100. Yeah Yeah Yeahs — Spitting Off the Edge of the World (feat. Perfume Genius)
I remember flying to my grandparents when I was young and staring out the plane window at the Great Salt Lake, shimmering for miles on the valley floor. I’m glad I remember, because the lake will be gone in the next decade as a direct result of human actions.
Thinking about the climate crisis I am living in evokes a strange combination of grief and rage I also find reflected in one of this year’s best songs: Spitting Off the Edge of the World by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
Generally associated more with blood, sweat, and spit than lofty environmental statements (and believe me, they did not leave the spit out of this song’s music video) the Yeah Yeah Yeahs may seem an odd choice to team up with Perfume Genius for an slower synth-heavy anthem condemning humanity’s failures to deal with climate change, but what’s more punk than protesting the corporate sellout of the environment?
The song opens with a simple drum pattern before diving into a cinematic synth line, courtesy of collaborator Perfume Genius. Karen O commands the “cowards” responsible for the state of the world to “bow their heads” while Hadreas (Perfume Genius) comments “she’s melting houses of gold” pinning the blame and punitive consequences for the climate crisis squarely on the heads of the rich and powerful.
In the second verse of the track, the band briefly ditches the massive synths for vulnerability and Karen O sings a verse from her son’s point of view, questioning her own actions as a part of many that led to the world we live in now. Young people are already looking at a future riddled with climate disasters, economic instability, and rising authoritarianism and it’s hard not to blame older politicians, leaders, and even parents for not doing more to fix the circumstances we’re living in.
While acknowledging the grief of watching the world sometimes literally burn, the song was also written with an attitude of resistance. To quote Karen O, “I see the younger generations staring down this threat, and they’re standing on the edge of a precipice, confronting what’s coming with anger and defiance…it’s galvanizing, and there’s hope there.” Like present-day climate protesters, the album’s name itself urges humanity to Cool It Down, with the hope that we still can. — u/evaan-verlaine
“Yeah Yeah Yeahs — Spitting Off the Edge of the World (feat. Perfume Genius)”
99. TWICE — Talk That Talk
TWICE released their 18th Korean title track, “Talk That Talk” on August 26, 2022, alongside mini album Between 1&2.
Shy of just three minutes, TWICE puts the L-O-V-E into this addictive, Y2K-inspired retro track. The chorus is explosive and captivating, with catchy choreography to boot.
Talk That Talk’s music video contains a large variety of easter eggs in numerical form — 151020 signifies TWICE’s debut date, 170217 for their first concert, and 160505 for their first music show win. The final frame displays a QR code that when scanned, sends users to a very special Twicetagram post — the announcement of TWICE’s official fandom, ONCE.
2022 marked a hallmark year for TWICE, boasting a very rare feat in the K-Pop industry — all nine members of the group would resign their contracts with JYP Entertainment and thus continue OT9. TWICE have grown significantly in the years since their debut and continue to create bops for K-Pop stans and non-fans alike. — u/CaptainClumsy04
98. The Knocks — Slow Song (with Dragonette)
The best dance songs have often been those with an emotional core that would have you in tears, and yet work best with a dance beat and not rendered as a ballad. Sadness seems to work best when you’re flooded with serotonin, the likes of “Dancing On My Own” claim. “Slow Song” does the same, soundtracking the life and death of a relationship and maybe the cyclical nature of relationships in our lives against warm liquid disco, with one of the most satisfyingly relaxed groovy basslines of the year. The music video featuring Aquaria may be one of the best of the year too just for mood alone. When the instrumental break emerges with analog bleeps like fireflies in the night, the video with Aquaria lost in the middle of the dancefloor, the song earns every ounce of its laidback sentimentality. Bittersweet done right. — Rai
96. Porter Robinson — Everything Goes On
Porter Robinson, known for his electro and synth-pop sound, released “Everything Goes On” — a bright yet melancholic song about lost-love. Porter explores not remaining adrift in the past, the potential catharsis found from moving on — knowing that the world still turns — yet solidifies the importance of treasuring those past shining memories. Through a steady background of softly played guitar, pretty twinkling sounds and piano, and story-driven lyrics describing a fear of loss, a wish for more, forgiveness, and acceptance, Porter creates a light and dreamy atmosphere that captures an earnest, nostalgic love and deep sense of longing.
