2018 has been the longest year of my life so far. I've done so many things, been to so many places, and met so many people. I would like to share with you how I saw the events of the year through my eyes, and I'd like to do it the only way I know how; through showcasing he songs that soundtracked it.
100. Portugal. The Man - “Live In The Moment”
We kick off the list with the follow-up single to the massive “Feel It Still” from last year.
99. Pale Waves - “Noises”
If my mind could make noises this sweet and catchy, I'd probably want to make it my job.
98. Rae Sremmurd (feat. Juicy J) - “Powerglide”
I found out about this song through a YouTube video which was a funny edit of this song where Swae Lee kept on singing “peanut butter”.
97. The Jungle Giants - “On Your Way Down”
There’s a prominent cowbell running through this song. Can you really have enough cowbell?
96. Billie Eilish - “When The Party’s Over”
The instrumental on this song is incredibly sparse, it’s almost silent at some points. In that regard, it reminds me a lot of “Hide and Seek” by Imogen Heap, actually.
95. Amy Shark & Mark Hoppus - “Psycho”
I’ve been a Blink-182 fan for several years now, so it’s obvious that I would gravitate towards this. Mark could probably make a good acoustic album if he wanted to.
94. Janelle Monáe - “Crazy, Classic, Life”
The first proper track on Dirty Computer starts off with a Martin Luther King sample, before becoming an anthem of a track about Janelle living her best life.
93. Marshmello (feat. Bastille) - “Happier”
As someone who was all over “Pompeii” way back in 2013, I am just really stoked that Bastille were able to notch another massive hit.
92. Twenty One Pilots – “Nico and the Niners”
In the lead-up to this Trench album rollout, fans on the Twenty One Pilots subreddit found a secret link on the band’s website, featuring cryptic clues. One of the clues spelled out the phrase “East is up”, which was eventually revealed to be the opening lyric to this song.
91. Franz Ferdinand - “Always Ascending”
This song was really where the year in music started for me. I was checking out a video on YouTube on New Year’s Day and got an ad saying that Franz Ferdinand has a new song.
90. Imagine Dragons – “Bad Liar”
Dan Reynolds wrote this song with his partner Aja Volkman at a point it which their relationship was deteriorating. It wasn’t until partway through writing the song that they realized they were actually writing about themselves.
89. 5 Seconds of Summer – “Valentine”
You can definitely tell they’re trying to rip on AM-era Arctic Monkeys here. Funky bassline, lower register vocals, the chorus even sounds a bit like “R U Mine?”.
88. Liam Payne & Rita Ora – “For You”
I still have no idea how the 50 Shades of Grey movie franchise is staying afloat at this point. But hey, if they keep producing decent pop tracks like this to soundtrack it, I really don’t mind.
87. Glades - “Eyes Wide Shut”
A crisp, brooding synthpop track that I’m pretty sure has nothing to do with the Stanley Kubrick film of the same name. I don’t know. I haven’t really seen it.
86. Joji – “Slow Dancing In The Dark”
While many came to know him years ago through his outrageous pranks and off-beat and ironic commentary videos as Filthy Frank, Joji Miller's recent musical output – and especially “Slow Dancing In The Dark” – shows a more sincere, lovelorn side to him.
85. Foster The People – “Sit Next To Me”
Yeah, I still listen to the same indie-pop bands I used to listen to in high school. Foster The People haven’t really had a big hit since like 2012, but with “Sit Next To Me”, they sure came close to crossing over again.
84. Lana Del Rey – “Mariners Apartment Complex”
This year, Jack Antonoff surprised me by collaborating with Lana Del Rey, and deviating from his usual synthpop tinkering, to make a hazy folk ballad that recalls Lana’s more epic Ultraviolence-era works.
83. Twenty One Pilots – “Chlorine”
A dark, brooding slow-mover that the band unfortunately did not play at my concert. Nor in any other stop in this tour so far. A bit of a shame, because that final part would’ve been incredible to hear live.
82. Post Malone & Swae Lee – “Sunflower””
If I had to think of adjectives to describe Post Malone and Swae Lee’s music, “dreamy” wouldn’t be the first to come to mind. But “Sunflower” is just so light and upbeat for both artists, its sound may be almost bordering on dream-pop.
81. Calvin Harris & Dua Lipa – “One Kiss”
After last year’s excursions with summery retro-tinged funk, Calvin Harris yet again switches up his style, this time taking Dua Lipa’s vocals and layering it on top of a house-flavoured 90’s throwback beat.
#100 to #81 | #80 to #61 | #60 to #41 | #40 to #21 | #20 to #1 | Full List
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