2024 in Music, Part No. 2: Kasem Style!

All right, having cleared a bunch of other songs I wanted to mention out of the way yesterday, it’s time to go ahead and look at my actual top 40 of this year.

I don’t know if there was more good music this year than last year, or I just listened to more, but in any case, that’s why the countdown has expanded. Honestly, part of the reason it stops at 40 is that I just didn’t want to bother ranking those final honorable-mention songs– and 40 blurbs is quite a lot for both reader and writer already. But I was able to get it to 40 here, so here we go. Why delay? Let’s jump right in.

40. Childish Gambino
“Lithonia”
Bando Stone & the New World

For those of us who have found out a few too many times that nobody gives a fuck.

39. JD McPherson
“Sunshine Getaway”
Nite Owls

Nothing fancy about JD McPherson’s retro- and roots-inspired music, and accordingly I don’t have much to say about it. But I enjoy the way it sounds and I vibe with it.

38. The Avett Brothers
“Love of a Girl”
The Avett Brothers

This one slipped a bit in my rankings after hearing it early in the year– I liked its rollicking energy at first, but over time it started to feel a little more gimmicky. But I still like the song, and even though this is the Avett Brothers’ tenth album, I wasn’t actually that familiar with their music (other than the assumptions I might have made based on their name, which weren’t far off if at all). Pretty fun, upbeat song.

37. Middle Kids
“Dramamine”
Faith Crisis Pt 1

I don’t like it as much as last year’s “Highlands,” but “Dramamine”– one of five singles Middle Kids released in advance of Faith Crisis Pt 1— is still a good, upbeat power-pop song. (Recently featured in Colin From Accounts!)

36. The Cure
“A Fragile Thing”
Songs of a Lost World

The Cure announced their first new album in sixteen years with two new singles– “Alone,” which we touched on yesterday, and the one I prefer just a little bit more, “A Fragile Thing.” (It was close enough that I almost included them both in one entry here, until I didn’t.)

What’s remarkable about Songs of a Lost World, and the singles from it in particular, is that, for a band whose first record was forty-five years ago, it sounds really damn good. It’s no lazy cash-in; these songs can proudly stand among the classic Cure recordings.

35. Momma
“Ohio All the Time”
non-album single

I definitely have a pro-Momma bias, as I still think 2022’s Household Name is one of the best albums of recent years, particularly “Rockstar” (though “Speeding ’72” is good too). I don’t have much particular to say about this song, but ever since I discovered them, I’ve loved Momma’s garage-and-grunge sound, and they always deliver something at least pretty good.

34. Fontaines DC
“Favourite”
Romance

I didn’t really dig Fontaines DC as much as most people until this song. I found 2022’s “Jackie Down the Line” just didn’t quite vibe with me, and while I liked “Starburster” better, I wouldn’t say I did enough to call it a favorite, unlike… oh, god damn it. There’s just something about the chorus (and the repetition of “a long, a long, a long, a long, long”) that really hooks me. Maybe it’s just that with age I’ve gotten more sentimental, and it speaks to me more than their more confrontational work does.

33. Graham Good and the Painters
“Pleasant Nonsense”
Get After Life EP

The first of five songs from artists local to Denver (and Fort Collins in one case), Graham Good’s band is a bit on the upbeat and jammy side– but with real songs; I’m not one of those guys who pays his best friends 35 bucks to watch them dick around on guitar. They seem like they’d be a lot of fun to play your wedding.

The title is appropriate– it’s a pretty frivolous song, and I would probably like it more if it had more depth– but it’s well-done and serves its purpose of putting me in a good mood and getting me to d-d-d-dance dance, so it earned its place here.

32. Pom Pom Squad
“Street Fighter”
Mirror Starts Moving Without Me

“Pom Pom Squad” is an appropriate name for the band, not just for Mia Berrin’s chosen aesthetic, but because the rhythms of the song and some of the lyrics really do have the cheerleader aesthetic. (Literally, in one case: “You can’t hear me, what if I cheerlead? / M-E-S-S-Y, you’re messy!”) The electronic-tinged, rhythm-driven rock is full of harmonies and call-and-response singing, which also add to the cheerleader vibe. The lyrics are confrontational toward the subject, but it’s still upbeat and fun to listen to. But “up-down-up-down-left-right” is from the Konami code, and Street Fighter is Capcom! (And it’s not even the Konami code! Maybe it’s not supposed to be! I don’t know! Why am I yelling!)

