Arron Wright
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nonoxcol.bsky.social
Arron Wright
@nonoxcol.bsky.social
840 followers 640 following 6.7K posts
Pop craziness!

See alt @mu21cvs.bsky.social for music challenges.
Current: #TheTwen2ie5.

He/him. Green.

Profile pics from my #TheTwen2ie5 list:
Rosalia, 'Saoko' (#2, 11 points)
Posts Replies Media Videos
nonoxcol.bsky.social
#THETWEN2IE5 DAY 49

And so to the runner-up.

2. 🥈

ROSALIA (1/1)
'SAOKO'
Spain 2022
⭐11 points

Fourth of five duplicate artists.
From my album of the decade.
#1 MOTOMAMI

Will anyone else come this close to the track/album double in these challenges?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6o7b...
2.🥈 ⭐ROSALÍA | SAOKO⭐ Feb 2022 Spain 1/2 2022: 2/12 Single Alpha 36, Chrono 19, Stream 14 PPP: Quarter-final (Pollhalla), 2022 Artist 1/2 ⭐11 points ‘Saoko’ is huge. It’s the turning point of the decade. The opening track on my favourite album of the 2020s. The opener at her homecoming Primavera show in 2023. Most importantly, it blew open a door in my brain I didn't even know existed. Without this: less curiosity, no Amaarae, no amapiano, no foreign languages, no renaissance of genre clashing, no [no.1 artist]. No #Twen2ie5, basically. And that was an instinctive, intuitive response: I knew little of Rosalia’s previous work and didn’t understand much Spanish. It was therefore beautiful to discover the chorus is about transformation, serving as meta-commentary on her own artistic development and my musical 2020s. It’s experiment, deconstruction and reinvention all at once. In less than 140 seconds. There’s a “talking avant-jazz” interlude, followed by the most head-spinning half minute of 2022, the “La pampara” section and outro. Few openers have set the tone for an album this perfectly. I will always follow Rosalia’s career now, because of ‘Saoko’. The cover art of my album of the decade, MOTOMAMI by Rosalia.
November 24, 2025 at 7:00 AM
nonoxcol.bsky.social
Which means, like the Women's World Cup of 2023 and Euros of 2025, it comes down to a final clash between England and Spain...

Here are the women involved.
Representing England, it's Georgia Ellery! Representing Spain, it's Rosalia Vila Tobella!
November 23, 2025 at 11:56 AM
nonoxcol.bsky.social
#THETWEN2IE5 DAY 48

And so to the podium.

3.🥉

CHARLI XCX & LORDE
'GIRL, SO CONFUSING FEATURING LORDE'
UK/New Zealand 2024
⭐11 points

Could say why Lorde's verse surpasses even 'A minorrrrr" as my pop moment of the decade.

But Charli said it in two words.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0q3K...
3.🥉 ⭐CHARLI XCX & LORDE | GIRL, SO CONFUSING FEATURING LORDE⭐ Jun 2024 UK 2/22, New Zealand 1/1 2024: 1/7 Single Alpha 18, Chrono 45, Stream 12 PPP: 3rd, 2024 Artist 1/2 (Charli XCX) ⭐11 points All three podium songs make a compelling case for 12. This - specifically “the remix” - kickstarted my Brat summer. And made me realise we were living through an all-timer season of pop (I was distracted by the show for most of May and June). It remains the defining track of that mini-era, yet so much more. Months later, Lorde’s section in particular suddenly hit me hard emotionally. I realised I wasn’t alone, even among middle-aged men. We can never completely understand how hard the song hits girls struggling with friendships, identity, miscommunication, repressed trauma. Let alone the specific travails of young women in the music industry performing for “coin”. But their disarming absence of cynicism stands out in this low, dishonest decade. I know they’re playing with reality and artifice, both confessing and selling. It doesn’t matter: I want to buy every word, especially as it comes after Charli’s grief and unresolved issues on ‘So I’. Has an electro-pop song ever got right to the core of this famous quote, so elegantly and unexpectedly: “Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. Always.” Charli XCX on Instagram, sharing Lorde's verse and her own two-word response, which is "Fucking hell".
November 23, 2025 at 10:07 AM
nonoxcol.bsky.social
Ben Stokes, speaking to TMS earlier today.

