I MADE YOU A PLAYLIST, Vol. 5: "The Great Escape" — 2020 Favorites
I MADE YOU A PLAYLIST, Vol. 5: "The Great Escape" — 2020 Favorites
A thank you note to the songs that saved my year. 🏝
Music is simply the best, and that’s really all there is to it… but of course it would mean nothing without the experiences it colors in or the people we sing along with, right?
I love poring over year-end lists from esteemed music publications and perusing worldwide streaming stats, and of course I live for the fascinating personal data (ahem, @ Spotify) that quantifies my listening and makes music discovery tangible in a way nothing else really can.
BUT…
How could Spotify ever know that the first time I streamed Patrick Droney’s “The Wire” (my #3-streamed song of 2020, according to their records) was when I forced a car full of my best friends to listen to it at 12:01 on the night it was released, as we drove down a North Carolina highway en route to a pre-COVID bachelorette adventure in Asheville? No data could convey that.
Just like Pitchfork (or the NY Times, or NPR, etc.) wouldn’t understand how Harry Styles’ Fine Line rescued me from many an afternoon slump as I adjusted to WFH life in March, and just like there’s no way to count how many calories I burned or endorphins my body produced while jumping around my apartment to Thunder Jackson’s “Find Yourself” or Dua Lipa’s “Physical” on late-spring days when I’d otherwise barely left my kitchen table office.
What I’m really saying is something I’ve said many times before: MUSIC IS MAGIC. And this year, more than ever, it was my great escape—my perfect palm-tree-dotted tropical island where storms last less than five minutes and every time the clouds part the sun shines 10x brighter than before.
So here it is—my thank you note to the songs that saved my year. It’s a silly, celebratory, imperfect-but-joyful cannonball jump into the ocean of songs and artists that filled in the gaps on countless lonely lockdown walks around the neighborhood or, in some cases, brought me closer to friends old and new, even during a pandemic. (Side note: I maintain that music friends are one-of-a-kind and should be cherished like the last edge-piece brownie in the pan.)
I invite you to grab a mojito or piña colada (LOL jk, grab the tea you forgot you made 2 hours ago) and please join me in my imaginary musical paradise for a quick playlist party.
ALBUMS
If I *must* choose… Here are my top ten full-length albums of the year (in no particular order):
folklore + evermore — Taylor Swift (combining these because I love Taylor and this is my list and I make the rules)
MVPs: peace, august, ivy
Thunder Jackson — Thunder Jackson
MVPs: Find Yourself, Colours, Love Sick Doctor
Shape & Destroy — Ruston Kelly
MVPs: Alive, Changes, Closest Thing
Punisher — Phoebe Bridgers
MVPs: Moon Song, Chinese Satellite, I Know The End
Give Me A Minute — Lizzy McAlpine
MVPs: Nothing/Sad N Stuff, Same Boat, Apple Pie
The Baby — Samia
MVPs: Big Wheel, Is There Something in the Movies?, Minnesota
positions — Ariana Grande
MVPs: safety net, obvious, pov
LP5 — John Moreland
MVPs: East October, Harder Dreams, When My Fever Breaks
Fine Line — Harry Styles
MVPs: Golden, Sunflower Vol. 6, Canyon Moon
Supernova — Caitlyn Smith
MVPs: Fly Away, Rare Bird, Lonely Together
***Honorable Mentions: Giver Taker by Anjimile, Blue Eyes, The Harlot, The Queer, The Pusher, & Me by Waylon Payne, Shoot for the Stars Aim for the Moon by Pop Smoke
MOMENTS
“Wait for the best part!” - Me, every time I play a song for someone. Here’s a quick list of my most memorable musical moments:
When the drums come in on Glass Animals’ “Heat Wave”
When Lennon Stella switches into “I Love You Always Forever” at the end of “Save Us”
The way Kacey says the word “darling” on Troye Sivan’s “Easy” remix
The sparkling chaos of the last 40 seconds of The 1975’s “What Should I Say”
The second verse (chorus?) of Taylor’s “gold rush,” when it literally sounds like you’re walking fast brushing past someone and I have to catch my breath every time
The little electric guitar lick at the end of “august (long pond sessions),” when you just know Aaron Dessner is truly LIVING
“WILL YOU KISS ME ON THE PORCH IN FRONT OF ALL YOUR STUPID FRIENDS?” from Taylor’s “betty”
The absolutely electric jolt of energy that comes during the second verse of Patrick Droney’s “Right With You”
The sneaky, gentle saxophone solo in “Good Plates” by Michael Bernard Fitzgerald
“And then it was bought by ME…” in Taylor’s “the last great american dynasty”—When I tell you I almost screamed when I first heard that…
LYRICS
I’m not a tattoo gal.... but if I were, these would make the shortlist of ideas:
the devil’s in the details, but you got a friend in me (Taylor Swift, “peace”)
when you walk in the room, it's like a neon angel / wearing blue jeans and a thousand halos (Caitlyn Smith, “Fly Away”)
bury me in flowers, when I go I want to bloom / and come back as the color of a lovely afternoon (Ruston Kelly, “Hallelujah Anyway”)
quick pause in conversation, she plays songs I've never heard / an old lover's hippie music, pretends not to know the words (Harry Styles, “Canyon Moon”)
call it faith, the moon it disappears don’t mean it’s gone away (Patrick Droney, “Right With You”)
i’ve been thinking about my storyline / and how your past becomes your present if it’s always on your mind (The Japanese House, “Dionne” feat. Justin Vernon)
thank god women learn to whisper, but i crave a megaphone (Jensen McRae, “The Wolves”)
oh can we just get a pause? to be certain we’ll be tall again (Taylor Swift, “evermore” feat. Bon Iver)
SONGS
Perhaps the greatest sequencing challenge I’ve ever encountered, this playlist contains 100 of the songs I loved most this year. There’s Taylor and Pop Smoke and Ariana and Diana Gordon, mixed right in with Donovan Woods and Christine and the Queens. These tracks have been ~*quite artfully*~ cobbled together to create some sort of flowing, satisfying listening experience, should you wish to consume it in order. (Just keep in mind that a song’s playlist slot # does not necessarily correspond to my level of appreciation for it.) I hope out of all these songs you might find a fun little souvenir to take with you into 2021! 😊
*untangles headphones*
Bon voyage!
