2016: Intro & Singles
- kevpalowe8
- Apr 11
- 4 min read
Updated: Apr 16
Originally posted March 2026
INTRO:
We enter 2026 and, quite unbelievably, my 3rd year doing this project. I went full-pelt on the project in 2025 and came the decision I would have to tone it down somewhat. As much as I was enjoying it, I had put myself in a position where I was compulsorily listening to absolutely hours of music per day, and spending quite a lot of time writing almost every day. It was consuming my life in a way a fun little project should not be.
So, I have reduced the listening a little, and reduced the writing a lot! These summaries of specific year will ditch the “m’eh” & “good” lists and just have the “Didnt like” “Top 10” and “Top 3” lists – with only any real commentary on the latter. I think this will also make the posts more readable.
Of course, the irony is that this post, the 1st in this new more succinct style, has a lengthy intro explaining it.
So I wont do a much of a summary commentary on 2016 itself. It as actually quite a ‘flat’ year anyway. Aside from a few sad things, like the deaths of David Bowie and George Michael, not a lot of musical note (haha) happened. Strangely, I’d say this was reflected in pop music. This was a great year to start my shorter analyses. Aside from a handful of tracks, I’d very little to say anyway!
“One Dance” by Drake was the biggest single of the year......... which should tell you everything you need to know really.
The biggest album of the year went to Adele’s “25” which was released the year before. The biggest newly released album went to Michael Ball & Alfir Boe............... again, tells you everything you need to know, doesn’t it?
SINGLES:
DIDN’T LIKE:
Callum Scott “Dancing On My Own”
This is interesting because my view on cover versions is that I’m only really interested if you do something different with the song. Callum Scott does that both musically and lyrically (cleverly switching a well-known song to an LGBTQ+ track by simply retaining the pro-nouns used in the original) so actually does a better job of a cover than most. My issue is......... I thought the original was a poor song with a predictable format, lazy melody and plagiarised lyric (Lene Marlin’s “Sitting Down Here”). So there we go.
TOP TEN CONTENDERS:
Jonas Blue & Dakota “Fast Car”
I’ll just make a quick comment here. I knew this one and people are usually surprised I like it. They will comment ‘its an abomination- it murders the classic track.’ But refer to what I wrote for the Callum Scott track above. As far as I’m concerned, this ticks the right boxes.
Lukas Graham “7 Years”
Justin Timberlake “CAN’T STOP THE FEELING”
James Arthur “Say You Won’t Let Go”
Kungs Vs. Cookin’ On 3 Burners “This Girl”
DNCE “Cake By The Ocean”
Alan Walker “Faded”
Jonas Blue & JP Cooper “Perfect Strangers”
Clean Bandit, Sean Paul, & Anne-Marie “Rockabye”
TOP 3:
3. Twenty One Pilots “Stressed Out”
You know when you really like something but have a difficult time pinning down exactly why. I guess the slightly mysterious but slinky tone of the track with its subtle percussion and bass, with that Stylophone-sounding backing like we’re in a 60s/70s sci-fi TV show. Then the line ‘My name’s Blurryface and I care what you think’ which goes against the grain of most pop music’s ‘I don’t care’ stances, while also being a great summary of people’s modern social-media based lives. I think my interpretation here is backed up by the line ‘wish we could turn back time to the good old days’. The lyric more generally about life’s pressures is a good one. “Blurryface” was the name of their album – suggesting something even more conceptual. But, sadly, I have not found time to get to grips with that.
2. JP Cooper “September Song”
This is one of those ‘its just a really good song’ cases. The lyric is very relatable (especially to those inflicted with deeper thinking than is normal for a younger person, as I unfortunately was). It depicts the wonder of enjoying great times with friends and 1st loves at a young age but questioning how long these times and connections will last. Yes, some of us were already looking back at our own presents with future eyes, mourning our loses. There are sporadic haunting harmonised vocals (as if echos from the past) using the title ‘September Song’ that emphasise this.
It has a laid-back ‘cool style’ with an infectious melody sung soulfully. The structure is ‘classic’ and simple and the production, although ot has a few effects (like the echo-y vocals) here and there is refreshingly straightforward, letting the music largely able to express itself.
1. Rag ‘N’ Bone Man “Human”
Simple and absolutely class. Its a great soulful blues-pop track that tackles the catastrophic error-prone nature of being human. It takes the stance of being unapologetic about that. It has a great slow-tempo rhythmic groove while feeling ‘anthemic’. The minor key and heavy bass vonvey the lyrics perfectly which are strongly performed with Rag ‘N’ Bone Man’s somehow gravelly yet smooth tone.
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