The Best Song of Each Year, 2000-2025, According to Inkhaven
I'm at a 40 person writing retreat currently, and the venue has these huge whiteboard walls that were so invitingly blank. So I thought a fun thing I can do is write up a list of my favourite songs of each year of the 21st century so far, and then invite all of the residents to replace my picks with theirs, over the course of two days. Ultimately, 20 out of the 26 songs were replaced.
Transcript below.
2000
Knife Prty by Deftones Probably one of the best nu-metal songs ever made. Love the distorted guitar and I've never heard a woman's scream so well incorporated into a song before.
no replacement
2001
Short Skirt/Long Jacket by Cake I love the way the singer is hung up on this absolute girlboss! It's not exactly like "more men should be ogling banking girlies", it's more "it's good when the object of lust is so oddly specific."
no replacement
2002
Do You Realize??? by The Flaming Lips I made everyone sing along to this at the last solstice I ran. It's a very strange love song, set to this almost overwhelming wall of music. Probs really good on shrooms.
no replacement
Another person at this retreat really liked this song, and so locked it in by replacing it with the same song. They say:
"I am disembodied and don't like talking about sensory experiences, but this is a good song."
2003
Your Hand in Mine by Explosions in the Sky DAE remember post-rock??? It was fully half of what I listened to in middle school, and this was the classic gateway song (and it was mine).
replaced by
Such Great Heights by The Postal Service I'd put up Ben Gibbard as one of the best lyricists of all time. The song is somehow both energetic + haunting. The mix of techno tones and pure vocals majestic.
2004
Bring Me to Life by Evanescence Evanescence was approximately the other half of my middle school listening. I was a Snape/Lily shipper at the time and would, like, make a bunch of angsty AMVs for them in my head set to Eva songs, all of which I adored ironically and shamelessly.
replaced by
Nemo by Nightwish From the first chords of Tuomas Holopainen's piano hook, this song was cemented as the quintessential "emo" song. I first heard this song on a Fullmetal Alchemist AMV, dedicated to Alphonse Elric. It ignited my lifelong love for Nightwish — to the point where I visited their hometown of Kitee, Finland in 2017. Hyvää Suomi!
2005
Boats and Birds by Gregory and the Hawk The most tender and gentle love song ever written. A wonderful lyrical representation of the adage "if you love them, let them go."
replaced by
Sugar, We're Goin Down by Fall Out Boy Emo anthem. Meditation on the role of 'sad boy' as a sexual object who does not act, but is acted upon, who wants not to choose, but to be chosen, seen, and appreciated as more than just "a notch in your bedpost"! Not cloying, but sincere to a degree that might be sickening without Patrick Stump's superb vocal delivery.
2006
Hello I Love You by Ima Robot The lead singer of Edward Sharpe RPs an utter dweeb with incredible authenticity. A cute and really funny experiment of a song, with a dork drunk dialing a girl he has a crush on, and his much older friend half-wingmaning in the bg and half-making fun of him.
replaced by
Welcome to the Black Parade by My Chemical Romance This is our generation's 'Bohemian Rhapsody'. It earns its long run time, it takes you on a journey, it has musical range, and demands the full room's participation at karaoke night.
2007
Welcome Home - Radical Face For several years, this was my favourite song. Ben is a poet, and he's unusually good at conveying longing/grief/melancholy through music. The chorus makes me feel like I'm floating, or a train, a few steps left before I meet someone I love at the station.
no replacement
2008
One Day Like This by Elbow A shot of pure sunshine to the body, delivered with as much vigor as a British guy is capable of. About throwing your curtains wide open in the morning, and thinking "oh, I've made it." Embarrassingly, Benedict Cumberbatch is the person that recommended it to me (in a Reddit AMA, in my Sherlock fan-girl era).
replaced by
åŒ—äº¬æ¬¢è¿Žä½ (Beijing Welcomes You) The production value of the 2008 Olympics was unfuckingreal. This song earns its nearly 7-minute runtime by featuring basically every singer from China. It has child singers and 2000s boy bands and Peking Opera and Jackie Chan. And by the end of the song I am always on my feet, singing
2009
Bad Romance by Lady Gaga Remember how much of a cultural reset she was??? What a banger. Easy to sing (yell) along with and dance to. Love her work!!!
replaced by
Fireflies by Owl City People make fun of Owl City for his distinctive synths and absurdist lyrics. But the first time he did it, it was groundbreaking. What a way to create an atmosphere. What playful little riffs. I couldn't tell you what this song is about, and yet we all know.
someone tried to replace it back with Bad Romance, but that's against the rules!
