For the second year in a row, I’m adding a special countdown for all the pop music (ie: anything that isn’t Korean or Japanese) I loved in 2022. I’ve slowly dipped my feet back into international music markets, highlighted by the blog’s “Global Round-Up” posts that kicked off this February and will continue into the future. Here’s the second half of this year’s countdown: songs number twenty to one!
Another song that should have been a mega-hit, Out Of Time perfectly replicates a shimmering, MJ-esque 80’s r&b sound. 90’s house music and gospel choir vocals go hand-in-hand, and Confidence Man wring everything they can from the recipe with this ebullient stunner. Sigala was one of my MVPs of the year, producing excellent dance music — one hit after another.
SB19 are representing P-pop on this year’s countdown with the infectious retro throwback WYAT. Speaking of pastiches, Betty Who nails a certain style of softly anthemic 80’s pop with the excellent Blow Out My Candle.
This kind of 80’s funk is my happy place, and this song feels like home. This is high-octane, propulsive dance music with a fantastic vocal that soars to the sky. A bit of a turn from her past music, Maybe You’re The Problem‘s mile-a-minute chorus and vaguely synthwave beat combine to forge a dynamite pop standout. Depending on what you consider a “single,” I could’ve easily featured other Beyonce tracks on this list.
But, Break My Soul was positioned as a killer opening salvo for the album. This potent dance track was one of my most-played songs of the year — in any genre.
Once again, I’m embedding the single mix before the video because that version is vastly superior. I adore her gargantuan, ultra-maximalist take on pop music. If you couldn’t tell by how often I use the word, I’m a big fan of “catharsis” in pop music. MUNA’s What I Want builds its entire existence around this sensation, bursting at the seams with longing, frustration and — ultimately — a rush of pent-up release.
The Official Top 40 Biggest Songs of 2022
Harry leads an all-British takeover of the Top 10 biggest tracks of the year in the UK, marking the first time ever that all ten of the year’s most successful singles were released by, or featured, British artists – including Harry, Cat Burns, Scottish DJs LF SYSTEM, Sam Fender, Glass Animals and Kate Bush. Kate Bush reaped the rewards of an intelligently placed sync of her 1985 single Running Up That Hill (6) in the fourth season of Netflix’s landmark series Stranger Things.
The song resonated with a new generation, enabling it to (finally) reach Number 1 in the UK, 35 years after its initial release, breaking a trio of Official Charts records in the process. More 2022 chart-toppers to make the year-end list include Starlight by Dave (14), abcdefu by Gayle (17), Unholy by Sam Smith & Kim Petras (31), and Forget Me by Lewis Capaldi (40). As for the fastest-seller in its first week based on pure sales, that honour goes to LadBaby’s record-breaking Official Christmas Number 1, Food Aid. Despite releasing her single Go originally in 2020, it was two years later that Cat Burns experienced the most extraordinary breakout year with the track peaking at Number 2 on the Official Singles Chart, and Cat getting nominated for the BRITs Rising Star Award and placing fourth on the BBC’s Sound Of…2023 poll.
Other major dance releases include Irish duo Belters Only’s Make Me Feel Good ft. Jazzy (12), Where Did You Go by Jax Jons ft. MNEK (16), Australian DJ Luude’s hit Down Under with Colin Hay (23), and I’m Good (Blue) by David Guetta & Bebe Rexha (25) which spent a week at Number 1, netting Bebe her first chart-topper in the UK.
35 Happy Songs To Put You In a Great Mood
On this list of the best happy songs ever written, you’ll find modern Top 40 bangers, joyful ‘60s and ‘70s soul jams, quirky rock tunes and mellow mood enhancers. There’s even a few hits that, played at the wrong time, might be described as ‘annoying.’ But when you truly need a pick-me-up, all of these songs will instantly brighten your day.
