10 lyrics that defined 2024
Another year is over, and it’s been pretty uneventful (if only).
If only there could be one year where not much happens, where the world turns, and we go along with it, no pain, no suffering, no controversy, just the movement of the rock we live on falling through space and the sound of the tick as time moves on. One year to recoup our thoughts and reset ourselves. But alas, the year is out, and with it, we have experienced the highs and lows that generally accompany a trip around the sun, along with our favourite artists such as Amyl and The Sniffers, Charli XCX and Nick Cave, who helped guide us through it.
Where would we be if not for lyrics? As time moves, years pass, and the highs and lows which come with an existing flurry by, we turn to music, to lyrics, to try and help us make sense of something which becomes more and more complicated. When we listen to the lyrics of artists we adore, they stand as a gateway between us and them, providing insight into either ourselves or the world around us and enriching lives in the process.
Not every good lyric has to change the world, either. Yes, some things have been difficult this year, but there has also been room for lots of fun and laughter. We often need to be reminded of this, and artists are also able to come forward and bring out the more positive side of us, which embraces the good, even in the face of the bad.
Regardless of what aspect of 2024 you are thinking about, there is a line from a song that perfectly represents it. Here are some picks for the best lyrics that help us define 2024 and everything it brought with it.
The lyrics that helped define 2024:
10. Fontaines DC – ‘Favourite’
“Yeah, it’s been a long, a long, a long, a long-long, you were my favourite for a long time”.
There seems to be a common complaint among rock music lovers that guitar music no longer exists; however, plenty of bands prove them wrong. On this list, and throughout the music industry, are popular guitar bands that are making exciting music and selling out arenas as a result. One of these bands is Fontaines DC, who established themselves as the biggest guitar band in the country.
Everyone knew that Fontaines were on to something big at the beginning of the year when they released the track ‘Starburster’, a real head-turner that meant their album Romance was highly anticipated. One of the biggest tracks on this album was ‘Favourite’, which showed people that the band was capable of releasing hard-hitting numbers and light-hearted tracks that almost verged on pop. The lyric from ‘Favourite’ feels almost meta in the wake of the album’s success, as in releasing Romance, they’ve cemented themselves as a lot of people’s favourite (and they likely will be for a long time).
9. Amyl and The Sniffers – ‘U Should Not Be Doing That’
“And they were down in Melbourne saying, ‘You should not be doing that’”.
Amyl and The Sniffers started in the Melbourne punk scene, making exciting music that appealed to local bands and gig-goers. They never expected to become a band that could tour the excellent music they make worldwide, but that’s precisely what they’re doing. The band’s newest album, Cartoon Darkness, is their best offering to date, as it flaunts their instrumental diversity and Amy Taylor’s emotive vocal range.
They stand for a great deal as a punk band, but one of the biggest themes on the new record, which is beautifully highlighted in the fun swagger of ‘U Should Not Be Doing That’, is to have fun and stop worrying about what people say. Taylor, a feminist icon and one of the biggest voices in the punk movement, is the epitome of saying “fuck it” and doing what you enjoy. Any naysayers she embraced when coming up in Melbourne and has continued facing while travelling the world are addressed in a gloating way on this perfect song.
8. Chappell Roan – ‘Good Luck Babe’
“You can kiss a hundred boys in bars / Shoot another shot, try to stop the feeling”.
Make no mistake, Chappell Roan is not a new name by any means. For those in the know, the alt-pop artist has been one to watch for years now, ever since she started dropping singles like ‘Naked In Manhattan’ and ‘Pink Pony Club’ in 2022. By the release of her debut album, The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess, in 2023, she was a cult phenomenon with hoards of followers obsessed with her own brand of theatrical bangers.
But the second ‘Good Luck Babe’ was unleashed into the world as a stand-alone single, her star-in-the-making status was shot into overdrive as she skyrocketed to major, global recognition. Off the back of this one hit with its hooking chorus set over a 1980s-inspired instrumental, Roan’s entire back catalogue has been revisited, with old tracks finally becoming the hits they deserved. Music fans and music makers alike are now obsessed as countless other artists this year have found a way to sneak this earworm of a track into their own sets or mixed into live versions of their songs. At clubs, gigs and karaoke bars alike, 2024 meant you were never too far away from a Chappell Roan singalong.
7. English Teacher – ‘Albert Road’
“But don’t take their prejudice to heart, they hate everyone, the world around them never showed, how loving can be fun”.
English Teacher has been taking the music industry by storm for some time now, but they cemented themselves as one of the most prolific bands in the country this year when they took home the Mercury Prize. A number of different factors contribute to their perfect debut album, This Could Be Texas, but one of the most loveable elements of the record is the poetic lyrics.
On the track ‘Albert Road’, almost every line could be taken and made into a chest tattoo for hopeless romantics. Set during a walk home from the pub, the song looks at negativity and tries to spin an understanding light on, asking the listener not to feel downhearted in the face of clashing mindsets. One of the best lines in the track is that which is repeated throughout, sung sweetly at the beginning and then screamed at the end, “Don’t take their prejudice to heart, they hate everyone,” should be kept close when dealing with the close-minded.
6. The Dare – ‘I Destroyed Disco’
“What’s a blogger to a rocker? What a rocker to The Dare?”
Another act that boomed from a cult phenomenon to global obsession in 2024 was The Dare. The project from Harrison Smith is a tough one to nail, as the character of The Dare, with his suit, tie, cigarettes, sunglasses, and sleazy lyrics to match, feels like a caricature of a rock star. Some try to brush him off as a Gen-Z LCD Soundsystem tribute act, but it’s all too self-aware to be a copycat. Instead, The Dare feels like the ultimate product of the modern age: cynical yet hedonistic, hyper-confident yet self-effacing, deeply unserious but powered by deep and obvious skill as it clearly takes a whole lot of production talent to make songs this silly sound so big.
