One of the great things about pop songs is the brevity of the form. In just a couple minutes’ worth of your time, an artist can communicate the highest highs and lowest lows of emotion we’re capable of experiencing. Sometimes, it’s an emotional gut punch; other times, it’s blissed-out catharsis; and yes, most of the time it’s a milquetoast echo of other, better material, but that’s what makes the best songs stand out all the more. Taking genres and styles that have seemingly been done to death a thousand times over, and making them feel as vital and alive as the first time you heard them, is a minor miracle—a magic trick of sorts that never stops dazzling, no matter how many times it’s performed.
The artists below have all managed to pull off that musical miracle, dropping songs in the first half of 2021 that act as flag-waving avatars for their respective styles. Whether encapsulating the best sounds that contemporary K-pop has to offer, conjuring up new visions of post-rock, or just unleashing some ferocious hip-hop, these tracks seethe with the unleashed potential of the year’s best songwriters. In an effort to highlight the scope of the current music landscape and prevent overlap, we’ve restricted this feature to artists who aren’t on our list of the best albums thus far, and vice versa. Given the sheer tonnage of music released, there’s almost certainly a favorite song of yours that didn’t make our list (we have no doubt you’ll let us know in the comments); but for now, we can say that these are the songs that most moved our hearts and heads—and occasionally, our asses to the dance floor—in the first half of 2021.
Note to desktop users: If you’d like to read this in a scrolling format, simply narrow your browser window.
Rebecca Black, “Girlfriend”
Ten years after churning out her internet superhit “Friday” at 13, the now 24-year-old Rebecca Black returned to show the world that she’s not a victim of trolls and autotune, but a bonafide pop artist. Black’s queer bubblegum track “Girlfriend” kicked off her comeback, hearkening back to pop icons from Madonna to Carly Rae Jepsen, and brimming with the romanticism of a John Hughes film. It’s cheeky and bright, with Black lyrically laying everything on the table in pursuit of a hopeful reunion with her girlfriend. [Gabrielle Sanchez]
Bo Burnham, “Welcome To The Internet”
Unless you’re “Weird” Al, making comedy music is a fool’s errand. For the most part, the work is disregarded as either a “joke song” or (more likely) “annoying.” Somehow, Bo Burnham managed to make an annoying joke song that’s also poignant, listenable, and addictive. His feverish cabaret energy comes out of nowhere in his fantastic Netflix special Inside, but it somehow works to become the film’s centerpiece. An uncomfortable distillation of everything the internet is, does, and makes us feel, “Welcome To The Internet” is truly a little bit of everything all of the time. [Matt Schimkowitz]
Lucy Dacus, “Going Going Gone”
“Going Going Gone” wasn’t released as one of the singles for Home Video—but perhaps it should’ve been. In the song, Dacus takes us back to a schooldays romance with a boy named Daniel, riddled with teenage hormones; she then jumps to present day, examining how her now grown-up past love confronts trying to protect his own daughter from boys just like he used to be. Dacus told Apple Music that she almost didn’t include the acoustic track on the record because it’s “so campfire-ish,” but that’s part of what makes it stand out. Dacus’ vocals are accompanied by her Boygenius bandmates Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker, as well as Mitski, and the combination of four of the best indie singers harmonizing is breathtaking. [Tatiana Tenreyro]
Doja Cat ft. SZA, “Kiss Me More”
“Kiss Me More” is so damn catchy, no wonder everyone on TikTok seems to be obsessed with it. The song captures a young, free-spirited energy—it is a song about kissing, after all—with its disco-inspired beats, breezy lyrics, and a sensual overall vibe. Doja Cat and SZA bring their singing and rapping prowess to the song, which also interpolates Olivia Newton-John’s “Physical” just for a little extra zing. “Kiss Me More” is perfectly groovy, and is sure to be on summer playlists for a long time. [Saloni Gajjar]
Drake, “Lemon Pepper Freestyle”
All three of the tracks off Drake’s latest EP, Scary Hours II, are solid entries in the Canadian rapper’s ever-expanding list of bangers. But the standout showcase for his lyrical dexterity remains the closing number. There’s a guest appearance from Rick Ross, and an undulating vocal sample under the simple retro beat, yet the six-minute(!) song mostly serves as an ever-escalating game of watching Drake try to top the previous couplet, each verse another demonstration of why, this far into his career, Drizzy remains a singular talent. [Alex McLevy]
Flight Attendant, “Dogs”
