Breaking Down The APMAs: Song Of The Year

With the inaugural AP Music Awards taking place July 21, 2014, at the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame And Museum at North Coast Harbor, we thought we would use the weeks leading up to the historic event to give you a category-by-category breakdown of the nominees so you can be an informed voter. Read on to learn about the Song Of The Year nominees, and cast your vote at altpress.com/apmas!

All Time Low feat. Vic Fuentes – “A Love Like War”

FROM: Don’t Panic: It’s Longer Now! (HOPELESS)
YOUTUBE PLAYS: 7.2 million
SPOTIFY STREAMS: [data unavailable]
THE STORY: If you’re gonna re-release your album, you better make the new material count, and that’s just what Baltimore pop-punks All Time Low did with “A Love Like War.” Even if Pierce The Veil frontman Vic Fuentes wasn’t on the track, it would still be a giant leap forward for the band creatively—but Fuentes’ golden tenor puts it over the top.
 

Bring Me The Horizon – “Shadow Moses”

FROM: Sempiternal (EPITAPH)
YOUTUBE PLAYS: 9.2 million
SPOTIFY STREAMS: 6.5 million
THE STORY: Bring Me The Horizon’s latest album, Sempiternal, was the victim of an internet leak well before its intended release date. Luckily, everyone who heard the thing ahead of time came to the same conclusion: These new songs are really fucking good, especially lead single “Shadow Moses,” whose mosh call, “This is sempiternal!” gives the album its name.

 

Fall Out Boy – “My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light Em Up)”

FROM: Save Rock And Roll (ISLAND)
YOUTUBE PLAYS: 37.4 million
SPOTIFY STREAMS: 38.7 million
THE STORY: It was just over a year ago when out of nowhere (and after denying rumors for weeks), Fall Out Boy not only reunited but dropped a massive first single in “My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light Em Up),” a song that has proven itself just as comfortable on pop radio as it has inside football stadiums. Light ’em up, boys.

 

Falling In Reverse – “Alone”

FROM: Fashionably Late (EPITAPH)
YOUTUBE PLAYS: 7.4 million
SPOTIFY STREAMS: 1.4 million
THE STORY: If there’s one thing we learned about Ronnie Radke in 2013, it’s this: Love him or hate him, you’re going to pay attention to whatever he does. Case in point, the “Alone” music video, which is an assemblage of over-the-top excess (A helicopter! A ghost-ridden sports car! Huge light rigs!) and, like it or not, one hell of a hook in the chorus.

 

Paramore – “Still Into You”

FROM: Paramore (FUELED BY RAMEN)
YOUTUBE PLAYS: 56.2 million
SPOTIFY STREAMS: 23.8 million
THE STORY: It’s always exciting to watch a band figure out how to write the absolutely perfect pop song, isn’t it? We sure think so, which is why Paramore were nominated for one of the best jams of not only 2013, but of all time. With a hyperactive music video that feels like something out of Wes Anderson’s dreams, it’s a guaranteed must-watch.

 

Sleeping With Sirens feat. Machine Gun Kelly – “Alone”

FROM: Feel (RISE)
YOUTUBE PLAYS: 8.7 million
SPOTIFY STREAMS: 2.1 million
THE STORY: Sleeping With Sirens took huge strides in 2013, but none larger than “Alone,” a collaboration with Cleveland rapper Machine Gun Kelly which gels incredibly well. Remind us again why this song isn’t on rock radio every 45 minutes?

Feel educated yet? Good—now go cast your vote!