NPR Music - The best songs of 2024 (so far)

Episode Date: June 18, 2024

With the first half of the year almost behind us, we hit pause to reflect on some of the best tracks we've gotten so far, from Chappell Roan, Brittany Howard, Pedro The Lion and more.Featured songs:�� Chappell Roan: "Good Luck, Babe!" (single)• Pedro the Lion: "Modesto," from 'Santa Cruz'• Tyla: "Safer," from 'TYLA'• Blondshell: "Docket (feat. Bully)" (single)• Helado Negro: "Colores Del Mar," from 'Phasor'• Jessica Pratt: "World on a String," from 'Here In The Pitch'• Mk.gee: "I Want," from 'Two Star & The Dream Police'• Madi Diaz: "God Person," from 'Weird Faith'• Brittany Howard: "Power to Undo," from 'What Now'Like the show? Tell your friends and leave us a review. Feedback, questions, comments welcome at [e-mail] pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Well, congratulations. You've managed to claw and scrape your way to the halfway point of 2024. It feels like it's been blazing by to me. Yeah. Yeah. You definitely? Yeah, I have no idea what month it is. If you told me it was January. Yeah, there was no spring this year. Yeah.

So, Hazel Sills, Sheldon Pierce, and Piers, and Pyrr Music editors, everyone just gather around. We're going to take a moment to stop down here and, you know, look at the best songs that we've gotten so far. this year. And, you know, this isn't going to be what I would call a, you know, a massively comprehensive, all-encompassing, list to end all lists. There are some big songs and albums and artists that we're just not going to get to or talk about, you know, like the Beyonce record or Taylor. Shabuzzi's having a moment right now. There's this inescapable espresso single from Sabrina Carpenter. That's what's playing underneath us right now. Do you all like this song? You know, it doesn't really move me personally.

I get it. There is a certain infectiousness to it, but I find it sort of a little too still. I like my pop songs a little more vibrant

and this is the kind of thing that you can set underneath people having a conversation. It sounds like elevator music to me. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I mean, I think

it's pretty charming. Like I think that I had never cared about or even paid attention to Sabrina Carpenter until the song, which is saying something. But I think to Sheldon's point,

it's more of like a mohieler. than an espresso. And I am the same in that, like, I think when I think of the pop songs that I really like, I want something that is going to get my heart rate up pretty quickly and not something to relax to. But, I mean, if you're the kind of person who loves that, the song's for you. Well, we have some things today that'll get your heart rate up. Totally. And I just got done saying we're not going to talk about the Sabrina Carpenter.

And here we are talking about the Sabrina Carpenter, but it's just that inevitable. But, no, we're going to talk about, you know, some of our personal picks, the songs that have stayed with us this year, you know, still in heavy rotation, still moving us, making us think, giving us life, making us move, all the different ways that we love music. Yeah, I mean, I think, like, to Sheldon's point about vibrant pop songs, I have a very vibrant pop song that's been one of my favorite songs of the year. It's the song, Good Luck, Babe, by the artist Chapel Rhone. and she has just had like an incredible year so far. She put out her debut album, The Rise and Fall of the Midwest Princess last year. But she's kind of had this like slow burn rise ever since then.

You know, she like did a standout tiny disc. She played an incredible set at Coachella and then she put out this song in April. It's a one-off single and it's her first Billboard Hot 100 entry and it's been climbing ever since. And it is such a freaking good song. It's like this huge, huge 80s inspired synth pop number. It feels like a cross between like Cindy Lopper and Kate Bush. And it's just like Chapel Rowan is just a complete star on this song. And it's been wedged in my brain ever since I first heard it.

It's fine. It's cool. You can say the guess I put their arms. This felt like the pop song of the year for me so far. I mean, it's so sharp and glamorous and a little pissy. Like, you'd have to stop the world just to stop the feeling. It's such a monumental read that feels like a gut punch. It's the kind of like direct emotional attack that you can't escape even as a bystander.

