Melissa Kacar

Released as the lead single for her eight studio album, Fever , Kylie Minogue 's "Can't Get You Out Of My Head" signaled a massive shift in pop music. The song's dance pop elements threaded with an ultra-modern approach to disco in a way that felt effortlessly cool and simple, yet still sleek and refined. It revived the dance pop genre for a new generation of listeners, proving how powerful minimalism and mood could be in shaping the sound of the new century. It remains a true cornerstone of early‑2000's pop perfection. The track was written and produced by Cathy Dennis and Rob Davis. Cathy is responsible for co-writing some of the most timeless pop songs ever made, including "Toxic" by Britney Spears and "I Kissed A Girl" by Katy Perry . Rob would go on to collaborate with Kylie throughout much of Fever and beyond, as well as with artists like Sophie Ellis‑Bextor and others who helped define the era's sound. "It was a very fluid...

Ten years ago,  Billie Eilish  uploaded her very first song onto SoundCloud. When she recorded "ocean eyes" she was only 13 years old, yet instantly cemented herself as one of the defining voices of this generation of music. The track was written, produced, and mixed by her brother,  Finneas , who was 18 at the time. Originally intended for his band, he realized his sister's voice would suit the song much better. They recorded it together and uploaded it independently to SoundCloud, simply with the intention of wanting Billie's dance teacher to choreograph a routine to it. What happened next was beyond anything they imagined, with the song organically going viral overnight. "So my brother wrote it, and he kind of just came into my room one night and said, 'I have this song, and I want you to sing it.' I sang it, and it was weirdly exactly what I was going through at the time, which was weird," Billie said in a 2017 interview for Lexus' Artist Spo...

On "Ribs", Lorde captures the feelings of adolescence in a way like no other has before. She was only 16 years old when this song came out - to have had this level of deep insight and sage wisdom at that age to write a song like this is so remarkable. In many ways it is a bittersweet lament about growing up and becoming an adult, but also not wanting to leave youth behind. "Ribs" was inspired by a crazy house party she, her sister, and their friend threw when her parents were gone. It is what she later referred to as "the kind of party people write books about," at one of her shows. It is filled with so much nostalgia and gives a sense of yearning for the past and fear of the future. "This dream isn't feeling sweet, we're reeling through the midnight streets and I've never felt more alone, it feels so scary, getting old", she sings in the chorus with almost a sense of urgency. It is featured as the fourth track on her 2013 debut album...

Rina Sawayama 's "XS" delivers such a cool and sharply written take on consumerism and excess, and how deeply it’s woven into our identities. She approaches the topic in such a unique way, one that feels satirical and purposefully exaggerated, as if to mirror the very culture she's critiquing. "Cartiers and Tesla Xs, Calabasas, I deserve it," she sings in the first pre-chorus. "Call me crazy, call me selfish, I'm the baddest and I'm worth it". Sonically, it's a wild collision of styles all at once. It shifts from polished pop perfection to chaotic bursts of distortion throughout, mirroring the cracks beneath the hyper curated surface. Released as the second single from her 2020 sophomore album SAWAYAMA , the song felt incredibly relevant at the time, but its themes have only grown sharper and even more relevant in the years to follow.  It's also very early‑2000s coded in a way that feels nostalgic and referential, but also with a di...

For an album that Phoebe Bridgers once described in an interview with DORK as "sorta about the end of the world," Punisher ended up being released at a time that made that sentiment feel more relevant than ever. Although this album was completed before the pandemic hit, its release in early summer 2020 ended up becoming the perfect soundtrack for that surreal and uncertain time. Arriving alongside the height of a global health crisis and rising political unrest in the United States, Punisher ended up being this very timely release and a sign of the times in a lot of ways, without ever necessarily intending to be. Nowhere does that notion resonate more than in the closing track, "I Know The End" . The song begins in a quiet, disoriented frame of mind, with Phoebe singing, "Somewhere in Germany, but I can't place it, man, I hate this part of Texas, close my eyes, fantasize three clicks and I'm home," in the opening verse. "When I get back, I...

"Telephone Busy" by 5 Seconds of Summer "Telephone Busy" is not only my new favorite song that 5 Seconds of Summer has ever released, but its easily one of my top favorites of the entire year as well. If this single is any indication of what's to come with the rest of EVERYONE'S A STAR! then it is going to be some of their best work yet. The chorus is insanely infectious, the hypnotic hook has been stuck in my head ever since I first listened to it and have had it on repeat constantly. I also just got tickets to see them live next year in New York City , which I am so excited for!! "Puddles" by Not For Radio The opening song off of María Zardoya's debut solo side project, titled Not For Radio , immediately pulls the listener into the world she creates within this music.  Melt   is such a gorgeous album and I cannot recommend listening to it enough, with "Puddles" beautifully setting the tone for the rest of what's to come with ...