volume 125 - my fav songs from 2022

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i have a confession to make: i despise year end lists from major publications. the root cause of this is having people / some entity deciding what is good and what is bad. (however, i do find them helpful in capturing albums to check out!)

it all just feels hella gatekeep-y and leaves a bad taste in my mouth. i think about this for awards too. if your favorite artist didn’t win a Grammy, does it invalidate their work?

this is why i much rather prefer “favorites” over “best”. (and that’s the whole essence of Run It Back tbh)

favorites get down to the person’s personal preference regardless of what critics say. it’s much more interesting to get to know someone through what they like instead of what critics deem as objectively good

(although there can be an argument made that critics’ “best” are their favorite 🧐. what is criticism anyways?)

that’s why for my year end lists, i’m going with my favorites regardless of what the major consensus is. today will be my favorite songs released last year with incredible replay value. (note: there’s definitely overlap of songs with previous volumes of Run It Back)

these will be singles and songs from albums where i didn’t quite love the entire project, but loved a particular song. there are only so many hours in a day, so this is not an exhaustive list of all the great music released last year. (next week will be my fav albums from the year 🤠)

and with that, let's get to the music for the week ❤️‍🔥

- claudio / claud / @offballscreen

i love making these lmao

this week’s music ⤵️

1. Future Lover
   Thee Sacred Souls

There she goes at the door, with her girls
There she goes, there she goes
She looks at me I look at her, and in that moment
I think that both of our hearts know

damn, the vocals go so hard on this track. it’s like we’re in a time capsule back to when soul oldies (or souldies as they put it) were in peak form. it’s wild because they only got together in 2019. that was last year right? (*checks notes* that was four years ago 🤪)

i love how abstract the idea of a “future lover” can be. as we’ve entered the new year, we have no idea what this year will bring. we can’t prepare for every possibility but just have to trust our future selves to know how to handle what life presents ahead. someone’s at the door as as the hook says. it’s on us to open that door and let the future in

2. Existe Uma Voz
   Rogê

Rogê (pronounced haw-zheh) is a Brazilian legend. he’s a maestro on the guitar. there’s an art to playing while singing as it’s an athletic feat in its own right

i still can’t believe this lead single has sub-30k plays on Spotify. here’s hoping his coming project makes him more of a household name in 2023 and beyond

3. NOSTYLIST

   Destroy Lonely

I'm fresh as hell, bitch, I'm fly as shit
Yeah, this a Hellcat, I'm whippin' this

a late add to my 2022 highlights playlist, i discovered this while watching the most recent vlog by Davonte Jolly highlighting his boys dressed top to bottom in the latest Off-White while skating around LA

part of why i love skating so much is that they aren’t afraid to truly wear there clothes and not afraid to get them dirty / destroy them. streetwear culture can put clothes on such a pedestal that closets become more art gallery than utility

anyways, Ishod was bumping this in his Porsche and i’ve been hooked ever since. this is a refined iteration of SoundCloud / mumble rap that’s been pervasive in the last decade. i’m here for it all

4. Greatest Hits
   Jockstrap

Want you to know what I know in my mind
(Come on, baby, speedy, quick)
Sit with me on the roof top
I wanna see what you see through your eyes

Josh sent me his contenders for his favorite albums of the year recently. i’m still working through them because i couldn’t peel my ears off this project. while the project didn’t resonate with me as a whole, it fascinated and challenged me as a listener

Georgia Ellery’s voice is immaculate. top it off with the abstract / R&B / pop-influenced production and you’ve got a "greatest hit”

p.s. - in the background of this track, there’s an adlib that reminds me of the baby from the Timbaland-produced “Are You That Somebody” lmao

5. Call You
   DJ Sabrina The Teenage DJ

DJSTTDJ is severely underrated. her debut project in 2020 was 3 hours and there wasn’t any filler! there are a lot of layers on this track in particular: R&B, pop, rap sample, all layered like a house song

although there’s mystery in her true identity, she makes it fun to be a fan. she uses the concept of pentalogy as the through-line for her work, has abstract movie / interview samples that bring familiarity and drift into the unknown at the same time, and has a sick ass site:

like what??

put it this way, if you’re a DJ Sabrina The Teenage DJ fan, you’re eating good

6. Rekere 2 Feat. Stakev
   Kabza De Small

Amapiano has been living rent-free in my head since i first heard this and that’s all i have to say on the matter

7. GMT (Jamie xx Remix)
   Oliver Sim

As if the city took one look at me
And opened up the sky
In a gesture of sweet, sweet sympathy
But who the hell am I?

while Jamie xx produced the original, more subdued version of the song, he flipped it while adding some of his signature electronic / house elements

the sentiment of the song resonates with me. it’s the melancholy that comes with winter and the holidays that can bring complex feelings bridged with the fresh start of the new year and spring around the corner. we all know those feels