Billy West’s 5 Songs, Artists, and Albums that Filled the Void in 2022

By Billy West

Hey there, Billy here. I’m hoping that the end of your year is going exactly as you want it to be going. If not, that’s okay, there’s always next year! After all, filling the ever-growing void that life feeds is challenging. For me, these were the top 5 artists, albums, and songs that helped filled my void in 2022:

1. Nas, Illmatic, “Life’s A Bitch”: My most played song of the year was Nas’s “Life’s a Bitch.” I got back into Illmatic in late 2021 and that carried right into 2022. Today’s rap doesn’t hit the same when Nas yells out, “Life’s a bitch and then you die!” followed by some smooth jazz set to a solid beat. Additionally, Illmatic was featured in season four of Netflix’s Ozark, an excellent crime thriller that is definitely worth checking out if you’re into that sort of thing. Ozark used this song very well, which I appreciated. All of this is to say that, as the kids haven’t said for 30 years, this song is a bop. 

2. Arctic Monkeys, The Car: AM’s latest album continues the orchestrated sound that they found in Tranquility Bass and Hotel Casinos. If we’re all being completely honest here, who isn’t going to get a little whimsical and wistful when listening to Alex Turner sing to such beautiful music? The Car really made you feel like you were in a car. Incredible. Bravo Mr. Turner.

3. Steve Lacy, “Bad Habit”: My song of Summer 2022. Couldn’t stop listening to it. I belted out the lyrics in the shower over the sound of my wife and her boyfriend in the other room. Great summer!

4. Dan Romer, Station Eleven Soundtrack / “Doctor Eleven”: I’m not usually a soundtrack guy, but I watched way too much TV in 2022. Station Eleven, a fantastic show on HBO Max, was scored beautifully by Dan Romer. If there’s one song I’d have to pick from the album it would be “Doctor Eleven.” The song is so hopeful and builds up to short bursts of happiness—kind of like my life except much less hopeful.

5. MIKE, New York’s best up rapper right now is MIKE. I heard him bumping in a vinyl store in Manhattan and couldn’t get his unique voice and sound out of my head. When I walked out of that vinyl store, I was suddenly wearing a Yankees hat and a Knicks jersey. He was my favorite discovery of the year and helped take the sting off of not getting to see a naked guy on the subway during my weekend in the Big Apple. Maybe next year!

Hopefully you enjoyed this and discovered (or rediscovered) some good tunes. I normally write about TV and other things related to whatever it is I feel like writing about, which you can check out on my Substack (and even subscribe to if you’d like): https://billywest.substack.com/.