What I’ve Been Listening To – Spring 2023
In the first edition of this ongoing series, I close out the season with a brief overview of the music I’ve been listening to.
Every season since 2017, I’ve made a playlist that includes all the songs I’ve been listening to on heavy repeat. No themes nor overarching narrative, no cohesion—just songs I’ve liked at a certain point in time.
This Spring, I did not do much exploring outside my main rotation, mainly since there has been so much new music from the artists I love. But, that doesn’t mean I wasn’t clicking through a seemingly endless selection of songs. So, here’s what I was listening to this past Spring!
Much of my Spring 2023 playlist showcases all the new music releases that occurred between March and May. Lana Del Rey’s Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd has a strong presence in the playlist, mainly because her new album currently stands as my favorite new release—and it will probably be my favorite album of 2023. The Strokes’ “new” album of never-before-released versions of their singles also dominates the playlist, mainly because “Hawaii”, the alternate lyrics to “Is This It,” and the original demo for “New York City Cops” blew my mind when I first listened to them upon release. Indigo De Souza’s newest single “Smog” made it on the playlist, and it clearly prompted me to revisit her discography and my favorite album of hers (I Love My Mom) to prepare for the new album that came out recently. Lastly, the new Julian Casablancas/Daft Punk song that was released in the 10-year anniversary edition of Random Access Memories obviously made its way into my heavy rotation at the last second; any collaboration between the two artists is something I immediately obsess over (“Instant Crush” is quite possibly the best song ever, and I’m not even joking). Beach House also released the B-sides to Once Twice Melody—a stellar album and one of my favorites of 2022—so I included the first song (it was the only one that stood out to me).
I also got really into a couple artists: Father John Misty, who I really only knew from Chloë and the Next 20th Century and the Lana Del Rey collaborations, defined my spring. I really came to appreciate how spectacular Fear Fun and I Love You, Honeybear are, and the songs I picked were ones I found coming back to on the albums the most. They’re two albums I can listen to entirely, often queueing them back-to-back so that I can listen to both without deciding which one to prioritize.
Another new artist I began seriously listening to was Haley Hendrickx, as The Bug Collector ended up being on heavy rotation throughout March. Her religious themes, sometimes heartbreaking lyrics, gentle voice, and beautiful guitar work captured my attention as I pretended to observe Lent (aka leaning into Catholic guilt), and she became the centerpiece to my other playlist about aestheticizing religious guilt, where many songs in my Spring 2023 playlist make an appearance.*
I revisited Arctic Monkeys’ The Car at the beginning of the season—unfortunately a slightly more important album to me came out a week before The Car did, so I had to prioritize that throughout the fall and winter—and realized that, yet again, Arctic Monkeys knocked it out of the park with a funky concept album. “Body Paint” was one of my favorite releases in 2022 and a beautiful song with some of the best orchestral arrangements I’ve heard in modern alternative music. “Jet Skis on the Moat” is also a song where the first few lines are just permanently stuck in my brain.
Lily Allen made an appearance because my sister and I both agree she’s an icon. Icons, especially those that wrote It’s Not Me, It’s You, must always be remembered. Also, even though she’s extremely popular and successful, Lily Allen is still super underrated as an artist.
Lastly, some songs made an appearance because they corresponded to certain events going on in my personal life. I was listening to “Nanã” by Polo & Pan because one of my best friends and roommates always played that song whenever we were cleaning the living room or warming up for dance, and because we went on a tropical vacation for spring break and the song fit the vibes. “Dreams” by The Cranberries made the cut because I was graduating college in May, so I was trying to hype myself up for that with a hopeful song about the future. Songs from The 1975’s debut album appeared because I began writing my detailed review of their discography then, and I remembered how incredible “You” actually is. We love how much music corresponds to the individual experience!
Feel free to listen to my Spring 2023 playlist!*
Disclaimer: This playlist spans March 1 – May 31, 2023. Though I know spring begins in the middle of March, I start adding to the playlist at the beginning of the month to give clean, three-month periods of building it.
*You need Spotify to listen to this playlist. Sorry in advance.
Photoshop for the header via author.