QCMAs+ 2024

Hiya!

Good day (or evening idk when you’re reading this) to my VIRs (Very Important Readers)!

The fantastical world of pop culture gave us so many new things last year. Ranging from new music, to new video games, to new films, new TV, new books and even new wrestling - the different mediums have been mediuming indeed. Today, we are here to relish in all that pop culture gave us in 2024.

Welcome to the second annual“Queasy Cardigan Music Awards”, which can now be referred to as the “QCMAs”. You may have noticed that not only has this award ceremony been acronymized, but it also contains the mathematical symbol “+”. This is because the “QCMAs” has been expanded to cover other mediums other than music, hence the name “QCMAs+”.

Anyway rules will be pretty similar to last year’s edition but more general so they can be applied to other mediums. The stipulations for this year’s QCMAs goes as follows:

.I will only be talking about releases from any point of 2024

. (most importantly) the chosen works are still in no particular order

As the music section is still the main part of this personal celebration, the same rules for the top songs, in particular, apply from last year:

.Only one song per album

.Only one song per artist

Now, you may be asking “how on earth are you going to cover so much stuff from 2024 - It’s already 2025?!”. First of all, I’ll say a very happy and belated (by two months now…) new year to you! Second of all, I’d like to apologize for my lateness. I've had a busy couple of months of Uni exams, working, and also developing projects here at QC headquarters (i.e. my bedroom) - please be excited. Third of all, to answer your theoretical question of how I’ll be recapping the whole of 2024, I simply won’t be covering all aspects of it in this single blog post…

“SAAAAYYYYYY WHHAAAAAATTTT????!!!!!!!” Is what I imagine a lot of you are saying right now. I know how much you readers care about this special time of year for QC. It’s true, I will be sharing my thoughts on everything other than the main event, being my top songs of the year, on the Queasy Cardigan Instagram instead. This is so that I don’t bloat this post too much, ‘cause it’s gonna be a fairly long one. Spreading out the content like this also is a huge part of my plan TO TAKE OVER THE WHOLE WORLD MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA (Just kidding - please read it all though)!

Anyway, enough with the pleasantries. Once again, good day (or evening) to you - hope you are well! Without further ado, I welcome you to the 2nd annual Queasy Cardigan Music Awards!

The lead single for Camila Cabello’s 2024 album C,XOXO that easily is the song of the year for me. I love it because it’s a song that maintains a controlled but exciting tempo throughout - even playboi carti’s rap has really grown on me because of this! I remember the controversy that surrounded this song being that it sounded (at least based on the teaser she first put) like charli xcx’s “I got it”. Initially, I agreed and this made me really worried about the C,XOXO era being a charli rip-off, but very quickly (i.e. when I heard the full song) I was hooked by its uniqueness and Camila proved I had no reason to worry.

This blog is a part-time Addison Rae stan account so she WILL be included in this year’s QCMAs! Like with their last collaboration, “2 die 4”, Charli and Addison have created a perfect song. Their vocals pair perfectly with the production because they’re so potent and edgy (plus Addison’s scream lives rent free in my head)! Whether it was with my family, friends or just strangers and acquaintances, no one was safe from hearing about this song.

What’s that sound? Wait, is that one of the most iconic hooks of the year? Maybe even ever? Well yes, it is! It’s Sabrina Carpenter's Grammy Award Winning single “Espresso” (Best Pop Solo Performance). This song took over everyone’s lives last summer due to it having the butteriest and most playful vocals and lyrics of the year. Espresso is a record that will be remembered for a long time due to the global impact Sabrina made with this track. Specifically, the line “I’m working late, ‘cause I’m a singer” has now become so imprinted into everyone’s brains that even Adele has sung it - I bet that even YOU read that the way Sabrina sings it!

Fun fact: I recently requested that my dad and my sister say “that’s that me espresso” as I took a picture of them drinking espresso.

The story behind this song is so interesting. Jade wanted to write a song that sampled the Eurovision song “Puppet on a String”, because of its controversial backstory. Essentially, the singer, Sandie Shaw, didn’t want to perform the song for the Eurovision contest in 1967. However, they were forced by their management to perform it, and she became the first UK Eurovision winner, and, in turn, the song became one of her biggest hits (link to a full article explaining the situation here). Despite the song's success, Shaw didn’t get to relish her win, as it wasn’t authentic to her. Therefore, Jade, who also has dealt with being restricted creatively by the music industry in order to attain success (read more about it here), empathised with Shaw’s experience, which most likely prompted her to sample “Puppet on a String”.

On top of the cherry-picked sample used, what makes Angel Of My Dream so memorable is the stark contrast between the ballad-like nature of the chorus and the hyperpop rap verses. The song is just so dynamic and unique and it’s an amazing song that I’ll absolutely be listening to for many years to come.

Considering Ariana set the tone for the year for main pop girlies in 2024, she did a great job. Having said that, when I first heard the track I was overly critical. Whilst a house record from Ariana was unexpected and cool, I thought the genre choice made for a generic sounding song. However, it really grew on me and is definitely a very defining song in Ari’s career in terms of showmanship and messaging. Also the video for the song is, in my opinion, one of her most memorable and interesting, rivalling only her Sweetener era videos. The choreography was on point, and the storyline of the video, as well as the message of the record itself, tied perfectly into all the homewrecking controversy Ariana was surrounded by at the time (relive the controversy here).

This song kappowed itself into existence during the last quarter of the year, on October 14th (Is “kappowed" a word? It is now!), but boy am I glad it did. It’s one of the most surprising collabs of the year - and that’s saying something considering the brat remix album! Bruno and Rosé both bring such a bold energy to this song, which was catapulted by the music video for APT. The bridge for this song is ingrained in my vernacular. In fact, Rosé’s delivery of “Hold on! Hold on! I’m on my way” is so captivating and commanding that whenever I listen to this song I always end up waiting for her - where are you Rosé?????? YOU LIAR! We were supposed to meet HOURS AGO!

