The year is 2020, and like you all, I have a lot of problems with that.
This blog was original incepted as my very own therapy-- I started it when I was in a point of turmoil and wanted something positive, a creative outlet, and it really started to die around November 2019, a point in my life in which I was really happy and had found stability. Extrapolating that trend to the occurrence of me coming back to writing on this thing again... I don't know how that speaks to where I'm at today. I had, like, seven paragraphs of writing for this introduction, talking all about my problems with the formatting of this blog and my inability to let my creative efforts of the past exist in the present, but I've scrapped it. Ultimately, in the year of destabilization of 2020, in which love and logic have failed me, I'm returning back to my one constant, the solace that we are all so gifted to have-- ourselves. If this is how I cope, if mediocre little chicken-scratches about music we've heard too much of is my regulator, then fine. This is my stupid little diary, and I'm fine with everyone having the key to it.
So, having established that my audience is myself, I ask them, "What is the lens in which we view the year of music of 2020 in?" To answer that handsome questioner, I feel that as a whole, the music of 2020 is a mirror image of the paradox of the year itself-- Quite a lot of chaos going on for such a fat, rancid, rut.
Looking at the trends, this holds true! To quote myself last year, "All the new gas is being saved for 2020--"And when you look at January through the early spring, that really held to be true. After Hours was a solid project by the Weeknd! As I had predicted, fresh faces like Doja Cat and Megan Thee Stallion were making names for themselves! Future Nostalgia was everything I knew it could be from that first instant years and years ago I heard "Be The One." Fine Line is one of my favorite pop albums, no, one of my favorite albums, ever. It was March! Rooms of 10+ people were going "ee er" to The Box together-- Life was good! But then, things started to shut down... corona started to become a reality and not just a punchline... relationships started to strain... Pop Smoke had how many songs chart..?.... the routine was so ambivalently gray for so long. I wanted to do a worst of 2020 list-- I couldn't even finish listing all of the tracks from the year that I had no impression of and wanted to re-listen to before giving up! StaySolidRocky? Powfu? Justin Bieber? Who are you people, and why do you sound like that? Of course, as the year did, hope remerged, as Miley Cyrus came in to clutch the year out in a Lipa-like fashion. But geez, I feel gassed even writing this, I can't imagine actively listening to like, half of these songs!
So, I'm just not gonna. We're optimistic, remember! Ignoring the rut that the year dug us, what managed to climb its way out? What's the theme of the best of the best? Well, honestly? From the bottom of my heart? Not a lot. I made my ranking in about 15 minutes, it was not hard-- I usually never struggle to fill out a top 10, but I could barely scrape 8 songs I wanted to put on this list, and the top 5 I have set I could've told you back in April! It makes sense with the way I'm analyzing 2020, but also just with the ways in which I evolved. I only listened to The Strokes, Dayglow, Daft Punk, and The Happy Return for like 4 months straight this summer. I got into Yeasayer and Jamiroquai and stuff that just doesn't fit next to Drake on a playlist. Regardless though, I still have Drake on some playlists, I still love the top of the top that this year had to offer, and I still will always have a special place in my heart for cruddy, cruddy pop music. So, to wrap up a warped year, here's some opinions no one asked for on an arbitrary list of music you're so so sick of! No list of rules, no explanations of honorable mentions, and absolutely no proof-reading! Please enjoy. I'm Back!
10. WHATS POPPIN - Jack Harlow
I don't know, I guess this is ten. The Box was cool, and Roxanne is catchy, and Roses is groovy, but this beat is really cool and the Genius interview was pretty entertaining so I guess this gets the spot. Good flow, witty lines, nothing crazy, just a real solid song. Cool. That's it. Writing these are easy, Next Song!
9. Watermelon Sugar, Juicy - Harry Styles, Doja Cat
Ok, honestly, I put Panini here on my list. But, it was on my list last year, and I really did not feel like writing about it again!... So, I thought to myself, "I don't really want to break my honor rule of doing one song per artist for this list, but if a sexy musician put out a fruit flavored track as a single with a provocative music video that served as a reminder of how sad I am that physical touch is completely eradicated by this year of 2020, I could be convinced to put it on the list." Thus, we have a tie for #9.
