Fuck 2020. Let’s get right to it. Songs are only eligible if they were first released in 2020.
Cursed By Calendar Dua Lipa: “Don’t Star Now”
Though “Don’t Start Now” was released in late 2019, its quality became more evident than ever alongside the rest of the still-otherwise-excellent Future Nostalgia. “Don’t Start Now” is pop perfection, with producer Ian Kirkpatrick getting every moment just right.
10. Taylor Swift: “marjorie”
It’s certainly no surprise that Taylor Swift can make a tearjerker about one of the women in her family, but “The Best Day” was so heartrending because it was small and fragile and made you appreciate that the relationship was still in motion. But “marjorie” is no small, fragile song, it’s her biggest epic since “All Too Well,” at first a glorious tribute to her grandmother until the bridge takes it deeper: “I should have asked you questions/I should have asked you how to be.” The perfect song for a year when all our grandparents became more vulnerable than ever. Not everyone made it.
9. Jessie Ware: “Save A Kiss”
Jessie Ware’s best ever song takes a mundane moment in her domestic arrangement and turns it into everything.
It’s wild to think that Megan Thee Stallion is already threatening to conquer the world, finding herself in this year’s two bonafide event songs, and though “WAP” is wonderful, “Savage Remix” is the greater statement of that new power, complete with Queen Bey showing up to flex the rapping she developed on EVERYTHING IS LOVE.
7. Phoebe Bridgers: “Kyoto”
The Phoebe Bridgers song that’s least like the rest, “Kyoto” is a hazy romp through Phoebe’s insecurities about her own success and her rage towards her father. Yeah, that Copycat Killer version is pretty awesome, but I prefer the way the original is presented triumphantly, better encapsulating the contradicting feelings of the content.
6. The Chicks: “Gaslighter”
Not as important as “Goodbye Earl” or “Not Ready To Make Nice,” sure, but “Gaslighter” is the reborn Chicks’ tightest pop construction, and even at 50% the rage of “Goodbye Earl,” Natalie Maines’ ire is still inspirational.
5. The 1975: “If You’re Too Shy (Let Me Know)”
Despite Matt always overindulging his stranger ideas on the verses and threatening his songs’ universality, The 1975 can do the hell out of a chorus, and “If You’re Too Shy (Let Me Know)” is their greatest ever, the horns elevating the naughtiness to capture things far less specific than Facetiming.
4. Fiona Apple: “Shameika”
Yes, the key point is the power in small moments of solidarity among young women, but what sends “Shameika” over and above is that Fiona is wrong: she did see her again, “Shameika” unleashing an observer effect upon itself. The evolving story of “Shameika” resonates in a year where so many people focused inwards and took the time to look backwards
3. Will Butler: “Not Gonna Die”
The greatest Arcade Fire song in a decade is a little ill-timed. Outraged at the furor drummed up after the 2015 Paris Attacks, “Not Gonna Die” radically rejects any suspicion that your neighbor is going to kill you. Of course, the year is 2021, and for entirely different reasons your neighbor just might.
2. Emperor X: “The Ballad of HPAE Local 5058”
After a Super Tuesday that felt like the Red Wedding, this song about a New Jersey chapter of Health Professionals & Allied Employees was just about the only convincingly hopeful thing I heard all spring, the sort of hyperspecific song about political perseverance we honestly hear too few of.
The best song of 2020 ends up having little to do with this fucked to death year. For its first two minutes and fourteen seconds, it might actually sound more at home in the early 2000s (an album track or one of the lesser singles from some Missy Elliott album). Characters Keisha and Felicia each get their kicks with Danny before their worst suspicions about their lack of presence on his Instagram materialize.
Then 2:14 hits. Missy couldn’t do this.
They find power in their shared knowledge and spread the word to their community: If you fuck with him, he’ll fuck all your friends. Don’t trust the man!
They’re not sad for getting played. They’re finding enough joy in what revenge can be had.
Just a note on the Spotify playlist, my #2 song is not on the service, so make sure you listen to that separately.
