Hey! Sam here with my last newsletter of 2024. 

For starters, wanna thank you all for supporting this new-little-show-that-could. We taped just two pilots before launch this October – two! – and we are definitely building the plane in real time as we’re flying it. But we're getting there, and this week’s episode is a testament to that forward movement. 

There’s a lovely conversation with Jessica Williams in your feeds now, all about her Emmy-nominated acting work on the Apple TV+ hit Shrinking. Jessica plays a warm-hearted therapist named Gaby on the show, so we clearly discussed therapy and mental health a LOT. But Jessica and I also went deep on life after The Daily Show and lessons she learned there that she’ll never forget, as well as ruminating on race and Hollywood, what it feels like to freeze your eggs, and why she’ll always take a free drink at the bar from a fan. It’s wide-ranging and open-hearted, and the kind of conversation I want to keep having for a very, very long time. I hope you enjoy it! 

Alright, with that, can we take a really sharp turn? I want to talk about my favorite song of the year. You’ve heard me mention the artist behind it on the show before: Remi Wolf (check out her KCRW Guest DJ set!). I will confess to you now that a full half of my 2024 has just been a complete obsession with her song “Alone In Miami.” 

I can only explain the song by having you read the lyrics first. Here: https://genius.com/Remi-wolf-alone-in-miami-lyrics

In the first two lines of “Alone In Miami,” Remi sets up the central conflict and beauty of the song: She’s describing being surrounded by all kinds of people — at a series of parties, no less — while telling the listener (and a former lover?) how lonely she feels in spite of it all. 

She’s eating Cubanos by herself, but she can hear the crypto bros nearby. The walls of the Art Deco museum are closing in on her, but also she’s watching all these young women in thongs roam by, while pop stars DM her. 

Remi sets a scene I’ve never been in: Art Basel, I assume, as a VIP. Getting drugs delivered. Getting clothes delivered. Getting on a list for an exclusive party. Getting delivered to said party while eating sushi someone else has paid for in an SUV someone else is driving. 

This should make for a euphoric night. But “should” and “does” are rarely the same thing. 

Each chorus, Remi sings, “Alone in Miami, with you there.” But she’s not alone. And she never tells you who she’s singing to. Or where this unnamed character is. Or if the message even got through to them.

It haunts. 

About halfway through the song, Remi reaches right past those guitars (guitars distorted almost perfectly to a mid-’90s VH1-hued sepia tone) to tear your heart out: “If you don’t understand me, then who can?” she sobs/screams/begs. What a codependent, unhealthy, tragic question.

What a good lyric. 

“Alone In Miami” speaks to my favorite kind of lyricism: the hyperspecific. A type of lyricism rarely seen at the top of the pop charts. 

Compare the lyrics of “Alone In Miami” to those of Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” arguably the biggest song of 2024 (country or otherwise). A song I celebrate! Shaboozey makes a scene out of touchstones so familiar you can start to repeat the lyrics from memory after hearing the chorus just once. 

Double shots of Jack Daniels. Waking up drunk at 10 am. Dancing on a table. It’s specific enough to set a scene, but familiar enough for most listeners to put themselves right in Shaboozey’s shoes. 

I love both songs, and I've probably danced more to Shaboozey’s than to Remi’s this year. But Remi’s will stick to the ribs a lot longer. For the same reasons Charli XCX singing about “Capri in the distance” on “Everything Is Romantic” does. Or when, on the remix of that same, song Caroline Polacheck sings about *free bleeding* in the autumn rain while church bells ring out in the distance, and I *get* it.

I’m as Top 40 as they come, but when I think about it, my favorite songs in 2024 were a little more obscure, and they walked me into emotions I’ve known for a lifetime by describing scenes I’d never been in before. They crafted worlds that feel like alien planets at first, only to reveal, once you’ve settled in, that everyone there speaks the same language you do. 

2024 was full of those kinds of songs. And I am very grateful for that. In fact, my colleagues on the music team here at KCRW have compiled a playlist of all their favorites (including mine!) here. Several of their picks pack just as big a punch as “Alone In Miami.” Go put it on, and explore more of their picks over at KCRW’s Best Of 2024.  

And In the meantime, reply to this e-mail lemme know the last song lyric that fully and completely tore you apart. It’s been a long year. Let’s get *emotional.* 

See ya in 2025.

-Sam