The Excerpt podcast: 2023 in Music - Taylor Swift, Beyoncé and More

On today's episode of The Excerpt podcast: It would be hard to argue that 2023’s biggest name in music wasn’t Taylor Swift. She was recently named Time magazine’s Person of the Year and was Spotify’s most streamed artist. But there were other musical artists and stories that managed to elbow their way in to the year's music-centric coversation. From Britney Spears' tell-all book to hip hop's celebration of 50 years, USA TODAY Music Reporter Melissa Ruggieri joins The Excerpt to talk about these and other musical highlights of 2023.

Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

Dana Taylor:

Hello and welcome to The Excerpt. I'm Dana Taylor. Today is Wednesday, December 27th, 2023, and this is a special episode of The Excerpt. It would be hard to argue that 2023's biggest name in music wasn't Taylor Swift. She was recently named Time Magazine's person of the Year and was Spotify's most streamed artist this year. But there were other musical artists and stories that did manage to elbow their way in. Here to talk Taylor, Beyonce and Britney with me and to break down some of the musical highlights of 2023 is USA Today music reporter, Melissa Ruggieri. Thanks for joining us on The Excerpt, Melissa.

Melissa Ruggieri:

Thank you. Always happy to talk about this stuff.

Dana Taylor:

So just when it seemed like there wasn't another trail to blaze, Taylor Swift and Beyonce both released successful concert films, Taylor's Eras tour concert has grossed more than 250 million globally. Beyond awards, album and ticket sales, has a new bar been set for reaching musical icon status?

Melissa Ruggieri:

I think it has and good luck to the next person who is going to try to clear it. Because even if you go back to the heyday of Madonna and Michael Jackson in the eighties and the tremendous success that they had at the time, that doesn't even compare to what Taylor and Beyonce both accomplished this year, and the fact that they both did it in the same year is also a really, really cool thing. And I think it's going to be a long time until we see another artist who's able to sell a billion dollars in concert tickets in one year. I mean, that's just an unfathomable amount for most people to even aspire to.

And also keep in mind the number of shows that Taylor did, she wasn't doing 80, 90, a hundred shows. She was only really performing on weekends throughout the year playing stadiums and same with Beyonce. I mean, when you're doing these big stadium tours, you can only do but so many a year. And the fact that they were so successful in just sort of a compressed amount of time is even more impressive.

Dana Taylor:

Okay, so since we're on the topic of live music Las Vegas artist residencies, they're nothing new. I wouldn't mind ringing in the new year with Bruno Mars at Dolby Live in Vegas, but something new did pop up this year with a Las Vegas sphere. And Melissa, I know that you were there for the opening with U2. What was that like?

Melissa Ruggieri:

It was undeniably the most incredible experience I've had as a concert goer. Just the combination of that band in that space with what they're able to accomplish just visually and sonically, it's just really, it's so hard to even explain to people because it is sort of like being in an IMAX film except you're at a concert and everything's live in front of you. And just the energy in the room and the way that it was designed so that the sound is just isolated to where you are and the visuals are just phenomenal. I can't really even put into words just what it's like to be in there and see the screens behind them that are going up to the top of the globe and you're just encompassed by everything.

And what's going to be really interesting to see how a solo artist, if maybe someone like a Harry Styles or a Beyonce, there's a name that's been out there, or Taylor, somebody that's a huge solo superstar, how they're going to be able to carry that room because it's a big space. It's a big space to fill, but U2 does it really, really incredibly well.

Dana Taylor:

So the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony was held in November. It's always a terrific bridge from the past to the present in terms of performances, Chris Stapleton, Olivia Rodrigo, and H.E.R all took the stage. Was there anything about this year's induction ceremony that stood out to you as a can't miss moment?

Melissa Ruggieri:

Missy Elliot, she closed the show and she just electrified the place. It was actually one of the more subdued Hall of Fame inductions, I think. And I don't know if that had anything to do with the inductees or the performers, but it wasn't until the very end when Queen Latifah came out to induct her and then Missy took the stage because we don't really get to see Missy perform that often. And she was obviously just so overcome with the emotion of being the first female rapper inducted into the Hall of Fame, and she really was out there to say, yeah, this is why. This is exactly why. And it was just such a fun performance.

She came out into the audience and walked through while she was performing and it was a full concert production, which she did. Whereas most of the other performances, while they were all lovely, it was more kind of just a set and people playing on it, whereas this was the pyro, the lights, everything that goes along with a big arena production that Missy really brought it. And I think everybody walked out of there on such a high note just because she was just like the perfect way to close that show for sure.