Back when Tumblr still mattered, One Week One Band was a fairly large deal. But it took me so many years later to finally realize I’d found an act that I both sufficiently loved and felt like, well, mine (who really needs to read more writing about The Clash?). So I spent a week in early August 2020 writing about Alex Lahey’s music. Links collected here for easy access.
Taylor Swift’s bracket came third, and wouldn’t you know it, “Blank Space” torched through all competition, and now it’s time for me to make my own list. Moreso than with Kanye West and The Beatles, 25 proved to be an uncomfortable cutoff, not necessarily because she has more great songs than The Beatles, but because the quality of so many of them bunches up around number twenty-five. So with specific apologies to “Clean” and “Getaway Car,” these were the 25 that I felt married to, and I wouldn’t want to leave a single one off a playlist of Taylor Swift essentials.
I got on the train later than I’d like, but since falling in love with Red, I’ve grown to regard Taylor Swift as one of the very most important recording artists of the past fifteen years. In that short time, she’s built an incredibly formidable library that can rival that of nearly anyone. Here’s the cream of the crop.
Shout outs to the guy absolutely losing himself in the “ONE, TWO, ONE TWO THREE FOU–“
24. “Fifteen”
This isn’t exactly my wheelhouse, but no song is as emblematic of why Taylor Swift caught fire, which is that her music was absolutely indispensable to young girls. “Fifteen” is an unflinching look into young womanhood, the forces that wish to do it harm, and – “we both cried!” – the importance of camaraderie therein.
23. “Love Story”
But she was just as important to five-year-olds as she was to fifteen-year-olds. This song might not be on this list if it wasn’t for its key change selling its narrative’s dramatic finish.
22. “Fearless”
Her breakthrough album’s most expert production serves one of its most expert uses of dramatic imagery.
21. “The Story Of Us”
“The Story Of Us” is rather minor writing-wise, but the frantic drums, the urgent guitars, and the tumbling piano result in one of the finest productions of her career.
20. “All You Had To Do Was Stay”
The way that repeated, falsetto “stay” beams through and through is just gorgeous.
19. “State Of Grace”
It was unreal to hear a Taylor Swift album open with those booming drums. She was no stranger to grandeur by this time, but still, “State Of Grace” gestured toward something more eternal.
18. “I Wish You Would”
1989 had a flawless blueprint for pop most notable for its layered use of Taylor’s voice, never more apparent than in the distant, booming “I WISH YOU WOULD!” or the little, “I, I, I, I, I, I wish I wish I.”
17. “I Knew You Were Trouble”
Yes, the drop. By this point, Taylor’s pop turn felt inevitable, and on paper this sounds like it’s forcing things. But despite 2012’s attitudes towards dubstep, this is one of her most flawlessly executed refrains. Now freed of its baggage, it sounds natural.
16. “Picture To Burn”
No Taylor song feels as kinetic and chaotic as “Picture To Burn.” It’s haunted by an uncertainty about where exactly her rage will be directed.
15. “Red”
The way “Red” echoes and the voice – “reh-eh-eh-ed” – reverberates is stunning, and she gives this song one of her best vocal performances.
14. “Begin Again”
Taylor Swift’s most narratively satisfying moment puts a bow on the pre-pop portion of her career. And then we watched it begin again.
13. “Hey Stephen”
Every single time I listen to this, I’m in awe of how meticulously handled the rhythm of each syllable is.
12. “Forever & Always”
Her most underheralded song? “Forever & Always” is not Taylor Swift’s best breakup song, but it’s her most forceful and focused. She’s released many songs with the intent of humiliating its subject, but here she’s so surgical, so methodical. Target destroyed.
11. “Cruel Summer”
Produced and co-written by Annie Clark, “Cruel Summer” is a peculiar entry in the Swift canon, but it’s perfect pop, especially the bridge. I would very much have liked Lover‘s rollout to start with this.
10. “Enchanted”
Had “All Too Well” not happened, it’s very possible that “Enchanted” would be discussed as the sorta-secret masterpiece in Taylor Swift’s discography, the apotheosis of the fairy tale themes from her earlier work that would mostly vanish hereafter.
