I like you a lot, Lana. However, I gotta say Honeymoon, despite being pretty darn good, is not her strongest material. Music to Watch Boys to ranks as high as Brooklyn Baby did last year but do not be fooled. Lana's peak is Ultraviolence!
024. Unknown Mortal Orchestra-“Multi Love”
How quotable this lo-fi masterpiece is. It's not that this song's about her: all songs are about her. Who is your God, where is she?. She don’t want to be a man or a woman, she wants to be your love. Songs like this are not often made mate.
023. Coeur de pirate-“Oublie-moi (Carry On)”
Oublie-moi was my favorite singer songwriter's first released song since 2011 (unless you count her great album of covers or her videogame soundtrack song, I guess), and it immediately blew my mind. She is doing alt-pop now, which frankly is not as good as the chanson française she's known for--but it is still great and interesting for her. Hearing this live along with rock versions of her older songs and songs from her new album was the highlight of my year too.
022. Taylor Swift-“Wildest Dreams”
Taylor doing Lana worked really well, actually. So dreamy. Her fifth #1 in my weekly charts (others are Love Story, You Belong With Me, The Story of Us and I Knew You Were Trouble).
021. Carly Rae Jepsen-“Boy Problems”
Carly, I wished I had Boy Problems. Silly little girl.
039. Brandon Flowers-“I Can Change”
038. Saint Motel-“My Type”
037. The Weeknd-“The Hills”
035. Florence and The Machine-“Queen of Peace”
034. Calvin Harris featuring Ellie Goulding-“Outside”
033. Troye Sivan-“FOOLS”
030. Brandon Flowers-“Can’t Deny My Love”
028. MØ-“Kamikaze”
025. Lana Del Rey-“Music to Watch Boys to”
Thanks for dropping by guys! Let me finish this today before college starts
020. Marina & The Diamonds-“Blue”
What I like about this song--and about Froot as a whole, too--is its sincerity. Marina seems like a real human being going through life like all of us.
019. Sam Hunt-“Take Your Time”
The hottest man in music made this great song about being interested in a girl but wanting to take everything slow and show her why he is worth it. He is quite the gentleman.
018. Adele-“Hello”
Probably the Adele song I've played the most. The Adele slayage is unreal, and I feel for everyone who doesn't pay respect to the current music Queen.
017. Troye Sivan-“WILD”
WILD was Troye testing poppier waters, and it worked well. This song is catchy, but not shallow.
016. Rihanna-“Bitch Better Have My Money”
Rihanna has lots of great songs, yet she hasn't done very well in my charts compared to the other girls. Bitch marked her return and the first time I ever felt excited about her material. Kind of a shame that the Anti era turned out like this
Ishould check Troye Sivan, ya'll keep hyping him up
He is a great gay singer!
015. The Weeknd-“Can’t Feel My Face”
Abel's love for cocaine transformed into a sweet, flawless pop song by Max Martin. Awesome. Michael Jackon possessed him for this track.
014. Major Lazer featuring MØ-“Lean On”
Probably the most unavoidable song of the year. I heard this a lot in Europe, less so in America. Still, I am glad the Queen of the Danes got her breakout hit. Diplo looks good in the MV too.
013. Demi Lovato-“Cool For The Summer”
Demi has a lot of good pop songs. but I think this is her first great pop song. Some call it a Domino re-hash, but this one sounds better than domino. Her vocals really shine, and she's finally made a transition to sexier pop music. On the Demi vs Selena war, she lost commercially (by a few copies and only after a few months), but she definitely made a better song than Selena. The Atlantic called Demi the only Disney former starlet with a soul, and I can't disagree with that.
012. Future Islands-“Seasons (Waiting On You)”
This song belongs to the 2014 Pitchfork shelf; I discovered it late. What is there not to like about it? The production, the voice, and the lyrics sound like an ancient proverb transformed into a pop song. When I hear the violins toward the end>>>>
011. Florence and The Machine-“Ship to Wreck”
Ms. Welch was so close to getting her 3rd top 10 ever in my top 100 list this decade (she did it in 2010 with Dog Days and again in 2012 with Calvin Harris with Sweet Nothing). Ship to Wreck is a great pop track, I like the lyrics, the dark atmosphere of the music video, and that melody. In general, I love how cohesive HBHBHB is without all songs sounding the same.
