I can’t believe I’m saying this, but latelyI’ve caught myself feeling strangely nostalgic for 2020. I know that might be one of the most unhinged takes of the week, but I can’t help thinking about it. Mind you, my 2020 was pretty different compared to almost everyone else’s – I had the dubious honor of being an “essential worker,” also known as working at a notoriously twee chain grocery store, which meant that whileeveryone else was playingAnimal Crossing, I was on the front lines against COVID-19.
Between my oddly unique experiences that year and my preexistingpenchant for odd (and sometimes morbid) music, the soundscape of my 2020 is probably best defined as “unconventional.” Yet, as 2025 continues to get weirder and weirder, I keep coming back to these songs and finding an odd amount of solace in them; there’s a familiar loneliness that comes through and reminds me of everything I’ve overcome since then. Maybe, since they helped me get through 2020,they’ll help us all get through 2025, too.
9The Weeknd – “Blinding Lights”
After Hours (XO And Republic Records)
“Blinding Lights” was an inescapable song during 2020; it was released as a single just before the end of the year, and its home albumAfter Hoursdropped mere days after the announcement of the pandemic. Even being stuck at home wasn’t enough to keep people fromgrooving to the Weeknd’s anthem to unwise yearning– in fact, it may have helped.
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I remember a lot of late-night commutes home from work, exhausted to the bone and slightly dissociated as the driving beat of “Blinding Light” matched the tempo of the freeway lights as they swept away into my peripheral vision. Several covers of the song have come out over the years since, including a solid acoustic arrangement by X Ambassadors, but it’s the original thatkeeps coming back into my mind and leaves me wanting to drive on further into the night.
8Skatune Network – “Misery Business”
Ska Goes Emo, Vol. 1 (Counter Intuitive Records)
Paramore’s “Misery Business"has always been a personal favorite, despite the song’s brief moment as the focus of controversy over its marginally slut-shaming lyrics. Combine it with another favorite of mine – namely,ska auteur Jer Hunter, a.k.a. Skatune Network– and it’s no wonder that the release ofSka Goes Emo, Vol. 1in April 2020 wasthe first thing that had put a pep in my stepsince my birthday karaoke night the month before had flopped thanks to COVID-19.
Skatune Network’s cover of “Misery Business” wasthe perfect song for dancing out all my stress in my kitchen(or screaming it out in my car) during what was absolutely one of the strangest summers of my life. With guest vocals from Christine Goodwyne of Florida math-rock band Pool Kids, the song rocks almost as hard as the original – and it definitely skanks harder.
7Meg Meyers – “Running Up That Hill”
Non-Album Single (300 Entertainment)
Technically, Meg Meyer’s “Running Up That Hill” – a fantastic cover ofKate Bush’s 1985 hit (which was featured inStranger Things) – was actually released in 2019, but it was in January 2020 that the song smashed its way up to number one on theBillboardAdult Alternative chart. For those first few months before COVID hit, the song was inescapable – and after everything changed, it took on a whole new meaning. What had begun as a great tribute to an ’80s classic had, at least for me, becomean anthem of resilience in the face of an uncertain world.
6Soccer Mommy – “circle the drain”
Color Theory (Loma Vista Recordings)
Soccer Mommy – the stage name of Swiss-born singer-songwriter Sophia Allison – very much became a standard part of my musical rotation in the early days of COVID, thanks mostly to the timing. Her albumcolor theorywas released at the end of February, and showed up on my own radar in late March when I got hooked by howthe song so encapsulated the existential despairthat came with the first few months of COVID.
5LoneMoon – “NAW NAW”
Kipo And The Age Of Wonderbeasts Soundtrack (DreamWorks Records)
One of the highlights of my 2020, at least when I had the time to watch new TV, was thecriminally underratedKipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, all three seasons of which came out between January and October that year. There’s a lot aboutKipoto love, but the soundtrack is pretty close to the top of the list; I spent a good amount of the summer bumping the soundtrack, and LoneMoon’s “NAW NAW” hadone of the absolute best beatson the whole playlist. It’s one of the few cheerful songs that stand out to me from 2020.
4clipping. – “Say the Name”
Visions Of Bodies Being Burned (Sub Pop Records)
Experimental hip-hop group clipping. has long been one of my favorite bands to listen to when I’m feeling weird and morbid. Frontman Daveed Diggs just has a truly impeccable flow; most folks know him fromhis show-stealing presence inHamiltonas the original Lafayette and Jefferson, but aside from spitting fire on Broadway, Diggs has also been putting out incredible rap under his own name, as a part of the Bay Area’s legendary Getback collective, and of course as clipping.,hip-hop’s answer to musique concrète.
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Clipping.’s 2020 albumVisions of Bodies Being Burnedis a direct companion to their release from the previous year,There Existed an Addiction to Blood. Much like its predecessor, it’s an intense sonic experience rooted deeply in the soundscapes ofJohn Carpenter films, as likely to assault the senses as please them. “Say the Name” is likely the most immediately accessible song – and it’s also the one thatgrabbed me by the throat when I first heard it.
3The Amazing Devil – “The Horror and the Wild”
The Horror And The Wild (Self-Released)
I will openly admit I fell a little in love with Joey Batey when I first saw him as Jaskier on Netflix’sThe Witcherin 2019, and not just because I have a thing for petulant brunettes. His musical skills were on full display with “Toss a Coin to Your Witcher,” which was definitely the nerd anthem of 2019 – so in 2020, while moping around and wishing another season ofThe Witcherwould come along and distract me from my COVID woes,I was pleasantly surprised to instead find a new albumfromBatey’s folk project, The Amazing Devil.
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As a former theater kid myself, as well as a folk musician, I’m an absolute sucker for the kind of over-the-top showmanship that is the hallmark of The Amazing Devil. “The Horror and the Wild,” the title track from their 2020 album, basically melted my face when I first heard it, particularly the live performance in the round from the above video. The interplay of Batey and his partner, Madeleine Hyland, is utterly captivating, asthey effortlessly switch from bantering dialogue to counterpoint and back again.
2Matt Maeson (feat. Lana Del Rey) – “Hallucinogenics”
Non-Album Single (Atlantic Records)
While I missed out on the rise and fall of “Hallucinogenics” when Matt Maeson released the first version in 2018, the remix with Lana Del Rey caught my attention when it hit the radio in September 2020. Maeson and Del Rey’s voices hooked me immediately; something abouttheir back-and-forth tradeoff of the verses and their harmonies on the hookreally drew me in. I’ve never been the biggest fan of hers, but I’ll definitely be paying attention whenLana Del Rey’s next album dropson May 21.
1The Mountain Goats – “Getting Into Knives”
Getting Into Knives (Merge Records)
If you’ve ever read any of my other playlist articles here, you might have cottoned on to the fact that I really, really love depressing indie rock. No bandbest embodies this morose musical mindset to me than North Carolina-based dad-rock outfit The Mountain Goats. The band actually had multiple album releases in 2020 – the full-band studio effortGetting Into Knives, which had finished recording not two weeks before lockdown, and frontman John Darnielle’s solo effortSongs for Pierre Chuvin, which he recorded on his trusty boombox that same month while stuck at home in North Carolina.
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2020 also saw The Mountain Goats record theJordan Lake Sessions, a socially distanced concert live-streamed from a local recording studio. It’s theJordan Lakecut of “Getting Into Knives” that stuck with me the most in 2020, although the full album cut is also fantastic. Either way, the song is a perfect embodiment of Darnielle’s songwriting, with its almostsedate instrumentation and melody at profound odds with the story of violent, intimate revengeit tells.
