726)
Yes, yes, she was. Yes.

Damon (30:34.78)
I believe so.

Damon (30:44.681)
Yeah.

Taj Williams (30:54.924)
The other thing is like, know everybody was saying that was a brat summer. And maybe that's just because Charlie XCX's album came out during the summer. But still, I still feel expresso is more my summer song than any of the songs off of Bratz. So I don't know.

DW (31:04.489)
Mmm.

Damon (31:05.461)
title, Brat.

Damon (31:14.197)
Well, Charlie FCX was, she was kind of like,

just pulling the edge of like, you know, like too sexy, but then pulling back, you know, she got a little, you know, she was definitely doing what a lot of artists do. get a little bit risky and they try to, not that she hasn't been anyway. I think she was already kind of that artist.

DW (31:34.528)
See? Yeah. Yeah, see? Yeah.

Taj Williams (31:36.236)
Yeah, BAMMIT! Yeah, BAMMIT!

Damon (31:38.815)
But it's more so than this one for sure.

Taj Williams (31:41.826)
Yeah, but but Megan Stallion still up there and so is sexy red like that. were still got the more edgy. It does it does.

Damon (31:50.057)
Sex sells, sex sells for sure.

DW (31:50.528)
Okay, yes sex sales, but let's just let's put this in perspective We're talking about we're talking about some headers here, for long Charlie XCX. Yeah, that's my all-time top five. I'm not even gonna play with you. You just did a Night even a photo shoot. was a red carpet event like a couple of days ago and she had a breast out and it was like Wow Just but it's sexy as hell

Damon (31:56.917)
Okay.

Damon (32:01.781)
man.

DW (32:20.726)
Sabrina Carpenter, sexy as hell. Like she just oozes, you know, sex and even in her shows, like, when she was on tour and doing live shows, she would throw in little sexual innuendos and talk about what she wouldn't want to with fans and all types of craziness, right? So you have those that know how to work it. Taj, you brought up sexy rag. Don't ever bring that up again. No, not bad at you. Maybe the styling, you can do that, but just because of name sex,

Taj Williams (32:47.713)
Okay.

DW (32:50.37)
you know, but that's for each you know, you know, everybody has their their likes what they like and what they don't not mad at it. I love all women. Yeah. Yeah. There's even a couple that I would probably don't want to be seen with but I still love them. but in this record we're bringing it right back to the one that we're talking about is a friend of Carpenter like

She just oozes it out. It's like when Lady Gaga first hit the scene, she was risque, but people wanted to smash, right? And she and Christina, sorry, Sabrina Carpenter is, she literally broke out of that Disney shell. Like she was in Girl Meets World. That was the remake of Boy Meets World from 2014, 2017. She was in a bunch of Disney movies. And then,

You know, they kind of knew that she was going to be one of those breakout stars, but they didn't know she was going to take it to this level. And in this particular game, when you're able to separate yourself from a child character, like that's a big deal because Arianna Grande is still dealing with that situation where everybody knows her for being, you know, coming from Disney or Nickelodeon or whatever the case in point may be. But, you know, she's still fighting that urge to break out and be her own. And that's why she tried to come out a little bit sexier.

Sabrina just hit the gate with it. So it's not like a situation where she's trying to be a woman. She flat out just came out as a woman and everybody's just loved it ever since. So not bad.

Taj Williams (34:19.35)
Okay. But yeah, that was my pick for a single. So I think we're back to... yeah, it does.

DW (34:25.024)
And this song fucking snaps. This is a great summer jam altogether. You can throw that on any party. I'm glad it's gonna be in the Ultimate Playlist, because if this shit comes on, whatever we're at, it's gonna be dance too. It's gonna be fun. So, not bad.

Damon (34:30.366)
It does.

Taj Williams (34:43.938)
Yeah, for sure. All right. So I think, Dietrich, you're back up.

DW (34:50.916)
yeah, you know, back up to bat. So now we're going to change, not topics, so to speak, but just change the variable and situation. You know, run up songs we didn't necessarily get a chance to cover, but there was also some albums.

that came out in 2024 that we didn't get a chance to cover either. But that's okay because we're bringing them in now. So you got a chance to cover them and listen to them. If you already have, then you'll get to go. You're already in the know and we're just way behind. If you haven't, then we're introducing you to something that you might get a chance to get a vibe off of, you know, right before we go into 2025. And some of these albums were released late. So.

Actually gives you a chance to you know catch up on music. That's That's a you know a little bit tricky so You know it's outside of our world though because you know where we have picked You know newer songs in the past we tend to like stick to the you know 70s 80s 90s 2000s because we're old that's just what it is But in this particular situation I don't mind being young Okay

Taj Williams (35:54.635)
you

Damon (35:59.093)
Speak for yourself.

