Todd in the Shadows



""I don't do this because I hate pop music. I do this because I LOVE pop music.""

Todd Nathanson is a former YouTube-based reviewer, now featured on That Guy With the Glasses, who focuses his snarking on pop music. Combines legitimate complaints with humorous observations and cute Shout Outs. Also, he always obscures his face in his videos.

A frequent "Special Guest" on Pushing Up Roses' "Let's Play Shorties". Todd normally appears on Roses' Let's Plays of Edutainment PC games from the early 90s. He's also recently started doing 'One Hit Wonderland' reviews, where he looks at one-hit wonders, the bands behind them and analyses them.

His old videos can be found on his YouTube account here, while his That Guy With The Glasses output can be found here. (all his YouTube videos have been uploaded to that, as well.) Both have transcripts! His Twitter can be found here.

There is also a FAQ, detailing Todd's opinions on artists, songs and other stuff and a Facebook page

For a list of songs (and other videos) Todd has done, see Todd in The Shadows List.

Tropes regarding Todd in the Shadows himself:
"Todd: Let's listen to his new song, Turn up the music. [Three seconds of the clip] Actually, let's not, cause I don't give a crap."
 * Acceptable Targets: One would expect Todd, as a music critic on the Internet, to take cheap shots at popularly-hated acts. He does not. He owns up to liking some songs from certain performers people love to hate, he made his case against Justin Bieber very clearly, and he even faked out the audience by pretending to have a deep-seated hatred of Barry Manilow before admitting he really had nothing against the guy.
 * However, he really doesn't like Chicago (the band, not the city).
 * And he's pretty open about his LOATHING of Chris Brown (he even started this), but most people find this to be justified.
 * Though not talked about that much in his videos, he also really hates the band Nickelback, whom he often uses as a comparison for music he absolutely loathes (such as Chris Brown's verse in Look At Me Now). He explains his hatred of the band in his FAQ (short version: It's not that they suck, it's that they so consistently suck across such a long period of time).
 * Actually Pretty Funny: In the credits to his 'Sexy And I Know It' review, he admits that he did think it was funny that one of the dancers tears off his Speedo to reveal another Speedo underneath.
 * Adorkable: Todd is this in spades.
 * Just look at him singing at the start of the "The Spider-Man Musical Review".
 * Or whenever he starts singing or dancing along with the track - especially in his Best of 2011 video when he dances to Usher's More (Remix)
 * Alter Ego Acting: Downplayed; while he has a distinct persona, it only manifests in his interactions with other characters.
 * Ambiguously Brown: From what we have seen of him in the light, he has somewhat dark skin, but God only knows what his specific ethnicity is. Todd himself has turned this into a deliberate Running Gag.
 * Author Appeal: Clips from The Simpsons appear quite a bit in his reviews.
 * Bias Steamroller: Regarding both Chris Brown and the "White Guys With Acoustic Guitars" genre.
 * In regard to the former, it's interesting to see the difference between his review of Deuces where he did bring up Chris Brown's crimes, but to illustrate why the particular song (about how his girlfriend is a whiny bitch) is really Too Soon to be sung by Chris Brown. By the time of the Turn up the music review...

"Krin: You guys know Todd doesn't actually have a face, right? The art is accurate! That boy...is a monster."
 * Bile Fascination: Invoked, out of character, with music and other media (in Green Lantern Lindsay and Todd said they went there to see why it's being reviewed so badly; in Spider Man Turn Off the Dark, he says the two, plus Lupa and Lindsay's friends went there "because they need to see everything!").
 * The Blank: His title cards often depict him as this.
 * The artist who does the cards appears in one of Linkara's videos (Mr T #2) claiming that it's actually what he looks like. (She also obscures her face )

"Film Brain: What race are you, anyway?
 * But Not Too Foreign: Apparently, Todd is a 13-year-old black, white, beige, chola, Lebanese, Oriental Asian-American girl with blonde hair who looks like Jim Carrey wearing a Danny De Vito mask with a Leno chin...  as far as we know .
 * He even says the "You're black, white, beige, chola descent, you're Lebanese, you're Orient" part of "Born This Way" was written for him.
 * He said in the commentary for "Like a G6" that he "could be anything! You guys don't know!"
 * Lampshaded in his crossover review with Film Brain, which he does with the lower part of his face uncovered and in full lighting.

Todd: Look, that doesn't matter right now!"

"Todd: I can't let you live Linkara. YOU'VE SEEN WHAT I LOOK LIKE! NO ONE CAN KNOW THAT ALL THIS TIME I'VE SECRETLY BEEN--"
 * In a vlog with The Nostalgia Chick where they gave their opinions on Transformers 3, he describes himself as "a possible Asian person", mentioning that he was deeply offended by the character of Jerry "Deep" Wang, as played by Ken Jeong.
 * The Cameo:
 * Made a guest appearance on Atop the Fourth Wall when Linkara reviewed two Kiss comics, and previously, was among the contributors who sang AT4W's theme in the 100th episode (where somewhat appropriately, he was immediately before Lupa...) and appeared in one of the Previously On segments:

""You win, Katy Perry. Marry me.""
 * Threatened Nash's stick figure over Obscurus Lupa.
 * Appeared in the rendition of One Day More at the end of The Nostalgia Chick's review of Les Misérables. And later, in her review of The Little Mermaid ignoring the Chick's pleas of going out with him, and in Grease 2 getting a makeover from The Makeover Fairy.
 * Sacrificed himself for Obscurus Lupa in her Birdemic review, composed The Black Ninja's theme, and in a Lupa/Chick crossover, causes a Cat Fight between the two.
 * Asked Bennett the Sage to make a song countdown while he escaped from LMFAO.
 * Did the signature move of the reviewed song "Raise Up" in the crossover of The Rap Critic and Marc Mues.
 * He offers Marc Mues a rhyme in his Worst 6 Pop Songs of 2011 video.
 * The Cast Showoff: Boy, can he play piano. And he's not a bad singer himself either.
 * Chaste Hero: According to Jesus in the "Just a Kiss" review.
 * Cool Mask: Todd dons a black one for public appearances, both in a full version when wearing his hoodie, where only the bottom of his nose and lips are visible, and what looks like a more casual half version that only covers his nose and up. (Possibly just to throw on quick for the ever-present vlog coverage the meetups entail.)
 * Said casual version is part of his Dread Pirate Roberts costume in Suburban Knights, the Year 3 TGWTG Massive Multiplayer Crossover.
 * Dark Is Not Evil: Yep. His very name is Todd in the Shadows, he does all his videos in the dark, and he spends most of them raging. Yet while he's about as snarky as it gets before getting into Yahtzee territory, he's also pretty clearly a good, decent guy.
 * Defeat Means Friendship/Love At First Punch: Despite "negative amounts of talent", Katy Perry appears on his Top Ten Singles of The Year three years in a row. Todd grudgingly admits defeat in hating her.

"The Nostalgia Chick: Hehe... yeah Todd... you can YOU can... DO... what so many wish they... could. #right?
 * Distracted By the Sexy: Allegedly why he obscures himself.
 * Distressed Dude: When he tries to escape from the prospect of chick flicks, The Nostalgia Chick tapes him to a chair to a) hit on him and b) make him watch it with her. Later, she's apparently abducted him several times to try and make him love her.
 * Dogged Nice Guy: Todd is this to a T. You can tell he really wants to express how he feels to Lupa, but is unable to do, unless he's drunk..
 * In the other hand, Todd ignores when The Nostalgia Chick tries to get his attention.
 * The Eeyore: In a funny way.
 * Even Nerds Have Standards: Linkara's invitation to do a joint review with Todd lead to him spending the entire review laughing at the idea of reviewing a comic book.
 * When it comes time for Todd to do a joint review, though, this gets turned around on him, as the rest of the TGWTG crew soundly refuse to review Crossroads, From Justin to Kelly, or Body of Evidence with him.
 * And again in the ET review, where several other contributors show up to mock his taste in music.
 * While vilifying Peter Cetera yet again in his Top 10 Worst Hit Songs of 1976, he makes it clear that he doesn't hate all similar soft rock acts. Phil Collins, Bryan Adams, and Richard Marx are fine by his book, but he stops just short of praising Michael Bolton along with the others.
 * The Faceless: Always reviews In the Hood and with his Face Framed in Shadow.
 * In public appearances (such as conventions and crossovers), he is on the light, but wears the Cool Mask mentioned above.
 * Face of a Thug: When Film Brain first sees Todd in person, he immediately takes out his valuables and begs him not to knife him, due to the British association of hoodies with thuggish youth.
 * Fan Hater: He really hates Team Breezy, if only for their refusal to admit Chris Brown has done anything wrong.
 * The Gimmick: His face is constantly obscured by shadows or masks. His main setup also has him filmed in profile, whether facing his piano or the TV.
 * He-Man Woman Hater: Todd references this trope by name in the prologue to the TGWTG-upload of the "Top Ten Worst Hit Songs of 2009" review, saying that he was afraid he would come off as this for including three Beyonce songs on the list.
 * Heroes Want Redheads: Guess who. As a Facebook discussion went:

Todd In The Shadows: Eh, I'm only into redheads."

"Lupa: Why? What am I supposed to do with all these geese?
 * He Panned It, Now He Sucks: Inverted in-universe--He mentions the brief flak he got for admitting he liked Katy Perry, following it up with several fellow site members calling him out over it
 * I Can't Dance: Both discussed and demonstrated thoroughly in this slice of hilarity.
 * Also this. (discussed in Self-Deprecation, below)
 * In the Hood: And it's the same hood (which he's had for quite some time) for every review... until he forgot it in New York and had to buy another. One of the two was sold on eBay since Todd compiled several parking tickets in NYC... (the crossover with The Rap Critic shows one Todd's mom made to him... with "Todd in the Shadows" written on the back!)
 * I Need to Go Iron My Dog: To avoid doing a crossover with The Nostalgia Chick for Crossroads, he says,"I need to go wash my dog... fish...".
 * Inexplicably Awesome: In comparison to the rest of the cast. The man could be a Time Lord.
 * I Was Young and Needed The Money: If what he said on What the Fuck Is Wrong With You is true, yes, and it's yet another reason he always wears a mask.
 * Jerk With a Heart of Gold: He's likable to the audience but obnoxious to most of his co-workers (and his title card artist), not to mention a hypocritical Stalker With a Crush. (in-universe, of course)
 * Love Triangle: Type 5 triangle, as he wants Obscurus Lupa to an unhealthy level, while The Nostalgia Chick is equally fixated on him and is losing her mind rapidly. Taken to a natural conclusion on a Chick/Lupa crossover, where Todd crashes the Chick's apartment, Lupa rejects him, and an angered Chick starts a Cat Fight.
 * Large Ham: Whenever Todd gets angry, and most of the times where he sings, he hams up accordingly.
 * "Never gonna hear from this person again, you hear me?! SHE'S A NOBODY, A NOBODY!"
 * Also, his Kanye West impression in "Niggas in Paris" ("I am where art meets commercial. The sweet spot between the hood and Hollywood...").
 * Loser Protagonist: He's miserable, lonely and antisocial, his romantic life is one woman he descends into stalking, and another who's equally crazy and unwanted in her pursuit of him, he has a Small Name, Big Ego problem but also sometimes resents his job reviewing stupid music, and is obnoxious to (and so, disliked by) his co-workers. Still, somewhere among all this he's still a Jerk With a Heart of Gold.
 * Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: His heritage... as far as we know.
 * Noodle Incident: Todd's more ambitious (and especially misguided) attempts to impress Lupa are brought up this way, with unexplained references to what they involved.

Lupa: I have had live bunnies air-dropped onto my house. My front yard looked like the Cliff's Notes for Watership Down!"

"Todd: Because it's very important to [Lady Gaga's] career that [she] impress[es] me personally! [Beat] Yeah!"
 * Pretty much the "DL Incident". Todd's dropped a few details but it remains (mostly) shrouded in mystery.
 * The One That Got Away: In The Nostalgia Chick's review of Sleepless in Seattle Todd angrily rants at the screen at Bill Pullman's character for not fighting for Meg Ryan, "You idiot! Fight for her! What is wrong with you!? Why don't you say something!?" before breaking down in sobs, "Why didn't I say something?" Later in the review Todd is still clearly distraught "Why didn't I do something? Why did I just let her leave?" and the Nostalgia Chick asks if he is upset over Lupa, Todd replies, "Who?" It's not her.
 * Running Gag:
 * Todd's always-doomed attempts to romance Obscurus Lupa, which develop into making him a Stalker With a Crush.
 * Any comment that seems to pin down Todd's ethnicity is accompanied by the caption "As far as you know", or other mitigations.
 * His "Finish the Rhyme" segment, though it hasn't seen use for a while.
 * Self-Deprecation:
 * Any time Todd claims he lives an exciting, happy or sociable life, there's a cut to his normal life, which ranges from mundane to pitiful.
 * When listing off what's cooler than Mike Posner, he lists "Constantly self-Googling", illustrated by a picture of himself at a computer. (he admitted in interviews that he does that.)
 * Reviewing "Firework"/"Born This Way", he says he no need for "pick-me-up songs" because he leads such a fantastic life. Cut to a clip of him sitting in front of his computer where he downs spirits, mopes for a while and tries to shoot himself in the head.
 * Todd recites the MST3K Mantra during the "Party Rock Anthem" review. In doing so, however, he endangers his very purpose for being, and he almost fades from existence.
 * In "Moves Like Jagger", he says at least moving like Jagger it's better than moving like Thom Yorke (referencing this) or... moving like Soulja Boy (referencing Todd himself).
 * In From Justin to Kelly he mentions how he's been on a few "silly productions starring a bunch of not-actors".
 * Signature Style: At MagFest, apparently some people recognized that it was him playing a piano because of his piano playing style.
 * Small Name, Big Ego: Parodied.
 * After describing paparazzi as the lowest of the low in the entertainment industry, he adds "Critics like myself are of course at the top."

"Lupa: Why haven't I blocked you yet?"
 * When pointing out Mike Posner's Fail O'Suckyname, one of his suggestions for making it cooler is "Mike in the Shadows".
 * He makes an inflated version of himself and his achievements in comparison to The Rap Critic in "Lighters".
 * In fact, in most of his cameos throughout TGWTG, Todd tends to portray himself as this.
 * Sour Supporter: Whenever he teams up with Pushing Up Roses for an Let's Play, he's always this.
 * Stalker With a Crush:
 * Towards Lupa. During his review of "OMG" he repeatedly tries horrible pickup lines from the song on her until she finally threatens to get a restraining order. When he goes to his computer during the "Like a G6" review, we see that his wallpaper is picture after picture of Lupa.

