No strings attached. The triumph of the Year of the Woman. Singer-songwriter Sharon Van Etten chose 2019 not only to make a comeback from a short hiatus, but to emerge with a new, powerful and assured sound. Van Etten had titled her 2010 LP Epic, but it wasn't until this year that she truly realized that title. Employing synths and drum machines, Van Etten's new sound was a stark departure from her past, and while we loved her older recordings, the new record left us speechless. If, like us, you ever thought that your life wouldn't be complete until you heard Sharon Van Etten powerfully screaming at you while on a stepladder at the beach, then Seventeen is the video for you.
According to Pitchfork (which rated Seventeen as No. 185 of the Top 200 Songs of the 2010s), "Sharon Van Etten’s best songs are often marked by their restraint: There’s a feeling that her husky and wide-ranging voice, along with her roiling guitars, could run off the rails, but they’re held in place by her steadfast sense of control. Seventeen, from this year’s Remind Me Tomorrow, stretches this idea to the limit—and then careens right past it. The song is immaculately arranged, a lockstep keyboard-rock anthem that’s artfully mussed with synth wobbles and Van Etten’s quavering vocals. But then, as her ambivalent reflections on a youthful doppelgänger wind down, she unleashes a full-throated scream: 'Afraid that you’ll be just like me,' she bellows, losing her cool but gaining something even fiercer."
Runner-Up/For Your Consideration: The Year of the Woman: It was a hard choice between Van Etten's Remind Me Tomorrow and Angel Olsen's All Mirrors for the No. 1 album on this list, and the best solution seemed to be to rank them 1/2, each with the runner-up spot on the other's listing. While Seventeen is probably the song that likely will most remind us of 2019 in the future, if there had to be one song you heard right before you die, possibly even as you peacefully pass on, wouldn't you really want Angel Olsen's Chance to gracefully guide you to the next realm?
According to Pitchfork (which rated Seventeen as No. 185 of the Top 200 Songs of the 2010s), "Sharon Van Etten’s best songs are often marked by their restraint: There’s a feeling that her husky and wide-ranging voice, along with her roiling guitars, could run off the rails, but they’re held in place by her steadfast sense of control. Seventeen, from this year’s Remind Me Tomorrow, stretches this idea to the limit—and then careens right past it. The song is immaculately arranged, a lockstep keyboard-rock anthem that’s artfully mussed with synth wobbles and Van Etten’s quavering vocals. But then, as her ambivalent reflections on a youthful doppelgänger wind down, she unleashes a full-throated scream: 'Afraid that you’ll be just like me,' she bellows, losing her cool but gaining something even fiercer."
Runner-Up/For Your Consideration: The Year of the Woman: It was a hard choice between Van Etten's Remind Me Tomorrow and Angel Olsen's All Mirrors for the No. 1 album on this list, and the best solution seemed to be to rank them 1/2, each with the runner-up spot on the other's listing. While Seventeen is probably the song that likely will most remind us of 2019 in the future, if there had to be one song you heard right before you die, possibly even as you peacefully pass on, wouldn't you really want Angel Olsen's Chance to gracefully guide you to the next realm?
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