Our Top Observations & Fave Moments in Music from 2023
2023 has been another interesting year for Black music in the post-COVID 2020s as artists continue to try to capture the black collective experience and cultural zeitgeist through their art. Seemingly more than ever, we’re all consuming different artists and existing in different pockets of Black music. Which is a good thing we think! Rather than try to sum up the most important things that happened in 2023 for Black music, we want to discuss the things that piqued our interest as fans, moments that made us laugh or cry, or new trends that we just didn’t see coming. We might revisit some of these topics in the future and discuss them in more detail. But for now, here are our top observations and favorite moments that happened in 2023.
The Year of Jordan Ward
Forward, Tourward, Moreward, MORE WARD. If you happen to fall on the side of TikTok or Instagram that bombards you with Tyler the Creator, Soulection, Frank Ocean, and SZA videos like me, Jordan Ward probably came across your feed. The St. Louis native had an amazing run this year starting with the release of his single, “WHITE CROCS” ft. Ryan Trey and later on his album, FORWARD. From Tyler the Creator co-signing Ward and wondering how he didn’t have more views on his music video, to Ward touring with Smino and J.I.D., to him even getting his own Tiny Desk performance, Jordan has been everywhere.
It’s crazy because it wasn’t that long ago at our Black 2 Infinity launch party last year in October, that his song “Straight Forward” with Chicago producer Nascent came on and I’m hype asking Aaliyah, “Yo did you put this on? I love this song!” Aaliyah tells me that although she loves Jordan Ward as well, she’s never heard it, and then it dawns on me that I forgot that I was the one who added it to our playlist! Even though I’d heard that song dozens of times on my own, I was still so excited to hear it at our event. Each time I listen to one of his songs again, I get the feeling of falling in love with it for the first time. His sound has the perfect amount of understated bounce and infectiousness that makes it great background music, but also the depth, cheekiness, and musicality to listen to it intentionally.
We actually had the pleasure of meeting Jordan at his album release party before he became a social media music archive darling. While we’re there nodding our heads to the unreleased music and drying off from the rain, we hear “SIDEKICK” feat. Joyce Wrice, and immediately it became one of my personal favorite songs of the year. Again Jordan is so adept at creating songs that are fun and unserious, but make you want to move your body in some capacity. I think it might have to do with his background of being a professional dancer (see video of him dancing in Beyonce’s Coachella set), but his understanding of music pockets and rhythm is more advanced than you might think for someone singing about white rubber clogs made out of ethylene-vinyl acetate. Nevertheless, Jordan was one of my most played artists this year and someone that I think will continue to grow in popularity in 2024. - S.B.
It’s Beyoncé’s House, We’re Just Living In It
To think Beyoncé could get any bigger than she was in 2013, 2016 or 2019 is almost unfathomable. One might think there is little ground left for her to conquer, but once again she has proven us wrong. Particularly thought-provoking to me is the way 2023 became the year of Renaissance even though the album itself came out in the summer of 2022. Today, it’s typical for an artist to announce their tour in conjunction with or even before a new project is released. This contributes to the accelerated life cycle of a project, not even giving fans a solid few months to immerse themselves in an album, learn the lyrics, and live with it in a way that makes a tour exciting. Renaissance on the other hand was a moment. The hype around the album might have died down had the tour not been scheduled a full year after its initial drop. From the tour announcement until the final shows this fall, fans spent months putting together the perfect chrome fit, DIY-ing their own disco ball cowboy hats, making TikToks to spread the word of the unspoken tour rules, and booking flights abroad (thank you Beyoncé for my first trip to Canada to see the show in Toronto).
The energy was truly inexplicable, stepping into Beyonce’s afrofuturistic ballroom. To experience arguably the greatest performer alive flying through the air, with stunning visuals accompanied by expert mixes of deeper cuts like “No Angel,” next-level choreography, production design almost felt more like Cirque du Soleil than a concert. Somehow Beyoncé outdid herself, her only true competition. The world was glued to their screens from the moment the first videos leaked from Dubai. Night after night we watched to see her different outfit variations, cheer on Blue Ivy and the progression of her stage presence, or catch any other glimpses of Bey’s sense of humor which gave the internet fuel for weeks to come (she ain't no diiivaaaaaaaaaaaaa).
