song of the year 2018

this is america.jpg
 
 

For the third year in a row it's this week's award that I agonize over the most. This is the one that's had me playing the same playlist over and over and over for the past few days, so much so that I'm almost becoming tired of it myself.

I just don't think I'm ever going to be that good at picking one single song. I grew up in the time of albums, and I still buy full albums. I get frustrated when scrolling through new releases on Spotify and it's just single after single after single. 

Yet as I feel like I say every year, there are were those earworms out there that got into my head and refused to let go, kinda like those weird mind control bugs in Star Trek 2. Most of them were from albums I checked out, but sometimes there's only one track I like from an album - for example, my award winner two years ago was "Your Best American Girl" from Mitski. Love that song; the album, not for me.

I will admit the list of potential songs this year was longer than in years past. If you kept up with album reviews you already know about some of them:

  • "The Louder I Call The Faster It Runs" by Wye Oak

  • "Rorschach" by TYPHOON

  • "Bad Luck" by Neko Case

  • "Stay Down" by boy genius

  • "Break-Thru" by Dirty Projectors

  • "American Guilt" by Unknown Mortal Orchestra

But then there were bops from albums that I didn't get to:

  • "Over Rainbows and Rainier" by Damien Jurado

  • "About You" by G Flip

  • "Holy Ghost" by Young Fathers

  • "Soft Stud" by Black Belt Eagle Scout

  • "No Halo (Reimagined 2018" by Sorority Noise

But since everyone loves a bit of build up to the #1, I'll walk through my top three.

3. My third favorite track is "Relatable (Peak OME)" by Open Mike Eagle. Since I discovered this EP almost two months ago I start playing it and end up just putting this song on repeat. It's dark and bass heavy, almost eerie. What really gets me is Mike's delivery - it's at once verbose and a great story but is also far out and has extensive vocabulary and is so damn smart.

2. My second favorite track is "Night Shift" by Lucy Dacus. Sure, she's a bit of a hometown darling for me, but christ isn't this just one of the greatest breakup songs you've heard in forever? It's also a masterclass in how to build tension and anticipation in a song and make you long for the payoff - and what a payoff it is. You're sold from the moment she starts singing "the first time I tasted somebody else's spit/I had a coughing fit" to the last time through the outro where she takes it up an octave and belts out how she doesn't want to see her former lover ever again.

1. Which only leaves the top spot to be filled. I pretty much knew this would be my song of the year the first time I watched it. Honestly, it's the only way to experience the genius of this track. It so perfectly sums up the dichotomy of life in these times - things sound like a party, but suddenly there's reality and everyone's just in it for the money/violence/followers and likes. It is dirty and grungy and dark and it speaks to the rational fear for life that so many people in this country experience every day while those not under the gun live blissfully ignorant. Not to even begin to mention everything that the video has to say (you can watch it over and over and still not see it all), so here's a quick primer. This song was the infectious groove commentary onion that we needed this summer. 

So if you can't tell (or didn't already figure out), my song of the year - "This Is America" by Childish Gambino.