Icona Pop (Via Facebook)
Yesterday, I ran through half of my favorite tracks of 2012. Now, here are the top five:
5. Carly Rae Jespen — “This Kiss”: Everyone knows “Call Me Maybe” and yeah,it is an amazing song, but that is just the appetizer. “This Kiss” from Jespen’s sophomore record Kiss is the main course and it’s a shame no one was listening. Her album, despite having one of the biggest, if not the biggest song of the year didn’t fare too well, but it is an incredible pop LP and one of my favorite records of the year. “This Kiss” is a Kylie Minogue-influenced cheating anthem, because no matter how hard Jespen tries, she can’t resist the kiss of another. Funnily enough, the track was written by her and her now-boyfriend. Maybe it is the story of how they got together?
4. Jessie Ware — “Wildest Moments”: Last year Jessie Ware was the incredibly soulful voice adding to tracks from SBTRK and Joker, but this year she let go of the dubstep and garage and went full-on Sade. Her debut solo album, Devotion won’t hit these shores until next year, but the single “Wildest Moments” is starting to gain traction. The track is a love song to a best friend, about how no matter what they do they are in a poisonous relationship. It is a hard thing to write a song that is both uplifting and heart breaking, but Ware nails it.
3. Sleigh Bells — “Comeback Kid”: Sleigh Bells’s debut album was a fully formed sound that left them as Internet darlings with an uncertain future. Instead of pulling a 180, the band went for broke on their new album Reign of Terror and cleaned up some of the grime that marked their debut, Treats, but also pushed the volume from 11 to 12. The lead single, “Comeback Kid,” is both the loudest and most poppy the band have ever sounded. It’s a call to arms for anyone that has been knocked down, and while the lyrics might sound taboo in a year marked by several mass shootings shooting, you shouldn’t let it deter from the track’s quality.
2. Japandroids — “Nights of Wine & Roses” and Grimes — “Oblivion” (tie): Two songs about night with two entirely different moods. Japandroids made a huge splash this year, coming off a bad case of writer’s block to put out an album of fist-pumping rockers like the ultra catchy and powerful album opener “Nights of Wine & Roses” (also my first Song of the Day). This is the kind of song I want every one of my Friday nights to be, but I know my body could never handle it.
On the flip side, “Oblivion” is a track about the looming threat of danger around every corner. It may be hard to catch the lyrics of the track, as they are sung in a child-like falsetto, Grime’s trademark, but a deep listening unveils the darker side of the bouncy song. Inspired by a mugging, the track has little optimism, but damn is it a brilliant song.
1. Icona Pop — “I Love It”: I fell in love the first time I heard this song. It is Kelly Clarkson’s “Since U Been Gone” for a new age. Co-written by Charili XCX and produced by Patrik Berger (who did Robyn’s “Dancing On My Own”) the song is one big exclamation point. The track can fit almost any situation, whether as the theme for the trashy Jersey Shore spin off Snooki and JWoww, the track to get over an asshole ex-lover, or the kicking off the ultimate party “I Love It” is a perfect song.
