What a damn year! At least there was some good music to get through it.

This will be a somewhat shorter thread than I usually aim for and fail to complete bc I've finally learned my limits I guess. Thanks for that, 2020 -_-

So I'll be sharing some of my top played 2020 discoveries here. Some might be known. Some less well-known. Probably nothing too obscure, & no spoilers for any treats you might get from me in the 2021 BJSCs/song contests.

Vamonos!

Looking forward to this! Hopefully I'll make a few discoveries as I go along.

Sticking to 30 tracks this time & mostly releases actually from this year.

 

30. Katy Perry - Cry About It Later

 

 

Katy's long-awaited 5th studio album was a bit of a damp squib. Following the stellar Never Really Over her team made a bizarre choice of singles, releasing two plodding ballads and several kiddy-styled songs. This track was for me one of the highlights of the album, helped out by a cheeky video. Especially given the year 2020 turned out to be it's incredible that her team didn't release a song with this theme or Not The End of the World earlier in the pandemic.

 

29. RAYE - Natalie Don't + 28. RAYE - Love Of Your Life

 

 

 

Jessie Ware coming back with a full-on dance-pop album era was surprising enough, but frequent dance feature vocalist RAYE coming at us with a string of pop masterpieces was even more so. I'd recommend checking out her full album Euphoric Sad Songs for more like this.

 

27. Trixie Mattel - Video Games

 

 

Trixie's output hasn't always been for me - a lot of her country-styled autobiographical tracks are cute but often a bit on the nose for the kind of music I'd usually listen to casually. She really brings a new charm and flair however to this Lana Del Rey cover, slightly rearranging the song into a new southern-country tempo and narrative tone that's a step away from the whimsical original - that's long been one of my least favourite Lana songs. I'd like to see more in this vein if Trixie ever decides to re-focus on music among the various angles her empire is working.

 

26. Nelly Furtado - I'm Like a Bird

 

 

Brought back to my attention by the artist who was my namesake on here earlier in the year, Crystal Methyd, from Drag Race season 12. (Did you know I'm a mod? Check the link in my sig for fabulous discussion threads & more xo) Crystal did an excellent recreation of the track where she starred as both a mother & baby bird using camera tricks to be on screen as both at the same time. Besides that, I'm Like a Bird also proved to be a pretty resonant song for 2020 as we all longed for escape and to get away & restart! & it was great to hear Nelly's distinctive voice again since she's been away from pop so long.

2nd tranche coming this am! Slightly slower going as I unexpectedly only have one working hand rn :')

Giving Love of Your Life a listen now, sounding quite nice! Very poppy but quite the earworm at the same time.

Sooo yeah I didn't actually touch on this in January as I was off my head on painkillers writing that post & then literally wasn't able to use my arm for the next 3 weeks. Don't fall on ice, kids!

 

I'm restarting now though because I did say I'd finish this one & a few more posts is doable ;) and I need to actually finish one of these at least once ;)

 

25~

And we're back!

 

25. Hot Chip - Straight to the Morning

 

 

After a kind of disappointing last album (as someone who LOVED their previous) this was a real strong return to form from Hot Chip & one of several entries they managed last year with one-off/bonus styled tracks. Good to have back!

 

24. H.E.R. - Damage

 

 

Her (heh) first track to really catch me. Smooth & instant classic sounding & really shows off her voice and easy confidence. I first saw it performed as a live track (obviously online :')) & later the studio version helped it become a late-in-the-year repeater that made it into my most played of the year.

 

23. Alice Chater - Aries

 

 

I'd been waiting for Alice to come out with something new following her star turn on Iggy Azalea's Lola which topped my chart towards the end of 2019. She's still only given us a few singles here and there as opposed to a full project, but this was a gem that showed off her potential to go far. Fingers crossed she will keep developing and have good industry support.

 

22. JONES with Mike Rogers - Loose Ideas

 

 

I've been a fan of JONES for some time, probably about 5 years now. She's changed her sound around a fair bit debuting with pop R&B and delving into alternative, mellow, and more adult sounds over the years. This was one that put her in more of a contemporary bracket and was one of several tracks that she also charted this year on my personals, she released an EP towards the end of the year too I believe, that sits vaguely in the same remit as RAYE above. Anyway, this one is very summery & replayable.

 

21. Jazmin Bean - Princess Castle

 

 

Jazmin identifies as a genderless monster and tbh I can relate these days. This was a great comeback from them with pal Cottontail, elevated by a fun and typically slightly gross horror aesthetic music video with a slightly more chill vibe than a lot of their metal-influenced tracks. With Nicole Dollanganger, another of my pastel goth faves on hiatus this year, this was a perfect fill-in for me. I had no luck my first time sending Jazmin to BJSC, but never say never for another contest ;)

Yay for H.E.R., 'Damage' is especially good :wub: Belated love for 'I'm Like A Bird' too, a cute classic!