Taj Williams (36:00.366)
you

DW (36:01.354)
For myself, I don't mind being young and listening to what's out there now because there are actually some good stuff. So there's one particular artist that came out of Dallas, shout out D-Town, know, I'm representative of PG, Boy in the Rays, Groside, but you know, out of Oak Cliff and his name is Big X the Plug. And if you don't know Big X the Plug, he's the one that's saying that I'm from Texas all.

that blew up in the Texas Longhorns use that has got that little that country swing in the background. see y'all from Texas. We like to swing. we riding on Alexis. You got all that kind of stuff. So if you don't know, he's a rapper. and he actually released the album called Take Care. I believe this is like a second and third album that he released. But the interesting part about this particular artist is he doesn't do a whole lot of collaborations.

Which is kind of crazy for a new artist because you know new orders to come out all the time and when big wigs hit them up they like doing those collaborations because it kind of puts their name out there as well and they can use that popularity and then some this particular album he pretty much did the whole album himself and He didn't want to do any features. He only had a song he was talking about fuck your features I'd rather do my own stuff and so this album is good listen to and a song that I picked with him

is his current single alcohol of the largest.

DW (37:53.418)
So what do you think about big X of blood, the largest?

Taj Williams (37:53.592)
So

Taj Williams (37:58.606)
So I liked it a lot. It took me a while to figure it out. But I think that horn beat in the background is get up, stand up for your rights. is the horn beat on that background. And that was like, I didn't hear it till the second time through. But like the song itself was amazing. But yeah, I liked it. So a lot.

Damon (38:25.683)
Yeah, I like it too. think...

Damon (38:31.741)
It's like his story. He's basically talking about what he's about. I hope I got that right, but that's what I got from the song. Is that true to what he's trying to deliver?

Taj Williams (38:37.486)
All right.

Taj Williams (38:42.764)
Right.

DW (38:47.188)
Actually, yeah, that's exactly what he's delivering. It's all about him and his upbringing and how he came into the game and how he's not taking any kind of shorts from anybody else. And he's not letting anybody get over on him either. And it's crazy because when somebody releases an album and you've got 15 tracks on there and you've got like nobody else that's on there with you, that's saying something within itself. So.

Taj Williams (38:47.512)
Yeah.

Taj Williams (39:14.382)
Well, and plus, like he's putting an entendre on it, right? Because like the clips I've seen of him, like he's a large dude. and so. Yeah. And so like he's he's putting it like he's saying it like in status, but he's also saying in like in actual body, like, you know, there's no way bigger than him. And I got to respect that. Like that's just like the cool song. Like doesn't matter which way you look at it. Like I'm the largest.

DW (39:23.221)
yeah, big boy. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah.

Taj Williams (39:44.558)
Yeah.

Damon (39:48.021)
Well, I mean, other than that, like the, you know, like the bigness of his career and I guess his size.

can relate to like the feeling of wanting to do something more wanting to be better it's kind of a good it's a really good like end of the year song too because it's a lot of what i think about the end of the year is like what can i do next year what did i do wrong now or what can i you know what can i improve but it's it's definitely a good you know end of the end of the year kind of like shout out

DW (40:20.34)
Definitely.

Damon (40:20.661)
But yeah, like just, yeah.

DW (40:24.384)
Yeah, he's got a couple of singles on that album. If y'all get a chance, go ahead and check that out. And, you know, let us know what you think. Hit us back in the email, hit us back on chat and let us know, you know, do you like album? Do you not like album? Do like artists? His flow is definitely riding the beat. Most of his beats sound like they're in the same syncopation, but they're not. He definitely knows how to stay on top of the track and he knows how to inflict his voice in order to make people listen to him. So.

Definitely give him a shout out. Taj, I'm flipping the order right now. go ahead.

Taj Williams (40:57.55)
So it.

So was I right about the sample? It is the horn section of get up, stand up. OK.

DW (41:02.548)
Yes.

Yes, you're right about the sample and pretty much the album he he's got some heavy samples in there from 60s 70s a little bit of 50s. but yeah, it's pretty much every song got a sample on it somewhere from the 70s and 80s You know from popular rmb songs and you live to get a clip on so whoever his producer is to go in and get those actual tracks clear. That's crazy

because I know there was a whole lot of that could have came out of that situation just for copyright purposes.

Taj Williams (41:37.518)
So, but yeah. Okay. So you want me to do my album?

DW (41:42.656)
Yes, I want you to do your album. What was the album in 2024 that made you stop and listen and actually take hold of it?

Taj Williams (41:51.214)
So, okay, I listened to this album. So if you guys remember, we were on a bit of a break at the beginning this year. We took like a month or two off, you know, get reorganized, get structured, right? Figure out what we want to do. We just need that sabbatical. So there were some stuff that came out while we were on that break. And it just, it felt like everybody talked about it at the time that we were gone. And then, you know,

But when we came to end of the year review, like I kind of wanted to go back to something that happened at the beginning of the year, because like fresher stuff is always in people's mind. know, like I said, Sabrina Carpenter's album just dropped. could have been like, I want to do that one. But I wanted to go back and do something that we haven't covered on this podcast. But I think I can't think of a better album for the whole year.

because it covered a lot and it was kind of a first for me. for me, I'm talking about Cowboy Carter by Beyonce and the track I picked, which I know everybody knows, but it's the biggest one on there is Texas Hold'em.

