Billion Surprise Toys
Johny Johny Yes Papa
If you look at the most popular YouTube videos of all time, a surprising number are badly rendered 3D cartoon nursery rhymes. Their success begets hundreds of copycat videos all of which seem to be created by algorithm rather human intervention. Perhaps that is how we arrived with this surrealist masterpiece, a kind of Vic & Bob meets Adult Swim netherworld but more wonderful because it’s aimed at children. The video combines another meme, the Baby Shark song, with an old nursery rhyme Johny Johny Yes Papa in a 3D animation where a father accuses his child of lying while dancing like David Brent.
Frank Ocean
Moon River
In the same way that Fred Armisen can say anything and make it funny, Ocean could sing the Sidebar of Shame and imbue it with a sense of late-capitalist ennui. Here, he turns his lattice-like overdubbed vocals towards the old standard Moon River and makes it feel like a weird King Krule demo recorded in a south London underpass.
Nicholas Brittel
Succession Main Title
The theme from HBO’s Succession, with its tumbling piano runs and discordant lunges, perfectly mirrored the backstabbing and bitching of the family-run media empire portrayed in the show. Admittedly, they did somewhat overuse it in the series – it re-emerges nine times an episode – but to listen to this on its own is to place yourself on the top floor of a New York skyscraper, furiously masturbating over your own sense of importance.
Ariana Grande
Them Changes
The story goes that Grande wasn’t keen on doing any covers in this album cycle, but Radio 1 gave her a total free pick. So unlike most Live Lounge performances, which have to be of current Top 40 singles, she ended up doing a three-year-old Thundercat song. The result is a flip-reverse of the normal Live Lounge equilibrium: instead of a trendy band covering a big pop song you got the biggest artist of the year gliding through Thundercat’s cosmic funk like a Maglev train heading to a party in the bad part of town.
Adam Buxton
Like and Subscribe
So many fantastic Buxton-penned songs on his podcast this year that it’s difficult to pick one, but for me Like and Subscribe just about edges it. Perhaps it’s the way it descends into a late-90s Aphex Twin bubblescape while still conveying an important message about liking and indeed subscribing. 10/10.
