150 Songs From 2020 I Enjoyed, #50-#1

This is a free post from Larry Fitzmaurice's Last Donut of the Night newsletter. Paid subscribers get one or two email-only Baker's Dozens every week featuring music I've been listening to and some critical observations around it.

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OK, so: Here we are. We've finally reached the end of this list. I hope you've enjoyed reading it as much as I've enjoyed making and thinking about it, and I promise that isn't sarcasm. One of the best things about this newsletter is that I can share my thoughts about the general goings-on in popular music without having to run things by several editors or worry about "brand alignment" or all the other useless shit you have to consider when you are part of a staff. To reiterate what I said in the first part of this list, every choice here was made solely because it's my opinion, and if you want to support my doing similar things on here in the future—not to mention all the Baker's Dozens—I really, really suggest taking advantage of the subscription sale so you can receive (much shorter, but no less entertaining!) missives like these more often directly into your inbox. (I also promise that's the last time I'll plug the subscription sale in this post.)

A final note before we get to business: When I started making Baker's Dozen playlists for the newsletter, I was also still working through catching up with 2019 releases. I briefly considered doing a similar mega-list for my favorite songs of 2019, but my brain had a hard time doing any sort of pre-pandemic deep contextualizing at this point and I'd rather focus on the other tasks ahead (like, ahem, a list surveying 2021). I did put together a list of my favorite songs of 2019 in alphabetical order, which I've provided here in Spotify and Apple Music links. Now that the entire 2020 list has been officially published as well, here's the Spotify and Apple Music links for that list as well (the Apple Music lust is missing a few tracks for 2020, just FYI).

OK OK I lied, one more thing: I'll be going on vacation for the next week and a half, but the newsletter will return when I return with plenty of upcoming interviews that you're sure to enjoy. Thanks again for supporting everything I do so far and I hope you enjoy the final part of this gargantuan list:

50. Touché Amoré, "Exit Row"

Great lyrics: "There’s what I know for certain/ I know that I’m not wrong/
Suffering has no purpose/ ‘Round Here’ is an almost perfect song/ (Almost)." Lament was when Touché Amoré really clicked with me, and it also arrived around the time that I started listening to a lot more screamo in general. I've since gone back and studied the blade when it comes to their catalog as well, obviously Is Survived By is a classic, loved last year's Spiral in a Straight Line and I even had Jeremy and Nick on the newsletter for a chat about it, you can read that here.

49. Future and Lil Uzi Vert, "Plastic"

Hearing Future in his bag like this is, to me, like hearing Chuck Berry do "Maybelline": It feels instantly classic, vital, and familiar all at once, even if it is literally the millionth time you've heard it. I love the way he switches up his flow smack dab on the line "Swap hoes, swap clothes," and "Made it squirt/ Late for church" has become something of a stuck phrase for me in the pantheon of Future-isms. Easier to say this now that we've seen where Uzi has (and hasn't) gone since, but even as they hold their own this whole collaboration feels very much like Future saying "You're like me, but no one is quite like me."

48. Spencer Krug, "Having Discovered Ayahuasca"

Killer final third here, across his entire career as a songwriter Spencer has crushed it when it comes to working through a knotty song structure and arriving at something so satisfying that it feels like fireworks exploding in your brain. His 2020s have been great in general and it's a real treat to have Sunset Rubdown back, I've interviewed him a lot across the decade which at some point just counts as keeping in touch with each other...you can read the 2022 interview I did with him for the newsletter right here.

47. Nilüfer Yanya, "Day 7.5093"

So wild to have quite possibly one of your best songs on what was essentially a stopgap EP...the guitar on here is sick as ever, and that tiny little breakdown of a chorus feels like a controlled explosion. This does also feel like the last fits of her prior style before jumping into the moodier and more nocturnal territory of PAINLESS (which I was OK on but had some great songs) and My Method Actor (which I liked much more).

46. Kelsea Ballerini, "overshare"

Very funny and painfully relatable song with a chorus that snaps like chewing gum. I'm not like this anymore, I swear.

