2022 was an exciting year for music, there were new releases from Denzel Curry, Kendrick Lamar, Nas, Red Hot Chili Peppers with John Frusciante and Megadeth. Music is far from being dead, one just has to dig for it. Everyone has their own feelings on what the top 3 tracks of this year are, for me the top 3 tracks are…

Denzel Curry’s “Walkin” the leading single from his latest album Melt My Eyez See Your Future. I had no clue who Curry was until I discovered this song one day based on a recommendation from a YouTuber (theneedledrop). When I heard this track I was grabbed by the stunning production on it that was reminiscent of spaghetti western soundtracks fused with modern trap beats. Curry’s vacillation between his rapid-fire style to a more thoughtful, even at times a solemn take. 

Curry is on top of his game with his lyrics on this song. The song reaches its peak for me towards the end of it, when Curry expresses himself to the nth degree “Ain’t no use, you gotta walk / Who the **** said, “Stop the track,” bruh? Let a real **** talk / I walk from the b****s, I walk from the friendship / I walk from some digits / ‘Cause lately, my ****, I’m feelin’ indifferent / I  wish all the best, and believe that I meant it.” When I saw that his album released earlier this year after listening to “Walkin” I knew it was a instant listen for me, and it easily has to be one of my favorite albums of this year. 

Red Hot Chili Peppers “Eddie”, I’m a huge fan of Red Hot Chili Peppers but even I know some of their more recent tracks haven’t been all that great however “Eddie” off their second release of this year Return of the Dream Canteen. Despite that “Eddie” has to be one of their best songs in their entire discography, it’s a touching tribute to guitarist Eddie Van Halen. 

When I first heard the track, I was shocked by the quality of it. The instrumentation was beautiful, even Anthony Kiedis’ vocals were great for this song. 

He even reigned in the lyrics here. Making most of them be allusions to Van Halen with stuff like “A little sombrero ‘cause teacher was way too hot … Cut my teeth down at the Whiskey.” Red Hot is known for some of their more bombastic and nonsensical lyrics at times but with this song they keep it controlled. 

Everything came together for this very touching song, it doesn’t try to show up Van Halen or be this bombastic song. It dwells and succeeds in its simplicity. Frusciante, their returning guitarist is on top of his game here with the solos. It’s a song full of vibes. The chorus is also one of their catchiest. I find myself just singing it randomly at times, “Please don’t remember me for what I did last night.” 

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard’s “Iron Lung.” I have known the name King Gizzard but I never really gave them a listen. In this year alone released 5 albums, I only listened to one of them based off the single released from it “Iron Lung.” Once again, “Iron Lung” was a recommendation and I listened to it with the music video. 

The visuals, the instrumentation, the lyrics and the vocals all come together for this very cohesive experience. Everything with it works to paint you this picture, I have never been in an iron lung but if I ever get into one I can only imagine that it would be similar to this song. Every single second of the 9 minute song is worth it, sometimes long running songs lose my attention because it feels like they are just dragging things out just for the sake of it. 

In the case of “Iron Lung” they do it because it’s what fits with the song, naturally it has to go on this long to properly paint this picture. It starts off slow and deceptively calm but as the song goes on it twists, morphs, and distorts into the climax of the song with its bridge. “Pins and needles / Like a voodoo evil / Got my doctor baffled / Every breath is an uphill battle.”  During the bridge the vocalist is screaming the lyrics as the guitar ugly cries and the drums pound away at your senses. 

This song is my top song released this year. I was enchanted by it and it led me to listening to the rest of the album Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava. It is a fantastic listen if you are into psychedelic music and even if you are not I believe that most can still enjoy and appreciate the track “Iron Lung.” I highly recommend watching the live performance of it on KEXP  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wb0fW8yQCHc. Hierarchical meritocracy

Enough of me going on about my 3 top tracks of this year, let’s get some opinions from others. We have the, modern day goliath senior Cayden Zachrich, soccer enthusiast senior Carter Campbell, ex-boyfriend hater senior Olivia Rittenhouse and older R. Kelly fan sophomore Jae’Den Howard.

Starting with Zachrich, “In no particular order but one of my favorite tracks was “Walkin” by Denzel Curry. But that track is absolutely insane the pace, the mix vocals, the sample of just that song is very, very good.

And then another one of my top tracks of the year is called “Kody Blu 31” by JID. It’s really like a soothing jazzy slow like rap type of thing. It’s really like it just makes you feel groovy and like emotionally. It’s a really solid track.

The last track “Father Time” by Kendrick Lamar ft. Sampha , Sampha has just a unique angelical vocals in the chorus. Kendrick Lamar spits some really good bars. The instrumental on the track is really good, the beat makes you want to lie down and relax.  It’s a really angelical song and it makes me kind of float.

These are all like  rap songs, but they’re not really hard rap songs. They are more musical like, poetic. I enjoyed these tracks.”

Next up Rittenhouse, “my first song is “Kill Bill” by SZA and literally just and there’s that because she talks about killing her ex.  It’s a good song. And then my second song “Is There Someone Else” by The Weeknd. And my third song is “Matilda” by Harry Styles.” 

For Campbell he was more about albums this year, “Kawala’s Better With You, they got some bangers. It’s like a good melodic singing They banger produced a couple of good songs here that I’d say probably were my top.

The other one will be The Lumineers’ Brightside. Their album was good this year. Probably my favorite song from the album is “WHERE ARE WE” and “A.M. RADIO. Very good songs, very basic Lumineers songs but stood out to me the most.”

Come Home The Kids Miss You by Jack Harlow, it was a pretty good album. There were some good hits on it. ”

To round it all off Howard gave his list, “‘Out the way’ by Yeat I want to like, kind of like just like, settle down and like focus on something I play. And I don’t really understand the words but I don’t really need.

The second one is probably “N95” by Kendrick Lamar. Really not something you normally listen to, but  it’s good. The lyrics are good. I like that they’re a little funny.

And then probably the number one from this year alone gotta to be “We Cry Together” by Kendrick Lamar ft. Taylour Paige.  It was the first time I noticed. It was crazy. It really really left me in that. Wow. It was great. I listened to it. Sometimes. Not very often, but I do. But honestly that’s got to be the top track.”

This year had a solid mix of tracks from a variety of genres that all could appreciate. One may just take a surface look at new music and just write it all off, but if you take the time to look beneath the surface you can find some real gems. What were your favorite tracks this year?