73. Empress Of — Save Me
Empress Of’s Save Me is an excellent addition to sad bangers canon. It’s grimy dance pop, meant for a dim club when you’ve had one too many drinks, but you don’t wanna go home alone. The song kicks off with a sparse intro, just Empress Of’s haunting voice over synths, before throwing the musical kitchen sink into the mix. This track has clattering percussion, dramatic strings, and ghostly backing vocals, all bolstering Empress Of’s delivery, which is both angelic and staccato. And yet, it all coheres into a glorious amalgam that moves us, both bodily and emotionally.
Unsurprisingly, Save Me is a literal plea for salvation — and it’s a plea wrongly directed at someone who only meets on their own time and doesn’t want to talk. We know this isn’t going to end well, and that’s what makes it so relatable: who hasn’t asked for saving from someone who can’t even give us the bare minimum? Any saving that comes won’t last. And isn’t that the point of any sad banger? The dance floor can’t provide any real salvation, only temporary escape, but God that escape feels (and sounds) so good. — u/TheOrdacity
71. 100 gecs — Doritos & Fritos
After 100 gecs hit the mainstream in the early pandemic when ‘money machine’ took off through TikTok and the “hyperpop” subculture became more than just a spotify playlist, the duo of Dylan Brady and Laura Les seemingly had little interest in trying to capitalize on that fame. They hosted a Minecraft hyperpop music festival, Square Garden, with their contemporaries Charli XCX, Kero Kero Bonito, and over a dozen more artists in April 2020 to raise money for charity and bring some joy to the beginning of extended quarantine, then released their promised remix of their debut ‘1000 gecs’, titled ‘1000 gecs and the Tree of Clues’ later in July that same year, but in terms of new music, there was little on offer. They wouldn’t release any new tracks officially until all the way up to November 2021 with ‘mememe’, well after the hyperpop boom had came and went and teenagers were already calling their “100 gecs phase” cringe.
While ‘mememe’ garnered praise for its catchiness and improved vocals, it was not much of a stylistic shift overall from the work of their debut. It wasn’t until April 2022 when they released the 2nd single off of their forthcoming album, ‘10000 gecs’, that a new direction would be realized for the duo. ‘Doritos & Fritos’ takes what was already good about their past work and gives it a new pop-punk coat of paint. The vocals are significantly less pitched up than their past releases and the instrumental is a lot more structured, while still keeping the off-the-wall, metallic vibes of their past work.
The song is a culmination of their former work with an infusion of 2000’s Blink-182, and the fusion results in something that is catchy and memorable that demonstrates a shift in style that we’ll likely see more on their sophomore album later this year. Lyrically, the song is their classic brand of surrealism, with ridiculous lyrics about nothing in particular. “It’s about chips on tv and weird dreams.” said lead vocalist Laura Les on Instagram about the subject matter. The song deals in simplicity moreso than their past experimental works, and it’s proved the duo’s chops at making an entertaining pop song while keeping their trademarks. For now, “Doritos & Fritos” just served a snack sized taste of what’s to come after their past 2 years of relative silence, but the track inspires confidence in the band’s ability to reinvent itself and deliver something new in their follow up due later this year, ‘10000 gecs’, that’s sure to expand on their debut tenfold. — u/PrettyBirbKotori
70. ROSALÍA — HENTAI
Father of all things horror, H.P. Lovecraft once said that ‘the oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.’ The suggestive is scarier than what is real, because it fully comes from your brain- it lets you fill in what you find scariest that’ll happen, almost as if make your own fear. It’s all possible, after all- even if nothing happens, it COULD happen.
Rosalía has a slightly different take on the subject. ‘For me, what’s suggestive is more erotic than what’s explicit’.
When the lyrics for this song were first teased on TikTok, I doubt many expected a beautiful ballad to come from it. After all, the song is called HENTAI talking about how she wants to ride her ‘daddy’ like a bicycle. She describes about getting him hard, and about how GOOD the sex is. She talks about how it’s so good many times. She uses the whole chorus for it, in fact!
