Wrapped Roundup: #50-41

This might be the most embarrassing one yet.

Oh, yeah, I recognize how stunningly late this is, but this is all for fun anyway, so I might as well finish it out. Six months later, my music taste has shifted so dramatically and some ways and remained so similar in others.

#50: Guilty as Sin? – Taylor Swift

Do any of you remember that Taylor Swift album review I did? Yeah, that was in 2024, and now I remember that years are awfully long, and sometimes they even feel long even if they fly by so consistently. 

Regrettably, this is the main consequence, the only song from that album that I ever enjoyed and listened to for any extended stretch. It makes me angry to see this song here instead of some other (better) Swift song, but it is what it is. At least we can look at this as proof that I really don’t listen to Taylor Swift often; I only listened to this for like one stretch in May when I was reviewing the album. 

It’s an acceptable song. Inoffensive, mildly boring, but benefitting from some cool lyricism and interesting melodic choices. I don’t hate it, but it shouldn’t be anywhere near my top 50. 

#49: Electrolite – R.E.M.

Talk about a top 50 song. 

Electrolite is the closing track on New Adventures In Hi-Fi, and it sounds like a closer, like a sunset. Plenty of people view this album as the last great R.E.M. album, a sweeping finale to a strong stretch of music. It aligned with the departure of drummer Bill Berry, who had a stroke on stage and subsequently retired from the band after recording NAIHF while on tour. As the last track on his last album, Berry’s contributions reflect his contributions to the band: quiet, understated, and crucial. On Electrolite, the percussion is limited to a guiro (one of those handheld wooden things with the ridges), some bongos, occasional cymbals, and a light snare. The guiro is the first thing you hear, the first piece of an incredible soundscape created by Buck, Mills, and Berry. Stipe’s vocals obviously top it all off perfectly.

In hindsight, it couldn’t have been a much better sendoff for Berry. On an album full of electric, stadium rock tracks, R.E.M. The track was intended as a goodbye to the century, even though it was released in 1996; it serves, instead, as a tribute to the quiet, understated motor of the band. Drummers are often the most energetic, noticeable members of mainstream rock bands, but Berry never put himself in the spotlight, opting instead for steady, austere rhythms. Electrolite is Bill Berry’s final song, and it’s one of R.E.M.’s most beautiful, bittersweet tracks in a catalog full of them. 

I’m not scared

I’m outta here

#48: King Kunta – Kendrick Lamar

Somehow, there is only one song off of TPAB on this list. More embarrassingly, it’s King Kunta. Catchy and fun, sure! Undeniably, though, not the song I would choose to put here. 

TPAB is brimming with intelligent, masterful tracks. This isn’t quite on that level, so it makes it here purely thanks to its ability to make you walk in stride to the beat. That doesn’t make it a bad song, per se, but I also don’t remember the last time I listened to it. Rap isn’t really in my rotation these days (these days being late July, when I finally got back around to working on this). 

#47: Not Alike (feat. Royce Da 5’9) – Eminem

Speaking of. Way, way, way back in 8th grade when I took the bus to the nearby high school to take a math class, Eminem dropped Kamikaze out of nowhere. 

Everyone hated it. Everyone except for 13-year-old Emory, who definitely shouldn’t have been listening to this album. He did anyway, and something about the sound of Not Alike gave me the confidence to walk through the halls of high schoolers every other day, to get on the bus that carried only me and left the rest of my friends at lunch. 

Maybe that shouldn’t have required much determination, but hey, Eminem was there to provide it regardless. This is still a really fun song, but I don’t know a single other person that listens to it. Not sure I listened to it this much to put it here or if this is some weird Spotify anomaly, but if I did, I’ll stand by it. 

Besides, any song that bashes Machine Gun Kelly is fine by me. Eminem single-handedly made Kelly change genres, and I think the musical world is better off. 

