Best of 2017: 150 do it all again
St. Vincent, Lorde, and The National
St. Vincent’s “New York” was the easiest number one I’ve ever chosen. There were so many good records in 2017—Melodrama, Sleep Well Beast, DAMN., Something to Tell You but I played “New York” everyday for a year at least. I’ve written about it before in this issue.
It’s the perfect balance between longing and restraint. St. Vincent performed it midway through the set when I saw her at the Greek in September; she played material from all her records in the style of Daddy’s Home (2021). The background vocalists made the downer lyrics fun somehow and the tempo was maybe five clicks faster. I was enthralled, finally hearing one of my all time favorite songs performed live at my favorite venue. The title of this playlist comes from the chorus:
I have lost a hero, I have lost a friend
But for you darling I'd do it all again
Melodrama (2017) should have been higher on this list. I don’t listen to the Beck song very often at all, even though it bangs, and “Supercut” could have been “Writer in the Dark” or “Liability” in retrospect. Lorde’s Jack Antonoff era was magical; there isn’t one bad song on Melodrama. She was largely inspired by the pop that was shaping my music taste at the time, like the 1975’s “Somebody Else.”
If Pure Heroine (2013) put Lorde on the mainstream map, Melodrama rearranged the world to revolve around her. She was the world’s biggest pop star and yet her record was about being an introvert with a lot of feelings. The intimacy is painful to perceive, and even more painful to find yourself in:
They say, "You're a little much for me
You're a liability
You're a little much for me"
So they pull back, make other plans
I understand, I'm a liability
Get you wild, make you leave
I'm a little much for everyone
Lorde has somehow managed to maintain some semblance of a normal life amidst her stardom; she spends half the year home with her friends and family in New Zealand and leads a very private life. She made Melodrama in New York, where she was afforded a level of relative anonymity. Jack Antonoff recorded and produced her work brilliantly, allowing her incredible songwriting to be the focal point of the record, as intended.
The National’s Sleep Well Beast (2017) is a perfect album straight through. I didn’t listen to The National at all until I saw the music video for “Dark Side of the Gym:”
The choreography is stunning and the concept of a high school dance in a gymnasium is beyond nostalgic. The two dancers are a couple in real-life, and it shows; the tenderness and fragility of their handling of one another is apparent. As the song ends with electronic noise, the two dancers separate and the woman’s face is shot in close-up. She looks devastated; the song is devastating.
But I'm gonna keep you in love with me for a while
I'm gonna keep you in love with me
Other highlights from this year include “Want You Back” by HAIM, “Take Me” by Aly & AJ, “We Find Love” by Daniel Caesar, “Chanel” by Frank Ocean, “oh baby” by LCD Soundsystem, and “Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland)” by Nai Palm. I wish I could write about them all.
Please comment your favorite songs of 2017—I’m dying to know what I’ve missed.