My Music in 2023, A Glance

(this post languished in my working directory for a month and a half. But I really did finish writing it in 2023…)

This year has probably been the biggest material change to my life so far. But, it all still feels the same. Hm…

Let’s not be sad though, this is about music :)

Note: this is one of those posts that I really just write for myself and for my friends to stalk. There’s no continuity, you don’t have to read all of this.

(continuing on from My Music in 2022, A Glance; My Music in 2021, A Glance; My Music in 2020, A Glance; My Music in 2019, A Glance)

Table of Contents

• Table of Contents
• Albums of the Year (4)
• Other Albums That I Liked
  • Albums Released in 2023
  • EPs Released in 2023
  • Albums Released Before 2023
  • Albums I Will Get Around To Soon
• Songs of the Year
  • Top 42
  • Other Songs Released in 2023 (favourite albums non-inclusive)
  • Songs Released Before 2023
• Stats et al
  • Spotify Wrapped
  • Last.fm
• Other Thoughts on 2023 In Music
  • Looking Forward to…
  • 2023 Wishlists and Predictions
  • 2024 Wishlists and Predictions
  • Disappointments
  • Honourable Mentions
• Closing (and random) Thoughts

Albums of the Year (4)

I thought this was a particularly solid year for indie-ish artists, especially after 2022 saw almost all the big names drop! In fact, there’s a ton of stellar albums that I didn’t really hunker down and listen to (more on that later). It’s not my fault that so many good albums came out after I started work!

This is a long way of saying that I have a very short, sweet, and somewhat incomplete AOTY list:

Other Albums That I Liked

There were quite a few other albums that I rocked for a while - most of which coming from smaller artists!

Albums Released in 2023

expand albums released in 2023

• 10,000 gecs by 100 gecs
• character development by Zeph
• Chronicles of a Diamond by Black Pumas
• Cracker Island by Gorillaz
• GIZMO by Tanukichan
• Grapes Upon the Vine by TV Girl
• Heaven knows by PinkPantheress
• Let’s Start Here by Lil Yachty
• KAYTRAMINÉ by KAYTRAMINÉ, Aminé, KAYTRANADA
• Magic 2 by Nas
• Magic 3 by Nas
• MICHAEL by Killer Mike
• SCARING THE HOES by JPEGMAFIA, Danny Brown
• Something To Give Each Other by Troye Sivan
• STRUGGLER by Genesis Owusu
• Sweet Justice by Tkay Maidza
• That! Feels Good! by Jessie Ware
• The Great Escape by Larry June, The Alchemist
• The Loveliest Time by Carly Rae Jepsen
• This Is Why by Paramore
• to love in the 21st century by Lyn Lapid

A few quick highlights & notes:

• I think the smallest artists here are Zeph, Tanukichan, and Lyn Lapid - but they each deserve quite a bit more attention (except … maybe Zeph’s online presence).
• while I’m sad to see the end of the Nas & Hit-Boy run, I’m still in such awe of their output: six high-quality albums in the span of a bit over 2 years is absolutely nuts!
• Let’s Start Here was so out of left field, and I loved it!
• interestingly, a few of these albums are heavily carried by the singles for me; examples include Cracker Island, Something To Give Each Other, and Sweet Justice. An absolute godlike top 4/5 songs!
• even though they’re on this list, I was still a teensy bit disappointed by the three I just mentioned, plus KAYTRAMINÉ and This Is Why: I was thinking that most would be guaranteed AOTY this year!
• I know SCARING THE HOES was on many top ten lists. I’ve never been as big of a fan of this style as people like Fantano, but I can’t deny that peggy has done a stellar job with its production - and on an analog no less!

EPs Released in 2023

expand favourite EPs in 2023

• BB/ANG3L by Tinashe
• Drama by aespa
• playpen by Juliet Ivy
• Split Decision by Dave, Central Cee
• THE GRATITUDE PROJECT by Tiffany Day
• We Go Again by ENNY
• WE’RE ALL BRODIES by AG Club

Like last year, not too much to say. ENNY is probably the standout EP for me this year!

