#1: Cattails - Big Thief
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This isn’t a song that grows on you. It’s a song that hits you hard right away and sticks with you. Big Thief released two great albums this year, and this is the best song from either one (‘Not’ is a close second!). ‘Cattails’, like a lot of Big Thief’s songs, is emotionally raw. It’s a song about home, and also a song about being overwhelmed. Adrianne Lenker sings with a comforting wisdom, repeating the following line throughout the song: “you don’t need to know why when you cry, you don’t need to know why.” Sung by Lenker in the context of this song, those words become the most powerful lyrics of 2019. 🍑
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See the rundown of all top 10 songs on website (link in bio). On the website, you can also find our Spotify playlist of the top 100 songs of 2019.
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#bigthief #cattails #bigthiefmusic #bestsong #songoftheyear #folkmusic #folkrock #bestsongsof2019 #bestnewmusic #UFOF #adriennelenker #musicdiscovery #newmusic #musicblog #musicjournalism #newfolkmusic #musicrecommendations #happynewyear #top10
#3: Come Home - Anderson .Paak (ft Andre 3000)
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Anderson .Paak went back to his soul/R&B roots on this year’s Ventura to follow up his disappointing Oxnard album. Ventura is a great album overall, and ‘Come Home’ is the most exciting part of it. The greatest music always demands investment on the part of its listeners; on ‘Come Home’, the all-time great wordsmith, Andre 3000, provides a verse that demands engaged listening. That means either putting the song on repeat, scrubbing through the verse for clarity, or looking up the written lyrics when keeping up with the audio becomes too dizzying. That’s the investment this verse demands, and that’s why it’s one of the best of the year – and why the song is in our top 3 for the year. 🍑
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See the top 2 in the link in bio
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#andersonpaak #andre3000 #bestsongsof2019 #bestnewmusic #ventura #rap #rapmusic #randb #bestrapverses #bestrandb #makeitbetter #musicblog #newyearseve #happynewyear
#5: Gorgeous - Slowthai
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In the outro of ‘Gorgeous,’ Slowthai remembers when his stepdad took him to his first Liverpool soccer game. The story is a relate-able and down-to-earth ending to the best rap song of the year. Well, it’s relate-able if you’re from the UK at least, since professional football (soccer) hasn’t quite become mainstream yet in the US. One thing’s for sure – no rap songs from America spend much time discussing the sport. Anyways – 2019 saw the continued rise of UK hip hop, and Slowthai emerged as an eccentric and kinetic voice on his album Nothing Great About Britain. The boldly-titled album proves to pack much more than a controversial name, and ‘Gorgeous’ is a brilliantly personal and sharp song about his childhood. 🍑
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Full list on the website (link in bio)
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#slowthai #nothinggreataboutbritain #gorgeous #slowthaigorgeous #ukhiphop #grime #bestsongs2019 #bestnewmusic #ukrap #brexit #liverpool #newmusic #music blog #musicdiscovery #rap #hiphop
