20
Flo – Cardboard Field
The debut single by London girlband Flo is a time machine. For 3 minutes, it’s 2000 once more: The Writing’s on the Wall is the world’s greatest album, Darkchild reigns supreme over pop, and no pair of trousers is full with out 5 superfluous pockets and a harmful array of straps. Flo weren’t even born then however they’re an amazing research: this effervescent No Scrubs for the TikTok period was one of many freshest pop launches in latest reminiscence, palpably floating on a sigh of aid as Jorja, Stella and Renée kick some bug-a-boo again to Y2K the place he belongs. LS
19
Confidence Man – Vacation
Vacation sees Confidence Man doing what they do finest: toeing the road between tacky and calculated, chopping anthemic vocals and a bouncy groove with radiant synths and filtered interludes. Connecting the dots between 2022’s indie sleaze and Y2K revivals whereas additionally nodding to 2010s EDM, Vacation is heat, nostalgic, and prioritises pure pleasure over pretension. SB
18
Alan Braxe/DJ Falcon – Step By Step ft Panda Bear
French contact icons Alan Braxe and DJ Falcon reunited to determine how their pioneering 90s home might need mellowed into center age. Step By Step turns down the aggressive filtering of their heyday (an evolution akin to how our listening to vary fades with age, possibly) for wistful comfortable rock that sails, Christopher Cross-style, right into a hazy horizon with no division between sea and sky. “As I attempt to discover a new approach ahead / Seems like there’s one thing within the air,” sings Panda Bear (AKA Noah Lennox), his voice evanescing into their limitless pop future. LS
17
Kendrick Lamar – The Coronary heart Half 5
Earlier than he even shared a single observe of his fifth album Mr Morale and the Massive Steppers, Kendrick Lamar was priming the world for what can be a fractious comeback. The Coronary heart Half 5 – the fifth in his long-running pre-album single collection – opens with what is basically Mr Morale’s thesis assertion: “As I get a bit older, I realise life is perspective, and my perspective could differ from yours.” Over the following 5 minutes, as he rides an opulent, funky Marvin Gaye pattern, Lamar unpicks concepts of unity and equality, laying naked the fallacy of “group” in a grasping, money-hungry world. It’s a prickly return, and, make no mistake, Lamar’s intent is to sting: “Within the land the place damage folks damage extra folks, fuck callin’ it tradition.” SD
16
Megan Thee Stallion – Plan B
Since she was shot in 2020, Megan Thee Stallion has confronted a few of the most brazen misogyny the music trade has to supply, with male rappers and trade figures popping out in droves to help her alleged shooter. Plan B was Megan’s excellent rejoinder: rapping over a beat that samples Jodeci’s Freek’n You remix, the Houston rapper unleashes a superbly calculated callousness, chopping her ex right down to measurement with a hardened, devastating wit. All through, she lands justifiably low blows (“The one accolade you ever made is that I fucked you”) earlier than providing a feminist rap pearler: “Women, love your self – ’trigger this shit may get ugly.” SD
15
Tiësto and Charli XCX – Sizzling in It
Launched in Charli XCX’s pop star sell-out yr, bimbo anthem Sizzling in It might be a reasonably rudimentary slab of Eurodance intercourse hokey-cokey (“rocking it, dropping it”, and so forth) if it weren’t for Charli’s spectacular blunt weapon of a voice. Just about denatured of flesh and blood, she goes by means of the motions of her revenge kiss-off with metronomic effectivity that’s barely extricable from Tiësto’s relentless cymbals. But it winds up surprisingly human: burning with the monomania of getting one over in your ex, to not point out Charli’s menacing model of sexuality. LS
14
Rina Sawayama – This Hell
How do you comply with up a maximalist blast out of the pop leftfield beloved by everybody from pop Twitter to pop royalty? Go larger, crank the processors and dial up the lyrics to Broadway musical pitch. This Hell is a declaration of intent from somebody fearlessly prepared themselves into pop’s valkyrie frontline. Mainlining early-2000s vitality to the purpose of overdose, right here’s the place the high-drama, don’t-spare-the-key-change, everything-all-at-once fusillade of Rina Sawayama’s patchy second album got here into focus. LS
13
Mitski – Love Me Extra
Nobody desires to listen to musicians wanging on in regards to the difficulties of fame, but when extra of them pulled it off with the addled desperation Mitski brings to Love Me Extra, issues could be completely different. After TikTok made her track No person (from 2018’s Be the Cowboy) into an unwitting hit, Love Me Extra finds the once-underground songwriter going “effectively alright then” and proving that she will be able to do high-glamour self-loathing fairly in addition to the Weeknd, thanks very a lot. Are the viewers’s screams feeding her soul or killing it, she wonders in a refrain so delirious and rafter-tickling it most likely counts as an act of masochism. LS