31. The Smile
“Read the Room”
Wall of Eyes

The first time I heard this, I didn’t even know who The Smile were, which made me feel pretty stupid when I learned they’re a side project of Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood. I should have recognized the virtuosity, off-kilter melodies, and penchant for movements right away– and if not that, Thom Yorke’s voice on the track, at least. Anyway, this one has a bit of a haunting, eerie quality I quite like that would fit on Hail to the Thief or maybe even OK Computer. The movement of the final two minutes could be self-indulgent, but it works great with the rest of the song.

30. Michael Kiwanuka
“Floating Parade”
Small Changes

While I typically prefer more upbeat rock and rap, I do have interests in other genres. Air has made some of my favorite music with Moon Safari and Talkie Walkie, and “Floating Parade,” driven by its warm bass tones and Kiwanuka’s deep-yet-ethereal voice, very much reminds me of Air.

29. Jack White
“That’s How I’m Feeling”
No Name

No Name was heralded as a return to Jack White’s roots, getting back to the simplicity and volume of The White Stripes’ earlier albums. As a fan of their first three albums in particular, that’s accurate, and that’s why I like this song– it could easily fit on White Blood Cells.

28. Belle and Sebastian
“What Happened to You, Son?”
non-album single

Left off their 2023 album Late Developers, Belle and Sebastian released this single as a stand-alone this year. The lyrics draw from Stuart Murdoch’s youth and are probably more relevant today, with the culture of obsessive fans who become parasocially attached to artists and feel betrayed when they go in unexpected directions. But I more like it not for the message, but because it’s pretty groovy and funky in a way Belle and Sebastian aren’t often (although certainly not in a way they aren’t capable of).

27. Sponsored Content
“She Don’t Care About Fine Dining”
Shelb

Another local artist here. This is kind of an unusual song and I don’t know at all what genre I’d ascribe to it– sort of spoken-word, sort of art- and experimental-inspired, maybe like the poetry-adjacent music in the 70s post-punk scene. Probably the best thing I can do to sell you on it is link the music video, which features the band dog / mascot Shelbi in some sort of Iron Chef-esque competition. Regardless of my lacking ability to describe it, it’s fun and I like it.

26. Japandroids
“Chicago”
Fate & Alcohol

Japandroids have quite the stature in certain circles despite only four albums. They came along a little late in my life to really get their hooks into me, but they do undeniably rock. In this sendoff from their final album– a decade after their last– they get back to rocking in their typically straightforward way, and it just works. (And in a way probably some of our resident Chicagoans will appreciate.)

25. The Bug Club
“Lonsdale Slipons”
On the Intricate Inner Workings of the System

The first time I heard “Lonsdale Slipons,” that slinky opening riff grabbed me, and the bass-driven verse and the low speak-singing made me think of a New Wave throwback. Not to anyone specific, just to an early-80s time when the post-punk era was blossoming into a wide, wide array of bands and sounds who may not have had anything in common other than making rock music clearly inspired more by punk and the art scenes than the classic and arena rock of the 70s. Anyway, what a fun, groovy little (just 2:13) song.

24. Big Dopes
“Moon Car”
non-album single

Another local band to Colorado, and one I can confirm is quite fun live. Big Dopes’ music sounds very mid-90s alternative to me, and even among those, this song feels pretty unique in their sound. (And it’s got a video!) I can’t quite place my finger on their influences, though. I thought of Fountains of Wayne, but I might just be thinking of their song “Survival Car.” Maybe someone else can pin it down for me.

23. Orville Peck & Beck
“Death Valley High”
Stampede

Orville Peck’s brand of oddball country finds a great partner in Beck, who brings some of his Midnite Vultures-era sleaze to the track. Peck and Beck are singing about “cheetah chrome and ruby red Naugahyde,” and the song sounds like it, too– more rockabilly than country, really. A very fun musical time warp to the Las Vegas of the 1970s.

Also check out the music video. I know I used the word already, but I think it can be best described as “gloriously sleazy.”