Man, when she gets to “please don’t be in love with someone else.”
9. “Delicate”
Not many songs on this list could be called understated, but despite coming from her brashest album, here’s “Delicate,” the moment where Taylor Swift best meshed with Reputation‘s aggressive embrace of 2017’s popular music. On it, she hesitates, anxious and worried: “Is it too soon to do this yet?/Cuz I know that it’s delicate.” Then: metronomic isn’t its.
8. “Holy Ground”
It chugs along as her most efficient composition and builds to something wonderful, but what really sells it are the narrative turns. That was the first day? It fell apart in the usual way, you guess?
7. “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”
The moment she turned from household name to planet eater.
6. “Style”
Around 2014, the final stragglers were rounded up to accept Taylor Swift’s canonization, and songs as cool as “Style” – its badass riff accompanying the verse – went a long way in finally closing the book on that case.
5. “The Best Day”
Absolute tear-jerker. Please go read Keith Harris’ article about how Taylor Swift and Kanye West wrote the 21st century’s two greatest songs about mothers.
4. “Sparks Fly”
Speak Now‘s infatuation with electric guitar comes out best in this immortal guitar riff. Musically, her career’s strongest moment.
3. “Blank Space”
The success of this treatise on her public image felt so good that she felt emboldened to make the “Bad Blood” music video.
2. “All Too Well”
Her epic. “All Too Well” never lets up, suffocating you with a sense of true romantic loss, through tee ball teams, refrigerator light, and, yes, Chekhov’s scarf.
1. “You Belong With Me”
Her breakthrough. Musically so light on its feet, spiritually closer to Simple Plan than the nearest country artist. Not a song valorizing unrequited love so much as a tragedy about the folly of believing that anybody “belongs” with anyone.
Over the past year, I’ve made three lists sorting my top albums of various decades. Here, I collect them. I already have a few regrets. Allo Darlin’ should be on the 2010s list. It feels cold and wrong that The Libertines’ Up The Bracket, Bob Dylan’s Love & Theft, and Green Day’s Warning: aren’t on the ’00s list. And a special mention to PJ Harvey’s Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea, which should 100% be on there. But here they are as they’re originally published, hopefully the start of a canon of sorts. I’ll edit this post as I add the ’80s and so on.
50. The Coup: Steal This Album 49. Green Day: Insomniac 48. Pixies: Bossanova 47. Beck: Odelay 46. Missy Elliott: Supa Dupa Fly 45. Tricky: Maxinquaye 44. LL Cool J: Mama Said Knock You Out 43. Silver Jews: American Water 42. The Flaming Lips: The Soft Bulletin 41. Moby: Play 40. The Notorious B.I.G.: Ready To Die 39. Jay-Z: Vol. 3… Life And Times Of S. Carter 38. Fountains Of Wayne: Utopia Parkway 37. Old 97’s: Fight Songs 36. Yo La Tengo: I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One 35. Elastica: Elastica 34. Weezer: Pinkerton 33. Radiohead: The Bends 32. PJ Harvey: Rid Of Me 31. Radiohead: OK Computer 30. PJ Harvey: To Bring You My Love 29. R.E.M.: Automatic For The People 28. Nas: Illmatic 27. A Tribe Called Quest: The Low End Theory 26. Aphex Twin: Selected Ambient Works 85-92 25. Pavement: Wowee Zowee 24. A Tribe Called Quest: Midnight Marauders 23. Hole: Live Through This 22. OutKast: ATLiens 21. Neutral Milk Hotel: In The Aeroplane Over The Sea 20. Fiona Apple: When The Pawn… 19. Nirvana: In Utero 18. Belle & Sebastian: If You’re Feeling Sinister 17. Green Day: Dookie 16. Lucinda Williams: Car Wheels On A Gravel Road 15. Le Tigre: Le Tigre 14. Public Enemy: Fear Of A Black Planet 13. Old 97’s: Too Far To Care 12. Sleater-Kinney: Call The Doctor 11. Pavement: Slanted & Enchanted 10. DJ Shadow: Endtroducing….. 