Albums Released Before 2023

expand albums released before 2023

• 10 by Westside Gunn
• Blue Rev by Alvvays
• BUBBA by KAYTRANADA
• Chet Baker Sings by Chet Baker
• HYPNOS by Ravyn Lenae

I went through quite a bit of my backlog, but these five stood out:

• 10 has Westside Gunn playing a caricature of himself, in a way that I can’t help but chuckle about.
• Blue Rev is so smooth and serene, with just the right hint of quirk!
• BUBBA is insanely danceable. It’s one of those “got me walking weird in public” albums!
• I’ve listened to Chet Baker Sings before, but Laufey blowing up had me going through this album with a reinvigorated passion. Just a genre-definer!
• HYPNOS is easily one of the most unique and well-executed R&B albums I’ve heard in the past ten years. Kind of can’t believe that this is a debut studio album!

Albums I Will Get Around To Soon

Continuing from last year: there were so many albums and songs that I listened to only once or twice that I really wish I had more time to dig into! If I had more time, I’m pretty certain that they’d make the good album/song list - and perhaps, even some AOTYs!

Some albums that seem pretty great (and hopefully will enter the rotation next year):

expand the 2023 album to-do list

• 14K Figaro by Wiki and Tony Seltzer
• 3D Country by Geese
• Burning Desire by MIKE
• Desire, I Want To Turn Into You by Caroline Polacheck
• Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd by Lana Del Rey
• Everything Harmony by The Lemon Twigs
• HELLMODE by Jeff Rosenstock
• Javelin by Sufjan Stevens
• Lahai by Sampha
• Playing Robots Into Heaven by James Blake
• Quaranta by Danny Brown
• The Land Is Inhospitable And So Are We by Mitski
• The Patience by Mick Jenkins
• VOIR DIRE by Earl Sweatshirt and The Alchemist

For what it’s worth, I’ve listened to a few of these albums (14K, Lana, Mitski, VOIR DIRE) a couple of times - but not enough to get a confident “AOTY” opinion on them.

Ones I didn’t get around to from last year’s list:

expand the songs from last year’s list

• Chromatica by Lady Gaga
• Dirt Femme by Tove Lo
• Every Shade of Blue by The Head And The Heart
• God Don’t Make Mistakes by Conway the Machine
• hypochondriac by brakence
• If This Isn’t Nice, I Don’t Know What Is by Still Woozy
• It Is What It Is by Thundercat
• Juno by Remi Wolf
• Laurel Hell by Mitski
• Natural Brown Prom Queen by Sudan Archives
• Once Twice Melody by Beach House
• Pang by Caroline Polacheck
• Preacher’s Daughter by Ethel Cain
• rising by mxmtoon
• The Elephant Man’s Bones by Roc Marciano, The Alchemist
• The Turning Wheel by Spelling
• Valentine by Snail Mail
• Visions of Bodies Being Burned by clipping.
• We’re All Alone In This Together by Dave
• World Wide Pop by Superorganism

Songs of the Year

This section was so fun to put together - just some absolutely stellar singles on top of albums!

Top 42

My “amperes for 2023”, limited to one song per 2023 album. I’ve noted the songs not coming from a fave album/EP with (*).

the top 42 songs of my year!

• A Night To Remember by beabadoobee, Laufey (*)
• Agora Hills by Doja Cat (*)
• AMERICA HAS A PROBLEM (remix) by Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar (*)
• bad idea right? by Olivia Rodrigo
• Barry by AG Club
• Capable of love by PinkPantheress
• Charge It by ENNY
• Crave by Paramore
• cross ur mind by Lyn Lapid
• Cobra by Megan Thee Stallion
• Dance The Night by Dua Lipa (*)
• DYSBF! by grouptherapy.
• Enjoy Your Life by Romy (*)
• EVERYTHING IS RED by Koven Wei (*)
• F Taste by Yoshi T. (*)
• Frog On The Floor by 100 gecs
• From The Start by Laufey
• GOATED by Armani White, Denzel Curry (*)
• Hello Love by Jessie Ware
• Hot Air Balloon by aespa
• Kingdom Hearts Key by JPEGMAFIA, Danny Brown, redveil
• Leaving The Light by Genesis Owusu (*)
• Master P by KAYTRAMINÉ, Big Sean
• More Than a Love Song by Black Pumas
• MOTHERLESS by Killer Mike, Eryn Allen Kane
• Nachts wach by Miksu / Macloud, makko (*)
• Needs by Tinashe
• Not Strong Enough by boygenius
• Oh No Darling! by Sarah Kinsley (*)
• Pistols On Your Album Cover by Nas
• Psychedelic Switch by Carly Rae Jepsen
• Run, Run, Run by McKinley Dixon (*)
• Rush by Troye Sivan
• SHOOTING STAR by XG (*)
• sorry i’m not by Zeph
• Tally by midwxst, Denzel Curry (*)
• The Hillbillies by Baby Keem, Kendrick Lamar (*)
• The Tide by Hit-Boy, Nas (*)
• Two Tens by Cordae, Anderson .Paak (*)
• Wana by nour (*)
• we’re all eating each other by Juliet Ivy
• Won One by Tkay Maidza

If I had to pick one: Rush would probably be my favourite song this year, with Oh No Darling!, From The Start, Nachts wach, and bad idea right! trailing close by.