Taj Williams (43:22.51)
All right, so I have to be honest. I know Beyonce songs because everybody knows Beyonce songs. I never really listened to a Beyonce album. I never listened to Lemonade when that came out. But when this one dropped, I was like, you know, I missed out on the hype of Lemonade and people seeing down and listening to it. So I was like, I'm going to listen to Calvary Carter and then like.

I listened to it and I thought it was an amazing album. And then all the reviews and covers of breakdowns of the songs, like this song, 16 Carriages, which is just amazing. She does Jolie on this album. Willie Nelson and Dolly Parton have little on this album.

It is an amazing album. I can't. The other thing that I felt that why I think this album is significant and. I don't get so, you know, I'm going to mess this up, but that country, not back country roads down, down home roads, you know, that song came out and they were, you know, there were parts of society that were like, this is a country song and other parts were like.

No, it's not a country song. It's just a poppy song that sounds country, right? And there's been, I felt like tension on, you know, pop artists or hip hop artists trying to do country and country pushing back, like you cannot do country because we're country and you can't do it. And then Beyonce came out and did this album. She's like, are you sure we can't do country? And then like I felt like this this hit that mark of like

finally, you know, pop artists or hip hop artists coming out and doing country and proving that it can be done so much so that like, I feel like with Shaboosie's, you know, bar song, like nobody's arguing that that's not country like they did with Down Home Down, the other song that came out like two years ago. But you know what I'm saying? I feel like Beyonce broke that glass ceiling. She's like, we can do country.

Taj Williams (45:44.707)
So, but yeah, what do you guys think? Am I off topic there?

DW (45:52.48)
No, you're not off topic. Here's what I think about Beyonce. So when it comes to Beyonce, she's one of those artists that does not want to be pigeonholed into one genre. She sees where the markets are going. She sees where the layout of the land is. And she wants to take advantage of it. And if she wants to do it, then it's Beyonce. I don't tell her no. That being said, I know for a fact that

Taj Williams (46:16.398)
you

DW (46:21.832)
some people were were had their their tassels frizzled a little bit because she's saga decode that route if you think about it she's texas artist born and raised she's singing music all her life she knows damn near every country song is out there along with every pop song along with every gospel song along with every soul song along with every rmb song she wants to switch up genres she could do so i just think it was the timing for what you came out

Taj Williams (46:27.714)
Right.

Taj Williams (46:34.446)
Mm-hmm.

DW (46:51.752)
Right? country music is especially country music now is gotten hit over the past couple of years where it's kind of being taken out of its own nature. Right? You have artists that...

Taj Williams (47:05.454)
Hmm.

DW (47:07.774)
They started at first where they were blending in pop with country and then Taylor Swift went from country to pop. And then you have hip hop sounds that are coming up in country. And let's not talk about Lil Nas X when he came out with that Old Town Road and literally was a firestorm in that situation because they were saying that's not country. And then they fought for it to be country and indeed turned out and flipped the game on everybody's head. So that was kind of like them trying to be gatekeepers.

Taj Williams (47:23.171)
yeah, yeah.

Taj Williams (47:34.892)
Yeah

DW (47:37.786)
realizing that it might have been a different situation and then yeah it came into fruition it was a totally different situation so I can understand why you want to protect the genre especially if it's something that's near and dear to your heart but you gotta kind of have to look at it when a glass half full situation because that's also bringing in traffic to your genre that normally would not be there right so

When it comes to Beyonce and whatever she wants to do, she wants to come back and do a, what do you call it? A bluegrass album. Who's got the least she can do it.

Taj Williams (48:12.29)
Right.

DW (48:15.328)
That's that's a look and we'll have to see where that charts on on the Grammys and things of that nature because she has those connections. But as far as like opening up the genre, they did it to themselves is what I would say because you have all these artists Florida Bama online. You've got, there's so many different artists that come to my mind that literally have a pop or a rap sound in their in their repertoire now that are part of quote unquote country that

Taj Williams (48:40.612)
gotcha.

DW (48:45.056)
You know, the country's kind of taking a turn and they don't know exactly where to go with it. Now you got artists like Post Malone that are coming in the country and it's like, well, you he's a Texan native and all this and all that, but I don't feel the same ruffles for Post Malone as I do for Beyonce. And I'm not even talking about a black or white thing. What I'm talking about is somebody can cross over and make that crossover a success or others. It feels like a poor situation. And I think they're saying we should say as a poor situation.

Taj Williams (49:16.482)
Yeah, no, for sure. But that's right. like, all this was said when this came out, but there was people that like, defendant Beyonce, was like, go back and listen to her previous tracks. There's bits of country in her previous tracks because she is from Texas. Like she took some of those melodies and it's not like she was new to it. She's had it in her music all along. It's just she dialed it up. So yeah.

DW (49:32.455)
Mm-hmm.

DW (49:39.583)
Mm-hmm.

