Are These Really the Best Songs of 2020s So Far?

Taking on Pitchfork’s ‘The 100 Best Songs of the 2020s So Far’.

Oh the “so far” concept. Four years into the decade.

Look, people love lists what can I say?

As usual, a massive flaw in this whole “best of” music-oriented list-making process relates to genre. You just can’t compare across genres. It doesn’t really make sense. Sigh. It’s all subjective anyhow so… I’ll stop frontloading.

One last thing— When I address these lists, I don’t suddenly listen to all the songs I’ve never heard before (or I have no recollection of hearing) and then decide if they should be on this list. I’m only going to reflect on the music that I’m already aware of and have anything to say about.

No question I have lots of blind spots. Feel free to point them out.

#93 – MUNA: “Silk Chiffon” [ft. Phoebe Bridgers] (2022)

Amazing track. Instant earworm.

#85 – Japanese Breakfast: “Be Sweet” (2021)

Beautiful track. Joyful music video.

And yes, this is the same multi-talented artist who wrote Crying in H Mart.

 #84 – The 1975: “If You’re Too Shy (Let Me Know)” (2020)

I’ve become pretty obsessed with The 1975.

I’ve said before that The 1975’s “Oh Caroline” is the unofficial official soundtrack of this newsletter. It’s a song with a music video that really takes the track to another level. I watch this often and it always makes me emotional.

#72 – boygenius: “Not Strong Enough” (2023)

The Record (LP) is killer. This is a standout single, for sure.

If you’re not familiar with the supergroup work or the solo work, well, all three artists are ridiculously talented. There are tracks by Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus, and (to a lesser extent) Julien Baker on most of my recent playlists.

#67. SZA: “Good Days” (2020)

Really good album. SZA is super talented. I love the track “Ghost in the Machine” on this album that manages to integrate a Phoebe Bridgers feature without it seeming completely random.

#59. Soccer Mommy: “circle the drain” (2020)

Super good track. I over-listened to this briefly and had to take a breather. The album ‘Color Theory’ is very good.

#42. Chappell Roan: “Good Luck, Babe!” (2024)

I have been surprised just how much I’ve enjoyed Chappell Roan’s music. My guess was that I was a bit… “too old” to get into it… but it turns out that’s been more of an issue with Sabrina Carpenter’s album and I’m still trying to figure out why that is.

You can hear the obvious Taylor Swift influence in CR’s music but she makes the songs her own and it will be exciting to see where her trajectory goes as a musician.

#38. Adrianne Lenker: “anything” (2020)

I expected to like this more than I did. I wanted to like this… but really wasn’t able to get into it. I’ve liked earlier work by Lenker’s band Big Thief though I can’t say I’ve been listening to it at all the past couple years.

#30. Sabrina Carpenter: “Espresso” (2024)

Weird to see this ranked above Chappell Roan. In any case, “Espresso” is a good track though this isn’t something I’d listen to on repeat. Some of Carpenter’s tracks have kinda clever lyrics… but not necessarily in the best way.

The backbeats are often this nu-disco vibe that is sneaking into a lot of pop music… possibly since Tame Impala’s 2015 album ‘Currents’?

This is another artist where it will be very interesting to see if they choose a direction and what that direction is and how it goes. There seems to be a trend of releasing albums where tracks are somewhat genre-defying… and it seems like the artist is considering many directions… or experimenting with directions… and sometimes the album still feels semi-cohesive. The album that first hit me as going in a lot of directions in this experimental manner is Caroline Polachek’s ‘Desire, I Want to Turn Into You’ – and it’s a very good album.

#28. Olivia Rodrigo: “good 4 u” (2021)

Another artist where I’m waiting to see growth.

“Vampire” is the one track that I’ll admit is rather solid.

I think reviewers have done Rodrigo a bit of a disservice by saying she made it already. I felt this way when Billie Eilish came on the scene, too. Eilish, it turns out, is talented enough that she was able to keep making good music. It clearly gets in an artist’s head though when critics proclaim them some kind of wunderkind very early in their career. Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst is a good example of this. I don’t think his career trajectory has panned out anywhere near expectations.

#25. Charli XCX / Lorde: “The girl, so confusing version with lorde” (2024)

This is so good. You gotta listen to the OG version that Charli put out first. It’s really a very cool thing how this played out.

