75. Griff — Black Hole
Released at the beginning of the year from 20 year old British pop artist Griff, ‘Black Hole’ is fresh sounding song that is about a broken heart and just trying to cope. The plucky production works so well with Griff’s powerful vocals about the void left in her, creating an excellently crafted pop song from beginning to end. I wasn’t familiar with Griff prior to this song, but it ended up being one my favorites of the year and got replayed many, many times. Griff is definitely one artist to follow closely in the next few years, and this song proves she has a ear for amazing melody’s and song writing. — ignitethephoenix
73. Jessie Ware — Hot N Heavy
From the moment ‘Hot N Heavy’ opens, the sexy, sweaty second single from the Platinum Pleasure Edition of Jessie Ware’s highly-acclaimed What’s Your Pleasure? brings you right to the middle of the dance floor and won’t let you leave. ‘Hot N Heavy’ is a deluxe track that actually lives up to the name “deluxe”, maintaining the best of the disco grooves of the standard edition but adding an immediacy and a hooky chorus that you might find on a more mainstream disco-pop album like Confessions on a Dance Floor or Future Nostalgia. While many songs on the standard edition of the album have a more sensual, mysterious tone that matures over repeated listens, ‘Hot N Heavy’ arrives as a fully formed dance BOP, so in your face that it becomes irresistible to get up and move. I especially want to shout-out the end of the bridge, when Jessie’s “ooh-ooh-ooh” explodes back into that driving percussion and propels the song right through the final chorus. Ultimately, this song showcases why the What’s Your Pleasure? project is not only one of the best albums of 2020/2021 but is quickly becoming a modern classic. — musical_pyn
72. Tinashe — Undo (Back to My Heart)
Where were you on August 5, 2021? I had just come home after a long day of being a slave to capitalism, looking forward to my Friday. Exhausted, I opened Twitter, eventually coming across a snippet of ‘Undo’, which was dropping alongside album 333 that evening. Upon hearing it, I was in absolute awe. I immediately knew what I had to do. I ran to my local Discord server and said without any context, ‘….secure your wig sis Tinashe is coming.’
Now that we’re in 2022, if anything has been proven to us over the last few years, it’s that there are no certainties in life except death, taxes, and random twinks on the internet making threads asking when we’re going to stop underrating Tinashe. In all seriousness, the trajectory of Tinashe’s career has been pretty unfortunate and quite saddening given the immense amount of talent she has. Following some egregious mismanagement with RCA Records, she finally split from them in February 2019 to release music on her own terms, no longer boxed-in to their ill-conceived image or forced to indefinitely chase a hit satisfactory to their expectations.
Tinashe’s first independent release, Songs For You, was an immaculate, kaleidoscopic triumph of an album. It, unfortunately, was completely shut out from our Best of 2020 list due to its release date: two weeks before the cutoff in November 2019. (Justice for ‘Cash Race’, ‘Hopscotch’, ‘Save Room For Us’, ‘Life’s Too Short’…. you get my point.) Songs For You has grown to be one of my favorite albums ever, so naturally I was ecstatic when follow-up 333 began to be teased with songs ‘Pasadena’, ‘Bouncin’, and ‘I Can See The Future’ in 2021.
While all three songs were great in their own right, ‘Pasadena’, a cute, carefree summer anthem; ‘Bouncin’, a dreamy, confidence-oozing vibe of a track that I had on repeat for most of the year; and ‘I Can See The Future’, another hook-ridden slapper further demonstrating Tinashe’s knack for making infectious tracks, it was the the dance-pop banger ‘Undo’ that instantly commanded my attention from the first little snippet. With a monumental chorus that hits like a sledgehammer, Tinashe longingly urges to rekindle the ashes of a former love, to ‘undo’ any former mistakes, breach the point of no return, and find their way to love again. Spiritually, it’s the successor to Songs For You’s ‘Save Room For Us’, and it’s equally amazing, with undeniably my favorite hook of the year.