55 Best Workout Songs for the Ultimate Exercise Playlist
Contrary to what the very ripped personal trainer at the gym keeps screaming at you, sometimes the best motivation for working up a sweat isn’t the grunting encouragement of a stranger clutching a protein shake. To help you on your fitness journey, we tapped our stable of music geeks – some of which are in much better shape than others – to scour their knowledge of hip-hop, pop, classic rock and for 55 high-energy motivators. Written by Kristen Zwicker, Marley Lynch, Hank Shteamer, Gabrielle Bruney, Brent DiCrescenzo, Sophie Harris, Andy Kryza, Andrew Frisicano, Nick Leftley, Tim Lowery, Carla Sosenko, Kate Wertheimer, Steve Smith and Andrzej Łukowski.
The World’s Happiest Songs Have Been Revealed, According To Science
Dr Michael Bonshor, who teaches music psychology at the University of Sheffield, has created a simple formula to determine how happy a song is. “Previous studies have found songs are perceived as happy if they are in a major key, with a sweet spot of approximately 137 beats per minute,” Dr Bonshor says in a statement.
The 50 Best Dance Songs of 2022: Staff Picks
Meanwhile, dance clubs and festivals are doing “amazingly well,” after an existentially fraught two years from which other realms of live events are still struggling to return. Indeed, while the commercial viability of dance music isn’t making waves like it did during the EDM heyday, the scene has in ways never felt healthier.
75 Songs That Make You Happy [Updated for 2022]
Is it time to feel some happy vibes and boost your mood? In this article, singing teacher Liz T. put together a list of feel good songs that make you happy, old and new, to have you smiling in no time! Happiness is the reason the world goes ’round, right?
But, sometimes life throws its challenges and it’s hard to smile.
That’s when a playlist of happy songs can come in handy! Listening to happy and upbeat songs isn’t just for boosting your mood – it’s also an effective short-term solution for increasing productivity.
If that sounds too good to be true, listen to a few below as you work or study and see what happens! The following songs range from the 1940s up until now, which means we’ve got happy tunes for every generation. Take a look at our list and create your perfect happy song playlist! You might also be interested in: Your Official Road Trip Playlist: 150+ Songs Everyone Knows
Here are 75 of our favorite happiest songs sorted by release year. If you’re into new music, tunes from 2011 to today, these happy songs should be right up your alley.
We’ve got Juice by Lizzo, an immediate confidence booster, and so much more! Uptown Funk by Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars Don’t Worry by Madcon feat Ray Dalton Price Tag by Jessie J feat B.o.B
Troublemaker by Olly Murs feat. Get Lucky by Daft Punk feat.
Did you know there are tons of benefits to music on the brain for people of all ages? Songs That Make You Happy (Early 2000s)
Who doesn’t love Party in the USA by Miley Cyrus?
These happy upbeat songs come from a variety of genres, but they’re all worth checking out if you want to feel good! Are You Gonna Be My Girl by Jet Baby by Justin Beiber feat.
The Remedy (I Won’t Worry) by Jason Mraz From iconic songs like Macarena to Jennifer Lopez’s energetic Let’s Get Loud, we’ve got all sorts of happy music on this list. Livin’ La Vida Loca by Ricky Martin It’s easy to find a few favorite happy songs from this decade.
Don’t Worry be Happy by Bobby McFerrin\ The Way You Make Me Feel by Michael Jackson Songs like Isn’t She Lovely by Stevie Wonder never get old. I Wanna Hold Your Hand by The Beatles
Ain’t No Mountain High Enough by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrel We had to include a few real oldies but goodies to our list.
Great Balls of Fire by Jerry Lee Lewis Enjoy Songs That Make You Happy!
There you have it – 75 feel good songs that make you happy! Or, save this article for later to refer back to when you need some happy songs.
Have other favorite songs that make you happy?
The Best Songs of 2022
Liberation in the industry was in short supply over the last 12 months, what with an imploding touring business, an increasing number of artists taking time off for their mental health, and one of the most influential acts of the last two decades devolving into unadulterated Nazism. To escape it all, we searched for something bigger than ourselves: the comfort of nostalgia, a club-floor renaissance, the occasional merengue, freedom from a world untethered from climate change.
