Crucial Track for February 8, 2026

"Fire" by Waxahatchee

#365songs (39 / 365)

When "Lilacs" was the first song I heard from Waxahatchee's fifth album Saint Cloud, I wasn't so sure about it: it took a hard turn from the stripped-down indie rock I was used to from her into more of a full-band Americana sound. I don't remember if "Fire" was the first song to win me over but it ended up being my favorite by a pretty wide margin on an album I ended up liking a whole lot.

This song is such a stunner, warm and gentle in its instrumentation and background melodies but flashy and brave in the vocal melody that dives from the very top of Katie Crutchfield's range at the beginning of the verse to the very bottom at the end of it. It's a perfect combination for what is sort of a love song to herself, but one that acknowledges how hard loving yourself can be and how much of a process it is.