I MADE YOU A PLAYLIST, Vol. 22: 2023 Favorites

All of the above

Dec 31, 2023

This was the year of many weddings, the year of family trips, the year of maxing out my PTO and working from apartments that were not my own in cities I do not currently live in, the year of getting every dollar’s worth and more out of my trusty Samsonite carry-on. It was the year of Taylor Swift and Surprise Song O’Clock™️ and running into my parents’ room in our Airbnb on November 11 to force them to watch “Karma is the guy on the Chiefs” more than once before we all went to bed.

It was the year of turning 30, feeling 20, watching the first baby of the friend group growing up literally right in front of my eyes, the year of work emails with “Evanescence” and “Sound of Music” and “R.E.M.” in their subject lines (I know, not on my bingo card either).

It was the year of too many notes app drafts and rambling voice texts, the year of chaotic .psd documents with unorganized artboards and Adobe Premiere project files I’m proud of but couldn’t tell you how I actually made, the year of Century Old Style and Futura Condensed ExtraBold, the year of Subtitles for Feelings.

And, in the middle of it all, it was another year of music, playing in my headphones and my car and my office’s Alexa system and blaring through stadium speakers whose impossible size and power were overwhelming even from the nosebleeds. It was the year of start-to-finish albums instead of playlists, the year of repeated, devoted listening instead of a constant search for New, the year of pinch-me concert moments and remember-this-forever encores. It was the year of remembering to take my eyes off the stage long enough to look around and watch my friends instead. (Can confirm it’s worth it every time.)

It was the year of _______. All of the above. Here, there, then, now, today, tomorrow, yesterday.

Can I play the soundtrack for you?

ALBUMS

These records! Treasures, all of them, from start to finish. I’m so glad they exist.

Subtitles For Feelings — Patrick Droney
Spotify | Apple
MVPs: Shotgun Rider, Little Supernovas, Free

Messy — Olivia Dean
Spotify | Apple
MVPs: UFO —> Dive, Dangerously Easy, Messy

The Weakness — Ruston Kelly
Spotify | Apple
MVPs: Hellfire, Mending Song, Breakdown

Light, Dark, Light Again — Angie McMahon
Spotify | Apple
MVPs: Fireball Whiskey, Divine Fault Line, Making It Through

søn of dad — Stephen Wilson Jr.
Spotify | Apple
MVPs: Father’s Søn, Grief is Only Love, The Beginning

Is It? — Ben Howard
Spotify | Apple
MVPs: Couldn’t Make It Up, Walking Backwards, Richmond Avenue

From The Valley — Ilsey
Spotify | Apple
MVPs: Rattle My Heart, On Wrong Side, No California

Other notables:

1989 (Taylor’s Version) — Taylor Swift
I Miss You Already + I Haven’t Left Yet — Del Water Gap
An Orange Colored Day — Arima Ederra
Calico — Ryan Beatty
Fallen — Evanescence
Got Him! — Ethan Tasch
Sunburn — Dominic Fike
This Far South — Tommy Prine

LYRICS

These lines have lived scattered across my notes app all year and now here they are, together at last, yours for the taking.

I’ll carry every life I’ve lived into the next / Maybe St. Peter will just average all the best (Ruston Kelly, “Mending Song”)

All I got are reasons (Patrick Droney, “Free”)

A string between two paper cups / You’re right on time, you’re on the line / Can’t untie what you can’t touch / I think we try too much (Patrick Droney, “Tether”)

I’m in a glass house digging up stones / Fossils of us that I should not throw (Joe P, “Glass House”)

You get your dreams for free (Samia, “Dream Song”)

And when I grow up, I wanna be like a tree and change with the seasons / Helping people breathe (Angie McMahon, “Making It Through”)

Standing on the platform before we headed straight to the feeling (Patrick Droney, “2AM”)

Can I breathe all of me into a bottle and throw it in the sea? / By the way, people say I look just like you (Tommy Prine, “By the Way”)

I break down for a minute, till the wind blew by to say / Maybe there ain’t no mistakes (Patrick Droney, “Wild Horses Running”)

Dazzling starlet, Bardot reincarnate / Well aren’t you the greatest thing to ever exist (Olivia Rodrigo, “lacy”)

All along it was never a straight line / I’m every me that I’ve been at the same time / It’s insane to explain to a sane mind / Oh what’s a sane mind? (Patrick Droney, “Poems & Apologies”)

Saw a creek that was ten years wide and hoped to cross it soon / And now I did, now we’re not kids and I think I wished too soon (Tommy Prine, “Boyhood”)

We got old this year / You said on the couch, almost cavalier / Like it didn’t weigh a thousand pounds (Patrick Droney, “We Got Old This Year”)

Fuck your rearview / There’s no room to shoulder hindsight where we’re going (Samia, “Amelia”)

Oh Lord (Taylor Swift, “Is It Over Now?”)

JAMS

A new category this year! Here are some bops/bangers/etc. I couldn’t get enough of:

“Glass House” - Joe P
“the feeling” - Nightly
“adore u” - Fred again.. feat. Obongjayar
“Velvet Connection” - Moody Joody
“Out Loud” - Bizzy
“You’re A Star Kid” - Jades Goudreault
“BLOOD AND SUGAR” - Boys Like Girls
“Say Hi” - Medium Build
“YOLO” - Pheelz
“Heaven” - Niall Horan
“Wild” - Carter Faith
“bad idea right?” - Olivia Rodrigo

OTHER FAVES

Concerts:

The Eras Tour at Nissan Stadium (Nashville Night 2)
Regina Spektor at The Ryman
Patrick Droney at Webster Hall
Noah Kahan at The Ryman
Ruston Kelly at Grimey’s

Books:

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow (Gabrielle Zevin)
Remarkably Bright Creatures (Shelby Van Pelt)
The Giver* (Lois Lowry)
*crazy to reread as an adult — how the hell did I understand this book in 5th grade?

Internet Things: