1. Maren Morris - "Girl" 
I never pegged Maren Morris as someone who'd fully go Taylor Swift after her first experiment with dance pop, "The Middle" with Zedd, became one of last year's biggest hits. But her idea of country has always had a fair amount of rock and pop influences, so I was curious to see where she'd head with her second album. And the lead single hits a nice sweet spot of being a little glossy but also twangy and guitar-driven. Greg Kurstin has been one of the most versatile producers in popular music for a decade now, and in the past couple years alone he's really diversified even more, producing singles for Kendrick Lamar, Zayn, Foo Fighters, and now his first entry on the country charts. I'm also a little amused by the title because lately there have been more songs by men with the word "girl" in the title that songs by women on country radio (where there are currently 2 of the former in the top 10 and zero of the latter). Here's the new 2019 singles playlist that I'll be updating with 10 new songs every month this year.

2. The Bonfyre - "Automatic" 
I rolled my eyes at the name, it's like a parody of what R&B singer names are like after The Weeknd. But this song is really good, nice relaxed throwback slow jam, another win from Yung Berg's unlikely comeback producing under the name Hitmaka. 

3. Sara Bareilles - "Armor" 
I've always loved Sara Bareilles's stuff with a simple piano/bass/drums sound the most, so I'm happy that her first non-Waitress record in 5 years is being produced by T-Bone Burnett and has a bit of a more live stripped down sound. I love the left hand piano riff that Bareilles has described as her homage to Tori Amos. 

4. YG f/ Quavo - "Slay"  
From my first spin of Stay Dangerous I thought this song deserved to be a single, and I feel like that means something because the last thing I think about rap radio right now is 'needs more Quavo.' 

5. Lloyd - "Caramel" 
I kind of feel bad for Lloyd and Mario that they're going to be on B2K's 'Millennium' tour this year getting that mid-2000s nostalgia money when they're both still making good contemporary-sounding music, unlike the rest of the bill. So I'm glad that Lloyd's Tru album is belatedly starting to pick up some spins for this song. 

6. Young Dolph f/ Key Glock - "Major" 
Young Dolph released this song about a week after claiming that he turned down a 22 million dollar contract from a major label and stay independent with distro from Empire. And at a time when more rappers with large cult fanbases should be steering clear of major labels and for the most part still aren't, I think it's great that he's really trumpeting that decision with an anthemic single. And I think it's notable that this song, whether the only feature is one of Dolph's proteges from Memphis, has done better than a more calculated crossover single like "Go Get Sum Mo" featuring Gucci Mane, 2 Chainz and Ty Dolla Sign (though I liked that song too). It's kind of funny that the chorus sounds like an accidental rewrite of "Law" by Dolph's nemesis Yo Gotti, though. 

7. Moneybagg Yo f/ J. Cole - "Say Na" 
After a few years of J. Cole getting bigger while eschewing collaborations (the much admired and mocked "platinum with no features" era), he's started to reach outside his bubble more. And while I think his recent guest verses aren't the Moses-coming-down-the-mountain Andre 3000 events he seems to think they are, it is fun to hear him rub elbows with a wide variety of rappers, and I like hearing him kind of get into Moneybagg Yo's comfort zone more than hearing 21 Savage edge into more of  J. Cole sound on "A Lot." 

8. Hailee Steinfeld - "Back To Life" 
I don't know if Hailee Steinfeld will ultimately be remembered more as an actress or as a pop singer, but I've liked a lot of her singles, and this little '80s-style gem that plays over the credits of Bumblebee was pretty enjoyable. 

9. Robin Thicke - "Testify"
The whole up-and-down saga of Robin Thicke's life and career before and after "Blurred Lines" was so crazy and I kinda feel bad for him that a very stable non-crossover career and a decade of marriage just went up in smoke in the space of a year or two, even if it mostly seems like his fault. "Testify" kind of feels like a good first step forward at trying to resume the career he had before, it reminds me a bit of Lloyd's "Tru" in terms of being this low key autobiographical R&B comeback single. 

10. Florence + The Machine - "Patricia"
I didn't know this song was about Patti Smith until I saw Florence live last year and she preceded "Patricia" with a cool little story about her telling Patti about the song. I think High As Hope is my favorite album of 2018 that I left off of my year-end list sheerly by accident and oversight, I should admit. 

The Worst Single of the Month: SWMRS - "April In Houston" 
SWMRS are from California but sing with a weird fake British accent, which in a funny way seemed to make a little more sense when I learned that the band's rhythm section are the two sons of Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong. I don't superficially begrudge them for being second generation rock musicians, though. But I do superficially begrudge them for the played out all-caps-no-vowels band name. 

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 23, 2019 at 9:58 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.