Like every year, our team vote for their favourite tracks of the year. You can stream this list, as well as other tracks that were close to entering the top, via our Spotify and Apple Music playlists below. You can also check our Best Albums and Best EPs/Mixtapes of 2020.

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50. Julia-Sophie – “x0x”

49. Blue Hawaii – “Not my Boss!”

48. Zelma Stone – “Fly”

47. Young Ejecta – “Crayon Cactus”

46. Sedona – “Crying On My Own”

45. Zoee – “Rio’s”

44. Prince Innocence – “Angelyne”

43. Laura Groves – “Foolish Games”

42. Cindy Lee – “I Want You To Suffer”

41. Lido Pimienta- “Eso Que Tu Haces”

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40. Jayda G – “Both Of Us”

39. NNAMDÏ – “Perfect In My Mind”

38. Lomelda – “Hannah Sun”

37. Braids – “Young Buck”

36. Against All Logic, Estado Unido, FKA Twigs – “Alucinao”

35. oklou – “unearth me”

34. Kate NV – “Sayonara”

33. Agar Agar – “Nap”

32. Annie – “The Streets Where I Belong”

31. Beadadoobee – “Worth it”

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30. TOPS – “I Feel Alive”

29. Yves Tumor – “Gospel For A New Century”

28. Dua Lipa – “Physical”

27. Cakes da Killa, Proper Villains – “Don Dada”

26. Namasenda – “Wanted”

25. Ultraflex – “Never Forget My Baby”

24. Shamir – “On My Own”

23. Discovery Zone – “Dance II”

22. Couch Prints – “Of Drawing”

21. Nilüfer Yanya – “Crash”

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20. Cindy – “2y & 6m”

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19. Bullion – “We Had A Good Time”

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18. Kelly Lee Owens – “Melt!”

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17. Phoebe Bridgers – “Garden Song”

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16. Waxahatchee – “Can’t Do Much”

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15. Maria Minerva – “Apology”

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14. Shygirl – “FREAK”

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13. Jónsi, Robyn – “Salt Licorice”

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12. Perfume Genius – “On The Floor”

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11. Ela Minus – “Megapunk”

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10. Romy – “Lifetime”

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9. SAULT – “Wildfires”

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8. Soccer Mommy – “circle the drain”

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7. Eartheater – “Below The Clavicle”

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6. Helena Deland – “Comfort, Edge”

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5. Fiona Apple – “I Want You To Love Me”

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4. Charli XCX – “Forever”

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3. Dehd – “Loner”

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2. Christine and the Queens – “People, I’ve Been Sad”

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1. 070 Shake – “Guilty Conscience”

A few days ago, Phoebe Bridgers announced the launching of her own imprint, Saddest Factory, via Dead Oceans. Today, we had the pleasant surprise to discover that sad indie artist Claud is now the first signing of this new project. From “Scarlett” to “Easy,” we’ve been falling in love with this Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter who effortlessly turns romantic awkwardness, vulnerability and queer melancholia into poppy earworms. Coming with this announcement, Claud has shared an irresistible new track, “Gold”, which describes the inexorable end of a relationship. Well, it’s called Saddest Factory, right?

“Imagine stepping onto a ship that’s moving back ‘n forth back ‘n forth but perfectly in time,” they explained. “ONE, two, three, four, ONE, two, three, four, ONE… You know you’re sinking but at the same time you’re mesmerised by the way the ship synchronised itself with the sea. I have never been on a sinking ship in the middle of the sea but I have been in a relationship.”

Then, they concluded: “‘Gold’ is about contradictions; an instructor attempting to teach a class of monsters proper manners so they can assimilate; a relationship getting so tired and so old that even gold starts to rust (which isn’t scientifically possible).”

Watch the Christina Xing-directed video below.

We’re only 6 months into 2020 and it actually feels that the world as we know it is about to collapse. Who knows what’s coming next? For better or worse, a lot of things are simultaneously happening around us and music has been an essential way to find hope and kill time. In 2020, artists need us more than ever and, in case you did not figure it out while being stuck at home, we also need them. Can you really imagine a lockdown without music? We can’t. As we’re now at the mid-way point of this exceptionally horrible year, it’s time to share with you, like every year, the 30 tracks that have helped us to hold on so far. If you need more to cheer you up, you can also explore our other favourite tracks of 2020 via our Spotify and Apple Music playlists below.

