2012 REWIND: FIVE SONGS THAT LEFT ME BANGING ON THE DASHBOARD (IN VIDEO FORM)

Was there a more striking video this year (not featuring a Korean rapper rodeo-dancing)?

Every year or so, Nas releases a song that makes you think, “OMG, Nas is back!” And of course, he’ll then go on and disappoint us but I still that moment where I still believe. I’m still hoping to figure out what the sample that begins the third verse is.

I owe my discovery of the Alabama Shakes to friend/colleague Ann Powers who wrote about them on NPR early on. I wasn’t as floored with the album but this cut just feels so damn good when it hits that hook.

One of the best end-of-the-night songs, ever (that isn’t a weepy slow jam). I suspect this will be a wedding staple for years to come.

I made the mistake of looking up the song’s lyrics and realized that I have no idea how to decipher them.¹ It doesn’t matter. Whether this is an anti-love song or the inverse, it all becomes meaningless once those “ee ee ee’s” pump in. I don’t listen to much house/EDM at all so maybe this song is really par for the course but from a pop mainstream point of view, it’s pretty damn awesome.