Apparently what I do is I look to myself 12 months ago for advice on starting these threads. This means I won't overthink it, and I can rest assured knowing the real meat of it will appear on Tuesday and Wednesday when I actually post the stuff
If nothing else, 2025 for me is just gonna be that year I went to Melbourne over and over again. I don't think Ball Park Music would have approved even though I occasionally had their interests at heart when doing so. I went to Melbourne to be a witness at my brother's wedding. That's a crazy thing to experience; I finally have a (step) sister. I was able to converse with people I haven't seen in over 15 years, relaying grown up experiences, and recalling the older ones. I had a certain profound experience with it all when I had my own reservations about my past actions put in perspective, I felt like more of a troublemaker than I really was, I suppose. I also got to meet up with some friends I've known for the last decade but had never met in person. Had a lot of fun that day, would absolutely stand in the corner of a room singing "Losing My Religion" for karaoke. Then I met another such friend and got to watch the most complete line up Essendon would field all year still not be good enough (I'm hoping Kako becomes a star and I can say I saw his first ever goal though). I thought it would be a fun idea to go back to Melbourne later on to watch a surely hotly contested game between Collingwood & Brisbane. It's completely sold me on the idea of sitting behind the cheer squad, the vibes are incredible, especially when Loges destroys Darcy Moore and puts down 6 goals.
I suppose in this sense, there was a deliberate timing with regard to my special post I made on my blog back in September. There wasn't much of a choice given the timing of the Sarah Blasko show (it turned out the silver lining to Brisbane losing the Qualifying Final meant that it wouldn't end up clashing). I had a certain urgency to typing it up when I did, knowing that there'd be a Preliminary Final that night and it would almost certainly cause some effect on what was going on in my mind. I was perfectly prepared to watch my boys get rolled by Collingwood to make up for the strange aberration of the previous encounter. Let's just say it certainly was one of the games of all time and perfectly primed to play with your emotions. So I made sure that whatever I wrote in that post at the time didn't have an air of 'oh, he's just feeling things because of the football'.
I don't know how well known this process is because I didn't really know about it before, but if you're a member for a team and they make the Preliminary Final, they open up a lottery for Grand Final tickets. You pay a small amount, and if they win the next game, you go into the draw to be one of their 17,000 odd allocated tickets for the game. For many Victorian Clubs, I imagine this really is a lottery, where loyal members have to face a dice roll to get their wish, meanwhile fans of interstate clubs can easily slip into the mix. Sure, Brisbane have around 70,000 members, but how many of them are gonna book a spur the moment plane trip from Queensland when they might have already done it last year. I spent that night furiously refreshing my bank statements, watching as comments rolled in to say they were in which serves only to make you lament it, but then it finally came through. A bit like when I got accepted into SGDQ back in 2019, just a surreal moment looking at my phone, and also realising my savings account is about to take a beating.
In some respect, I feel like this is the sequel to my blog post that I couldn't have known I'd get to write. If you're writing up dream scenarios, it's just hard to beat this one. Ever since I was a kid, I thought it'd be so cool to be able to go to an AFL Grand Final, but probably concluded there wasn't any way I could make that happen. So let's say you did that. Let's say you go in there with your favourite team as the clear underdogs, let's say you get to experience a tightly fought contest, but then also witness a monumental blowout in your favour. You can't write it any better.
If I can back things up from that though, I also just want to talk about the experience. I got in on I believe the Wednesday. Being in Melbourne on Grand Final week is just such a vibe. You see all the team logos up everywhere you go, and there's a pleasant feeling walking around repping your team's colours that I don't feel like I'm able to do anywhere else I'm at, at any other time. Just massive excitement for one of the biggest days on the calendar. I got to go to the Fitzroy museum at Marvel Stadium that usually only opens for one day a year, which was fun. I actually bumped into the head of the Perth Lions cheer squad leader multiple times because of it in one of those small world moments. I went to the parade, which was fun, though it came with a bit of rain so I couldn't get all the photos I wanted. I met up with a fellow aus-charter and Geelong supporter and got to hang out for several hours, watching Danger let go of the cup too soon, and watching Harris ping a goal from 50 out at the training run.
The thing that's sticking with me the most was the day of. I was extremely paranoid about my standing ticket, so I was at the MCG the minute it opened, ready to guard the front of the fence with my life. It's a very long period of time so I may have genuinely been standing there and occasionally sitting for the next 8 hours. The crowds are somewhat sequestered so I was also surrounded by Lions fans, and was able to chat with a group who seemed very nice. I probably could have trusted them to save my spot if I wanted to duck out for a moment, but honestly would you dare try? The kid who tossed the coin was actually right in front of moi, in the accessibility zone. What followed was a lot of yelling about free kicks, and then general camaraderie as everyone reached various stages of certainty for victory (Leigh Matthews rule for me). The elation after the final siren though, that's something I can't replicate. My only regret is that I didn't think to grab some of the confetti as a keepsake. When I was leaving the stadium, I just kept walking past people handing out high fives and it was another great feeling. Then on the train, chatting with multiple generations who have had vastly different experiences with this great game of ours. I remember getting a cheer when I got off, just everyone feeding off everyone else's energy. Once Brisbane goes back out of contention and into the doldrums, I genuinely wish the experience on as many more people as possible. It's just this amazing feeling of community that can be provided by watching grown men kick a football around, and a weekend I'll never forget.
Outside of that, I've had a fulfilling time writing my Hottest 100 blog. It's a strange source of productivity for me, where I might normally beat myself up on a day where I don't get anything particularly useful done, but here I feel like I could write 2 entries up and feel like I've got carte blanche to do whatever I feel like for the next several hours. I hope all future entries can be enjoyed because I've had so much fun writing some of these upcoming ones. It makes me almost not feel the need to dispense other anecdotal things because I always find a way to bring it up in there anyway. I've hyperfixated on many a TV show (sometimes because the blog has demanded it) and many a video game. If you're looking for a boring recommendation, then Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is every bit as good as people say it is. If you're looking for less obvious ones, The Hundred Line -Last Defence Academy- is every bit the twisted Danganronpa/Zero Escape mutation that people say it is, Silksong is pretty good, and yet with all these 50-180 hour experiences, the one I find myself most drawn to is Öoo, a puzzle platformer that takes maybe 2 hours to complete. It's just one of those things that locks into its mechanics so tightly with little time wasted that I just can't help but marvel at the whole thing.
