Our Favorite Albums of 2023

JACK’S FAVORITES

GUTS – Olivia Rodrigo

Olivia Rodrigo and frequent collaborator Dan Nigro team up once again on sophomore effort, GUTS. Released two years after her breakthrough debut, SOUR, Olivia returns with a tight, punchy collection of wise-beyond-her-years anecdotes on teenage heartbreak, growing up and grappling with fame. Musically, the album is a strong step forward for her in many ways: “Bad Idea Right?” is laden with cheeky humor and personality, while “Vampire” starts as a piano-driven sequel to “driver’s license” only to shift gears midway into a frantic Queen-like rock opera. Her voice is more confident, her sound more distinctive, and her writing as raw and honest as the album’s title would suggest. 

Javelin – Sufjan Stevens

On his 10th studio album and first sung work in three years, Sufjan Stevens concocts an album that seemingly sums up sounds across the discography of his multi-decade career – choirs, religious invocation, mystical instrumentation, orchestral elements, and his trademark melancholic and idiosyncratic lyrics. Dedicated to his late partner Evans Richardson IV, who passed away just a few months prior to the album’s release, Javelin is not only a tribute album, but also an ode to love and life. The album takes the full spectrum of life experiences in stride as best as he can even in tragedy, from the reminiscing on a first kiss (“A Running Start”), to contemplating the consequences of past mistakes (“So You Are Tired”, “Javelin”), to finding solace in grief and staying open to life’s opportunities (“There’s a World”). 

Calico – Ryan Beatty

On his third studio album, Calico, Ryan Beatty returns to his California roots for inspiration. In a departure from previous works, the album’s tracks are primarily organic and minimalist. Co-produced by Ethan Gruska (also a former collaborator of Phoebe Bridgers), the album juxtaposes dark, profound and sad lyrical content with brighter guitar strings and atmospheric effects. These magnify the sentiments of the songs in different ways. In “Ribbons”, it works to heighten the sense of heartbreak; when the lights turn on after a escapist Saturday night of dancing, he finds himself back where he started the night – alone and shattered. Yet later on the wistful “White Teeth”, the acoustic sounds become the silver lining, as he comes to terms with his former relationship (“some left, but the right ones stay”). Despite the album’s relatively short length (33 min, 9 tracks), the emotions conveyed in Calico are unassumingly potent and complex, allowing the listener to uncover new layers with each subsequent listen.

JOSH’S FAVORITES

The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We — Mitski

Mitski’s recent move to Nashville seems to have profoundly influenced her eighth album, The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We. It’s not just the pedal steel guitar featured on the viral hit single, “My Love Mine All Mine” and several other tracks on the album. It also is evident in lyrics that evoke the sights and sounds of southern nights: fireflies, mosquitoes, barking hounds, moonlight and freight train horns. The album captures the loneliness embedded in these heartland landscapes, along with transcendent moments of love and human connection. Mitski has called The Land…  her  “most American album”. It might also be her best.

Norm — Andy Shauf

Andy Shauf honed his talent for writing vivid vignettes with two concept albums — The Party (2016) and The Neon Skyline (2020)  — that both follow the interactions and inner monologues of their characters on a single night. After all of that fictional world-building, Shauf set out to make a “normal” record of unrelated songs. But his storytelling instincts proved to be irrepressible. Norm is an even more ambitious — and much darker — concept album than the ones that preceded it. Its three main characters are an aimless stoner on his way to becoming a menacing stalker; an innocent neighbor in danger of becoming his first victim; and God, who narrates and intervenes in the story in surprising, troubling ways. By reminding us of the awful things that people claim to do “in the name of love” —  human or divine — Shauf makes listeners question their own understanding of what love really is. Norm is a tremendously enjoyable listen from start to finish, even though its storyline can be hard to follow.  Playing a plethora of instruments, including his trademark clarinet, Shauf’s  catchy chamber-pop arrangements sound cheerful and soothing at first, but quickly reveal more sinister undertones. 

The Greater Wings — Julie Byrne

Julie Byrne creates timeless music at the intersection of folk and New-age, graced with her resonant voice and wise lyricism. The Greater Wings, Byrne’s first album since 2017, has the same tranquility and ethereal beauty of her previous work. It is also heavily laden with grief. After her producer and former romantic partner Eric Littmann died suddenly in 2021, Byrne chose to finish the album they had started recording together with a new group of collaborators. The Greater Wings is Byrne’s deeply personal tribute to this particular friendship, but it speaks to the universal experience of the bereaved. How can we keep loved ones alive in our memories, while learning how to live without them? Byrne’s record of her ongoing mourning is disarmingly honest, heart-wrenching, and ultimately hopeful.

MORE OF JOSH’S FAVORITES:

Red Moon in Venus — Kali Uchis

3D Country — Geese

Under Construction — Jack Novos

All of this Will End  — Indigo DeSouza

Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd — Lana Del Rey

Our Favorite Albums of 2022

Welcome to Joshua Tree Music’s 5th-annual list of our favorite albums — a small, but carefully considered time capsule of the music that meant the most to us last year. We’re excited to continue our journey of music discovery in 2023!

Renaissance – Beyoncé

It’s hard to imagine a living legend whose career started more than 25 years ago surprising us at this stage, but that’s exactly what Beyoncé manages to do with her most recent LP. The aptly titled Renaissance finds her departing sonically, thematically, and experientially from Lemonade. Whereas Lemonade recounts a deeply personal journey through her husband’s infidelity, Renaissance is joyous, celebratory, and escapist. Whereas Lemonade uses a musical palette that interpolates rock, folk, and blues music, Renaissance draws inspiration from 1980s+ black and queer dance music. Whereas Lemonade carves out distinct chapters from track to track, Renaissance does the opposite, beatmatching all songs for a seamlessly-flowing, 62-minute danceathon. While there are no miscues or skips to be found, the four-song series between “Alien Superstar” and “Break My Soul” shifts the album to an even higher gear. At a time when the world finally appears to be returning to some semblance of pre-pandemic normalcy, Renaissance became the perfect soundtrack to the best of our 2022 moments.  – Jack

Blue Rev – Alvvays

On Blue Rev,  Alvvays fine-tunes its signature sound —  pristine indie pop harmonies, warmed by layers of buzzing guitars and synths. It’s a perfect sonic palette for the band’s third album, which looks back at its members’ teenage years in rural Canada. Artfully mixing melody and noise, the music reflects the ecstatic highs and crushing lows of adolescence, seen through a thickening haze of nostalgia. – Josh

