The 10 Worst Songs of 2023

You read the title, you want to hear crap, you get it.

No hate to those involved with these songs, but they really are just... not it.

Honorable Mentions

Babymonster - Batter Up

David Guetta, Anne-Marie, Coi Leroy - Baby Don't Hurt Me

Forgiato Blow - Boycott Target

NMIXX - Young, Dumb, Stupid

will.i.am, Britney Spears - Mind Your Business

Xikers - Koong

10. Young Posse - Macaroni Cheese

It feels a little wrong to be putting a bunch of teenage girls in a debut song in the worst songs of the year, but Macaroni Cheese suffers from many issues that make it quite awful. First, the lyrics, with some awful metaphors. Equally bad is the composition, which sounds like the most stereotypical trap instrumental ever created, paired with some nauseatingly repetitive hooks, and you have a song that wastes the members' talents as a quirky K-Pop rap quintet.

9. Hwasa - I Love My Body

Hwasa tends to get a lot of unnecessary hate, oftentimes for not fitting traditional Korean beauty standards, and she has every right to release a song clapping back at those who criticize her for everything except her music, and sometimes even that. Unfortunately, I Love My Body is pretty much the worst Meghan Trainor reject, with a cloying, catchphrase-heavy chorus that says a lot without ever really saying much. There are some interesting ideas throughout the song, but that chorus derails it all with its annoying hook. Thankfully, Hwasa's track record is still mostly solid.

8. Meghan Trainor - Mother

Speaking of the devil, who had a Meghan Trainor comeback on their 2023 bingo card? Despite garnering quite a lot of success, Mother remains perhaps the worst example of the Trainor sound, and this is coming from someone who actually enjoys All About That Bass and Me Too. The lyrics are typical faux-empowerment lyrics that come of more as an Instagram aesthetic than providing anything meaningful.

7. iii - Forbidden Midnight

Even worse than the song here are the awful filters that were put on the girls of iii. Can you imagine spending your life training to debut, and then your face being overridden by an AI filter? Even musically, the song collapses on a sample of The Hall of the Mountain King which lacks the original's awe and mystery, turning it into another cloying catchphrase piece. I just feel sorry for the members of iii.

6. Arijit Singh, Tulsi Kumar - Pasoori Nu

2022's original Pasoori was a smash hit across the Indian Subcontinent for good reason; it is a classic Hindustani song that does not try to complicate the simple task of songwriting, with deceptively memorable lyrics, and wonderful vocal performances by Ali Sethi and Shae Gill. So of course Bollywood would remake it within a year or so of its release. Arijit tries his best, but even he has publicly disowned this version, and for good reason. The overcomplicated flamenco guitar instrumental does not complement the melody, and the lyrics completely misunderstand the point of the original, turning a somber song of heartbreak into yet another Bollywood love song.

4. X:IN - Synchronize

Perhaps due to their then-impending contract renegotiations or ongoing hiatuses, there were an extremely high amount of Blackpink reject songs being copied by various K-Pop girl groups through 2023. Most of them were just fine, but Synchronize combined many trends that I particularly despised into one package. A catchphrase-heavy chorus, a cloying synthline acting as a hook, and bizarre mixing. X:IN may be really talented, but there is no chance to see that here on in their Keeping The Fire earlier this year.

4. Colleen Ballinger - hi.

If you have been accused of grooming minors, there are a few ways to respond, come clean and tell what really happened and what didn't, or respond maturely, and understand the gravity of the situation. What you should never, never ever do. Release a ten-minute ukulele song acknowledging some facts of the case, and then claim that she was just trying to be "besties" with fans and that the criticism given to her was to ruin her life, see her die, that her fans are bad like her and thus cannot criticize her and that this is just part of the "toxic gossip train." Colleen Ballinger's response was manipulative and mean, whether or not she did everything she was accused of.

3. Awkwafina, Daveed Diggs - The Scuttlebutt

I never understood the hate thrown on Awkwafina, it seemed somewhat unreactive at times. Nonetheless, her strength was never rapping, and Scuttlebutt shows that. Part of that comes down to the bizarre writing choices by Lin Manuel-Miranda, making Scuttlebutt feel like a weaker imitation of the style he had already mastered long before.

2. Salman Khan, Devi Sri Prasad, Yo Yo Honey Singh, Neha Bhasin

I so wish this song was the worst of the year. Cringey lyrics, constant interlopations of every single nursery rhyme found within a thirty-mile radius, and a laziness that only showed that the makers of this song didn't give a damn. It is bad, but amusingly so, a piece of trash in epic proportions that remains impressive.

1. N3ON, Lil Pump, Sneako - Curry Freestyle

I'm not even going to post the video. The terms racist and sexist are thrown around quite a lot these days, but Curry Freestyle is both incredibly racist and sexist. It has no heart and is also stupid in its attempts a bragadociousness. It genuinely sucks in every way.

Image Source: Quick Meme