EXHALE TOP 100 of 2021 - Full list revealed

[PokemonSpears]

#8 - If It Ain't Me
Dua Lipa

If It Ain't Me was also part of her Moonlight edition of Future Nostalgia. This track was produced by Junior Oliver Frid, who co-wrote it with Dua, Taylor Parks and MNEK. This sad disco song shows Dua's insecurities and irrational fear of her relationship suddenly ending, since it's apparently too good to be true. She sentences that if he finds another love, she will be "dancing with her heart broke". 

 

[PokemonSpears]

#7 - Mood Ring (by Demand) (Wuki Remix)
Britney Spears

Why would a song that was recorded in 2015 appear on the Top 10 songs of 2021? Because there's only one *****, Britney. Mood Ring was originally included in the deluxe Japanese edition of Glory (2016). It was written by DJ Mustard, the producer, along with Nicholas Audino, Te Whiti Warbrick, Lewis Hughes, Jon Asher and Melanie Fontana. On May of 2020, there was an online campaign to buy and stream Glory, which led to the digital re-issue of the album with a new cover, making Mood Ring available for streaming around the world, with the added subtitle of "(by Demand)" reaching #2 on the Digital Songs Sales chart. A month later, a Mood Ring EP was released containing two additional remixes, the Pride Remix and the Ape Drums Remix. However, on December of that year, a third remix, with additional production by Twice as Nice and Jon Asher, was released in the deluxe re-issue of the album, also released on vinyl. That's how the Wuki Remix became eligible for this list, and reached position #7 by Exhalers' demand.

 

 

[Slayer]

51 minutes ago, PokemonSpears said:

#11 - Boyz
Jesy Nelson ft. Nicki Minaj

It felt like centuries between Jesy's departure from Little Mix in December last year, and the release of her debut solo single, Boyz, this October. It was produced by Loose Change and it featured none other than Nicki Minaj. The song uses elements from Bad Boy for Life (2001) performed by Diddy, which also served as an inspiration for the Boyz music video that counted with a cameo by Diddy himself as Jesy's neighbor (with now Diddy playing the role that Ben Stiller play on his video). Amidst the controversy that sparked Jesy's appearance in her video, she explained through Instagram that her intention was never to offend people of color, but instead she just wanted to celebrate the 90's R&B music era. The song peaked at #4 in the UK singles chart and #86 on the Global 200.

 

YAASSSS 

[PokemonSpears]

#6 - willow
Taylor Swift

Coming back stronger than a 90's trend, Taylor Swift released willow as the lead single off evermore, the sister record of folklore , in December 2020. As most of the album, it was produced by Aaron Dressner, with whom Taylor confessed having developed a creative chemistry that resulted in this many songs. The song, compared to Taylor as casting a love spell, is a love song that uses metaphors to express her feelings, with some references to her older songs Fearless (2008) and Treacherous (2012). The music video, a follow-up to Folklore's Cardigan, was also directed by Taylor and featured Joe Alwyn as her boyfriend. The music video, as most of her work, is filled with Easter eggs that references previous videos or songs from her past career. willow peaked topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart and it peaked at #2 on the Global 200.

 

[PokemonSpears]

#5 - Bad Habits
Ed Sheeran

The lead single off =, Bad Habits was released in June and it was written and produced by Ed, Fred Again and Johnny McDaid. The synth-pop track compared by many critics to The Weeknd's Blinding Lights (2019) hit the #1 spot on 27 charts, plus the Global 200 chart. The music video directed by Dave Meyers depicts Ed Sheeran as a vampire wearing a pink suit, scaring the people on the streets along with other monsters. In the end, he goes back to his normal self. Though not many critics were impressed by the song nor the video, Ed's explanation to the track was to surprise people and release something more uplifting for the post-pandemic world than a sad ballad.

 

[PokemonSpears]

#4 - good 4 u
Olivia Rodrigo

The third single off SOUR, god 4 u, was released in May and I swear there was no pun intended in it being the #4 on this list. Another Dan Nigro production as the rest of the album, this rock song shows an angrier and sarcastic side of Olivia who tackles the same topics from other singles: her ex boyfriend found a new girl quicker than it's politically correct. A different approach from her debut single drivers license, instead of showing sadness or pain, in this song Olivia Rodrigo directly confronts the guy for not giving a damn about her post break-up suffering and wonders if his apathy is a sign that he never really cared about her to begin with. In the music video directed by Petra Collins, we see Olivia as a cheerleader, and burning up her ex's bedroom after buying a gallon of gasoline at a convenience store. good 4 u topped the charts in more than 20 countries around the world.

 

[PokemonSpears]

#3 - Matches
Britney Spears with Backstreet Boys

Michael Wise and Ian Kirkpatrick produced this song, co-written with Asia Whiteacre and Justin Tranter. The glitchy electropop banger was originally recorded by the Backstreet Boys in 2017 for their DNA album (2019) but it failed to make the final tracklist. Britney Spears later repurposed the track adding her vocals, and the collaboration was ultimately released on Britney's 2020 deluxe re-issue of Glory. Despie AJ McLean's desire of making a music video for it, such dream never came to reality, since Britney has been on hiatus since 2019, and at the time was on a legal battle for her freedom after more than a decade under a probate conservatorship. Precisely because of this, a huge part of the Britney fans had mixed feelings about the timing of this song, but in the end, with BreatheHeavy being Britney's biggest fansite, this track couldn't rank any lower.