I won’t belabor the point, since with the late November release of the theatrical film and new single, “MY HOUSE,” we have lived in the world of Renaissance for much longer than I think anyone predicted, but I couldn’t help but point out that Beyoncé has once again reinvented the wheel. Of course, not every artist has the social capital (or financial capital) to create a moment like this, but it still feels like a worthwhile case study for artists to look to. While the current tourscape is the byproduct of the streaming era destroying old forms of revenue for artists, Beyoncé is once again presenting loopholes. I could see it leading to some shifts in how artists and labels view the tour as an extension of a project; emphasizing the opportunity to make each one an era. Fingers crossed at least. - A.W.
The Decline of Monoculture
Speaking of Beyoncé, I was talking to a good friend of mine about the success of her Renaissance World Tour and Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour, and he mentioned how the massive cultural moments both artists were having were becoming rare due to the decline of American monoculture. Monoculture, how he used it, can be described as a dominant cultural narrative, phenomenon, or perspective within society that most people interact with or experience.
Since our conversation, I’ve been thinking more and more about the decline of monoculture, and how it affects how we consume music. Going back ten years ago, people consumed more of the same content because we were getting most of our content from the same places and people. Even though streaming was alive and well in 2014, linear television and radio had more of a prominent presence in our lives so it was easier for people to experience the same things and talk about them. Look at a show like Game of Thrones. The HBO show was a TV phenomenon and monocultural moment that captured the attention of the American people. Even if you didn’t watch the show, you couldn’t escape a conversation, reference, or meme about the “red wedding” or “the north remembers.” Fast-forward to today and streaming has officially taken over linear television. More people today are selecting and curating what they’d like to consume.
Similar to television streaming platforms, digital music streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, and Tidal have transformed how we consume music. But I’d argue that with the influence of TikTok our music listening experiences have truly splintered, and we might never go back. TikTok’s algorithm is meant to feed you exactly what you would like to see, not necessarily what everyone is seeing at the same time. Its algorithm prioritizes hyper-specificity and relatability to the viewer versus popularity. Falling into these hyper-curated micro-niche communities has signaled a decline for monoculture. We might hear certain artists that transcend the bubbles that we’re in who are superstars like SZA and Drake. But for most other artists, this is no longer the case.
For example, if I was to select a rapper of the year I would probably give it to Lil Yachty. To me Yachty had the most significant cultural moments and consistently put out quality music. Whether it be his January 2023 album, Let’s Start Here, his string of singles and loosies dropping hit after hit, his significant contributions to Drake’s For All The Dogs, or his introduction of his Concrete Boys label and group, Yachty moved like a rapper at the peak of his powers fully understanding the importance of his cultural impact and taste. And yet as big of a year as I felt he had, I was hard pressed to find someone in my social circle who had listened to his full album.
To me I think collective music moments and experiences that transcend our bubbles are becoming fewer and far between. And I’m not quite sure whether that’s for better or worse. - S.B.
Ain’t No One Hit Wonder
I work at a music venue and working over this year’s Halloweekend is what solidified for me the gospel truth of 2023: Sexyy Red and Ice Spice are taking it. I saw more people dressed as these two hitmakers than any other costume, and it just goes to show the cultural impact these women made this year. Both ladies broke onto the scene with viral hits that quickly dominated the social sphere and have impressively managed to capitalize on these tracks, situating themselves nicely among the who’s who of the culture. Sexyy Redd and Ice Spice were inescapable this year and for good reason I think in some regards other artists across genres should be taking notes.
I’ll be honest. I thought “Pound Town” was going to sit among a swath of TikTok ‘sounds’ that we would never hear again after it ran its course. But when she followed up her Nicki Minaj co-sign with the stacked album Hood Hottest Princess, I had to check myself and realize Big Sexyy was not new to this, she is true to this. Once I realized she was one of the voices that made folks shake ass to Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come” last year, and then had my first few experiences hearing “SkeeYee” outside, I was a believer. In our editorial piece last month, I highlighted that what makes me such a fan of Sexyy Red is her clear influence from Country Hip Hop. Southern trailblazers like Three Six Mafia, Crime Mob, and especially the early emergence of the trap era are in her DNA. Closing her album with the song, “Female Gucci Mane” communicated a clear message, and it's a title I believe she is showing us she can live up to; proving she can be just as prolific, make hood classics, and let her hilarious personality shine. Finishing out the year at the center of one of the most popular songs from Drake’s latest album has to be the cherry on top of a pretty exponential rise in her career.