"Lupa: You want me to go to your room and watch a dirty movie with you?
 * His idea for a third anniversary crossover with her is to watch the Madonna erotic thriller Body of Evidence.

Todd: Well, I mean...

Lupa: Todd, you could not possibly be any creepier than you are right now.

Todd: You smell nice.

(Lupa punches him and runs off)"

"Lupa: Stop stealing pieces of my hair!"
 * All but confirmed in


 * Also, in the Grease 2 Nostalgia Chick review, his wallet is full of Lupa photos (including title cards!).
 * An episode of What the Fuck Is Wrong With You has Lupa interrupting Nash when he talked about this to prevent him from giving Todd ideas.
 * In "Give Me Everything", after another attack, Todd goes "Think I might be wearing her down."
 * The Un-Reveal:
 * Several reviews have brief instances that show Todd in the light! He has his back to the camera and his hood is up, so we only see his feet.
 * Also, there's archive footage of him being given the Hannah Montana Guitar Video Game as a Christmas present. But there's a black face-silhouette with a white question mark inside covering his head. ("As you can see, the image has not been treated")
 * While he did walk around unmasked at MagFest, all of his on-camera appearances had his face masked.
 * In the blooper reel for the collaborative review under Crossover, when he takes off the mask his face is covered by "Image not available".
 * Starting with the Sunday School Musical review and Suburban Knights, he appears fully-lit and shot from the front... with a black mask pulled over the top half of his face.
 * Jew Wario tried to look beneath his mask, only to for Todd to hold him at gunpoint.
 * Likewise, when Film Brain created on Facebook a "Making of Suburban Knights" album, every shot of unmasked Todd censors his face.
 * And the only time he's unmasked and uncensored in Benzaie's vlog, it's too blurry.
 * In the review of Grease 2: as The Makeover Fairy poofs him over to Lindsay's house, she takes his mask off, but is terrified of what she sees and quickly puts it back on him. Of course, it was shot from behind him.
 * Even though Mr. Awesome Goes to Washington is supposed to be a serious piece on the TGWTG reviewers going to DC to complain about SOPA, they still point out Todd refuses to show his face and censor it throughout. (then... see below)
 * The Reveal: Accidental in the early, unfinished version of "5 O'Clock". Once Todd found out his face was being shown, he quickly took it off blip.tv and replaced with a re-edited version. Same with the "Mr. Awesome Goes to Washington" above - Todd spent a good part unmasked as you cannot go to senators in costume, but Lindsay missed the censoring for just one second and had to pull it back.
 * Where the Hell Is Springfield?/City With No Name: Kind of... in "Black and Yellow", he names his city as "Bumfuck Nowhere, VA".
 * Nothing Exciting Ever Happens Here: In his review of "Just A Kiss", he claims the hottest nightclub in his town is the local Waffle House.
 * Zero Percent Approval Rating: By his non-music related workmates, except the one who loves/stalks him.

A-C
"Todd: I don't make these reviews because I hate pop music. I make these reviews because I love pop music."
 * Accentuate the Negative: Subverted occasionally, since even Todd can admit when a song he's reviewing does something right, or something close to right.

"Todd: Yes, I'm gonna make fun of a nine-year-old girl. You try and stop me."
 * The double review of "We Are Young" by fun. (yes, it's not capitalized and the period is part of their name) and "Somebody That I Used To Know" by Gotye, Todd brings into question just how these indie songs became so popular. At the end of the review, he's still a little baffled, but he admits he really can't find anything wrong with either artists, and enjoys both of their previous works.
 * Acceptable Targets:
 * Chris Brown, even before the incident. Todd initially saw him as akin to Justin Bieber. Taken even further after Brown won a Grammy, as Todd started following him on Twitter just for trolling!
 * Willow Smith, despite her tender age.

"Todd: We've got another report that this is the guy who did "Right Round", so, um... lethal force is authorised."
 * Flo Rida.

"Enrique: If I had a type, then it would be you.
 * Pitbull. "He makes the good songs go bad and the bad songs much worse."
 * Soulja Boy, whom Todd often uses as a measuring stick by which to judge other inept rappers.
 * Jason Derülo, because of his talent or lack thereof.
 * The band Chicago, specifically lead singer and former frontman Peter Cetera.
 * "White guy with an acoustic guitar" songs. Basically, insincere love songs or just flat out bland songs by "douchey" (usually white) guys with acoustic guitars. He has singled out "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz, "Hey Soul Sister" by Train, "The Lazy Song" by Bruno Mars, and anything by Jack Johnson and John Mayer as examples, and fleshed out his reasons in his review of "The Lazy Song". He didn't anticipate the possibility that Justin Bieber's "Mistletoe" was one of these. At that point, it was just adding insult to injury.
 * The Distaff Counterpart, "white chick on piano". While not everything qualifies (he gives Adele a pass for "Someone Like You"), he cites Evanescence (or at least "My Immortal"), Vanessa Carlton and Christina Perri as examples.
 * The Black Eyed Peas. Even Nicolas Cage agrees with him, apparently.
 * Dance songs set in clubs about dancing to dance songs (set in clubs).
 * Songs used in commercials that sound like they were written for them. Aside from "Tonight, Tonight", he singles out Jet's "Are You Gonna Be My Girl".
 * Actually Pretty Funny: One small scene in "Sexy and I Know It". But that's the only thing he'll concede.
 * Age Appropriate Angst: In "If I Die Young", he flips out when he figures out that Kimberly Perry is 28 and actually older than he is, pointing out that it would be much easier to stomach if she were 16, since many people go through a morbid phase at that age but grow out of it.
 * Album Filler: Theory raised by Todd concerning the lyrics of Train's "Hey, Soul Sister".
 * And also regarding the beat and production in "E.T.".
 * Alternative Character Interpretation: He's fond of doing this with popstars:
 * Lady Gaga is an Eldritch Abomination, (or, alternatively, a cultist) wants to kill and eat us all, dislikes words, and avoids using them whenever possible.
 * Lil Wayne is on a quest to record with every musician in existence. (And apparently accomplished this goal as of "We Are The World 25 For Haiti.")
 * Flo Rida is trying to do his damn hardest to be a successful rapper without having anything to personally identify him with... other than clubbing. And he's tired from clubbing so much and never going home, that it causes him to zone out on occasion.
 * Alternatively, he's recounting his own arrest.
 * Far*East Movement are capable of satanic mind control.
 * Patrick Monahan has recently undergone an arbitrary larynx transplant surgery.
 * Most recently, he has simply lost his mind, explaining why the lyrics to Train's songs are becoming increasingly bizarre.
 * The lyrics in the video for "Hey, Soul Sister" are squirming along the walls because they're attempting to escape.
 * Ke$ha really is a perpetually drunken, shallow party girl, who prefers to go out with men who look like Mick Jagger (Tik Tok) and have beards (Your Love Is My Drug).
 * Tyga is actually a sweet gamer underneath a "gangsta" persona.
 * The crew behind "The Time" were conspiring against the Black Eyed Peas -- a recording technician was attempting to unplug Fergie's mic near the end, and the video's director was taking potshots at the song.
 * Ludacris is omnipresent.
 * Barry Manilow wrote every single song ever written.
 * "Grenade" was Bruno Mars' Sanity Slippage Song.
 * Bruno himself is "possibly not a guy".
 * Wyclef Jean is on prescription drugs, but forgot them while recording "We Are The World"
 * Enrique Iglesias is a serial rapist who was raised in the wild.
 * Putt Putt is a drug addict.
 * Movie!Sokka Would Hit a Girl.
 * Kanye West a) isn't rapping about alien sex, but kidnapping, b) has an inexplicable grudge against epileptics, and c) is a pretentiously genius mentally unhinged artiste.
 * Beyonce has a deep-rooted hatred for men.
 * Ne-Yo is aware of some sort of apocalypse, which may or may not (probably not) be caused by LMFAO.
 * Drake is painfully aware of the fleeting nature of fame, and very afraid that he'll wake up one morning and find himself working at Burger King.
 * Eminem is Ambiguously Gay.
 * Chris Brown is a WWE heel.
 * Kelly Clarkson deliberately enters or imagines up bad relationships to write Breakup Songs.
 * Analogy Backfire: Pointed out by name in his review of the Black Eyed Peas' "Imma Be", when will.i.am compares himself to a sperm bank...as men put sperm into a sperm bank.
 * A quick one from Enrique Iglesias's "Tonight..."

Todd: Or in other words, you're not my type."

"Ke$ha: Turn around, boy, lemme hit that.
 * He also points that a firework is something so ephemerous Katy Perry should have talked about firewood instead.
 * LMFAO's "Yo, I'm runnin' through these ho's like Drano". Unless it was saying their music is corrosive and harmful.
 * When the video for "If I Die Young" invokes Tennyson's "The Lady of Shalott", he points out that said lady went completely unknown or cared about by her people, even after death. All she left behind was a pretty corpse.
 * And then there's Train's "Drive By". The title's imagery aside, he focuses mainly upon the implications of Patrick comparing his love to a two-ply Hefty bag (in other words, garbage), and how it "went viral".
 * He points out that Kelly Clarkson singing "What doesn't kill you make you stronger" is irrelevant because the narrator doesn't seem to have had any emotional investment in the relationship in the first place.
 * Anatomically Impossible Sex: Discussed in his review of ~Ke$ha~'s "Blah Blah Blah".

[Beat]

Todd: "Turn around, boy... lemme hit that?" I don't think I understand the mechanics here.

Ke$ha: Don't be a little bitch with your chit chat, just show me where your dick's at!

Todd: Uh... it's between his legs. You know, the crotch area, that's where it is on most guys, you should know that. I mean, not that I'm making any assumptions about your character here, but I'm pretty sure you're already well-acquainted with the location of a penis."

"DAAAAAAAAH!"
 * And Then John Was a Zombie: Parodied in his "Party Rock Anthem" review, in which he states "And then John was a douchebag" during the dance zombie apocalypse scene.
 * Angrish:
 * His first two Lady Gaga reviews reduced Todd to this. In one, he actually just screams in pure frustrated anger.

"Let's see, I've been abducted several times, I fought for the fate of the world, I've been punched in the face with great frequency, I drank way too much and weirdest of all, I started facing to the left."
 * Defied -- He didn't review Ke$ha's "Take It Off" because he would spend the whole review screaming like the Rain Man.
 * His fury and confusion that Kenny G had a Top 10 hit on the Pop charts in 1987 devolved into this.
 * Anti Love Song: Many of the songs listed in "Top Ten Songs About Mediocre Romance".
 * Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking:
 * Todd's worst villains of The Eighties are Ayatollah Khomeini, Pablo Escobar, the guy who shot Pope John Paul II (Mehmet Ali Ağca)... and Peter Cetera, former frontman of Chicago.
 * And his list of Cetera's crimes: "Peter Cetera is a war criminal. Peter Cetera caused the stock market crash. Peter Cetera killed my dog."
 * In the same video, he lists the plagues that attacked the namesake Windy City: the Chicago Fire, Al Capone, and the "lingering, still infestating plague of Cubs fans".
 * In his review for Bruno Mars's "Grenade", Todd makes a list of the qualities of the woman whom Bruno is singing about: "Abusive", "Demonic", "Insane", "Evil", "Deceitful", and "Bad at auto repair."
 * When he's detailing the strange things that have happened to him over the year:

"Todd: If I have to hear "Imma be" one more time, I'm gonna shoot myself! *Starts freaking out, reaches for a nearby pistol, puts it to his head, his chin, in his mouth, and starts pulling the trigger* [Beat] *disappointed* This isn't a real gun."
 * Ate His Gun: He tries to do this during his review of "Imma Be" by the Black Eyed Peas.

"Todd: It's rare to see consensus get built about a pop song. Music is one of the things that everyone has a different taste in. Very, very rarely is a song so good that everyone has to agree on it. But when I heard my #1 song, I spread it to everyone I knew and everyone loved it, and I've never seen that happen. I told myself if there was any justice in this world, it would be a song that spread everywhere and that everyone would love it and...it did... And by the end of 2011, it was widely recognized as one of the greatest songs ever written."
 * He jokes about it again in the Sunday School Musical review.
 * Autotune: Discussed (and used) reviewing "5 O'clock".
 * Avoid the Dreaded G Rating: Todd theorizes that the reason Bruno Mars peppers "The Lazy Song" with random references to sex and masturbating is because, otherwise, it could easily be mistaken for a Sesame Street song.
 * Award Bait Song: He thinks "Never Too Far" was this for ''Glitter'. To prove his point home, he even plays "I Will Always Love You" over it.
 * Awesome Music: His views on 'Fuck You!'

"BIEBER!"
 * Awesome McCoolname: Apparently, his opinion on Taio Cruz.
 * Bad Bad Acting: In the crossover review of Kanye West's Runaway, Rap Critic and Todd Lampshade the cliche crossover setup by passing a script back and forth and reading the lines completely deadpan.
 * Bait and Switch: In the beginning of his review of Train's "Drive By", he compliments Train as an interesting and intriguing band and rhetorically asks what made him change his mind. While the listener might be expecting a glowing compliment of a song or album, instead he says "Well, I think the lead singer might've gone insane."
 * Becoming the Mask: After hearing 3OH!3's verse on ~Ke$ha~'s 'BlahBlahBlah' Todd wonders to himself whether they were genuinely dumb fratboys all along, or if they'd 'gone so far into character that they can't get out.'
 * Berserk Button:
 * Justin Bieber. Just his mere image sends Todd into a growling rage. Hell, he got so mad at the chorus in "Eenie Meenie" it gave him a close-up.