#TheAshes
Stephen Fry as General Melchett, in military uniform with helmet and glove, saluting in the opening credits of Blackadder Goes Forth. Caption: "If nothing else works, a total pig-headed unwillingness to look facts in the face will see us through."
November 22, 2025 at 11:45 AM
nonoxcol.bsky.social
#THETWEN2IE5 DAY 47

"Like an outhouse door in a gale" department...

4.

NIA ARCHIVES
'OFF WIV YA HEADZ'
UK 2023
⭐11 points

It bangz.

(unfortunate timing if you're following 🏏events in Perth, however...

...call it a desperate Hail Mary jinx 😄)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrnD...
4. ⭐NIA ARCHIVES | OFF WIV YA HEADZ⭐ Jun 2023 UK 3/22 2023: 1/11 Single Alpha 30, Chrono 36, Stream 30 PPP: Nomination (main), 2023, reached last 16 ⭐11 points Ssssshh. There’s scarcely an original note in this song. ‘Heads Will Roll’ by Yeah Yeah Yeahs is a great record. The A-Trak remix is even better. A benchmark for reinventions, a blend of indie rock, dance and electroclash that sounds like a last hurrah for the spirit of the 2000s, ready to hand over to Gaga, Rihanna and hyperpop. Here, Nia Archives takes that remix, lassoes it to a jungle beat and shoves it into a 165bpm bullet train. Is that… enough? You might know where this is going…;) ‘Freak Like Me’ by Adina Howard is a great record. ‘Are “Friends” Electric?’ by Tubeway Army is even better. And there’s scarcely an original note in Richard X’s mash-up ‘We Don’t Give A Damn About Our Friends’, originally credited to Girls On Top and later made famous by Sugababes Mk II in a UK No.1 hit. But that record harnessed the spirit of the 2000s and redefined my pop life. And it meant that, 21 years later, I would respond in exactly the same way to ‘Off Wiv Ya Headz’. It didn’t change my life; I was 50. But it makes me want to “dance til you’re dead” and it’s still the most purely thrilling racket of the 20s. Damn right that’s enough. Nia Archives with her eyes closed - cover art for single 'Off Wiv Ya Headz'.
November 22, 2025 at 9:03 AM
nonoxcol.bsky.social
#THETWEN2IE5 DAY 46

Bonus time.

"This is my fucking country
And it's never been fucking lovely."

5.

BOB VYLAN
'WE LIVE HERE'
UK 2020

Not racists, they're just proud.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFqh...

'Comments are turned off" of course.
5. ⭐BOB VYLAN | WE LIVE HERE⭐ Mar 2020 UK 4/22 2020: 1/7 Single Alpha 47, Chrono 4, Stream 33 PPP: Semi-final, 2020 (also lost to Christine and the Queens & 🤖s) ⭐11 points ‘Angel’ or ‘XS’ could have taken this bonus slot. I considered arguments, e.g. from Graham Meikle, that ‘We Live Here’ felt rather played out. But in the end, what Centuries Of Sound wrote on Day 1 was more convincing: “Even before the events of the summer this was one of my favourites of the decade. After the summer, it seems essential.” In 2020, ‘We Live Here’ was a coruscating reminder to Britain that it should never feel complacent about its attitude to race and citizenship, and certainly shouldn’t think itself inherently superior to the USA. In 2025, we have a government that has done little but appease racism (even this week!) in a forlorn attempt to “neutralise” an electoral threat. The worst of us are emboldened: the flags Bobby and Bobbie stamp on are all over lampposts and windows. The Opposition threatens to deport people with ILR status. That three-word title resonates even more powerfully. And of course, after Glastonbury, Bob Vylan are now (in)famous. A cause célèbre. Bobby remains more articulate than his critics on any number of issues, not least the government-aided genocide he stood up to oppose. The four songs to come are my favourites. But ‘We Live Here’ is essential to the unfinished story of Britain in the 2020s. A bunch of white people with "legitimate concerns" giving it the big 'un round London Town at the 'Unite the Kingdom' rally, September 2025.
November 21, 2025 at 6:38 AM
nonoxcol.bsky.social
#THETWEN2IE5 DAY 45

The final bonus slot was a coin flip between "governed by the worst" and "governed by the worst".