45. Phoebe Bridgers, "Chinese Satellite"

Punisher is at the point now where it's probably underrated, both by virtue of Boygenius being a cultural phenomenon and an overcorrection from those who didn't like the Boygenius record painting all three artists' work with the same negative brush. I didn't like the Boygenius record either (never has an "8.2 Best New Music" felt so barely earned) but Punisher still seems like an inarguable classic to me a la Feist's The Reminder, a paradigm-shifting record when it comes to indie and pop music that's faced a million attempts to replicate its sound and style even as no one has come remotely close to doing so. It was my favorite album of 2020, but I so closely associate it with the pandemic, depression, hangovers, and the overall futility of living that I have not really been able to listen to it actively at all since 2021. I also find it more or less impossible to isolate a song from it as a highlight, it works best as a front-to-back experience for me, but I do love how this song literally sounds like a satellite crashing to earth in its final seconds. Again, many have tried to rip off Phoebe's writing and singing style, but the way this song's constructed and recorded is strong proof that no one can do it like her.

44. Future Islands, "For Sure"

As someone who once saw Future Islands open up for Dan Deacon in 2009 and thought "Wow, I do not like this at all," it's impressive where they've ended up for a listener such as I...the biggest criticism you could lay at the feet of their 2020s output is that they're not really innovating when it comes to their sound, but when you're still unspooling lovely, wholly sincere rock music like this, who honestly cares. I actually thought People Who Aren't There Anymore from last year was as good, maybe better, than As Long As You Are, but this stands to me as one of their finest songs period.

43. brakence, "sauceintherough"

Real ones know I hold brakence in high esteem and think he might be the most outright talented artist of the digicore/hyperpop crest circa 2020/2021 (possibly a tie with Jane Remover), hypochondriac was 100% my favorite record of 2022 and I still listen to it regularly, it felt like a real breakthrough when it comes to the multifariousness of what he can do (Midwest emo stuff, exceptionally complicated glitchy production, straight-up R&B, pitch-black emo rap which I consider to be distinct enough from Midwest emo in terms of form, even as it borrows heavily from the blah blah blah). I thought punk2 (great title) was comparatively fine but, just like Future often does, he kept the real banger as the bonus track for that record...fantastic video from Daniel Jordan K here, who I tried to get on the newsletter at one point but was told by their team that they were looking for a "bigger look." My level of brakence stan behavior is such that this isn't even the highest-ranking track featuring him on this list, that's just how the cookie crumbles.

42. Christian Lee Hutson, "Atheist"

Beginners is probably the one for me so far when it comes to Christian Lee Hutson's 2020s discography, it's the record that drives home how great he is at conversational storytelling...if "Northsiders" wasn't released as a single in 2019 I would've chosen that one here instead, but technicalities have to apply, and honestly I love this song just as much, very vivid imagery. I did a pretty good interview with Christian back in 2022 for the newsletter, you can read that one here.

41. Chloe x Halle, "Ungodly Hour"

Few "It was all good just a week ago" 2020s pop cases more severe and tragic than the Chloe x Halle trajectory, especially after this excellent song (produced by Disclosure!) and the very, very good album of the same name it's featured on. Disney photorealistic flops, Chris Brown collabs, stalled solo careers, a literal lawsuit...get them back in the booth together stat! All evidence thus far supporting the notion that they're better together than apart, obviously their age means a career of some length regardless and they also fall very much in the "will always be famous to some degree" bucket, but when it comes to making good music without each other the waters sure are looking choppy these days.

40. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, "It Gets Easier"

Jason Isbell's never really been my thing but this song hit me like a truck, shout out to Blac Chyna too because it really do be like that. Several therapists ago I was told that dreaming about drinking after you quit means that it's something that you truly care about and it's certainly given me a measure of solace every time I wake up from a nightmare like the one described at the beginning of this song.

39. Odunsi (The Engine), "Body Count" [ft. Amaarae, DETO BLACK, and Gigi Atlantis]"

Before I even heard THE ANGEL YOU DON'T KNOW, I was blown away by Amaarae's verse on this song—the way she ducks and weaves around the production, singing and maintaining a rap cadence at the same time, plenty of evidence here that she is the secret weapon when it comes to guest verses. Love DETO BLACK on here too, and in general just a perfect vibe conjured across this track courtesy of Odunsi (the Engine), who also just put out a record of sorts under the Leather Park moniker last year that was also very good.

38. Dogleg, "Ender"

Maybe the best "closing album track" on a rock album in 2020 if we're being real, was a great record in general, obviously it's been documented when it comes to what happened in the end here, hopefully all affected parties feel like they've been respected and heard regarding their experiences.

37. Kicksie, "Half-Hearted"

There's an extremely bright and strident quality to Giuliana Mormile's vocals on this track from Kicksie's All My Friends that feels almost abrasive, she really lets the "ooh"s fly to the point where they basically sound like guitar chords. That alone elevates what would be well-trodden road otherwise, the melody has really stuck with me over the years.

