Monday, December 19, 2022
TL;DR: There can only be one.
The Nominees
"Unwanted Man" by Aaron Watson
"Blind" by SZA
"Unholy" by Sam Smith (feat. Kim Petras)
"Addiction" by Ayah Abdul
"Like I Love Country Music" by Kane Brown
"About Damn Time" by Lizzo
"Fire" by Aura de la Luna
Well, it's that time again. Time for me to reveal my song of the year, which a few people definitely care about. I appreciate each and every one of my readers, and now it's time for you to find out what I thought about the best music released this year.
Last week, I announced the nominees via tiktok, and today I will use both my humble blog and live stream on tiktok to reveal the winner. I'm also going to give you a runner-up and third place finisher, but I will not rank all seven. Note that this is not an insult to the four songs outside the top three. If they were nominated, they all received consideration.
The top three songs this year are "Unwanted Man", "Addiction", and "Blind." I reviewed "Unwanted Man" as part of the album of the same name, saying it elevated the score significantly by itself. "Addiction" got its own review back in August. "Blind" is a latecomer to the proceedings, and sadly I haven't had time to review SZA's 23-song project SOS yet, but it was a masterpiece of music.
There are two things that made what would have been a very tough decision significantly easier. In 2020, I nearly gave Emily Scott Robinson's "The Time for Flowers" and Mickey Guyton's "What Are You Gonna Tell Her?" a shared Song of the Year win. I ultimately settled on "Flowers", but that was a very tough call. As I noted on a since-deleted social media account, #3 would have won it all in a lot of years ("Me+Mine (Lamentations)" from American Aquarium.) The two deciding factors are my love of independent music and my fierce loyalty to my favorite musicians and underdog artists who are working hard to win hearts and minds.
With that said: SZA's "Blind" is #3 this year. Had it been released earlier than December 9, it might have had a better chance, but I haven't fully absorbed this lovely ballad yet. The lyricism is some of the most poignant I've heard in a while and the vocals are powerful.
So that leaves two polar opposite songs: Watson's "Unwanted Man" and Abdul's "Addiction." Watson is pseudo-independent: he came from the Texas country music scene, but now releases some songs to Nashville. Abdul, on the other hand, is a Brooklyn product with music running through her veins, from attending a performing arts high school to her first shows on small stages in the thriving NYC music scene in the fall of 2022. While both songs are deserving, there was never any doubt from October on that one song would be a cut above all else. The crazy thing is, I think some of the unreleased material may be even better. The winner of 2022 Song of the Year is "Addiction."
I'm going to close with a reflection on what this means for music as a whole, and what it should mean to readers and to listeners like you and me. As late as June 2022, I had no idea who Ayah Abdul was, and "Addiction" hadn't been released yet! Thanks to the magic of tiktok, I found her and several other under-promoted but very talented artists and supported them the only way I knew how. Let this be a turning point for those who are discouraged after repeated attempts to break into the music industry are turned back. No matter who you are, or where you're from, you can achieve your dreams and change people's lives forever with your music. That's what it's all about. Stream your favorite deep-underground independent artist's music all night long, share their song with anyone who will listen, and do what needs to be done. Because, whether you're a kid from a Nebraska suburb, from the Five Boroughs of New York City, or anywhere else in the world, you deserve to be content and successful while chasing your dreams.
Congratulations to Ayah Abdul, and my thanks goes to her for opening my eyes to R&B. All the other artists here also deserve our gratitude for releasing top-notch music. Until we meet again.
Winner: "Addiction" by Ayah Abdul
Runner-up: "Unwanted Man" by Aaron Watson
Third place: "Blind" by SZA