We compiled a playlist of songs that tell us where music is going. Hosted by Jake Silverstein, the editor in chief of The New York Times Magazine, and Nitsuh Abebe, a story editor, it features some of their favorite writers and the songs that spoke to them this year. Find the magazine’s music issue at nytimes.com/25songs.
Wesley Morris on Adele’s “Send My Love (To Your New Lover).”
Julianne Escobedo Shepherd on Missy Elliott’s “I’m Better.”
Alexander Chee on Rufus Wainwright’s “A Woman’s Face — Reprise (Sonnet 20).”
Charles Aaron on Charles Bradley’s cover of Black Sabbath’s “Changes.”
Margo Jefferson on Cécile McLorin Salvant’s “The Trolley Song.”
Steven Hyden on Metallica’s “Spit Out the Bone.”