Rueben's Ramblings

In my world, I couldn’t live without music. As I’ve shared for years now, I wake up to music every single day rather than an alarm. Every night I go to bed with music playing. The first thing I do after I start my car is turn on the radio. Whenever I leave my house, my music is playing as I don’t like to have a quiet house – even when I’m not around.

Music may not be for everyone, but I couldn’t function without it.

Since music plays a crucial role in my life, I wanted – like for so many years – to take the time to highlight just some of the songs, performers and video moments from this past year:

Best New Male Singer – Lewis Capaldi

Lewis has been a performing for most of his life, but it was his current single “Someone You Loved” that catapulted him into global stardom:

You can watch his video for that single here:

Best New Female Singer – Billie Eilish

This unconventional 18-year-old singer from Los Angeles began singing when she was a young girl. She released her first single in 2015 on SoundCloud, and released several other singles and an EP over the next few years; but it was her 2019 album “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?” – which debuted at number 1 on the Billboard charts – that shot her to the top of heap.

Here is the video to her hit single “Bad Guy”:

Best Duets – Sam Smith and Normani “Dancing with a Stranger” and Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello “Senorita

Here is the video for “Dancing with a Stranger”:

Here is the video for “Senorita”:

Top R&B Artist – Lizzo

The Detroit native hit it big this year with her third album “Cuz I Love You,” which peaked inside the top five of the Billboard 200. She is not only a singer and songwriter, but also an actress and flautist.

Here is the video for her big hit “Good As Hell”:

Most Moving Song from a Box Office Film – Cynthia Erivo “Stand Up” from Harriet

The Broadway star shined in the lead role in this box office movie and easily stirs a lot of emotion in the amazing video to the song.

Here is the video for “Stand Up”:

Top Country Hit and Women’s Anthem – Maren Morris “Girl”

The last time a song from a female artist topped the Billboard Country Airplay chart was in February 2018 until this January when “Girl” was released.

Here is the video for “Girl”:

Best TV Performance By a Duo – Taylor Swift and Brendan Urie performing “ME!” on the Billboard Music Awards

The duo opened the show with lots of color, a marching band and umbrellas, performing the song – which had just been released a few days before – as if they’d been performing it for a long time.

You can see the opening performance to the award show here:

Hit Song of the Year – Post Malone “Circles”

The singer-rapper released this song in August and it quickly became a number one hit of the Billboard charts.

Here is the lyric video for “Circles”:

Still Going Strong – Pink

Nearly 20 years after hitting the charts for the first time, Pink is still going strong, releasing her 8th album this year, featuring the hit single “Walk Me Home”.

Here is Pink’s video for “Walk Me Home”:

Which artists stood out for you over this past year? What was your favorite song? Which songs did you get sick of hearing on the radio? What song could you listen to over and over again? What was the top album in your opinion? Please share your thoughts on the music of 2019 below.

TOMORROW: Movies