It’s been one of the most momentous years for Elton John. In the summer of 2023, John performed at the Glastonbury Festival for the first time in his career. This summer, John also closed a more than five-decade run of touring with the final live performance on his Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour in Stockholm, Sweden on July 8, 2023.
In between some of the biggest milestone moments of his career, John also hosted his Elton John’s Rocket Hour show on Apple Music 1 and consumed lists of new music throughout the year, from boygenius‘ debut The Record to Joni Mitchell‘s 2022 return to stage, Both Sides Now – Live at the Newport Folk Festival, among others.
On his list of favorite songs that he’s played on Rocket Hour throughout 2023, John also gives a shout out to indie artist Mitski and her breakthrough song, “My Love Mine All Mine,” along with James Blake, Tom Odell, The XX’s Romy, and more that made his list.
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“I’m looking back and choosing some of my favorite songs that I’ve played on the show this year,” said John on the Rocket Hour. “It was very hard to choose because there’s been so many brilliant songs this year.”
In no particular order, here’s a closer look at the 15 songs John picked as his favorites of 2023, along with his own commentary on each pulled from the Rocket Hour.
1. “Compute,” CamelPhat & Ali Love
CamelPhat are a production duo from Liverpool. We’ve played a lot of stuff from them before on the show but this is taken from their new album ‘Spiritual Milk’. This track is fantastic and features a sample from the iconic track ‘Computer Love’ by Kraftwerk.
2. “Come Around and Love Me,” Jalen Ngonda
Jalen is a soul artist who was born in the USA but now lives in the UK. I love his sound because it reminds me of all the great soul records from the 1970s. I saw Jalen play live at the Nice Jazz Festival in July. If you’ve never seen him live – you’ve got to go and see this guy. He’s absolutely incredible.
3. “We Can Be Anything,” Baby Queen
This is the lead track from Baby Queen’s album ‘Quarter Life Crisis’, which is one of my favorite album titles of the year. I absolutely love her. She’s from South Africa and she’s now London-based. Her music has [been] featured a lot in the TV show ‘Heartstopper’ which is fantastic.
4. “Red Wine Supernova,” Chappell Roan
Chappell Roan is a new pop artist that I’m really excited about. I love her because her music is original, it’s fun, it’s brilliantly written and it’s brilliantly produced. She was a guest on the show in September and she has an absolutely brilliant record called The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess. If you haven’t heard this record, please go out, stream it, buy it, whatever. She is going to be a big star.
5. “Daylight,” David Kushner
This is an extraordinary record. I can say that there’s a lot of pop records that I hear that are really vacuous, but this song is a beautiful song. The production, the voice, the video. It’s really great to be able to see someone as young as David doing something special, writing a special song. This was a very big hit earlier this year, and funnily enough is beginning to be a huge hit in America after all this time.
6. “It Must Change,” ANOHNI
This is a classic record, and classic records don’t come along very often. ANOHNI and the Johnsons released a wonderful album this year called ‘My Back was a Bridge for You to Cross’. When ANOHNI wrote this song she said that Marvin Gaye’s ‘What’s Going On?’ was heavy on her mind.
My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross is the fifth album by ANOHNI and the Johnsons and was inspired by gay activist Marsha P. Johnson, also the namesake of the band. Anohni first met Johnson, who was also a prominent figure in the 1969 Stonewall, while she was studying experimental theatre at New York University. Johnson, whose image adorns the cover of the ANOHNI album, was found dead in the Hudson River just six days after they met.
7. “She’s On My Mind,” Romy
Romy is a member of The XX. Her brilliant album ‘Mid Air’ is probably one of my favorite albums of the year. Every single track is a winner. I love the lyrics. They’re so honest and they’re so fabulous. And the melodies. Everything about this record. It just clicks.
Romy released her solo debut, Mid Air, in September 2023 and has added on dates to her tour in 2024 in support of the album. Buy tickets HERE.
8. “My Love Mine All Mine,” Mitski
Mitski made one of the best albums of the year called ‘The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We’ and this was the single that really raised the roof and got her in the top 10 in Britain. Mitski’s been around quite a while, but I have a feeling she’s going to follow in the footsteps of Lana Del Rey and get an incredibly loyal and huge following. I love her to death.
Mitski was recently tapped to write the score for the stage adaptation of The Queen’s Gambit, following the successful Netflix series based on the 1983 book by Walter Tevis. Mitski is also set to kick off her 2024 tour in support of her seventh album The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We.
[RELATED: Get Tickets to Mitski’s 2024 Tour HERE]
9. “Offering,” Gabriels
Jacob from Gabriels came and sang with me at Glastonbury, which was one of the highlights of my life. Thank you for doing that Jacob. It’s so great to see them doing so well. We picked them up really early on the Rocket Hour, and it’s just wonderful to see them soaring.
10. “Loading,” James Blake
This track completely blew my mind. I think this is one of the best things he’s ever done. I am a huge James Blake fan. When he’s on this kind of form. He’s untouchable.
11. “Both Sides Now,” Joni Mitchell (Live at Newport Folk Festival, 2022)
Joni Mitchell put out a live album that was recorded at the Newport Folk Festival in 2022 and this version of her song ‘Both Sides Now’ is so emotive. I’ve been very much privileged to be part of her recovery as far as vocals go, singing again with her ‘Joni Jams’ at her house in Los Angeles. If you don’t feel emotive listening to this song there’s something wrong with you because it was such a beautiful song to start with, but her voice on this is much lower than her original voice and it makes it sound even more meaningful. If you don’t get moved by this, you can’t get moved by anything.
Mitchell returned to stage after a long illness for her surprise Joni Jam performance at the Newport Folk Festival on June 24, 2022. The concert featured special guests Brandi Carlile, Marcus Mumford, Lucius, Celisse, Taylor Goldsmith, and Blake Mills.
12. “The Weekend,” Stormzy & RAYE
Wow! Stormzy and RAYE. What a voice RAYE’s got, and Stormzy is like champagne. He’s like a Rolls Royce. He’s just brilliant.
13. “Bulletproof,” BERWYN
BERWYN played with me at Hyde Park a couple of years ago. He’s one of my favourites. He’s a Trinidad born, London based rapper, songwriter, producer. He says this track is about the people around him that he is willing to do anything for. How sweet is that?
14. “Black Friday,” Tom Odell
This song really floored me. It’s the lead single from the singer-songwriter’s next album that’s coming out in January. He recently got married – congratulations Tom! He’s one of the nicest, most talented boys around. We love him very much.
15. “Not Strong Enough,” boygenius
Boygenius are an American supergroup made up of the fabulous Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus. They’ve had the most fantastic year, and it’s so great to see these girls producing such great music both live and on record.
Photo: Leon Neal/Getty Images
