PAPER's Best Songs of 2024

For PAPER, that odyssey includes backseat love via a surprising pop tryst from Addison Rae, Chappell Roan’s powerful call out of queer love gone sour and Kesha’s well-won celebration single coming into her own. So, whether you’re donning a cowboy hat while mimicking Beyoncé choreography or trying to better understand the complexity of friendship à la Lorde and Charli, we’ve got something for you to press play on. From tried-and-true rock via Mk.Gee to sex positive pop via cupcakKe, here are the pivotal tracks that got PAPER through the year. Check out our staff picks for the best songs of the 2024, below.

— Erica Campbell, Music Editor

Related | PAPER's Best Albums of 2024

Vampire Weekend - "Gen-X Cops"

As a textbook millennial who cut her music-loving teeth writing posts on Tumblr about Modern Vampires of the City, I’ve always felt a through-line between my love for music writing and the dizzying, chaotic sonics of a blitzy Vampire Weekend track like “Gen-X Cops.” This go round, the lyrics about trying to fit our dwindling aspirations into societal shapes that don’t quite ever fit are still there, while the New York City band’s sound continues to evolve with stirring pristine sonics that still let them pay homage to the “A-Punk” staccato melodies they made a name with.

— Erica Campbell, Music Editor

Chappell Roan - "Good Luck, Babe!"

It just wouldn’t be appropriate to talk about music in the year of our lord 2024 without a mention of Ms. Chappell Roan. I mean that on a global scale but on a personal one as well, having gotten a side-stage and front-row first-hand listen of The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess at Gov Ball and Lollapalooza, not to mention witnessing her VMAs antics and, most importantly, being one of the first sets of eyes to read Joan Summers’ dissertation on the principal pop star for PAPER’s cover story. Imaginative, timeless and melodically mesmerizing, “Good Luck, Babe!” is a short film in song form — a perfect, relatable sermon from the one that got away, with enough cheek and desperation in the chorus to make you wonder if future you (or them) will “have to stop the world just to stop the feeling?”

— Erica Campbell, Music Editor

JADE - "Angel Of My Dreams"

Nobody really expected a solo debut from a member of Little Mix to dominate gay guy music video night in 2024, least of all me. JADE's jaw-dropping breakthrough blends her cutting lyricism and Xenomania-era proclivities — an era that birthed Girls Aloud and so much future-thinking British pop music. The song looks back on her time in the 2010s' last-standing girl group and then twists back around to the future Xenomania's many offsprings sang toward all those decades ago. The prophecy it speaks of is, perhaps, 2025's album of the year.

— Joan Summers, Writer

Addison Rae - "Diet Pepsi"

It's silly to say that my own experience of losing all my innocence in the backseat this summer to this very song is partly to blame for my feelings about Addison Rae. Don't tell my boyfriend I told the internet that. To write about my sex life in a review of the best music this year could put my critical lens to shame were I to ascribe to the belief that criticism is a fixed point and not something informed by the experience of life. And, in my experience, I've never seen someone Uno-reverse fate quite like Addison Rae. Her first attempt as a legitimate pop music career flopped so badly she was laughed out of just about everywhere but Charli xcx's studio sessions. An outcast herself, pop's self-appointed No. 1 angel (and underdog) came down from heaven to help guide the latest reject back towards the limelight. In the time between, Rae discovered SOPHIE and Arca and New York's recently graduated class of downtown cool kids. The result is her metamorphosis into a singular pop sensation that held her own while the summer of Brat raged all around her. It's dense, surprisingly weird and has a lyrical conceit that makes “Espresso” sound like Cocomelon music by comparison.

— Joan Summers, Writer

Beyoncé - "YA YA"

Where Renaissance is a party straight from track one, Cowboy Carter takes its time building towards its crescendos — which only makes those bops hit all the harder. "YA YA" is a journey in itself; Beyoncé finally "introduces" the album more than halfway through its runtime with a crazy stomping beat punctuating her words. It's referential, it's dancey, it's got Beyoncé commanding us to "fuck it" — what else do you need?

