1. Young The Giant - "Superposition"
Young The Giant have long been the dark horse of the ____ The ____ bands that have dominated alt-rock radio this decade, trailing behind Foster The People, Cage The Elephant, Portugal The. Man, and so on. But after years of a slow decline from the success of their 2010 debut, Young The Giant came back recently with a big hit in the 2nd single from their 4th album, and it's a really gorgeous little midtempo track that feels like they finally found the right sound to frame Sameer Radhia's great voice (although there's this funny little moment when his voice cracks on the bridge that I used to think ruined the song but now I kind of like it). Respect to these guys for writing a song with the hook "I want you to want me" but not stepping on Cheap Trick's toes with the song title. Here's my playlist of favorite 2019 singles that I update every month. 

2. Ella Mai - "Shot Clock" 
With Ella Mai's album now notching its 3rd huge radio hit, I'm not sure why she's still worried about Jacquees having a popular remix of the 2nd one, but go figure. This song was an instant standout on her album for me, and it's somehow sounded even better as a radio single, even if I'm mystified that they didn't cut out that awkward spoken word interlude at the end. There's so many great little melodic nooks and crannies in this song, especially in the second verse. I didn't realize the chorus interpolates one of Drake's most annoying album tracks, though, oh well. 

3. Ariana Grande - "Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I'm Bored" 
I love what a hilarious trifling-ass title that is, and the song lives up to it, by far my favorite of the Thank U, Next singles. 

4. Kelsea Ballerini - "Miss Me More"
A really cleverly constructed, well written song about the idea of getting out of a relationship with someone who didn't accept you as you are and getting yourself back. I don't particularly like the production or the arrangement, but the lyric drives it well enough that I don't mind. 

5. Thomas Rhett f/ Little Big Town - "Don't Threaten Me With A Good Time" 
I was kind of excited for Thomas Rhett to perform on "Saturday Night Live" last month because it felt unusual for them to book mainstream country star who doesn't have the critical cachet of a Chris Stapleton or Kacey Musgraves. And the second song he performed, "Don't Threaten Me With A Good Time," was a really great, fun performance, maybe the best "SNL" musical performance of the whole season. Unfortunately, the studio version doesn't have all of the same energy, and it's not being promoted to radio anyway, but it's still pretty good and Little Big Town sounds great on it. 

6. Lil Nas X f/ Billy Ray Cyrus - "Old Town Road (Remix)" 
6 and a half years ago, Billboard changed the formula for its genre charts to weigh streaming and sales more heavily -- probably an inevitable and necessary move, but as I wrote at the time, it had the side effect of Billboard giving itself more power to determine what songs qualified as what genre. And that decision ultimately resulted in the biggest, strangest chart story of 2019: a little-known Atlanta rapper made kind of a jokey pastiche of a country song, and Billboard let it appear on the country charts for one week and then took it off, which triggered a huge backlash which ultimately resulted in Billy Ray Cyrus appearing on a remix of the song that topped the Hot 100. I have to admit I'm a little annoyed by the hooplah -- Billboard making one decision about the song's genre and then reversing it a week later was a bad call, as was the larger policy change they made in 2012, but country music is a genre a lot of non-country artists dip their toe in, and I don't feel like the Lil Nas X decision was the smoking gun of Nashville bigotry that it was touted to be. Still, I enjoy a good weird pop phenomenon, a teenager from the Netherlands sampling the Nine Inch Nails instrumental album Ghosts I-IV for a blockbuster country rap song is simply a hilariously bizarre turn of events. 

7. Maddie & Tae - "Friends Don't" 
The oddest thing about mainstream country that got lost in the "Old Town Road" controversy is that last year black men were more successful on country radio than women. In fact, there are far fewer female voices on country radio now than there were when teen duo Maddie & Tae released "Girl In A Country Song" in 2014 and kind of perfectly summarized the whole male-dominated climate of the genre. Almost five years later, they're still making really good singles like the lovelorn "Friends Don't," but struggling to get airplay. 

8. Lennon Stella - "BITCH (Takes One To Know One)"  
I thought the Canadian sister duo Lennon & Maisy were going to what Maddie & Tae became when they co-starred on "Nashville," but their country career never quite panned out. Now, "Nashville" is off the air and Lennon has started a solo career that is decidedly not country music. This song is particularly entertaining but all her solo stuff so far is pretty good.

9. Post Malone - "Wow" 
I hate to approve of Post Malone's stardom in any way, but if I have to occasionally grudgingly admit that he's got some good singles, then I guess he's earning his keep on the charts. "Get more bottles, these bottles are lonely" is a good line. Also I like that "Wow" and "Sunflower" are about a minute shorter than most of his earlier hits, brevity suits his stupid catchy little songs. 

10. Shaed - "Trampoline"
Shaed are from Silver Spring, Maryland near where I live, and have gotten a lot of local radio hype, they started out as an acoustic folk group and then transitioned into the brooding electronic alt-pop of Bishop Briggs and Marian Hill, both of whom they've opened for. I'm starting to get a little weary of all the music coming out in this style, but "Trampoline" is a pretty strong track, I get why it's blown up. 

The Worst Single of the Month: A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie - "Look Back At It"
I've always been mystified by the popularity of A. Boogward Hoodward more than most other young rap stars, he just seems like the most boring blank slate of amateur Drakeisms. And his latest and biggest hit is just total dogshit, interpolating Michael Jackson awkwardly over a So Far Gone type beat.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 16, 2019 at 4:04 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.