22. La Luz
“Strange World”
News of the Universe

La Luz’s influences and style are described as ranging from doo-wop to surf-rock to neo-psychedelia– the phrase “surf noir” came up in my research on the band. “Strange World” really covers the gamut, kicking off with that surf-and-psychedelia-inspired guitar riff and drum backing, before shifting into a very different sound, with a simpler backing riff, more harmonies, sheen and fuzz– a real blend of their influences into what’s a pretty poppy song at heart, but really well done all in all. This is where I wish I had the knowledge to pick out specific influences, but suffice to say, it sounds great and there isn’t anything else quite like it.

21. Slow Caves
“Tension”
Tension EP

Another local band you’re probably not familiar with unless you actually live on the Front Range, Slow Caves has been around a while, mostly making 90s and early-00s inspired rock. “Tension” is their biggest single of the year, and it’s my favorite of their work: I find it distinct in that it takes much more inspiration from early-90s Britpop than their other songs, particularly in that chorus, which I could easily hear coming from, I dunno, Suede?

20. Jungle
“Let’s Go Back”
non-album single

I’m an easy mark for certain throwback styles, and because I love to dance, disco and its related genres are certainly one of them. Jungle’s latest single (no album with it after last year’s Volcano) is not going to blow anyone’s mind with innovation, but it’s really well done and catchy as hell and groovy.

19. Lip Critic
“In the Wawa (Convinced I Am God)”
Hex Dealer

Lip Critic is described as “electro-punk” and “digital hardcore,” not my usual style at all. But when it’s done right it hits really well, and “In the Wawa” is done right– drum-and-bass origins, noisy, abrasive, aggressive, maybe drill-inspired beats, all uncontained thrash, enough rhythm and melody for it to be a song and not just a collection of loud noises. Even if it’s about a supermarket trip. It just hits me in all the right spots for a song like this.

18. Suki Waterhouse
“Supersad”
Memoir of a Sparklemuffin

I almost have to deduct points just for the title of that album, and even more for my inherent suspicion that nobody is really named “Suki” or any variations thereof; it only shows up in fiction (Sapperstein, St. James, “in the Graveyard”). But I’m a nice guy, and Stevie Nicks said she did a great job playing the Christine McVie analogue in Daisy Jones and the Six, so that at the very least counterbalances my feelings about the name “Suki” and the word “Sparklemuffin.”

Now that I’ve spent enough space being a smartass, the actual song is obviously quite good, or it wouldn’t be here. It’s not particularly inventive– pop-rock with some indie-rock and classic garage-rock leanings in its fuzziness and reverb– but it’s effective and catchy.

17. Royel Otis
“Foam”
Pratts & Pain

Believe it or not, this is not a band that just changed the spelling of a standard word for fun or distinction. Royel Otis is an Australian duo named… Royel Maddell and Otis Pavlovic. It’s a pretty funky, rhythm-driven slice of indie rock, with some pretty nasty lyrics (if I use “nasty” on this list, it’s a compliment) and a good groove. I don’t really know what to compare it to, which might well be a credit to Royel Otis’ originality.

16. Ibibio Sound Machine
“Pull the Rope”
Pull the Rope

I do have a weakness for certain throwback styles (see the Jungle entry above). One of them– especially for its rarity– is this kind of early-80s post-disco electro-funk. Great for if you want to jam something in that style without having to deal with that whole Afrika Bambaaataa situation.

15. The Smile
“Zero Sum”
Cutouts

The Smile released not one but two albums this year, and I prefer the big single from the second album. That opening fast-paced jumpy riff and percussion just grab me immediately every time I put it on, and they drive the song throughout. For being as typically weird as you’d expect from Radiohead, it’s also incredibly groovy. It’s also pretty short and ends suddenly enough to leave you wanting more.

14. Iron & Wine f. Fiona Apple
“All in Good Time”
Light Verse

Certainly a song that ranked for me less for its inventiveness, or even for being well-done in a style I prefer, as for the way I connect to it. This sort of reflects my age in that regard– things change, nothing lasts forever, we make our decisions, and our mistakes, and we learn from them, and we go on, and we end up more or less okay– and that’s all we can be; there are no do-overs. The wisdom of age and the importance of acceptance resonates strongly with me, especially as I’m in (presumably) the second half of my life and the time for new beginnings has run out.

