THE TOP 100 SONG OF 2023 (PART THREE)...

 

Part three brings it up another high notch:

41. Attention (Doja Cat): 

opening with a fluttering harp and a canned loon call, the song responds to criticisms of her appearance (“Lost a lil’ weight, but I ain’t never lost a tushy”) and her decision to drop out of the Weeknd’s After Hours Til Dawn Tour (“I coulda been an opener, I redirect the bookin’”), biting back against the patronizing commentary of so-called fans. Foregrounding her rapping chops, Doja Cat spits over ’90s hip-hop production as if she’s in an audition. She’s got heads turned in her direction; now we watch and wait.(PITCHFORK) 

42. Silhouette (Little Simz): 

a propulsive roar that finds her railing against situations, people, and even the past – especially when any of those things try to get in the way of her self-realization. The drums are wiry, energetic and compliment the gospel echoes later on in the song. Eventually, martial beats arise and wordless harmonies drift along in the background, setting up the repeated mantra of “time will heal you / find your way / find your faith / God’s with you always”, a bit of light among the darker certainties expressed here. (BEATS PER MINUTE) 

43. Cuff It (Beyonce):

 for all the irreverence we treat Beyonce, we forget that some times she is just like everyone else and wants to throw down and have crazy fun. 

44. Gardetto (Liv. e): 

is brash with heavy breakbeats and samples under Liv.e’s delicate, lo-fi vocals. But the dissimilarity creates the kind of messy soundscape that centres her vocal performance, so you’re saturated in the turmoil of her words and experience: “When I look inside my brain / there were all these webs of pain”. (THEQUIETUS) 

45. Prescription (Remi Wolf): 

bless Remi’s heart for being the gift that does not stop giving. 

46. Long Story Short (Lil Wayne & 2 Chainz): 

useless to deny its smooth flow. 

47. Spirit 2.0 (Sampha): 

gently anguished, as is his signature, and infused with the warm twinkle of his live performances. “Now I’m drifting into open skies/And I ain’t scared as before,” he says, sounding relieved at hurtling towards the unknown. His words are matched by plinky synths, swelling violins, and skittering drums that shift positions like puzzle tiles. “Spirit 2.0” gets at Sampha’s best qualities, his ability hit you in the chest while evaporating into the ether. (PITCHFORK) 

48. Right Thing (Bayonne): 

over an infectious groove, Sellers soars into exciting new heights. 

49. Get It B4 (Moses Sumney):

 running on autopilot and still no fumes. 

50. Sober Together (Blondshell): 

a real heartbreak about the tenuous danger of trying to get sober together. 

51. The News (Paramore): 

explores the unhealthy addiction of social media news. 

52. To The Moon And Back (Gabriels): 

a trippy, retro affair. 

53. Blue (Kali Uchis): 

Uchis continues to imprint her own unique style on soul and house/hop. 

54. God Loves You (JPEGMafia & Danny Brown):

 it’s an old trip mixing the religious with the sexually profane but damn, this really elevates the conversion. 

55. Pet Rock (L’rain): 

though Cheek has used guitars in the past, they were often woven into her musical tapestries as texture; here, a flanged, Strokes-style guitar melody is the focal point, winding behind her diaphanous voice alongside rolling drums. “Cut the bullshit and make me into something else,” she insists, before pleading, “Why would you go without me?” The sense of loss is intentionally undefined—at the halfway point, the song bursts open with woozy synths and a searing psych-rock solo as Cheek sings a refrain about feeling like a “dead girl with shades propped up by captors,” tilting the song toward the macabre to explicate a deep alienation. Like the best L’Rain songs, “Pet Rock” finds meaning in ambiguity, leaving unforgettable images in its wake. (PITCHFORK) 

56. African Sex Freak Fantasy (Mike): 

when Mike raps this controlled, the flow s infectious. 

57. $20 (boygenius): 

well-worked, overlapping and disguising the bridges and hooks as natural flows, yet each effort can be marked for who has presented it. Those essential styles that have won over audiences and listeners time and time again are compressed and stuck together with the quality intact. (CULT FOLLOWING) 

58. Soul Capturer (Animal Collective): 

it doesn’t matter which version, the boys are back! 

59. Weightless (Arlo Parks): 

Parks provides not only excellent lyricism but impeccable production. The song features light and bubbly synths that glide on top of the beat with a flourish. The beginning synth melody takes me back to old Tumbr-era indie-pop. (WERS.ORG)  

60. Welcome To My Island (Caroline Polachek): 

Polachek holds a great voice though, represented well throughout this rhythmic piece that feels aeons away from the earlier album works so far released. There is a growth of the form and then there is this, an excellent composition that pushes away from the art pop momentum of Pang. (CULT FOLLOWING)