My Favourite Songs of 2013
I should start off by saying “It’s about that time of year again to compile a BEST OF 2013 list!”, but I’m way overdue on this as everyone typically publishes their lists before the New Year arrives. After January 1st, everybody is sooo over last year (…myself included!). But you know what? One of my New Year’s Resolutions was to stop giving a F*CK and start doing what I want.
Since I love music so much, I’ve decided to compile a list of my faves of 2013. Let me just say that ranking my favourite songs of the year was no easy task… Basically, I went on iTunes and took the 10 most-played songs of 2013 in my iTunes library and copied them here. Just kidding! The number of plays was indeed one of the factors I looked at when doing my rankings. But I also considered how impactful, meaningful, inspiring, or entertaining the song was to me.
At the end of the day, I love all 10 of these singles very much and each one of them will forever spark a 2013 memory for me. Check out my ‘Favourite Songs of 2013’ list below and let me know what your faves of 2013 are in the comments below. Enjoy!
#10 - Lana Del Rey & Cedric Gervais – 'Summertime Sadness' (Remix)
Having been released in 2012 in its original melancholic version with no one paying attention to it, Cedric Gervais remixed it for the heck of it and created the perfect paradox of a song: Sad lyrics sung to an electrifying beat. The result was so good that the song started to grow its own legs as radio began to eat it up, without any promotion done by Lana Del Rey whatsoever! In pop culture, these are the kind of moments any pop star would die for! Though Lana Del Rey isn't setting out to be the next superstar, I'm sure this hippie chick secretly loved hearing her song at every hit radio station wherever she went. And why not? It’s about time she was embraced by the mainstream -- she’s gorgeous and the girl has talent!
#9 - Miley Cyrus – 'We Can’t Stop'
There's no denying how brightly Miley Cyrus’ star shined in 2013. I have enjoyed watching Miley since she was Hannah Montana and I love how abrasive and confident and bitchy she is, and you can see this behaviour in her talk show interviews from previous years. The girl is fierce and has a fire burning within her to prove people wrong.
Taking cues from her fellow contemporaries like Rihanna (chopping her hair short and adopting a wild bad girl image), Britney Spears (shedding her Disney image by being overly sexual), and Lady Gaga (using shock tactics in order to steal the spotlight and get on everyone's radar), it was only a matter of time before Miley let loose and boy did she ever!
Taking on a song originally written for Rihanna, Miley Cyrus' transformation was complete. The result? One of the best songs of the year!
#8 - Capital Cities – 'Safe & Sound'
Unfortunately, bands particularly have trouble earning my attention because the market is just so saturated with them. However, once in a blue moon, we have a band that makes it to the mainstream. With a positive vibe and catchy lyrics in ‘Safe & Sound’, Capital Cities has managed to become one of 2013’s breakout acts!
#7 - Empire of the Sun – 'Alive'
A lush sound, synthy beat, and a hook made for stadiums -- this track has been one of my most played songs of the year! What attracted me to even play this song for the first time was the fierce single cover! How fabulous is this duo? I love everything about their outrageous looks! It’s very Gaga-esque and it takes a lot of courage and balls for men in this industry to wear anything other than suits and black and white – *yawn. This duo has reminded me what pop music is all about -- an escape from reality.
#6 - Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – 'Same Love' (ft. Mary Lambert)
I don’t even know where to begin with this one. As a rapper, Macklemore is automatically part of a group of entertainers (specifically hip hop artists) who have no shame in being bullies towards gay people. I likened the release of this song by Macklemore as someone sticking up for the gays and he did it in a very CLEVER way providing autobiographical anecdotes, offering his well-thought-out arguments, and steering clear of cliché lyrics about loving yourself (you know we have plenty of those out there!). When I heard the lyrics, “When kids are walking 'round the hallway plagued by pain in their heart. A world so hateful some would rather die than be who they are”, it truly brought back some dark memories and some tears in my eyes. The lyrics speak to me so clearly it literally brings chills to my spine. Not a lot of people may accept the lyrics or understand his message, heck, a lot of people may even turn it off immediately knowing it’s a gay-rights song. But in the end, despite what anyone may think, Macklemore has officially earned an ally among the LGBT community as well as a ‘Song of the Year’ Grammy nomination! Hooray for equality!
#5 - Drake – 'Hold On, We’re Going Home'
On this list of favourite songs, Drake has earned the highest position for a male artist with this sexy R&B jam that literally blew my mind. I did not believe that Drake was even capable of producing such a hit (sorry Drake fans!) but he proved me wrong in every way possible. I knew this would be a huge hit for the rapper-SLASH-singer as soon as it came out. His vocal performance on this slick beat takes me back to the good ol' days when Babyface and Boyz II Men use to dominate radio with their smooth & silky voices. Oh, the 90s! If Drake can keep banging out songs where he uses his singing voice, his star will undoubtedly continue to rise and he could potentially dominate the world’s charts! All in all, a beautiful and purely refreshing song!
#4 - Mariah Carey - '#Beautiful' (ft. Miguel)
Can Mariah Carey do any wrong? This woman's music was the soundtrack of my childhood years, and she is a living legend who doesn't get as much respect as she deserves in today's music industry, unfortunately. After years of absence, she finally made her return to music with #Beautiful. The only critique I have for this song is that it sounds more like a Miguel song featuring Mariah… Good thing Miguel’s vocals sound great here cause I didn’t really like the guy after his whole slammed-on-top-of-2-chicks-at-awards-show disaster. This song places high on my list because it is a reminder of last summer in the San Francisco Bay Area, with my cousins, driving around the Silicon Valley with our windows down, music blasted up, and living life. It’s a feel-good song with a chill-out vibe and it’s simply #Beautiful.
