The definitive year end list of 2024's expansive pop landscape
This has been a historic year for pop music, so before the clock strikes 12 and we usher in the beginning of a new year I think it's only right to remind ourselves of the past. Join me as we head down, down memory's road to unpack my favourite tracks from the last 12 months.
Honourable mentions:
Death & Romance - Magdalena Bay
Immaculate (Club Shy VIP) - Shygirl, Club Shy, Saweetie
Diet Pepsi - Addison Rae
Britpop - A. G. Cook
Busy Girl - Tove Lo, S. G. Lewis
Not Like Us - Kendrick Lamar (I know this should probably be like top 3 on my list but I'm not gonna sit here in my own blogosphere and pretend I listen to rap music).
Okay, ready? Here commences the JG Review Year End List - the cream of the 2024 pop crop...
10 we can't be friends (wait for your love) - Ariana Grande
Considering her mammoth contributions to popular culture this year, Ariana Grande's seventh studio album Eternal Sunshine feels a little forgotten as 2024 comes to a close. Perhaps this is because online conversations regarding the singer's voice, appearance and relationship have totally dwarfed cultural commentary about the album, or maybe it's because the singer's attention has shifted from promoting it to promoting the Hollywood juggernaut Wicked, in which she stars as co-lead. It's a damn shame, then, that we can't be friends (wait for your love) has been arguably forgotten by the zeitgeist.
As a spiritual successor to Robyn's Dancing on my Own, this twinkling elegy chronicles that very specific stage of a breakup when even amicable friendship with your ex proves too devastating to hold onto. At the same time, the record offers insight into Grande's own relationship with the public, the media and her fans, with this pained acknowledgement of heartbreak and hope granting listeners the most vulnerable insight into the singer's relationship with fame thus far.
Her signature vocal layering is a duvet for the broken hearted, and Max Martin's cinematic production meets Grande halfway to create what might be Ariana's best single yet. This is a triumph of a pop song, even if it does owe its aesthetic to Robyn's 2010 dance-floor smash.
Also worth re-visiting on Eternal Sunshine: supernatural feat. Troye Sivan, eternal sunshine, i wish i hated you.
9 Cyncial - Joesef
Glasgow-born Joesef has been on the cusp of major success for a short while, now. His Spotify-exclusive cover of Sister Sledge's Thinking of You went viral during the pandemic, and his 2023 debut album Permanent Damage cemented his place in the pantheon of British blue-eyed soul (think Duffy, Adele and the late great George Michael). His latest single Cynical is the first from a soon-to-be-released sophomore project, and shines in a year dominated by incredible women musicians.
"The flag of surrender, it covers me. And I'm just waitin' for my boy, I hear him singin' from the street, 'I'll love you forever, ooh!' Is this how it's supposed to be? Tell me, does that light you carry ever shine on me?"
Cynical is an easy-driving sort of song - as contemplative as it is feel-good - and Joesef's husky tones melt exquisitely in and out of fuzzy electric guitars, drums and moments of piano key percussion. Joesef described the record on his instagram as "a bit of a love letter to letting the good things hit you while they’re happening," and I can't think of a better tune I'd want to soundtrack those quiet happy moments.
Other Joesef songs worth visiting: Thinking of You (spotify single), Joe, The Sun is Up Forever.
8 Sympathy is a knife - Charli xcx
This is only the first appearance Charli xcx is making on this list, mainly on account of the totally transformative impact she's had on the global music landscape this year. Her album Brat dropped in the early summer and I had the privilege of seeing her live the Thursday night it released. But even as prior fans, nobody in that room - not even Charli herself - could have predicted just how colossal a project this would be.
The Taylor Swift diss-track Sympathy is a knife is - I think - the song that most embodies the essence of Brat. It is a song that is lyrically clunky, abrasive, rude and obtuse, delivering an entirely unflattering attack not only on the character of Swift but on Charli herself (who is openly unable to bear her peer's successes within the music industry amidst her own insecurities). It's magnificently refreshing to hear a voice like Charli's cut through. We have been bombarded with musicians (many of whom I adore) that revel in their own perfectionism and self-aggrandising mystique, and for a time this was exactly what we the public wanted to consume. But there's a new king in town - Authenticity - and nobody is prepared to be as brilliant ugly on record as Ms xcx. Ironically, Brat's success indicates a shift away from the musicians she openly envies on this record, as the general public warm to newer faces with a more candid appeal.