Ice Spice’s success this year after “Munch” grew steadily in popularity throughout the latter half of 2022 is a perfect example of staying ready so you don’t have to get ready. Older loosies like “No Clarity” and “Name of Love” kept new fans engaged before she released her EP Like..? at the beginning of 2023. Some people have been debating Spice’s bars, but I think it’s time to put the conversation to rest and see her for what she truly is, a pop princess. Between her collaboration with PinkPantheress on “Boy’s A Liar Pt. 2,” her performance on “Barbie World” with Nicki Minaj for a movie with one of the biggest marketing budgets of all time, her feature on Taylor Swift’s “Karma” remix, and her most recent single with Rema “Pretty Girl,” she’s made a signature sound out of these bubble gum bars from the Bronx, and I’m honestly here for it. We should let Ice Spice’s sound be what it is — music made for the radio, the great outdoors, and the background of every baddie’s TikTok or Insta Story.
With distinct looks, a great sense of humor, and social media prowess, it’s no surprise that these two dominated 2023. I can’t predict whether or not they’re here to stay, but I loved watching both of them flourish through this season, and they deserve major flowers for capturing such large swathes of attention in a landscape where we are quickly moving on to the next thing. - A.W.
More Festivals Should Allow Artists To Curate Their Lineups
One of the more special concert / festival experiences I went to this year was the Re:SET concert series. Relatively a new thing when I first came across it, Re:SET offers a three-day summer weekend experience for fans to see a set of their favorite artists on stage at one venue. You can go to one day or all three for an affordable price and see multiple well-known artists in one night. While there were some great options each day such as Saturday with indie acts like boygenius and Dijon, and Sunday with LCD Soundsystem, Jamie XX, and Big Freedia, I had to go with Friday headlined by Steve Lacy.
If you listen to BLACK 2 INFINITY RADIO, you’d know that Steve Lacy is in my top five favorite artists. I am obsessed with the man’s entire discography. A lot of his music has felt like the soundtrack to my 20s with half-baked thoughts, expressions of forlorn love, Gen Z cynicism, and a self-confidence that’s borderline egocentric. I constantly find myself singing his lyrics doing God knows what like:
“Pull up to the outing and we off the loud
Feelin’ good, looking good
They say they fuck with my style.”
— Steve nonchalantly raps on his song “Atomic Vomit.”
What can I say? I love Steve. The first time I saw Steve was when he opened for Erykah Badu at the Hollywood Bowl. It was a different time in his career before he released Gemini Rights, his magnum opus so far and the album that catapulted him to the level he’s at today. Because Steve was the opener, his set wasn’t as long, the venue had sound issues, and his stage presence and performance wasn’t at the level that it is now. Plus, the crowd was older and a lot of them didn’t really know who he was. None of that mattered though because I was still screaming his lyrics, jumping around as if this was Michael Jackson’s performance at Super Bowl XXVII. If Steve is strumming his guitar singing the songs that I love, I’m happy.
But I think what separated this concert experience in general was the fact that Re:SET had each headliner hand-pick each of the artists on the billing for their day. Steve curated an amazing show with a lineup of frequent collaborator Foushee, Black 2 Infinity fav Toro y Moi, and producer and singer-songwriter James Blake. I think the lineup was perfect in providing enough variety between each artist but also shared commonalities amongst them all. All four artists are producers or instrumentalists first and while they are at different stages of their careers, each one really takes seriously the integrity of their music. They each feel like they could be your favorite artist’s favorite artist which is a testament to Steve Lacy’s taste and talent for curation.
Unfortunately we missed Foushee’s set, but we got to dance to Toro y Moi, sway to James Blake’s ballads and moody production, then belt out our favorite songs with Steve. With concessions, a decent crowd, and more than enough room to dance and vibe, it became clearer as the night went on how special it was. While not everyone might get the chance to curate their own headlining show, I thought Re:SET provided a really interesting opportunity for artists, putting the power in their hands to dictate the night’s vibe. Hopefully more opportunities will exist for artists like this in the future. - S.B.