"Todd: Though, I have to admit that I don't like this song as much as the first time I heard it, back when it was called "I Gotta Feeling"."
 * PETER, PAUL AND MARY?!!!!
 * Kenny G.
 * The musical genre known as adult alternative. He crystallizes this in his review of Train's "Hey Soul Sister".
 * Chris Brown's beating the stuffing out of Rihanna, to the point where he has to struggle to keep from making his review of "I Can Transform Ya" all about it. Chris himself becomes this over the course of "Deuces", primarily because he acted like Domestic Abuse was no big deal.
 * He hates the group Chicago vehemently. Has it ever occurred to you that he hates Chicago?
 * More specifically, he hates Peter Cetera, frontman of Chicago, who he considers to be one of the greatest villains of the 1980s, and says his voice 'resonates at the exact frequency to piss me off'. However, he has no problem with older Chicago songs - roughly their recorded output from before the release of Chicago X.
 * Who was the writer of "I Write the Songs?" Not Barry Manilow, but BRUCE JOHNSTON OF THE BEACH BOYS!?!!?
 * Better By a Different Name/Serial Numbers Filed Off: How he views certain songs.
 * When introducing Lady Gaga's "Alejandro", he plays the chorus of Ace of Base's "The Sign" instead.
 * He also mentions the Madonna ripoffs in the video (such as the dress from "Vogue")
 * He can't listen to more than a few bars of Flo Rida's "Club Can't Handle Me" without it turning into "Use Somebody" by Kings of Leon.

"Todd: New and improved Chris Brown! Now with 31% less Domestic Abuse!"
 * He imagines that "Eenie Meenie" would have been better if it left out Justin Bieber and got rid of the ridiculous lyrics... and realizes that that perfectly describes Sean Kingston's earlier song "Fire Burning".
 * In an inversion, he describes Jay Sean's "Down" as an even better version of Chris Brown's "Forever", thus ensuring that the world can safely ignore Chris Brown.

"This video has more obtrusive advertisements than thatguywiththeglasses.com!"
 * He mentions Travie McCoy's "Billionaire" in his end-of-2010 recap solely to point out its similarity to Sublime's "Santeria".
 * A double-whammy in the case of "The Time" - he preferred the song they based the chorus on (in fact, like in "Alejandro" he opens the review playing "Time of Your Life"), and believes the beats to be a rip-off of Benny Benassi's "Satisfaction".
 * While more Identical Stranger, as he doesn't like the song, Todd is shocked to see Daddy Yankee isn't Pitbull.
 * Likewise, he finds "5 O'Clock" to be a rethread of "Whatcha Say", being a song about a bad boyfriend with a misused sample of a British singer - but while Todd hates DeRulo's song, T-Pain's one only baffles him.
 * Justin Bieber's "Mistletoe" is a retread of Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours"... too bad he already loathes the other one!
 * Most of fun.'s non-"We Are Young" output is an attempt to emulate Queen. Unfortunately, their lead singer isn't Freddie Mercury.
 * Big Lipped Alligator Movie: His opinion on The Monkees' Head.
 * Big No: Todd lets out a big no when he thinks that the car in "Black and Yellow" might just be Bumblebee.
 * And again when he hears AC/DC's "You shook me all night long" ruined by the Black Eyed Peas.
 * Biting the Hand Humor:
 * From "Telephone".

"YOU ALL ARE A BUNCH OF NERDS! NERDS! NERDS! NERDS!"
 * In "Top Ten Best Hit Songs of 2010".

"Todd: HELLO, I'M TODD IN THE SHADOWS! I LISTEN TO IT CAUSE YOU DON'T WANT TO!"
 * Both the higher-ups screwed him over in their cameos: The Nostalgia Critic threatened him with "Hoedown Throwdown" if he didn't continue reviewing music, and Rob Walker unveils that he edited out large chunks of Todd's script for "S&M" and is implied to think that Todd is dumber than '90s Kid.
 * Bleep, Dammit!: At one point, the subtitles refer to the Jay-Z/Kanye West single as "Niggas in P***s". "What the hell do I pay you people for?"
 * Book Ends: He opens and starts the From Justin to Kelly review failing to write a script about Gotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know".
 * Borrowed Catchphrase: Mimicking The Nostalgia Critic at the start of his review of "Eenie Meenie". Makes a return at the end of the "Black and Yellow" review.

"Todd: CAN'T... GET.... CLEAAAAAN!"
 * Brain Bleach: Employed In-Universe, and often combined with a Shower of Angst:
 * In "Deuces", when Todd hears the line "I'm a dick so I shouldn't be that hard to swallow", we immediately cut to a shot of his bathroom with the shower running.

"Todd: Run from this terrible song. Run before she taints your moral purity. That's what I'm gonna do. And taking a freaking shower."
 * In the review to Britney Spears' "3"

"Lupa: Stop stealing my hair!
 * Bread Eggs Breaded Eggs:
 * Todd starts "Like a G6" saying it's a Ke$ha ripoff. Then he compares it to "Boom Boom Pow", and concludes it's "The Ke$ha/Black Eyed Peas collaboration the world was asking for."
 * While reviewing "Tonight, Tonight", he states that party songs should consist of more than just repeating the word "tonight". Or "everybody". Or "fun". Or even "Everybody Have Fun Tonight". Though he admits that song is okay.
 * Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: Multiple times (in several layers) on the list of three-syllable phrases more suitable that "sexy bitch" for use in Akon's "Sexy Bitch."
 * At the start of his review of Katy Perry's "E.T.", several other reviewers appear and knock his taste in music; the last is Obscurus Lupa with a different issue:

Todd: [quickly] Boy, that Katy Perry sure sucks, right!?"

"Todd: "Whip My Hair" is about three and a half minutes long, and it uses a fairly typical verse-chorus-verse structure. This is surprising to me, because the first few times I heard it, I would have sworn to you that it was just three straight hours of just this one line. I mean it just seems to go ON, and ON."
 * Brick Joke: In "The Top Ten Best Hit Songs of 2010", Todd says he could write a dissertation on how Rihanna has reacted publically and artistically to the Chris Brown incident. Next time he reviews a Rihanna song, guess what he has?
 * Broken Record: He decided to count how many times "Imma Be" is Title Dropped (106) and called this on "Whip My Hair":

"Song: Stay fly like...
 * Brown Note: He believes that the only way a song could be worse than Enrique Iglesias' "Tonight..." is if it manifested outside of the listener's speakers and humped their leg.
 * "What two words send shivers up a music lover's spine more than Disco Duck?"
 * Call Back:
 * During his review of "OMG" Todd tries to pick up That Guy With the Glasses contributor Obscurus Lupa on webcam with lyrics from the song "OMG". At the end, he quotes "Sexy Chick", another song he reviewed.
 * Also, he says the synth fuzz at the beginning sounds like the player fell asleep on their keyboard, "which, believe me, is not as comfortable as it sounds". This happened to Todd himself in the "Replay" review.
 * When he Googles the term "G6" in the review of "Like a G6", you briefly see that his desktop wallpaper is a collage of Lupa photos.
 * In his review of "Whip My Hair", he tries the titular method of dealing with "haters" on several of his fellow TGWTG contributors, none of whom are impressed. The last one is Lupa, who wonders why she hasn't blocked him yet.
 * When Todd finally hears a song with awesome, so-good-no-woman-could resist pickup lyrics, he rushes to try them on Lupa...only to go blank and start quoting the lyrics from "Carry Out" instead.
 * In "Black and Yellow"

Todd: A G6?"

"Todd: Now, maybe it's just me, but if the club can't handle him right now, my only conclusion that they're using the wrong club. Now, this is MY club. It is an authentic replica of a war club used in battle by ancient Greek soldiers, and trust me: It CAN handle you right now."
 * In "Grenade", he describes the DL incident from "Like a G6".
 * After making Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot-esque claims about his heritage in "Like a G6" he mentions that a line in "Born This Way" intended to appeal to all races touches him personally... because he is all those races. At once.
 * In "S&M", his desktop refers to a game he played with Pushing Up Roses (see Funny Background Event, below).
 * In "S&M" he mentions the dirty Madonna movie Body of Evidence. Later he tries get Lupa to watch it with him.
 * In the Glitter review, he breaks out the old Mario statue from the "Break Up" review, saying he'll use it to review instead of actually doing it himself. Then that is called back on when the very next review starts with this idea failing.
 * Two in "Give Me Everything". First he thinks the "not having a tomorrow" might be related to the LMFAO dance zombies. Then he reacts to "Grab somebody sexy and say 'Hey, give me everything tonight!'" with... guess who.
 * He ends "Tonight, Tonight"'s review with "Tonight Tonight Tonight", which he listed among the worst hits of 1987.
 * When The Nostalgia Chick comes to his house to ask his help on a Crossroads review, she remembers how Todd unsuccessfully tried to review said movie during the Suburban Knights shoot.
 * "Lupe Fiasco, not to be confused with the Lupa Fiasco..." (cue Todd and Lupa on Skype...)
 * The Cameo: Ironically Todd admitted in the commentary for "Eenie Meenie" / "O.M.G" that he really hates adding cameos into his reviews because he likes having complete control over what goes into the video. Even so...
 * Fellow TGWTG contributor and promoted fan from YouTube Obscurus Lupa appears throughout his "OMG" review, and several other reviews afterwards.
 * The Nostalgia Critic shows up in the beginning of the review for "Club Can't Handle Me" in his Bad Boss persona.
 * And again for the "Whip My Hair" review with several cameos by various other That Guy With The Glasses contributors.
 * In "Black and Yellow", Pennsylvanian Rollo T goes on a rant about Pittsburgh.
 * Pushing Up Roses appears in "Grenade", with Todd attempting to get a "thanks" out of her for "promoting" one of her Vinyl Destination videos as "worst video ever". She also shows up in voiceover at the end of "The Lazy Song" to ask why Todd's playing Super Smash Bros Brawl instead of working on the review.
 * Jesu Otaku appears in "Firework/Born This Way" to demonstrate how offending a girl's figure is bad, and in "Stronger" to show how saying you overcame a problem you've never had is irrelevant.
 * Rob Walker (Doug's brother, whom Todd refers as "his producer") and '90s Kid appear in "S&M".
 * Four reviewers appear to complain about Todd liking Katy Perry (and Lupa to complain about stalking). Only one made a first cameo - The Nostalgia Chick, who is then rejected by Todd.
 * Lindsay does an uncredited return as Beaker in "Party Rock Anthem". And to be rejected again in "Top Ten Songs About Mediocre Romance".
 * The Rap Critic appears in "Lighters" to unsuccessfully get a second Crossover, and explain to the Literal Minded Todd what "show his ass" means.
 * Oancitizen appears to make Todd not give up on reviewing "Sexy and I Know It".
 * To complain about how fun. gives a "featuring Janelle Monáe" credit to such a short performance, he goes "this is a Crossover! With Jew Wario!" Cue three-second appearance by him.
 * Kung Tai Ted appears to demonstrate the finer points of "Dance The Kung Fu".
 * Cannot Spit It Out: This happens to Todd when he finds inspiration to use the lyrics of "Nothing On You" by B.o.B and Bruno Mars on Obscurus Lupa, but he eventually screws it up again by singing the lines to Justin Timberlake's "Carry Out" on her instead.
 * Captain Obvious: Todd calls Lil Wayne "MC Obvious" after hearing the line "I can transform ya/Like a Transformers".
 * Caption Humor: NOT A RHYME. (and a lot more, such as *apology twirl* in "Whatcha Say")
 * Many in Todd plays The Black Eyed Peas Experience (best being "This video would be awesome blackmail material if I were not in it")
 * Carry a Big Stick: Todd pulls one out during "Club Can't Handle Me" by Flo Rida.

"Todd: She's a demon from Hell! She's gonna kill us all! How are you not seeing this? You've got to believe me!"
 * His title card artist has drawn Todd carrying that again for "Deuces" and "Tonight".
 * Cassandra Truth: Played for Laughs in his "Bad Romance" review.

"Todd: Go fuck yourself, Chris Brown! Go. Fuck. Yourself. Go fuck yourself, you stupid, useless waste of a human being!"
 * Cheap Heat: Todd points out how Lady Gaga's "You and I" song changes the state mention in the song from Nebraska to Virginia where he lives, and that it seems to be the same all around for the rest of the country.
 * Chewing the Scenery: He calls Lil Jon out on this during "Do You Remember".
 * Cliché Storm: In-universe, his opinion of "Stronger".
 * Cluster F-Bomb:
 * Right after Todd considers not letting Chris Brown's crimes taint his perception of his future hits anymore, the first few lines of "Deuces" play.

"@FB_BMB: @ShadowTodd appears to have been replaced by Joe Pesci. His Twitter will resume normal service shortly."
 * Pretty much the entire "Tonight" review, both on Todd's part and Enrique's.
 * Another big one occured on Twitter when he found out what Chris Brown's new album F.A.M.E. stands for... Forgiving All My Enemies. Afterwards, Film Brain jumped in with a Lampshade Hanging:

"Todd: [Beat]... WHAT THE CRAP WAS THAT?!"
 * Comically Missing the Point:
 * Despite figuring out the line "Sippin' sizzurp in my ride/Like Three Six" to be about the Three Six Mafia he decides to run with the over the top joke about 666 describing Satan, culminating in a diatribe about bad pop music being a tool of the devil.
 * He complains about "Telephone" becoming a George Lucas Throwback to Quentin Tarantino, saying Tarantino doesn't stand copying other directors. A Beat follows as Todd notices what he just said.
 * In "E.T.", regarding an E.T. porno (see Fetish Retardant below).
 * Subverted with "Telephone". Word of Demon from Hell says that the phone is in her head, keeping her from having fun. Todd points out in "Alejandro" how it was brought to his attention that he missed the true meaning behind "Telephone"... and proceeds to point out there is nothing in the lyrics that indicate any possibility of that being the case.
 * Couch Gag: Each episode begins with Todd playing today's song on the piano. (except on Top Tens, where it's a song from the year covered) Todd challenged himself to do this with "Whip My Hair". He had to ask for a few clips from the song just to get it down first, but cheered when he finally did it.

"NERD!"
 * Subverted in "Sexy and I Know It", where he even argues with the caption on his refusal to play the song.
 * Continuity Nod: His Glitter review ends with him putting his hoodie on a Mario statue (previously seen in "Break Up") and setting up a CD player so it can replace him. The next episode ("Party Rock Anthem") starts with this backfiring as the player stops working.
 * The Cover Changes the Meaning: Complains about Jason De Rulo and T-Pain's equivocated sampling of Imogen Heap and Lily Allen, respectively.
 * Crazy Prepared: Linkara's Review of "The Punisher and Eminem #1". During his crossover with The Rap Critic Todd apparently gave The Rap Critic a message for Linkara just in case Linkara called on him.