Guess who lost*

6.

RINA SAWAYAMA
'XS'
UK-Japan 2020

Shiny pop's best attempt at a state-of-the-nation-no-the-world banger since 'The Fear'

(*Us)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=TO2c...
6. RINA SAWAYAMA | XS Mar 2020 Japan 1/1, UK 5/22 2020: 2/7 Single Alpha 50, Chrono 3, Stream 20 PPP: Final groups, 2020 (it was in the same group as nos. 10 & 5 and all three were separated by two votes) Arguably even more Xenomaniac than ‘Angel’, sonically if not structurally, ‘XS’ satisfies my craving for kitchen-sink maximalist pop while also taking a big swing at something even more damaging than Cowell. It just wasn’t a hit, because something something Coldplay Nazis. Speaking of which, ‘XS’ - like ‘Rainforest’ (#26) - now sounds all the more prescient. Where do you end up with when billionaire turbo-capitalism remains unchecked, and idiocies like AI, limitless plunder, planetary colonisation and neo-feudalist government are indulged as a result? Cambridge graduate Rina is bright enough to see the bigger picture and realise individual, desire-driven humans let this shit happen. To cram all that into a very 21st-century melange of Neptunes beats, gonzo nu-metal riffs and 10s electro is genius-level. As for the chorus - well, again, only Super Hans can sum it up. Like crack, it’s really moreish. A hand-held protest sign on white card reading CAPITALISM (blue) = (black) CLIMATE CRISIS (red)
November 20, 2025 at 8:16 AM
nonoxcol.bsky.social
Satirical Private Eye article about the Lily Allen album WEST END GIRL (October 2025). Paterson Joseph as Alan Johnson in S4 E2 of Peep Show ('Conference'), wearing a pink shirt and black waistcoat. Caption STICK THAT UP YOUR DOJO.
November 19, 2025 at 12:12 PM
nonoxcol.bsky.social
#THETWEN2IE5 DAY 44

My last top 10 (and top 40) hit, which peaked at:

7.

JADE
'ANGEL OF MY DREAMS'
UK 2024

For many reasons, I would happily live forever in the pop world of spring and summer 2024.

As one of my bonus songs says:
"I believe in dreams. Do you?"

www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEc-...
7. JADE | ANGEL OF MY DREAMS July 2024 UK 6/22 2024: 2/7 Single Alpha 7, Chrono 46, Stream 21 PPP: Nomination (main, non-competitive), 2024, finished 10th “Let’s do something crazy…” The first and most obvious point to make about Jade’s debut single is that, for me, it couldn’t have been timed better. The best Xenomania hit they never made, released a month after The Girls Aloud Show. The second is that it doesn’t have to live up to the near-impossible standards of peak GA to be wonderful, and a huge standout in 20s British chart pop. ‘Angel Of My Dreams’ is helped further by cheeky swipes at Simon Cowell, a man about as far from the Popjustice ethos as it’s possible to be. Jade herself is clearly a lovely person on the right side of history. While I doubt she’ll ever top this critically or commercially, she is fully engaged with that ethos, not least in her astute choice of collaborations. So yeah, I look forward to hearing her try. But in the meantime we’ll always have this tribute to the mutant spirit of C21 mash-up pop, its glory undimmed in over a year. Cover art for ANGEL OF MY DREAMS by JADE
November 19, 2025 at 7:52 AM
nonoxcol.bsky.social
#THETWEN2IE5 DAY 43

👀⚰️

8.

KENDRICK LAMAR
'NOT LIKE US'
USA 2024

When I look back on 2025, I'll always be grateful for this, live, in Gold Circle standing, London.

