The end of the year is always popular for "best of" lists for all forms of entertainment. And we don't have an issue with culture critics. But let's be real: Teenagers drive the music industry.
So we went to the best critics around, and asked high school students from all over Los Angeles to recommend the best songs of the year.
(See also: For ‘More Vibes’ Listen To Music Like An LA High School Student)
Not every track came out in 2023, but that doesn’t make the act of discovery any less special. How many times has someone recommended you listen to boygenius before you finally did?
We have a full playlist here with songs from each student, but we also asked each contributor to hype up a choice below. Fair warning: some of the songs here or on the playlist contain explicit lyrics.
Here are the songs that might change your life.
The draw to this 2012 hit is the lyrics, says Silas Potma of Idyllwild Arts Academy. "It's kind of like a funny and sweet story and it just sounds good, honestly. Like, it's catchy."
For this upbeat song from Mexican singer-songwriter and rapper Santa Fe Klan, Alison Gonzalez of Dorsey High School says she listens "if I'm in a good mood, or like, if I'm cleaning, because, yeah, if I'm listening to something sad, then it's like, I'm not going to want to clean no more."
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How many generations have now discovered the wonder that is ABBA? And Jesse Cordero of San Fernando Junior High School has no reservations about going with this lesser-known hit from the Swedish pop group: "It's literally the best."
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“It's a chill song,” said Dorsey High School junior Genessis Granados. ”And it got viral on TikTok…so I couldn't just stop listening to it.” Nor could many North Americans apparently. The Korean indie band sold out their first tour on the continent in a day.
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San Fernando High School Senior Jocelin Mateos first heard the 2012 rock (some might say pop-punk or post-hardcore) song in the midst of a viral TikTok moment and is now immersed in the alternative genre. “I listen to every single little tune, every single little different sound,” Mateos said.
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Haruto Asami of West High School points to how Fujii Kaze’s music has “hints of jazz along with modern pop elements, which really make all of his songs, like, unskippable to me."
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The track is from the Anaheim-born musician’s posthumous 1998 album Sketches for my Sweetheart the Drunk, a favorite of Dorsey High School junior Mak’i Draper. “It's a very, like, haunting song,” Draper said. “The first listen, it really caught me off guard because it's like wailing at some parts.”
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"It sounds almost fresh,” says West High School junior Jacob Benavente. “I would play it in the morning, and it would wake me up a little." The five-member K-pop group formed in 2022 and are already changing the K-pop scene. If you want to dive deeper into the genre, we’ve got a podcast for that.
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A chance encounter with a head-banging, headphones-wearing stranger introduced Dorsey High School Senior Leo Mejia to metal music. This song from British Metalcore rockers has the genre’s trademark roaring vocals, but also, an excellent guitar riff, Mejia said.
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Not everyone “gets” the screamo subgenre, but Taji Draper of Dorsey High School points to the way it bounces from aggressive belting to something softer and melodious: "It sounds like screamo, but like, the instrumental."
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Alison Orruego of Dorsey High School says the soft indie vibes help her while she plays games like Overwatch, Apex Legends, and Rainbow Six Siege. “I tend to rage a lot,” she said. “That calms me down sometimes."
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West High School senior Yumiko Kasai listened to a lot of her mom’s 80’s J-pop during the pandemic. “It kind of grew on me and it became one of my most favorite genres,” Kasai said. Nakamori’s debut single resonates, in part, because it was released when the singer was around the same age Kasai is now.
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Lianne Thompson of John Marshall High School draws assurance from a lyric: "Who will dry your eyes when you, when you fall apart?" “You only have yourself,” Thompson said. “I think that's what the song made me feel. But not in a sad way, like, ‘Oh, you only have yourself.’ But in a way that's like, you have yourself."
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