This is where music probably takes a backseat but that's only because I was doing an unmatchable amount of it 10 or so years ago that cannot be matched when I'm actually partaking in other things. I feel very strongly about the things I do adore, but it probably won't feel anywhere near as comprehensive as maybe it should. I guess another way to put it is that I would not take exclusion from this list to be interpreted as any form of shade. More than anything before, this is just built around the small world of things I paid close attention to, but there's a great big world of music out there (those guys released some singles actually). Take this list as mostly indicative of my isolated experience and don't think too hard about it. I guess though this is also a consequence of writing my blog all year, because it tends to interrupt my new music exploration with the old. For the same reason, expect my blurbs to be on the shitpost side of things. It takes me so long to write entries normally, and I can't exactly stop just because I have to work on this. Any snarkiness comes purely with the known context of 'Obviously I like this thing, I don't need to say it'. I just like having fun, whether that's in the form of juxtaposing my recent writing with something a bit more facetious, or being surrounded by thousands of people singing John Denver. 2025, what a year.
Consider this my apology to Isabel LaRosa for misspelling her name for many weeks when I was supposed to be promoting her song. Not that I did this placement on purpose, but out of all the people I think I might want to apologise to, she just happens to be the one who lands here. Now let me ruin all the goodwill again by saying I Can't Believe It's Not The Marías. Can just picture yourself recreating a Weyes Blood album cover to this tune.
I'm probably coming into the defence of so many artists who use their own name in songs that I'm starting to wonder if I actually like it by default. In the case of Kilo Kish, who could possibly deny what I've thought for over a decade to be one of the coolest sounding names to say. If she's truly managed to take this long in her career to do it, that's incredible resilience. Such a banger too, gotta be one of the best songs I've ever heard about getting horny for a computer.
Look, I will time and time again out myself as someone who just doesn't take the time out to learn things that should probably be obvious, only because I know that I'm going to do it eventually, and this may well be the day. Anyway, this is a familiar brand of rock to me that I'm used to getting from newcomers. Anyway, the big reveal that I just learnt as I was typing this out is that Hevenshe is actually just Jenna from Tonight Alive, and then you go 'oh yeah, that makes sense'. I wasn't gonna make a table either way but let it be known that this is itself a nice bit of karmic return because Tonight Alive's "The Other" was my #102 for 2018 last time I ranked it.
97. Liz Stringer - I'll Never Abandon Myself Again
Shout out to songs that say a single lyric over and over again in the back half when they seemed relatively normal beforehand, gotta be one of my favourite genres. I didn't even need to say its name and I know what song just popped into your head. Why yes, it's got to be [spoiler redacted and replaced]...oh, let's say "Killing In The Name". When you get right down to it, I feel they are similar mantras anyway.
I throw dozens of darts at the board of new artists that sometimes they're bound to hit. In general if we're ever feeling like no one cares about our new favourite artists, it's probably just because the old ones aren't willing to move on and donate their share. Those Spotify listener charts just get older and older every year. But yes, shout out to my fellow discoverers of Folk Bitch Trio. I haven't decided if their name is helping or hindering their career because I do think they deliver some beautiful harmonies that might provide a tasteful contrast to the brash sign, if that hasn't created a barrier for entry in the first place.
I really think that Pitchfork unfairly gets a bad rap, in kinda the same way triple j does. A lot of people constantly turn to certain editorial/staff changes and use those to make blanket statements that point to the wrong doings of their current direction, even if they're for opposing reasons to someone else using it, or if actual historical data doesn't back up the claims. It's all one of those situations where it's impossible to imagine a version of it that works. So many times I've seen the claim (for both) that they only endorse popular music and every time I hear it, I just look at the latest reviews/playlist adds and see a huge list of underappreciated artists getting their dues, but just not getting the same rage bait attention. Yes, you the person who hates popular music, it's your fault again for signal boosting it. I just think that if you lean into it on its terms without cynicism, you're going to find some great curated selections that might otherwise pass you by, because these people do care deeply about music. I listened to a chunk of Pitchfork's end of year list and I thought this was fantastic, I can live with them using Sabrina Carpenter's name to pay the bills.
Don't say it too loudly but I think this has a passing similarity to Gwen Stefani's "The Sweet Escape" (the song). It makes me think if I'd said anything about that song in the past, I was probably overreacting on superficial reasons and not willing to accept that it's a hell of an earworm. Maybe this is just putting a coat of paint on it to make it more easily accepted into my tastes, I'm not sure, but it sure is sweet.
Discovering that Kilo Kish had put out some bangers recently has probably been one of my favourite things that have come about from writing my blog. Maybe there are more things but I'm currently living in the world of April and lamenting everything that happened since then, you're not gonna believe it. Honestly respect her for getting priorities right. Alessia De Gasperis of "Never Be Like You" fame should've had more belief that her song could land higher than like #800 because she put out some great music in 2024 that I can't showcase here. Anyway, this has such an addictive and ice cold beat that'll no doubt distract you like it has me, and make you think 'wait, did I even hear Miguel in this?'.
I think not everyone wants to admit it right now but a big part of the success of Royel Otis is their ability to absolutely nail the vibe and aesthetic of indie pop/rock from 10-20 years ago. If that's not the vibe right now, then might I suggest this Two Door Cinema Club knock off instead? Actually it's my duty to ruin this song as well, because there is an immensely distracting bubble pop sound that just inserts itself into the chorus. I'm sorry for the whiplash.
This song always makes me think of another song. For sure, it's that bright and fun pop song with the ominous band name, "You and Me Song" by The Wannadies. With just how many times she says 'you and me', maybe she deserves the title instead. Either way, you gotta admit that it's nice to see an artist who started their career only recently but still manages to be a bit older than me.
I've been sitting on this one for 12 months, wondering to myself if there will be enough competition throughout the year, or if I'm gonna put Cench on one of these lists for real. Maybe there's an alternate universe where I got really obsessed with Expedition 33 and the whole list was just full of the soundtrack. We don't live in that universe, so we've got that. I think I prefer this one because bad things happen to people my age in the other one. I think though if you only know him for corny punchlines and samples, this is a poignant track that sees success not as something to gloat about, but as a means to prevent a far worse outcome. Maybe we've heard that plenty but I was a little surprised to hear it from him.
If this song came out about 25-30 years ago, it'd be a briefly flung UK top 10 hit and we'd spend the rest of our lives debating on whether people liked it for the spooky atmosphere or the way she says 'ya, ya ya, ya' on the chorus. I'm still trying to figure that out for myself. Sometimes I think we just need both of these things and it's okay to admit it.
