Favorite songs of 2017 (with notes)

101. J Balvin, “Mi Gente (feat. Willy William)”
More infectious than Despacito. Beyonce’s tacked-on vocals are roughly as necessary as Bieber’s were, though.

100. Lizzo, “Water Me”
Only Lizzo is kooky enough to get away with this inspirational exercise music.

99. Russ, “Don’t Lie”
As inessential as it is slinky, a highlight from Russ’s There’s Really A Wolf album.

98. Dihaj, “Skeletons”
Azerbaijan’s epic Eurovision entry hinges very meaningfully on the words “bad boy.” It placed 14th despite the inexplicable reveal of a horse headed man on a ladder.

97. Nine Inch Nails, “Less Than”
Standing by my late high school Trent Reznor crush for all eternity, thank you.

96. iLoveMakonnen, “Love (feat. Rae Sremmurd)”
The Fader interview with iLoveMakonnen was probably my favorite piece of music writing this year.

95. Blondie, “Too Much”
Debbie’s vocals get too buried on a chorus that’s otherwise very catchy. Nice verses, though!

94. Wolf Alice, “Don’t Delete the Kisses”
Shouty chorus + spoken verses = shimmery synth ballad love.

93. Lola Kirke, “Not Used”
I haven’t seen Gone Girl or Mistress America or Mozart in the Jungle.

92. Kelly Clarkson, “Heat”
Clarkson’s soul album is very… calculated. I like it more than I maybe should.

91. Tinashe, “Flame”
It’s no “All Hands On Deck” any Tinashe > no Tinashe.

90. Gorillaz, “Ascension (feat. Vince Staples)”
Look at Damon Albarn, talk-rapping on the same track as Vince Staples.

89. Linnea Henriksson, “Andas (feat. Tove Styrke)”
My two all-time favorite Idol contestants together on one track! Google Translate tells me Tove’s there to talk Linnea down after she and her man split.

88. Miranda Lambert, “Tin Man”
I never liked The Wizard of Oz as a kid but rewatched it over Thanksgiving and it’s actually pretty good!

87. Amara La Negra, “Pa Tu Cama Ni Loca (feat. 2nyce)”
I only just learned that Amara La Negra was on Sabado Gigante as a child.

86. Sean Nicholas Savage, “Lifestyles”
One of many songs I encountered via the Spotify algorithm. Is this gay or just Canadian?

85. Nitty Scott, “Pxssy Powah!”
Another one — this from a Spotify-generated playlist called “Nuevo Noise”

84. Omar Souleyman, “Chobi”
Dear networks: please make a reality show about Omar Souleyman. Call it That’s So Omar.

83. Julia Michaels, “Issues”
This song’s issues are structural — the bridge is literally the chorus and there are not enough words to justify its length. It grew on me after roughly 3905 listens in the car, though.

82. Feist, “Pleasure”
Who knew that 2017 would be the year that I finally came around to Feist?

81. Hercules & Love Affair, “Controller (feat. Faris Badwan)”
Is Hercules & Love Affair relevant? For that matter are The Horrors?

80. Louise Burns, “Storms”
Louise Burns was once in a band called Lillix, but her moody alternapop is really strong. Her album is also called Young Mopes, which is a good title.

79. Dani Umpi, “Lucifera (feat. Diosque)”
I can’t say enough positive things about ridiculous Uruguayan musician and artist Dani Umpi. If only flights to Montevideo weren’t so expensive.

78. Karen Elson, “Distant Shore”
A sweet plinky piano ballad from way back in January, when a new president was inaugurated and optimistic heartfelt ballads were the only nice thing.

77. Heems, “Blades”
A solo one-off from the Das Racist/Swet Shop Boys MC. I like it better than the last Swet Shop Boys EP.

76. Noga Erez, “Toy”
Clanky, confrontational Israeli musician Noga Erez released a bunch of good songs this year, though this is the only one I’ve played more than once or twice.

75. Dua Lipa, “New Rules”
The chorus is a numbered list, the video a Sofia Coppola fantasia with flamingos. Finally someone understands me.

74. Little Big Town, “When Someone Stops Loving You”
Little Big Town’s 2016 album Wanderlust stinks to terribly that I replay it every few months, positive that it can’t be as bad as I remembered. It is. They rushed this follow-up out in January.

73. Tricky, “New Stole (feat. Francesca Belmonte)”
Tricky, still making music, still finding female voices to mimic what Martina Topley-Bird was doing twenty years ago. So passe it’s cool again?