Top no.1 and top US song - America, I promise you many bonuses in #TheTenx5 and #TheN0ughtie5.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=H58v...
8. KENDRICK LAMAR | NOT LIKE US May 2024 USA 1/19 2024: 3/7 Single Alpha 29, Chrono 43, Stream 3 PPP: 5th, 2024 The two leap years take up only 28% of the list, but more than half of the top ten. In one case (2020) that’s down to a poll and the state of the world. In the other (2024), it’s several facets of pop music excelling themselves at the same time, linked by a theme of meta-commentary. If you do need a recap or primer on Kendrick v Drake, I recommend FD Signifier on YouTube. Otherwise, here’s the one thing that was missing from Lamar’s career: a transatlantic No.1 single and all-time showstopper to unite cognoscenti and casuals. A combination of that belated, slow-burn UK No.1 and the Grand National tour almost convinced me to bonus ‘Not Like Us’. But in the end, while ‘A minorrrrrr’ is my joint moment of the decade and “coloniser” not far behind, the second verse isn’t quite up there. Cover art for NOT LIKE US by KENDRICK LAMAR, showing "a bird's-eye-view of Drake's Toronto mansion from a Google Maps screenshot with 13 red markers placed on its roof, symbolizing the presence of registered sex offenders." (Wikipedia)
November 18, 2025 at 8:12 AM
nonoxcol.bsky.social
#THETWEN2IE5 DAY 42

9.

LANA DEL REY
'A&W'
USA 2023

Only 20 points in Month 2.

The host called, he told you, you're fucking up big time.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYqk...
9. LANA DEL REY | A&W Feb 2023 USA 2/19 2023: 2/11 Single Alpha 2, Chrono 33, Stream 16 PPP: Quarter-final (Pollhalla), 2023 On a purely artistic level, Pitchfork’s song of the 2020s so far should probably have a bonus. As a Lana admirer rather than fan, I’m pretty happy with NFR! and maybe another long album’s worth of songs. Of which ‘A&W’ would be alpha and omega, because it seems to encompass her whole schtick in seven enthralling minutes. I remember ranking it sixth in #Top23of23, then getting into the PPP and thinking “no, not high enough”. When ‘A&W’ reached Pollhalla I thought it was by far the best thing left. And during this process Lana even nudged ahead of Heartworms. I think the subject matter and melody in the first half are mesmerising enough, but then it really goes to town with the shift to trap music in the ‘Jimmy’ section. Which is exactly the kind of experimental left turn I’m pre-programmed to love of course. She will be back again in #TheTenx5, but not - ahem - getting as high as this. Logo for A&W Root Beer.
November 17, 2025 at 7:00 AM
nonoxcol.bsky.social
#THETWEN2IE5 DAY 41

The TOP 🔟 starts at 10.

10.

SAULT
'WILDFIRES'
UK 2020

George Floyd, 1973 - 2020. RIP.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRC4...
10. SAULT | WILDFIRES Jun 2020 UK 7/22 2020: 3/7 Album track (radio “single”) Alpha 49, Chrono 7, Stream 15 PPP: Runner-up to Christine and the Queens and possibly the 🤖s, 2020 During that final, my comment was “smuggles 157 years of history into coffee-table R&B”. ‘Smuggles’, because it took three months of 6 Music airplay for me to regard this as more than pleasant WFH background music and notice the line “Take off your badge/We all know it was murder”. Probably my biggest “holy shit” lyrical moment this decade. I picked up both 2020 SAULT albums, and they became my first new obsession of the 20s. A few months later came that PPP, energised by various brilliant artistic responses to Black Lives Matter. Remarkably, it was this British collective who addressed the George Floyd tragedy directly, while setting it in a wider historical context on Untitled (Black Is), released on Juneteenth. RTJ, Terrace Martin, Anderson .Paak et al sounded rawer and angrier. But, for all its subtlety and relative blandness, ‘Wildfires’ was equally righteous, and echoes just as profoundly now. The cover of UNTITLED (BLACK IS) by SAULT, a studio album released on 19th June 2020. Human fist pointing directly upwards, on a solid black background.
November 16, 2025 at 10:00 AM
nonoxcol.bsky.social
#THETWEN2IE5 DAY 40

2022: The Queen Is Not Dead.

