As usual, I make no apologies for my musical taste.
1. breathin – Ariana Grande
This song centered me throughout my year of change and planning. Note: I wanted to see Ariana when she came to town this month, but flaked out due to finances and weird feelings about being a 40-year-old woman going alone. Next time.
2. Do You Believe in Love – Hanson
This song from the Play EP is apparently the deepest Hanson cut I’ve ever featured, and not available on Spotify, but worth looking up. It’s their Queen moment.
3. Harmony Hall – Vampire Weekend
In 2019 I finally broke out of denial and accepted that I love Vampire Weekend. This song is kind of a masterpiece on multiple levels.
4. Real Thing – Middle Kids
Mostly here for my enjoyment of the aaaaaAAAAAaaaaa, ooooOOOOoooo
5. In My Blood – Shawn Mendes
I find Shawn Mendes consistently rises above the fray of interchangeable young male pop stars. This is just a good, authentic song, a spiritual sister to Harry Styles’ “Sign of the Times,” which I also love non-ironically.
6. We Will Feast in the House of Zion – Sandra McCracken
My favorite song that we sing at my church. I wanted it for my bridal party processional, but it would have been too complicated with the string quartet. (I do not regret this tradeoff.)
7. The Bones – Maren Morris
I like Maren Morris a lot, and prefer this original version of the song to the new Hozier duet.
8. Shadow Days – John Mayer
This song has been out for a while, but this year it hit me in a whole new way. I love how music changes with you.
9. Orpheus – Sara Bareilles
The newest of the many songs I considered for our first dance. (We ended up going with the Memphis classic “Can’t Help Falling in Love.”)
10. Bridges – Johnnyswim
In some ways, marrying Taylor was a final step in a long personal evolution. I got a little bogged down in that at times during our engagement, but this song brought me back to myself with a jolt. It reminded me, as the Pinterest memes used to say, “Don’t look back. You’re not going that way.”
11. Super Duper Love – Joss Stone
Another old-ish song that I heard for the first time in a store when I was shopping for wedding shoes. I downloaded it by the end of the day.
12. Orange Trees – MARINA
The latest addition to my Miami Feels playlist.
13. Lover – Taylor Swift
I enjoyed that the lyric “I’ve loved you three summers now, honey” was personally accurate.
14. Rainbow – Kacey Musgraves
This song is like a warm blanket that I want to wrap around myself and all my loved ones.
15. The Joke – Brandi Carlile
I was happy to see Brandi Carlile finally get her due in 2019, and this is a message so many people need.
16. Angela – The Lumineers
This song perfectly tapped into a specific but unexplainable melancholy that I felt at times this year.
17. I Know I’m Not the Only One – Tegan and Sara
Hey, I’m Just Like You is overall great, but this track just evokes everything I love about T&S.
18. Swag Surfin’ – F.L.Y.
While putting this list together, I was shocked to discover this song is ten years old. It was a Tigers anthem throughout this historic year, played constantly at football and basketball games. I think the band even got an arrangement of it. It has never once failed to get all the fans hyped, myself included (Taylor: “You’re not dancing?” Me: “I’m waiting for the bass to drop”), and is the song I’ll most associate with 2019. Who knew.
19. Found a Good One (Single No More) – Chance the Rapper feat. SWV
I got interested in Chance’s new album The Big Day because it was inspired by his wedding, and was all in once I saw the 90s R&B girl groups he recruited. SWV was my FAVE and I love hearing them again on this fun track. (The one featuring En Vogue is also good.)
20. Help Us To Love – Tori Kelly feat. The HamilTones
I like to conclude these in a sort of intention-setting way. I listened to this simple song a lot this year, and it nicely sums up my prayers for my Year of Love and our new year and decade. May we continue to love better.
Previous Years: 2018 // 2017 // 2016 // 2015 // 2014 // 2013 // 2012 // 2011
I’m 41 years old and I flew to Las Vegas alone to see Shania Twain three times since 2013. One year, she was on the tour and came to my area. I got dropped off, but I still saw the concert alone.
I felt and faced any apprehension I had, and I had a ton – anxiety, to be exact. If I could do it, so could you. Tours don’t come around all the time.
[…] Years: 2019 // 2018 // 2017 // 2016 // 2015 // 2014 // 2013 // 2012 // […]