As a collaboration with League of Legends, the music video similarly cements this yearning via the Star Guardians’ story and pairs masterfully with the lyrics and exciting build-ups to the chorus. Both this official music video (clipped shorter than the full song) and the official lyrical video (full song) are a delight to experience. The catchy tunes and hopeful ending make this a replayable, enjoyable song to come back to, regardless of your knowledge of LoL lore. It certainly was for me. So put some good headphones on and experience it for yourself! — u/PajamaSamsMissinSock
93. Demi Lovato — Substance
After 2021 Demi Lovato’s album I felt really proud, because of how well it was received at first and how it sounded like a flawlessly done pop come-back. However, regardless of whatever controversy she got herself into, I didn’t know her magnum opus was about to come and that it would be a wink to her rock roots.
In August 19th, she surprised me with this full rock album, and though I heard Substance before the album release, inside the record context I honestly thought to myself “holy ‘fvck’”. This is Demi at her best, she has never been a quiet person, she’s outspoken every time, but with this record and particularly with this song she leaves nothing unanswered.
Here, we listen to her grasping for air like she did in Heart Attack, but vulnerably and even more explicit, telling us she doesn’t want to end up like another corpse, as her biological father (the inspiration for this song) did. I know this can be a metaphor for dope, but she’s looking for something else, she’s in a quest for existence and magic, she doesn’t want to die; besides all the sadness that embraces her and how freaking exhausted she is, Demi is looking for substantial reasons to live.
I think we all have felt lonely and unheard enough to relate to her feeling of lovelessness, so beyond the reflectively sad lyrics of this song I want to say that Demi wasn’t just talking to herself screaming at the walls, I hear her clearer than ever. And with all her honest words I can tell that she’s not the only one looking for that, because she really gives all the possible substance we can look for with this song. — u/thegolding
91. Chlöe — Treat Me
After her solo debut of Have Mercy, Chlöe received a fair amount of criticism for her expressive sexuality. And what do most artists do after receiving criticism? They release self-love tracks. And that’s exactly what Chlöe did, but this one stood out. A hypnotic beat brought us into the world of Chlöe, it showcased the fact that her sexuality is expressed on the basis of the love that she has for herself. The titular line “treat me like I treat me,” allowed potential lovers of Chlöe’s to know that they’d have to outdo the appreciation she has for herself if they truly wanted to be with her. Ultimately, the track was a perfect response to the criticism Chlöe received, she let listeners know that her expression of sexuality came from a place of acknowledging her own value and loving herself.
Treat Me also served a perfect display of Chlöe’s ability as an artist. The production she’s contributed to her work as duo Chloe x Halle translated perfectly to her solo work. Treat Me’s mesmerizing beat brings the listener into the realm of Chlöe’s hypnotizing style. The sample of Bubba Sparxxx’s Ms. New Booty in the chorus further propels the song into a dance genre perfect for Chlöe ability as a dancer. And of course, the vocal display in the outro, in which she mirrors the ability of a vocoder, perfectly conveys Chlöe’s vocal talent. While Chlöe fans still ask, “when is the album coming?” They continue to enjoy the work she’s put out, and among the four tracks she has released so far, Treat Me continues to stand out. — u/AHSWeeknd
90. Camila Cabello — psychofreak (Feat. WILLOW)
So I’m not the only person who’s shocked by how much they liked this. Camila Cabello, talking about mental health, on a song called psychofreak. Even referencing the drama with Fifth Harmony in a way that feels surprisingly sincere and nice, or at least as sincere as it can considering how ugly that all was. But I heard it, and I really connected to it. And a lot of that comes down to Camila herself, singing with a more understated and dead delivery in sharp contrast to WILLOW’ s far more expressive and desperate delivery on the pre-chorus. Both sound like they are crying for help through all the anxiety though. One of the particular moments that really captured my attention was hearing Camila deride her own reliance on chronicling her mental health journey on Instagram in a way to make it seem like nothing but shallow and vain, in a move that feels extremely self-degrading and honestly self-destructive. — u/FlavaSavaVandal
87. yeule — Bites on My Neck
Yeule’s Glitch Princess, wrapped in electronic buzz and distortion, does not sound human. And yet its humanness seeps through the cracks of its metallic exterior like blood from a wound. As much as the album centers technology — transmitted down to us from a transhumanist cyber-future — Yeule’s songwriting makes it clear that even in a fully digital world, one cannot escape the extremes of human emotion.