11.

BEYONCÉ (1/2)
'ALIEN SUPERSTAR'
USA 2022

Second of five duplicate artists to leave (the others all have bonuses).

Her Majesty will return three times in #TheTenx5 Month 2, with bonuses and +1 feature.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_aT...
11. BEYONCÉ | ALIEN SUPERSTAR Jul 2022 USA 3/19 2022: 3/12 Album track (charted) Alpha 5, Chrono 24, Stream 11! PPP: Nomination (main), Late Work (2023), R1 Artist 1/2 “I’m 1 of 1”... 11. From 2017 to 2022, I thought the Lemonade Grammy travesty had demoralised Beyoncé to such an extent that she’d never recover creatively. Then, at the end of July 2022 I heard this. I have never been more delighted to be proven wrong. From the incredible “Please do not be alarmed” test intro to the final “unique”, the only flaw in ‘Alien Superstar’ is that the chorus makes money for Far Right Said Fred. It may not be as commercial as ‘Single Ladies’ or ‘Deja Vu’, but for me it’s the finest sub-four-minute banger she’s made since ‘Crazy in Love’. There’s a real sense of queenly magnificence here - ‘Break My Soul’ was a good comeback single, but ‘Alien Superstar’ as track three on Renaissance is the point when you just know she’s still imperious. As ever, there are tributes to ballroom culture, of which I know little. And hints of Afro-futurism, of which I know more but appreciate at one remove. But in the end, the dancefloor just lifts off into space for three minutes. That’s plenty. Beyoncé performing "Alien Superstar" on the Renaissance World Tour in 2023
November 15, 2025 at 8:35 AM
nonoxcol.bsky.social
Walter Donovan (Julian Glover) ageing very rapidly in the climactic Holy Grail scene of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Julian Glover has signed this photo of Walter Donovan about to crumble into dust.
November 14, 2025 at 8:46 AM
nonoxcol.bsky.social
#THETWEN2IE5 DAY 39

12.

HEARTWORMS
'RETRIBUTIONS OF AN AWFUL LIFE'
UK 2023

The acceptable face of 6 Music's endless post-punk obsession.

If only she were doing as well here as some of her less engaging contemporaries.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=thC-...
12. HEARTWORMS | RETRIBUTIONS OF AN AWFUL LIFE Jan 2023 UK 8/22 2023: 3/11 Single (or ‘A Comforting Notion’ EP) Alpha 34, Chrono 31, Stream 48 PPP: Nomination (bonus), 2023, out early Speaking of cutting through… ‘Retributions Of An Awful Life’ is far and away 6 Music’s greatest contribution to my list since ‘Introvert’ (and Self Esteem/Wet Leg, who came soon after). An even more preposterous record than ‘Vampire’, this is five minutes of genre and performance fuckery that was irresistible from first hearing. A bit post-punk, a bit electro, a bit goth, with a Kate Bush sense of theatricality, random histrionic screaming, always captivating delivery, an absurdly long instrumental intro and a scything guitar riff. I’ve since seen Heartworms live and I strongly recommend her debut album from earlier this year - ‘Extraordinary’ Wings’ may be an HM. As with ‘Bloom Baby Bloom’, a reminder of how great indie-rock can be when it messes with styles and expectations. Jojo Orme, aka Heartworms
November 14, 2025 at 8:22 AM
nonoxcol.bsky.social
2 years and 10 days ago I wrote something about this song.

Three days later the reunion story broke.

What a ride it's been.

Anyway, here's the whole lotta Biology...

docs.google.com/document/d/1...
A still from the video for BIOLOGY by GIRLS ALOUD, in which Nadine Coyle (partly obscured) is singing the words "dirty brain". Of course it's more notable for Sarah Harding (1981-2021) prancing across the screen from right to left, tappiing her head with her right forefinger in knowing reference to the word "brain". Slowed down and in black & white, this was part of the extended video tribute to Sarah after 'Whole Lotta History', at the close of Act 1 in The Girls Aloud Show. And the bit that would finish me off.
November 14, 2025 at 12:58 AM
nonoxcol.bsky.social
As is well known, I have next to zero tolerance for American quirk.

