Facundo’s Hot 20: 2022
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Another year, another Facundo’s Hot 20! I’m very happy to share this year’s list with all of you. To mix things up, on this blog entry I will be discussing each entry individually, from #20 to #1. If you want to go to see the chart directly, it’s now live on my page, or you can also watch the recap and listen to the playlist on Spotify. Let’s get started!
#20 – Pink Lemonade by James Bay
What can I say about this one… Since Bay blessed us with the chaotic energy of Electric Light (2018), I’ve been hooked to this single. It’s a great song that I like to listen in those moments when I’m feeling overwhelmed and I want a heavy sound to drown my thoughts away… Do you want to talk it through?
#19 – De Una Vez by Selena Gomez
I must admit, as a Selenator, I thought we would never be blessed with Selena’s spanish project that she had been teasing since her Selena Gomez & The Scene days (does anyone remember her teasing a spanish version of Naturally?), but the wait has been SO worth it. A song that was #1 on my 2021 recap and with merit. Revelación (2021) was a great project, and De Una Vez was a great teaser for it. Muchas Gracias Señorita Gomez.
#18 – Giving In To The Love by Aurora
I have to thank Spotify’s Discover Weekly for this one. The sweet, loose and cheerful tone of Giving In To The Love was exactly what I needed at the time – almost like Spotify read my mind. There is a particular line in this song that speaks to me a lot: “I never had the world so why change for it?” That song helped me through a particular rough period of time this year, as it kept remeding me that I just need to be who I am and eventually everything would be figured out. So hats off to Aurora for that!
#17 – Wasted On Each Other by James Bay
I think that this one is more a testament to how much I still listen to Electric Light 4 years later its release. The beginning track of the project – if we don’t count the ‘Intro’ -, with it’s heavy sounds at the beginning pretty much set up the whole project and specially the next track, Pink Lemonade. Electric Light is an album that has a lot of meaning to me and it has been a constant of these end of year charts since I started making them in 2018. A shame I didn’t like as much its succesor Leap (2022) – of which, for you spanish speakers, you can read my review here.
#16 – Girl Next Door by Ayesha Erotica
I have to thank my bff Tom for this one. I didn’t know who she was, but I’m a happy convert now. A mix of early 2000’s culture mixed with the most naughtiest yet-empowering lyrics you’ll probably ever hear. A shame she was drove away of music (for now). But her music survives on the form of fan compilations, such as this one, Ayesha.fm (2018).
#15 – 우리 는 농장 의 주인 by Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble
(Eng: We Are Masters of the Farm) – I don’t think a lot of people would expect me to listen to music from the DPRK, but the rumors are true! – I like this song quite a lot since it gives me a retro cool vibe, and it also motivates me in a particular way. I don’t quite agree with the countrys wel, erm, political desicions but it’s music is quite nice. The Pohonbo Electronic Ensemble has some great tunes out there, if you can survive the urge to move to the countryside and work on a collective farm under the guidance of the Leader.
#14 – My Lips by Ayesha Erotica
More Ayesha (get used to it). Another track from the great Loose Teens project that survives thanks to fan reups across the internet. I hope someday we will get to hear the whole project officialy on streaming services, but for now we can enjoy it this way. I don’t have any particular feelings for this song, but I think it has appared here since I usually listen to the whole album back-to-back (it’s only 10 minutes anyways).
#13 – U Make Me Strong by Ayesha Erotica
Hum, who would have guessed! Same as #14, I don’t have a lot of strong feelings for this song but it is a very song indeed. Overall I have a lot of thoughts on Loose Teens as a project but what I admire most of it it’s how cohesive it is and how grounded to the original idea – a parody of MTV’s early 2000s reality TV shows – is. It feels like every choice made on these tracks was done thinking on how it would help or not towards achieving that vision. Quite remarkable, if you ask me.
#12 – Feed Your Love by the Spice Girls
I was so hooked on this song since the moment it came out. Probably the best thing the SG team has done in years was to release this song. It’s just sooo gooood. It makes me feel sexy, sensual and overal it just makes me feel great! I think everyone has that song or two that just makes them feel that way. This is mine.
#11 – She’s Toothless by Ayesha Erotica
“She’s just like you and me, but she’s toothless” is probably among the best lines ever uttered in a song. I said what I said. Also, the range of this woman? She can do anything when it comes to music. I know that some people may discard her because of her sexual themes, but the fact is that she is a great artist and performer, doesn’t matter what she is singing about.
#10 – 배우자 by Moranbong Band
(Eng. Let’s Study) Another great song from the DPRK, the Moranbong Bang crashed into the country’s music scene in 2011 – under the auspice of the Respected Leader Kim Jong-Un – by bringing forth a new style of music and performing for the country. 배우자 was originally a song performed by the Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble and while their version is really good, I think Moranbong does a great job of modernizing the tune and carrying it foward to this century.
