Songs Of 2023
I suggest letting the embedded player below play 30-second-previews of all songs while you read, it is an interesting exercise!
Don’t mind the ‘1 second of silence’ in between tracks - a bug is making spotify skip alternate tracks. This way it always plays the list as intended.
Whenever I had time for myself in 2023, my preferred occupation seemed to be picking up a book more than active music listening. In the past, I have been somewhat adventurous in pursuit of new music (if you count asking strangers for songs an adventure). I didn’t cast as wide a net this year, don’t remember doing any of those practices, and when I tried to think of songs I heard this year, I remembered mostly staying within comfort of known music. I was expecting this list to be quite a short one.
Turns out, I did, in fact, do a fair bit of exploration after all, when I looked at digital history. I was pleasantly surprised at the volume of songs I had collected over the year. After what proved to be a fun and memory-evoking process - partly why I do these lists - I landed on the list at the bottom.
An Aside: Desi Music 🔗
Some good ‘faux classic’ music in Hindi/Urdu this year, couldn’t get enough of the sweet, sweet melodies. My favourite composers were busy, somehow all at the same time (clearing out the Covid backlog?); my Song Inbox overfloweth. Desi music, by and large, stays melodiously rich, lyrically pleasing, but songs with social consciousness remain few and far between. Tamil music, as usual, was a tier above others in terms of quality and experimentation. I really wish I understood Tamil. Marathi industry seems to have caught a new wind in their sails - I felt there was an uptick in quality Marathi releases this year.
Song Links 🔗
Bandcamp links are preferred when available, as they achieve the balance of [maximum earnings for artists] and [non-paywalled listening for the readers of this post]. If Bandcamp is not available, the next best thing is linked, down to YouTube (which doesn’t pay that much to artists per track, but the volume of users on that website might mean for a bigger payout). I have heard Spotify is not very nice to the artists, and likely due to that many songs from my library have disappeared as artists are pulling out. I am hoping to quit Spotify altogether, but it will take me some time to either find an alternative for the 30-second-preview thing, or build one myself. Spotify also transparently changes songs linked, depending on region (for the same URL!), so I can’t even trust spotify links any more.
If you have suggestions/edits, please do let me know!
Housekeeping notes 🔗
- These rankings are a snapshot of what I think on the date - it is possible that a future Me might rank these differently.
- Some songs are (very) explicit; they are indicated with “Ⓔ”.
The Top 10 🔗
1. “Oh Ammalaalo Ammalaalo”
A
Telugu song by Santhosh Narayanan, Anurag Kulkarni; from album Dasara
A song about childhood, friendships, frolicking freely in nature as a child (If I understand correctly).
2. “Rubaaiyaan”
A
Hindi, Punjabi song by Amit Trivedi, Swanand Kirkire, Shahid Mallya; from album Qala
Honestly I could’ve picked any song from Qala. If you like this, I recommend the album.
3. “The Box”
An
English song by Johnny Flynn; from album A Larum
4. “Rampage”
A
Hindi song by A.R. Rahman, MC Heam, Krystal Kiran; from album Pippa
5. “Plastic”
An
English song by Cheekface; from album Plastic
6. “Oral”
An
English song by Björk, ROSALÍA; from album Oral
Proceeds from the song support efforts to stop salmon farming operations in Iceland that threaten the local fish ecology (the lyrics themselves are not about this).
7. “Bean Pháidín”
An
Irish song by Lasairfhíona; from album An Raicín Álainn
8. “911”
An
English song by waterbaby; from album 911
9. “Chinnanjiru (Marumurai)”
A
Tamil song by A.R. Rahman, Khatija Rahman; from album Ponniyin Selvan: II
10. “Customer Service”
An
English song by Sugar Pit; from album Customer Service
really good songs 🔗
Songs I absolutely loved, but didn’t make the Top 10 list
1. “vampire”
Ⓔ An
English song by Olivia Rodrigo; from album vampire
2. “The Gods Must Be Crazy”
Ⓔ An
English song by Armand Hammer, billy woods, E L U C I D, El-P; from album We Buy Diabetic Test Strips
3. “Aaya Ye Jhund Hai”
A
Hindi song by Ajay-Atul, Atul Gogavale; from album Jhund
4. “The Granite Gaze”
An
English song by Lankum; from album Between the Earth and Sky
5. “Mann Taara”
A
Marathi song by Shashaa Tirupati, Gulraj Singh; from album Unaad
6. “Dhoom Dhaam”
Ⓔ A
Telugu song by Santhosh Narayanan, Rahul Sipligunj, Kasarla Shyam, Gotte Kanakavva, Gannora Dasa Laxmi, Palamuru Jangireddy, Narsanna (Nalgonda Gaddar); from album Dasara
7. “Khara To Ekachi Dharma”
A
Marathi song by Mahesh Kale, Sane Guruji; from album Shyamchi Aai
8. “Mama ŠČ!”
A
Croatian song by Let 3; from album Mama ŠČ!
