It was fun recapping songs I missed back in 2019, but it's time to turn my head forward on this god-forsaken shitty year and give you my non-anticipated list of my favorite songs of 2020. Despite this year being universally hated by everyone, we were treated to some fantastic music, including...
9. Elder Brother, "Projector"
"Projector" begins with the narrator breaking a mirror, to which he quips, "seven years / what's seven more?" What a perfect sentiment for an incredible garbage year, in which seven hours seemed to last seven days. At it's heart, "Projector" is a breakup song, but the track doesn't follow the old tropes and blueprints. Instead we're given flourishing guitars, blooming vocals, and yearning lyrics - the ghosts of better days past. However, "Projector" never sounds brooding or stuck; the melody is glistening and hopeful. It's no coincidence that vocalist Dan Rose ends the song on the couplet "I wanted nothing more / than to be your something more / I wanted nothing more / than to be." Simply being might be the best thing we could have achieved this year.
8. Yours Truly, "Funeral Home"
Yours Truly hails from the other side of the Pacific, and the Australian pop-punk outfit crafted one of the most catchy tunes of 2020 with "Funeral Home". 'Catchy' and 'funeral' might not seem like they make sense together in a song, but the track is built around an earworm of a guitar hook, and singer Mikaila Delgado's buttery-smooth voice melts all over the lines. The production on "Funeral Home" is fantastic; strings and synths pepper the background, and hand-claps hit in the perfect spots. It's an addicting song, and considering "Funeral Home" is from their debut LP, I can't wait to see what they do in the future.
7. Sir Sly, "Material Boy"
Orange County outfit Sir Sly has been around since the early 2010s, with songs appearing in movies and TV shows and even trailers for video games. "Material Boy" is, on a the surface, a happy-sounding synth-pop jam, but the lyrics uncover something more haunting and personal. Singer and lyricist Landon Jacobs dives into politics, religion, therapy and the evilness of capitalism here, which makes "Material Boy" one of the most resonant tracks of 2020. The duality of the incredible catchy, boppy music paired with lyrics such as "no longer Christian / but I'm still afraid of judgement" and "I opened up my heart and found a spiritual void" begs a deeper dive. If you had any questions about whether synth-pop can also be music for the modern thinking person, look no further than "Material Boy".
6. Hot Mulligan, "*Equip Sunglasses*"
I attended three concerts in 2020. Two of them were pre-covid, and one of them was a drive-in Halloween show that featured Lasing, Michigan's own Hot Mulligan. The show was outside and it was freezing, but Hot Mulligan came on that stage with piss and vinegar, lead singer Nathan "Tades" Sanville half screaming, half singing through the entire set. Sanville's vocal stylings on "*Equip Sunglasses*" might not be for everyone, but you can feel the raw emotion right away. The track begins with a simple drum beat before the vocals blast in like a kick in the mouth, complimented by a simple but addicting guitar lick. The track never lets up after that, and after 2 minutes and 46 seconds of electricity, you'll be smashing the repeat button, middle fingers in the air, saying fuck you, 2020.
5. Soccer Mommy, "Circle the Drain"
"Circle the Drain" might be the definite 2020 song, with Sophia Regina Allison penning lines such as "I'm trying to seem strong for my love / For my family and friends / But I'm so tired of faking". Who among us in 2020 hasn't felt like they're going through the motions, yet "falling apart these days"? The track's mood echoes the lyrics; it's a midtempo dream jam, layered up with droning pads, acoustic guitars, tape clicks - and is that a glockenspiel? Even though the song is effect-heavy, it never sounds crowded, with everything being stripped away to let Allison's tranquil voice breath in the last chorus line. "Circle the Drain" ends with the sounds of water bubbling down a drain, a metaphor for lost time, and an indication of where we'd all like the year to go.
