11 Songs That Totally Are NOT a Waste! | Playlist 🎧

11 Songs That Totally Are NOT a Waste! features Ari Lennox, Brent Faiyaz, Coi Leray, Grizzly Bear & Steve Aoki.

Folks, there isn’t a moment to WASTE! 🎧 11 Songs That Totally Are NOT a Waste! is exactly what it says it is.  Therefore, is any further explanation necessary? No – a rhetorical question.  Musicians supplying these waste songs include 🎙 Ari Lennox, 🎙 Brent Faiyaz, 🎙 Coi Leray, 🎙 Grizzly Bear, and 🎙 Steve Aoki among others. So, don’t waste any more time – jump right into these 🎧 11 Songs That Totally Are NOT a Waste!!

1. Coi Leray, “Wasted”

🎵 “Wasted” • 🏷 Uptown / Republic • 🗓 2022

“I gave you one chance when you fucked it up again , then you fucked it up again,” 🎙 Coi Leray sings, continuing, “A mistake ain’t a mistake when you make the same one again.” She definitely has a point on 🎵 “Wasted”, which arrived right before Christmas 2022.  Trading rhymes for sung bars, Leray burns this dude up, characterizing him as lame and exhausting.  “I was doin’ my best, you was doin’ the most and started becomin’ a habit / You was sellin’ me heaven but givin’ me hell, that’s a fatal attraction.” Again, she has a point!

While “Wasted” is sort of a low-key R&B single, it still packs a punch, even if it is a moderate or mid punch at best.  The first time listening, I found it to be a bit casual, even with those colorful f-bombs thrown in.  Paying more attention to “Wasted” the second round, more of the charm of this relatively brief single unveils itself.  What is clear is that this man has totally “wasted” Coi Leray. “Energy wasted, mentally wasted / Everything just feel wasted, I just wasted.” Word.  Leray honestly admits, in the second verse, “I just really be missin’ the sex / But the D come with too much regret.” Basically, good pipe is not even enough to keep this bad romance going.  While low-key, the production by 🎛 Taylor Hill and TBHits feels right. So, how does 🎵 “Wasted” by Coi Leray stack up? To reiterate, it is a low-key R&B cut but it manages to successfully get the point across.  Essentially, a bad romance, no matter how good the sex is, ultimately isn’t worth it.  You expel more energy trying to keep up with BS than experiencing how love should feel. Worth checking out to warm up the winter 2022-23 playlist!

2. Don Toliver, “Wasted Time”

💿 Heaven Or Hell • 🏷 WeRunItEnt / Cactus Jack / Atlantic • 📅 2020

“This is your time (Yeah), don’t get that much time with me / This is your time, come speak your mind to me,” 🎙 Don Toliver raps melodically on 🎵 “Wasted,” the fifth track from 💿 Heaven Or Hell.  He continues rapping on the memorable chorus, “Don’t wa- wa- waste it.”  Woo! Helping to fuel his fire throughout the song is a smooth production courtesy of 🎛 Cássio. Tolivers continues to showcase a smooth, cool, calm, and collected flow in both verses.  The big takeaway from his rhymes is drip, honestly – “I got wax on top of wax, Mr. Miyagi / I might just pull up in that Porsche, it’s looking froggy.” Does Toliver say much, all told? Absolutely not, but call “Wasted Time” what it is – a vibe! Big Mood, baby!

3. Ari Lennox, “Waste My Time”

💿 age/sex/location • 🏷 Dreamville / Interscope • 📅 2022 

“Waste my time, get on my line / ‘Cause I got the time to waste / Use that mouth, blow this back out / Back up every word you say.” Woo! 🎙 Ari Lennox is, well, eager on 🎵 “Waste My Time,” the third track from her marvelous sophomore album, 💿 age/sex/location. “No dick makin’ me stupid / No funny Valentine-lovin’ from Cupid” is a prime example of a woman expressing her longing. Of course, there’s NOTHING wrong with that.

Such lines show how far the expression of women’s sexual desires and needs has come, even if there is still much work to do. Essentially, on this record, Ari wants a man to “waste her time” aka make it do what it do aka put it down aka S-E-X.  You go girl! “I’m ready for the switch to turn me on.”

