manysmallhands

[manysmallhands]

Top Albums Of 2024: #1 - 'Charm' by Clairo

Having jettisoned any aspirations to be star on 2021’s byzantine but fascinating Sling LP, Charm feels like a move back to the centre, albeit in an odd sort of way. Claire doubles down on Sling’s vintage 70s sound but, instead of the involved jazz and folk experiments, there’s a shift towards a lush, soulful production with soft but insistent hooks and classic pop structures. Lyrically there’s a change of focus too, tho this feels like the result of simply growing up a bit, as the neurotic and inward looking tendencies of songs like "Amoeba" are switched out for something similarly searching but a bit more balanced. 

The change is perhaps most notable on the lush psychedelia that runs thru the middle of the album, where "Terrapin" and surprise viral hit "Juna" combine a slow and sultry heat-haze sound with lyrics which celebrate emotional connection and project a strong sense of sensuality, a world away from Sling’s more cerebral sense of itself. Not that there isn’t conflict on Charm but rather than shrinking inwards, songs like "The Time" and "Add Up My Love" use their sharp edges to find a poppier focus, creating the album’s most commercial moments but in a way that never trades away its warm retro underpinnings. 

Claire’s remarkable voice is Charm’s key instrument, measured and smooth enough to fit comfortably within the old school vibe but also capable of deep vulnerability and packing a huge emotional punch when delivering the big hooks. Leon Michaels’ involvement is also vital, bringing his trademark soulful 70s shimmer to the arrangements as he combines woozy flutes and ringing piano chords to create a world which feels almost entirely divorced from the present day. Occasional elements - like the treated drums in opener "Nomad" - serve to momentarily intrude but never in such a way that breaks the overall spell.

However, his influence can be overstated: Claire herself co-produces with him and, following on from Sling, one has to attribute the myriad strengths of Charm to her own idiosyncratic vision of retropop as much as his ability to help bring that about. It’s a rare album where its conceptual vision feels marked and tangible but never supersedes the quality of the songs. The folky, vulnerable "Nomad", soul pop banger "Add Up My Love" and the eerie, Broadcast-like "Echo" are amongst the best things here but in reality they’re just the most glittering jewels in an almost flawless set. Combining Clairo’s pop prowess with the consistency of her song-writing and world building, Charm is the best new record I’ve heard this year.

[manysmallhands]

Top Albums Of 2024: #2 - 'Eternal Sunshine' by Ariana Grande

Amidst a backdrop of personal drama, Ariana’s 7th LP actually sounded surprisingly calm: more emotionally involved maybe than the good-times focused Positions but hardly slipping back into the claustrophobia of 2019’s thank u, next. Instead, Eternal Sunshine is perhaps best conceptualised as Ariana’s song and dance divorce: the whole thing plays out as a narrative from start to finish, from questioning her marriage in the opening lines of the record, thru the messy break up ("Bye"), infatuation ("The Boy Is Mine") and an hilariously hypocritical “why do you think this is is any of your business?!” interlude in "Yes And?", before finally reckoning with the past and settling into a more settled maturity with her new guy by the end of the record.

At times that high drama is captured clearly in the music, especially on disco influenced opener “Bye”, a wonderfully strident reach into the unknown, and the wailing paranoia of RnB standout "True Story". But surprisingly the divorcey stuff often slips into something quite blissed out and lines like “I hope you feel alright when yr in her!” from the sparkling title track sound a lot less bitter than you might have guessed. In fact Ariana’s demeanour in general is as frequently amused candour as anything more explicitly fierce, maybe tempered by the love of a new man or just enjoying the more performative aspects of the story. On the romantic songs she does capture her intoxication tho, especially on "The Boy Is Mine", a terrific vocal performance where she can barely catch her breath, and the thorough emotional battering of the album's biggest hit, "We Can’t Be Friends", with the pulsing, Robynesque production bringing some energy to its dignified and powerful confessional.

Having missed out on Positions altogether, Max Martin returns to produce here alongside Ilya and Ariana herself and it’s a unified approach that pays dividends. Although there’s a range of styles that move between dance pop, snappy commercial RnB and some gentler ballads, there are sound signatures that keep popping up to give it a wider sense of coherence, particularly in the synthetic sparkle that infuses much of the record and the vocal arrangements, which betray both Ariana’s wonderful talent as a singer and the inventiveness of the team overall, as her voice bounces from speaker to speaker, doubles up and breathtakingly swoops across the spaces inside the music. But while ofc it’s important that it sounds great, the key to Eternal Sunshine is in its wonderful songs, the power of the narrative they drive and more than anything, the vocal performances of the woman at its centre: this really is a personal tour de force.

[manysmallhands]

Top Albums of 2024: #3 - 'The Secret Of Us' by Gracie Abrams

Gracie crept up on me this year, as she did on the rest of the world. While she's spent the last six months going from nepobaby punchline to chart topping star, I personally just kept hearing her songs and saying “what’s that?”, the foundation of many of my best relationships with pop music. Comparisons have been made between her catchy folk rock and Taylor Swift and ofc there are parallels here: Folklore producer Aaron Dessner is an important collaborator and Taylor herself even pops up on the exultant tearjerker "Us", with Gracie’s status as primary Taydaughter making it sound like her own personal fairy godmother is stepping out from the shadows. But Gracie is very much her own personality: messy and full of high Gen Z melodrama but knowing too and always ready with a sharp retort. Her breathless vocal style is conversational and chatty, hooking you in with low key intimacies before hitting big with the massive choruses. I came to The Secret Of Us a little grudgingly but in the end she won me over without any question - these are some of the most open hearted and memorable songs i've heard in a long time.

While her excess of emotion can be seen as annoying - the line “watch me do the wrong thing: classic!” in "Risk" drove me to distraction for a long time before i eventually found peace with it - it’s a feature rather than a bug and in general comes off as endearing, recalling the Big Feelings type songs on my fave Tate Mcrae’s Think Later album. Many of the lyrics here have a back on my bullshit element, where she starts to fall down familiar holes but can’t stop herself going along for the ride, such as on the wonderfully bitter rocker “Blowing Smoke” where her obsession with an ex turns into something slightly uncomfortable. Another variant is where she catches herself on the brink of making an old mistake: the bitchy, upbeat “Tough Love” chronicles her decision to ditch all the ropey on-off boyfriends, reasoning quite sensibly that "not one of them is cooler than all my friends"

Aside from the guitar based material, Gracie also sounds comfortable in her dance pop excursions: the soft, swaying “Normal Thing” is a massive highlight, a song that might easily coast on its gorgeously emotive chorus hook (“don’t worry - I know I’ll - SEE YOU AGAIN!”)  but which offers a whole world of meaning within the central metaphor of a relationship as acted performance. Closer “Close To You” is also an absolute banger, going all in on a pathetic crush with every feeling a recognisable gut punch. The only place The Secret Of Us slightly falters is in the two preceding tracks, neither of which are all that bad but still suffer in comparison with everything else. The haters will continue but it's of little consequence now: Gracie has conquered the world and she deserves every victory.

[manysmallhands]

Top Albums of 2024: #4 - 'brat'//'brat and it’s completely different…' by charli xcx

Throughout 2024, a frequent thought when watching the brat campaign has been “if you had told me that this would happen I would have assumed that it was part of a fever dream”. #1 hits, vast cultural saturation, even finding a way into the ill fated American Presidential Election, brat has been a key topic of conversation all year, driving more cheap clickbait than you could shake a slime green background at. And while much of that element was driven by the critical establishment cheering on one of their faves, brat was plenty good enough to deserve many of its plaudits. 

