Top 50 of 2022: #10 – 6 / A Great, A Boyfriend and A Sign

The top 10! We are almost to the number one song of 2022. There are a lot of killer tracks in this block that should really be in the top five…but much like NBA players who played during the Jordan era, they were up against tough competition. Here we go:

10. Sampa The Great: Never Forget

My only claim to fame to Sampa the Great is that I was a fan since her mix tape and had her booked for the original Cigar Jukebox…but she had to go to America to record The Return. Then she blew up and…well…Jukebox kind of fell off her radar. The Zambian born and Australian based artist brings her African heritage into focus on Never Forget as she raps about how African culture has influenced cultures around the world. Her African pride is a major theme throughout her music and permeates through this song.

9. Tegan and Sara: Yellow

The Canadian folk duo has taken on a new indie pop sound with its single Yellow off of their latest record Crybaby. Themes of relationships, emotional pain and moving on take centre stage as they compare a doomed relationship to a healing bruise. In the end the bruise is yellow, which means that it is not fully healed but the pain is bearable. In this sense, the pain from the relationship is not forgotten, but at a manageable level where she can start getting back to living. I love the move to a more poppy sound and the chorus is killer.

8. LCD Soundsystem: New Body Rhumba

2022 is the year of huge tracks dropping out of nowhere. HAIM released a single no one saw coming, Rhianna came out with two studio singles for the first time in 6 years and LCD Soundsystem put out a track. Now, the last we left LCD Soundsystem was in 2010 with This is Happening, which we thought was going to be the last studio work from the band. Then came Noah Baumbach’s movie White Noise and this track. THis is classic LCD with neon club synth over some funk bass and excellent falsetto vocals. New Body Rhumba is a seven plus minute epic that has a great pace and rewards multiple listens. Let’s hope this track marks a return to studio work for the band.

7. Harry Styles: Boyfriends

Is this song about Harry’s boyfriends? Is it about the ex of his new rumoured girlfriend Olivia Wilde? Is it about boyfriends in general? Who knows. All I know is that this relatively surface level song has one of the best vocals of 2022. The warmth and emotion behind Harry’s vocal not only carries this track, but carries the entire record. His vocal takes you out of time and space as you get pulled within its gravitational force. I can find myself listening to this track for an hour on repeat and totally lose track of time. Harry is taking the world, and media, by storm and let’s hope he continues putting out great music.

6. Lizzo: The Sign

The Sign kicks off with “Hi mutha fucka / Did you miss me?” and the answer is yes. Much of the music of 2022 is about celebrating life in response to the lack of connection and social upheaval from COVID and BLM protests. This is a prime example of Lizzo celebrating herself and charting her growth during the past two years. It is the celebratory tone of the track, mixed with reflecting on the impact the past two years had on her mental health that gives the track a feeling of hope. Everyone needs a bit of hope and Lizzo delivers.