From Frank Ocean, Kacey Musgraves, Adele (obv), and more.
“Self Control"Frank Ocean
OnBlond,Frank Oceanexplored the solitude that accompanies longing.
“Self Control” is about the nearing end of an affair.
Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images; Kevin Winter/Getty Images; Tyler Kaufman/FilmMagic; Taylor Hill/Getty Images; Lloyd Bishop/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images
“Keep a place for me,” he sings over classic bare guitar strums.
“You made me lose my self-control.”
Eve Barlow
9.
It means so much to Musgraves that she even played it at her grandmother’s funeral.
Listening to it is like sitting in the storm and chasing the rainbow all in one go.
Maureen Lenker
8.
Sometimes there’s just no getting over them.
“Fear"Kendrick Lamar
To Pimp a Butterfly’s ambition pushedKendrick Lamar’s already-fervent praise into messianic worship.
Its banger-filled follow-upDAMN.switched his focus to the stadiums.
But the album’s centerpiece “Fear” focused on Kendrick the human being.
Brian Josephs
6.
Lauren Huff
5.
Christian Holub
4.
What’s less objective about the hot streak to fans is that its fire was fueled by darkness.
BJ
3.
Ilana Kaplan
2.
Maura Johnston
1.
The soaring, spacey, sacred song seems an exploration of his own known mortality.
