POP SONG REVIEW: "Someone You Loved" by Lewis Capaldi

When I heard this song on the radio, I assumed based on the lyrics that the narrator was supposed to come across like an asshole, kind of like Alanis Morrisette's "You Oughta Know".

Cassandra Gelvin

kind of one of my favorite pop song reviews in a while. I actually like that you've toned down the anger in your reviews over time and I think it makes your newer stuff actually better than older videos, but when it's justified it's justified, and I like that it's a song that you knew what to make of immediately, as opposed to all the mixed, confusing receptions that the big hits of the last year have gotten (fairly, most of those songs also give me mixed feelings). While his guttural belching voice doesn't bother me I completely understand how irredeemable this song would be if it did.

Nowhere Girl

I like the color beneath Lewis Capaldi's voice, and he seems to feel what he's singing. That's normally good enough. Sometimes being heart felt and distinctive is better than being polished, you know? The issue is the ragged bellowing. I think I'd enjoy his music if he didn't sing half of every song in that buzz saw yell. Listen to his cover of when the party's over. His voice is quiet, round, and lovely. Yes, he ruins it with shouting, but there are moments.

Hawley Olsen

This guy is related to the Twelth Doctor? He sounds like if Ed Sheeran auditioned for Nickelback.

I was wondering if I was the only one who heard Numa Numa when he sang.

Going to do a decade recap video? Or does that sound like a ton of work?

De

That was the perfect song to play at the end.

Charles Kieser

(but "7 years" is already on my short list for worst song of this millennium, so it might be a tough bar to clear)

surasshu

Noel Gallagher and Lewis Capaldi feuding is indeed perfect but rather because hating each other means that they're both finally contributing something worthwhile to our ecosystem.

Of course this wee bawbag is from Glasgow. CHVRCHES have to scrimp and save and piggyback off of that hack Marshmello to get a hit, but this talentless shite gets to #1 no sweat? FOH.

Grace

Todd: "This is the worst song of the decade!" Lukas Graham: "So I'm nothing to you?"

Gideon Weinerth

idk man, it's not "7 years" bad to me

surasshu

As much as I love your deep dives into artists discographies and the fantastic way that you’re able to contextualize music in a historical sense, its nice to know you can still make a “Todd just relentlessly shits on a song for fifteen minutes” video at least once a year.

So, I was laughing most of the way through, but the Thick of It was the cherry on the cake. Nicely done.

Paul McA

The way that he hold the first syllable of any word beginning with “B” in his mouth before spitting it out makes me viscerally uncomfortable in a way that I find extremely funny.

Peter Guilherme

The first analogy that comes to my mind here is Bruno Mars' "The Lazy Song". Not just because "Someone You Loved" might just be the laziest pop song of the century, but also because the only remotely redeeming thing about it is a music video featuring a beloved older actor mostly known for sci-fi. Once the American video dropped, any reason at all to ever expose yourself to this godawful piece of music vanished into the ether.

Timur Hahn

I only heard about him thanks to his feud with Noel Gallagher and only looked him up thanks to him appearing on stage with a Chewbacca mask or something (thanks to some insult Noel lobbed his way) his connection to Peter Capaldi, I wanted to like him, but man he was bad. I first thought it was a reference to his looks turns out it was his singing voice. Although that may be an insult to Shyriiwook .

Raymond

"I think this motherfucker is just scared of the dark!" Sweet baby Jesus, Todd, have mercy, that line almoust killed me!

Paul Stepchenko

I think "River" is actually pretty damn good, but yeah this song sucks the big one, it's one of the worst songs ever written, it's so bad it makes every single song on VH1's Most Awesomely Bad Songs ever list look like a goddamn masterpiece by comparison. Also I think the Star Wars prequels are damn good films that get WAY too much underserved hate.

RedBedroomRecords

Girls Like You at least has Cardi B to fall back on though, this song has no such luck.

RedBedroomRecords

A lot of his recent reviews have been like this

Jack Rosen

Pretty Much agree with you 100% on this. Does seem to be a decent guy and as someone from Scotland nice to see him doing well. Even if his music is so boring and bad haha

Marc Neilson

Wait... ED SHEERAN out performed somebody?

HankMan

Yet another "pop hit" I've never heard. Spotify has mostly washed away all this stuff from me.

waywardlaser

His album is legitimately called Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent. Also I had no idea this actually hit #1 until you mentioned it.

Athena Alexandra

Ohhh boy, here we go!!!

Jacqueline Sailer

Bringing in just enough theory and compositional knowledge to enhance the usual cultural context and history is peak Todd goodness for me. You really took this song down from every angle. Top job.

