The Best Songs of 2023 So Far: Quarter 1

2023 has not been that great of a year for new music yet, but the few highlights have been quite strong. This post is to round up and highlight my fifteen favorite songs this year so far.

Honorable Mentions

Arijit Singh - Pyaar Hota Kayi Baar Hai (Prod. Pritam)

Caroline Polachek - Blood and Butter

Key - Killer

Onew - O (Circle)

Ali Sethi - Ghazab Kiya

Easily my favorite song this year, Ghazab Kiya singer Ali Sethi's previous track, Pasoori has nearly 550 million views on YouTube, but I feel its success has hurt more than helped Sethi's career, given that Ghazab Kiya has yet to crack 200,000 views. Admittedly, I doubt Sethi is focused much on commercial performance with this track, given how strange it is. Avant-garde might be a bit overused as a term these days, but that is the only way to describe Ghazab Kiya. The song lyrically derives from an old Urdu poem, while its basic elements derive from ghazals and Hindustani classical music. However, the song refurbishes this with an experimental and electronic edge. The heavy bass guides the track for great effect.

Andreas - Why Do You Love Me

So far, Estonia's Eesti Laul is two-for-two for small confessional ballads that fail to win even their qualifying competition but grow to be favorites of mine. Andreas' Why Do You Love Me succeeds due to the omnipresent strings through the chorus. Bonus points for the lyrics hitting a sweet spot of mine.

Arijit Singh, Nikhita Gandhi - Tere Pyaar Mein (Prod. Pritam)

Pritam's dime-a-dozen production demands mean that he hardly comes up with a Jab We Met soundtrack these days, but he still can compose a few gems here and there. From Tu Jhoothi Main Makkar's soundtrack, the best of the bunch is easily Tere Pyaar Mein. Part of this comes down to the fantastic My Woman sample (there is a reason everyone samples that one tune, it really is timeless). I can already hear this song being everywhere during the summer, and for good reason.

Benjamin - Hoida Mut

While I am more or less done with the synthwave trend, Benjamin's Hoida Mut stood as an early-year Eurovision highlight, combining atmospheric production with classy hooks. The brief pause before jumping into the chorus is lightning-in-the-bottle.

Cicada - Birds and Moist Pine Needles

Honestly, any track from Cicada's Seeking the Source of the Streams could make it into this list, but I chose Birds and Moist Pine Needles due to its calming flute-based melodies, but Remains of Ancient Trees could have taken the spot as well. The album stands as a masterpiece of ambient instrumental, and it is certainly quite calming overall.

Dreamcatcher - Reason

Fan songs in the K-Pop world are reasonably doubted, but Reason proves an exception to the formula, providing both sentimentalities and supreme songwriting. While it never reaches the heights of their best material, its soaring chorus is more than worth the time of listening. 

The Last Rockstars - The Last Rockstars (Paris Mix)

Honestly, this song was the hardest to place. On one hand, the unneeded swearing basically derails the entire track and often stops me from seeking the song out. On the other hand, this is pretty much a collection of my favorite Japanese artists ever, with my favorite Japanese composer, and this is top-of-the-crop material in pretty much all of its glory, everything from sentimental to fun and over-the-top. To make it worse, there clearly was at some point intended for there to be a clean version, but it has yet to come out. At least on the other hand, the unreleased songs from their concert sound fantastic.

Linkin Park - Lost

Meteora is a classic album for a reason, and Linkin Park's new single Lost is wonderful for the album's anniversary package. Chester's vocals hit as hard as they did all those years ago, and the soaring chorus is Linkin Park at their Numb-era peak.

Loreen - Tattoo

I initially ignored Tattoo due to everyone comparing it to Euphoria. And yeah, the song still is nowhere near as good as Loreen's 2012 Eurovision classic. Is the song fantastic on its own, however? Absolutely. Loreen is a master at emotional build and catharsis for big dancefloor anthems, and Tattoo is one of her best in ages. Now ignore me while I go to listen to Euphoria for the five-millionth time this month.

One Love One Heart - The Witch

One Love One Heart's debut album might be a tad bit overrated by the blogosphere reviews so far, but there is no denying it has a few gems, my favorite being The Witch. It sounds like nothing else within pop music these days, and definitely can claim to be experimental. The jarring changes in tempo are absolutely exhilarating, and the hooks make sure we never are lost along the way. This song is best experienced without spoilers, so just enjoy every single twist and turn.

PinkPantheress - Boy's a Liar

Boy's a Liar was destined to go viral upon its release, and it only took the Ice Spice remix to send the song surging up the charts. The original deserves more appreciation, however, with its classy '90s garage pop melodies being stuck in my head for days on end.

StayC - Teddy Bear

Yes, I fully know that I am not in the target market for this song. Nonetheless, I can certainly appreciate its strengths, even if it still is a little too saccharine for me. The chorus seals Teddy Bear's spot on this list, recalling the best of early 2010s pop stars such as Taio Cruz and Katy Perry, even if the rest of the song is so-so.

TAN - Fix You

TAN's Fix You almost felt like it would be redelegated to the list of songs that would never be released, but it finally came out over a year after its initial tease. The song is hardly perfect, but it encapsulates the second-generation sound of K-Pop groups like Beast circa 2011, and does a competent job at that too.

Tyla - Been Thinking

Been Thinking initially failed to impress me, but the Afro-House rhythms eventually grew on me. The song keeps building from minute one, with no explosion at the end, it just continues to build. While this does hold the song back a bit, it is hard not to get addicted to the groove.

Queen Bee - Violence

Queen Bee's return with the anime ending theme Violence was just about as epic as possible. Merging heavier grunge elements with a lighthearted melody added just enough contrast for Avu-Chan to unleash a whole lot of charisma, combined with some of the year's best instrumental hooks.

Image Source: The Bias List