This has only been out for, like, 3 days, but it feels pretty damn immediate to me. I remember in the hours of anticipation on Monday night, I found a leak of the first 2 minutes, and then I was really happy to hear the whole 4 and a half minute thing and hear the bridge and the little twists and turns of the second half, happy to hear a song that confidently takes up that kind of space and owns its status as a dance song at a time when everyone's making 2-3 minute singles. It sounds great on R&B radio already but could also probably hang on Top 40 radio with all those Dua Lipa disco songs, and Beyonce's big powerful voice sounds amazing in house diva mode. It kind of cracks me up how obvious it is that the "back outside" part is why Jay-Z has a writing credit, though. Here's the 2022 singles Spotify playlist I update every month. 

I feel a little bad for Maggie Rogers that Beyonce just set her album on the same release date that Rogers has been camped out on for months, but I'll be excitedly listening to both albums that day. When I first heard "That's Where I Am" I felt that little twinge of disappointment that her second album wasn't just replicating the sound of Heard It In A Past Life. But then I recognized that it's good that she's not making the same album twice, and I love hearing her sort of vividly detailed bedroom pop production style polished up a little bit with co-production from frequent Harry Styles collaborator Kid Harpoon. 

The small amount of airplay "Blackout" got last year was exciting and a little unexpected, but I guess I underestimated Turnstile's rock radio appeal because now they've got another song getting even more spins. It makes sense that Baltimore and D.C. stations have played "Mystery" a lot, but it was fun to spend a day in Philly last week and hear one of their local rock DJs say something like "coming up next, Queen, Nirvana, and the new one from Turnstile." 

There's so much good rap coming out of Memphis the last few years of different styles but mostly not in a crunk post-Three 6 style, so this song felt like it just kinda blew up out of nowhere. And I wasn't sure what to make of it at first, but lately it's just started to really hit me and GloRilla really seems like a star in the making. 

It's a shame that Sam Smith's career has kind of trailed off after their debut, because I think their music has gotten better and better and every single they've made with Stargate has been awesome, "Too Good At Goodbyes" and "Dancing With A Stranger" and "To Die For" and now this. 

I wish "Mask Off" had gone a little bit further up the charts, because it really just bums me out that Future finally has a couple #1 songs and they're both with Drake, he just deserves better than that. But "Wait For U" is definitely a hell of a lot better than "Way 2 Sexy," even if I think "Used To This" is still by far the best Future/Drake record. 

29: Written In Stone was one of my favorite country albums of 2021 and I'm glad that it recently got a #1 radio hit with "Never Wanted To Be That Girl," and this is the follow-up single, not the best song on the album but a good choice for radio that sort of sums up the vibe of the record. 

The whole YSL gang charge thing is still really surreal and depressing, who knows what's going to happen but it's pretty bleak to consider that Young Thug may be going to prison for a long time. Kind of unfortunate timing for this summery Calvin Harris jam to be the next thing out with him on it, but I hope the song does well anyway, I always rolled my eyes at the whole Funk Wav Bounces thing but some of the songs are cool. 

There's something acutely pathetic about someone who's almost 30, older than Miley Cyrus is now, getting famous with a bad rewrite of 15-year-old Mileys "7 Things," to say nothing of the teen movie nod in the title or the desperate attempt to ride the coattails of Olivia Rodrigo's "Good 4 U." This aesthetic is usually catnip for me, so the song's gotta really suck for me to feature it here.