A Year in Review Roundup
featuring my favorite music of 2023!
It’s nearly the end of the year which means seemingly every publication has released its own list of the best albums and best songs of 2023:
Best Albums of 2023: Paste; Rolling Stone; Pitchfork; NPR; Billboard; NME; The New York Times; Variety; Vulture
Best Songs of 2023: Pitchfork; NPR; The New York Times; Flood Magazine; Billboard; TIME; Rolling Stone; The Guardian
As always, certain artists and albums show up on each (boygenius, Lana del Rey, Zach Bryan, Mitski, Sufjan Stevens, and Lil Yachty being some of the artists making basically every list this year), but there’s also a ton of variety. Music is subjective, and that’s half the fun of it!
So, this is not a “best of” list! I am not a critic, but I have plenty of feelings, so I tend to prefer “favorites” over “best.” These are the albums I had on repeat, the songs I couldn’t stop singing, and the music-related pop culture moments I’m still thinking about.
Lucky for You, Bully: I love loud, distorted music especially loud, distorted, guitar-driven music. Bully’s latest album, Lucky For You, provides this in spades. Featuring big riffs, vulnerable moments, and a perfect album opener.
Joy’all, Jenny Lewis: Jenny Lewis is my long-time favorite artist, so I’ll never dislike anything she does. That said, this is my favorite Jenny Lewis album in a long time. This is a “no skips, put it on repeat, and enjoy” album. Nashville sounds good on Jenny.
Blondshell, Blondshell: I hate the game of “This Artist sounds like This Other Artist”; I think it’s boring and a disservice to all artists in the comparison. So I’m not going to say Blondshell sounds like anyone (because she doesn’t). However, there’s a reason she spent the fall opening for Liz Phair. And there’s a reason that in a year I listened to a bunch of PJ Harvey, I was also drawn to Blondshell. This album (truly) rocks and I only like it more with every listen.
Honorable Mentions: All Of This Will End, Indigo De Souza; the record, boygenius; This Is Why, Paramore; Celebrants, Nickel Creek; 10,000 gecs, 100 gecs; Messy, Olivia Dean; The Age of Pleasure, Janelle Monáe; Something To Give Each Other, Troye Sivan
“Not Strong Enough,” boygenius: No contest, this is my favorite song of 2023. It combines the best of all three members of boygenius and features a powerful build into the final verse. A truly cathartic sing-along song.
“One That Got Away,” MUNA: A hooky, Janet Jackson-inspired one-off track from the greatest band in the world.
“On My Mama,” Victoria Monet: After years of releasing singles, Victoria Monet, artist and songwriter behind many of my favorite Ariana Grande, Chloe x Halle, and Blackpink songs, put out her debut album this year. The whole album’s great, but lead single, “On My Mama,” is a standout.
Honorable Mentions: Everything else on this mix! Narrowed down to 50 songs, only one per artist, and in no particular order. Tracks from Miya Folick, Rebecca Black, Mitski, Olivia Rodrigo, Romy, Alex Lahey, Miley Cyrus, Tinashe, Maisie Peters, Haley Blais, and many, many more.
Charli XCX wearing a “Real Winner” shirt after being snubbed at the Brits: Charli openly criticized the awards show for its all-male slate of Artist of the Year nominees then rolled up to the afterparty wearing a homemade “Real Winner” shirt. I love her. Speaking of awards…
Beyoncé becoming the winningest person in Grammy’s history: Despite never winning Album of the Year (a conversation for another time), Beyoncé became the winningest person in the history of the Grammy Awards winning her 29th, 30th, 31st, and 32nd at the 2023 ceremony.
Taylor Swift’s rain show at Gillette Stadium: Ok, this one is a selfish pick, but attending the “rainiest rain show to ever rain show” is a 2023 highlight. Do not get me wrong, this was fairly miserable in the moment: imagine standing in a cold shower with decent water pressure for four hours straight. That is exactly how this felt. And that is something I would only do for Taylor. I’m grateful to have been there and to have experienced A Moment in Taylor Tour History.
Honorable Mentions: boygenius’s Nirvana-inspired Rolling Stone cover; David and Victoria Beckham dancing to “Islands in the Stream” in their documentary; Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang performing “RockaFellaCenta” at RockaFellaCenta; MUNA’s country version of “Silk Chiffon” at Tiny Desk; Jack Harlow’s train wreck of an NFL halftime show; Rihanna’s great Super Bowl halftime show; Jack White going off on Trump supporters; the Phillies using a cover of “Dancing on My Own” as a victory song; Ariana Debose’s BAFTA’s rap
Thank you, thank you, thank you for being here. I have so much fun sharing what I’m listening to, and I would really LOVE to know your 2023 favorites! Leave a comment, shoot me an email, drop me a mix of your own! Would love to know what I missed or overlooked this year.
I’ll be off for the next few weeks- see you back in your inbox on January 8th!
-Hannah
P.S. Some end-of-year housekeeping! You can view the entire Made You A Mix archive by clicking here. You can ALSO find me on Spotify for easy access to all the mixes (there are over 80!) from the past 2 years. I can’t thank you enough for being here, for subscribing, for reading, for listening, and for engaging with Made You a Mix! If you enjoy, please share with a friend!