clipping. ft. Cartel Madras – Mirrorshades Pt. 2
Somehow, clipping. has completely surprised me. Amidst the chaos and apocalyptic sounds of Dead Channel Sky, the trio suddenly drops a full-on hip-house track on your lap, complete with a trance-esque beat that thumps and bumps through the digitized synths, stuttered samples, and Daveed Diggs in his lower register. Dead-eyed delivery as he talks about his all-important mirrorshades. He describes the scene of an exclusive club, a group of the hottest and coolest people you’ve ever met, and they’re all wearing mirrorshades. Cartel Madras comes in, similarly dead-eyed in her delivery as she locksteps in with the song’s rhythm and embodies a girl trying to keep up her appearance with this crowd. There’s insecurity all over her thought process, but you couldn’t tell by her straightforward delivery and how well she rides this sick as hell beat. Still, you get the impression you’re stuck in a cult where appearance matters above all. Keep yourself poised and gorgeous, always keep those mirrorshades on. Something so eerie about the repeated question of “What if I look so fine when I die?”. As if this must follow you until even past your death. It’s undeniably cultish and freaky, but then again, this sounds so cool, doesn’t it? Can’t you imagine yourself walking down the catwalk to this song while rocking some killer mirrorshades? What if you look so fine when you die?

PinkPantheress – Romeo
An utterly delightful song to close out Fancy That. In which PinkPantheress takes a prominent sample of Basement Jaxx’s “Good Luck” and adds a glorious cavalcade of strings to it. The way they whisk the song away like the wind is incredible, giving the chorus a sense of scale that feels bigger than PinkPantheress’ usually shy and bouncy style. But she sounds alive on “Romeo”, obsessed with this guy and her deep, unending devotion to him even in the face of derision and eyerolls. It’s a burst of passion that you eventually hear more people get into it, especially near the end when a crowd of guys start chanting the chorus alongside Pink. That little moment is enough to push that already amazing chorus even further and make this one of the best pop songs of the entire year, as well as one of PinkPantheress’ best songs, period.

Tyler Childers – Eatin’ Big Time
Tyler Childers opens his highly anticipated, Rick Rubin-produced album announcing that being humble is for bitches. Quite an aggressive start to a Tyler Childers album, but the more I listened to it the more I appreciated the audacity. Tyler spends the song bragging about the scores of riches he’s gotten since becoming a sensation, enjoying mansions and large feasts that he shares with his friends and family. The slacker rock-esque guitars roaring across the sandy percussion and Childers’ cocky sneer is as grand as it is almost mocking. Descriptions of successful hunts and expensive luxuries all done in a way that almost feels out of character for Childers. But the major difference is that he shares his successes with his friends and loved ones. It’s not just for him, but those he brings along with him in his journey.  He’ll ask you if you’ve ever got to hold and blow a thousand FUCKING dollars (said exactly like that) solely through a fancy watch, but he’ll still give you a seat at the table and allow you to pig out on his own riches. The best verse of the song is the third one, when his focus shifts to his wife and the way she anchors him and gives him “relief” after all the work is done. “She pets my head and whispers, ‘You poor thing, you must be famished’” is the horniest lyric I’ve heard all year. Honestly, good for him!

McKinley Dixon ft. Shamir & Blu – Could’ve Been Different
I surprised myself with what my favorite McKinley Dixon song ended up being this year. Normally I tend to favor his bangers, ones where he and the production go all-out in an explosion of bars and horns (“Never Will Know”, “Tyler, Forever”). But this year, I found myself most gravitating towards the closer of Magic, Alive, “Could’ve Been Different”. A softer reflection of McKinley Dixon’s place in the world as both a rapper and as a storyteller. Remembering the spirit of his youth, wanting to cement his legacy and his name, only to reach now where he’s just hoping to survive the incoming fall. There’s a lot of trauma and tribulation that Dixon has gone through, and sometimes he can’t find the strength to keep going. The saxophones and harps flutter through the air as the chorus sung by Shamir and Dixon himself is so beautiful and somberly sung. It’s as nostalgic as it is deflated. He’s gone through all this trauma as a black man, lost so many friends and family, and while he wants to keep fighting for them and their name, he can’t help but wonder if things could have been different. As he’s lost and unsure of where to go from here, he asks a poster on the wall who turns out to be legendary rapper Blu. Blu delivers such a touching reminder of how far Dixon has come, and the incredible music he’s gifted to the world in his quest to find himself and tell his stories, and the self-assured delivery on top of clever references throughout his verse remind Dixon that he already knows the answer. It’s one of the best guest verses of the year. One that breathes so much life into not just this song, but the album as a whole.