#46: Water On Mars – The Nude Party

I say the same thing about every Nude Party song, about how it sounds like summer, the beach, etc. That’s all true for this one, maybe even more than other tracks. That keyboard line over the whole thing, the fuzzy guitar, it all fits their sound, and it’s just so much fun to listen to.

If I remember correctly, though, this was the first Nude Party song I heard. The Spotify DJ put on Water On Mars, and I knew immediately I had to listen to the album. I wasn’t disappointed. There isn’t a lot to their formula, but when they have it working, it’s a sparkling piece of rock. 

Should I sell? (don’t sell it, no, don’t sell it)

My mind’s a spigot and I’m startin’ to dig it

#45: How The West Was Won And Where It Got Us – R.E.M.

Electrolite is the closer to NAIHF, a humble, romantic farewell. How The West Was Won And Where It Got Us is the foreboding, ominous opener, the one that surely made a lot of R.E.M. fans uneasy upon first listen. 

This track takes the characteristic sound of the album – sparse, expansive, dry – and boils it down into one song. A clear, basic bassline, sparse piano, pounding, simplistic drums, and one synthesizer. That’s all it takes for How The West Was Won to get its point across. Emerging right after Monster, R.E.M.’s loudest, most overproduced album, this track was a clear signal that R.E.M. would continue to keep innovating, never lingering too long in one style. 

And that’s fitting, because NAIHF is an album of transience. The whole album was recorded on tour, consisting of tracks recorded on stage in soundchecks before beginning a show. This track first introduces us to that transient energy. 

I didn’t wear glasses cause I thought it might rain

Now I can’t see anything

I made a mistake, chalked it up to design

I cracked through time, space, godless and dry

I point my nose to the northern star, 

Watch the decline from a hazy distance

#44: Change Your Mind – The Killers

Very interesting that out of the many Hot Fuss songs I listened to in 2024, this is the one that finishes second highest. For lack of a better word, this is the most basic, following a simple formula that The Killers perfected and used repeatedly on the album. 

I didn’t even like this song for a long time. Or maybe I never gave it a chance, because it’s an inoffensive, decidedly solid song. Synth, guitar, dramatic drums, and strong lead vocals. Recipe for success. 

The lyrics are pretty simple, and there’s not much to say about it. Definitely deserving of its position. 

#43: We Still Don’t Trust You – Future, Metro Boomin, The Weeknd

This was a weird time. End of finals season first year, and I just needed a song with the same nervous energy I had in spades. 

Luckily for me, the Spotify DJ once again came in clutch with the freakiest, most disconcerting track I’ve ever heard. The little staccato synth notes, the minor key pattern in the back, and Future’s deep, slightly off-key voice layered in autotune just hit the right notes for me at the right time. Add in The Weeknd’s solo, and it was all over. 

The album was pretty terrible, but they did a great job with the title track. 

#42: Phoenix – The Cult

It always comes back to Love. This song feels like it goes on forever in an entirely good way. The Cult created a vibe that feels exactly like an extended rebirth, flames flying around and a grand obelisk or something emerging from a blinding portal. The cries in the background sound almost worshipping as the guitar wails and wails and wails endlessly.

I’ll have more to say about The Cult later, but I’ll save that; plenty more where this came from. 

#41: Man On The Moon – R.E.M.

Written as a tribute to entertainer Andy Kaufman, Man On The Moon is yet another example of an R.E.M. smash hit that doesn’t feel like it should’ve been. It’s a great song, of course – full of all the character that characterizes Automatic For The People, and a fitting tribute to Kaufman, whom Stipe obviously respects. 

Looking back, I guess this song is fit for radio. It’s quick and to the point, with a pretty short verse before you finally hit the chorus and a catchy bridge in between. Enough guitar and energy to make it fun and loud, but reserved enough to retain the sentimentality that gave R.E.M. such popular appeal. 

For me, I’m really not sure how this is here; probably a function of so many listens to the album, rather than the song specifically. I won’t complain about hearing Man On The Moon, though, which has carved out a surprising niche, in my eyes, amongst R.E.M.’s many hits.