The 10 Best Songs of 2017
At first thought, the task of selecting the best 10 songs of the year seems overwhelming — even impossible. But once you realize, they are your choices — the tracks that moved you, propelled you, stopped to make you think — it actually a becomes a cinch. Every top 10 list is just that — a subjective sampling reflecting one person or one group’s particular tastes. So perhaps three months into 2018, I’ll stop and think — “Ya know what? “Despacito” was actually not a highly overrated song I associated with the bar at Applebee’s and should’ve been on there!” That’s as likely as a Nicki Minaj-Lil’ Kim collaboration. But the point being is that these year-end lists are not only meant to stamp a moment in time but provoke a broader debate about the voices, sounds and trends filling our earbuds. If you look at a list and say “hell yeah!” “are you kidding?,” and “oh wow, what’s this?” in one reading, it’s probably been a success. So, I encourage you to put my list to that test. Poke it. Prod it. Challenge it. Sing its praises. Lament its failings. Create your own counter list! (Review 2016’s list HERE.) But in all seriousness, there are probably not a better 10 songs emanating out of 2017. Believe me. That I can tell you.
Listen to 10 Best of 2017 via Spotify
10. Thank God I Got It, Desiigner
“Thank God I Got It” is essentially two songs in one, split about halfway through — a detour that’s unexpected yet thoroughly welcomed. The eccentric 20-year-old of “Panda” fame begins with his idiosyncratic beat structure, tossing rapid-fire street raps over what sounds like a trappy, punchy, computerized accordion. Then, about three minutes in, using his trademark throat-jarring vocal call as a transition, he slows down and turns the track into a more melodic, and dare I say, introspective creation. “Keeping your thoughts inside me. Keeping your thoughts inside me. Only think about it, whatever we do we all in private.” Desiigner isn’t in the top tier of rappers just yet (his live show needs fine-tuning and a coat of structure) but his willingness to experiment and constantly push the boundaries is making him one of the most unique up-and-comers in the hip hop scene.
9. A Moment Apart, Odesza
To fully capture the Odesza experience, one must see them live. The galvanizing drumlines. The sweet, harmonizing horns. The hypnotic light show. The Washington-state duo has achieved lofty status in the EDM world in their five-year run and their newest album, “A Moment Apart,” is a testament to their rapid ascendance and grand ambitions. Their latest work is meant to move you with heart-tugging soundscapes, grand cinematic strikes and other-wordly choral vocals. The lead-off track is an urgent set-up for what’s to come, catapulting you quickly into what feels like the culminating scene of a major motion picture.
8. Bodak Yellow, Cardi B
Cardi B may be the first bonafide superstar musician birthed by social media. Her viral Vines and Instagram posts caught the eye of MTV, which placed her in a reality show, which led to buzzy mix tapes, a recording contract with a major label and ultimately “Bodak Yellow.” The braggadocious banger of a hit explains how she became a stripper — a lucrative job she chose in order to escape an abusive boyfriend. Little did she know it would result in the breakout of the year. In September when she became the first female hip hop artist in 19 years to score the №1 song on Billboard’s Hot 100, it was more than a triumph for rap or women. It was the culmination of the American dream. “Bodak Yellow” is a trappy, cocky, contagious, smack-talking declaration of independence from her former life. And her “bloody moves” get people so razzed up, they trigger impromptu dance parties in the New York City subway. As she sings, Cardi B doesn’t have to dance anymore. But we’re fortunate her catchy rhymes are forcing the rest of us to.
7. Never Give Up, BLVK Sheep, Yuneer Gainz
Take a string of uplifting vocals. Layer them with a slow crescendo that builds to a scratchy drop. And voila, you’ve produced a impressive EDM song. The extra ingredient in “Never Give Up” is the addition of a choir, brought into the mix by Yuneer Gainz, who came up with the idea while creating the melody. “When someone wants to make a big sound; you need to be loud. What’s louder than more voices on a record?,” Gainz explained. So be brought in his mother and aunt to infuse a gospel sensation that eventually slows the song to its ethereal finish. It also just so happens that this creative mixing of genres is the future of music, not the exception.
6. Blood Brother, Zeds Dead, Diskord, Reija Lee
The sweet, open air vocals of Reija Lee provide the lift for the piercing trappy instrumentation of the usually bass-heavy Zeds Dead in “Blood Brother.” Lee’s celestial voice is crucial to this overlooked song’s catchiness, but it’s the high-pitched synthesized drop (which some might liken to a chipmunk) that converts this into a compelling dance jam.