8. Laugh Now, Cry Later - Drake (feat. Lil Durk)
Man, could you tell I really did NOT want to write the paragraphs for #10 and #9? I honestly only had 8 songs I really wanted for this list. Regardless, I really do want to say that Drake put on steaming hot garbage this year, and that's why Laugh Now, Cry Later is at 8. Like, come on dude. Toosie Slide? Life Is Good? POPSTAR? Could you be phoning it in anymore? Absolute trite. I could not in good conscious put this song any higher knowing how little effort Drake put into being the biggest artist on the planet this year. Thank goodness Lil Durk took a second to remind Drake what Charisma was, because, yeesh, this is the most inspired Drake has sounded since 2018, and I think it was from out of fear of getting washed by Durk on his own track. I have an immense amount of respect for the audacious opulence that this track presents. The vintage horns are a sound tailormade for Drake-- The warm brassy coos of the trumpets on this track really sell the feeling of being the biggest rapper ever on his 7th victory lap of the game better than Drake ever could. The production here embodies that royalty, that feeling of reigning dominance that Drake has rightfully earned but never articulated. As mentioned, the Durk feature is fierce, and this production really carries the two to sounding as boastfully celebratory as a song off of Watch the Throne or something. In a year of simple, constant pain, I will take the welcome reprieve of distilled opulence in the form of this track any day. Good work, Aubrey, and don't you EVER pull any of that other BS you did in 2020 ever again.
7. Mood - 24kGoldn, iann dior
You're going to see a really strong trend for the rest of this list. Believe it or not, in the dour downpour of this year, I kind of gravitated towards upbeat, danceable, summery pop tracks. Crazy, I know. Mood was a welcomed surprise to come on the backburner of the year-- I was familiar with 24kGoldn's viral hits, and had at least heard the name iann dior before, but this was my first foray of actually indulging each artist, and I have to say, that they impressed. The pre-chorus is smooth as ice, the chorus is an incessantly looping earworm, and the rhythm is effortlessly danceable-- It's the perfect pop rap storm. Yeah, the lyrics aren't impressive or sensible or anything, but it's a pop rap song in year 2020, you are literally not meant to listen to a single thing being said. Just #Vibe! #Chill! Dare I say #Mood? I find the way beat fades out under iann saying "Baby I am not your dad" really enjoyable for no reason, and it's a complete non-sequitur to the rest of the writing on this song I don't have a lot to say about, but I just wanted to put that out there. Ok, next!
6. Blueberry Faygo - Lil Mosey
Like, how could you not like this song? Yeah, Lil Mosey is strikingly lacking in any sort of charisma or presence. Yeah, I could not tell you a single line of this song besides the words "Blueberry" and "Faygo." Yes, I'm sure another artist could kill this production one thousand times over what Mosey did, but.... I just do. not. care. This is the ultimate "it's summer and I do not care" song. It does what it has set out to do perfectly, absolutely perfectly, and I have the utmost respect for that. Do you really want to hyperanalyze Blueberry Faygo? Of all the songs? You came to a Lil Mosey song for lyrical content? Dude, It's warm! You're by the poolside! You don't have work! Everyone else is dancing, and vibing, and having a great time! Not to take up the default trap rap defense argument, but oh my god, shut up Fantano, it's a summer party song that does the whole summer party aesthetic better than the rest, it is EXACTLY what it's supposed to be. The sample is a pristine presence of underwater beauty. The keys are the perfect breath of icy coolness on a scorching day in August. What more is there to say? Unclench your jaw, roll your eyes back, and just let the shoulders sway.
5. Say So - Doja Cat
There has never been a more obvious top 5 in all of the top 5s to top the 5s. I knew from the first second I heard Say So that it was going to be on this list, just like the rest of 4 through 1. Like, these are perfect pop songs! In a year where all of my music listening habits were predicated on dance music and music from the past, I am in love with the amount of retro throwback hits the charts generated this year. Say So, in a word, is effortless. Doja is so delicate in her delivery, taking full ownership of the conceptual idea of seduction. Like, every word of this track is not so much sung, more so spoken as a playful tease. The inviting staccato delivery on the first verse, the perfected siren song of a chorus, the assertive double time of the second verse flow... It's like Doja has been refining this song for 20 years in secrecy and it just now finally leaked to the world. How do you even explain such an outstanding performance? Was this bassline sent from the heavens? Which deity ghostwrites for Ms. Cat? I need answers. Doja demonstrated versatility, sensibility, and creativity across all of her stellar singles this year, and I'm happy to see Say So do the numbers she finally deserves.
