2000 Great Songs #1510: Straight Line Was A Lie

I recognize the inherent absurdity of calling anything on album released just last year one of the greatest songs ever, a song which has yet to stand the test of time, and didn't even exist until several years after I had started this cursed project. But if that feels crazy, what do you call picking a second song from a 2025 album? But The Beths' Straight Line Was A Lie was just that good!

The title track is a perfect example of what makes me love this band. You've got the band's perfect power pop chops and killer hooks and charming harmonies and frontwoman Elizabeth Stokes' disarming delivery; little touches of playfulness, like the song (and album's) false start immediately knocking you off your bearings; and of course Stokes' clever lyricism, in this case using something as basic as a line becoming a circle as a stand-in for life's recurring disasters that never seem to completely abate. Or you could just ignore all that, crank it up, and admire a wonderful earworm I'm pretty confident I'll still be loving five years from now.

Live in the studio:

Another one:

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