I’ll make the argument that 2020 wasn’t a great year for music; my rolling singles playlist in my iTunes barely, rarely got over 40 titles. That said, the good stuff was really good. I’m grateful to my colleagues at The Singles Jukebox for pointing out things to which I might not’ve otherwise been exposed (Owen Pallett, Allie X), and to the Adult R&B format for offering up so many great songs over the past year. Sure I’m an old school R&B fan who just turned 50, so I’m thus inclined, but even so it was a stellar year for the format. Megan Thee Stallion and Usher are the only artists to place multiple singles on my list, and to my ears they’re clearly the best singles artists of 2020: Megan in particular just killed with one record after another, all year long.
I wanted to wait a couple of weeks into the new year for late-breakers to settle on my lists; mid-January seems like the right time to finally finalize year-ends. Most of these are my blurbs from The Singles Jukebox, labeled with the dates they ran. (If a blurb is undated, we didn’t cover it at TSJ.)
- “Savage (Remix),” Megan Thee Stallion feat. Beyoncé: Last month I said that the original version of “Savage” “commit[s] murder,” and then Beyoncé came on board? I don’t care who wrote her verses, because I love love love when Mrs. Carter raps — she has flow. That said, Megan has even more flow; she’s fast becoming a superstar (in part) because she deserves to be a superstar. The simple beat of “Savage” complements both Megan and Beyoncé’s lines just so, and in their hands this becomes an awesome tribute to H-Town (the city, not, well, H-Town). Savage indeed. (5/5/20)
- “Midnight Sky,” Miley Cyrus: Hard Stevie Nicks-does-electro-disco vibes here, and I’m here for ’em. Say what you will about Cyrus, but a) she’s rarely if ever boring (and certainly isn’t here), and b) she sings her ass off (and certainly does so here). The minimalism of this track, along with the way Cyrus sells it, grabs me. I’m probably overrating it and don’t care. (9/8/20)
- “WAP,” Cardi B feat. Megan Thee Stallion: There are so many amazing lyrics in this song, you really need to read its Genius page. (My personal favorite line is Cardi referring to her uvula with “I want you to touch that lil’ dangly thing that swing in the back of my throat.”) I also love the annotation for the first chorus, which starts “Talking about her WAP is pretty commonplace for Cardi, so her making a song about it almost seemed inevitable,” before giving a series of examples: research! And beyond the lyrics, which are the epitome of the phrase “women on top,” the song’s groove is so minimalist and brilliant, my god. It’s basically just a bassline, a click track, and the absolute perfect sample, from Frank Ski and Al “T” McLaran‘s 1993 B’more classic “Whores in This House.” (Another brilliant touch: the horn that blares, just once, after Cardi’s “big Mack truck” line.) Cardi and Megan are such an ideally suited pair — I mean, I really didn’t expect Megan to have another single even more newsworthy than her “Savage” remix this year, did you? — whose vocals complement each other just so, just *chef’s kiss*.(8/25/20)
- “Better Than I Imagined,” Robert Glasper feat. H.E.R. and Me’shell Ndegeocello: Glasper leads off Black Radio 3 (OMFG I can’t wait) with the sumptuous vocals of H.E.R. atop his anchoring, pensive piano — and as if that’s not good enough, then Ndegeocello stops by with a beautiful spoken-word “phone call” to a former lover. “I realized you’re the only number I know by heart” leaves me nearly bereft.
- “Bad Habits,” Usher: Oh, Usher sounds so good when he’s being bad. “Bad Habits” is another entry in his catalog of “I can’t stop messin’ around but I love you” songs, and it’s superlative. From his silky vocal to the all-too-brief sample of Zapp’s “Computer Love” (the second single from male R&B stars this year to utilize it, after Ne-Yo and Jeremih’s “U 2 Luv”) to those perfectly tinny-sounding 808 accents, this has it all. And the way Usher sings it, you believe every word — or at least, I do. (11/20/20)
6. “Lie to Me,” Kem: Sumptuously smooth grown folks’ R&B about love & devotion that gets me right here (points at heart) — which is funny, since I’m quite happily single these days and have no interest in anything otherwise. But Kem does this so flawlessly, from the lyrics (apparently written to his now-wife shortly after they met), to the track (I especially love the horns spiced throughout), to especially those utterly distinctive vocals. When you hear a Kem song on Adult R&B radio, you know that it’s Kem instantly, which is I think part of his appeal. This comeback, his first new music in six years, was one of the few things that helped to make 2020 even remotely tolerable. (12/15/20)
7. “A Bloody Morning,” Owen Pallett: Built around a piano melody reminiscent of Sébastien Tellier’s “La Ritournelle,” with gorgeous orchestration (those strings, those horns) and a stunner of an opening couplet (“Started drinking on the job/And the job became easy”), this has a soaring, cinematic scope that builds and builds — until it stops. Pallett is definitely more a composer than a pop musician these days, and God bless them for it. This fills, and breaks, my heart like nothing has since I read Rebecca Makkai’s 2018 novel The Great Believers earlier this year, which makes perfect sense, as Pallett uses words more like a novelist than a songwriter. I am left, gratefully, devastated. (12/18/20)
8. “U 2 Luv,” Ne-Yo & Jeremih: Sampling “Juicy Fruit” and interpolating “Computer Love”? A pair of singers as solid as Ne-Yo and Jeremih on the track? Not to mention Ne-Yo returning, wholeheartedly, to the R&B sphere that raised him? (About time he moved away from EDM crap and garbage records with the likes of Pitbull.) This is pure Adult R&B catnip, which means it’s also pure catnip to me, specifically. One of the year’s catchiest and best. (7/22/20)
9. “Together,” for KING & COUNTRY feat. Kirk Franklin and Tori Kelly: Inspirational Covid-CCM, recorded and released shortly after U.S. lockdowns began, which actually inspires me. fK&C have a knack for soaring choruses full of uplift that somehow work, and adding the big-lunged Kelly and gospel superstar hypeman Franklin was a smart, smart move. This sends me above the clouds, and was just the kind of hope I needed in 2020. (Fun fact: this is the third year in a row fK&C have placed a single in my year-end top 10.)
