Gosh, where does the time go? 2013 has seemingly flown by and as such my ambitious project of charting my Top 30 albums came to a screeching halt nearly half way through. 2013 has also been a year of great albums, and as such it’s likely that my list would look very different now anyway. Therefore, I’m retiring those posts and instead turning to the obligatory end-of-year stuff we bloggers like to do. I Thought I’d do something a bit different than my usual and give some attention to my favourite songs of 2013. Yes, there’s been a plethora of great albums but occasionally (and usually unexpectedly) some one-off songs have also caught my attention and stuck. This year I found myself drawn to big pop songs, much more so than usual, and while there was a lot of dross on the radio, when the big pop stars delivered they really delivered (Beyoncé). So, here goes…
45. James Blake – Retrograde
Bass-heavy, R&B-influenced alternative tunes from white boys was a bit de rigeur in 2013, wasn’t it? (at least on my iPod). Luckily some bloody good songs (like this one) came out of that trend.
44. Chlöe Howl – No Strings
Chlöe Howl should be the new poster girl for ‘pop-with-fuck-off-attitude’, but unfortunately she’s been a bit overlooked this year in favour of Lily Allen’s brand of ‘social commentary’ and P!nk’s formulaic ‘tough girl’ crap.
43. Active Child – Subtle (feat. Mikky Ekko)
See 45, except you can sort of dance to this! Nice to hear Active Child move away from his harp a bit. Also, who is Mikky Ekko and why was he on so many songs this year?
42. Goldfrapp – Drew
No one does ‘lush pop’ quite like Goldfrapp, who always manage to strike a nice balance of ‘ethereal’ and ‘accessible’ without ever sounding pretentious. Not sure if song and music video should every be separated to be honest, they’re both glorious.
41. Ariana Grande – The Way (feat. Mac Miller)
Oh, Ariana you gorgeous (and adorable) creature. Girl is bringing back 90s Mariah Carey-esque R&B/Hip Hop (whistle notes and all) only with a much more likeable persona. This song is the definition of ‘earworm’.
40. Beyoncé – Mine (feat. Drake)
Beyoncé’s absolute slayage of 2013 will go down in the history books for sure, but what made the whole ‘event’ even better was that the music was so fucking good. This is one of the tracks that made me jump on the Beyoncé bandwagon after years of ‘casual’ listening.
39. Jessie Ware – Imagine It Was Us
Jessie Ware has the Midas touch for understated dance tracks and continued the trend with this bonus track from her ‘Gold Edition’ of Devotion. With a distinct 90s vibe, this track goes down well as a late night jam.
38. Blood Orange – You’re Not Good Enough
Blood Orange is the new Prince. His songs are really fucking good. He also produces some amazing tracks for other people (see number 1).
37. Cassie – Paradise (feat. Wiz Khalifa)
Cassie doesn’t seem to be releasing an album proper anytime soon, but with the quality of some of her recent stuff being so top notch (see also: King of Hearts) who really cares?
36. Iron & Wine – Lovers’ Revolution
Iron & Wine’s move to a jazzier sound was more than successful and his 2013 album Ghost on Ghost is an absolute delight to listen to. The key changes alone make this song worth listening to – it just evolves.
35. Justin Timberlake – Mirrors
Justin Timberlake delivered one of the best albums of 2013 with The 20/20 Experience (Part 1, anyway), filled to the brim with longer-than-usual pop gems like this. This is how you do a love song.
34. Daft Punk – Get Lucky (feat. Pharrell)
No doubt one of 2013’s biggest radio hits, this song is just too infectious to not like and eventually I had to come around to it.
33. Ellie Goulding – You My Everything
Ellie was a busy bee the last two years, and she actually managed to better what was already a cohesive and creative album with her deluxe repackaging of Halcyon Days in 2013. This drum-n-bass influenced track was a standout of the new bunch, ’nuff said.
