Part 2! Best Tracks of 2012 (or How Music Got Me Through the Year)

Part 2 is finally here! Here’s the last of my best of 2012 playlist. Now that it’s Februany February, you can say I’m officially behind on this stuff. But who cares? You have Miguel, Cat Power and Ellie Goulding singing to you from years past! Quit complaining!

Here are my 11 through 6 picks if you need them first.

5. Miguel – “Adorn”

Probably the height of the year. Miguel came into the newsroom at MTV and played for us. Miguel. At my job!

Anyway, Miguel is first male celebrity crush since John Mayer from his Heavier Things era. It’s been a long time since a celebrity/singer/songwriter actually tugged on my heartstrings, but the second Miguel (allegedly) made eye contact with me again at a Brooklyn show, I was sold. His Kaleidoscope Dreams album is filled with sensual jams, some that he produced himself. Miguel just wants to make you feel special, singing lyrics like “let my love adorn you.” Guys, Miguel just wants me to feel loved and pretty and ugghhhh…. amazing. Anyway. He came to my work to do a special performance for our “Big and Best of 2012” live stream. He was in the newsroom! And he was singing to us! This pretty much solidified the fact that I love my job.

4. Grimes – “Oblivion”

Really, I could pick any song off Grimes’ <i>Visions</i> and say that it was my jam. Since “Oblivion” was the most popular single, I’ll just go with that one. The song, however dark the lyrics are, just made me dance in my dorm room in Townhouse 331. In between researching Beethoven’s insatiability and Debussy’s musical paintings for my senior project, I’d flick on the “Oblivion” music video and try to dance like Grimes… which isn’t really that hard. Listening to Grimes gave me a break from all the boring readings I was doing, but it didn’t let me forget about the complexity of music. She has a lot going on, so I’d try to dissect the different loops she was using and pick apart the bouncy synths from the bass and her light, baby voice.

3. Alex Winston – “Sister Wife”

I didn’t see Alex Winston on many end-of 2012 lists – probably because her 2012 album’s music was mostly released in 2011 and 2010. Nevertheless, her music re-emerged from EPs to her first album. “Sister Wife” was a weekly staple on my roommates’ radio show, and I always heard it blaring from their rooms. It’s such a strange song… and it has an equally strange music video. But geez, it’s excellent. Alex Winston knows good pop music.

2. Grizzly Bear – “Yet Again”

Oh, I was so homesick in October. I missed the colorful trees and the smell of dirt and the non-polluted autumn breeze. I missed watching the black maple turn to bright yellow on our street (it’s always the first to change). And every time I listened to “Yet Again” or “Sleeping Ute,” I started researching ways to get to the Adirondacks. Maybe I could take the train for a weekend, stay at a bed and breakfast, go for a hike in the woods — anything to get me closer to the life I was used to at home.

1. Fiona Apple – “Every Single Night”

My favorite night of the year was when Pete got me tickets to see Fiona Apple, my favorite. I sang along to every word, and although I couldn’t dance (everyone was sitting — stupid), I made up this move where I swooped my head back and forth and slapped Pete’s thigh repeatedly (sorry). So attractive. I loved when Fiona played new songs from her album, which was out that day. One of those was was “Every Single Night,” which I had been listening to routinely the month before graduation. As I was trying to figure out what I was going to do with my life, updating my resume, getting on the one-way street to a career, I was feeling a bunch of different things. I related to all of this song’s lyrics — from fighting with my conscious to wanting to fully absorb every single feeling I was going through, and not just powering through like a robot. Of course, Fiona Apple put it more eloquently.