Music is important. It’s a love language, a mood-setter, a spirit-lifter. When nothing else can make me feel sexy, music often can – which is part of why I highlight 10 of my favorite sexy and sex-adjacent songs for you here every year. Here are my 2019 picks! (Want to listen to all of these songs, as well as previous years’ faves, in one handy playlist? Here you go!)
Kid Bloom – Different State of Mind
Sinking right into the crimson clouds / Waiting for this thing to spin me out / I’m swimming in my head
This song is the musical embodiment of what it feels like to sit and people-watch in a park on a sunny Saturday while stoned off your ass. It’s slow and trippy and relaxing and makes me feel like everything is right in the world (a rare feeling these days). It’s also perfectly suited for sex, especially a languorous, lazy fuck on a weekend afternoon when you have nowhere to be but in bed and nothing to do but each other.
Kehlani – Honey
I like my girls just like I like my honey: sweet / A little selfish / I like my women like I like my money: green / A little jealous
I knew I liked Kehlani’s voice when I realized I’d Shazam‘ed the same song twice – this one – upon hearing it in public. Both times, I was struck by the feeling of needing to know who this masterful, smoky-voiced singer was. Kehlani sounds gorgeous in this song, like she deeply understands the feelings of love and sex and relaxation and can convey them directly from her own brain to yours, like an injection.
Carly Rae Jepsen – Everything He Needs
Soft rain / We roll the windows down / Sweat disco all night / It’s clear / We’d like to fool around / His hands reach for mine
Carly Rae is essentially the patron saint of unrequited love, so it’s rare to hear her sing an uncomplicatedly romantic song about someone she’s actually (presumably) dating/fucking. Maybe that’s why this song stuck out to me so much on my first listen-through of Carly’s latest album. This tune is like if Barry White and Carly Rae did a collab; I didn’t know how much I needed it to exist until I heard it. (Carly also, notably, released the ode to masturbation “Party For One” this year – but tbh, I like this one better.)
Bruno Major – Like Someone In Love
Sometimes the things I do astound me / Mostly whenever you’re around me
I mostly knew this jazz standard from Blossom Dearie’s adorable version. Bruno Major gives it an R&B update here, magicking this 75-year-old song into something new and sparkling. I think if a baby boomer and a millennial collaborated on an album specifically for ~romantic interludes~, it would all sound like this song: classic, yet seductively modern. It’s the sort of thing almost all of us can agree on.
The Japanese House – We Talk All the Time
We don’t fuck anymore / But we talk all the time, so it’s fine / Can somebody tell me what I want? / ‘Cause I keep changing my mind
Maybe it’s weird to say that a song about no longer wanting to have sex with your partner could be sexy, but what can I say – Amber Bain is a babe, and her songs are gorgeously sensuous. I have so many faves from her latest album, Good At Falling, but this is probably the one I’d most like to fuck to. The rhythm is driving, the lyrics are dark and sweet, and Amber’s voice is as pleasingly raspy as ever. I need the Japanese House to release, like, eight more albums, stat.
Tegan and Sara – Hold My Breath Until I Die
Shame on me / ‘Cause I can’t help falling at your feet / It makes me mad / To see you leave like that
I would not normally describe Tegan and Sara’s music as sexy – I mean, T&S themselves are, obviously, but their music isn’t always. However, this song has breath-play undertones (even if Tegan is actually singing about romantic anguish rather than kinky sex), and I’ve never heard Tegan’s voice sound sexier than when it goes a little breathy and plaintive in the verses of this track. I think if she sang me this song in person, I would faint…
Daniel Caesar – Japanese Denim
My blue jeans / Will last me all my life, oh yes / So should we
This romantic slow-jam makes me want to slow-dance in the dark with someone whose body fits nice with mine, which is kind of the gold standard for sexy songs, isn’t it? Daniel’s voice is like luxe purple silk. And he’s Canadian, like me!
Great Grandpa – Favorite Show
Laughing at myself again / I’ll zone out til I’m dying / I’ll zone out til I’m dead
I went through a period this year where I would wake up every day with this song stuck in my head. I don’t really know what it’s about; I just know it’s calming in its repetition, and it has the type of gently rocking rhythm that works really well for fuckin’.
Her’s – Under Wraps
I feel like I ran with a headstart / And you’re only just starting to live / Got a lot to gain / Not a lot to give
I only found out about this band because they tragically died in a car crash this year. My brother Max texted me about it, sad and shaken up, his own band having just played in a music festival with Her’s. Stephen and Audun sound angelically beautiful on this slow-grooving, sensual track; their octave-wide harmonies feel as old as time. Put on some good headphones and work your way through the Her’s discography – it’s a lovely (and kinda sad) way to spend an afternoon.
Alina Baraz – To Me
I’m not asking for too much / I’m asking the wrong motherfucker / Just ’cause we’re in love / Doesn’t mean that we’re right for each other
Alina makes it onto this list every year (literally… every… fucking… year), because she truly makes some of the sexiest music in the biz. If I’m having trouble getting into the mood to bone down (increasingly a problem for me as I get older, achier, and more ace), putting on some Alina tunes always helps at least a little. This song isn’t even particularly sexy – it’s more like “sad with a side of sexy” – but Alina sounds just as ethereal and captivating on it as she always does, which is to say, very.
What were your favorite sexy songs this year?