2010
On Melancholy Hill by Gorillaz The best song on Plastic Beach. Fight me. One time I listened to the song for like 5 hrs straight and had a blast. Love the tinkling bg melody and the sad, distorted vocals.
no replacement
2011
No Light, No Light by Florence & the Machine Florence is such a good vocalist and the stuff she songs abt is so, so intense. I already liked this song a bunch and then I saw a Nu!Trek AMV featuring it that emotionally devastated me so that locks it in.
replaced by
I Never Learnt to Share by James Blake Both the sad lyrics and his choice to harmonize himself belie a deep loneliness. And a powerful, increasing electronic sound that eventually drowns him out.
2012
Language by Porter Robinson A glittering melody of pure joy. Makes me want to, like, run up and down the stairs in pure giddiness? I went to a bunch of music festivals in the mid-2010s just to this this song in a crowd.
replaced by
Andrew... in Drag by The Magnetic Fields The best song ever written about pining for your friend's crossdressing persona. The lyrics establish a vivid character with precision and economy of language. The song takes great joy in the sound of words, especially words that rhyme with 'drag'. The lead singer's flippant voice enhances the YEARNING.
2013
Stolen Dance by Milky Chance The apotheosis of the now much-derided "white guys in flannel singing badly" era, but fuck the haters. That era is my home and I love the croakiness and the apathetic guitar. Brings me back to my teens, meeting my friends in comic book stores and board game cafes in downtown Toronto.
(someone watched me write this down, and then remarked "I lost my virginity to this song." Can you imagine anything more millennial-coded?)
replaced by
Instant Crush by Daft Punk After releasing their 3rd album in 2005 and touring 2006-2007, Thomas and Guy-Man took five years to record this album. RAM is a proper synthesis of French house and US pop music, every note is there with intention. Some songs were recorded and remixed in five studios for three years. This song is my favorite from the album. It is multiple songs in one, in a sense.
2014
Work Song by Hozier It's like Take Me to Church, but even hornier and with even more tortured, fathomless vocals. What's not to love? I imagine my blorbo to this song a lot :)
replaced by
ULTRAVIOLENCE by Lana del Rey The entire album is genius. All the subways in Paris were covered in banners promoting it. It was such a moody dark noir sexy album of the same name. I listened to it on a loop all summer.
2015
Something About You by Hayden James, ODESZA remix A slow song that builds and then explodes into... like, subdued joy? This was my fave song on a playlist I listened to on my daily uni commute, and it brings me back to rainy, chilly September days, in a v nostalgic way.
replaced by
Non-Stop from Hamilton Love this is a work of genius so intricate I weep just to think about it. The layering at the end of ~6 different themes makes you realize the feeling of cohesion you had for the first hour was no illusion, but the work of a mind you cannot comprehend. Also it absolutely fucking slaps.
2016
I Wanna Boy by PWR BTTM Remember PWR BTTM?? They were gone too soon. Louche and langorous and so much lyrical fry, makes me think of summer break and playing video games in boxer shorts with a box fan pointed at you.
replaced by
Children of the Sun by Thomas Bergersen Epic + a soundtrack to the coolest and most epic moment you can experience when reading a work of fiction ("Iomadae, look at my location, read my thoughts").
2017
Kiss by Lil Peep Lil Peep was the fav artist of my high school weed dealer, who I had lowkey had a crush on. He had really, really good taste in art and music. Kiss is 3 intense songs in one, about drug use and nihilistic sex and being on the road. I wish Lil Peep survived being 21. He looks like such a baby in all the live show tapings.
replaced by
Highway Tune by Greta Van Fleet Greta Van Fleet is a group of teenagers doing Led Zeppelin cosplay, and they nail it:
- High voice + crunchy guitar
- Tight Blues riffs
- Roomy drums that echo
- Lyrics referring to the girl you're horny for as a "mamma" Could have been a track on Led Zeppelin II, but it came out in 2017.