#24. Beyoncé: “ALIEN SUPERSTAR” (2022)

I wanted to like this more than I did and that’s already more than I can get away with saying. I’m now pleading with the Beyhive to let me live.

#23. Waxahatchee: “Fire” (2020)

I absolutely love this track. Some listeners may have a bit of struggles with the vocalist’s voice.

#14. Wednesday: “Chosen to Deserve” (2023)

I tried to give Wednesday a shot. This is a band that somehow instantly got NPR to notice… which is weird. Once NPR is aware of a band it’s usually been popular for at least 3 years. In fairness, this changed when it became a big deal to get on NPR’s Tiny Desk. Tiny Desk is a truly awesome project. There are frankly too many Tiny Desks that I have not seen. I have a list of those that I still want to watch at some point… and it’s a long list. Here’s a full list of NPR Tiny Desk concerts.

Anyway… back to Wednesday. I couldn’t get into this band. Long story short, I do not like the album.

#7. Alex G: “Runner” (2022)

Alex G is pretty talented but it seems like it’s just too difficult for me as a longtime Elliott Smith fan to get into an artist that is clearly derivative of true greatness.

Notably, Phoebe Bridgers is heavily influenced by Elliott Smith but manages to make something that is truly her own.

#4. Caroline Polachek: “Bunny Is a Rider” (2021)

Great track. Amazing album. Caroline Polachek is among my favorite musicians at this point and time.

#1. Lana Del Rey: “A&W” (2023)

This was not the new music I wanted from Lana.

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List Fails

I had an initial sense of a recency bias… though it actually looks like Pitchfork tried to keep it somewhat even from year to year.

A lot of artists appear blatantly excluded. This is, of course, a matter of taste… but in some instances it just seems like a Grammy’s-esque snub. Ahem, no Taylor Swift? No songs off “Midnights”, really? “Anti-Hero”? What about “Fortnight” off TTPD?

It’s absolutely criminal that songs off Maggie Rogers’ 2024 album ‘Don’t Forget Me’ did not make this list. The irony is not lost on me. Either her song “So Sick of Dreaming” or “The Kill” should absolutely have made this list. I’ve joked that Rogers’ album ‘Don’t Forget Me’ was actually the new Taylor Swift album as, frankly, I think it’s better than ‘The Tortured Poets Department’.

Bleachers’ new album is really good… I’ll admit I’m a big Jack Antonoff fan and not everyone else is. Jack’s main strength is bringing out the best in others. You gotta admit the guy has a great voice though.

Two songs off The Weather Station’s 2021 album ‘Ignorance” absolutely should have been contenders— “Tried to Tell You” and “Parking Lot”.

Big Red Machine’s “Renegade” which, I’ll admit, is basically a Taylor Swift song… still definitely should have made this list.

The Japanese House’s 2023 album ‘In the End It Always Does’ is extremely good. ‘Morning Pages’ would be the top choice. ‘Boyhood’ and ‘Sunshine Baby’ would be close contenders.

How is there not a song off Arlo Parks recent albums on here?

Why is Omar Apollo excluded?

CHVRCHES ‘Screen Violence’ is excellent. Great singles and a cohesive album.

Phoebe Bridgers’ album ‘Punisher’ came out in 2020 and it’s a monster. An absolutely stunning album. Taylor Swift’s ‘folklore’ and ‘evermore’ both came out in 2020. It’s making me wonder if there’s some kind of pandemic-related brain fog that came into play in the making of this list.

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The Billboard charts could be used as a metric … though it’s not a particularly fair one. Not entirely different from saying a book must be “great” because it made the New York Times bestseller list.

List of Billboard 200 number-one albums of the 2020s

List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles of the 2020s

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Sigh.

Looking back at the introduction to this, of course I see… “On the surface, there’s something a little trivial about the “Best of the 2020s So Far” as a concept. Like really? Five years? Why not just thug it out the full decade? But then I realized that not only are slightly arbitrary lists fun to make, but holy shit so much has happened in five years!”

It’s true, making arbitrary lists is fun. Writing a takedown in frustration is something like fun…

The question of taste remains… mostly subjective.

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