Motomami – Rosalía

I would be lying if I claimed to have enough fluency in Spanish to fully understand the lyrics of Rosalia’s Motomami at first listen (or second or third), but that has not prevented me from appreciating the boundary-pushing musical genius of the record. Blending more traditional Latin styles like flamenco and bolero with modern hip-hop, reggaetón, and electronic pop, Motomami is a bridge between English-speaking and Latin cultures as well as between past and present. Indeed, there are few moments on the album where Rosalía could be seen as treading familiar ground. “Saoko” starts as a reggaetón-based track, only to mix things up with an avante-garde jazz interlude. “La Fama” takes traditional bachata and recontextualizes it under an electro-pop framework and a modern discourse on fame. While many artists attempt to merge disparate sounds together in their work, doing so with such cohesiveness and consistency in quality is a rarity. Rosalía continues to be one of the most interesting artists to have emerged in recent years. – Jack

Being Funny in a Foreign Language – The 1975

The 1975’s recent records have evoked the experience of scrolling through a social media feed, with a cacophonous mix of different musical styles, biting commentary on social issues, and frontman Matty Healy’s sardonic jokes and insults. Being Funny in a Foreign Language is a welcome shift for the band, a tighter, more cohesive album that focuses on love and relationships, and zooms out to explore related cultural debates over masculinity. While the 1975 hasn’t abandoned all of their hyper-modern tendencies — multiple songs allude to “being canceled” — the album’s strongest musical touchstones are the anthemic ballads of ‘80s rock stars like Peter Gabriel and U2. – Josh

Midnights – Taylor Swift

“I only see daylight” – so concluded a certain mega pop star on her last true pop album in 2019. 

Three years later, with the release of Midnights, we now know that statement to be laughably off the mark. On her 10th studio effort, Taylor Swift finds herself, for perhaps the first time in her career, looking back instead of looking forward. With longtime collaborator Jack Antonoff (who has now produced on six consecutive TS album releases – eight including re-recordings), Swift largely eschews the acoustic folk sounds of Folklore and Evermore and returns to the 80s synth pop that defined her discography in the mid-to-late 2010s – all the way down to that trademark catchy lead single with speak-sung bridge (“Anti-Hero”, following in the footsteps of “Look What You Made Me Do”, “Shake It Off”, and “We Are Never Getting Back Together”). 

With each subsequent listen, the album holds more emotional weight than its glittery pop veneer would suggest. Songs like “You’re On Your Own Kid”, “Midnight Rain”, and “Bigger Than the Whole Sky” find her in a deeply contemplative mood. Indeed, if Swift is indeed “the problem” as she claims, these songs show that she is certainly on way to some answers. At its core, Midnights is an at times profoundly honest portrait of all the would’ves, could’ves, and should’ves across her storied career. – Jack

dust – The Rubs

It’s a shame that The Rubs remains a deeply obscure musical project — this brawny, indulgent power-pop probably could have topped the charts in another decade. “dust”, the first Rubs album since 2017, is full of memorable hooks and is perfectly paced, with eight uptempo songs to get your head banging, separated by three slow and “dreamy” tracks (“Here in My Dream”, “Sleepin’” and “When I Dream About You”) that make you feel like you’re floating away on a cloud. –Josh

If you like The Rubs, I also recommend Joey Rubbish’s other band, the Whiffs, which is releasing a new album, “Scratch and Sniff”, on March 1.

Dance Fever – Florence + The Machine

Had it not been for a certain other megastar discussed earlier, an alternate album title for Florence + The Machine’s latest project could certainly have been “Renaissance”. On Dance Fever, Florence + The Machine return to their baroque pop roots on a record laden with mythological, religious, and historical richness as Florence Welch explores her relationship with music itself. From recounting her struggles to balance a touring career and family in thumping lead single “King”, to losing her way in the early stages of the pandemic in “My Love”, to finding her saving grace through music and sobriety in “Morning Elvis”, Florence is as honest and vulnerable as she has ever been. – Jack

Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You – Big Thief 

The members of Big Thief recorded this sprawling, 20-track double album together in small studios across the United States, often giving it the intimate sound of a campfire jam session. But  Dragon… is most thrilling when the band gets experimental and turns up the volume, on tracks like the sensual, shoegaze-inspired “Flower of Blood”;  the mesmerizing sci-fi storytelling of “Simulation Swarm”, and “Little Things”, a roaring, lustful jam reminiscent of the Dave Matthews Band. Lead vocalist Adrienne Lenker’s mystical contemplations on the wonders of nature, the unknowability of death, and the pleasures of life give listeners plenty to ponder. – Josh

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Here’s a playlist of some of our favorite music from 2022, including a bunch from albums that didn’t make our shortlist.

Our Favorite Albums of 2021

Joshua Tree Music is back with our fourth-annual list of favorite albums! We are amazed and very glad that this tradition has continued through a pandemic, two presidential administrations, and five Taylor Swift album releases.

2021 was a joyful year in many ways, but it also brought its share of frustration, exhaustion and disappointment. Maybe that’s why we were especially drawn to albums that explored difficult emotions and experiences with great songwriting. 

Here are some of our favorites from this year. Check out our Spotify playlist at the end, which includes more great songs not featured in these albums.

JOSH’S PICKS

Head of Roses – Flock of Dimes – Sub Pop Records

For much of the last decade, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Jenn Wasner was constantly working and on the move, splitting her time between her band Wye Oak; her solo project, Flock of Dimes; and playing in the touring bands of other indie artists. Then came 2020, when the pandemic and a bad breakup left her stuck at home and “eviscerated by heartbreak.” Head of Roses, Wasner’s second album as Flock of Dimes, delves deeply into her pain and personal growth during this period of upheaval. Working with her friend and co-producer Nick Sanborn (of Sylvan Esso), Wasner crafts a unique, atmospheric sound, combining electro-pop synths, guitars, and wind instruments, while tastefully altering and layering her own resonant vocals.

No Medium – Rosali – SPINSTER 

Rosali’s smooth, smoky voice conveys a cool assuredness, even as she embraces vulnerability in rock ballads about fraying relationships, self-sabotage and loss. Recorded with the talented musicians of the David Nance Group, No Medium transports you to the front row of an intimate live performance, commanding your full attention and lingering in your memory.