#3 - Britney Spears – 'Work Bitch'
Written and produced by will.i.am et al., this Britney song has been the soundtrack of my Fall season with its incredibly bone-crushing beat and campy lyrics. ‘Work Bitch’ was inspired by and catered towards her gay BFFs, so it’s no wonder why I love it so much. Britney took great risks in choosing to release this as the lead single off ‘Britney Jean’: First of all, it contained the word 'Bitch' meaning radio (the sole driving force of pop music) was forced to edit ‘Bitch’ out of the song thereby losing its fierceness. Secondly, many people don’t understand that ‘Bitch’ is a term of endearment if said in the right context and by the right people. Finally, ‘Work’ is another term used frequently by gays to mean ‘Be fierce’ or simply, WORK. There are elements it takes to truly ‘get this song’. And if you get it, it is pure entertainment! There is also a beautiful life lesson to be taught by Britney here to the children, that if you want something in life – whether it be landing a good job, getting into grad school, med school, law school, or owning a Bugatti, Lamborghini, martinis, or partying in France like Britney mentions, you better work bitch! She told me to WORK and I did -- in the gym, in the kitchen, in the library, and bitch, I got my straight A’s last term..... I'm still working on getting that hot bod though :(!
#2 - Iggy Azalea – 'Work'
Before there was ‘Work Bitch’, there was "Work", which was released back in March of 2013. This fierce, bootylicious Australian stunner by the name of Iggy Azalea produced one of the year’s best twerk-worthy song even before Miley made twerking cool. The video for this song is everything a pop music fan gay man could ever dream of: A catchy hook, beautiful fashion (She is a Wilhelmina model after all!), shock value, and fierceness overload. Iggy has the body that women would die for, that straight men would drool over, and that gay men can appreciate!
The song and video is essentially a narrative of her life story: Her early struggles working 3 jobs in the boonies of Australia to save up for a life-changing trip to America to achieve her dreams. It is one of the best debut songs I've heard from an artist in years because of how authentic it is. It remains one of my FAVOURITE anthems to jam out to because it is a song about working hard to get to where you want to be. And that happens to be one of my life mottos (Hence, why ‘Work’ and ‘Work Bitch’ are in my top 3 of 2013!).
I've been rooting for this girl to succeed and hope that she would dominate the charts, but unfortunately her single made no impact on the Hot 100 likely due to its explicit lyrics, however, she was impressive enough to land a record deal with Island Def Jam records (home of Rihanna, Mariah, Bieber, Kanye, and more), which completely validated my musical taste in Iggy. #TeamIggy!
And the grand finale....MY favourite song of 2013 is.......
Before you get all ‘Oh, why of course you would choose a Lady Gaga song as #1', let me just say ‘F*ck You’ for stereotyping me. I haven’t always been a huge fan of Lady Gaga (i.e. Born This Way era) but I have always loved her songs ‘Just Dance’ and ‘Poker Face’, much like the rest of the world. Coincidentally or maybe not coincidentally, ‘Gypsy’ happens to be produced by the same guy, RedOne. Now if you know me, you know that I like good music and you’ll probably also know that my loyalty with another star (who has not placed any songs in this favourites list) because I critique music very objectively. I block out reviews and judgement from other people and I listen to songs with the benefit of the doubt as if it were a person who put their all into creating this art that we get to enjoy. I know that’s what I would do if I were an artist, so I respect them enough to critique fairly.
Now back to the music, ‘Gypsy’ is also a narrative that paints a picture of Lady Gaga describing her fears and worries about her love of performing and travelling around the world and how it conflicts with her love life. I can feel the authenticity in this track, much like reading a diary entry of a global superstar, who at times we may forget is human just like us.
"Gypsy" is the standout track on her album that almost every single critic has praised. It is an inspiring song, with an intense, stadium-worthy hook that should have been her lead single! I think this is the song to look out for in 2014, as I predict it will most definitely become a future single from her and it will be the song that will bring redemption to Lady Gaga’s ‘ARTPOP’ album.
With lyrics like “I don’t wanna be alone forever” in the chorus, she has included a phrase that everyone on planet Earth can relate to into a pop song. And using the lines “So I just packed my baggage and/Said goodbye to family and friends/And took the road to nowhere on my own”, she paints a picture of going off on a journey. She later sings at the climax of the song: “Pack your bags and we can chase the sunset/Bust the rearview and fire up the jets/'Cause it's you and me.... Baby, for life/Would you go with me?/See the world with me". It’s a soon-to-be classic, I can feel it – and I guess one of the main reasons why I love this song so much is that it inspires me to see the world and travel as I have had travel plans running in my mind for the past few months. I see Athens, I see Paris, I see Istanbul, Romania, Serbia, Hungary, when I'm listening to this song and I cannot wait to go on my own journey after graduation this May and this is the perfect song to complement my travel fantasies.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS: Rihanna - 'Stay' (ft. Mikky Ekko), Bruno Mars - 'When I Was Your Man', P!nk - 'Just Give Me A Reason' (ft. Nate Ruess), Miley Cyrus - 'Wrecking Ball', A Great Big World - 'Say Something' (ft. Christina Aguilera), Icona Pop - 'I Love It', and Bonnie McKee - 'American Girl'.
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