It is near the end of November which means 2024 is wrapping up. This year has been hailed as the revival of pop music, Kendrick Lamar’s smash-hit diss track “Not Like Us” was the most popular rap song this year and country is still going strong with albums from modern titans such as Jelly Roll and Zach Bryan.
You see end-of-the-year lists everywhere, but this is not one of those lists. Instead, let’s see what albums, singles and tracks the reporters, graphic designers, editors and photographers at The Oakland Post have enjoyed the most over the past year.
The pop girlies take over
Both Political Editor Mallory Waligora and Features Reporter Dani Cesario touted Taylor Swift’s eleventh studio album, “The Tortured Poets Department” as their favorites for 2024. The album by the now legendary musician features hits like “Fortnight” (featuring Post Malone) and “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart.”
Cesario picked “Peter” by Taylor Swift as her favorite song of 2024. She was the only Postie to pick Swift for an individual song.
Gracie Abrams also had multiple nods from Posties. Editor-in-Chief of The Post, Olivia Chiappelli, had Abrams’s album, “The Secret of Us” as her favorite record of 2024. “That’s So True,” also by Abrams, was Waligora’s favorite song of 2024.
Pop stars like Olivia Rodrigo and Charli XCX — who both had strong showings this year — were adored by Posties such as Content Editor, Morgan Warneke, as well as Photo Editor, Courtney Blackett. Warneke enjoyed Olivia Rodrigo’s single, “Obsessed,” while Blackett preferred “Guess” (featuring Billie Eilish) by Charli XCX.
Pop had an amazing run this year, Charli XCX’s “Brat” was the best of the year for me in this genre.
Hip-hop gets hot
Blackett, Sports Editor Kurt Szymanski and Graphic Designer/Distributor Zachary Oberdier all enjoyed hip-hop releases from this year.
Blackett and Szymanski enjoyed more traditional hip-hop records: Megan The Stallion’s “Megan Act: II” and Tyler, the Creator’s “Chromakopia” respectively. On the singles side, Szymanski enjoyed JPEGMAFIA’s experimental single, “SIN MIEDO” and Oberdier lauded Bladee and Yung Lean’s rage rap foray, “ONE SECOND.”
Personally, I thought this year for hip-hop was a bit weaker than years past, however, there were some standout releases for me, including Kendrick Lamar’s surprise drop, “GNX,” Lupe Fiasco’s “Samurai” and Chief Keef’s drill masterclass, “Almighty So 2.”
Indie has its shining moment
Out of all of the different kinds of albums, singles and artists listed, one category that stood out to me was the music that did not really fit into one. For all of these, I am categorizing them as Indie, since most of these artists have less than 1 million monthly listeners on Spotify.
Editor-in-Chief Chiappelli’s favorite song of the year was “Haunt Me” by Yana. Oberdier’s favorite album of the year was ex-Black Midi frontman Goerdie Greep’s “The New Sound.” Finally, Warneke’s favorite record was the quaint and folksy “Going Through It” by Eliza McLamb.
A very special shoutout goes to “Charm” by Clairo as well, which received nods from both Managing Editor Megan Judy and Szymanski.
As the Arts Editor of The Oakland Post, my favorite song and record of the year both were indie releases. They were Friko’s album, “Where We’ve Been, Where We’ll Go From Here” and the single from Wishy’s newest record, “Love On The Outside.”
