Music News: Vampire Weekend, Elton John, SNL and ABBA

Do you ever sit around and think, "I wonder what Elton John is listening to right now?" One has to believe that Sir Elton has a vast interest in lots of different kinds of music. After all, while he is not a lyricist, he has to borrow creative ideas from different genres. That's partly what has always made his music accessible and relevant.

But thanks to a recent Instagram post by Elton and Applemusic, we know what Elton John's 15 favorite songs are for 2023. You might not be surprised that there is no Sleep Token listed among the top 15, but one has to believe that Elton might also secretly harbor a love for Vessel and the boys (?). That's fun to entertain anyway.

There are several female artists listed, include the amazing boygenius and their song, "Not Strong Enough." Joni Mitchell also gets a shout out as Elton John loved her live version of "Both Sides Now" she recorded in mid-2022. There is a mix of soul and dance, so basically what you might expect. Here are all the songs:

Elton John names-names, Vampire Weekend are back soon, and SNL gives us funnies

CamelPhat & Ali Love - "Compute"
Jalen Ngonda - "Come Around and Love Me"
Baby Queen - "We Can Be Anything"
Chappell Roan - "Red Wine Supernova"
David Kushner - "Daylight"
ANOHNI - "It Must Change"
Romy - "She’s On My Mind"
Mitski - "My Love Mine All Mine"
Gabriels - "Offering"
James Blake - "Loading"
Joni Mitchell - "Both Sides Now" (Live at the Newport Folk Festival, Newport, RI, 7/24/2022)
Stormzy & RAYE - "The Weekend"
BERWYN - "Bulletproof"
Tom Odell - "Black Friday"
boygenius - "Not Strong Enough"

In more news, Vampire Weekend, who hasn't produced a studio album since 2019's Father of the Bride, is reportedly close to being done with the fifth album and readying its release. This was reported by Pitchfork and the band has stated in a newsletter attached to their soon-to-be-released live album, Frog on the Bass Drum Vol. 02, that "LP5 IS DONE!"

This is great news for all VW fans. They have never truly failed to entertain, even if their self-titled debut record is still their best. That's just my opinion, however, but I cannot hear you if you disagree.

In final news, if you missed the final Saturday Night Live for December, you might want to track it down on streaming and watch it. Not only is Billie Eilish the musical guest and she performs stunningly, but one skit features SNL doing Christmas spoofs of ABBA songs. It is one of their best skits this season.

Read more from AudioPhix