Bites on My Neck, the ninth track off of Glitch Princess, is all about marrying these extremes. In one breath they intertwine violence and tenderness, pleasure and pain, numbness and intensity. They pull us from one pole to another while an electronic beat pounds like a racing heart, accompanied by a haunting artificial wail. Throughout this rush, it is hard to tell whether it is the inhuman taking the form of the human or the human breaking out of the inhuman. Either way, the result is jarring and cathartic — -like peering into the distant future and seeing your own reflection. — u/just_thonking
86. Phoebe Bridgers — Sidelines
I, like many people, was disappointed to hear that Phoebe Bridgers’ new single was going to be for a soundtrack. Specifically, for a Hulu original series. I’ve been hurt too many times by my faves hyping up a comeback just for it to be a mediocre song tied to a TV show/movie/other media.
That disappointment lasted for all of 5 seconds into the song.
On Sidelines, Phoebe Bridgers combines her intensely relatable lyricism with a beautiful, hypnotic instrumental. Depression is often characterized in media by crying and obvious visual clues, but for a lot of people (me included), it looks nothing like that. The verses of Sidelines focus on that feeling of despondence.
Long time collaborator Marshall Vore provides added harmonies to the chorus as Phoebe sings about the feeling of being brought back to reality in a sense, with the all-time Phoebe lyrics “Watch the world from the sidelines/ Had nothing to prove/ Till you came into my life/ Gave me something to lose”. I love the double-edged sword idea being used here — finding someone you love to bring you off the sidelines, but at the same time, bringing that threat of leaving you even worse.
As much as I’m starving for Phoebe’s next solo album, her talent brings itself to everything she touches — one-off singles, or in the near future, a new boygenius album! This is an incredibly important song for me and I’m excited to see where she goes next. — u/MassiveThief
[Editor’s Note: A new boygenius album did manifest, yes.]
85. MUNA — Home By Now
MUNA’s 2022 self titled album was, for me and many others on this sub, one of the most exciting, well-constructed, and bop-laden pop releases of the year. The album opens with a killer one-two punch of “Silk Chiffon” and “What I Want,” two big, catchy, and very sapphic pop anthems that both unsurprisingly did very well on the Popheads charts.
However, it’s the next two songs on the album that really hooked me. “Runner’s High” and “Home by Now” are two also very catchy but much less joyful synth bangers. Both songs focus on movement out of a relationship, the first looking forward and the second looking back. The driver in “Runner’s High” is numb, with their foot pressed firmly on the gas pedal, while the driver in “Home By Now” is anxious, with a foot constantly hovering over the brake. Together, they create a disorienting feeling.
We’ve all heard the phrase “the grass is always greener on the other side” — what you don’t have may look shinier and more exciting, but that’s not always the case. It can work in reverse too. The grass we have now might not be the greenest, but we’re used to it and we know that at least it’s not full of poisonous weeds. The grass on the other side might be, and that fear keeps us from leaving. The singer in “Home By Now” finds herself in the middle of the uncertainty of this phrase. Will she find a better love than the one she left? Were her reasons for leaving enough or were her expectations truly unreasonably high? What if she had put the time in?
With its pulsating synths, swelling production, and climatic, heart-wrenching bridge, “Home By Now” makes for one of the best driving songs of the year. Just don’t let the lyrics sink in too much, or you’ll find yourself looking in the rear view mirror at the wrong time. — u/BleepBloopMusicFan
83. Ethel Cain — Strangers
I think I can safely say it was a shock for many people when the relatively unknown Ethel Cain ended up having their top album of the year. Preacher’s Daughter, an album that will no doubt be remembered for years to come, revolves around the character of Ethel Cain, the titular preacher’s daughter. The album revolves around themes of poverty, family, generational trauma, religion, and domestic violence, all set against a Southern Gothic backdrop.