 

[PokemonSpears]

#2 - Love Again
Dua Lipa

This Koz produced song was released as the sixth and final single off Future Nostalgia in March. It samples the infectious riff from Lew Stone's My Woman (1932), which has also been sampled in the 1997 White Town's song Your Woman. The melodramatic nu-disco song uses a lot of string instruments that contrast with the electronic beats and synths, adding to the thematic of the album which mixes futuristic and nostalgic sounds. The lyrics talk about the disbelief of falling in love again after thinking it was not possible anymore. The song was created at a time where Dua was going through a breakup with someone who had been dishonest. The cowboy themed music video was directed by Lope Serrano, and it features Dua Lipa horse riding and as a rodeo clown, the same look used for the cover of the single.

 

[PokemonSpears]

#1 - Swimming in the Stars
Britney Spears

As if any other song could take this spot, of course Britney Spears wins this countdown with Swimming in the Stars, the promotional single that RCA released in December 2020 in commemoration of her 39th birthday and it was included in the deluxe re-issue of Glory. SITS also got a vinyl release exclusive to Urban Outfitters. The song was written and produced by Matthew Koma and Dan Book, with additional writing by Alexei Misoul. Klara Elias provided the backing vocals. Recorded in 2016, this magical song evokes Britney's previous work, with songs such as Trip to Your Heart (2011), Don't Hang Up (2003), Outta This World (2007) or Alien (2013), even the Glory track Man on the Moon (2016). Due to Britney's current hiatus and the legal battle regarding her conservatorship she was fighting at the time, the song didn't receive any promo, but it managed to appear on the US Digital Song Sales chart at #18.

After her personal and financial conservatorship was finally terminated in November 2021, Britney Spears is now finally swimming in freedom, but she has expressed no intentions in coming back to music, sharing in recent Instagram posts her feelings about the industry and the conflict it causes for her performing her own songs. However, online rumors insist she may be preparing a comeback for next year, and even Britney herself stated in a now deleted quote that she was working on a new song, but fans failed to decipher if she was joking or not. Either way, we'll have to wait and see what happens, but here in Exhale and her fans around the world will keep supporting her in whatever she decides to do in the future.

 

Congratulations to our queen

[PokemonSpears]

A spotify playlist with all the songs

 

[Adriannn]

Glad to see Dua's slayage and Taylor in the top 10 in spite of all the itchy, jealous butts around here! I didn't expect to see SITS make waves all the way to #1... but hey, it's the queen we're talking about.

Finally, all due credit to @PokemonSpears and the hard work he put in this... the banners, objective descriptions, and all the vote computing 

[IAmJustAKnee]

@PokemonSpears Sorry I wasn't active but oh my god this was soo good! The amount of effort you put into it as everyone has mentioned from the graphics to the blurb, etc. Anyways I agree the Bubbling Under list is more up my taste.

@Jordan Miller Please promote this on the socials! He has put so much into this 

[RadicalOptimism]

On 1/1/2022 at 10:45 AM, Adriannn said:

Glad to see Dua's slayage and Taylor in the top 10 in spite of all the itchy, jealous butts around here! I didn't expect to see SITS make waves all the way to #1... but hey, it's the queen we're talking about.

Finally, all due credit to @PokemonSpears and the hard work he put in this... the banners, objective descriptions, and all the vote computing 

I voted for Willow 

[PokemonSpears]

1 hour ago, CrazyButItFeelsAllright said:

I voted for Willow 

out of all the Taylor songs?

 

Out of all the submissions probably Taylor songs and Lana del Rey were the hardest to go through, well, from the artists that got multiple submissions, because of course there were some weird songs here and there, but they didn't even make it to the top 200. Lana del Rey is fine, but it should be a crime for her songs to be that long

And Taylor, I still can't tolerate her voice, it was really hard to stay neutral and find nice things to say for her submissions There's something about the way she pronounces the words, or it's like an accent she has, idk, but it irritates me like few things in this world, especially champagne problems, the word "problems" in particular. But I guess it's just me, because she has a lot of fans, and she puts a lot of effort in everything she does, every video, all those easter eggs and stuff, she's very dedicated, I'll give her that

 

[Adriannn]

6 hours ago, PokemonSpears said:

And Taylor, I still can't tolerate her voice, it was really hard to stay neutral and find nice things to say for her submissions

Never thought I’d do this to you but 

 

[RadicalOptimism]

11 hours ago, PokemonSpears said:

out of all the Taylor songs?

 

Out of all the submissions probably Taylor songs and Lana del Rey were the hardest to go through, well, from the artists that got multiple submissions, because of course there were some weird songs here and there, but they didn't even make it to the top 200. Lana del Rey is fine, but it should be a crime for her songs to be that long

And Taylor, I still can't tolerate her voice, it was really hard to stay neutral and find nice things to say for her submissions There's something about the way she pronounces the words, or it's like an accent she has, idk, but it irritates me like few things in this world, especially champagne problems, the word "problems" in particular. But I guess it's just me, because she has a lot of fans, and she puts a lot of effort in everything she does, every video, all those easter eggs and stuff, she's very dedicated, I'll give her that

 

To be fair I only voted because I like the Elvira remix so I kinda cheated voting for that version 

[jordeezy river red]

Jordan should make a YouTube video about this! Would b so cool! 

[PokemonSpears]

7 hours ago, Adriannn said:

Never thought I’d do this to you but 

 

[RadicalOptimism]

3 hours ago, jordeezy said:

Jordan should make a YouTube video about this! Would b so cool! 

@Jordan Miller

[bitbitboi]

On 12/27/2021 at 4:54 PM, PokemonSpears said:

012. Good Ones - Charli XCX

007. Mood Ring (by Demand) (Wuki Remix) - Britney Spears
003. Matches - Britney Spears with Backstreet Boys
001. Swimming in the Stars - Britney Spears

Ok, there you go, we can go on now 

I feel like this list would be useful if aliens invaded our planet and they needed to know what nerdy gays listened to during last year. Super niche, not sure how useful it'd be, but yeah