The Music Project 2023: Songs I Got Stuck On

A small journey through songs I couldn't stop listening to in 2023.

Note: I somehow thought that Spotify Wrapped was coming out in a few weeks, but it dropped this week. I will make a post about that separately, but let’s just say the below turned out to be fairly prophetic.

I decided to create a challenge for myself this year to listen to a greater variety of music, and to listen to more music in general. Podcasts are great, but a time suck and I really wanted to rediscover amazing music. In no uncertain terms, it was a big success. But (and I started writing this post mid-year), there were certain songs I listened to over and over and over. There’s no doubt in my mind they’ll influence my Spotify year-end numbers. So here’s me, getting out ahead of that.

(I’ve shared this before, but all the songs I really got into this year whether or not they were released in 2023, I put into a Spotify playlist. It’s below in case you are interested!)

Dayglow, “Then It All Goes Away”

This was basically my January. That really includes the entire album, but this song in particular absolutely stuck with me.

One name that I’m ready to NOT be shocked by if it shows up in my year-end stats is … Taylor Swift. And that’s not because I am listening to her music on repeat per se. As of this writing, I have yet to stream her newest album, which dropped months ago. But I did get really, really into this older song she did with Bon Iver.

One thing I am somewhat shocked is still up on YouTube is a live concert performance (a Bon Iver concert where Swift showed up). Why? Because … man, both of them sound awful. I know Bon Iver uses auto-tune, but they both sound like different people. Enjoy the official song instead. Additionally, I got a bit into “Love Story” after the seventh episode of season two of The Bear. IYKYK, but that’s probably the best episode of television I’ve seen in quite some time, and that song was pretty critical there and I got a bit hooked on it. No apologies.

Jason Isbell / Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit

I wrote about my obsession with Isbell, which took me years to catch onto but is here to stay. And while I really have expanded what I have listened to, his “Cumberland Gap” is the song I couldn’t shake.

In late March, boygenius dropped The Record, and it didn’t take me long to put it on repeat. And the first single, “Not Strong Enough” is still heavy in rotation.

Fun fact: That video, and all of their videos, was directed by Kirsten Stewart.

Next up - and you’ll notice a trend that I was aware of, but has been utterly hammered home so far, is that I really like female singers - is The Beaches. This is a band I didn’t even know of before this year (in fairness, they have a limited discography) but I suspect by year-end, after their full album drops in September, they’ll be more well known by the time this post is published.

One of my favorite bands is The National, but even a fan like myself will admit their last album was kind of … boring? It wasn’t bad, but it felt really uninspired. But in September, they dropped a new album called “Laugh Track,” and it feels just like the album they should release. And a song they did with Roseanne Cash called “Crumble” got its hooks into me IMMEDIATELY.

The lyrics are sparse but beautiful and sad, and it’s just so catchy, I had to force myself to not over listen to it right from the jump.

A band I used to be very into, and admittedly low key forgot all about, is Belle and Sebastian. A Scottish band that I think often gets labelled as “twee pop,” they have such good, melodic music and I just assumed they were long ago disbanded. But it turns out they’re still together and released two albums in the last two years. The song “When We Were Very Young” got in my ear and I couldn’t get away from it for quite some time.

A band I have always liked, though not with the rabid fervor of some of its fans, is The Gaslight Anthem. They seemed to be broken up, but came back this year with some shows and a four song EP which included a song with Bruce Springsteen. This is especially cool because the band is SO clearly influenced by Springsteen (and The Replacements), and the EP sort of serves both of those masters. “History Books” is a truly good song, and Bruce jumping in for a few bars only makes it more fun.

Though there is still a month left in the year, these are most of the songs that got their hooks in me the most in 2023.