Other Songs Released in 2023 (favourite albums non-inclusive)

This year, I felt like a particularly sizeable chunk of my favourite songs didn’t come from albums!

expand my other favourite 2023 songs

• アイドル by YOASOBI
• A Night To Remember by beabadoobee, Laufey
• Agora Hills by Doja Cat
• All My Life by Lil Durk, J. Cole
• AMERICA HAS A PROBLEM (remix) by Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar
• Average Guy (Blame) by TV Girl, Monster Rally
• Back On 74 by Jungle
• Be Somebody by Emotional Oranges, Tkay Maidza
• Chameleon by Dark Dazey
• Cobra by Megan Thee Stallion
• Crushxd by Crumb
• Dance The Night by Dua Lipa
• Daydreaming by NxWorries, Anderson .Paak, Knxwldge
• delulu by Lexie Liu
• Dizzy Vision by Dev Lemons
• Doomsday by Lyrical Lemonade, Juice WRLD, Cordae
• Enjoy Your Life by Romy
• EVERYTHING IS RED by Koven Wei
• Eye For An Eye by Rina Sawayama
• F Taste by Yoshi T.
• Flow by Jourden
• Flowers by TOBi, MAVI
• Gang Gang Gang by Jack Harlow
• Girl Like Me by Slayyyter
• Glue song by beabadoobee
• GOATED by Armani White, Denzel Curry
• Greatness by Quavo
• Love is Beautiful by Rei, Ginger Root
• Nachts wach by Miksu / Macloud, makko
• Oh No Darling! by Sarah Kinsley
• Outta This World by Harrison, TOBi
• Red Wine Supernova by Chappel Roan
• Run, Run, Run by McKinley Dixon
• Sci-Fi by Tainy, Rauw Alejandro
• SHOOTING STAR by XG
• shy girl by wilo wilde
• So Fly by Chinatown Slalom
• Sometimes… by Snakehips, Daya, EARTHGANG
• Tally by midwxst, Denzel Curry
• The Hillbillies by Baby Keem, Kendrick Lamar
• The Tide by Hit-Boy, Nas
• the way things go by beabadoobee
• Two Tens by Cordae, Anderson .Paak
• Vampire Empire by Big Thief
• VORTEX by JAWS
• Wana by nour

Thoughts:

• Nachts wach is one of my favourite finds! Maybe I should be listening to more German music…
• I felt like there was some absolutely stellar art - Run, Run, Run and Oh No Darling! are some of the most special songs I’ve heard in their respective genres!
• VORTEX is a really neat song (there’s a portion of the song that rewinds, and it just works!)
• I can’t believe we got baited with just The Hillbillies and not anything else, even with the Flog Gnaw headline!
• an interesting note is how broad the language spectrum is here: アイドル, Nachts wach, Sci-Fi, SOOTING STAR, and Wana!!
• bea is (in my opinion) having an absolutely amazing single run. I am so excited for what she drops next!
• unironically, the Barbie soundtrack is kind of a bop?
• I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I actually think that Gang Gang Gang was misunderstood by most critics; it’s clearly a criticism of “brotherhood”, not an endorsement. Reminds me quite a bit of my high school.
• shoutout Koven, who I went to middle school with :)

Songs Released Before 2023

For a song to qualify here, I listened to it (and added it to a playlist) for the first time this year. These ones tend to be slightly more notable, or the list would be a bit too long!

