Out with the “Spotify wrapped” tiles, in with the triple j Hottest 100 lists.This week, voting for Australia’s biggest music democracy, the triple j Hottest 100, opened to the public, along with the floodgates for avid listeners to flex their choices on Instagram.The countdown, which was once held on January 26 each year, will be held on January 22 in 2022. It comes after station made the decision in 2017 to no longer hold the poll on Australia Day amid increasing Invasion Day protests.While the buzz around the much-loved music poll has well and truly set in, the countdown is expected to sound very different from years’ past.Previously, listeners have revolted against any inkling of a “mainstream” artist possibly infiltrating the poll, but given this year, the station has embraced pop music with open arms more than ever before, one of its former “banned” artists may hit number one.Justin Bieber.While the pop sensation had appeared on triple j rotation in the past (he’s featured in songs with Major Lazer and Skrillex, and popped up during the station’s ‘Requestival’), chart-topping track Stay, by Bieber and Aussie rap prodigy The Kid LAROI, is dominating voter lists already, and there’s barely a perturbed listener in sight.Last year, Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s WAP coming in at number 6 had indie music buffs up in arms, and in 2014 and 2015 respectively, the station itself went as far as banning votes for Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber amid viral troll campaigns.While Stay’s popularity with listeners is likely due to 18-year-old The Kid LAROI, whose name is a nod to his Kamilaroi heritage, scoring his first play as a triple j unearthed high finalist in 2018, as the youth station has adapted over the years, it’s no longer surprising to hear popular, chart-topping artists featuring in daily rotation.Rubbing shoulders with the independent musos the station is known for celebrating in 2021 were a range of big-name artists including Beyonce, Lizzo, Lil Nas X and even Australia’s own pop queen Jessica Mauboy. (Funnily enough after 2015’s notable hubbub, Taylor Swift has not become a mainstay on the station’s playlists).Here, we dive into the station’s indie vs mainstream Hottest 100 controversies of the past. But first, here’s how to get voting:How to voteVoting opened on Tuesday, and will close on Monday, January 17. On Friday, January 21, before the big day on Saturday, January 22, the station will count down from 200-100 in a nod to the songs that just missed out. Book-ending the Hottest 100 weekend on Sunday will be sister station Double J’s Hottest 100 of 2021.triple j is once again teaming up with Lifeline as their charity partner for the Hottest 100 of 2021, with voters encouraged to donate or buy a T-shirt to support the suicide helpline. Favourites to winLooking to the betting sites, The Kid LAROI is currently tipped to win at odds of $2.75. Fellow 18-year-old powerhouse Olivia Rodrigo — who stole hearts with global smash cry-hit Drivers Licence, is close behind at odds of $3.50. Gang of Youths, Billie Eilish and Rufus Du Sol follow.But those wanting to get their sweeps stakes started early may want to hold up. 100 Warm Tunas, “the internet’s most accurate predictions of triple j’s Hottest 100, updated daily”, which has may tell a different story.The site usually publishes its live leaderboard shortly after voting opens, so watch this space.The fan-built website has been predicting the results of triple j’s Hottest 100 countdown since 2016 with a fairly high success rate, becoming the go-to for punters.Last year, Nick Whyte, the man who runs the site, correctly predicted Heat Waves by Glass Animals to win. However, the tracks leading up to it were a little more jumped. While Spacey Jane, Ball Park Music and Flume all made it into the top five as predicted, Tame Impala swooped in with Lost In Yesterday, bumping out G Flip’s Hyperfine.WAP hits no. 6Just outside the top 5 last year, Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s X-rated masterpiece, WAP, clocked in at number 6, and some triple j fans weren’t happy about it.While a number of replies to social media posts announcing the song were enthusiastic about its placement, many condemned the risque banger.One Twitter user replied, “How did @DanielAndrewsMP lose to this. Ya jokin,” referring to WAP placing higher than Mashd N Kutcher’s Get On The Beers featuring Daniel Andrews, which came in at 12.Looking to the voting rules, a song is eligible for the Hottest 100 if it was released for the first time during the countdown year, specifically between the 1st December 2020 and November 30 2021. Covers and remixes are eligible, too.Bieber’s 2015 hijackIn 2015, this year’s potential winner Justin Bieber backed a viral campaign started by a betting agency in Australia purely to troll the station. With the popstar’s endorsement, the betting agency successfully had #Bieber4Hottest100 trending globally, forcing a spokesperson for the station to issue a statement regarding the validity of the campaign,Meagan Loader, acting Triple J manager at the time, told Tone Deaf: “We want genuine votes from genuine listeners. “It isn’t fair to triple j listeners or artists whose songs could be undermined when campaigns try to incentivise votes or troll the poll.”It comes after the betting company began the hashtag from its official account on December 9 and was subsequently retweeted by Bieber himself. The original tweet garnered over 15,000 retweets.Seven years on, Bieber may finally fulfil his Hottest 100 wish with a win.Taylor Swift controversy of 2014The Bieber controversy came after Taylor Swift was notably disqualified from Triple J’s Hottest 100 following a social media campaign led by a journalist.In an effort to secure Swift’s certified and enduring hit Shake It Off a spot in the countdown, Buzzfeed Australia’s Mark Di Stefano implored readers to tweet #Tay4Hottest100.The debate split fans of the countdown down the middle. There were furious listeners who believed Swift was too commercial to belong on the then-alternative music station, and others who rejected the snobbery and said exclusion would be elitism.In response, triple j parodied the Buzzfeed article, claiming the hashtag campaign “bought Tay a one-way ticket to Bansville” and accused the site of trying to “troll the poll”. “It became pretty clear, pretty quick that a lot of people just wanted to prod some ‘hipsters’ for the lulz,” the author wrote.The station went on to cite a social media post by KFC which contained the #Tay4Hottest100 hashtag. According to the rules of the contest, a song may be disqualified if it benefits from commercial endorsement.“The Hottest 100’s an opportunity for individuals everywhere to cast their votes for their legit favourite songs of the year,” triple j said. “The invitation doesn’t extend to Fried Chicken companies eager to wrap their greasy fingers around a freshly-minted hashtag … we’d prefer if people voted for the love of music, not the love of cholesterol.”The station clarified that they “don’t have beef” with the American pop singer, concluding: “She’s smart, she’s cool, she’s successful, and she has great taste in BFFs. Shake It Off shows she hates trolls too, so we’ve even got that in common.”Last year, during the station’s first “Requestival” initiative, brought about after several festival cancellations, Swifties finally got their retribution, and Shake it Off was played.The station trolls its former diehardsIt may well be “out with the old and in with new” for the station these days, quite literally.Earlier this year, to uproar on Twitter, triple j hinted it no longer wants purists as listeners anyway in a cheeky tweet gone awry.In September, the station tweeted, “did it hurt? when you aged out of the youth radio station”, riffing on the pick-up line: “Did it hurt? When you fell from heaven?” of which parodying online became a trend this year.The tweet backfired though, with many missing the joke and assuming the station was having a crack at its older listeners.“Hurts more that someone from the @triplej social media team missed the famous ABC Inclusiveness Training day,” The Bachelor host Osher Gunsberg wrote.“You know what hurts? Ageism and poor punctuation,” another follower wrote.Another weighed in: “it’s statements like this that make it hard for musicians, especially women, to have long lasting careers in the music industry because you believe and perpetuate the notion that their value and talent diminish with age.”But what hurts most of all is that Taylor Swift’s new version of All Too Well isn’t included in the station’s list of eligible songs …(You can add songs manually, FYI).
Powered by WPeMatico
