Despite being a year of change, my 2023 didn’t end up having a particular specific theme or personal through-line. The year went by relatively smoothly, all things considered, and moving back to Cambridge, transitioning to remote work and settling into a new role all made for a chaotic year of music listening habits. There weren’t any standout albums that I had on repeat (like last year), and my top 10 songs for 2023 ended up being an eclectic bunch, with a surprising amount of extremely upbeat songs:
1. Free, Florence + The Machine
This song rips, and the accompanying music video is a blast. I can’t really put words to why, but having Bill Nighy act as the personification of your anxiety somehow feels right. Free is great for listening during roadtrips, upbeat workouts, or if you want to do some punch dancing in the comfort of your own home office. It could easily be back on this list in future years.
Favorite Line: But there’s nothing else that I know how to do, but to open up my arms and give it all to you
2. Yippie Ki Yay, Hippo Campus
I saw Hippo Campus perform at Red Rocks this year, and what struck me most was how well they execute their instrumentation live. Although it was played early in the set, Yippie Ki Yay took the cake for me as the best example of that mastery and energy. The song’s cowboy setting is a great backdrop for a constantly building song.
Favorite Christmas Movie: Die Hard
3. Don’t Go Dark (Live from Radio City), Bleachers
This song charged hard into my top 10 in the second half of the year, and it landed here in part due to its vast improvement over the studio recording of the song. With the blaring sax, rolling drums, and screaming New Jersey resident on vocals, the song is a love letter to Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, and the live version still shines in its own right.
Favorite Line: And you’re waitin’ to be saved, but there ain’t nobody comin’. If you’re holdin’ on to me, you’re holdin’ on to nothing!
4. Reasons Not to Die, Ryn Weaver
In a sharp turn away from the upbeat romps of songs 1-3, Reasons Not to Die landed in the top 10 after I really discovered Ryn Weaver’s discography. I also quickly discovered that she hasn’t released music recently, and am now excited for the internet landslide that occurs when she does.
Favorite Question: “Is it better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all?”
5. Angel of 8th Ave, Gang of Youths
Angel of 8th Ave was my most-listened-to song in 2023, and I don’t think it was a close race. The song is tender but energetic, and the style that the lead singer David Le’aupepe brings to the music video is so good that I replicated a version of it with a navy suit for a date night at a sushi restaurant. Jury is still out on whether or not I pulled it off.
Favorite Verse Selection:
And in the festival years
Of our makeshift parade
In perpetual fall
And immeasurable rain
I wanna see this one out
And I wanna join the impossible swing
And fall hard beside you
6. Self Love, Metro Boomin & Coi Leray
Across the Spiderverse was my favorite movie of 2023, so I had to include a song from its soundtrack on this list. In a drastic change from Into the Spiderverse where my favorite songs were bangers like Home and What’s Up Danger, Self Love stuck out to me as an extremely stylized and emotional anchor for the opening of the movie.
Favorite Spider: Peter B. Parker
7. Leather Jacket, Arkells
Leather Jacket is almost a decade old, and I think I’ve had it in my Spotify library for 2 or 3 years. For some reason it really clicked with me this year, and I have no other reasons to include it on this list than I like the song a lot and I listened to it a lot.
Favorite mid-2000’s Phone Type: Sidekick
8. Call Your Mom, Noah Kahan
After Noah Kahan dominated my 2022 Top 10, he made sure to get one new release on the list in 2023. As opposed to some of his other 2023 collaborations, Call Your Mom feels like it was written to have two complimentary vocalists, and the execution of this version stands out in my most-listened-to songs in 2023.
Favorite Line: All lights turned off can be turned on
9. Shatter, Maggie Rodgers
In a return to the upbeat vibes at the top of this list, Shatter was without a doubt my favorite running song of 2023. I challenge you to jog to this song without inadvertently ending up in a full sprint by the end.
Favorite D&D 5e Spell: Shatter
10. 100 Days, The Bengsons
100 Days does an incredible job of extracting pure emotion from the recording studio with its sound and music video. You can tell that the entire band is playing their hearts out and having a blast throughout the entire song. I’m still not quite sure if this song came from a Broadway show, or was written for one, or exactly how that relationship works, but in any case, it deserves more views and listens.
Favorite emoji: 100 (followed closely by the deadpan outline face)
Here’s to 2024.
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