Monthly Report: November 2023 Singles
1. Olivia Rodrigo - "Bad Idea Right?"
Most of the time when I'm making year-end lists, it feels pretty obvious which singles by which artists I'm going to include, and if someone had a great year and I need to include two or three of their songs, I easily decide which is the best. But in 2023, just as in 2021, Olivia Rodrigo released an album with three great singles that are all in year-end contention for me. Right now "Bad Idea Right?" is my favorite, but that could change. It definitely feels like the underdog, so fast and funny and overstuffed with ideas that it couldn't explode commercially like "Good 4 U," but is still doing pretty well, all things considered. Here's the 2023 singles Spotify playlist I update every month.
2. Muni Long - "Made For Me"
So many new R&B hits sample classics from the '90s and 2000s, but it's worth remembering that a lot of the writers and producers of that era are still around doing good stuff. So I love hearing Jermaine Dupri and Bryan-Michael Cox's recent work on hits like Ari Lennox's "Pressure" and Muni Long's "Made For Me," the latter of which definitely has some of that Y2K pixie dust sprinkled on it.
3. Tems - "Me & U"
A handful of songs Tems recorded in 2020 made her into an international star and have had an incredibly long shelf life -- "Free Mind" was still top 5 on R&B radio in its 82nd week on the chart before finally dropping out of the chart in October. I'm glad Tems finally released a new single, "Me & U," around the same time, I really hope she continues to be a fixture of American radio, definitely one of the most arresting voices to come out of the Afrobeats crossover era.
4. The Beatles - "Now And Then"
I'm pretty guarded about getting caught up in the excitement over posthumous records -- the new Sparklehorse album is is one of the only times in recent memory I've gotten genuinely excited about one. I was pretty young and not that interested in the Beatles back when "Free As A Bird" and "Real Love" came out, but now that I consider myself a pretty big Beatles fan, I still consider them pretty underwhelming. The more modern technology used to put "Now And Then" together is impressive, though, and I think it's a better song. I wish they'd found some Lennon demos of an earlier vintage, because to my ears he really wasn't writing things that sounded fully like Beatles songs by the late '70s, but those Ringo drum fills and Paul doing a perfect George impression on the guitar solo go pretty far to making this feel more like a 'real' Beatles song.
5. Destiny Rogers - "Save My Love"
Coldplay's 2014 single "Magic" is a relatively forgotten song, perhaps overshadowing by coming out just before Chris and Gwyneth's whole "conscious uncoupling" thing. But I absolutely loved it and think it's one of the best things they ever did. So I was pleased to turn on MTV Live one day and see the video for this song by major label starlet Destiny Rogers that's built on a sample of "Magic," and has a pretty nice vocal melody of its own.
6. No Guidnce - "Is It A Crime?"
I am pretty weary of band names and brand names that simply remove one or two vowel letters from a commonplace word for a quirky spelling, and I particularly hate No Guidnce's name. Their recent single co-written by Victoria Monet is pretty good, though. I really miss vocal groups in R&B and they both harmonize well together and have distinctive voices when they take turns singing lead.
7. Foo Fighters - "Under You"
The deaths of Taylor Hawkins and Virginia Grohl loom large over most or all of the songs on But Here We Are in different ways, but "Under You" is the song that really seems to evoke Dave and Taylor's friendship the most vividly, a really lovely and bittersweet song.
8. The Maine - "Blame"
This isn't quite as good as their rock radio breakthrough "Sticky" from a couple years ago but it's cool, this band is really growing on me.
9. The Beaches - "Blame Brett"
I don't think this is even one of my favorite songs on Blame My Ex but it's definitely one of the most memorable and I'm glad they're getting some mainstream radio play.
10. Scar Lip - "No Statements"
A lot of the female rappers coming out of New York these days have a tough sound or tough image to some degree, from Cardi B to Lola Brooke, but it feels like Scar Lip has a sharper edge than everyone else, this song does a pretty good job of turning her persona into a radio-friendly single that's catchy but also menacing.
The Worst Single of the Month: Drake f/ SZA - "Slime You Out"
I'm not the biggest fan of Drake or SZA, but when it was announced that they worked together on the lead single to his album, it seemed like a no-brainer massive hit. And of course, it debuted at #1 on the Hot 100, but it's flopped in every other way, dropping off the R&B radio charts after just 4 weeks. Part of that is that SZA was on another song on For All The Dogs that's a lot catchier, "Rich Baby Daddy," but I would like to think that people just rejected this song after they took a second to listen to the lyrics ("I'm slimin' you for them kid choices you made"..."whipped and chained you like American slaves"..."send wires on wires on wires like Idris"). Making possibly the worst #1 in the year of Oliver Anthony and Jason Aldean is just disgraceful.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, November 09, 2023 at 7:03 AM.
You can skip to the end and leave a response.
Post a Comment