Returning to finish this piece has been a struggle, largely due to grief, but also chronic illness, my day job, and *gestures wildly* everything awful happening in the U.S. and around the world in 2025. Every month I have tried to sit down with this music list, and every month until now I have failed. Finding the words has been impossible. Even in this moment, it is difficult to hold space for my emotions, to not close the computer and walk away from this once again. I've also thought a lot about if finishing this list is even worth it, given how little I write for my own music website anymore.
|
In order to find a more sustainable balance of work and rest in my life, and to release myself from the burden of extra unpaid work that chains me to a computer screen (after 40+ hours a week at my day job, volunteer emails, life emails, and paid freelance writing), I will likely just be doing these once a year "best of's" and whatever strikes my fancy (if anything), for the foreseeable future. It pains me to purposefully take a step back, when I still have so much love for music — but if I don't, I'll become so burnt out that I could lose even that, too.
However, 2024 was a year with some really great music, and I don't want to forget that. So please enjoy this (delayed) best of 2024 list and playlist. I hate that it's late. But sometimes, I have to admit that done is better than perfect.