9. Nirvana: Nevermind 8. My Bloody Valentine: Loveless 7. The Magnetic Fields: 69 Love Songs 6. Lauryn Hill: The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill 5. OutKast: Aquemini 4. Pavement: Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain 3. Sleater-Kinney: Dig Me Out 2. Wu-Tang Clan: Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) 1. Liz Phair: Exile In Guyville
50. Yeah Yeah Yeahs: It’s Blitz! 49. Mekons: OOOH! (Out Of Our Heads) 48. Taylor Swift: Fearless 47. Madvillain: Madvillainy 46. Clipse: Hell Hath No Fury 45. The National: Alligator 44. Tegan & Sara: The Con 43. The Long Blondes: Someone To Drive You Home 42. The Coup: Party Music 41. Rilo Kiley: The Execution Of All Things 40. Arctic Monkeys: Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not 39. D’Angelo: Voodoo 38. Slear-Kinney: The Woods 37. The Mountain Goats: We Shall All Be Healed 36. The Knife: Silent Shout 35. Modest Mouse: The Moon & Antarctica 34. Burial: Untrue. 33. Jay-Z: The Blueprint 32. Radiohead: Kid A 31. TV On The Radio: Return To Cookie Mountain 30. Broken Social Scene: You Forgot It In People 29. LCD Soundsystem: Sound Of Silver 28. Fiona Apple: Extraordinary Machine 27. My Chemical Romance: The Black Parade 26. M.I.A.: Arular 25. Fountains Of Wayne: Welcome Interstate Managers 24. Arcade Fire: Neon Bible 23. Spoon: Kill The Moonlight 22. The Wrens: The Meadowlands 21. The Mountain Goats: Tallahassee 20. Ghostface Killah: Supreme Clientele 19. Jay-Z: The Black Album 18. The Avalanches: Since I Left You 17. Old 97’s: Satellite Rides 16. Wussy: Funeral Dress 15. The Hold Steady: Separation Sunday 14. OutKast: Stankonia 13. Miranda Lambert: Crazy Ex-Girlfriend 12. The xx: xx 11. Robyn: Robyn 10. M.I.A.: Kala 9. Against Me!: New Wave 8. Drive-By Truckers: Decoration Day 7. Sleater-Kinney: One Beat 6. Kanye West: The College Dropout 5. Rilo Kiley: More Adventurous 4. The Hold Steady: Boys And Girls In America 3. TV On The Radio: Dear Science 2. Kanye West: Late Registration 1. Arcade Fire: Funeral
50. Kacey Musgraves: Golden Hour 49. Mitski: Be The Cowboy 48. Rihanna: ANTI 47. Vampire Weekend: Contra 46. Kacey Musgraves: Same Trailer Different Park 45. Carly Rae Jepsen: E•MO•TION 44. Taylor Swift: Speak Now 43. Taylor Swift: Red 42. billy woods & Kenny Segal: Hiding Places 41. Lorde: Melodrama 40. Billie Eilish: WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? 39. Sky Ferreira: Night Time, My Time 38. Jamila Woods: HEAVN 37. Miranda Lambert: Platinum 36. Jamila Woods: LEGACY! LEGACY! 35. Janelle Monáe: The Electric Lady (Suites IV And V) 34. Maren Morris: Hero 33. The National: High Violet 32. Miguel: Kaleidoscope Dream 31. Courtney Barnett: Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit 30. Run The Jewels: Run The Jewels 2 29. Wussy: Strawberry 28. Janelle Monáe: The ArchAndroid (Suites II And III) 27. Vince Staples: Summertime ‘06 26. Chance The Rapper: Coloring Book 25. Grimes: Art Angels 24. Jens Lekman: Life Will See You Now 23. Frank Ocean: channel ORANGE 22. Chance The Rapper: Acid Rap 21. Pistol Annies: Hell on Heels 20. Parquet Courts: Wide Awaaaaake! 