Overture:  

We are in the end times! As 2025 kicks itself into 6th gear and begins violently dragging us  against the road like cans on the back of an old convertible driven by a recently married  couple, I want to talk about what was nothing short of one of the greatest years for music in  recent memory. So many future classics brought themselves out, with new artists breaking  through and old favorites having some crazy revivals. So before we all die: let’s talk about the  10 best songs of 2024. 

If you didn’t see your favorite song: I would first consult this link, the Spotify playlist tha contains my picks for the Top 25 songs, but also, argue with me! It was a great year for music  so I am sure I’m forgetting something. The one rule you need to know is that this is one song per artist, if it wasn’t the top 10 would be all Kendrick Lamar, and that just feels utterly  uninteresting to read. 

So Without further ado:

10. Words2LiveBy by El Cousteau and Earl Sweatshirt

Earl Sweatshirt has never been more back then he was starting with this song. Written by a local to the DC Metro area El Cousteau, the song is the embodiment of all that I find compelling about what is referred to as the DMV sound. First and foremost: the syncopated  flows. You can hear that Cousteau and Earl Sweatshirt are both ever so slightly off beat,  not in a way that feels amateurish or unintentional. They glide effortlessly on the beat and highlight the individual sounds, with the punchlines having some time to linger before the beat  catches up. Earl does that like a master, it calls back to the original stuff he was doing back when he was in Odd Future. All of this, over a thumping trap beat that highlights the sort of  grimness and darkness that lies within both of their verses. El Cousteau raps of the harsh  lifestyle one lives in a gang infested city “I’m in northeast where it’s unsolved murders,” and  “got a line in Virginia for choppers and percocets,” making reference to DCs closeness to  Virginia, which is where much of the military is headquartered and hence would increase the  amount of weapons that circulate in that area. Earl Sweatshirt however raps more so of a  personal darkness he’s been experiencing. Ever since the….subtly…titled I Don’t Like S**t, I Don’t Go Outside in 2015 and most especially Solace and Some Rap Songs Earl has been in a  profound misery. Words sees him in a reflective state, where he’s clearly not over it but….wel he says it best. “I’m not okay, but I’m gon’ be alright.” We hope so Earl. Please take care of  yourself, and keep banging out the generational features.

9. U Should Know by Yeat

Does this qualify as an unexpected pick? So 2093 is far and above Yeat’s best work to date. I  got on around the same time as many people did, back when he was previewing Get Busy. Song was great. However, none of the albums ever really did it for me as a project. AfterLyfe got close, but 2 songs (Myself and How It Go) truly stood out to me. 2093 however left me with  a number of options. Anyone who follows me on Instagram knows I deeply enjoyed ILUV, and  songs like Power Trip, Breathe, Nothing Change, or If We Being Real could all take up this spot. 

So, you might be asking yourself: why U Should Know? Well simply put: it just sounds the  coolest. It’s vain, yes, but man. The way the drums thump, the way the synths effortlessly flow with the beat, the various forms of reverb and distortion that are on his ad-libs, the music video  is just the cherry on top. It’s a sort of feeling that you can’t describe, but to approximate it, get  in your car after the sun sets, go on a road that’s mostly empty, get into the 60-70 mph range,  and blast this. It’s empowering in a way that the other songs here don’t exactly hit. It was a bit  disappointing to see Yeat abandon this style for the follow up Lyfestyle. Let’s hope he returns to  this later, because CyberYeat 2077 could be the makings of a generational album.

8. Alone by The Cure  

This one hurt my feelings. I’m not gonna talk at length about this one, as I already talked  extensively about this when it came out. So if you wanna hear more about that, swing back  there. So for now, a brief pitch for anyone who hasn’t heard it yet. Clears throat. Are you  miserable? And I don’t just mean sad, I mean unending grief and pain from what feels like your  only shot at ever being acknowledged by the people you love ending? Leaving a years-long  relationship with who you thought was gonna be the one? Had your closest family member  pass away in a tragedy that was clearly telegraphed but you denied because you couldn’t bear  to imagine it? Well, with Alone by The Cure, now you can drown your misery in the beautiful  classic goth of days past, now with the feeling of a true ending. Oh how I love The Cure. Also, I  did cry to this song extensively and will continue too, so yeah, ow. Gonna go cry some more. 

7. Like Him by Tyler the Creator and Lola Young

OH AND WE’RE GONNA KEEP CRYING I GUESS? “Do I look like him?” Wow. I talked about  this song a little bit when I talked about Chromakopia and I talked about a number of others a  bit more. Upon reflection, and with some time to sit, I have to say that this song is the best from this album. The song is a reflection on Tyler’s relationship with his estranged father. Thi one hurts. “Mama, I’m chasing a ghost, I don’t know where he is.” I can only type out so many  lyrics before it becomes redundant. The song has a nice crescendo up to the smooth groove the song builds on, comes in, and builds back up towards another chorus. The way the song  builds leaves you knowing that the song is gonna punch you in the gut. And it does, in the third  verse. Songs like Answer from Tyler’s past work showcases the clearly strained relationship he  and his father had, and this song strips away the anger and resentment, and just leaves this  sad boy, which is pretty ironic considering this is probably the most mature song he’s made.  The song ends with a spoken word outro from his Mother, apologizing to him, begging for  forgiveness and yeah, that hurt. For the record, I also considered Tommorow and Darling, I both on this album, but Like Him just stood out the most. The song has also been picked up on TikTok and now is a tool for heaps of people to express their pain from abandonment. Ouch!

