The Queasy Cardigan Music Awards A.K.A My Top Songs Of 2023

Hiya!

A very warm welcome to my first blog of 2024!

Last year was really great, wasn't it? In terms of pop culture at least anyway. I’m well aware that not everyone lives in complete and utter fantasy like yours truly (blows kiss), but come on! As the title of this very eloquently named post suggests, we will be focusing on the pop music of it all. We've had so many simply sublime releases this year to the point where 2023 might just be one of my favourite years of my humble existence. This is in terms of both pop culture and just life generally - it’s been bliss really!

Do you wanna know why? If you said no then you’re just a hater, and you need to sleep with one eye open - I don’t know what else to tell you. But, to the lovely lot that said “Yes!” out loud with the same level of enthusiasm as ‘Mort’ from ‘Madagascar’, I’ll bloody tell ya! And if you didn’t confirm out loud yet, please do so now - I’ll wait. Don’t be shy about it either!

Done? Oh. My apologies. Read the next paragraph when you’re done.

AND WE’RE BACK IN THE METAPHORICAL ROOM! Before we can officially get into the meat and potatoes of our listicle, which (for those that don’t know) means an article that is formatted as a list, let me lay out to you how I’m going to go about spouting my nonsense today.

The stipulations for this listicle goes as follows:

.Only one song per album

.Only one song per artist

.The song has to have been released in 2023

And, most importantly, the songs are in no particular order - I love them all the same!

Well! The stage has been set. The microphones have been turned on. The costumes have been donned! The audience's mobile phones have been turned off (unless you’re reading this on your phone, which, in that case, please don’t turn it off).

So, without further ado, I welcome all you lovely VIRs (Very Important Readers) to engage yourself with the first ever ‘Queasy Cardigan Music Awards’ A.K.A My Top 10 Songs of 2023!

Enjoy it! Relish in it! Bathe in it? Too far…but what I mean to say is that I’m happy you’re here and I hope I can remind you of and/or convince you to listen to what I think to be ten absolutely amazing pop songs. Also, share this post around if you like it. Or hate it. Any publicity is good publicity. Let’s get on with it!

Carly Rae Jepsen described this song (listen to it here) on her Instagram by saying “I have been known to do extremely impractical things to make a relationship work” and that “The extreme nature of this song is what makes it sexy to me …”

She has also said in an interview with ‘Rolling Stone’ that this song is the “most unique thing” that she’s produced.

And you wanna know what? I completely agree!

‘Anything To Be With You’ is the opener to her 2023 album ‘The Loveliest Time’. And the first time, in fact the first few times, that I heard this song it was quite the jump-scare. I actually found it very annoying at first and would actively avoid listening to it- shocking I know!

Then I realised that's the point of the song. The idea being that the obnoxious nature of the song reflects how much she loves the addressee. It's bold. It’s annoying. But it’s also sweet and wholesome.

When I fell in love with the song, I fell in love with the song… I love how over-the-top and dramatic it is. I love how it instantly starts with “never over” being manically repeated. I love the energy and obsessive nature of the vocals and the lyrics. “I could be friends with your friends, your friends” gives the same energy as a puppy with the zoomies. I love how punchy the percussion is throughout the song, and really just the bright but strong instrumentation as a whole. It’s bubblegum-pop at its finest.

After spending a lot of time with this song, I understand exactly why Carly Rae felt compelled to put it as the opener to the album. She pretty much said “Go big or go home” and I love her all the more for it.

Well, well, what have we got here? Another opener to an album it seems. I regard it as the opener anyway. Technically, the opener to Raye’s debut album ‘My 21st Century Blues’ is the first track labelled as ‘intro’, but that’s just Raye being introduced and introducing the album. SO, the first actual song is ‘Oscar Winning Tears’, so I’m still counting it (listen to it here). If you wanna fight about it, you can’t cause I’m a lover not a fighter so be #gutted.

Anyway, back to the song itself. I think the concept and the lyrics are just so comically harsh. The song is the most insulting and provoking song I’ve ever heard!

Raye said via Spotify Storyline that the song “is about a man who put me through hell, and then proceeded to cry about it. I wanted to create a big dramatic classic feeling record with live strings to capture the audacity of his silly tears, to feel powerful whilst telling this story”

My favourite part is in the first verse when she says “Name is irrelevant. Height is irrelevant. He was a one out of ten, I wish that I knew it then”. I’m all for the hate here to be honest. It seems deserved. It’s the true anger of this song that brings me so much delight!