And this remains my firm position, courtesy of a PPP regular.
"B52s always sound like the musical equivalent of this bloke to me." With a picture of The Fast Show's Colin Hunt (Charlie Higson). PPP Comment of The Year 2023.
November 13, 2025 at 2:08 PM
nonoxcol.bsky.social
#THETWEN2IE5 DAY 38

13.

LITTLE SIMZ
'INTROVERT'
UK 2021

In some ways, my 2020s began right here.

The likely 12-pointer if you'd asked me between release date and late 2023.

Also my first gig after lockdown (Dec 2021) and last to date (Oct 2025).

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxfG...
13. LITTLE SIMZ | INTROVERT Apr 2021 UK 9/22 2021: 1/10 Single Alpha 23, Chrono 11, Stream 27 PPP: N/A The high drama of those martial drums, blasting horns and a minute-long intro to a rap record… It cut through more than anything else released in 2021, and still does. Little Simz and Inflo seemed to be a match made in heaven. While that’s no longer the case, the grim developments of recent times don’t detract from this song. For me anyway. But for a long time ‘Introvert’ would have been much closer to a bonus, and it’s not only the excitement of 2022-24 that pushes it out of the top 10. The main factor is the superiority of Grey AREA, and knowing that I don’t like earnest, portentous, long-ass Simz as much as the one from the first half of her 2019 masterpiece especially. There’s also Emma Corrin, reminding me of the cloying over-indulgence of.Sometimes I Might Be Introvert. All that said, Little Simz is one of the artists of the decade, and ‘Introvert’ remains my second favourite of her songs. The cover of SOMETIMES I MIGHT BE INTROVERT, a 2021 album by Little Simz. Artist in dark blue/yellow harlequin-style top and trousers, crouching, looking to right, wearing glasses, ornate hair standing up and dominating top centre of frame. On a burnt yellow background. Title at top, in yellow on thin strip of black.
November 13, 2025 at 8:22 AM
nonoxcol.bsky.social
Well, the rewatch has reached this point...

(Very much doubt any British sitcom has done something this funny after 50 previous episodes... probably the best half-hour farce I've seen since Fawlty Towers)
David Mitchell and Cariad Lloyd are seated at a dinner table in Peep Show S9 E3 'Threeism'. Caption: - WHAT IS IT? - UM... IT'S MOROCCAN.
November 12, 2025 at 7:05 PM
nonoxcol.bsky.social
#THETWEN2IE5 DAY 37

14.

CHAPPELL ROAN
'GOOD LUCK, BABE!'
USA 2024

I am in no way comparing Sabrina Carpenter to effing 'Dance Monkey'.

Yet, the world stopping at #2 for this song is the biggest "J'accuse" in the UK charts since 'Don't Start Now'.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RKq...
14. CHAPPELL ROAN | GOOD LUCK, BABE! Apr 2024 USA 4/19 2024: 4/7 Single Alpha 19, Chrono 41, Stream 2 PPP: WINNER, 2024 (by 137 points in a free 40-song vote, then 31 in the 4-way final) Yeah. 137 points. ‘Good Luck, Babe!’ is such a staggeringly accomplished pop record, and an obvious landmark in what may well be a generational career, that many players and observers expect it to be the highest-ranked 20s song. I’m almost consciously handicapping it here, although most of the remaining songs mean a bit more to me personally. Anyway, stray observations… Its UK chart peak of #2 (for six weeks in total) will boggle the minds of future generations. Watching her perform it live in Barcelona was glorious. I’m still absolutely crazy for the “stop the world” slowdown at the end, even more so after learning that the tempo slows down ever so slightly in the previous choruses too. Octave leapage. Dan Nigro’s third production credit in the list. And one of the bridges of the century. Random YouTube video thumbnail asking 'WHAT IS COMP HET?' and using the song Good Luck Babe by Chappell Roan as the hook.
November 12, 2025 at 6:59 AM
nonoxcol.bsky.social
#THETWEN2IE5 DAY 36

These 15 songs were considered for a bon-💤🥱

😴
😴

🔊WAKE UP, A-CUP GET YOUR 🔞

15.