And I just love that. There's something going on in this song that gets at this, I don't know, this strange feeling that I've been having for a while. And it's the feeling that music and really mostly pop music, It's like it's living in or growing out of some sort of uncanny valley. It's weird to me. I hear this over and over again. Songs that sound like they were made in a certain era, but not quite. You know, they're so close to the reality of a certain era or sound, but something is off.

And also, for me, anyway, just a little unsettling. I think unsettling is kind of what this song is going for, though. I think in wherein the Sabrina Carpenter song that could be an accident. Like this song, like... Unintentionally, creeped. This song sort of lives in that weird sort of tension. It is sort of supposed to be spine-chilling. Like, there is a charge of anger that's running through it

because she is sort of pointing to this lover that she is. has who is refusing to engage with her queerness and turning to like heteronormative relationships in this sort of forced way. Yeah, I also think the uncanniness, Robin, I think like, you know, Chappell is like a millennial artist. She knows she's often singing about like, you know, her queerness, themes about her personal life. And I feel like the fact that this song sounds like something that could have been played at like a prom in 1985, but like has this. like deep kind of like anger to it and resistance and like she's like really singing from her gut like adds to the sort of unsettling in a good way feeling to me well and then sonically you get like

the last uh i don't know 30 seconds or so of this song here she's like face it it's like everything is just melting yeah so chapel rhone that song good luck babe that came out April 5th I want to play a cut from earlier this year that couldn't feel more human to me and real. It's from Pedro the Lion, otherwise known as David Bazan. You know, he's been doing this for a long time, and anyone who follows and loves his work knows that he is a really gifted storyteller. And the one that he tells here in this song, it's called Modesto, kind of blindsided me when I first heard it in April.

I mean, a lot of his music has really moved me over the years. But this one just really knocked me out. Just listen to the story that he tells here. Again, it's called Modesto. with my new church friend and traded stories. We decided I should quit, and then we laughed and carried on till morning. Next day I got a part-time job

at the local guitar store in my desk, though, it isn't boring like you thought it would be. me Modesto It's not baloney like you thought it would be Modesto

isn't lonely like you thought it would be I heard the perfect song It were today Having asked If there were bands to see And spots to play.

Jim said hell yeah, and then he handed me to take. I walk man, he bones pacing by the speakers and he aimed. Was a beautiful, hilarious, tragic mess that sent tears streaming down my face. Grab me by the lapel, stood me up and put a poor track in my face. back in my hand and told me, son, make all the messes you can manage to make. And move back to Seattle be the drummer in the band. There's a girl from there that Friday's all my lungs break. I write letters too.

And I think she likes me too. It's hard to bring this down because I want to hear where the story is going. But, I mean, essentially, it's just, you know, it's the story of how he decided to pursue a life in music. But like all great stories, the power is in the details. You know, how he was a vacuum cleaner salesman. And he only sells one vacuum cleaner and it's to someone who can't afford it. And after she writes the check for it, she bursts out sobbing because she knows she can't afford it. I think it also just really strikes a nerve in me because, well, I mean, for lots of reasons.

But one is, I tend to get really emotional when I see people being. creative and bringing something beautiful and good into the world. And when I see just the spirit of imagination come to life in people, it's magical to me. Yeah. Something that I really appreciate about, you know, this song and this album is just, as you said, Robin, there's so many beautiful granular details. And the way that he writes this song, it's just, it's almost like a diary, like put the word, the sort of the images and then stories are kind of like pouring out of him. But Once you step back from it all, there's this really kind of universal connection, or at least for me, like, what happens when you realize that, like, music can change your life or that, like, art can change your life. And, like, you just want to dedicate, like, every moment of your life to pursuing this thing.

And that's really beautiful. What I find particularly interesting about this song is, like, it seems that the thing that makes Modesto not as boring or as baloney or as, lonely as people would think is the fact that the people there have spurred this journey of artistic self-discovery like it's in the interactions that he's had in this place the people that he's met and the sequence of events that has allowed for him to reach his calling you have him selling vacuums to the glen gerry glen rossman which leads to a part-time gig at a guitar store which in turn inspires the move back to Seattle to be the drummer in the band

and the music, it has this almost euphoric turn as he mentions the mere prospect of going back to Seattle. That's the moment when I've just, my heart explodes. And it's like, wow, you hear the rush of adrenaline that is inspired by this potential breakthrough for him. Yeah. And you can sense the fact that everything about his life is not only about to change, but about to be fulfilled in the best way.