32. Lorde – A World Alone
This song makes me thankful that Lorde is releasing music (along with the rest of her album). Album closers don’t get much better than this.
31. Foals – Inhaler
Basically, Foals decided to just rock the fuck out and the results were glorious. Best band discovery of 2013 for me.
30. Drake – Started From the Bottom
Yes, he was on fucking Degrassi. We get it. Now just listen to the song with it’s glorious beat (and watch Drake dance next to a car) and be done with it.
29. Jewel – Two Hearts Breaking
No one really gave a shit about Jewel returning in 2013 for her greatest hits (not unexpected given the general apathy towards the 90s singer songwriters these days), but that’s ok because she still delivered the perfect blend of her pop, folk, and country sounds in this gem (no pun intended).
28. Miley Cyrus – Wrecking Ball
I don’t like Miley, nor do I really care about the crap she’s done this year (although her twerking will always be a bit of a punch line for me), yet she managed to deliver some amazing pop songs in 2013. So she’s on this list. (Oh, and the video is here in case, you know, you hadn’t seen it…).
27. OneRepublic – Counting Stars
It’s just a great song. That pre-chorus! That middle eight! Nothing really else to say. (PS: Mr. Tedder, you look very awkward trying to ‘rock out’, so maybe don’t do that again.)
26. Sia – Elastic Heart (feat. The Weeknd & Diplo)
Sia tided us over until her new album with her soundtrack contribution for the Catching Fire film. As usual, anything she touches turns to gold, and what could easily just have been noise instead became a great electro-pop track.
25. Skylar Grey – Wear Me Out
No, she doesn’t just sing hooks for Eminem and Dr. Dre. I don’t think Skylar’s album was particularly noticed but it had a lot of great tracks on it, and Wear Me Out was a particular highlight for me.
24. The Civil Wars – Same Old Same Old
I’m still devastated that John Paul and Joy aren’t on speaking terms, but at least they managed to release their second album this year, which was another collection of amazing country-folk-americana ditties. This song gets me. Every. Single. Time.
23. M.I.A. – Bring the Noize
M.I.A. proved she was still the fiercest female in contemporary music with her long-awaited Matangi this year. As usual she gives zero fucks about melody, yet manages to create intense and mesmerising tracks.
22. Sophie Ellis-Bextor – Young Blood
Sophie made a welcome change from disco diva to introspective singer-songwriter, and she pulled it off beautifully as evidenced by Young Blood.
21. Caveman – In The City
Had no idea Julia Stiles was in the video for this until now. Anyway, amazing dream-pop song from New York indie band. Chance discovery when I tuned into alternative radio station one day. So, thank you Triple J!
20. Naughty Boy – La La La (feat. Sam Smith)
I just want to say that I usually watch this video just to see the adorable Chow puppy. That, and this song is fucking immense and hopefully signals a greater move to more drum-n-bass music returning to the charts.
19. Paula Cole – Manitoba
E.P.I.C. No one does dramatic, tumultuous piano-rock like Paula Cole, and she proved she doesn’t need a record label to deliver the goods this year.
18. HAIM – Falling
Oh god I love HAIM. They’re basically Fleetwood Mac for the new millennium (yes, I know Fleetwood Mac are still around) and we really haven’t had a band like that be big for ages.
17. The National – Don’t Swallow The Cap
Will The National ever make a bad album? I hope not, because I’m really rather enjoying being continually slayed by their effortless cool and boundless talent. I have only two emotions/fearful fear and dead devotion is probably my favourite lyric of 2o13, by the way.
16. Sky Ferreira – You’re Not the One
WHY WOULD ANY RECORD COMPANY NOT LET THIS GIRL RELEASE AN ALBUM. LOOK WHAT SHE RELEASED WHEN YOU FINALLY LET HER!!!! GAAAAAHHHHH (#recordcompanypolitics)
15. Phoenix – Entertainment
I do slightly prefer the Blood Orange remix (for obvious reasons if you’re aware of my favourite musical acts) but really the original is such a great example of how to actually do 80s-influenced pop (see also number 16) and therefore deserves it’s place in my top 20.