2018
Holy by King Princess KP's dirtbag lesbian aesthetic woke something up in me. The thing is the lesbianism. Thank you King Princess. Also, the line "I rule with a velvet tongue, and my dress undone" is one of the lines of all time.
replaced by
Confronting myself by Lena Raine (Celeste OST) This represents the whole soundtrack. There are some soundtracks that support games, but Celeste's soundtrack DEFINES the game. Every moment reminds you of the struggles we face - with gravity, with life, but mostly with ourselves. Plus, Madeline is the trans icon we need.
2019
We Appreciate Power by Grimes I actually, seriously, dig Grimes' whole artistic deal. She's so much more transhumanist than any other pop star. I love her floaty, elven voice layered on top of a melody that sounds like it was made from alarm blasts, apocalyptic.
replaced by
Elephant Love Medley - Moulin Rouge (OBC) You will start grinning at the first 'Take On Me' and not stop until the end of this tribute to the power of love, and the fact that all pop songs have the same three chords. Aaron Tveit's sly, ironic tenor fills the song with humor while Karen Olivo's belting shows the depth of her internal conflict between love and practicality.
2020
Summertime by Orville Peck Immediately transports me back to that first pandemic summer, the blazing sun and the terror and the exciting new relationship I just started that spring, my first one with a girl. Orville's deep, gravelly voice conveying the most tender of feelings really works for me. And I didn't know I liked country until I listened to his incredibly gay caterwauling, and then it all made sense to me.
replaced by
evermore by Taylor Swift (feat. Bon Iver) The song about lockdown that I needed, released while I was still in the thick of it. Lyrically gorgeous, with a piano riff that's both haunting and helps you move forward. This song was an important part of my grieving process. To me, Taylor Swift peaked with her two 2020 albums.
2021
Stoned at the Nail Salon by Lorde Lorde's 2021 album, Solar Power, flopped, but I love the reflective and melancholy, sun-drenched nature of it. Getting everything you want, and asking, "is this it?" and making sense of it all.
replaced by
Player of Games by Grimes Cool song about the Iain M Banks' book, but also about a relationship with the guy upstream of the most omnicidal disaster-monkeys.
2022
[damn, 2022 is kind of a dead year for me. There is no song I feel sufficiently enthused about to write up.]
replaced by
Watershed by Anais Mitchell Melodically beautiful folk with lyrics framed as kind of an epic journey. The whole album was clearly covid-touched and this song was the raw dream of survival & tiredly realizing "holy shit, I fucking made it." 🎶 the tallest summit you look up to 🎶 🎶 someday it's gonna look small to you 🎶
2023
Will anyone ever love me? by Sufjan Stevens I like my love songs as wet and pathetic as possible, and this is the wettest and most pathetic love song since Hozier's glory days. I love the gentle guitar and the tender sadness in his voice.
no replacement
2024
Girl, So Confusing by Lorde, Charli XCX It's so confusing to be a girl, girl, girl, girl. Charli wrote a song about her frenemyship w/ Lorde, sent it to Lorde a day before the album release, and Lorde decided that the correct thing to do is to make it into a duet. It's somehow incredibly good? And encapsulates the complexities in female friendships really well.
replaced by
The Code by Nemo Eurovision song about the artist discovering and accepting their non-binary identity. Eclectic. It deeply resonates with my experience of breaking codes (esp. through EA/LW) despite not being 'entry'. An anthem to self-acceptance despite society's confusion.
(someone else adds: +1 Also very cool performance! Look up the Eurovision Grand Finale video.)
2025
Various Covers by Frank Watkinson esp Linger by The Cranberries and I miss you by Blink-182. He's this old guy, really old, and his voice is so gravelly and so full of emotion. Hearing the songs set in simple guitar to his voice re-contextualizes them entirely and makes me want to cry, in a good way.
replaced by
Sun Spot by Castle Rat Slowly building doom metal that grows from low dirge to frenzied exaltation. Also the best live show I've seen in a decade. Sword fights & audience participation!
This was really fun! And my friend Screwtape has taken up the mantle, and is running the next iteration: the best blog posts of each year. Probably that is more appropriate for a blog-writing retreat, hehe. Stay tuned for how that one turns out, likely out on lesswrong in a few days' time.