Joe G

Here's a review from Chris Molanphy when the song hit number one on how Someone You Loved follows the Someone Like You and All Of Me formula of sounding as little as possible to get a ballad big in the 2010s https://slate.com/culture/2019/11/lewis-capaldi-someone-you-loved-number-1-hot-100.html

You know, one thing I like to do is vocal impressions of various singers, whenever I’m with friends or at open mic nights. Some of my impressions include Marcus Mumford, Phil Collins, John Lennon, and even female singers like Amy Winehouse and Cher. And a lot of people tell me my impressions are pretty accurate. I’d be worried about doing a vocal impression of Lewis Capaldi, because I’d be worried that I’d be shredding my vocal chords within a few second. And for the record, one of my vocal impressions is of Louis Armstrong, who doesn’t have the easiest voice to impersonate out there. So yea, I find it easier to do a Louis Armstrong impression than this guy. Let that sink in.

Tom Carter

I've managed to miss this song completely until now, but having heard it, I acutely miss Scott Hutchison.

Cristina Youngren

This song really does get worse every time it plays.

Thomas Carmody

Tom Breihan of Stereogum made a good point in his review of You Light Up My Life Friday of how ballads like these tend to do well on the charts around the fall/winter holiday season so that could also be a way of explaining its popularity

Link is not working for.me

ArthurCrane

People comparing this to "Someone Like You" when it's clearly the next (inferior) version of "All of Me"...

Terrence Kuhns

In the “Worst Hit Songs of 2017” video, Todd mentioned how Taylor Swift’s “Ready for It” had the rare distinction of being both boring and irritating. As obnoxious as that song was though, it was ultimately pretty forgettable. But if there’s *any* song worthy to hold the title of “simultaneously dull and annoying”, it’s EASILY this Lewis Capaldi song. Holy hell what a terrible song.

Franco del Rosario

This was goddamn hilarious, and I also feel like I learned sth about the balance of complexity and simplicity in music.

S. R.

Idea: the Peter Capaldi video was the director writing fanfiction of 12's version of that alternate reality where 10 stays as John Smith and lives out his life with Joan Redfern?

Charles Arthur

I'm so relieved to hear someone mention the Numa Numa thing. That's a heavy load off my mind.

Castleknackers

Hearing you call him a “fucking hack” is one of the most cathartic things I’ve seen this year. I feel like the only Scottish person who hates him (his music SUCKS and once you’ve seen one of his social media posts you’ve seen all the outers. )

Thanks for including a Thick of It clip for the non-Doctor Who Capaldi fans. Anyway, I laughed way too hard at this one. Jesus this song sucks.

A+ Malcolm Tucker reference, was exactly what I was thinking.

Grace

I think Like A G6, at least out of the list you showed, was the worst, with anything Maroon 5 up there too (I hate 'One More Night' ) and its one note verse more than Girls Like You actually... I might like 'This Is America' the most just for the daringness of it all... even though the song is impossible to seperate from its video... Lewis Capaldi has a great sense of humor but his music is meh at best. I don't think I've enjoyed a single piano ballad this decade that has charted... All Of Me is another song I despise. People confuse melodrama with substance, pop music has really lowered the bar the last 20 years. It feels like the end of Wall-E to me, lazy losers pacified by their precious I V vi IV... how is this number one...

Taylor Abrahamse

I still can't believe that Peter Capaldi's shitty nephew got big in the US where George Ezra and Jake Bugg (though only his first album deserved to) couldn't.

WhyDoIBother

Wow, I didn't realize how much I missed pissed-off Todd :)

Sam Frederich

I have to say I think “Girls Like You” is worse than this. At least with “Someone You Loved” I believe Lewis cares about this song and what he’s singing about, even if the song is trash and what he’s singing about is virtually empty. Adam Levine clearly sang and (maybe) wrote “Girls Like You” with nothing in mind, his vocal take was probably finished within ten minutes, and from the way he sounds on the track, if you told me even Adam didn’t like “Girls Like You” I wouldn’t be at all surprised.

Christina Kelley

As a hardcore American Whovian whose favorite modern Doctor is 12, it's nice to know that I don't matter. ;) In all seriousness, I've liked this song since I saw the first video, though I suppose I might have been biased because it had Peter mf'in Capaldi in it. Anyway, great content as always, Todd. :)

Typically when a critic is forced to sit though a bad piece of media, they try to get some sort of joy from their misery by spending a review tearing it apart. Sometimes, a critic gets a piece of media so bad that it isn't even fun to hate on. You could sense the mile thick dispassionate loathing in this review. This review was like watching a janitor clean up the vomit at an amusement park: clearly not enjoying himself and resenting the fact that he has to deal with this puke.

Adequately Sized Dog

TODD IN THE SHADOWS JUST MADE A THICK OF IT REFERENCE

Kylie

oh hell yeah i'm so ready to watch you tear into this one

Crow