Let's be honest. 2024 was a stellar year for music on paper. We had the Chappell Roan explosion, Sabrina Carpenter’s espresso-fueled world domination, and a Kendrick versus Drake beef that felt like a Shakespearean tragedy played out on Spotify. But where there is light, there is a very dark, very out-of-tune shadow.
Every year, Variety and a handful of exhausted music critics sit down to sift through the wreckage of the Billboard charts to find the absolute bottom of the barrel. The stuff that makes you reach for the volume knob with genuine urgency. Writing about the variety worst songs of 2024 isn't just about being a hater; it's about documenting the moment where even the world’s biggest budget couldn't save a bad idea.
Some of these tracks were produced by legends. Others were sung by stars who usually can’t miss. Yet, here we are.
The Comeback That Went "Clunk"
If we’re talking about the biggest creative derailment of the year, we have to start with Katy Perry. Honestly, nobody wanted her to fail. We were all rooting for a "Teenage Dream" style resurgence. Instead, we got "Woman's World."
The song was supposed to be this empowering, feminist anthem. Variety famously described it as "woefully out of step with the time," and they weren't being dramatic. It felt like a song written by a boardroom of men who had just learned what the word "empowerment" meant five minutes before the recording session. Then there was the production. Bringing back Dr. Luke for a song about female strength was a choice that left most of the internet—and critics—completely baffled.
It wasn't just the politics of it, though. The lyrics were... well, they were "Sexy, confident. So intelligent." That’s a real line from a real song in 2024. It sounds like a caption for a 2012 Instagram post.
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Why It Failed So Hard
- Dated Sound: It felt like a 2011 EDM reject.
- The Visuals: The music video involve a lot of "Rosie the Riveter" imagery mixed with petrol pumps that felt more like a commercial for a product that doesn't exist.
- Tone Deafness: It missed the "Brat" summer vibe by several thousand miles.
When Rap Beefs Go Wrong
The Kendrick and Drake war gave us "Not Like Us," which might be the song of the decade. But it also gave us "Big Foot."
Nicki Minaj’s attempt to fire back at Megan Thee Stallion was, in a word, messy. Critics didn't just dislike it; they were confused by it. It sounded less like a professional diss track and more like a voice memo recorded during a very stressful evening. The flow was jagged, the insults felt strangely personal yet ineffective, and the weird ASMR whispering at the end? Yeah, nobody needed that.
Speaking of Drake, we have to mention "Wah Gwan Delilah." Technically a remix of the Plain White T's classic by Snowd4y featuring the 6ix God himself, it’s one of those things you have to hear to believe. Drake’s use of a thick Toronto accent over a pop-punk acoustic guitar was so surreal that people genuinely thought it was AI-generated at first. It wasn't. It was real. And it was agonizing.
The Viral Villainy of Jojo Siwa
You’ve probably seen the meme. The black rhinestones, the Gene Simmons hair, the aggressive dancing. Jojo Siwa’s "Karma" was a fascinating disaster.
The song itself was actually a "reclaimed" demo from years ago, but Jojo pitched it as her entry into "adult" music. The problem wasn't that the song was inherently the worst melody ever written—it's actually a pretty standard 2010s synth-pop track. The problem was the sheer force of the "bad girl" rebrand.
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Critics pointed out that it felt forced. When you spend years selling glittery bows to toddlers, jumping into a leather outfit and screaming "I was a bad girl!" feels less like a transformation and more like a high school theater project. It was uncomfortable to watch, and even more uncomfortable to hear on repeat.
The Critics' Consensus on "Karma"
Critics generally agreed that the song lacked any genuine grit. It was "bad girl" music for people who have never stayed out past 10:00 PM. Variety noted it sounded like a "lukewarm jingle for a commercial," which is a polite way of saying it felt plastic.
The "Interpolation" Pandemic
2024 was the year where songwriters seemingly forgot how to write new melodies. Everything was a sample or a "reimagining."
- "I Don't Wanna Wait" by David Guetta & OneRepublic: This song takes the "Dragostea Din Tei" (the Numa Numa song) melody and plasters it over a generic EDM beat. It’s the musical equivalent of unseasoned mashed potatoes.
- "Chevrolet" by Dustin Lynch ft. Jelly Roll: This is just "Free Fallin'" by Tom Petty, but with lyrics about trucks. It’s so lazy it’s almost impressive.
- "Spicy Margarita" by Jason Derulo: Sampling Dean Martin's "Sway" to sing about cocktails. Jason Derulo is a hit machine, but this one felt like it was generated by a bot that was told to "make a song for a cruise ship bar."
Kanye’s "Carnival" Contradiction
Kanye West (Ye) and Ty Dolla $ign had a massive hit with "Carnival." It went to number one. But it also topped several "worst of" lists, including Variety's.
Why? Because the lyrics were, to put it mildly, "tactless." Critics slammed the song for its "gross misogyny" and the fact that Ye was name-dropping Bill Cosby and R. Kelly in the year 2024. While the "inter-style" chant was catchy enough for TikTok, the actual substance of the track felt like an "edgelord" trying too hard to offend people. It’s a song that a lot of people listened to, but almost nobody actually liked once they paid attention to what was being said.
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The Honorable (Dishonorable) Mentions
We can’t leave out Ice Spice’s "Think U The Shit (Fart)." Yes, that is the title. The lyrics "Think you the shit, bitch? / You're not even the fart" became a meme instantly, but for all the wrong reasons. It’s a 14-year-old’s insult set to a drill beat.
Then there’s "Facts" by Tom MacDonald featuring Ben Shapiro. Seeing a political commentator attempt to rap is something that should probably be banned by the Geneva Convention. Lines like "dawg, it’s a yarmulke, homie, no cap" are the reason why some people think the internet was a mistake.
What We Learned from the Worst of 2024
Music is subjective, sure. But there’s a pattern here. The songs that failed in 2024 were the ones that tried too hard to be "viral" or the ones that relied entirely on the past.
Authenticity won in 2024. That’s why Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan took over. They felt real. They felt fun. The songs on this list? They felt like homework. They felt like marketing meetings.
If you're looking to clean your ears after this deep dive into the musical dumpster, here’s what you should do:
- Listen to the "Best of" lists: Go back and play Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft or Kendrick’s "Euphoria."
- Avoid the "Sample Trap": If you see a new song that just samples a 90s hit you love, proceed with extreme caution.
- Support Originality: The charts are crowded, and sometimes the loudest songs are the worst. Look for the artists who are actually writing their own hooks instead of borrowing them from Tom Petty.
2025 is already here, and hopefully, the lessons of the variety worst songs of 2024 have been learned. Please, no more songs about farts or trucks set to classic rock melodies. We've suffered enough.