070 Shake – “Guilty Conscience”
Agar Agar – “Nap”
Annie – “American Cars”
Boyish – “AnDroGay”
Caribou – “Never Come Back”
Charli XCX – “forever”
Christine and the Queens – “People, I’ve been sad”
Cindy – “Never Let Me Go”
Cindy Lee – “I Want You To Suffer”
Couch Prints – “Of Drawing”
Discovery Zone – “Blissful Morning Dream Interpretation Melody”
Dua Lipa – “Physical”
Fiona Apple – “Shameika”
Geranium – “Separate Life”
Kate NV – “Sayonara”
Magdalena Bay – “Airplane”
Moses Sumney – “Virile”
MOTHERMARY – “Catch Fire”
Perfume Genius – “On The Floor”
Phoebe Bridgers – “Garden Song”
Planet 1999 – “Party”
SAULT – “Wildfires”
Soccer Mommy – “circle the drain”
TOPS – “Direct Sunlight”
Waxahatchee – “Can’t Do Much”
Yaeji – “When I Grow Up”
Young Ejecta – “Crayon Cactus”
Yves Tumor – “Gospel For A New Century”
Zelma Stone – “Dreamland”
Zoee – “Rio’s”

Los Angeles singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers is going to release her sophomore album Punisher in a few weeks. After “Garden Song” and “Kyoto,” she has now unveiled a new single, “I See You.” A bitter breakup song about Marshall Vore, the track was actually written with Marshall Vore. Interesting.

“It’s about my breakup with my drummer,” Bridgers explained. “We dated for a few years, made music every day, and were extremely codependent. We became like family to each other, so our breakup was extremely tough. But if this tells you anything about our relationship, we wrote this song together, just like everything else.”

As usual, Bridgers‘s eye for details makes the song as she encapsulates exasperation with piercing lines such as “If you’re a work of art, I’m standing too close / I can see the brush strokes” or “It’s amazing to me how much you can say / When you don’t know what you’re talking about.” Listen below and pre-order the album via Bandcamp.

After the hashy “Garden Song,” Phoebe Bridgers shares a brand new track, which also confirms the release of her sophomore album. As the title suggests it, “Kyoto” was written following her first trip to Japan in February 2019. From her boredom in a temple to the price of a call from a payphone, the 25-year-old artist brings together a series of vignettes and moods that marks the singularity of her songwriting.

“This song is about impostor syndrome,” stated Bridgers. “About being in Japan for the first time, somewhere I’ve always wanted to go, and playing my music to people who want to hear it, feeling like I’m living someone else’s life. I dissociate when bad things happen to me, but also when good things happen. It can feel like I’m performing what I think I’m supposed to be like. I wrote this one as a ballad first, but at that point I was so sick of recording slow songs, it turned into this.”

The accompanying video, directed by Nina Ljet, was supposed to be shot in Japan in March 2020 but, of course, they had to change their plans. Instead, they used a green screen in Los Angeles and the final rendition is pretty fun and offbeat. Watch the video as well as her live performance from her bathtub for Jimmy Kimmel, and pre-order the album via Bandcamp below.

After her excellent debut album Stranger in the Alps, released back in 2017, Phoebe Bridgers got busy with different collaborative projects. She released an album with Conor Oberst as Better Oblivion Community Center and started the supergroup boygenius alongside Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus.

But don’t think that the 25-year-old singer-songwriter was sleeping on her solo venture. Bridgers has just returned with a dreamy solo track, “Garden Song”, which might be taken (or not) from her long-awaited sophomore album. A haunting meditation on growing up, “Garden Song” brims with melancholy and nostalgia. The track also comes with a video, directed by her brother Jackson Bridgers, in which she smokes a bong. Watch below and listen to the track in our Best Tracks of 2020 playlist.

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