Songs of 2019
It’s that time of year again, when I put myself through the rigorous task of boiling down all of the music of the year into limited lists of 20 songs and 20 albums that were highlights for me. I have listened and judged, over-thought and rearranged, and as it stands, I have several spots that I feel far from confident about. However, here we are, with a snapshot of the songs that marked this past year for me personally.
I know that I haven’t listened to everything that should have been a contender, because I am but one human with only so much time in a day. Don’t expect me to cover all your faves, but feel free to let me know what you think I missed. Otherwise, enjoy!
Oh yes, and here is the playlist on Spotify, Tidal, Google Play, and YouTube to listen for yourself. But if you just want to check out one track, all the titles below will link you to YouTube as well.
20. Never Really Over - Katy Perry
This is not the first time I’ve reserved this last spot on the list for a guilty pleasure. I’ve been known to say that they’re not really guilty pleasures since I don’t feel guilt for listening to them, but that doesn’t totally apply here. I’m really not a fan of Katy Perry - especially anything she’s done since Teenage Dream, but this song is such a bop, and I’m not beyond pointing out that a lot of what I like here is the production by Zedd. Those pulsing synths give me life.
Lyrical Highlight: Just because it’s over doesn’t mean it’s really over and if I think it over maybe you’ll be coming over again, and I’ll have to get over you all over again.
19. Simmer - Mahalia ft. Burna Boy
I’m going to be honest, this song was at a deadlock tie between the three songs that I’ve returned to most from Mahalia’s album, Love and Compromise : “Simmer,” “Do Not Disturb,” and her collab with Ella Mai, “What You Did” (which has the best video of the three, imo). I am such a huge fan of this London singer-songwriter, and if you are intrigued at all, I would definitely encourage you to check out her other stuff as well. In the end, “Simmer” won out by a particularly thin hair because it gets me dancing. And it’s an excuse to highlight the brilliant and prolific Nigerian artist featured on the track, Burna Boy. You may also have heard Burna Boy this year on The Lion King; The Gift album, or in his collaboration with Jorja Smith on another song that very nearly made this list, “Be Honest”. Together, Mahalia and Burna Boy are both at their best and make for a really solid collab.
Lyrical Highlight: Sometimes I want you close, sometimes I need my space / Just know i’m gonna call if I need you, It’s not my job to please you
18. Earfquake - Tyler the Creator
For real this time. I am such a sucker for this softer, vulnerable side of Tyler the Creator. All of his new album, Igor, is worth a listen, but “Earfquake” was the clear standout track, making its way on to a variety of playlists this year. It’s groovy, it’s sweet, it’s catchy, and it’s such classic Tyler that I can’t imagine it being performed by anyone else (though apparently it was offered to Bieber and Rihanna).
Lyrical Highlight: Don’t leave, it’s my fault.
17. Come Thru - Summer Walker ft. Usher
What’s not to like? One of the flyest new artists of the year teams up with one of the most successful R&B artists of all time to deliver a remake of a 90s classic? Come on. If you haven’t heard this yet, I am not sure I trust your priorities. One of the things I appreciate most is that this song focuses in on the attraction and the booty call without containing as much explicit cheating as “Make Me Wanna”. Then again, maybe it’s not a booty call at all; upon closer listen, the singers seem to have a deeper kind of history with one another. Either way, I think this song draws on what makes the original great, and expands on the story enough to engage on multiple levels.
Lyrical Highlight: Before anything happens between us be sure you’re ten toes down before I pull out this car.
16. Boasty (Remix) - Wiley, Sean Paul, & Stefflon Don ft. Idris Elba
Released in January, this song had a head start to become one of my most played songs during DJ sets. The beat is infectious, under a super fun chorus by the Godfather of Grime with just the right feature verses. Idris is such a hit, even though I’m tempted to be like, “dude, pick a thing to be good at” - why does he have to be doing everything? Man an actor, man a big DJ, man a rapper now too? But honestly, his verse is really adorable and personal, and it fits in this track perfectly. For another lovely Idris feature, check out James BKS’ “New Breed”.
Lyrical Highlight: Hold tight Wiley, with the Pacino flow / Godfarther part II, call me De Niro.
15. Final Form - Sampa the Great
Although I could once again pick a number of solid tracks from this song’s home album, The Return, ultimately “Final Form” is impressive for how much it does in one moment. Sampa sings about her creative potential and her constant learning and levelling up, pairing this message with a love song to black skin. The idea of home is another huge theme throughout Sampa’s music, which is fitting for a Zambian woman who grew up in Botswana and currently resides in Australia. This song sounds like her own pep talk - a reminder and motivation to keep working and being the best she can be: the kind of rapper you don’t want to overlook.
Lyrical Highlight: Great state I’m in, in all states I’m in / I might final form in my melanin
14. Sunflower - Vampire Weekend ft. Steve Lacy
Not to be confused with a slightly more popular song by the same name, this “Sunflower” features the light and brilliant guitar playing of The Internet’s Steve Lacy. Although I forced myself to pick a lyrical highlight below, the real beauty of this song is in the slowly ascending and descending guitar lick to which Ezra sings along. It might be less clever than a lot of what we’re used to from Vampire Weekend, but it created a much needed light and playful background for all my summer shenanigans.