DW (49:43.392)
She dialed it up, she sauced it up, and she made it her own. there's artists this hour now. You brought up Shaboomzy. I still love his album. I still like him as an artist. He's staying true to himself no matter what the situation may be. There are some individuals that we don't know how to take that in. There's other individuals just like I'm open to it. Damian, what are your thoughts when it comes to...

country music, this particular album within itself, whether you listen to it or gave it a glance or whatever the situation may be, how do you feel it stands in the form of the genre?

Damon (50:19.701)
Coming from Beyonce, I think it's gonna hit the charts no matter what. So I think when I look at music and I see big artists like Beyonce, they can do whatever they want. And you even said with Taylor Swift, she went from country to pop, and everybody liked it just the same. She really did build the reputation just like Beyonce, but they're kind of running side by side, I think as far as when they hit it big.

Now what they're doing, you know, they're both like they're just like globally

dominating, you know? I think Taylor Swift gave out her staff like over $197 million in bonuses after the Aris tour. So like, they're just super rich now. Like not every artist can say they're billionaires from making music. And they just hit that niche. So as far as country music goes,

DW (50:56.522)
Yes, yes.

Damon (51:22.569)
We've talked about country music more than I thought we ever would this year in the new season too. But just like in the past, we've also gone over stuff that kind of surprised me with country sort of evolving again, like it did in the nineties with Garth Brooks and other artists. Now it's kind of like, and he's still big. He's still doing his thing. Anybody can come out with a country song now. think, I think

DW (51:26.144)
Huh?

Damon (51:49.653)
A lot of artists are trying to test the waters with that. So to show that they can do a country song too. Well, she just did a country album and I'm not going to, I'm not going to hate on it. So I actually liked the song. I think that, Texas Hold'em, you know, like she, she really did do a good job with the music. so I appreciate it. Right.

Taj Williams (52:14.392)
Yeah, but that whole album is crazy because she does everything. Because 16 Carriages is like a slower... it's a crazy album. But Spaghetti's on there and she is spitting so hard on Spaghetti. For it being a country album, she's rapping really hard on that song. And you're like, man, she's...

Damon (52:24.437)
I didn't know something about them by the

I

DW (52:34.194)
Mm-hmm.

Taj Williams (52:44.246)
It's like she threw everything in there in the kitchen sink in that album. And then she's like, what you got now?

Damon (52:52.021)
It's probably going to be my favorite holiday album. And it's not a holiday album. But I'm going listen to it over Christmas break. So I'm going to love this shit while I'm drinking whiskey. So fuck yeah. And fuck you. No, I'm just kidding.

Taj Williams (52:54.85)
stuff.

DW (52:58.942)
Right.

Taj Williams (53:01.26)
So.

DW (53:04.584)
Hehehe

Taj Williams (53:04.684)
So Didrik, did you listen to Lemonade? Like, what did I miss out? Because I felt like I listened to it as everybody was going through this and I got all the feels work.

DW (53:09.0)
Yes.

DW (53:14.688)
You listen to it. I listen to it. Yes I listen to it about three times over when it first came out and the first first thing that I felt from it and You know, it's my opinion that everybody else the first thing I felt from it was this is forced Not forced and the fact that you know, she had to do it before some of the fact of force-feeding America

Like this is a country out, but it's not really a country out. It's, it's a couple of country songs on it, but you got an R &B artist putting her own take on it. And she's, she's basically trying to flip the genre on his head and say that she can pretty much do anything. And when you do it like that, it can leave a bad taste to think about. but, ultimately I thought it was a good, a good effort on her behalf. I thought it was good album. I would have liked to have heard more like,

I wouldn't say dumbed down, but I would say, what do you call that? Tune down songs more like a personal level. If you would have come with that more like that slow ballad type of country style, like the old country style, like I think she would have killed that. Her voice would have killed it. It would have been like a drawn down track down to like a couple of guitars.

Taj Williams (54:14.026)
gotcha.

Taj Williams (54:25.485)
Hmm.

DW (54:34.784)
Maybe a little bit of a baseline and the hook and then just leave it at that almost on that blue glass double I was talking about before if she did that there would be no question that that was a damn country out Right, but in the sense of mixing things up. She's just basically saying she could do what anybody else Just kind of came across wrong also got a fun fact for you, too I know you like conspiracy theories and the whole nine so

Taj Williams (54:46.53)
Gotcha. Yeah.

Taj Williams (54:54.038)
Right. Now for sure.

Taj Williams (54:59.336)
huh.

DW (55:04.128)
leading back to what we were talking about before. this album came out, Cowboy Carter, there was an album that came out called Renaissance, right? And she had a tour off of that Renaissance. then there was a particular track that she did with Drake. And then Drake and her were supposed to get together and do a collab album and all that, and that kind of fell through. Well, Drake released a song, and...

Taj Williams (55:04.621)
Okay

DW (55:31.392)
and she released her song, right? It was a song that she released. And when she released the song Drake came out immediately after with the whole house album.

And he recorded a house album and dropped that house album. what did Beyonce do? She went back and did another song with Kendrick Lamar and then came out with a tour, which was the previous tour that was America Has A Problem tour. And the America Has A Problem tour was she was performing with Kendrick Lamar on stage and skipped over the whole Drake track.