CHIKA – STIMMING
It’s time for our biannual CHIKA appearance, with what might be her best song to date. The piano beat is already enough to get my ears perked up, but then the trumpet comes in with so much clarity and power, and I’m immediately drawn into what CHIKA has in store for us. “STIMMING” takes the brilliant idea of equating her love and skill for rapping through stimming, fidgeting and noodling around whether that’s with your hands or, in this case, with your voice. Evidently all that stimming worked, as CHIKA delivers an incredibly tight and commanding flow while keeping her demeanor calm and unbothered. There are some great lines in this song reminiscing on the past couple years of her career, including a cheeky shot at her debut project  where she suggests to her younger self to maybe not say Diddy’s name on your big breakout project (the song that reference was on, “SONGS ABOUT YOU”, happened to make my best songs list that year!). CHIKA delivers so much firepower on this song, keeping up with the bounce of the trap beat and posturing over that terrific trumpet melody. Not only is it infectious, but you’re so deeply drawn into every word she says and when the song ends, you wish it could have gone on for another three minutes. A proclamation to the world that you’re not going fucking anywhere.

Ninajirachi – Delete
The internet has changed a lot since I was a kid. For better or worse. I think I’ve reached far enough into my time on my internet to at least be a little nostalgic for what it was when I was in middle school. Ninajirachi is my age, so I imagine she experienced a lot of the same things I did, and none of that is captured better than on “Delete”. An digitally infectious song with bursting keys and a glitchy EDM chorus that recalls the kind of music I remember hearing a lot through animation memes on Youtube and Flipnote Hatena (anyone else grow up with that?). Bright, colorful, cutesy, yet with big drops and melodies that felt like a whole new world when you were younger. But the song itself is less innocent than that, where Ninajirachi is so down bad for someone she knows over the internet that she posts racy pics of herself on social media. A less flattering, but also very real experience of being on the internet and allowing those parts of yourself to be seen by anyone, even if you ultimately just want to get the attention of one person. Ninajirachi sounds so embarrassed and flustered whenever she thinks of this person and her desperation to feel validated by them. She’s gonna regret it and take it down in the morning, but eventually that intense crush is gonna come back around and she’ll post a pic just to delete it all over again. Because that rush is so fun and exciting that you can’t help but chase it.

Dijon – Yamaha
This was the first year I became aware of “The Dress” by Dijon, a song that somehow completely missed me back then. I kind of wish I heard it earlier, because it’s such a terrific song that isn’t much different from Steve Lacy’s “Bad Habits”, which came out in the same year. It’s also such a good song that I had trouble finding anything on Baby that impressed me as much as that song. Well, except for “Yamaha”. That song is outstanding. Part of Dijon’s appeal is his ability to make his music sound communal, like you’re right there in the room with him. This song embodies the best out of everything on that album, especially as the mix is intentionally rougher and tweaked to sound like everything is echoing and bouncing off each other. The drums drive the song, but it’s supported by some gorgeous keys, synths, background voices, and a shockingly clever use of “O Superman” tucked within the beat. That release on the chorus where Dijon cries, “BABY IIIIIIII” is one of the best two seconds in music this year. You feel the emotion and power of the track in the way it erupts the chorus, sung with so much passion and joy that you can’t help but sing along every time it comes back. I once called it “music to raise your arms and sway to alone in your apartment”, and I stand by that.

Hamish Hawk – Burning Up
Hamish Hawk really caught my attention last year with his excellent album A Firmer Hand. I’m particularly drawn to his very sophisticated, yet theatrical voice that flirts the line between poise and flamboyance, in a way that I must admit gives me a little bit of gender envy. That envy was upped to eleven this year when he released a covers EP, with a Madonna cover being the lead single (it just so happens to be one from the self-titled album, which I first listened to earlier this year). Hawk covering this deliriously horny song, keeping the song’s pop fervor while touching it up with some slinkier guitars, turned what was already an excellent pop song into the gay anthem I didn’t think I needed this year. Hawk’s voice is much deeper and arguably less dynamic than Madonna’s, but he’s still so expressive and really lets his voice jump around to emphasize his desire. The little leaps into his falsetto as an accent to some of those words, playing into the spoken adlibs that get him more invested in the song, and especially the way he glides across the bridge and yelps, “I’m on fIRE!!” is so magnetic to me. Just on it’s own it’s a great cover, but again, the kind of gender envy I get from this song to the point where it might be my song of choice if I ever decide to get into drag.