Great Escape: 2020 Favorites
peace - Taylor Swift
Comeback - Carly Rae Jepsen, Bleachers
Linnea - LAYNE
circle the drain - Soccer Mommy
cover girl - joan
Love Sick Doctor - Thunder Jackson
Good Plates - Michael Bernard Fitzgerald
King Kong - Aron Blom
Mara - Jack Garratt
Over Yet - Hayley Williams
XS - Rina Sawayama
Baby No More - Anjimile
Pretty Girl Lie - Baby Queen
Heartbreak Weather - Niall Horan
august (long pond sessions) - Taylor Swift
Save Us - Lennon Stella
Meet Me in the City - Adam Doleac
Fly Away - Caitlyn Smith
Clean Slate - Donovan Woods
With You - Keith Urban
Find Yourself - Thunder Jackson
How Will I Know - Whitney Houston
Heat Waves - Glass Animals
Heavenly Father (feat. Noah Kahan) - Gryffin
When the Dreams Run Dry - The Killers
gold rush - Taylor Swift
out in the wild - REUNION
Felt This Way - Carly Rae Jepsen
Faded - Izzy Bizu
Talking to Myself - Gatlin
Another Try - HAIM
If I Told - Courtney Marie Andrews
On the Floor - Perfume Genius
It Might Take A Woman - Girlhood
Ode to a Conversation Stuck in Your Head - Del Water Gap
Put Me Back Together - Caitlyn Smith
East October - John Moreland
Changes - Ruston Kelly
You Were - Field Guide
The Fortune Teller - C.A. Jones
invisible string - Taylor Swift
Big Wheel - Samia
Set It Free (MUNA Remix) - Now, Now, MUNA
On the Lookout (feat. Raffaella) - NEIL FRANCES
Hello Hello Hello - Remi Wolf
Aim For The Moon (feat. Quavo) - Pop Smoke
Vampire - Dominic Fike
safety net (feat. Ty Dolla $ign) - Ariana Grande
I Know Alone - HAIM
Golden - Harry Styles
Physical - Dua Lipa
CRUSH - Sebastian Paul
The Heat - Moody Joody
The Wire - Patrick Droney
smoke - Joy Oladokun
Moon Song - Phoebe Bridgers
Overkill - Holly Humberstone
Fields of Knowing - Skyline Motel
The Shining But Tropical - Wild Pink
Somebody - Dagny
Right With You - Patrick Droney
In Too Deep (feat. Kiana Lede) - Jacob Collier
Apple Pie - Lizzy McAlpine
Nomads - John Craigie
Can I Fall in Love with a Broken Heart - Joshua Speers
the last great american dynasty - Taylor Swift
Canyon Moon - Harry Styles
Summer Feelings (feat. Charlie Puth) - Lennon Stella
Rollin - Diana Gordon
obvious - Ariana Grande
Andrew - Ryann
La vita nuova - Christine and the Queens, Caroline Polachek
Dionne (feat. Justin Vernon) - The Japanese House
Haven’t Even Kissed Me Yet - Aubrie Sellers
Same Boat - Lizzy McAlpine
Care - beabadoobee
Deck of Cards - Georgia Greene
Falling Asleep At The Wheel - Holly Humberstone
Devils In The Canyon - The Strike
What Should I Say - The 1975
Easy (with Kacey Musgraves and Mark Ronson) - Troye Sivan
ivy - Taylor Swift
The Eye - Waxahatchee
Santa Ana Winds - Waylon Payne
Bleed to Love Her (Live at Warner Brothers Studios) - Fleetwood Mac
Everything, Maybe - Temme Scott
Wolves - Jensen McRae
AUATC - Bon Iver
Running - Shamir
Cool for A Second - Yumi Zouma
Vulnerable - Selena Gomez
Fall For Me - Brett Eldredge
Strange Girl - Laura Marling
Crazy For You Tonight - Kip Moore
Take Some Time - Wilderado
Other People - Joshua Speers
Take Me Where Your Heart Is - Q
Is There Something in the Movies? - Samia
evermore (feat. Bon Iver) - Taylor Swift
Hallelujah Anyway - Ruston Kelly
Listen to the whole thing HERE:
Or find it right here if you use Apple Music.
Happy holidays, happy listening, and GUESS WHAT: We get to do this whole New Music thing all over again in 2021! I can’t wait.
Thank you for reading/caring/pressing play on a playlist, even just once :)
Natalie