9. “Phero Na Najariya”
A
Hindi song by Amit Trivedi, Kausar Munir, Sireesha Bhagavatula; from album Qala
10. “Chamkeela Angeelesi”
A
Telugu song by Santhosh Narayanan, Ram Miriyala, Dhee; from album Dasara
11. “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)”
An
English song by The Proclaimers; from album Finest
12. “alyosha”
An
English song by Susanne Sundfør; from album blómi
13. “Mohanam”
An
Instrumental song by Shakti, John McLaughlin, Zakir Hussain, Shankar Mahadevan, Selvaganesh Vinayakram, Ganesh Rajagopalan; from album This Moment
14. “Baharla Ha Madhumas”
A
Marathi song by Ajay-Atul, Ajay Gogavale, Shreya Ghoshal; from album Maharashtra Shaheer
more good songs 🔗
1. “SCARING THE HOES”
Ⓔ An
English song by JPEGMAFIA, Danny Brown; from album SCARING THE HOES
2. “Khalasi”
A
Gujarati song by Aditya Gadhvi, Achint; from album Coke Studio Bharat
3. “Heaven”
An
Enlish song by Mitski; from album The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We
4. “Ai Coração”
A
Portuguese song by Mimicat; from album Festival da Canção 2023
5. “Lafda Zala”
A
Hindi song by Ajay-Atul, Ajay Gogavale; from album Jhund
6. “Duniya”
A
Hindi song by Shellee, Abhay Jodhpurkar; from album Almost Pyaar With DJ Mohabbat
7. “Nenjame Nenjame”
A
Tamil song by A.R. Rahman, Vijay Yesudas, Shakthisree Gopalan; from album Maamannan
8. “Fursat”
A
Hindi song by Amit Trivedi, Rupali Moghe, Siddharth - Garima; from album Songs Of Trance 2
9. “Leaving The Light”
Ⓔ An
English song by Genesis Owusu; from album STRUGGLER
10. “Heart of Steel”
An
English, Ukrainian song by TVORCHI; from album Heart of Steel
11. “Veera Raja Veera (Composition Based on a Dagarvani Tradition Dhrupad)”
A
Tamil song by A.R. Rahman, Shankar Mahadevan, K. S. Chithra, Harini; from album Ponniyin Selvan: II
12. “See You Again (feat. Kali Uchis)”
Ⓔ An
English song by Tyler, The Creator, Kali Uchis; from album Flower Boy
13. “NO SZNS”
An
English song by Jean Dawson, SZA; from album NO SZNS
14. “Darkness, Darkness”
An
Instrumental song by Kieran Hebden, William Tyler; from album Darkness, Darkness / No Services
15. “Escapism.”
Ⓔ An
English song by RAYE, 070 Shake; from album My 21st Century Blues
16. “If I Speak (Shut The Fuck Up)”
Ⓔ An
English song by Soul Glo; from album If I Speak (Shut The Fuck Up)
17. “Évidemment”
A
French song by La Zarra; from album Évidemment
18. “You’ll Always Find Me In The Kitchen At Parties”
An
English song by Jona Lewie; from album On The Other Hand There’s A Fist
19. “Udankhatole”
A
Hindi song by Mohammed Irfan, Vaishali Made, Kausar Munir; from album Jubilee
20. “Queen of Kings”
An
English song by Alessandra; from album Queen of Kings
21. “Jenn’s Terrific Vacation (feat. Kassa Overall)”
Ⓔ An
English song by Danny Brown, Kassa Overall; from album Quaranta
some more good songs, have them why don’t you 🔗
1. “All I Have to Do Is Dream”
An
English song by The Everly Brothers; from album The Very Best of The Everly Brothers
2. “Jericho”
An
English song by Iniko; from album Jericho
3. “Karar Oi Louho Kapat”
A
Bengali song by A.R. Rahman, Rahul Dutta, Tirtha Bhattacharjee, Pijush Das, Shrayee Paul, Shalini Mukherjee, Dilasa Chowdhury; from album Pippa
4. “Viva Marvillas”
A
Cuban Spanish song by King N´gom; from album Senegal 70 (Analog Africa No. 19)
5. “Such Great Heights”
An
English song by The Postal Service; from album Give Up
6. “Dil Jahan Pe Le Chala”
A
Hindi song by Shahid Mallya, Kausar Munir; from album Jubilee
7. “Archie, Marry Me”
An
English song by Alvvays; from album Alvvays
8. “Unchained Melody”
An
English song by The Unrighteous Brothers, Paul Cauthen, Orville Peck; from album Unchained Melody / You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’
9. “Breaking My Heart”
An
English song by Reiley; from album Breaking My Heart
10. “BHAAVAM”
A
Malayalam song by Job Kurian; from album BHAAVAM
11. “Will Anybody Ever Love Me?”
An
English song by Sufjan Stevens; from album Will Anybody Ever Love Me?
12. “Defeat”
An
English song by Animal Collective; from album Isn’t It Now?
13. “Nora”
An
English song by Johnny McEvoy; from album Celebration
14. “Ori Vaari”
A
Telugu song by Santhosh Narayanan; from album Dasara
15. “Echo - Eurovision 2023 - Georgia”
An
English song by Iru; from album Echo
16. “Raangla”
A
Hindi song by Pratibha Singh Baghel, Shankar Mahadevan; from album Dono
17. “Padam Padam”
An
English song by Kylie Minogue; from album Padam Padam
18. “Arutperunjodhi”
A
Tamil song by Ilaiyaraaja; from album Viduthalai
19. “In Raahon Mein”
A
Hindi song by Arijit Singh, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Javed Akhtar; from album The Archies
20. “You Wish (with Missy Elliott & Kaliii) – Remix”
Ⓔ An
English song by Flyana Boss, Missy Elliott, Kaliii; from album You Wish (with Missy Elliott & Kaliii) – Remix
21. “dickhead blues”
Ⓔ An
English song by Kara Jackson; from album Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love?
22. “Samo mi se spava”
A
Serbian song by Luke Black; from album Samo mi se spava
23. “A&W”
Ⓔ An
English song by Lana Del Rey; from album Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd
24. “Cha Cha Cha”
A
Finnish song by Käärijä; from album Cha Cha Cha
25. “Why”
An
English song by Chat Pile; from album God’s Country
26. “Saare Ke Saare Akele”
A
Hindi song by Devenderpal Singh, Kausar Munir; from album Jubilee