Nourished By Time – 9 2 5
This song started off as a summer jam for me but gradually weighed on me as a song I resonated with a little too much. On the surface it’s a phenomenal piece of music, led by a buoyant piano melody and breezy groove. The little flourishes in the background like the vocal warbling and Marcus Brown’s gentle humming really build this up as a feel-good cruise of a song. And yet, the lyrics are so burdened by the pressures of working under capitalism while pursuing your own creative dreams. It could easily be about Marcus Brown himself, though the song positions itself in the second and third person. Brown’s vocals are wearier this time around, voice full of empathy but enough exhaustion to know he’s been in this situation before. “Working restaurants by day, writing love songs every night”. When this song came out, I was deep in burnout from my full-time job and the extra headaches that came with it, to the point where it was affecting my home life and creative interests. It’s only now that I’m out of it that I’m realizing how much was lost in between those two years. This song was already a comfort to me from the start, and still is, but now it rings a different bell.

Emotional Oranges ft. Jessie Reyez & Becky G – CANDY GUM
At last, Emotional Oranges return to my songs lists. I’ve loved keeping up with them for the past couple years, but admittedly it’s been difficult for them to top the incredible run they had in 2019. But pairing Vali up with two other women for a song about flirty dates and steamy hookups was a brilliant idea. Especially when paired with the true star of the show, this utterly filthy bassline that leads the whole song. All the girls do a terrific job describing the sexual tension between them and the boys they date, all leading up to the outstanding hook led by Vali and backing vocals from Azad. A sexy as hell reminder of all the reasons they’re here: incredibly hot sex. Vali has probably my favorite verse of the three, she’s such a natural at this kind of song after all, but I gotta give it up for Becky G who delivers what might be my all-time favorite performance of hers. Slipping in a little Spanish in her verse and giving a more elated performance while keeping her voice sultry and seductive. It breathes new life into Emotional Oranges that I haven’t heard from them in a while. From the synergy from all three artists to the sweat-inducing lyrics that reminds me why I adore this group so much in the first place.

Gigi Perez – Normalcy
Catch me in a year where I’m deep in the trenches over a crush, this might’ve ended up in my Top 10. A relationship where the baggage on it is simply too much. The song starts off with these soft guitars, electric guitars only rumbling in the background, but the deeper you go into this song and the relationship at its core, the more you can feel the painful yearning underneath it. Gigi was hurt, deeply so, yet she can’t seem to let go of her fondness for this person. But it’s not like that hurt hasn’t gone away. Her heart is at war with itself, desperate to rekindle and find that spark again, but also afraid that allowing another chance is just an easy road to an even deeper wound. The music builds up so beautifully here, with all the guitars and strings getting louder and more overwhelming through each verse and refrain. It’s almost shoegaze-like the way this song distorts itself and loses itself in its own desperate yearning. I can imagine myself on my lowest days feeling this fuzz in my head as my feelings get bigger. Gigi delivers an unbelievable performance on this too. The way she starts practically yelling on the chorus only to sink back into a pained coo by the end is so heartbreaking. You can tell there’s a lot of history behind this relationship, and if you were to approach it, you’d have to do so gently.

Nourished By Time – The Passionate Ones
There’s a specific joy in Nourished By Time’s music that I haven’t heard anywhere else. One that feels free, reveling in a euphoria that overwhelms you and has you floating on air. Nowhere is that more evident than in the title track, which really embodies that title. “The passionate ones”, the ones who don’t let shame or doubt get in the way of their sheer love and excitement for life coming out and spreading its joy around the world. The soft, lush keys along with the bubbly effects, illuminated synths and Marcus Brown’s crooning over the song keeps himself entrenched in the song’s ethereal atmosphere and singing to the skies like no one’s listening. “Love can be painful, love can be great”. Even though Marcus Brown seems to acknowledge his own vulnerability to being forgotten, he’s going to spread the love anyway. Because dammit, in the face of adversity and fear, the strongest people are the ones who can still experience and spread joy anyway.

Emotional Oranges ft. JAEHYUN - Call It Off
“Call It Off” is the closest Emotional Oranges have gotten to making a song on the level of The Juice Vol. 1 in years. I think part of it is that it feels like a return to the muddy complications of their best songs of their early era. The production is dark and slinky, with thick R&B atmospherics alongside a simmering bass and a soft organ giving the song a little bit of levity. Vali and Azad go back and forth over needing space and trying to stay as friends, but being too addicted to each other to ever truly let go. So they call it off yet again only to fly back into each other’s arms when the distance is too much. JAEHYUN of NCT is a brilliant fit for this song, as his voice is low and seductive enough to play into that guy who’s maybe a little clingy, but he’s so hot and knows exactly what you want to hear so you can’t help but look his way anyway. I really like how he and Azad take the lead for the verses, almost as if Vali is stuck between two different guys and part of her distance involves the guilt. But it never feels like one is in the right, again, like the best Emotional Oranges songs. It’s a messy, but hot situation where the mess is almost as fun as the sex. Almost.