Also worth re-visiting on Brat: 360, Apple, Club classics, Von dutch, Mean girls, So I, Spring breakers, Guess, 365.
7 Angel of my Dreams - JADE
I don't think many had particularly high hopes for the solo careers of the Little Mix girls, especially after the first to leave's music career left much to be desired. But earlier this year, when Jade Thirwall (stylised as JADE) released her first few songs as a solo act, critics were floored. Her debut single, the twisted dance track Angel of my Dreams, fixes the listener into a bombastic, haunting joyride.
The song itself seems to be a scorching exposé of Syco chief Simon Cowell, who signed Little Mix after their X Factor win back in 2011; JADE's dance-floor knell was tragically validated later in the year when One Direction member Liam Payne passed away (One Direction being another band allegedly exploited by the Cowell + Syco dynasty).
"Got you a car, got you a house, got you a suit (it's Gucci). If I don't win, I'm in the bin, you say you never knew me. But when I pop off you sue me, so sue me. Care that I'm mad, care that I'm sad, it's so bad, it's funny. Care if I cry? Care if I die? You only care about money. Sellin' my soul to a psycho, they say I'm so lucky. 'Better act like you're lucky, honey'."
But this track isn't just important, and it's more than just defiant. This is a brilliant, brave and inventive record from the promising young star, and while a full-length project is yet to be released by the singer, Angel has been followed up by two equally brilliant dance tracks; Midnight Cowboy and Fantasy. The track also has two stellar remixes, the ferocious FOR THE CLUB remix and a S.A.D. version perfect for the comedown.
There's been an influx of brilliant new pop stars in 2024, many of whom have enjoyed far greater commercial success out the gate than Britain's JADE, but underestimate her at your peril. This is an artist you'll need to keep an eye on.
Other tracks from JADE worth visiting: Fantasy, Midnight Cowboy, Angel of My Dreams (S.A.D. Version), Angel of My Dreams (FOR THE CLUB).
6 Ya Ya - Beyoncé
This is the first of two appearances Beyoncé will make on this top 10. Those who know me in real life will call me biased, for it's no secret that her 2024 project Cowboy Carter doesn't quite hold up to the greatest of her discography. Still, this 27 track voyage through the country genre contains some of the best tracks of the singer's career, and you can look no further than Ya Ya if you'd like me to provide some proof.
This record, as the legendary Linda Martell acknowledges in the preceding interlude, "streches across a range of genres, [which] makes it a unique listening experience." Carter achieves this feat with the help of some incredible sampling; Nancy Sinatra and The Beach Boys find their classics interpolated within this rockin' rodeo, which has been produced to sound like it's being broadcast live from the 1960's. Ya Ya's bridge is particularly enigmatic, as Beyoncé plunges to the depth of her register to deliver a charming impression of Presley the King.
And yet the song serves a political purpose, as so much of Cowboy Carter does. Here, she deliberately references fore-runners of Americana who owe so much to Black artists that they stole from. And, in its lyrics, Ya Ya breaks down the racial tensions within the US, with it's mid-century aesthetic serving as a reminder of just how unshakable these issues have been for so many decades;
"My family lived and died in America - good ol' USA. Shit! Whole lotta red in that white and blue, huh, history can't be erased. Are you lookin' for a new America? Are you tired, working time and a half for half the pay? I just pray that we don't crash, keep my Bible on the dash, we gotta keep the faith. Wildfire burnt his house down, insurance ain't gon' pay no Fannie Mae. Shit! So hold this holster, pour more liquor, please. Hardworkin' men ain't got no money in the bank, ha, ya-ya. Turn up the vinyl and the radio - he can't watch the news nowadays. I just pray that he don't crash, keep this pistol on the dash, yeah he gotta keep the faith!"
It's hard to believe that an artist who has been releasing classics since 1997 can continue to out-do herself each time she releases a new project. Let Ya Ya be a warning that there're still plenty of tricks hidden up Ms 'yoncé's rhinestoned sleeve. This is a riot of an album track.
Also worth re-visiting from Beyonce's Cowboy Carter: American Requiiem, Bodyguard, Riiverdance, II Hands II Heaven, Projector, II Most Wanted, 16 Carriages, Daughter.
