12/31/2023 - Reply Ali Wrapped
Hello, and a happy My Favorite Holiday to us all! I spent the day napping and organizing my art supplies, and soon Phillip will come over to eat takeout, watch When Harry Met Sally, and make vision boards. The forecast tomorrow calls for Minnehaha Falls and Cheesecake Factory. Now that’s what I call the most wonderful time of the year.
Tonight I’d like to share with you my favorite music from 2023.
Albums
The Record by boygenius
Stick Season by Noah Kahan
GUTS by Olivia Rodrigo
The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We by Mitski
Honorable mention to two albums that I really liked a few songs from but didn’t get into as a whole: Unreal Unearth by Hozier and Palomino by First Aid Kit.
And a lil shoutout to some miscellaneous older albums that I listened to a lot this year: Rainbow by Kesha, Melodrama by Lorde, and Future Nostalgia by Dua Lipa.
Concerts
Only four new rows on my concert history spreadsheet in 2023, but it was still a pretty notable year for live music experiences. Started small with The Beths at First Ave in March (great), rocketed up to Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour at US Bank Stadium in June (mind-blowing), and then wrapped it up at Twin Cities Summerfest at Target Field in July (………).
As an event, TC Summerfest was a disaster. Turnout was so low that they upgraded every single person’s seat on the first day and desperately begged us to invite our friends. The interstitial chatter between sets was embarrassing and they did a full flag ceremony set to the Toby Keith boot in your ass song. BUT. I saw multiple really good sets (Yam Haus, Death Cab for Cutie, The Flaming Lips, The Killers, Em Beihold, and yes, even Imagine Dragons), got to watch my boyfriend watch Yoshimi Battles the Pink Dragons start to finish, and had so much fun experiencing it all with my best friend David.
I also had tickets to Yam Haus at First Ave in November, but I didn’t go because it was dark outside and I was sleepy.
Songs/Playlists
Here’s the Spotify-generated playlist of my 100 top songs this year, in order of most to least played.
Here’s a bunch of other songs I listened to during various phases this year, mostly gathered from Discover Weekly:
And here’s what I’m listening to now!
Tomorrow, or possibly the next day, or at least definitely sometime in January, I plan to send out another post featuring my other non-musical favorites of 2023 (tv! books! movies! internet!) as well as some visions and intentions for 2024.
I hope you have a nice and sparkly midnight,
<3 Ali
P.S. As always, please remember to listen to more Alanis Morissette in the coming year than you did the year before.