another batch of brilliance:
61. Press (Cardi B):
if Cardi was giving out warnings on previous singles “Bartier Cardi” and “Money,” she’s now fully ready to take aim at any haters on “Press.” Her bars here are non-stop cut-downs as she pivots from menacing warnings (“Put blood on her dress”) to goofier boasts about her money and sexual prowess (“Money still long like weave/Pussy still wet like Florida”) without hesitation. As if she couldn’t get more to the point, Cardi cuts out all subtlety in the song’s hook; “Kill ’em all, put them hoes to rest/Walk in, bulletproof vest,” she raps, enunciating her words with a Migosian aggression until each consonant becomes a dagger. (PITCHFORK)
62. Mother’s Daughter (Miley Cyrus):
ups the ante significantly on her bad girl game.
63. 7 Rings (Ariana Grande):
coasting over an icy beat imbued with real menace, this is the toughest she’s ever sounded, especially when she hits a third verse that’s rapped with impressive dexterity. (PITCHFORK).
64. Tempted (Erykah Badu & James Poyser):
something sweet and short while we wait on a long-overdue album.
65. Seventeen (Sharon van Etten):
written while expecting her first child, van Etten pours her soul into the many anxieties and expectations.
66. Rapture (Koffee):
the coda of her lyrics do not lie.
67. True Blue (Mark Ronson feat. Angel Olsen):
beautifully blended blue-eyed soul.
68. You Ain’t The Problem (Michael Kiwanuka):
as the rapid vocal lines are delivered and the retro production makes itself known, it’s not difficult to see that Michael Kiwanuka is taking things in a bold new direction on this album. (EVERYTHING IS NOISE)
69. Babushka Boi (A$AP Rocky):
inspired by an actual cut, Rocky cuts deep yet funnily here.
70. You, Me and Nobody Else (Quelle Chris, Jean Grae & Jonathan Hoard):
an ode to the serotonin high of love that sounds ripped straight from the early 2000s. It has a real genuine attitude and even features Quelle‘s wife and fellow rapper Jean Grae showing equal affection toward her partner. (EVERYTHING IS NOISE)
71. Days N Times (Five Steez & Mordecai):
keeping the heads bopping with approval.
72. Tourist (Lafawndah):
the world growth of pop manifest.
73. Make-Up (Prince):
as we start going over music he hadn't released yet, we are finding funky treasures.
74. Paper Rings (Taylor Swift):
we hear wedding bells in the coming year?
75. Death In Midsummer (Deerhunter):
an elegy with a guitar solo. The dead in question are ordinary laborers — ”Some worked in hills, some worked in factories / Worked their lives away”—whose lifelong struggle to prosper within the machinery of industry is otherwise forgotten. “They were in debt to themselves / And what? Is it paid off now?” Bradford Cox sings as the song begins its own fadeout into silence. Despite the song’s upbeat catchiness, it’s heavy stuff—and a fitting beginning for an album that portrays 21st-century life as a featureless highway ending in a blank concrete tombstone. (TREBLE)
76. Saints Go Marching In (Nomad Carlos feat. The Council of the Gods):
the team continues to make music their high mark (Wu-tan) would be proud of.
77. Rated R Crusaders (Ezra Furman):
spins a surprisingly stern rock yarn out of nowhere.
78. Les Jeux To You (Julia Holter):
even though we are used to Holter's whimsical delivery over the years, here she holds out until the very end for quite the finale.
79. Selfish (Little Simz feat. Cleo Sol):
here we get the tender side of her inner workings.
80. Red White and Black (Jesca Hoop):
channels her inner Kate Bush to great effect.