A song like this really needs to sound like the singers can speak to the age, experience, and wisdom behind the words, and after nearly thirty years in the music industry, Fiona Apple can sure as hell do that. (Not to shortchange Sam Beam, but this song wouldn’t be nearly as good if he didn’t have someone as talented and impressive a presence as Apple to duet with.)

13. Nada Surf
“In Front of Me Now”
Moon Mirror

And immediately again we have another selection that reflects my age, as someone looking back and forward, and considering how I’ve lived my life and what I want to do with my time left, and trying to remember to stay present in it, and to forgive myself for the mistakes I’ve made along the way.

Believe it or not, the same band that gave us one fluke alt-rock hit in 1996 has never really stopped recording, and while I myself did not keep up with them that whole time, this song certainly shows an older, wiser, more mature band than “Popular” did. The lyrics chronicle that maturity, while the sound is just a more upbeat and fun pop-rock song, none of the irony or remove of “Popular” (which I do still like). Honestly, “In Front of Me Now” is quite an achievement for the band at this age. (What else I’ve heard from Moon Mirror is pretty good, too, but this is my favorite by a good margin.)

12. English Teacher
“R&B”
This Could Be Texas

Technically released as a non-album single early in the band’s career, UK’s English Teacher revamped this one for their 2024 album, their debut full-length. Even though their sound is closer to punk or post-punk than anything, singer Lily Fontaine addresses the titular subject as what people expect her to write and sing based on the color of her skin.

The energy is punk, but the song doesn’t have that typical structure, as it’s mostly driven by the bass line and Fontaine’s sing-speaking, building in momentum as the drums come in and the guitar breaks in for the choruses, before they build to that outro, which ramps up and crescendos in a burst of energy at the end. Energetic, creative, and real, the song’s a real tour de force and lightning bolt of energy that strikes true. Even if you don’t know what COLORS shows or KEXP are.

11. Chappell Roan
“Good Luck, Babe!”
non-album single

What can I say about 2024’s big breakout artist that hasn’t been said already? (I don’t even have anything new to say about the weird, parasocial fans who feel entitled to her personal life.)

Chappell Roan’s big summer hit captures a certain 80s synth-pop sound and energy, though admittedly, it’s less likely a pop hit from the 1980s would be from one lesbian lover to another who’s in denial. Like any good pop song, it’s got great structure– building in volume and intensity from verse to pre-chorus and blossoming into that sing-along chorus; then, overall, with the bridge taking a turn that allows it to really explode into the final chorus. I liked it when I first heard it, but it took a couple of months to grow on me until the switch flipped and I loved it. But I do. (As do some of my old favorites from twenty years ago.)

“Good Luck, Babe!” is exactly what a smash-hit pop record should be.

10. Kendrick Lamar
“meet the grahams”
non-album single

Nothing against “6:16 in LA” or “euphoria,” but “Meet the Grahams” is where Kendrick Lamar took his beef with Drake to a new level, escalating the stakes in response to Drake’s “Family Matters,” getting deeply personal in a way that suggested this was no ordinary rap battle.

I think what makes “Meet the Grahams” hit hard is that when it opens, it doesn’t even seem like Kendrick is interested in dissing Drake directly so much as by implication. Kendrick’s advice to Adonis seems sincere; he wants to help him make it as a Black man in this world, since his own shitty absent father won’t. (“Can’t understand me right now? Just play this when you eighteen.”)

Kendrick eventually addresses each of Drake’s parents and Drake himself, as well, and starts dropping some heavy accusations that go far beyond MC skills. Beyond telling his parents they raised “a horrible fuckin’ person,” he gets specific, with charges of hating Black women, being a serial liar and “master manipulator,” keeping sex offenders on OVO’s payroll, having “drinking problems, gambling problems, pill-popping and spending problems,” all over a pretty laid-back beat broken up by an interpolation of the plinking piano from “Bennie and the Jets.”

Kendrick drops that line at the end that shows just how deep this runs for him and that it goes beyond the usual feud. “Fuck a rap battle, this a lifelong battle with yourself.” Kendrick hates that man, not so much for something he did but for who he is (of course, who we are is what we consistently do). And, unsurprisingly, this is not the last we’ll talk about this today– we’ll get a lot more into just what Kendrick hates about Drake soon enough.

