tl:dr
The Spotify playlist can be found here.
In a normal year, I usually attend 20-50 concerts and a couple of music festivals on top of that. In 2020, I went to one. It was King Princess in mid-January at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Vancouver, weeks before I moved to Singapore. Almost a year later, I am currently in Vancouver again while I make my permanent residence in Paris. Life is a strange journey and of course 2020 has been the strangest year of them all. The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry and even planning a few days in advance this year was a struggle.
With the amount of change and uncertainty that came into my life this year, my musical tastes also transformed. A quick browse through my list of top 100 songs for the year and you’ll realize how wildly different one song can be from the next. On top of spending three months in Singapore, I spent a lot of time this year exploring different Asian cultures and music was the easiest entry into this. Countries like Korea and Taiwan became places that I look to first for new music. Understanding lyrics has never been less important to me. Add on my move back to France last summer and the result is a year-end list that represents the confluence of cultures that have entered my life. In total, my top 100 list has songs in five different languages from 12 different countries. My hope is that whoever reads this list will discover something completely new and be as excited as I was when I discovered these songs.
20. Bad Decisions – The Strokes
Vintage Strokes.
19. 怪天氣 – YELLOW黃宣, 9m88
9m88 is the star here, continuing to cement herself as one of the most exciting voices in music.
18. No Nightmares (featuring. The Weeknd) – Oneohtrix Point Never
Another very successful collaboration between Oneohtrix Point Never and the Weeknd. This song blossoms beautifully.
17. Pretty Please – Jackson Wang, Galantis
This song is upbeat and fun, but if I’m being completely honest, the old school Hong Kong cinema inspired music video is the best part.
16. This Love Isn’t Crazy – Carly Rae Jepsen
Another year, another amazingly catchy Carly Rae Jepsen track.
15. 兜兜風 – G5SH, Julia Wu
This Taiwanese electronic duo makes music reminiscent of “In Return” era Odesza. Working with one of the most prolific vocalists based in Taiwan, this song will be stuck in your head for days.
14. Take It Slow – Milky Day
On Take It Slow, this Korean-New Zealander sounds like Jeremih at the top of his game.
13. 情人 (Lover) – KUN
Yeah I’ll admit it, the Chinese girl group competition phenomenon Youth With You 2, which I crushed during my first quarantine and where Kun debuted this song, influenced my decision here. This song is an R&B jam.
12. Ravi – Caribou
On every Caribou album there is one song that will absolutely stop you in your tracks and demand your attention. This is it.
11. Hurry Home (with beabadoobee & Jay Som) – No Rome
This song is a display of excellence from the Filipino diaspora. All three raised on different continents and collaborating while at the top of their game.
10. Lovesick Girls – BLACKPINK
Blackpink might be the biggest girl group on the planet and in 2020 they finally released their debut album. They didn’t disappoint. While their sound has changed a bit from earlier material, their music remain as infectious as ever. On Lovesick Girls, probably the most pure pop sounding song on the album, they speak of love and love loss while singing and rapping between English and Korean. In a big year for this band, the release of this song felt like the major highlight.
09. Really High – Seori
If K-Pop was looking for an answer to Billie Eilish, Seori might just be it. This newcomer released her debut EP this year and showed off her talents by blending pop and R&B sounds. There are parts of her EP where her vocal delivery sounds exactly like Eilish. On Pretty High, she creates an amazing pop track highlighted by one of the catchiest choruses this year. You’ll find yourself whistling this one for a long time.
08. stardew – Purity Ring
Purity Ring has always been a favourite and stardew is a song where they sound brighter and happier than ever. In what they describe as a “sex jam”, this song sounds like a traditional Purity Ring song pushed into the stars.
07. Seh Ah Seh – ?te
Taiwan’s ?te (pronounced “white”) is probably my favourite discovery of the year. With her unmistakeable vocals, she fuses soul, R&B, and bossa nova sounds into one of the most memorable debut albums in years. Seamlessly transitioning between English and Mandarin, Seh Ah Seh even makes lines like “those shitty things that annoy you, fuck them all” sound chill and ineffably cool.
06. Garden Song – Phoebe Bridgers
Phoebe Bridgers had herself a year. Her new album Punisher was critically acclaimed and has been placed near the top of a lot of year end lists. She had four Grammy nominations including one for Best New Artist. This was a breakout for one of the hardest working musicians who has had new music coming out a few times a year through multiple different outlets. Garden Song is powerful in ways that is not easily replicable. The lyrics are oddly referential and each word is carefully placed so that even the most mundane descriptions can have a devastating effect. Phoebe Bridgers sings and composes the song with almost a dreamlike quality. When you’re finished listening, you’ll be left not knowing exactly how to feel.
05. Headaches – Raveena
Raveena has been one of the most exciting up and coming R&B acts over the last several years. On Headaches, she makes a song that “recalls the dizziness that comes with being in love” and does this by mixing psychedelic sounds into the soft R&B that she has become known for. The music video is an ode to her identity as a part of the LGBTQ+ community and tells the story of two lovers from different Asian-American communities.
04. Wonderful – Burna Boy
Nigeria’s Burna Boy has been on the track to superstardom and, with a song like Wonderful, it’s not hard to see why. This was my song of the summer. There were many instances when I would just put this song on repeat and go for a walk during a sunny day. Whenever 2020 had me feeling down, this song continued to put a smile on my face. With his unique take on Afrobeats, Burna Boy has created an anthem that will be played for years.
03. IDORU – Grimes
The narrative around Grimes has changed a lot in recent years but the one thing that hasn’t changed is her ability to make pop music that still sounds new. Most of her new album Miss Anthropocene is dark and heavy but IDORU is the complete opposite. IDORU is really just a love song complete with cheesy lines and pretty sentiments. In the hands of Grimes though, it’s anything but traditional.
02. always – keshi
Keshi has been a rising star for a while, gaining legions of fans via various streaming platforms and social media channels, especially among the Asian and Asian-American communities. With his mix of lofi beats and acoustic singer-songwriter styles, this former oncology nurse is making music that seems very much of our time. On Always, which he describes as an ode to “his musical hero John Mayer”, he samples Mayer’s “Waiting for the World to Change” and creates a song that sounds like a perfect mixture of all his influences. Beautifully melancholic.
01. Me & You Together Song – The 1975
There is no surprise that the 1975 is at the top of the list; the real question is which song. For the third year in a row they’ve had a song in my top 10 and they’ve released my favourite album for the second time in that time span. Realistically, all three of Me & You Together Song, If You’re Too Shy (Let Me Know), and (Tonight) I Wish I Was Your Boy could’ve competed for top song but I have a rule where I don’t have more than one song by the same artist and album on this list. In fact, If You’re Too Shy (Let Me Know) might have had the best hook of the year. In the end though, Me & You Together Song wins out and easily becomes my song of the year.
Me & You Together song is the soundtrack to the beginning of every 90s teen movie. Bright and upbeat, it immediately grabs your attention. While upbeat 1975 songs usually have a dark lyrical edges to them (like It’s Not Living If It’s Not With You or Paris), Me & You Together song cuts away the serious topics and keeps its focus on love. Perfectly capturing the dreamlike qualities of infatuation, this song brings back feelings of teenage naivety. Does it sound like a slightly more refined version of Third Eye Blind’s Semi-Charmed Life or a Goo Goo Dolls song? Yes. Does it fit in nicely on an album that was heavily influenced by UK Garage? Probably not. However, in a year that has been the most uncertain of my lifetime, this is the song that gave me some reprieve and took me away to a more happy and simple place.
