10 Big Things That Happened in Music the Week of February 10, 2023

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, we can feel the love in the air—and that definitely pertains to this week's best new music.

From up-and-comers such as Mandi Mapes and Devon Gilfillian to superstars including Daniel Caesar, Khalid and Dove Cameron, it seems like everyone was singing about love this week. Over the last seven days, we got new music about unconditional love and opening your heart to the world, as well as tracks about heartbreak, betrayal and learning to let go. Curious about what we loved best? Keep scrolling to discover the 10 biggest things that happened in music the week of Feb. 10, 2023.

 

1. Mandi Mapes Trusts on Love to Get Her Through in 'Even on the Worst Days'

We all have that one person who can help us get through the toughest times, and indie singer-songwriter Mandi Mapes captures the beauty of that kind of love in her new single "Even on the Worst Days," which will appear on her upcoming debut album Leeves. With its warm, whimsical and dreamy feel, it's all about the way love can make hard situations easier and give us that extra push when we need it most. "I think the overall message of this album is to not lose hope," Mandi shared in a press release, and this track fits seamlessly into that optimistic narrative.

 

2. Devon Gilfillian Lives in the Moment in 'All I Really Wanna Do'

We truly don't know where Nashville-based singer-songwriter Devon Gilfillian has been hiding all of our lives. He has us instantly hooked with the release of his new single, "All I Really Wanna Do," a soulful and enchanting love song about taking a chance and giving yourself over to happiness. The track also arrived today with an intoxicating animated music video, seeing Devon go on a date with a gorgeous alien woman on a journey through space in a cat-shaped ship—as well as an announcement of Devon's second album, Love You Anyway.  "I wanted to share my story on this album and pour a whole lot of love into the gap that's grown between people in our country," Devon shared in a press release. "'All I Really Wanna Do' is an anthem for living in the moment. It's a song about taking a chance on love, on life and on exploring yourself. It's about being weird with the one you love and knowing that being yourself is enough. I want people to listen to this song and forget—even for a second—the sad things going on around the world. I want them to be reminded of the beauty and joy we have around us, as long as we're looking and open to receive."

 

3. Leith Ross Crushes Hard in '(You) On My Arm'

Here's one for anyone crushing super hard this season of love.  Canadian singer-songwriter Leith Ross just dropped their epically relatable new single "(You) On My Arm," recounting the yearning that comes along with developing feelings for someone, and the daydream scenarios you might make up in your head about being with them. We love the specificity of the narrative painted in the lyrics, complete with evocative vocals, and the way they come to life in the song's stop-motion lyric video, hand-made by Leith themself. "This song is about having a massive crush on someone," they explained in a press release. "It happens, fortunately and unfortunately. I hope it can help with any yearning you may feel the need to do. That's what it has done for me. I love being gay."

 

4. Haiden Compares a Breakup to a Plane Crash in 'flight attendant'

Breakups are rarely easy—even if you're the one ending things—and few songs have encapsulated the feeling quite so eloquently as indie-pop singer-songwriter Haiden's latest single, "flight attendant." Backed by atmospheric pulses and the strum of an acoustic guitar, Haiden's voice soars as he tells an intimate tale of a necessary yet incredibly painful breakup. "I see 'flight attendant' as the 'all of the things that I should have said in that moment,'" Haiden explained to Sweety High in an interview. "It's the breakup letter that I never wrote and in it is all of the courage that I didn't have. I hope that when people hear it, they hear past the callus of the words and can feel how desperately I tried to save what I had. It's easy to villainize the person that ends things but to anyone that's done it, you understand how heavy it is. Hopefully, this story will help shine some light on how both sides of the camp feel in that situation."

 

Also read about: Haiden Talks 'flight attendant' and How It's 'The Breakup Letter [He] Never Wrote'

 

5. Bakar Teases New Projects and His Upcoming Coachella Performance With 'Good News'

We've been diehard fans of British singer-songwriter Bakar ever since the first time we heard his hit song "Hell N Back," and with the release of his first single of 2023, "Good News," he's gotten us obsessed all over again. With dream-like vocals, made the star of the show with minimalist instrumentation, and a soothing, nostalgic vibe, the song recreates the feeling of being in love—but its lyrics tell a more complicated story. It's a song about the kind of relationship that makes everything feel right but isn't what you thought it was, and the complex emotion of wishing them well even once they've left you behind. The track fuses indie rock and hip-hop to perfection, teasing even more to come this year—including performances at Coachella.