Lyrical Highlight: Sunflower in the morning, standing in the garden all before you wake / No power can compel you out into the daylight, let that evil wait
13. Crush - Duckwrth
Look, I know I’m predictable. Give me a particularly funky groove with a fun music video, and I’m highly likely to deeply dig it. I wish I had more to say about this song, but I’m not sure I can even say why I like it so much. When it comes on, I feel it in my bones and I just want to dance all night. It’s the exact musical expression of what it feels like to have a crush, and it’s super contagious.
Lyrical Highlight: I can fall in love with you all night / And you would never let me down / A crush is my favourite sound
You might know Chika from that time she took Kanye down in a freestyle over his own beat. She’s a rad human who advocates all the time for big bodies and queer black folks like herself, and she’s been churning out fire verses on social media for years now. This meant that I not only had high hopes for her first single, I also had some seriously high expectations. Obviously “No Squares” did not disappoint, a song about how there’s no squares in her circle, and if you dig this you should also check out her reworking of Tamia’s “So Into You” on her most recent joint, “Can’t Explain It”.
Lyrical Highlight: Ima drop a banger just so I can get my price up
Warning: this song perpetuates a few stereotypes about only children. Clearly Tierra, who comes from a large family, has been hurt and betrayed by someone without siblings. And she lays into them, for real. The best thing about this song is that it sounds really cute and sweet, but meanwhile she’s singing lines like, “spiteful and malicious, hope that other chick got syphilis.” This song was the first to be released in Tierra’s self-proclaimed “Whack History Month” (which straddled February and March, in case you were wondering), and the first since her collection of 1-minute sample songs in the visual album/project Whack World, which solidly made my albums list last year.
Lyrical Highlight: You done turned my heart so cold I should work at Friendly’s
10. Raising Hell - Kesha ft. Big Freedia
Kesha is ending this decade with an anthemic banger with New Orleans bounce diva queen, Big Freedia. Together these two artists take us to church with this proud, celebrational, modern queer hymn (with a few more curse words and references to the booty than the average hymn-singer might be used to). Do yourself a favour and skip the video though - the song is better without the visuals, in my opinion. My title link just goes to a lyric vid instead. Alternatively, find a listening space where you can raise your hands and drop a few “Hallelujahs”.
Lyrical Highlight: Mama raised me well, but I don’t want to go to heaven without raising hell
FKA Twigs has proven herself to be one of the greatest audio/visual artists of our time, regularly pairing heart-wrenching songs with mesmerizing, thought-provoking visuals. As soon as “Cellophane” was released, it became my top priority to watch it on YouTube, and although she’s given us reason to have exceptionally high expectations, this video does not disappoint. This song is possibly the saddest piece of music I’ve heard all year long. It’s hauntingly beautiful, using cellophane as a metaphor for a relationship whose love was not strong enough to protect itself from the critique of outsiders. Many folks have speculated that it was written about FKA Twigs’ former fiance, Robert Pattinson, but that doesn’t matter to me. What’s important here is that she learned to pole dance in order to realize the vision below.
Lyrical Highlight: Why won’t you do it for me when all I do is for you?
8. Con Altura - Rosalia ft. J Balvin & El Guincho
Rosalia and J Balvin have risen very quickly to the heights of Spanish pop music, so it’s very appropriate that they would collaborate on a song whose title means “with height.” As someone who only wishes she could speak fluent Spanish, it’s a gift to have a song with a repeated phrase simple enough that I can sing out loud too, but more than that, this song brings to the mainstream an appreciation for the reggaeton and flamenco music that Rosalia was raised on. I will admit that sometimes I find there’s a drop in energy on other songs when J Balvin lends a verse, but not here. Instead, his rough but laid back vocals are a perfect balance to Rosalia’s creamy flow. And it sure is nice to hear the denbow rhythm in something other than a Bieber or Drake track.
Lyrical Highlight: Con Altura
The princess is here! If it wasn’t enough to have Ciara drop new music this year, she had to go and work with Esther Dean to make a jam that’s perfectly nostalgic and fresh. (They also worked together for a new single this past fall called “Melanin” which is also worth a listen.) The bass line pops and bounces all the way through, while Ciara reminds us that she’s never stopped being a total boss in the wake of heartbreak and love, motherhood and marriage, and generally getting older, wiser, and somehow even more stunning than ever. Her secret? She has never stopped dancing, as evidenced in this contagiously fun music video.
Lyrical Highlight: Ooh ooh ooh ooh… (You know what I’m talking about. I could not pick a traditional lyric over this perfect musical moment.)
6. Make It Better - Anderson .Paak ft. Smokey Robinson
Sometimes I can’t believe this song only came out this year, because it already feels like a classic. And yeah, that’s probably in large part due to the featured voice of former Miracle, Smokey Robinson, but there’s something about Anderson’s smooth voice over a laid-back beat that gives it that timeless quality. I am also regularly a big fan of love songs about long-term relationships. In the midst of reaching a romantic/sexual plateau, Anderson asks if they’re going to let go or work to make their relationship better, clearly making an argument for the latter option. The real life of this love story gets me even more than your average better-than-average R&B jam.
