2022: My Year In Music
Few things in this world have the power to transport you back to a moment as vividly and emotionally as music does. When I hear a song that was important to me, it reminds me of a time, a person, a place, a feeling.
So, at the end of the year, when we all see our Spotify Wrapped (or if you’re me, Apple Music Reply) we are transported on a journey through our year.
I thought it would be fun to share what artists and albums and songs carried me through 2022. I’m doing this to share the music I love, and also to create a time capsule for myself!
No place better to begin than with my all-time favorite artist Taylor Swift (who else would it be?!). Taylor was my most listened to artist of the year, with over 16,000 minutes. The coolest thing about being a Taylor Swift fan is that I truly get to grow up with her music. She’s written songs about her life since she was 16, so her music is like a guiding light as I grow up (“Dear Reader” reference there!) I’ll talk about Midnights later, but my most streamed Taylor Swift songs this year were “This Love (Taylor’s Version),” “The Very First Night,” and “You All Over Me.”
Another one of my favorite artists of the year was Gracie Abrams (although she shockingly didn’t make my top 5 artists!). I have this tradition where anytime I’m driving at night, I listen to Gracie’s music. There’s something about her songs that just hit different while driving in the dark. My favorites to blast are “Rockland,” “Camden,” and “Wishful Thinking.” Gracie’s music is introspective and honest - almost to a fault - and that’s what makes her music hit on such a deep, emotional level. All in all, Gracie’s music, although heartbreaking, brought me so much joy this year, especially when I’m driving.
I’ve always loved country music and female country stars like Carrie Underwood, Kacey Musgraves, Kelsea Ballerini, and The Chicks. I also have some smaller female country artists that I love, and I talked about several of them in this article I wrote about 5 of my favorite female country heartbreak songs.
One of those artists is named Hailey Whitters, and she put out the critically acclaimed album Raised earlier this year. Raised is spot-on thematically, with the entire album being an ode to Hailey’s hometown in Iowa. Raised does such a great job of capturing a sense of place - every song makes me feel like I’m in Hailey’s Iowa hometown even though I’ve never been there. My two favorites on Raised are probably “College Town” and “Boys Back Home.”
It’s been a long time coming, but I became a Lorde fan this year. I started out obsessed with the song “Solar Power” and then I dove into the rest of her music. I found her music during a particularly stressful time right at the end of the school year, and it provided me with a lot of peace. I remember driving home after a stressful day at school and blasting songs from Lorde’s album Solar Power, and I just felt better. One of my favorite Lorde lyrics is “All the music you loved at 16 you’ll grow out of.” Considering I was 16 when I started listening to Lorde, this lyric really struck a chord with me. There’s something so special about the music you love as a teenager, even if you do grow out of it. That’s why I’m writing this article: to remember the music I loved at 16.
Words cannot express how obsessed I was (and still am) with Holly Humberstone. I first listened to her music because she was opening for Olivia Rodrigo, and I never turned back. “Sleep Tight” was my second most streamed song of the year and “Scarlett” was my fifth most streamed song. I just love Holly’s voice, lyricism, and the general sound of her music. Holly’s music was also very comforting to me during a stressful time. Themes I’ve noticed in Holly’s music are letting go of someone, letting someone down, and missing someone. Even with the sad themes, Holly’s music is fun, and I love that about her.
This leads me to my SOUR Tour experience. I saw Olivia Rodrigo live in Las Vegas, and it was one of the best nights of my year. Holly Humberstone was the opener, and it was just as fun to see her live.
In the same weekend, I saw Carrie Underwood’s Las Vegas residence, and she is incredible to watch live. She obviously has the most powerful, breathtaking voice, and on top of that, I love her music.
Another artist that I want to touch on is Maisie Peters. I found Maisie’s music in the Summer of 2021 and I was literally addicted to listening to her album “You Signed Up For This.” I also love her album “Trying” that she wrote for a TV show (“Funeral” is one of the best love songs I’ve heard). Maisie’s music has such a strong personality and although her music is sad, it’s bold and funny. My favorite Maisie songs this year were “Villain,” “Elvis Song,” and “Love Him I Don’t.”
There were a couple of albums that dominated my summer, and the first was Conan Gray’s Superache. I had the songs “Movies” and “Memories” on repeat; both of those songs have the coolest pre-chorus’ added on after the second verse, which is one of my favorite things in a song.