 

6. Thomas Day Rallies Against Betrayal and a Broken Heart With 'VICIOUS'

Who knew that suffering, betrayal and heartbreak could be so fun? We've never met a Thomas Day track we didn't love, and somehow, his latest release "VICIOUS" manages to be among his best yet, contrasting a story of deceit and a broken heart against a vibrant, playful pop sound. It's based on a true story, and we happen to think that comes through in each heartfelt line. "When I started writing this song, I had just gotten off the phone with my ex-girlfriend," Thomas revealed to Sweety High in an interview. "She was my first love and I was naive enough to pick up the phone. We hadn't talked in a very long time. We broke up after two years of dating and I was very affected by it. It was all still relatively fresh to me. That night, we talked about life and how we both have changed so much. Before I knew it we had been talking for about five hours and it was 4 a.m. I completely forgot that I was talking to my ex because it felt the exact same as it was before. I got triggered near the end of the call because she told me, 'Regardless of anything we have ever been through, I want you to know I will always love you.' That just didn't sit right with me, especially once I learned she had been seeing someone else for two months already. When I hung up the phone that night, the lyrics just started pouring out of me."

 

Also read about: How a Long Convo With an Ex and a Sense of Betrayal Inspired Thomas Day's New Single, 'VICIOUS'

 

7. Maisie Peters' 'Body Better' Gets Even Better With a New Music Video

English singer-songwriter Maisie Peters has an iconic and instantly recognizable voice, which made her single "Body Better" one of our fast favorites from the star—and it just got even better with a hilarious and fairytale-like new music video. In the vulnerable track, Maisie fixates on the end of a relationship and where she might have fallen short as a partner, focusing on all of the wrong things. We adore the way the music video takes things in another direction, with Maisie meeting with friends in a graveyard, poking voodoo dolls and coating herself in the remnants of a deep-red cake until it looks like she's bathed in blood, and she accepts that loss and realizes she's enough.  "'Body Better' is one of the most honest songs I've ever released, and definitely the most personal," Maisie said in a press release. "I wrote it after a breakup and it deals with the ugly things you think to yourself in the aftermath, when you're painstakingly going through everything small thing you did and were and wondering what you could have changed. It's a song about insecurity and vulnerability, about giving a lot of yourself away to someone who decides they don't want it anymore and knowing where to go from there."

 

Also read about: Everything You Wanted to Know About 'Blonde' Singer-Songwriter Maisie Peters

 

8. Jeremy Zucker Confronts the Void Between Connection and Intimacy in Online Relationships With 'internet crush'

Singer-songwriter and producer Jeremy Zucker has always had a way with words and sound, weaving powerful, relatable stories, but his first single of 2023, "internet crush," has to be his most heartfelt yet. The song has a gentle orchestration that swells and grows over the course of the track, complementing the purity of Jeremy's incredible vocals. It's about the complicated nature of love and how attempts to stay in touch with someone you only connect with through a screen can feel so desperate at times. "'internet crush' is about the realities of dating and love in the modern digital world," Jeremy shared in a press release. "I think everyone has experience with the intersection of relationships and the internet in one way or another—whether that be with friends, parents, or a significant other. It's really interesting how we can remain connected to somebody while separated by physical distance. There's a lot of intimacy and connection over the internet, but at the same time there's a lot of isolation as well. I wrote the song about the weird dichotomy that exists in the connection between isolation and intimacy within the context of the internet and the frustrations in trying to find a pure connection."

 

9. Daniel Caesar Decides to Move on in 'Let Me Go'

There are few artists today making moves quite as exciting as Grammy-winning singer-songwriter and producer Daniel Caesar, and with his second single of the year, "Let Me Go," he again shows us that he's one of the best in the business. The track follows up January's single "Do You Like Me?," throwing back to the smoothest R&B sounds of bygone times to create something that's slower and moodier but just as stunning as its predecessor. The song is about trying to leave a relationship and feeling like it's the kind and necessary thing to leave behind his old love, but they simply won't let him go.

 

10. Dove Cameron and Khalid Join Forces for 'We Go Down Together'

"We Go Down Together" is the epic Dove Cameron and Khalid collab we never knew we needed in our lives. In the new song, the two artist's voices come together like they were born for it, telling a story of the kind of lasting love that's unconditional, binding two people together forever through all of life's up and downs. The sound is ethereal and almost haunting, with the vibe driven even further by the desaturated tones and horror imagery of its music video, evoking thoughts of vampirism and immortality that make their promise of "forever" even bigger than we can imagine.

 

Missed our favorite tracks last week? Click HERE to check out our top 10 favorite releases for the week of February 3, 2023.