Luke Nuttall (Editor / Writer)
5. Laura Jane Grace – Birds Talk Too
Few artists could make a small, jaunty folk-rock song one of the best of the year, and even fewer could pull it off with the panache of Laura Jane Grace. This is a song that’s essentially about getting a head tattoo, but with the ever-overspilling detail that’s simply Grace’s natural songwriting form, it could mean anything to anyone. And that’s the true beauty of an earworm this simple, only partly due to the interpolation of Got My Mind Set On You that, yeah, does still slap every time. The rest is filled by Grace’s snarl-through-a-smile delivery and an airtight riff that doesn’t need to evolve do somersaults in the air when it’s this effective. In punk, you don’t need more than that.
4. Cory Wells – Do You Like That You Love Me
There’s probably no objective lens through which to rate this song. It’s very emo and—from the right angle—more than a bit whiny, and is the textbook example of output from a man who puts his fandom of Dashboard Confessional in the song’s very text. But there’s something about Cory Wells that’s so alluring on this song, how no one in recent memory can make self-loathing not skin-crawlingly cloying, and how clearly affected it makes him feel. ‘Raw’ mightn’t be a totally apt descriptor but the believability goes without saying; there’s nagging stress and anxiety and depression that permeates beyond the sealed walls of one song. Couple that with a clear, solemn presentation to perfectly set a tone, and this finds a way to strike that’s such a rarity among artists like this.
3. Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes – Superstar
It’s uncertain whether Dark Rainbow was intended as Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes’ final album pre-hiatus, but it worked as one. Across it, Carter shows more vulnerabilities and cracks in his visage than ever before, with Superstar acting as the sledgehammer blow that clears the board altogether. It’s an utter gut-punch, for a start, as softer post-punk bass and guitars are strong-armed out the way by that incredible rip, and Carter’s pleas to be taken and used just to feel something. In a career of turning points for the man who was once UK punk’s Rottweiler-in-chief, a face-turn like this carries the weight of the world on its shoulders. It’s not just the sad, cinematic glamour that colours its very existence, but the way it peels and moulds itself into a tragedy that houses an anguish from Carter more than ever before. And to that end—yes, you are a superstar.
2. Kneecap – Parful
Parful stands out among Kneecap’s Fine Art in a few ways. For one, it’s more a straight-up dance song than having much to do with their normal hip-hop, in its more euphoric builds and drops and the fact that most of its lyrics are the same repeated verse. For another, there’s a surprising depth of sincerity that comes almost completely from the blue. True, in the context of the album, there’s more enjoyment to be found from mouthier, hard-hitting turns, but Kneecap’s singular moment of solace and connection in the rave setting is an important moment to drink in. With the spoken samples, there’s the additional poignancy of Protestant and Catholic kids in Ireland finding a commonality and unity, and embracing their own similarities in a world that wants them to do no such thing. Maybe it does work more in a vacuum (like most other house songs with this kind of messaging), but it’s also a striking reminder of how deep Kneecap’s unflappability actually runs.
1. Bring Me The Horizon – Top 10 staTues tHat CriEd bloOd
If there were a song that, among the rock crowds, would fit a profile of ‘unanimous best’ this year, it’d be this one. Everyone called it the highlight from POST HUMAN: NeX GEn almost immediately, and that hasn’t exactly changed in the intervening months. If anything, it’s only improved, as the skyscraping distillation of everything that makes modern Bring Me The Horizon tick, slimmed down, sharpened up and made to feel as crucial as possible. The monster chorus is about as good as it gets in itself, and that’s only one piece. There’s also hyper-modern production to factor in, as whizzing synths and splashes of colour bubble between pop-rock and alt-metal in a way that most still can’t replicate. Of this list in particular, it’s the least lyrically investing—the usual cries of angst stylised in cybernetic emo aesthetics—but the fact that Bring Me The Horizon are also the only ones that can make this feel justifiable is worth giving them a break. For what it’s worth, Top 10 staTues tHat CriEd bloOd earns its stripes through an overdose of flagrance and blunt-force impact, and in a package this fine-tuned for that precise outcome, the rush can be like nothing else.
Georgia Jackson (Deputy Editor / Writer)
5. Charli XCX – Everything is romantic
At the core of Brat was Charli XCX’s love of club culture and electronic music, and the Frankenstein’s monster of Everything is romantic completely Charli-fied the oft-spotlighted topic of falling in love. Combining cinematic strings that wouldn’t sound out of place in an Audrey Hepburn movie with an almost oppressive but still catchy beat, this under-appreciated gem puts you in the heat of sunkissed Italy and the sweaty Boiler Room in equal measure.
4. Griff – Tears For Fun
Some of Griff’s biggest anthems to date were found on her debut album Vertigo this year, Tears For Fun in particular leaving her modest bedroom-pop in the dust. Adding choral vocal stacks to her trademark breathless confessionals made for a total arena-filler, now it’s just time for people to catch on and get her there.
3. NewDad – Dream Of Me
NewDad’s Madra was a record that tended towards a melancholy, insular slow burn, but hiding in its back half was Dream Of Me, a heavenly slice of shoegaze pop that seems fully designed to make listeners float through their own post-breakup overthinking. A perfect pick-me-up in the context of the album as well as being a glorious standalone track, it’s baffling that this wasn’t made a single.
2. Sabrina Carpenter – Juno
A wistful teen-film instrumental turned soaring synthpop anthem, Juno is the standout on Sabrina Carpenter’s Short ‘n Sweet. The singer’s immaculate sense of humour shines on the most…excited track on the album, laying out how she wants her lover’s babies in incredibly detailed fashion. Need a track to single-handedly sum up Sabrina Carpenter as an artist? Juno’s your gal.
1. Taylor Swift – Guilty As Sin?
The Tortured Poets Department saw Taylor Swift dealing with a lot of emotions, one of the most interesting being the turmoil of wanting to leave an increasingly loveless relationship for something more exciting. Guilty as Sin?’s soft-rock vibe fits both the sultry situation and Swift’s vocals so well, her trademark diaristic imagery shining against the blissful instrumental. The expert craftsmanship of the track speaks for itself too, peaking and falling effortlessly until the final triumphant chorus and drum fill. If …Tortured Poets… showed us anything, it’s that we need more Taylor Swift like this.