I like to think that I'm pretty good at observing the charts given that I tend to write about the top 50s in a small capacity every week. I genuinely had no memory of Liz Stringer having a top 20 album a few years before this. I haven't had time to verify the quality there but I do think she's got the whole package here. I also think this sounds very '90s in the sense that I could imagine Seal's the one singing this or something. Hey, remember back in 2023 when I was getting tortured by Seal's un-Shazam-able "Don't Cry" at the shops on a weekly basis. Fun times.
We run these things on a cycle. Run it from 'We're never getting anything ever again' to 'Mild copium' to 'Oh nice, there's something'. Anyway, did you know Brooke lives in Ireland at the moment? I don't know what the endgame is but whatever works. Anyway, this 'not technically the latest' morsel is satisfying enough for me. Absence makes you wonder if you'll still find something to resonate with. This technically wasn't so long a break but it sure was gratifying.
This is the discovery moment when you find out that spill tab also sings in French sometimes. I'm actually not sure how often because most of her titles are in English, but there's no fooling around with this one. It's such a contrast from the music I know from her, not for that, but because it's just such a delightfully sludgy mess. With a hyperpop bridge just for fun!
This is absolutely one of those songs that will come on shuffle and I won't be able to pick the artist or even the song title for a good while. It takes 40 seconds to get there and before that you've already decided it's the "Too Much" song. This is the sort of song that straddles the line between disco pop and R&B while mining the best potential out of both of them. I don't think there's anything in this song that would hint to the fact that HolyBrune is actually French.
I can't prove that iTunes regularly changes the 'Year' metadata on my library but I have my moments of suspicion. Anyway, the big reveal of why I have a top 301 this year is because I was pretty deep into making the list and realised that this was left out. After you've stressed over omissions for so long, it kills you to put another one in, so why not have an odd number of entries, who's gonna stop me? When I grabbed all my 2025 songs to put in a playlist, I missed this because it was labelled as 2023. There's some truth to that because this is a fairly old song that's just never had a full release until 2025. I don't think it's particularly different to the old version either, a song that has 30 million views on YouTube, making it one of the most popular songs on this whole list. That might be surprising for what is a barely 100 second R&B slow jam, but I found myself instantly drawn to it. It's like liking a song before it finishes except then never listening to the last 2 minutes, because in this case they don't exist.
This is the long con being revealed. She couldn't call her previous song "number one" because she had this one on the way out. Not that there aren't a bunch of other things you could call this song instead. I'm definitely type-casting myself at the moment but it is genuinely just a very pretty song.
I always wish guitar details were a little more descriptive. I'm pretty sure SASAMI didn't actually play the big f**k off guitar riff in Cherry Glazerr's "Told You I'd Be With The Guys", but she's credited for guitars on that album so maybe she was involved? Mainly I'd love the idea of it because it's just a radical shift to what this is. I think there are still elements of rock here, listen to those guitars for one, but also even the main synth hook sounds like something Muse might have been doing several albums ago. I have to mention Clairo is here too, lest I be shading her by proxy. That's true in all blurbs though.
I bet Clairo would like this song. Not for any particular reason, but just because I think it's generally pretty likeable. The surprise star of the show is the pre-chorus that commits so hard to it that you think it is the chorus until the real one shows up. Just great flow in general though, smooth as butter.
We can have it both ways. I might find myself subscribing to these kinds of slow jams for the immediate mood they present, and this may well be another case of it. On the other hand, sometimes you just have the perfect hook that puts it all into place. There's a certain kind of yearning that I get out of it here that just absolutely makes this indispensable for me.
I'm going to make a bold, perhaps outrageous claim. I believe that the musician Sydney Rose, who frequently puts tags for #phoebebridgers and #lizzymcalpine in her TikTok uploads might just be a little bit inspired by them. It's the kind of thing where if she weren't so famous in her own right, you probably could put out a bunch of her songs in a leak and convince some people they're genuine. I find myself amused not at how shameless it is, but the way I'm absolutely buying into the same thing without the brand recognition. Like, it's just "ceilings", that's the bit. Congrats Lizzy for making it 4 years in a row despite barely releasing anything last year.
We're re-heating our nachos a little bit here, but this time it's her own. Can you believe it? Another one, slight diminishing returns, but still enough going for it to keep it in its own spot. You just can't say no to something as dramatic as this. All the music? All those songs that Barry Manilow wrote? That's absolutely ice cold.
I have this funny tendency to be very forgetful because I make a large chart section that just has titles and not artists. It's terribly inconvenient when I have to round it up for an EOY list because every method to retrieve it is fraught with tedium or dubious recollection. This is to say that I had two songs by DJ Suzy on my playlist, probably barely separated by like 4 or 5 songs, and I didn't notice for longer than I'm willing to admit. In my defence, they occupy very different spaces for me because "Silent War" is all about that loud honking production and the tense lyrics, while this is a goofy song about magic, perhaps a great magician (your clothes are red). I won't say I wasn't won over by the rabbit in the artwork but also d'awww, just look at it.
One of these days, Sonny Fodera is going to accrue enough social credit to actually feel like an out the gate hitmaker, and we must all be warned for when that day arrives. Like, how many times in a row can someone possibly have slow burning hits? It's to the point that this song was released right around when "Somedays" was peaking in the chart, giving it the perfect opportunity to also have a late rise, though one that I never suspected would amount to as much. I'm just glad to finally give Clementine Douglas some flowers because she's got a good track record for songs she sings on.
This is probably the funniest way to introduce an artist to the list. As I write this, "So Sad So Hot" is Chloe Qisha's latest single, it's the first one to ever appear here, what a novel concept! It feels like such a world away when she just barely missed the list last year, like we nearly missed a preview hit or something. I'm so glad that someone finally made a song out of Lykke Li's iconic album title, more or less.
Back in October I made a really dumb meme that was poking fun at stomp clap music but in a wholesome way that didn't really direct ire in any particular direction. I'm more of a harmless banter to set up a silly punchline kind of person. The important thing is that it did numbers (I got 4 likes on Bluesky), and also that I did it knowing full well that I'd just been introduced to this absolute beast that Of Monsters and Men casually put out into the world. I still think it makes them Mumford & Sons, but not for the same reason I was implying it at the time. We've traded the "Babel" whimsy for the self-serious "Wilder Mind". Do yourself a favour and don't look up how long this song is.
One of these days I'm gonna drop the ultimate Grimes think piece on my blog and I don't think anyone's ready for it. Or maybe it'll just be in that 4-5 paragraphs 'slightly above average' range. Maybe I already know the answer to this and I'm just pretending to not know, as the number of songs I haven't pre-written is getting pretty small. Basically I can't believe that this artist who so clearly peaked in 2012 has still wormed their way back into my attention. But enough about Sub Focus, let's talk about Grimes. I think it's a strange pairing but it's proven to be a real slow burn. In case you like Danny L Harle but don't think he's problematic enough.