The breakout single from Memphis upstart GloRilla is the sound of reckless abandon, dancing with your friends in a parking lot on a summer day while chugging from the same bottle of Old E. There isn’t much to Hitkidd’s thudding piano-and-drums production, and there doesn’t need to be. When Doechii signed with TDE, it was hard not to helicopter-parent; the label doesn’t exactly have a stellar track record of treating its female artists favorably (as seen via SZA’s infrequent dispatches about Top Dawg president Punch).
While the mêlée of her single “Crazy” is enough for the Best of 2022 shortlist, it’s “Persuasive” that feels like the more fully realized work: a somehow not-cringey ode to weed that’s cool enough for the downtown crowd yet popular enough for Barack Obama to include on his annual list of favorite songs. Part of a class of young no-fucks-given artists keen on showcasing their visions, Doechii’s “Persuasive” feels like a small taste of what’s to come.
Accurately conveying teen emotions on a song years after you’ve left high school is like trying to capture lightning in a bottle. How do you channel that level of insecurity and hormones and dumb social hierarchy without sounding like *insert “Steve Buscemi carrying a skateboard” meme*?
Ask Ethel Cain, who turns “American Teenager,” the centerpiece of her breakthrough album Preacher’s Daughter, into a relatable rush of youth.
“I do what I want, crying in the blеachers / And I said it was fun,” she sings with panache over a bold guitar hook and the kind of arena-rock reverb that wouldn’t sound out of place on Born in the USA.
“Después de la Playa” feels like a microcosm of both Un Verano Sin Ti, his genre-smashing, chart-dominating 2022 album, and the Puerto Rican artist’s career as a whole: someone who can meld together different musical styles and effectively rap and sing over anything. On “Después,” he starts things off slow, humming along to starlight synths before challenging his partner who says he doesn’t take risks: “Dime qué tú juega’ y yo lo juego,” he sings.
Pharrell morphs his familiar repeat-four intro into something unexpected and off-kilter (distorted kick drum, funky falsetto sample, hissing percussion effects), Tyler throws in a blustery rhyme scheme and insatiable ad-libs (the “They was talkin’ ’bout a hundred million, baby” a cappella; the way he injects multiple syllables into the word “furry”), and rap feature king/Her Loss load-bearing wall 21 Savage drops some hilariously grimy banter (“She swallow all my kids, she a bad babysitter”; “Money turned me into an assholе I ain’t gon’ lie / I was used to being poor”). Pharrell once accurately described this song as “letting two pit bulls loose,” and his minimalist production creates a kind of space two far less compelling rappers would fail to fill adequately. Homage can be a tricky needle to thread in music: A song needs to recall and honor its predecessors while also feeling like a step forward. “Renaissance” becomes an ecstatic roller coaster through dance history, taking turns into a diva-size house anthem and vogue-ready bitch track. That’s the key to “Happy New Year,” the thrilling opening cut off new album Two Ribbons, which details changes in the duo’s dynamic as best friends. Other songs on Two Ribbons chart the ways the two have had to reconfigure their friendship, but the end of each “Happy New Year” chorus centers the project: “Because you know you’ll always be my best friend / And look at what I have with you.” What more do they need to say?
The proof is in “Wild,” a swaggering, explosive track where everything falls exactly into place — a push-pull between restraint and passion that always moves forward but never fully bursts. The second single off the classic-rock-indebted Lucifer on the Sofa, “Wild” is big enough to fill an arena, with layers of guitars and a victorious piano line lifted straight from the U2 playbook.
There’s the adeptly cut Aretha Franklin sample; 21 Savage’s effortless guest feature, which builds momentum with each bar; a slick four-line bridge from Baby Tate, the keystone to the song’s two-part gambit; and, most importantly, the wildly fun JID verse, full of street talk, distinctive wordplay, and more flows than some full albums. “Oh, didn’t know what love is / ’Til I found my bliss,” sings Amber Mark on the funky penultimate track off her long-awaited debut Three Dimensions Deep.