Flight Attendant’s Karalyne Winegarner has a penchant for zigging where others might zag. Like Karen O fronting The Dambuilders or Craig Wedren guest-singing with The Cure, her voice draws the music in unexpected directions, the lyrical delivery often rising or falling in contradistinction to the music. It works perfectly for “Dogs,” a bouncy, sun-kissed slice of psychedelic indie rock that wouldn’t sound out of place on a mid-’90s playlist alongside that dog and Belly. It’s energetic but never enervating, leaving you uplifted (and bopping along). [Alex McLevy]
The Foxies, “Summer Never Dies”
Whatever alchemy is involved in combining just the right elements to create instantly addictive pop-rock anthems, The Foxies seem to have mastered it. “Summer Never Dies” is only the latest example of the group’s knack for churning out one sugar-rush blitz of melody and exuberance after another, but it’s also among their best: A giddy synthesis of No Doubt, Jimmy Eat World, and Charlie XCX, it delivers a stirring paean to the exhilaration of taking a romantic leap of faith, capturing the falling-out-of-a-plane adrenaline rush of such a move with the music. [Alex McLevy]
Lil Nas X, “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)”
Lil Nas X’s biggest smash since he Trojan Horse’d his way into country radio, “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” pulls off another coup: bringing an unabashed queerness to the top of the global charts. Accompanied by a beguiling banjo, the artist gleefully croons about lust and envy, simultaneously subverting and embracing the “sinful” aspersions hurled at him as a Black gay man in the industry. The Satan-grinding video dropped jaws, but the seductive track stands on its own, a marvel of songcraft that knows exactly how to build tension and when to release it. [Cameron Scheetz]
Mannequin Pussy, “Darling”
Mannequin Pussy songs tend to have a distinguishable trait: They’re loud, brash, and make you want to scream along. But for the band’s latest EP, Perfect, bandleader Marisa Dabice decided to include “Darling”—a track that’s soft, dreamy, and delicate. It serves as the EP’s closing number, and it’s a reminder that, for as much as Dabice excels at crafting songs that make us crave our return to mosh pits, she also thrives in writing breakup ballads. It’s a ballsy move to include the track right after “Pigs Is Pigs”—the heaviest-sounding song off the EP—and that juxtaposition is what makes Mannequin Pussy such an exciting band. [Tatiana Tenreyro]
Migos, “Straightenin”
While the long-awaited Culture III mostly lives up to the (often self-generated) hype, the album’s best tracks remain the ones in which the group’s three members simply egg each other on, the sense of playful ebullience saturating the music. With “Straightenin,” Migos arguably finds its Urtext of Culture III: some whistle samples overlaid upon a thumping ATL trap beat, driving forward the momentum as Quavo, Offset, and Takeoff take turns demonstrating their respective bona fides as rappers—each distinctive, but collectively elevated. [Alex McLevy]
Ohtis, “Schatze”
It’s rare for kiss-off anthems about shitty guys to come from the male perspective, but Ohtis’ pulsing, fuzzed-out groove “Schatze” goes one better, as its narrator’s self-congratulatory narcissism gets his own Greek chorus in the form of guest vocalist Stef Chura’s disgusted respondent. “Fuck you very much, sir,” she offers up, as he methodically goes through his own laundry list of unabashedly dickish behavior, all set to a simple, Death Cab-esque rhythm and descending synth line that lodges in your head and refuses to leave. [Alex McLevy]
Liz Phair, “Spanish Doors”
New albums from returning artists occasionally have one or two songs that possess that “I’m back” tone, an energy and joyousness that makes the rest of the album more appetizing. “Spanish Doors” has that feeling: Phair’s pop side kicks down the doors with all the things that make her great. Her preternatural songwriting instincts, melancholic vocals, and darkly relatable and blunt lyrics will be stuck in your head for weeks, no matter how badly you don’t want to think about what’s she’s describing. [Matt Schimkowitz]
Rata Negra, “En La Playa”
Madrid’s Rata Negra have been kicking around for a few years, but with its latest record, Una Via Vulgar, the band successfully married their pop and punk interests without turning into pop-punk. Like a mix of Adolescents surf punk with Debbie Harry on vocals, “En La Playa” is a perfect distillation of the record’s aims: something urgent and catchy, dangerous and danceable. Strangely enough, the song comes closer to Denmark’s Gorilla Angreb, whose mastery of ’77-style punk and Rikk Agnew-influenced death rock still eludes many imitators. Not Rata Negra. They’ve got this down pat. [Matt Schimkowitz]
Rostam, “4Runner”
