5: HVDES - Nuclear Winter
Nuclear Winter is a cold and atmospheric track with a heavy, emotional chorus that blends alternative rock and EDM. I found out about this artist last year through Insomniac Music Group’s EDC Las Vegas 2023 album and she’s been putting out some great stuff that’s definitely worth a listen if you enjoy electronic rock.
4: Lady Gaga - Disease
This song has me excited for Gaga’s upcoming album given my opinion that Chromatica was just okay. This track is reminiscent of Nine Inch Nail’s ‘Closer’ with its wobbly synth bass and snappy percussion and although the sound is a bit derivative, this feels like a refreshed direction for Gaga and I’m looking forward to whatever is next from Mother Monster.
3: Doma Dolla, Tove Lo - CAVE (with Tove Lo)
Another good year for Tove with the release of her wet and dirty dance EP ‘HEAT’ where I almost picked a song off of that record until I heard this collaboration with house music producer Dom Dolla. Tove does some magical things with her collaborations in the EDM world and hearing her on this chill drum and bass track was a treat. Keep on slaying my bisexual queen.
2: TAEMIN - Deja Vu
TAEMIN consistently delivers when it comes to serving us sultry R&B ballads and now he’s doing it again so it must be deja vu. For me, Deja Vu was the standout track from his latest album, ‘Eternal’ and I’m not sure I’ll ever get tired of his signature sound. The choreo for the live performances of this track is also beautiful and really brings this song to life.
1: Takanashi Kiara - MIRAGE
First, I’ll address why I put a song from someone with a Japanese name on the global thread before I sing its praises to high heavens. Takanashi Kiara is an austrian vtuber with Hololive Production’s first English generation ‘Holomyth’. Her music tends to have more kpop and westerm pop influences not to mention this song’s lyrics are in English so I’ll consider it a global production.
Now onto the song itself. This song features dark, hummy synth and orchestration that very much reminds me of the production on some of the moodier tracks off Tove Lo’s Ladywood and Blue Lips albums. I live for dark pop and the vocal melody is extremely catchy so this song has me in a chokehold from the jump. Mirage’s lyrical themes are also very honest and compelling given Kiara’s background as an underground idol in Japan and newfound success as a virtual youtuber. In Kiara’s words, the song is about “self-idolatry vs self-loathing in the pursuit of self acceptance, all while in the public eye.” For me, Mirage is the type of song that makes you feel disappointed when it ends and in a year where I listened to a lot of music but didn’t put very much on repeat, I’ve gotten a lot of mileage out of it. This track will probably be my favorite for a long while.