19. Japandroids: Celebration Rock 18. Azealia Banks: Broke With Expensive Taste 17. Against Me!: Transgender Dysphoria Blues 16. Tegan & Sara: Heartthrob 15. Lana Del Rey: Norman Fucking Rockwell! 14. Beyoncé: BEYONCÉ 13. Titus Andronicus: The Monitor 12. A Tribe Called Quest: We Got It From Here…Thank You 4 Your Service 11. Vampire Weekend: Modern Vampires Of The City 10. Janelle Monáe: Dirty Computer 9. Fiona Apple: The Idler Wheel… 8. Kanye West: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy 7. Beyoncé: Lemonade 6. Robyn: Body Talk 5. Alex Lahey: I Love You Like A Brother 4. Kendrick Lamar: good kid, m.A.A.d city 3. tUnE-yArDs: w h o k i l l 2. Frank Ocean: nostalgia,ULTRA. 1. Kendrick Lamar: To Pimp A Butterfly
Metalist
Artists With Multiple Entries
Kendrick Lamar: #1, #4 Kanye West: #2, #6, #8 Sleater-Kinney: #3, #7, #12, #38 Pavement: #4, #11, #25 Robyn: #6, #11 OutKast: #5, #14 Beyoncé: #7, #14 The Hold Steady: #4, #15 Old 97’s: #13, #17, #37 Against Me!: #9, #17 Nirvana: #9, #19 Fiona Apple: #9, #20, #28 Frank Ocean: #2, #23 A Tribe Called Quest: #12, #24, #27 Arcade Fire: #1, #24 M.I.A.: #10, #26 Chance The Rapper: #22, #26 Janelle Monáe: #10, #28, #35 Wussy: #16, #29 TV On The Radio: #3, #31 Jay-Z: #19, #33, #39 Radiohead: #31, #32, #33 PJ Harvey: #30, #32 Miranda Lambert: #13, #37 The Mountain Goats: #21, #37 Fountains Of Wayne: #25, #38 Jamila Woods: #36, #38 Rilo Kiley: #5, #41 Taylor Swift: #43, #44, #48 Tegan & Sara: #16, #44 The National: #33, #45 Vampire Weekend: #11, #47 Green Day: #17, #49 The Coup: #42, #50 Kacey Musgraves: #46, #50
Just a few notes on notable absences: 1. “New Slaves,” which would be #26 easily; 2. “Through The Wire,” an incredible song that I never flipped for; 3. anything from Graduation, a very solid album with low peaks.
25. “Touch The Sky” (ft. Lupe Fiasco)
Gleefully retooling Curtis Mayfield’s “Move On Up.” Casually launching Lupe Fiasco’s career. It all just seemed so easy for Kanye West in 2005. So much so that we’d have misplaced illusions of his infallibility for too many years to come. Listen to Lupe’s giddiness at this opportunity in his effortless verse and Kanye’s beaming gratitude at rocketing to superstardom. It was a better time.
(This was the success story of my (relatively upset-free) aforementioned tournament, heretically taking down “Jesus Walks” and “All Falls Down” on its way to a final four finish. I think “Touch The Sky” is an absolute vibe, but c’mon now.)
24. “Spaceship” (ft. GLC & Consequence)
Kanye’s class consciousness would conveniently erode as he got richer and richer, but it started from a startlingly high point.
23. “Heard ‘Em Say” (ft. Adam Levine)
Feels quaint to think that Adam Levine’s most recent work was still Songs About Jane, that this was still a time when fans of either artist could hear this and plausibly not know who the other was. The song intentionally induces such nostalgia.
Diagram that sentence: “Nothing’s ever promised tomorrow today.”
22. “Slow Jamz” by Twista, ft. Kanye West & Jamie Foxx
Twista carries a song by completely trampling on its initial conceit.
21. “Heartless”
Though 808’s & Heartbreak is an underrated, forward-looking album defined by its devastation and vulnerability, its two greatest moments are ugly poses looking outward. In a career defined by excess, “Heartless” is among his simplest compositions and 808’s’ proof-of-concept song, but it’s among his knottiest narratives, which is saying something.