36. Lil Yachty, "Oprah's Bank Account" [ft. DaBaby and Drake]

Strange turn of fate with this song, where Yachty seems to be the best-off career-wise when it comes to the grouping here. We don't need to go into the whole thing with DaBaby (whose "Rockstar" was the absolute worst hit song of 2020 period) and Drake (whose still-unbeatable cultural domination in 2020 is reflected partially by how many times he appears on this goddamn list) in regards to their current fates; strictly in terms of this song, DaBaby is exhaustingly trotting out the same cadence he uses on 95% of his music (and pre-cancellation, this counted as "diminishing returns" from him) while Drake delivers a suitably buttery Drake verse with the insane non sequitur "I hide in a cave like Osama did." By sheer will of force, they both risk crowding out Yachty—whose 2020s has been fascinating and chock-full of GbV-length rage-rap trifles, sneaky-good regional culture-jacking moves, lyrical-miracle feats of strength, and aisle-crossing concessions for people who show up for music festivals when the gates are scheduled to open. But he sounds lovely on this extremely sugary Earl on the Beat loop, delivering stupid-smart koans ("Lockin' it down, lockin' it down, lockin' it down, I want you/ I want you to know that you're my baby boo") like a bird in a tree waking you up in the morning. Apparently Yachty originally wanted Lizzo to guest on this one—talk about a bullet dodged.

35. Code Orange, "Sulfur Surrounding"

Pure "God Called in Sick Today" vibes here, I was fairly into Code Orange's Underneath but they lost me with 2023's The Above, which felt like a full-circle moment of abrasive corniness that they just managed to avoid on Underneath. They're currently on permanent hiatus partially because their guitarist joined Marilyn Manson's touring band, which is certainly a choice that's hard to explain to any normal person...honestly seems like they might've run out of road, but what do I know. You can read an interview I did with them here straight out of the "Artists talking about how they're worried about the pandemic before shit got really real" files.

34. Claud, "Guard Down"

The bedroom pop trend of the early 2020s was almost ephemeral by design, this probably stands to me as the best song that emerged from it, has a wistful and sad sparkle not unlike Saint Etienne and with a very effective pitched-down vocal bit to boot...at large I've found the Saddest Factory releases to be at least interesting when it comes to what's going on in corners of underclass pop-slash-indie, I also liked Claud's 2023 record Supermodels quite a bit.

33. Megan Thee Stallion, "Savage (Remix)" [ft. Beyoncé]

I thought about including "WAP" on here but couldn't bring myself to; it's a song that's less something to be listened to and more something that everyone was forced to collectively experience, like Tiger King or those Andrew Cuomo morning briefings. I also thought about including "Body," but I think this one outstrips both (the former by a lot, the latter by a little) when it comes to the best Megan song from 2020 and quite possibly the best Megan song of the decade period. Ironically, most of the appeal here is the Beyoncé verse, which is funny and just straight-up fun to hear; but the song is very good on its own too. As someone who thinks it's been rough going when it comes to Megan's music across the decade (and I'm more than willing to take into account that there have been extenuating circumstances contributing to this) she sounds in the pocket over this J. White Did It production (he did "Bodak Yellow," btw) without sounding too formalist or, as it's been with some of her recent singles, sonically incongruous. At this point I think it's safe to say that she's a better celebrity than a musician even as she remains a very talented rapper, perhaps that will change in the decade's back half.