6. Excuse my French by Fimiguerrero and Len  

Alright enough sad stuff, LET’S TURN UP! This is my favorite underground rap song of th year. I am sad to say I didn’t truly immerse myself in the works of Fimiguerrero until the end of  this year, and am still behind on Len and Lancey Foux, who were the three artists who made  the album from which this song originated. This song isn’t breaking down barriers in terms of  rapping abilities, while the flows are clean and catchy, and the lyrics sound really cool being yelled out, it’s nothing groundbreaking. The production however? It is FRANTIC. Loud buzzing  chippy synths which sound like something from an old 80s arcade game, numerous sound  effects of things like cameras, risers, and others, and 808s that if played loud enough coul level the city of London, the song is a feast for the ears if you like that sort of thing. If you like your beats simple, you’re gonna hate this. I however love a good manic beat, so huge props to Samuel Amadi (who produced this) and I really need to listen to more Lancey Foux.  

5. feminine adorments by julie 

Hey! I saw this one live! julie (stylized in all lowercase) came to DC and was a frankly great  show, so that shot this song (and the album from which it originates) up a number of places a  few places up, probably….This song however is a new and fresh reinvention of the shoegaze  genre for a modern audience. Implementing the cryptic, feminine, pain riddled lyrics of all the  previous works of the group, mixed with the loud buzzing guitars and basses that form the wall  of sound you’d expect from shoegaze, what really sets this song apart is the drumming.  Anything non-traditional and jazz adjacent in shoegaze is gonna inherently sound pretty fresh,  so this hit the spot for me. This song is best experienced loud and live, so if you have the  chance to see julie live, I implore you to do so, and this song will be a highlight for sure. Cannot  wait to see them do it live again.

4. Alesis by Mk.gee  

Man it sure isn’t fun to be yourself sometimes, isn’t it? “I’m in another body, who’s in  somebody else.” Starting with a heartbreaking description of estrangement from not just one’s  self, but one’s perceived self, Mk.gee’s Alesis tells a heartbreaking tale of love and obsession  with a lover. Working with the same thumping sort of drums that kept lots of boom-bap alive in  the 90s with the roaring guitar that Mk.gee has made himself known by, he assembles this  gorgeous cacophony of sounds and time to make a sound that is completely his own. That’s  not even to mention the two live versions in common circulation (one on his own channel on  YouTube, and one on SNL) which amp up the prevalence of the guitar. Mk.gee has been on my  radar since 2021 when I first heard the innocuously titled cz. Ever since I heard Alesis I’ve been trying to figure out how I forgot about him. Heartbreaking frankly. This song does come from his album Two Star and the Dream Police, with this being far and above the standout track. It’s  fun to finally see him getting some mainstream attention, especially considering his extensiv back catalogue of quality music. The song is fairly simple, and if nothing else has an effortles style to it. What most calls to me about it is just the cool of it all. While we’re still talking about  Mk.gee, let me give a quick shout out to Rockman (a single from this year) and Candy (from  this album) as well as Western and cz both from 2020.

3. Blues by Geordie Greep  

Geordie Greep my glorious king. I am ashamed it took me as long as it did to start listening to Black Midi. Blues was the first single coming from Geordie Greep (former vocalist and guitarist and who knows how many other roles from Black Midi)’s solo debut. Telling the  story of a deeply vain and narcissistic man obsessed with days past and making himself look  cool per arbitrary standards he set for himself. The song is written in third person, so the lyrics  we’re hearing can be interpreted as the thoughts of this character who has to tell himself some  slightly horrendous things to keep going. We’re not gonna talk about the stallions. We watch as  the lyrics grow more visceral and manic as the song goes on, going from talking about things  like clothing, possessions, and acts of what people on Twitter would probably call “Aura  Farming,” to descriptions of hauntings, body decomposition, with it closing on the simply put  but shot to the head ending: “Soon you’ll disappear, that’s the only fact.” Geordie Greep has a  knack for lyricism that’s cryptic and a bit odd, but when delivered by his borderline  incomprehensible accent paired with the utterly surreal riffs of this song it has that style facto I’ve referred to time and time again. The song exists in a similar realm to much of Black Midi’s  work, which is a fusion of jazz and rock, with this one leaning way more heavily on the jazz despite the track’s name. Blues refers to likely not just the misery of this man, but the blue  jeans that James Dean (who is name dropped in the song) has become synonymous with.  Thanks Lana Del Rey! Forming an hectic cacophony of interweaving guitars and basses with drums that seem to start and stop with perfect timing, all to build up to an overwhelming  crescendo that just ends, is utter perfection to me. Holy, Holy, the other single from this album  was also up for contention, but more and more I found myself coming back to this one.  However when I talked to Grayson Hough about this there was disagreement. The tracks are  equal in my eyes, so this is just a matter of preference. 