9. Macklemore
“HIND’S HALL”
non-album single

8. Kim Deal
“Crystal Breath”
Nobody Loves You More

Is this song the best case in the last 30 years that Frank Black was holding Kim Deal back in the Pixies? Even leaving the question-begging of that statement aside, I haven’t actually listened to enough of Deal’s work in the interim to answer that. (That work has mostly been a few intermittent Breeders albums; this is actually her first solo record. Also, I haven’t listened to it all the way through yet, either.) Regardless of ridiculous opening statements, I can certainly confirm that this is a kick-ass rock song.

There’s something about the sound that really grabs me in a way I’ve been struggling to express. The fuzzy guitar that drives the rhythm section, the occasional riffs poking through, and Deal’s voice all just come together to make a great song. I’m not even sure what to compare it to, since it doesn’t really sound like either the Pixies or the Breeders, although you can tell she’s the same person from those bands. There’s a bit of post-punk early-80s influence, I suppose, but even that doesn’t quite pin it down. Unsurprisingly, Kim Deal is too singular for me to pigeonhole. But, to reiterate, this is a kick-ass rock song.

If I was the kind of writer I hate, I would even say something like “Perhaps the song even predicted our election results. Beast gonna lead us, lead on.” I’m leaving it in just in case someone who pays handsomely for that kind of shoehorning-politics-into-pop-culture nonsense reads this and wants to know if I can do it.

7. Lo Fi Ho Hum
“Never Been in Love”
Garage Pop

The next four were the most difficult for me to sort out. I’ve been going back and forth on the order for a while now. We’ll start with our top Colorado song of the year, by Fort Collins’ Lo Fi Ho Hum.

Now, me looking at an album called Garage Pop and then finding this is sort of like the Michael Bluth “I don’t know what I expected” moment, but with the opposite reaction. This is not a song that will lend itself to extensive analysis, but what it is is a perfect power-pop nugget, with all the hooks and harmonies and structure coming in exactly right, as lead singer / founder Jacob Godbey goes through his past relationships that he hoped would be the one in the verses, then that perfect “Come on, come on” kicks off the chorus. And like a proper power-pop song, it’s short and to the point, clocking in at 2:29.

Not too many bands make music like this these days, and it’s a total hidden gem that in a just world (or maybe sixty years ago) would’ve been a smash hit. (I probably shouldn’t have watched That Thing You Do! a few months ago because it’s made me want to find them and be like “I’ll be your Tom Hanks!”, which is not a thing I know how to do.)

And it comes with a music video, too.

6. Beach Bunny
“Vertigo”
non-album single

For the second consecutive year, a woman-led rock band whose name starts with “Beach” makes one of the best songs of the year. Weird coincidences aside, this is some really great pop-punk, with the drums providing a lot of momentum, especially in the chorus. I also really like the guitar tones in this one, though I generally don’t focus on that sort of thing.

It’s really upbeat and punchy; like many of my favorite pop-punk songs, it’s up tempo and gets in and out quickly (2:28). Just an ideal example of the form, really tight and up-tempo and with no note misplaced or wasted.

Lili Trifilio and company have another winner with this song about how growing up doesn’t necessarily mean we grow out of the traits we hoped we would. And while I’m not a huge fan of that kind of self-aware psychoanalysis at the end of the chorus, I guess I can live with a little of it when the song is so tight and punchy otherwise and grabs me like this.

5. MJ Lenderman
“She’s Leaving You”
Manning Fireworks

MJ Lenderman’s solo work has been pretty remarkable. He manages to sound like a throwback to 90s indie music (in a good way), with a surprising amount of maturity, shown both in how he tackles subject matter, and in the specificity of his lyrics and references that normally only come with the knowledge and confidence of age. (And with a pretty good sense of humor that doesn’t undercut the sincerity.) And despite the lo-fi sound and the odd melody and his slightly reedy voice, Lenderman can still write a hook– that chorus would be just as grabby in a bigger, more polished song.

The characters on Manning Fireworks have me thinking of a comparison that could be obnoxious and ridiculous but I think works: the work of Danny McBride and Jody Hill, fellow Carolinans who specialize in stories about delusional losers who think they’re suave, cool alpha males. (“Wristwatch” is another example.) Lenderman does focus more on breakups than they do, though– they’re all compensating for something; with Lenderman, it’s often heartbreak and loneliness.

