Antidote 2023

“Crazy.” “So overwhelming.” “Absolutely insane.” Those are the words The Last Dinner Party’s Abigail Morris and Georgia Davies use to describe the moment their debut single, April’s “Nothing Matters”, caught fire—and confirmed them as the British band to watch in 2023. “I knew it was going to be good and I knew that people were going to love it,” adds Davies of the euphoric, avant-garde anthem featuring stomping vocals and a soaring guitar solo. “But I didn’t quite expect it to go this quickly and intensely.” Even before they’d put out any music, the London five-piece had become one of the UK’s most buzzed-about bands; “Nothing Matters” simply proved they could deliver on the hype. The Last Dinner Party—who have recently been crowned the winners of the BRITs Rising Star Award 2024—were among a crop of emerging acts who made waves across Antidote in 2023. After steadily gathering momentum over the last few years, CMAT and Baby Queen dropped star-confirming albums in 2023, while Biig Piig, Rachel Chinouriri, Lovejoy and Luz continued to deliver music that presented their own, often genre-bending vision of alternative music. But the songs that lit up Antidote most in 2023 didn’t only come from newer names. In May, Blur shot to the top of the playlist with their affecting comeback track “The Narcissist”, released ahead of a run of festival dates and two fresh yet nostalgic shows at Wembley Stadium (and the arrival of reflective new album The Ballad of Darren). Meanwhile, Nothing But Thieves kicked off a new era of boundary-pushing alt-pop with the propulsive, ’80s-inspired “Welcome to the DCC” and “Overcome”, both taken from this year’s concept record Dead Club City, and Jungle delivered the breezy “Back on 74”, which went viral with its tightly choreographed video. There were also plenty of artists who brought something softer and perhaps more contemplative to Antidote this year. Think Sampha and The Japanese House—whose second records were two of this year’s most sublime offerings (Lahai and In the End It Always Does, respectively)—or Mitski, who embraced a country-inspired sound over her trademark barbed alt-pop on seventh album The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We. And as the year closed out, Vermont singer-songwriter Noah Kahan scaled the charts with his atmospheric, acoustic 2022 track “Stick Season”. Relive all those moments right here—and if you hear something you like, add it to your library.