12
Kendrick Lamar – N95
N95 is all sinew – it writhes and slithers like no different Kendrick Lamar track ever actually has, enjoying like 2017’s Humble with all of the fats scraped away. As with a lot of Mr Morale, it eschews coherent ethical for snarky, crystalline realpolitik; the track’s jagged, electrifying bass line, punctuated by Lamar’s cry of “bitch, you ugly as fuck!” roils within the track’s bowels, threatening to crack its floor like a tectonic occasion. SD
11
Arctic Monkeys – Physique Paint
The sly, tense Physique Paint is sort of a quantity from some misplaced Cassavetes musical, a story that turns mutual deception in a relationship right into a surrealist recreation of cat and mouse. Alex Turner prowls round his set attempting to uncover the reality he already is aware of, whereas refusing to point out his personal hand: “I’m maintaining on my costume and calling it a writing instrument.” The track’s grand instrumental denouement could be a blowout or it could be intercourse; both approach, it’s spectacular. SD
10
Eliza Rose – BOTA
Ladies have at all times been intrinsic to UK storage, however its most up-to-date revival has too typically centred DJ bros. This summer season, London DJ Eliza Rose introduced the sound to the mainstream and the baddies to the entrance with Baddest of Them All, a shock No 1 that mixes feelgood 90s home with the slightest shade of tacky Euro sensibility. That includes one of many yr’s most unforgettable refrains, it was a unifying floor-filler. SB
9
Two Shell – Residence
Residence was floor zero for certainly one of digital music’s greatest 2022 mysteries: Who the hell are Two Shell? The mysterious London duo, who’ve solely ever given one interview and are supposedly susceptible to hiring actors to point out as much as their gigs and hit play on a pre-recorded DJ set, dropped their now-signature monitor in January. It refused to fade away: by the point summer season rolled round, it appeared to have lodged itself on the peak of each weirdo DJ set and between-set competition playlist. And no surprise: House is like aural amyl, a raucous, discombobulating storage monitor that splits the distinction between Sophie’s McDonald’s advert period and 4 Tet at his most banging. It’s one of many yr’s most embodied dance tracks whereas being someway, completely weightless – extra a feat of not possible physics and harmful chemistry than synths and drums. SD
8
Ethel Cain – American Teenager
American Teenager is the yr’s finest Taylor Swift track – a heart-racing, impossibly euphoric piece of heartland pop from a musician who, till that time, had been often called a type of excessive priestess of gothy, streaming-era slowcore. Like the most effective Swift songs, American Teenager works as taut High 40 pop however incorporates a whole universe, and reveals common youthful feelings that usually really feel not possible to articulate. With simply two excellent strains – “Jesus, in the event you’re listening let me deal with my liquor / And Jesus, in the event you’re there, why do I really feel alone on this room with you” – Cain manages to seize all of the intertwined recklessness and insecurity of being a teen. SD
7
Beyoncé – Virgo’s Groove
Virgo’s Groove is the axis on which Beyoncé’s Renaissance turns. It arrived about two years later than the remainder of the 2020s disco revival nevertheless it immediately obliterated the competitors – even when that they had put their appreciable abilities collectively, Dua, Kylie and Jessie couldn’t have hoped to file a track as luxurious, as dazzling, as impossibly wealthy as this. Virgo’s Groove is ideal pastiche: its gleaming surfaces and infinite grooves seize all of the surprise and thriller of peak Donna Summer time songs, the sensation of being in a superclub full of plush couches, mirrored dancefloors and grand balconies. However dig in and it’s electrifyingly novel, too – though Beyoncé pushes her vocals to new zones all through Renaissance, Virgo’s Groove finds her switching cadence and tone with exceptional fluidity. The remainder of the album radiates outwards from Virgo’s Groove: the nucleus of a brand new period of Beyoncé. SD
6
Arctic Monkeys – There’d Higher Be a Mirrorball
On the promo path for Arctic Monkeys’ seventh album, Alex Turner has been sporting an array of V-neck woollen jumpers, a far cry from the extra macho costumes of AM and Tranquility Base Lodge and On line casino. That is delicate menswear that leaves the jugular susceptible, an anti-pose that carries by means of into the lead single from The Automobile. “Don’t get emotional / That ain’t such as you,” Turner croons, apparently to himself, then admits that he simply can’t assist however give it “the outdated romantic idiot”. The elegiac There’d Higher Be a Mirrorball dwells on a departure; we don’t know what type, however within the nerve-holding association – the looping synth spiral suggesting nicotine-stained purgatory, the millpond-calm hand percussion – and Turner’s unusually romanticised lyrics, you are feeling his effort to repair the ultimate picture as one thing stunning. LS
