TGF Top 50 Songs of 2017 (10-1)
Shaun Cordingley
Well here we are, the final article of theguysfrom.com's Top 50 Songs of 2017! In case you have missed any of the posts so far, be sure to check them out:
TGF Top 50 Songs of 2017 (50-41)
TGF Top 50 Songs of 2017 (40-31)
TGF Top 50 Songs of 2017 (30-21)
TGF Top 50 Songs of 2017 (20-11)
Prepare for a lot of gushing, and stories about how much I love the following tracks, because they are, indeed, the Top 10 songs of the year:
10
Girlhood
The Preatures
First Featured on TGF on September 11
"Girlhood" is awesome--it's got Runaways style and snarl to it, a great guitar, excellent retro-feeling vocals, and yet, despite the fact that the track feels like a throwback, at no point does it feel old...I love the fact that The Preatures are updating, and delivering a modern take on this genre that is painfully neglected in modern indie rock.
I also still stand by the fact that Isabella Manfredi could front any number of bands from the 1980s-90s and not stood out at all.
9
Radio Man '56
Hearty Har
First Featured on TGF on September 27
I am such a sucker for "Radio Man '56", thanks in large part to the fact the you can really hear the time and care to make the song in a way the lets it feel like it's 1960s psychedelic rock. I have talked about this track a few times with people, and if it ever comes up randomly on a playlist, everyone always says "this sounds so familiar, I think I heard it.." and then they tell me a little story of how they think they know the song, and then I get to (correct them, then) introduce them to the modern-psychedelia awesomeness that is Hearty Har.
Do the Alien everybody.
Do the alien.
8
Friendzone (feat. Lydia Kelly)
Aash Mehta
First Featured on TGF on March 22
This is my favourite EDM song of 2017 (spoilers for the rest of the list...I guess); I cannot even begin to tell you how many times I have listened to "Friendzone". because I think every time it came up on any playlist (anywhere), I would repeat it several times and just lose myself in the gorgeous vocals, and the spotless instrumentation. As a former DJ, I am super jealous of how well put together this track is: I feel something every time I listen to this song, and that, in itself, is incredible to me.
Even if you are not a huge fan of the genre, do give "Friendzone" a shot: it's chill, beautiful, emotional, and as well executed as possible (and never once feels overproduced).
7
This Ain't a Dream
Idolising Nova
First Featured on TGF on May 17
"This Ain't a Dream" is a song that I was hooked on after my first listen, and has stuck with me throughout the year, and has only gotten better as I continue to listen to it. I love how vocalist Jack Fulton Smith switches registers, the use of piano and percussion (with just enough of a haze to give the track a late-night, slightly less-than-real atmosphere), and the fact that I cannot help myself but sing along with the chorus.
I literally stopped typing that last sentence to sing along: I just have to. This is one of the best indie pop ballads that I have heard in a long, long time.
6
The Garden is Overgrown
Champs
First Featured on TGF on July 10
An epic melting pot of pop sounds that screams 1980s, but kicking it a little bit of everything from MGMT to 1980s brit-pop, "The Garden is Overgrown" is a song that feels great to listen to, feels great to sing along to, and makes you want to move...and maybe 1980s out a little bit. This is definitely one of the songs that I got the most feedback from as well, with a lot of you fine folks reaching out to tell me how much you dug the track, and a few that even told me they picked up CHAMPS' album...which made me feel super good, as that is exactly why I do this.
5
Are You High?
Bad Sounds
First Featured on TGF on November 29
Long-time theguysfrom.com readers will already know that I have a soft spot for Bad Sounds, and their latest single is my favourite song by them (which is saying a lot considering this was their third appearance on the Daily Song Drop). It's fun, it's funky, it features their always clever songwriting, engaging as hell vocals, and they make some of the funnest, retro-style videos out there today.
I am smiling all the time when I listen to "Are You High?"...
First Featured on TGF On August 14
"Bad Dreams" is a song that I wish I had had when I was still spinning. This combination of house, hip hop and r&b all blended together into one addictive as hell pop song that I know would work in so many sets, and with so many different crowds that...man it's just so precisely put together into a track that you want to dance to, want to sing along to (or call out to in a crowd), or (and this is what makes it so damn special), just stop, vibe out, and it never fails to make me feel a little bit more relaxed.
