The 5 worst songs of 2023, from a ‘Small’-minded Jason Aldean to a Drake dog
Jason Aldean gave small towns a bad name. Kanye West continued to give himself a bad name. Drake sunk to dragging Rihanna’s good name.
And three big names — Travis Scott, Bad Bunny and The Weeknd — were a triple bust.
Here are the five worst songs of 2023, from crude country and cringe rap to the Billy Joel cover that never should’ve happened.
And for the 10 best songs of the year, go here.
For more from the Post, see the best and worst movies of the year — and the best and worst of TV.
1. Jason Aldean, “Try That in a Small Town”
Stirring up a national firestorm in these divisive times, the country star scored his first No. 1 hit on the pop charts. (Although the single plummeted out of the Top 20 the very next week.)
But even CMT banned the controversial video, which was filmed outside of the same Tennessee courthouse where a black man was notoriously lynched in the 1920s. And this crass crusade for small-town “values” — upheld by “good ol’ boys raised up right, if you’re looking for a fight” — is really just a big bully of a tune.
2. Kanye West & Ty Dolla $ign featuring Bump J & Lil Durk, “Vultures”
As if we could forget his antisemitic spiral at this point, West reminds us about it on the title track from his upcoming “Vultures” album with Ty Dolla $ign, which is supposed to drop on New Year’s Eve (although absolutely nobody is holding their breath). “How I’m antisemitic?/I just f – – ked a Jewish bitch,” Ye raps over a plodding beat that is just as tired as he has become.
3. Drake, “Fear of Heights”
Drizzy was long rumored to have had an on-again, off-again relationship with Rihanna, and on this diss track from “For All the Dogs,” he seems to be in his salty feelings about his onetime “Work” wifey. “Better him than me/Better it’s not me,” he raps, sounding like a bitter ex in an apparent reference to Ri-Ri’s baby daddy A$AP Rocky. And “Fear of Heights” sinks even lower when Drake spits, “And the sex was average with you.” This is beneath you, dog.
4. Fall Out Boy, “We Didn’t Start the Fire”
Let’s make this perfectly clear: When and if “We Didn’t Start the Fire” should ever be performed, it should only be done by Billy Joel. But to have Fall Out Boy — yes, Fall Out Boy — cover the Piano Man’s 1989 hit 34 years later was a true WTF moment.
5. Travis Scott featuring Bad Bunny & The Weeknd, “K-pop”
It’s not that this shoulda-been-killer collab from Scott’s “Utopia” album is terrible. But considering how much talent is on this all-star squad, this trap bop is more like meh-pop.