Few artists can get away with bluntly just saying their name and knowing it's gonna sound so ironically hard. When you're f**kin' Fat Dog, baby, it almost feels mandatory. I appreciate that they always know the power of going hard, but give time for it to breathe instead of staying at 11 the whole way. Gosh I wish I could roll my syllables, it's just the coolest thing ever.
I don't know if this should be considered an entry for long service appreciation because in general I've just never quite done the due diligence with this band despite generally liking what they do. Now I'll probably always associate them with a conversation I had with my brother trying to remember a really boring band he got roped into watching. To be fair I'm not sure how much seeing everyone go crazy to "White Pony" cuts would land if you're not intimately familiar with it to begin with. This song absolutely goes, but it does have me thinking things like 'did Kasabian make "Fire" big, or did "Fire" make Kasabian big?'
This is gonna sound like Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros shade but it isn't. I don't think there are many song titles more boring than "Home". I'll admit it gives cosy vibes on the outset, but there are only so many ways you can draw blood from this stone (I forget what the idiom is for something that works initially but runs out). I don't even know if Josef Scott has found a new way to do it but he does put me in a meditative trance. That's until he rocks out with the sick guitar solo near the end, of course.
This might be the most fitting of all the #69s because it's the first one that actually includes the word 'f**kin'. This is distinctly different to the word 'f**king' which is why I hesitate to say that "77%" by The Herd fits the bill. At the very least, it's harder to joke about it in the context of that song. I don't know if this folksy turn really invokes the idea of Shangri-La, but it's a good vibe. Every time Meg Washington makes my lists again it's always like 'wow, still doing numbers, love to see it'. Maybe this will one day be another of her songs I play 31 times.
I love how ADHD coded this song is because it just never stops, until it decides it wants to vibe with Metric's "Sick Muse" and add an encore to itself. Between that and the bridge, the whole song is an experience of tricking you into thinking you understand what you're working with, only to flip the script. I was already pretty sold on it as soon as I first started listening, but you get those little treats along the way and start to think 'yeah, you've earned my $2.19 AUD'.
I don't know if anything can count as being fittingly #67. We're still translating parts of the Rosetta Stone in that regard. The main function of this song for me was always coming on and making me think that it was one of those "BRAT" or "I Love My Computer" cuts and sometimes taking a decent while to talk myself out of it. One of the biggest slow burners for me this year though, where I don't know if I was necessarily finding out more things about it, but just increasingly appreciating what was already on display from the beginning. I should have put this earlier on the list though, something about a song that ends with a line about the party getting started has no business here at this stage.
This is a long time coming. FELIVAND has been on the cusp for me so many times now, going back to 2018. Never getting that full attention, never getting me to correctly, confidently know how to spell her name correctly (my dyslexic brain wants to say FEVILAND). In 2025, the big breakthrough finally arrived, though in classic fashion, with the most drawn out experience for anyone who was looking at my chart at the time. "sadie" is just one of those songs I couldn't get myself to let go of. So many little nuggets of hooks that would get lodged in my brain and pop out while I'm walking down the street in a contemplative mood. Sometimes I wouldn't even remember what song they're coming from. I can see the potential in some of those earlier singles, but this is the mood fully realised, tragically world-weary.
I am now subscribing myself to the crackpot theory that doesn't serve myself any credit at all that The Marías got into the Hottest 200 this year due to the fact that they had one of the biggest hits of the year that didn't come out in 2025. If you spend all year listening to "No One Noticed" and then find out you can't have it, maybe you will just concede to take the DoorDash replacement item. As a follow up though, it's hard to argue with something that sounds so big and expansive.
I want to add this to the canon of songs that do that one thing. Compared to "firearm" it loses some points because I guess Florence Road aren't cheesy enough to do it at the exact middle point of the song. Indie Pop is such a funny tag for this on the iTunes store though, it's like telling someone to watch Sinners because it's a deeply touching period drama.
Jordy Maxwell continues to mine gold out of these deeply touching period dramas. This one's a little more straightforward but with the right amount of oomph. He's carving out a specific niche between heartland rock & folk rock that gets the best of both worlds here.
61. Moses Sumney & Hayley Williams - I Like it I Like it
At this point I think I just watch all those interconnected Mia Goth horror movies to watch all my favourite musicians get brutally murdered on film. They got Kid Cudi in "X", and if you watch "MaXXXine", you'll get to see grisly fates for both Halsey & Moses Sumney. I must say I enjoyed their screen presence while they were there. This was a fun surprise package single. Just oddly effective chemistry, and one where you're willing to hear the same phrase rammed home over and over again. I was hesitant to say something like 'it's not a boner killer at all' but then I realised that I'd simply be admitting that violence is more acceptable to talk about than sex, and that can't be the right stance here.
I had the radio turned on one day, it was during some segment related to the hardcore show and typically was playing something very abrasive. It's hard when you plug into the middle to get your tempo and bearings up to date. Sometime later I came to the realisation that it was probably "Pray" by Vana that was playing. Not a song lacking in pop clarity, but let's just say that if you chuck it on for just the last minute, you're probably going to hear a lot more screaming.
I can't believe that this has happened, it's the strangest thing I ever felt. I like another dream pop song! This is definitely lodged deep in the Souvlaki space station if you catch my drift.
My deep confession and the way I tend to differ from most Karnivool fans is that I don't ride quite as hard for their absolute behemoth prog songs. Don't get me wrong, there's a big release in a song like "New Day" but it takes so long to get there. I think there's a throughline to why "Aozora" seems to be the most popular single prior to the album release because it's the closest to capturing that energy. This takes that prog energy to a brisker 6 minutes so it's a bit more my speed. Have I mentioned the new album is great yet?
I'm not going to pass any particular judgement towards the latest Wolf Alice album because I think it's fairer to say that it's just a victim of me being too busy to dive deeper into more new albums. All the time I could've spent listening to it, I mostly just listened to "The Sofa". I think it's a very effective look at their more orchestral side of things, just a really lovely arrangement.
This song might have a lasting legacy on me that it's how I finally remember that Fenway Park is the one in Boston. That's one of those extremely basic pieces of information if you're American, and honestly it should be for me as well, but at the end of the day, a lot of it is just connecting lines of information and remembering which one plugs into which. Thank you for helping me with my American trivia, Dutch singer Min Taka. This song evokes that same cool but kinda silly vibe as Buzzy Lee's "Cinderblock" to me.