Home Video – Lucy Dacus – Matador

Lucy Dacus’ third album, Home Video, showcases her most personal and accessible songwriting yet, while sacrificing none of her signature wit and emotional wallop. Looking back on her adolescence in Richmond, Virginia, Dacus reexamines how she and her peers navigated their first romantic relationships, frustrating friendships, and crises of faith. Dacus is an avowed fan of Bruce Springsteen, and you can hear his influence in the driving beats and catchy melodies of rockers like “Hot and Heavy”  and “Brando”. Like Springsteen, she also has a rare gift for creating vivid, complex characters and capturing their inner lives in her songwriting.

JACK’S PICKS

Blue Weekend – Wolf Alice – Dirty Hit

Blue Weekend finds the band thinking big. Its songs jump off the page onto wild and dramatic production landscapes, aided by producer Markus Dravs (Arcade Fire, Coldplay, Florence + The Machine). After a slow build in the first track (“The Beach”), the album shifts into a higher gear with three of the album’s best tracks – the expansive stadium-rock chants and guitars on the LA-inspired “Delicious Things”, the dangerously seductive “Lipstick on the Glass”, and punk-infused “Smile”. Throughout the leaps across genres and sounds, the album is woven together by a strong narrative arc: the album’s final two tracks, “No Hard Feelings” and “The Beach II” bring us back to the place where we started, yet with a newfound sense of closure and peace from the turbulence of the relationship being described. All put together, Wolf Alice takes the listener on a thrilling ride from start to finish on this 40-minute LP. 

Collapsed in Sunbeams – Arlo Parks – Transgressive

At first listen, Arlo Parks’ Collapsed in Sunbeams may not leave much of an impression – Parks’ voice is soft, the production stripped down, and the vibe laid-back. But don’t be fooled or misled. Listening more carefully, you’ll hear intimate narratives full of raw emotional depth and honesty – mental health struggles, complicated relationships, and unrequited love. Her unvarnished style of singing makes them feel all the more immediate to the listener, while the restrained production style offers a sense of solace and empathy for otherwise anxiety-inducing moments. “Black Dog”, which tells the story of Parks’ attempts to help a friend battling depression, is one of the best examples of this. The rhythmic guitar strums lull the listener into an almost hypnotic state, and the soft harmonies in the chorus serve as a thick sonic shield against the hardships being described. There is a sort of delicate, transformative power at work here, as her neo-soul, jazz-infused songs rewire trauma into something lighter and perhaps, manageable. 

Sour – Olivia Rodrigo – Geffen

At the beginning of 2021, few could have predicted the type of year Olivia Rodrigo would have. Known more for her acting work on High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, she seemingly came out of the blue last January with her beautifully written “drivers license”, which quickly shattered records as it debuted on the top of the Billboard Hot 100 and led for 8 consecutive weeks. But perhaps just as surprising was the strength and variety of the album that followed. Across its 12 tracks, Sour expands far beyond the lead single musically and lyrically to paint a complete picture of modern teenage heartbreak. Songs like “favorite crime” and “traitor” highlight Rodrigo’s precocious knack for songcraft, while others like “good 4 u” and “jealousy, jealousy” show her willingness to branch out past the balladry that catapulted her ascent as an artist. With 7 Grammy nominations and a sold-out headlining tour, Rodrigo’s debut album has now firmly cemented herself as an artist here to stay for years to come. 

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Here’s a playlist featuring some standout tracks from our favorite albums, and other songs we loved in 2021.

ALBUM REVIEW – “Ashlyn” by Ashe

By Josh Mandell

Ashe’s breakout hit ,“Moral of the Story” was a delightful outlier in the pop radio mix of 2020. Over quiet strings and piano, the singer surveys the wreckage of a messy divorce with brutal honesty (“So I never really knew you/God, I really tried to’) and grim humor (“Talking with my lawyer, she said ‘where’d you find this guy?’”) As the song builds into a thundering bass drop, she shares some hard-earned wisdom: “Some mistakes get made – that’s alright, that’s okay. You can think that you’re in love, when you’re really just in pain.” 

Years before the surprise success of “Moral of the Story”,  Ashlyn Rae Wilson was best known as a featured vocalist on EDM tracks. In those collaborations, her smooth soprano vocals were mostly decorative, brought in to serve a male DJ’s preferred vibe. This unfortunate dynamic crept into her first solo EP, The Rabbit Hole, which blended sounds  from rock, jazz, and trip-hop into unremarkable indie-pop tunes. Ashe’s debut album Ashlyn, released this May, introduces a much more compelling artistic identity, delving deeply into the “Story” of her failed marriage and proving her talent for confessional songwriting. 

Ashe has said that Carole King’s classic divorce album Tapestry was a major inspiration for her writing on Ashlyn. Musically,  the album’s rich harmonies, catchy bass lines, and layered guitars evoke the classic rock sounds of the Beach Boys and the Beatles. Some lines, like “You went to Kansas for romances” sound like they were penned by Paul McCartney himself.  

Ashe isn’t just an “old soul” through her taste in music. Now 28, she really is older, and probably much wiser, than most pop stars of the current moment. On Ashlyn, she regretfully considers the mistakes of her early 20s – rushing toward an idealized vision of marriage, and finding that she simply wasn’t ready for it. In “Moral of The Story”, she thinks back to painting her house with her ex-husband, “just like my grandparents did, so romantic – but we fought the whole time.” The lovely ballad “Maybe When I’m Older”, also recalls her naïve ideas of domestic bliss (“playing house, immature, picking out furniture”) as it paints an even darker portrait of a frantic, toxic relationship – “injuries, shower sex –  I was holding on for dear life.” While those emotional wounds still sting, she’s been through enough to understand that they will heal with time. “Right now, ‘I’m sorry’ burns through me, darling,” she admits. “But I can’t help but think, in 30 years, it won’t.” 

While it offers a few breakup anthems,  this mature equanimity is the prevailing mood of Ashlyn.  The sentiment peaks in three consecutive tracks near the end of the album – “Not Mad Anymore”, “Always” and “Moral of the Story” –  that successfully push the limits of her singing voice, and capture the bittersweet feelings of forgiveness and moving on.