32. Playboi Carti, "Not Playing"

Since Whole Lotta Red, Carti has become era-defining while releasing a whole lotta not much (sorry); prior to the release of this year's quite-good-yet-also-not-quite-good-enough Music he maintained a fervent cult of fans almost wholly by building anticipation for what he keeps promising he's gonna do next, all the while WLR-likes continued to emerge in rapper and album forms (YoungBoy's I Rest My Case stands out as one of the most curious, and not unsuccessful, examples for certain). Most fascinatingly, the general shoulders-shrugged indifference the music press has shown towards his 2023 arrest for allegedly strangling his pregnant girlfriend has represented quite the shift from where we were, say, when XXXTentacion was on the rise amidst much public handwringing about covering his work versus the virtues of refusing to do so. It's not a 1:1 comparison, obviously; for one, X was reaching the peak of his stardom after his many ugly misdeeds and perspectives were laid bare for all to see, so the conversations about ethical responsibility around coverage were more of an attemptedly preventative nature. Carti, on the other hand, was highly (and, on a pure musical level, rightly) acclaimed for years before his arrest, and given that he's the absolute biggest act the Soundcloud era produced, there's no material effect those same discussions could conceivably have on his success. But I also think there's no real negative to having cultural critics retrace such discussions on any scale; otherwise, the general non-effort tends to resemble a child pushing around their vegetables on the plate to try to get away from the dinner table as quickly as possible. Again, as someone who recently sat in front of two bros at the IFC who were talking about how their friend bought "tons" of Brand New tickets recently, it's always up in the air how much impact those discussions actually have on your garden-variety shithead—but the alternative is pure silence, which is bad for mental growth and way worse for the soul. If you find any of these thoughts wanting in terms of depth, not to worry: There''ll be plenty of opportunities to talk about similar subjects in the future, I'm sure!

31. Halsey, "Ashley"

While we're on the subject, if I really wanted to draw an infuriating false equivalency, I'd say that music writers have been more vocal about Halsey's dislike of music writers than they have about Carti's abuse allegations! Cards on the table, I didn't start finding Halsey interesting until Manic, which featured not one but two very capable Lil Peep ripoff joints.... since then they've been a little better and more fascinating than she's given credit for, I didn't love the rock-respectability move that If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power was (this song was pretty good though) but I liked last year's The Great Impersonator more than most, even though the fact that I haven't been compelled to return to it since is probably telling. I feel like this song is most emblematic of The Halsey Experience, messy and painful and more than a little Evanescence-y but all delivered in a way where, regardless if you like it (and I happen to like it a lot) you can't pretend like you're being delivered dishonest sentiments here. It's what makes the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind sample work as well—a gesture that is corny as fuck but, in her world, makes perfect sense.

30. Loathe, "Is It Really You?"

Loathe's I Let It In and It Took Everything was such an instant hit for me that I bought merch during lockdown just to feel something. As someone who'd fallen out of following heavy music closely throughout the 2010s it was one of a few records (Code Orange's Underneath and Tomb Mold's Planetary Clairvoyance were two others) that really drew me back in for good during this period of time. When it comes to metalcore, I think this is the best the genre has had to offer from this decade, and I'm taking into account the very good Knocked Loose record from last year; of course, part of what makes Loathe so good on this record is that when they're not breathing absolute fire they can turn in spacey, dreamy, and totally beautiful Deftones-y sighs like this song. (Relatedly: I recently interviewed Rico Nasty for the newsletter, and after she told me about how much she loves Deftones I told her to listen to Loathe. Her publicist reached out a few weeks later to pass along the message that she's a huge fan now. Coalition-building in action!)

29. The Weeknd, "Hardest to Love"

Abel goes Homogenic, quite possibly the most shockingly beautiful song of the Weeknd's true imperial phase (which, on a qualitative level at least, seems to have come to a close with this year's turgid and mostly miserable Hurry Up Tomorrow). Despite his much-vaunted partnership with OPN in recent years, the best and most flat-out interesting Weeknd songs always have Max Martin in the cut (see: the Vocalcity-reminiscent "Rockin'" from Starboy, the Dawn FM all-timer "Less Than Zero"), Martin seems to save his most nakedly experimental stuff for him, and the Weeknd's AmAppy taste profile naturally gravitates towards it. In the rearview, After Hours seems like place-setting for Abel's best record to date—and it also probably represents a peak in terms of true commercial visibility that, as impossibly huge as he remains, I'm unsure he'll truly scale again.

28. Field Medic, "i want you so bad it hurts"

Achingly romantic song, quite possibly his best to date by my measure, conjures something very specific about being young and struck by something approximating love. I interviewed Kevin for the newsletter back in 2023, you can check that out right here.

27. Seth Bogart, "The Othersiders"

Really sad song, and a bit angry too, about how the government was willing to let so many gay men die during the AIDS crisis. I was always up and down on Bogart's previous work and first became aware of him via his involvement the 2000s indie-dance-punk band Gravy Train!!!!, but I thought Men on the Verge of Nothing was his most potent and sonically striking album to date, with the first Hunx and His Punx album on the way in 12 years I wonder if it'll be taking some cues from what he was doing here.

