"My duty as an artist is to give everything I have to the record," St. Vincent (née Annie Clark) said in a 2014 interview with Vanity Fair. This full commitment to her art is evident on everything she creates. Clark is notorious for keeping the public at an arm's length, never revealing too much of herself, but every new album feels like another piece of the puzzle in figuring out who St. Vincent is and what she's capable of.
Five solo albums deep and a decade later, there still isn't a clear answer. With each new record, the enigmatic Annie Clark manages to reinvent herself. Unlike many artists, her songs don't act as stand-alone moments—each album brings you into a new world that she's created. This, of course, made narrowing down 15 of her best songs that much harder. But we tried anyway.
In the wake of her newest album, Masseduction, here are 15 of St. Vincent's best songs.
15. Digital Witness
Album: St. Vincent
Year released: 2014
When you consider the bouncy brass elements of "Digital Witness" that immediately capture your attention, it almost seems odd that the song is a criticism of our social media-obsessed generation. St. Vincent has spoken about the performance of online identity on more than one occasion, suggesting that what we put out there for the world is meticulously crafted. Clark is notoriously private about her personal life, yet she still maintains her online presence. It's a juxtaposition that's comparable to the theatrical production on "Digital Witness" versus the warning that the lyrics provide.
14. Los Ageless
Album: Masseduction
Year released: 2017
The first single from Masseduction, "New York," wouldn't prepare listeners for what was to come. "Los Ageless" is one of those songs that's unrelenting from the start with its sexy sighs and distorted guitars. "New York" worked as an ode to the city, but "Los Ageless" is a cutting criticism of the superficial place where "mothers milk their young," pushing Annie Clark to create something that sounds feral. It's Clark at her most vicious, most defiant—and she sounds great.
13. Paris is Burning
Album: Marry Me
Year released: 2007
Since listeners are brought to a scene in World War II with "Paris is Burning," it seems fitting that it's one of St. Vincent's most theatrical songs from her catalog. It starts with her singing barely above a whisper and quickly crescendoing as if her voice was one of the instruments, building towards an eerie Doomsday waltz.
Of course, as with all of her songs, the lyrics are not so straightforward. St. Vincent has hinted that the song is about "governmental neglect [...] and the 'Paris' of America." Whether or not the song is in fact named after the 1990 documentary Paris is Burning, which is about the end of the underground drag ball culture era in New York, the lyrics nonetheless add another layer to this curious and complex song.
12. Surgeon
Album: Strange Mercy
Year released: 2011
"Surgeon" was inspired by a single line from one of Marilyn Monroe's diary entries: “Best finest surgeon—Strasberg to cut me open.” From there, St. Vincent decided that she wanted the song to sound like "someone was kind of in a Benzedrine and white-wine coma—like a housewife’s cocktail." Through warbling instrumentals and exasperated sighs, she slowly adds layers to craft an anxiety-inducing experience. The feelings of unease reach an almost unbearable state by the time the keyboard solo hits, but it's too late. Those layers have already tightly wrapped around you, and you're hooked on this taste of St. Vincent's sweet, sinister world.
11. Laughing With A Mouth Of Blood
Album: Actor
Year released: 2009
"Just like an amnesiac, trying to get my senses back." Annie Clark is a master of call and response, and her first verse on "Laughing With A Mouth Of Blood" quickly paints a vivid, disjointed picture of memory loss and uncertainty. It's a story of growth and the tough choices that come with leaving an old you behind—trading a plot of land for a plane ticket might be risky, but the possibilities are endless. Eight years after this song appeared on Actor, we're pretty sure she made the right call.
More excellent guitar riffs on this one—the hook is an iconic four-key climb with tricky hammer-ons, an enthralling contrast to the deceptively mellow verse. And +1 for a magnificent title.
10. Hang On Me
Album: Masseduction
Year released: 2017
Opening tracks are there for a reason. They should set the tone and get listeners excited for what's next—"Hang On Me" does so in epic fashion. Clark's voice is uncharacteristically hushed, leaving room for a driving electronic beat and buzzy, droning guitars. The lyrics are simple but unyielding, a denunciation of expectations that morphs into a celebration of artistic pursuits.
When asked about the song's refrain, Clark told Pitchfork, "In some ways, doing the work that I do is about reinventing a value system... But I always felt a little bit like an alien cocking my head to the side at various cultural milestones, going, ‘I would never aspire to that.’ I’ve chosen a line of work and a community that doesn’t abide by the same value system. My markers are more about the things that I make and do, and I am happiest when I’m forging ahead."
9. Birth in Reserve
Album: St. Vincent
Year released: 2014
With St. Vincent, Annie Clark was going for a different sound. "This is a more primary color record than I've done in the past," she told Uncut magazine in 2015. The album is livelier and more exuberant than its predecessors, and the lead single from it, "Birth in Reverse," was the perfect first taste of St. Vincent. The guitars are relentless and act as a stark contrast to the mundane picture she paints through her lyrics. An ominous reference to death, "Birth in Reverse" speeds through the banality of life, and just when you think it's over, the song erupts fantastically. It is an analogy that works all too well, however cynical.