DOECHII (the 🤬👸)
'NISSAN ALTIMA'
USA 2024

🥵🧖‍♀️
🗾🌊🔞

etc.

Proper rapping, and star quality worthy of those two in the picture.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGbe...
15. DOECHII | NISSAN ALTIMA Jul 2024 USA 5/19 2024: 5/7 Single Alpha 28, Chrono 47, Stream 13 PPP: 23rd, 2024 At last. Those of us still obsessed with ‘212’, but feeling increasingly guilty about it, finally have a successor it’s ok to like. And she has loads of firecrackers to back up the filth, and even a Grammy. I didn’t go for ‘Nissan Altima’ straight away - even as late as December 2024 I was picking ‘Alter Ego’ instead for #PeoplesPop24. Then came the Doechii hegemony of 2025 Q1, when I also replaced ‘B.O.B.’ as my rowing machine track with this and ‘Off Wiv Ya Headz’. Since then it’s been a cut above. Tiny Desk, and the Glastonbury performance audio, enshrined it as a bonus contender. It's number 15 purely because the next ten were there first. ‘Nissan Altima’ is a bravura two-minute phenomenon, the flow as clean as the words are dirty. As transgressive as ‘212’, but more quotable. July 17, 1984: Non hip-hop Madonna and non-trap Grace Jones at the opening of Private Eyes video bar in New York City. (40 years and 10 days before 'NISSAN ALTIMA')
November 11, 2025 at 8:15 AM
nonoxcol.bsky.social
#THETWEN2IE5 DAY 35

A timely reminder that, before 'Berghain', there was:

16.

BJÖRK ft ROSALÍA (2/2)
'ORAL'
Iceland/Spain 2023

Last of 3 Ice Spice ❌ (all collabs with ✔️)
Last of 5 duplicated artists.
Last unpicked track.
Highest song not considered for a bonus.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jsi...
16. BJÖRK ft ROSALÍA | ORAL Nov 2023 Iceland 1/1, Spain 2/2 2023 4/11 Single Alpha 31, Chrono 40, Stream 28 PPP: Round 1 repechage/R2?, 2023 Artist 2/2 (Rosalia) Written September 2025, before ‘Berghain’ I am a Björk fan, but of her most accessible period between Debut and Vespertine. ‘Oral’ is a song she wrote between 1997 (Homogenic) and 2001 (Vespertine), but deemed “too poppy” to fit on either. Rosalia made my album of the decade (Motomami) in 2022. In 2023 Björk asked Rosalia to record ‘Oral’ with her, updating it for a 2020s audience. The result is as if someone stepped into my dreams and extracted them, pristine. The swelling strings on the first “Is that the right thing to do?” mark the most breathtaking nostalgia overload of the 2020s. It is too poppy for the aforementioned albums, but would have fit perfectly on the third quarter of Debut. ‘Oral’ - about crossing the line into intimacy, centred on a first kiss - is charming, demure and erotic all at once. And gorgeous. Sleeve of 'Oral', a single by BJÖRK ft ROSALÍA.
November 10, 2025 at 6:51 AM
nonoxcol.bsky.social
#THETWEN2IE5

DAY 34, fame-fuckers.

17.

OLIVIA RODRIGO
'VAMPIRE'
USA 2023

*Arguably* the greatest theatrical high-wire act on a UK No.1 since 'Wuthering Heights'.