2. Starburster by Fontaines D.C.

I was supposed to see this one live. I never thought a violently Irish man rapping over a  sample based thumping indie rock beat would sound nearly as good as it does. Fontaines D.C.  has, however, done it again. Starburster is an oddly romantic song considering its sound and  general energy. Though it does come from an album titled Romance so maybe not as weird as  I’m claiming. Leaving that one up to the audience at home though. Borrowing from classic  spaghetti western aesthetics for the main guitar line and a mix of string instruments for the  bridge and what sounds to be a fairly distorted accordion perhaps? The song sounds weird.  That’s what I will confidently say. It’s bizarre. Good weird, though. Apparently inspired by a panic attack that lead vocalist Grian Chatten had in the London tube, Starburster is akin to a  series of unrelated materials and pieces coming together to form something that has no right  existing on this earth. Intense breathing at the end of each line from the chorus, a guitar line  recalling James Dean and Sergio Leonne, rapping, a decidedly romantic series of verses of  forming an intimate and deep and unconventional bond with a lover. By every conventional  metric this song should not work, and yet it does. Not just passing, but going absurdly hard.  When I was lucky enough to catch Fontaines D.C. on the first night of their 2 night stint at th 9:30 club, their third guitarist and man who would be running the samples for this song got  absolutely wasted, and hence this song ended up getting cut from the setlist. I’m still frustrated  because this is a great song to get into some good old fashioned Irish Violence. Still messed  up about Shane Macgowan. Either way: this song makes me proud to have Irish blood.  

1. Euphoria by Kendrick Lamar 

I am glad I am not Drake.  

The song and its lyrics have been (in my opinion) amply broken down and analyzed. If that’s  what you feel you need: check Genius. This song isn’t just here because it has a great beat or  Kendrick Lamar rapping at peak form, let’s talk about culture. 

I think everybody remembers where they were when this song dropped. I can vividly remember  sitting in the school library aimlessly scrolling twitter with Drake’s recently released Push Ups just sort of existing in the back of my head. It was no Back to Back or Duppy Freestyle or any  number of any other Drake diss tracks. Compared to the proclamation of greatness Kendrick  gave us on Like That this felt weak. Then: there it was. A simple tweet, just a link that said  Euphoria. I opened up YouTube and took a listen, and it was so insane to me that I just had to  sit there for a while to process what I just heard. 6 minutes and 23 seconds of what should be  considered homicide by certain metrics. Look at the way Drake has tried to sue UMG out of  doing anything for Kendrick. Not Like Us was great, simply put, but it felt a bit superfluous afte Meet the Grahams. For me, the battle ended right here. I didn’t bother with Drake’s Family Matters until after I had already heard Meet the Grahams. I stopped caring what Drake had to  say, he had made himself such an antagonist that only someone like Kendrick Lamar could really knock him down. Drake has continually been making enemies throughout his time in rap  and has continued to make songs about how he has “No Friends in the Industry,” and now  that’s coming back to bite him. The last time I really enjoyed a Drake song was Passionfruit,  and I didn’t mind some of the tracks off of Honestly, Nevermind. His new work hasn’t been th same. For All The Dogs was to me, a nothing album with the exception of First Person Shooter and IDGAF as those two had the best features. Drake has overstayed his welcome. His music  is not as quality as it was in the eras of Take Care or Nothing Was the Same, he had run out of  things to say and his space in the big 3 wasn’t because of his long hard work like Kendrick, or  being chosen by the old guard to continue the traditions of hip hop like J.Cole. He was there  because he was a pop star and he just made too much money. You know who doesn’t know  this though? Drake. He flew too close to the sun, and after firing back at Like That with  underwhelming Push Ups and the greek tragedy that was Taylor Made Freestyle, and later, the  (what should be) careering ruining The Heart Part 6. He wanted to be the well respected rapper  who could put rappers in their place, but he wasn’t that, and he could never be that person.  Simply put: 

“Tell ’em run to America to imitate heritage, they can’t imitate this violence.” 

Goodbye and good riddance Drake. Keep crying to your lawyers, and embarrassing yourself.  It’s more enjoyable for everyone than having to hear another song from you. Still waiting on the  apology and class action suit for Wah Gwan Delilah.  

All Hail King Kendrick. 

Grand Finale

So those are your best songs of the year. I’m sure some of these picks and rankings are  controversial, but my opinion is fact so argue with the wall. 

Only kidding of course. 

If you have your own personal list of songs that outclass any of my picks, or just want to talk  endlessly about how well your favorite artist did last year, then do! This is only me talking about  a few select artists I think put out things that’ll stand the test of time. The joy of music  discussion isn’t just putting numbers to names, it’s doing it yourself. 

So far: 2025 is looking good for us song wise, and I will be returning with your Weekly Music  Wrap Up once Hurry Up Tomorrow finally sees the light of day