Posted by Lots of great songs and singles to come out this year. We got a supergroup in boygenius, we got a vibe switch from Lil Yachty, we got a new terribly sad collection of Sufjan Stevens songs, we got like 30 new Drake songs and some are his best in years, and there’s other artists doing exciting things from disco to rock to folk. So here’s some of my favorites of the year.
Honorable Mentions
- “Cowboy Nudes” – Geese
- “I See Myself” – Geese
- “Gravity Blues” – Geese
- “Javelin” – Sufjan Stevens
- “$20” – boygenius
- “True Blue” – boygenius
- “You Broke My Heart” – Drake
- “Babylon Bis” – Westside Gunn (feat. Stove God Cooks)
- “Runway” – DJ Premier feat. Westside Gunn\
- “Vampire Empire” – Big Thief
- “Pages” – White Reaper
- “Oh You Went” – Young Thug feat. Drake
- “Strike” – Lil Yachty
- “The Only One” – Benny Sings
- “Boy’s a Liar Pt. 2” – Pinkpantheress & Ice Spice
- “Rush” – Troye Sivan
- “Hello Love” – Jessie Ware
- “Paint the Town Red” – Doja Cat
- “Sarah’s Place” – Zach Bryan & Noah Kahan
- “Dial Drunk” – Noah Kahan
Top 15 Songs of 2023
15. “Back on 74” – Jungle
Jungle knows how to make good groovy music and this is the best example of that. The video with the dancers going off totally added to it as well.
14. “Cool About It” – boygenius
Just beautiful and relatable and a perfect showcase of the band’s songwriting and singing abilities.
13. “You First (Re: Remi Wolf)” – Paramore & Remi Wolf
This was a cool move by Paramore to take songs off their new album and let other artists they respect “remix” them (despite this not sounding much like the original). Remi taking the lyrics and bones of a Paramore song and making them totally her own of course was gonna create magic like this ball of energy.
12. “Modern Jam” – Travis Scott feat. Teezo Touchdown
UH OH I KNOW YOU LIE LIE SIDEWAYS – Maybe my favorite line delivery of the year I listened to this song 500 times just to hear that one part.
11. “Dream Job” – Yard Act
So funky, great tongue-in-cheek satirical lyrics, and just love this sound. One of the songs I was most excited to come across this year.
Top 10 Songs of 2023
10. “I’ve Got Me” – Joanna Sternberg
This song is so damn cozy. I didn’t know Joanna Sternberg till this year but if they’re writing songs like this there’s a lot of promise. So simple but totally effective for a good folk tune. This was a go-to comfort song for me for a while this year and was one of my favorites to recommend people check out, so I’m doing it again. LISTEN TO THIS!
9. “Rich Baby Daddy” – Drake feat. Sexxy Redd & SZA
Whenever I heard this song starting up I instantly became in a good mood. This is what Drake should be doing consistently: Music for clubs + a fun new artist + an established artist with a gorgeous voice = pure heat. All the real Drake heads probably hate this one because it’s fun and dumb, but buddy, if you’re overthinking Drake that’s a you problem. This was the best song off for All The Dogs and I’ll scream it from the rooftops.
8. “Pearls” – Jessie Ware
If you’re a fan of disco like myself, this whole album is a must-listen, but this song in particular is just pure disco gold. I’d pop this on to start my weekend every summer and it always put me in the best mood. Catchy-ass chorus, a punchy bass line, and Jessie Ware’s killer vocals tying it all together? This should’ve been a #1 hit and she deserves better so I am sharing with you all.
7. “On the Radar Freestyle” – Drake & Central Cee
“Combination”, “On morning side, got no stick in the ride”, “Crocodile ears she ain’t even cryin”…I said these words too many times this year. I don’t need to explain this one because I’m not even sure I can. This is just fire. This is heat. The beat, the lyrics, the chemistry between Drake and Central Cee. It’s too good. Iconic. In a fairly weak year for rap this was a highlight just seeing two guys spit bars back and forth for the love of the game.
6. “Sprinter” – DAVE & Central Cee
The sick spanish guitar beat. These two’s flows working perfectly together with swag levels at 1000. An unbelievable hook you can’t get out of your head. This is the best rap song of the year hands down. Automatically makes you feel fresh as hell and got me excited for these 2 artists moving forward. Going to be a classic.
5. “Will Anybody Ever Love Me” – Sufjan Stevens
This song came out when I was going absolutely through it and it completely broke me. Simple concept for a song but Sufjan’s vocals, the simplicity of the production, the haunting background singers…just a gorgeous piece of art especially in context with the rest of the album. Sufjan just doing what he does best, make you feel depressed and existential but kinda distracting you from it too by singing like an angel.
4. “Only” – Sampha
This beat is insane. It’s got the drums of a banger rap song and yet still works perfectly to show off Sampha’s beautiful voice. The chorus is so fire, Sampha’s cadence of singing on this is so smooth, and this was definitely my favorite song to blast at full volume in my car this year and just absolutely bang my head and appreciate the music.
3. “3D Country” – Geese
(This is the version of the song that has like 2 extra minutes of jam but the original is almost exactly the same as the first 5 minutes of this one just a heads up).
FIRE. So weird and experimental and different and yet reminiscent of legendary acts like Led Zeppelin and the Stones. The lead singers unreal otherworldly voice and switching of accents and stuff just works so well with the vibe of this song. There’s so many twists and turns and every one of them is more delightful than the last. There are so many lines in this song too that are just absolute genius. But what really adds the heat to this song is the lead singer just delivering every line with an insane amount of passion, I don’t know how he could perform this song and then several others live at a concert but on the recording, it absolutely works and despite hearing this for the first time in December it’s one of my most listened to songs of the year now for sure.
2. “drive ME crazy!” – Lil Yachty
The production on this is my favorite of the year and my favorite in quite some time. Mixing the alternative /psychedelic rock sound that’s been popular for a few years now but redefining it completely with Yachty’s singing and style worked so unexpectedly well. And bringing in some different female vocals for support with a clean beat transition at the end? Just an awesome experimental song that totally paid off. And “I wanna be where you are, just can’t walk away you drive me crazy ahhhhh I lose it lose it!” is the catchiest line of the year EASY.
1. “Not Strong Enough” – boygenius
My #1 song of the year, also my #1 played song of the year, goes to the rock banger ballad that the boygenius boyz crafted up this year. This just captures what’s right and exciting about the rock scene right now. Incredible lyrics and lines, especially the first verse that I’m sure Phoebe was all over. And every time I put this song on (which was again, like 400 times this year) I STILL got chills when Julien Baker comes in on the 2nd verse. Bring it all on home with a sick bridge and you’ve got just a great rock song that is also a mainstream hit, and that’s a good thing! This crew is bringing rock back to the forefront! You love to see it.
Well that’s it! Hope you enjoyed! Let me know what I missed!
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