best of Pink Matter's Best Of 2018 | Albums: 25-1 | FINISHED

[TheWayWeWere]

One Kiss  

I love Miguel chorus in Got Friends  

[Blue Rose]

Treasure being so low

 

St Beauty are cool. Their album was fun but I only listened to it up until I saw them open for Janelle then I stopped using them

 

Yaaaaas at Moby. He stopped being weird and is sad again and Sad Moby > Punk Moby. That’s a nice song but not in my trinity from that album

[Love Drought]

Sampha, GoldLink, Lion Babe, Gabriel, J Cole, St. Beauty, Spiritualized, Moby . Great set.

Boo'd Up is still trash 

[Eeveelution]

One Kiss is great! Finesse and Boo'd Up are both good, among the better ~hits this year for sure.

[theblackestday]

One Kiss and Finesse are hits done right. Love the MAC-inspired I'm Your Man as well 

[Tsareena]

One Kiss, Finesse, The Wave, Omg Tides... loved that EP

 

Didn’t like powerglide or sour diesel ?

[Vilppu]

i liked some of these (dula and bruno in particular) but out of top 100 seems fine for them

[Unoriginal]

One Kiss and Finesse are quality smashes, the GP got it right for once 

[World Eater]

One Kiss, Finesse (Remix), Powerglide, I see bop after bop after bop  I'm Your Man though 

[Maddox]

I was really looking forward to the St. Beauty EP but the end result was meh... barely anything memorable aside from 1 track(Colors). One Kiss was whatever... Miguel's vocals on GF  

 

Team Lion Babe here too!! They need to release a new album soon.

[madonnas]

The St. Beauty song that I loved most was Not Discuss it, why not that one?

A lot of these are cute and HM worthy but not top 100 worthy

I liked Sour Diesel too but no way I'm listening to that.

[Dom]

finesse and one kiss so low, but both bopsss.

[Tom Vercetti]

finesse, powerglide, one kiss, treasure   

 

I was alright with Boo'd Up at first (only cuz I had a small crush on Ella) but with it getting overplayed to death, I can't stand it now  

[Pink Matter]

13 hours ago, Wicked said:

Damn I feel pleby, Powerglide is in my top 50 songs of the year and it's so low here. Jxmmi & Swae got the job done. But they need to stick together, the triple album just exposed they aren't fully realized on their own just yet. Even OutKast waited longer for SB/TBL (Kast is way better obviously but the point remains)

Nah you're not pleby. A lot of these songs could be higher if spent more time listening to them, Poweglide included. When it came to Sremm 3, there was one song in particular that I really came back to, which you'll see in a later update  

 

13 hours ago, Lazuli said:

One Kiss and Finesse are bops  

It's All Good, I'm Your Man, Boo'd Up  

Great picks  

 

10 hours ago, TheWayWeWere said:

One Kiss  

I love Miguel chorus in Got Friends  

Miguel is loweky the hook king.

9 hours ago, Superpower said:

Treasure being so low

 

St Beauty are cool. Their album was fun but I only listened to it up until I saw them open for Janelle then I stopped using them

 

Yaaaaas at Moby. He stopped being weird and is sad again and Sad Moby > Punk Moby. That’s a nice song but not in my trinity from that album

There will be another Sampha assisted track much later  

And yeah the Ste. Beauty EP was good for holding us over until the main courses arrived.

 

8 hours ago, Love Drought said:

Sampha, GoldLink, Lion Babe, Gabriel, J Cole, St. Beauty, Spiritualized, Moby . Great set.

Boo'd Up is still trash 

Glad you're liking it so far! Boo'd Up trash? Some choices were made  

 

7 hours ago, Eeveelution said:

One Kiss is great! Finesse and Boo'd Up are both good, among the better ~hits this year for sure.

Agrih. Wish One Kiss was at least a cute top 20 hit here though.

 

4 hours ago, theblackestday said:

One Kiss and Finesse are hits done right. Love the MAC-inspired I'm Your Man as well 

Ooh maybe that's why I liked IYM so much  

 

3 hours ago, Tsareena said:

One Kiss, Finesse, The Wave, Omg Tides... loved that EP

 

Didn’t like powerglide or sour diesel ?

Poor RS and Zany  

I also listened to Honey Dew and lowkey it might be better than The Wave

3 hours ago, Vilppu said:

i liked some of these (dula and bruno in particular) but out of top 100 seems fine for them

Yep they were good while the year was just getting started. They're certainly some of the better hits of the year tho.

3 hours ago, Unoriginal said:

One Kiss and Finesse are quality smashes, the GP got it right for once 

The US finally having taste for once  (OK should've been bigger though!)