As advertised beforehand, there are songs here that absolutely go off - lead single and hilarious diss track "Von Dutch" (“I got money, you get mad because the bank’s shut”) is one of Charli’s ultimate bangers and a thumping, club focused tune is rarely too far away. But it’s the more vulnerable material that’s gained most attention and with good reason: one of brat’s key strengths is the insight we’re allowed into Charli’s internal monologue, where worrying about motherhood rubs shoulders with worrying about the charts and anxiety about meeting Taylor Swift might well send her home for the evening. The delicate, questioning “I Might Say Something Stupid” in particular strikes against much we’ve come to expect of Charli: while we’ve heard introspective ballads before, to make one that’s so deeply personal and then couch it in something resembling a Carole King type structure feels emblematic of the shift that she’s made, albeit one that still bears the hallmarks of bedroom electronica.

Elsewhere there are - for once - hits! "Apple" made the top 10 on the back of a Tik Tok dance and is probably the catchiest thing on the album but those telltale personal touches are still here, daring to explore a difficult relationship with her parents. Bonus track "Guess" is far less subtle, focusing instead on a dirty minded sing-song to an appropriately filthy bassline, tho it’s #1 hit status owed a good deal more to the knowingly sapphic Billie Eilish feature on the remix. On the companion album that hosts it, brat and it’s completely different…, there’s a lot of that kind of goofing off on a theme: Julian Casablancas’ stab at viewing “Mean Girls” from the other side of the aisle is especially enjoyable, tho the “Owner Of A Lonely Heart” steals do a lot of the heavy lifting.

A key moment is undoubtably Lorde’s verse on “Girl So Confusing”, where she turns the tables on Charli’s charmingly equivocal OG version, bringing her own vulnerability to the fore in such a devastating way as to make you think afresh about everyone’s unseen trials. In many ways it’s the crowning moment of the project, where brat becomes a kind of pop version of The Sims, populated with characters who’s stories ebb and flow throughout, first in Charli’s mind and then suddenly appearing in front of yr eyes. The remix album is also ambitiously upto the minute, evolving inside the cultural moment to take in Charli's personal ascent and the gossip train powering the year's discourse . And as much as it’s a compliment to brat, it’s just as entertaining on its own terms too, a pair of albums that describe pop music in 2024 that are as rich and exploratory as any you might wish to find.

[manysmallhands]

Top Albums of 2024: #5 - True Magic by Salute

While I enjoy dance music a lot as a singles based format, I’ve struggled to find artists who can keep that quality up over an album's length. Salute, a UK based Austrian dance producer who I know very little about, is one of the few for me who does. True Magic, reportedly inspired by Japanese car racing, is a joy from start to finish, largely because they take that concept and expand it to ridiculous lengths. The album is designed to feel like a journey: the fast garage beat that snaps away throughout feels oddly reminiscent of watching the world move past yr window at speed whereas the more obviously race-themed sections give a strong vibe of playing Formula 1 on the Playstation circa 20 years ago. 

Beyond that, i feel like there are more aspects to the car concept than at first seem apparent: the vehicles that inspired the album were public rather than racing models and the one used in the artwork looks suspiciously like the kind of souped up thing that older kids would take at speed round housing estates back in the 1980s, a period that forms a huge part of the album’s musical backdrop. This more day to day idea of driving leaks into the songs themselves: “System” explores the idea of testing yr new speakers out with some banging tune or other (Salute ofc has one on hand) while the frequent squelch in the music, where it seems to recede a little after every beat, mirrors the kind of effect that you’d get from hearing it on some badly tuned car radio. All this stuff sounds gimmicky written down but in practice you just settle into the groove of it all: True Magic is one of those albums where most of the songs sound much the same but ultimately that turns out to be a good thing.

Within that tho, there are variations. Most of the vocals comes from Salute’s altpop girl mates, most of whom have some sort of pedigree. Rina Sawayama turns up on single "Saving Flowers", with jittery guitars that suggest glossy mid 80s rock and a romantic sweep that gives it all a soft focus sheen. Honorary girl Sam Gellatry's “Maybe It’s You” seems to have come directly out of 1984, with it’s Rockwell referencing melody only adding to the subterfuge. The high point is undoubtably “One Of Those Nights”, where a soft soul sample melts into a light-as-air club banger powered by Empress Of’s reaching hook. Despite the engrossing conceptual framework, plenty of the songs here code as chart dance bangers and there’s something joyous in the melodies that make this feel like it ought to contain at least one hit. In reality the whole thing vanished without trace but Salute probably isn’t all that bothered: True Magic is a terrific success on its own terms and surely a vehicle (ahem) that will take them onto better things 

[manysmallhands]

Top Albums Of 2024: #6 - 'Imaginal Disk' by Magdalena Bay

There's a sense in which Magdalena Bay’s second album still sounds like you'd expect them to but in another it feels like we’ve gotten a long way from home. The same themes are here as on their debut - especially their obsession with bits of musical detritus and a playful dwelling on alienation in the modern world - but Imaginal Disk is executed with such an expansive approach that you could be forgiven for occasionally needing to stop to gather yr bearings. Their style remains as strangely ephemeral as ever and in some ways is only getting harder to pin down, but the hauntological ideas (tho not actual ghosts) scattered throughout are a big part of what makes this sound so striking. The embedding of disposable music elements from the past (jingles, computer soundtracks etc) into the tapestry of the songs is a recurring theme, one that codes into the songwriting itself but also just stuff that drifts in and out of the ether. "True Blue Interlude" for instance is a straightforward pastiche of an advertisement, while on melodramatic high point "Cry For Me", some of the incidental melodies feel like they’ve reemerged wholesale from mid 70s easy listening hits.

Many of the songs have an upbeat, advert-like twinkle, a purposeful ersatzness which is made somehow moving by the odd musical contexts within which they're introduced. 70s rock is a surprisingly big influence on Imaginal Disk: the pessimistic but sweet natured yacht pop of "Killing Time" doesn't necessarily sound out of place alongside their usual, more synthy material but also shares plenty of DNA with someone like Steely Dan, while the powerful and deeply strange "Tunnel Vision" starts recognisably enough before taking a turn and going full Pink Floyd thru the spacey final third. The conceptual framework extends into odd structural elements, so musical phrases start to re-emerge over time and songs like "Fear, Sex" operate more like themed interludes, rambling along as they try to hold it all together. And aside from all the experimental stuff, there are simply a lot of bangers here too - "Death and Romance", "Vampire In the Corner" and "The Ballad Of Matt And Mica" are just some of the songs which are beyond remarkable. But that part isn't really a surprise, that's just what they've always done.

While the album has some kind of lyrical concept, it’s fairly abstract and Mica Tanenbaum’s slurred girlish vocals do little to help you pick it up. Semi-ironic ideas of self improvement through retro consumerism float around throughout: the sleeve features a picture of Tanenbaum having a CD inserted into her forehead and it’s an image that informs much of what’s going on. In truth tho, yr going be struggling to keep up anyway and it’s probably better to just let it all wash over you. Tbh given all the flash and conceptual dazzle it’s a wonder that Imaginal Disk holds together at all: in an odd sort of way, the record it reminds me of most instinctively is Pink Floyd’s The Wall, tho with a much keener sense of humour instead of all the self lacerating misery. But while it’s undoubtably messy at times, there’s a force of will at the centre of the album, a clear idea of where it’s going and what it wants to do that more or less keeps you on board, even when they’re starting to ramble on a bit. And most importantly, that ambition is part of its charm - we may be a long way from "Killshot" and "Airplane" now but it's our memories of how far they’ve come that helps make Imaginal Disk feel all the more winningly out on a limb. 

