20 great songs that failed to make our 2022 end-of-year list
Making a list is an art form. It’s not just about putting good choices in a specific order or even putting the best ones at the top. It’s more about telling a story, crafting a narrative, and getting people to take notice. That’s why some of the best lists might leave you incredulous, confused, or just plain angry: if you disagree with it, then the list-maker has done their job well.
On the other side of the curtain, making lists inherently involve quite a bit of compromise. When you’re writing for a professional publication, that compromise is multiplied by however many contributors are adding to the final rundown. Here at Far Out, we had over a dozen writers submit their choices for the best music of 2022. That meant lots of great music wound up on the cutting room floor.
Sometimes it was for practical purposes. Other than 2022 standouts Yard Act (who also took home top honours on our 50 Best Albums of 2022 list) and Fontaines D.C., we decided that no artist should have more than one song sitting on our Best Songs of 2022 ranking. That meant that some great artists had some of their best material excised in favour of more representation and less repetition.
Other times, songs that were phenomenal just didn’t quite fit into the narrative of the list. Some artists were given their due over on the albums list and left off the songs list, and vice versa. Additionally, 50 is just too damn small of a number to truly bring in the best of what a full year’s worth of music had to offer.
In order to paint a broader picture of how great 2022 was for music, we’re doing a minor expansion by singling out 20 great songs that didn’t quite make it onto our 50 Best Songs of 2022 list. From repeat offenders to songs that just barely missed out on the final cut, here’s an unranked and alphabetical rundown of some of our favourite tracks that didn’t quite make it onto our year-end list.
20 great songs that didn’t make our ’50 Best Songs of 2022′ list:
‘After the Earthquake’ – Alvvays
One of the biggest appeals of Alvvays’ third studio album, and their first in over half a decade, was that you could hear the band’s evolution. Blue Rev showed off a thornier and fuzzier band that didn’t need to rely on poppy melodies or jangly guitars to be fascinating.
But the album’s best track, ‘After the Earthquake’, was an engrossing throwback to the sound that made audiences fall in love with the indie pop titans from the very beginning.
‘All the Good Times’ – Angel Olsen
It’s becoming increasingly difficult to put a genre tag on Angel Olsen. Or as ‘All the Good Times’ puts it: “It’s impossible to conceive.”
Winding her way through indie rock, noir-folk, and even symphonic pop, Olsen decided to go in a more country-focused direction on Big Time. With stirring steel guitars and a palpable sense of drama, ‘All the Good Times’ was the perfect entry point into Olsen’s most personal album to date.
‘We Go Back’ – Animal Collective
Nobody does what Animal Collective can do. Returned to the full strength of all four members, the now-legendary experimental rockers resisted the urge to turn back time on their 11th studio album, Time Skiffs.
Instead, new wormholes of pop hooks and wild beat shifts filtered into the band’s signature cracked worldview. The results proved that AC are still as vital and boundary-pushing as they had ever been. If you want to hear all of that in three minutes, just put on ‘We Go Back’.
‘Expert in a Dying Field’ – The Beths
The Beths entered new territory in 2022. Building upon the stacked harmonies and jangle rock that’s become associated with their sound, the New Zealand quartet unleashed a torrent of punk-infused pop gems on their best album yet, Expert in a Dying Field.
The album’s title track is the sharpest and catchiest song that the band have ever put out, proving that The Beths really are the torch-bearers of indie rock.
‘Flip It’ – Bleached
Never doubt the power of a killer hook. California sunshine-pop rockers Bleached still haven’t made their proper return from the Covid-19 black hole, but ‘Flip It’ is certainly a reason to be excited about the future.
Unapologetically silly and fun, ‘Flip It’ will make anyone yearn for the simplicity of summertime during the frosty end months of 2022.
‘Billions’ – Caroline Polachek
Caroline Polachek’s transition from indie darling to pop superstar is nearly complete. Thanks to the explosion of her track ‘So Hot You’re Hurtin My Feelings’ and major collaborations with the likes of Charli XCX and Beyoncé, now is probably the final time you can hop on the Polachek bandwagon before it goes screaming into the mainstream.
Still, songs like ‘Billions’ prove that Polachek has an avant-garde attitude at the centre of her sound.
‘Hot Penny Day’ – Dry Cleaning
After unleashing our favourite album of 2021, New Long Leg, post-punk pack leaders Dry Cleaning wasted no time getting back in the studio. This time, melody and multi-instrumentalism were the names of the game, with the band challenging their newly-found audience to take a leap of faith with them.
Stumpwork will only continue to grow in esteem, and songs like ‘Hot Penny Day’ prove that Dry Cleaning are constantly evolving into new states.
‘Down’ – Hot Chip
Is there anything better than an undeniable jam? British electronic rockers Hot Chip have been one of the most consistently great dancefloor stalwarts of the last two decades, but that doesn’t mean that they’re in legacy mode quite yet.
Instead, the group stormed back with the intoxicating ‘Down’, a true jam that shows off the fresh corners of a group of seasoned dance-rock veterans.