And the chance encounters in life. You say the sequence of events that leads to this, but all these sort of these chance moments in your life that you often miss because you're not paying attention and the wonder and awe and the gratitude that you feel in those moments, especially at the point in your life that he's at in this song, he's pretty young. I think he's still a teenager in this song.

You know, when you're dealing with maybe some of the most uncertainty in your life, but also the most possibility. Yeah, I mean, the little things that add up to make you who you are and lead you to the person that you will become. Damn. Sorry. That's so beautiful. Yeah.

So that came out, that song came out all the way back in February, but the album that that is from, Modesto is from, is called Santa Cruz, and that just came out June 7th. For me, a lot of my year has centered on, One person, and that is Tyler, the South African pop star. She has been on an absolute tear for the last eight months, pretty much. She's become the hometown ambassador for the Amapiano genre born of her native South Africa, which features the elastic log drum and comes from house music in the region.

Her breakthrough single, Water, won the inaugural Grammy for Best African. fucking music performance, and she released her self-titled debut in March. The standout for me is this cut. It's called Safer. It's way too good to be true. I'm ready to go through with you. I'm falling in a shell. You had some good times and we had some bad time.

I hadn't thought Kate Bush the first few times I listen to this, but now it's really hitting me. Yeah. Especially there. Is that what it is? The drums. Yeah, it's the drums. That is a great entry point. Yeah, yeah.

I mean, this is just the most recent of Tylist singles that has infiltrated the TikTok feed, water, jump, and truth or dare among them. But I think it is my favorite, all-killer, no-filler. It is sort of the subtle application of the log drum throughout this song. It's cliche at this point to call Afro-pop prismatic, but this really does. evoke some kind of like alternative paradise to me. It feels like of a world of, of waterfalls. It's just so stunning.

I feel like when I first discovered her and I've been listening to her music, she's sort of reminded me of like when Brianna first came on the scene. Like, you know, obviously Rihanna's from Barbados. But, you know, like the first music that she was putting out was obviously like heavily borrowing from like reggae and dance hall. but then she was also sort of like making music that sort of, you know, fit in with like American R&B and pop trans. And it feels like Tila is sort of doing that, but really leaning maybe the most into, you know, South African music and sort of like, I feel like there's like this not alternate history, but there's like this moment right now in pop music where artists can, you know, enter the American market and like actually make music that like speaks to the what pop music is like globally, like in the most expansive. way possible?

Well, she's definitely making a connection because she's got over a billion stream. A billion stream. So she's making inroads. I mean, I did read that it's sort of her singular goal to make Amma Piano, you know, a more present, certainly in the West. And it certainly seems like it's working. And that's the self-titled record from Tyler that came out on March 22nd. Okay, we've got to take a quick break.

But we will have more of our picks for the year's best songs so far. after this. How are you feeling about the year so far? Has it been a great year for singles, a great year for albums? I try not to get too hung up in years as good or bad for music. I think every year ends up being good for music because music is great. But this year really does feel like a banner year, especially for albums. There have just been so many great albums released this year. Yeah, I think it's mostly an great year for albums for me. I feel like every year, you know, sometimes I find myself listening more to like, you know, a handful of really incredible songs over and over. Like I make a personal playlist every year of my favorite songs of the year and favorite albums of the year. And I don't know. I think this year I feel like I, when I've gotten obsessed with something, it's like the entire 12 tracks of one singular, you know, project. Yeah, one thing I noticed when you look at the, like the Billboard Hot 100 for what it's worth, nothing has really dominated it in the singles.

Jack Harlow's Loving on me. Spent five weeks at number one. That tells you, we've told the whole story there. Five weeks. And that song came out last November. But it spent five weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in January and February. And then everything since then's been like maybe a week. or two tops. Texas hold them two weeks. Fortnight by Taylor Swift, two weeks. So, you know,

that tells me there hasn't been like a juggernaut single or several, at least so far this year. But let's get to more of our personal picks here. Yes, I have a personal favorite that I feel like is a very underrated song this year that I feel like more people should listen to and care about. It's a one-off song from the artist Blonde Shell, Sabrina Titlebaum. And the song is called Docket, and it's a collaboration that she did with the artist Bulley, who's another favorite of mine. And I just think it's just like an incredible collaboration between two really strong singer-songwriters, indie rock artists.

