My Favorite Songs of 2016: Spotify Playlist

This doesn't give anything away in terms of my final rankings, which are still getting rolled out slowly. Instead, I put this list together mixtape-fashion, trying to make it something you can put on and play and get alternately hype and sad, which the sort of musical bipolarism I aspire to create.

I'm slipping it into your locker with a carefully hand-lettered song list and a kitschy title of some kind, probably pulled from one of the song's lyrics. It's recorded on a Maxell High-Bias XLII 110-minute cassette for maximum quality. You slip it quietly into your stereo as you drive home. It's already cued up to track one, ready to define the album's whole tone.

The song comes on, warm and fun, and you smile and roll down the windows.