“C’est Comme Ça” by Paramore + Top Songs of 2023 #10-3, Tuesday, February 6, 2024

 Back to our somewhat weekly countdown of the top songs of last year ranked completely unscientifically by me. Now that we’re in the top ten, these songs either have some critical acclaim or I think that they are critically underrated. These are songs that resonated with me at a time when I wasn’t particularly in the mood to digest a boygenius record--no shade to the extremely talented musicians. So sorry Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker, and Lucy Dacus--I hope to get into the record soon. Also, sorry for the exclusion of Sufjan Stevens and Taylor Swift. I was too sad to listen to Javelin and I just dropped Taylor’s “I Can See You” in favor of a song that was actually new in 2023.

10. “Chasing That Feeling” by Tomorrow X Together. I just added this song because it’s been one of my recent favorites. While K-pop girl groups FIFTY FIFTY and NewJeans and BTS soloist Jung Kook had a big year in international acclaim, I feel like TxT was a little lower-key than a few years ago. To be fair, the group did headline the third day of Lollapalooza last year. “Chasing That Feeling” chases two feelings. The verse chases the feeling of a mysterious ‘80s new wave synth track. Then, in the chorus, the song chases a feeling of clean-cut boyband teen pop.

9. “One That Got Away” by MUNA. After a big year in 2022 releasing their self-titled third album, MUNA’s 2023 was all about riding a wave of success. From opening on Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour to boygenius at the height of their fame crashing “Silk Chiffon” at Coachella to several features including on The Japanese House’s sophomore release, In the End It Always Does on “Morning Papers.” MUNA seems to be becoming an indie darling much needed in the industry. As for their own discography, though, MUNA released the single “One That Got Away” early in the year. Is it a B-side to the third record? A bonus song, perhaps? An early single for LP 4? Let’s see what 2024 holds for MUNA.

8. “Bad Idea, Right?” by Olivia Rodrigo. Ryan Gossling may have not saved jazz, but it seems that Olivia Rodrigo may have saved rock. That’s probably an exaggeration because the genre had been making a slow comeback after receding from pop’s influence throughout the 2010s. “Bad Idea, Right” is a song about casual sex, and it follows the formula of a song that should absolutely suck. Olivia isn’t Nickelback. Maybe we see this song as satire or it’s our collective rebellion against how purity culture even controlled the pop stations. Or maybe we forgive the lyrics by the campy delivery or the Tom Morello-styled guitar solo. Fuck it, it’s fine. 

7. “Meltdown” by Niall Horan. I have to say that I was charmed by Niall last year. And I didn’t actually know who he was before “Meltdown” happened to my Spotify recommendations. My heart fluttered a little bit each time I saw the album cover. Maybe my fangirl tendencies clouded my judgment, but I still think that even if he were 20% less attractive, The Show was maybe the most criminally underrated album of the year. While “Heaven” and “You Could Start a Cult” are good tracks, the frenetic energy with beautiful harmonies on “Meltdown” made the song feel like it should have been a top 10 hit on Billboard. Unfortunately, my listening preferences mean nothing in what makes a hit. Ok, so the album might be a little bland by a straight-white-cis man in 2023, but it really feels like Horan and his team love music.

6. “Boyhood” by The Japanese House. What a beautiful album was In the End It Always Does was. There were a lot of cred. albums in 2023--Sufjan, boygenius, Lana Del Rey, John Bellion. But The Japanese House was one that I could listen to without feeling the weight the others sometimes give me. The aforementioned acts will probably impact me one at a time later the way that I couldn’t digest Carrie & Lowell in 2015 when all I wanted to do was listen to Carly Rae Jepsen, but eventually, Carrie & Lowell fed my soul in a way that E-MO-TION couldn’t. But back to 2023. “Boyhood” was a casual statement about gender in a very divisive time. Can non-sis-gendered boys also have a boyhood? Ten years ago, many would think about “tomboys” and how biological females socialized to be female sometimes tend toward what many stereotype as male behaviors. But while I feel like the discussion of this song is interesting, I’m probably not the best person to lead this conversation. So I’d rather just leave it to speak for itself.

5. “Blame Brett” by The Beaches. This was another Spotify find for me. Girls are killing it for rock lately, by the way. The Beaches is a Canadian band that seems to have cracked the code to cross over into the American alternative charts. The song peaked at number 17 on the Alternative Airplay chart, which is pretty impressive for a Canadian band in America. The melody is fun, like a day at the beach, despite the lyrics of the protagonist who has sworn off love in favor of casual relationships. Something about this all-girl band reminds me of what The Donnas were doing back in the ‘00s, though I prefer the smoother sound of The Beaches. The difference is that the female rock revolution is ready to rule to radiowaves and no male-fronted rock band can stop them!

4. “Rose Colored Lenses” by Miley Cyrus. “Flowers” just won a Grammy for Record of the Year. I got sick of that song early. I thought it was not original enough like it was riding the success of the song it was based on, Bruno Mars’s “When I Was Your Man.” But then I listened to Miley Cyrus’ Endless Summer Vacation, and I thought the album was the best of the year. Picking the best song from the cohesive heartbreaking album is tricky. “Jaded” is my favorite of the other songs that became somewhat of a hit--though everything was eclipsed by “Flowers.” Many of the songs are melodically interesting and fun. But “Rose Colored Lenses” gives us the title of the album. It’s a sticky, sexy song about good times that eventually went sour. It’s a song about falling in love before the euphoria wears off. It keeps you in the moment, though you know it’s going to end, so if you listen to the song, the moment lives on.

3. “C’est Comme Ça” by Paramore. I picked this song as the best Paramore song of the year for its flaws. It’s fun. It’s bombastic. But overall, I think that it touches on the heart of what Paramore is trying to say through their thesis of an album This Is Why, a record that justifies the band’s existence. The band has seen so many splits and so much drama in their 20 years together. And yet, This Is Why is about the compulsion to make music together. “C’est Comme Ça” isn’t a serious song or a serious single, but a jam track. Haley Williams says all that she needs to in the verse, so the chorus “is what it is,” only it’s said in French.