The 10 Best Songs Of 2016
2016's year in music was defined by many events that weren’t difficult to anticipate: Beyonce dropping another culturally piercing album; Adele dominating charts and concert sales; Kanye West leaving critics in fevered exasperation due to his predictably unorthodox antics on and off the stage.
Every year is a good year for music as long as you have the capacity to push beyond your comfort boundaries and explore the scores of rewarding material being produced by an increasing number of new and bold artists. And 2016 was rich in both key categories of originality and audacity.
Music superiority, of course, remains in the eye of the beholder — so any list is immediately open for criticism and debate. That’s sort of the point of a list like this in the first place. In compiling my favorites, I limited myself to one song per album — in order to provide range and prohibit a Kanye-dominant ballot. But I sought to combine what I listened to most often to this year with what I found to be exceptionally moving in sound, voice and beat.
Here are my top 10 songs of 2016. Be sure to let me know what you would’ve replaced, and if you’re generous, where I went right.
10. Sorry, Beyonce
One doesn’t even need to be a rabid Beyonce fan to recognize and admire the excellency in everything she does.
She is the hands down the greatest living live performance artist of the era.
So while there are many other songs I personally listened to more frequently than anything Beyonce produced, a list without her on it would just be silly.
“Sorry” is memorable because it encompasses Beyonce’s defiance, in her personal and professional life. She’s not sorry she’s focused more on herself than her potentially fraught relationship with the wandering Jay-Z and his “fuckin excuses.” And more widely, she’s not sorry for warming into her role as a politically polarizing, sexually liberated figure even though many corners of America prefer her to remain “wholesome” and Taylor Swift nice.
This is Beyonce’s middle finger and she’s enjoying it.
And she’s made it just as enjoyable for us to take the ride with us.
9. Burn The Witch, Radiohead
From their ninth studio album, Radiohead delivered this politically driven ode to raise awareness about Europe’s refugee crisis.
Abandon all reason.
Avoid all eye contact.
Do not react.
Shoot the messengers.
“The ideas of abandoning reason, avoiding eye contact, and not reacting by shooting the messenger all once again point to systemic injustices in society, namely in the form of unfair prosecutions. Or, as Radiohead might call them, modern day witch hunts,” Bustle explained in its interpretation of the song.
The enduring brilliance of Radiohead is their ability a message with beautifully crafted melody, which this is. Strings are the driver here and they build a blistering intensity and dark urgency throughout.
The amazing thing is the band worked on this song as far back as 2000, but weren’t satisfied with the results so kept it in the studio. Sixteen years later the finished product has earned a Grammy nomination for “Best Rock Song.”
8. Trip, Camelphat
There are no words. Literally, this song has zero - which will annoy music fans who need language to propel them into a state of ecstasy.
But for pure house lovers, this “Trip” is a fantastic voyage all by itself.
Propelled by grinding synths, this is perfectly tuned intensity-filled joint for a dark sweaty basement club deep into a careless night.
Or hell play it on a Wednesday after work and try not to groove. Go ahead.
7. Shelter, Porter Robinson & Madeon
Two genuine friends and prodigies on the electronic music ascent pal up to produce a warm, poppy track: What could be more heartwarming.
“Shelter” embodies a lovely, reflective ambiance that represents a big part of the future of electronic dance music — and proves that a lighter, tightly cultivated approach can still be just as cosmically compelling as the fast and hard drops that define the medium.
An added bonus: Their mesmerizing light show makes their dual live performance a truly multi-sensory event, even if you aren’t a fan of the Japanese-inspired animation that cover the video.
6. Highschool Never Ends, Mykki Blanco
At first, Mykki Blanco was uncomfortable with the sub genre “queer rap.” Now, after a breakout year, the 30-year-old North Carolina native is ready to lead the way in defining it.
His launching pad is “Highschool Never Ends,” a searing ballad about love lost that confronts clashing social statuses, hypermasculine impulses, ripe insecurities and temptations abound.
This story is about modern love, its harsh conflicts and petty realities.
But the fusion between electronic music, hip hop and orchestral sounds is just as daring and rewarding as the emotionally raw plot line.
5. Innerbloom, Rufus du sol
“Innerbloom” is built as a song that lives up to its name.
The Australian trio requires listeners to go on a winding journey on this nearly 10-minute electronic track, traveling through piercing synths, discotech-driven vocals and even purposefully deep breaths to arrive at the steady crescendo that gradually turns the jam into a melancholy club song.
Rufus du sol toured the U.S. heavily this year — (including appearing at the 9:30 Club in D.C. this fall) — and the real reward is experiencing them live, because unlike most artists, they match the superiority of their recorded tracks on stage in-person.
4. 4 Degrees, Anohni
Come for the harrowing warnings about global warming. Stay for the palpitating war drums and rousing horns.
This is an overtly political song. The transgender artist conjures images of creatures burning, lying on the ground and crying all due to cataclysmic climate change that humans expressly don’t give a damn about. But its the music that powers this gem.
Anohni’s voice is haunting and distinct. The horns and drums laid over it only heighten, in a way, the suspense of what apocalyptic setting is foreseen next. Though the the full album dropped in 2016, Anohni actually released “4 Degrees” in November 2015. But its so worthy it still made my 2016 cut.
3. Freedun, M.I.A.
From the people’s republic of Swaggerstan, M.I.A. didn’t seem all the hyped to collaborate with boybander Zayn — “He sort of called up and kinda got on the song as I was heading to the airport,” she sliced in September — but we’re damn glad they did.
“Freedun” combines M.I.A’s punchy, rebellious swagger with Zayn’s harmonic ghostly purring to make the most surprisingly enjoyable track of the year.
It’s M.I.A’s song for sure, but Zayn makes it float.
Who’s world is this?
The world is mine, so bring it on.
2. Famous, Kanye West
To the masses, “Famous” will unfortunately be mostly remembered for West’s sexually lewd slight of Taylor Swift, even though he reportedly ran the line —
I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex. Why.
I made that bitch Famous. I made that bitch Famous.
— by the supposedly outraged tween pop star beforehand. But to his hardcore fans, “Famous” stands strong in a long line of West’s most beautiful productions, mixing provocative rap lines under an organ with a sample from Sister Nancy’s airy, bouncy background “Bam Bam” and an obligatory soothing dose of Rihanna.
Even without the eye-popping video that features him asleep in bed with a host of celebrities — including Bill Cosby and Donald Trump — “Famous” is a stand-out song for its rhythmic balance. It’s a comment on fame, of course, but also serves as a pick-me-up of master motivation, via Swizz Beatz:
One thing you can’t do is.
Stop us.
Now.
1. Panda, Desiigner
You’ve heard it, but do you know what it means? Of course not.
Black X6. Phantom.
White X6 looks like a Panda.
The 19-year-old Desiigner’s explanation of the central lyrics of his smash hit song are pretty straightforward: “The all white beamer and the all black beamer, just the X6 and I was just breaking it down and saying what it looked like to me,” he said in an interview.
Simple enough.
The lesson here is that not every great song needs a lesson. Or even a profound idea. Desiigner’s other-worldly voice on top of a catchy backbeat got the artist’s debut song placed on Kanye West’s Pt. 2 on “The Life Of Pablo,” a sterling accomplishment in its own right. By April, it had darted to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and by the summer it was heard pulsating through most any worthy nightclub or crawling city car.
It’s the catchiest song of the year and the most rewarding because it automatically makes people laugh, smile and bounce. In a year such a this, what more can you pandas ask for.