I never got a proper answer to one of my most burning questions 'Was the Salarymen album cover made with genAI?'. Any time I tried to test it, the results were inconclusive, and I wanted to stop testing because you generally have to use genAI to figure this stuff out. I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt for now but once that rot gets to you, you likely never stop, so I'm keeping an eye on it. At least on the music side of things, there's nothing to complain about.
I'm willing to ruin some of the fun for content because I think this song was already primed to be a hit of some stature. Warner were absolutely killing it in 2025, basically swapping ranks with Sony in the big three. The charts have just been littered with their product and they have a massive sway in what goes down. This Warner release was right at the top of New Music Friday when it came out, and it's still residing on Hot Hits Australia after all this time, so it all feels very planned. Still, it's always nice to see a hit song come along that's a product of a whole crazy package, rather than just one exploitable hook. Not the first time a Kiwi artist has landed in the 50s on the Hottest 100, had a bunch of people say 'oh wow, this is really cool I didn't know this' and then me not go but think 'I wish we could do a re-count because I bet we could get it higher'.
This song hits different in summer. God, I can't wait to go back to not having to hear a fan whirring in the background, getting oddly uncomfortable anyway because I can't get the balance right over the length of a full day, and go back to contemplating whether a 20% chance of rain will stop me from going outside. Perhaps the least summery song possible, which is probably reflected here to an extent.
Usually I don't have a lot of specific things I can point out about in these hanbee songs because it's all about that immediate vibe that washes over you. "Beep Beep" is a little different, because it's a rare, capitalised song, it has more audible bass, and most importantly, she says 'beep beep'. Real roadrunner hours here, you never forget the cute whimsy of it all.
I can't believe she finally made a second song either! I jest, and mean not to disparage a decade and a half's catalogue of bangers. This is just one of those Mia Rodriguez-core type songs that worm their way into me with their delicate hooks, and then drive in the hammer when the beat drop goes harder than it has any right to.
This sounds like the name of a second wave emo band, and honestly the first few seconds of it don't really reject the invitation either. But nope, it's just another dream pop band. These guys are from Aotearoa so it's relatively novel for me. I really like that line on the chorus 'I used to twist myself around you', it just makes me think of "Zen" by Eves the Behavior. Generally I think they offer a nice twist on the formula.
Shego are a band from Madrid. I know very little about them because basically everything that's ever been written about them is in Spanish. I'm writing this right as the most popular song in the world is in Spanish but I suspect it's not going to spark a revolution that spills over the Spain's vital rock scene. If you're willing to have no idea what or how to sing, I think this song makes a good case for this kind of indie rock transcending the language barrier.
I don't know if you remember back in 2023 when Kehlani had a very good year for me. One of the songs they released was called "little story". I'm just choosing to bring it up because I think Talia Perese might have been copying their homework. Not even a new concept either, I think her previous single "Special" sounds more like Ariana Grande than most Ariana Grande singles. Acoustic guitars can do dream pop and they can also do R&B, what a range we're exploring here.
47. Black Country, New Road - For the Cold Country
This seems to be the song on the new BC,NR album that gets the most praise. Maybe it is very good, maybe that's just a stance that's likely going to be given by people who want something that sounds more like "Ants From Up There", and thus isn't necessarily the angle that I'm going to approach it from. Maybe if they radically shift their audience over time, a new consensus will form. I am willing to concede to the Isaac heads though that the chaotic outro is a very vital part of this song and I can understand craving something this specific that's hard to find elsewhere.
We go through phases. We love an artist's music, they go away for a bit, then we begin to wonder how much we really did love them. Then I hear those guitars, those drums, that bass, and Kenny singing some high notes about hopeful despair and think 'oh yeah, it was never just a phase'. If you thought the last album was a bit too weird, then this is absolutely back to their best, managing to make prog rock extremely accessible without losing any of the bite. Have I mentioned the new album is great yet?
If I hadn't already gotten to that part yet, it would be a very funny bit to say the reason this is a top 301 is because "Orchid / Flame" is actually two songs. The title sounds like me playing Microsoft Mahjong in the late '90s, trying to pair two things that don't actually go together because I don't fully understand the rules. We're almost in full classic cheesy territory but by my estimate, I think she starts the 'Flame' section of the song about 1 second too late to be exactly halfway in. It's a very strange listen I'll admit because I don't see much of a throughline at all between the two sections, and yet if they were both just on their own I don't think I'd rank them anywhere near as high. We're learning lessons in EOY list maxing, I feel.
I find myself wondering if Gyroscope could have continued to see mainstream success into the 2010s if not for the fact that Zoran broke both of his legs in a motor accident in 2012. Maybe they had their time, but they were literally coming off their biggest crossover hit ever so you never know. We're now about 16 years since they last released an album and releases have been scarce, but maybe there's something on the horizon now. This feels like a return to classic form though. Hopefully the injury stays in the metaphorical sense this time.
When Muse released the song "Survival", it was a big pivot to the absurd that maybe had people rightfully wondering if defenders of the song were just riding way too hard for Muse and wouldn't accept that they'd totally borked it. I present to you the counterargument. This artist I've never heard of before releases a song with all the same silliness (perhaps more) and I'm going even harder for it. Truly Muse were ahead of their time, unappreciated in their day. I can't believe this is a real song.
I'll admit I fear turning into something of a rap boomer myself who hasn't cottoned on to many new names to the same degree that I refuse to let go of my comfort oomfies. It's just such a dense genre to try and make a first impression in. This one was pretty immediate though. It's a chill instrumental paired up with a memorable rap flow.
I have to assume that this song is important because GAZAL called her EP "Gods Into Frauds", and then Spotify called it an album which I have to protest. I don't know why this particular song is called "Piggies" but I won't pretend it isn't memorable. Just a fun little tune I think, with a classic 'sure, chuck that into it' approach to composition that I have to admire.
There's an UrbanDictionary definition of 'coffee' from 2004 that implies it's a euphemism for sex which was a new concept to me when I encountered it in a movie or TV show recently. All of a sudden, the clean/dirty switch up in Miguel's song "Coffee" makes perfect sense. There's also a definition from 2002 that defines it as 'a person who is coughed upon' with a solid 68% approval rating. Anyway, I would like to say that Miguel is back on that tempo with this one (the SID stands for 'Slow It Down' as it were), but that's just a front for when this song suspiciously turns into a huge rock anthem towards the end.
