TL;DR
The Spotify playlist can be found here.
Musically, 2019 is the year I embraced pop music wholeheartedly. It was an evolution that had been brewing for years but this year I fell completely into the rabbit hole. K-Pop, Indie-Pop, Mainstream Pop, Electronic Pop, it really didn’t matter the sub-genre, I was in. As my life was very much all over the place this year living abroad and completing my MBA; pop music gave me the instant gratification I craved as I was moving through everything at top speed. The following list will showcase some artists who will be surprises and some who are yearly staples.
For the few of you that have been following my top songs yearly, you will notice that the format has changed slightly. Instead of the top 100 I did last year, there is only a top 20. For those who want to see more, you can go to the Spotify playlist (which you can also find embedded at the bottom of this post) to see my top 110 songs but I’m sure most of you really just want to get to the good stuff. Without further adieu, here are my top songs:
The Top 20 Songs of 2019
20 Nilufer Yanya – Tears
19 Japanese Breakfast – Essentially
18 Kacy Hill – To Someone Else
17 Daniel Caesar feat John Mayer – Superposition
16 Joji and Jackson Wang feat. Major Lazer and Swae Lee – Walking
15 FKA Twigs – Cellophane
14 Raveena – Petal
13 February 2017 – Charli XCX feat. Clairo and Yaeji
12 Billie Eilish – Wish You Were Gay
11 Jai Paul – Do You Love Her Now
10 The 1975 – People
“Well, my generation wanna fuck Barack Obama
Living in a sauna with legal marijuana”
The 1975 are one of the best pop bands around today but on People they sound like something completely different. Lead singer Matt Healy screams and jumps throughout the song. Following some of the themes of last year’s album A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships, People at times feels more like social commentary than anything else. You really feel alive when listening to this one.
9 Caroline Polachek – Pang
“There’s a look in your eyes when you’re hungry for me
It’s a beautiful knife cutting right where the fear should be”
This year I got really into Chairlift, the dream pop band fronted by Caroline Polachek. I’ve always liked their music but never got really into them. So it was a bit bittersweet to do this now that they have broken up. However, the silver lining is that it allowed Caroline Polacheck to create a brilliant solo record. Pang is the standout. Pang showcases her amazing vocals, with each time she says “pang” feeling like a gasp for air. Along with solid production from Danny L Harle (of PC Music), it transforms into a great love song.
8 Bon Iver – Hey, Ma
“My eyes crawling up the window to the wall
From dusk ’til dawn”
If you’ve been following the progression of Bon Iver for every album after For Emma, Forever Ago, a song like Hey, Ma shouldn’t come as any surprise. It features his falsetto and vague lyrics that has become synonymous with his music. Like much of his most frequent work, it also includes many electronic flourishes that adds depth. It feels nostalgic and emotional in the best ways. Really this is peak Bon Iver.
7 The National feat. Gail Ann Dorsey – You Had Your Soul With You
“If I yield to my trances, will I get up close again?”
The National created something completely new this year. Instead of making a traditional album, they created a short film and songs that soundtracked and were inspired by it. For the first time, they also prominently featured female vocals on many of the albums tracks. You Had Your Soul With You is more upbeat than many of the National’s songs but it has many of the same lyrical depth that reveals itself over time. The strong voice of Gail Ann Dorsey, who collaborated extensively with David Bowie, adds an added dimension to The National that we have never seen before.
6 Clairo – Sofia
“Sofia, know that you and I
Shouldn’t feel like a crime”
Clairo showed up everywhere this year. She released her debut album and also was featured on the tracks of many other up and coming DJs, bands, and pop stars. On Sofia, she sings about her “first ever crush on women” and it’s an empowering track that doesn’t deliver with bombast but conviction.
5 King Princess – Cheap Queen
“I’ve been going out too much
Been talking ’bout myself too much”
King Princess has been one of the biggest breakout stars of 2019. Coming off the critical and commercial success of her song 1950, she released her debut album to much fanfare. She didn’t disappoint. On the title track, Cheap Queen, she softly prods along and sings a homage to her community. What was first created as an interlude for the album became its best track.
4 This Life – Vampire Weekend
“Baby, I know death probably hasn’t happened yet
‘Cause I don’t remember living life before this
And darling, our disease is the same one as the trees
Unaware that they’ve been living in a forest”
Vampire Weekend are back! After a hiatus and losing a member of the band, they came back this year with a large double album. On the best songs of the album, it feels like they’ve never left. This Life is catchy and infectious. It includes smart lyrics and small nods to cultural different touch points. It’s essentially exactly what you’d imagine an amazing Vampire Weekend song to be.
3 Carly Rae Jepsen – Real Love
“Well, I don’t know a thing about it
All I want is real, real love”
Somewhere along the line, Carly Rae Jepsen went from being a guilty pleasure to just an artist I loved. Behind the scenes of her most well known songs like Call Me Maybe and I Really Like You, she became a critical darling with songs like Runaway With Me and All That. While her newest album didn’t produce another huge mainstream hit, she continued to create interesting pop music. The best of the bunch was Real Love. It contains many of the things that make Carly Rae Jepsen songs great. It builds and explodes before contracting again, creating both anticipation and intimacy. The lyrics are cliche without being overbearing. Most importantly, it’s a song that makes you feel the way a good pop song should.
2 Baltra and 박혜진 Park Hye Jin – Ahead of Time
Korea has been a hotbed of House music for a few years now. Along with Peggy Gou and Yaeji, Park Hye Jin is spearheading a new group of exciting female house musicians. On Ahead of Time, she works with American musician Baltra to create one of the warmest songs of the year. Singing over a breaking beat and surrounded by pretty flourishes, Park Hye Jin is putting her own stamp on the genre.
1 Blackpink – Kill This Love
Did anyone have a better 2019 than Blackpink? They became the first K-Pop girl group to play Coachella and drew massive crowds looking to catch this momentous occasion. Their music video for Kill This Love smashed Youtube records by garnering over 50 million views in the first 24 hours. Their first world tour became the biggest world tour by a K-Pop girl group with over 300,000 attendees. The numbers were huge but their sound was bigger. Blackpink perfected a sound that has brought them fans all over the world. Simultaneously catchy and sensual, the combination of rapping and singing made them almost unavoidable no matter where you were.
Kill This Love was the main single they promoted this year. Coming off the success of Ddu-Du Ddu-Du and Dua Lipa collaboration Kiss and Make Up, they needed something huge. Kill This Love did not disappoint. With a marching band beat and electro-pop instrumentation, they made this song sound expansive and in your face. Combined with a music video that blended mythology with luxury, everything about this song just screamed excess. Even if you don’t speak a word of Korean, it will be stuck in your head for ages.
Want to continue listening to these songs? Check out the Spotify playlist:
