2018

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1JDm57rQwdgZmVYgjW3T9A 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPXZHlD_pYLoR9djPDK8gkxZtXoUUlq8a 

Playlist time!! As I do towards the end of the year, I made a compilation of some of the songs I liked, or that were particularly anthemy or catchy and that I hadn't gotten tired of yet. The songs range from new releases shazamed on that "you know you love it when you first hear it" crush (many from Radio 1 - thank you Nick Grimshaw, Scott Mills, Annie Mac), some from movies I saw this year, some older songs that somehow popped for me this year, a few from Colombia/Panama that got stuck in my head, and a few discovered by reading and listening to lots of recommendations, checking out random lists, and letting Spotify, Pandora, Youtube Music and even traditional radio go wild. As always, lots of anthems [blush]. See the disclaimer for the long list of what I did NOT include even though it was hot this year (even if I might have liked it).

I know it's still November so I am ridiculously early (and I'm not being not fair to those amazing December releases that are going to have to wait a year), but I've been working on this since February, it's up to 34 songs and a whopping 2 hrs and 8 minutes long, and I feel like starting over, so it's time to go public with my mix for 2018. I guess I've finally been liberated from the 74 minute limit. Lots of editorial notes below; the short version is that most of these songs are more on the yummy side rather than "I want to stretch your tastes". I have a separate set of those but I don't quite know what to do with it. Oh, and you may be annoyed w my mariachi intermezzo. Sorry.

So here it is. The Youtube and Spotify versions are more or less the same, except annoyingly, Youtube does not have the same version for every song. But then again, they have videos.

Editorial comments: 

1. Five of the songs were marked "Explicit" by Spotify. Convenient (imagine Church Lady voice, for those of you old enough). I'm done censoring, and my own language is usually worse than anything in these.

2. The only traditional fav by me is The Cat Empire, their new song Kila which will undoubtedly be the centerpiece of an entire album some time next year. You heard it here first. That band can do no wrong. Plus, they're from Melbourne. 'Nough said.

3. Speaking of traditional favs: still no Portugal. the Man. Don't think I don't hold grudges. Sorry but I'm a bit bitter that a band I've loved for 10 years has turned into a one-hit wonder ("Feel it still"). But it was fun to watch them cook sausage at Outside Lands and see them up close - almost like in the olden days, when I saw them in clubs smaller than a high school classroom. But if I would have picked a song, it would have been So Young.

4. Not as much Outside Lands harvest this year (although Janelle Monae, Rainbow Kitten Surprise, Florence & the Machine, Bon Iver, Jessie Reyes, Father John Misty, and Billie Eilish were among my fav sets). Janelle actually brought tears to my eyes.

5. Mary Gauthier, Mike Shinoda, and Rudimental are on my repeat-play list, but I could not make up my mind to pick a song that fit so check them out elsewhere. Brothers and Soldiering On by Mary Gauthier, and Over Again by Mike Shinoda almost made it. But Mel says I can't have depressing stuff or steel guitars. So I just play them in my car.

6. I could have picked several other songs by Troye Sivan (My My My is pretty catchy) but Strawberries & Cigarettes also checks the soundtrack box (Love Simon) so I get away with a song that was technically not from 2018

7. Almost put King Princess - 1950, These Days by Rudimental, several songs by Beach House, Curse of the I-5 corridor by Neko Case, Good Thing Gone by Elle King, Fronteras by Gaby Moreno, Death Preferences by State Champion, Sanctify by Years & Years, and a few others on there. Maybe next year I will make a "music too weird or too mainstream for the list" runner-up list.

8. Finally put Drowning by Boogie wit da Hoodie on there - yes Christina, you still get credit. A year late but it stood the test of time.

9. Regarding the somewhat unusual intermezzo of Peter Manjarres, El Chapo, Prince Royce, Willie Colon, and Erika Ender: that was a leftover from our trip to Medellin this Spring. Que Dios Te Bendiga is a happy birthday song from Colombia that got stuck in my head. Le Hace Falta un Beso was the most amazing mariachi song when I heard it in a bar in Medellin, and Aleja sings it much better than this guy, but this is apparently the original. Prince Royce was the first dance at Mariana's quinceañera, El Gran Varon made me happy-sad on the plane, and Erika Ender is Panama's greatest export (well, there's that canal thingie too).

10. Lady Gaga is my guilty pleasure for the year. A Star Is Born, despite being the fourth remake of the same story, is arguably the best one (USA Today says so, I haven't seen the other three). I loved it, and the music as well. 

11. Oh wait, I have several other guilty pleasures on there. Shawn Mendes? Isaac Gracie? Maroon 5?

12. AWOLNATION is not from 2018. Or 2017. Or 2016. I think Sail hit the top 10 in 2011. Yes, I know. But I like it.

13. Young Thug gives you just enough of a hint of Elton to make me want like Yellow Brick Road. Just not on this list.

14. In case you were wondering / reading between the lines, yes.

15. Yes, it works fine with shuffle play. That's what I do most of the time. The ordering is an afterthought. 

16. Don't read too much into the lyrics either - that's not why I picked them (no, I don't share whatever emotion seems to be prevalent in several songs). I know some of you are lyrics people; I grew up listening to music in a foreign language before I spoke the language, so I'm a little blunted in that department.

17. Feel free to share with others, plagiarize/copy/improve, or discover my other playlists on Spotify or Youtube. I don't have email addresses for many people I wanted to share this with.

18. As to what was hot in 2018 that I listened to but did not fall in love with:

• • • loads of EDM stuff (all the rage at the festivals - I'm turning into a dinosaur - it was crowded)

    • Drake, Ariana Grande, Lana Del Rey, Noname, Robyn, Childish Gambino

    • George Ezra, Ed Sheeran, Dua Lipa, Post Malone, Kendrick Lamar

    • Somehow every song from the Greatest Showman. Really?

    • That song from Portugal. The Man. (yes in fact I fell OUT of love. When does that happen?)