expand some the great non-2023 songs I heard

• 5g by brakence
• ABC by Polyphia, Sophia Black
• Armed And Dangerous by Juice WRLD
• Bang My Line by Cosmo’s Midnight, Tkay Maidza
• Cheating is a crime by takayan
• De todas las flores by Natalia Lafourcade
• Déjenme Llorar by Carla Morrison
• Do Not Disturb by Smokepurpp, Murda Beatz, Lil Yachty, Offset
• Don’t Know How To Keep Loving You by Julia Jacklin
• Get Away by BIG K.R.I.T.
• HEARTBREAKER CLUB by City Girl, tiffi, Highvyn
• Hunned Bandz by Tanukichan
• I Think I Like When It Rains by WILLIS
• Love, Try Not To Let Go by Julia Jacklin
• Morning Sex by Joey Purp
• Notion by The Rare Occasions
• running down by juhye, melatonin boy
• 死ぬのがいいわ by Fuji Kaze
• Still Got Time by dexter in the newsagent
• UNE MAIN LAVE L’AUTRE by Alpha Wann
• Why Do You Feel So Down by Declan McKenna
• 踊り子 by Vaundy

Some quick tidbits:

• 踊り子 is potentially my favourite song of this year. Shoutout Sydney!
• I really appreciated Polyphia and Julia Jacklin more this year!
• beyond that, the big takeaway is again more non-English music - from Japanese (Cheating is a crime, 死ぬのがいいわ, and 踊り子) to Spanish (De todas las flores and Déjenme Llorar) to French (UNE MAIN LAVE L’AUTRE)
• I think the most out of character pick for me is Armed And Dangerous - why am I only getting around to this now, especially as I listen to less trap and melodic rap? We’ll never know!

Stats et al

Spotify Wrapped

Laufey really dominates! Kendrick and The Avalanches return from last year. I don’t think I’ve listened to more 21 & Metro than normal; rather, I think I’ve been listening to more artists in general. All of these are “album” artists for me, while all of the songs are basically singles to me. But, I think the more interesting bit is…

Last.fm

This is year five of last.fm. I also started paying for it (now that I have a full-time job). Like before, this is just me transcribing publicly available data.

On artists:

• I listened to 1616 unique artists this year, which is about 250 more than last year (1345). I think I put more effort into artist discovery, which definitely shows!
• The top ten (with position changes) is:
  1. Laufey (+29)
  2. The Avalanches (+0)
  3. Kendrick Lamar (-2)
  4. Baby Keem (+4)
  5. Mac Miller (+11)
  6. Nas (+11)
  7. Chet Baker (+>200)
  8. 21 Savage (+4)
  9. Metro Boomin (+33)
  10. Little Simz (+0)
• exactly like last year, 4 of the top 10 (Kendrick, The Avalanches, Baby Keem, and Little Simz) retained a spot from last year. Surprisingly, The Avalanches and Simz are in the same spots
• unlike last year, only two of these artists dropped new projects: Bewitched and Metro’s Spiderverse album (which was meh)
• even less than years’ past, grouptherapy. (44) is the only new artist for me in the top 50! (treating groups as the intersection of their aritsts)
• and, a good chunk (probably over half) of my top 50 didn’t release a new project this year. I guess I’ve been sticking to the classics!

On songs:

• The tracks scrobbled clocks in at 19491, a bit higher than 18435 songs last year! I average 53 scrobbles a day.
• I listened to 6492 unique songs (quite a bit more than last year’s 5335).
• My most-listened to month was July, which tracks with my (very long) Malden-Boston commute; my lowest was in January.
• The top ten was very close!
  • there was a five-way tie for first place (35): Laufey’s California and Me, From The Start, Lovesick, Polyphia and Sophia Black’s ABC, and Young Thug and Drake’s Oh U Went!
  • the next five are Baby Keem’s scapegoats, Laufey’s Must Be Love, her While You Were Sleeping and Mac Miller’s Diablo (tied for 8th), and Armani White & Denzel Curry’s GOATED and Laufey’s Haunted (tied for 10th)
• Unlike the other years, this year’s top 10 is dominanted by 2023 songs: Laufey’s five (!!) plus Oh U Went and GOATED.
• In the top 50, the other 2023 songs are
  • Hit-Boy and Nas’s The Tide, and the reverse’s Pistols On Your Album Cover
  • Dave and Central Cee’s Sprinter
  • Tainy, Young Miko, and the Marías mañana
  • Tainy and Rauw Alejandro’s Sci-Fi
  • Black Pumas’s More Than A Love Song
  • boygenius’s Not Strong Enough
  • Laufey’s Dreamer, Nocturne (Interlude), Second Best, and Misty
• More songs are from before I was born than ever before: De La Soul’s Eye Know and Chet Baker’s Like Someone In Love, I’ve Never Been In Love Before, It’s Always You, My Ideal, and That Old Feeling
• None of the suicide songs carried over (nice!); sticking around from last year are scapegoats, Diablo, a lot, Modern Slavery, Since I Left You, TAKE A CHANCE, Alright, family ties, hooligan, and Ric Flair Drip