2 hours ago, World Eater said:

One Kiss, Finesse (Remix), Powerglide, I see bop after bop after bop  I'm Your Man though 

All serves 

 

2 hours ago, Maddox said:

I was really looking forward to the St. Beauty EP but the end result was meh... barely anything memorable aside from 1 track(Colors). One Kiss was whatever... Miguel's vocals on GF  

 

Team Lion Babe here too!! They need to release a new album soon.

Miss Jillian dropped 3 singles (two of which I was only aware of a week ago) and yet there's no album announcement in sight! Poor us 

 

48 minutes ago, madonnas said:

The St. Beauty song that I loved most was Not Discuss it, why not that one?

A lot of these are cute and HM worthy but not top 100 worthy

I liked Sour Diesel too but no way I'm listening to that.

Tbh I haven't had the care to listen to the EP in full since like February but Tides was always the song that I initially liked the most, so I always went back to that one.

And poor Zayn  

 

33 minutes ago, Dom said:

finesse and one kiss so low, but both bopsss.

Yes they are  Just felt there were better songs released this year

[potent]

Boo’d Up is such a happy feel good song  

Finesse is great and Powerglide is kinda good too!

[DAP]

2018 was highkey disappointing if only for the mediocre output from the artists I like. I still like St Beauty but there was nothing memorable about that EP. Dirty Computer teas

 

[Mark Rih]

Ugh @ OK / Boo'd Up / Finesse being so low, but at least they made it

[Pink Matter]

Songs of 2018

 

100-91

 

100) Low|Always Trying To Work It Out

 

 

For a number of songs in my countdown so far, I've had the displeasure of getting into them at very inopportune times (listening once but forgetting about it; listening to it a week before starting my countdown, etc.). This case is no different. Low's Double Negative was not something that stuck with me all that much so I didn't listen to it a lot, but when I came back to give it another chance, the album's middle track really caught me off guard. The hazy, static-y production with the the thuds/drums that progress throughout the song, mixed with the vocals that bled in and faded out of the production, kinda left me wigless. The occasional strings act like little quirks that make the song all the more interesting.

 

99) Grouper|Driving

 

 

I'm a sucker for a good piano based track and Driving is no exception. The combination of the pauses between the piano playing (giving it this stretched out feeling), the way the vocalist stretches out and softly sings the lyrics (which I want to say is about love??) gives it this sort of melancholy feeling which I find to be beautiful.

98) H.E.R.|Lost Souls (feat. DJ Scratch)

 

H.E.R. is a cool artist but I'm not that much of a fan (I don't really think she does anything that other artists haven't done before and her "hiding her face" aesthetic gives me too much 2011 Weeknd vibes). But in the spirit of giving artists chances to prove themselves, I gave I Used to Know H.E.R.: The Prelude a chance, and walked away liking this gem a lot. It might be mostly be because of the Lost Ones sample but she really rides that 90s hip hop production well so I'd love her going down this direction in the future.

 

97) Chloe x Halle|Down

 

 

ahhh Beyonce's little proteges. I can see why she has her eye on them and is guiding them. They have lots of potential and a lot of that is seen on this particular track. It has a lot of elements that I quite like: solid melodies and harmonies, the weaving of their voices with the frittering beats/production, and at ~3 minutes, it shorts, sweet, and to the point. It also has this sort of ghostly wailing going on in the back that I enjoy too.

 

96) Doja Cat|Wine Pon You (feat. Konshens)

 

 

So I know the good sis kinda made a name for herself briefly with that meme Moo! track but I was surprised to see the Moo! song wasn't on her 2018 offering  What I was met with, however, was the reggae influenced slow jam that is Wine Pon You. Again, as is the case for a number of the songs I've highlighted so far, the drawn out way Doja sings the chorus is one of the many highlights of the song. With the slowness of the production, this perfect song to vibe to. And as an added bonus, the song is catchy!

 

95) Tom Misch|South of the River

 

 

An initial problem that I had with the album Geography was that it was a bit too slow in the beginning of the album. Not that there's anything wrong with slow songs, but some of the best ones have something they build up to or a brief change in the tempo to shake things up. With the first two tracks, it's got this mellow feel throughout that gets kinda boring. With South of the River following them, it adds some much needed pep and breaks the tension that underlied the first two songs. My ears perked up, my head was bopping, and I was finally awake. South of the River starts out with these sharp, squeaky notes played on a violin that leads into some funky guitar playing that continues to add many elements (like drums and even some synthesizers) to make the song even more dynamic as it progresses.

 

94) Rhye|Count To Five

 

 

This is such a lowkey song with individual lowkey parts that are used to make one grand song; Mike's lovely voice is soft and elegant and the claps in the song are the right loudness (not too high, not too low). The strings in the beginning of the song flutter in and fill the space that's been built and I feel all of this acts as a build up to the violin section\ towards the latter half of the song that leads to such a satisfying ending. All in all, a beautiful song.