Lyrical Highlight: When you take somebody for your own it can’t survive on history alone
5. Tempo - Lizzo ft. Missy Elliott
I really wrestled with whether to include this here, because I’ve got a handful of artists that have made brilliant tracks this year that I sadly left out, and yet here I go (SPOILER ALERT) putting two Lizzo songs in the top 5. The thing is, this song was kind of my jam of the year. I love every song on Lizzo’s Cuz I Love You, but there’s nothing that makes me turn it up and shake my ass like this collaboration I’ve been waiting years for. The truth is that whether we first heard Lizzo way back on “Batches and Cookies”, or jumped on the “Truth Hurts” train this year, we’ve all been wanting her to make a record with legend of legends, Missy Elliott. For me personally, I knew the moment this was released that there would be no lukewarm reaction: it would either disappoint or give me a new lease on life. With this nice top spot, you don’t need to wonder about my feelings any more. Because not only did two faves get together and make a booty dropping banger, they dedicated “Tempo” to thick girls everywhere. Although I’ve been a front-row choir member to everything Lizzo’s been preaching as long as I’ve been listening, nothing makes me truly believe than this particular sermon. So really, if you’re surprised, it should be because it’s not higher up.
Lyrical Highlight: Thick thighs save lives, call me little buttercup / All means necessary / My ass is not an accessorary / Yeah I said it, accessorary / Twerk skills up on legendary
If you haven’t danced to this song in a room full of happy people, you have the chance to make a better decision in 2020. Technically this song was released in 2018, but got a proper spot on Koffee’s first EP Rapture in February this year, so I decided I could include it here. I have no doubt that we are going to see a lot more noteworthy music from this 19-year-old Jamaican with overflowing talent and a positive message to boot. She was raised on Bob Marley and wants to similarly move people to more love and less hate with fresh, infectious reggae, and I have no doubt that she could do just that, starting with this bop right here.
Lyrical Highlight: Blessings all pon mi life and mi thank God for the journey / di earnings a just fi di plus.
3. Cheap Queen - King Princess
There is a reason King Princess named her first LP after this song. This is the queer anthem I feel like we’ve been waiting for from KP. And yes, you could argue that literally everything she puts out is a queer anthem. I would agree, but Cheap Queen is such a relatable mood. Did you know all those samples come from a 1938 PSA called The Lesbian Menace, which is literally warning women to be aware of aggressive lesbians trying to corrupt them in the workplace. So King Princess is a showing herself to be a cheap queen in her resourcing and reclaiming some gross old fear-mongering garbage to make a banger of a song about how wonderful her (gay) friends are. Not to mention her quintessential production which is minimalist and perfect for a very queer bar singalong. Can we please schedule something like this, asap?
Lyrical Highlight: But I see that you love me / It’s better than money to know that you call me out
2. Brown Skin Girl - Beyoncé ft. Blue Ivy Carter, Wizkid, and SAINt JHN
I mean, come on. Beyoncé gave us so many gifts this year: the live Homecoming album and the companion album to The Lion King (literally named The Gift) were released within four months of each other. But nothing was as heart-filling and perfect as this beautiful tribute to her eldest daughter, Blue Ivy, and, in turn, all of the melanin-blessed baby girls in our lives. This song sounds as close to a blessing as I’ve heard in a long time, and one of my favourite things to see all year has been the videos of children singing like the one below. This is a new modern yet classic lullaby that isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
Lyrical Highlight: Melanin too dark to throw her shade
It’s funny, because I feel like it would be just as appropriate to name Lizzo’s “Truth Hurts” as the song of 2019, even though she released it originally in 2017. Two years after it was regularly on my YouTube watchlist, it flew to the top of the charts and stuck around, helping earn Lizzo the tied (with Ms. Lauryn Hill) record for most weeks at number one by a female rapper! Still, even without “Truth Hurts'“ eligibility for this particular list, Lizzo had no trouble making sure she had the song of the year. “Juice” was released in January as a single, before finding itself on the Cuz I Love You LP gifted to the world a few months later in April. It was the very first song I dragged on to my newly created “20Newteen”playlist in Tidal on January 4th of this year, so “Juice” is not just my favourite song of the year, but one that has been with us, shaping 2019 from its very start. I have seen every kind of person enjoy this modern-day soul anthem.
Why does it beat out “Tempo” then? For one, I think “Juice” is more universally empowering. As a DJ, this is one of the few songs that I always know I can drop and get a crowd moving - and it’s nice to have something like that that’s not Bruno Mars. And ultimately, although the album is called Cuz I Love You, “Juice” is really the thesis statement. We can only truly love others if we first learn to love ourselves, which I think is best summed up in my lyrical highlight: If I’m shining, everybody gonna shine. Hallelujah!
And so I’ll leave you with my favourite performance of my song of the year, which also happens to reference one of my all-time favourite scenes from my favourite musical film (Sister Act II). So many things to love. Enjoy!