"You are a worthless sex object and I'm going to stick my--"
 * Creator Killer: He predicts that "The Time (Dirty Bit)" will be the Black Eyed Peas'.
 * Creator's Pet: The crowd chanting Mike Posner's name in the beginning of "Cooler Than Me".
 * Crossover/MST:
 * Did a review of The Monkees' movie Head with Pushing Up Roses and Paw Dugan. (Roses also calls Todd for some of her Let's Play Shortys)
 * He collaborated with Jesu Otaku, Rollo T and Y Ruler of Time in a review of The Last Airbender.
 * A joint review of Shaggy's "It Wasn't Me" with The Rap Critic.
 * One year later, the duo reviewed Kanye West's short film Runaway.
 * He fails to convince Bennett the Sage, Phelous or Obscurus Lupa to do a crossover, and instead does Sunday School Musical with Film Brain.
 * Reviewed Crossroads and From Justin to Kelly with The Nostalgia Chick.
 * Culture Clash: Points out how "Alejandro" is full of gay Russian soldiers marching to a Mexican themed song based off a Swedish pop group. He couldn't do that no matter how hard he tried. He then plays "That's Amore", followed by an Oriental riff on the piano with "Vive la France" appearing on screen.
 * Curse Cut Short: In a scrolling list variant, he explains the various terms which flow better in song than "Sexy Chick" or "Bitch" ending with:

D-F
"Todd: [O]nce again, it's time for me to kill myself."
 * Damned By Faint Praise: In his 'Turn Up The Music' review, he says that "As a singer, Chris Brown is a really good dancer."
 * Dead Horse Genre: Invoked. One of his biggest problems with the remake of "We Are The World" is that the "Mega Crossover for charity" genre has passed the point of parody. He also points out that many of the contributors had already spoofed the genre, with emphasis on Josh Groban.
 * He also considers club anthems to be heading in this direction. When LMFAO used a Zombie Apocalypse theme in one of their videos, he claimed a zombie was a perfect analogy for the genre; technically dead, but still moving.
 * Deadpan Snarker: He's pretty dry, but he gets animated at times.
 * Death Is Cheap: He's offed himself five times already. One was in the middle of a review. He's even lampshaded this:

""Now that I think about it, it's probably a good thing that she cleared up where she got the pedicures. Because I'm starting to get the feeling that she's the type of girl that if someone doesn't clarify that for her, she'll try to get pedicures on her eyeballs or something.""
 * Defictionalization: Krin drew Todd reviewing "Like a G6". This gave her a job as his title artist, and caused Todd to go after the song and actually review it.
 * Likewise, an April Fools title card of "S&M" became a review as well.
 * Demonization: "Peter Cetera is a war criminal. Peter Cetera caused the stock market crash. Peter Cetera killed my dog."
 * Department of Redundancy Department:
 * "Because that's not even a joke even!"
 * "... the biggest pop songs of the year were all pretty much the same thing - club dance songs about dancing in clubs to club dance songs."
 * "The original title was "Your Drugs Are My Drug", I'm guessing."
 * "Pedicure on our toes, toes".

"Todd: She is a demon from hell!"
 * Calling the Pittsburgh Steelers "Losing losers of losingness"
 * Description Cut: Three in the "Firework/Born this Way" review.
 * He says due to his life he has no need to listen to inspirational music. Cut to a flashback where Todd drinks and puts a gun to his head.
 * Todd calls Jesu Otaku fat, and proceeds to discuss on how she got affected and is taking it hard... while she just stares at him.
 * At the end, Todd expects to see how Katy Perry and Lady Gaga do in their new, down-to-Earth way. Cut to their next singles, "E.T." and "Judas", which are about said artists "boinking monsters".
 * And in the most awful moments of Rattle and Hum, he claims U 2 never embarrassed themselves after said movie... before cutting to them dressed as the Village People in "Discothéque".
 * In "Give Me Everything", he sees a rock band in the top 10 of the Hot 100, and asks to hear the song as it might be a break from the constant party songs. Too bad that song was 'Tonight, Tonight' by Hot Chelle Rae, yet another dance song.
 * In "Lighters", he asks for the song to begin expecting an angry song like Eminem used to do... only for the opening to be Bruno Mars in his piano.
 * In "5 O'Clock", Todd says he knows how to party all night long. Cut to him playing video games.
 * In "Drive By", he can't believe anyone could be turned on by Pat Monahan comparing his love to garbage. Cut to a clip from Trash Humpers.
 * He claims the success of Gotye and fun. (#1 and #2 at the Billboard 200) shows the general public wants songs with feeling. Then we see #3 to #5 is "Payphone" (Maroon 5 Featuring Wiz Khalifa), "Call Me Maybe" (Carly Rae Jepsen) and "Wild Ones" (Flo Rida).
 * Designated Villain: He calls attention to the Hannah Montana: The Movie's villain being this.
 * Despair Event Horizon:
 * Nearly crossed in his review of "Blah Blah Blah".
 * Arguably was crossed in his Lady Gaga reviews.

"If I had to guess, I'd say he's probably from Miami... Partly because his name is Flo Rida. You know, Florida, Flo Rida, Florida... You get it? It's clever."
 * Yet again during his review for "3" when Britney Spears caused him to imagine Peter, Paul and Mary having a threesome.
 * Miley Cyrus' "Hoedown Throwdown" sent Todd into a horrible depression to the point where he threatened to end it all but was stopped when the song ended.
 * The 2011 MTV VMAs prompted Todd to do an 18-minute, unscripted video in which he bemoans the bloated and decayed Franchise Zombie MTV has become.
 * Dethroning Moment of Suck: He couldn't take Rattle And Hum anymore after they
 * Dissimile: He points out that "Head to Toe" by Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam (no. 6 on his list of worst hit songs of 1987), which is said to resemble Motown, isn't anything like Motown! He compares "Head to Toe" to an actual Motown song (more specifically, The Isley Brothers' "This Old Heart of Mine") and claims that "Head To Toe" is exactly like Motown... except without the tight musicianship, the soulful singing, or the longevity.
 * Lesser example: he discusses that "The Lazy Song" is a "white guy with an acoustic guitar" song despite Bruno Mars not being white... and possibly not a guy.
 * "Eminem with his rabid legion of angry white guys! I was one of them... except I was not angry... and I'm not white" (As far as you know)
 * Distaff Counterpart: He identifies "white chick with piano" as the distaff counterpart to "white guy with acoustic guitar."
 * Dodgy Toupee: The Hannah Montana wig he wears in "Whip My Hair" and the crossover with The Rap Critic (in the commentary for the former, Todd mentions it barely fit his head, and if he headbanged a little harder it'd fall).
 * Don't Explain the Joke: "Only Sixteen", a hit by Sam Cooke that was later covered by Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show, is about a guy who fell in love with a 16-year-old. That's far too young for him, because he's SEVENTEEN! A-hyuck, a-hyuck, a-hyuck!
 * When Todd comments that he knows next to nothing about Flo Rida's backstory, he says:

"Todd: Oh wait, it's over. *Snaps out of it* This song sends me to some weird places."
 * Double Entendre: Defied by Todd in "Carry Out," in which he calls out a line, which doesn't even fit under a Single Entendre, but rather under a .3 Entendre.
 * Double Standard / The Unfair Sex: His primary objection to Beyonce and her music. He really tears into her when he talks about "If I Were A Boy", calling out women for being just as guilty of everything she accuses men of being.
 * Double Take: Many lyrics have Todd listening to them twice before giving a reaction.
 * Dude, Not Funny: Invoked when Todd wakes up from a hangover in "Your Love Is My Drug", he asks for something to brush his teeth with. He's handed a bottle of Jack Daniel's and responds with this.
 * Todd views radio DJs as this, when discussing Rick Dees.
 * Also invoked when he receives the Hannah Montana game for his birthday.
 * Dramatic Irony: Starting with the intro to the Black Eyed Peas cover of "Time Of Your Life", he decided he was being too negative and could still enjoy the song "unaware" of the approaching "dirty bit" change.
 * Driven to Suicide: Frequently.
 * He asphyxiated himself with a grocery bag at the end of "BedRock".
 * He strangled himself with his microphone cord during his cameo in Y Ruler of Time's review of Soulja Boy's "Anime".
 * He beat himself to death with a book at the end of "Whatcha Say".
 * He commits seppuku with a machete not three minutes into "Like a G6".
 * He puts a gun to his head at the end of "Hannah Montana Pop Tour Guitar Game."
 * He attempts to blow his brains out both on "Imma Be" and "Firework/Born This Way," only to fail, as the gun was a plastic toy.
 * Subverted with "Hoedown Throwdown" from the Hannah Montana: The Movie, which was driving him into a depression making him question why he's even doing this. Fortunately, the song ended.

"Todd: You were trying to sound like this [clip from "New Sensation"] and instead you sound like this [clip from "Hey Soul Sister"]. My god... That's like if you try to make scrambled eggs... and instead you caught syphilis!"
 * Drowning My Sorrows: He had a damn good reason to get drunk a the end of "Your Love Is My Drug".
 * DVD Commentary: Two so far (both encompassing two episodes), "Eenie Meenie"/"OMG" and "Like a G6"/"Whip My Hair".
 * Ear Worm: Referenced by name in "Deuces". However, he calls the song an "Ear Snail" because it's slow, boring, and completely forgettable.
 * He says in "E.T." that he likes his pop songs catchy. And said song doesn't fit, with a beat so minimalistic he compares it to "We Will Rock You".
 * Earthshattering Kaboom: His reaction to the video for "Sexy and I Know It".
 * Eleventy-Zillion: He has "seventy three bajillion dollars" in student loans to pay off yet.
 * The End Is Nigh: "Repent now or perish in the fourth circle of Hell... where "Like A G6" plays for eternity."
 * Epic Fail:
 * His description of "Hey, Soul Sister" by Train after he learns that it is apparently their idea of a tribute to INXS.

"Todd: Ba-da-ba-ba-ba! I'm humpin' it!"
 * He says that "Cooler Than Me" by Mike Posner fails utterly because it's meant to be bitching about a girl, but it never actually explains why this girl is bad or anything she has done wrong, besides rejecting the narrator, instead only mentioning her attire (one point of which he mimics himself in the video!). He also points out that while Posner spends the entire song whining about how she rejected him and how much she sucks, the song itself is a last-ditch effort at picking her up.
 * He complains that "Get Up and Boogie" by the Silver Convention fails to make you want to dance because it's a request rather than a command, contrasting it with C & C Music Factory's "Gonna Make You Sweat", and it lacks energy. It also doesn't help that the lyrics consist of six words (get, up, and, boogie, that's, right), the same amount of words as their other hit "Fly Robin Fly" (fly, robin, up, to, the, sky). He also notes that he rarely comments on the video footage he finds for songs, but he had to mention how absolutely bored the audience members looked in the TV performance clip he found for "Get Up and Boogie".
 * He also says Kanye West ruins any guest spot he's offered.
 * Erotic Eating: Todd points out the ridiculous food comparisons in "Carry Out" might be some poorly done version of this.

"Todd: (at the end of his review) Mayonnaise everywhere."
 * Guess what happens next...

"Michael's Subtitles: Used to know mountain good party frog/ Limes are down the wise men boo..."
 * Escapist Character: Discusses this trope in his review of Hannah Montana Pop Tour Guitar Video Game.
 * Everyone Has Standards: In his "Club Can't Handle Me" review, Todd points out that even Ke$ha thinks Flo Rida is deadly dull, since she asked not to be credited for her part in "Right Round" because she thought being associated with Flo Rida would hurt her career.
 * Even the Guys Want Him: Considers waking up with The Burger King to be hot.
 * "Ah, Usher. The women want him, and the men want him. To be him! The men want to be him!
 * Even the Subtitler Is Stumped:
 * The opening to Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance".
 * The line "Peter, Paul and Mary" from Britney Spears's "3" is interpreted as "Peedapayuwrmnr???eee".
 * Becomes the set-up to a funny Shout Out on "Whatcha say."
 * He can't decipher the Gratuitous Italian in "Born This Way".
 * He stops to ponder what Kanye is actually saying in "E.T." (and is baffled at the actual words).
 * When Todd points out that Michael Stipe from REM is frequently quite difficult to understand, we get:

"Todd: Now here's Royce, or as he is better known, "The Other Guy"."
 * Everyone Is Jesus in Purgatory: DEEP LYRICAL ANALYSIS.
 * Everyone Is Satan in Hell: When Todd discovers the Number of the Beast in "Like A G6", he becomes convinced that "This song isn't just stupid, it's actively brainwashing the masses in service of The Dark Lord!"
 * He considers but ultimately refuses to make the same claims about "Party Rock Anthem" based on its music video.
 * Everything Sounds Sexier in French: Todd's guess as to why part of "Bad Romance" is in French.
 * Executive Meddling: In-universe. Played for Laughs at the end of "S&M". And kinda appears in "Club Can't Handle Me".
 * Face Framed in Shadow: He even calls himself a "professional silhouette".
 * Face of the Band:
 * He has a moment of Fridge Logic regarding this trope while reviewing the Hannah Montana Pop Tour Guitar Video Game. After all, if you're playing guitar on a Hannah Montana song, you're one of those guys standing on the side that everyone ignores while watching Hannah.
 * Occasionally when reviewing Black Eyed Peas songs, he will snidely comment on the two less famous members. Examples include forgetting their Stage Names when reviewing "Imma Be", showing an apl.de.ap clip from "Boom Boom Pow" while asking who he is, and wondering during his review of "The Time (Dirty Bit)" if Taboo was kicked out of the group and not told about it.
 * He also makes similar comments about Bad Meets Evil in his "Lighters" review.

"Song: Do anything for you, why would you wanna break up?/See I be driving through your hood/Why would you wanna break up?
 * Face Palm: While reviewing "Break Up" by Mario, Sean Garrett and Gucci Mane:

Todd: Oh, you charmer, you. I was gonna leave, but then I found out that you were driving through my hood. Oh baby, I just can't let you go. *facepalms*"

""See, it starts out with them going into comas from too much... *facepalms* ....party rockin'.""
 * His reaction on Kanye West's lyrics in "E.T.".
 * Hey Todd, what's the name of LMFAO's album, again?

"Todd: Taio Cruz is the name of a pop star. Mike Posner fixes your car."
 * And reacting to "But I'm an American Idol, gettin' money like Seacrest" in "Give Me Everything". Complete with elbowing the keyboard!
 * Fail O'Suckyname:
 * In his review of "Cooler Than Me", Todd points out that "Mike Posner" is just a terrible name for a pop artist because it's not catchy or memorable or vaguely cool at all.

