As I point out every January, these are my ten favorite songs of the previous year. Other people who have written for TSL over the years may have very different favorite songs of the year. In fact, check out Necromoonyeti’s list of his 35 top albums!
Anyway, here are my ten favorite songs of the previous year. For the most part, my musical tastes tend to run the gamut from EDM to More EDM. That said, I think there’s perhaps a bit of variety to this year’s list as opposed to previous years. Or maybe not. Who knows? I’m typing this up at one in the morning so, to be honest, I’m lucky that I can even keep straight which year I’m writing about.
Oh, the goodbye hug. The tearful break-up. The understanding farewell. The moment when you watch someone walk away and it becomes clear that the two of you will probably never see each other again. We’ve all been through that type of pain and, more often than not, when we remember the moment, we remember it as being in black-and-white. Selena Gomez was the perfect choice for this song, bringing truthful sadness and emotion to the lyrics.
This video was directed by Dave Meyers. Dave Meyers has directed a lot of videos. How many Dave Meyers videos have we shared on this site? I don’t know, I’ve lost track. Whatever it is that it takes to make someone into a good music video director, Dave Meyers definitely has it. This, of course, is actually the second video for this song. The first video has a sort of sci-fi feel to it. I prefer Meyers’s more emotional approach.
Remember when Selena Gomez shows up in The Big Short and explained how some sort of stock market concept worked. And some old lady said, “I like Selena Gomez, I’ll invest in whatever she’s investing in.” That was a weird scene and I have to admit that I still have no idea how the stock market works.
I usually don’t follow or comment on celebrity gossip because I find it to be tacky but I was happy when Chris Martin divorced Gwyneth Paltrow. I was concerned that she was using all of his Coldplay money to invest in making candles. I will admit that I kind of pictured the “Dinner Party” episode of The Office whenever I imagined what it was like to visit Chris and Gwyneth. “Hey, babe? How about we take the beer sign down until our guests leave and then we can discuss it.”
Anyway, enjoy!
We had that kind of love I thought that it would never end Oh, my lover, oh, my other, oh, my friend We talked around in circles and We talked around and then I loved you to the moon and back again
You gave everything this golden glow Now turn off all the stars ’cause this I know That it hurts like so To let somebody go
All the storms we weathered Everything that we went through Now, without you, what on earth am I to do? When I called the mathematicians and I ask them to explain They said love is only equal to the pain
And when everything was going wrong You could turn my sorrow into song Oh, it hurts like so To let somebody go To let somebody go Oh-oh (oh-oh) Oh-oh (Let somebody, let somebody go) yeah
Oh, oh-oh (oh), when you love somebody (oh) When you love somebody (oh) Got to let somebody know Oh, oh-oh (oh), when you love somebody (oh) When you love somebody (oh) Got to let somebody know So, when you love somebody When you love somebody
Then it hurts like so To let somebody go It hurts like so To let somebody go
But you’re still with me, now I know (Let somebody, let somebody go) Oh-oh (let somebody, let somebody go) But you’re still with me, now I know
For the longest time, I’ve had a fantasy about the collapse of civilization.
It goes something like this: The Left and the Right in America have finally realized that their true enemy is the deeply entrenched, deeply authoritarian, nonideological government. The people have finally risen up. Rioters are in the street, attacking both each other and their oppressors. With the police proving either incapable or unwilling to try to control the riots, the National Guard has been called in. Tanks roll down Main Street. Helicopters hover above burning building. Disembodied voices announce that anyone caught violating curfew will be shot. It started with a burning city but now the entire country is on fire.
I see all of this as I sit in back of the limo that is carrying me and a few of my loved ones to the airport. At first, I feel sad that America is collapsing but, as we get closer to the airport, that sadness is replaced by hope. As bad as things are, at least we’ve got somewhere else to go. At least we can start again, hopefully without any of the bullshit that led to the collapse of civilization in the first place.
There’s a private plane waiting for us. We take our seats. As the plane takes off, I look out the window and I can see that the tanks and the rioters have just arrived at the airport. Our plane is the last one to take off. We are the last ones to escape. As the plane flies us to our new home (sometimes it’s Ireland, sometimes it’s Italy, sometimes it’s Spain, sometimes it’s an island off in the middle of nowhere), I looked out the window and I see the city burning below.
And, during all of this, Clocks is the song that’s playing in the background. Seriously, it’s great escaping music!
As for the video above, it was filmed in London, at the Docklands Excel Building. The audience was largely made up of local college students. It’s actually a rather simple video but that’s okay. It’s perfect for the song.
Enjoy!
(Val should be back and handling music video duties tomorrow!)
Every January, I list my fourteen favorite songs of the previous year and, every January, I include the same disclaimer. My fourteen favorite songs are not necessarily the fourteen favorite songs of any of the other writers here at the Shattered Lens. We are a large and diverse group of people and, as such, we all have our own individual tastes.
If you ever visited the TSL Bunker, you would be shocked by the different music coming out of each office. You would hear everything from opera to death metal to the best of Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. And then, of course, you would reach my office and you would discover that my taste in music pretty much runs the gamut from EDM to More EDM.
Now, usually, I do try to listen to a variety of music. You can go to my Song of the Day site — Lisa Marie’s Song of the Day — and see that I do occasionally listen to other types of music. But, I have to be honest. 2016 was not a year that inspired me to really leave me comfort zone. If anything, music provided me with some much needed consistency in an otherwise chaotic year. 2016 was a year that made me want to dance until it was all over and, for the most part, my favorite songs of the year reflect that fact.
Before I list my 14 songs, I should make something else very clear. These are my 14 favorite songs of 2016. I’m not saying that they’re necessarily the best songs of 2016. I’ll leave that debate for others. Instead, there are the songs that I found myself listening to over and over again. These are the songs made me dance. These are the songs that made me sing. A few of these songs relaxed me when I needed to be relaxed. One of the songs made me cry but I’m not going to say which one.
It might make you cry too.
Or it might not.
That’s the beautiful thing about art. Everyone experiences it in their own individual way.
Here are my 14 favorite songs of 2016:
14) David Bowie — Lazarus
13) Afrojack & Hardwell — Hollywood
12) Cedric Gervais (ft. Juanes) — Este Amor
11) Matoma (ft. Becky Hall) — False Alarm
10) Radiohead — Burn the Witch
9) Gorgon City (feat Vaults) — All Four Walls
8) Penthox — Give It Away
7) Britney Spears — Clumsy
6) Martin Garrix (feat Mesto) — WIEE
5) Tiesto, Oliver Heldens (feat Natalie LaRose) — The Right Song
Through the Shattered Lens 