GL.23.12: Ryan Joyce

 

100 SONGS: Aaron Bergstrom

GL.23.01: Ilana Bergstrom

GL.23.02: Curt Trnka

GL.23.03: Marisa Plaice

GL.23.04: Isabel Vermaak

GL.23.05: Raffa Pantaleo

GL.23.06: Erik Kristjanson

GL.23.07: Lukas Brooks

GL.23.08: Jem Stirling

GL.23.09: Max Einstein

GL.23.10: Tony Schoenberg

GL.23.11: Gina Uriarte

GL.23.12: RYAN JOYCE

GL.23.13: Desa Warner

GL.23.14: Dillon North

GL.23.15: Ryan Joyce (DJ Set)

GL.23.16: Carl Anderson

***

No mincing words: my 2023 will be defined by the end of a decade-long relationship. There were long stretches this year when either the anticipatory anxiety leading up to the split or the logistical and emotional fallout after it left me uninterested in “connecting” with pop music (or much of anything, really) and as a result I consumed far less pop music than I have in the past. (The not-unpleasant consequence: a burgeoning interest in house music! More on that, perhaps, in another list.)

The artists and genres represented are ones I return to year after year; there’s less Scandipop than in previous years, but enough that I can still läsa lite svenska.

As I did a few years back, I’ve opted to present the lists on a graph. This year the focus is squarely relationship-focused, each song having been assigned its spot according my hasty evaluation of it along these two-axes: 

• On the x-axis, whether they focus on the speaker (“i”) or a central relationship (“we”)

• On the y-axis, whether they present the intra- or interpersonal joy (“fine”) or anguish (“fucked”)

For your aural nostalgia: 2023 in fifty songs in four moods.

the composite list: i’m fucked / i’m fine / we’re fine / we’re fucked

( i’m , fucked )

notable entries:

• The Beths - “Watching The Credits”

• Chappell Roan - “Coffee”

• Holly Humberstone - “Into Your Room”
• The Japanese House - “Sad To Breathe”
• boygenius - “Not Strong Enough”

( i’m , fine )

notable entries:

• Indigo De Souza - “Younger and Dumber”

• Carly Rae Jepsen - “Psychedelic Switch”

• Sabrina Carpenter - “Nonsense”

• Tori Kelly - “missin u”

• Troye Sivan - “What’s The Time Where You Are?”

( we’re , fine )

notable entries:

• Olivia Dean - “Dive”

• Oliver Heldens, Kylie Minogue - “10 Out Of 10”

• Hajk - “Broken By A Kiss”

• Jessie Ware - “Hello Love”

• Bree Runway, Khalid - “Be The One”

• Felicia Takman - “Ta mig då”

( we’re , fucked )

notable entries:

• Nickel Creek - “Stone’s Throw”

• Dagny - “Heartbreak In The Making”

• Gus Dapperton - “Horizons”

• Kicksie - “You’re On”