Ashe pours several years worth of memories and feelings into Ashlyn, and it drags on a bit too long as a result. “Ryne’s Song”, a poignant tribute to her brother who recently died by suicide, seems out of place with the album’s main storyline. It also might have been worth cutting some of the tracks that share very similar reflections on why her marriage didn’t last, and how she’s come to terms with it.  The closing tracks “Serial Monogamist” and “Kansas”, which are inspired by her post-divorce rebound, are a fun change of pace.

Ashe clearly is a student of classic rock, but she perhaps owes even more to her younger peer Billie Eilish, who led the way in bringing dark, retro-inspired pop into the mainstream. FINNEAS, Billie’s older brother and primary collaborator, produced and co-wrote “Moral of the Story” and also sings with Ashe on the catchy opening track, “‘Til Forever Falls Apart.” While those are his only credits on Ashlyn, FINNEAS and Billie’s signature sound looms over the entire album  –  its jazz-pop melodies; breathy vocals; and artful blending of delicate acoustic instruments with heavy bass synths.

While it leans heavily on these influences, Ashlyn is by far Ashe’s most authentic work yet. Few of her indie-pop contemporaries have made an album so cohesive, catchy and evocative. Hopefully, this is just the beginning of her story.

Our Favorite Music of 2020

Amid the catastrophes of 2020, both Jack and Josh found comfort and escape in great music. And they’ve compiled their year-end list in record time!

Here are some of our favorite albums from this year:

Flower of Devotion – Dehd – Fire Talk 

On Flower of Devotion, Dehd adds just the right amount of polish to their garage rock roots, creating a more expansive, dreamier sound. Singer Emily Kempf has an incredibly dynamic voice that somehow stays smooth as she howls, yelps, sighs and belts out rollicking choruses. Co-lead singer Jason Balla complements her perfectly with a cool, nasal drawl. Kempf and Balla’s chemistry once went beyond their music; Dehd’s last album, Water, emerged from the pain of their personal breakup.  On Flower of Devotion, their lyrics reflect on the full arc of relationships; resistance and surrender,  passion and frustration, and the search for meaning when it’s all over.

Women in Music Pt. III – Haim – Columbia 

On WIMP III, the Haim sisters experiment with sounds from jazz, reggae, ‘90s hip-hop and more, while still showcasing their masterful musicianship as a rock band. Longtime producer Ariel Reichtsheid continues to artfully blend the band’s classic rock influences with a synth-pop sheen, while co-producer Rostam Batmanglij reshapes the band’s sound with diverse instrumentation and honeyed vocals. WIMP III also features the band’s most introspective and personal lyrics, with songs that revisit dark moments of depression and anxiety, and infuriating encounters with men in the music industry. It’s a joy to hear Haim let loose and smash the patriarchy on their fabulous third album.

Set My Heart on Fire Immediately – Perfume Genius – Matador 

While the title of Perfume Genius’s fifth studio effort may seem a bit melodramatic, it also perfectly describes the sound of Set My Heart on Fire Immediately. Even more so than his previous works, Mike Hadreas creates a richly textured work that feels both ultra-modern and timeless. Across a vibrant landscape of ambitious, unconventional contrasts – such as the thundering, militaristic drums and exotic flute flourishes in “Your Body Changes Everything” – he explores the themes of love and sexuality in all its complexities, made all the more immediate with his trademark quavering voice. There are euphoric moments (“Without You”, “Nothing At All”) and also deeper contemplative ones (“Describe”, “Borrowed Light”); by the end, you’re left with a powerful sense of catharsis – the underlying pain of the human experience has certainly not vanished, but things, it seems, will be okay. 

Punisher – Phoebe Bridgers – Dead Oceans

Riding off her well-received solo debut in 2017, Stranger in the Alps, as well as two collaborative side projects under band names Boygenius and Better Oblivion Community Center, Phoebe Bridgers’ sophomore effort sees her bringing that raw sense of heartache and lost-in-the-world sentimentality that so distinguishes her music over the backdrop of expansive, more experimental production elements – the blurry, distant guitars in “Garden Song”, the bouncy strings in “ICU” and the layered, echo-chamber vocals that accentuate the intimacy of her writing. 

For Bridgers, the puzzle pieces never quite fit perfectly together, and it’s made all the more vividly clear with frequent contrasts between wild fantasy and cold, unfiltered realism. She wants to be like others who believe in religion and wish on stars, but the best she can do is wish on Chinese satellites. She thinks of Snow White fairy tale cottages but also everyday drug stores in her ode to her artistic hero, Elliott Smith. In the process, Punisher’s vulnerability gives credence to and validates the thoughts that we all have but left buried inside ourselves, setting them free to be explored thoroughly and understood compassionately. 

Color Theory + Selected Demos – Soccer Mommy – Loma Vista 

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Sophie Allison launched her career as Soccer Mommy with songs that delved into the unbearable intensity of teenage emotions. On color theory, she battles through pain that won’t be neatly resolved or outgrown — anxiety, depression, and fears of losing her mother to a chronic illness. Like many great songwriters, Allison often cloaks these troubling subjects in bright-sounding melodies, particularly in the catchy pop-rock single “circle the drain.” While color theory sounds slightly overproduced at times, this fault was remedied by a November release of six demos from the album. With just a guitar and Allison’s voice, bleak and beautiful tracks like  “yellow is the color of her eyes”  and “gray light” become even more devastating.

Folklore & Evermore – Taylor Swift – Republic

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In the midst of a global pandemic, months of isolation, and cancelled tour plans, 2020 somehow also became a year when one of the biggest pop superstars found the inspiration and energy to write not one but two full-length musical masterpieces, elevating her artistry with some of her most imaginative and evocative work across her storied discography. 

Promoted as sister albums to each other, Folklore and Evermore represent a coming together of sorts of all the things that have made her one of the definitive artists of her generation. Never has her uncanny storytelling ability been sharper and more consistent than here. From stories of teenage romance, failing marriages, middle-class divorcees, and even revenge murder, Taylor Swift weaves wondrous tales that whisk her fans away from the details of her personal life and deeper and deeper into quietude of the “folklorian woods,” where a global celebrity can be  anyone she wants. And in shedding the pop production gleam that characterized her previous 3 LPs, her voice shines like never before, particularly in songs like “Peace”, “Majorie”, “This is Me Trying”, and “Gold Rush”. 

