Top 10 Songs of October | blog

To those of you who are Spotify Wrapped haters – I’m sorry (no I’m not) – but Wrapped season is coming a little early this year in the form of this blog post. I’m not really a journaler, so periodically checking my most listened to songs of the past 30 days is some of the only introspection I ever do, and I take it very seriously. Sometimes, what Receiptify.com (a website that pulls your Spotify data to show your most listened to songs over the past month) reveals to me on the first of every month really shocks my sensibilities. Other times it’s just funny. A particularly memorable summary was the time my top 10 was comprised entirely of songs from the 1992 film Newsies. This month, luckily, was a little more diverse. I’ll keep what these listening habits reveal about my inner psyche to myself here, and instead use this top 10 as an opportunity to simply share some great music.

My top 10 most listened to songs of October, as generated by Receiptify:

1. “T&A” by Blondshell – I discovered Blondshell last year through my music journalism idol Yasi Salek and, frankly, I should really send her an Edible Arrangement or something as a thank you. This song is so simple, and I cannot get enough of it. There’s an excellent, stripped-down version of it featuring only vocals and an electric guitar posted by @botanique_bxl on Instagram that I’ve been watching on repeat for weeks. The clarity in her voice and her lyrics combined make for an earworm that I just love. She’s self-deprecating, funny, and raw in this song. I laugh, I cry, I press repeat. 
2. “West End Girl” by Lilly Allen – This is the first and title track from Lilly Allen’s new album, and it is literally perfect in both of those roles. It’s so cute and sweet-sounding at first, her coquettish delivery leading you to believe it’s going to be a lovely, love-y album. Then we hear her end of the phone call with her now ex-husband, David Harbour, where he proposes they have an open marriage. Insane vibe switch. Of course, the phone call is re-created, but it feels so intimate, and she does NOT stop there with the personal details in this album. I think it’s interesting that she alludes to the Pet Shop Boys song of the same title so overtly. Escapism is so prevalent in both songs, but in Allen’s case applies to both her and her ex. His “escape” is infidelity, but hers is so much more perilous. She escaped a true nightmare of a person and marriage, it seems. I would love to hear her talk more about why she made this the title of the album. 
3. “For Sure” by American Football – American Football is one of those bands that is tied to a specific season in my head, and when their time (fall) rolls around, they do not leave my headphones. I, randomly, really love trumpets. I have a vivid memory of someone performing a trumpet solo in Auld Lang Syne during my high school’s winter band concert one year that seriously brought me to tears. The trumpet part in this song does the same thing for me. It’s just so beautiful. I love that this album is considered one of the most quintessential in emo/indie history because it’s not at all what you might expect from those genres, but if you trace the lineage of almost any modern alternative band, you’ll find yourself at their door, and it somehow makes perfect sense. Also, the American Football x Vans collab was hilarious, and I am upset I didn’t get a pair. 
4. “Dallas Major” by Lilly Allen – This song is Allen describing her experience on dating apps post-divorce, and wow, does she describe the misery of those godforsaken places perfectly. I would love to know how she chose the name Dallas Major, both as an alter ego and/or a song title. I think it perfectly portrays the cool, unbothered person she was trying to portray in her dating life and her public persona in that strange, transitional phase that (I assume) follows the dissolution of a marriage. The record scratching in the chorus is reminiscent of that quintessential move scene in which the character stops and says, “You might be wondering how I got here.” I love that she is saying, “I don’t know how the hell this became my life, and I really hate it, but I’m going to do it anyway.” 
5. “Good Ol’ Days” by Hayley Williams – Hayley Williams solo projects are always guaranteed to be good, but this one has been unbelievable. At the time of writing, I have not been able to get my hands on a physical copy of the album, meaning I have not yet heard the final track. I’m hoping – foolishly – that it will sew up all the pieces she has shattered my heart into with this song and “Parachute.” Without getting too parasocial, my little heart can’t take the reality of a Hayley Williams/Taylor York breakup. As a person who truly deciphers my own feelings through songs written by other people, I love it when you can tell an artist is an avid music fan themselves. Stars, they’re just like us! In “Good Ol’ Days,” Williams first sings about needing a surfboard to navigate the unpredictable tides of love, alluding to the Beyoncé/Jay Z song “Drunk In Love,” and thus their very public marriage/cheating scandal and the iconic breakup album Lemonade. Then, she contrasts herself with Stevie Nicks, another quintessential female artist who was the center of a scandalous, public breakup that resulted in some of the most iconic music of all time. I hate that Hayley is going through it, but love that she is entering, or rather reinforcing her place in (she already has some iconic breakup songs), the canon of female artists with universe-shifting breakup songs. 