I can't even imagine what it feels to lose one of your parents, but Sufjan's new album communicates his grief so well you almost feel it yourself. This track in particular I really liked. There is some reconciliation with the fact that he did not do what he wanted to do before his mother's death. The song shows that process, from the deep regret to the acceptance, and the joy in the simple things in life, such as his little niece's smile.
009. Taylor Swift-“Style”
I really dig the synths in this track, and add those lyrics about James Dean and lipstick. I really like Manhattan Taylor Swift, even though I fell in love originally with Nashville Taylor Swift. Speaking of, this is the first time he visits my top 10 year-end since 2009 (I was 14 back then!) with You Belong With Me ending at 6 (she was close with WANEGBT ending at 12 in 2012, though).
008. Tove Lo-“Talking Body”
Tove Lo makes history in my charts by placing her first two chart entries in the year-end list! Habits was #7 last year, Body is #8. I think Tove is quite underrated. Her songs are really catchy, and I like the brooding atmosphere of her work. She is like Lana with a bit of Kesha; a disciple of Max Martin.
007. Father John Misty-“I Love You, Honeybear”
I guess I could've chosen stronger tracks from Josh Tillman's sophomore album like "Strange Encounter" or "The Ideal Husband," but the album opener is my favorite off the album. Father John Misty is a very pretentious person, but I feel like in his case it is justified. His music is great. He deals with adult life--from feeling like a failure to having the sex life of a handsome bachelor--in a witty, sardonic and self-aware way. And man he can sing.
006. Marina & The Diamonds-“Happy”
This song doesn't sound happy at all, so you can't really trust Marin. She says that even though at the moment she is lonely and there is not much going on, God exists and loves her, and that makes her feel OKAY. It is an adult person having a life crisis and finding some relief in faith. And I think feeling like this is normal and common, and I'm glad Marina wrote this song. It is such a shame her audience is not bigger because this song deserves to be known.
This song was the song that inaugurated music in 2015 for me, I played it non-stop for months. I still know relatively little of Modest Mouse as a band (Float On anyone?) but I loved their work in their new album, and I think they are very underrated in this site (then again rock bands aren't very popular here). I joke with my brothers that Modest Mouse are my Vampire Weekend replacement band this year, but Ezra Koenig and his band mates never made it this high in my year-end lists. Lampshades On Fire is just really good.
004. The Neighbourhood-“RIP 2 My Youth”
In 2011, I ranked Avril Lavigne's What The Hell as my #4 track of the year. I was so excited for new Avril that even if the song wasn't all that, it was for me. Something similar happened with The Neighbourhood this year. If this song was from an up and coming band, perhaps I wouldn't have listened to it that much (admittedly, this song is catchy though). But I like The Neighbourhood a lot now (in the same way I adore Lana Del Rey, Marina & The Diamonds, and Carly Rae Jepsen.....or in the same way I like Cage The Elephant, Vampire Weekend, and Father John Misty....I am not sure where to group them), so this ended up at 4. Jesse Rutherford, as usual in his songs, is frustrated, afraid, disappointed. The male Lana, the modern Edgar Allan Poe if you will
003. Cold War Kids-“First”
I like the production, melody and voice of the singer a lot, but what I stan the most is the story the lyrics tell. Basically this couple agreed to have some sort of open relationship, but one party wasn't aware of it at first and is not completely sure he is okay with it. He feels hurt that he was exclusive to her while she slept with other guys. Would he have slept with other people too if he had known the deal? Probably. Romanticized love is great, but how realistic is it? People in real life act like the people described in this song all the time.
002. Carly Rae Jepsen-“EMOTION”
Carly was like 30% of all I listened to this year--EMOTION was that good. I played this track a lot, I loved hearing Carly asking him to drink tequila or saying she's growing 10 feet tall. With Carly, you just feel the emotions she describes. She emotes very well, so the title of this track and the album couldn't have been less accurate.
The best track of the year and easily one of the best of the decade. This song is pop perfection and there's really little else to say about it other than I love it. The video displays Carly's personality; she just radiates so much happiness wherever she goes. I need to see her live some time!
By the way, Carly makes history becoming the first artist in my charts to be #1 twice! Call Me Maybe was #1 in my year-end top 100 in 2012! She has 2 #1s and a #2 in the year-end, she's even rivaling Katy who has a #1, a #5, a #7 and a #10.