8. Dilettante
Album: Strange Mercy
Year released: 2011
A dilettante is someone who is an amateur within a specific field without any professional knowledge on the topic. He or she is an expert, but not quite, because there's no real commitment to the subject. This passiveness is prominent on “Dilettante”; Annie Clark is in no hurry to get through the song, paced by heavy slabs of fuzzy guitar. It's hard to tell if she's at peace with her complacency or if the song is deeply tragic because of it, but that doesn't really matter. Either way, "Dilettante" features some of her most thought-provoking and jarring work, both lyrically and sonically.
7. Actor Out of Work
Album: Actor
Year released: 2009
Songs about a toxic relationship can easily sound tired. Many popular musicians have made entire careers out of this. But with the frenetic pacing, distorted guitars, and relentless percussion on "Actor" manages to refresh this ubiquitous subject. Annie Clark races through the short two-minute song, but it doesn't feel rushed. Instead, she's a woman determined to remove this "actor out of work" from her life, volleying criticism after criticism even though she can't seem to stop loving this person. Suddenly the intensity of the song fits in a thematic sense; the love and simultaneous pain that Clark experiences is making her feel unstable ("I think I love you / I think I'm mad"), much like the off-kilter production on "Actor Out of Work."
6. New York
Album: Masseduction
Year released: 2017
“‘New York’ is really a composite for me," St. Vincent said in a recent episode of Song Explorer's podcast. "It’s everybody I love in that song. It’s everybody I love and it’s everybody in New York. It’s my whole life in a song.” This intimate sentiment is emphasized through the song's moving, piano-led production, but it's the lyrics that really hit home ("I have lost a hero / I have lost a friend / But for you my darling, I'd do it all again"). St. Vincent brings her sense of longing and melancholy to life through "New York," and it feels like we're right there in the city with her.
5. Cheerleader
Album: Strange Mercy
Year released: 2011
You know when you're in a bad relationship, and you're waiting for that last straw, which you hope will end it once and for all? "Cheerleader" is a song that perfectly encapsulates that tipping point. Beyond its catchy chorus that will burrow itself into your head and St. Vincent's seductive, drawled delivery, the song taps into something highly relatable: being with someone who's probably not great for you. But because she "[doesn't] know what [she] deserve[s]," she stuck around anyway. Clearly, it happens to the best of us.
4. Marry Me
Album: Marry Me
Year released: 2007
Upon first listen, "Marry Me" is sweet and romantic, a song sung intimately to her lover John, asking for his hand in marriage. But the lyrics suggest a deeper meaning, one where Annie Clark plays with the restrictive gender norms within marriage, daring listeners to question their own attitudes and reflecting on her own cynicism. It would be easy to dismiss it as a beautiful love song, but it's a far more challenging listen than its charming melody might suggest.
3. Cruel
Album: Strange Mercy
Year released: 2011
"Cruel" could almost be mistaken for a modernized Disney ballad, but its off-kilter funk and sobering lyrics betray the ghostly vocalization reminiscent of a scene from Cinderella. Like in many of her songs, St. Vincent plays with contrasting sounds and ideas on "Cruel"—delicate singing versus discordant guitars, acceptance versus rejection, appreciation versus dismissive ingratitude. The elements almost sound like they clash, but it's this constant contradiction that makes "Cruel" such a memorable track.
2. Prince Johnny
Album: St. Vincent
Year released: 2014
Though St. Vincent’s self-titled album is packed with mostly upbeat songs, there are a few anomalies on it that act as throwbacks to Strange Mercy. "Prince Johnny" is one of those: a soft, tender ballad that's drenched in nostalgia. According to Annie Clark, it's one about a "mixture of compassion and hopelessness that you feel for a friend who’s being very self-destructive." There's something very personal about the lyrics as she recalls shared moments with "Johnny," sung over sparse, gospel-inspired production. Ultimately, Clark can't help this self-destructive friend ("Saw you pray to all to make you a real boy"); she's just as flawed as he is ("So I pray to all to make me a real girl").
As a bonus, now that St. Vincent also recently released "Happy Birthday, Johnny"—which acts as another chapter to her songs about "Johnny"—"Prince Johnny" seems that much more heart-wrenching.
1. Strange Mercy
Album: Strange Mercy
Year released: 2011
Yes, she can sing. Yes, she can play the hell out of a guitar. But what St. Vincent is exceptional at is evoking a particular mood. Though an exact feeling may be unclear and difficult to articulate, what's present instead is a strange swirl of fleeting emotions that you can't quite pinpoint. Her music is an experience.
"Strange Mercy" would become the focal point of her eponymous album, with each song representing "other instances of strange mercy, or contained instances of strange mercy." While the idea is present in the rest of the album, it's the title track that captures that peculiar emptiness through eerie synths, meticulous guitar plucking, and soothing vocals. Despite its four-and-a-half-minute run, "Strange Mercy" makes you feel like you've been transported another world—one that's bleak and cold, but Annie Clark is there to ease your anxieties.
