Part 4 - #40 to #21
40. Imagine Dragons - “Whatever It Takes”
And so starts the Imagine Dragons onslaught. This third album shows the band looking at the world in a more optimistic and energetic point of view, and the lyrics really show it.
39. Lana Del Rey – “Love”
From the lyrics about romance and nostalgia, to the sweeping strings and sublime high notes. This is every element of what makes Lana Del Rey great, distilled and perfected into one song. This is Lana in her purest form.
38. Lil Uzi Vert – “XO Tour Llif3”
Uzi is known for taking a lot of influence from a lot of rock and emo acts. While this is not immediately apparent on the surface, “XO Tour Llif3” plays like an emo song hidden behind trap beats, dealing with heavier topics of suicide, depression and substance abuse.
37. Miley Cyrus – “Malibu”
While it’s common for artists to pull a 180 and reinvent their image and sound, it is perhaps much rarer to find an artist doing a 360, where they revert back to their original style. In that regard, seeing Miley return to her country-inspired roots with “Malibu” was a true surprise, but a welcome one.
36. Taylor Swift – “Look What You Made Me Do”
This is the most controversial song on my list, and I completely understand why people hate it. But I like controversy and stirring up drama. That’s what this song is all about. Honestly I’m kind of shocked that this happened at all. But whatever, this is my list. I never said I was a beacon for good taste. Go watch Anthony Fantano or something.
35. The Chainsmokers – “Paris”
The Chainsmokers’ first release this year takes some inspiration from the airy synthpop of French band M83’s “Midnight City”, which is rather appropriate, given the song’s title.
34. Khalid – “Young Dumb and Broke”
Gotta thank my brother for humming along to this and getting this song stuck in my head in the time we worked together.
33. Zayn & Taylor Swift – “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever”
Zayn may have been making a lot of more sexually charged music recently, but Taylor is not a name that I was ever expecting to see in a Fifty Shades Of Grey soundtrack. The song is rather different from their previous works, but it’s decent too.
32. Kita Alexander – “Hotel”
I didn’t listen to much Australian music this year, but this song really caught my ear one day when I was driving. In an ode to her late sister, Kita imagines what it would be like to see her again in the afterlife, which comes to her in the image of a hotel by the ocean. It’s actually rather beautiful.
31. Post Malone (feat. Quavo) – “Congratulations”
Having scored three big hits this year, 2017 seemed like a pretty great time for Post Malone, so he definitely has a big reason to congratulated for. Although I always found the line “worked so hard, forgot how to vacation” kinda funny. Dude looks like he probably has too many vacations. Whatever, he deserves it.
30. Logic (feat. Alessia Cara & Khalid) – “1-800-273-8255”
I feel like this is a very important song about an important topic that needed to be made someday. I get that people are mocking the whole ham-fistedness of the message and “Who can relate? (Woo!)”, but I’ll defend it because I know it’s a precious song and it’ll help someone out there at a dark point in their lives.
29. Martin Garrix & Dua Lipa – “Scared To Be Lonely”
Dua Lipa perfectly captures the essence of desperation in finding someone to hold on to through the darkest of days, and the conflict within between feelings of love and the feelings of lust.
28. Kygo & Selena Gomez – “It Ain’t Me”
Kygo and Selena are two artists that I never particularly cared for before, but this track won me over. For me, this song brings back some fond memories of the time I visited Malaysia and Singapore with my family back in April.
27. Imagine Dragons – “Thunder”
Imagine Dragons Drinking Game: Take a shot every time you hear Dan Reynolds sing “thunder” and see if you can actually make it past the first chorus. Actually, no don’t. I don’t want anybody suing me for alcohol poisoning.
26. Calvin Harris (feat. Frank Ocean & Migos) – “Slide”
At this point, Calvin Harris can already be considered a giant in the world of EDM. But in perhaps his most unexpected move yet, Calvin reinvented his whole sound this year and created a summery funk album, stacked with so many big name features, you’d swear he was trying to beat DJ Khaled at his own game.
25. Camila Cabello (feat. Young Thug) – “Havana”
Despite Fifth Harmony’s massive following, nobody quite expected Camila Cabello’s solo career to be as huge as it was. Her first solo smash hit “Havana” sees her embracing her Cuban heritage, and combines Latin pop-inspired grooves and horns with Young Thug’s laid-back charm.
24. Zedd & Alessia Cara – “Stay”
This song samples an intro from Banks, takes its chorus from a Taylor Swift song, has a melody similar to a Kanye West song and is inspired from a song template popularised by The Chainsmokers. Despite this, the song still manages to sound like its own thing.
23. Lorde – “Sober”
(This entry also accounts for Sober II (Melodrama) which is brilliant in its own right.)
In perhaps the logical continuation from 2015’s Disclosure collaboration “Magnets”, Lorde uses a backdrop of a party (and its subsequent aftermath) to chronicle the unfolding of a new romance.
22. Kendrick Lamar – “DNA.”
DNA sees Kendrick analysing (so to speak) the values of his culture, which he was raised in and helped make up the man he is today. The track also juxtaposes his raps with a Fox News snippet criticizing the content of his art, which I’ve always seen as an awesome way to get back at the media.
21. Imagine Dragons – “Walking The Wire”
2017 has been a very dark year for a lot of us. For me, one of my ways of escape was through very uplifting music. This is the most uplifting track Imagine Dragons have released this year, so much so that it sounds like a secular version of a Christian Rock song. Obviously to some people that doesn’t sound appealing, but it did
#100 to #81 | #80 to #61 | #60 to #41 | #40 to #21 | #20 to #1 | Full List
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