Optimism is necessary, sure, but country music wouldn’t be country music without songs of heartbreak and love (done) gone wrong. In 2023, it was the genre’s women who wrote with the most striking originality about break-ups, exes, and emotional scars.
Autumn Nicholas’ “Made Yet” tells the story of a relationship that never even gets off the ground, as Nicholas’ narrator can’t forget the mistakes and hurts of past loves, to the extent that she’s paralyzed by fear of wreaking that same damage again.
The Sixty Best Singles of 2023: Optimist Prime and Love Done Gone – Country Universe