*Definitely* responsible for my biggest air-punch in eight of these challenges (pictured).

www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlPN...
17. OLIVIA RODRIGO | VAMPIRE Jun 2023 USA 6/19 2023: 5/11 Single Alpha 46, Chrono 38, Stream 5 PPP: N/A (booooo!) ‘Vampire’ is a preposterous record. And I want to stand and applaud every single person involved in pulling it off so convincingly and entertainingly. Fittingly, as if in a theatre audience rather than listening to music. How to express my love for this - the second top UK No.1 in the list? Well, it’s as if… Jim Steinman (“threw every last fuck he had to give into a volcano” © Sarah Bee), unable to make his long-cherished vampire musical, instead hires a potty-mouthed Kid From Fame to make a 7-mnute epic in the ‘Total Eclipse’ vein, but then time traveller Brian Higgins turns up with a stopwatch primed to explode if they go beyond 220 seconds dead. The fact that Olivia is potty-mouthed, yet here sounds more like a child playing dress-up with swearwords, is the cherry on the cake. The very last selection on Day 50 of #FearofMu21C, 19 November 2023, was 'Vampire' by Olivia Rodrigo. This put "fame-fuckers" in the top 250 at the expense of flag-fuckers. Popjustice.
November 9, 2025 at 8:07 AM
nonoxcol.bsky.social
#THETWEN2IE5 DAY 33

Nintendo! Nabokov! Bollywood! Long fakeout opening!
It can only be...

18.

JOCKSTRAP (2/2)
'DEBRA'
UK 2022

As promised during #ALL50RTS.
4th of 5 duplicate artists.
4th of 5 albums of the decade.

#4 I LOVE YOU JENNIFER B

www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWCX...
18. JOCKSTRAP | DEBRA Sep 2022 UK 10/22 2022: 4/12 Album track Alpha 12, Chrono 27, Stream 43 PPP: N/A Artist 2/2 The opening minute or so of ‘Debra’ sets itself up as an epic, similar to the six-minute ‘Concrete Over Water’. Then, er, it goes a different way. In the most joyous, silly fashion. Georgia Ellery starts singing random lines apparently inspired by the game Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Nabokov’s Lolita, which she was reading at the time. And Scorpio, and patio, and Korea. Anyway…None of this matters, because Taylor Skye, beatmaster, is brewing up something special. Around two and half minutes in, there’s a chorus consisting of repeated lines about Animal Crossing, then he unleashes this mutant Bollywood/Egyptian snake charmer electro-riff that simply obliterates everything in the nearest vicinity. ‘Debra’ now goes really, really hard for two solid minutes, Georgia returns for her “Hello? I’m Loliiiiiii-ta” outro and this wild experiment in structure, sonics, bizarre lyrics and vocal phrasing is done. Sleeve of I LOVE YOU JENNIFER B by JOCKSTRAP (2022). Simply the band name running diagonally from bottom left to top right, in white with black outline, on a solid off white background.
November 8, 2025 at 8:54 AM
nonoxcol.bsky.social
#THETWEN2IE5 DAY 32

So begins... the first 19 songs I wrote down, in about [the length of the shortest one]

19.

CONFIDENCE MAN
'HOLIDAY'
Australia 2021

Many things bewilder me about these challenges.

This only having one other pick is right up there.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcCS...
19. CONFIDENCE MAN | HOLIDAY Nov 2021 Australia 1/1 2021: 2/10 Single Alpha 22, Chrono 17, Stream 29 PPP: Summer Jams mini-poll (2023), out early ‘Holiday’ already feels like it’s been here forever. But I wasn't tempted to take it for granted and shop around. With a band like Confidence Man you should go for the set closer, the crowd pleaser, the obvious. There is nothing complicated here: the band exists to make vaguely nostalgic party music, and ‘Holiday’ nails the brief most comprehensively. But there is a bit more to it. First, ‘Holiday’ was hibernated on, then broke through (e.g. at Glastonbury) as a soundtrack to summer 2022, the first “proper” summer since 2019. Second, Con Man are a fantastic live act, the only current band I’ve seen four times this decade. The last time at Primavera, when I queued up at the barrier for an hour and was rewarded with Janet and I singing ‘So What’ right in each other’s faces for a few seconds. I can’t separate either band or song from some of the decade’s happiest memories. Zlatni Rat beach from Vidova Gora, near Bol, Brac island (the highest point on the Adriatic Islands), Croatia, 8 August 2025. 13 weeks ago today. (my last holiday)
November 7, 2025 at 6:59 AM