2019: The Year in Lyrics
The verses, lines, and passages that left the most lasting impact in this surreal year
Tristan Young @talltristan
Insofar as relentless as the year end inudation of best of lists can get, it really doesn’t get much more subjective than lyrics. People will bristle at the certitude of a defined order of 100 or so tracks, but the practice has at least garnered ubiquitous acceptance. Determining which lines or lyrics of the year stand out the most is a little more tricky. As such the following is not ranked, or even designated the best writing of the year. Rather it is a merely a personal survey of what I thought were the most interesting, relevant, affecting, or just plain best delivered lines of the 2019. Some are passages that vibrate with gravitas within the context of their respective songs, others are hype lines that are just too good not to include. Lets Dig in.
Sharon Van Etten
“I know what you’re gonna be/ I know that you’re gonna be/ you’ll crumble it up just to see/ afraid you’ll be just like me” - Seventeen
Stella Donnelly
“Are you scared of me old man? Or are you scared of what I’ll do?/ You grabbed me with an open hand/ the world is grabbing back at you” - Old Man
Big Thief
“Where the empty space is a saving grace/ making good time and doing well/ still the question sings like Saturn’s rings/ maybe she knows and she won’t tell” - Cattails
Little Simz
“I’m Jay-Z on a bad day/ Shakespeare on my worst days” - Offence
Holly Herndon
“Is this how it feels to become the mother of the next species?/ To love them more than we love ourselves, like an extremophile?” - Extreme Love
Priests
“I am Jesus’ son, I sparkle like the setting sun/ I am Jesus’ son, I think I wanna hurt someone/ I am Jesus son, I’m young and dumb and full of cum” - Jesus Son
Solange
“Black skin, black braids, black waves, black days, black baes, black things/ these are black owned things/ black faith still can’t be washed away, not even in that Florida water/ not even in that Florida water”- Almeda
JPEGMAFIA
“Pray for my children I can’t provide, I’ll feel 45/ pray when you shoot, it’s a homicide/ pray for my haters, they terrified/ nigga come kill me, I’m verified” - Jesus Forgive Me, I Am A Thot
Aldous Harding
“I get so anxious I need a tattoo/ something binding, that hides me/ but when it comes time to design it/ it opens up like height under a pilot” - Pilot
Charly Bliss
“Now everyday I thank the moon and stars that I was born a girl” - Bleach
Big Thief
“It’s not the warm illusion/ nor the crack in the plate/ nor the breath of confusion/ nor the starkness of slate” - Not
Julia Jacklin
“Pressure to not let the inside of my mind spill onto the floor for our friends to find it/ oh what do I do?/ ‘Cause god how it hurts” - Pressure To Party
Holy Herndon
“This earth does not care for what we need, what we breath/ a frontier of green, or of dust” - Frontier