20 Songs of 2020
If you haven’t already seen my 20 Albums of 2020 yet, check that out for even more awesome music, and know that the songs listed below are in addition to those stand-out collections. I’ve also put together a 2020 playlist that includes all the songs below as well as a track highlight from each of my 20 albums. You can listen here on Tidal, Spotify or Youtube.
20. Tangerine - Glass Animals
This upbeat nonsense song deserved way more dance floor time this year. Not only did I love the original track from Glass Animals’ Dreamland album, they went ahead and released this version with a verse from a new favourite - Arlo Parks - who will pop up in this list again later.
19. Hurricane - Wafia
Even before I realized she was a queer artist after my pop-loving heart, I fell in love with Wafia’s 2020 EP, Good Things, and seriously considered it as one of my albums of the year. But the truth is, “Hurricane” is the song I keep coming back to and adding to playlists.
18. AUATC - Bon Iver
An acronym that stands for “Ate Up All Their Cake” seems like an ever applicable reflection in the midst of a world built on white supremacy and colonial entitlement that constantly leaves much of the planet devastated by an exploitative capitalist system. Yet somehow the song is actually a bit comforting? Maybe it’s the James Taylor sample…
17. Me In 20 Years - Moses Sumney
This song was released earlier in the year and has a deeply emotional and nostalgic pull, even as Moses sings to his future self. Then, a short month ago, the song was featured in a bonus episode of the intense, Zendaya-lead drama, Euphoria, and it reminded me of just how powerful this song could be.
16. Iconic Rejuiced - Emotional Oranges
I have been a sucker for this mysterious r&b/dance duo ever since I stumbled across them a couple of years ago. This latest track is so danceable, and captures that static and palpable sexual tension that exists when a relationship is still pretty fresh.
15. Turntables - Janelle Monáe
There’s not much better in my mind than my personal queer icon, Janelle Monáe, making music for a revolution. In “Turntables,” she speaks harsh truth in the midst of relentless hope that the tables are indeed about to turn.
14. Lifetime - Romy
Romy Madley Croft, who originally rose to fame as a distinctive vocalist in the XX, often collaborating with Jamie XX (of the same group), has officially struck out on her own with this infectious, joyful dance track made for the (temporarily non-existent) queer club, and I am very excited for things (read: albums) to come in 2021.
13. Black Parade - Beyoncé
Juneteenth was honoured in a different way in 2020, in part because of the pandemic, but also in the wake of George Floyd’s murder which gave rise to a refreshed global momentum of Black Lives Matter movements in cities all over the world through marches, celebrations, demonstrations, and actions. Beyoncé participated by writing a song full of Black pride and resilience, releasing it on June 19th, 2020 and donating all proceeds to Black-owned businesses.
12. Make the Most - Lonr. featuring H.E.R.
I had trouble narrowing down all of the excellent H.E.R. singles and features that came out this year. I think by a hair, this might have been my favourite, but I also appreciated “Do To Me,” “Sometimes,” “Comfortable,” and “Damage,” and ultimately I just hope she has an album coming out soon. Here she offers support to new voice Lonr. who I still don’t know much about.
11. Jesus Christ 2005 God Bless America - The 1975
I’m not sure why Phoebe Bridgers isn’t given an official feature credit on this track, but it’s probably her second verse that makes this song so memorable. This song is all about the feel - I’ll admit that as much as I like the melody of the chorus, I have no idea what it means. But it still gives me chills and I love the reference to the homoerotic love of Jesus that is so prevalent in the evangelical world I came from.
10. Cayendo - Frank Ocean
Y’all should know by now that I am an absolute sucker for an unrequited love song from Frank Ocean. Not only that, but this is stripped back to a guitar and tapping foot, and puts Frank’s Spanish-language skills on display, which I hope becomes a more regular thing in the future.
9. U Should - CHIKA
After releasing a phenomenal debut EP early in the year, CHIKA followed up Industry Games with multiple singles that could have easily filled out a full-length record, and this was the most surprising, romantic slow jam, and also my favourite.
8. We Got Love - Teyana Taylor
Teyana Taylor released her much anticipated album this year, entitled simply, The Album, and although I wanted to like the whole collection a little more than I did, “We Got Love” is so fantastic that I can’t be mad. Closing out with a quote from Ms. Lauryn Hill, the entire track is bursting with Black love and joy, stating that “love is the new money” with the confidence and hope our world needs right now.
7. Bad Blood - Joy Oladokun
I’m very excited to have fallen down the internet hole that brought me to Joy Oladokun’s music. Her album, In Defence of My Own Happiness (vol.1) just narrowly missed my top 20 albums, so if you like her mellow wrestling with emotions and faith here, definitely check out the rest. As a queer artist who is making sense of her conservative evangelical upbringing, it could be that I find her voice deeply relatable, and I often wish I had some of these songs as I was coming out to myself, family and churches.
6. 12 Problems - Rapsody
One of my favourite living rappers makes a clever play on a hit tune of one of my other favourite rappers to discuss police violence and corruption. “I got 99 problems, but 12 still the biggest” (the number 12 is slang for cops). As usual, Marlena Evans aka Rapsody packs a punch in every single line.
5. Lost One - Jazmine Sullivan
Now that it’s 2021 and Jazmine has released Heaux Tales, I am deeply aware of the fact that this song could very well be on my album of the new year. By releasing the lead single, “Lost One,” Jazmine Sullivan reminded many of us that she continues to be one of the most underrated R&B queens out here … strike that, vocalists, period. Her low gravely voice drips with emotion, making me feel things down to my pinky toes.
4. Better Than I Imagined - Robert Glasper featuring H.E.R. & Meshell Ndegéocello
Talk about a stacked line-up of collaborators. Apparently they wrote and recorded this song in a single night after meeting up at the New York premier for the film, “The Photograph”, and clearly there was magic in the room. This song sounds like a warm bath feels.
3. Green Eyes - Arlo Parks
Yet another song representing a highly anticipated 2021 album. Non-binary artist Arlo Parks jumped to my attention early in the spring when she was regularly releasing sublime acoustic covers of Frank Ocean, Solange and Radiohead (among others). But it’s on her own original songs where Arlo really shines. “Green Eyes” is written to an ex who wasn’t ready to be out, and Arlo sings with so much compassion this line that gets me every time: “Some of these folks want to make you cry, but you gotta trust how you feel inside and shine.”
2. Lockdown Remix - Anderson .Paak featuring Noname, JID, and Jay Rock
As if the original radio edit of this song wasn’t already good enough to be on this list, Anderson went ahead and invited Noname, JID and Jay Rock to each provide phenomenal guest verses that spoke directly into the moment that has been 2020. No one called anything in here, because way too much was at stake, and the results are a brilliant and honest banger.
1. Savage Remix - Megan Thee Stallion featuring Beyoncé
I am a little surprised that my top 2 songs of the year were remixes, but it’s the truth. When Megan Thee Stallion released her EP SUGA, I fell in love with both “B.I.T.C.H.” and the original of “Savage,” but undeniably Beyoncé managed to elevate the track to unimaginable levels. Having these two badass Houston-raised queens on the same track is a straight-up blessing.
And there you have it! 2020 may have been a dumpster fire, but it didn’t stop music from music-ing, thank heavens.