Three years into her independent career, Tinashe is thriving more than she ever has, continually delivering stellar tracks in whatever direction she pleases. It’s disappointing it took so much label injustice to get her here, and, of course, it would be nice for her to have more mainstream recognition, but there is no denying Tinashe’s passion and determination for her art. In a situation that would leave many artists in the shadow of their former work, she has persevered to release some of the most quality work of her career. Needless to say, I’m thrilled ‘Undo’ has made it on the list this year… and that there’s going to many more bops where that came from. — THE_PC_DEMANDS_BLOOD
71. Japanese Breakfast — Posing in Bondage
No matter how long you’ve been a fan, Jubilee’s second single may have thrown you in a loop. If you’re visiting this track after ‘Be Sweet’, you may be lost by the shift in sounds. This atmospheric, drifting track sounds nothing like the album’s lead single. On the other hand, older fans may have recognized that ‘Posing In Bondage’ is actually a re-working of a past track. Originally packaged as a B-side to another single, this song’s melody and lyrics were always something Michelle Zauner, frontwoman of Japanese Breakfast, loved. For her third album, she wanted to give it the attention it so deserved.
It’s clear why JBrekkie wanted to return to these lyrics. There’s this understated, delicate chorus that perfectly describes the “bondage” of monogamy (which is what the title refers to, not anything too sexy). That may sound like Michelle feels captive in this relationship she’s in. But in actuality, it’s an observation on how much she trusts this person, even after all the trauma she’s experienced in her life. But lyrics aside, there’s so many neat intricacies in this song. The upgraded production actually doubled its original length — which allows her to deliver the line about dividing the world into two right at the song’s halfway point. It’s this sort of attention to detail that makes this song feel so masterful.
It’s equally matched by its gorgeous music video. JBrekkie has it set at a grocery store late at night, something she calls one of the most “loneliest experiences”. By the video’s end, when the song goes into its glittery outro, the same location flips into something joyful when shared with the right person. It’s a lovely ode to commitment and the safety & comfort it can bring. — cremeebrulee
70. Adele — Easy On Me
After ending her marriage to Simon Konecki in 2021, Adele wrote this vocal masterpiece to explain the reasons behind her divorce to her young son. At its root, ‘Easy on Me’ is Adele begging her son to understand why she had to leave, and expresses nostalgia and regret for her younger years. Featuring her signature powerhouse vocals, this song is one of Adele’s most personal and emotional songs to date. It begins with a simple, upbeat piano melody and progresses with this melody throughout. Minimally produced, Adele’s voice takes center stage, and the song showcases her enormous range with incredible vocal runs throughout. ‘Easy on Me’ was the lead single off of her album 30 and has spent seven weeks so far atop the Billboard Hot 100. — 80evilolive08
69. Wolf Alice — How Can I Make It OK?
The centerpiece of ‘How Can I Make It Ok?’ is lead singer Ellie Rowsell’s powerhouse voice, which initially floats above the fog of marching synths and then — as the instrumentation becomes denser — pierces through it. The belted chorus, more intense and desperate each time it arrives, conveys a level of anguish that is recognizable in many classic yell-along songs about heartbreak, betrayal, and sorrow. But what makes the song unusual is that this time around, the sorrow is someone else’s.
The subject and addressee of ‘How Can I Make It Ok?’ is, as the title suggests, not okay. They are closed off, living in a state of fear and hopelessness (“How do we sell you the world?” the narrator muses), and while the song asks, over and over, what can be done to make them happy, it never receives an answer. But the song is about more than just this person and their misery — it is in equal parts about the narrator herself, who has tied her own sense of wellbeing to the happiness of this other person. “Nothing else is as important” to her as making this person feel better. Even the titular question is about the narrator’s actions; how can she make it okay? What can she do to make this person happy? She has adopted this person’s pain as her own, and the urgency of her vocal delivery reflects that.
While the song on its surface is an unhappy one, I believe that its core is something positive. It is not really about misery; it is about empathy. And anyone who’s supported a loved one through a difficult time in their lives (which in 2021 is a lot of us) can find comfort in this song, knowing that they are not the only ones involved in that challenging process of taking on someone else’s pain as one’s own. — just_thonking
68. The Kid LAROI — STAY (feat. Justin Bieber)
A few weeks back, I — a proud pop enthusiast — went to the movies with an old friend who, equally proudly, only listens to “classic rock.” And yet, we found ourselves first humming and then shout-singing along to a song that was playing in the men’s room: ‘Stay.’ The moment its unmistakable synth line — courtesy of Charlie Puth — started, not even he could resist and let out a whoop of joy, as I did the exact same thing in the stall next to him.