Full disclosure, I actually cried when I first heard this song. In fact, I cried the whole time I first listened to Leigh’s first EP (“No Hard Feelings”) ‘cause I was so proud that Leigh-Anne made a significant step towards a personal identity and sound with this body of work. This song, in particular, was a highlight for me, because the high-tempo and charismatic vocals paired with the energetic synth hook made for the perfect RnB-pop song, which suits Leigh-Anne perfectly. I recently watched her Amazon Prime City Sessions episode, and the performance of this song easily made me love it ten times more, DESPITE her not singing all of the words - what’s up with that, Leigh-Anne? If you’re worried about your breath control, then PLEASE work on it - I wanna hear you SING. I beLEIGHve in you!

It’s so funny to me that Billie said during her “Story of My Song” video (watch it here) for “Birds Of A Feather”, that, when writing this song, her and Phineas were aiming to write a heartwarming, courtly-love-style love song for the first time BUT failed miserably as they ended up twisting the message of the song as usual. The twist being in this song, that she obsessively loves her addressee, despite their toxic relationship. The vocals and the production build super smoothly, which makes the song really feel like a journey - the song has such impeccable storytelling. . The climactic moment, where Billie belts “I’ll love you to the day that I die” still hits as poignantly and powerfully as when I first heard it. Also, I just like how this song is a play on an idiom. She really took the common phrase “birds of a feather flock together” and made it into a LOVE song?!

This is the eponymous track from Halsey’s 2024 album ‘The Great Impersonator’. For a title track, it is surprisingly stripped back, but that’s what makes it so perfect for this album. The production is so interesting to me as you have softer elements like the pitter-patter-like piano used throughout, paired with moments of power that are conveyed through the electric guitar in the pre-chorus. This gives the song the sprinkle of edge that can be found in the rest of the album. You could even say this song gives a hopeful and bold IMPRESSION. See what I did there? I hope so…

As the lead single for her album “liminal space”, it really is standalone in terms of theming to the rest of the album. However, I also felt this way about her lead single “mona lisa” from her last album (Rising) and, like with her last album, this single really ended up growing on me and becoming my favourite from the respective body of works. It also follows the current resurgence of country-pop that was prevalent in 2024 (see Beyonce’s “Cowboy Carter” or Sabrina Carpenter’s “Please Please Please” for further examples), which is actually very fitting for mxmtoon’s generally mellow and story-focused style of music.

Honourable Mentions:

Diet Pepsi (Addison Rae) - The song that finally got everyone to take her seriously as an artist - my god, is it a good one!

Aquamarine (Addison Rae) - An amazing follow-up to ‘Diet Pepsi’ that continued to show she was serious about making unique and memorable music - plus Jade even spoke about it on her IG (when worlds collide, am I right?).

Baby Pink (Camila Cabello) - This song follows a very similar structure and has a very similar vibe to ‘I LUV IT’, which is probably why it was put onto the deluxe rather than the main album - it is just as great though and it does still have its own character, despite its similarities to ‘I LUV IT’.

Fantasy (Jade) - A fun disco-inspired song that’s sure to get you grooving! Why not see my review I did of it for the Circulation Magazine Newsletter (read it here)?

And that’s it for the main event. Hope you enjoyed it! Were there any songs you think I missed? If so, let me know via the blog’s Instagram (@queasycardigan). AND DON’T FORGET to also check Instagram to see what the rest of the QCMAs+ 2024 has in store!

Thank you so much for reading! Byyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeee!

Bonus Content???????

So, when I was writing about Halsey's song "The Great Impersonator", I got a bit carried away and ended up writing a mini analytical essay about the song. This, therefore, had be cut down significantly to the version included in the final post. Having said that, I had a lot of fun writing it - really brought me back to my English A-level days - so I thought I'd share it here!

A Mini-Essay about “The Great Impersonator”:

This is the eponymous track from Halsey’s 2024 album ‘The Great Impersonator’. For a title track, it is surprisingly stripped back, but that’s what makes it the perfect title track for this album: it’s messaging is bold, vulnerable and beautiful which encapsulates the album perfectly. In a Rolling Stone interview about the album (link to it here), Halsey stated that this song is “about the irony of dying with so many people who feel like they know you, only for them to realise they didn’t at all after you’re gone,”. To me, the song presents this idea through having a production and vocal style that reflects how lost she feels due to the fact no one does or will ever truly know her.

The vocals are so soft and beautiful but are flowing from a place of so much sadness and hopelessness about her identity. For example, the chorus splices in various “Ah-ahs” in between every line. This includes lines such as “Does a story die with its narrator?”, which convey her sadness due to the lack of control over her identity and legacy. By splicing in these potently sad breakages, she is not only able to put focus onto these vulnerable lyrics, she is also able to emphasise her hopelessness about who she is, as the “Ah-ahs” reflect her panic about how people view her and will continue to do so.

The production is also just as soft, containing a pitter-patter-like piano throughout, paired with equally meek strings. You have moments of power that are conveyed through the electric guitar (at least I think that’s what it is?) in the pre-chorus, which gives the song a sprinkle of the edge that can be found in the rest of the album as well as some more lively sporadic strings in the chorus which give the song a more hopeful and bold IMPRESSION (see what I did there?).

Overall, it’s a song that deserves to be the title track, as it’s the perfect song to tie together the ideas of loneliness and identity that you find in the rest of the album, therefore making the project as a whole more cohesive.