Structured over three sections, the album starts with a deep dive into Mark’s own self-doubts, shifts into recovery mode, then, in the final act, arrives at a place of peace and joy. As she sings on the part-three single “Bliss,” “You teach me things I never knew / A crush don’t have to leave a bruise / My soul is shining, changed my life with perfect timing.” Mark’s delivery over the song’s soupy bassline is a marvel, as she dips in and out of the groove, taking brief pauses for dramatic effect, and using her impressive range to showcase a sense of triumph.
Yung Kayo might be the weirdest rapper on the Young Stoner Life roster, delivering braggadocios trap bars over tracks that draw more from PC Music than Atlanta. Twigs is looking for a tension break, and she finds it in the chorus, pouring her desperate need for a reprieve into an infectious melody: “I just want to go outside / and feel the sun is shining on my better side.” — A.S.
For now, the 27-year-old rapper is ordering “pasta that I cannot pronounce properly,” netting a million after taxes to spend on fashion, and hiring an accountant to manage it all. Not that it’s easy subject matter — Van Etten confronts her anxiety and depression head-on here, personifying those thoughts into a stalker that wants to “steal” her life. It’s a concept that might come off as too heavy-handed from another artist, but Van Etten makes it work thanks to those synths, which take “Porta” from wallowing to motivating. The cover of Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You, the transcendent double album from folk-rock heroes Big Thief, is a graphite sketch of four animals playing guitars, sitting around a campfire.
It’s the album’s best showcase for the lively fiddle playing by unofficial fifth member Mat Davidson and features some especially clever writing from Adrianne Lenker (“I got the oven on, I got the onions wishing / They hadn’t made me cry”). The album’s tightly wound fourth single is one of the most polished songs Charli has ever made — and one of the most fun, a balance earlier offerings from Crash failed to strike.
On an album that pushes for pop maximalism, “Baby” cuts all the fat, from its breakneck dance beat to that one-line hook, such an earworm that it deserves to be repeated into oblivion. Producer and True Romance collaborator Justin Raisen condenses Crash’s ’80s-meets-’10s sound into a single track with astute touches such as those opening strings. The singer-songwriter contemplated the afterlife on his 2019 opus, Oh My God, and wrote his 2020 follow-up, Sundowner, after three deaths (the musician Jessi Zazu, his former producer Richard Swift, and his hero Anthony Bourdain) impacted him. The Catalan singer spends all two-and-a-half minutes expertly curving her voice around plaintive chords, taking the time to patiently linger over each syllable (“So, so, so, so, so, so good,” she sings on the hook).
The vocal-first approach only elucidates the explicit subject matter: sexual freedom, diamond-encrusted genital piercings, pornographic animation (somehow, a hilariously random nod to Spike Jonze). Sophie Allison’s tempered vocals can make even her most upbeat proclamations sound charmingly off-kilter — and the ones that aren’t get stamped with double the dread.
She uses this to striking effect in “Shotgun,” off her new album, Sometimes, Forever: “Look at your blue eyes like the stars / Stuck in the headlights of a car,” she sings, ready to take the dive into a relationship without knowing what comes next. When they collide on the hook, her voice — “So whenever you want me, I’ll be around,” Allison drones, “I’m a bullet in a shotgun waiting to sound” — gives the song an exhilarating emotional release. Bryan’s dusty voice is best when it’s bursting with resolve, as on the song’s second verse, which doubles as a sample of his best writing: “And all of my old friеnds miss havin’ me around, but / Highways work both ways, and I can’t stand the liars in town.” As a writer, the 26-year-old can convey detail and emotional depth in a matter of words; as a performer, he knows those lyrics hit best with a folky, neo-traditional backing. Ella Mai followed up her runaway 2018 success — which included a chart-topping debut album, a Song of the Year Grammy nod, and the definitive onomatopoeic romance anthem in “Boo’d Up” — by keeping a low profile. “I be hoping that it’s more than just my body that you wanted / Shoulda left you on read / I blew it, so stupid,” she sings over slinky production and that slick vocoder effect that used to pop up in every ’90s slow jam. Freddie Gibbs channels his Power Book drug kingpin alter ego Cousin Buddy in “Ice Cream,” effortlessly rapping over a Kenny Beats production — which flips the same Earl Klugh sample RZA once used in Raekwon’s 1995 single “Ice Cream” — like it’s a second appendage: “I was pushin’ on the interstate / Trunk full of weight when my dawg woke up / Told him I just did a whole thing of the Fetty Wap, no dog, all cut.” Ross, up to his usual antics, hops in for a short but powerful second verse, blending braggadocio (“Put a chopper on you pussies with the GPS”) with Robin Hood wealth redistribution (“Couple mill a duffle bag, I got a block to feed”). Debut single “Romance With a Memory” sounds like an outtake from 2017’s I See You, with its swaying verses and piano-and-synth backing, courtesy of Jamie xx.