4. Steve Aoki, “Waste It On Me” (Ft. BTS)

💿 Neon Future III • 🏷 Ultra • 📅 2018 

“But we both found each other tonight, tonight / So if love is nothing more than just a waste of your time…” Can you fill in the next line that 🎙 BTS – 🎙 Jungkook and 🎙 RM – sing as featured guests on the 🎙 Steve Aoki track, 🎵 “Waste It On Me”? If you said the titular lyric, “Waste It On Me,” you would be correct.  This moderate dance hit from Aoki’s 2018 album, 💿 Neon Future III, peaked at no. 89 on the Billboard Hot 100.  Notably, before BTS served up English tracks attributed to them as the lead artists (🎵 “Dynamite” and 🎵 “Butter”), “Waste It On Me” found them flexing their English exclusive muscles 💪. So, what’s the source of the waste? Matters of the heart – love, baby! Jungkook wants her to try loving him – wasting it on him! RM, meanwhile, informs his prospect, “So we don’t gotta go there / Past lovers and warfare.” Why? “It’s just you and me now.” Ooh-wee! Aoki cannot be left out of the mix, of course.  He gives Jungkook and RM a superb backdrop to work with – the brassy synths and, of course, the electrifying beat. “Waste It On Me,” in other words, is no waste!

5. Evanescence, “Wasted on You”

💿 The Bitter Truth • 🏷 BMG Rights Management • 📅 2021

“I don’t need drugs / I’m already six feet low / Wasted on you…” 🎵 “Wasted on You”, released on the 2021 🎙 Evanescence album, 💿 The Bitter Truth, is emotional and hard hitting.  Throughout its course, 🎙 Amy Lee balances subtler, tenderer vocals with a more overt, oomph-filled approach.  As always, the sound is true to ‘Evanescence.’  Piano arrives in an accompaniment role early on, with synthesizers and souped-up guitars eventually filling things out. 🎛 Nick Raskulinecz does a fine job of producing. The end product is strong, particularly considering the circumstances in conception (a mixture of studio and remote work). The songwriting is very emotionally driven. Lee is so filled with pain that a degree of numbing can’t even hope to assuage it.  In the chorus, which references six feet (albeit death), Lee is completely ‘wasted on him,’ in the context of a sketchy relationship. She exhibits little hope, stifled by her situation. On the bridge, she questions the future, but also exhibits more optimism:

“Shield my eyes to face the day

Come too far to slip away

But it’s killing me to go on without you.”

Appears in 🔻:

• Songs That Capture & Embody the Pandemic, Vol. 3
• Awesome Songs: May 2020
• Waste: 5ive Songs No. 38 (2021)

6. Grizzly Bear, “Wasted Acres”

💿 Painted Ruins • 🏷 Grizzly Bear Music, LLC / RCA • 📅 2017 

The question is, “Were you even listening? / Were you riding with me? / Were you even listening? / TRX 250.” So, a Honda TRX 250, 🎙 Grizzly Bear? Um okay… it’s definitely giving ATV! Anyways, If you are a bit confused what 🎙 Daniel Rossen, 🎙 Ed Droste and company are getting at on 🎵 “Wasted Acres,” well, you’e not alone.  The opener from their 2017 album, 💿 Painted Ruins, is enigmatic. The lyrics are, well, simple yet hard to decipher.  While it’s mysterious to an extent, “Wasted Acres” is quite creative, ear-catching, and intriguing.  Interestingly, the title of the song is never used within the lyrics – go figure.  Sean O’Neal of AV Club, interviewing Droste, states that the record is “explicitly a song about Rossen riding around his farm, serenading his dog astride his Honda TRX-250.”  Well, there you go – enough said!

7. Morgan Wallen, “Wasted on You”

💿 Dangerous: The Double Album • 🏷 Big Loud / Republic • 📅 2021

“All of these miles on this Chevy, and prayers in a pew / All them days I spent, wasted on you.” 🎵 “Wasted on You” is a surefire highlight from 💿 Dangerous: The Double Album, the 2021 sophomore album by 🎙 Morgan Wallen. Wallen, had a hell of a 2020-22, regarding both successes (tearing up the charts) and failures (partying and inexcusable racial slurs).  Merely addressing the song, “Wasted on You” incorporates plenty of country cues, satisfying more traditional listeners without limiting itself. How so? Well, that drum programming definitely doesn’t line-up with your father’s brand of country music, now does it? Absolutely not! Where so often pop experiments in country fall flat, Wallen makes them work successfully here. Most of all, his ace-in-the hole, his voice, shines as he’s been wasting ample time and energy on her (“Looks like I’m learning the hard way again / That’s why I’ve been wasted on you”).

