This years music provided a fleeting and desperately needed moment of salvation.
Best of 2022
The best entertainment of the year, as chosen by Vultures critics.
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Music in 2022 yearned for release.
This was, in hindsight, to be expected.
Alex Suskind
10.F.N.F., GloRilla
10.
Glos voice does all the heavy lifting F.N.F.
A.S.
Read Lawrence Burneysprofileof GloRilla.
9.Home Maker, Sudan Archives
9.
Brittney Parks is a meticulous arranger.
But once everything is right where she needs it, Parks is unstoppable.
She swoops into the song nearly rapping, an instantly steady force over the shifting beat underneath her.
Its a song to settle into, and she wants to make that happen.
Justin Curto
8.Persuasive (Remix), Doechii, SZA
8.
Thankfully, things are moving swimmingly for the Tampa singer-rapper.
(The president made one small mistake: He should have selected the remix.)
That marijuana, shes so persuasive, she coos over a pulsing beat.
Read Cat Cardenassprofileof Doechii.
7.Boys Back Home, Hailey Whitters
7.
Hailey Whitters already mastered the lyrical twist.
Now, Boys Back Home is a next-level fakeout.
The lines about trucks and beer are there, but only to make the place feel more lived-in.
But sometimes I still miss that girl that I was.
J.C.
Read Justin Curtosprofileof Hailey Whitters.
6.Burning, Yeah Yeah Yeahs
6.
The result isnt just haunting, its terrifying.
J.C.
Read E. Alex JungsIn Conversationwith Karen O.
5.American Teenager, Ethel Cain
5.
A.S.
4.bites on my neck, yeule
4.
On bites on my neck, yeule feels things intensely.
And theyve created a song to match the size of those emotions.
J.C.
3.Despues de la Playa, Bad Bunny
3.
(Basically, Tell me what youre playing to and Ill play it too.)
A.S.
2.Cash In Cash Out, Pharrell, Tyler, the Creator, 21 Savage
2.
A.S.
1.Summer Renaissance, Beyonce
1.
She does it all with last-call intensity, not ready to leave the club with any unspent energy.
And like Beyonce herself sings, itssooogood.
Many of those selections appear above in Curto and Suskinds top-ten picks.
The song is colored by vignettes from the pairs shared history, recounted over synths that pop like fireworks.
What more do they need to say?
Frontman Britt Daniel is the songs driving force, stretching his voice to its raspy extremes.
Its the kind of approach that cant be taught.
See: the intoxicating YEET, which works best when you fully give yourself over to it.
(Another thing to give yourself over to?
As Saba says, Its a one-way street.
(The music video of Van Etten doing pilates with an instructor friend is surprisingly fitting and moving.)
Once the churning track behind Van Etten climaxes, the song turns too: Stay out of my life!
she declares to whats been following her.
It sounds like freedom.
Its a perfect expression ofsome of Big Thiefs best traits: casual, playful, communal.
Oh, and its got a shoutout to Lenkers own grandmother on top of it all.
Like a true pop star, Charli makes the song hers with a dominant vocal performance.
J.C.
This Is a Photograph, Kevin Morby
Lately, Kevin Morby has been fascinated by death.
Got a glimmer in his eye, Morby notices.
His father ended up being okay, and the event gave Morby more life, too.
You know Ill take you as you are / As long as you do me.
Allisons surf riff is layered over production from synth master Daniel Lopatin (a.k.a.
Oneohtrix Point Never), who infuses Soccer Mommys spare alt-rock with wall-of-sound sonics.
For me, that was Highway Boys, a fiddle-laden ballad about the difficulties of life on the road.
(In short: Nope.)
Few can pull it off as eloquently as she does here.
Its Gibbss first offering of 2022 and hopefully a taste of whats to come.
But his follow-up, Fruit, makes Sims case as a solo artist.
What would my father do?
Do I take a bite, take a bite of the fruit?
Thats La Buena Vida, the punkish mariachi song shefirst debuted live in October 2021.
Its a heartfelt performance, through and through.
She returns to those roots on Shake It, a neck-snapping posse cut of Bronx drill.
We may still be in a drought of solo Cardi music, but she takes control of Shake It.
