BEST POP SOLOPERFORMANCE“SPIRIT”BEYONCÉ
During a year that included the live-album release of her 2018 Coachella performance and accompanying doc-umentary, found time to produce and curate Lion King: The GiftHomecoming, the companion , Beyoncé also The
album to Disney’s live-action remake of the film, in which she voiced the character Nala. She announced the project with its lead single, “SPIRIT,” a rousing ballad about personal destiny and resilience that both traces
and transcends the narrative of the movie, opening with a chant in Swa-hili, a nod to Africa, where the film is set. “Spirit, can you hear it calling?” roars Queen Bey in the hook, as the bare piano hymn transforms into a
hand-clapping anthem. The track reached No. 7 on Hot R&B Songs and also cracked the Billboard Hot 100. “Bad Guy”BILLIE EILISH
The dark standout track from Eil-breaking spirit and appetite for the sulates the 17-year-old star’s rule-Asleep, Wish’s debut album, macabre. Where Do With sinister humming, We Go?hen W, encap-e All Fall
finger snaps and ominous bass, Eilish sings about being the “might-seduce-your-dad type,” capping off the cho-rus with a dead-panned “duh” that has become a wait-for-it moment for fans during live performances. Eil-
ish knows she’s taking on a persona usually reserved for men in other genres — the song’s droll, sarcastic tone seems to say, “Wshe?” Fans agreed: The villainous tune reached No. 1 on the Hot 100 hy shouldn’t
in August, dethroning Lil Nas X’s record-breaking run with “Old Town Road,” making Eilish the first artist born in the 2000s to top the chart.“7 Rings”
ARIANA GRANDEHaving called off her own engage-ment in 2018, Grande and six of her friends went to Tiffany’s for “retail
therapy” and left with matching engagement rings. This inspired “7 Rings,” the pop-trap hybrid that interpolates “Mcareer success and friendship. “I y Favorite Things” and celebrates The Sound of Music’s
don’t want to conform to the pop star agenda,” Grande told shortly before releasing the track, which finds the star — who first became famous for her multi-octave vocal range — sing-rapping (2 Chainz Billboard
even hopped on a remix). The song’s catchy “I want it, I got it” refrain became inescapable, helping make it Grande’s second and longest-running No. 1 on the Hot 100, where it reigned for eight weeks.
“LIZZOTruth Hurts”Wperformed “Truth Hurts” in front of an inflatable butt at the MMa triumph two years in the making. Lizzo originally released the song in usic Awards in August, it marked hen rapper-singer-flutist Lizzo TV Video
2017, but a synch in Netflix’s Greatgence for the instantly quotable jam, which is Grammy-eligible due to its appearance on the deluxe version of her album contributed to a 2019 resur-Cuz I Love You. The Someone
song’s “I just took a DNA test” line is now ubiquitous, but others — “I don’t play tag, bitch/I been it” — are just as punchy, and “Truth Hurts” has become an anthem for empowerment and self-love. It topped the Hot 100
for seven weeks, making “Truth Hurts” the longest-running solo female rap No. 1 in history.“You Need to Calm Down”TAYLOR SWUpon its release as the second single off her seventh album, breezy, electronic groove had the feel of a cool kiss-off to Swift’s online hat-IFT Lover, this
ers. “You’re taking shots at me like it’s Patrón,” she sings with crisp enuncia-tion, calling Twitter a “cop-out.” But with a colorful music video released during Pride Mcameos from Ellen DeGeneres, Jona-onth — featuring
than Van Ness and RuPaul — Swift revealed that the track is also meant to combat homophobia, and that the use of the word “glad” in the chorus is actually a shout-out to the LGBTQ advocacy group GLAAD. The song
debuted at No. 2 on the Hot 100, and the video has racked up over 160 mil-lion views on YouTube.Beyoncé at Hampden Park in Glasgow in 2018.
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74 BILLBOARD • DECEMBER 7, 2019^ MAZUR/GETTY^ IMAGESKVINE