You didn’t miss anything; check out 678 and there’s you, 679 grief, 680 mistake, 681 talk around it, and 682 every now and then.
This week, I’ve been very tempted to start my best of 2022 list, despite the fact that it’s only October. I feel myself starting the process of winding down, curling into myself, thinking about the past few months and taking stock of what the future might hold. An integral part of my personal reflection practice is remembering the best songs that came out in the last calendar year and ranking twenty five of them in a playlist.
The second half of the year has felt so fruitful and exciting in terms of releases; there also seemed, to me, to be an uptick in sheer volume of albums coming out. When I made my best of 2022 (so far) list, I was surprised as to how little I had to cull my first attempt. Now, I think I’d end up with well over fifty songs, all of them well within the range of favorite.
While I can’t say for sure how everything will shake out once I actually assemble a playlist, I think that my personal pick for best song of the year will be “I’m In Love With You” by the 1975. I read a very early review of the album that teased a song wherein Matty Healy sang the words “I’m in love with you” twenty four times. I immediately knew that I would love it, whatever shape it took.
Being Funny in a Foreign Language (2022) came out yesterday. I listened to it early in the morning, on the way to the airport. Transferring trains blasting “Oh Caroline” felt like a scene from a movie in which everyone around me would suddenly burst into song. “Wintering” is a symmetrical bookend to “Part of the Band;” its lyrics are pithy and quick, collections of interesting facts rather than opinions. The final two songs of the record, expansive and emotional ruminations on the nature of relationships and dependency, left me wrecked, wide-eyed at the power of the English language to express something so profound.
The band has stated that this album is not their magnum opus, but rather polaroids from a vacation. Still, they’ve got a song about school shootings and one about politics in families. The message is simple—empathy and love will serve us and save us—but it’s still powerful, despite their reticence to address it in interviews. Their last two records attempted to address the Internet age with nuance and delicacy not always suited for pop songs, and led to some sticky situations. On Being Funny in a Foreign Language, they return to the more flashy, saturated sounds of their earlier work: string stabs, horn swells, huge choruses. The hooks are infectious to the point of being ear worms, unshakeable. The politics are still present, but in a less forward manner, elements of the record but not its fulcrum. I’m not sure how I feel about Matty Healy basically being forced to tone down the presentation of his beliefs, but I do love the focus on unfettered joy on this record, the push into sincerity.
This record is produced by Jack Antonoff, of Lorde and Taylor Swift fame. Being Funny in a Foreign Language is the first 1975 record produced by an outsider, rendering its continuity and cohesion with the rest of their discography even more impressive. I am suddenly very unsurprised that I liked this record so much—I hold the opinion that Jack Antonoff is the Max Martin of my generation, a superstar that shapes the entire pop industry from behind the curtain. His touch is unmistakeable; “Happiness” is eighties through and through, massive and loud the way that much of his work is.
I’ve seen lots of online commentary about how much the 1975 is calling back to Fleetwood Mac on this album. When I first heard “I’m In Love With You,” it reminded me viscerally of Rumours (1977) and Tango in the Night (1987), those big guitar ballads with choruses for everyone to sing. “Say You Will” presented itself via algorithmic suggestion (thank you, algorithm gods) and felt like the perfect compliment to the 1975’s ethos on this record, earnest and jubilant.
Now that I’m out of the woods of my John Mayer obsession, I can safely look back and say that I was absolutely right; it’s incredible stuff. Energetically, “Half of My Heart” takes this playlist down a few notches, but maintains the lively guitar-driven mood that permeates the mix. The guitar solo on this one has a few wonky notes that I love, evidence of Mayer’s short time at Berklee. The Taylor Swift vocal is subdued and textural, like a secret ingredient.
The whole time I’ve been writing this issue of Record Store, I’ve been thinking about my best of playlist, despite my best efforts. The more I think about it, the more I realize that my favorite songs of the past few years have been deeply sad, expressions of anxiety and uncertainty. I still love that music, and if “Red Shoulder” had come out this year I’m almost certain it would beat out “I’m In Love With You,” but it’s interesting to contemplate the ways in which my life has changed to match that differentiation in tone.
I’d love to see your best of lists this year—here are the rules if you’re interested in sharing:
25 songs, ranked in descending order
title of the playlist is a lyric from the first song, but cannot be that song’s title
no repeat artists or albums
Start thinking about it! See you next week.
"The second half of the year has felt so fruitful and exciting in terms of releases; there also seemed, to me, to be an uptick in sheer volume of albums coming out."
I'm happy to see I'm not the only one feeling this way! 2021 felt kind of "lean" to me, and I was wondering if this year would be the same. Now, I'm wondering how to possibly cut down my picks into something manageable. A good problem to have, of course...
Love Fleetwood Mac. Played a lot of their songs in a covers band in New Zealand. My first semi professional band. Used to enjoy playing lead harmony on Albatross. Many years later I shared the stage for a gig with a Fleetwood Mac tribute band in Florida. It was a real buzz when fellow Kiwi Neil Finn joined Fleetwood Mac, helping to reinvent it, so it wasn't just playing the old songs the public knows and loves.