Certainly, credit must also be given to her two producers – The National’s Aaron Dessner and longtime collaborator (and Joshua Tree fave) Jack Antonoff – for bringing these songs to life. While the instrumentation is more subdued and simpler here, they are just as masterfully composed, nearly perfectly matching the subtle shifts in narrative tension in each track. In many ways, Folklore and Evermore appear to have unlocked new doors for Swift. While we certainly can’t say where she is headed next, if these albums are any indicator of the creativity and quality to expect, we can’t wait to find out. 

Jaguar – Victoria Monet – Tribe Records

After writing for some of music’s biggest pop acts as a songwriter, most notably Ariana Grande in her acclaimed thank u, next album, Monet’s Jaguar sees her leaping into the spotlight with a slick and confident solo debut of her own. Despite its brevity (9 tracks, including 2 interludes), Jaguar offers plenty of exciting and eclectic musical moments throughout. From the rich harmony-laden intro of “Jaguar” to the colorful synths in “Experience” to the old-school strings in “Moment”, she effortlessly blends across genres and generations. Her vocals are silky, sensual, and on point – never over-complicating the song with excessive melisma or belts, but delivered with the swagger of a woman fully in control of her craft. As we look forward to more from Monet in the years to come, she is already showing that she can shine as brightly as her past collaborators. 

Saint Cloud – Waxahatchee – Merge 

Katie Crutchfield never has tried to hide her Southern roots; the name of her musical project, Waxahatchee, comes from a creek in her Alabama hometown. But Saint Cloud is by far her deepest exploration of the environments and musical traditions that have shaped her as an artist, and as a person  Saint Cloud‘s bright, stripped-down Americana and country songs are a perfect match for her plainspoken but profound musings on vulnerability, change and renewal. Her wisdom and reassurance were gifts in a moment when it felt like the world as we knew it was ending.

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We also made a playlist featuring more excellent music from 2020 that didn’t make it into our album reviews. We hope you enjoy it, and we’d love to hear your recommendations as well.

Here’s to a better year in 2021!

Jack & Josh

Here’s a link to this playlist on Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/best-of-2020-joshua-tree-music/pl.u-pMylANEc42XEja

Our Favorite Albums of 2019

2019 was a quiet year for Joshua Tree content, with co-founders Jack and Josh tackling the challenges of graduate school and new jobs. But their avid listening and nerding out about the world of music didn’t stop for one minute!

Here are some of their favorite albums from last year:

All Mirrors – Angel Olsen (Jagjaguwar)

Self-empowerment and heartbreak are perhaps two of the most tried and true themes in popular music – which makes Angel Olsen’s fourth record all the more impressive in its distinctive approach to these familiar subjects. With its strange blend of swooning synths and strings, Olsen manages to weave a musical texture that sounds futuristic yet classical, vulnerable yet grand, all at the same time. The production of each song never leaves room for a dull moment. Leading track “Lark” starts off in soft murmur-like verses, but gradually builds with wailing choruses and string glissandos and culminates in a frantic, nightmarish rock finale. All Mirrors is a daring, genre-defying musical masterpiece that merits multiple listens to fully appreciate each moment, layer by layer. 

Favorite Track: “All Mirrors”

– Jack

 

Amidst the Chaos – Sara Bareilles (Epic)

It’s been a long six years since Sara Bareilles released new studio music, but fans certainly could not have been disappointed with Amidst the Chaos. Her latest LP is certainly a turbulent album, filled with more feverish production elements (“Eyes On You”) and stronger statements (“Armor” – which references the #MeToo movement) than her previous albums. But it’s also an album with Norah Jones-like moments of quietude in between. Songs like “Miss Simone” and “Saint Honesty” not only serve as great counterbalances to the brassier tracks, but also best highlight the cornerstone of Bareilles’ musicality– her lyrics. There are great lines sprinkled throughout, such as “You sold me a future from the ones you had in the trunk of your car” (“Wicked Love”). While the instrumentation is traditional, the combination of steeliness, disillusionment, agitation, and hope in this album makes it uniquely 2019 in its feel, and one of our favorites this year.

 Favorite Track: “Eyes On You”

– Jack

 

Enderness – A. A. Bondy  (Fat Possum)

In 2019, folk-rock troubadour A. A. Bondy returned from an eight-year hiatus with a new haircut, a bizarre on-stage persona and a unique, unsettling new sound. Enderness is sparsely produced with echoing guitars, electronic beats and eerie instrumental tracks. Bondy’s lyrics are dark and impressionistic, introducing sinister characters and establishing dark moods with impressive economy of language. Amid dense abstraction, he offers biting commentary on celebrity culture and its relation to violence, alluding to the Manson family, JonBenét Ramsey, and other famous killers and victims. In interviews, Bondy has shied away from explaining what motivated his dramatic transformation; this unrelentingly bleak and captivating album speaks for itself.

Favorite Track: “Fentanyl Freddy”

– Josh

 

Father of the Bride – Vampire Weekend (Columbia)

As an 18-track double album, Father of the Bride manages to be Vampire Weekend’s most political record and its most personal. While many songs voice fears about climate change and the threatened survival of democracy, these crises mostly loom in the background of  glimpses into human relationships. Frontman Ezra Koenig takes a more straightforward, country-inspired approach to songwriting, particularly in three charming duets with Danielle Haim. But he doesn’t fully abandon the lush art-pop of earlier Vampire Weekend albums; the nostalgic single “Unbearably White” could easily fit on the band’s previous LP, Modern Vampires of The City. 

Favorite Track: “Unbearably White”

– Josh

 

Fine Line – Harry Styles (Columbia)

In a musical climate where trap beats are king and male pop stars seem to be taking fewer risks (I’m looking at you Ed and Adam), Harry Styles’ second studio album, Fine Line, feels like a breath of fresh air. Lead singles “Lights Up” and “Watermelon Sugar” put a modern spin on the music that we love from the 70s. It’s groovy, funky, and fun – everything that 2019 streaming airwaves have by and large neglected. Meanwhile, songs like “Falling” and the final track “Fine Line” add to the emotional resonance of the record. 

 Throughout the album, there’s a sense of freedom and experimentation in the musical choices made – whether it’s the gospel-choir in “Lights Up” or the honest lyrical admissions in “Cherry”. Even more so than his self-titled first album, Styles is finding his own distinctive sound, solidifying his departure from his boy-band roots and establishing himself as a pop and rock mainstay for years to come.