Music is deeply subjective, and yet are there songs whose production is so exuberant and high-energy that they even captivate the most stubborn pop-skeptics. Australian teen sensation the Kid Laroi and Canadian mainstay Justin Bieber’s collaboration, ‘Stay,’ 2021’s undeniable song of the summer, can be considered one of these inescapable and infectious pop hits, way too damn catchy and way too damn easy to sing — or scream — along to, burnt in our collective consciousness through endless airplay and, as of recently, mind-boggling TikTok trends.
Carried by its emotive falsetto vocals, ‘Stay’ is that type of pop-rap hybrid that’s been dominating Spotify playlists for years but somehow manages to still feel fresh: You can’t deny just how modern the song sounds while still having that nostalgic synth-laden 80s touch to it. Even more importantly, ‘Stay’ signalled that a teen pop veteran passed the torch to an up-and-comer who has tried to break into superstardom for quite some time now and has definitely found the perfect sound to do that with. The best thing about a pop hit, after all, is how it surprisingly connects people, be it in a recording studio, the club, or a bathroom stall. — One_Material_1081
67. Snail Mail — Valentine
Lindsey Jordan has always focused on the little details. Her debut album Lush was an incredibly precise view into the world of a teenager, the struggle, pain and joys of youth, and all its minutiae. It’s been a long 3 years since then, and ‘Valentine’ captures authenticity in a very different sort of light than anything before. Spacious pads and synths accompany the opening verse, with Lindsey lingering in the intimacy of a relationship much more public than anything she’s faced before. “Careful in that room, those parasitic cameras, don’t they stop to stare at you?” she warns.
And then the rug is pulled from under our feet as we come crashing into the chorus with an explosion of guitar riffs and drums. “So why’d you wanna erase me?” Lindsey shouts with a palpable sense of betrayal, her lover moved so far past their relationship it’s as though it never even existed. And yet, she still can’t bring herself to hate them. “No I can’t hate you, I ruined me for you, blame me if you need to, but I adore you”. Valentine perfectly encapsulates the duality of feeling betrayed and hurt by someone so deeply, while being willing to forgive it all if you could just go back to the way you used to be for one more moment. — RandomHypnotica
66. Slayyyter — Troubled Paradise
The title track from Slayyyter’s debut studio album marked a tonal shift from the previous two singles released for the project’s rollout. Gone were the distorted instrumentals, shouted-sung-rapped verses, and unrelenting raunch. Instead, ‘Troubled Paradise’ graces us with bubbly synth arpeggios, driving dance percussion, and heavenly vocals that build continuously over the song’s runtime.
A pop song that crosses the four-minute iron curtain is almost unheard of in the landscape of streaming and TikTok. Some critics even went as far calling the song’s length “gratuitous!” Despite this apparent faux pas, ‘Troubled Paradise’ bobs and weaves through an unconventional structure that keeps each component sounding fresh through repeated listens. The song’s three verses are each distinct melodic and lyrical statements, and the large separation between the two “choruses” give a fabulous sense of novelty to the reprise. Perhaps the strongest moment of the song, however, is the extended double bridge. Halfway through, when the extra harmonies layer on and the drums kick up a notch for the second round, it’s pure power, pure momentum, pure euphoria.
If an artist with a greater reputation as an auteur released this song, it would have been the unanimous blogosphere pop song of the year. — forthecommongood
65. Mitski — Working for the Knife
Heart-wrenching and honest storytelling once again takes centre stage on Mitski’s lead single from her upcoming sixth studio album, Laurel Hell. Following the release of her fifth studio album Be the Cowboy, and the accompanying tour, Mitski announced that she would take an indefinite break from music. On this comeback single, she contemplates the expectations that come with being in the spotlight of the music industry.
Over a haunting synth and a distorted guitar, Mitski reflects upon the expectations that come with being in the music industry, and and whether the art she’s creating is true to her own desires, or if she’s being pressured into working for the knife just for the sake of it. She effortlessly paints the picture of a person coming to this realization, and the feelings of emptiness that comes with it. Her tone and delivery ensures that not a single lyric goes unnoticed, each line more devastating than the last.
Even though Mitski sings about her personal relationship with the music industry, the knife metaphor is abstract enough for the listener to apply to their own lives, and thus the song becomes universally relatable. I think any 20-something stuck in a mundane nine-to-five office work environment, who’d rather be doing anything else, can relate to the crushing fourth verse — I know that I do.
