Top 50 of 2023 / #10 – 6: More Aussies, A First Timer and One Long Song Title

This section will see another Aussie artist hit the list…but not the last Aussie on the top 50. We have a first time artist with a great track and one of the longest song titles in 2023. Time to get to the music.

10. Troye Sivan: Got me Started

This is the Aussie singer’s first time on the top 50. I saw this record all over end of year lists and trending, so I jumped on without knowing anything about Troye to see what the buzz was about. Man, I was blown away. It is an eclectic song with some catchy electro beats and tweaks to get you in that kind of R&B club mood…think Biebs or Kid Laroi. This is not what brings it to top 10, but the vocal is so mind blowing, warm, emotional and genuine that I could listen to Sivan sing the owner’s manual of a 1987 Buick. This is the first thing I have really listened to from Sivan and I hope to hear more in the future.

9. Kesha: Eat the Acid

This is probably the boldest and bravest move by an artist in 2023. A pop star mainly known for club and dance starts a track about self – loathing, identity, fear, God and existential doom with nothing but a droning organ…and we just sit in that vibe for the entire song. Her vocal is both strong and foreboding with slight post-production glitter on some of the echo effects. What sets the track off is at minute 3 when all the music cuts out and Kesha belts out that “hate has no place in the divine,” which leads into a bass heavy chaotic final minute. This track is equal parts sublime ecstasy and suffocating doom. This is music. This is art.

8. The National ft. Phoebe Bridgers: Your Mind is not Your Friend

The National and Phoebe on the same track…it has top 10 written all over it. Who can you trust when you can’t trust yourself? Mental illness, depression, gaslighting and watching the world crumble around you can all cause you to question yourself and see yourself as the enemy. This melancholy premise makes for an emotionally engrossing song about trying to find snippets of peace within a chaotic world where your own racing thoughts can lead you to destruction. This is classic National with Phoebe Bridgers adding glimpses of vocal light within Matt’s droning baritone. A great track that is both thought provoking and great to listen to.

7. Lana Del Rey: Did you Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd

Lana Del Rey is not a stranger to the top 50 and got the number 1 track in 2019 with another long title, Hope is a Dangerous Thing for a Woman Like me to have, but I Have it off of that year’s Jukebox record of the year Norman Fucking Rockwell!! She has another long titled song, which is also the title track off her new record. It sees Lana in her dramatic epic best with strings and her fragile vocal echoing and bouncing around the space like she recorded it in a church. This is about trying to fill the emptiness of existence with sex as she asks someone to “love me until I love myself.” Her heartbreaking storytelling has always paired well with her vocal and hit me.

6. Olivia Rodrigo: Vampire

I have fallen in love with Olivia Rodrigo and tracks off of her first two records have placed very well in the top 50. Musically and vocally this track starts a lot like Driver’s License and I thought to myself “Ok, this is another coming of age love gone wrong song…It will be solid and maybe come in at number 20 on the top 50.” Then comes the anger and I realise we are going somewhere else entirely. I mean, “The way you sold me for parts / You sunk your teeth into me / Blood sucker / Fame fucker / Bleedin’ me dry like a god damn vampire” is fire. This is a track about the anger of wasting your life with someone who was a parasite sucking out your sense of self, your joy and your strength. This track is about reclaiming that power with a big “FUCK YOU!” This sees Rodrigo taking on a more powerful role within her tracks and embracing the rage.