[manysmallhands]

Top Albums Of 2024: #7 - 'Short n' Sweet' by Sabrina Carpenter

Following her rebirth on 2022’s slow burning success Emails I Can’t Send, Sabrina’s commercial juggernaut takes a more direct approach, hanging onto that album’s combination of witty pop bangers and country ballads but making everything that much tighter, sharpening the hooks and ramping up the sex comedy. From the opening chords of 9 week #1 hit "Taste" it feels instantly glossy, taking on a mid 80s pop rock vibe that that seems engineered to reach across the generations with its sweet but steely melodies and anthemic chorus. The ubiquitous post disco funk of "Espresso" is just as irrepressible, full of dumb, sticky catchphrases and charismatic winks to the camera. It’s hard to overstate how easy Short N Sweet is to listen to - each song seems engineered to be the catchiest of earworms - but underlying that is a high degree of songcraft which makes it a satisfying and substantial piece of work in its own right too.

For something so obviously ultra-commercial, the character Sabrina holds across the album is surprisingly multifaceted. In some senses she draws on old-school sexual stereotypes - the iconography of the era feels almost forces sweetheart-like, taking in 50s bathing costumes and lipstick kisses - but while Sabrina’s lyrical approach (sample line from "Bed Chem" - “come right on me - I mean camaraderie!”) could seem like a modern version of that kind of sexualised role, her characterisation of men throughout the album - as idiots and scumbags, generally incapable of finding their ass if it had a bell on it - makes for a far less passive perspective, more that of someone on a haphazard and often lonely quest for satisfaction. 

The ballads in particular take a vicious line on the guys, especially on the charmingly silly country vignette "Slim Pickins" and, rather more pointedly, on "Dumb and Poetic". Here, Sabrina takes an unusually serious approach to skewering her target, a man who uses a sensitive side to excuse his failure to sustain relationships: lines like “try to come off like yr soft and well spoken/ jack off to lyrics by Leonard Cohen” are delivered with a savagery out of character with her largely tongue in cheek default. Tho it’s perhaps the only song where Sabrina so explicitly bares her teeth, it’s an undercurrent that’s present throughout and one wonders if she might have missed her calling as a more full throatedly confessional singer songwriter. For now tho, she’s simply the biggest new pop star of 2024: it’s a dirty job but somebody’s got to do it.

[manysmallhands]

Top Albums of 2024: #8 - 'Alligator Bites Never Heal' by Doechii

I find a lot of rap quite grim and hard to embrace these days, so the appeal of Doechii’s breakout mixtape for me is in the way it references a lot of retro focused Hip Hop and RnB but in a way that still feels relatively fresh. There are some very familiar sounds on here - the menacing sax on "Boiled Peanuts" has a distinct ring of Cyprus Hill about it for example - but because it never allows itself to get stuck in one mode, Alligator Bites doesn’t end up coming off like a tired retread. Tho the more explicitly 90s focused hip hop is a key element, the floating, modern underground style beats on tracks like "Boom Bap" recall the likes of Westside Gunn or Mike more than any older artists. There’s also a drift thru various styles of RnB, so the woozy "Hide N Seek" feels like a trippier version of Erykah Badu, while "Slide" has a more explicitly up to date vibe that fits in comfortably on daytime radio. 

Doechii has a masterful range of vocal styles in the Doja Cat mode, able to move easily between hard aggressive rhymes and something more charmingly conversational, as well as having a melodic RnB singing voice that she can twist and bend into all sorts of odd permutations. And while there’s plenty of snappier material (as befits an alligator bite), the LP occasionally moves into more experimental areas too, making for dreamlike zones which feel semi-detached from the harder edged tracks. The hazier focus of songs like "Bloom" and "Fireflies" is not so immediately gratifying but these respites work better with repeated listening, forming islands in the sound that let you drift away a little.

Day to day concerns are central to the lyrics throughout: Alligator Bites is primarily diaristic, a record about the hustle of the modern music industry, trying to become a star without losing yr integrity or even just trying to keep a basic grip, as on the hilarious therapyspeak pastiche "Denial Is a River". An idea that returns several times is the frustration of being unable to feel like yr across everything: this is best heard on "Wait", a mix of gorgeously melancholy RnB and pointed, technical rapping where Doechii seems at once resigned to and exasperated by the stuff she’s being forced to let go of. "Profit" and "Boom Bap" look more closely at her place in the rap world, with the latter especially going off hard at people who try to pigeonhole her. It’s as close to a definitional moment as you could get on Alligator Bites, a record that refuses to stay in one place and where that restless energy constantly channels itself into more than the sum of its parts.

[manysmallhands]

Top Albums of 2024: #9 - 'C, XOXO' by Camila Cabello

After three solo albums of solid Latin pop, C, XOXO represented a distinct about-turn for Camila. While the advance promo was all about her embracing hyperpop, a boast sort of delivered on by the wonderful and frankly deranged lead single “I Luv It”, the truth is often a bit more complicated: roughly half of the ten full length songs here would not have sounded out of place on her earlier records and, even within the more altpop material, some of these songs are more off the wall than others. But what it does feel like is something akin to what U2 tried on Achtung Baby: an attempt to harness a kind of cool that isn’t automatically available for the asking. This was something that she soon found out: the press backlash was often vicious, with reviews taking a “how dare she?!” line full of heavy handed authenticity policing. 

Which is a shame, because for those who actually stopped to listen, C, XOXO has got plenty going for it. Rosalía collaborator El Guincho unites with Jasper Harris (Lil Nas X, Tate McRae) behind the desk and it’s hard not to look at them as a team seeking to balance approaches: El Guincho is most obviously in the ascendency on “I Luv It”, but the likes of gorgeously off-kilter ballad "Chanel No 5" and the snappy, minimalist banger “He Knows” bear his mark too: lowkey, deeply unusual but also bracingly melodic. Elsewhere, one assumes that Harris had the upper hand for the more old style Camila material, such as The Dream referencing summer bop "DREAM-GIRLS" (spot the reference!) and the spectacularly ill timed (tho surprisingly enjoyable) Drake collab "Hot Uptown". 

Camila herself ofc is a key player too, fully in charge as chief songwriter for the first time and truly stepping up on the twitching, soaring "Chanel No 5" and the chatty acoustic melodrama of "Twentysomethings". However, she can sometimes sound a bit stretched - "Dade Country Dreaming" in particular is withdrawn enough musically to leave her verse feeling a little exposed, tho luckily guest stars JT and Yung Miami are on hand to steal the show with terrifically bratty performances. Lyrically she takes a hip hop influenced approach at times, drifting into stream of consciousness flows which mostly sound great but can just occasionally fall a bit flat. Tbh I don’t really mind too much - this is Camila after all, I’m not expecting Shakespeare, and i like the sense of her reaching beyond her grasp - but one wonders if a more collaborative approach might have helped from time to time.

The tendency to hedge bets between the two styles feels telling - commercial concerns doubtless came into play - and also speaks to another slight weakness: both sets of material are largely great but it leaves the album feeling a bit messy and unfocused, something added to by the frequent interludes which bring little of any value. The more unusual songs are also too front loaded, meaning that by the time the second half comes around, the early shock and awe has started to fade a little. But this is fairly minor stuff all things considered: the music on C, XOXO is generally very strong. A flop it might have been but it's clear that she needed fresh thinking and, if she can hold her place in this new lane with a bit more confidence, the Camila Cabello show might have a third act in it yet.

[manysmallhands]

Top Albums of 2024: #10 - 'Venus' by Zara Larsson

Often dragged for her lack of personality, Zara’s old school performer vibes actually work to her benefit on Venus, an album which is quite possibly her least personal and intimate to date but one that works perfectly well within those confines. On a record of largely straightforward bops, Zara collabs with some great dance pop producers to cue up banger after banger: MNEK’s spirited I’m So Excited rip off  "Can’t Tame Her" is an early highlight, while the twitchy 00s era funk of "You Love Who You Love" and the dramatic, orchestral "End Of Time" are both hugely impressive too.