“Shake It” is built for summer parties, around spliced samples of Akon’s “Bananza (Belly Dancer)” and Sean Paul’s “Temperature.” Scene ascendant Kay Flock sets the pace, stomping over the beat with a growling confidence that Dougie B and Bory300 are quick to match. After two albums’ worth of songs about fucking up relationships, hearing Gavin say she could “Go out and meet somebody / Who actually likes me for me / And this time, I’ll lеt them” packs a punch. “Kind of Girl” is Muna reevaluating what sort of band it wants to be: a lush country-inspired ballad from musicians who made their name on synthpop.
Worries recur on Sharon Van Etten’s latest, We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong, an anxious album prompted by not just the COVID-19 pandemic but the general state of the world. Kendrick sounds haunted on “The Heart Part 5.” “Desensitized, I vandalized pain, covered up and camouflaged,” he raps over a flip of Marvin Gaye’s “I Want You” (which, kudos to K.Dot, is not an easy sample to clear in 2022!). “Get used to hearin’ arsenal rain / Analyze, risk your life, take the charge.” Part of a long-running series that started in 2010, each chapter of “The Heart” acts as a sort of Kendrick State of the Union: where he’s from, what he’s seen, and, most important, where he’s at now. Like its predecessors, “Part 5” — released as a stand-alone single ahead of his new album, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers — is drenched in paranoia and death. Her voice is the definition of ethereal — a classically trained power channeled to delicate R&B — and her best songs are bouncy, joyful outings about love and letting loose. Of course, all of this applies to a track called “Xtasy,” where the singer keeps her voice at a whisper as it glides along a buoyant, summer-ready beat from Kaytranada (a new collaborator who’s equally adept at setting a mood).
Yet the industry’s transgressions aren’t all she hasn’t forgotten, either — multiple years and returns later, “Don’t Forget” is proof that she’s still not playing by pop’s rules. Heard It in a Past Life was an apt title for Maggie Rogers’s debut, an album full of eminently listenable folk-pop centered around her voice, pleasant like a light breeze.
Throughout the pop-punk revival of the past few years, fans have been hungry for an answer to Paramore: a band fronted by a confident woman who can throw barbs and deliver sing-along-ready hooks in the same song. “Nothing in My Head,” their Hopeless Records debut, refines the work on the band’s 2021 EP, Saccharine (which already sounds shockingly professional), to make a song that would fit right in at Warped Tour 2008. Singer Ashrita Kumar sounds as captivating on record as she does in the band’s exciting live sets, unraveling from snarls to screams in the final chorus. “Spitting” — the YYYs’ first single in nine years and the lead track off their forthcoming fifth studio album — furthers the explosively punkish spirit of the band’s best work while subbing Blitz’s high-tempo electropop for the lolling tendencies usually heard in the solo output of featured guest Perfume Genius.