I've been incredibly addicted to playing old video games on the Nintendo Switch Online library. If I haven't been getting many things done lately, that's partly to blame. On the bright side here, it has confirmed a strong suspicion I was always resting on, which is that the little synthesizer solo in this song has a slight resemblance to parts of the Pokémon Puzzle League soundtrack (which itself is just built around songs from the show). It's not the same sound font, and it sounds more like a flute there, but "Anticipate" just perfectly evokes that wholesome nostalgia all the same, and it's one of my favourite 3 seconds in music last year. Rest of the song is good too, I suppose.
It's time for this year's big level up. You might recall Beks from just barely sneaking into my top 200 last year at #193, but now she's up with the big leagues. I don't even think she's changed things up to be more my style, just that this is a very potent execution for this sort of thing. Oh and there's a millennial whoop in there, my one weakness.
Maybe this is secretly the song where BC,NR predict their own backlash and decide to absolutely tear into exactly the kinds of people who would be saying it. It's the ole perspective clarification technique. You don't have it bad, you probably have all your limbs for instance, and you take that for granted! The added bonus is that it's so delicately performed that you might not even notice how oddly bitter it all is. For that matter, it's also surprisingly progressively oriented with how many different passages it goes through.
This is a Birds of Tokyo song. I don't think there's any way around that. I'm not even saying it's like an old Birds of Tokyo song, but it feels exactly like their more recent stuff, just pouring out guts without much fanfare. Well, it does ramp things up towards the end, but it does remind me that Karnivool are not shy to pitching for crossover potential. If I had my blog powers, some of those words would be blue and lead to a link for "All I Know". Of the new in 2025 songs, this is the one that stood out the most to me. Despite what I just said, I feel like it does bring something pretty new to the table. I guess see you next year as we have another stock check. Have I mentioned that the new album is great yet?
I find it hard to really put The Marías into a more old school idea of what a popular alternative band is like, because they just don't really fit the archetypes I'm used to. Perhaps it's all the same business again. As much as I associate them with being a low key streaming monolith, they're probably getting radio airplay. It's the only way to explain this amusingly named side project. It was very covert to me, as someone who cottoned onto this song before I even realised I was obviously hearing María Zardoya here. I was more fascinated by this cool sounding Radiohead pastiche I guess that I didn't even pay attention to that. I feel like just calling it that though is selling it short, a lot of cool ideas in this one.
I've told this story before, but I don't know how many people actually read my weekly chart commentary, so here it is again. Last time I was in Melbourne, I had a bit of a misunderstanding with my Uber driver as I hadn't clocked onto the idea that they might be parked literally above me, the kind of thing that a 2D satellite map won't clock to you. If that's not bad enough, I had dodgy earbuds that connected themselves to my phone without me realising, meaning that when he called me, I couldn't hear a thing he said, and had to give up on the call and try messaging again. I did eventually make it there, but it meant I got to my destination a little later than I was planning. There's a silver lining to this story because it meant I got to hear a later selection from the music they were listening to. I wouldn't have expected it at all after what were mostly just familiar chart hits (though I did hear Zara Larsson's "Midnight Sun" for the first time as well), and then this song appeared out of nowhere and I was hooked instantly. I find myself wondering if I'd have liked this even more if it didn't come to me around the same time as another song I was liking a lot more that sounded a bit like it, something to consider. We should also consider if you will, that I only got to hear this song because the umpire in the preliminary final didn't pay front on contact for Starcevich's spoil, the single call that cost Collingwood a 5 goal swing and a 17th flag, or so I'm told.
33. Joy Crookes feat. Vince Staples - Pass the Salt
We love the weird chaos of January. That time when I just want to push my playlist into the new year and will latch onto anything and everything that feels like there's some juice. It usually is a good time for British musicians I don't tend to listen to, and hey, here comes Joy Crookes out of nowhere with a smash. Great production on this, fits both her, and also Vince Staples' guest verse very well.
I can't lie and pretend that it's quite as powerful, but I hear this song and I'm teleported back to "Boys Will Be Boys". Not for the subject matter, but for the way both songs just feel to end without a moment's notice. This is such a pretty song though. One of those things I often forget with Stella is that when I think about her sharp lyrics, I leave out the lovely vocal chops she always puts on display.
Be honest, you heard the first few seconds and you thought 'of course he likes this'. It's all about working in tandem though. Does the instrumental sound very bouncy and inviting? Yes. I'd be lying if I wasn't mainly just hear for Dandi Noxx's performance though. Every moment of this song is a new line that sticks out both for the clarity of singing, but also the way that it's just a very particular phrase, sounding familiar but quirky. I wish I had an old buddy, or an old pal who could give me that righteous feeling, but we can't always be the lucky one.
Look, it didn't end up making my End of Year list, but I do keep the extended playlists I make when doing my old lists (haha, remember when I actually made them?) because when you put that much work into it, you want the preserve all the fruits of it. That's me saying that "Dirge" by Death In Vegas left an impression on me that was awoken once again when Celeste dropped "Everyday" (another Brit in January, another money maker). What we've learnt here is that it absolutely could have made my list, if it weren't missing the classy introduction of a big singing diva to send it over the top.
I'm not entirely sure what distinguishes Len Blake at this stage. I can tell her apart from Len, but probably not Blake. What I am liking though are the dramatic stakes of the proceedings. She has all the necessary pomp in her music to make even the most mundane of statements sound profound and exciting.
Okay this one isn't British. Actually Joya Marleen is from Switzerland. We also just had Dandi Noxx from South Africa so we're really going all over the shop with this one. Anyway, there is one potential backfire to the early January strategy which is when I find out that I'm jumping on late in the single run, only all the other singles were released in 2024. What an absolute shame. Not that I'm sure how much I do gravitate to them. A lot of her music sounds like you could tell me it was a Eurovision entry and I'd believe you. Not the case, but she did have some success in her native country with "Nightmare". I don't know if "difficult" is trying to re-capture that, but it feels like it's taking a big swing. Love just how dynamic she sounds when she crashes into the chorus.
There might be something to be said about the transient nature of the pecking order of these lists. I'll cut to the chase and say that when I was initially drafting up my playlist and going through a bunch of songs I'd liked but not purchased in 2025, I was in a pretty dour mood. It's been happening quite a bit lately with ebbs and flows. For the most part I don't think this mattered, but when I came back to some CMAT songs, they just really got to me in a way they didn't before. I'm not gonna say that I started crying to "When A Good Man Cries", but it was certainly hitting a bit different. There's just something about that twang that evokes so much.