“I used to think I’d be done by twenty / Now at twenty-nine, the road ahead appears the same / Though maybe at thirty, I’ll see a way to change / That I’m living for the knife” — skargardin
64. Måneskin — ZITTI E BUONI
It came as a something of a surprise when Italian band Måneskin (Danish for “moonlight”) rocked (pun intended) onto the Eurovision scene early last year. Winning song ‘Zitti e Buoni’ (Italian for “shut up and behave”) is a hard rock track, with lyrics telling the story of a nonconformist youth who rebels against society’s expectations of him.
Commercially, there’s no doubt that Måneskin exceeded expectations. ‘Zitti e Buoni’ was the first Italian-language song to enter the UK Top 20 in 30 years, topped the singles chart in several European countries, and reached the top 10 of the Billboard Global Excl. US chart.
The performance (which has almost 80m views at the time of writing this) certainly stands out in a playlist of recent Eurovision winners — as Eurovision entries have started to be more “tame” in recent years with artists tending to play it safe, ‘Zitti e Buoni’ is an iconic callback to the likes of Fordi’s ‘Hard Rock Hallelujah’ at the 2006 contest. Their win shows what we’ve all been missing from Eurovision. Here’s to seeing what Måneskin further accomplish in 2021! — MoonlightByWindow
63. Little Simz — Woman
Simz’ 2019 album GREY Area seemed an almost impossible feat to top, and yet as soon as the drums from the occasionally titular lead single of her 2021 magnum opus Sometimes I Might Be Introvert starts, it was clear she was on an upward trajectory that could not be stopped. But for me at least, it wasn’t until the second single of the era, the gorgeously smooth Woman, a song with one of Simz’ closest collaborators, soul singer Cleo Sol, that I was truly hooked on her stylings and was fully comfortable sitting back, and letting Simz’ music take us where she wanted us to go.
‘Woman’, simply, is a love letter to women of colour, specifically black women; In it Simz proves her lyrical intellect by giving us a geography lesson through her verses, going from Sierra Leone to Jamaica to Brooklyn to India, gliding over the oceans as smoothly as she does the instrumentation of the track. Genius references and wordplay like referring to Yoruba woman being as strong as the imperial leather they manufacture, or how beautifully Simz describes a trip to Ghana in the third verse (”One way she ain’t coming’ back, nah All I see is black stars and I friggin’ love it”), only further cement her multifaceted brilliance as a lyricist, being able to tackle beautiful self empowerment just as effortlessly as she does dark issues like in her album cut ‘I Love You, I Hate You’. And all that plus a reference to another iconic black artist, Donna Summer, and her innovation.
The video is absolutely lush too, packed with rich colours and stunning cinematography. A fairly simple concept, it’s really elevated by its execution, stylistically it is to die for, the symbolism of all these women of colour pridefully dancing around this beautiful artwork and architecture does not go unnoticed. While the video is successful in spotlighting all these things, it’s greatest success might be its ability to still highlight Simbi on top of all that, and she is firmly at the centre of the universe she created in this song and video. — AwkwardKing
62. TWICE — The Feels
K-pop groups releasing English songs is nothing new but it remains an iffy concept for fans. Aside from the fact that most English songs are basically remakes of the original and (obviously) superior Korean title tracks, there is a concern of groups having to change their concepts and image just to be marketable in the West that might compromise what makes the group so great in the first place.
For Twice, one of the fascinating things about the group’s transition in 2019 with ‘Fancy’ is that they never lost what made their music so catchy. They can still retain that same bubblegum sound in their music while still allowing themselves to evolve as a group that they don’t need to rely on cute concepts that played a huge part in their success in their earlier years.
After experimenting with darker concepts in 2020 and returning to a more light-hearted summer concept with ‘Alcohol-Free’ in 2021, ‘The Feels’ feels like a re-introduction to what makes Twice such an iconic group in the first place as they attempt to reach a new territory that is the Western market.
‘The Feels’ jumps on the “disco-pop” sound that is currently trending in K-pop that complements well with Twice’s signature bubblegum sound. The music video elevates this further with its prom homecoming concept that feels reminiscent of the music videos of their earlier singles ‘Cheer Up’ and ‘Signal’.
It’s worth noting that “The Feels” is not the first time the group has sung in English. They covered Jackson 5’s “Want You Back” and did an original English song ‘What You Waiting For’ for their Japanese albums, as well as recording English versions of their 2020 title tracks ‘More & More’, ‘Can’t Stop Me’ and ‘Cry For Me’. For a group that has no English speakers, the members sang the song as if they invented the language as each member performed their parts to perfection that the language barrier isn’t present at all. The group’s great command of the language in the song can easily latch to anyone who isn’t familiar with K-pop, which is evident with the song’s chart performance in the Mainstream Top 40 airplay chart as it debuted at #40!