4. Pinegrove, "Dotted Line"
Evan Stephens Hall is an incredibly gifted songwriter, and he may also be a fucking douchebag. Both things can be true. His personal choices notwithstanding, "Dotted Line" is a beautiful song, built on a reassuring chorus line - "I don't know how / But I'm thinking it'll all work out". Simplistic, pie-in-the-sky thinking perhaps, but strangely comforting in a year full of controversy, disaster, and uneasiness. "Dotted Line" follows the formula of what makes Pinegrove such an arresting band; it seems like a simple folk song, yet its incredibly intricate in rhythm, structure, and production. Hall should be given credit for writing poetic, tangible, relatable lyrics, but he would be nothing without the band at large; drummer Zack Levine plays a sparse yet complex groove, and keyboardist and vocalist Nandi Rose Plunkett scatters the track with complimentary piano chords and elevates the entire experience with an incredibly lovely harmony.
3. Taylor Swift, "Exile" (Featuring Bon Iver)
I never, ever would have thought that a Taylor Swift song would crack my favorite songs of the year list, nor would I ever have thought a Bon Iver song would do it. But hell, it's 2020 after all! Swift's album Folklore caught me by complete surprise, and if I was creating a top albums of the year would definitely be in the top three. The formula here is smart - Swift is a talented songwriter, and she surrounded herself with other talented people; frequent collaborator Jack Antonoff of Fun. fame and indie rock darling Bryce Dessner of The National. "Exile" features Bon Iver's only member, Justin Vernon, who is no stranger to huge collaborations, being featured on albums from Kanye West to Eminem to Bruce Hornsby. Here, Vernon shares vocal duties with Swift, creating a bleeding-heart back and forth duet about two ex-lovers seeing each other again. "Exile" boarders hokeyness but never crosses that line due to some fantastic lyrics: "I can see you starin', honey / Like he's just your understudy / Like you'd get your knuckles bloody for me". The chorus is cathartic, with sweeping strings, glistening piano chords, and layer on layer of gut-punching vocals.
2. Into It. Over It. - "Brushstrokes"
Into it. Over It. is Chicago's Evan Wiess, who released his fourth studio album Figure this year. It's a fantastic album full of incredible songs, and "Brushstrokes" is my personal favorite. The track starts out with an insane drum groove played by Adam Beck (who also drums for Chicago punk band Sincere Engineer), before Wiess chimes in, joined by minimal acoustic guitar and synth pads. It's an incredibly moving song that equates a toxic relationship to a painting that seems beautiful from a distance but flawed when viewed up close. What makes "Brushstrokes" so lovely and addicting is not only how good the drum groove is, but how the song keeps layering sound over sound - joining the fray in the second verse is a deep bass, electric guitar, and an explosion of harmony in the chorus. Weiss sings deeply and emotionally, and the song fades on a deep bass distortion feedback into another fantastic song, "We Prefer Indoors". Figure took four years to create, but it was worth every hour.
1. Jillette Johnson - "I Shouldn't Go Anywhere"
Nashville's Jillette Johnson has been on the scene since 2012, but I hadn't heard of her until Spotify recommended I listen to "I Shouldn't Go Anywhere", and I'm glad it did - this is an incredible song. "I Shouldn't Go Anywhere" starts with a fuzzy, full bass line and muted guitar, and then unleashes the voice of Johnson herself, which drips like honey. Johnson's voice is the centerpiece here, but the instrumentation is wonderful as well; the lush, blusey guitarwork is a highlight, the drums are subdued but full, and the synth adds a huge flair. The lyrics find our heroine at the bar, drinking away the anxiety over a relationship, knowing she shouldn't go see him, yet wanting to do it anyways. It captures the moments of justifying toxic relationships perfectly, and the way the song dances between major and minor keys and dissonant and resolute tones amplifies the emotional nature of the track. "I Shouldn't Go Anywhere" is a heartbreaker, it's my favorite song of 2020, and it's a good reminder of the year as a whole as we were forced into lockdown and told that we shouldn't go anywhere.
