Top 10 Worst Songs of 2016

It has occurred to me that we're 14 days into 2017 and I haven't revealed my most disliked songs for the year. I'll be honest, it wasn't a good year for music in 2016,  finding gold (good music) in the ARIA top 100 for 2016 was harder to find than finding something to watch on TV during the Christmas period. Any one of about 20 songs could have made this list but I did manage to narrow it down to my top 10.

10. “Hair” by Little Mix

I genuinely think Little Mix are a talented bunch of ladies and “Shoutout to My Ex” is a pretty good song but when they sit down to prepare their next album, can they please sit down with decent R ‘n’ B songwriters so they aren’t releasing songs like “Hair”. Ugh, this song had potential to be so much better but the sing songy chorus was just a massive no especially with the opening line of the chorus “Cause he was just a dick and I knew it. Got me sitting in this chair like I don’t care”. Just no way, Little Mix, you gals are so much better than this.

9. “Treat You Better’ by Shawn Mendes.

Not a lot to say about this generic if slightly whiny pop song. It’s just a boring song about a guy bitching his ex is with somebody else and now he wants her back. Yawn.

On a side note: would have also been very easy to slide “Stitches” in given it fits in the same mould of generic whine pop.

8. Fast Car by Jonas Blue

This is just plain bad when you take a classic song like Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” and put a thumping dance beat and combine it with female vocals that lack emotion and don’t really convey any emotion. I’ll stick to the original thanks.

7. “Hands to Myself” by Selena Gomez

Selena Gomez could be a really good artist if she tried but “Hands to Myself” is basically a sound alike of that duet with Charlie Puth “We Don’t Talk anymore”, both use a lot of the same horrific sounds. Sorry Selena but I could keep my hands away from this vacuous excuse of a song.

6. Any song by The Chainsmokers

Yes, the group that brought us “#SELFIE” in 2015, brought even worse songs in 2016 with the pick of them being the number one song for the year in Australia “Closer” which features Halsey. Seriously? Screeching with a thumping dance beat does not make a good song. You can take your pick as fair as forgettable songs from the Chainsmokers.

5. “Love Yourself” by Justin Bieber

I put this song in mainly because I just think it could have been so much better, it needed something like a good guitar or piano riff which it didn’t get so in a sense that annoyed me and the singing is only just passable.

4. “Hide Away” by Daya

Less said about this song the better. I needed a place to hide away from this song last year. Daya has a decent voice but it was wasted on this song.

3. “Me Too” by Meghan Trainor

I am one of the few people who didn’t mind “No” to certain extent (not that I listened to it repeatedly because one listen at a time is enough) but then Meghan had to go and remind us that in effect she is a novelty musician whose welcome died when “All About that Bass” run ended in the charts. “Me Too” is a lyrical and musical disaster from start to finish

2. “Panda” by Desiigner

Now, how in the name of all that is good about music did this song chart? It’s just an annoying beat that doesn’t eventuate to a heck of a lot. Left me with a lot of headaches in 2016.

1.      “Work from Home” by Fifth Harmony feat. Ty Dolla Sign

If it wasn’t bad enough, Fifth Harmony released one of the most annoying songs of 2015 with “Worth It”, they follow that up with the most stupid and annoying songs of 2016. There is nothing remotely saveable about "Work from Home". Its composition is lazy and no, getting somebody fired from their job is not a good idea hence plain stupid as a lyric in ANY song.

In defence of child care educators

Yet again another day where another politician derides the work of the child care industry. David Lleyonhjelm decided to use Channel Ten's The Project to attack the child care sector as being where the only things child care workers do is 'wipe kids noises and stop them from killing each other'

A pretty vacuous and ignorant remark made worse on Sunrise by Australia's favourite flame haired politician Pauline Hanson agreeing with him. Now I am willing to bet neither have spent a day in a child care facility to understand what the good educators both men and women do within child care facilities.

I have spent time in child care centres before a mental health issue struck and I left, interacting with children and observing what a child care educator does so I like to thing I can help Lazy Lleyonhjelm and Hazy Hanson learn a lot about what child care educators actually do.

1.  Child care workers don't just spend the day watching the children for no reason other than to make sure they don't kill each other, they make observations on each individual child's interests and developmental needs so that when the child is playing, the educator can wotk with the child on that developmental need. Eg: If the child is struggling with language and the child is interested in dinosaurs, the educator might use an age appropriate book on dinosaurs to help improve the child's language.
2. Create lesson plans and play times that see children not only have fun but they learn and grow socially and emotionally. After all not all children have siblings at home where they can easily learn to share and believe me child care is a great place to help children uinderstand that they aren't the only ones who want to play with the duplo or with the playdough.
3. Educators foster the children's imagination. Heck, I once taught a group of children about a purple peg being a human being and having real emotions and that there were friendly dinosaurs. 
4. Prepare the young ones for the big leap that is big school. School is terrifying enough for a young child. Imagine how terrifying it would be if you weren't prepared for it or behind the other children in your class. Child care educators ensure that the children have a knowledge of 1-10 and know the alphabet.
5. Talking to parents about behaviours observed and what the parents see when the children are at home with them and any concerns the parents
6. Ensure the safety of the children, not just supervising so they 'don't kill each other' but making sure they aren't putting things in their mouths that they shoudn't, checking play equipment for anything that the children might hurt themselves on
7. To that end if a child does hurt themselves or winds up with a virus. At least one educator needs to care for that child until Mummy or Daddy can come and take the sick child home.
8. Report child abuse or neglect.
9. Keep up with changes to the early childhood education curriculum
10. Also keep up with changes in relation to federal and state laws surrounding child care. 
11. Educators more often that not deal with having to teach children right from wrong because a minority of parents cannot be bothered
12. Train students who want to work in the childcare sector
13. If the centre doesn't have a chef. Staff have to check what the children are bringing to child care is healthy and nutritous for them.
14. Handle nap time and any children whose parents have requested that they not have a nap.

In fact educators in the child care centre deal with a heck of a lot more and there's no doubt they go home some days, tired, stressed and emtional while being criminally underpaid given they are also preparing a child for the future in same ways much like school days.

So David and Pauline, childcare more than wiping noses and somehow killing each other (the children tend to kill each other with cuddles if I am completely honest). How about respecting the work a child care educator does instead of deriding it?. Because unlike most politicians, child care workers do an honest day's work instead of ripping off the tax payer to go watch polo matches, buying expensive apartments on the Gold Coast or overseas junkets for no other reason than a taxpayer funded holiday.

Then again its probably ignorance on the part of Lleyonhjelm and Hanson, maybe they should go to a child care centre in Canberra or wherever they come from and see the hard work that our underpaid childcare educators put in so to stop their ignorant bleating in mainstream media.