And yeah, I think it's a huge, huge banger for each of them. And it's a great song. Out of the four songs we've played so far, I've noticed our relationship songs. Not really relationships that are working out terribly well. I'm starting to think you all might be living very, very different lives from the one that I am living right now. But you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. No, I just, I mean, Blanchelle put out a record last year, a self-titled album that was full of songs about, you know, just sort of, sort of like this push and pull of like self-loathing, you know, sort of like running through

different relationships, like dealing with their own avoidance. And I feel like, you know, this song, I feel like I really gravitate towards like the flea bags of music. Like just that line, my worst nightmare is me. Like really? You're what your worst nightmare? And but like just this, you know, and bully to Alicia Bagnano, like she is also an artist who goes. to such interesting places with her own anxiety and grievances in her music and both of them coming together and just like really getting in their heads and making this incredible song about like how do I navigate this this weirdness like how do I navigate these relationships is really compelling I mean she's talked about this song being about splitting off from parts of

yourself in order to adapt to new environments and sort of coping with distance and change and also being reckless. And it's like being a musician on the road, it makes that kind of thing tough, like sustaining relationships, having meaningful connections, and maintaining them. And this song seems to like mire in the difficulty

of all of that. And I think you can hear, there seems to be like a bit of frustration. Like, why can I get this right? And that seems to be why she settles in herself being her worst nightmare because she knows at the end of the day she's in control of her own life, but she can't help the way that she feels. And she is responding to that in these lyrics. Well, when I put together my list of picks for this mid-year review, I went with whatever immediately popped into my mind. Like, I figure if I've got to go poking around to try to remember what it was or what came out or what was something.

I like, then it wasn't hitting the bar for me. But if it's still just like ringing in my ears, however long after it came out, then I've got something there. And one that immediately came to mind for me is this really cool, sort of a slow groove cut from Elado Negro called Colores Del Mar. It came out in early February. This is Roberto Carlos Lang. The album that this is from is called Phaser.

I just really, really love the vibe in this song. And just the little world of sound that he creates. Again, it's called Chloris Delmar. That is my jam. Faser is one of my favorite records of the year, honestly, and feels like more evidence of something we've spoken of about albums and songs fitting into holes. This feels like key evidence why that record is so great, though.

The song is about disappearing on a walk or a swim, and it carries that repetition in it. Like the pattering. It says it over and over again. I just want to disappear. Yeah. It's so like a lot of the songs on this record, you just sort of like weighed into it,

like a backstroke and feel it wash over you. It's very gentle. It's very subtle about the way that it moves, but it's so filled with little details. It's really, really pretty. Yeah, the little details for me make this song and to that point about sort of being washed in it or like sort of wading in.

Just the way that this song builds is really beautiful. And I know that, you know, when he made this album, he was a little inspired or affected by, like, Pauline Oliveros ideas of, like, deep listening and, like, really focused, you know, meditation on music. And the idea that, like, music can be, you know, can bring you to this place of, you know, deep attention as opposed to just, like, being something that plays in the background. And I feel like I heard that influence, especially in the beginning, just like as it, this very kind of like subtle building of percussion.

Yeah, intentional is a good word to describe this. And like you say, being very present. I know that it was also really inspired by nature. And, you know, he moved to Asheville, North Carolina not long ago and says that he really connected with nature in deeper ways, being close to the Smoky Mountains. And, you know, he'd go for long walks and really pay attention to the sounds around him just of the natural world.