After conquering rock, rap, country, and soul on his indie hit debut, Live Forever, it was time for Bartees Strange to make a dance song. But one of his greatest gifts as a musician is his audacious confidence, and he puts it to work here, throwing a big-tent-style drop in the middle of what would otherwise be a straightforward rock ballad. When the 1975 teased the lyrics to “Part of the Band,” the lead single off their fifth album Being Funny in a Foreign Language, ahead of its release, the groans were near instant. But the 1975 are masters of provocation, and the song turned out to be one of the band’s prettiest, most relaxed compositions — a twee, stringy number that sounds like a cross between indie-rock faves Vampire Weekend, Wilco, and Bon Iver. Plus you can’t really appreciate how perfect of a rhyme “I know some vaccinista tote-bag chic baristas / Sittin’ east on their communista keisters” is until you hear it from Healy’s mouth, comforting and sincere as ever. Jessie Ware has a gift for making dance music that feels raw and human — not just songs, but moments with their own time and place.
(The title comes from a wonderful image: “And now, he and I watch the foxglove grow through the clearcut / Where a forest once grew high and wild.”) The band hits all the right twinkly touchpoints: American Football, the World Is a Beautiful Place, Death Cab’s own “Transatlanticism.” Then it explodes into a full-band breakdown big enough to fill the vast expanses Gibbard sings about. Price continues to stray from the classic-country palette of her first two solo albums, Midwest Farmer’s Daughter and All American Made, here in favor of blues-inflected rock with steadily spinning guitars and a Janis Joplin–like screaming interlude.
“We know a holy war needs some patience too / The girls vicious, all envious of you,” Alli Logout sings over a bassy track that shimmers amid its cacophony — like a crowded club or nighttime city. Ari Lennox fans never seemed too concerned about what the singer’s long-awaited sophomore album would sound like — only when it would arrive (with Dreamville boss J. Cole catching plenty of heat for the delay). “Now you textin’ me, you know I won’t reply / Why you ain’t fuck with me when I wasn’t this fly?” Lennox asks over a beat from Jermaine Dupri and Bryan-Michael Paul Cox. It’s a pointed rebuke, but the heart of the song is about seeking pleasure — “Now I’m on top and now I’m ridin’ sky-high (Pressure) / Don’t need nobody, but I’ll take you down tonight” — on her terms and no one else’s.
Jamie xx’s lone solo album, In Colour, from 2015, was so good that the producer has been able to ride its sterling reputation for seven years without fans breaking down his door asking for more full-length drops. Consider “Mel Made Me Do It” — named for influential stylist Melissa Holdbrook-Akposoe — Stormzy’s State of the Union: a cypher-ready, bar-heavy, seven-plus-minute stream of boasts, braggadocio, and name-dropping. There’s “To be fair, I don’t feel Twitter / Getting told I’m not a real spitter by some broke-arse bill splitter” and “Every time I try a ting, top bins like / Haile when he sings / So of course they don’t like me, I’m the king” and “Okay, three O2s that I sell out / Man, I’m such a sellout / Might fuck around and bring Adele out.” Yet “Mel” is the rare track with an accompanying music video that completely shifts the song’s perspective, showcasing a set of emotional stakes that lie just under the surface.
At the end of the clip, a Wretch 32 poem is read by Michaela Coel while a flood of celebrated Black British figures waltz across a veranda, turning this talk-your-shit anthem into one about generational talent and survival: “Our DNA empowers us,” says the Chewing Gum actress.
A triple album of spiritual-inspired songs (rendered as full-band cuts, orchestral arrangements, and remixes) would be a tough sell to Nashville, but luckily, Childers has long operated outside of the country establishment. “Hounds” fits right in alongside the album’s traditional songs — with its classic lilt and charming naivete (“Now all that’s fine and dandy, and I’m sure it’s nice up there,” he sings of heaven).
Not to mention the fact that his band, the Food Stamps, plays like a long-lost session group, dialed-in and embellishing the song with just enough flourishes. The central town may be fake, but the songs’ stories feel remarkably real — especially “The Girl in the Picture,” a stealthily heartbreaking tale of Lindeville’s former golden child who went missing.