"[...] Gaga will spend this video, oh let's see, being thrown into women's prison, being stripped naked, making out with another woman; and boy oh boy oh boy, I can't tell you how not turned on I am by any of this. Truly, Lady Gaga has mastered the art of being sexual without being even remotely sexy."
 * He also refers to the song as "I Have No Star Qualities" by Nobody McLoser.
 * Chris "Captain McPunchesAGirl" Brown.
 * Fallen Creator: Todd has a few personal examples.
 * Beyoncé. He loved everything she did until 2009--and from there on, has trouble stomaching her.
 * Todd believes this happened to Usher after the successful Confessions album, as seen in his review of Usher's "OMG".
 * He hopes for Chris Brown to subvert this... then he hears "Deuces".
 * He starts losing faith in Bruno Mars after hearing "Grenade," but "The Lazy Song" causes Todd to utterly hate him. ("Lighters" didn't help his reputation either)
 * His opinion of The Beach Boys by the year 1976. Given their lackluster cover of "Rock And Roll Music", inspiring Henry Gross's "Shannon", giving credibility to the Captain & Tennille, writing "I Write The Songs"...
 * His opinion on Eminem, even if Recovery was somehow a return to form.
 * What he thinks happened to the Black Eyed Peas.
 * Family-Unfriendly Aesop: He believes the end to Hannah Montana: The Movie bears a pretty execrable one.
 * Fan Disservice: LMFAO's "Sexy and I Know It" video, which even makes Oancitizen call Todd out for refusing to continue the review because it features ugly men in speedos ("I sat through a whole film where people had sex with garbage!").
 * Fanon Discontinuity: There is no such thing as a pornographic E.T. adaptation.
 * Fantastic Racism: After Film Brain begs Todd not to knife him, he accuses Film Brain of being a Hoodist.
 * Fetish: "The stuff I am into is a lot weirder than [S&M]. A trombone is involved."
 * Fetish Retardant: Lady Gaga does this for him.

"Gentlemen, the operation was a complete success! We have taken this man's vocal cords and successfully replaced them with a squeaking rubber ducky!
 * Also, ET the Extraterrestrial. He mentions that "There's no way someone can be turned on by ET. If there was, only if with a porno version of ET. And if it existed, I would have heard of it by now." (one of his co-workers reviewed "E.T. the Porno"; after the Beat, he even mentions his comments section will be flooded if such a work exists).
 * Filth: He calls out Britney Spears and Rihanna on this.
 * Flat What: Commonly.
 * Flowery Elizabethan English: "How dare thy stain mine good lady's name! Her, the most sexiest of all beotches!"
 * Follow the Leader:
 * On "Replay", he mentions Iyaz is just one in a line of Akon knockoffs.
 * On "Deuces", he discusses on Chris Brown's absence leading to similar artists appearing... and eventually bringing this on Brown himself: "After this line of Usher wannabes, who better than the original Usher wannabe himself?"
 * On "Moves Like Jagger", he says the song incorporates two things popular at the moment, whistling and gratuitous usage of Mick Jagger's name (especially considering how Jagger actually dances...).
 * Foreshadowing: At the end of his "Your Love is My Drug" review, it is revealed that.
 * In Bennett the Sage's "Top 5 Best/Worst Cover Songs", Todd asks him to make a song countdown while he escaped from LMFAO. Guess what was his following review?
 * Also, during the From Justin to Kelly crossover he has trouble doing a review on Gotye and fun. His next review covered both.
 * His Twitter always drops clues on his next video.
 * For Science!: At one point on "Hey Soul Sister" he raises a theory concerning Pat Monahan's sudden pitch range.

...Why did we do that?"

"Kaya: Why are we friends with her again?
 * The Friend Nobody Likes: In his and The Nostalgia Chick's review of From Justin To Kelly, he wonders why girls always have a "token evil friend."

Todd: That's a good question!"


 * Fridge Brilliance:
 * In his review of the Hannah Montana video game, he wonders how, with all of the songs being centred around Hannah/Miley's double life, none of her in-show fans have figured out that Hannah and Miley are the same person... and then he says that he came up with the following idea: none of her fans imagine that Hannah would have/need a double life, so they don't suspect her of having one.
 * "I just realized. Will and Jada named their kids Willow and Jaden."
 * Fridge Horror: Strikes him right in the face when he finally deciphers the lyrics to "3".
 * Fridge Logic:
 * One of his many issues with Hannah Montana: The Movie.
 * His response to Willow Smith's suggestion to whip your hair even if you don't have long hair.
 * At a certain point of "Grenade", he points out that "On our first kiss, had your eyes wide open, why were they open?" is paradoxical.
 * He asks on Rihanna singing about how "she likes to be tied up and beaten", when... you know. (it gets even more uncomfortable when she goes "make my body say ah ah ah.")
 * Funny Background Event / Freeze Frame Bonus: Todd has made a point that whenever you see him on the computer there's always something embarrassing or silly on screen.
 * In "Hey Soul Sister", his monitor flashes Pushing Up Roses' website.
 * In the "Like a G6" review, as a Call Back, his desktop picture consists entirely of pictures of Obscurus Lupa.
 * In "S&M", his desktop is Fatty Bear (from a game he played with Roses) in a "No" sign.
 * Fun With Acronyms:
 * Todd In The Shadows. Heh. Surprisingly averted on the acronym-happy and sometimes gaffe-prone That Guy With the Glasses main site, where he is known as "TODD", "ShadowTodd" or TIS instead.
 * When a poster pointed this out to him on his subforum, he jokingly said he would change his name to Nick Under The Shadows to save face.
 * Overwhelming Marital Grief.
 * Fun With Subtitles: The "hidden meanings" in "Sexy Chick".

G-I
"Todd: How does this even happen? To sing those lines, to write those lines, to conceive those lines, to help record those lines, to have anything at all to do with those lines, you would have to be one of the stupidest people ever to walk the face of the Earth!! [Beat] ... Hmm.
 * Getting Crap Past the Radar: Todd wonders how on Earth the video for "Sexy Chick Bitch" got past the censors because it is essentially softcore porn.
 * Gilligan Cut: In "OMG." Naturally, doubles as Hypocritical Humour.

[Gilligan Cut]

Todd (to Obscurus Lupa over Skype): Shawty, you got a booty like POW POW POW! And, and, and and and you got some boobies like WOW OH WOW!"

"Todd: I knew it! I knew it all along!! Bad pop music! All this bad pop music! I knew it! IT'S THE WORK OF THE DEVIL!! Corrupting our minds! Destroying the world! He's coming! COMING FOR YOU AND YOUR SOULS!! Repent! Swear on the good book and you may yet be saved! Repent now or perish in the 4th circle of hell... Where "Like a G6" plays for eternity..."
 * He argues that the beat for "Blah Blah Blah" sounds like someone chucking objects at a keyboard. Guess what occurs next?
 * And also the one listed under Culture Clash.
 * Girl On Girl Is Hot: In the "Black and Yellow" review, Todd is all kinds of confused about why the rapper's girlfriend would be okay with him cheating with her best friend. When what's actually going on finally hits him, he calls him a "lucky son of a bitch."
 * Glurge: In "The Lazy Song" review, Todd says the "white guy with an acoustic guitar" genre is seemingly gentle and happy songs which are just smug attempts for the singer to rub in your face how they don't have any problems, especially the reviewed song.
 * Godwin's Law: Todd suggests Hitler among the people with more credibility than Ryan Seacrest.
 * Gone Mad From the Revelation: In "Like a G6", he comes to the conclusion that all bad pop music is the work of Satan!

"Todd: He's gonna do do do do. He's gonna doo-doo. *snort*"
 * Gosh Dang It to Heck: The "G" in Usher's "OMG" actually stands for Gosh. Todd reacts to this in the way you'd expect him to.
 * He also reacts badly to Bruno Mars' use of "frickin'" in "The Lazy Song".
 * He's angered by the existence and popularity of "Forget You" and its Glee arrangement, and considered putting it on his Worst of 2011 list.
 * Grammar Nazi: In "Eenie Meenie", Todd casually goes into detail to point out how the line "Shawty is a eenie meenie miney mo lover" should really be "Shawty is an eenie meenie miney mo lover." He then proceeds to RAGE in anger over just how stupid the lyrics really are.
 * Grievous Bottley Harm: The DL incident.
 * Groin Attack: He's compared most of Bruno Mars' output to that of a nut-shot victim.
 * Growing the Beard: As Todd reuploads his YouTube videos, he says his reviews only got real good by the third episode, "Party in the USA".
 * Guilty Pleasures: Todd has several.
 * iCarly, according to the caption at the end of his "Sexy Chick/Bitch" review.
 * Though he swore up and down during a uStream session that it was a joke that got out of hand. According to him, it was going to be either that of Spongebob SquarePants.
 * Briefly discussed regarding Katy Perry's "Hot 'n' Cold". He doesn't feel guilt for putting any song on his "Best of 2009" list, but if he did, that song would be the one he felt guilty for. Expanded upon in the "Best of 2010" list. He likes two Katy Perry songs of that year, and he's past calling it a guilty pleasure and at the point of calling it shame. (and while reviewing "E.T.", Todd's happy Perry again had a song he didn't like the least!)
 * "S&M". He admits that the song's quality is questionable, but he still sings along with it.
 * Handguns: He has a fake gun, used in four reviews (in three, Todd puts it on himself) and one crossover (in Suburban Knights, Jew Wario gets the gun on his chin after he tries to unmask Todd).
 * Happy Ending Override: He criticizes A-ha's "The Sun Always Shines On TV" for completely undoing the heartwarming ending of "Take On Me" in the first minute.
 * Hate Fic: Started a tumblr dedicated to hating Chris Brown. Something he PROMISED HIMSELF he would NEVER do.
 * Head Keyboard: In his review of "Paparazzi".
 * Also in his Top 10 of 2011,
 * Head-Tiltingly Kinky: He has a fetish. It's kinkier than sadomasochism. It involves a trombone.
 * Heh Heh You Said X:
 * His only comment on Taio Cruz's song "Dynamite" is snickering at the line "I'm in the club so I'm gonna do, do, do, do."

"Todd: What kind of person makes some creepy, weird video of themselves where you can't see their eyes?!? That's just crazy, right?"
 * "Hate you break it to you, Wiz... *snort* Wiz."
 * Heroic Sacrifice: Todd makes one saving Obscurus Lupa from THE BIRDS!!! at the end of her Birdemic: Shock and Terror review.
 * Hidden Track:
 * In a web original example, Todd uploaded a video to his Blip account that was not linked on his TGWTG page. It was a cover version of the Carole King song "It's Too Late".
 * He did it again in the same manner not much later -- a short mashup of Marcy Playground's "Sex and Candy" and Akon's "I Wanna Love You".
 * And yet another one, a cover of "Somebody's Baby" by Jackson Browne.
 * Hilarious in Hindsight: Todd drops the trope name when talking about Lionel Richie's father-daughter song "Ballerina Girl", and how the song takes on a new meaning when you remember his daughter is Nicole Richie.
 * Also, Eminem going from "homophobic who warrants protests from gays" to "rapper who does Ho Yay songs with Dr. Dre and Royce Da 5'9".
 * Ho Yay: Todd points out that "Sexy Bitch" sounds like something girls get called by their gay best friends. Cut to a scene from the music video of Akon glomping David Guetta.
 * Hope Spot: He suggests that pop songs set in clubs are on the way out, evidenced by the success of songs like "Rolling In the Deep" by Adele and "Fuck You" by Cee Lo Green... before spending the next 3 reviews looking at more of them..
 * Hotter and Sexier: He discusses on how Rihanna's post-"Russian Roulette" singles are raunchier and raunchier.
 * Humanoid Abomination: Lady Gaga, according to his theory.
 * Hypocritical Humor:
 * On Lady Gaga's appearance in the piano version of "Poker Face":

"Todd: Stupid gray hoodie pulled up over his head. You look like a loser dressed like that, Bieber. A LOSER!"
 * On Justin Bieber's dressing habits:

"Chick: Maybe it's about not wasting your time with some tramp that's not available and be happy with awesome, clever, funny girl who's right in front of you!
 * He criticizes the Internet fad of dubbing Imogen Heap's "Hide And Seek" over melodramatic death scenes as a prelude to reviewing Jason Derulo's "Whatcha Say". Eventually the song's continued decrease in quality drives him to beat himself to death. A Beat. Cue Imogen Heap.
 * He expresses bewilderment over how anyone could enjoy BDSM, despite the fact that his enjoyment of terrible songs is basically a form of masochism.
 * In a Description Cut in The Nostalgia Chick's review of The Little Mermaid, when she asks him to spend some time with her, he tells her to stop calling him and hangs up. "Geez, some people can't take a goddamn hint."
 * Then in Todd's review of "E.T.", shortly after Lupa calls him out, he is rude to the Chick and sends her away.
 * And in "Top Ten Songs About Mediocre Romance":

Todd: Yeah, I know! Isn't that horrible?"

"Enrique: If I never lied/ Then baby, you'd be the truth.
 * His "Top Ten Best Hit Songs of 2010" opens with him ranting about how his fellow reviewers are a bunch of nerds. Less than thirty seconds later he references Two Thousand Ten the Year We Make Contact.
 * When he discusses that Justin Timberlake left music to make funny videos on the internet: "Pff, what an idiot."
 * '...I'm guessing a lot of you haven't heard of (Lily Allen), unless you're one of those Pitchfork-reading snobs who constantly namedrops Europop singers (because) they're sooo much better than our American crap. By the way, that last album by Swedish pop star Robyn was actually really good and she's way better than that Ke$ha crap, you should totally listen to it.'
 * In "Drive-By", he points out that the lyrics involve a girl who the singer won't score with again, and asks him to move on... before talking to his Lupa pictures.
 * Ice Cream Koan: Pointed out in his "Tonight..." review:

Todd: Is that some kind of zen thing? What the fuck did that mean?"

"Todd: I'd like to dip my McNuggets in your special sauce!"
 * I'm a Man, I Can't Help It: His reasoning for placing Rihanna's "Rude Boy" on his list of top 10 hits of 2010.
 * Incredibly Lame Pun: Both Lampshaded by Todd in his work and pointed out in the awful lyrics of "Carry Out", which are mostly food Double Entendres linked together in lyrical form.

"Patrick: So gangsta, I'm so thug.
 * I Need a Freaking Drink:.
 * Ineffectual Death Threat:
 * He dishes one to the lead singer of Train for writing such horrible lyrics in "Hey Soul Sister".

