Unfortified Castle

Zedd's serene house-pop production featuring Troye Sivan was the first track of its kind that impressed me with the greater story it told.

I'd been sitting on this song for a while, never imagining I'd write about it for this reason... but it painfully fits the moment.

Jim Croce's ballad is never an easy listen for me, especially now as I think of major life changes coming in the short term.

My 210th Senior Year Soundtrack selection is a staple of 2000s pop... sort of.

Depeche Mode's most successful song is an inner monologue, formed in a moment when the outside world is quiet.

...but the meme's wide reach means that's how most think of the Blue Öyster Cult's classic tune.

It's a fitting song to soundtrack my return home... but that's a pretty new way for me to approach it.

That's a question I've had recently as I've gotten to thinking about just one of Janelle Monáe's show-stopping numbers.

Outkast's magnum opus has taken on quite an interesting life since its 2000 release.

*deep breath* This is a pretty personal piece, but that's because of what this song means and has meant to me.

Elderbrook and Bob Moses' lyrically driven house production has been a personal anthem since I first heard it about half a year ago.

As weird as that sounds, that's exactly how Sting positions his lyrics in one of the Police's many timeless hits.

125 seconds. 26 "I know"s. Four chords. One perfectly short piece of art.

One of the finest pop compositions of the 60s is very much embedded in its time.

Ed Sheeran's tale of one Angel grapples with connection, addiction, and its subject's all-too-likely fate.

My old System of a Down favorite is extreme in its timbral changes, but musically consistent — a recipe for an intense, engaging listen.

It's a somewhat confusing song by a band with a somewhat confusing name: The The. How fitting.

Their title track from last summer's EP has an unavoidable gravitas as it speaks to the fallout the innocent suffer from war.

Is it cool? (Is it cool?) I don't know, but it's February 14, and it feels right.

As I've done twice before, I pay tribute to a recently deceased musician by looking back at one of their works.