Being their first English single, ‘The Feels’ feels like a great English debut for Twice as they represent who they are as a group to a new audience while not compromising what made them iconic in the first place. — DoctorWhoWhenHowWhy
61. The Weeknd — Save Your Tears (Remix) (feat. Ariana Grande)
In March 2020, The Weeknd dropped his hugely successful 4th studio album, After Hours (definitely the thing we all remember about that month). The original solo version of ‘Save Your Tears’ was released with the album, peaking at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and, far more importantly, ending up #48 on the Popheads year-end Top 100.
In April 2021, as the recording-breaking ‘Blinding Lights’ finally fell out of the top 10 (Hot 100, not Popheads charts), The Weeknd released the ‘Save Your Tears’ remix with Ariana Grande as the final single from After Hours. It quickly became the 3rd #1 from the After Hours era. This song marks the third collaboration between Ariana and Abel, following ‘Love Me Harder’ (2014) and ‘Off the Table’ (2020).
Personally, I enjoy this remix so much (possibly my favourite of their collabs) that as good as the original is, it doesn’t feel complete to me anymore. Ariana’s voice is especially gorgeous here, and I’m a big fan of the way she’s present throughout the song, as opposed to just giving a new verse. Her background vocals from the first refrain really add something and make it even more lush. The only thing I would change is the lack of a 3rd verse. I wish they’d made it longer, rather than short than the solo version. Regardless, this is a really great song, and I look forward to the next collaboration between these two artists. — ChandelierFlickering
“The Weeknd — Save Your Tears (Remix) (feat. Ariana Grande)”
60. St. Vincent — Down
‘Down’, the third single from the 70s inspired Daddy’s Home, is a funky banger that sees St. Vincent singing from the perspective of a victim of abuse. The song opens with drawn-out words, sudden gasps, wonky synths, and Clark’s venomous delivery, keeping you on edge right from the start. She sounds like she could snap at any moment and explode in anger. And yet that’s not what she does. Rather, St. Vincent’s retaliates with the musical equivalent of one of Azealia Banks’ elaborate drags. She ruthlessly tears down the one who wronged her with biting lyrics and an almost intimidating yet entrancing vocal performance, singing with a healthy dose of bravado and theatricality. All of this combined with a monstrously fun cascading melody on the chorus easily makes for one of St. Vincent’s catchiest tracks to date. The fantastic vocal performances of Clark’s background singers peppered throughout the song, along with an unexpected but welcome sitar passage, only help bring some extra punch and color to an already rich and vibrant song. All in all, ‘Down’ is yet again proof of St. Vincent’s talent as a songwriter and performer. It’s a big middle finger, a delicious revenge fantasy with just enough venom to let the person that did her wrong run away. — SmileAndTears
59. Lucy Dacus — Hot & Heavy
‘Hot & Heavy’ is a song about personal growth. Said Dacus when the track premiered, “I thought I was writing ‘Hot & Heavy’ about an old friend, but I realized along the way that it was just about me outgrowing past versions of myself”. This complicated nostalgia drives the song, as Lucy sings about the past, and squaring what could have been with how her life actually went.
The instrumentation also helps to drive the song forward. The opening of the song is sparse and pensive, as Lucy starts to unassuredly look back on the past. At the end of the first chorus, guitars and drums kick in, which drive the track until it reaches its finale, a minute long piano solo. After looking back in bittersweet nostalgia, this outro lets the song end on a high note, with hope for the future, and the potential that it brings. — static_int_husp
58. Lorde — Solar Power
Leading up to the release of Lorde’s third studio album Solar Power, fans had few clues as to what the New Zealand singer-songwriter had up her sleeve. After a period of relative silence following her previous project, whispers of new music began to ripple across the internet in early 2021. Then came the album artwork that broke the internet — an upshot of Lorde frolicking under the blue sky in barely-there bathing suit. A similarly cheeky message accompanied the Instagram post: “Patience is a virtue.” Thousands of excited fans reposted the iconic image, which was subsequently censored in a number of countries with more conservative values. However, many social media users who shared the post felt outrage when their accounts were blocked by the DMCA for copyright violations.