There's a certain kind of melodrama that calls for a big swing, so when it hits, you're probably onto something special. This song makes you wait a while for it, but it's worth every moment. That same kind of swell I was immediately clocking in "The Woods" by Husky some 14 years ago.
I've been waiting basically all year so I could write this song and point this out. I've had an immense amount of fun with this song because of all things, it reminds me of Adriano Celentano's "Prisencolinensinainciusol". If you're slightly familiar, that's the Italian song from the 1970s that was made to be complete gibberish since Italians seemed to have no problem listening to American pop music they didn't understand. It tends to go viral because it's comparable to listening to music while having a stroke, and the video that usually accompanies it is very striking. It's ascended beyond a silly internet thing though because it got featured at the Olympics opening ceremony earlier this month! But now when I hear those backing vocals, I just imagine them saying the title to this song instead. Yeah it sounds a bit like "Need You Tonight" as well.
Music like this just transports me back to the late 2000s, where I'd scour the internet's depths just to find any sort of rock music that scratches the itch. I don't know if I've necessarily had a solved type for this, but I'll never deny that strong feeling towards fast paced songs that switch things up on the chorus and provide an additional clashing melody. I guess urgency is something I crave, and this has it in spades.
This is mildly amusing to me because I've unwittingly known the meaning of this word thanks to someone I know online for many years now. It's a Tasmanian tiger, and that's easy to remember because it just adds to the already pretty powerful alliteration. Also Maddy Jane is from Tasmania, that's key right there as well. Part of me wants to believe it's a Tasmanian devil just because this song is literally describing the Devil's proof. And you're singing the songs, thinking this is the life, and you wake up in the mornin' and your head feels twice the size etc.
I'll be honest, the WAAX situation is pretty crazy, but it'd also be crazy to talk about it in depth knowing that the eventual WAAX blog entry could drop on any Monday or Friday in the next 7-8 months, I'm not double dipping on that. If we're willing to look at just "HANDS" on its own, absolute banger. Puts in a good word for Kevin Rudolf's "Let It Rock" but just generally goes off.
Unfortunate to note that this is the song that mentions Dawson's Creek, while James Van Der Beek just passed away this past week. I don't know how to follow that up, just terrible news all around.
Look, we've gotta respect the hustle. A lot of people might find out they were placed in the bottom 0.1 percentile on some arbitrary online list and use it to be disillusioned. Instead Logic just drops absolute heat a few months later and I cannot help but stan. Maybe this is more on me to hold up my end of the 'I promise I generally like Logic' end of the bargain. It's got a similar energy to Eminem circa whenever you last thought he was good, and feels genuine in its sentiment towards a better, safer world. Oddisee seems like a cool guy too.
It takes a lot of strength for me to listen to Bumpy because deep down, I'm always thinking about how "In Motion" by Squid Nebula was the last song I tried to listen to when I was at the Qatar airport, and so I associate it with being miserably exhausted, tired, hungry, unable to eat, sick, uncomfortable, and generally being bored out of my brain that I couldn't shut off. Maybe I can see this as a welcome retort to it all. 'Sleeping good', 'I'm home now', 'cosy comfy'. I can get behind this.
18. Magdalena Bay - This Is The World (I Made It For You)
I just get this feeling that Magdalena Bay are exceedingly good at recreating a certain level of whimsy that came along with the popular music I knew when I was young, but also adding a modern spice to it. It's that necessary edge you sometimes need to prevent a rehash (or something that merely rehashes a feeling) from feeling stale. Often times they do that by countering the whole thing with an explosive finish. It certainly works.
This is something that's just clicking with me now, but if you've known me a while you probably know that I greatly espouse the merits of OG triple j Unearthed High winners Tom Ugly and their single "Roll Again". While it was mainly just tapping a certain sound I was craving at the time, it also does a thing in the chorus where it stretches out a word for a really long time and you start to notice the fluctuations within it. It's very similar to the way Lyn Lapid says the title in this song, but the way she resolves it on a minor note just adds to the dramatics of it. That'd be neat on its own, but the bridge hammers in that last line over and over again with a more intense backing. It feels so perfectly suited to all my specific interests at once.
This song is equally dour but hopeful. The way the music props up to punctuate every key word of the chorus just hits remarkably well. 'HATE' 'ALONE', 'SOBERING'. It's almost enough to ignore the title's very relatable request, and the whole thing is just something I can dearly relate to.
15. Julia Michaels - No Heartbreak's Killed Me Yet
I don't really believe in the Khia asylum as a denigrating term as much as it's a reflection of the increasingly limited real estate in the spotlight, with an increasing number of wanting candidates. Ideally we get more chances but I think we're all either too afraid, or not powerful enough to prop up the kinds of things that just do not look like they have the sauce on the surface. Everything's so based on surface level, initial reception that you basically get one shot to impress and even then that chance might not have ever existed. Prove me wrong, but I don't think there's a world where there's a new Julia Michaels song and it's just so good that everyone immediately jumps on the bandwagon. If we need any more proof, just look how many bonafide hits she's still co-writing and how their success just always reflects the career arc of the artist in question. There's something to be said of someone who isn't in that spotlight and can play a little outside of the formula on their own which is my way of saying that she does some interesting theatrics with her singing that you wouldn't find on one of the Tate McRae or Sabrina Carpenter songs she's done. That's what anchors it home for me, this fairly busy & overwritten but extremely worthwhile moment.
It's easy to just discard this as another chill song without further aspirations beyond that, but I don't think I would have gotten so glued to this song if it weren't for all the other things it was doing. Yes, the music is very pretty, but there are at least 5 moments where she switches up her intonation and lands on a really pleasant melody that's nothing like the rest of the song at all.
I am very inclined to say that hanbee's music makes me think of city pop and that's the bounds of it. This song made me re-adjust my perceptions because it sounds so slick in a way that you don't normally get. That little funky guitar just changes the game so much that this is the one that I think sounds like the city. Everything else is just a nice walk in the park or something.
SPELLLING might be a bit of a casualty from my list making because I certainly enjoyed listening to her album but I won't pretend that the list is appropriately teeming with it as a result. This is why I don't claim to be comprehensive, and maybe it gives me something to strive for next year. The weight that'll be lifted off my shoulders in like 6 or so months is gonna be massive. This song's also pretty massive.