5 Juno - Sabrina Carpenter
In any other year, Sabrina Carpenter would have had the Best New Artist Grammy on lock. But this hasn't been like any other year. Records have been broken left, right and centre, and new faces have found success beyond that of their more seasoned peers. The funny thing about Carpenter, though, is that her 2024 breakout album Short n' Sweet isn't even close to being her debut. The former Disney kid has been trying her hand at the pop game for a while now. But something shifted when, during her supporting gig at Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour, her 'Nonsense Outros' would repeatedly go viral (wherein she would comedically freestyle the final few bars of her 2022 track Nonsense, typically with reference to which city she was in while incorporating sexual innuendo).
It must have been immediately clear to Team Sabrina that raunch and comedy held the keys to her success, and they quickly dropped the unserious smash Espresso in response. Short n' Sweet, the album Espresso introduced, is jam packed with genuinely funny pop music. My favourite on the record is the unabashedly ridiculous Juno. The song details Sabrina's lust for a boy she's dating, making repeated reference to the hit 2007 film Juno in which Elliot Page plays the eponymous pregnant teen;
"I know you want my touch for life. If you love me right, then who knows? I might let you make me Juno. You know I just might let you lock me down tonight. One of me is cute, but two though? Give it to me, baby. You make me wanna make you fall in love!"
It's ludicrous, sordid, camp pop fun, and excels not just lyrically but musically too, boasting one of the catchiest hooks of the year. Juno is stupidly feel-good country-pop, the likes of which we haven't heard since the best of Shania Twain. It's only a matter of time before this track get's the single treatment, and when it does you can expect it to smash on the charts.
Also worth re-visiting from Sabrina Carpenter's Short n' Sweet: Taste, Espresso, Don't Smile, Bed Chem, Slim Pickins.
4 Birds of a Feather - Billie Eilish
Billie Eilish has always known how to make a hit record, but her latest album Hit Me Hard and Soft has seen her loosen her grip on her dark aesthetic and explore more of her palette. This album's lead single Lunch followed in the lineage of previous smashes like Bad Guy, but it was the soaring vanilla timbre of Birds of a Feather that her listeners rallied around upon release. The album-track was consequently given the single treatment, a music video was shot, and the song has since become one of 2024's most defining.
The song occupies that gorgeous lyrical grey-area wherein it's loving message can be applied to romantic, platonic or familial kinds of love. And Eilish somehow manages to capture this sense of ubiquitous devotion without abandoning her morbid approach;
"I want you to stay, 'til I'm in the grave, til I rot away, dead and buried, 'til I'm in the casket you carry. If you go, I'm going too. 'Cause it was always you. And if I'm turning blue, please don't save me. Nothing left to lose without my baby. I don't know what I'm crying for, I don't think I could love you more..."
This is a track so beautiful, so perfect, that it's hard to even analyse it. It was clear on first listen that this will go down as an instant pop classic, a wedding day staple, a karaoke go-to and an exemplar of 2024 releases. Expect this to win Record of the Year at the Grammys--anything less would be egregious.
Also worth re-visiting from Billie Eilish's Hit Me Hard and Soft: Skinny, Lunch, Chihiro, The Greatest, L'amour de ma Vie, Blue.
3 American Requiiem - Beyoncé
I'm not sure if this will be a popular take or not, but this opening track on Beyoncé's country behemoth Cowboy Carter album is - for me - her best. I'd even argue that American Requiiem stands tall as the fiercest and most successful creative leap within her 27 year career thus far. Lyrically, the song acts a soaring mission statement for not just this project, but the entire genre-bending trilogy that both Renaissance and Cowboy Carter belong to;
"Nothing really ends, for things to stay the same, they have to change again. Hello, my old friend. You change your name but not the ways you play pretend. American Requiem. Them big ideas are buried here, Amen."
This is to say, American Requiiem tackles the elephant in the room head-on; American racism has erased the origins of so many music genres so successfully, that a southern Black woman's foray into Country is seen as transgression rather than reclamation. The record combines Beyoncé's signature vocal stacking with the elegiac chords of a funeral organ, the synth-like strings of the sitar, the pounding of live drums, and Prince-style vocal shrieks. This is one of the angriest, most percussive funeral marches you'll hear on record today, and culminates with a searing head-on critique of the gatekeepers in the industry;
"Goodbye to what has been, pretty house that we never settled in, a funeral for fair-weather friends, I am the one to cleanse me of my father's sins. American Requiem."