— Matt Wille, Managing Editor

Kesha - "JOYRIDE"

The "joy" part of "JOYRIDE" is self-evident from the track's first accordion riff — this is a celebration, and Kesha wants us to party with her while we speed down the freeway together. The first release from her own Kesha Records, the track is a declaration: "I've earned the right to be like this." It's freaky, full to the brim with catchy hooks — Kesha at her best.

— Matt Wille, Managing Editor

Mk.gee - "ROCKMAN"

2024 saw the rise of Mk.gee, the gaunt guitar wunderkind who has been quietly building his own genre of deconstructed indie rock since 2018. With his latest album, Two Star & the Dream Police, Mk.gee saw his tastemaker notoriety transform as a generation of young music consumers found him on TikTok and turned him into an almost Playboi Carti-esque figure of aura and mystery. That’s most clear on his post-album victory lap single “ROCKMAN.” It has all the hallmarks of a Mk.gee record: panting guitar lines, vocals that teeter between syllable sounds and poetry, and a musical peak that feels damn heavenly. When his layered vocals rise to provide a line you can actually make out, “You can laugh it off/ But you started a war,” you may as well be lifting off like the eagle whose caw you can hear throughout the record. It simply rocks.

— Tobias Hess, Writer

Charli xcx, Lorde - "Girl, so confusing featuring lorde"

Has the truth ever felt so fierce? On Lorde’s remix of Charli xcx’s “girl so confusing” the infamously insular New Zealand singer works out her simmering half-beef with Charli with the specificity of a PowerPoint presentation. She hits every bullet point of their up-and-down relationship (canceling plans, public comparisons, projection), but she never fails to return the story to herself. The singer, who’s been largely hidden since 2021’s Solar Power, details her own “war with her body,” flashbacks from childhood taunts and general retreat from public life in one breathless, auto-tuned confession. It's a lot. But rather than coming off as wallowing, Lorde’s truth here feels cathartic, almost euphoric. And for one brief moment, the song transforms her and Charli’s exceptional reality — the nightmare of fame — into one we can all relate to. Life, sometimes, really is so confusing.

— Tobias Hess, Writer

cupcaKke - “Aura”

On "Aura," cupcaKke raps, "In the mirror only time I'm shy/ Cause I got the baddest bitch in my sight." It's been more than six years since we last got a cupcaKke album. In 2019, she had a public breakdown of sorts online where she expressed regret for her raunchy music and said she was going to quit the industry altogether. But this year, we got Dauntless Manifesto, and it felt like a return to form. "Aura" is a standout from the album, a hype track all about feeling comfortable in your skin no matter what you look like as she raps, "Who fuckin' cares about the size you wear?/ You are the baddest bitch, you better act aware." It's a bold comeback for the Chicago rapper who undoubtedly paved the way for acts like Sexyy Red to even exist in the current female rap landscape and a sign of confidence from the sex-positive 27-year-old with a heart of steel.

— Ivan Guzman, Writer

Smerz - “My Producer”

Norweigan duo Smerz came out the box earlier this year with Allina, their EP based around a fictional 2000s pop star who they embody as an alter ego to make their most Pop-with-a-capital-P music yet. Lead single "My Producer" is perhaps the most hardcore track on the project, with an in-your-face synthesizer that smacks you right back to the Electroclash era with a little bit of Britney's Blackout mixed in. It’s a breath of fresh air and an unexpected yet totally fitting move from the endlessly cool duo.

— Ivan Guzman, Writer

oklou - “harvest sky”

One of the greatest joys in my life is dancing by myself in a dark, crowded room (bonus points if there's a full moon in the sky that night), and no other song has captured this in the way that "harvest sky" has. The production is both trance-y and rave-y, which reminds me of the tracks my uncle had on his CDs when he used to DJ at nightclubs in St. Louis in the early aughts, giving the track a feeling of both nostalgia and spiritual timelessness.

— Andrew Nguyen, Fashion Editor

KATSEYE - “Touch”

At the end of summer, as we watched the "Touch" music video, my bestie proclaimed to the group, "These girls is the future." Multicultural K-pop girl group KATSEYE was formed at the end of 2023 on a YouTube series called Dream Academy and the following year, their journey to debuting was documented on Netflix's Pop Star Academy: Katseye. Their second single, "Touch," was everywhere the second half of the year, with everyone doing the dance on TikTok. The lyrics are empowering, and it simply will never get out of my head.