Crucially, while she may not have that much distinctiveness lyrically, Zara really does show up as a vocalist with style to burn in these performances, shifting between spurned lovers, concerned friends and breathless onlookers with a joyful flair that suggests that she’s having a ball inhabiting these roles. Overall, it feels like she’s adopting a softer and more romantic persona than on her earlier hits too, which perhaps just reflects that she’s getting a bit older but also suits both the cooing side of her vocals and the more dramatic element for when she really lets rip. Ballads like closer "The Healing" foreground a vulnerability that lurks throughout the album and, while they’re perhaps less overwhelming that the more upbeat material, they do work well and serve a useful function in the overall structure, with the Big Feelings melodrama of "Nothing" especially being a highlight.

Putting its two medium sized hits aside, Venus hasn’t really been much of a success. This is possibly cos it sets her outside the modern game, where everyone is expected to bear their souls and make themselves seem as open as possible. Given the standard of the performances here, maybe a more focused writing and production team could yet make that work for her. But tbh I’m of the opinion that she doesn’t really need all that: Venus is a fun record with bops to spare and foregrounds a performer who’s stylish enough to comfortably hold the show together. Maybe it is kinda basic but it sounds great to me.

[manysmallhands]

Best of the Year Index

I have hitherto resisted doing this because i couldn't be bothered but it's going to get complicated now with multiple top 10 posts, so i am going to make a landing page where they can all be accessed from one place.

Favourite songs posts:

#55 - #46

#45 - #38

#37 - #29

#28 - #20

#19 - #11

Top 10

Top Albums Posts:

#30 - #21

#20 - #11

Top 10:

#10: Venus by Zara Larsson

#9: C, XOXO by Camila Cabello

#8: Alligator Bites Never Heal by Doechii

#7: Short n' Sweet by Sabrina Carpenter

#6: Imaginal Disk by Magdalena Bay

#5 : True Magic by Salute

#4: brat/brat and it's completely different... - by Charli XCX

#3: The Secret Of Us by Gracie Abrams

#2: Eternal Sunshine by Ariana Grande

#1: Charm by Clairo

[manysmallhands]

Top Albums Of 2024: #20 - #11

The second post of my albums of the year! The first post also exists!! More will follow!!! Now read on!!!!

#20. Fred Thomas - Window In The Rhythm

Indie rock

It’s been 6 years since his last proper album and much has changed regarding how much I bother with DiY indie, but I go back a long way with Fred and so I’ll always be excited when he brings a new record out. And all told, Window In The Rhythm is really very good! Most closely resembling 2015’s All Are Saved of his many previous albums, it consists of 7 largely lengthy art rock grinds that take the minutia of relationships and picks away at them remorselessly (there are one or two softer songs in there but most of it is pretty unforgiving stuff). The appropriately titled “Hours” is a bit of a drag but everything else here sounds fantastic and works very well for drifting away to on the grim winter afternoons. Given how the songs kinda melt into each other, I tend to engage with it all as a series of classic Fred set pieces, with my current faves being the way the gentle, ringing guitar arpeggios of "Season Of Carelessness" at first gradually and then suddenly give way to its fizzing, intense electronic coda, and also the bit in opener “Embankment” where Fred does his fast talking about 90s acts party piece, singing  “I made you a tape - withthesamesquarepushersongonitfourtimes - but not in a row” and I know that my favourite indie dude is back for real.

#19. Aespa - Armageddon

K-pop

I tend to struggle to focus on k-pop - i can never remember who's who, partly a function of not being able to buy them here on CD - but mercifully Aespa did a cheap retail version of Armageddon and i've managed to give it more time than most things. And their first full length album turned out to be a game of two halves: the first five songs feature a harder, hip hop influenced sound, full of drama and flash but with a hint of Britney here and there, while the remainder takes a lighter, more girlish tone, with "Bahama" coming off like a kind of k-pop "Kokomo" (which is good, not bad like you think) while "Live My Life" goes full pop punk but with a characteristic, slightly restrained quality that makes it all the more charming. A strong debut and an entertainingly distinct calling card that'll make it easier for me to distinguish them from their peers from now on.

#18. Beabadoobee - This Is How Tomorrow Moves

Indie rock; Singer-songwriter

Bea’s third full album was recorded in LA with Rick Rubin and often seemed as in thrall to America as that would suggest, with the guitars rocked up for a 90s alt vibe and her accent set to a mid Atlantic twang. "Take A Bite" and "Beaches" were both terrific anthems that confirmed her status as burgeoning indie icon but it was her more delicate material that came off best, as "Girl Song" and "This Is How It Went" showcased her huge talent as a singer-songwriter of the old school mode.

#17. Doja Cat - Scarlet 2 CLAUDE

Rap; RnB

Last year’s Scarlet was a terrific album but one where its massive hits failed to carry it to general success. Continuing the era is a brave move but one suspects that this might be a final hurrah for Doja in the rap game before going back to paying the bills. The tone is similar on Scarlet 2 but perhaps a little more lowkey, with songs like "MASC" exuding a melancholy rarely seen on the more bravado infused OG record. But there’s still a lot of fun to be had here too, like on the poppier "OKLOSER" where Doja uses that cute, mocking voice that she does so well and takes it all to some hilariously petty places

#16. Taylor Swift - The Tortured Poets Department

Pop/rock

“How much sad did you think I had in me?” Taylor sings after about 20 minutes here and ngl, there’s quite a lot. Her 11th album has been divisive and understandably so: there’s a sense in which the Antonoff and Dessner partnerships feel a bit played out and its often lugubrious and downbeat tone can get a bit exhausting at times, especially when you tie in the 15 (count 'em!) bonus tracks (which I have mostly tended to avoid). But once you warm to its themes a little, Taylor is still a terrific songwriter and "I Can Do It With A Broken Heart", "But Daddy I Love Him" and the sparkling title track are among her best in what’s largely a strong set, at least til the occasionally lacklustre final third. At heart, TTPD knits together an engrossing narrative which plays on the loneliness of breaking up when yr the most famous woman in the world. Whether you have much sympathy for that is yr own call but for myself, I still think it’s pretty fascinating

#15. Remi Wolf - Big Ideas

Funk pop, rock

I came to Remi Wolf’s second album for the funk bangers but stayed for the hooky indie rock tunes too, at least after I’d gotten over how much i wanted there to be more funk bangers. The most immediate material here is definitely in her sunshine RnB pop style, with "Cinderella", "Pitiful" and "Frog Rock" being some of the catchiest songs I’ve heard all year. But, given time, the rockier "Alone In Miami" became a huge favourite too, with Remi’s diaristic lyricism adding a dimension beyond the hooks and riffing. Big Ideas is comfortable reaching across the stylistic spectrum, being the first record i've heard for a long time that takes in both Prince and Daniel Johnston as notable influences. In summary: there are two Wolfs within this album and both of them are good!

#14. Jessica Pratt - Here In the Pitch

Singer-songwriter; Folk pop; Retro

Her third album Quiet Signs felt a bit hazy and nebulous at times but Here In The Pitch returned to the strong melodies of Jess’s earlier material, a mid century pop record that frequently feels like a warm summer night somewhere in Latin America circa 1962. Tho it’s sometimes as minimal as its small hours vibe might suggest, Here In The Pitch contains plenty of pop energy, full of Spectorish rumble and swaying bossanovas as well as being as packed with hooks as any of this year’s big sellers. While the atmosphere does sometimes tend twds eeriness, Pratt's distinctive babyvoiced coo always feels welcoming on an album where she sounds like she's really enjoying herself.