10. “Damage,” H.E.R.: I’m sucked in right away by a sample from Herb Alpert’s “Making Love in the Rain,” a forgotten 1987 Quiet Storm classic from; that would be the case almost no matter whose song it was. The fact that we then hear the deep, rich voice of H.E.R. come in — yeah, this is a perfect combination. The vulnerability expressed in a lyric like “careful what you takе for granted/’cause with me know you could do damage” is so deep, so real that I can’t help but fall in love. H.E.R. has been making increasingly great R&B for the past couple of years, but this is a new peak. (1/12/21)
11. “The Ladies Who Lunch,” Christine Baranski, Meryl Streep & Audra McDonald: From one of the first major pandemic livestreams, late April’s Take Me to the World: A Sondheim 90th Celebration, came this marvelous take on Company‘s “Ladies Who Lunch” from two theatrical icons and Streep, who’s honestly no show-tune slouch herself. That said, Baranski kicks things off so perfectly, and any chance to hear McDonald sing Sondheim is pure magic. It’s even better if you watch.
12. “Intentions,” Big Boi & Sleepy Brown feat. Cee-Lo Green: A groove straight from Rick James’s “Cold Blooded” is one way to get me excited, and teaming Big Boi and Sleepy Brown back up is another. CeeLo Green, meanwhile, is the salty to Brown’s sweet — and as any fan of Food Network’s Chopped knows, a little bit of salt enhances the sugar every time. (1/21/20)
13. “Girls in the Hood,” Megan Thee Stallion: It’s about time that a woman flipped Eazy E’s misogynist classic/relic “Boyz-n-the-Hood” and turned it on its head, making it a feminist anthem. And it makes 100 per cent sense that the woman to do so — “a hot girl [doing] hot shit” indeed — would be Megan. She’s here to let us all know that she’s always in charge, like it or not, and “Girls” makes that crystal clear. Also, who had “Scott Storch comeback” on their 2020 bingo card? (7/13/20)
14. “Don’t Waste My Time,” Usher feat. Ella Mai: Reunited and it feels so damn good: not only does “Don’t Waste My Time” mark Usher Raymond IV’s return to straight-up R&B, but it’s co-written and produced by his former collaborators Jermaine Dupri and Bryan-Michael Cox. It very smartly, slyly samples Hi-Five’s 1991 #1 “I Like the Way (The Kissing Game),” and even more smartly, features vocals from new R&B star Ella Mai, who matches Usher quite nicely. Her voice is so unique you immediately know who it is — just like Usher’s. Everything about this comes together so smoothly to make the first great single of 2020. (Here’s hoping this starts a commercial comeback for Usher, too.) (1/10/20)
15. “chinatown,” Bleachers feat. Bruce Springsteen: Jack Antonoff’s vocal here sounds unnervingly like the Jesus & Mary Chain’s Jim Reid, which makes it all the more jarring-slash-perfect when THE BOSS shows up to lay in some guest vox for this “Jersey girl” kinda song, which is the best thing Antonoff has ever released. (12/5/20)
16. “Susie Save Your Love,” Allie X feat. Mitski: A surprising record that gets more compelling as it progresses. “Susie Save Your Love” starts out sounding like fairly conventional indie-pop (albeit with charming lyrics about a woman in love with her ostensibly straight best friend), but then its chorus unveils some delightful synth-horns, backing vocals from Mitski low in the mix, and most interestingly, a skronking guitar (which is even louder and longer at the second chorus). And then some sparkling circa-1983 new-wave-turning-into-synthpop keyboards come in and stay through the song’s fade, adding something special. (12/23/20)
17. “I Hope You’re Happy Now,” Carly Pearce & Lee Brice: A remarkable song sung to an ex, cleverly done as a female/male duet and sung from both sides. The woman (Pearce) seems to sincerely sing “I hope you’re happy now” to the man (Brice), while he’s a mess and comes off as more bitter/sarcastic while singing the same line. The songwriting here is so sharp (Pearce co-wrote with Luke Combs (!) and two others), and Pearce and Brice’s voices harmonize beautifully — this is ace. (2/12/20)
18. “Borderline,” Brandy: This woozy, elegant low-tempo (it’s not a ballad) slow burner is one of the highlights of Brandy’s wonderful 2020 album B7, much better than a) I expected, and b) we deserve.
19. “Love Not Loving You,” Foxes: This is so “Shake Your Love 2020″ it’s nuts — with a soupçon of late ’80s New Order, too. There is absolutely nothing here not to like. (8/11/20)
20. “Need Your Love,” Tennis: Almost two songs in one, the first the piano-and-drum-led verses, the other a more ’70s chamber-pop kind of chorus, and not only are both great, they meld shockingly well. Alaina Moore’s voice has just the right menthol-cool notes to make it all work. But really, it comes down to the song construction here, which is astounding. (2/10/20)
Oh Manchester, So Much To Answer For 