6. “Pussy Palace” by Lilly Allen – Truly incredible that this song seems to open with a slowed version of the Stranger Things theme song, the show her ex-husband rose to fame on. This song is so explicit in its accusations, and I love it. The chorus is sonically ethereal yet fairly lyrically crude. The effect is truly magnificent. I’m not here to evangelize on the ethics of cheating or to defend the morals of two celebrities whom I have never and will never meet, but seriously, if I were David Harbour, I would go into hiding after hearing this. Really appreciate that she absolutely tore him to shreds while also making an album that just sounds great. Okay, I promise that’s the last Lilly Allen on the list, but please take this as your sign to listen to the album if you haven’t yet. 
7. “Inferno” By Bladee and Yung Lean – I have nothing intelligent to say about this one because Bladee and the music he makes are such an enigma to me. His discography is 50/50 for me. Some songs I find so incredibly boring and stupid that I can’t listen all the way through, but others I become so obsessed with that I have to listen to them in increments of 10 at a time. His lyrics also sometimes lend themselves perfectly to becoming the word or phrase I repeat compulsively for weeks. From “Inferno,” I have adopted “lol I’m dead,” and before that, it was “It’s so absurd, it’s so bizarre,” from “Flatline.” I could not tell you why I become so obsessed, I just do, and that’s why I find him so fascinating. Plus, he keeps posting photos of some of the most beautiful fall scenery I’ve ever seen on his Instagram story, which I find endearingly absurd. 
8. “Waltz (Better Than Fine) by Fiona Apple – First, as a fan of parentheses, may I just say I love this song title. Second, Fiona Apple is an artist who – much like American Football – I always gravitate toward in the fall. There is also, coincidentally, a great horn section in this song, which I only just now put together. Apparently, I’m having a brass instrument fall. Apple’s instrumentals are always great, and this song is no exception. Fiona Apple always makes me feel better. She’s an artist whom I find to be almost unfathomably smart and whose songs always seem to find me at the exact right time. This song, though, is especially comforting. “No, I don’t believe in the wasting of time / But I don’t believe that I’m wasting mine,” is an adage that I believe should be forcibly read to every lost, confused, twenty-something who feels like they’re doing all the wrong things. Fiona, if you’re reading this, I love you. 
9. “I’ll See You When We’re Both Not So Emotional” by American Football – A classically long emo song title. In the words of Yasi Salek, we used to be a proper country. Anyway, the vocals in this song are also quintessentially emo in their whiny-ness, and the guitar reminds me of another emo founding father, Jimmy Eat World. A song like this is much more what I expect when I think about this album as a sacred text of alternative. Its diversity is so incredible, and if my vote counts for anything, it has absolutely earned its place as a keystone of the genre. 
10. “Talk Tonight” by Oasis – I am absolutely shocked this one wasn’t higher. As I declared on my Instagram story a few days ago, I am officially having an Oasis autumn. Most of the time, when I talk about how much I love Oasis, I’m referring to their insane, hilarious, archetypically British antics. Sometimes, though, I am actually referring to their music, and this is one of those times. I seriously considered asking that woman on TikTok who makes wedding processional versions of songs on piano to do this song. I think Oasis’s greatest strength is their brutal honesty. Their lack of filter is what made/makes them so deeply hilarious to watch, but also what makes their good songs great. Even if what they’re being honest about isn’t particularly serious, the song still comes out exponentially better than it would have if a poser had written it. For example, “Supersonic” is great because they’re just like “yeah, I am in the biggest band in the world right now and I’m doing coke and partying and it’s fucking awesome,” and it simply works. It’s not an earth-shatteringly interesting song conceptually, but it rips. Talk Tonight isn’t necessarily “deep” either, but it’s so heartfelt. Despite it coming in at number 10, I think I am officially declaring it THE song of the fall.