And I feel like you can kind of hear that in this record and that it's very like it's earthy. It's organic. He referred to the songs on the album as tone poems, which just feels so apt. In an interview with Pace, he mentioned that he wanted to stray from music of like traumas and personal identities and embrace a wider palette of things

as form of expression. I think you can really feel. that kind of thing playing out here, the idea that like a song doesn't have to be wrapped up in a person's sense of self to really be expressing something true about the way that they're experiencing the world. And he is like bottling all of that up

into the little, it's little maneuvers that feel reflective of something that he is experiencing. And you don't have to know exactly what that is to get the feeling. Well, I'm glad you liked this album, too, because I think Faisers is a contender for one of, not album of the year, but certainly on my short list. Yeah, yeah, definitely one of the best.

Another album in that category is from the folk singer-songwriter, Jessica Pratt, who returned for her first LP in five years. It's called Here in the Pitch. To me, it brings everything about her previous music into sharper relief with an intent to explore the darker edges of the Californian dream, and the song,

World on a String, feels really representative of its mission. To me, her whole vibe is summed up right there in that little moment when she goes, la-da-da-da-da. It's so playfully glum. Playfully glum. That is Jessica Prud.

Yeah, I mean, You really can feel like you get a sense of the large shadow that the Hollywood sign can cast over people's dreams in this song. I mean, it is so tightly spun and seems to capture like a zeitgeist in miniature. I mean, I want to be the sunlight of the century. I want to be a vestige of our senses free is an all-timer. I mean, so much sad optimism wrapped up in it. The pursuit of light and freedom. mired by the corrupting influence of like celebrity desire.

It feels of two minds. And then it's just so, so beautiful the way that her voice works in this song. It just feels so like tiny at its center, but you can see all of the, all of the details on it. Yeah, I adore this song. And I love this album. It's definitely one of my favorite albums of the year. And, you know, I feel like this song and a lot of the album, it feels to me like Jessica Pratt has really just pushed the boundaries of what she does in her music.

Typically, like, you know, she is a folk singer-songwriter first and foremost, but a lot of her music up until this point has been very much her and her guitar. And there is this very grandiose, broke, almost pop vibe to this song. Like, when I heard the song, I was like, is this like Jessica Pratt's version of making a pop song? Like, even that moment where she sings, I want to be the sunlight of the century. I was like, this kind of reminds me of Petula Clark. It's like it has this very, you know, 60s. I know she was also inspired by the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds when she was making this album.

And, yeah, it has this very retro warm quality. She just has this incredible ability to one moment sound like, you know, a folk singer with just her guitar and the other moment, a pop singer from like 1962 singing in this like wall of sound, Phil Spectre produced studio. And yeah, it's beautiful. It reminds me of maybe a slightly more grounded version of that Cindy Lee record that came out. I mean, obviously, nowhere near us sprawled. I was thinking about the comparison that that record drew to, like, the life of Karen Carpenter and trying to live in a specific period, not just a specific period or a specific sound, but what that period and sound evoked, like, what it meant to people and how it lives on in our imagination. I feel like this song is operating in a similar capacity and thinking about music in a similar way.

Yeah, I totally hear that. And also, you know, a little otherworldly. Yeah. I would say that this Jessica Pratt, there's a lot more for you to kind of get a foothold on, though, if that makes sense when you listen to it. Totally. Yeah.

So the Jessica Pratt record came out May 3rd. Yeah, it's another one of my favorites of the year here in the pitch. is the name of the album also on my short list, I think, when we get to December. We've got to take a break here, but we'll be right back after this. So I have another otherworldly artist who put out a song that I love this year. The song is called I Want, and it's by this artist named Mickey, real name Michael Gordon. And he put out one of my favorite albums of the year so far. It's called Two Star and The Dream Police.

and I really feel like this cut from it, the song I want, is my favorite from that album. And it is just this really gorgeous, atmospheric, guitar-driven song that just seems completely out of time. It feels very present, but it also sounds like something made by like a cult artist in the 80s in a weird way. And it just feels like there's this fog that surrounds the entire song. And it's just, I keep revisiting this album. I keep revisiting this song. And it's so hard for me to pin down exactly what makes it so incredibly special to me. But I just, I love it.

And it's one of my favorite songs of the year. I had to get to this turn here. It's so weird to me. I have played it over and over and over again. I mean, just listen to it one more time here. It's about a minute and a half into the song. And on paper, it shouldn't feel. It's not like, you know, he doesn't change keys completely or, you know, throwing some wildly different rhythm, but something just completely shifts at that moment.

