fans have come to expect from the woman The radio single Young Thug seemed to have essentially spent his entire career resisting proved worth the stretch, as the delicately booming T-Minus beat and the slow-and-low Travis Scott-sung hook made it irresistible FM fodder, and Thug's first top five hit as a lead artist on Occupying the space between idiosyncratic art-pop and almost-too-cute C86, Sir Babygirl’s “Everyone Is a Bad Friend” segues from sing-song humble brags (“Everyone I meet takes me on a date”) to similarly phrased freakouts ("Everyone I meet I think is gonna die") to invigorating banshee wails at the close. His added dose of passion helped the track peak at No. Carried by a melody that moves through subtle bass chords, an airy saxophone and a casual drum beat, the song warmly evokes Lou Reed’s '70s solo classic Love has truly shaken something loose in Tyler, The Creator. "Hey, yeah, whoa-ho, I'm on a roll” took over Twitter -- and club dance floors -- after the subversive reimagination of Nine Inch Nails' Britney and Rihanna have been quiet, Beyoncé has been experimenting, and Gaga has shapeshifted beyond the confines of the outré-pop that defined her turn-of-the-decade coming out party.
-- Unleashed in the frigid days of early January, “Crushed Up” wasted no time in proclaiming Future’s new year agenda: stay prolific, stay on top of what’s working, stay icy.
-- Songs about feeling like an outsider -- at a party, in a relationship, in the music business -- have been as constant as any throughout the history of the rock era. Rags2Riches “Don't Call Me Up” was just what she needed: Peaking at No.
-- A year after teaming up with Kyle on a bouncy song about a love interest playing games (Indie-pop darling Clairo has a penchant for tender, hyper-specific lyrics, and British producer Mura Masa is known for his futuristic, grungy beats. Walker’s raw pleas ignited the inner savage of women everywhere, as “Girls Need Love” captioned countless Instagram photos and tweets. -- Nothing’s hitting the same these days, even for Lana Del Rey.
No need to think about this one too much; the rudimentary Spanish complements the song’s playful, unsophisticated beat. that snap the song firmly in the now: “The Greatest” isn’t so much the best song of 2019 as it just Did Taylor Swift have Kanye West in mind when she decided to call the song that documents the messiness that was her 2016 summer after his 2012 GOOD Music compilation album?! Some artists wither under the “big in the U.K.” label, but we get the feeling Mabel’s only getting started over here.
The song’s acoustic guitar arpeggios, ‘70s disco piano and breezy “ooh-ooh-ooh, ooh, oohs” make it very easy to overlook lyrics like, “Anybody with a worried mind could never forgive the sight/ Of wicked snakes inside a place you thought was dignified.” You could say the same for Creedence’s “Fortunate Son,” Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” and Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” -- transcendent songs that endure and inspire long after the administrations that provoked them have faded. The video added even more fuel, with Halsey angrily spitting into the camera, throwing herself into mosh pits and baring her bloodied teeth.
In Sturgill Simpson told fans to expect something “sleazy,” “steamy” and “psychedelic” on his latest album, There are a lot of "what ifs" when a relationship ends, but the title of Lady Antebellum's latest heart-wrenching hit has to be one of the scariest. The song swells -- with strings and layered vocals -- but never goes for the cheap pop explosion, and then it closes as quietly as it began, making it a bold first taste of Gomez’s upcoming album, SG2. -- Born Mikayla Simpson, Koffee entered 2019 as a buzzing question mark, and is exiting as the most exciting reggae crossover artist in years.