#13. Tyler the Creator - Chromakopia

Rap; Hip Hop

I’ve never managed to connect much with Tyler before but Chromakopia really blew me away. I'm a sucker for the kind of upbeat funk and soft soul beats that he tends to use here, but his extremely in yr face, percussion heavy approach is also a big draw and the way this album comes at you right out of the gate is hugely impressive. Lyrically, there’s some of the usual bragging that I’d expect but Tyler also gets into the kind of awkward personal and moral quandaries that make up life's grey areas too. Songs like "Hey Jane" and "Take Your Mask Off" have a real depth of character to them, exploring issues like unwanted pregnancy and personal disillusionment in a thoughtful way that doesn't look for neat answers.

#12. Lizzy McAlpine - Older

Singer songwriter; Folk-rock; Retro

Lizzy’s third album, while coherent enough in its focus, finds her stylistically split between a Laura Marling type singer songwriter vein and something more obviously retro focused. In all truth Older is rarely a cheerful record - a young woman’s odyssey thru a time of change type of thing - but it is beautifully rendered, either in rich Fleetwood Mac-esque arrangements or spare, delicate solo accompaniments which reinforce the desperation at its heart. I’ve struggled a little with some of the final third, where the backing tends to drop to a bare minimum and that’s probably kept this out of the top 10 here. But the strength of the melodies and the real character and power of her delivery are getting me now to a point where I’m more consistently enjoying all of it: it’s just the kind of record where some parts of it take a little longer to come into full focus than others. This sort of folky, soul bearing singer songwriter is not always the kind of thing that i can get along with but, far more than most albums of its kind, Older is an absolute gem.

#11. Halsey - The Great Impersonator 

Pop/rock

The Great Impersonator was largely inspired by Halsey’s struggles with life threatening illness and much has been made of her “main character syndrome” by some, regarding the way she places her fears and trials at the centre of the record. In truth it can feel quite jarring at times - and occasionally exhausting - but what it actually made me think of is the way that I, as someone with long term disabling illness, often don’t bring things up, in fact make myself small and don’t talk about the basics of my life, for fear of not being heard or accommodated. So when Halsey talks about her issues here, then it really does feel genuinely moving to hear someone making that space for herself and refusing to be silent.

None of this would matter much if The Great Impersonator sucked but - lucky for us - it’s absolutely fantastic. The multi-decade concept feels a bit hard to parse but generally you can just ignore it and focus on the songs, a clash of genres to rival her masterpiece Manic but with an even greater depth of emotional turmoil to draw upon. Aside from illness, there are the usual self hating bangers like "Ego", and a mix of the two is often welcome too: “Dog Years” especially bristles with fury as Ashley growls “they say all dogs go to Heaven / well, what about a bitch?” and indeed the record is well stocked with good one liners throughout. It's fair to say that the consistently downbeat focus can make for a grim listen and also that the returning "Letter To God" songs can come off as a bit repetitive and boring. But there’s sweetness here too as well as harsh reality - especially on the glorious, featherlight title track - and I suspect a bit more time with this would have shunted it into the top 10.

And that Top 10 is coming soon! i have actually written the posts! Maybe starting tomorrow! Bye for now!

[manysmallhands]

Top Albums of 2024: #30 - #21

Welcome to my albums of the year posts! This will come in four(ish) sections: firstly this one, followed by numbers #20 - #11 which will be in the same format. From there on in, #10 to #1 will all have a longer post of their own but i will post them in two rounds: from #10 - #6 and then #5 to #1. I put a lot of work into doing these but if you click on this and then find that you just don't want to read them (and who does? if you have a blog, i probably haven't read it) just use my randomly scribbled words to assess the situation in brief and maybe press play: you might find that you like something.

Before i start, i just wanted to throw in a bubbling under list, consisting of a few albums i've liked this year that haven't made the cut for various reasons which i'll list as i go:

Beyoncé - Cowboy Carter (Country, RnB) - too long and rambly but some points were made

Wallice - The Jester (Indie pop, singer-songwriter) - not listened to it enough to say much but i think it's good

FLO - Access All Areas (RnB) - ditto

Kendrick Lamar - GMX (Hip Hop) - not entirely sure that i enjoy it all that much but there are certainly some tunes here: it requires further listening

SZA - Lana (RnB) literally just put it on now and it's alright isn't it

With that, i'm just gonna get on with them

#30. Cosmorat - Evil Adjacent 

Indie, Altpop

There’s a certain glitchiness and sense of menace that reminds me of Jockstrap on Cosmorat's debut EP, with singer Taylor Pollock coming off like the kind of girl who used to pull the wings off of flies and has since moved onto bigger and nastier targets. Evil Adjacent is pretty genre fluid so that not only do you not know how the next song is going to sound but the one that yr listening to can become unpredictable at a moment's notice. "Backseat Baby" is a banger of a single but it was the creepy chamberpop of "No Sleep" that caught my ear and there’s enough indie and altpop experiments here to suggest that they’ve got plenty left in the tank. 

#29. Kenya Grace - The After Taste

Dance pop, Club music

Kenya Grace’s first EP is a sort of concept record, a sad girl drum n bass song cycle where the highs of the dancefloor are replaced (or augmented) with the melancholy of someone trying to cling onto love. Viral hit "Strangers" is an obvious pointer with its fleeting relationships that can vanish in a moment but there’s plenty of other strong material here too, with the warmer indieish vibes of "Someone Else" and banging closer “Only In My Mind” both fuelled by tearful fantasies of impossible romance. Nominally I guess she's looking towards the club scene but The After Taste feels more like the kind of record that you might put on when you’ve been dumped and need something to drunkenly sway around to in the kitchen.

#28. Kali Uchis - Orquídeas

Dance pop, Latin pop

Kali’s semi-Spanish language album is probably at its best the more Spanish it gets. There’s lots of fun dancepop bops at the beginning with a liquid summer vibe that the sweat just seems to pour off of, but tbh things starts to drag after the first few and really it’s when the more flamboyant material - like the trad latin "Te Mata" and battering reggaeton "No Hay Ley pt 2" - turns up that it all gets going properly. Tbh this is a tricky listen in deep winter - it’s a record that seems to require a Mediterranean beach as a necessity - but there’s still plenty of fun to be had if you can just match yr stride to the beat as you trudge thru the wind and rain.

#27. Tinashe - Quantum Baby

RnB

Tinashe's commercial revival was a slight mirage but certainly Quantum Baby (and it’s lead single "Nasty") did more to revive her fortunes than anything else had for a decade. I haven’t really enjoyed her a lot before - I tend to find her a bit gloomy - but the eight songs on this mini album feel much more engaging than whatever I’ve heard previously. The back and forth split between the catchier RnB bangers and the more minimal and experimental songs knits together well and, while the likes of "Nasty" obviously stole all the attention, the focus on subjects other than having lots of hot sex on tracks like "No Simulation" and "Cross the Line" give it an emotional dimension that she could probably stand to use a bit more of.

#26. Billie Eilish - Hit Me Hard And Soft

Pop/rock, Singer-songwriter

Billie’s third album has been one of the biggest of the year but, while I’ve found much to love in it, it’s also been a vast source of frustration. The run of songs thru the first side are some of her finest, especially the pulsing, jellylike “Chihiro” and gorgeous love song “Birds Of A Feather”, but the second half falls off quite badly by my reckoning, firstly with “The Diner”, which is simply rubbish, followed by two multipart songs which both start well before drifting off into not so much. Having listened back to it all the night before I wrote this, I am preparing to admit that closing track "Blue" might not be bad and further reassessment could also yet happen. But my feeling that such a lush, delicate and apparently well balanced record managed to drop off quite so far has annoyed me a lot over the course of this year and so i've marked it down a bit anyway.