I still think the subject of “She’s Leaving You” that he’s addressing in the lyrics, more or less, is the same subject of the classic Onion headline “Affluent White Man Enjoys, Causes The Blues.” Rich and flashy, with his rented Ferrari and comped room in Vegas, but all image– Lenderman’s “No time to apologize for the things you do” really underlines that. Can’t make up for your actions with wealth and taste. (Especially not if you really believe that Clapton was the second coming.)

And even at 26, Lenderman already understands that the entropy of the universe extends to humans and our relationships. It falls apart; we all got work to do.

4. Wunderhorse
“Midas”
Midas

Wunderhorse isn’t a band I knew much about, and they’re relatively new; this is only their second album. But they made some damn good rock, short and to the point and never overstays its welcome. The title track here checks in at just 2:19, and it’s nasty (complimentary) in sound and attitude, a story perhaps of Lucifer as businessman. Right from the beginning, we know this guy is bad news: “I heard the rattlesnake shaking in his invitation” – and the lyrics are evocative and poetic throughout – “I searched to find the fracture in his tombstone facelift / And he fixed me with the coldness of the kingdom in his eyes…”

“Midas” rocks, perfectly tight and structured and with the “chorus,” such as it is, being driven by the instrumentation– the way each verse just ends with “Midas” and the cymbal-crash is just perfect. It’s a little harder-edged than most of what I usually like, but for me, it’s a robust indie-rock song with more meat and vitality than so much of the genre, with a dangerous edge you rarely find there.

Sometimes it can be difficult to describe what makes a song work. I’ve touched on individual elements here, but it’s not just that they’re each outstanding; it’s that, even still, the sum is greater than the parts.

3. Kacey Musgraves
“Cardinal”
Deeper Well

“It was right after I lost a friend without warning”

It’s not lost on me that, for the second year in a row, another country-Americana-folk singer-songwriter has written a song about another musician, a dearly departed friend, and it’s claimed the #3 spot on my list. Maybe that’ll change in 2025 if I don’t have death hanging over me as much as I have in the last year.

Musgraves’ track is about the death of John Prine, as Jason Isbell’s last year was about the death of Justin Townes Earle. Where “When We Were Close” looked back at memories of the living, “Cardinal” tries to keep the dead alive, Musgraves seeing the titular cardinal and considering it a sign sent from Prine beyond the grave. Making sense of and finding meaning after a tragic loss is never easy, and we all deal with it in our own ways. Most of you know my dad died last year, but I also lost an old college friend a few months ago, in a way that felt surreal. I hadn’t kept up with him closely, but I saw him at a wedding in June for the first time in maybe 17 years, and his life seemed to be in a good place and he had a long-term partner to rely on. I was heartened to see that. Then, in September, he was just suddenly gone.

I’ve never seen a sign in a bird, signs seen though I have, but I have found myself similarly wondering at points how to go on, how to make sense of it all, and hoping for something to show the way, some sign the dead would send me from beyond that they were okay, or that they were still watching over me from afar. I felt and related to the sense of loss strongly– don’t leave me behind.

It’s a simple song, it’s not really inventive, and it’s probably the one least likely to have the impact on any of my readers it did on me. But music is about resonance, and with the year and change I’ve had, “Cardinal” really resonated with me.

2. Mdou Moctar
“Imouhar”
Funeral for Justice

Mdou Moctar is a Nigerien guitarist who blends traditional Tuareg guitar with modern rock sounds ranging from hard psychedelic rock to Eddie Van Halen. He’s a virtuoso, and one of my favorite expressions of his skill and wizardry is “Imhouar,” a plea for the preservation of the Tamasheq language. (No, I don’t speak it, and yes, I had to look that up.)

The song starts with some more traditional-sounding guitar and Moctar singing over it… and then at the 1:20 mark, the guitar goes electric, the drums boom their way in, and the song shifts to something else. Heavy shredding and drumming, the force of nature that’s exactly right for this kind of call to action. It’s explosive, excellent, and… well, “kick-ass” honestly might undersell it.

