The Best Of 2024 (Part 1)

It being December, it behoves me to start thinking about my favourite records of the year. In days gone by, I've compiled a countdown based on the date - e.g. a Top 22 of 2022. Last year, conversely, I managed to scrape together a list of ten. This year, my shortlist currently has... 40+ records worthy of note. Ebb and flow.

I'll see if I can cover as many as possible between now and the end of the year, but I'll try to keep the wittering brief.

To get us going, here's the best pop song of the year. As in "popular" with the young people... and weirdly popular with me too. Roseanne Park is a New Zealand born singer who was born in 1997 - imagine that! - grew up in Australia and then signed to a South Korean record label. Apparently she's a K-Pop artist... but this sounds much closer to 80s pop than any K-Pop I've ever heard before (not that I listen to a lot of K-Pop). In fact, when I first heard it, I was half expecting it to turn into Hey Mickey. In just under three minutes Rosé crams in more pop hooks than you'd hear in an entire Duran Duran album, including a full-on Bonnie Tyler moment during one of the song's many, many choruses. I dunno, I had my suspicions that some kind of evil AI-songwriting tool might be behind this, but apparently it was written by 11 different people (including Bruno Mars, who gets a credit just for putting the kettle on), and not a robot in sight. 

Iffypedia describes it thus: "an uptempo pop rock and pop-punk track, featuring indie rock and electropop influences*. Inspired by a South Korean drinking game, the song's chorus is built around the game's rhythmic chant of apateu (Korean: 아파트; lit. apartment)."

(*No mention of Toni Basil?)

All I can tell you is that while so much of the contemporary pop music I hear Sam and his friends listening to leaves me completely cold... this tune always puts a smile on my face. I'm sure most of you will hate it, but that goes with the territory...