It’s tricky to fall in love with new songs when I don’t drive as much as I used to and therefore don’t listen to the radio as much as I used to either. But somehow, a dozen or so songs still manage to annually bubble their way up to a very special place in my heart.
Albums, meanwhile, typically have a better chance of making an impression on me nowadays, as I tend to sit and listen to them straight through on a popular music streaming service while taking care of business.
With all that mind, here’s the new music that made the biggest impression on me in 2023:
Every week, I list all the upcoming (or recently released) movies, TV shows, albums, podcasts, etc. that I believe are worth checking out.
Movies
–The Nun II (Theaters)
TV
–The Masked Singer Season 10 Premiere (September 10 on FOX) – Right after football.
–Jeopardy! Season 40/Second Chance Tournament (Begins September 11; check local listings)
-2023 MTV Video Music Awards (September 12 on MTV) – The VMAs are on a Tuesday this year, interesting, I wonder how that’ll go.
Music
-Courtney Barnett, End of the Day
-James Blake, Playing Robots Into Heaven – I know James Blake the tennis player, but I’ll see if James Blake the musician is also worth paying attention to.
-The Chemical Brothers, For That Beautiful Feeling
-Olivia Rodrigo, Guts
-Royal Blood, Back to the Water Below – This came out last week, but somehow I missed it, even though Royal Blood is one of my favorite bands right now.
According to my 2021 Spotify Wrapped, my top musical moods of the year were “bold” and “ecstatic.” So let’s call these the Best Bold & Ecstatic Songs of 2021.
In all the years I’ve been listing my favorite songs and albums, this is probably the first year that I’ve had a better handle on the albums. That’s mainly due to my lack of radio listening compared to earlier eras in my life. Nowadays, my most frequent music consumption habit is one album at a time on Spotify.
Here are all the releases that pleased my ears (and my feet and brain, and all the rest of me) the most in 2021, including a number one that I’ve been obsessively re-listening to over and over in a way I didn’t realize was still possible.
The Mitchells vs. the Machines (CREDIT: Sony Pictures Animation Inc.)
Every week, I list all the upcoming (or recently released) movies, TV shows, albums, podcasts, etc. that I believe are worth checking out.
Movies
–22 vs. Earth (April 30 on Disney+) – Prequel short to Soul.
–Limbo (Theaters)
–The Mitchells vs. the Machines (April 30 on Netflix)
TV
–Pose Season 3 Premiere (May 2 on FX) – Final season alert!
–Star Wars: The Bad Batch Series Premiere (May 4 on Disney+)
–Girls5eva Season 1 (May 6 on Peacock) – A 90s girl group tries to make a comeback…
–That Damn Michael Che Series Premiere (May 6 on HBO Max)
Music -Royal Blood, Typhoons
Sports on TV
–NBA Special Edition: Marvel’s Arena of Heroes: Golden State Warriors vs. New Orleans Pelicans (May 3 on ESPN) – An NBA game with Marvel superheroes mixed in.
Podcasts
–The Deep Dive with Jessica St. Clair and June Diane Raphael – Jessica and June and friends talk about what it’s like to be a woman.
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