Reneé Rapp – Leave Me Alone
Part of me felt cynical about “Leave Me Alone” at first. It was the most I’ve liked one of Reneé Rapp’s songs to date, but I could tell that the song leaned really hard on Renee Rapp’s supposed “no media training” persona where she’s openly crass and says things that would otherwise get her in trouble. In reality, her team actually wants her to lean into that because it makes her a lot more relatable than a high-strung obedient pop star. Hence why this song will make mention of blowing off the label asking for the single and the then recent cancellation of the show she was on, Sex Lives of College Girls. Plus, it’s a little too close to Olivia’s own pop punk girlie aesthetic, specifically the brattier songs from GUTS. All that being said, the more I listened to “Leave Me Alone”, the more I found myself buying into it anyway. The disaffected chants of “Leave me alone, bitch, I wanna have fun” are way too catchy and easy to get in your head, and that’s before you get the actual hook which goes off alongside the scorching guitars and wild synths. Plus, this is exactly the lane where Reneé Rapp excels in. It lets her “mean lesbian” personality shine where you probably wouldn’t stand her in real life, but you’re still deeply compelled by this incredibly hot girl who can do whatever she wants because fuck the rules. It’s her time, it’s her life. If she wants to make out with both of her exes at the same time, she’s gonna fucking do it! Before I knew it, I listened to this song more than pretty much every pop girlie song that did become a mainstream hit this year.

Beach Bunny – Tunnel Vision
“Tunnel Vision” is the kind of song where its brilliance is almost self-evident. Though indebted greatly to what Hayley Williams has done before them, the jittery guitars and tight drumming from Jon Alvarado lends to Lili Trifilo’s spry voice leaping across the stutter and stop of the production and the building anxiety of imposter syndrome. Though the composition is tight, the fluttering guitar solo and firm bassline lends to one of the catchiest and strongest pop hooks of the year. I love little moments like the abrupt stops during the words, “It feels like I am be! ing! splt!” and the differing versions of the chorus that either plays the guitars and drums throughout, or has them start and stop at every measure. It’s a quick and simple cut, but it’s some of the band’s finest work.

Bad Bunny – “DtMF”
“Debi tirar mas fotos”, or “I should have taken more pictures” in English, is a thought that I’ve had many times throughout… well, a lot of my life, really. I’m not much of a photo taker and prefer to live in the moment rather than constantly trying to get the right image to represent the best days of my life. Still, I empathize with the sentiment deeply. “DtMF” is as melancholic as it is nostalgic, reflecting on the memories and friends that become fuzzier and fuzzier with age, and wishing more of it was captured in a photographed as he gets further and further from his non-superstar days in Puerto Rico. I love how it takes a while for the reggaeton beat to come in, allowing Bad Bunny to sit in the somber chime of the main melody and soft atmospheric. The song itself is a beautiful build to the incredibly memorable chorus, which is even more amplified when the crowd starts singing along with glee. The quick spoken word passage from Bad Bunny as he spells out the theme of the song and the album before inviting everyone to take another photo and keep the party going is a humbling moment for what is otherwise one of the biggest artists of our lifetime. As of the day I post this, “DtMF” is the biggest song in the world thanks to his tremendous Super Bowl performance, and it’s on the way to becoming Bad Bunny’s signature song. It’s a worthy honor.

Olivia Dean – So Easy (To Fall In Love)
Olivia Dean has been kind of on a tear lately. She just won the Grammy for best new artist, she’s on the verge of getting a #1 hit, and her songs and deepcuts just keep getting increasingly popular. If you told me this when “Man I Need” came out, I would have been a bit doubtful unless she had something really good down the line. She shut me up pretty immediately upon releasing “So Easy (To Fall In Love)”. This is my catnip when it comes to easy-listening music. Tasteful horns and guitars fluttering around Olivia’s flirty voice, a bossa nova feel that keeps you tapping your feet, and a very confident and sexy flirt with the listener where Olivia Dean brags about how easy it is to fall in love with her. The thing is, I believe her. The way she buoyantly sings this chorus and delivers her lines with a smirk on her face is so incredibly charming and, in fact, easy to like. I get so drawn into her words around the wonderfully produced pianos, guitars, and horns. This song glides so effortlessly, perfectly capturing that bliss of following around your crush and blushing at every little thing they do. This became such an instant favorite of mine late in the year, even now I can’t get enough of it.