Consider Plan B a warning call to any man stupid enough to try and cross the Houston rapper.
That changes on Kind of Girl, the keystone of Munas newly confident, self-titled third album.
It would sound like a dream, if the lyrics werent so believable.
The song never finds a resolution, but thats not what its searching for catharsis is.
J.C.
The Heart Part 5, Kendrick Lamar
Kendrick sounds haunted on The Heart Part 5.
Get used to hearin arsenal rain / Analyze, risk your life, take the charge.
Like its predecessors, Part 5 released as a stand-alone single ahead ofhis new album,Mr.
Morale & the Big Steppers is drenched in paranoia and death.
A.S.
Xtasy, Ravyn Lenae
Ravyn Lenae knows just how intoxicating her powers can be.
If were going higher, feel my touch, she sings.
Literally, the song is about setting fire to houses.
As she reminds us: You cant keep me in line.
Pinkshift could be it.
Its three minutes of pummeling, pit-ready catharsis.
Dark places shall be none / Shes melting houses of gold.
But more than proof of concept or celebration, Wretched is a thanksgiving.
But you were the only one who / Would come through calling / You found ways to rescue me.
Am I ironically woke?
The butt of my joke?
/ Or am I just some post-coke, average, skinny bloke / Calling his ego imagination?
Matty Healy asked, knowing many people would respond with a yes.
(Consider it a new turn from co-producer Jack Antonoff.)
Of course, hes the butt of the joke thats whathe does best.
Ware has stepped into the diva status that came alongsidePleasurewith panache, and here, she gives something jaw-dropping.
The song isnt just meant for the club, it brings you into the action.
J.C.
Bed Time, Flo Milli
Few artists can serve as cuttinga taunt as Flo Milli.
The Mobile, Alabama, rappers music typically toggles between provocation, braggadocio, and outright threat.
With Bed Time, she pulls off a menacing mix of all three.
(Thank her close collaborators 100 Gecs, who regularly match Rico in energy and whimsy.)
On the epic nine-minute closer, grimace_smoking_weed.jpeg, the fear in his voice is what makes things so chilling.
But while Chat Pile has a sense of humor, the band is never joking.
You werent supposed to see this, he screams.
But here it is!
Take Foxglove Through the Clearcut, the dreamlike new single from the upcomingAsphalt Meadows.
Then it explodes into a full-band breakdown big enough to fill the vast expanses Gibbard sings about.
The Americana singer-songwriter doesnt just have an independent streak its her whole ethos, and it defines this song.
Price goads her critics, exuding pure fearlessness.
Just listen to the rest of the lyrics recounting her often-rough backstory.
Midnight Legend gets there through empowerment.
Theres room for both, and much more, in Special Interests vivid vision of the club.
Thankfully, being pulled into the Big Three didnt water down the product.
Pressure, the lead single, feels like the anchor.
Lennox asks over a beat from Jermaine Dupri and Bryan-Michael Paul Cox.
Thankfully, we got a taste in the club-ready Kill Dem, his second new single this year.
We can make a song and dance out of anything.
Our genes are enriched.
It seems there is not a seam out of place in our fabric.
A.S.
Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven?
Thats what makes Childerss new music shine.
But listen closely and hear Childers singing about his own life (like his recent sobriety).
Thats the thesis ofLindeville, the concept album by Ashley McBryde featuring a stellar cast of country-music friends.
J.C.
Body Bag, Monaleo
What happens after Monaleo comesbeating down your block?
She pulls out the body bag.
The rising Houston star is back with a vengeance on her first solo single of 2022, Body Bag.
The standout of standout lines?
I will kill you and let my cousin do a TikTok on yo grave.
Monaleo doesnt just know how to body the competition she knows how to turn it into a moment too.
J.C.
Changes, Jeremih
Contrary to the title of his new single, Jeremih hasnt changed thankfully.
Now, nearly two years after that COVID bout, hes made a characteristically smooth solo return with Changes.
J.C.
Anti-Hero, Taylor Swift
Stop the presses Taylor Swift picked a good first single.
Even the lyrical shortcomings sexy baby, the devices/prices/vices/crisis rhymes add to the charm of the song.
Its good yet imperfect, like the Swift who narrates Anti-Hero.
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