Taj Williams (56:05.134)
man.

DW (56:13.242)
they had done together that was her give back and Drake supposedly that's the theory in this situation which kind of caused all this to come around when Drake was trying to get Kendrick on the track you know the what is that number one I forgot the name of the song but it was him it's supposed to be him Kendrick and Cole and Kendrick was like I'm not doing anything with you because of how you did other people quote unquote Beyonce in some form so

Taj Williams (56:18.301)
man.

DW (56:43.168)
Just wanted to throw that out there at you that Beyonce's not innocent in all this. She was actually a part of that situation as well, which is where they're saying allegedly the America Has A Problem tour name came from. It's the fact that she was half beef with Drake.

Taj Williams (56:56.024)
Gotcha.

OK. Yeah, I appreciate that. No, for sure I like that.

DW (57:04.896)
Yeah, but as far as the album goes cowboy car she that was her phone something out there said I could do whatever I want to do what y'all gonna do about it fans are gonna love it some people are gonna hate it it is what it is now generally she did not win a CNT award or CMA award but what they're saying is there are a bunch of artists whether they're in country or not

that don't win CMA awards, even if they had like the most popular songs, the most popular albums out at the time, it's about the time when it actually got released versus what's been out there and it's already true, to try it on charts. So it is what it is.

Taj Williams (57:34.444)
Right.

Taj Williams (57:46.114)
Right. Yeah. No, I was mainly asking, and maybe you haven't done it, but like what of of her albums like Lemonade and Renaissance and this like, which is the one people should listen to? Like is. Lemonade, OK.

DW (57:59.36)
I would say, cause that's, that's what she was. was, she was throwing shade at, at, I think that was around the time when we had the elevator incident, between Solange and, and, and, and Jay-Z and that whole little situation. she had eliminated that was, that was what 2016. Then you had the lion king and then you had Renaissance in 2022. And then, you know, this, cowboy car you can definitely listen to.

Taj Williams (58:10.838)
okay.

Taj Williams (58:20.259)
Yeah.

DW (58:27.59)
if you want to listen to a definitive, definitive Beyonce album, I would say, dangerously in love or lemonade. Those, those are the two where you can actually get, you know, a sense of who Beyonce is.

Taj Williams (58:41.08)
Okay.

Taj Williams (58:46.796)
Right. And I mentioned that because like the reason why I listened to this was because I remember when, like I said, when Lemonade came out, like and Renaissance, like a lot of people were like, it's an album you get together as a group. You sit down and listen to it. The whole album. Right. You don't listen to like the singles. You listen to the whole album. And so that's why for this for this year, that's what drew me as a memory. Like.

DW (59:03.989)
Yes.

DW (59:07.582)
Holy shit.

Taj Williams (59:13.934)
I was like, I haven't done this. I have not taken part of Beyonce drops an album. I'm not listening to the singles. I'm going to sit down and listen to the whole album. And so that's why I wanted to put it on my 2024 review. So yeah.

DW (59:28.256)
Yeah, I think Cowboy Carter got like five singles on it. yeah, it's definitely out there. I know they had like 27 tracks, but it's like, yeah, five singles came off of that album. It's definitely something to listen to. Yeah.

Taj Williams (59:32.64)
yeah.

Taj Williams (59:41.196)
And it's still not even that long. It's only 70 minutes for all the songs on there. So yeah, it's barely over an hour. But yeah.

DW (59:50.432)
That's crazy. All right, so Damon, bring it up to the rear, man. What was that album that you chose that said, this is my shit from 2024 I want people to listen to?

Taj Williams (59:51.959)
Yeah.

Damon (01:00:07.283)
Yeah, so, okay, I've talked about this artist over and over again, a few times. And I like to give representation to younger artists that have made it big early and also female artists that have kind of made it without having to go through a bunch of shit. And I think that this artist, Billie Eilish, of course, is one of my favorites. So she started out

Pretty young, she was 20, in 2017 she, I think she was like the youngest artist to have as many hits as she did globally. And so she was revered for that for sure. And so like all of her albums that she's come out with since 2017 to now, it sort of shaped her in like the social, social light.

and also kind of like just, you know, a person growing up from like a teenager to like a grown woman. So for 2017, was, you start off with like, Don't Smile at Me. I thought there were a few good hits on that, but then I really dug 2019 is when I really started listening to her. When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? That has like ton of great hits on it. Happier Than Ever, that's when she sort of started like,

branching out into like a woman. I guess she was like not afraid to not just wear baggy clothes like she's from like New Jersey or whatever. And that's kind of her scene was just big baggy shirts, baggy pants, stuff like that. And I think that really represented like I'm a person, not just a sex object. And I can be an artist and you can like me for my music, not just for

DW (01:01:37.651)
Mm-hmm.

DW (01:01:43.858)
Mm-hmm.

Damon (01:02:05.301)
other things. Plus she was pretty young too, so that's kind of creepy for some people to be, you know, drilling over her. But I think that that happens anyway. Yeah, she's in entertainment. That's going to happen. But Happier Than Ever, I thought was a really good album that kind of like branched her out. Now, this current album, I didn't know was going to come out when it did. And I was pretty happy to see that. So we have 2024.

