NPR’s Juana Summers speaks with music critic Ann Powers about NPR’s interactive “Greatest Songs of 2023” on-line device.
JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Proper round this time of yr, one of many issues we at all times stay up for is getting a go to from our associates at NPR Music to speak about one of the best music of the yr. So it’s a deal with right now to be joined by pop critic and correspondent Ann Powers. Ann, hi there.
ANN POWERS, BYLINE: It is so good to be right here.
SUMMERS: All proper, Ann, so NPR music has printed its record of one of the best songs of 2023. And instantly, there’s something that stands out right here. This can be a record of the 123 finest songs of 2023, and final I checked, that isn’t a spherical quantity. Please clarify yourselves.
POWERS: Properly, it is true. We might have accomplished one of the best 100, one of the best 50, one of the best 1 million. However on some degree, we simply picked a quantity that pertains to the yr – proper? – 2023. However, you realize, additionally, take into consideration this – one, two, three, go – as a result of our record is interactive, and it is designed to guide folks to music that they won’t have heard earlier than. The listener has to take part to play our sport.
SUMMERS: Clarify to me how this complete state of affairs truly works.
POWERS: OK, so our record is unranked. You can begin with any music that you just wish to begin with. Decide anybody, possibly one thing you already know like “Not Robust Sufficient” by boygenius…
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “NOT STRONG ENOUGH”)
BOYGENIUS: (Singing) The way in which I’m – not robust sufficient to be your man.
POWERS: …Or Victoria Monet’s music “On My Mama.”
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “ON MY MAMA”)
VICTORIA MONET: (Singing) I put that alone mama, on my hood. I look fly. I look good.
POWERS: After which the record offers you seven extra songs that our group hand-picked as a result of we expect you will like these ones, too. And possibly it is one other R&B music if you happen to picked Victoria Monet, however possibly it is a pop music. Possibly it is a ballad. Possibly it is one thing you did not anticipate. Need to strive it?
SUMMERS: Clearly. Why do not you begin? Decide one thing you really liked from 2023, and let’s examine how deep we will get into this.
POWERS: OK. I will choose a music that looks like it ought to keep in its field. That is “I Bear in mind All the things” by Zach Bryan that includes Kacey Musgraves.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “I REMEMBER EVERYTHING”)
ZACH BRYAN AND KACEY MUSGRAVES: (Singing) Chilly shoulder at closing time. You had been begging me to remain until the solar rose. Unusual phrases come on out of a grown man’s mouth when his thoughts’s broke.
POWERS: So it is a music that was a No. 1 music on the Sizzling 100 and on the Sizzling Nation chart that includes two actually necessary younger nation stars who additionally type of defy the sides of the style. However I picked this music as a result of everyone thinks of nation as being, like, its personal island, you realize, completely contained inside itself. So let’s present how rapidly we will get past nation with our little sport.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “I REMEMBER EVERYTHING”)
ZACH BRYAN: (Singing) Seashore towel rests on the drying line.
SUMMERS: All proper. The place will we go subsequent?
POWERS: Properly, hit on the interactive, and we’ll go someplace that I believe you are going to be enthusiastic about, Juana. You see the identify of that music?
SUMMERS: I do certainly – considered one of my favourite artists, Noah Kahan. And he is with Lizzy McAlpine on this one.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “CALL YOUR MOM”)
NOAH KAHAN AND LIZZY MCALPINE: (Singing) I have been precisely the place you might be. I am going to drive, I am going to drive all night time. I am going to name your mother.
POWERS: Yeah. This can be a music, “Name Your Mother,” that I found due to my niece, Megan (ph) – shoutout Megan Powers – who made me a giant Noah Kahan fan. And it’s, you realize, only a actually stunning expression of deep friendship. It is rather less recognized than the Zach Bryan-Kacey Musgraves music, however the connections between this completely not nation music and the one we’re speaking about as nation are fairly apparent, you realize? They’re each duets. They’re each, you realize, about longing, remorse – I do not know – believing in somebody or one thing. And Noah Kahan is a type of guys who fills a whole lot of classes – nation, Americana, pop. He might type of reside wherever.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “CALL YOUR MOM”)
KAHAN AND MCALPINE: (Singing) …One other mile with out understanding you are respiratory.
POWERS: However let’s bounce once more and see the place we find yourself.
SUMMERS: All proper, yet another bounce. And, Ann, inform us about this subsequent artist. That is somebody I am not conversant in.
POWERS: Yeah. So that is what I imply by discovering one thing you may not know through the use of our interactive. That is Durand Jones.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “WAIT TIL I GET OVER”)
DURAND JONES AND THE INDICATIONS: (Singing) Wait until I recover from. Sure, I am glory certain.
POWERS: He has a band referred to as Durand Jones and the Indications. They do throwback soul, they usually’re out of Indiana. However he grew up within the South, and this stunning album he recorded, “Wait Til I Get Over,” is his personal story of rising up within the South and the struggles he went via and his household background. It is actually stunning. And this music, as you’ll be able to hear, may be very gospel-oriented, so that you would not anticipate that out of, you realize, a Noah Kahan music. Like, he is hardly a gospel artist. However we noticed that connection between the emotionality and the riskiness – the emotional riskiness of Noah and the place Durand goes on this music. And I believe if you happen to like Noah, you are going to like Durand.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “WAIT TIL I GET OVER”)
DURAND JONES AND THE INDICATIONS: (Singing) Over there, over there. I am going to see my father…
SUMMERS: All proper. I am going to need to verify him out. I imply, I see the via line between these three songs we have been speaking about. However, Ann, it is a big endeavor. Y’all did this for each single music on this record?
POWERS: Yeah. Yeah. And we bled proper into this record. I’ve to say we labored actually exhausting. However we did it for our listeners as a result of we all know how overwhelming looking for new music could be on this – you realize, it is form of like strolling into a type of big-box shops and looking out round and being like, I do not even know what division to start out in, you realize, to satisfy my wants, what I would like. And so what we wish to do is, like, take you by the hand and say, hey. You need this. I believe you are additionally going to seek out out you want this different sound. You want this different fashion of music, and also you did not even comprehend it. However you realize what? Should you simply wish to go for what we expect are the 25 finest songs of the yr, we even have a listing for that, one of the best of one of the best.
SUMMERS: So, OK, you’ll be able to type of take this two other ways. You’ll be able to keep on with these official suggestions, one of the best of one of the best. Or you’ll be able to let the algorithm construct your personal mixtape – fairly cool.
POWERS: Yeah. And it is necessary to say that the algorithm right here is handmade, bespoke. You understand, use any of these phrases you wish to use. The sorts of algorithms who’s – that is – the sorts of algorithms that serve you on most streaming providers – they’re advantageous. I’ve truly found loads simply, like, passively letting my streams stream. However that is totally different as a result of it is folks interested by how issues are related and pondering in sudden methods, and it should provide you with extra surprises.
SUMMERS: NPR’s Ann Powers. Thanks.
POWERS: Thanks a lot.
SUMMERS: You’ll be able to see NPR Music’s record of one of the best songs of 2023 – all 123 of them – at npr.org/music.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “CALL YOUR MOM”)
NOAH KAHAN: (Singing) Do not let this darkness idiot you. All lights turned off could be turned on. I am going to drive, I am going to drive all night time. I am going to name your mother. Oh, expensive, do not be discouraged. I have been precisely the place you might be. I am going to drive, I am going to drive all night time. I am going to name your mother.
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