The other album I loved this summer was Sabrina Carpenter’s “emails i can’t send.” I started out obsessed with the song “because i liked a boy” (because it spilled the tea on the Olivia Rodrigo/Joshua Bassett/Sabrina Carpenter drama). But, it was songs like “Tornado Warnings,” “Vicious” and “Skinny Dipping” that really made me a Sabrina stan, and I plan on attending her concert in the spring!
My favorite artist of the year was Lizzy McAlpine, and she was my second most-streamed artist after Taylor Swift. From the first time I heard “ceilings” over the summer (which I wrote an article about here) I knew Lizzy would become one of my favorite artists. Her album five seconds flat was my favorite album of the year. Lizzy’s song “all my ghosts” was my most streamed song of the year, and songs from five seconds flat filled 5 of my top 10 streamed songs. Not only is Lizzy a lyrical genius, but the production on five seconds flat is the best produced album I’ve ever heard (“called you again” is perfectly produced to me). Usually I don’t think about production at all - either I like a song's production or I don’t - but Lizzy’s music has shown me the power of a well-produced song.
One of my all time favorite artists is Kelsea Ballerini. She released her album “SUBJECT TO CHANGE” in September, and, well, I didn’t love it. I wrote a whole article about that if you want to hear more of my thoughts!
I talked about my Carrie Underwood and Olivia Rodrigo concerts, but seeing The Chicks perform at ACL music festival in October was my favorite live music moment of the year. My friend and I ended up in the second row of people and we had the best time. It was the night before my 17th birthday, and it was truly the best birthday celebration I could imagine. Hearing songs that I’ve loved for years like “Travelin’ Solider” and “Cowboy Take Me Away” live was the coolest thing!
By far the most anticipated album of the year for me was Midnights by Taylor Swift. To be honest, I don’t think Midnights is Taylor’s best work. With that being said, I think “You’re On Your Own Kid” is one of Taylor’s best songs, and I wrote a whole article about it. Midnights is a full on pop album, and Taylor’s pop albums (1989, reputation, & Lover) are my lowest ranked Taylor albums (although I still love them…except Lover). That’s why for me, Midnights will always be in my bottom 4 Taylor albums. Another reason I don’t love Midnights is because of the disappointing thematic execution. Taylor presented the album as “the story of 13 sleepless nights throughout my life” and to me, only a few songs actually fit that theme. So, it’s not really that I dislike Midnights, it was just below my expectations and a bottom-tier Taylor album.
Late in the year, I got pretty into Joni Mithcell, specifically her album Blue. “River” is one of my all-time favorite songs, and I also have been obsessed with the song “All I Want.” I’m in the process of writing an article about the connection between Blue and my favorite Taylor Swift album, Red.
Another older artist I listened to throughout the year is Patti Griffin, and her songwriting is unbelievable (see songs like “Let Him Fly” and “Long Ride Home”).
The final artist I want to talk about is Phoebe Bridgers, who I’ve been listening to this month of December. I don’t know why I’ve been so hesitant to dive into her discography, but I’m finally doing it. Phoebe achieves lyrical specificity unlike anyone else. In the words of Olivia Rodrigo, authenticity and specificity are the most important things in songwriting, and Phoebe certainly achieves these (“Moon Song” is a great example). One song I really love is called “Punisher,” and it’s a song Phoebe wrote about her favorite musician John Elliott. She says in the chorus, “What if I told you/I feel like I know you/But we’ve never met.”
When I hear this line, I connect it to all of the artists that I’ve talked about in this article; the artists’ I feel like I know - even though we’ve never met - because of their personal songwriting. At the end of the day, that’s the common thread through the music I listened to this year: personal, honest, and authentic writing that feels like you are hearing the artists’ deepest thoughts.
My Top 10 Most-Streamed Songs of 2022:
“all my ghosts” by Lizzy McAlpine
“Sleep Tight” by Holly Humberstone
“ceilings” by Lizzy McAlpine
“called you again” by Lizzy McAlpine
“Scarlett” by Holly Humberstone
“what a shame” by Lizzy McAlpine
“firearm” by Lizzy McAlpine
“Rockland” by Gracie Abrams
“Sleep Tight (Edit)” by Holly Humberstone
“London is Lonely (Edit)” by Holly Humberstone
My Top 5 Most-Streamed Artists of 2022:
Taylor Swift (16,182 minutes)
Lizzy McAlpine (4,266 minutes)
Holly Humberstone (3,850 minutes)
Lorde (3,421 minutes)
Maisie Peters (2,511 minutes)
Thanks for reading!
- Peyton Price
