2024 may be coming to an end, but these songs are nowhere near finished on my playlist.
It’s only fair to share my favorite songs of 2024 with you. Who knows? Maybe you’ll find your newest obsession buried in this list.
1. “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived” by Taylor Swift
You haven’t truly experienced rage until you’ve listened to this song featured on Swift’s album, “The Tortured Poets Department.” Swift is known for writing one hell of a bridge, but this one may take the cake. This song highlights the private challenges buried in order to uphold the public image of her relationship.
“You hung me on your wall, stabbed me with your push pins, in public showed me off, then sank in stoned oblivion.”
Swift reveals that her partner used her as a trophy to show off, but in private he had completely forgotten about her, neglecting her. My favorite lyric of the song is when Swift questions how much love her partner actually had for her.
“Were you sent by someone, who wanted me dead? Did you sleep with a gun underneath our bed?”
This song has moments where it portrays what I assume is the reality of having a narcissistic partner. One of Swift’s final lines read, “You kicked out the stage lights but you’re still performing.” This lyric is bold within itself, alluding that her partner dimmed her light in order to use it for himself.
2. “Clean (Taylor’s Version)” by Taylor Swift
I know I just addressed a Taylor Swift song, but I can’t help it, ok? I’m a swiftie at heart. “Clean” is my favorite song from “1989.” I see this song as someone rediscovering their spark after leaving an unhealthy relationship. In the beginning of the song, Swift uses flowers as a metaphor to document the end of a relationship.
“The drought was the very worst…when the flowers that we’d grown together died of thirst.”
This line thoroughly describes the ending of a relationship and the flowers representing the memories, later dying because they have been neglected. My favorite part of this song is when Swift realizes her power and takes it back.
“Rain came pouring down, when I was drowning that’s when I could finally breathe, and by morning, gone with any trace of you I think I am finally clean.”
Swift uses words like “drowning” to describe the powerlessness she felt in her relationship. However, this word has a double entendre. When she was drowning, in her lowest, was when she was finally able to leave the relationship (“that’s when I could finally breathe.”)
3. “17” by Madison Beer
This next song is something I would recommend to anyone who is having regrets about something in the past, or feel like they wasted time not enjoying the little things.
Beer starts out the song with talking about her experience as a 17-year-old, recalling the struggles she went through: “Ain’t it strange, how people tend to change? I hope she knows that I would never blame her. Cause all she did was all she knew. Is it too late now, to slow down?”
This lyric is beautiful in almost a sad way. Beer is trying to tell her younger self that the things that happened to her weren’t her fault, because she didn’t know any differently about how to handle things.
In the second half of the song, Beer talks about being 21.
“21, it should’ve been so fun…all my life, I’ve never had the chance to stop and smell the flowers, all this time I never got to sit and dream away the hours.”
Beer alludes to the idea that she never got a chance to slow down and enjoy the little things, because her life was moving so fast. This song is a heartbreaking one, but we always need a little of that, right?
4. “Quarter Life Crisis” by Taylor Bickett
My final song of the 2024 playlist is not one I’ve seen being talked about enough. This song is about growing up, feeling like you wasted time, and comparing yourself to others who you may think have accomplished more.
“I swear 16 was yesterday, but now I’m closer to 28. I’m focusing all of my energy on just staying awake.”
The next verse is my favorite part of the song. It showcases Bickett feeling a sense of desire to be doing something more with her life, she feels that she needs to catch up.
“And I just found out that someone from my highschool is dead, and another one is married with a kid. And the rest are all lying on the internet, I fall for it everytime. I feel like I’m falling behind.”
This song is a good one to have on your playlist because I feel it is very relatable. As social media is incredibly popular, we find ourselves constantly comparing our lives to everyone else’s when we really don’t know their life at all.
Hopefully I have given you enough inspiration to add some new tunes to your playlist. If you are feeling iffy about my song choices, just give them a listen and you can decide for yourself.