#09 – Tina Hick Diss Track by Ayesha Erotica
Probably the song that got hooked me up to the Ayesha Erotica phenomenon, I mean just listen to it. You’ll thank me later…
#08 – Lina Morgana by Ayesha Erotica
Again, the versatality… She can do anything she want’s basically. This time is Gaga, and a very good Gaga at that. The only problem I have with Lina Morgana is that is quite short, althought that’s the case with most of Ayesha’s best songs.
#07 – Ride It by Geri Halliwell
Talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing, show stopping, spectacular, never the same, totally unique, completely not ever been done before, unafraid to reference or not reference, put it in a blender, shit on it, vomit on it, eat it, give birth to it, are some of the phrases that I would use to describe Ride It. It is just pop in its purest form. The lyrics, crafted by Halliwell herself and the music blend together to deliver pop perfection. Haliwell is not stranger to doing exacly that – Listen to Bag It Up or her version of It’s Raining Men and you’ll see the same results. Can we say Geri Haliwell is pop? I think we can.
#06 – Loose Teens Theme by Ayesha Erotica
I think the best compliment one can give to this song is to say that you could totally tell me this was the intro song for an early 2000s MTV show and I would had believed you no problem.
#05 – Toothless Tina Cosmetics by Ayesha Erotica
Art meets advertisment thanks to Ayesha Erotica. If Toothless Tina Cosmetics was truly a thing, it would blow everyone else out of the water. Rihanna only wishes. I said what I said.
#04 – Not Such An Innocent Girl by Victoria Beckham
DON’T GET ME STARTED ON THIS ONE, OKAY? Victoria Beckham if you are listening to this GO BACK TO POP. You are doing amazingly in the fashion industry but the pop world sorely needs you. The lyrics, the song, the concept, the video, the promo, EVERYTHING was so on point with this song. And we all failed it so hard. Victoria Beckham gave us the world and we paid her dust. It is our fault that she doesn’t feel like signing anymore. Everyone go right now to a Victoria Beckham store and buy her products to show how sorry you are. I’ll be here listening to this great bop in the meantime.
#03 – Midnight Sky by Miley Cyrus
Probably the soundtrack of my 2020, 2021 and well, 2022. I’ve always been a Cyrus fan – from her Meet Miley Cyrus days – and the fact of the matter is that she is just it. She has it everything – and she is perfectly aware of it. What is so refreshing of her is that you can see her enjoying what she is doing. She is not doing music for the charts and, I would argue, not even for her fans. She is making music for herself. And after seeing her Disney days that is just so refreshing. As for the track itself, what can I just say…. Just listen to it. There are any combination of words that I can use to describe what is so good about this song. The fact that shows up on this recap for an impressive three years in a row I think is message enough.
#02 – First Day / Investigating by Dynamedion
Okay, you may be wondering what the f*ck is this. Let me explain… This is the soundtrack for a videogame I used to play lots as a kid. And last year, I was pretty bored and I rememered its existance so I downloaded it again and played around. Then, I discovered that the game had a sort of spiritual succesor and I tried that one as well. In the middle of all of this, I just got hooked on the game’s soundtrack, specially on this track for some reason. I listen to a lot of videogame sountracks so it is not very surprising for me, but I know this may be a tad obscure to well, just about everyone.
#01 – My Mind & Me by Selena Gomez
Last but not least, a song that released so late in the year but it has managed to top the chart! My relationship with Selena Gomez and her music is, quite frankly, a long and intricate story that I don’t wish to explain now. But what I can tell you know is that I still want and wish the same I did as when I was 10 years old for her: To be happy. She is such and incredible, kind woman and I just want the best for her. It was so hard to see her endure what she went through in the My Mind & Me documentary (Out now on Apple TV+) but seeing something so beatiful come out of it – this song – was also so rewarding. It feels like the end of a cycle and this was the best way to end it all. As she has said multiple times, she has a lot more to say than the fact that she was sad. I just cannot wait for what may come next, but in the meantime I will keep going back to this song. It feels so powerful and I relate to it a lot. Once again, Selena has given us a great gift and I could not be more thankful for it.
So that’s it! These are my top tracks of the year. If you’d like to see the recap in video form, it is live now on Youtube, or you can also go ahead and press play on the Spotify playlist!
I hope that everyone has had a good 2022. Personally speaking it was an interesting year, so many great and bad things have happened. But overall I feel optimistic about 2023. I hope you share my vision. In the meantime, I’ll see you next year!
Happy Holidays,
Facundo.
