By Mackenzie Welch

1. Royals by Lorde

Now I’m not gonna lie. I was surprised to see this song at number one, but at the same time I wasn’t at all shocked. The best word to describe this song would be eccentric. Lately I’ve been noticing that practically every song that’s coming out sounds generically the same. But this song has such an original sound to it, which is something we haven’t heard in a while, it’s no wonder why this song became a hit. I’m not the only with this thought, people I talked to called this song “astounding” and “a complete original”. However some people did complain that the song is incredibly repetitive and too slow.  I can relate to that argument but I feel that the slow beat made it necessary for Lorde to really put emphasis on certain words in the song, to make them pop out. And to think this all came from a small town teenage girl in New Zealand. I think what really gets to people in the song is the message, now a days you see famous celebrities claiming to be the top harlot, flashing all their precious objects. In this song she’s saying she is perfectly comfortable with her small town life and she isn’t planning on losing herself in the high life, unlike some celebrities Lorde is sticking to her roots. I really love this song and can’t wait to see what’s more to come of her.

2. Roar by Katy Perry

Unlike Royals I wasn’t surprised to see this up in the top songs, mainly because whenever I turn on the radio this song is always playing. Now in a general sense, I like Katy Perry, she never had the same old same old feel to her songs, and this doesn’t disappoint.  While I admit the song is different than her other ones, that doesn’t mean I like it. Now the majority of the school’s response to this song was “I love it!” and “this is my anthem!” but I wasn’t feeling it. On a lyrical sense, I do like the meaning of what Katy is trying to get across, her progression in character; how she went from being nothing, to people pushing her down and hanging over the breaking point, but managing to get back up, and being able to become a happy and confident person in the end. But her voice in the song sounds like she’s trying to get as deep as possible and I hear a strain in her voice as well. I also felt like she could’ve done more to the bridge than just repeating roar as it gradually gets louder. While the majority of the school is roaring to this song, I just think that this wasn’t the best of Katy Perry.

 3. Wrecking ball by Miley Cyrus

UUUUGGGGHHHH. That was my initial reaction when I knew I was going to have to write about this song.  So this song was by far the most controversial  on the charts. While some students I talked to said the song shows that Miley has changed, others felt Miley is just a wreck like this song. Now I feel that you can’t judge a person’s music based on her personality, even though I do that sometimes. With saying that, I don’t like this song because of the song not because of what Miley does. I do really love the chorus though and the lyrics and music in it, but the rest didn’t seem to tie in music-wise. The verses and the bridge are this kind of a fast paced light sound, then the chorus hits with heavy beats dropping and it gets slower. I also didn’t think she had to emphasize every single word in the beginning verses. I do think Miley has a lot of talent and is a good singer, but this song just didn’t appeal to me. Despite all this I’m still pretty interested in what more music Miley has to offer.

 4. Wake me up by Avicii

Now please tell me I’m not the only who has trouble hearing what he’s trying to say in the verses. I understand the chorus though, so I kind of felt like this song became so popular because both country and dance/electronic music are blended perfectly in this song. Generally the comments from students for the song were all positive. The only slightly negative response I got was from one student who said, “yeah it was good, but it’ll get boring eventually.”  I feel like that reply can go to any song. The meaning to this song I find it incredible because it applies to both the young and the old. The majority of the lyrics are saying that in the time of youth, be optimistic and following your dreams, life is shorter than everyone thinks and use life as your advantage. At the same time it also discusses that he wants to become older because then he’ll be wiser and he doesn’t want to make the same mistakes that he made it the past. So to summarize, I like the beats, the lyrics and the meaning, and this song is definitely going into one of my playlists.

 5. Hold on, We’re going home by Drake

Most people I asked about this song had never heard of it. However the few that did know the song called it “a bombing song.” Now I’m not a huge fan of Drake, but I have to say I like it. The sound has a slow pace to it but it has these beats that really ties in together. And even though the lyrics are just about being in love with this girl, I thought it fit well with the general sound. The only thing I didn’t like about the song was how he repeated the same verse in the beginning chorus. I was pretty surprised when this song was number five considering that not many people have heard of this song. I was also surprised of the slightly different direction that Drake is taking regarding his music and I personally like it a lot better. This is definitely a song you should check out.