The single starts as a meditation on the titular picture, economic and vivid from the opening line (“She didn’t see the flash”), but it’s the chorus that packs a punch, shifting from observation to fantasy. The rising Houston star is back with a vengeance on her first solo single of 2022, “Body Bag.” Monaleo doesn’t waste a second of the track, filling it to the brim with disses, which the 21-year-old spits with off-the-charts bravado.
Since getting off a ventilator for COVID treatment in 2020, the icon of club R&B popped up here and there, on songs with DJ Khaled, 50 Cent, and Tinashe; before that, he’d been focused on full-length collaborations with Chance the Rapper (on 2016’s Merry Christmas Lil Mama) and Ty Dolla $ign (2018’s MihTy). Now, nearly two years after that COVID bout, he’s made a characteristically smooth solo return with “Changes.” The presumed lead-off to a new project is a sexy homage to ’90s R&B, down to the singing-in-the-rain music video.
It’s a more subdued track than Jeremih’s bigger crossover hits, but that works in his favor, putting the focus on his vocals — here with a touch of Auto-Tune and healthy dose of runs.
The 50 Best Songs of 2022—Listen to Them Now
Yes, Beyoncé, who released Renaissance in July, is featured plenty, as is Taylor Swift, whose 10th studio album, Midnights, debuted in October. Artists like Adele, Harry Styles, and Lizzo also had some popular songs this year, and don’t worry, they’re all here. “Anti-Hero” was a brilliant choice as the lead single from Midnights—in part because it’s catchy, sure, but also because it so clearly reveals her point of view as an artist. Featuring swelling synths and raw vocals, the track from his debut album captures the breathless rush of new love.
Fresh off the viral success of “Pink Pony Club,” Chappell Roan’s new single explores the throes of casual sex. Her Naked in North America tour just sold out in most cities, and I really wish I’d snagged a ticket in time. “Autonomy” is nostalgia in a bottle, sunny synth pop that’s just waiting to soundtrack a teen movie. The white-hot rage of living under late capitalism only grows more unbearable every year, but Sasami’s nu-metal album opener has a way out.
Rosalía’s stripped-down dembow is an altar to retail therapy, name-checking favorite brands (Valentino, Margiela, Versace) and the stylish patron saints (Carla Bruni, Dapper Dan) lighting the way. If given the opportunity, I will wax poetic about Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield and her voice (move over, Emmylou Harris).
She has created a new band, called Plains, with Jess Williamson; both women are excellent songwriters, and this song shows their merit. The spare, futuristic synths on “Billions” allow Caroline Polachek’s soaring voice to remain the focus.
It has been deeply rewarding, as her number one fan, to watch Kim Petras get the mainstream attention this year that she’s always deserved. The lead single from her forthcoming album, “If Jesus Was A Rockstar,” is some of Petras’s finest work to date. “American Teenager” has all the trappings of the classic high school anthem: crying in the bleachers, underage drinking, football games. But Ethel Cain isn’t afraid to go darker, weaving in her wavering faith in the American Dream and religion.
In another show of society’s nostalgia for my middle school years, late ’00s icons Florence & the Machine have made a triumphant return to my top Spotify artists with their new album Dance Fever. My favorite song off the album, “King” (which is up for a Grammy, btw), is a poetic meditation on fame, motherhood, and art itself. The Jack Antonoff–produced track really highlights Florence Welch’s dramatic voice, and the music video, directed by Autumn de Wilde of Emma fame, stays true to the witchy drama of it all. Angel Olsen’s “Big Time,” off her latest album of the same name, marks a dreamy pivot to a timeless, country-inspired sound.
Not to fret—Olsen’s brand of country is more lazy steel guitar and lyrics about giving in to love, less “red Solo cup.” —S.R. Certain songs have end-credits energy, signaling that no matter what you’ve just been through, things are gonna be just fine. This wobbly number doles out details about an 11-day fling between two travelers, leaving plenty up to interpretation—and treating us to a gorgeous melody along the way. In Twigs’ take on the breakup banger, she levitates over a slinky, metallic beat, rinsing herself of a relationship turned sour.