This song has been controversial in so many ways. The whole album has been called into question for its lyricism, and this was no exception- and this song in particular was looked at as not as inovative as what her folks were doing. A piano ballad with industrial elements? Shocking, they’ll tell you.
However, it was a clear stand-out for me, and still sits head and shoulders above the other tracks in MOTOMAMI. Rosalía explains that she called the song as such from her own fascination with the genre: with it only being stilled pictures, only small glimpses of what is happening, the rest being all implied, it adds its own flavor to it. Leaves room for the mind to wander- for the mind to desire.
HENTAI is a song about that desire. About the intimate moments that only two people share, about the glimpses of it that she’s willing to share- and about the glimpses we’re left to imagine. That contrast of reality and imagination is parelelled all throughout the song, those clashings of extremes. The delicate vocals with the deeply sexual lyrics, the lush pianos with the much heavier industrial notes, coming straight from The Neptunes.
In a much more relaxed and pulled back album, Rosalía finds herself writing about sex in just that same way- both in the carnal desire and in the imagination, in that which is real and that which she wishes was real. The moments that she’s willing to share, and the moments that she decides to keep to herself. Implying them, they are realer than if she had told them. Sexier if she had told them. They are your own to sit with and deal with. That’s where that desire comes from. — u/CrimsonROSET
66. Rebecca Black — Crumbs
Who would’ve thought the “Friday” chanteuse would end up crooning one of the sexiest, sleekest pop songs of the year? Rebecca Black channels the exact carnal elements of Britney Spears’ 00s music with lyrics that describe a crave beyond desperation alike “I’m a Slave 4 U” and eerie and ticklish club production being deeply inspired by Spears’ most trailblazing album, Blackout. She similarly emulates the delicate, airy voice that made the likes of Spears and Kylie Minogue such powerful figures in pop music by being incredibly playful and inviting, as she hypnotically chants “you’re bad and I deserve it”. “Crumbs” feels completely animal — the beast is unleashed about 2 minutes into the song where the song just becomes absolute chaos. The listener gets drawn to Black by the second until there’s not a single crumb left. — Brian
65. KWON EUN BI — Glitch
After two and a half years of output from survival show-formed K-Pop group IZ*ONE, the group disbanded and saw all of its members pursue various other paths in the entertainment industry. Some announced a new focus on acting, others debuted in new girl groups, and a few began solo music endeavours. IZ*ONE’s leader, Kwon Eun Bi, was among the latter category — 2021 brought forth her solo debut, and she would then have her first comeback in April of this past year. The project’s title track, Glitch, is a momentous display of what Eunbi has in her as a solo act. The song takes influence from house and garage music, fit with vogue-inspired choreography and a steady, restrained beat that runs throughout the entirety of the song. Said beat is accompanied by various other production elements that are placed with immense particularity — from the saccharine video game-esque synths that open the song to the industrial squelches through the second verse, the intricate weaving of both minimalist and maximalist synthwork makes it a joy to pick apart with each repeat listen. Structurally it is also very intriguing, being built upon the idea of an anti-drop that compliments the house influence to great effect. Much anticipation is built through a rising pre-chorus only for it to be snatched away, with the instrumental being taken to its barest bones and instead highlighting the house beat as further subtle elements of it are added through the chorus. If the bulk of Glitch’s runtime is an exercise in edging, then the gorgeous vocal-focused bridge that leads into the outro is a release like none other. As the track reaches its final section, roaring grinds of synth blast louder than anything else in the song up to that point and amplify the already effective anti-drop technique seen in the chorus into a masterclass of the trope, utilising the gradual build of anticipation to create one of the best musical moments of the year. Slickly produced and endlessly addictive, Glitch is undoubtedly a highlight of 2022 K-Pop and it’s wonderful to see that recognized on this list! — u/hikkaru
64. Kendrick Lamar — The Heart Part 5
For me, 2022 was a year of appointment listening. All year long, Thursdays at 9 pm had me dropping everything to stream new singles and albums the way people in the ‘90’s used to run to NBC to catch new episodes of Seinfeld. It was like everyone I’d ever been a fan of had met behind closed doors and decided to spoil me personally with fresh bangers on a near-weekly basis. So naturally, the most urgent, world-stopping release of the year broke the pattern and arrived at 5 o’clock on a Sunday, when Kendrick Lamar surprise-dropped “The Heart Part 5.”