#25. Nelly Furtado - 7

Dance pop, Latin pop

Nelly Furtado’s seventh album has been seven years in the making, a fact she apparently felt worth celebrating but sadly no one remembered to turn up for it. No matter tho! The world may not have moved on its release but that did not stop 7 being really very good. Nelly sounds happy reaching across the genres, as comfortable making club bangers with Tove Lo as she is singing warm dramatic soul ballads like "All Comes Back", as well as drifting off into other areas like folk and Latin pop with the kind of assurance that one expects from someone who’s already aced them all before. That changeability can leave the album feeling a bit indistinct as a project but there was quality enough here to keep me tuned in anyway, both in terms of the songs and the performer at the heart of them.

#24. Dua Lipa - Radical Optimism

Dance pop; Pop/rock

Dua’s third album was always struggling to get off the ground commercially but it sounds like a victim of poor marketing rather than anything else. The most commanding material here is in her classic dancepop vein, with "Training Season" and "Illusion" still going extremely hard, but pop rockers "Happy For You" and "Falling Forever" both have a wonderfully hypnotic momentum to them too and the psychedelic swirl of opener "End Of An Era" sets the pre-release hype into a more positive context. It’s probably not as good as Future Nostalgia overall but Radical Optimism is still a solid record which largely deserved better than its fate.

#23. Shakira - Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran 

Dance pop; Latin pop

Shakira’s latest Spanish language album is a rather broad affair, largely dealing in sunny latin influenced dance pop but with a strong side hustle of bombastic rockers, emotive ballads and some entertainingly flashy trad stuff as well. Ofc at the centre of it all is Shakira’s trademark quivering vocals and mastery of pop melodrama and, while I’ve only returned to Las Mujeres infrequently this year, I always tend to enjoy it when I do. One of its key wonders to me is how a gentle ballad like "Ultima" can feel like such an extraordinary tearjerker when I don't understand a word of what it’s about. Ofc imagination and the international language of pop manage to fill in the gaps here and there, but i haven't discounted the possibility that she’s communicating how sad she is about having to pay her tax bill, something that i think we can all relate to. 

#22. The Last Dinner Party - Prelude To Ecstasy

Indie rock

The title here gives a strong impression of the kind of flouncing around in the dress up box vibe that they’re well known for, but scratch the surface of The Last Dinner Party and luckily they’ve got talent to burn too. Channeling early Kate Bush, Queen and Abba into their theatrical artpop sound, things can occasionally feel a little overdone, especially on their gothier numbers. But songs like "Caesar On A TV Screen", "The Feminine Urge" and "Nothing Matters" are hugely impressive with their big choruses and high drama, as well as an understanding that being a bit ridiculous is a thing to be taken very seriously.

#21. Confidence Man - 3AM

Dance, Club music

Confidence Man’s third album carried on with their 90s dance obsession but shifted it more towards rave culture. The move suited them well: their goofy image is pretty much ideal to take on the glow sticks and finger popping vibe of the era and musically it was a cosy fit with their all bangers all the time approach too. 3AM is their best record yet for me: certainly it's more consistent than Tilt, less focused on lyrical gimmickry and more fully on top of its material, but also it doesn't just make empty retro references and brings a clear understanding of the joy inherent in the kind of music that they're making.

Back whenever i finish the next round

[manysmallhands]

Favourite Songs of 2024: TOP 10!

For the literally seven people who have clicked on these over the last few days, the wait is finally over! And at the end of all that, my #1 is the same as everyone else's! Oh well... (previous entries can be found here, here, here, here and, oh, here!)

10. Magdalena Bay - Death And Romance

I don't know if it's just that i hang on their every word anyway but Magdalena Bay’s psych makeover felt like a bit of a grand statement, a bold and brilliant comeback from one of the best acts around. It’s not so much that Death And Romance is experimental - there’s a lot that sounds stranger on the new album - it’s more about the sense of drama and epic vision that they bring to it all, the sound of a band on top of their game, flinging the doors wide open and confident you'll want to see what's inside.

9. Gracie Abrams - Blowing Smoke

While she's been much dragged for her nepobaby origins, Gracie’s album surprised me by being extremely good and Blowing Smoke is the high point, a brooding, pointed folk rocker about an ex who continues to dominate her thoughts. There are some entertaining barbs in the lyrics where a bitter Gracie tortures herself (“tell me is she prettier than she looks on the internet?”) but, as ever, her secret weapon is in the quality of her hooks, creating instant earworms that work on multiple levels. 

8. Remi Wolf - Cinderella

This dayglo funk bop is yet another ultimate summer tune that still plays out perfectly in the dead of winter, each sing-song hook and flurry of brass carrying all of the lightness and energy that it did 6 months ago. Remi herself lends such a infectious joy to her performance that it’s hard for me not to be swept up by her enthusiasm and the timeless line “ME AND THE BOYS IN THE HOTEL LOBBY!” works both as a cheeky wink to the camera and the kind of instantly memorable lyric that I’m never likely to shake.

7. Charli XCX - 360

When Charli said “I’m yr favourite reference, baby!” back in May, it sounded like a bit of characteristic bravado: six months on, this key piece of Brat’s pop culture meta-commentary feels a lot more like prophesy. In truth, my first thoughts on 360 was that it came off a little underdone next to the maximalism of Von Dutch, but it wasn’t long before it stuck on me as one of Charli’s catchiest singles, playful and melodic as well as being 2024’s ultimate piece of manifestation. And it’s true: I do jump when AG made it!

6. Lady Gaga - Disease

Many have pointed out that this return to the sleaze and ferocity of the Born This Way era does not necessarily chart a new direction through its unsubtle pathways. To which I say: yes, but who cares when it sounds this good? Disease is a banger from start to finish, the filthiest and most concentrated encapsulation of Gaga’s desire as sickness vibes for well over a decade, pulled off in such a way as to hit like a sledgehammer to the face and leave you ready to go all over again.

5. Olivia Rodrigo - So American 

Olivia’s only new song this year was this screaming new wave banger, an unusually positive love song where its melodic sweetness is matched only by the fierce holler with which she delivers it. By far the best of the Guts Spilled deluxe tracks, it confirmed to me that her rockier material is the mode in which she truly excels, equally a delight for both her swooning younger fans and the Olivia dads getting all wistful for the 90s.

4. Salute ft Empress Of - One Of Those Nights

One of the standout cuts from Salute’s brilliant album of altpop girl collabs, One Of Those Nights has a soft soul base but soon cranks up the pace for yet another squelching dance banger, pulled along by Empress’s soaring hook. While not especially sophisticated, the thing that makes Salute stand out is that they bring some real character and joy to their material and that signature sound is all over this.

3. Clairo - Nomad

Something of a red herring as the opener to an album of sultry 70s soul bops, instead Nomad picks up the folkier thread of 2021’s Sling but recasts it in a pop context, baited with sharper hooks and a less neurotic sense of self. Ofc these things are all relative - Nomad still offers little romantic relief other than the need to cling onto something that’s already gone - but the lift into the chorus showcases what might be her finest melody yet and the moment this year that’s most reliably brought tears to my eyes

2. Skrillex, Hamdi, TAICHU & OFFAIAH - Push

His chart bothering days seem largely behind him now but at least that gives Skrillex and his pals the time to create filthy basslines like the one that rumbles through Push. Taichu’s whining vocal snaps back and forth to create an indelible hook but its that bottom end that really grabs the attention, something capable of bringing the roof down on everyone but in such a way that you’d feel sure you’d gotten yr money’s worth.