On albums:

• 3196 unique albums - quite a bit more than 2684 from last year!
• My top ten is:
  1. Bewiched by Laufey
  2. Faces by Mac Miller
  3. The Melodic Blue by Baby Keem
  4. Chet Baker Sings by Chet Baker
  5. NOT TiGHT by DOMi & JD Beck
  6. Since I Left You by The Avalanches
  7. HEROES & VILLAINS by Metro Boomin
  8. To Pimp a Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar
  9. LOUIE by Kenny Beats
  10. Everything I Know About Love by Laufey
• half of the top ten are carry-overs from last year: The Melodic Blue, NOT TiGHT, Since I Left You, To Pimp a Butterfly, and LOUIE
• out of the top 50, more are from 2023 than normal: Bewitched, the record, Something to Give Each Other (which might be carried by Rush), i was mature for my age, but i was still a child, to love in the 21st century, The Great Escape, The Loveliest Time, and SCARING THE HOES

Other Thoughts on 2023 In Music

Like I mentioned in the intro, I think 2023 was a huge win for smaller and newer artists. This is reflected both in the music that I listened to, and what’s popular now. This has me quite hopeful for 2024: both for even more new music from these artists, and hopefully that it’s given the old guard reason for competition.

Looking Forward to…

I’ll be brief, but here are some quick thoughts on what I’m most looking forward to, with a focus on smaller artists:

• Laufey has to be a big “I called it!” moment for me. Gonna be loving what she does next!
• the other AOTYs are stellar too, but I’m especially excited for new grouptherapy.
• beabadoobee is on an insane single run, and I’m hoping that this new album brings her to the mainstream!
• Dev Lemons has an unmatched online persona, but I’ve also been loving some of her music - I’d love to get more Dev music content (songs or otherwise!)
• in the jazz rap scene, McKinley Dixon seems like a diamond in the rough. Going to be eagerly awaiting what’s next!
• Yoshi T and nour have been getting some online buzz recently - I’m hoping this rides into a big EP (and LP!?) for them next! Both have a very dynamic take on their respective genres!
• I’m so surprised that The Alchemist is still producing gold after all these years, even with multiple collab albums a year. How does he do it? And who will be next?
• similarly, PinkPantheress has been on an output grind recently; I’d be more than happy if she kept pace next year.

I’m anticipating a packed mainstream, but I’ve got to be the most excited for new Megan (!) and maybe, just maybe, The Hillbillies.

2023 Wishlists and Predictions

Let’s see how well I did from last year!

For rap,

Almost certain: Megan drops another banger that drags her haters.

Cobra was amazing :)

Pretty likely: another famous rapper’s estate releases loosies that harm their image :(

I’m not sure if I can really qualitatively judge this. I am pleasantly surprised that Juice WRLD’s releases this year have been (imo) quite solid; loved the Doomsday Video.

Likely: Baby Keem drops another album and becomes pgLang’s front-and-center!

We got baited >:(

50/50: one of the BROCKHAMPTON boys drops an album that’s an “instant classic” for BH fans but is critically panned.

Blanket was a bit polarizing, but I think this counts!

Unlikely: one of Griselda reaches further commercial success with a Grammy nom and crossover feature.

No grammy nods, and I’m not aware of any big crossovers.

Pretty unlikely: Jack Harlow wins the Grammy for Rap Album of the Year, causing a rapper to announce that they’ll retire.

LOL. Shoutout Kendrick.

Moonshot: season 4 of The Cave has Kenny mediate Kanye (or a Kanye beef).

S4 of the Cave has been really fun though!!

Pop:

Almost certain: at least 20% of the Billboard Hot 100 has trended on TikTok.

I realized this is an ill-formed question, but, let’s proxy this by looking at the Hot 100 No. 1’s of 2023 or the Year-End Hot 100 singles of 2023. I am really surprised that Last Night by Morgan Wallen is so popular (maybe I’m out of touch). With a very quick glance, I’m almost certainly right!

Pretty likely: Zendaya hops on another song for Euphoria S3 with an indie darling and it does numbers.

