The Best Songs of 2022 Ranked

“Reprise” is one of the more understated cuts on Yaya Bey’s provocative, colourful and immersive 18-pronged LP Remember Your North Star - an incredible project that saw her sprawl across mood and style to an unfounded degree. “reprise” upholds a jaded nostalgia; a track that feels like it is looking into warmth from the bitter cold outside, it’s complex and weary, yet vibrant and rewarding. It’s a tale of undeniable love, the kind which is so consuming that it can overwhelm all else, but told through the words of a tenacious narrator. It’s a terrific tune that contextualises Bey’s strength, virtuosity and intricacy. BEN TIBBITS

FKA Twigs is, at this point, nothing short of a cultural and musical phenomenon. Avant-garde, ardent and at times agonising, twigs’ music is stylised and challenging, attributes that are epitomised on “honda”. Plucked from her genre-defiant, game-changing debut mixtape Caprisongs, the track is urgent, haunting and off-kilter, unlike anything you’ll likely ever have heard. The opening monologue from Pa Salieu is more impactful now than ever following the tragic recent news of his prison sentence, whilst the chemistry between the two is seamless; the uniqueness of both artists as individuals combines to create a jaw-dropping connection that leaves its listener both unsettled and salivating. BEN TIBBITS

"Shirt” is a lesson in waiting. First teased in October 2020, the snippet went viral on TikTok early in 2021. A few years later, the full track is finally out, and it’s glorious. Amid hard-hitting drums and mystical synths, “Shirt” wisely lets SZA’s trademark lush vocals be the centrepiece, piercing through the mixing. Her belts are robust while slipping from note to note with ease. Although the song primarily calls for lower and mixed notes, at points it dips into her breathy, honeyed falsetto. Intricate lyrics paint a vivid tale, elegantly incorporating religious and mythological nods. SOS is a stellar album packed with deliciously morose music; “Shirt” is the highlight, embracing the gloom. JULIENNE PAL LORETO

“I don’t care if these bitches don’t like me, ‘cause, like, I’m pretty as fuck” is the comeback lyric of the year, and it should be no surprise that Megan Thee Stallion skips the pleasantries. Arriving in line with her surprise album, Traumazine, here, she rises to the challenge of documenting her grief, pain, resentment, controversy, and betrayal in the years since her debut. Delivered with the candidness of shit-talking to your friends but with an addictive dance beat, she lobbies any attempt to pull her from a pedestal with a steadfast and lethal flow. “Her” is a testament to her growth and a manifesto for us all. HANNAH BROWNE

Yeule’s second record Glitch Princess is pop with death drive, warping its reflection through a bleak lens of nihilism. Elevated the floor-filling magic of Danny L Harle, “Too Dead Inside” is a piece of candy with a razorblade inside; the manifestation of a world seemingly sweet to the taste yet rotten to the core. Yeule’s detachment from reality, their romantic relationship with death and the way this is in conflict with their yearning for a life beyond their reach, has never been evoked in such sharp relief. The beat is unsettling, both familiar and strange; a pop song lost in a darker realm. Their voice, so honeyed and light to the ear, suggests a decayed innocence as they whisper the refrain, “Inside / Too dead”, like a haunting reimagining of the nursery rhyme “Ring a Ring o’ Roses”. SOPHIE WALKER