The song found renewed virality following November's election of Donald Trump, reminding us once more that "nothing really ends," and critics across the board have praised this as Knowles' own Bohemian Rhapsody. The Guardian's Annie Zeleski described this track as "a psychedelic country-gospel backdrop that unfolds with both determination and frustration." I describe it as one of the strongest releases of the year.
Also worth re-visiting from Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter: Ya Ya, Bodyguard, Riiverdance, II Hands II Heaven, Projector, II Most Wanted, 16 Carriages, Daughter.
2 Good Luck, Babe! - Chappell Roan
26 year old Chappell Roan released her debut album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess late in 2023, and over 9 songs on the record have since crossed 100,000,000 spotify streams (for the uninitiated, this is huge). The record wasn't an overnight success, though, and can owe much of it's heat to Good Luck, Babe!--a sentimental bonus track Roan debuted live on stage at Coachella. Her enigmatic performance of the song's staggering bridge went viral almost immediately on Twitter, and Chappell's rise was unstoppable as a consequence. Festivals all over the world were forced to re-organise their stages and sets due to the unprecedented crowd sizes Chappell was inspiring; she even broke attendance records at Lollapalooza.
It's not hard to understand why this specific track, which epitomises so much of Roan's musical magic, took the world by storm this year. It's glitchy synth-pop aesthetic and unabashedly earnest penmanship stands out in a sea of cool-girl pop. What makes this more notable is just how gay the song is. The track's entire premise hinges on a very specific kind of queer experience, wherein a scorned Chappell warns her female lover of the pitfalls of compulsory heterosexuality;
"When you wake up next to him in the middle of the night with your head in your hands, you're nothing more than his wife! And when you think about me, all of those years ago, you'll be standing face to face with "I told you so"..."
If you'd have told me this time last year that a pop music adaptation of Adrienne Rich's 'Lesbian Existence' would supercharge the career of Roan - who promises to be the most important new voice in music going forward - I'm not sure I would have believed you. Thankfully, Good Luck, Babe!'s 16 week residence in the UK Top 10 proves Chappell (and this song) is here to stay.
Other Chappell Roan songs worth visiting: HOT TO GO!, Pink Pony Club, Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl, Red Wine Supernova, Femininomenon, Casual, Coffee, My Kink is Karma, Kaleidoscope.
1 Girl, so confusing remix featuring lorde - Charli xcx, Lorde
The original Girl, so confusing was met with shock and intrigue when it released with the rest of Brat. It wasn't hard to deduce that the record was penned about Lorde--the elusive peer to Charli xcx and beloved musical icon in her own right. As the story goes, the night of the album's release Charli panicked and sent the Kiwi singer a last-minute voicenote to warn her about the song, not knowing how it would make her feel. What Charli didn't realise was that the New Zealand timezone had already gained access to Brat hours before she'd reached out; Lorde had already listened. As the pair tell it now, a remix was immediately put into action, and less than 24 hours later Charli received Lorde's first and final draft of a guest verse to which the former replied simply: "fucking hell".
Her sentiments were mirrored by the critical establishment, and the zeitgeist at large, who were equally floored not just by the sheer quality of the remix but by Lorde's moving and candid contribution. This is a pop record which is intensely danceable, highly quotable, and might just make you cry, flitting between discussions of body image, feminism, exploitation, anxiety, allyship and childhood trauma all against a heart-thumping beat.
"You'd always say, "Let's go out" but then I'd cancel last minute. I was so lost in my head and scared to be in your pictures. 'Cause for the last couple years I've been at war with my body. I tried to starve myself thinner and then I gained all the weight back. I was trapped in the hatred and your life seemed so awesome, I never thought for a second my voice was in your head."
It's hard to convey just how profound this meta track is for the pop girls, who so rarely push back against industry standards like this. And it's hard to listen to this song without shaking the sense it represents a real shift in the culture. This is - without question - the bravest, most immediately iconic, and most successful creative swing of 2024. Thankfully for us, it's also the most enjoyable.
Also worth listening to from Brat and it's completely different but it's still brat: Apple featuring the japanese house, B2b featuring tinahse, Mean girls featuring julian casablancas, So I featuring a. g. cook, Talk talk featuring troye sivan, Everything is romantic featuring caroline polachek, 365 featuring shygirl, Guess featuring billie eilish.
Written by James Green
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