I also got the joy of seeing her perform this song live this year at the ‘All Points East’ festival and she didn’t disappoint. The studio version already makes me understand that she is one of the best vocalists I’ve ever heard, but the live version literally sent me to heaven - it was well nice there by the way!

I’d also like to wrap this section with some personal trivia. Exciting I know! This song, as well as Raye’s debut album, was released on my mother’s birthday (February 3rd). The reason why this is funny is that my mum couldn't care less about this unintentional birthday present from Raye. I remember when Raye announced the release date, and the first thing I did was say to my mum something along the lines of “Oh my gooooooooooooooooddddddddddd! Raye’s releasing her album on your birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Aren’t you lucky?!” and her response was “Who?”.

Basically I love this song, and I would hope that I’ve forced my mum enough to listen to this song that she loves it too!

I’d like to point out that all three artists we’ve looked at so far have ‘Raye’ or ‘Rae’ in their name. Quite funny innit…must have a thing for them - gotta catch those rays (insert evil but proud laugh).

All jokes aside, I do love all three of the artists mentioned so far, as well as their music obviously, which, speaking of, let’s get back to it!

Put simply, I got it bad for ‘I got it bad’. And really for Addison’s whole EP. And, if we’re properly gonna get into it, just for Addison Rae generally. She’s put me into a ‘no choice but to stan situation’. I’ve been blackmailed by her marvels!

The main background info I can give about the EP and the song, is that it came from her scrapped album that she was going to drop a couple years ago. The only other relevant info is just the fact that she's an influencer that has fallen down the infamous influencer-to-popstar pipeline.

‘I got it bad’ (listen to it here) is absolutely the standout song on the EP. While I think people might be a bit too hyperbolic when they argue things like Addison Rae “saved Pop Music” (example here), I genuinely do think that this song is a solid example of a good ol’ conventional but charismatic Pop Song. Like, if you didn’t know what the current state of pop music is, I would be tempted to show you this song.

It’s the heavy vocal production. It’s the overwhelming amount of synth used. It’s the iconic muffled intro where she says ‘Damn I got it bad’ and they play what can be described as the most glittery sound ever. It’s the camp nature of lyrics such as “he drives like a maniac in his black Range Rover”.

It’s also the fact that, as mentioned, she’s played into the epidemic of influencers wanting to become musicians. The difference is that she’s done it well. I’m pretty sure everyone and their nan is wanting more music from her.

I’m also currently cackling at my fan behaviour, ‘cause I just reminded myself that I’d made the executive decision,on the same day as the EP was released, to tell my fans (being you of course) via Instagram that, and I quote, “I think I’m low-key “obsessed” with this EP…”.

I’ve been in love with her 11 minutes and 57 seconds of music since day one.

Our first “non-ray” competitor. Hip, hip, hooray!

And the competitor is none other than Sabrina Carpenter’s ‘Feather’ (listen to it here). Give it up for ‘Feather’ you guys!

From when she dropped the deluxe version of her 2022 album ‘Emails I can’t send’,which she cleverly called ‘Emails I can’t send fwd’, ‘Feather’ was my favourite!

The fact that it’s even remotely charted is beautiful as well. I’m so glad she’s making it onto the charts. Still not in the UK but, you know, she’s getting there in terms of starting to solidify herself as a Main Pop Girly™. The way that only three of her songs have ever made it onto the Billboard Hot 100 is a bit disheartening, but the fact that they’re all recent songs is a hopeful sign.

I love the high energy of the song. I thoroughly enjoy the free-form feel of it as well. In particular, the outro/bridge at the end of the song completely reflects just how at ease she is feeling. And because I’m an empath, it makes me feel at ease too.

And let’s also talk about the music video. I love that she had a scandal with the church- that’s so silly! What I will say is that from what I’ve read (here's one article here), it is a lot of “he said, she said”, but it is funny. Essentially, the Church gave her approval, but apparently didn’t realise what the music video would actually turn out like. The man that approved it got relieved of his religious duties…poor guy didn’t know what he was getting into.

When I first heard about the scandal, I was a bit confused, cause I didn’t think the Church parts were that outrageous. However, it recently occurred to me that I think the Church, the Catholic Church may I add, may just have a problem with aligning themselves and their place of worship next to clips of men getting brutally murdered with no sympathy from Sabrina at all. Something to think about…oh well…icon behaviour on her part methinks. It is a hilarious and brilliant music video- I’m so happy for her and I hope the guy that got fired is doing well too!

Important note, before we get into it, that there are two album covers for ‘Something To Give Each Other’ (Troye’s hit 2023 Album that contains the song ‘Got Me Started’) and one of them is labelled by Amazon as being the ‘Modest Cover’...so just for you guys I used it too, even though it’s not that much less explicit…

…Onward with the word vomit!