20. “Lost In The World” (ft. Bon Iver)
This finale was the real moment you knew that Kanye’s 2010 opus had stuck its landing, an explosive sprint through Bon Iver’s “Woods,” snapping the tape with Gil Scott-Heron’s “Comment #1.”
19. “Paranoid” (ft. Mr Hudson)
The greatest song from 808’s & Heartbreak is manipulative and gaslighting. But its red flags are drenched in flashing lights, which can discombobulate.
18. “Family Business”
Bolstered by many of these stories not actually being his own, “Family Business” is a tender (verging on precious!) moment from Kanye before his personality outgrew his music.
17. “Otis” by Jay-Z & Kanye West, ft. Otis Redding
It’s rare to find either of these men so focused line after line during the 2010s, and unfortunately just as rare to find them being friendly with each other. But “Otis”! Not a bum line in sight. Just two people living in the moment!
16. “Diamonds From Sierra Leone (Remix)” (ft. Jay-Z) / “Diamonds From Sierra Leone”
“Over here, it’s a drug trade, we die from drugs/Over there they die from what we buy from drugs,” but then “I’m not a businessman, I’m a business, man!!!” Jay-Z interrupts deft social commentary with one of his very best verses of braggadocio. The end product isn’t quite as harmonious as a you-got-your-chocolate-in-my-peanut-butter situation, but each part is so considerable on its own.
The original is very worthy but nonetheless plainly inferior to both halves of the remix.
Honestly? This song is a bit of a slog. It wouldn’t be here if Nicki didn’t absolutely slaughter everything in sight (which, in case you weren’t keeping track, includes Sasquash, Godzilla, King Kong, Loch Ness, goblin, ghoul, and a zombie with no conscience).
14. “Never Let Me Down” (ft. Jay-Z & J. Ivy)
Jay-Z does his thing here and he does it quite well, but as with other early Kanye tracks he misses that other, greater things are at hand. J. Ivy’s spoken word poetry is utilized just incredibly, a trick I wish Kanye tried more than once. And Kanye’s verse that covers his family’s history of antiracism before turning an eye to his near death experience is his best. Ever.
13. “We Don’t Care”
That chorus! Can’t resist it.
12. “Gold Digger” (ft. Jamie Foxx)
The song that turned a star into a superstar sometimes gets remembered as a novelty fueled by a national obsession with Jamie Foxx’s Ray Charles impression, which, sorta. But it’s an expert piece of storytelling centered around West’s best-ever rhyme: “Now I ain’t saying she a gold digger/But she ain’t messing with no broke [broke, broke].” It’s another reminder that West was terrifying with a sample in hand back in 2005, this time weaponizing Foxx to make us mishear Charles for the whole rest of the song.
Kanye’s most forceful piece of production, perhaps his best, but he doesn’t exactly leave SNL feeling embarrassed here, does he?
The remix features cheesier production but also features a far more on-point West.
10. “Jesus Walks”
In a career full of self-mythologizing, Kanye chooses to make his first attempt at it alongside Jesus Christ. The clever devil.
9. “Crack Music” (ft. The Game)
“We invested in that, it’s like we got Merrill Lynched/And we been hangin’ from the same tree ever since.” “Who gave Saddam anthrax?/George Bush got the answers.” These lines alongside “George Bush doesn’t care about black people” reveal that Kanye was the greatest critic of American empire among 2005 somebodies.
Gosh, the way the “It’s Your Thing” drum sample violently gallops across this whole thing.
8. “N—-s In Paris” by Jay-Z & Kanye West
Even Kanye’s “married at the maaaaaaaaaall” bit can’t ruin the greatest fun he’s ever recorded, one where fish filets go supernova, the event horizon thereof these gentlemen’s zone.
7. “Runaway” (ft. Pusha T)
As a piece of humanizing art, ehhhhhh. This doesn’t do much better than 808’s & Heartbreak there. But “Runaway” really works as a piece of self-mythologizing, proof of a man accomplishing the impossible task of climbing out of his Taylor Swift controversy, instilling fearful doubt (however sometimes faint) in anyone who dared tease his “voice of a generation” proclamations.
