The Sweatdown has existed since April of 2018 as a monthly collection of music I’ve been listening to. Sometimes it’s old tracks but it’s usually new music. Everything from indie to synthwave to rock to alternative and more. Every December is a culmination of the music I’ve listened to. Originally posted to Spotify, these playlists can now all be found on YouTube where they will be updated monthly for YouTube Music.

Some of what’s here for June

Definitely check out the CQ Wrestling album “Resistance” as I had Finish Line from May Sweatdown 2K26 close out the last playlist. Only made sense to have Soft Top open up June. It’s an excellent rock album.

Dover Beach by Baby Queen came out in 2023 but I came across it a few weeks ago and I was gobsmacked by how much I loved. It’s a perfect pop song. I’m going to say something controversial and I’m very sorry Swifties but… this is what I’ve wanted to hear from Taylor Swift for years. It sounds like a Taylor Swift song. A really good one. I’m sure Baby Queen doesn’t care for that comparison and would rather me just appreciate her on her own merit and she absolutely deserves it. But that’s really what got me into it. The song structure, the lyrics, the enunciation (around 1:35 the “It’s a lie” is very Taylor production when Taylor could do no wrong) and the chorus is so catchy. I absolutely love the song. I hope more listen to it. I’ll keep an eye out on newer Baby Queen due to it.

I haven’t done a deep dive yet on “you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love” but so far I am digging u + me = <3 by Olivia Rodrigo the most. I am of course selfish and wish she still stuck to that Elastica type song she had on bad idea right? But Olivia is doing the right thing in expanding her sound scapes. The big sister line about trying to win her over with cynical humour and yacht rock is such a fun line. It’s very jangly and it’s clear she was listening to The Cure a lot for this. I mean, there’s a song called the cure and Robert Smith is on a different song.

The Madeon song with Sam Gellaitry really brought me back to my electro rock late 2000s vibes so you know I appreciated that.

Still kicking my own ass for not going to see Social Order in Detroit when I had the chance. Sorry, it’s hard to find any reason to hit the U.S. these days and it would have been difficult for me to get back home. Sigh. Please stay together and come to Canada sometime Social Order. Every song is so good.

Good on DEVORA for covering Hurt and not just doing a pastiche Johnny Cash. She didn’t even do the album cut but the live version from the music video. I was so worried to listen to it and when I finally did? I was pleasantly surprised. She didn’t just do it justice. She was able to get her own flavour with the way lyrics were spoken.

I have no clue who ROLE MODEL is. He sounds like a lot of artists I like (chief, nightly, etc.) but seems more popular and appears to look like a bro country fuck boi but hey, gotta give credit where it’s due. High Hopes 3000 fuckin’ slaps. There’s just so many elements of other artists all put together in a blender that it just gets to the line of ripoff and tip toes on it mocking you for ever being ready to rip on it. I mean just before the 2 minute mark is basically the guitar from “Bang a Gong” by T-Rex but it’s not enough to be a full fledge, “What the fuck are you doing?” it’s there just to get you grooving into the chorus again. There’s R&B, there’s blues, there’s southern rock, there’s just so much. But somehow… it works. I wanna two step boogie to this shit. I also just looked up he’s a former rapper? I was looking up to make sure this wasn’t some AI shit I fell for and saw that Mason Stoops played guitar on it who did another song I really liked called “All We Ever Do is Talk” by Del Water Gap which was on November Sweatdown 2K23. That makes me feel better.

Just getting into the new Vince Staples album and almost put Blackberry Marmalade but I felt like Go! Go! Gorilla just fit this playlist better.

I’ll be honest. I didn’t listen to the Suki Waterhouse song in full. I just kinda threw it up just for that title. Enjoy!

June Sweatdown 2K26 features:

CQ Wrestling – Soft Top
Baby Queen – Dover Beach
Olivia Rodrigo – u + me = <3
The Beaches – Dirty Laundry
Madeon feat. Sam Gellaitry – Red Jacket
Social Order – Ketamine Eyes
DEVORA – Hurt (Live)
Trevor Something – Addicted
ROLE MODEL – High Hopes 3000
Vince Staples – Go! Go! Gorilla
False Advertising – Next Big Thing
almost monday – skinny dip
St. Lucia – Summer Nights
Citizen – Highs and Lows
overpass – Heaven
Suki Waterhouse – When I Get Drunk (I Want You Boy)

The next one is a milestone! My 100th playlist!

Photo by me of a fire near the Lakeview Park Beach in Belle River, Ontario.