26. envy, "Marginalized Thread"

envy are one of those bands I should be listening more to in general just because they have the capability to sound like this...funny how they dropped this (which is from the also-excellent The Fallen Crimson) extremely Deafheaven-y track (who envy very much inspired, to be clear) right at the top of the decade before Deafheaven briefly decided to stop being Deafheaven for a bit before deciding to be Deafheaven again. (Not to turn this into a Deafheaven thing, but if you missed it, George from Deafheaven did the newsletter recently—you can read it here.)

25. The 1975, "Nothing Revealed/Everything Denied"

The Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 moment on what stands so far as the only good 1975 record of the decade; I found Being Funny in a Foreign Language to be not very funny at all (and quite boring as well), although the "...At Their Very Best" tour behind it was honestly unbelievable and stands as one of the best live shows I've witnessed this decade. "I never fucked in a car, I was lyin'/
I do it on my bed, lyin' down, not tryin'" is an all-timer Matty lyric, funnier than anything on "Happiness" easily; right now we're in the longest space between albums since the self-titled and their arguable masterpiece I Love It When You Sleep..., hopefully that's a good omen for what comes next.

24. Wares, "Survival"

Probably one of the hardest songs you'll ever hear about a carbon tax repeal. Edmonton solo project-gone-full band Wares' Survival was easily one of the most overlooked indie rock records of 2020, lots of bite and guitar acrobatics, the band has been pretty silent since—just a single from 2023 really, would love another record as the promise here was pretty abundant.

23. Young Nudy, "No Pretending"

Young Nudy's run from Sli'merre to Gumbo is undoubtedly one of the decade's most impressive streaks when it comes to rap (I didn't love Sli'merre 2, which isn't exactly a unique sentiment), I think Anyways is probably the best of these records..."Let my name taste like shit/ You a fuckin' feces, you piece of shit" is a crazy thing to say, "If it was up to me, I'd make 'em kill all y'all" also leaves a mark. Gotta give it up for being direct!

22. Taylor Swift, "dorothea"

This is probably my favorite song from the folklore/evermore diptych but, as I addressed earlier, I honestly find it really hard to be bothered to stare into the void that is Taylor Swift's work at this point, lord knows millions are doing so all the time. Moving on!

21. Hum, "In the Den"

I hate saying stuff like this unless it really applies, but—listening to Hum's Inlet is like taking a bong rip in space and seeing God. It really is that good, quite terrible that this record might've become an incidental second swan song, but what a heavy and dense piece of work this whole record is. Still one of the best rock records of the decade period, I don't even see how it's really debatable at this point.

20. Jeff Rosenstock, "The Beauty of Breathing"

WORRY. is the one that many will swear by but I think NO DREAM is Jeff's best record to date, the hooks are punchy and the album is paced pretty much perfectly. This record hit so hard for me during lockdown era, just the right amount of pessimism to stoke some seriously depressive fires that lay within...one of those albums where it's hard to choose a favorite but this one stands out particularly because it could fit in pretty easily on any of his records as well, kind of like the platonic ideal of a Jeff Rosenstock song. I've had Jeff on the newsletter twice since this one came out, you can check those interviews out here and here.

19. Fivio Foreign, "Big Drip"

Probably the best NYC drill song of 2020 by my measure, certainly the one that I listened to a thousand times, love the video as well as the line "You can post a picture/ But you better not tag me." Fivio would, of course, prove himself to be stupider than one could possibly imagine, to the point where a guest verse like this comes across as sheer brilliance comparatively. No one get mad at me if I end up highlighting Kanye's "Off the Grid" in a future list just to highlight Fivio's verse on it.

18. Romy, "Lifetime"

I quite liked Romy's debut LP Mid Air from 2023 but nothing on it topped "Lifetime," what a rush of a song...she put together a really good live show for the Club Mid Air tour when it came to re-creating a clubby dance vibe at a time before 11 p.m., this song definitely popped really hard in a crowd. Almost had Romy on the newsletter back in 2020 but she had to cancel and we never got to reschedule, quite possible it'll happen in the future though.

17. Jensen McRae, "Wolves"

Absolutely devastating song to me, blasphemy alert but it has echoes of "Fast Car" to it. You write something like this and it's more than enough to stay in my mind, but I did really like her record Are You Happy Now? from 2022 as well (didn't love the new one though), probably one of the only younger artists to call themselves as an explicit fan of Taylor Swift without the reference point becoming overpowering in the music itself.

