![]() ![]() “Saying controversial things just for the hell of it,” Healy sings, and you can’t help but laugh because of how smoothly Healy avoids overt opinion while observing “controversial things” (“Thank you Kanye, very cool!” stands out). The verses bluntly point out what’s happening in society, giving little to no context. Most powerful, however, is the push in the second chorus where the electric guitar bursts forward and a chorus of backing vocals swell behind Healy. “Love It If We Made It,” the second single from The 1975’s A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships, opens with a quietly pulsing keyboard before Matt Healy comes in swinging with the drums and the brusque line, “Fucking in a car, shooting heroin.” That opening piano bit is at the backbone of the song, and the brighter, twinkling synth that comes in adds a shiny quality to the song’s atmosphere. Read Paste’s review of Caroline Rose’s LONER “Put on this bikini and dance.” The takeaway: Ladies, you don’t ever have to “shake it” for anyone, no matter how nicely they ask. In the video, Rose, though still dressed in her signature red, is costumed as her male narrator, barking commands at bikini-clad women. On standout “Jeannie Becomes A Mom,” Rose tackles aggressive suburban ideals, but “Bikini” freaks out on the insane expectations facing women in the spotlight (and women in general). “Bikini,” from the latter, is weird and wonderful and, like many of LONER’s best tunes, oozes with satire. It’s hard to believe the Caroline Rose who made I Will Not Be Afraid, her first album and a swinging, folk-fueled rockabilly record, is the same Caroline Rose who, this year, released an absurdist, darkly hilarious pop record called LONER. Here are the songs that moved us in 2018. Whether it was a self-love bop from one of rap’s rising female stars or a #MeToo anthem by a rightfully enraged rock band, a dizzying love song or a quiet muse on the bleak state of affairs, or maybe even a blissful pop song, this year’s tunes often provided us with just what we needed to get by in the moment, and we’re sure to be playing these jams for years to come. These are the songs that helped us understand 2018 and survive in 2018. These are the songs we needed this year-to dance to, laugh to, cry to or space out to. The songs on this list would fit snugly under that same title. Matador Records, a label that’s home to several of the artists featured on this list, has a Spotify playlist called “Great Music For Terrible Times.” Though these times aren’t entirely terrible, Matador’s right, in a way: We need music even more when the going gets tough. And our ability to handle it all is in part thanks to the great art that has emerged from the chaos. ![]() We’re used to-but not complacent in-these turbulent times. But in the two years since that harrowing election, we’ve figured out how to cope. We witnessed mass shootings, the #MeToo movement’s successes and heartbreaking downfalls, a slew of devastating natural disasters and a chaotic administration try to patch it all up. We saw a divided nation grow even further apart. There were times in 2018 when everything just felt like too much. ![]()
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