Favorite Track: “Adore You”

– Jack

 

Good At Falling – The Japanese House   (Dirty Hit)

British singer-songwriter Amber Bain’s gorgeous debut album chronicles her struggles with codependency and loss. Good At Falling maintains the layered harmonies and dreamy instrumentation of the Japanese House’s breakout singles, while Bain’s collaboration with longtime friends in the 1975 imbues the album with a healthy dose of that band’s angst, energy sarcasm. “I’m only a day old, but I know what love is,” Bain sings over blasting synth chords on “Worms.” That track, and the whole album, is a deeply relatable narrative of early adulthood; when you realize how much you still don’t know about yourself and what you want in life.

Favorite Track: “Lilo”

– Josh

 

Immunity – Clairo (Fader Label)

Released a few weeks before her 21st birthday, Immunity poignantly captures Claire Cotrill’s first experiences with love as a queer young adult. The heartwrenching first track, “Alewife”, looks back further, to eighth grade, when a caring friend stopped Cotrill  from ending her own life. “Swear I could’ve done it/If you weren’t there when I hit the floor,” she quietly admits, setting the tone of an album that faces difficult emotions, embraces vulnerability and inspires hope. Co-producer Rostam Batmanglij crafts a perfect sonic backdrop for Clairo’s silky, filtered vocals, balancing fuzziness and distortion with punchy drumming and bright piano chords. 

Favorite Track: “Bags”

–  Josh

Lover – Taylor Swift (Republic)

At the time the TS7 era kicked off with this album’s lead single, “ME!”, to say I had serious concerns about the direction of this album would be a severe understatement. But like many of Swift’s previous albums, “ME!” turned out to be a complete red herring. Instead, Swift’s seventh studio effort brings together what Swifties love most about her music – her songwriting craftsmanship, her killer hooks, and her willingness to enter uncharted musical territory (not to mention a long-awaited return to country music!). Her writing continues to be sharp as ever with tracks like “Cruel Summer” and “Soon You’ll Get Better”, and her exploration into punk (“Paper Rings”) and R&B (“False God”) work surprisingly well. The album is certainly not perfect – for one thing, removing the last 5 tracks could have made for a tighter, more cohesive album – but nonetheless ranks favorably among Swift’s discography. While many of her former and current pop contemporaries find themselves running out of things to say by album #7, Lover demonstrates Swift’s full mastery of her art and may be just an indicator of even greater things to come. 

Favorite Track: “Cruel Summer”

– Jack

When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? – Billie Eilish (Darkroom/Interscope)

Every few years, a new artist who sounds nothing like what we’ve heard before emerges and fills a musical void we never knew existed. In 2019, that artist was Billie Eilish. Together with her producer and brother, Finneas, Billie’s witchy-whispery voice, ghostly harmonies, and ever-shifting production in When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? has resulted in a new brand of music captivating a whole new generation of listeners around the world. Despite the minimal volume output of her voice, there is a surprising degree of emotional range. From the fierce, Beyonce-like thumper, “You Should See Me In A Crown”, to the dreamy and moody “I Love You”, she is able to manipulate her lead and background vocals in continually new and interesting ways. At only 18 years of age, Eilish ended her breakthrough 2019 with the year’s best-selling album in the U.S. She began 2020 with a sweep of the major Grammy awards.

 Favorite Track: “You Should See Me In A Crown”

– Jack

WE ALSO LOVED:

Norman Fucking Rockwell –  Lana Del Rey

Heard it in a Past Life – Maggie Rogers

Ventura – Anderson .Paak

MAGDALENE – FKA Twigs

Jaime – Brittany Howard

Dedicated – Carly Rae Jepsen

U.F.O.F. and Two Hands – Big Thief

Kiwanuka – Michael Kiwanuka

This Land – Gary Clark Jr.

Red Hearse – Red Hearse

The Big Freeze – Laura Stevenson

thank u, next – Ariana Grande

Assume Form – James Blake

 

 

 

 

2018’s Best End-Of-Year Pop Mashups

Photo by Patrick Savalle. (Source: Creative Commons)

 

Editor’s note: We are excited to feature this guest post by our friend, Eli Feldman!

***

Ever since DJ Earworm’s 2009 blockbuster,  it seems like end-of-year mashups (EOYMs) are all the rage. Sadly, the quality of EOYMs varies greatly year to year, even for the same DJs. Worse yet, some DJs have quit making EOYMs altogether (*cough cough* Daniel Kim).

What’s a mashup fan to do?

Fortunately, this author put in the hours to find and review the top 3 EOYMs from 2018. Whether you like Hayley Williams or Childish Gambino, this year’s crop has something for everyone.

Enjoy!

#3: AnDyWuMUSICLAND’s The Greatest Hope Mashup

The Good:

• The crescendos are phenomenal, and some of the crosses (e.g., “Tie Me Down” by Gryffin/Elley Duhé x “Africa” by Weezer and “For You” by Liam Payne/Rita Ora x “Falling Down” by XXXTENTACION & Lil Peep) might even give the old Pop Danthologies a run for their money.
• It covers an impressive array of songs: it’s not easy to put 144 songs together, but not a single one of them sounds out of place.
• Even though everyone and their goddamn mom used “Girls Like You” by Maroon 5 as the anchor for their EOYM, this mashup does a nice job of creatively mixing it with other songs.

The Bad:

• It has a few too many distinct sections; this makes it slightly less appealing to listen to start-to-finish, since it doesn’t have one consistent tempo or vibe.

 

#2: Happy Cat Disco’s Pop Songs World 2018 – Mega Mashup

The Good:

• This mashup hooks you in from the first second and doesn’t let you go.
• It gets MAJOR style points for including slightly less traditional (but still great!) songs in interesting crosses – think “Hard Times” by Paramore, “How Long” by Charlie Puth, and “Feel It Still” by Portugal. The Man.
• It’s slightly shorter, and with only one major transition, you can easily listen to it start-to-finish without feeling like you just heard a dozen distinct songs.
• It manages to make “New Rules” by Dua Lipa (one of my least favorite songs of the year) actually sound pretty good.
• Bonus: it doesn’t use “Girls Like You” by Maroon 5 as a crutch, which most of this year’s EOYMs did.

The Bad:

• Honestly, not much. Great song choice, clever crosses, and a strong start/middle/end. This is one for the ages!

 

#1: DJ Trademark’s 2018 Pop it Off Mashup.

 

This was a pretty easy decision. Trademark (who happens to be my favorite DJ) delivers the best, single-song-length EOYM you’ll find.