DW (01:02:28.404)
Right.

Damon (01:02:35.305)
hit me hard and soft. there is like every song on this album I think is like representative of kind of a change with Billie Eilish. And then she's got some, you know, she's got, I think some songs that are like they represent, you know, just kind of like emotionally how she might have felt about something or how people in general or maybe women feel about stuff.

And it's probably kind of like a big part of it because she's a woman. there's like a song, the second song on the album, Lunch, you know, she goes into like, you know, talking about like being with a woman and it's like very explicit. So that's that like that that's where this album kind of goes. Now, the song I picked, I think is like a big radio hit.

I didn't know was Billie Eilish when I first heard it. I was like, who is this? I thought it was somebody else. So she really was kind of like diverse in her sound on this album. And sort of from what she used to sound like, I want to say used to sound like, but her other albums aren't all the same. So that's very unique. I like that. And her brother, Phineas, is always there to help her produce. And he's a big part of the sound. So they're a duo.

And he's in the background, but he's not really, because when she's on SNL, he's there. When she's on stage, he's there. So he's a big part of it. But she's the voice. So together, they've really made some really good stuff. But my song that I picked, I think it was a really, really good song, really good hit on the radio throughout the year. And it's not as crazy as Lunch.

but here it is, bird of a feather.

Damon (01:04:48.755)
Yeah, it's kind of like, this is like a relationship song, but it's also like how you should be in society and like sticking up for people and kind of like representing. This is kind of what I got from the song. but I'll let you guys talk. What do think?

Taj Williams (01:05:09.198)
So I like the song like it's it's a good song. It's weird. It's right on the cusp. It's really vibey, right? And you almost you almost to now when you hear her sing, you don't necessarily pay. I mean, I feel like you do pay attention to the lyrics, but it's right on the cusp of falling into the music and you totally missing what she's saying, right?

It's almost like a cranberry zombies. Like you're like, like this song, but I don't know what she's saying in zombies. But with this, she's just barely stays above it. Right. And it's a good song. It really stands out. And it's yeah. But it's a total vibe. Vibe pest for sure. So.

DW (01:05:58.142)
Nah, this is definitely one of the albums that I listened to. This is one of the tracks that kind of drew me into the album. Mainly because if you remember Billie Eilish from the beginning, she was all soft tone. Everything was under soft tone. You couldn't really understand what she was saying. You had to really deep down and know how to figure out what was being done. That was part of the music that was being played into. She kind of felt into the background. Whereas in this particular album, she's all out and in front.

Like you can tell the developing notion within the sound. You can tell that, you know, she definitely as is coming to her own, whether it be womanhood, whether it be her own style, whether it be her own self, you know, and, this, this is what you want to see out of natural progression in the artist, right? This particular album here is something that, you want to listen to and know that even if the person has changed,

their direction and how their music goes, they still have their art element to it and their artistry is still intact. And that's what you want from every artist, right? You always want to see that progression, that everybody's gonna stay the same, that everybody's gonna stay in the same lane. That single was definitely one that was in her pocket. I think to me, like one of the best songs on the album is Bittersweet.

that's, that's one of my jams. I like hearing the chord changes of the things that's going on in there. but as far as like this song and this album, like, yeah, she definitely, she definitely did her thing on it. And Phineas is never going anywhere. Like, I would dread to see the day where they decide they're not going to work together anymore. I don't think I'll ever see it. because he just knows her so well and knows her sound and knows her pocket and how to bring it out.

you know you may be a little weird but that's they're doing with it like you know that's that's that's you know why i like it

Damon (01:07:52.083)
Yeah.

Damon (01:07:57.429)
He produces in edits, so I mean, I don't think he's going anywhere. I don't think anybody else will be able to do it the same way he does anyway, but really just makes everything a hit. And I also had mentioned probably maybe a couple of years now, I think, I've been doing this for a while. had 007, 2020, No Time to Die was like a really, he had mentioned some.

DW (01:08:00.37)
Yes.

DW (01:08:05.277)
Nope.

Damon (01:08:25.033)
James Bond stuff earlier, so yeah, she did that. I thought it was really good. Not everybody thought it was really good. I don't give a shit. yeah. So there, yeah.

DW (01:08:26.592)
Mmm.

Taj Williams (01:08:34.07)
Yeah. Well, and plus we covered one I made for which was just last year, last year, two years ago at the Barbie. So like that's the crazy thing I was looking at. Like, you know, she had that big year with that one single off of the Barbie, you know, movie. And then now she dropped the whole album, like within a span of a year. So it's like.

Damon (01:08:43.893)
All right.

Damon (01:08:57.236)
she did a good album too. I'm not gonna totally shit and tailor her with, but she put out an extra long album that I think it was hard to follow. It was wanted by the fans, it was wanted by the industry. I think Phineas really does help Billy out with that too, because he knows the ins and outs of some stuff. So Big Brother's there to help her out. But I think she flies pretty...