5. Greed, Sofi Tukker
It’s been a breakout year for Sofi Tukker, the genre-bending duo who have released five original singles over the last 12 months, including “Fuck They,” an eclectic, high-paced middle-finger to doubters and haters and “Energia,” a Brazilian-influenced concoction that maintains a clubby jungle feel. Sofi Tukker is quickly becoming a quick hit factory,, playing by their own offbeat rules and discarding labels or trends. “We don’t want to be limited by a certain BPM or a certain group of artists that people associate us with. Scenes come and go. We just want to make stuff that excites us and hopefully it excites other people too,” they wrote to me in an email. On “Greed,” it’s Sofi’s earsplitting scream over a subtle but twangy bass guitar that provides the pent up release so many were searching for this year. For pure vocal difficulty, “Greed” is Sofi Tukker’s most daring track. And no, it was not a coincidence they released it on Presidents’ Day.
4. Feel Good, Gryffin, Illenium & Daya
In a year drenched with corrosive negativity and overwhelmed by the revelation of abusive relationships, here’s a sunny song to make you feel better. Even good. Electronic DJs Gryffin and Illenium partnered to produce a fun-loving, uplifting track with a sultry guitar and tropical-sounding instrumentation. But it’s 19-year-old Daya who puts this song on her shoulders and carries it with her dazzling voice that is simultaneously delicate and soaring. “You make me, you make me, feel good. I like it.” With Gryffin’s burly strings, Illenium’s percussion drop and Daya’s angelic pipes, it’s hard not to want to grab those closest to you, smile and dance the night — or day — away.
3. Humble, Kendrick Lamar
If there is, anymore, a single song that dominates a year, 2017’s offering would be “Humble,” which rocketed to №1 on the Billboard 100 chart in May, just in time to monopolize summer radio, backyard barbecues, dark nightclubs and daylit festivals. With “Humble”, Kendrick — who has entered the elite club where immediate recognition simply requires a first name — has produced a sonic earworm that’s appealing to mainstream audiences while keeping true to his nasal-rapping roots. It all began with a Mike WiLL Made-It created beat, originally designed for Gucci Mane. But when Kendrick heard it, he was taken by its resemblance to the earliest days of hip-hop, “where it’s complex simplicity, but it’s also somebody making moves.” He swiped it up and turned out a joint detailing the trail from modest beginnings to superstardom. “That beat feels like my generation, right now,” he told Rolling Stone. “The first thing that came to my head was, ‘Be humble.’”
2. How Do You Sleep?, LCD Soundsystem
The most enduring song on LCD Soundsystem’s comeback album is not its popular opener “Oh Baby” nor is it the popified, danceable “Tonite.” In fact, the group isn’t even playing its best new song on its current tour, possibly due to its darker hue and the patience it would require from a live audience. “How do you sleep?” is a tribal, slow-boiling, nine-minute opus that ages to its optimal tasting level during the epic crescendo in the closing two minutes. This centerpiece song is about the loss of a friendship, (in this case, the dissolution of James Murphy’s relationship with a production partner) and the bad blood that seethes internally even after the person is out of your life. “Standing on the floor, facing you. I can’t see you, your impermanence,” Murphy sings in derision. “This place is empty. Empty of you.” But it’s the imposing percussion and piercing synths that carry this bittersweet but ultimately booming track. It triggers emotions of loss but also stubborn defiance. “Yeah, if we meet again tomorrow, just like nothing went wrong,” refers to how one might ignore the wounds and fake it if forced to confront this personal divorce. But Murphy closes by making it clear he’s not at fault for this rupture, signaling he’s made his peace with it. “Erasing our chances. Just by asking. How do you sleep?”
1. Praying, Kesha
Fans eagerly waiting Kesha’s return to music could be forgiven if they were expecting a defiant party anthem filled with hazy clubs, glitter-bombs and hangover-induced regret to punctuate her comeback. Instead, the 30-year-old pop star re-emerged this summer with a moving ballad that toggles between simmering anger and therapeutic empathy. Kesha is ostensibly “Praying” for her former producer, Dr. Luke, who she accused of sexual and emotional abuse during their 10-year collaborative relationship. (A judge dismissed her case.) After a protracted legal stand-off, she finally escaped the grips of her contract to showcase a solo voice that’s stronger than it has ever been in this standout single. Over soft piano chords, a melodramatic choir and a goosebump inducing orchestra, Kesha proves she doesn’t need super synths and electronic pops to carry a top flight song that captivates. In “Praying,” she is seeking to channel her rage from her career-threatening struggles into a big, bright rainbow. But at its core, this is a beautifully choreographed “Fuck you” to her nemesis, a feeling completely relatable to anyone who has suffered betrayal. “And you said that I was done. Well, you were wrong, and now, the best is yet to come.” The sweetest revenge in art, and life, is shattering success. And in a year defined by women across the country publicly bearing their abuse at the hands of powerful men, Kesha’s angst-filled release rings poignantly prescient.
