Monthly Report: November 2024 Singles
1. Doechii - "Nissan Altima"
Doechii pretty much only sings on the first two singles TDE pushed to radio after signing her, "Persuasive" and "What It Is (Block Boy)," so I was a little concerned that she'd kind of end up with a career like Tink where radio listeners only ever hear her R&B stuff and don't even know she raps. So I'm glad she's got a banger like "Nissan Altima" getting spins, even if the Grammy noms are really doing more for her profile than the single at the moment. Here's the 2024 singles Spotify playlist I've been updating every month all year.
2. Charli XCX - "Apple"
I'm not that into the biggest single from Brat, "360," but I'm glad that TikTok's favorite song from the album has started to get some pop radio airplay as well. Of the songs Charli has done with George Daniel so far, "Apple" is the one that almost sounds like The 1975 could've made it, in fact I'm a little disappointed that the band did a different song on the Brat remix album.
3. LL Cool J f/ Saweetie - "Proclivities"
LL Cool J making a legit great album is one of my favorite things that's happened in music in 2024. And while he and Q-Tip mostly focus on beats and bars on The Force, as someone who thinks "Doin' It" is one of LL's masterpieces, I'm glad he threw in one absurdly horny club song on there, even if the beat is probably still a little too left field to blow up these days. The "Proclivities" beat was made out of part of Gary Numan's "M.E." that wasn't sampled on Basement Jaxx's "Where's Your Head At," but I especially love the bass guitar noodling on the outro, which based on my recent Raphael Saadiq interview, was probably played by Q-Tip himself.
4. Blink 182 - "All In My Head"
I didn't like Blink 182's first two big singles after reuniting the Enema era lineup, "Edging" and "One More Time," which each veered too far in opposite directions. "All In My Head" is the first song they've done in a long time that's reminded me of the 2003 self-titled album, though, that's the Blink that I like the most.
5. The Linda Lindas - "All In My Head"
Oh look, another good song called "All In My Head" that's on the alt-rock charts right now! I love that the Linda Lindas really seem to be building a solid career off of the viral moment they had in 2021.
6. Hozier - "Nobody's Soldier"
As much as I like "Too Good," I respect that it's probably going to remain a unique moment in Hozier's career that doesn't substantially change his musical direction. And I love that he decided to follow up his big pop moment with an anti-war song that one of those psychedelic soul-era Temptations songs Norman Whitfield produced in the early '70s.
7. The Marias - "No One Noticed"
I really liked "Run Your Mouth," the most immediate and uptempo song from the album the Marias released earlier this year, and I kind of assumed that would be the biggest hit from it. But then one of the quieter, more introspective songs, "No One Noticed," took off on TikTok, and has become their first Hot 100 hit, which is kinda cool and unexpected.
8. Mario - "Space"
Mario's never really had a particular sound, but his voice usually sounds good in whatever style he tries on. And I really dig what he's doing on his recent singles co-written by James Fauntleroy. I saw people on social media try to dismiss "Space" as him doing wannabe Lucky Daye music, but I don't think Lucky Daye or anyone else has an exclusive claim to retro soul and Mario has an excellent voice for it.
9. Latto - "Brokey"
I'm not very snobby about the emphasis on money and wealth in hip hop, people are just writing about our world in less polite terms than many would prefer to hear, that's a big part of what hip hop is to me. Mocking people who don't have money, though, usually doesn't sit well with me. "Brokey" has a great beat and is just catchy enough to kind of get past my defenses, even in a stretch of October when I'd just spent thousands on car repairs and paying off my 2023 taxes and barely had a dollar to my name, I was still driving around nodding my head to "Brokey."
10. Eric Church - "Darkest Hour (Helene Edit)"
Eric Church has always been happy to step over the line of what will be received well by Nashville or his fans and expand his sound, and his polarizing set at this year's Stagecoach festival seemed to be a significant chapter in that story. Church is from the part of North Carolina that was hit hard by Hurricane Helene, and the benefit single he released is another big departure and I really like it, I kind of hope his next album really goes off into some new directions.
The Worst Single of the Month: Marques Houston - "Cowgirl"
I'm down with "Old Town Road," Cowboy Carter, Shaboozey, and a whole lot of other country and country-adjacent records by Black artists in recent memory. This just feels like pathetic trend-chasing from someone who barely ever made any good music to begin with, though.
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on Wednesday, November 13, 2024 at 8:11 PM.
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