1. Chappell Roan - Good Luck Babe

I had started to think that overplay had ruined this for me but I just put it on and no, it’s still as devastating as it was when it was climbing the charts back in the spring. Obviously it has the full emotional tumult of the chorus going for it but there's so much more too - the intentionally hokey violin flourishes in the second verse, the barely held back rage of the bridge, even the much dragged slow-mo ending - that add little dashes of colour and spirit and contrive to make Good Luck Babe arguably the most unifying pop anthem in over a decade. A key memory from this year for me was how often i'd hear this on the radio and be forced to stop what i was doing when the bridge came in, because i simply couldn't focus on anything else. At a time when there's a good deal i'd rather not be thinking about, i'm always happy when pop music can come to the rescue and this song has never failed to oblige. It might be a predictable winner but it's a worthy one for all that.

So that's that! And all that remains to be done is to thank anyone who read all or any of these posts, or just had a quick look and was inspired to press play on something. Following in the spirit of all the best 90s indie bands, i wrote this stuff for myself and if anyone liked it then that's a bonus.

[manysmallhands]

Favourite Songs of 2024: 19 - 11

If you've read one of these already you know the drill, if you haven't then it's really not that complicated. Previous entries can be found here, here, here and here. Read on as we approach the ALL IMPORTANT TOP 10...

19. Doechii - Wait

While busily dusting herself down from the wreckage of Katy Perry’s ill fated 143, Doechii found time to make some fantastic music on her own this year. Wait is the kind of slinky neosoul jam that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on Doja Cat’s Scarlet album, combining smooth RnB vocals with tight rapping in a plaintive tale about holding things together. I’m a sucker for this kind of classic era hip hop throwback and Wait is as good as any yr likely to hear.

18. Lizzy McAlpine - I Guess

While she wasn’t able to build commercially on last year’s surprise hit Ceilings, Lizzy made huge artistic jumps in 2024, mastering the kind of wistful retro sound that informs I Guess and helps to make it such a great song. While she's largely remade herself as a 70s folkie, there’s something quite widescreen to the sound here in places that feels more of a piece with a modern production. But her pleading, soft toned voice remains her best attribute, telling a story of desperate dating where the payoff feels more resigned than triumphant.

17. Eminem - Houdini

There are things that absolutely make me wince about this song - Eminem’s current era may be high concept and character driven but it still has a strong “does this offend you yeah?” element to it that made me switch his album off inside 3 minutes. But ropey as some of its schtick undoubtably is, Houdini really is an absolute banger, full of gross out and extremely bad taste jokes of course but also living up to his claims of being a ‘lyrical technician’, as he recaptures the goofy cartoonish energy of his early material while exerting the kind of performance control that allows him to ramp up the comedy, drama or tension at the drop of a single word. 

16. Taylor Swift - The Tortured Poets Department

Taylor’s all conquering *counts on fingers* 11th album was fine but a little too predictable by my reckoning and ran out of steam a bit in the 2nd half (as many of her records are prone to do). But when it did catch fire there were still some terrific songs and the title track was amongst the best of them. It channeled her newly verbose lyricism into a warm, diaristic romance with one of her finest melodies, a song which sparkled and burned with a nostalgic twinkle, as well as the sense of a life being lived that felt a lot more enviable than on some of her other songs this year.

15. Sonny Fodera Ft Jazzy, DOD - Somedays

Chart dance bangers have changed very little in the last 30 years: take a pounding beat, flashes of house piano, some generically uplifting lyrics and you may well have a hit. And yet it’s still possible to make these elements go extremely hard and Sonny Fodera - building on last year’s similarly terrific Asking - is the latest producer to really nail the formula. Jazzy’s vocal has the right mix of pathos, hope and yearning, the tension builds and dissipates in all the right places, but the thing that makes me love this unconditionally are the absolutely pummelling drops that run into the chorus, which blow me away every time this comes up on the radio and have given me life on so many occasions this year.

14. Charli XCX ft Billie Eilish - Guess remix

Possibly the crowning moment of the year in pop was hearing this daft, sleazy club banger crash into the charts at #1, the peak of a glorious ascent which had been rising steadily since the spring. Reminiscent of the kind of forbidden sing-song that you might hear in a school playground, Charli and Bilie’s back and forth adds an extra dimension to the already colossal OG version, spiking it with enough “what if?!” energy to set the internet alight for weeks on end.

13. Tate McRae - 2 Hands

While my Tate fandom has now reached mildly embarrassing levels, late entrant 2 Hands confirmed to me why she's still worth it all. It’s another iteration of her charming ‘tough but cute’ act, with a chorus just as strong as that of 2023 megahit Greedy, but this time as part of a more substantial song that works better as a start to finish listen. The breaks have a loose rattle that drift twds hip hop territory but there’s a space age zip too that feels new for her, adding extra energy to the already punchy production. And yet possibly the most intriguing aspect of all this is the “not one, not three” line in the extended chorus, posing important questions about exactly how many hands Tate’s exes have had?!

12. Beyoncé - Ya Ya

Beyoncé’s project to rediscover country music’s hidden past took a detour with this ramble thru a bunch of fun 60s RnB tropes. Ya Ya ties together Good Vibrations, Genie In a Bottle and These Boots Are Made for Walking as a way of reuniting some lost heritage, in a banging hard times anthem which, crucially, is a catchy song that you’d actually want to listen to (not always a given on Cowboy Carter). One of the most kinetic, powerful and often downright silly records released all year: if only all of her album had channelled this kind of energy.

11. Camila Cabello Ft Lil Nas X - He Knows

2024 was a tough year for Camila and Nas: both iconic hitmakers of the late 10s who made long awaited comebacks, both of which fell flat on their asses. Camila did at least get her album out tho, the flawed but fascinating “C, XOXO”, and this was my favourite song from it: a glitchy, minimalist pop banger where the momentum of two terrific vocal performances pull everything along in their train, the better to show that there was always more to them than star power alone.

[manysmallhands]

Favourite Songs of 2024: 28 - 20

Continuing the countdown as far as the door of the top 20! Previous entries can be found here, here and here. Now, we carry on...

28. Miso Extra - Slow Down

Miso takes more of a dance turn on her best song to date, a collaboration with DJ Boring (no it’s ok, he’s interesting) where the eerie bleeps and twitchy garage vibe combine with Miso’s low key drone to create something that sounds both hypnotic and creepily compelling. The lyrics might just be one verse repeated over and over again but ultimately that turns out to be a bonus, as you'll be wanting to sing along and it keeps things simple.

27. Tyler The Creator ft Teezo Touchdown - Darling, I

While much hip hop these days feels a bit bleak and cold to me, I was an instant sucker for this kind of sweet hooked, RnB flavoured groove that Tyler often favours on his new record. Darling, I is one of those things that I probably shouldn’t like so much, where our hero rather selfishly sets out why he’s incapable of committing to one woman, but it’s also a little bit sad when he admits that he’s dooming himself to a life of loneliness and even quite charming in its blunt self knowledge. All things considered, i'm calling it a bop.

26. Ava Max - Spot A Fake

The fact that Ava once had a #1 hit feels like a bit of a fever dream now but Spot A Fake shows that she can still turn out a banger in her pop auteurist, neo-Flashdance signature sound. “I’ve got a 6th sense when it comes to a bitch” she sings and it’s that sense of high melodrama and low comedy that keeps me coming back, that and the impossibly catchy tunes anyway.

