It is not only time for us all to get holly, jolly, merry, and bright, but also time for us to compile all of the tracks that made this year a bit more enjoyable. For reference, one musical act is allowed to have only one track on my countdown. Click the hyperlinks to read parts one and two, and check back for the rest of my list in the coming days.
20. "Crying in the Club" by Camila Cabello
Okay, yeah, we all know Camila Cabello's "Havana" is great. That hot tropical realness is quite nice. But let's talk about the great pop song that doesn't deserve to be known as just "that one song before 'Havana.'" That song, "Crying in the Club," is a little slice of pop magic. Cabello's slurred vocal is clearly inspired by – and is backed with the vocal remnants of – a Sia demo as she delivers a killer lead-up: "Let the music lift you up like you've never been this free. 'Til you feel the sunrise, let the music warm your body like the heat of a thousand fires."
19. "Prom" by SZA
A warm, organic guitar line and fuzzy drum machines make the perfect cozy soundscape for SZA to dribble her fluttering vocals across. "Promise to get a little better as I get older. And you're so patient and sick of waiting," she sings on "Prom," a track that confronts the flighty, sometimes immature tendencies explored through much of her debut album, Ctrl. It's an outlier on the album in a sonic sense, as the relentless, muffled drum keeps it in a tight pop form, but it's one of the record's most memorable listens regardless.
18. "Fetish" by Selena Gomez feat. Gucci Mane
Ladies and gentlemen, Selena Gomez delivered her sexiest track since "Good For You" and we all let it go unnoticed. In all fairness, it was released at a terribly inconvenient time for Gomez and couldn't be promoted amid her kidney transplant and subsequent recovery, but we shouldn't have done her dirty like that. A double-tracked and reverberated Gomez whimpers over "Fetish" as heavy bass vibrates beneath her, making for the year's hottest track.
17. "Disco Tits" by Tove Lo
This thing is a neo-'90s house banger. You know it as well as I do, so let's not play games here.
16. "Let ‘Em Talk" by Kesha feat. Eagles of Death Metal
We were introduced to Kesha as an intoxicated party girl, drenched in more autotune than T-Pain and hard up for the heaviest 808s ever to be blasted through the aftermarket speakers in the trunk of an old Trans Am. I suppose that felt natural at that time, but now, “Let ‘Em Talk” reveals the type of party girl Kesha really is. She's loud, disruptive, and all-out rock – not because she’s under the influence, but because she’s naturally just out of control. And it’s amazing, considering how long she has been silenced before she was able to be this euphorically crazy again.
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