‘Fables’ – Interpol
Who would have thought that Interpol would be the most consistently great of all the early 2000s indie rock bands? While their peers like The Strokes and Yeah Yeah Yeahs might have had higher highs, Interpol proved that they were still masters of their own moody world with this year’s The Other Side of Make-Believe.
‘Fables’ is the kind of song that reminds you why you became enthralled with Turn on the Bright Lights and Antics in the first place.
‘I Wanna Be Your Basketball’ – JW Francis ft. Margaux
One day, I’m going to manage to get JW Francis on the main ’50 Best Songs of Whatever Year’ list. For now, all I can do is resign him to the honourable mentions.
That’s what happened last year with his killer indie rock opus ‘John, Take Me With You’. This year, Francis once again came up just short. That shouldn’t take away from the goofy fun and deliberate catchiness of ‘I Wanna Be Your Basketball’ – hey, everyone loves an underdog story.
‘Like Exploding Stones’ – Kurt Vile
Kurt Vile has become one of those artists that’s easy to take for granted. His material is so consistent and so uniformly him that it just keeps getting added to his stacked discography.
If you like your indie rock with a stoner’s gaze and a bit of Cheetos dust floating around it, ‘Like Exploding Stones’ is the perfect vehicle to zone out on, with floating synths and a woozy sense of ease that is quintessential Vile.
‘About Damn Time’ – Lizzo
The only song on this list to make it to number one (suck it, Harry Styles), Lizzo gifted us with another memorable gem this year with ‘About Damn Time’.
Like ‘Truth Hurts’, ‘About Damn Time’ kicks off with a meme-worthy opening salvo (It’s bad bitch-o’clock) before unleashing disco hooks and dancefloor-ready energy. May we continue to be gifted with Lizzo bangers every year.
‘Syncopate’ – MICHELLE
If you don’t know New York soul-pop upstarts MICHELLE, let ‘Syncopate’ be your entry point into their sex-positive R&B wonderland.
After Dinner We Talk Dreams gets my vote as this year’s most underrated album, and any of the LP’s 14 tracks could be placed on this list. ‘Syncopate’ just happens to have the most intoxicating energy, along with its wildest claim (who’s answering a booty call at 4 AM?!)
‘Problem With It’ – Plains
Waxahatchee and Jess Williams put out two of the best albums of 2020 with Saint Cloud and Sorceress, respectively. So for their next project, the two indie folk masters came together to bring the best out of each other.
‘Problem With It’ was the catchiest and easiest to love song on I Walked With You A Ways, but that’s just a credit to the pair’s top-shelf songwriting abilities.
‘Saoko’ – Rosalía
Worldwide, Latin music continued its global dominance in 2022. Bad Bunny was the most-streamed artist around the world, but if you want a more experimental edge in your songs, there’s only one person to turn to.
Rosalía is now a titan of Spanish music, and this year’s MOTOMAMI only added to her legend. If this is what the future of pop music sounds like, I’m ready to embrace the explosion.
‘Thin Thing’ – The Smile
Who needs a new Radiohead album? Not us, especially when Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood have employed drummer Tom Skinner to add a jazzy edge to their trippy genre-blending ideas.
There were plenty of great tracks on the band’s debut, A Light For Attracting Attention, but ‘Thin Thing’ just might be the most revelatory. Since it doesn’t appear as if Yorke and Greenwood are returning to their day jobs any time soon, long live The Smile!
‘Hide & Seek’ – Stormzy
“Quiet Stormzy”. Does that work? No? I didn’t think so. I’ll leave the cleverness to Stormzy, who channelled quite a bit of Marvin Gaye in his superb R&B-infused hit ‘Hide & Seek’.
The British grime star embraces melody and chilled-out vibes on the track, but his signature attack is intact when he enters with his razor-sharp verses.
‘Ghost in the Machine’ – SZA ft. Phoebe Bridgers
Let this be a word of warning: this is why it’s idiotic that most end-of-year lists get written in November. There’s still a whole month to account for, and SZA made us all look stupid when her sophomore effort SOS came out this month, causing music editors everywhere to smack their foreheads in disbelief.
Any of the album’s tracks could have found their way onto this list, but I’m a simple man: I see a Phoebe Bridgers feature, and I love a Phoebe Bridgers feature.
‘Less Than Zero’ – The Weeknd
Perhaps to my own detriment, I was very down about The Weeknd’s 2022 effort Dawn FM.
While I know better than to talk shit about Oneohtrix Point Never, the album as a whole didn’t quite speak to me. ‘Less Than Zero’ certainly did, and now that a full year has passed since its release, maybe this is a sign that I need to revisit my hot takes on Dawn FM. Maybe…
‘UR Mum’ – Wet Leg
Another victim of selective appreciation on our lists this year was Wet Leg. The leading ladies of indie rock were highlighted for ‘Angelica’ on our main song list, but tracks like ‘Too Late Now’ and ‘Wet Dream’ technically came out at the tail end of 2021.
‘UR Mum’ suffered no such raw deal, and it’s always worth throwing out another reminder of just how dominant Wet Leg were over the last year.
