the best songs of 2023 (in no particular order)

girl who knows nothing about music writes about music for 45 minutes

new year, new music, am i right guys? except this is completely untrue, i've been listening to the same songs since 2016. however, 2023 graced us with some of the most beautiful music i've heard. here's my list of my favorite songs from the last year.

one! "digital silence" by peter mcpoland

it wouldn't be a 2023 recap if i didn't include "digital silence." this song was teased on social media for such a long time, making its release that much more satisfying. mcpoland's full album piggy is insanely epic, but its titular track "digital silence" is absolutely my favorite.

my favorite memory from 2023 with this song: the day after it came out, i remember driving to class and blasting it on replay in big man (my car) so i could learn all the lyrics.

two! "you're losing me" by taylor swift

i made a promise when i decided to write this that i would only include one song per artist, so it was incredibly hard to choose just one taylor swift song out of the many she released this year.

"you're losing me" is one of the most beautiful songs swift has released in a long time. she beautifully weaves in motifs from other songs to craft this heartbreaking ballad.

my favorite memory from 2023 with this song: forcing my friends to listen to "lover" and then "you're losing me" immediately afterwards and watching their expression change when they hear the soul crushing line: "and i wouldn't marry me either."

three! "northern attitude" by noah kahan ft. hozier

noah kahan was a singer that would appear on my tiktok for you page every so often. he never made an impact until he released "northern attitude" with hozier. kahan, however, manages to dominate this song as his own even though he is sharing it with the siren that is hozier.

both of their voices are made for one another: from hozier's ethereal yell to kahan's southern twang, "northern attitude" is a work of art.

my favorite memory from 2023 with this song: laying on my bed and closing my eyes while listening to this song and feeling hozier's yell in my bones.

four! "teenage dream" by olivia rodrigo

i know you're all expecting that "logical" or "the grudge" would be my top song from 2023, but "teenage dream" snuck up on me and managed to take the top spot on my list. rodrigo uses this song to call back to her song "brutal" on her debut album where she demands an answer to where the fuck her teenage dream is.

this song is her answer. "teenage dream" is a chilling song that is filled with existential stress and a feeling that maybe you've peaked, maybe it's all downhill from here.

my favorite memory from 2023 with this song: screaming the last lines of the song in my car and letting the catharsis overtake me.

five! "evergreen" by san andrea

being friends with musicians has its perks. one of them being put on beautiful and obscure music!

"evergreen" by san andrea is a gorgeous song that feels like the background track to the climax of a coming of age movie. the end of the song is all-encompassing and gives me goosebumps every time i hear it.

my favorite memory from 2023 with this song: driving in the evergreen woods of northern california with this song in the background... it felt very appropriate.

six! "high" by stephen sanchez

i am not responsible for the person i become when i hear or see stephen sanchez perform the masterpiece that is "high." "high" is the kind of song that makes me want to fall in love.

sanchez is single handedly bringing back the 1960s with his album angel face, and "high" is the track on this album that really showcases how talented he is. his sound is new and refreshing while also remaining beautifully nostalgic.

my favorite memory from 2023 with this song: seeing stephen sanchez perform this song on my for you page and forcing all my friends to watch it and listen to the song and experience love at first sight.

seven! "A&W" by lana del rey

i have to thank my little brother, ben, for putting me on lana del rey. she truly is one of the most talented singer/songwriters of our generation, and "A&W" is the song that made me realize that.

del rey is heartbreakingly candid about the trauma she'd experienced throughout her life in this song, before the beat quickly switches to a completely different song that fits in with the overall melancholy nature of the song.

my favorite memory from 2023 with this song: listening to it with my little brother and laughing when i completely butchered the lyrics "jimmy, jimmy cocoa puff, jimmy get me high."

eight! "across the spiderverse (start a band)"by daniel pemberton

i will never, ever forget the feeling of hearing this song play in the final minutes of the movie. pemberton crafted the most gorgeous soundtrack to underscore such a spectacular film, and this final song beautifully integrates the motifs of every single character from the movie.

this is definitely an unorthodox pick, but i added this song to my playlist early on in the summer and get goosebumps every time i hear it shift into the main theme of the prowler.

my favorite memory from 2023 with this song: hearing it for the very first time in theaters and feeling my heart drop when earth-42 miles' identity is revealed.

nine! "lookaround" by edgehill

finding the band edgehill this year was maybe the best thing to ever happen to me. "lookaround" is by far one of the most extraordinary songs i've ever heard in a while.

"lookaround" surrounds you and envelopes you with powerful vocals and booming guitars and drums, making you feel like you are in a room that is spinning and you just need to take a second to pause.

my favorite memory from 2023 with this song: listening to it for the first time. that's it. just experiencing it for the first time.

ten! "glue" by gigi perez

i've talked about gigi perez here before, and i will manage to find a way to talk about her every single time i talk about songs that are masterpieces.

perez's voice is haunting. it's filled with emotion and pain and you can feel it buried in the lyrics of "glue." this song is a painful reminder that sometimes, no matter how much you need or want someone, you just fundamentally cannot stick. love is finicky and perez is able to really put into words the pain that follows an inevitable heartbreak while also calling back to another one of my favorite songs by her: "celene."

my favorite memory from 2023 with this song: listening to it on the flight back to california and exhaling some of the pain of my huge heartbreak of 2023.

to more beautiful music in 2024! cheers.