The Remix does suck though!
4. Blinding Lights - The Weeknd
I'm pretty sure Blinding Lights, as a song, has always existed. It's so good it has caused the erasure of world history. Was this song out in the 80s? Sure sounds like it. 70s? Why not! I'm pretty sure the sounds of the Weeknd echoed across the valleys of the silk road, that Abel Tesfaye did a live performance for Tutankhamun and the Nile River people. How do you make a song so Timeless? So universally loveable? It spent 34 WEEKS as a top 5 song in America. What sort of viral pandemic would have to occur to make a man succumb to hating Blinding Lights? I don't think anything like that exists. That's really all I've got to say, there's nothing more to be said than the Weeknd has made something so timeless, so guaranteed to long outlive him, and I'm beyond thankful to have been around to heard it grace our timeline. I said oooooooooooooooooo
3. Don't Start Now - Dua Lipa
I love you, Dua Lipa. The ways in which you went above and beyond to prove me right when I said your debut album was gonna be a homerun-- There was absolutely no need to hit this one to the next ball park over. Like, honestly, I don't even know if this is a top 3 song from the album, and I have it at top 3 for the YEAR! The title track, Physical, Levitating, Pretty Please.... And then she did Prisoner right after that, an entry on the 2021 edition of this list!? I'm just flabbergasted. Forever in debt for you doing so right by me, Ms. L. It was a real close call between 4 & 3, and because this is a list ranking the viability of different songs against one another, I gave the edge to the track with a better album. Dua Lipa was the catalyst for my musical journey this year-- Future Nostalgia as an album is the reason I got so rehooked into the Daft Punk discography, which only spiraled into my chemical dependence on the Happy Return of today. This was her debut! Like, if she goes up from here? The possibilities are endless. As of today, there is no one I am rooting for in the pop music landscape than my girl DL. I didn't say a single word about your song itself, and its so good that I know I don't even need to. God bless you Don't Start Now, God bless you.
2. Circles - Post Malone
A year later, and Circles is even bigger than the massive hit it was last year. A year later, and Circles is on my list, at the same spot, for the same reasons. To quote myself last year describing why Circles was the 2nd best hit of the year: "Screw it, I'll just out and say it, Post Malone just quietly cemented his best song to date, didn't he?" I apologize for my behavior last year. Now, did I put Circles at #2 again just to be funny or because it really is the 2nd best song of the year? Yes. Do I have any regrets about doing this two years in a row? Also yes. It should've been #1 in 2019-- I hope two #2's instead does right by Post. When we look back at this Decade, I cannot conceive of a world in which this won't be heralded as a top 10 song of the 2020's-- and it will deserve every single millisecond of that praise.
1. Adore You - Harry Styles
I throw around the word "Perfect" quite recklessly, but make no mistake, Adore You is the perfect pop song. I like love songs, I would say a lot even. It's beyond rare that a love song makes me feel in love. What Harry Styles accomplishes with Adore You is so poignant to me, it cannot be described. How do you articulate love? What is the word for when a song makes you see their eyes, for when a song makes your heart pound in that special rhythm that only your one true love knows how? I am convinced this song's drum machine was set to the same BPM of my soulmate's heart. I hear some essence of her somewhere in that heavenly symphony of background vocalists. It's indescribable, and it's undeniable. When I saw Rolling Stone put Fine Line at 491 of the top 500 albums of all time, I could only think to myself "Deserved, should be higher though." One year ago, I wrote about how Earfquake by Tyler the Creator, in long-winded fashion, was maybe the most evocative example of pain in love expressed through music I've ever heard. So for 2020, I'd like to declare the Harry Styles crafted one of the most evocative examples of heaven in love that I've ever heard, and then did it 5 more times again in the same track. Fine Line is fantastic, Adore You is fantastic, and this song, more so than any other song in a year of broken hearts, altered life, and at times hopeless pain, made ME feel fantastic. So, there was never even really a discussion; why draw out this conclusion? This IS the best song of 2020, clear and cut. Thanks for reading, if I have readers. Blog's back, maybe? Who knows. Brighter skies ahead in 2021. Goodbye