— Andrew Nguyen, Fashion Editor

Doechii, JT - “Alter Ego (with JT)”

Doechii and JT, two of PAPER’s 2024 cover stars, came together to create a track that Doechii has coined as her genre of music, “editorial rap.” The two Florida natives perfectly meshed their styles to create one of the year's best dance tracks. However, the peak for me was getting to see Doechii perform the song live at PAPER’s 40th anniversary party in September, where we all got to scream the song at the top of our lungs.

— Angelina Cantú, Editorial Producer

FKA Twigs - “Eusexua”

“Eusexua” is not just a word — it’s a philosophy, FKA Twigs says of the meaning of her first single and title of her forthcoming album. And although I spent many mornings dancing to “Eusexua” alone in my Brooklyn apartment, my most memorable experience with the song was the first time I played it. I felt transported to Twigs' universe, an all-encompassing state of euphoria. It’s a feeling of pure sensual freedom and the only place I would like to be from now on.

— Angelina Cantú, Editorial Producer

Ariana Grande - “we can’t be friends (wait for your love)”

In “we can’t be friends (wait for your love),” Ariana Grande addresses the public narrative surrounding her new relationship, recent divorce, accusations of infidelity and viral speculations about her character. Her poignant admission to wanting to “let this story die” is followed by confessions of her natural desire to be understood and sit with her truth until she’s inevitably granted sympathy and a return to grace. One of my favorite genres of music is women in the public eye candidly confronting the media about the fish-eye lens they view them under — exploring the unfair and often misogynist, cyclical consequences of being perceived by millions. She maintains her diva status by weaving in a clapback of how good she looks in the midst of controversy; I think we can all aspire to be this self-aware. Oh, and did I mention Max Martin co-produced? So it’s pop perfection — duh!

— Alaska Riley, Social Media Editor

Sabrina Carpenter - “Taste”

PAPER cover star Sabrina Carpenter may be “five feet to be exact,” but she packs a mighty punch. The opening track of her latest album comes in the wake of being in two very publicized love triangles, confronting her exes’ returns to other girls and the women in question. “Singin’ bout it don’t mean I care/ Yeah I know I’ve been known to share!” she sings, adding: “You’ll just have to taste me when he’s kissing you.” It’s playfully empowering, bold in its own right and sets the tone for the rest of the album. A lasting impression is what we all hope for when leaving a relationship, and Carpenter lays it all out on the table over bright disco production. The single comes with a standout music video starring Jenna Ortega and featuring a slew of horror film references. What more could you ask for?

— Alaska Riley, Social Media Editor

Remi Wolf - “Alone in Miami”

I travel a lot, which means I spend a lot of time by myself — and more often than not in unfamiliar cities where I’d otherwise never belong and without any built-in relationships. Remi Wolf captures the dichotomy of this frivolous, albeit exciting lifestyle perfectly on “Alone in Miami” off her sophomore 2024 album, Big Ideas. Between lines like “pop stars in my DMs” and “playin’ DJ in the escalade,” I relate, almost cathartically, to the stories of this woozy garage-pop song. Its bridge is the album’s most impactful, capturing the chaos and isolation of a random night out, of which I’ve had many. “On the highway/ Going fast with my new friends/ It’s 4 AM,” she sings before edging to an almost pained scream: “In the white tent/ Outside listening to German techno/ Laser beams are hitting my eyes at every angle.”

— Justin Moran, Editor-In-Chief

Katie Gavin - “Casual Drug Use”

On her solo debut album, What a Relief, MUNA’s Katie Gavin makes space for all our shortcomings, big and small — "being able to sit with being somebody who makes mistakes and possibly does harm and still being worthy of love," as she told PAPER. Country-pop single “Casual Drug Use” captures the spontaneity of life and the promise of doing better — just not right now. “I'm not gonna lose it/ 'Cause we're not going to get/ Wherever we're going right this moment,” Gavin sings on the chorus, my favorite hook of the entire project, before closing out blissfully and free: “I feel like nothing is ruined,” she posits, regardless of her questionable decisions.

— Justin Moran, Editor-In-Chief

PAPER's Best Albums of 2024

Photos via Getty / courtesy of the artists
Graphic design: Jewel Baek