And yes, this is a Big Dumb Song. Your mileage will vary. Especially when he doubles its length by feeling himself admittedly far too much.
6. “American Boy” by Estelle, ft. Kanye West
I think something like this will probably never happen again. Kanye West is so generous here, putting his absolute A-game into Estelle’s greatest moment this side of Steven Universe.
5. “Black Skinhead”
Somehow produced by Daft Punk the same year they made their frictionless comeback album, “Black Skinhead” is what people think of when they overrate Yeezus. The Death Grips level aggression. The obsession with tragic figures (King Kong, Batman, Jesus Christ, Lebron James (who was also crucified then reborn)). The oafish-or-is-that-the-point 300 Romans missed reference.
His SNL premier of it is stupefying. Watch that, too.
4. “All Falls Down” (ft. Syleena Johnson)
With note-perfect production, this is Kanye’s cleanest landing. But it doesn’t stop there. He begins with an empathetic, relatable scenario before scaling up to hip hop stars in discussing who consumerism really benefits.
The song of his with the most impeccable craft, only toppable at his most ambitious.
3. “Hey Mama”
Even before the song was changed forever, “Hey Mama” was Kanye’s purest-ever vehicle for his affections, a genuinely touching statement that she’s the woman he wants to give the world and an especially captivating wrinkle in the story of the planet’s most notorious College Dropout. People who say they don’t listen to Kanye for lyrics don’t remember the majesty of “My mama told me go to school, get your doctorate/Something to fall back on, you could profit with/But still supported me when I did the opposite.”
Two years after “Hey Mama”‘s release, Donda West passed away. Months later he performed a stirring rendition at the 2008 Grammys.
2. “Gone” (ft. Consequence & Cam’ron)
Wielding Otis Redding’s voice and Jon Brion’s string arrangement, Kanye West set out to make his production masterpiece. Kanye himself, Cam’ron, and a best-in-show Consequence all flex before Kanye sprints up the gates. Things would never be entirely the same, and from then on friends trading verses over a Kanye-curated Otis sample would only ever be a blockbuster event.
1. “Ultralight Beam”
When I named “She Loves You” the greatest Beatles song, I warned of conflating greatest and grandest. But here I’ve given Kanye’s Biggest Dumbest Song top honors. Because it is the Big Dumb Song to end all Big Dumb Songs.
How do I even write this?
“Ultralight Beam” came to us mortals not long after my father had passed. It’s not really a song that makes me think of him, but it found me at a time when I was especially vulnerable to the awesomeness of life. Steph Curry would plant an ultralight beam of his own in Oklahoma City and I’d walk my dog at like 1:30 am just listening to this song over and over, paralyzed in awe.
It’s so empty. It breathes. Then it’s empty again. No Kanye West song has ever sounded so physically empty, but actually, few Kanye songs have ever been so stuffed with people. Kanye, The-Dream, Kelly Price, Kirk Franklin, Chance The Rapper, and the choir.
This all makes these awesome lines so easy to cling to. “This is my part, nobody else speak.” “I’m trying to keep my faith, but I’m looking for more.” “This is a God dream. This is everything.”
God dream.
Everything.
And of course there’s Chance’s verse. Right on time, when the world was so ready to embrace him.
I LAUGH IN MY HEAD CUZ I BET THAT MY EX LOOKING BACK LIKE A PILLAR OF SALT,
UNHHHHHHHHH!!!!
Chance is a showstopper for sure, but he can’t steal it. His appearance works so well because he doesn’t try to, he knows he’s part of something larger, even though it wouldn’t last much longer.
Later that year, Kanye West prematurely ended several shows on his tour and eventually withdrew from public life after praising fascistic Presidential hopeful Donald Trump.
“Ultralight Beam” makes you feel appropriately small, at peace with a certain amount of powerlessness and grateful for the fleeting pleasures we find amidst the horror of everyday life.
Joey Daniewicz 