Todd: ... I WILL HUNT YOU DOWN AND KILL YOU!"

"Will.i.am: I don't wanna take no pictures, I just wanna take some shots!
 * He threatens to plug Will.i.am during "The Time.":

Todd: [cocks gun] That can be arranged."

"Todd: I think 12 year olds who write gay Sonic the Hedgehog porn Fan Fiction are cooler than you!"
 * He closes
 * In Name Only: Justin Bieber's "Mistletoe" is described as "Christmas carol in name only".
 * Insult Backfire:
 * He attempts to burn Gucci Mane by comparing him to Soulja Boy only to learn the two of them have done a collaboration.
 * Todd describes the titular taunt of Mike Posner's hit "Cooler Than Me" as too easy to respond to with a resounding "Yes, I do!"

"Todd: Damn Allmusic, what did Mike Posner ever do to you?"
 * He also notices Posner crosses this with Hypocritical Humor, as the song goes "you got designer shades, just to hide your face and you wear them around like you're cooler than me"... and he wears shades through most of the music video.
 * Insult to Rocks: As much as he dislikes Mike Posner, Todd finds Allmusic's comparing him to Asher Roth to be much harsher than anything he could come up with.

"Todd: Does this guy know how to do anything but celebrate?
 * He can't call adult alternative "lifeless" because he actually likes "RE: Your Brains."
 * Intercourse With You: Todd can no longer listen to Peter, Paul and Mary without interpreting the lyrics as obscene thanks to "3." Later in the review, he (sarcastically) calls himself out on such.
 * He complains about this on T-Pain's "5 O'clock", and proceeds to see how he do this with samples of various songs.
 * I Remember It Like It Was Last Week: Parodied in his first That Guy With the Glasses episode. After hearing the ear-piercing "Blah Blah Blah", Todd recalls the fond memories of the years of support on That Guy With The Glasses, recalling that it seemed like a week ago that he started right before "departing", and "exits" by quoting Conan O'Brien's farewell speech from his last episode of The Tonight Show.
 * Ironic Echo Cut:

Flo Rida: "CELEBRATE, THAT'S ALL I KNOW!

Todd: Not surprised."

"*while playing "Someone Like You" on his keyboard* Yeah, this is why my friends call me Nostradamus."
 * In "Party Rock Anthem", asking if the song will ask "PUT YOUR HANDS UP!"... and later if it will play this line on loop.
 * It Makes Sense in Context: Retroactively invoked; he admits the opening speech of "The Lazy Song" that said speech was necessary to help understand what he meant by "white guy with an acoustic guitar" music.
 * It Will Never Catch On: Apparently what he thought about Adele when she won the Grammy for Best New Artist.

J-M
"Todd: Fix that."
 * Just Eat Gilligan: One of his complaints about "Telephone".
 * He also composes, on the spot, a similarly toned song, "Itchy Leg".
 * Last Second Word Swap: "I love beating Chris Brown as much as he likes beating... eggs for his famous homestyle breakfast"
 * Also, from the same review, "In February of 2009, the pop world was shocked when rising R&B superstar Chris Brown viciously and brutally assaulted his...chances for a long term career"
 * Played straight, then subverted, in "Top 10 of 2011". "If there's a single person in the universe who doesn't like this song (Fuck You by Cee Lo Green), I haven't met them and I don't care to. But if you're out there, whoever you are, wherever you are... I disagree with your opinions. *beat* And fuck you."
 * Let's See You Do Better: In what probably is a parody, Todd tries to make a song with an acoustic guitar. Epic Fail ensues, particularly for the thing being out of tune, and he gives up saying "guitar isn't my instrument".
 * Literal Minded: He's been accused of this, and discusses it in "E.T.". Then he tries to see it as "falling in love with a let's say, black, guy" instead of Boldly Coming... making Kanye's guest spot even worse! (see Unfortunate Implications below)
 * Loud of War: In the intro to "Club Can't Handle Me", the Critic threatens Todd with the dreaded "Hoedown Throwdown" if he didn't get back to reviewing music.
 * Love It or Hate It: This is how he feels about the Black Eyed Peas. If they did a good song in his opinion, he loves it. If he doesn't like it, he really doesn't like it.
 * Lyrical Dissonance: He calls this on Stephen Stills' "Love The One You're With".
 * Lyrical Shoehorn: In-universe. This is a huge pet peeve of his, with Train being the greatest offender.
 * Madonna Whore Complex: He discusses this mentality when reviewing "Sexy Bitch", and compares it with Akon's alternate viewpoint: "Bitch-Whore Complex". Or is that "Chick"?
 * Manipulative Editing: Played for laughs: he will often have the target of the review (or another celebrity) carry out a punchline or two.
 * Mary Sue: His main criticism of the protagonist of Glitter.
 * Medium Awareness: Apparently he can see the subtitles on-screen.

"Todd: You're thinking it, I'm thinking it, Vice President Biden is thinking it."
 * Metaphorgotten: He points out that the metaphors in "Carry Out", "Eenie Meenie" and "Your Love Is My Drug" are extended to the point where they stop making sense.
 * Mind Screw: His reaction to the music videos to "Bad Romance", "Alejandro" and "S&M".
 * Moment of Awesome: Invoked by Todd, who considers the fact that he has just successfully transcribed "Whip My Hair" to piano an achievement comparable to mastering the classic symphonies.
 * In a commentary, he admitted that when he was playing it, he actually was using information he found on the Internet. He originally did figure it out by ear, but when it came time to do the review, he had forgotten how.
 * Mondegreen: Often discussed in his reviews.
 * Ever heard of "Yellow Is My Drug" by Ke$ha? The song she did with Coldplay?
 * "I'm a bee! I'm a bee! I'm a I'm a I'm a bee!"

"Todd: How many Britneys are there in this equation?!"
 * Eenie meenie miney mo lava...?
 * One, two, three, why don't me, you, and me...


 * Subverted on "Club Can't Handle Me." The lyrics are so incoherent that he looks them up, only to find that they are the lyrics proper.
 * He actually called the Black Eyed Peas out on this during "The Time", on the grounds that they'd screwed up a line from the source material.
 * "Boring This Way"
 * Ass, ass, ass and ham, ham, ham...
 * Any attempt before finding out Kanye is singing "I'm tryin' to bathe my ape".
 * Likewise, the opening line of Ne-Yo's chorus in "Give Me Everything" (which he finds shocking, as Pitbull is supposed to be The Unintelligible there!).
 * Mood Whiplash: The "Top 10 Best Hit Songs of 2010" ends with Todd drunk dialing and sobbing on the phone to Lupa.
 * In "Give Me Everything", he says Ne-Yo is too depressive for such a party song. (to drive his point home, he even plays other songs by him... and starts to cheer after "So Sick"!)
 * In "Lighters", cutting from Eminem's angry verses to Bruno Mars' cheery and triumphant chorus. (even asking if Em listened to Mars' parts before writing...)
 * My Sister Is Off Limits to Chris Brown

N-P
"Lupa: What am I supposed to do with all these geese?!"
 * Name McAdjective: He gave Chris Brown the nickname Captain McPunchesAGirl during his review of "I Can Transform Ya".
 * Name's the Same: He calls out Hot Chelle Rae about calling a song called "Tonight Tonight" when The Smashing Pumpkins have already done so.
 * Neoclassical Punk Zydeco Rockabilly: He thinks "Hoedown Throwdown" is a conglomerate of the worst elements of five genres at once.
 * Nepotism: He blames it for the existence of Willow/Jaden Smith, Rockwell, LMFAO and Hot Chelle Rae's careers.
 * In an unstated example, when discussing LMFAO, he tries to draw an analogy between them, the Black Eyed Peas, and various hair metal bands before settling on LMFAO as Nelson. Nelson was also arguably a case of nepotism, being the twin sons of Ricky Nelson and by extension grandsons of Ozzie and Harriet.
 * Never Live It Down: 'Tonight...' and 'The Lazy Song' have permenantly changed his image of Enrique Iglesias and Bruno Mars for the worse in his eyes.
 * No Budget: In the "Like a G6/Whip My Hair" commentary, he points out that most of his props - biggest being the microphone, and mic stand - belong to his roommate.
 * And in the first video after moving out, Todd says his roommate probably got tired of him getting his stuff... and his jokes.
 * No Pronunciation Guide: At a certain point, he starts asking how "Iyaz" is supposed to be pronounced.
 * Gotye. Go-tiya? Got-Yee? Goat-yeh? Go-tee-yee? Goa-Tee? He finally pronounces it correctly (Go-Tee-Yay) at the end of his We Are Young / Somebody That I Used To Know double review.
 * Noodle Incident: "I am not having any bottles broken over anyone's head in this room. Not after the DL incident. I'll tell you about it sometime. *shudder* So much blood..." He would later explain it on Twitter, even later in "Grenade."
 * Also, the "Lupa Fiasco".
 * Noodle Implement: Something more twisted than S&M, and involving a trombone.
 * Also part of the Lupa Fiasco.

"Mack Maine... Jae Millz... Lil Chuckee... Lil' Twist... T Streets... and a bunch of other names that sound like I'm just making them up, though I swear to God I'm not."
 * Not Hyperbole: Whenever he makes a statement like "'The Time' is the worst Black Eyed Peas song. Worst than 'Imma Be'. Worst than 'My Humps'" and "'The Lazy Song' is so far my least favorite song of 2011, a year that includes a song called 'Tonight (I'm Fucking You)'".
 * Not Making This Up Disclaimer:
 * "... so I felt obligated to listen to their latest single, "Carry Out", which consists entirely of fast-food-related double entendres. [Beat] Seriously."
 * Also, on the "BedRock" review, when he lists the members of Young Money.

"Film Brain: Todd, I'm curious. How did you get in here?
 * In the "Worst Songs Of 1987" video, he has to clarify that yes, Starship's "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" is one of his favourite songs of the 80s.
 * Todd makes sure to point out he didn't add the Blades of Glory clip in "Niggas in Paris" (just after Kanye West quoted the movie), it's in the actual video!
 * N-Word Privileges: Todd doesn't have them, and as such has to rely on the subtitles when he has to mention 'Niggas in Paris' by name.
 * Odd Friendship: In the "Niggas in Paris" review, he discusses how weird it is that Kanye West and Jay Z are friends and collaborate on music, considering their contrasting personalities.
 * Offscreen Teleportation: He displays this in the Bad Movie Beatdown review of Sunday School Musical. (see also Stealth Hi Bye)
 * Offscreen Teleportation: He displays this in the Bad Movie Beatdown review of Sunday School Musical. (see also Stealth Hi Bye)

Todd: I move in the space between spaces."

"Todd: Your average Disney Channel sitcom gets raunchier than this. (Beat) Not that I watch those."
 * One Hit Wonder: He mentions how Mike Posner and the Far East Movement still managed to get a second hit, and asks for Hot Chelle Rae to not reach this. Then he says that despite the failure of LMFAO's follow-up single, they managed to still get a second hit with an even worse song.
 * While talking about 'Put It Down On Me,' he stated he was adding Jeremih to "...the growing list of one-hit wonders who technically have a second hit."
 * Also started a show to discuss this, One Hit Wonderland (first episode was A-ha).
 * Or So I Heard: In the From Justin To Kelly review:

"Todd: Ok. Even if you are one of Gaga's many gay fans, at what point do you feel pandered to? Like, when do you reach the point where even you have to look back and say: "Ok, this is getting kinda gay.""
 * Overly Long Gag: His comparison of Hot Chelle Rae's brand of partying to high school all-night grad parties.
 * Pandering to The Base: He questions about this in "Alejandro".

"Lady Gaga: Just put your paws up.
 * Double subverted in his review of "Born This Way", when he wonders which heavily marginalized group's self esteem the song intends to boost.

Todd: Furries. Also I guess gay people."

"One crisis at a time, Todd..."
 * Also says "Mistletoe" is this, since it's "using Christmas as an excuse for kissing Bieber fantasies."
 * Political Correctness Gone Mad: He was accused of homophobia when he said that "Born This Way" felt like pandering and racism when he asked "How am I supposed to tell [three members of Young Money] apart?" in reference to their respective styles.
 * Parody Failure: He points out that the chorus of "The Time (Dirty Bit)," which uses the chorus of "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes, can't get the lyrics right. Instead of "And I swear, it's the truth," the Peas instead sing "And I swear, this is true."
 * Pet Peeve Trope: All in-universe, of course.
 * Abuse Is Okay When Its Female On Male: Particularly if it's Beyonce-on-male.
 * Clark Kenting: People's inability to recognize the obviousness that Hannah Montana is Miley in wig drives Todd up the wall. Todd even references Clark Kent and Christopher Reeve's performance of the character.
 * Domestic Abuse: He struggled to avoid making this the focal point of his review of "I Can Transform Ya."
 * Songs that take place In Da Club.
 * Little Boy Blue Note:

"Todd: Hip hop! Stop. Shouting. Ohhh."
 * Painful Rhyme
 * Rhyming With Itself: Annoys him quite a bit.
 * Scatting: Any excessive parts of inane singing. Also, background vocals singing "HEY!" or "OH!".

"Todd: As soon as you turn that camera off, I'm beating the shit out of you."
 * The Power of Hate: Todd decided to take a different route when LMFAO told him to "STOP! HATIN'S BAD!" and look at the song from a more loving point of view. Not hating music almost erased him out of existence.
 * Precision F-Strike:
 * A fairly enraged one in the beginning of the "Deuces" review, especially jarring because up to that point there had barely been any strong language in his videos at all.
 * There was also this bit, though he wasn't in character at the time.