When, at last, the lead single and title track of the album ‘Solar Power’ arrived on streaming platforms, fans were surprised to hear Lorde’s trademark melancholy aesthetic exchanged for a light and summery sonic landscape. The track, produced by Jack Antonoff, featured breezy, acoustic guitar and organic percussion that reflected the sunny, psychedelic vibe of the overall project. According to the singer, the lyrics were intended to portray an “infectious, flirtatious summer energy” and featured background vocals by indie-pop darlings Clairo and Phoebe Bridgers. ‘Solar Power’ drew comparisons to previous work by both Primal Scream and George Michael, but all parties retroactively agreed that the similarities were organic and unintentional. Ultimately, the single debuted at #64 on the Hot 100, and fans were divided on whether Lorde’s latest evolution was an instant classic or a regrettable misstep. The album that followed in August would receive similarly mixed reception, but between the controversial ass-shot, the media takedowns, and the drastic shift in direction, Lorde certainly secured her place in the pop music zeitgeist of 2021. — bvg_offame
57. Lady Gaga — Free Woman (Rina Sawayama & Clarence Clarity Remix)
The original ‘Free Woman’ is one of the standout tracks from Chromatica, expertly capturing the party-past-the-pain vibes and ethos of mid-90’s New York house for a decade that seems to desperately need it. So it’s fitting that, when Rina Sawayama and Clarence Clarity put their pop-metal Midas touch on the song this year, the result recalls a very particular style of rock-inflected stadium rave that crashed the UK charts in their own childhoods. Like Utah Saints did with Kate Bush on ‘Something Good’, they take an eclectic pop icon, six studio albums and 13-ish years deep into her career, and seamlessly surround her with booming drum fills, synthetic vocal manipulations, and processed, digitized power chords. Like the KLF on ‘America: What Time is Love?’, they take an already-powerful dance hit and inject it with a hard rock super-serum — the hooks unleash titanic blasts of bombast, aiming to not just fill dancefloors, but demolish them, making you feel sorry for any DJ that drops this mid-set without knowing exactly what song they’re gonna follow it up with. And like Seal on his two arrangements of ‘Killer’, Rina pours a gravity and sincerity into the lyrics that many lesser performers have neither the voice to pull off nor the courage to even try. Arguably, she succeeds on a level beyond that, as where Seal had the mic completely to himself, Rina has to expertly blend her part with Lady Gaga’s original performance, jumping back and forth between the background and foreground at just the right times. If this is anything to go by, the Germanotta-Sawayama connection could sustain a whole album if they ever wanted to make one together. The only mark I can possibly hold against this remix is that, when it finally climaxes and Rina declares “I’m free!” over Gaga’s harmonies and Clarence’s soaring, triumphant guitar leads, it chooses to fade out and keep this a four-minute pop song, rather than embrace its house lineage, milk that euphoric moment in the sun for as long as it can get away with, then slowly de-escalate by taking an instrument out every eight measures until it’s finally down to just the drums around the 6:30 mark or so. If this is what life on Planet Chromatica is like, get me a ticket on the next flight there, ’cause I’m 100% sold. — 2RINITY
“Lady Gaga — Free Woman (Rina Sawayama & Clarence Clarity Remix)”
56. Clairo — Amoeba
Following 2019’s Immunity, Clairo has steadily risen as a name in the indie pop scene. For her sophomore effort, he has signed with mainstream label Republic and has tapped producer Jack Antonoff. This follow-up, titled Sling, sees her trade the bedroom pop/alt-rock sounds of her debut with a more acoustic, folk sound.
This new sonic direction may catch some off guard, but comes as less so once you delve into her influences, which includes singer-songwriters Carole King and Norah Jones, whose influences can be felt throughout Sling.
Sling’s second track, ‘Amoeba’, has emerged as a favorite on the album by critics and fans alike. The song begins with a piano-driven verse backed by subtle horns and guitars. It eventually intertwines with some groovy funk elements and boasts what seems like the album’s most immediate hook.
Recorded in an isolated studio in upstate New York, ‘Amoeba’ is described by Clairo herself as a self-conversation on her own insecurities. For this particular song, she approaches the subject matter with more self-awareness, as evidenced by its whimsical, playful melodies that highlight her continuing growth as a songwriter. — fadedblue09
55. Billie Eilish — NDA
The release around ‘NDA’ came at an unfortunate time when Billie Eilish was facing a string of controversies that could jeopardize the anticipation of her album Happier Than Ever and to some extent, her career. That anticipation was already hampered by the underwhelming responses towards the album’s previous singles and it didn’t help that resurfaced past problematic videos of Billie and accusations of “queerbaiting” in the music video of ‘Lost Cause’ negatively impacted the initial reactions towards ‘NDA’ when it came out. Despite the negative initial reaction, this particular song still managed to land on this list. Whether it’s because the public reaction doesn’t mirror the reactions from the Popheads userbase didn’t matter because the whole controversy definitely reflected why this song (and the album) existed in the first place.
