Over a tick-tock electro beat, the bleary synth production grows in intensity as hard-panned stereo effects become more disorienting. Nitpick re: the “American Girl” similarities all you want, but the combination of Julian’s disaffected yowl, Albert and Nick’s chirpy chords, Nikolai’s humble throb and Fab’s unflappable bounce still carries a rare boot-scootin’ charge. “It’s okay, son,” they tell him. The difference between independence and loneliness, Dehd suggest, is your relationship with yourself. Gwen Stefani dropped her go-to quirky and emo poses on this one, in the process outing herself as a seriously badass dance-floor commando. “I’m bringing sexy back,” former Mouseketeer and boy-band escapee Justin Timberlake declares at the start of his 2006 single, making the case that he’d grown up more bluntly than a you-know-what in a box. Whether portraying a complicated love or something more sinister, it’s an arresting vision of trouble in paradise. And it's become a necessary party bonding activity, too: trashed guests inevitably screaming "that shit cray!" It’s as resonant as it is unreachable: consider that, in a year of fairly learnable TikTok challenges, the dance for “WAP” asks that you transition from a floor-hump to a windmill split. Get a huge dose of ’80s nostalgia by blasting this spiteful, synthy song, a poppy take on Gloria Jones’s upbeat, girl-groupy cut from ’65. –Eric Torres, Like any superhero team-up or buddy comedy, the formula for an RTJ song is carved in stone by now: Killer Mike the swaggering priest and El-P sardonic philosopher, threatening R-rated violence and revolutionary action over sounds rescued from hip-hop’s golden era and retrofitted for pre-pandemic festival stages. Masterminded by American production duo C+C Music Factory (David Cole and Robert Clivillés), “Gonna Make You Sweat” paved the way for a slew of chart-friendly house hits in the early ’90s, and made wearing cycling shorts okay. Don’t bother: This Chrysler’s as big as a whale and it’s about to set sail. Parker said it was inspired by his first experience with MDMA, which accounts for the rave outro and the blissful piano hooks that make it the danciest cut on this year’s The Slow Rush. Heard at any time in the four decades since its making, “Echos” would be touching. On “Breathe Deeper,” you can hear Mariah Carey in the syrupy verse, the Neptunes in every raw drum hit, early Daft Punk in the finale’s acid house groove, and yet there’s no mistaking this for anything but a Tame Impala song. The oversight was later rectified with a remix featuring her (this time with a credit) alongside pioneer Ivy Queen—whose legendary “Quiero Bailar” set the terms for this track—providing vindication for the caballotas who just want to dance in peace. Enter Pharrell, reciting a mantra about the circular clutches of modern capitalism in the laconic tone he once used to brag about his Gandalf hat; enter Zack de la Rocha, erstwhile Rage Against the Machine frontman, incendiary and conspiratorial about wanting to rip those systems apart. Don't overthink it. Even though “Sunblind” is an ode to the departed, it never succumbs to melancholy. Megan Thee Stallion had only grown as a beacon of that-bitch-ism since 2019, but joined by one of the 21st century’s greatest entertainers, she became bolder. The moody bassline delivers a melody to curl up in and brood, while the uptempo beat towards the end is a reminder that even loneliness ends. Nicki, you’ve still got our heartbeats running away. They fit PERFECT. Sir Mix-a-Lot’s love letter to round behinds was—to the Tipper Gore crowd—super sexual filth. –Katherine St. Asaph, Listen: Jessie Ware, “What’s Your Pleasure?”, With euphoria in short supply and dancefloors shuttered around the globe, 2020 hasn’t been particularly kind to dance music. The music industry took a minute to catch wind of Fetty's earworm-machine potential, but once net virality took hold a year after the original release of "Trap Queen," the rise was nothing short of meteoric. On “Fancy,” glistening drums and spare guitar strums set the stage, but the Ghanaian-American singer’s babyish delivery is the real draw. One moment the Punisher closer is a hushed acoustic ballad, the next it’s a swelling mid-tempo strummer, and then it explodes into an orchestral fanfare, and each section has its own emotional arc. She swats him away handily, the diss track equivalent of receiving a long text and dismissing it with a “K.” Its opening line, delivered in her characteristic hush, reflects decades of Black radical feminist critique: “I see a demon on my shoulder, it’s looking like patriarchy.” After coolly ethering Cole—over a cascading Madlib beat, no less—Noname busies herself with more important things: eulogizing murdered activist Toyin Salau, highlighting the crisis of violence