Even before I pressed play, this song hit me emotionally — I mean, how could it not? Not only was the greatest rapper of his generation finally taking center stage again after years of avoiding the spotlight, but once I returned to his world, I found him firing on all cylinders like no time had even passed. With a live rearrangement of Marvin Gaye’s “I Want You” as his backdrop, Kendrick puts up an effortlessly great performance, making a complicated tangle of rhyme schemes look simple and previewing the themes of trauma, grief, and introspection that dominate Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers. Whether you’re looking for a familiar cut or a taste of the album that followed, there’s something here to meet your needs.
But the true masterstroke arrives in the third verse, when the instrumental pulls back to bass and congas and Kendrick channels the spirit of the late great Nipsey Hussle, even adopting his fallen friend’s flows. This is arguably the most delicate artistic tightrope Kendrick has ever walked, but it’s easy to forget that when he pulls it off so sublimely. By the time it’s over, he’s assembled the greatest hip-hop due to the dead since Pete Rock and CL Smooth’s “They Reminisce Over You,” and that’s not an accolade I hand out lightly.
Other artists might be appointment listening, but Kendrick is on the rarest and highest level of all, where he can drop new music at any time and the appointment will just make itself. Simply put, “The Heart Part 5” is a reminder that rap as an art form is still K-Dot’s world, and as long as he reigns, I’d say this place is in great hands. — u/2RINITY
63. IVE — After Like
2022 was undisputedly the year of the rookie girl groups. If you’re vaguely familiar with K-Pop at all, you’ve probably heard the names Kep1er, NewJeans, NMIXX, VIVIZ, etc. However, eyes were already set on a certain group heading into 2022 before it even started. That would be IVE, the 6-membered girl group under Starship Entertainment (home to other ggs SISTAR and WJSN), who made their debut exactly a month before 2022 began on December 1st with “ELEVEN”. It proved to be somewhat of a huge sleeper hit both internationally and in Korea as it didn’t smash right away, but a group with Jang Wonyoung (former #1 rank of Produce 48 and center of IZ*ONE) was never going to flop. Expectations were sky high for their first ever comeback… and they delivered. LOVE DIVE was an even bigger hit, eventually winning SOTY at MAMA. The song and choreography were both super viral on TikTok and had a chokehold on the charts for the rest of the year (and beyond!). With 2 extremely successful singles under their belt, how could IVE top that? Impossible. Yet… they did. When the teaser for After LIKE was released, it sent everyone into a frenzy — look at the metrics. The sample slapping you right in the face, Wonyoung serving extreme c*nt in that dress… it was looking like IVE had a 3rd consecutive hit on their hands.``
…and what a hit it was! While nu-disco is an overdone trend in (K-)Pop at this point, this was an immediate hit for me and I looped it 150+ times in the first few days. If you didn’t catch it, Starship had the mind of a mastermind for the I Will SurvIVE pun/sample; truly genius marketing.Of course, who could forget the Lisa Rinna M&M memes this inspired. Iconic, I fear. SONIC… WHAT’S? AFTER? LIKE? —u/throwaway-7650
62. Harry Styles — Late Night Talking
Harry’s right cause I cant get this song out of my mind! Harry debuted Late Night Talking as part of his killer Coachella set and every since I heard it on that grainy live stream i knew it would be a hit. Late Night Talking is a song that really summarizes that cute talking stage you find yourself in that ‘more than a crush’ ‘not quite a Thing’ yet stage where you find yourself giggling on your bed kicking your feet back and forth curling the metaphorical phone wire around your finger. That feeling where you want to spend all your time talking and getting to know anything and everything about someone. Its a song that creeps into your heart and slowly gets your up and moving until you find yourself fully immersed singing along, just like any spark of a romance should. — u/Roxieloxie
61. FLO — Cardboard Box
The UK girl group FLO seemed to appear out of nowhere with a fresh, sunny sound that harkened back to early 00s R&B. Of course, they didn’t just start their careers in 2022, as Jorja, Stella, and Renée had been working on this project since 2019. When I first heard “Cardboard Box”, honestly I was somewhat skeptical. Why was this group paying such direct homage to the early 2000s R&B I grew up with? Perhaps this was my kneejerk reaction to the nostalgia cycle and passage of time catching up with me (and the nostalgia cycle kind of collapsing; have we truly had a fleshed-out 90s revival in pop culture? I digress). About a few weeks later though, the song crept up on me and I became head over heels for this group. It’s not just uninspired 2000s revivalism; FLO and their team are sharing their passion for this era and giving it an update with modern sensibilities.