Rostam’s jazzy new record Changephobia feels like the ultimate summer soundtrack. And what’s a summer soundtrack without a horny road-trip song Years after living in New York City, Rostam moved to the West Coast—and with that move came influences of the change of scenery in his music. The song evokes California sunsets, perhaps matching its dreamy instrumentality. But for an artist who often cooks with too many ingredients in his records, “4Runner” is a simpler take for Rostam; it’s focused, one of the most gorgeous tracks off Changephobia—and the chorus is delightfully sticky. [Tatiana Tenreyro]
Indigo De Souza, “Kill Me”
It’s trite to call a singer-songwriter’s lyrics “honest” or “confessional”; are many of them trying to avoid raw emotion But even in a crowded field of diaristic open books, Indigo De Souza’s “Kill Me” sounds like an exposed nerve of uncomfortable intimacy, as though we’re hearing something meant to be kept behind closed doors. The song builds steadily from genteel beginning to distorted, grunge-laden coda, but never once slips from her brute-force lyrical intensity, whether barely whispering or yelling herself hoarse. It’s a hell of a track, the kind you don’t soon forget. [Alex McLevy]
Matt Sweeney and Bonnie “Prince” Billy, “Hall Of Death”
The 16-years-later follow-up to Matt Sweeney and Bonnie “Prince” Billy’s Superwolf album proves to be a worthy successor, and while there may be tracks more representative of the intimate, somber affair, “Hall Of Death” explodes out of the record like a phoenix of rekindled fervor. Driven by the rousing Tuareg kineticism of the Mdou Moctar ensemble, the song speeds along as though the musicians are unleashing one last burst of go-for-broke celebration before the rain cloud of resignation returns, with Will Oldham’s lyrics offering a typically elusive mix of promise and problem. Here, that lack of certainty feels like cathartic freedom. [Alex McLevy]
SHINee, “Don’t Call Me”
After three years and three mandatory military enlistments since their 2018 album, The Story Of Light, SHINee’s “Don’t Call Me,” from the album of the same name, is decidedly experimental. Though the track does have a smooth R&B edge and ballad-style high notes (both pretty standard for SHINee), the production is harsh, brassy, and noisy in a way that’s more commonly found in the music of their labelmates EXO and NCT. But “Don’t Call Me” is a masterclass in the group’s artistry—these 13-year industry vets can play around with the latest music trends without ever really sacrificing their signature sound. [Shanicka Anderson]
St. Vincent, “The Melting Of The Sun”
With “The Melting Of The Sun,” Annie Clark writes her love letter to the women of rock ’n’ soul that came before her—legends like Tori Amos, Joni Mitchell, and Nina Simone. The second single from Daddy’s Home is wildly psychedelic, hazy without losing sight of the message: These women experienced tragedies at the hands of the industry (read: men), and still became legends. Clark thanks them with a funky, soulful ballad, her voice radiating like heat waves off the New York City sidewalk. [Gabrielle Sanchez]
Sharon Van Etten and Angel Olsen, “Like I Used To”
It was a quiet Thursday afternoon when two of the greatest voices in modern rock, Sharon Van Etten and Angel Olsen, dropped “Like I Used To,” an unexpected gut punch of a song. As the reigning queens of nostalgia, their voices meld in harmonious vibrato good for making tears imminent. (As Japanese Breakfast’s Michelle Zauner said, “Angel Olsen could sing ‘Row Row Row Your Boat’ and it would bring me to tears”). Van Etten’s and Olsen’s voices surge, crashing into one another in the lush ballad about the magic in life’s little moments. [Gabrielle Sanchez]
Tomorrow X Together feat. Seori, “0X1=LOVESONG (I Know I Love You)“
TXT rode out the end of 2020 with its disco-revival track “Blue Hour”; it was jaunty, catchy, and when the band members performed it live, they added cowboy hats, denim on denim outfits, and an extended dance break. For 2021’s comeback single, TXT went darker and edgier: “0X1=Lovesong (I Know I Love You)” is a pop-punk-style track co-written by BTS’ RM that leans heavily on a bold drumbeat and singer Taehyun’s raspy vocals. And with lyrics like “I know you’re my one and only” and “Now I can’t stop thinking ’bout you / When I’m sinking alone,” there’s just the right amount of angst and pining. The addition of singer-songwriter Seori’s guest vocals helps round out the song in a way that is harmonically rich and poignant. [Shanicka Anderson]
The Weeknd ft. Ariana Grande, “Save Your Tears [Remix]”
Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye’s 2019 song “Save Your Tears” is a melodious ballad on its own, but 2021’s remix with Ariana Grande is a synth-pop dream. The two previously collaborated, to great effect, on “Off The Table” and “Love Me Harder,” so we already knew they were a winning combination; even if this song wasn’t envisioned as a duet originally, Grande’s sultry, powerful lower-register vocals bring out a new and poignant dimension to “Save The Tears [Remix].” The animated video is just a welcome bonus. [Saloni Gajjar]