Clearly I don’t know how Euphoria’s release schedule works!

Likely: Paramore’s return gives them another #1.

This Is Why debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, but did hit No. 1 on Rock & Alternative! So I’ll call it a win.

50/50: PinkPantheress continues to dominate and gets a main-mainstream feature.

Right on the money!! Shoutout Boy’s a liar pt 2 :)

Unlikely: we get a successful pop supergroup/duo (think Silk Sonic, LSD, or Boygenius).

I don’t think this happened :/

Pretty unlikely: French pop starts to see the same American success as Spanish pop; Stromae racks up even more streams.

Drats, we’ll have to get them l’année prochaine.

Moonshot: Kero Kero Bonito enters the mainstream with their next album, and Ed Sheeran brings them on to a song that also features 2 Chainz for some reason? (I like this one quite a bit).

I’m sure that 2024 is the year!

2024 Wishlists and Predictions

Same idea, but hopefully a better success rate.

Rap:

• Almost certain: Drake racks up another Billboard No. 1 feature
• Pretty likely: Rogét Chahayed racks up at least two Billboard No. 1 producer credits (maybe one from Jack Harlow’s new album?)
• Likely: J. Cole does release The Fall Off with an absolutely dominant lead single
• 50/50: The Hillbillies album drops. Right? RIGHT??
• Unlikely: we see midwxst or glaive-like alt-rap enter the mainstream more, in part thanks to a big artist (Drake?) biting the vibe.
• Pretty unlikely: next year’s XXL class has the same magic as the 2016 cypher
• Moonshot: Kendrick drops a surprise album that affects the 2024 election in some way

Pop:

• Almost certain: Jack Antonoff is still around … scheming…
• Pretty likely: another solo kpop artist from a former boy band drops a massively-successful charting song
• Likely: we get a main pop crossover with Sexxy Red à la Boys a liar Pt. 2 and/or Karma
• 50/50: we get another multi-week chart topping pop-country album (Kacey Musgraves hasn’t dropped in a bit…)
• Unlikely: we get a successful pop supergroup/duo (think Silk Sonic, LSD, or Boygenius). (I liked this from last year)
• Pretty unlikely: blues makes a chart revival similar to vocal jazz and Laufey
• Moonshot: once again, Kero Kero Bonito enters the mainstream with their next album, and Ed Sheeran brings them on to a song that also features 2 Chainz for some reason?

Disappointments

I’m trying to be a bit less of a hater this year. So really, I only have a small handful of things on my list (excluding albums that I still enjoyed, but just were missing something):

• Drake continues to be Drake and drop these massive albums with little quality control and mostly the same bars. For All The Dogs is a slight step up from CLB (low bar), but I really do want to see Drake hungry!
• Logic, what in the world is this review video. Come on man. I will say, it led to one of my new favourite videos of all time.
• Kanye … just … come on …

More broadly, I was a bit disappointed by the mainstream rap scene, but I think this is a function of 2022 being an absolutely stellar year and me becoming a “get off my lawn” listener.

Honourable Mentions

Quick shoutout to De La Soul’s 3 Feet High and Rising making it back on streaming. I was so delighted: a few songs here were some of my very first rap songs I ever listened to!

Also, shoutout to the CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST deluxe - one of the best deluxes I’ve heard in a while, with an absolutely stellar music video.

Closing (and random) Thoughts

I (still) wished I didn’t procrastinate these!

Overall, I’m relatively proud of listening to more music that’s not in English - special thanks to Karen for encouraging quite a bit of this. I still have many, many more languages and genres to discover! Similarly, I did fulfill a previous goal of listening to more jazz - both Laufey and some of the classics (like Chet Baker, Ella Fitzgerald, Herbie Hancock).

Interestingly, I feel like I’m creeping back to EDM. Let’s see how this goes.

This year, I think my big goal will be to dedicate more time to listening to albums in full (look how big the backlog is!) while working full-time. I really didn’t do this in the last half of the year, and it showed.

Because of various circumstances (mostly lots of moving), the new people in the music recommendation circle are few and far between. Shoutout to the Boston besties of Sydney, Becky, and Jade! And of course, continued shoutouts to the people from years past.

Here’s a “year in review” playlist from me, if you’re curious - or want something to play in the background. Just make sure to skip the 100 gecs and JPEGMAFIA songs if necessary :)

Until next time!