Favorite songs of 2024 and hopes for 2025

1. House of Leaves, Circa Survive

This song did not come out in 2024, but rather in 2005. However, I discovered it this past year. The chords are haunting, ethereally sweet, horrifically beautiful. “Did you poison my food? / Forgive me, I’ve paranoid flu.” The rhyme of paranoid flu and poison my food always makes me giggle because of how absurd it is, but how down-to-earth the paranoia and distrust of someone can be, it’s a human problem to have. “I’ve been lying wide awake paralyzed by the buzzing of the television” torments me because it’s something I think we all have done. The TV is just background noise to the worries in our heads, or maybe TikTok is now the background noise. The melody is syrupy, but still stings. The song pulls at the beats of my heart in a way that, I believe, only dying could do. 

2. Antpile 2, Kublai Khan TX

I believe this song is the epitome of rage. The only lyric is the number two. The first Antpile only had “S—t! / Son of a bitch!” as lyrics. It neatly fits into 58 seconds, which is impressive. In a world where our attention span is milliseconds, this complements the “brain-rotted” generation of TikTok. This song is rough, it’s thrashing and energizing. The chords are heavy, the breakdown is formidable – like a right hook leaving your oldest tooth on the floor. 

3. Numb to What is Real, Superheaven

Superheaven’s dual release of “Numb to What is Real” and “Long Gone” is the band’s newest material since 2015. Their song, “Youngest Daughter,” is one of my all-time favorites. The band hasn’t lost the signature taste left in my mouth after the final chord sizzles into silence. The taste is a semi-sweet chocolate chip and a lime rind crusted with salt – sweet, salty, incredibly bitter, and finishes with metallic spikes that won’t leave your mouth for hours. 

4. M, Soccer Mommy

Soccer Mommy is another favorite artist of mine. I’ve been listening to her since 2017, and she’s always been featured on my Top 5 artists on Spotify Wrapped. Her sound has evolved from indie to folk to alternative to this mixture of all three with a little Bruce Springsteen and a splash of Loretta Lynn. It’s a beautiful mixture I’ve been unable to find anywhere else. The flute solo at the end of this song leaves my eyes watery and my soul light. Spellbinding, magical, sad, but amazing. “Cause I miss you and it never stops / I hear your voice in all my favorite songs / And I don’t mind spending time on a lie / But it’s taking all I have to give / And in my dreams, I’m still not free / I feel those hands around my neck / Like the truth is killin’ me / And when I wake, the thought remains / That I won’t be the same / And I can see / It’s not a dream / It’s real as anything to me.” Then the flute fades in, and I’m transported to a field of wildflowers and tall grass swaying in the gentle wind. 

These songs are all near and dear to me. 2024 was a very rough year for me – I lost so many people, and yet I gained so much, too. Life is cyclical that way. I’m given hardship, then something beautiful. 

The hardships I’ve been through the past year have taught me to care for the beautiful things in front of me. 

Mostly, these songs are centered on general grief and anger. I lost friends who I knew would not be there for me until my dying breath, but I was still angry about it. They had seen my soul and twisted it into a cruel joke against me. Even in my most dire moments, like when my apartment flooded, they couldn’t be bothered to help. I’m grateful that those moments of need led me to the right people, even if it sucked at the time. 

I lost my best friend of 17 years, my childhood dog, Spike. That same week, I spoke to my estranged sibling, whom I had not been in contact with for nearly four years. Death took my best friend from me, but in the same breath, it brought back a missing piece. It’s funny how that works. 

I’ve felt a lot of anger about societal issues, as I think everyone has. Before the election, I was angry. Afterward, that anger has simmered into anxiety. I don’t know what the future holds for my career, for my loved ones or yours. I just know that soon, after I’ve let my anxiety fester for long enough, it will turn back into rage. And I will play Kublai Khan TX’s “Antpile” and “Antpile 2” as if they were prescribed anger management medication. 

What’s in for 2025? Empathy, gothic horror, Dollar Tree and coloring pages a la last day of elementary school before break. What’s out for 2025? TikTok probably, affording groceries, negative self-talk and semaglutide ads everywhere.

Header by Alex Carrasquillo