In typical Trademark fashion, it’s smooth enough to make your local pimp blush, and you almost forget that the songs weren’t actually written together originally. It covers some of the major hits, but more importantly, it makes every song sound better—always a tough feat with popular radio songs.

Our Favorite Albums of 2018

As 2018 comes to a close, Josh and Jack reflect on another year when artists stole our hearts and brought us into their worlds. Here, we tackle the difficult task of naming some of our favorite releases this year.

Be The Cowboy, Mitski

Mitski’s two previous albums— Bury Me at Makeout Creek and Puberty 2— captivated listeners with bleak rock songs about unrequited love and existential angst. In Be The Cowboy, she tells even more nuanced stories of emotional repression and loneliness, while her experimentation with piano and synthesizers results in her catchiest music to date.  – Josh

Bloom, Troye Sivan

You could fill an entire stadium with albums recounting stories of teenage love, but rarely are they told as well as on Troye Sivan’s sophomore effort, Bloom. From a reflection of his first sexual encounter as a queer teen in “Seventeen” to his empathetic commentary on the uneven ending of a relationship (“The Good Side”), Sivan reveals a remarkably fresh and frank perspective on the topic. The wonderfully lush production work creates a dreamy, ethereal soundscape that mirrors the euphoric highs of love. At the age of 23, Troye Sivan continues to raise the bar for his rising generation of music talents.  -Jack

Clean, Soccer Mommy

Soccer Mommy’s first LP is not concerned with the intricacies of “modern love.” In Clean, love is animalistic and elemental, expressed through claws and teeth, blood and bone, changing seasons and orbiting planets. Beautiful guitar melodies and songs about evading parents on a summer night keep the album grounded in the traditions of great rock music. – Josh

A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships, The 1975

The Internet Age has tested our ability to forge and maintain deep, meaningful connections with each other. It’s a challenge that yields no clear answers, but The 1975’s A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships shines a brutally honest spotlight on its emotional consequences. With a an eclectic juxtaposition of glimmering electronic synths, classic jazz, folk, and R&B, the record’s musical styles treads along the very boundary of artifice and reality, past and present, that society has increasingly confronted. Even when the production is cheerfully optimistic, the accompanying lyrics are frequently stark and pained (“Love It If We Made It”, “I Like America and America Likes Me”). The final result is a record that unmasks the often-confusing blend of thoughts and emotions that come with living in the digital age and ultimately humanizes that experience.  – Jack

Daytona, Pusha-T

After ending a five-year wait for his next opus, Pusha-T boasted of having “the luxury to drop when he want/’Cause nobody else can fuck with me.” His decision to rename his album after a Rolex watch was another way of celebrating this “luxury of time.” But DAYTONA also benefited from restrictions enforced by its producer, Kanye West. By limiting the album to seven tracks and sticking with sparse electronic beats throughout, Kanye makes Pusha T’s third studio album an airtight masterpiece, delivering ferocious disses and memorable glimpses into the dark underworld of drug dealers. – Josh

Caution, Mariah Carey

To say the least, it’s been an uneven couple of years for the legendary Mariah Carey. As her Christmas anthem “All I Want For Christmas Is You” continues to scale higher up the charts each holiday season, she has faced a number of career setbacks and flops – most notably her New Year’s’ Eve lip-syncing debacle in 2016 and continued coverage about the decline in her vocal ability. But her first LP in four years, an aptly-titled Caution, results in some of her best work in ages. As a legacy artist, there’s an inherent Catch-22 with each release: adapt too much and get called out for trend-following (and alienating your fan base). Or keep your classic sound intact and risk sounding out-of-touch. Mariah successfully navigates through both hurdles, experimenting with new producers (e.g., Skrillex, Nineteen85) with surprisingly fresh results while ensuring the finished product is “Mariah-certified”. This is best exemplified with the album’s highlight, “A No No”, which sees her deliver fierce and sassy lines over a sample of Lil Kim’s 1997 classic,  “Crush on You”. – Jack

Lush, Snail Mail

Lush weaves together feelings of exuberance and melancholy to create a perfect indie rock soundtrack for the summer. With thoughtful lyrics and dreamy guitar lines, Snail Mail brings listeners into the confusing moments between loving someone and letting them go.   –Josh

Black Panther: The Album, Kendrick Lamar and various artists

2018’s biggest blockbuster film was accompanied by an equally adventurous soundtrack. Curated by Kendrick Lamar, Black Panther: The Album pushed beyond the boundaries of traditional soundtrack fare and instead delivered a bold collection of songs that stand just as well alone. The highlight of the album is the Kendrick, Vince Staples, Yugen Blackrok collab “Opps”, which immerses you into 3 minutes of non-stop pounding energy and unexpected rhythmic twists. This is hip-hop, pop, Afro-soul, and R&B styles blended together at its best.  –Jack

Golden Hour, Kacey Musgraves

Already known as a rebellious free spirit (by Nashville standards), Kacey Musgraves added to that reputation on “Golden Hour” by bringing elements of disco and psychedelic rock into her upbeat country songwriting. In an era of widespread cynicism, the album is a moving ode to going through life with an open heart and a sense of wonder. – Josh

Invasion of Privacy, Cardi B

A top albums list for 2018 wouldn’t be complete without Cardi B, arguably the year’s biggest star. After hitting the top of the charts late last year “Bodak Yellow”, the big question on everyone’s mind was how she would back up that monster hit in 2018. Would live up to the hype and pressure? If there were any doubts, she quickly dispelled them with Invasion of Privacy. One of the strongest debuts in recent memory, Invasion of Privacy shows off Cardi B’s versatility as an artist. While she boasts about “diamonds on my wrist” in “Drip” and “run[ning] this shit like cardio” on the Latin-infused summer jam, “I Like It”, other tracks reveal much more vulnerability and introspection. The gradual musical crescendo of “Get Up 10” mirrors her unabashed account of her own rise to fame, while “Be Careful” provides an deeply personal “warning” (not a threat) about past dealings with infidelity. With more Hot 100 #1’s already than any other female rapper and five Grammy nominations, the future certainly looks bright for this Bronx native.  –Jack

Voicenotes, Charlie Puth

Charlie Puth is an incredibly gifted musician and producer— and he’s not shy about it, either. That talent wasn’t evident in the bland ballads that made him famous. But Puth won over many of his most disparaging critics this year with Voicenotes,  an album full of irresistible riffs on old-school R&B and pop.  – Josh

Grammy Nominations Preview

Believe it or not, it’s that time of year again. On Friday morning, nominations for the 61st Grammy Awards are set to be released. It’s been another year of incredible releases across multiple genres along with some of the most significant changes to the Recording Academy in history. Here are the top 3 things to expect when the nominations come out.