Toro y Moi is the Man
Speaking of Toro y Moi, I’ve officially seen Chaz three times within the past year and a half making him the artist I’ve seen the most over that period of time. And I can honestly say that each time I see him, I have a good time. It’s clear this man is doing it for the love of the music. A true nerd at heart, I love how when Chaz performs he doesn’t ever try to be something he’s not. He will dance really awkwardly on stage. He’s somewhat shy. But it’s always 100% Chaz that he’s giving us which I deeply appreciate as an artist myself. Also after making psych-funk album MAHAL, one of my favorite projects in 2022, this guy releases a folk-pop EP based on his upbringing in South Carolina tinged with banjo strums and country lyrics. Toro y Moi is the man. - S.B.
Andre 3000 Has So Much To Teach Us
Truthfully it should have come as no surprise that Andre 3000’s first true solo album, New Blue Sun, is fully instrumental — especially considering ahead of this fall, the most a 3 Stacks fan could hope for was a random sighting of him wandering around different cities with a wooden double flute. There is so much to say about the project musically, but something else that made an impact on me was the press run. We don’t typically get to peek inside the mind of the recluse, so to hear Andre speak at length in any capacity is a treat and one that I am reveling in because who knows when we will get so lucky again.
Through these new interviews, we get some glimpses into his wisdom now years out of the limelight. On different occasions, he speaks on the transcendence of the flute, as an instrument that can most closely mimic a voice, and the power of sounds to communicate things words sometimes cannot. People of all cultures resonated with the sounds he was playing and would introduce flutes from India, China and different parts of Africa that he later integrated into his collection (which now sits at 40+ flutes). Some of my favorite insights were regarding Andre’s inspirations, such as being influenced by his love of John Coltrane which led him to try the saxophone and later the bass clarinet which became his introduction to wind instruments. He also speaks of his often-referenced influences, like Jimi Hendrix and Prince, and how he considers himself to be a part of their lineage, just like he considers artists like Tyler, The Creator and Teezo Touchdown to be a part of his own lineage. He embraces these younger artists, even speaking on how he played the album to Tyler and Frank Ocean. On his new path, he organically found musical mentors, crafted his own flutes, and took his experimentation to new heights. Instead of reveling in being a master, sitting comfortably near the top of many best rapper lists, he found solace in exploration of a new art form, in being a student. Often, hip hop requires a certain level of braggadocio, but this is a trait Andre seemingly left in the early aughts, opting now instead to embrace the trial and error of developing a new skill.
He has been through almost two decades of pressure to release a hip-hop album but as the first track states, “the wind blew him in a different direction this time.” There is a raw honesty to these conversations, in some moments he might allude to the fact that he doesn’t so much want to be here doing this interview right now but wants to do this project justice in reaching as many people as possible. He has certainly reached a level of notoriety where he could have dropped this experimental jazz project and gone along his way, but to put aside his social anxiety to share his thoughts with us is commendable. So it was a bit of an annoyance to me that in a number of interviews I watched, he was hounded by interviewers who were more eager to engage him on why he was leaving rap behind, or if he would ever make a rap album, or if he hates Big Boi now, or if there would ever be an Outkast reunion, all when this album presents a myriad of topics that have nothing to do with hip hop. I mean, Andre’s double flutes take center stage, but the intricate soundscape is rounded out with wind chimes, keys, gongs, plants, drums, and panther purrs just to name a few key players. Andre has always been one to take risks as a producer, but he is veering into unknown territory for most of his fanbase, and probably many of the interviewers as well. The unfortunate takeaway from this though is the lack of outlets Andre had to promote through. Considering the vast majority of Black outlets focus on hip hop or R&B pretty exclusively, most of the interviews were conducted by white men by outlets like GQ or CBS Mornings. Thankfully when you dig just a bit deeper there are Questlove’s podcast and Rodney Carmichael of NPR, both of which break the mold a bit on the otherwise stale line of questioning.
All to say, Andre, if you are reading this, I think you deserve an interview with a Black woman where the focus is on the career you are pursuing rather than the one you are pivoting from. I would unselfishly volunteer myself. And for anyone else reading, Andre 3000 is actively trying to spread a message of healing and transformation, so put the album on, close your eyes, and let the 432 hz frequency bring you into the new year. - A.W.