The Western landscape for girl groups has been sparse for a few years now, with Little Mix holding down the fort since Fifth Harmony’s break-up. That beloved UK girl group did eventually go on indefinite hiatus in 2022, leaving the landscape once again empty. “Cardboard Box” is an unassuming but delightful earworm. It deftly just shows this young group as extremely poised and self-realized in their talent, vision and style.
Stella opens with “I got a confession…” over acoustic guitar. She proceeds with “I don’t think I want you anymore/There’s no room for questions/I saw her panties on the bathroom floor.” It’s a kiss-off track where the ladies don’t want to talk to their trifling man anymore, and of course are ready to put his shit in the fabled “cardboard box”. As many live renditions of this song show, FLO’s harmonies are tight and wonderful, each member commanding their part of the song with casual conviction as they tell their partner they’ve moved on.
The song is a creation between the women in the group and the in-demand singer-songwriter MNEK, who’s worked with several pop stars including Little Mix and Beyoncé. Funny and savage lines like “Never liked your momma so I guess she’s blocked” and “So I’ma put your gold chains down the drain and your Rolly/Might just drop a text to your homies” are peppered throughout. The song has so many quotable lines, and what’s great is that it never feels too dour in its delivery. It always feels snappy and bright, with sweet harmonies and punchy drums that make it a total bop. It’s a great song that established FLO in 2022, as they continued to put out great R&B cuts like “Immature”, “Summertime”, “Not My Job” and others on their debut EP “The Lead.” Their star continues to rise with live performances, plus winning the BBC Sound of 2023 poll and Brit Award Rising Star. They’ve won over so many by being effortlessly themselves, and showing their passion for all things old and new with gems like “Cardboard Box”. — u/darjeelingdarkroast
59. Sky Ferreira — Don’t Forget
On May 25th 2022, I was out with a friend at a brewery. I went to the bathroom, checked Reddit, and immediately saw a post with the [Pop Emergency] flair come across my feed; three years after her previous single and nine years after her last full-length album, Sky Ferreira had dropped “Don’t Forget,” the lead single to her long-awaited second album, “Masochism.”
I let it all wash over me as I walked to my bus-stop; the blaring electronic horns, the concussive-force drums, and Sky’s sexy, self-assured promise that she won’t forget and won’t forgive. Compared to Sky’s previous single, 2019’s brooding ballad “Downhill Lullaby,” “Don’t Forget” felt like a triumphant return to form. The “little troubled girl” Sky sings about feels more in-control than the wilting flower of her previous songs as she “burn[s] down your house of certainty.”
Although this song was controversial on r/popheads (some though it sounded like a dull, scrapped track from the LP “Night Time My Time”), I thought the single showed that Sky’s thoughtful, edgy ’80s pastiche was here to stay, that she was still head and shoulders above the shallow imitators who cropped up since she disappeared from the music scene in 2013. Even if the promise of “Masochism” dropping in 2022 didn’t come to fruition, Sky demonstrated that she is still an artist with a unique voice and a singular vision, not to be forgotten.
#MASOCHISM2023 — u/Iamanorak
58. Florence + The Machine — King
On “King,” Florence Welch builds upon her band’s brand of chamber pop: an interplay between the mundane and the extravagant. The first line starts with a kitchen room argument, before giving way to her laments of “my golden crown of sorrow, my bloody sword to swing.” It’s melodramatic in the positive sense, earnest in its hyperbolic fantasies.