3
Let 'Em Talk (feat. Eagles of Death Metal)
Kesha
First time featured on TGF
Kesha's Rainbow is my Album of the Year for 2017 (which you can check out more about stuff like that on our Year in Review podcast here) where, for me, she took huge strides forward as an artist, breaking out of being completely radio-pop, and then stretched out into the diverse-sounding, crazy talented artist that was always there and just needed to break out. I had a lot of trouble picking what my favourite track off of the album was...because there is so much there that is awesome, from "Praying" to the Dolly Parton featuring "Old Flames (Can't Hold a Candle to You", but I keep coming back to the blazingly fun "Let 'Em Talk" featuring Eagles of Death Metal, because (for me) it felt like the best of old-Kesha, mashed together with everything that makes Rainbow amazing. PLUS, it is such a great high-tempo jam for all sorts of situations.
If you passed Rainbow by, for whatever reason, give it a shot. You will be surprised, and you just might fight a whole pile of new tracks to love.
2
Plot Twist
Sigrid
First Featured on TGF on September 13
My favourite pop song of the year is "Plot Twist" by Sigrid. I adore this song, and honestly I think I put it best when I wrote about it back in September:
"Plot Twist" is a song with such an uplifiting energy, a great deal of happiness in it that it's really hard not to feel better after listening to it. The theme of shaking off a terrible situation/relationship and realizing that you're better off is not new to pop, but Sigrid gives it such a personal feel to it, that every "Shots Fired' becomes something that you just want to yell out with her.
If this is not the best "moving on" pop song, then I need you to send me what you think could top it, because I cannot find one. I always feel better after listening to this song, and I have been listening to it at least a few times a week since we featured it here. Quite frankly, it took something very, very special to keep this out of being theguysfrom.com's song of the 2017.
1
What You Want
Zuzu
First Featured on TGF on January 31
It is so rare that a song I first hear at the beginning of the year actually gets listened to more as the year moves on, but "What You Want" by Zuzu did exactly that. There was no "Oh I've heard this a lot, I'll take a break/stop putting it on playlists" moment for me with this song this year, and that almost never happens. I am 100% sure that this is the song I listened to the most in 2017, because even when I was just cruising around YouTube at lunch, if it was in my recommendations (or a "watch again" spot) I would click on it.
Personal playlists? Check.
Know all the words and will unabashedly sing along every time? Check.
First song on the Top 50? Check.
Still absolutely amazing? Check.
If you missed it the first time around (as we were still in the "Tuesday Tunes" era then), "What You Want" features a balance of a bunch of different eras or rock (from 60s to modern indie), with a indie rock/indie punk snarl provided by Zuzu's bloody amazing vocals which tell a great story, and make the song live in a way that very few pull off.
If you like indie rock, rock, or just damn good music, you owe it to yourself to listen to "What You Want".
There we have it! The Top 50 Songs of 2017! This was a lot of fun, and I hope you enjoyed checking it out, and I am happy to say that you can also get the Apple Music TGF Top 50 Songs of 2017 as Well as the Spotify TGF Top 50 Songs of 2017. The playlists are left in their order (so they start with #50, and end with #1), and are basically three hours of excellent music.
If that is not enough (you music hound you) you can always check out the TGF Top 21 Songs of 2016 and TGF Top 15 of 2015 on Apple Music, or you can check out the December Apple Music Playlist, and the December '17 Spotify Playlist now.
There's a good chance that The Daily Song Drop will be back, as normal, on Monday, so I will see you then (unless I get snowed in, or you know, nap too hard after turkey), so please subscribe, like, share, and everything to help us grow TGF so we can keep talking music.
Happy New Year!
-S (@Shauncord)
The Guys From do not hold the rights to any "Daily Song Drop" songs, it is more our hope to expose our readers to new and different music that we are enjoying, or re-expose them to artists they may have forgotten about.
Above the description of the song will be the song name, followed by the artists' name linked to their website, so you can fall down the rabbit hole, finding and supporting what you dig.