My Top Songs of 2022

2022 was a spectacular year for new music. I’ve felt that way at the end of every year recently — there’s just so much amazing music being made and waiting to be discovered. I felt like I barely scratched the surface.

Here were my twelve favorite new tracks. To qualify, a song had to be released as a single or on an album in 2022. I selected songs that challenged me sonically, thematically, or lyrically; were so striking, catchy, or beautiful I couldn’t get them out of my head; or some combination of the above. In no particular order:

1. “Valentine, Texas” — Mitski. The stunning, tension-laden intro to Mitski’s terrific “Laurel Hell” album features a thrilling release courtesy of a synth power chord for the ages.
2. “SAOKO” — Rosalía. Another lead album track, this one to the remarkable “Motomami,” features everything I love about Rosalía: a mishmash of styles, from reggeaton to free jazz; catchy hooks; and lyrics that celebrate her individuality. This video featuring slightly terrifying motorcycle exploits captures the spirit of the song.
3. “Santé” — Stromae. The Belgian pop auteur delivers a stirring and infectious tribute to those in our society who are rarely celebrated — those doing the hardest and most humble work across a variety of professions. Check out the video, which conveys this message in joyful visual fashion (and has English captions).
4. “Oh!” — The Linda Lindas. The wunderkinds of social justice-minded punk rock created a track that perfectly captures the angst one feels when messing up despite trying to do the right thing, featuring scorching guitars and an undeniable chorus. Here they are performing it live on Jimmy Fallon’s show. When sharing it with my five-year-old daughter, she took delight in pointing out the members of the band that look like her and asked for an electric guitar for her birthday afterward. Representation matters.
5. “Colonizer” — Tanya Tagaq. Tanya Tagaq sings in a throat-singing style of the Inuk people of northern Canada. This track marries Tagaq’s striking voice with menacing synths and pounding drums to produce a fiery condemnation of the centuries-long oppression of Canada’s indigenous people. You can learn more about her and the album the song appeared on here. And here is a haunting video for the song.
6. “El Apagón” — Bad Bunny. This song celebrates what Bad Bunny loves about his home of Puerto Rico while taking to task political leaders who have failed its people, and interlopers despoiling its natural wonders and leaving Puerto Ricans feeling displaced in their own land. It feels like three songs in one as it cascades across genres — an effect one sees acrosss the blockbuster album “Un Verano Sin Ti.” This extended video for the song explores these political and social themes in depth (non-Spanish speakers can turn on English close captions within YouTube).
7. “Mother I Sober” — Kendrick Lamar, featuring Beth Gibbons. This deeply personal expression of pain and resolve in the face of intergenerational sexual trauma is a difficult but beautiful listen. Lamar’s verses are delivered with whispered intensity and complemented by the hallmark voice of the lead singer of one of my favorite bands of the 1990s, Portishead.
8. “Many Mirrors” — Alvvays. This is my favorite track on my favorite pop/rock album of 2022, “Blue Rev”. Since their debut album in 2014, Alvvays have consistently hit my sweetest musical sweet spot with witty, self-deprecating lyrics and gorgeous melodies over bright synths and fuzzy guitars. They’ve never been in better form. The guitar solo just after the 2-minute mark, followed by lead vocalist Molly Rankin’s vocal jumps and a cathartic key change, are perfection. There’s a wonderful live version of the song in this session at Seattle indie-radio Mecca KEXP.
9. “Selfish Soul” — Sudan Archives. Sudan Archives is the project of the musical polymath Brittney Parks, a brilliant violinist who marries hip-hop, electronic music, and other sounds on her new album. Selfish Soul is a moving exploration of her insecurities, and ultimate empowerment, as she wrestled with with the complex politics that surround Black women’s hair.
10. “Abilene” — Plains. Katie Crutchfield of Waxahatchee has seemed to me to be the Artist Who Can Do No Wrong in recent years. Her album “Saint Cloud” was one of my favorite records of 2020, and her new project with fellow singer/songwriter Jess Williamson continues her shift toward the country music she grew up with in Alabama. “Abilene” tells the story of a relationship at a final stage of dissolution. Here’s a beautifully shot video for the song.
11. “It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody” — Weyes Blood. Natalie Mering, the artist behind the project Weyes Blood, has given us a gorgeous anthem for the isolation and dislocation of the late-COVID era, where we are reengaging with public life yet feeling terribly awkward all the while. Like “Movies,” her standout track from 2019, it has a cinematic quality, with vocals and styling that evoke the warmth of 1970s-era Karen Carpenter.
12. “Shine” — Koffee. Koffee is a female pioneer in the male-dominated genre of reggae, and this song captures the hope and optimism that run through the 22-year-old’s exploration of even the most somber topics, like the gun violence in her native Jamaica that is addressed here. This song helped lift me through challenging times throughout this year.

Here is an Apple Playlist of for the songs discussed above.

And here is a much longer playlist of new music I loved discovering this year.

I’d love to hear about your musical favorites of the year gone by.

Here’s to many musical discoveries in 2023!