against trans women, name-checking George Floyd, and calling for a break up of Amazon. Those echoing opening chords became as familiar to the MTV generation as Pogs and Hypercolor—with a tad more shelf life. © 2021 Time Out America LLC and affiliated companies owned by Time Out Group Plc. RECOMMENDED: The best songs about friendship The best birthday songs of all time The best ’80s songs The best karaoke songs The best pop songs of all time. The beauty of the song lies in the author’s awareness of the imbalance at hand. Anguish turns to grief as Sullivan’s hoarse, fragile vocals retreat into a guitar that sounds as hollow as her defenses, landing somewhere between gospel and otherworldly. “Angel” is sad but happy, alluring yet absurd, expressing the simple things we struggle to define. If you’re brave enough to step up to the mic, you’re already doing great, but with so many good karaoke songs to pick from, making the right choice on what to sing could make or break the night. On “Mo Money Mo Problems,” he is ably assisted by Harlem World rapper Mase and ubiquitous hype man Puff Daddy (in the days before Diddy), but it’s all prologue to Biggie’s verse. Backed by sauntering keys and quivering strings, Letissier sings in her native French about teenage loneliness and angst. Oh snap! So even if you’ll never meet a dude earning eight figures, “Tap In” is an energizing lesson in assessing your worth and asserting your standards. Rage on, yo. Pulsating beat, check; funky bassline, check; earworm chorus, check and check. –Hannah Jocelyn, For those of us raised on the red meat of American classic rock, “The Steps” is the kind of song you know as soon as you hear it. The line’s path is dizzying, catching an updraft on falling apart, that feeling of rust as our sweatpants become thinner with wear. Britpop’s foremost ambassadors changed their tune—quite literally—with their self-titled 1997 LP, embracing the crunchy guitars and lo-fi ethos of American grunge and indie rock that frontman Damon Albarn had once railed against. This hugely anticipated (not to mention hyped) comeback single from Daft Punk became the summer anthem of 2013. –Allison Hussey, Listen: Fiona Apple, “Fetch the Bolt Cutters”, Chloe x Halle polished their slinky R&B formula this year on sophomore album Ungodly Hour, and “Do It” was the duo’s glittering crown jewel. Put on this track and everyone is the life of the party. Dance parties just weren’t the same before Lady Gaga took the music industry by storm with “Just Dance,” the debut single off of 2008’s The Fame. Nicking a chorus from Brazilian cult star Jorge Ben Jor’s “Taj Mahal,” scruffy-voiced English journeyman rocker Rod Stewart struck dance-floor gold at the height of the “Disco Sucks” era. Every British invasion arrives with an opening salvo. “I hold your joy/I hold your pain,” she sings over heavenly synth tones. And it only takes her a minute. –Evan Minsker, Earl Sweatshirt and Maxo have both made their homes in the rain-blurred realm where raps feel like unspoken thoughts, where beats resemble humming machinery a block away—a world of smudged loops, two or three notes long, punctured by diaristic jottings that flash like lightning. Step aside, Aaron Carter; this banger signaled a new generation of boy bands, bigger and better than ever. “Delete Forever” extends the kind of empathy no AI can. Only one artist made his album better with its deluxe edition: Lil Baby, who added a number of great songs to My Turn. His yearlong blitzkrieg campaign garnered him a No. From the very beginning, she knows she’s singing to an apparition. But on “Bad Friend,” Rina Sawayama gives friend breakups their own ballad. –Stefanie Fernández, No man is a whole movement. –Alphonse Pierre, Lil Uzi Vert just beamed down in a pair of Balenciaga jeans that cost more than your biweekly paycheck (before taxes), and he is ready to rap. Some mark a special occasion. Olsen’s elegiac melody gives weight to her words, offering a troubled tribute to maintaining your sanity when everything else seems to be falling apart. And if you listen closely, she finishes each chorus with a gleeful whoop, completing the homage: There’s no pleasure without fun. “I Feel Good” is dance-floor dynamite, with its tight, funky groove, grin-inducing chorus and that killer saxophone riff by Maceo Parker. Maines’ admissions of vulnerability only further root her battle cries in her humanity, speaking to a righteous channel of rage, sorrow, and bewilderment at the hurt of a relationship gone to hell. year, and the time has come once again to run down the Top 40 pop songs of 2020. Where Moor Mother speaks to battling inner and outer demons, her intoning voice echoing and relentless, woods is an ideal foil, adding drifting verses that lead to a needling concern: “What did I want?” The artful “Furies” leads listeners along its own orbit, with no easy answers to its cryptic questions. Beneath the lackadaisical surface, however, is a distinct lack of joie de vivre. No wonder it’s one of the big hits of summer 2013. El-P’s production reins in his usual glitchy energy of a in favor of near-military restraint as he memorializes Eric Garner, and Killer Mike casually advocates for the murder of our corporate overlords. Recorded more than a year before much of humanity was sheltering in place, its themes of isolation and delirium feel prescient, offering a view from indoors that, for many, will look like a reflection. "Nobody's Perfect" is a song by English singer-songwriter Jessie J from her debut studio album, Who You Are. Undeniably catchy and fun, “Bulletproof” bathes in a cross-appeal bolstered by singer Elly Jackson’s swagger-laden vocals and 1980s pop-synth muscle. Some parties are cool. “Glad you held me, too/Though I didn’t know how to be closer to you,” Read admits at the climax, holding the last word for 20 aching seconds, an entire lungful of “you.” In an era of isolation, the song is a reminder of the simple warmth of being near. Eventually, he emerges from the wreckage into a clearing, holding still in the soft glow of the final minutes. “Teen Spirit” is all about anger and angst. Naughty by Nature’s hits have become a bit of an inside joke as of late, childhood memories of repetitively watching “Hip Hop Hooray” on MTV surging back into contemporary existence. Earl’s own flow is hesitant, probing for meaning in the cracks between sound and sense: “Anxious, moving at a pallbearer’s pace/My family flank me in the rain.” The two of them are standing completely still, speaking in code, letting the wind take their thoughts to whoever might hear them. But “O.P.P.” isn’t merely irony catnip for thirtysomethings: It’s a fantastic hip-hop song, complete with a Jackson 5–sampled hook and ribald insinuations. Hopefully, for Dogleg, that future involves kids doing literal backflips into much bigger crowds. It’s a testament to the sheer infectiousness of Late Registration’s biggest hit that this funny, whip-smart and completely unromantic song was a staple at wedding receptions in the mid-aughts. But there’s also something lonely and maybe even a little spooky about the song, which the Moscow musician says was written during a difficult time. Thick with reverb, Olsen’s flinty vibrato sounds worn-down and raw, as the fraught strums behind her recall the spartan folk music of her early records. Pharrell is celebrating joy for the sake of joy on this 2013 global chartbuster. “Guess I’m a true immigrant son/No vacancies, no vacations,” he sings, resigned but resilient. And relish every delicious move you make on the dance floor. –Jonah Bromwich, British singer-songwriter Lianne La Havas would be forgiven for simply coasting on her rich voice and its impossibly slow vibrato. As her coo whips into a snarl, Apple looks to metaphysics for solace, yet finds little: Spiritual wisdom, she learns, is no remedy for her primal desire to desire, to “want somebody to want.” For decades, Apple has penned damning chronicles of toxic romances. –Evan Minsker, Flo Milli’s “Like That Bitch” is like a shot of bad bitch juice, a potent steroid for dealing with enemies, envy, and haters in general. Like Orwell’s 1984 and Kubrick’s 2001, Prince’s “1999” is less a sell-by date than a declarative prediction made timeless by persuasive art. –Matthew Strauss, There isn’t a single wasted moment on “Safaera,” Bad Bunny’s epic homage to old-school perreo culture. It makes for a funny muse, this “you,” trembling through a chorus possessed equally of fierce desire and trepidation. It didn’t hurt that she got a writing assist from Neptunes’ Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, or that the band chose to lead off with a spiffy homage to the ever-deadly “Billie Jean” beat. No matter how late it gets, what better way to keep the party going than the supremely uncool cool of the Bee Gees? When it’s on, dancing is not optional. He also wrote “Dragonball Durag,” a strange and glorious ball of fuzz that, like his best songs, threatens to flutter away at any moment. From there, the turns it takes are so quietly strange, and strangely moving, that any further discussion of its lyrics might require a spoiler alert. This one is pure class. But Sumney, Oneohtrix Point Never, and Adult Jazz’s arrangement doesn’t let listeners get comfortable. A gaudily saccharine Katy Perry and Snoop Dogg take on the indisputable truth established by Tupac in the mid-’90s with “California Love”: “California… knows how to party.” Yep, as the frosting-expelling pop star confirms in this ode to summer fun, the Golden State is the best place for bikinis, beaches and baking in the sunshine. Its unprecedentedly