Taj Williams (01:08:58.968)
Yeah.

Taj Williams (01:09:24.248)
Right. No.

Damon (01:09:25.47)
pretty well solo as well. you know, I actually was looking up some other stuff too, like Charlie XCX, we had mentioned her. So they did a collaboration with a video. I don't know if you guys, if you want to listen to a guest star video, Billy Eilish is in this video with Charlie XCX. It's called Guess. Maybe I could share, let's share the screen real quick.

and this year with a little video action is.

Taj Williams (01:09:56.677)
I see what you're talking about. Yeah, that just dropped.

DW (01:09:59.936)
Yeah, I mean just to debut number two on the top 200 like at 10 songs sitting in the top 40 like it's definitely up to

Taj Williams (01:10:18.286)
Okay. Yeah, we can see that.

Damon (01:10:19.199)
Can you guys see that?

DW (01:10:21.458)
I don't think the audience can, but we can.

Damon (01:10:22.293)
All right, let's.

Taj Williams (01:10:24.162)
Right.

Damon (01:10:25.855)
Well, yeah, let's just check it out. It's like a couple of minutes.

Damon (01:10:33.749)
Can you hear it?

Taj Williams (01:10:37.294)
can't hear it. We're having technical difficulties folks. This is what happens when you do stuff on the fly. Please do not try this at home. We are podcast professionals prepared for situations like.

Damon (01:10:39.231)
What you doing? Share screen.

DW (01:10:46.622)
Right? This is for professionals. We do not have the best entrance at heart.

Taj Williams (01:11:00.788)
We know how to deal with technical difficulties. We will not throw our controller at the TV screen.

DW (01:11:07.282)
Not tonight anyway.

Damon (01:11:13.01)
I enough about you two.

Taj Williams (01:11:14.166)
What?

Taj Williams (01:11:21.649)
I know this song!

Damon (01:11:26.965)
Well, think Billy's in this, so that's what I thought was kind of cool.

Taj Williams (01:11:29.676)
Yeah, no, I've heard this song before.

Damon (01:11:33.705)
Holy shit. So this is Charlie XCX at her best, I guess. I want to get invited to this party.

Taj Williams (01:11:39.534)
All right.

Damon (01:11:44.757)
mean, if there's a New Year's Eve party, this is the one I wanna go to.

Taj Williams (01:11:48.386)
Right?

Damon (01:11:50.909)
at Dietrich-Yetty parties lined up that might resemble this.

Taj Williams (01:11:55.086)
No, no. Yeah, no, I've I've heard this song a couple of times. It's it's it's slaps.

DW (01:11:56.736)
No comment.

Damon (01:12:00.821)
you're gonna keep it to yourself? Alright. It's like bras flying around. I think this is where belly-eyelash comes in.

Holy shit. So Billie Eilish just drove a fucking bulldozer through the party wall.

Damon (01:12:20.469)
and she's driving through a road full of bras and underwear.

Taj Williams (01:12:30.926)
you

DW (01:12:35.392)
Mmm.

Taj Williams (01:12:35.662)
Right? No.

Damon (01:12:40.277)
There's a mountain of underwear now in bras. Wow, they're climbing them. Holy shit.

Taj Williams (01:12:48.3)
Yeah, there we go. There's that dubstep bass drum.

DW (01:12:50.869)
Yeah.

Damon (01:12:53.653)
She always do that? my God.

Taj Williams (01:12:55.63)
you

DW (01:12:56.176)
No, not always, but she's more known for the industrial sound than a lot of folks love.

Taj Williams (01:13:08.162)
Yeah, I'm surprised you haven't heard this song before. I've heard this song. It's a slapping song, for sure. Right?

Damon (01:13:08.54)
the videos.

DW (01:13:12.885)
Yeah.

Damon (01:13:17.493)
Slap is something.

Taj Williams (01:13:21.934)
So. I think you're trying to say it's cold shower time.

Damon (01:13:24.565)
Well, yeah, think I had enough of that. I might have a heart attack.

DW (01:13:28.382)
Yeah, pretty much.

DW (01:13:37.5)
Yeah, I'm gonna go for a run. I'll be back in 20 minutes.

Taj Williams (01:13:39.838)
you

Damon (01:13:44.521)
Wowee! Okay, well that was, yeah that was a nice collab.

DW (01:13:45.376)
My thing is, I- yeah. I know Billie Eilish has a body. I'm not tripping on that, you know, she has a self, she doesn't want to be judged for her body. You know, she's come out, you know, like, McGowan came out almost looking like Mella Monroe and some other type of situations. But in this situation, it's all about Charlie. I don't care if it has to be anybody else. The way Charlie moved, the damn move, that sound was like, man. Yeah. Yeah.

Damon (01:14:06.761)
Yeah, that was about Charlie. I think that, yeah.

Taj Williams (01:14:07.488)
Thank

Damon (01:14:14.005)
Yeah, honestly, Billy Eilish looked more like Justin Bieber in that one. yeah, it was definitely the Charlie scene right there. But that was a cool collaboration. I like to see that. She's a bad influence, I'm sure.