Moctar’s guitar playing is exquisite; the speed and density of his solos is absolutely that of someone who studied Eddie Van Halen, and the overall sound of the song, with its electric guitar, heavy and fast drumming, and its shifting tempos recalls classic harder psych-rock. It’s just the kind of rare blow-the-doors-off song we don’t get often enough, fiery and full of life. The kind of song that tempted me to throw out this entire writeup and just write YES YES FUCK YES or something like that.

Also, while this song would have made it this high even without the following anecdote, I saw him live and he honestly kicked even more ass than he did on record. His band is tight and loud, capable of some incredible tempo, and he plays hard and fast, whether typical shredding or two-hand tapping. He’s also charismatic as hell. In a more just world, he’d be a star, the 21st-century African Jimi Hendrix. (He’s even left-handed!)

Heck, “Imouhar” probably would have been #1 in an ordinary year. But this was no ordinary year…

1. Kendrick Lamar
“Not Like Us”
non-album single

“Say Drake, I hear you like ‘em young
You better not ever go to Cell Block One”

“Meet the Grahams” was the deeply personal blow; “Not Like Us” feels like the victory lap. In part that’s because it’s a hell of a lot more fun; it’s instantly anthemic and caught fire for months for exactly that reason. In part that’s because Kendrick didn’t even wait for Drake to respond to “meet the grahams” before dropping this. In part that’s because it’s upbeat and a smash hit; Kendrick claimed the charts and the club with this one, two arenas where Drake always had much more sway.

But as far as the content of the song itself: It’s also in part because Kendrick is so much more direct about things he only insinuated in “Meet the Grahams.” That line comes in the middle of the first verse, and it’s as direct as Kendrick– or anyone, really– has ever been on the issue. (Also, it’s just funny to me to hear a rapper address another rapper with some 1940s phrasing. “Say, Drake!”) It might not even be the most memorable line from that half-verse, though, considering it also includes “Certified Lover Boy? Certified pedophiles” and “Trying to strike a chord, and it’s probably A minorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…”

Unlike some of the weird music writers out there who express vague discomfort in weaselly language with this song, I have zero problem calling a pedophile a pedophile. There’s a lot of evidence Drake “likes ‘em young.” (I have pointed out one of these examples on this very site, years ago!) And he surrounds himself with sketchy people, too. (“And Baka got a weird case, why is he around?”) The disses hit harder when they’re rooted in truth.

Drake’s history with underage girls and sex offenders he keeps around him are a recurring theme (“predators move in flocks / That name gotta be registered and placed on neighborhood watch”), but he touches on several other reasons he dislikes Drake, returning to his disrespect of Black women, for example: “From Alondra down to Central, n**** better not speak on Serena.” (Drake, for his part, seems to be doing his best to validate the “pedophile who hates Black women” charges.)

But the third verse is where Kendrick– as brilliantly as you might expect — lays out a new reason he hates Drake, beyond the pedophilia; absentee fathering; and disrespect of Black women, Tupac and Oakland, and South Central. While teaching a history lesson to listeners, Kendrick compares Drake to slave owners (pointedly, as Kendrick reminds us, after on “Family Matters” Drake “still doubled down on callin’ us some slaves”): “The settlers was usin’ townfolk to make ‘em richer / Fast-forward, 2024, you got the same agenda,” calling out the roster of Atlanta rappers Drake uses to become both more commercially viable and more credible, and tying it all together at the end: “You run to Atlanta when you need a few dollars / No, you not a colleague, you a fuckin’ colonizer.”

Pedophile, manipulator, hater, coward, exploiter, and phony. (Don’t fuck with Kendrick; he’ll beat your ass and hide the Bible if God watching.) All in three verses, none of it ringing false, set to DJ Mustard’s killer high-energy beat, in a single song that blew up and became the song of the summer. Enough of a crowning achievement that he could put on a minute-long outro just to give people a chance to dance. The song so ubiquitous I heard it on Saturday during several football broadcasts and at the gym. The diss track so good it united Crips and Bloods at Kendrick’s Los Angeles concert. The song of the year.

It’s also going to be a lot of people’s choice for song of the year. While I like to highlight the underserved and underappreciated, and I often find my tastes are orthogonal at best to other critics, let alone the public, sometimes a song is just that undeniable. Heck, it might be the halfway-mark leader for the best song of the decade.

Thanks for reading. Here’s my countdown playlist of the top 40!