I feel like I can’t talk about this song without talking about the sample. This song famously samples the Bag Raiders’ ‘Shooting Stars’, which was the 2008 song that went viral and became a meme in around 2015 (see here for more).

The story behind the song tickles me quite a bit too. Essentially, the Bag Raiders have had so many people ask them if they can sample this song, and typically they say “No.”, but because Troye Sivan was a fellow Australian they basically said “Yeah! You go girl! Get into it! We trust! We believe! We thrive!” and they let him use it - that’s what my headcanon wants them to have said anyway.

And I can confidently say that I think this one of the best uses of a sample in modern Pop. Like both songs have their own identities. Troye took the original smash-hit and turned it into his own smash-hit (listen to it here). His interpretation is inherently more sensual and it’s, like the original, romantic but in a different way - it’s a bit more bold and less personal than ‘Shooting Stars’.

My favourite part, other than the sample, is in the first pre-chorus when he whispers “let’s go”. It's this level of charisma that makes this song so captivating (and hot in all honesty).

The music video was fun too. I wish I could run around and dance in cute outfits and be as iconic as him. Alas, my moment has not come yet, but one day!

Before we continue? Did you hear that? It sounds like…no. It can’t be. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No! It’s time for a bloody break!

Done? Time to get back to it then!

I LOVE this song and I find that EMBARRASSING (listen to it here). I love and relate to the idea completely of being a hopeless and blind and awkward and dramatic romantic. But don't deep that statement too much, dear reader, because once again it’s embarahzing…thanks to Nella Rose for that joke.

Olivia stated during her second ‘Tiny Desk Concert’ that she wrote it after having one of those nights “when you’re lying in bed and you’re just like playing back every embarrassing thing you’ve ever done and just cringing out at yourself” and said that it was “Super fun and quick [to write]”. And the best part about the song, is that you can gather from it that the writing and conceptualising process was exactly as she said. It’s a hilarious and novel concept. It's a song with a lot of percussion, which just makes it really punchy. The song has so much energy, especially in the bridge, where it sounds like she’s giving the fakest but biggest smile ever, as if she’s trying to hold back anger, tears and embarrassment all at once.

It gives me so much life cause you can tell how much Olivia took this song as an opportunity to give it her all emotionally, vocally, lyrically, instrumentally. It’s a real example of lightning-in-a-bottle creativity.

I love idioms. And the idea of ‘Rose Coloured Lenses’ is one that I only learnt about fairly recently. I think it was when Selena Gomez used it in ‘Lose You To Love Me’ that I first heard it and thought “Yeah?! You tell ‘em? Lemme google what you’re telling ‘em. But you tell ‘em”. It’s a beautifully tragic concept to me, as the idiom implies that nothing is ever 100% perfect but you can always put on ‘the glasses’ and look at it as such.

This song (listen to it here) really does make me feel nostalgic for Miley’s relationship despite me not being Miley Cyrus (although have you ever seen me and her in the same room hmmmm?!). The line “drown me in your delight” is my favourite, because of the overwhelming love found in the metaphor, and the way that Cyrus uses the most soothing vocals I’ve ever heard- it’s just so romantic and personal and I just love it.

Now, for a couple of info droplets about the song and the 2023 album ‘Endless Summer Vacation’ that it comes from. In her Disney+ documentary for the album, she describes how her lyrical style for this project ended up sounding “like a conversation” with her and she also said that the “visuals are pretty vivid in the words”, and I think it shows in the body of work. Everything she says is pretty upfront and authentic- there’s not too much flowery language.

The other thing to say is about the way she structured the album. She described it as being in halves: the first half being songs that reflect the day and the second half being songs that reflect the night. This is an important thing to note, because I think ‘Rose Coloured Lenses’ epitomises the daytime half of the album perfectly- it takes you right to a sublime summer day.

This is also the song where she says the title of the album, and I’m a sucker for that kind of stuff, so more brownie points from me!

First of all, I just want to say that it was really hard to choose between this and ‘Speed Drive’ but the final decision has obviously been made. “But how did you make that decision?” you may ask. Well, inquisitive reader, it really came down to which of the two songs I believed will have a bigger impact long-term. And I believed it was Dua’s song. She really out Dua’d herself, and Lipa’d over all expectations.

How did she Dua it?! Well, the song (listen to it here) literally has got the best disco vibes that Dua has ever created! The song, just like onions, has so many layers to it. Literal tears being shed as we speak. In an interview that Dua Lipa and producer Mark Ronson did with Variety , they show the layers of all aspects of the songs. My favourite example was when they broke down how the vocals were put together and showed the hidden ‘whispered’ layers used throughout the whole song. Listen out for them next time you hear the song or, if you somehow haven’t heard it, listen out for them the first time I guess.