Appears in 🔻:

• Waste: 5ive Songs No. 38 (2021)
• 13 W Songs: No Rhyme or Reason

8. Alicia Keys, “Wasted Energy” (Ft. Diamond Platnumz)

💿 Alicia • 🏷 RCA • 📅 2020

“Too many times, you turned a blind eye to the way I feel / Oh, you’re the reason why I’m numb…” #WASTED ENERGY!!! On 🎵 “Wasted Energy,” the fourth track from 💿 Alicia (2020), we get a starkly different 🎙 Alicia Keys. How so? Well, in the form of using reggae and R&B.  This isn’t the first time the 🏆 Grammy winner has brought in the music of the islands. That said, “Wasted Energy” is certainly the most overt example. Keys sounds quite expressive atop the 🎛 P2J production, drops a fitting f-bomb on the vibe-laden chorus: “Wasted energy / Why did you, why did you fuck up the chemistry?” Besides expressiveness and potty mouth, Keys also gets a pretty sweet outro from 🎙 Diamond Platnumz. #VIBES

Appears in 🔻:

• Waste: 5ive Songs No. 38 (2021)
• 13 Exceptional, Energetic, Energy Songs

9. The Weeknd, “Wasted Times”

💿 My Dear Melancholy, (EP) • 🏷 Republic • 📅 2018 

“‘Cause I ain’t got no business catchin’ feelings anyway.” The lush 🎵 “Wasted Times” keeps the tempo on the slower side of the metronome on 💿 My Dear Melancholy,, the 2018 EP by 🎙 The Weeknd. Even with the tempo running slow, the 🏆 Grammy winner is in his comfort zone, keeping things incredibly interesting by expressing the plight of love. He reflects back on his relationships, and wonders who his exes are dating now.  “Wasted Times” contains one of ‘the lyrics of the album.’ In the second verse, he offers his services: “I hope you know this dick is still an option.” In that same verse, he likens the sex – presumably with Bela Hadid – to an equestrian.  Besides the honest and personal lyrics, the production stands out, particularly the contributions of 🎛 Skrillex alongside mainstay, Frank Dukes.

Appears in 🔻:

• Waste: 5ive Songs No. 38 (2021)

10. Brent Faiyaz, “Wasting Time” (Ft. Drake & The Neptunes)

💿 Wasteland • 🏷 Lost Kids • 🗓 2022

🎵 “Wasting Time”, released as a single in 2021, ultimately appeared on 💿 Wasteland, the gold-certified debut album by 🎙 Brent Faiyaz (Christopher Wood). Joining him with the assist is 🏆 Grammy-winning rapper/singer, 🎙 Drake, who drops some bars here.  One reason why Drizzy is a perfect fit? “Wasting Time” dabbles in those ‘matters of the heart,’ and we all know the rapper is good at being “in his feelings”.

“Wasting Time” commences with warm, lush strings, that set the tone.  The production is superb, thanks to the skills of 🎛 The Neptunes (Chad Hugo and Pharrell Williams). Faiyaz enters post instrumental intro, joined by drum programming.  He spoils the listener with his refined, smooth pipes, intact with harmonies and falsetto – he’s on-point.  In the memorable chorus, he sings, “If you’re gonna waste your time / Then waste your time with me.” Right on! Rightfully, he performs most of this five-minute record, with Drake arriving just prior to the three-minute mark. Drizzy contrasts with his rhythmic rhymes, accompanied by harder drum programming.  His verse is colorful, including the ways he’ll spoil her, pop culture references (including 🎵 “Purple Rain” and Aaliyah), and the unforgettable line, “Flushed the Magnums just so they not collectin’ my specimens, damn (damn).” All in all, “Wasting Time” is a surefire winner for Faiyaz.

Appears in 🔻:

• 13 W Songs: No Rhyme or Reason

11. Kings of Leon, “Waste a Moment”

💿 WALLS • 🏷 RCA • 📅 2016

🎵 “Waste a Moment” serves as the opener from 💿 WALLS, the seventh studio album by 🏆 Grammy winning rock band, 🎙 Kings of Leon.  “Waste a Moment” is all about rebelliousness and being carefree. The female protagonist is a “ticking time bomb, time bomb gonna blow us all away.” Her boyfriend is described as “a live wire, wire, shooting sparks in the night.” Woo! The production work is exuberant and enthusiastic in quality.  The groove is fantastic, while the guitars sound particularly exceptional. 🎙 Caleb Followill delivers powerful, clear vocals. The chorus serves as the epic centerpiece:

“Oh, take the time to waste a moment

Oh, facing where the lines are broken

Oh, name a price to all this living

Oh, never ask to be forgiven.”

Appears in 🔻:

• Waste: 5ive Songs No. 38 (2021)

11 Songs That Totally Are NOT a Waste! [📷: Big Loud, BMG Rights Management, Brent Faulkner, Dreamville, Grizzly Bear Music, LLC, Interscope, Lost Kids, The Musical Hype, RCA, Republic, Ultra, Uptown; Francesco Paggiaro, HUBSTRACT via Pexels]