72. Drake, “Passionfruit”
Drake by the numbers, though I’ve maintained for a decade now that Drake is a really dumb rapper and a very good talk-crooner of mid-tempo R&B ballads.

71. Miley Cyrus, “Malibu”
Miley’s been Hollywood since she was born, which is why her southernisms occasionally make her sound like a non-native speaker. The “ahhhhh” bits are lovely, a nice counter to the shouted backup vocals.

70. Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, “Girl! (You Got To Forgive Him)”
My boyfriend is the big Sharon Jones fan in our household. This popped up on a Spotify new releases playlist or else I might never have known about her posthumously released final album.

69. The Clientele, “The Museum of Fog”
The Clientele are best (only?) listened to when it’s September and damp, so of course they have a spoken story-song called “The Museum of Fog.”

68. Fatima Al Qadiri, “Shaneera”
I’m not much of a partygoer but if anyone can point me to a club that sounds like this, outside of an action movie soundtrack, I’d very much like to go.

67. Baba Stiltz, “Baby”
24 year old Swede Baba Stiltz is a house music pioneer, according some breathlessly written articles I stumbled across while Googling him. Who knew?

66. Marnie, “Lost Maps”
Aside from this lead single, the latest from frosty Ladytron alumna Marnie didn’t really grab me, despite some promising song titles (“Electric Youth,” “A Girls Walks Home Alone At Night,” etc.)

65. Beck, “Up All Night”
I belong to the tiny minority that thought the Beck album was better than Lemonade. I am your uncle that used to be with it.

64. Empress Of, “Go To Hell”
2008 was a good year for clappy pop songs that implied slowed-down step routines. “Say it Right,” “Bleeding Love”… I miss 2008, at least musically.

63. Juana Molina, “Sin Dones”
It made me so happy when Laetitia Sadier put Juana Molina’s Halo on her favorite albums list. Although shit, I forgot all about Laetitia Sadier’s album.

62. Björk, “Claimstaker”
I need to spend more time with Utopia one of these days, but I really admire Björk’s dedication to being as Björk-like as possible at all times.

61. Jessie Ware, “Egoísta”
There are I think nine songs on this countdown in Spanish, a language I don’t actually speak. This is the only one by an English woman, though.

60. Matias Aguayo & The Desdemonas, “Cold Fever”
From the promo materials: “Cold Fever is a modern All About Eve tale (The Desdemonas are huge Bette Davis fans), taking place in the nighttime world of the city of Sofarnopolis, which bears resemblance to that of today’s capitals of dance, but is obviously much more glamorous.” Obviously.

59. The Horrors, “Weighed Down”
This is kind of like when I liked that Hidden Cameras dub number about the afterparty, except it’s… Actually it’s exactly that all over again.

58. Rubby, “Confiesa”
Clad in a Dominican flag dress, Rubby’s first Spanish language song starts off very lonely before blossoming into a subtle tropical dance number, the kind you might listen while dancing alone in your dorm at Middlebury. (Rubby goes to Middlebury.)

57. Fufanu, “Tokyo”
Fufanu are an Icelandic rock trio whose album was produced by Nick Zinner from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. They’re supposed to be sort of bratty, I think, which is funny for a band called Fufanu.

56. Vagabon, “Mal a L’aise”

55. Kyla LaGrange, “Love Harder”
This isn’t Kyla LaGrange’s first appearance on my year-end countdown. I paid money to download her first album, enjoy the follow-up, and yet I don’t know a single thing about her. I think she’s American and young? The production gets pretty busy in this one.

54. Joao Brasil, “Youtubers”
Is this a novelty song? I don’t speak Portuguese but I think it might be. It’s fun to listen to while running, though.

53. Ian William Craig, “A Single Hope”
Sad and very gay. is this gay, or just Canadian? It’s very pretty and quite effective in this moments when Craig drops the falsetto.

52. Xavier Omar, “Afraid”
An early entry into the year-end countdown! I don’t know who Xavier Omar is but he released one of the year’s best slow jams, his voice slithering around itself in the chorus.

51. Future, “Mask Off”
The flutes make this one. Ciara’s ex intones about pharmaceuticals, with a melody borrowed from Tommy Butler’s 1978 “Prison Song” (though it also reminds me a little of “Summer Breeze”).

This list will be continually updated as I find time…