Key Glock – Blue Devil
This might be Key Glock’s best song? Hard to tell with the number of terrific songs he’s made in this decade alone, but there’s a certain magic to this one that has kept me captivated more than any song of his has done before. Part of it is the stellar sample of Willie Hutch’s “Tell Me Why Our Love Turned Cold”, taking that song’s excellent guitar lick and beefing up the strings as BigBoyyFresh and Mannie iL gives it a fierce drum beat. Key Glock flexes over the song with incredible dexterity, flow tight and bars sharp. The way he spits over the chorus as the song bends around him is so catchy and badass, I’m shocked this song didn’t become an easy soundtrack for fancams on TikTok. I can see the clips swerving in time with the song as a different clip is soundtracked by every bar, further emphasizing how cool your fav is grooving along to this awesome song.

billy woods ft. Conductor Williams – STAR87
There are a lot of horrifying, unsettling songs on this album, but none of them really shook me quite like “STAR87”. A big reason for that is Conductor William’s excellent beatwork, combining this buzzing string section with an eerie piano melody and scattered sound effects like a ringing phone coming in and out of the beat. billy woods takes this beat and with his imposing delivery goes through haunted memories and eerie hallucinations as visions of his childhood become more blurred with horror imagery and survivor’s guilt. The further woods goes, the more you start to feel the song swallow itself whole, especially in the outro as the beat’s volume and dynamic increases and you hear a faint heartbeat in the background over a horror movie sample. All before collapsing in on itself with a distorted reference to Viktor Vaughn ends the song. It hits such a specific anxiety of mine that always tenses up whenever something this overstimulating and relentless swarms my every nerve.

Cole Chaney – Spirit
This isn’t the first time “Spirit” has appeared on my best songs of the year list. It actually made my 2022 list in the 100-51 segment (Only in list form though, something I kinda regret doing in retrospect). Evidently Cole Chaney has had this song in his chambers for years, only performing it live and in an OurVinyl session with just him and a guitar. So it was thrilling to see this song come up again for Cole Chaney’s sophomore album, this time with a complete arrangement of cellos, fiddles, pianos, harps, and backing vocalists. It brings forth the grandiose feeling that the song was always meant for. The fiddle especially sounds phenomenal on this song, not quite overpowering the rest of the instruments but still taking charge through its gorgeous little passages. Cole Chaney himself was the star of the OurVinyl recording, bringing forth the pain and exhaustion through his haggard voice, but something really elevates when he has a female vocalist by his side. That big cry at the end of the bridge building up to that phenomenal final chorus feels so huge that you can hear it bellowing out of the mountains. This song had a lot to live up to considering how much I love the OurVinyl recording. But I always knew Chaney would succeed and then some.

BONUS 4: Fly By Midnight ft. Rachel Grae – Different Lives
This and the final bonus song are the main reason I’ve introduced these bonus segments to the list, because while I’m always looking for new music, this and the next bonus song defined my year as much as, in some ways more, than the very best songs of the year. I found “Different Lives” through a friend, and right away when I heard those gleaming keys burst into that stellar drumline, I was hooked. Lead singer Slavo starts reminiscing on a lost love, a breakup where he can’t stop seeing her ghost everywhere he goes. Rachel Grae comes in later to paint her own scene, and how much she misses all the young romantic memories that have been left behind, as the world only gets scarier. Rachel is actually not featured on the original song from Fly By Midnight’s 2023 album, but if you ask me I think she’s essential to the song. Her performance so perfectly captures that mix of longing and fear. When she says “I haven’t felt this fucking terrified before you” on the chorus, I believe every word. Credit to Slavo too, I think both he and Rachel have great chemistry. You can feel the history and distance between them just in the way they sing to each other. But what really elevates this song, above all else, is that phenomenal chorus. The central melody is massive, bursting with so much desperation and emotion. You can feel the way both vocalists sing “yOOOoooOOoou” as their words travel into the air with no destination. There’s a cathartic energy to this chorus that activates something in me every time I hear it. Like you’ve reached the top of the world and the only thing you can do is scream for help. And after the bridge where the instruments quiet down, the two vocalists go back and forth singing the hook, and it all builds to that big final chorus where the two sing together and the song kicks back into gear… holy shit. A generational pop song of the modern era.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 5 tomorrow!