Strangers is the final song on the album, a culmination of the extensive storytelling Cain has weaved throughout her lyrics. The tale here continues from August Underground, an ambient track with vocalisations that represent Cain’s inability to escape her murderous lover. She dies at his hands and the grungy Strangers tells the story of how her dead body is stuck in her lover’s basement freezer, waiting to be cannibalised by him. Here, Cain expresses her love to her mother for the last time. Simultaneously, she laments how her relationship with her lover didn’t work out (“I tried to be good” / “I just wanted to be yours”). The framing of the act of cannibalism could even be interpreted as romantic, with Cain noting that he’s “so handsome when I’m all over your mouth”. The bridge of the song consists of her repeatedly asking if her flesh is making her lover feel sick, until she’s yelling the question almost frantically as the instruments crescendo. The instruments fade and the song ends on a calmer note, with Cain instead choosing to focus on her family rather than the fate that befell her — the last two lines of the song (and the album) are “Mama, just know that I love you / And I’ll see you when you get here”. It’s a full-circle moment for the album, as making the decision to run away from home is what leads Cain to meet the man that eventually ends up killing and cannibalising her. She’s come to realise that although she can’t change the past, there’s somehow still a chance to improve the future. — u/MoonlightByWindow
82. Bree Runway — That Girl
The music world is enjoying an unrivalled renaissance (pun intended) of female/femme representation in hip-hop, rap, R&B, and all of its adjacent subgenres, including reggaeton, KPop, afrobeat and grime, making it a great time for any lady to rattle off more bars than holidayers during Pride. One such femcee is maximizing her opportunity to bring UK rap onto the same level as her American sisters. That girl is the London baddie herself, Bree Runway.
Actually, scratch that. “That girl” is not Bree Runway.
Bree Runway is THAT GIRL.
With cowriting assistance from LIOHN and the song’s producer, EASYFUN, (Charli XCX, PC Music, Rita Ora) Bree lays down a pair of fierce, braggadocious verses set to a thumping electronic beat that SOPHIE would’ve been very proud of on the final song of her explosive WHOA, WHAT A BLUR! EP, simultaneously serving as her debut album’s lead single.
Shouting out brands like Gaultier and New Era, (both of which she can pronounce) Bree taunts and flaunts her way across this 2-minute house rap suite which truly lives up to her name, as this song would fit perfectly into a spring/summer 23 Fashion Show AND a lipsync on Drag Race UK, which, if Ru has any good judgment left, Bree will hopefully be invited to as a guest judge.
We don’t know what BR1 will sound like, but you can be damn sure Bree will keep reminding us she has been, is, and forever will be THAT GIRL. — u/twat_brained
80. The Beths — Expert In A Dying Field
Given how nostalgia-focused and nostalgia-friendly the current moment in pop music has shown itself to be, it only makes sense that the fringes of the mainstream would find fertile ground to subvert and reflect seriously on how past feelings and emotions catch up with us in the present. Enter The Beths, the New Zealand four-piece who have slowly but surely cut out a significant international niche for themselves in indie pop with their irresistible hooks, bright guitar melodies, gorgeous vocal interplay and the wry and evocative poetry of lead singer Liz Stokes. With the title track of their third album, Expert In A Dying Field, they continue their running thread of reflecting on a relationship with regards to the passage of time; where Future Me Hates Me was forwards-looking and steeling itself for the inevitable breakdown of something that feels so right for now, and Jump Rope Gazers is a sincere declaration in the moment while lamenting how time passed and distance mean the chance for fulfillment of that feeling has passed her by, Expert looks at all of the effort, energy and time exerted into an ultimately failed relationship and asks, “Shit, now what?”