5
Harry Kinds – As It Was
In some methods it’s been a tough yr to be Harry. Field-office opprobrium, spitting on Chris Pine … “Persist with the day job” could also be a bit harsh, however few ship so efficiently on that remit like latter-day Kinds. Occupying the slim valley between A-ha’s Tackle Me and Vampire Weekend, As It Was delivers bruised-peach damage, refined languor from the again seat of a tastefully costly automotive. He can sing one thing as imprecise as “On this world, it’s simply us / it’s not the identical because it was” and make you are feeling that he actually means it: most likely the very definition of a superb actor. LS
4
The Weeknd – Much less Than Zero
On his fifth album Daybreak FM, the Weeknd – trendy pop’s biggest, most brilliantly disturbed hedonist – lastly tries to repent. An idea album a few occasion monster’s journey to the afterlife, Daybreak FM finds Abel Tesfaye dipping into beforehand unthinkable photos: making somebody a cup of tea, settling into home life, confessing his timeless love and devotion. Then, on the album’s penultimate monitor, its ultimate actual track, the fantasy comes crashing down. Much less Than Zero is a flickering neon signal studying “PEOPLE CAN’T CHANGE”, an achingly wistful apologia that means the previous 45 minutes of contentment and kindness had been a feint. “I attempt to disguise it, however I do know you recognize me / I attempt to battle it, however I’d quite be free,” he sings, turning certainly one of his darkest songs ever into certainly one of his purest singalongs – and the yr’s most devastating heel flip. SD
3
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Spitting Off the Fringe of the World ft Fragrance Genius
For 20 years, Karen O has staked out thrilling extremes with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, vaulting from vituperative disgust to heart-melting compassion. Spitting is their first to straddle each poles so magnificently: over glowing, grinding ooze, O seethes on the cowardly politicians who’ve put capitalism forward of local weather, discovering bittersweet vindication within the information that the burning solar will soften their “homes of gold”. The plot twist, and intestine punch, comes within the second verse: “Mama, what have you ever performed?” O sings, adopting the voice of the technology who need to stay on this mess. The cavernous Spitting makes room for all these emotions directly: it’s grand and ruined, wracked and comforting, livid and hopeful, including new shades to O’s already kaleidoscopic palette. LS
2
Beyoncé – Break My Soul
Beyoncé typically feels much less like a pop star than a magnet for assume items, and so her first solo single in six years invited reams of heavy-handed theorising. A single point out of quitting her job noticed Break My Soul held up as a employee’s anthem; it’s obvious interpolation of Robin S’s Present Me Love, coming a month after Drake’s house-heavy Actually, Nevermind, prompted hasty declarations that these heterosexual pop superstars had been reviving grassroots, queer membership tradition (typically uninformed claims that, in and of themselves, drowned out the music they presupposed to have fun). Actually what’s most hanging in regards to the lead-off from Renaissance is its levity, as Beyoncé nimbly flicks off expectations to say her personal pleasure precept. LS
1
Steve Lacy – Unhealthy Behavior
Unhealthy Behavior may very well be essentially the most noncommittal track to ever grace the top of the US singles chart. From its opening line – a meek, half-whispered utterance of “I want you knew …” – Steve Lacy’s shock smash mumbles and drags its ft, shrugging its approach by means of flirtation and forlorn glances. Unhealthy Behavior captures all of the brilliance of Lacy’s excellent second file Gemini Rights – its sun-warmed cocktail of indie-rock, pop and R&B – nevertheless it additionally represents the apex of some traits which have been percolating over the previous couple of years.
It’s the preferred (and, arguably, finest) track to spring forth from the brand new wave of TikTok-beloved lo-fi bed room pop stars equivalent to Clairo and Beabadoobee; on the similar time, it fulfils the promise of Rihanna’s Anti, SZA’s Ctrl and Frank Ocean’s Blonde, three mid-2010s data that introduced a profoundly indie, guitar-centric sensibility to the shimmering textures and swish heartache of R&B, and went on to revolutionise a style and encourage a whole technology of shy, weirdo would-be pop stars. Lacy is a deserving inheritor to these artists’ thrones – and, if Unhealthy Behavior is something to go by, he’ll scuff and stumble his approach there, Bottega Veneta-clad eyes firmly educated on his footwear. SD