14. Everything Everything – Cough Cough
Yeah. So. Um. Wait a secon – MIND BLOWN BY AMAZING SONG.
13. Lana Del Rey – Young and Beautiful
Yes, Lana, I will still love you when you’re no longer young and beautiful. So long as you don’t mention a ‘red dress’ or ‘pale moonlight’ in anymore of your songs.
12. Snakadaktal – Hung on Tight
I mean the song’s fucking amazing and everyone needs to experience the eargasm that it is, but I think they deserve kudos for the band name. Genius.
11. James Vincent McMorrow – Cavalier
*Hears it for the first time* *Dies and goes to heaven* (seriously, I think this is what I would want Heaven to sound like).
10. Lissie – Further Away (Romance Police)
This song is so good, yet got so little attention, and therefore is automatically in my top 10. Apart from the fact that I can’t not picture Stevie Nicks singing this, it also convinced me that my life would be incomplete without Lissie. So thanks, Lissie. Here’s hoping you absolutely smash with album number 3.
9. Beyoncé – Drunk In Love (feat. Jay-Z)
Only Beyoncé can get away with making surfboart a legitimate song lyric. Also, this song just makes me want to dance like a fucking lunatic.
8. The Civil Wars – The One That Got Away
You guys really aren’t making the ‘did they? didn’t they?’ rumours any easier to dispel. Just saying… PLEASE GET BACK TOGETHER AND MAKE ANOTHER ALBUM!
7. Justin Timberlake – Tunnel Vision
I know you li- I know you like it-it. Also, the video has lots and lots and lots of naked ladies (it’s tasteful though. Really!).
6. Vance Joy – Emmylou
All I know is that whenever I listen to this song, I want to either grab an acoustic guitar and actually try to learn to play it (I can play approximately zero guitar) or just sing it at the top of my lungs. That to me means a song is really good. So, good job Vance Joy. The song also has an epic key change, which is everything to me.
5. Drake – Hold On, We’re Going Home (feat. Majid Jordan)
Look, I don’t need to say anything about the song because basically it’s amazing and Drake deserves lots of Grammys (and Junos since he’s Canadian) for it. Now, tell me who Majid Jordan is and why he’s got a ‘feat.’ credit.
4. HAIM – If I Could Change Your Mind
Ok, for some reason this song is not on youtube so sorry for the live video, not sure it does the song justice. Also would just like to give major kudos to HAIM for basically blowing everyone trying to do 80s-style mega pop out of the water and still managing to get in with the indie crowd AND sell a truckload of albums while they’re at it.
3. Lorde – Royals
Yes, it was overplayed, but really when a song is this perfect I can deal with that. Lorde makes me feel supremely old (I’m six years older than her), but also restores my faith that contemporary music isn’t completely going to shit. Basically, she saved 2013 from being completely dominated by Miley Cyrus (yes, I know she’s in my list too!).
2. The National – This is the Last Time
Perfection.
1. Mutya Keisha Siobhan – Flatline
The biggest injustice of 2013’s music scene was that Flatline was not a more successful record. While most of the world probably didn’t much care, it was a pretty big deal that these three girls (formerly of Sugababes) were together again and making bloody incredible music. Bloody incredible music that unfortunately fell victim to poor handling and radio play. With Flatline, MKS brought poise, subtlety, and quality control to what could often be a ridiculous (not in a good way) pop scene (e.g., Robin Thicke, Lady Gaga). While MKS really need to stop with the long periods of silence when they feel like it, 2014 will hopefully be a smoother and more successful year for them. In the meantime, bask in the glorious harmonies and effortless pop perfection that is Flatline and worship at the altar of Mutya Keisha Siobhan.
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