Florence’s vocals brim with majesty as she proclaims, “I am no mother, I am no bride, I am king.” This proclamation distills the song’s central tension: between domesticity and monarchy, the latter representing her artistry. It also plays with gender, introducing a theme throughout 2022 album Dance Fever as Florence reflects upon womanhood.
Production from Jack Antonoff top off this statement of a lead single. The instrumentals begin restrained but firm, building up toward the end. “King” culminates with an explosion of strings, before the music comes back down to Earth. — u/chihuahuazero
57. Doja Cat — Vegas
Luhrmann has a long history of creating movie soundtracks that are, in themselves, pop culture moments (Lady Marmalade from Moulin Rouge and Young and Beautiful from The Great Gatsby probably — to now — the prime examples of songs that went on to have success beyond even the films that they were made for.) This is in no small part thanks to Luhrmann’s ability to sign on the trendiest names in music; each of his films’ soundtracks feel like a snapshot of some of the hottest artists at any given moment.
This trend certainly continues with Vegas: Doja Cat fits Luhrmann’s flashy, bombastic, maximalist brand like a glove. Doja excels at any genre that she puts her mind to, so she’s a perfect match for a soundtrack that constantly tries to weave together the old and new. Doja’s rapping is as catchy as always, and the sample is particularly addictive. (It’s a nice touch that the song interpolates the original arrangement of Hound Dog by Big Mama Thornton — as sung by ‘Elvis’ actress Shonka Dukureh in this song, may she rest in peace — rather than Elvis’ version of the song.) The quality of the movie may be up for debate…but in the music world, Luhrmann’s films will surely always be welcome, as long as they’re delivering pop songs that are this quality. — u/bigbigbee
56. Denzel Curry — Walkin
Now more than ever people are looking for ways to cope. With struggles — internal and external — which have become harder to ignore in the midst of greater division and isolation. Facing these struggles head on is the M.O. of Denzel Curry’s ‘Walkin’.
The track takes inspiration from Western films, painting the Floridian rapper as a lone ranger delivering a monologue to a barren horizon. The instrumentation is suitably simple, largely driven by a single vocal sample and steady percussion. However this is far from a monotonous affair as Curry’s lively, engaging delivery makes light work of the accompaniment. He recounts vicious cycles he has observed in his community, as well as in his own life which he has been confronting through therapy: “I pay 180 to talk to one lady / She been regulatin’ on how I feel / Describe it as raw and real / I’m dealin’ with all the ills / I’m tearin’ up like I’m on Dr. Phil”. Lines like these demonstrate a candid side of Curry that separates his latest album Melt My Eyez See Your Future from his past few records.
The essence of ‘Walkin’ is to take charge of what you can control and persevere through what you can’t: “Keep on walkin’, ain’t no stoppin’ / In this dirty, filthy, rotten, nasty little world we call our home.” — u/kyrgyzzephyr
54. Big Thief — Simulation Swarm
It’s a thankless task trying to figure out what the hell most of this song is about. It’s a wrinkled canvas cluttered with brushstrokes of Lenker’s imagination, all strewn about the ocean of white. The lyric contains vivid, magical details ranging from the blackened and apocalyptic (“silent clay”, “empty horses”, “last human teachers”) to the vibrant and colorful (“pale green tree”, “river of light”, “newborn skin”), cultivating a strange, yet earthly world unto itself with each verse; I’m reminded of hard pastel drawings, ethereal images born from a rough and chalky substance. The song achieves the most clarity in that lighthouse of a chorus, initially cold and austere (“drone of fluorescence”) before turning into something deeply human (“With a warm gush, now I wanna touch like we never could before”).
But it’s the latter half of the chorus that imbues this song with a thrilling grandeur, becoming a paean to the endurance of human connection even when the world is crumbling (“I’d fly to you tomorrow, I’m not fighting in this war”). It takes flight in that last majestic chorus when the piano soars to the heavens and the “war” is suddenly reduced to a mere triviality compared to “you,” that river of light in the belly of the empty night. And finally, there is no better encapsulation of humanity’s desire to find solace in one another than “I wanna drop my arms and take your arms and walk you to the shore.” For indie music, this song is this generation’s “Jesus, etc.”, another humble, yet cosmically grand song with a phenomenal lyric (some choice lines: “You were right about the stars. Each one is a setting sun” and “Our love is all of God’s money”).