"Todd:If there is anyone out there who doesn't like this song...I respectfully disagree with your opinion. (Beat) And fuck you."
 * Something of a Tactical F Campaign throughout the "Tonight..." review.
 * His response to anyone who might not like Cee-Lo's "Fuck You" is... guess it.
 * Precision F-Strike: As mentioned above, double-subverted when he declares "Fuck You" as his favourite song of 2011:

"Todd: Previously on Todd In The Shadows: Your Mom! Hah! Also, on my show, this happened."
 * Previously On: Double-subverted:

Q-S
"Todd: Oh my god. I'm hitting the "Not A Rhyme" button as hard as I possibly can!"
 * Rape Is Love: Calls out Enrique Iglesias for this, in his review of "Tonight..."
 * Rage Breaking Point: Happens in "Sexy and I Know It", after some minutes of Deep Lyrical Analysis.
 * Rated G for Gangsta: Todd notes that Far*East Movement defines "poppin' bottles in the crib" as "gangsta". He then proceeds to demonstrate by unscrewing the cap of a liquor bottle, which is accompanied by the caption "STRAIGHT UP THUGGIN'" and the chorus of N.W.A.'s "Gangsta Gangsta".
 * Real Life Writes the Plot: A minor occurrence: The "DL Incident" referenced in "Like A G6" actually happened.
 * "The Reason You Suck" Speech: He gives Mike Posner one of these during his review of "Cooler Than Me".
 * Recurrer: Due to the nature of the pop charts and the music industry, many artists have been featured multiple times, including Ke$ha, Jay Sean, Lil Wayne, the Black Eyed Peas, Bruno Mars, Katy Perry and, of course, Lady Gaga.
 * Red Herring:
 * In his review of "Fifteen" by Taylor Swift, he tells a very sad story about how when he was fifteen, his girlfriend started acting strangely, before breaking up with him at the school dance. Then he reveals that . Subverted later on, as he mentions in the Blip intro to the review that.
 * In two of his "Top Ten Worst Songs" lists to date, he starts a diatribe that leads to an easily mocked song by an easily mocked artist... and then reveals that he likes the song in question. 2009 has the Black Eyed Peas' "I Gotta Feeling" and 1987 has Starship's "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now". He also curses the name of Barry Manilow in his 1976 list before revealing that he really has nothing against the guy.
 * In his "Best Songs of 2010" list, when he reaches #5, he plays Katy Perry's "California Gurls" before tiredly laughing it away and ranting about how much he hates her... and yet keeps finding songs of hers that he likes. After listing a number of them, including begrudgingly not being able to hate "California Gurls" despite its many flaws, he gets into his song of choice, "Teenage Dream"..
 * His ill-fated attempt to review "What's My Name" by Rihanna and Drake.
 * While reviewing Rihanna's "S&M", he comes to the conclusion that the reason he likes it is because it samples Depeche Mode... and then remembers that he doesn't care for Depeche Mode either.
 * Refuge in Audacity:
 * During the "I Can Transform Ya" review, Todd calls Chris Brown "Captain McPunchesAGirl." That's just the tip of it, really.
 * In his review of Usher's "OMG," he suggests that Usher's wife divorced him on the grounds that he tried to rhyme "style" with "wow."
 * Rerun: Two of his YouTube reviews, "Sexy Chick" and "Carry Out," were brought over to TGWTG early on, probably because, at the time, they were still recent enough to pass as current pop music. Todd had initially said he wouldn't bring all of his old YouTube videos over, but he changed his mind on September 2011, uploading them with short intros to provide context.
 * Rescued From the Scrappy Heap: In his opinion, Kenny G's sax solo in Last Friday Night was 'almost enough to make up for a lifetime of suck!'
 * Rimshot: "3," what? I dunno. 3 years past her expiration date?
 * Rock Bottom: "Tonight..." according to him.
 * Ruined FOREVER: In regards to his own childhood after hearing the "Peter, Paul, and Mary" line from Britney Spears' "3." Now he can't listen to their music anymore without thinking there's some perverted meaning to every lyric.
 * Rule 34: In his review of "S&M," when he's explaining how nothing shocks him anymore, Todd mentions that he's seen porn of himself.
 * Running Gag: Todd himself said he tries to avert this during videos. However he still has at least three (besides the Lupa obsession).
 * "Finish the Rhyme."
 * And conversely, "NOT A RHYME."

"Gudda: And I got her, nigga... grocery bag.
 * His lack of ethnicity.
 * BIEEEEBEEEEERRRRR.
 * On his Twitter, Todd frequently mentions watching a film that one of his That Guy With the Glasses partners did a review for and yells "WHY DID NO ONE WARN ME!"
 * On the Glitter review, Todd guessing if something will become a plot point, followed by "NOPE." He has a meltdown after the third. And goes "I hate this movie" by the fourth.
 * Sanity Slippage: He thinks Bruno Mars got a touch of this during "Grenade."
 * Sarcasm Failure:
 * In his "BedRock" review.

Todd: ... I got nothing."

"Todd: You know, as a comedy reviewer, this is where I'm supposed to put in a funny analogy, you know?
 * Also played with in his "Tonight..." review:

Enrique: Tonight I'm fuckin' you!

Todd: "Oh, my God, I can't believe he said that! That's so bad, that's like if he--" If he... what? If he what?! I... I can't come up with anything worse!"

"Todd: Yeah, she's clearly already beset by paparazzi, and if a child star's life isn't screwed up enough, why not add a thick layer of secrecy and lies? Yeah, that's an interesting definition of "normal life," Billy Ray."
 * Sarcasm Mode:
 * In Hannah Montana: The Movie, when Billy Ray Cyrus mentions that they created Hannah so that Miley could have a normal life.

"She lives in Arizona, I live in Virginia. It could work!"
 * "Let's keep listening. I can't wait to hear more!"
 * Say My Name: BIEEEEBEEEEERRRRR.
 * MANILOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!
 * Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
 * His first video for That Guy With the Glasses has him talking about the massive opportunity he's been given... then quitting when he finds out he's got to review Kesha's "Blah Blah Blah". Credits roll... and he comes back and demolishes the song.
 * At the end of his crossover review with The Rap Critic, they agree to do another review together and Rap Critic suggests the new Lady Gaga song. Todd promptly vanishes. He later pulls the same trick on Film Brain.
 * Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Todd concludes that "Whip My Hair" singlehandedly created the very Hatedom it was meant to be dissing.
 * Self Plagiarism: Todd defends that while "E.T." was bad, Katy Perry did something unique - unlike Ke$ha, who "released the same song five times" and Lady Gaga, who "tanked with 'Judas' because it was just like 'Bad Romance', including being about a bad romance".
 * He also says one of the songs in Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark (songs composed by Bono and The Edge) is U2's "Vertigo", only with different lyrics.
 * In a cross with Single-Issue Wonk, he complains that "Stronger" is Kelly Clarkson doing the same Break Up Song for at least the fifth time.
 * Sell Out: Todd finds "Moves Like Jagger" to represent this to Maroon 5. Also, considering how Katy Perry and Lady Gaga weren't known for inspirational ballads, "Firework" and "Born this Way" also fit.
 * Sequel Hook: "Your Love is My Drug" sets up "Alejandro", "Give Me Everything" sets up "Tonight, Tonight".
 * Seven Minute Lull: He references this trope in his review of Usher's "OMG", as the backup chanting breaks off just in time for Usher to deliver the lamest lines in the song. He even mentions in that episode's commentary that the idea came from TV Tropes.
 * Shaped Like Itself: (On Kesha) "It's like Fergie, but with severe brain damage...so it's like Fergie."
 * "I define bad as the absence of good."
 * Shipper On Deck: The character has an OT 3: Ke$ha and 3Oh!3. His only wish is that this doesn't yield children.
 * After Miley and Lily fight over who has to impersonate Hannah, Todd comments that they have fantastic makeup sex.
 * Ship Tease: Todd admits that the only reason why he featured Obscurus Lupa as a guest in his "OMG" video was to get the fans to ship them together, just because he could.

""It's so bad it hurts. More, please! Can I have another? It's so bad! That's why I don't show my face.""
 * Not to mention the Nostalgia Chick's heavy crush on him. For delicious Reality Subtext, Lindsay and Todd are Sickeningly Sweethearts in real life.
 * Shout Out: Enough to have his own page.
 * Six-Student Clique: Name drops the Trope Codifier, Saved By the Bell, in his From Justin to Kelly review.
 * Skewed Priorities: Calls Henry Gross out on this for finding the death of Carl Wilson's dog to be a worthy topic for a song, while Carl's brother Brian was in the middle of a mental breakdown.
 * So Bad It's Good: Averted In-Universe. Todd categorizes the songs he listens to as either "Bad" or "Good", so songs that are So Bad It's Good for him (such as "Good Vibrations" by Marky Mark) are categorized as "Good".
 * Though he mentions Big Sean's "Dance (A$$)" is horrible, but somewhat fascinating in its awfulness - unlike "Sexy and I Know It".
 * Subverted when reviewing Rihanna's S&M. He's aware the song is bad, but he still likes it... and notices this is basically sadomasochistic in itself!

"Todd: How dare thy stain mine good lady's name. Her! The most sexiest of all biatches!"
 * Something Completely Different: He decided to take a stab at movie reviewing with Hannah Montana: The Movie. He didn't like it. And followed it with the Guitar Video Game.
 * Ironically, his "Club Can't Handle Me" review opens with him admitting that he was enjoying reviewing movies and video games...while the Critic forces him back into music reviews.
 * He does it again for "The Top 5 Most Awful Moments in U 2's Rattle and Hum" (it opens at his keyboard, then he invites the viewer to come watch a movie).
 * Glitter is similar. Todd is at his keyboard, says he likes Mariah Carey and follows with some exposition on her before going to the TV to watch it.
 * His alleged "review" of Chris Brown's "Turn Up The Music" is actually an episode-long rant about his public image. Todd even admits that "this is gonna be a different episode for me". He spends about 15 seconds critiquing the song in question.
 * Something Something Leonard Bernstein: He specifically references this trope (and the actual song) during his review of Flo Rida's "Club Can't Handle Me," saying, "But of course, it doesn't matter that it didn't rhyme, because all Flo Rida songs are basically gibberish till the chorus anyway. No one cares. Blah blah blah blah, Leonard Bernstein, whatever."
 * Then he does it with the actual song in "Top Ten Songs About Mediocre Romance".
 * So Okay It's Average: Todd calls "Replay" this, as well as boring. He even opens the review (and later the blip intro) saying that a bland song is hard to discuss, unlike a good one or a bad one.
 * He also describes both "Born This Way" and "Firework" as "acceptably mediocre".
 * He puts Deep Blue Something's "Breakfast at Tiffany's" at the top of its "Top Ten Songs About Mediocre Romance" because the song is as mediocre as the love story described in it (where a guy decides to stay with his girl because both like Breakfast At Tiffany's).
 * Sophisticated As Hell: Every once in a while, he sarcastically uses slang in the middle of musical analysis.

"Todd: ... but even though I did like "I Gotta Feeling", I'll admit you could maybe call it a little repetitive. ... Yeah. But at least they were repeating something besides "Sexy Bi-Chick" In case I haven't made myself clear, I think this song is a chick-king piece of dog sh-chick!"
 * Pushed one point further in "Niggas in Paris", where does a British Kanye West.
 * Sound Effect Bleep:
 * Parodied in his "Sexy Bitch" review.

"Bruno Mars: Yes, I would die for you, baby / But you won't do the same?
 * Kenny G's "Songbird" being one of the most popular pop songs of 1987 lead him into a cursing rant that had to be bleeped out.
 * He ends his pseudo-review of "Turn Up the Music" with another bleeped cursing rant.
 * Squick: His reaction to will.i.am comparing himself to a sperm bank in "Imma Be".
 * Standard Snippet: When Miley/Hannah has a Two-Timer Date in Hannah Montana: The Movie, Todd reacts by grabbing a saxophone and playing "Yakety Sax".
 * Stealth Hi Bye: In two crossovers - first when The Rap Critic suggests a Gaga review, and when Film Brain suggests another Asylum movie.
 * Stealth Parody:
 * He can only assume that Akon's "Sexy Bitch Chick" is one of these. Right? Right?
 * He also believes ~Ke$ha~'s "Tik Tok" to be more suited to The DrDemento Show than mainstream pop radio.
 * And he finds himself forced to wonder if "Carry Out" is Justin Timberlake doing a throwback to his Saturday Night Live days.
 * Stealth Pun: Todd says that in "Born This Way", Lady Gaga talks about you being free to be who you are no matter the way you choose to "express yourself." (which kinda doubles as Foreshadowing - see the entry on Suspiciously Similar Song)
 * The ending title screen of the Imma Be review says "The E.N.D."
 * Stop Being Stereotypical: He lauds Far*East Movement for defying all of the stereotypes associated with Asians.
 * Stunned Silence

Todd: ... Holy shit, dude."


 * Also on "Deuces", after the line "Like Tina did to Ike in the limo, it finally hit me".
 * When the Black Eyed Peas shift from sampling "Time of My Life" to their "DIRTY BIT!"
 * And Mars causes it again with the second stanza of "The Lazy Song".
 * Stupid Sexy Flanders: He admits that Rihanna dressed as Slash is "really hot in a really confusing way."
 * "Ah Usher. The women want him and the men want him. Want to be him. I meant want to be him."
 * Sturgeon's Law: Todd invokes it twice, saying in his Top 10 of 2010 that "Nothin' On You" really stands out because "songs with bad pickup lines are all I hear", and in his Worst 10 of 1976 that the good music of that year makes the bad ones look even worse than they are.
 * Subverted Rhyme Every Occasion: During his FINISH THE RHYME segment in his review of "Black and Yellow", Todd had to mockingly give kudos to Wiz Khalifa for completely DESTROYING the rhyme track of the song and not even attempting to find a suitable substitute for the line that came before it.
 * Suckiness Is Painful:
 * "Break Up" by Mario featuring Gucci Mane and Sean Garrett is so horrible that it made Todd's hair fall out in clumps and made his nose bleed. The song's Suckiness Is Painful enough that Todd later says he's lucky it didn't give him cancer. (and in the TGWTG forums, Todd called it the worst song he's reviewed)
 * Yet in his Top Ten Worst Hit Songs of 2009, "Break Up" only managed to be Number 2 on the list. "Diva" by Beyonce was Number 1, and was apparently so bad, it gave him bouts of nausea.
 * Miley Cyrus' "Hoedown Throwdown" induces agonized writhing (plus depression and suicide threats) throughout its course.
 * Kenny G's "Songbird" so much, that he put it as #1 on the Top Ten Worst Hit Songs of 1987.
 * And Todd's contortions during Hannah Montana are recycled when he discusses the Transformers film.
 * He states that "Drive-By" is "Vogon poetry bad" and he feels bad reviewing it.
 * Suspiciously Apropos Music: He always gets one of those songs to play during the credits.
 * Suspiciously Similar Song: He discusses on how "Born This Way" is accused of being an "Express Yourself" rip-off.