Taj Williams (01:14:18.535)
Right.

DW (01:14:25.673)
Yeah

DW (01:14:29.374)
Yeah, not mad at it, but Charlie is just Charlie Blake. Good golly. Keep that to myself. Anyway. Yeah.

Taj Williams (01:14:38.254)
I hear you. Anyways, all right. Well, that was 2024. You guys happy with the way we finished? It's up with me. True. So I mean, but that was our musical take of 2024 is what I was trying to get at.

Damon (01:14:48.063)
Some of it. That was part of 2024.

Damon (01:15:00.085)
small niche of what's out there.

Taj Williams (01:15:06.36)
So, okay.

DW (01:15:06.634)
So, this is what I will say. was definitely had its highs, had its lows. What I will take from it is musically and sonically, we had some of the best growth in artists that I've seen in a very long time.

Taj Williams (01:15:10.094)
Okay.

DW (01:15:26.54)
And you know, there are lot of albums out there, a lot of songs out there, a lot of stuff that we picked, a lot of stuff that we hadn't said nothing about, but you can definitely see progression. If I had to one word for it, that's what it would be. It would be progression. You saw a bunch of artists coming to their own.

set their own stage, set their own sighted blaze and definitely grew with their music whereas some other artists feel stagnant and they are kind of behind because of it. You're seeing a changing of the guard. So that's where I'm pulling from it. Hopefully 2025 brings in a lot more change, a lot more progression and just the overall like evolution of sound.

Because I think we're at the point now where we can kind of get away from some genres and just put music as music. And when you do that, everybody can fall in love with you.

Taj Williams (01:16:23.338)
sure. Yeah, no, I can't agree with that for sure.

DW (01:16:27.89)
Anybody else? I'm gonna just close out the show.

Taj Williams (01:16:31.212)
No, no, no. I think I think you kind of said what I was thinking for the music. mean, there was kind of a lot of stuff that I listened to. And yeah, I was I think we could from from my point of view, I feel like we covered most of what the year was like. I mean, there were some other big albums that I think came out. But, you know, another songs that, you know, should be recognized. But for the most part, like, yeah, I think a lot of it was

you know, like you said. So you hit the nail on the head or the head on the nail or you put the shingle on the roof or, you know.

DW (01:17:11.688)
I hate something.

DW (01:17:18.784)
Darren man, what you need say about this one?

Damon (01:17:19.187)
Yeah, I it well represented a lot of what I think was popular this year.

I wouldn't definitely, I would say that there's other years where there were like bigger hits. I think there have been years where there were more big albums. So this isn't necessarily the year. But some good stuff came out and I think that we represented it pretty well.

Taj Williams (01:17:50.446)
What you bring up an interesting point. Was this a 2012? It felt there was times during this year that I felt like it was a 2012 year.

Damon (01:18:04.959)
where some stuff was big, but you only had a few albums and then you're waiting for the next year to come out.

Taj Williams (01:18:12.238)
Right. Well, no, no, how we talked about like there were so many albums that we liked that came out in 2012. You know, it.

DW (01:18:19.476)
Right?

Damon (01:18:21.525)
Yeah, I don't think it's a 2012. I definitely don't. That's what I was just saying. No, no. Well, in my opinion, but also times are changing, music's changing, popularity shifts, and I might not be the biggest fan of everything that's huge right now.

Taj Williams (01:18:24.14)
You don't think it was... Okay. Okay.

Taj Williams (01:18:33.848)
Yeah.

Taj Williams (01:18:39.682)
Yeah. What? Yeah. Well, I guess the other thing I will say is that this did feel like the first year that we were coming back from. the first year where people could finally felt like they could come back from COVID. Like this was the first year where like COVID happened and then, you know, it took a little bit for people to their footing. And now this is the first full year back where it's like we're now in that

New reality so but yeah, and I think Dietrich talked about that at the beginning, but that's where I at times I kind of felt like it was a 2012 year that there was just so many songs and albums coming out But maybe it's just because there was backlog of stuff. So yeah

Damon (01:19:26.867)
Lots of good stuff, yeah, for sure.

Taj Williams (01:19:27.874)
Yeah, for sure.

DW (01:19:28.848)
Yeah, definitely some good stuff. Definitely some trash. you know, that's every year. There's always something out there that people are going to like and some stuff out there that people will leave it at the door. So anything that we can do to kind of help people guide them in the right direction, I think that's what we need to do. So.

Taj Williams (01:19:33.71)
you

Taj Williams (01:19:51.256)
For sure. Okay. All right. Well, so I'm going to go wrap things up then. This has been Choice Tracks. You can find this on our website of choicetracks.com or emails at choicetracks.gmail.com. Both of those end with a Z. We ask that you please subscribe and listen to all past and future episodes. Let's go and sign out. I've been Taj.

DW (01:19:57.493)
Yep.

Damon (01:20:14.525)
I'm Damon.

DW (01:20:16.478)
And I'm Dietrich and we're gonna pick up the needle but y'all keep spinning those choice tracks. Happy New Year everyone, happy holiday.