It's kind of an eerie sort of transition, like a stage fog setting in or something like that. A YouTube comment described this song as being like VHS and I think they were on to something. That's so zoomer. Yeah. Okay, zoomer. Pretty obviously pulling from 80s soft rock. And there is something distinctly and nostalgic about it, but there's also something sort of like extremely present.

I don't know, maybe it's all the wanting. It seems to be directly pressed up on you. Yeah, the way that he plays guitar is so eerie, as you would say, Robin. Like there's something kind of jerky about it and like sort of like the guitar is trying to wiggle its way out of the song or something like that. Oh, yeah. That's a great way to put it. But yeah, there's this, the way that this song builds, it's so simple. You know, some at points of it, I'm like, I don't truly even know what he's saying,

but all I really need to know is that he wants. And, you know, it just builds an intensity. And, yes, Sheldon, to your point, there's so much, there's so much swirling in this song in terms of references, not unlike the Jessica Pratt album. Like, I hear the police. like the Blue Nile, I hear a little Arthur Russell. And I think it adds to this sense of, or to borrow that YouTube commenters term, this sense of VHS, this sense of retro nostalgia that still feels, you know, quite modern.

But yeah, it's a weird, weird song. So weird. I, you know, and I promise I'm not going to just keep harping on this, but this is a perfect example of what I've been talking about, this weird, surreal moment we're in. right now with pop music where like the top of this song, those little guitar harmonics, and then there are these little palm muted notes on the guitar. It is so ready to be a mid to late 80s power ballad, guitar ballad, but it never commits. It never quite goes there.

And it's sort of like the whole song. I feel like there is a build to it, but it's a weird build because it feels like he never fully commits to any sort of one direction or thing in the song. But I think like commit is like I understand what you're saying but like commit to me doesn't I don't know if I would use that word like I think like there's a swerve that's happening or there's like a subtle distancing that's happening and I think it's purposeful like I think like it's I want to reference these things but not in a way where it would ever be so straight like I want you to feel kind of suspended in time when you listen to something like this or sort of not

know what time you're in. Keep music weird. Yeah, absolutely. Hashtag keep music weird. Well, I'm with you 100%. I mean, that is the stuff that I, at least traditionally really gravitated towards and really love to lose myself when I listen to music. But I have found this year more than certainly in recent years, this year I have found myself going for the more earnest, plain spoken, just storytelling. and songs like, well, you know, like I really love that Billy Joel single that came out and turn the lights back on. And this one from Maddie Diaz called God Person that came out back in February, it was the first song that really wrecked me this year. But I think it has some

of those elements I'm talking about in that it's very plain spoken. But it is full of these big ideas and just all this sort of beauty and wonder that I have found myself gravitating towards in music this year. Again, Maddie Diaz, it's called God. person. Back row of the room, I show up alone. I come here to watch. Other people know what I can only guess at, because I'm never sure, and I don't like commitment if there's something more.

They sing their songs close in their eyes, seeing the light in a different place. How does that happen? Why is it beautiful? Why isn't magic and tragic? I don't know. A person touching looking at the sky staring at the ocean if there's something to know then a person Talking to my dad, talking about my mom, after 20 years, what the hell went wrong, and how can I avoid making the same choices and stay on the Carolina coast living in the moment we saw a storm three miles away. We lit a fire and watched it rage. How can that happen? Why is it beautiful? Why is it magic and tragic?

I don't know. She's actually doing so much in this song, including questioning what it even means to be a person of faith because she clearly has a very traditional view of what it means to be a God person that she's questioning by saying, well, maybe being a God person is just marveling at all the wonder in life and the beauty, you know. Maybe that's where God lives. you know, in all of these seemingly small and insignificant things in life that you could so easily miss,

and most people do. But, you know, it is the stuff of life, just watching a storm roll in, you know, or looking up at the sky or, you know, staring out at the ocean, or just at the very beginning of the song, she's marveling at something as simple as, I think, going to a show and just hanging out with people and having this sort of community experience. God, it just really, really, really wrecked me in the most beautiful way. I really love songs where it really feels like someone is working through something, like mentally sort of working through an idea and they're not.