Though Lenker’s poetry could’ve easily dominated this song on its own, it’s the deceptively simple, yet well-measured work of the entire band that elevates this song to perfection, anchoring this almost formless dream world to something more tactile and providing that rough ‘hard pastel’ texture. Krivchenia’s drum pattern is so delightfully crisp and propulsive in a song that initially feels gentle and relaxing, and that explosive cymbal crash before the final guitar solo is like the first ray of sun breaking through the clouds. That hypnotic bass melody (underscoring an equally hypnotic guitar line) subtly wrinkles the song’s melodic tapestry, aging it like wine. Finally, the guitar solos feel so jagged yet millimetrically crafted that they’re like twin sculptures bearing the same ineffable, singular beauty as this song’s endlessly imaginative lyric.
A high watermark for folk music (and imagination in general) with very few competitors this decade. And I have no doubt that it’s the best song that casually talks about building an energy shield in your room.
P.S. As of writing, YouTube’s top comment for this song concisely describes it as “the hardest-going softest song ever.” You know the one other song I’d also describe that way? “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac. — u/ExtraEater
53. NewJeans — Attention
“You got me looking for attention…” was the refrain stuck in people’s head after the release of NewJeans’ first single of their self-titled debut mini album, and if attention was what they were looking for, they certainly succeeded. In a year full of the biggest girl group releases the industry has seen in years, NewJeans were able to undeniably become the biggest of them all, dominating Koreans charts up to this day and making an impact in the international market that has taken years for other groups to achieve.
Attention dropped with no prior announcement or proper introduction to any of the members, a strategy that would help their name spread faster than any other act, as people wondered and speculated who the 5 girls featured in the music video were. They were also aesthetically distinct from other groups; instead of presenting them as the usual flawless and over-the-top superstars idols like to show themselves as, their team took the conscious effort of giving them a girl-next-door look, leaving their hair long and natural, and putting them on minimal makeup; emphasizing their youth (and boy are they young…)
Attention is a fresh track reminiscent of the Neo-Soul tinted R&B from the 2000’s, with a simple production that never overwhelms the listener and puts the focus on the song’s composition; which is equally simple but remarkably catchy. The casualness of the track fits perfectly with the laid-back and relaxed image of the quintet, and established the rookie group as a synonym of “effortlessly cool”. This is the type of song you can just picture yourself listening to while strolling down the street of a hot summer day. Attention didn’t end up being the group’s biggest hit; because each of their releases unbelievably becomes a bigger smash than the last, but debuting with this track was the correct and strongest first step to get their plan for world domination rolling.
Don’t forget to vote for Ditto for next year’s list. — u/rickikardashian
52. Griff — Head On Fire (feat. Sigrid)
“I think I’m losing my… MIND!” With those six words, an impossibly catchy banger from pop goddesses Griff and Sigrid was born. Well, really it’s that elipses that does the heavy lifting. The mid-line pause before the scream-sung explosion is so incredibly fun, so effervescent that you simply can’t get it out of your head.
“Head on Fire” — which is (hopefully) just the start of many future collaborations between the duo — tells the story of a burning new romance. It’s the stage of a new relationship when your feelings are so intense, so blinding, so overwhelming that you feel like you’re losing your mind. You try to fight it, you try to keep your wits about you. However, why fight it when giving in feels this explosively incredible?
It’s a song that seems formulated specifically for maximum ‘scream-ability.’ A song that, regardless of your current relationship status, has you romanticizing about the explosive passion of a new beau. And, in true Sigrid and Griff fashion, a song that demands you roll your car windows down, crank the volume up, and give into the burning pop perfection. — u/redgold51
Intro & Honorable Mentions | 101–76 | 75–51 | 50–26 | 25–1 | Full List