25. Szou - Thinkin' Bout

Post Good Luck Babe it feels like only a matter of time before this kind of bubbly 80s pop rock begins to reemerge, set against the glossier version of the era that still tends to dominate. Szou, a tiny duo who popped up on my radio one night, use shuffling synths (somehow reminiscent of the Hill Street Blues theme?) and some controlled wailing in the chorus a la Laura Branigan for that peak 1984 vibe, adding some calculated TMI in the lyrics too to give it a touch of Chappell Roan. It manages the great pop trick of channelling a bunch of obvious influences but making them memorable enough to not feel too derivative and catchy enough to bring you back for more.

24. Calvin Harris and Ellie Goulding - Free

Unlike last year’s megahit Miracle (eight weeks at #1!), Free failed to set the charts alight at all but in many ways it was just as good. A light, airy dance banger powered by its drum n bass break and flashing house piano, Free goes off hard into a soaring, skittering chorus early on and never really looks back from there. Calvin gets dragged for being basic but a better way to view him is that he’s mastered his craft better than any of his contemporaries: if it sounds like he could knock this stuff out in his sleep, that's cos he's just so good at it.

23. Jessica Pratt - Better Hate

After drifting off into the fog on 2019’s Quiet Signs, the big surprise this year was that Jess had brought some tunes back with her. Better Hate is one of the best examples of her eerie mid century folk pop, backed by twinkling keys and semi-comic woodblock percussion which helps to create a bit of a Disney vibe. Her distinctive baby-voiced coo feels more playful this time around and while the lyric here is somewhat enigmatic, the harmonies and melodic dance make this sound something akin to a party, albeit one that takes place in an undefined earlier epoch.

22. Tinashe - Nasty

Possibly the most ecstatically greeted #61 hit of all time, Tinashe’s viral sensation felt like vindication for the faithful but added a new lightness and snap to her catchy RnB template which stuck out sharply from the gloomier material of her past. Full of highly quotable catchphrases (including, quintessentially, "is somebody gonna match my freak?!"), Nasty may not have hit big but it did capture a moment this summer with attitude, humour and a surprisingly touching sense of yearning at its core.

21. Emei - Rabbit Hole 

This is another pick-up from evening radio, again from an artist that I knew nothing about. Rabbithole is an edgy pop banger: I like the the contrast between the early 80s synth stylings and the punchier, more modern production, and also the way it will stutter towards a stop and then explode back into life again. Much like Tate Mcrae’s ‘Greedy’ last year it gets a bit lost after the second chorus but (also much like Greedy) the twitchy bounce and energy mean that it doesn’t really matter all that much: all I want from this is more. I do have to say tho that when Emei (aged 25) says "oh my god i'm getting old", she owns me so hard that i shall probably have stop listening to her soon.

20. Cosmorat - Backseat Baby

I have recently started to conceptualise some of my listening as "hopscotch music" - songs that sound like the kind of thing you’d hear sung in a school playground - and Backseat Baby may be the clearest example of them all. It slouches along in a kind of elegant, restless groove punctuated by occasional jolts of comedic violence, but the key thing that holds it together is the repeated chorus of “NOT A CRIME IF YOU DON’T GET CAUGHT!”, chanted with the kind of malevolence you’d expect from a bunch of 12 year olds who you'd discovered playing with matches. Always fun, if in a slightly nervous way.

More tomorrow, maybe

[manysmallhands]

Favourite Songs Of 2024: 37 - 29

Nine more today as i settle into a more even pattern, the better to surprise any straggling readers WITH A TOP 10 at the end of the process! Previous entries can be found here and here! Now read on...

37. Confidence Man - I Can’t Lose You

The 90s dance revivalists turned away from big beat this year towards a more explicitly ravey sound and my general take is that it went pretty well? I Can’t Lose You especially is the kind of dance pop that seems to suit their semi ironic take on it all, full of catchy ear worm melodies and warm, good times vibes alongside an eagerness to draw attention to what they’re doing that feels something like performance art.

36. Shakira ft Rauw Alejandro - Cohete 

Didn’t manage to listen to Shakira’s Las Mujeres album much this year but did find myself coming back to this one, a summery Latin pop tune with a looping funk bassline, shimmering guitar and Shakira doing that cute little trill on her voice that will conspire to keep her out of a tax debtors prison yet. I make it sound like it's not that much but I’m rarely happier than when I’m listening to this song, a simple but breathtaking piece of pop music.

35. Bea and her Business - Safety Net

Bea is someone I know little to nothing about but this stood out to me when i heard it on the radio. It’s a sweet but sour chamberpop tune where the plucked strings seem to show off how tightly wound the singer is as she reels off all the reasons her ex has missed the boat. I really like how delicate but pointed it feels, with Bea's witty barbs and smart pop culture references adding some gleeful charm to its bite.

34. Rosé ft Bruno Mars - APT.

What exactly is an APT? We never find out but the repeated monotone of the title is possibly the catchiest chorus of the year, ideal for singing while shaking yr head from side to side and looking a lot like an idiot while yr doing it (nb: I had not seen the video at the initial time of writing but, having done so now, it seems that I’m absolutely in good company). Bruno continues his reemergence with a supporting turn that’s much more fun than any of his own songs but it's Rosé’s goofy charm that carries the day and leaves me in eager anticipation for life beyond Blackpink.

33. Kali Uchis ft Rauw Alejandro - No Hay Ley pt 2

Somehow I never quite found the time to listen to Kali’s album all that much this year - it was far too cold when it first came out, then it all seemed a bit more energetic then I’m ever likely to feel in the summer - but it's a fine piece of work and No Hay Ley pt 2 is one of the best songs on it. There's a languid, liquid feel across both the synth backing and Kali’s swooping vocals, but the reggaeton beat hits like a battering ram throughout and never lets you drift away. 

32. Ariana Grande - True Story

It’s one of the more unassuming tracks on her excellent Eternal Sunshine album but the moody tableau of True Story has just as much to recommend it as any of Ariana’s 2024 hits. The bouncing bassline and impossibly catchy chorus hooks provide a neat counterweight to its narrative of betrayal, with some terrific line deliveries by Ariana - “for fun you like to pray for my demise!” - all adding to the wailing melodrama of it all.

31. Beabadoobee - Take A Bite

Beabadoobee's more American take on her sound took a little time to get used to but it wasn't long before i learned to love the gentle Edie Brickell-isms of Take A Bite . Her newly assumed cowgirl twang and the twisting acoustic chord progressions of the chorus feel like a step in a rockier direction than previous efforts, but one that crucially manages to hang on to her key melodic strengths. While she flexed her songwriting muscles a bit more elsewhere on the excellent “This Is How Tomorrow Moves” album, this simpler variation is perhaps the song of hers that stuck with me longest in 2024.

30. Kendrick Lamar - Not Like Us

I am in no mood to try and cram the new album in the hope of finding a song I like better than this one, and besides, are there any others that will generate so much feverish discourse, will upend entire careers, will change the way we look at whole areas of pop music (I’m getting carried away here) like this one did? No, sadly that will not be the case. Listening to it now, what stands out is the quiet, relentless fury of Kendrick’s performance: not that there was any point in the beef where he sounded like he was messing around but by the time Not Like Us happened he’d clearly mastered the themes fuelling his argument - Drake is a prick, he’s (allegedly) a paedophile and (crucially) he’s not a part of their cultural community - and honed them to the sharpness of a well directed rapier, all the better to piece his underpowered rival’s skull.

29. METTE - Bet

METTE never missed a beat this year, continuing apace with the kind of energetic dance pop that turned my head back in 2023. Bet might be her best single yet, powered by an elastic funk bassline that sneakily climbs and winds through the track and a chanted chorus that is remarkably catchy for something where I still don’t really understand what she’s saying - bet-bet ah-bet, you do - it might be? I’d have to look it up tbh. Anyway, regardless of meaning, my fluency in the international language of pop has helped me to get by in such difficult times.