With tracks like ‘Girls’, ‘Sex’ and ‘Good Time’, The Dare was setting the stage for his character to finally break through as the protagonistic anti-hero for modern music. Then, with the help of Charli xcx’s ‘Guess’, which he produced, featuring the lyric “Send it to The Dare, yeah, I think he’s with it”, the prophecy appeared to be complete.
On his own debut album, What’s Wrong with New York?, he solidified this man-made myth about himself with this sucker punch of a lyric, coming just before the record’s biggest drop and perfectly summarising his position as a figure existing somewhere between the Gen-Z age of social media and the rock and roll messiahs music has worshipped forever.
5. Future, Kendrick Lamar – ‘Like That’
“Mother fuck the big three, ni**a, it’s just big me”.
There have been a lot of big moments in rap music this year, but by far, the one story that dominated the genre and continues to make headlines is the beef between hip-hop giants Drake and Kendrick Lamar. Following Lamar’s feature on Future’s song ‘Like That’ where he denounces previous claims on Drake’s song ‘First Person Shooter’ that the best three rappers are him, J Cole and Lamar, the rap industry waited with belated breath as the Compton and Canadian rappers traded blows.
In this rap beef, there are too many lyrics that can be highlighted as a representation of said beef. Drake fired shots on ‘Push Ups’ and ‘Family Matters’, which at any other time could have been devastating blows for his opponent, but Lamar seemed to have an answer for everything and went on to release tracks such as ‘Not Like Us’ which are still being bumped in clubs today. The iconic lyric highlighted in this instance is the line that kicked everything off.
4. Charli XCX – ‘365’
“I’m a brat when I’m bumpin’ that”.
No doubt, in the years to come, people will study the impact of Brat Summer. 2024 was washed lime green from the very second Charli XCX first dropped ‘Von Dutch’; the opening track of what would be a career-changing era. When the album was released in June, featuring that now iconic artwork and a long tracklist of now-iconic songs, pop culture shook. It wasn’t just the release of a great record; it wasn’t even just the levelling up of Charli from a niche star to a global superstar – it was a genuinely historical moment where everything from fashion, youth culture, marketing and even politics became hypnotised and obsessed by the energy of this album and its impact.
There are countless lyrics that could be plucked from Charli’s stream-of-consciousness verses, covering everything from generational trauma to big nights out, toxic friendships and the dilemma over whether to have a baby. But on the album’s closing, thumping club track, perfectly rounding out a record which begins with ‘360’, ‘365’ contains the line that started the whole phenomenon – “Who the fuck are you? I’m a brat when I’m bumpin’ that,” Charli sings, and a million brats were born worldwide, instructed to lean into a summer of true hedonism and attitude.
3. Billie Eilish – ‘Lunch’
“I could eat that girl for lunch”.
It’s not just that Billie Eilish’s latest album, Hit Me Hard And Soft, was obviously a big release this year. It’s not even just that ‘Lunch’ was a stand-out hit from the record and one of 2024 biggest pop tracks. The importance of ‘Lunch’, its success, and the impact of this lyric especially is due to its outright queerness as a song about and by a gay woman, singing explicitly about gay sex and desire, soared to the top of the charts.
Coming only a few weeks after the release of Roan’s ‘Good Luck Babe’, 2024 saw two gay women, both singing about gay relationships, battling it out at the top of the chart. It was a moment where queerness had not only broken into the mainstream in the most outright way in recent years, but it was utterly dominating it.
In particular, it was a moment where women’s experience of queerness and lesbian and bisexual relationships through a woman’s lens was finally having a real and rare moment in a commercial spotlight. Labelled everything from the “sapphic tsunami” to the “lesbian renaissance”, the impact of songs like these hitting the charts can’t be understated as a true landmark moment for representation amidst a year where far-right politics threatened it.
2. Nick Cave – ‘Joy’
“We’ve all had too much sorrow, now is the time for joy”.
2024 was a dark year. With the ongoing global conflicts dominating the news with horrific scenes, the US election leading to a result that left many feeling fearful for the future, and the tightening grip of the cost of living crisis, amongst other things, there are countless reasons to feel pessimistic or even utterly hopeless. But amidst it all, music rose in defiance as there seemed to be a swing towards optimism even in the lyrics of the gloomiest of artists.
Nick Cave is a prime example. Originally known for his violent punk lyricism and then for sombre, mournful reflections on his personal grief, Cave’s turn towards hope on his new album Wild God was deeply impactful and moving. ‘Joy’ is a beautiful display of it as he harks back to his old murder ballad ‘Song Of Joy’ and washes it clean, conjuring up images of his past self, looking back at a life of trauma and difficulty and yet still concluding that we need to turn towards the light, singing, “now is the time for joy.”
1. The Cure – ‘Endsong’
“I’m outside in the dark, wondering how I got so old”.
The Cure stunned fans in 2024 with their first release in years. Their newest album, Songs of a Lost World, was a testament to their artistry, clearly showing that after all this time, the band can still make music that moves the masses.
One of the biggest highlights of the album was the fact that The Cure wasn’t afraid to write from a modern perspective. Rather than try to channel the sounds and feelings of the old, they wrote from a point of view that applies to them in the modern age, one that is questioning, older and wiser. This is best reflected in their track ‘Endsong’ and the iconic line, “I’m outside in the dark, wondering how I got so old.”