The idea of the song bears resemblance to the plot and major themes of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which happens to also be one of my favourite ever films. When something ends in any abrupt or unplanned fashion, it can taint the mere idea of everything that preceded it, good or otherwise. It paints the already-formed memories in a negative light, to the point where the next best outcome would be to somehow erase the history and pretend the whole ordeal never even happened. But you can’t do that, especially when so much energy has been poured into it that there’s no way you can separate out the now tainted memories from who you even are as your own person. So much knowledge, feeling and nostalgia has been accumulated, taking up a disproportionate amount of your mental capacity, and for what? What do you plan on using that shit for now?
Aside from the passing “Maybe in other realities/The road never took this twist”, there’s no clean resolution for how to deal with this mental and emotional load, and the band knows it. It’s a feeling that can only be sat and stewed in until you’re numb to the thought of it and can finally move on when it fails to evoke something, but until that point, the constant echoes of “How does it feel?” will continue to follow and bounce around your head. It’s all laid out so matter-of-factly until it can’t help but bubble over into a thrashing yell of frustration that you just physically can’t move on. The final chorus, with Liz’s sustained, emotional howls perfectly juxtaposing the staccato nature in which she first delivered these lines, all the instruments turned up to 11 and every single counter melody in the boys’ backing vocals bouncing off one another in perfect succession, gives the song as epic of a breakdown as The Beths’ typically quaint stylings could possibly allow for. They all know this past cannot be outrun, but damn are they going to put everything they can into wringing all of the feeling out of it that they can. With Expert In A Dying Field, The Beths are 3 for 3 on album title tracks with compact literary brilliance that pack feeling into every square inch, and to see them finally start getting their flowers for exactly that style of performance is inspiring. — camerinian
77. beabadoobee — Talk
“This is a song I knew I could write and do well. It’s the best I am at my craft” is what Beatrice Kristi, the artist known as beabadoobee, had to say about “Talk”. She wanted something catchy that depicted an easy feeling to understand and she was undoubtedly successful with what she created.
“Talk”, in the simplest terms, is a song about wanting to go out on a Tuesday night. When we look a little deeper, it’s a song about looking for connection, something that has always resonated with the most intrinsic parts of being human. Nowadays, it speaks to us more than ever before. There are just so many ways to connect and which one could be more fulfilling? Does it matter the way, or is it the person we choose that should matter the most? We make it up as we go.
“Why’d you have to be so complicated?” is a sentiment that has been echoed through many, many songs, but more importantly by Avril Lavigne in her hit debut song, one that doesn’t even need to be named, and that question isn’t the only thing that Bea chose to echo in the lead single of her second album.
“Talk” is a revamped throwback to the one-hit wonder 00s rock sound with a modern pop song length — which, I must say, isn’t detrimental at all. The track is sweet in its length and punchy in its sound. And, while it has a purposeful nostalgic feel to it, the song never feels derivative. It has plenty to contribute to a genre that’s already filled with angst wondering and eternally ongoing frustration with its compact rawness and noisy smudginess. — u/WavingWolves
76. Alvvays — Belinda Says
3 albums into their career, Alvvays have mastered the art of dancing on the line between indie rock and pop, borrowing the best influences of modern pop and lacing them with dashes of shoegaze and punk to create a glossy song. Belinda Says is Alvvays at their best and showcasess everything they’ve learned in their 8 years as a band.
The lyrics describe a teen girl still reveling in her youth when she finds herself pregnant, and despite her hesitance she decides to keep the baby, despite the challenges that will undoubtedly arise and how her innocent life is going to be forever changed. The song feels equal parts nostalgic and melancholic, perfectly capturing the atmosphere of a group of teens sneaking behind the ice rink and drinking wine coolers and feeling invincible.
And this is all capped off by that final verse that brings with it a sensational key change, and Belinda Carlisle finally comes into play, with Molly quoting the all-time popheads classic “Heaven is a Place on Earth”, and echoing that hell is on the same earth as that. It’s a hopeful, yet fearful plea, and it’s no wonder it ended up both on the popheads list and #1 on P4K’s. — u/RandomHypnotica
Intro & Honorable Mentions | 100–76 | 75–51 | 50–26 | 25–1 | Full List