16. Sophie Cates, "football game"

One of the great "what could have been" stories of the 2020s pop underclass, I think I've listened to this song one billion times at this point...the Dylan Brady production does a lot here (especially that rolling synth that functions as the song's true chorus) but the writing is honestly just really funny and sweet, the sexual innuendo and immediately fellatio-situated lyrics giving way to a message about being on the precipice of getting older, wondering if you're letting people down, and letting other people know that these connections you have with them are temporary at best. Another win for the Cates-Kline dynasty, all told.

15. Brandy, "Borderline"

Incredible song, maybe one of Brandy's best singles period, "friend of the newsletter" Perfume Genius' Mike Hadreas is a fan as well, if this dropped in 2011 "the hipsters" would've gone wild for it. What a chorus, the way she hangs onto "I'm the most jealous girl/ In the whole wide world" is extremely pleasing to the ears, definitely an immediate A-tier entry in the pantheon of R&B songs about someone so jealous that they have to sing about it. Easily the best thing Brandy's done in the 2020s so far, with her highly enjoyable turn in the scatalogical SNL sketch-as-thriler The Front Room (M-E-S-S mess!) coming in at a close second.

14. Jane Remover, "woodside gardens 16 december 2012"

This song feels quaint to consider in light of the sheer breadth that Jane Remover's catalog has covered since, but it still goes insanely hard and remains one of the top 2020-2021 digicore-slash-hyperpop tunes for me, the way they croak out "stomach hurts" as a lyric feels very tactile, it almost makes your stomach hurt...love how the back half basically folds drum break on top of drum break. I know a few critics who wouldn't really get on board until Frailty and found the Teen Week EP to be not too engaging overall, and I still don't really understand why.

13. Protomartyr, "Processed by the Boys"

Protomartyr are the type of band with fans that will likely disagree with what I am about to say, but: Quite possibly their best song here? Granted, I was a bit of a johnny-come-lately when it comes to their catalogue, I got really into them during lockdown and their albums became regular staples for a while, my wife became one of their biggest fans in the process. All of this was spurred upon by Ultimate Success Today, and this song specifically...the woodwind on the "chorus" really makes it all come together, and the vibes conjured—paranoiac, miserable, exhausted—are all too relatable. Joe Casey's another "friend of the newsletter" at this point, he was one of the first-ever interviews (you can check that out here, which is a version of this newsletter so early-development that it does make me realize how much I've refined my practice since then) and he popped back on for a great convo back in 2023 that you can read right here.

12. Half Waif, "Ordinary Talk"

Accidental pandemic "How it feels, no, like, how it fucking feels" anthem alert: "Sitting in the dark/ Dreaming up a song/ Crying in my coffee, doing it all wrong/ Everybody knows it’s ordinary talk/ Walking to the lake/ Getting in my car/ Folding up the laundry, taking it too hard/ Everybody knows it’s how we fall apart." This was the first time that I really stood up and took notice of Nandi Rose's ability to essentially halt time with the type of melodic cadence delivered as if she's staring straight into your soul; at her best, I think her music has a bold and fearless quality—two adjectives I am hesitant to use because they are used so frequently (especially to describe female-ID'ing artists), but here we are. I've loved pretty much everything she's put out this decade and is maybe a secret MVP of indie right now, we had a really frank and refreshing conversation last year that you can read right here.

11. Jam City, "I Don't Want to Dream About It Anymore"

Fascinating career Jack Latham has had—from Night Slugs beatsmith to gonzo New Pop songwriter, then to writing for Olivia Rodrigo and making exceptionally pristine dance music again? Pillowland was without a doubt the most unbelievable "Wait, basically no one reviewed this?" record of 2020 (perhaps a casualty of the pandemic's effect on music writers where they were like "No new music right now for me thanks," which, do what's best for you I suppose, but that could never be me), a lot of fascinating and beautiful and quite honestly just shockingly different stuff going on in it that you'd be forgiven for wondering whether this was a different Jam City releasing this, and not the guy who made, like, Classical Curves. Jack is a top bloke who did the newsletter right when the pandemic was entering the "When can we get the SHOT!!!!" moment, you can check that chat out here.

10. Eris Drew, "Transcendental Access Point"

Pure liftoff fuel, really dazzling and never ceases to take me out every time...it's apparently not enough for Eris Drew to be an incredible DJ, she had to make one of the all-time best songs ever to sample DMT: the Spirit Molecule. When all those trippy tones come in after the sampled monologue too..."braindance" was always a stupid and quite possibly very racist term but you really feel like your synapses are skipping across your skull with this one.