1. The Most Diverse Grammys Ever

For the first time in Grammy history, the number of nominees for the top four categories – Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best New Artist – will be expanded from 5 to 8 nominees. While this change may appear insignificant at face value, its purpose is clear – to allow an increasingly diverse universe of music to be appropriately recognized for the Recording Academy’s top honors. It follows a similar move made by the Oscars in 2010,  when they expanded the number of Best Picture nominees from 5 to 10.

But that’s not the only change the Grammy’s have made. The Grammy’s have long been criticized for their lack of representation. After a particularly egregious comment from Grammy Awards President Neil Portnow earlier this year that women need to “step up” to be successful, multiple changes have been instituted to promote a more diverse voting body in the Academy. Over the past few months, more than 900 women, people of color, and/or people under 39 were invited to join the Academy.

Diversity in the Grammy Awards’ “Nominations Review Committees” – which ultimately determine who gets nominated for their associated music genre – has increased dramatically as well. The percent of women on the committee has nearly doubled, from 28% to 51%, while the percent of people of color is at 48%, up from 36%. But just as shocking as the growth in representation over just one year is the fact that the previously undisclosed numbers were so low to begin with.

2. More R&B, Hip-Hop, and Country in the Mix

Hip-hop/R&B was the most popular genre in America in 2017, making up 25% of all music consumption. That trend has continued into 2018, and we fully anticipate the Grammy Awards to reflect these evolving trends, with perhaps an unprecedented number of hip-hop/R&B albums nominated in the general categories. Top picks for this year include works from Cardi B (Invasion of Privacy), Drake (Scorpion), Janelle Monae (Dirty Computer), Kendrick Lamar (Black Panther: The Album), and Beyonce/Jay-Z (Everything Is Love).

After being completely snubbed among the previous year’s general category nominees, country music is back with two strong contenders. Kacey Musgraves’ Golden Hour melted fans and critics’ hearts alike with a modern country album exuding a winsome combination of warmth and wit. At the same time, Chris Stapleton could make a run for his second Album of the Year nomination in three years with his husky, deeply emotive From a Room: Volume 2.

(Note: the eligibility period for the Grammys goes from Oct 1, 2017 to Sep 30, 2018, which means Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s “Shallow” from the A Star is Born soundtrack is eligible while the rest of the album will have to wait until next year.)

3. Nomination Controversy

Regardless of who ends up being nominated, there will almost certainly still be controversy over the outcome. It certainly doesn’t help that the nomination process is big mystery box holding the Grammy’s best kept secret – that the Grammy nominations in key categories can be edited.

Yes – that’s right. The awards are not as democratic as one might expect. For all of the top general category awards as well as some genre-specific awards in R&B, Country, Latin, and others, Nominations Review Committees, comprised of select Recording Academy members, take the top 15-30 nominees based on initial voting, and make the ultimate decisions among those behind closed doors.

This is certainly troubling for the industry’s most prestigious awards. As an example of how this could come into play, it was rumored that Ed Sheeran’s Divide album ranked #3 for Album of the Year after initial voting; however, it was later dropped from the list by the committee. True or false, the potential for these situations to occur raises serious questions on the very legitimacy of these awards. A shift towards greater transparency in the awards process would be a likely next step as the organization continues to evolve and rectify the grievances expressed by music creators and followers alike.

Nominees for the Grammy Awards will be begin to be revealed on CBS This Morning and on Apple Music beginning on Friday at 8:30am EST. The full list of nominees will be revealed shortly afterwards on GRAMMY.com at 8:45am.

And last, but not least, here are our predictions for Album of the Year:

Drake, Maroon 5, and the summer songs that will never, ever leave

Video still from New Melody

UPDATE: “Girls Like You” reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart dated Sept. 29.

“Why is the best fruit always forbidden?
-Cardi B, “Girls Like You”

Maroon 5 has been denied a No. 1 hit for a month straight, a situation that must delight the band’s haters as much as it frustrates its fans.

“Girls Like You”, featuring Cardi B,  has held at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the past four weeks. It’s the 14th Maroon 5 song to reach the top 10, and could become the band’s fourth No. 1. It also would be Cardi B’s third chart-topper, extending her record among female rappers.

Only one thing stands in its way: Drake’s “In My Feelings,” the No. 1 song since July and the undisputed Song of the Summer.

Maroon 5’s latest album, Red Pill Blues, continues the band’s prolonged existence as Adam Levine’s factory for glossy musical confections. Its reign on pop radio has stretched across two summers. The lead single, “What Lovers Do”– a bouncy duet with SZA- debuted at the end of August 2017. “Girls Like You” was released as a single on May 30.

Soft, slow and potentially sleep-inducing, “Girls Like You” seems like an unlikely Song of the Summer contender. Its success is largely attributable to the energy and star power  in the tacked-on verse by Cardi B. In 2018, the only greater guarantee of a top 10 hit than a Cardi B verse is… a verse by Drake.

***

We won’t know the results of the latest Hot 100 tracking week until Monday. But the latest data from Nielsen show that Drake’s “In My Feelings” is losing steam. More specifically, it is losing streams.  (Even more specifically: it is losing streams from memes).

In the tracking week that ended Aug. 31, “Feelings” logged 50.5 million U.S. streams. down 15 percent from the week before. While that was enough to continue its reign as the most-streamed song in America, it’s a far cry from its record total of 116.2 million streams at the peak of the “In My Feelings Challenge.” The song’s weekly downloads fell 14 percent, to 26,000, and its radio audience also shrank by 12 percent.

Between Aug. 24 and Aug. 31, “Girls” logged nearly 21 million fewer streams than “Feelings.” But its commercial metrics have been declining at a slower rate week-to-week. The song’s enduring strength is in radio airplay; it led Billboard’s Radio Songs chart with 127.6 million impressions, virtually the same as the week before.

***

I predict that “Girls Like You” ultimately will reach No. 1 and bring a welcome end to this war of attrition at the top of the the charts. I hope it won’t linger there. Bring on the cool breezes and major music releases of fall.

By Josh