Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
TIME Magazine recently released their list of top 10 songs of 2024. It’s the time of the year when outlets big and small start to release year-end recap lists and dub various artists, songs and albums as their top picks. For instance, Rolling Stone tapped Chappel Roan’s “Good Luck, Babe!” as their top song of the year, followed by two of 2024’s biggest songs: Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” and Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy).” The New York Times and Pitchfork both hailed Kendrick Lamar’s chart-topper, “Not Like Us,” as their top song of 2024. I would wager most outlets would have some variation of Lamar or Shaboozey’s song as the top song or near the top, considering the impact and ubiquitousness of both songs.
TIME Magazine, though, went a different direction, tapping GloRilla’s club banger, trunk rattler, “TGIF” as their top song of 2024, which is both an intriguing pick and a bit of a surprise. For the record, I’m fine with the pick, or at least fine enough not to quibble with it. For one, who doesn’t love GloRilla? Real question. I’m not sure people who don’t enjoy GloRilla are to be trusted; you definitely can’t let them influence your kids.
Secondly, while Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” absolutely dominated the charts and broke all sorts of streaming records and had folks from 8 to 80 (really 4 to 100) saying “O-V-Ho,” do you know what I heard every time folks gathered in my house all summer long?
“It’s 7pm on Friday, it’s 95 degrees/I ain’t got no (CENSORED) and no (CENSORED) ain’t got me…”
It didn’t matter if it was Friday or 95 degrees outside, it felt like both every time folks gathered for any reason. The first time I played “TGIF” in my car, I swear I felt the calendar move and it got hotter outside — true story. GloRilla did her big one with that song and that rumbling bassline was perfect for any and every occasion. Picnics, church gatherings, funerals…you name it, it felt like Friday everywhere all summer long. It’s why despite being slightly surprised that TIME Magazine has “TGIF” as their best song of 2024, something I probably wouldn’t have considered without seeing it in print somewhere else first, I’m alright with the pick. And because TIME felt like shaking some tables, according to them, the second best song of 2024 was not “Not Like Us” but Tinashe’s “Nasty.” We see you, fam.
TGIF, TIME. TGIF.
Panama Jackson is a columnist at theGrio and host of the award-winning podcast, “Dear Culture” on theGrio Black Podcast Network. He writes very Black things, drinks very brown liquors, and is pretty fly for a light guy. His biggest accomplishment to date coincides with his Blackest accomplishment to date in that he received a phone call from Oprah Winfrey after she read one of his pieces (biggest) but he didn’t answer the phone because the caller ID said “Unknown” (Blackest).