I can just tell from the song that it wasn't over-labored, that there is, as you said, Robin, this real core of earnestness and sincerity. And I felt that listening to this song. You know, there are so many simple little details that just sort of, you know, get the gears working in her head about, well, what does it mean to be a God person? And am I a God person? Am I a God person? And, you know, I love that image in the song where she talks about something as simple as like building a fire and watching it rage. And she's like, how can that happen? Like, why is it beautiful? And I was like listening to it. And I was

like, what? Like, you're right. You're right. Thank you for asking those questions. And And yeah, it is such a gorgeous minimalist song that packs so much power. Yeah, it's interesting to hear a song so plain spoken about both the ambiguity and hopefulness of faith. It seems to be trying to see it from both angles. I think it's really her voice that sells it, how yearning it sounds. There is a real searching for answers that is happening. And the title, it feels. almost like a bit of a misdirection because it's not even about religion per se. It's more about

like what it means to be a certain kind of person and see the kind the world a certain way. Like there's the lyric about seeing the light in a different light and she also has the little verse where she looks at her her parents broken marriage and wonders how she can be less cynical. And in navigating this point of view that she sees as a person of faith sort of having, she realizes that maybe she might be closer to that than she had previously believed. And that's an interesting place to find yourself. Yeah, it's really like, and we heard this in, I think, a number of the songs that we've played, that it's about being present.

And, you know, the Elado Negro, for example. It's about being connected to the world around you and not stuck in your own head. and that you find when you get out of your own way and get out of your head that there's just a lot of wondrous things in the world and the people in the world around you is pretty amazing, you know? Yeah. All right, no shortage of great songs that we could keep playing here.

You know, I was thinking that I would do something for maybe that Frico album, where we've been, where we go from here, that's a great record, or the song literary mind from the Sprintz album, Letter to Self. That was one. I mentioned the Billy Joel song. Honestly, I'm still really knocked out by that Billy Joel single that came out, that turned the lights back on.

Were there others for you that you were all considering that we just didn't have time to get to? Yeah, definitely. I mean, I still really love that Kim Gordon track, Bye Bye, that I've played on the show before. Julia Holter put out a great album this year. I still really love that song Spinning. Great Slater Kinney album that came out this year. That song, Six Mistakes, is on my playlist for Favorites of the Year. So there's been a lot of music that I love out this year so far.

Yeah, Vince Staples, Et tufei, probably one of my favorites so far. And I'd be remiss not to mention Kendrick Lamar, who maybe you've heard or haven't, had a pretty exciting summer this year and released a song called Not Like Us, if you haven't heard it. I don't recall. I recommend you listen to that. We'll put all this music in a playlist in the All Songs Considered playlist. So if you search for all songs considered in Spotify or Apple Music, you'll find it there. But let's do one more before we go. Yeah, this one has stuck with me from the beginning of the year on, you know,

albums released at the top of the year sort of tend to get forgotten as things pick up during the summer. But this, I think, remains one of the touchstones. It's from the roots polymath, Brittany Howard, formerly of the Alabama Shakes, has emerged. in recent years as one of the most dynamic artists working. And I think that comes across on this electric song from her album, What Now? It's called Power to Undo. Yeah, this is one that I feel like we've been talking about for a very long time. Not just January, but like we had an interview that ran last fall.

You know, when the album was announced, I think in November, the title cut came out, which was incredible. I kind of thought you were going to go with the title cut, but this one's really great, too. Yeah, I just wanted to say, like, I don't want to hear anyone talk about the death of rock music or contemporary, like, the death of rock stars. Because I feel like Brittany is our rock star right now. Like, in the most classical sense of the word, like, this song is just incredible. Again, that song, Power to Undo from the album What Now. Thanks, y'all. Sheldon Pierce, Hazel Sills.

Thanks so much for this. Thanks so much, Robin. I'm always glad to be here. And for NPR music, I'm Robin Hilton. It's all songs considered. Thank you.