Best Songs of 2019

My ten favorite songs released this year and the backstories behind them. Find the playlist at the link below.

You can listen to this playlist on Spotify or Apple Music. It is arranged not as a countdown but a mixtape to be listened to in order (total: 35 minutes). Enjoy!

Love Is The Answer

By Lee Fields & The Expressions
Album: It Rains Love

Nicknamed “Little JB” for his resemblance to James Brown physically and vocally, Lee Fields released his first song in 1969, long before anyone else on this list was born. This album hit me deeper than any other in 2019. Love Is The Answer is the final track on it; after hearing this one, hopefully, you’ll want to listen to the whole thing from beginning to end — the message, the pace, the gospel vibrations, the band’s perfectly-placed ad libs, and Fields’ soulful vocals are all 👌.

Fallingwater*

By Maggie Rogers
Album: Heard It in a Past Life

On June 1, 2016, a video of Pharrell Williams listening to the song Alaska by Maggie Rogers — then a student at NYU — went viral. Pharrell was critiquing student work inside of a studio at the university, Maggie sitting next to him, and was visibly shaken by the song. After the track ended, Pharrell said, calmly, “I’ve never heard anything that sounds like that.” It was one of the most profound compliments any artist could receive. This was the moment Maggie Rogers became Maggie Rogers and, luckily for the rest of us, it was captured on video; it’s been viewed millions of times since then and worth another watch even if you’ve seen it before.

“Fallingwater is about these past two years, this giant transition [and] ride that I’ve been on. It’s a song that celebrates rapid change and how simultaneously scary and electric it can feel.” —Maggie Rogers

Watch Maggie singing Fallingwater on SNL here.

TV Dream

By Larkins
(Single)

This song bops! I listened to it so many times this year. I love a song that takes you on a journey and this one does just that, energetically, with a chorus that hits you like a bright light. Lead singer and guitarist Josh Noble is hoping you’ll hear TV Dream as more than just a catchy tune: “I know the song sounds like a happy pop song, but hopefully the meaning behind it hits hard in that romance and poetry aren’t dead yet.” Look for a lot more in 2020 from this rising band from Manchester.

Watch the official video for TV Dream here.

Without You

By Joseph
Album: Trio Sessions: Vol. 1

I heard this song and band for the first time on spiritual teacher Rob Bell’s podcast; the Portland-based trio — twin sisters and their older sister — performed Without You and discussed myriad topics including the mechanics of how they harmonize with one another and the ups-and-downs of being in a family band. The version of Without You from Joseph’s 2019 album Good Luck, Kid is a bit different than the stripped down version from Trio Sessions: Vol. 1, which I’ve shared here, and I prefer the raw energy of the latter.

Watch Joseph perform this song in a similar fashion at Paste Studios in NYC in this video and I bet you’ll be stirred too.

ENTROPY

By Daniel Caesar
Album: CASE STUDY 01

With an intro pulled from a 1965 interview with American physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer and clips of cheering children placed randomly throughout, this song is, if nothing else, experimental. You can feel Daniel Caesar trying out a lot of things sonically and lyrically and for that reason ENTROPY was one of the freshest songs I heard in 2019.

Giving Up

By Whitney
Album: Forever Turned Around

Whitney makes melancholic music that you bob your head to — this is one of the few sad songs you’ll hear with a jubilant trumpet solo smack in the middle of it. A friend of mine introduced me to this song indirectly when he posted it on his Instagram story earlier this year. Because I adored Whitney’s 2016 song No Woman I gave this new one a listen, hoping it would capture that same indie magic; it did just that and immediately became a part of my normal rotation.

Here’s a video of the Chicago-based band performing Giving Up on a farm in Germany.

Summer Girl

By HAIM
(Single)

Although it’s more jazzy and relaxed than HAIM’s typical stuff, this song feels familiar and comfortable, like a favorite t-shirt that got lost under your bed that you find again at the right time. Frontwoman Danielle Haim wrote the song about her partner, who had recently been diagnosed with cancer (fortunately, he’s in the clear now): “I wanted to be this light that shined on him when he was feeling very dark.”

Watch the official video here. It’s a fun one that follows the HAIM sisters as they walk through the streets of L.A., their hometown.

Fluctuate

By Catfish and the Bottlemen
Album: The Balance

Some songs are great because they’re unlike anything you’ve heard before and some are great just because they freakin rock. There’s nothing all that experimental about this song but it’s packed with punky energy and feels great.

Floor Seats

By A$AP Ferg
Album: Floor Seats

This song goes hard. I first heard it riding in my friend’s car — shoutout to Chad — and he was playing music as he normally does in the car: very loudly (the best way to listen to a song like this). I went on to play this song loudly in my own car many times in 2019. It’s got this peculiar intro with electronic sounds and a woman’s voice belting out a single, sustained, high note and at first you don’t really know what you’re listening to and then the verse drops with A$AP Ferg singing, “Floor seats for the Knicks…” and those few seconds are some of my favorite musical moments of 2019.

Watch A$AP Ferg break down the lyrics and meaning of Floor Seats here.

All For Us

By Labrinth & Zendaya
Album: Euphoria (Music From the HBO Original Series)

Euphoria was the wildest, freshest, realest TV show I watched in 2019. All For Us was sang by Zendaya in the last scene of the season in a dream-like sequence including a choir and marching band walking through a neighborhood street. Watch it here.

It was a wild year and, like 2019, this song ends with energy, mystery, and optimism for the year to come.

If you’ve made it this far, you might also enjoy another playlist I made, Best of 2019: B-Sides, which features a few dozen other songs released in 2019 that I enjoyed but didn’t make the top ten.

*While doing research for this project I realized that, although Maggie Rogers’ album Heard It in a Past Life came out in January 2019, she actually released Fallingwater as a single in May 2018. But since I discovered the song for myself in 2019 and I loved it too much, I decided to keep it on the list.