Another intriguing point that Dua made in that same Variety interview was that this masterpiece was released prior to the film, and the song makes so much more sense in the context of the film. I couldn’t agree more. I enjoyed it before the release of ‘Barbie’, but when it was put into context, I fell in love. It’s Iconic with a capital ‘I’!

And this is why I said that I believe this song will have a longer-lasting impact than ‘Speed Drive’ and the rest of the ‘Barbie’ soundtrack, as it was used and integral to one of the most iconic scenes of the film- the party scene!

Just ‘cause I know that there are always haters lurking, I’d like to make it clear that this entry is valid, because this particular form of the song was released in 2023, so it’s not breaking the rules set by the mastermind, being me, at all. With the peacemaking out of the way, let’s talk about this girlboss of a song!

I already loved this song before this version came out, but this evolution really takes it to the next level. The fact that she re-recorded the vocals , in particular, stands out as she somehow makes the song even more difficult for herself. I swear Demi is built differently. The way I was flabbergasted by their belts after the bridge- some real superhuman singing on display here.

Also, with it being a rock version, it obviously is much more percussion heavy (which is clearly a stylistic choice that I loved this year based on this list alone) which really elevates the song, as it makes everything so much punchier and more exciting. One thing I’m happy about is that they didn’t change the simply superb intro to the song - still one of my favourite hooks to a song of all time.

Honestly, more artists should explore not just rock versions, but also should try re-recording their songs in different ways. This song and the re-recorded album, ‘Revamped’, as a whole really did remind me how good her music is, as these rock interpretations do breathe new life into the songs. And also to quote Maneskin “rock 'n' roll never dies” . So yeah! More of this please!

This FINAL SONG ON THE LIST (listen to it here) is what I’d like to call my ‘wildcard find of the year’. What I mean by this is that I found out about this absolute queen unintentionally- on my end anyway. Typically, I decide what music I want to listen to next based on word of mouth, but with this song it was very different.

I actually found this song via an ad for it that I kept seeing non-stop on my Instagram feed. Before I listened to it, I was very upset and annoyed by Instagram’s insistence that I would like this song. However, I’m obviously very glad that I did succumb to what I now realise was a very well targeted ad on Instagram’s part, 'cause I bloody love this song.

Jessie Ware may be one of the most charismatic and charming artists I’ve ever listened to. She uses her intonation and her tone and more broadly just her voice in a very versatile and unique way. ‘Pearls’ starts with her saying in a sultry tone ‘Excuse me. I don’t know about you. But I think it’s time to shake it till the pearls fall out’. It’s this intro that sets up the playful and enthralling experience that is the rest of the song.

The concept for the music video is also so silly and cute. The video surrounds a fictional American girl group that were active during the 1960s called the “Pearl-lites”. Jessie described the group on her Instagram as being “the least successful American vocal band of the decade”. In the video, they don’t look that put-together or glamorous at all- it's like they were doing an awful parody of other girl groups from the time. However, the fact they weren’t talented is the point. The Pearl-lites are having so much fun that it doesn’t matter, which reflects the meaning completely of the song - have fun no matter how successful you are!

Jessie just knows what she's doing and ‘Pearls’ and her 2023 album ‘That Feels Good’ have given me so much hype this year. I remember finding this album during this year's A-level exam season and just being obsessed with it. It was the pick-me-up I needed to get me through them.

On the whole, this year’s music output is a huge part of what made this year good for me.

To wrap up what has been a whale of fun for me (and hopefully for you too), I thought I’d leave you with some honourable mentions for songs of the year. The caveat is that I will not be elaborating as to why they’re honourable mentions, as I will not be taking any further questions at this current time.

But, before I finish, I’d like to say thank you for reading. I’d also like to thank my glamorous editors (you know who you are) for their help with putting this together (and for telling me to reel it in at various points).

Please do share this if you enjoyed it! Please do also take some time to listen to these songs, if you are at all interested in them - I promise I’m not lying when I say they’re good. And also Happy New Year! Bye!

Honourable Mentions:

Houdini - Dua Lipa

Rush - Troye Sivan

All-american bitch - Olivia Rodrigo

Eye For An Eye - Rina Sawayama

Psychedelic Switch - Carly Rae Jepsen

Beautiful People - Jessie Ware

Lacy - Olivia Rodrigo

Pretty In Possible - Caroline Polachek

Speed Drive - Charli XCX