Spotify Wrapped is a national holiday for all music lovers around the world. Some of us live our lives vicariously through music, whilst others only have it on when they drive or study. Here at KZUU, we have a wide-range of tastes, lots of favorites, and love sharing the music we love with everybody. This week, we wrap up our Spotify Wrapped posts with some insight about Kanye West, as well as some feel-good songs and artists.
JONBO
TOP SONG OF THE YEAR: goodbye horses (demo 2) by q lazzarus (30 streams)
Each year I assemble a list and burn a disc of the most impactful music of my year, not all of which was released that year. All of these selections were played on “Mixup” (Which you can listen to from 6-8pm on Tuesday!)
Here are Jonbo’s Top 10 songs from 2022:
- Goodbye Horses (Demo 2)- Q Lazzarus (30 streams)
- Life On Mars– The Bad Plus (24 streams)
- Hell Is A Crowded Room– Allison Ponthier (23 streams)
- A Song Can’t Fix Everything– Sunny Sweeney (22 streams)
- Do You Want To Get Into Trouble?– Soulwax (21 streams)
- Xpress Yourself– Boys Noize (20 streams)
- An Evening With El Diablo– Chevelle (20 streams)
- Monomyth– Animals As Leaders (20 streams)
- Goodbye Town– Aaron Lewis (19 streams)
- Dripfield– Goose (16 streams)
JUSTIN
TOP SONG OF THE YEAR: EVERYDAY DREAMING BY THE FLUSTERS (28 STREAMS)
My top 5 artists have remained fairly consistent the last two years of spotify wrapped. My number one has been Peach Pit since I got the app, mainly because they are my favorite band. After that is Wallows because I played them a lot during the summer and my sister wanted to listen to their songs before she went to one of their concerts in Portland this year. After that, two country artists appear. Charley Crockett is an amazing independent country artist who blends the sounds of soul and country into a perfect old-timey feel that I can’t get enough of. George Strait is widely regarded as the king of country music, and it’s for good reason. This year I listened through his entire discography, and from his debut 1981 album onward there are hardly any skips. Finally, Kanye West makes an appearance. I find this somewhat surprising, as many people do with their 5th most popular artists. Kanye is undoubtedly an extremely talented recording artist, but his comments have continually soured me on his music.
(If you aren’t familiar with Kanye West’s comments recently, here is an article from Rolling Stone.)
My top 5 songs were all a surprise to me until I thought about how much I play music on the radio. 2 of my top 5 were preview rack songs from last year, and they were 2 of my favorite preview rak songs, so I played them a lot more than my other music which I usually listen to on shuffle. The other 3: Juniper, Dull, and Talk Words were some of my favorite finds of the year and I often played them too on the radio.
I feel like the main thing that holds Spotify Wrapped back is that I want to see when it starts tracking and when it stops, as well as how much I listened to my other top 4 artists. Luckily, I have the app stats.fm (spotistats) which tracks my lifetime streaming history and also has an option for custom date ranges if you pay for the premium option which is a one-time purchase. That way i can see what I really listened to most this year, and get a full stat rundown.
EVANNE
TOP SONG OF THE YEAR: Með hækkandi sól BY SYSTUR (392 STREAMS)
My top 5 artists in order were Mitski, McCafferty, Lorde, Lil Peep, and Crywank. My top 5 songs in order are Með hækkandi sól by Systur, Green Green Dress from Tick Tick Boom!, Mary On A Cross by Ghost, Brazil by Declan McKenna, and A Pearl by Mitski.
I think it is very funny that Green Green Dress is on the list because I actually fell asleep while listening to this song accidentally and I didn’t even particularly enjoy Tick Tick Boom as a movie. I am also just in general surprised that the only song in my top 5 from one of my top 5 artists barely made the cut.
AUSTIN
TOP SONG OF THE YEAR: DRIP BOUNCE_7_24_18 BY TORO Y MOI
4 other top songs – Red Dust by billy woods; In Heaven by Dick Stusso; Thy Mission by The Garden; Human Statue by Cool Sounds
Top artists: HOMESHAKE; Serengeti; billy woods; Helvetia; Cool Sounds
These artists and songs kept me tremendous company during my first year back at school as a returning student. My sad boi indie rock and rap gave me perspectives and lenses with which I chose to navigate my space and time alone amidst 20,000 other students. These artists and the songs they made gave me sources of introspection and healing as I moved forward in the cyclical nature of time and self-care.
ABEL
TOP SONG OF THE YEAR: STUPID BY VEER AND CRIPPLINGG (69 STREAMS)
My top artist was Sematary, which surprised me because my main deep dive into his music was last year. Usually it’s an artist that I listen to a lot in January-April, which I can see is how my top songs played out. I had really no issues with my list, it showed my primary interest in bass music with a few colorful hip hop influences in the mix.
GAVIN
TOP SONG OF THE YEAR: HEARSE BY YNAG9DEEP (72 STREAMS)
Kendrick is my favorite artist of all time! It’s only right he’s my top artist of 2022. Kanye being second has sadly become unfortunate as I do not want to align myself with anything he is about or saying. I do not condone supporting him. Uzi, Carti and Keem are all amazing artists who are pioneering rap and what it can sound like and be capable of. I’m proud that all 5 of my songs are by independent or underground artists as I take pride in representing underground musicians.
PETAR
TOP SONG OF THE YEAR: CRIMSON AND CLOVER BY THE SHACKS (198 STREAMS)
My top 5 artists were $uicideboy$, Deftones, Alex G, Phoebe Bridgers, and Beach House. My top 5 songs were Crimson and Clover by The Shacks, #1 Stunna by $uicideboy$, 100 by Dean Blunt, Sextape by Deftones, and Let’s Go by Danny Brown. I’m not surprised that these artists and song are in my wrapped, Deftones is my favorite band, $uicideboy$ is my go-to driving music, and Phoebe Bridgers and Beach House put me to sleep almost every night. The rest of my wrapped also contained a lot of Title Fight, Turnstile, Thank You, I’m Sorry, The xx, Mazzy Star, FKA Twigs, and IDLES.
KZUU 90.7 FM 