lavish video—directed by a pre-Seven David Fincher in an appropriately Expressionist style—embodies Madonna’s defining persona as a fiercely sexual chameleon. –Alfred Soto, Following detours into Tony Bennett-style crooning, lightly country-fried rock, and Oscar-winning melodrama, Lady Gaga made her ferocious return to the club with the all-bangers-no-ballads Chromatica. How do you turn a six-year-old Swiss cult act into an overnight sensation? And she does it best on “Guilty Conscience,” a big, ambient pop record that tells of a lover’s remorse after catching their partner cheating, only to reveal that they cheated first. The tension is eased by a slinky sax from future-soul artist Masego and then heightened by a polyphony of backup vocals that engulf the chorus with internal turmoil. Thanks for subscribing! There’s a built-in reverb grounding Crutchfield’s falsetto, and it sounds like an unexpectedly early thaw, like the comforting promise that when flowers wilt and eventually die, it’s because they will soon bloom anew. Simply brilliant. Until “Delete Forever.” Here, in the misfit of Miss Anthropocene, a loose, extremely un-Grimes acoustic guitar strum becomes the setting for an affecting tribute to friends and fellow artists who’ve died in the opioid crisis. The widespread success of the Village People may be the most dramatic example of how gay culture went mainstream in the disco era. Lange’s soothing voice turns hypnotic when drenched in reverb, and Rubinos returns the energy in kind, beaming lights into the dark. Yet there’s power in this simplicity—it eliminates any obstacles that might stand in the way of the song’s sentiment, becoming an aural manifestation of love itself. –Eric Torres, Meghan Remy wears the perfectionist swagger of American pop like a disguise. –Calum Marsh, Perreo, as a genre, dance, and movement, has always been about power. This tricky dance between intensity and chaos plays out on Jessy Lanza’s “Lick in Heaven”: The bounce of the bass synth and Lanza’s angelic voice are red herrings for the song’s angry underpinnings. Know what’s so great about this song? Entering the world of this song is like walking into an opulent room where a party has just concluded, as the host’s farewell fades down the hallway. Lastly, I excluded political songs that are very potent but aim its critique at the entire system which needs overthrowing (such as, say, Public Enemy’s Fight The Power), the crime of racism (which is covered in the Protest Soul mixes: Vol. “Maybe if I drank enough/I’ll make my way over to ya,” she thinks out loud. Pusha T rejecting this massive Hitboy-produced beat might have been for the best (according to him it sounds like a video game) because the star power from the respective husbands of Kim and Bey turned the guaranteed banger into a veritable club anthem. –Dean Van Nguyen, Listen: Freddie Gibbs / The Alchemist, “Scottie Beam” [ft. Rick Ross], There’s something infinitely charming about the first 15 seconds of Roddy Rich’s chart-topper “The Box,” before the song’s hi-hats, reverse 808s, and run of inescapable melodies even get going. You’ll detect snarly guitars, a bangin’ drum fill or two, and other subtle nods to No Doubt’s alt-rock pedigree, but in the end, this is simply an early-aughts update on what the Parliament crew liked to call “uncut funk.”. On her debut album Stranger in the Alps, Phoebe Bridgers stopped analyzing her dreams. In the chorus, anxiety stirs and a half bar sinkholes like a lost summer; in the lyrics, Apple is radically direct, like the master painter whose final act is to draw a simple straight line. –Madison Bloom, Grimes’ vision of our technologically mediated future is either marvelously prescient or totally wrong, but inside the elaborate cryogenic chambers of her albums, everything goes her way. Poet LA Warman’s wary monologue sways over a faint backbeat suffused with the kind of dread usually found in haunted dubplates. The soft power of this 11-minute guided dissociation holds true of any therapeutic method: The more you give in to it, the more necessary it becomes. With the intrigue of a story song and the intimacy of a biography, Swift delves into socialite anthropology and returns with an epitaph for a woman she’ll never meet. “WAP” is so decisively absent of shame that it’s now positioned alongside similar anthems by the likes of Khia, Lil’ Kim, and Trina. If you ask us, pop music has always benefited from a little dose of weird. In another year, its layered guitar work and massive drums would have prompted massive pits and reckless stage dives at outdoor music festivals. The members of One Direction may still have been fighting through their teen years when this track was released, but they sure knew how to get people dancing.
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