Growing speculations over Billie’s personal life inspired much of the Happier Than Ever album, but ‘NDA’ in particular is where Billie explicitly tackled how much her career is destroying the personal boundaries of her life as she used an NDA contract as the main focus of the song. Anyone who is in the know of pop culture gossip definitely knows what a non-disclosure agreement is and how it’s often used by celebrities to other people (including fellow celebrities) to keep details of such encounters private between individuals involved. Such encounters can include every scenario in the book such as attending a birthday party of a high-profile celebrity, even including the most mundane ones such as meeting a friend over for lunch. As Billie highlighted in the song, she had to ask her partner to sign an NDA before leaving her house because nothing is more romantic than ending a date with your partner signing an NDA. (Yikes)
With the rise of the so-called insider gossip accounts such as Deux Moi, it’s easy to see why celebrities such as Billie had to even ask her closest people to sign non-disclosure agreements even when these interactions are not even professional in nature. Even a positive encounter with friends could be weaponized against them. Billie also shared her regrets of being under the spotlight so much that she wished she was somewhere else where she can maintain her privacy without having to think of the legal implications of getting that ounce of temporary privacy.
‘NDA’ highlights the anxiety of being a celebrity in a time when everything is documented on social media and there is no way to erase them. If there is something we can learn from the song (and the entire album Happier Than Ever overall) is that being a celebrity in the social media age is fucking exhausting. It’s no wonder why our main pop girls are barely on social media anymore. — DoctorWhoWhenHowWhy
54. Troye Sivan — Easy (with Kacey Musgraves and Mark Ronson)
53. Sharon Van Etten & Angel Olsen — Like I Used To
52. Big Red Machine — Renegade (feat. Taylor Swift)
“Is it insensitive for me to say, ‘Get your shit together so I can love you?’” Swift sings on the chorus of the deceptively warm and upbeat ‘Renegade’, made in collaboration with Big Red Machine. It’s a surprisingly mature sentiment for a songwriter who wrote ‘ME!’ not too long ago. The younger Swift would have believed that she could single-handedly solve all of her lover’s problems and disarm the bomb in their head; she says as much on her Red-era vault track ‘Forever Winter’. But this Swift knows better than that now. In ‘Renegade’ the situation is not romanticised or simplified. She’s sympathetic to their struggle, but do not mistake that sympathy for pity; she is upset with them too, as she cuttingly sings, “You fire off missiles ’cause you hate yourself/But do you know you’re demolishing me?” In the last leg of the song, Justin Vernon joins in and the two sing separate sections of the chorus over each other until their both drowned out in a haze of frustration and confusion. — InternetDude19
51. Adele — To Be Loved
While its lead single was solid, for many, 30 became a moment with an Instagram post right before its release. Adele uploaded a 6 minute video with the simple caption, ‘To Be Loved.’ The video is unpretentious. Adele sits on her couch in the fuzzy glow of her overhead lights and iPhone camera. She proceeds to give one of the most raw and powerful performances of her career. She winces with pain, even doubling over at a point, as she makes her way through the ballad. She belts with a ferocity that overpowers her microphone. The performance was dripping, almost suffocating, with emotion. Grief, desperation, growth, guilt, heartbreak, reflection, acceptance.
Each line of ‘To Be Loved’ reveals a poignant vulnerability. “Let it be known / that I will choose to lose / It’s a sacrifice / but I can’t live a lie,” underscores her tumultuous return to the public eye after years of loss. She cuts herself open with an honesty that is tough to bear as a listener. With just her vocals over a sparse piano accompaniment, there are no distractions from her delivery. Even in the studio version, her voice soars beyond what the room can withstand by the end.
Adele has said that she will never perform this song live. With heavy lyrics and the most demanding and impressive vocals of her career, ‘To Be Loved’ is a challenging, beautiful masterpiece. — waluigiest
Intro & Honorable Mentions | 101–76 | 75–51 | 50–26 | 25–1 | Full List