T-V
"Todd: OK, I find this hard to believe that a seasoned, mature celebrity would lower herself to fighting publicly with a dumb, flash-in-the-pan starlett like Tyra Banks... BA-ZING!"
 * Take That:
 * He implicitly compared Avatar to James Cameron spending 500 million dollars of CGI and seven years to making a film consisting of a man being hit in the nuts. He speculated that the latter might have been a superior movie.
 * He says to a picture of Tommy Wiseau: "That guy is definitely a jerk."
 * In his review of Hannah Montana: The Movie, he's watching a scene where Miley is fighting with Tyra Banks over a pair of shoes. We get this little line:

"Todd: ... one of my favorite titles ever for a video game. Right up there with Space Marine First Person Shooter Video Game, Nonsense Fantasy Role-Playing Video Game and of course Piece of Shit."
 * When discussing the overly long name of Hannah Montana Pop Tour Guitar Video Game.

"Wiz Khalifa: They say they scared of it, but the crows ain't.
 * "But I tell you what. The Yankees fan in me can't help but appreciate this. What NYC, the Yankees, and Jay-Z have in common is the absolute knowledge that you are and always will be more important than anyone around you. And that's what this song is about, and that's something I can relate to every day." *EAT IT, RED SOX! flashes on screen*
 * He makes a well-timed one at Twilight in his "The Time (Dirty Bit)" review.
 * At the end of "Black and Yellow":

Todd: You know who else wasn't scared? The Packers. BURN!"

""Which brings me to my next point. Don't rip off Jimmy Buffett. That's what we have Kenny Chesney for.""
 * Todd: "Do you ever feel like a plastic bag? Katy Perry does, because she's made of plastic. And she's a bag. BOOM!"
 * He says that "Sexy Bitch" "sucks harder than the New Jersey Nets".
 * In "The Time", he bashes the elevator parties that occurred at MAGFest ("hearing a bunch of morons screaming about how they're having fun is not having fun!").
 * During his review of Lady Gaga's "Born This Way," he criticizes the lyric, "God makes no mistakes," by observing that "God makes plenty of mistakes. This guy, for example" -- cut to a picture of a frat boy type with spiked and dyed blonde hair -- "was a mistake. And he was probably born that way. So I just don't see that as much of a defense."
 * One against the Bill Engvall Show, saying that even that was cooler than Mike Posner during Cooler Than Me.
 * During "Tonight, Tonight" by Hot Chelle Rae:

"Todd: I sincerely hope Lady Gaga doesn't inspire any other artists to make weird, ugly videos with sub-par music in them. *Cue montage of Gaga-esque music videos by various artists*"
 * Towards country music fans in his "If I Die Young" review: "I still check on [country music] now and again, but me and it lost touch right about the time I discovered everything else in the world!"
 * "And speaking of getting old really fast, let's talk about T Pain."
 * Talking to Himself: Todd does Jesus' voice in "Just a Kiss".
 * Tempting Fate:
 * "Lady Gaga has genuinely used up her shock potential, I don't believe there's anything else she can do to shock - AH! OH GOD! OH GOD!"
 * From his "Telephone" review.

"One crisis at a time, Todd..."
 * At least reviewing "Alejandro" will be a step down - Lady Gaga surely has to calm down a little after "Telephone" and "Bad Romance", right? (Stunned Silence follows.)
 * "I swear to god, I will beat myself unconscious if this song gets any worse..."
 * "Now, "Imma Be" isn't the worst song that the Black Eyed Peas have made. I mean, the band that made "My Humps" isn't going to dig that hole any further." Well, then came "The Time (Dirty Bit)".
 * After being baffled by Willow Smith referencing "Whip It"... cue Devo 2.0.

""Don't make me think of your O-face, dude""
 * In the Best of 2010 review, he cuts his positive review for Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream" short, since he'll lose all respect for himself if he has to praise her any more.
 * About halfway through reviewing "The Lazy Song" he states he can't hate Bruno Mars any more than he does now. Cut to Bruno laughing at his own joke.
 * Used twice regarding Ke$ha's "Tik Tok". After looking at her previous work with Flo Rida, the spelling of her name, and the album art, he's certain he's not going to like the song. The chorus plays... and he actually enjoys it. Heartened by this, he starts the song from the beginning... and the verses lose him again.
 * Subverted by "Lighters". As he reaches Eminem's verse, he goes in expecting a bland verse fitting his has-been nature that will do nothing to blow him away... and is proven correct.
 * Thinking that he's being too harsh, Todd decides he could enjoy the Black Eye Peas covering "Time Of My Life" if he gives it a chance. His faith is not rewarded.
 * Ten Minute Retirement: His first That Guy With the Glasses exclusive. He quits from the strain from hearing ~Ke$ha~'s "Blah Blah Blah", only to return and give it a sound beating less than a minute later.
 * They Just Didn't Care: Accuses Snoop Dogg of this in Katy Perry's "California Gurls" and Ludacris of this in Enrique Iglesias's "Tonight...". Though he admits that it's arguably justified considering they realized the quality of the song they were recording and just wanted to get paid.
 * Also, he thought that Train wrote "Hey Soul Sister" as Album Filler ("let's write bad lyrics, and record it like I was imitating Minnie Mouse!").
 * And it's one of the possible explanations Todd comes up for why the line "Like Tina did to Ike in the limo, it finally hit me" appears in "Deuces".
 * Again when Bruno Mars wrote "The Lazy Song."
 * He accuses Katy Perry's production team of doing this in "E.T.", as they got tired of providing nice beats and tuning for her voice.
 * It Gets Worse in his Moves Like Jagger review, where he is throughly convinced that Maroon 5 didn't know anything about Mick Jagger himself, but just slapped it together when it seemed like a mini-fad to mention him in songs.
 * This Is Gonna Suck:
 * Said word for word after his first review at TGWTG.com was "Blah Blah Blah" by Ke$ha.
 * In his "Hannah Montana: The Movie" Review: "This is going to hurt a lot, isn't it?"
 * This Is Sparta: FINISH. THE. RHYME!
 * CAN'T... GET.... CLEAAAAAN!
 * Three words: Deep. Blue. Something.
 * Too Good to Last: This is his hindsight opinion of the rise of indie pop in 2004, and he is strongly convinced that the same will happen to Neon Trees. He's a bit more optimistic about Foster The People.
 * Too Much Information: His reaction to "'Cause I was all through\Oh I was overwhelmed" in "Drive-By".

"Todd: Make us believe that you feel, deep down in your soul... that Shawty is a eenie meenie miney moe lovah."
 * Took The Bad Song Seriously: Todd hangs several lampshades on this.
 * Justin Bieber in "Eenie Meenie".

"Todd: Poor Chris Brown... he's trying so hard to find the melody."
 * Chris Brown in "I Can Transform Ya".

"Todd: What kind of critic am I? I'll tell you what kind: The kind that hates "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" by Genesis!"
 * In the That Guy With the Glasses cover of "Friday", Todd seems to be the only person who's even trying to sing well.
 * True Art Is Angsty: Totally averted. He actually likes stupid pop music and his complaints stem from his dissatisfaction with bad stupid pop music. Lampshaded when he ranks "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" as one of his Worst Songs Of 1987.

"Todd: Heh. Nerf should use this song for their commercials. Nerf should not use this song for their commercials. I immediately take that back."
 * On the other hand, he dislikes the "white guy with acoustic guitar" genre because it's mostly void of emotion.
 * True Art Is Incomprehensible: At one point in "Break Up," he asks if it's an avant-garde piece that's gone over his head.
 * Unfortunate Implications:
 * Todd points out that in "Tonight..." the chorus of the song "Tonight I'm fucking you" implies that the woman Enrique is talking to has no choice in the matter.
 * One line in Bruno Mars' "The Lazy Song" leads Todd to believe that Mars had been called out for masturbating in public.
 * "E.T." by Katy Perry ft. Kanye West. Todd, in an attempt to forgo his Literal Minded ways of song interpretation, notes that if one interprets the song as being about, say, a black guy, then Katy is singing about a Scary Black Man who threatens to abduct her. Todd then figures that metaphor can't apply, and that it must meant to be taken literally and be about an alien, because there's no way the song would be intended to have that kind of message. Then Kanye shows up and raps about abducting her, probing her and taking her against her will.
 * If one sings "Like Tina did to Ike in the limo, it finally hit me" (as Kevin McCall in "Deuces"), he's sympathizing with Ike, of all people (and if the main singer had a domestic abuse history, it's even more unfortunate!).
 * In his blip.tv intro to "3", Todd mentions how that review (and a few subsequent ones) make it seem like he's against sex.
 * The Unpronounceable: He has trouble saying the names of everyone in A-ha who isn't Morten Harket.
 * Verbal Backspace: He does one after describing the Mondegreen of Hannah Montana's "I Got Nerf Nerve".


 * Very Special Episode: His "review" of Chris Brown's "Turn Up The Music" proceeds to completely ignore the song's existence, in favor of a 15-minute "The Reason You Suck" Speech directed at Chris Brown and his complete failure to learn anything from the Rihanna incident.
 * Vomit Discretion Shot: He couldn't quite hold his liquor in "Your Love Is My Drug".

W-Z
"Todd: Eminem just threatened to eat your face! AWESOME!"
 * Waxing Lyrical: In "OMG" and "The Top 10 Best Songs of 2010", he hits on Lupa with terrible song lyrics ("OMG" itself and "Sexy Bitch" in the former, "Carryout" in the latter).
 * To push the "Born This Way"/"Express Yourself" joke further, he advises Lady Gaga by saying that a wise person once said "Don't go for second best baby, put your love to the test".
 * He closes a U2 top 5 with "I'm Todd in the Shadows, and I still haven't found what I'm looking for".
 * "I mean, you'd think people would have had enough of silly love songs."
 * "Levine, get off of his cloud!"
 * We Want Our Jerk Back: Thinks this about Eminem's recent work.
 * What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?:

"Gudda: And I got her, nigga... grocery bag.
 * What Did I Do Last Night?: He figures the reason why he woke up with a hangover at the start of "Your Love Is My Drug" is because he drank himself under after having reviewed all three of ~Ke$ha~'s singles so far, which is two and a half more than he's ever needed to hear... Then we find out the real reason why - he's going to review "Alejandro" by Lady Gaga in the next episode, so he continues drinking and falls over.
 * What Do You Mean It's Not for Kids?: He calls Bruno Mars out on this over "The Lazy Song."
 * What the Hell Is That Accent?: Calls this on Ne-Yo singing with an Australian Accent ("Let's do it to-noight") - he even speculates it's "Let's do it to annoy!".
 * With Lyrics: "Kenny G, he's a stupid looking guy... and he plays his goddamn saxophone, it makes me want to die..."
 * Wolverine Publicity: Todd has pointed out that Lil Wayne and Ludacris are notorious for this. He claimed that Lil Wayne is on quest to collaborate with everyone in the industry. And that if you record a song in your basement Ludacris would be on it by the time you uploaded it to your My Space page.
 * The Woobie:
 * In-universe example. He thinks Miley became one after removing the popstar facade and pouring out her feelings for a crowd of hundreds, only to have them all reject it and tell her to become Hannah again.
 * Todd also invokes this trope during his review of Taylor Swift's "Fifteen", in which he tells a long story about his girlfriend in junior year of high school who was acting distant, and how they eventually broke up at a dance because she was interested in someone else... which he then admits was actually taken from an episode of Saved By the Bell, and was telling it to make a point about a flaw in the song's writing. (though in the Blip commentary, he points out it sounds so honest because most of it also happened to him in his first break-up)
 * Word Salad Lyrics: Young Money's "Bedrock".

Todd: The words and ideas don't flow into each other, they just pile up into this free-association trainwreck!"

"Kanye: I'm trying to bathe my ape (ape)/in your Milky Way!
 * Also, the second line into Kanye West's first verse in E.T., after which Todd deems the verse unsalvageable.

Todd: You can't just take a vaguely sexual sentence and throw random words into it.

Kanye: Pockets on Shrek,/Rockets on deck!

Todd: Pockets on Shrek? Pockets on Shrek. He said, "Pockets on Shrek." He's given up tryin' to rap ideas. He's just throwing up gibberish at this point."


 * He mentions REM's vocation for this in "Top Ten Songs About Mediocre Romance".
 * "Drive By".
 * Worthy Opponent:
 * Lady Gaga. He doesn't like her, but he does acknowledge that "Bad Romance" was the best song he reviewed in 2010, and "Just Dance" was his favorite song of 2009. Additionally, the Fame Monster album cut "Monster" was included in the list that he flashed on the screen of tracks that might have made his Best of 2010 list if he hadn't been limited to hit singles. Along with this is an Enemy Mine situation at the end of the review for "Alejandro," where Todd references criticisms of Lady Gaga from artists such as M.I.A. and Joanna Newsom. Todd then suggests that we all listen to those two, and plays clips of their songs... only to find that he thinks they suck even harder than Gaga.
 * Also obvious in his "Bad Romance" review itself, where he breaks down crying when he realizes he actually likes the song. Hinted at earlier when he says that even though he hates "Poker Face", he finds that he LOVES "Poker Face" and instantly begins playing the song on his keyboard while happily singing along.
 * While he assures us that he hates Katy Perry and considers her to be a horrible singer, he puts two of her songs on the Best of 2010 on the list. Though it's less respectful a relationship than with Lady Gaga.
 * As he puts "Last Friday Night" on his Top 10 of 2011, he goes "I give up. I love you, Katy Perry."
 * Worlds Smallest Violin: Played with in the "Deuces" video. He doesn't actually pull out a mini violin; he instead sets his keyboard on violin and plays a song to "show his sympathy" for Chris Brown. For bonus points, the song he plays sounds suspiciously like "O.M.G."
 * You Take the X from XY: "Flo Rida, taking the 'star' out of 'pop star' since 2007"
 * And in a You Put the X In XY example: "We put the 'hip' in 'Rohypnol'!"
 * You Need to Get Laid:  at the end of "Just a Kiss"
 * You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry: Nash's stickfigure learns this firsthand.
 * Your Mom: In his "Lazy Song" review. "Previously On Todd In The Shadows...YourMom!"
 * Zero Percent Approval Rating: The Designated Villain in the Hannah Montana Movie may have a mall-building plan that even generous helpings of And That's Terrible can't convince Todd to disaprove of, but he does admit that he's acting like a supreme douch who seems to revel in the fact that not a single resident in the town wants his mall or likes him. How exactly he's planning to turn a profit after he taunted most of his potential customers that they'd never raise enough money to 'save' the field (his own words) it will be built on...