9. ericdoa, "thingsudo2me" [ft. brakence]

It feels so preposterous for me to have this as, like, my #9 favorite song of 2020. This is why lists are not to be taken too seriously! But the high ranking of this ericdoa cut—the bones of which are totally fine and maybe even verging on a little corny (although, in the rearview, it feels like splitting hairs regarding the corn factor of most hyperpop/digicore)—is mostly and really just entirely due to the brakence verse, which I found totally mesmerizing and have rewound many times over and over again. I think the way he jams these lyrics into a highly melodic and extremely compact appearance is mesmerizing: "I want self-love, can't get over that hurdle/ I'm afraid what I'll say when I finally feel hurt'll make me disgusted/ Won't open up 'cause we already discussed it/ Tried letting go, but I guess I don't got the guts yet." The way he embraces the phrasing sounds both extremely precise and enormously ugly and pained, like he is literally throwing up while singing. Dying for him to drop another project soon, I have to imagine he's coming back this year but you never know these days.

8. Bfb Da Packman, "Free Joe Exotic" [ft. Sada Baby]

Part of me, of course, wonders if this falls into the same category as Dua Lipa's Future Nostalgia—stuff that hit harder simply because there wasn't a ton going on in general—but, let's face it, this is a very funny song and at this point the absolute peak of what Bfb Da Packman has done. Too many quotables, great beat, nice verse from Sada Baby...it grabs your attention and generally doesn't let go. Sada and Bfb have since gone in relatively disheartening directions career-wise; the former still puts out the occasional good tune or two but had a moment of colossal misjudgment by quite literally wishing Lil Nas X would die instead of DMX (at least he apologized, I guess?). As for Bfb, I actually thought his album Fat Ni**as Need Love Too from 2021 was fairly good (I wouldn't be surprised if "Honey Pack" shows up on my 2021 list) but last year's Forget Me Not was fairly depressing (sometimes in a very literal sense), I had to unfollow him on Twitter because of one too many toxic posts tilting towards the manosphere, the mixtape and EP he's released since has been mostly diminishing returns.

7. BLACKPINK, "Ice Cream" [ft. Selena Gomez]

The best straight-up pop song of 2020 period, you know you are cooking insanely hard when you throw in a final chorus that's all whistling and "Na na na na na"s. The line "Coldest with the kiss, so he call me ice cream/ Catch me in the fridge, right where the ice be" is brilliant and infuriating all at once—because, yes, that is where the ice be, but wait, no, the ice is in the freezer!!! (Unless, of course, you've got one of those fancy fridges that spits out ice. As a renter, I will never be able to enjoy this.) Still trying to locate what Selena Gomez actually contributes to this song after all this time, there exists a similar issue with her guest spot on future best-of list candidate Rema's "Calm Down."

6. RXKNephew, "American Terrorist"

When I first put this list together back in 2022, I had this at the top. It stayed there for about a year or so, and ultimately it ended up around here. I thought some of the discourse around this song being so high on Pitchfork's half-decade list was interesting, namely the persistent suggestion that this song feels very dated at this point, but similar to Death Grips' The Money Store I think it just feels properly suited to the moment it emerged from. (Also, the BossUp beat really is something I could listen to for 12 minutes straight, which is a large reason why I returned to this song so frequently at the time.) It's beyond a clichéd observation to make, but listening to "American TTerrorist" felt a lot like being online in 2020: A nonstop torrent of opinions, jokes, and (mis)information, some of it funny, some of it stupidly profound, some of it profoundly stupid, occasionally breaching the sort of tastelessness that makes your thumb hover over the "Unfollow" button. It also cemented Neph—an ultra-prolific rapper whose misses are sometimes as fascinating as his hits, who embraces non-traditional flows as its own art form and thus constantly risks being engaged with as an ironic totem rather than as an actual artist—as a Lil B for the brain rot era. If anyone thinks that comparison is too on-the-nose (hey, I've hesitated making it myself multiple times for that exact reason) I'd ask to you consider that, similar to how the Based God did over the 2010s, Neph has whirred in the background throughout the 2020s, building a catalog that has some true gems if you're spending time digging into it (granted, a bit of an ask for many), while emerging every so often with something that catches fire for one topical reason or another. Sound famiilar?