Gorillaz have been serving us one hit after another the past few years, but “Cracker Island,” the first single off their upcoming album of the same name, is an absolute banger. The collab with Thundercat is a match made in heaven—the Grammy-winning bassist’s funky basslines and smooth vocals fit in perfectly with the spooky beats Gorillaz are known for.
With Clairo-like bedroom pop beats and an ethereal voice like Grimes and Kate Bush, “Gimme All Ur Luv” was the perfect start to Hemlocke Springs’s meteoric rise. “Bad Habit” is the single off his latest record, Gemini Rights, and it’s the kind of infectious tune that will stay with you after the first listen.
Weyes Blood’s Natalie Mering could sing about road kill and I’d still find it magical—that’s how beautiful her voice is. The Summer I Turned Pretty author Jenny Han once told me she listens to Taylor Swift whenever she needs to quickly access certain feelings while writing, and I can’t help but think this must be at the top of her playlist.
The album is very much a suite of songs that’s best enjoyed together, but as a stand-alone, “Cuff It” will be making folks dance for decades to come. Released as the first single from Renaissance, “Break My Soul” set the tone for Beyoncé’s dance-anthem era.
After the track was released in July, fans said they were inspired by lyrics like “Now, I just fell in love / And I just quit my job” to leave the hustle behind.
Wet Leg’s entire self-titled debut album blew me away when it came out in spring 2022, but I think “Chaise Longue” best sums up why the British indie rock band is making waves right now.
Their catchy post-punk sound is the perfect vehicle for the deadpan delivery of tongue-in-cheek lyrics like “Mommy, Daddy, look at me. / All my friends call it “the big D.’” If you like The Strokes or Haim, put Wet Leg in your queue.
The warm and fuzzy bass line coupled with Emmanuelle Proulx’s cool vocals gets me every time. Shygirl has never, well, shied away from her sexuality (choice cuts include “BDE” and “Shlut”), but she’s never been better than on this horny lullaby, which sees her literally speaking to a vagina over the phone.
The first single on Adele’s 30 delivered everything we’ve come to expect from the singer: gut-wrenching lyrics, powerhouse vocals, and the kind of chorus you can’t help but belt while driving alone in the car. He’s got plenty of bangers to choose from, but “Me Porto Bonito,” off his fifth studio album, Un Verano Sin Ti, has that irresistible pulse that defines his sound.— S.R.
On “This Hell,” Rina Sawayama, our edgy princess of pop, sings, “Saw a poster on the corner opposite the motel. Hemlocke Springs’s energy on this track has a funky bounce to it—the vibe is shoulder shimmy, it’s sheer shirt, it’s peaking at the club. Doja Cat’s “Vegas,” which samples “Hound Dog” as performed by Big Mama Thornton actor Shonka Dukureh, has an outlaw swagger that we simply must respect. And then I realized that “Heat Waves,” a song I have heard thousands of times on TikTok, was by the English indie rock band.
Suddenly the fact that “Heat Waves” was the second most streamed song on Spotify made sense. There’s an effortless simplicity to the structure of the song, which is carried by a smooth, confident guitar, while Kate Bollinger’s lilting vocals keep “Pictures of You” distinctly modern. Muna partnered with everyone’s favorite Sad Girl, Phoebe Bridgers, for this remarkably happy love song that I guarantee will be stuck in your head the rest of the day. Instead, he stood on the stage and screamed into a microphone for 20 minutes as a fog machine enveloped him in a cloud and red lights flashed incessantly.
Paramore has consistently stayed relevant ever since the band first formed in 2004, but the lyrics “This is why I don’t leave the house” felt especially timely for 2022. There’s something so sweet about the way the moody minor melody perfectly encapsulates the taboo themes of the lyrics. You had me at “a breakup ballad about drowning your sorrows in wine.” Add Adele to the equation, and it’s no contest: This song wins.
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