Look, we're all waiting for that blog essay aren't we? Maybe it's something to fear. How long could it possibly be? In any case, I've been starved for many years so it sure was nice to find out we'd be getting two new Owl Eyes songs last year, courtesy of Fred Falke & Zen Freeman. The one tucked away on the album quickly proved to be my favourite, hitting that exact kind of chill feeling we were getting when Todd Terje teamed up with Bryan Ferry. A certain wistful nostalgia that seems appropriate for the moment. The exciting parts for me were when she did an interview that suggested she might have held onto enough songs for herself to make another album, and also recently posting a studio photo with one of the guys who made "No Money" by Galantis. If Karnivool can make a new album for the first time since 2013, anything is possible.
I have this strange recollection when I was first listening to this song that it was one of two songs I was listening to at the time with the specific meaning of being a song about being the girl someone loves before they find their real long term partner. I can't remember what the other one was or if I was just thinking of this song twice (wait I just realised it's "Joyride"). Anyway, effe calls that the "Final Girl" despite the term already having a very specific use for horror movies. I just love how it sounds so '90s, exactly the kind of thing you can imagine Beth Gibbons doing.
I think there's a common pattern developing with a lot of these 070 Shake songs I've gotten myself drawn into. They often just sound very messy. A lot of guitars clashing, almost squashing into each other, and a general feeling of chaos. To be fair, she has a UK #1 single now doing just that so it's hard to fault the approach. "Arms" is one of the absolute messiest. I could absolutely understand someone finding her incomprehensible or whiny, but that's where the beauty of the song comes out to me. Just this uncanny ability to make these songs that take the Jackson Pollack approach and allow magic to spring forth. The desperate pleading just ascends it all to a new level.
I haven't done any numbers on this compared to my previous lists but I just can't help but feel like the lesson is that rock is back. This isn't under the guise of a different genre, just in general this list has felt littered by some back to basics rock music. "Big Sky" is exactly the kind of song I could've enjoyed 20 years ago just as much as I do now. Just that same kind of desperation, the same catharsis that I've always gotten something out of. It almost feels accidental how much every element of the song just clicks here into something massive.
In a month or so on my blog, I'm going to mention what I call the Xavier Rudd zone, where an artist is largely stuck in the same part of the list over and over again. I don't know if it's reasonably possible to even guess what song I put this under so I'm leaving this in as a vague non-spoiler. Either way, I was starting to set Laufey up for her own Xavier Rudd zone here as she just kept making a similar impression every time. Good luck for her that this song, which might have been primed for it all again just kept growing on me for weeks. It's the sort of thing that she's best at, combining beautiful singing, with playful moments and the kind of lyrics that are just so fun to break out into whenever you hear the words 'tough luck'. Then the bridge is just an all-timer. Who hurt you Laufey? Who would dare say these things?
I just can't believe I'd ever put this much stock into Confidence Man, a group for whom I could vaguely respect what they were doing, but wasn't really invested in. It turns out the secret is to dive into one of the most famous Basement Jaxx songs that I haven't already overplayed myself (because it didn't make the Hottest 100). It just sounds so fresh even though I know it's not. I think though it's fair to say that they take it to another level by leaning so hard into every part of it. Putting a clear ascent in the vocals every time the guitar riff pokes out. In a year where we clearly had some contenders, it's clearly the hardest c-bomb drop going around. Could Simon Cowell have predicted this future for Little Mix?
The great thing about seeing Magdalena Bay live is that they played pretty much every song I could have wanted or expected them to play. The bad thing is that not long after that, they expanded their catalogue with some truly incredible gems that I can't say I've experienced live. Maybe they could have played it and I just wouldn't have appreciated it, but wow, what a song to drop as a little bonus after an already wonderful album. I feel like we still might not have seen everything they're capable of and I'm so excited for that.
This is so clearly out of left field for me. There's no possible indication in the past that would ever suggest that I'd be so interested in a song that was made by The Dare, right? Also PinkPantheress is a funny one too, where I'd generally liked a lot of what she was doing, but her zoomer tendencies (e.g. never making full songs) might keep me from getting the most out of it. Big evolution here though, I'm now fully convinced in her as both a pop star and a producer. The whole song is just a revolving door of moments upon moments that take it to greatness.
There's something so undeniably retro about what Danny L Harle is doing now, and I don't think it's just because I've known his music for so long now. It's like he's tapping into the same thing that Scooter were doing in the early 2000s, but taking it away from the vague machismo of it into something that can be surprisingly beautiful. "Starlight" is unquestionably a banger, but one that's never content to rest on its laurels. Always finding a new way to go off and just feeling monumental. Absolutely wild one-two punch for PinkPantheress in the middle of the year.
This is my most played song of the year by a mile. I felt pretty confident that it was gonna be my #1 song here for a good period of time, but then I suppose unless it's your absolute favourite thing ever, you should never doubt the possibility a usurper is on the way. Actually, maybe even if it is your favourite, you still should invite that potential. Imagine I hear my favourite song ever tomorrow, that'd be bonkers. Something about "Besties" just cut through all the possible cynicism for me though. The idea that a band I'd been aware of but never really paid attention to, and of all things, it's with this goofy sounding song that's called "Besties". I think when that Small Jam song came out, I was bewildered that people could take it seriously enough to listen to a song that says 'my bestie' in it. I get it now though, there's that communal feeling that it provides. I don't think the songwriting in BC,NR has changed extremely from before, it's just easier to notice the jarring lyrics now. Still, if you sing it with enough conviction, it'll still hit just as hard. Few things as good this year as just belting out the word 'bestie', the focal point of two completely different chorus lines (I could go for a third tbh). Absolutely ideal song for turning you into a walking TikTok trend.
Normally when I do these things, and I get to the #1 spot, I have some remarkable, possibly profound statement about the importance of the song, or what it means to me. I do not think I have anything for this one. This feels like the most mechanical utilisation of the idea of picking favourites. Sometimes your favourite song isn't the one that's attached to some life-bending revelation or experience, it's just that one song that you liked the most in your lonesome. I don't think I've ever in any way mentioned this song to anyone, even considered it in conversation once. It's not something I've just ever really considered recommending to anyone because I just don't know who else resonates with something like this the same way I do.
To me, this song sounds absolutely incredible. Modern R&B but with the sensibilities of the '90s. Absolutely beautiful vocals and music that just seems to shimmer. A song that I knew was special within seconds of hearing it (I'm reminded of "illusions" by Shanae, I hope this song stays on the internet). Just not a single thing that I've ever seen pined after, and my best recommendation is that if you want something to mix up your palette with something a little difference, then this is a very approachable option. Then again, given the things I've written before, there's something very appropriate about the idea of my favourite song being so incredibly obscure, not in the hip way, but in the 'literally nobody is talking about it' kind of way. I would love to invite people into my world, but I also have some of my best experiences when it's like this as well.
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