 

93) Majid Jordan|Spirit

 

 

I think the only thing I can say is while this sounds like a retread to familiar territory (which tbh it kinda is lol), Spirit manages to combine some of my favorite elements of their past work to provide me with something new. It has the same airy vibe they were known for on A Place Like This while possessing the sharpness and hard hitting edge a lot of the tracks on The Space Between had. All this to say if you find their other music enjoyable, you should enjoy this just as much.

 

92) Cardi B|Thru Your Phone

 

 

This almost seems prophetic

While the situation is not the same (or maybe it is), Thru Your Phone tells the story of Cardi catching her man cheating on her by, well, looking through his phone. There were a number of other choices I could've ran with, hard hitting bangers like Bickenhead and Bartier Cardi, the smash single I Like It, or even the anthemic I Do, but I thought this would be the most appropriate as it's the most deviant to what everything besides it on Cardi's Invasion of Privacy. She shows the vulnerability of Be Careful with the appropriate levels of anger that anyone would have after finding out they were being cheated on, while rapping over soothing, melodious production. This one took me by surprise (also, am I the only one who thought that was Lana singing the hook? Yes? K, nvm them).

 

91) LAUREL|Same Mistakes

 

 

It's funny to think I stopped giving a **** about Florence + The Machine this year and around the corner came Laurel, who's is pretty much Flo with slightly more edge. Laurel delivers an anthemic rock tune with the similar banshee wailing the good sis Florence was known for, the only difference being she doesn't go overboard with it. Which is kinda how I would describe the song. From the instrumentation in the verses to the chorus going from something subdued to something more explosive (rinse repeat) to her vocal performance being the same way, everything about the song is just right.

[Pink Matter]

2 hours ago, potent said:

Boo’d Up is such a happy feel good song  

Finesse is great and Powerglide is kinda good too!

It sure is  

 

21 minutes ago, DAP said:

2018 was highkey disappointing if only for the mediocre output from the artists I like. I still like St Beauty but there was nothing memorable about that EP. Dirty Computer teas

 

St. Beauty was serviceable, I'll give em that much

 

 

8 minutes ago, Mark Rih said:

Ugh @ OK / Boo'd Up / Finesse being so low, but at least they made it

There's better bops later on, trust me ❤️ 

-

New set y'all

 

 

@Tom Vercetti@Maddox @Navyofbadgals @Body Electrician @Wicked @artangel @TRF. @Superpower @Tsareena @theblackestday @Love Drought @Vilppu @DAP @madonnas @Eeveelution @ChapelHooker @volition @Mark Rih @TheWayWeWere

[Mark Rih]

TYP is one of the best from IOP, Ali Tamposi is so talented

I also like Spirit, but as you know I prefer the more dance-y side single

[Pink Matter]

I should also note there's a 1 song limit for each artist, so no artist will appear twice in my countdown unless they're on a song as a feature 

Recap:

 

91) LAUREL|Same Mistakes
92) Cardi B|Thru Your Phone
93) Majid Jordan|Spirit
94) Rhye|Count To Five
95) Tom Misch|South of the River
96) Doja Cat|Wine Pon You (feat. Konshens)
97) Chloe x Halle|Down
98) H.E.R.|Lost Souls (feat. DJ Scratch)
99) Grouper|Driving
100) Low|Always Trying To Work It Out
-
101 Moby|Welcome To Hard Times
102) Ella Mai|Boo'd Up
103) Suzi Wu|Grim Reaper
104) LION BABE|The Wave (feat. Leikeli 47) 
105) GoldLink|Got Friends (feat. Miguel)
106) Gabriel Garzon-Montano|Golden Wings
107) J. Cole|ATM
108) ZAYN|Sour Diesel
109) Spiritualized|I'm Your Man
110) Superorganism|It's All Good
111) Rae Sremmurd|Powerglide (feat. Juicy J)
112) St. Beauty|Tides (feat. Deante Hitchcock)
113) Bruno Mars|Finesse (Remix) (feat. Cardi B)
114) Sampha|Treasure
115) Calvin Harris & Dua Lipa|One Kiss

 

[Eeveelution]

Always Tryna Work it Out is one of my faves on DN  I agree the album kind of crept up on me lately.

 

Great gowns at the others. Doja and CxH were one listen albums for me unfortunately. They call me ambient pop’s ***** but grouper her music does nothing for me for the most part. 

[ElleDriver]

UMMM Powerglide is not bubbling under material. She's a star

[MP2K]

4 hours ago, Pink Matter said:

H.E.R. is a cool artist but I'm not that much of a fan (I don't really think she does anything that other artists haven't done before and her "hiding her face" aesthetic gives me too much 2011 Weeknd vibes).

Drag H.I.M.

 

Down is such a head banger. Count to Five was nice in the beginning of the year. I knew I could count on you for some Majid love... Should I expect "All Over You"?

[volition]

always trying to work it out is incredible, i don't really care for some of these other r&b acts though so it averages out