5. Ultraflex, "Olympic Sweat"

This is so Sincerely Yours it hurts, minus the Swedish connection that would make it truly SY—instead we have one Norwegian, one Icelander, both residing in Berlin, making electronic pop music that sounds so pure and sharp you have to wonder whether they're literally making fun of you for falling prey to such a sound. I loved Ultraflex's impeccably named debut Visions of Ultraflex (what else would you call it, really?) and am perpetually gobsmacked by this song in particular, which is all cascading synth glistle and crystal-clear bass lines dotted by the lyrical utterance of the band's name and that's about it. I enjoyed their 2022 record Infinite Wellness quite a bit as well.

4. City Girls, "Pussy Talk" [ft. Doja Cat]

So much has changed for everyone involved here: JT is making kinda-bad-maybe-pretty-bad music but has maintained somewhat of a loyal fanbase (and a sense of fashion-world cool) regardless, Caresha is a reasonably popular podcaster who's been put in the absolute worst position possible, while Doja has become an anti-superstar in the era of superstars who (rightfully) hates her fans as they (rightfully) continue to stan regardless. This song is a real moment in time for all of those reasons, but it's also been on repeat for me for years because it's fun, bouncy, and altogether hilarious. The details are incredible—the way JT's voice rises up at the end of the word "Japan-ESE," Caresha using "Santa!" as an ad-lib—but it's also very funny how "Pussy Talk" showcases two different entities understanding the assignment in different, perfect ways. City Girls' approach to the prompt is wide-ranging and thematic—here's how you can make the pussy talk, here's all the ways in which the pussy talk—while Doja is shitpostingly literal: "Pussy give speeches, heartfelt/ The pussy really talk like it Garfield." (Bonus points for the "it dooo" ad-lip that pops up right after Garfield is mentioned.) Genius presents itself in many ways!

3. The Avalanches, "The Divine Chord" [ft. MGMT and Johnny Marr]

My wife had to basically force me to listen to The Avalanches' We Will Always Love You when it came out, I felt too depressed to engage with it for multiple reasons, chiefly the fact that I found Wildflower to be very disappointing and couldn't withstand another letdown in my mental state. Of course, I was being ridiculous, We Will Always Love You was a very nice post-Wildflower rebound and it contains this song, which I think is the best piece of pure pop music the Avalanches have ever created. There's a benevolent, alien glow to the song (the album, too) that's generous, wistful, very gorgeous, and tinged with just the right amount of melancholia. Andrew VanWyngarden's vocals are unexpectedly swaggering in a very good-natured way, steering away from the heavy-lidded phase that MGMT had throughout the 2010s—but they also sound like they're playing off of some sort of radio that exists only in the song itself, some sort of cosmic field recording in the Avalanches' own mysterious and self-conjured world. Who else could pull off such a sonic magic trick like this?

2. Sufjan Stevens, "The Ascension"

I still believe that history will treat The Ascension well, just as it's treated The Age of Adz. While Adz got a lot of "too weird" flack out of the gate (which was eventually smoothed over by one of the most incredible tours an indie artist of Sufjan's stature has staged in the last decade-plus), The Ascension fell victim to spectacularly poor timing for what is a work of negativity, fear, paranoia, and sadness. If you were bumping this record constantly during lockdown, you were most likely going out of your goddamn mind—and, well, guilty as charged on that count. One thing everyone seemed to agree on is that the title track is pretty much one of the best things Sufjan has ever written, and it still stands; it's a devastating document of losing one's faith, but I think there's a shred of positivity in accepting the void that follows as well, which is very much reflected in the sad sense of acceptance the song eventually arrives at. I know this one like the back of my hand and haven't revisited it a ton since the vaccines were introduced, it's quite possible I'll never listen to it again; it's also a testament to his status as one of our greatest living songwriters that the sentiment "this is a piece of music that Sufjan's entire career was arguably building up to" can also apply to a few songs on 2023's also-devastating but revelatory Javelin.

1. Wizkid, "Essence" [ft. Tems]

The best pop song of the decade so far, maybe? The thing sounds like literal running water—even more so than "Water," which actually does not sound that much like water—or even just a mirage-like stream that you want to reach out and run your fingers through. The album it's from, Made in Lagos, is also easily one of the best Afrobeats records of the decade so far; it also served as something of a point of arrival for Tems, who's since gone on to make some of the most incredible-sounding R&B that the 2020s has had to offer. Not even Bieber culture-vulture'ing a "Despacito"-type remix could water down what's being offered here. Just absolute perfection, a song that while it's on you kind of wish it could go for hours on end.