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- The 10 best songs released in September that you may have missed
The 10 best songs released in September that you may have missed
Callie Ahlgrim,Courteney Larocca
- Insider's music team rounded up our 10 favorite songs released in September 2022.
- They include "End of Beginning" by Djo, "Serial Heartbreaker" by FLETCHER, and "Not My Job" by FLO.
"I'm in Love With You" by The 1975
"I'm in Love With You" is a rush of classic Matt Healy magic — another wave of the same wand that brought us "The Sound," "Me & You Together Song," and "If You're Too Shy (Let Me Know)."
For the self-described "sycophantic, prophetic, Socratic junkie wannabe," it's also a moment of rare and precious simplicity: "It's not that deep / I've been counting my blessings, thinking this through," he sings in the bridge. "Just like, one, two, yeah, I'm in love with you."
"No Hay Ley" by Kali Uchis
"No Hay Ley" is one of Kali Uchis' most compelling and hip-swiveling songs to date — a potent blend of early-aughts pop, Latin house music, and earnest lyricism.
"I wrote this song about putting love above all else," Uchis explained in a press release. "'En el amor no hay ley' means 'there are no laws to love.' Be with who makes you happy, and don't listen to what anyone else has to say about it because it wasn't their business in the first place!"
"Talking to Yourself" by Carly Rae Jepsen
Every pop purist should be put onto Carly Rae Jepsen if they haven't been already. Her latest release, "Talking to Yourself," is an endlessly catchy sugar-rush of a song that will delight fans of her 2015 pop bible "Emotion" or anyone with an affinity for '80s synth-pop.
The third single from Jepsen's upcoming album "The Loneliest Time" has all the ingredients of a hit: a synth solo, an inflection you spend half the track waiting for (her lilt on "subliminal"), and a hook built upon rhetorical questions we've all found ourselves asking in the dead of night: "Are you thinking of me when you're with somebody else? / Do you talk to me when you're talking to yourself?"
"Northern Attitude" by Noah Kahan
It may just be TikTok's curated algorithm or my own inclination to play it as soon as I open Spotify, but Noah Kahan's "Stick Season" has been unavoidable since the Vermont native released the single in July.
Bridging the gap between the viral track and the album it shares its name with, out October 14, was "Northern Attitude," a solid follow-up to a breakthrough track and the perfect precursor to autumn.
In his own words, Kahan crossed over into a new realm of songwriting with "Stick Season." "Northern Attitude" completes that transition. He's living in that space now; this song is what you get when a songwriter grants himself the freedom to feel deeply.
"The lyrics I sang came from a place of total creative freedom and I did not think they meant anything at all at first," he wrote of "Northern Attitude," adding, "It wasn't until I listened to the lyrics that I had vomited out of my brain that I realized I had been trying to write them for years. I was singing about isolation, about loneliness, about trying to assess who you are and where your life is going, and about accepting that and opening yourself up to love either way."
"End of Beginning" by Djo
Djo, better known as "Stranger Things" actor Joe Keery, has become a surprisingly reliable vehicle for amorphous, feel-good psych-pop.
The highlight of his new album "Decide" is easily "End of Beginning," but more specifically the chorus ("And when I'm back in Chicago, I feel it / Another version of me, I was in it"), which is guaranteed to conjure a mighty wave of nostalgia whether or not you've ever been to Illinois.
"Serial Heartbreaker" by FLETCHER
On the heels of her viral single "Becky's So Hot" — which pulls you in with gossipy intrigue before it knocks you out with an irresistibly screamable chorus — "Serial Heartbreaker" picks up the mantle with ease.
Again, FLETCHER nods to the real-life drama and accusations ("Sensitive, but not enough / I'm not the best at breaking up") before she harnesses that energy for a Paramore-indebted, self-deprecating singalong ("Hurry, baby, fuck me up!"). The soaring chorus almost makes "Serial Heartbreaker" sound like a compliment.
"Frankenstein" by Rina Sawayama
As Rob Sheffield noted for Rolling Stone, "Frankenstein" is Rina Sawayama's greatest triumph on "Hold the Girl," her eclectic sophomore album.
"She begs for a Dr. Frankenstein to take control of her and rebuild her — 'please put me together' — until she breaks down in the chant, 'I don't want to be a monster anymore,'" he wrote. "'Frankenstein' sums up Sawayama at her musical and emotional extremes — like so many people these days, she feels torn between the desire to be beautiful and the need to be free."
"Stonecatcher" by Marcus Mumford featuring Phoebe Bridgers
To paraphrase Taylor Swift, if Phoebe Bridgers is singing something, it's worth your time to listen.
Her spectral backing vocals add a layer of reverence to the penultimate track on "Self-Titled," the debut solo album from Marcus Mumford, throughout which he confronts childhood trauma and forges a path towards forgiveness.
Mumford's distinctive poeticism is at its peak on "Stonecatcher" — a fact that Bridgers herself would attest to.
"Phoebe came in and heard the word 'heinous,'" the Mumford & Sons frontman told Variety. "And she said, 'Dude, did you get the word heinous into a song? I'll sing on it.'"
"Satellite" by Khalid
"Satellite" is a bright swirl of acoustic guitar and Khalid's celebrated falsetto, described by the singer as "a visual portrait of my growth as a human being and the self-love journey I have experienced in my life."
Khalid has always been a master of charismatic melodies and "Satellite" is no exception. It's the kind of song you could send to virtually any pop lover, add to any driving playlist, blast at any function, and feel confident it'll be met with enthusiasm.
"Not My Job" by FLO
FLO's debut EP "The Lead" is a glorious revival of girl-power R&B, reminiscent of precocious stars like Brandy and JoJo. "Not My Job" is especially scorching. It scratches a very specific itch from the 2000s, kind of like an evolved heir of the Cheetah Girls' "Cinderella."
Listen to the best songs released in September, including 10 bonus tracks, on Insider's Spotify.
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