Dana Taylor:

All right, so one of us read it, one of us did not. Melissa, what did Britney Spears share in her tell all book?

Melissa Ruggieri:

Britney is such an interesting person and artist because she's one of those people who doesn't really want you to know anything about her life, but yet is still always putting things out there about her life, whether it's on social media or back in the days of just being in the regular tabloids and things like that.

And the thing that I liked about this book was her relationship with Madonna and how she talked about how Madonna really became an important factor in her life and was somebody that she would go to for advice. You don't always look at Madonna as somebody who's going to be that maternal toward other artists necessarily, but apparently they did have this type of relationship and everybody roots for Britney to do well and to be okay because I think everybody also has a little bit of concern all the time that she's just on the precipice of something really bad happening.

And I think this book also really sort of illuminates why maybe a lot of the things that have happened in her life personally turned out the way they did just because of what she had to deal with for so many years.

Dana Taylor:

Well, if we're going to gossip, we might as well go down the Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce rabbit hole. Not serious about them, although they were the hottest couple of 2023. What I do want to talk about is Taylor's vault. What did she release this year and do you think that there's anything left?

Melissa Ruggieri:

Well, we had 1989 that came out most recently in October, and I think it moves something like 3 million copies its first week, which is the biggest selling one of her reissues that she's done. She also did Speak Now earlier in the summer. She only has two left, by the way. She only has Reputation and the self-named Taylor Swift album to do. From what I understand, these albums have been done. They've already been recorded, so it's just a matter of when she chooses to release them. And I would be really surprised if we don't see them in 2024 because she's going to be busy on the road again touring the world. So it's not as if she's going to be recording any new music or have time to record new music. So at least these are some more breadcrumbs for fans.

Dana Taylor:

Well, Michael Jackson's Thriller turned 40 this year. That album revolutionized the music industry and made him the undisputed King of Pop. We have Usher headlining next year's Super Bowl halftime show. I'd say that those seeds were planted with MJ. What are your thoughts on the continuing impact of one of pop music's most iconic albums?

Melissa Ruggieri:

Well, if you watch this Michael Jackson documentary, which even as somebody who knew Thriller in and out, I know the whole history with Quincy Jones and all of that, it was even enlightening to me to watch. I learned just some little tidbits that I didn't know, but Usher is part of this documentary and he speaks influence of Michael Jackson as both a musician, a showman, a dancer, and he's the first to admit that his career was basically built with that blueprint of what Michael Jackson established.

One thing about Thriller is it's sort of like when you listen to some Beatles recordings now that you have to go back and understand what technology was like then and what they were doing that nobody was doing at the time, backward recording and masking and all that kind of stuff, it's the same with Thriller with Michael and Quincy Jones. There weren't sounds like that, that were being created in studios prior to Thriller, and they really did revolutionize what could be done in a studio and what you could do by blending R and B and pop, and maybe even just a little bit of elements of hip hop in there and rhythm and all of the things that made Thriller so amazing.

Dana Taylor:

We also wrapped up 50 years of hip hop this year. Earlier this month, a Grammy salute to 50 years of hip hop aired on CBS. One of the biggest stories after five decades of hip hop is how mainstream the genre is. Does it get more mainstream than a CBS special?

Melissa Ruggieri:

That's very true. When you're bringing it to the homes of people who watch CBS on a regular basis, you know you've crossed it to another demographic, which is a great thing because I think it was a great educator for a lot of people. You may have had a lot of older viewers who might have a certain expectation of what hip hop is, but then to learn the history of it where it originated.

And one thing I really loved that came out of this anniversary was the sort of looking deeper into how women factored into hip hop. Because in the very beginning, as with most music genres and lots of things, men were the primary ones in the spotlight, whereas women didn't come along until mid to late eighties and it was a fight. I mean, well, Roxanne, of course, Roxanne Shante, but those are women who really had to claw their way into a genre that was putting up a brick wall in front of them every time they tried to do anything. And when MC Lyte came out and then you had Queen Latifah, Salt-N-Pepa, I mean all of them, they've really just revolutionized and paved a way for the Nicki Minaj's and the Cardi B's and the Megan Thee Stallions and all the people who were out there today, all these women who are just killing it. And you look back to when hip hop started and that was not the case at all.

Dana Taylor:

Well, the music industry lost several huge stars in 2023, and I keep going back to two women who overcame abusive relationships and each in their own way became musical icons. There was Tina Turner in her marriage to Ike Turner and the more controversial artist, Sinéad O'Connor and her relationship with her mother. How have you reflected on some of the artists that we've lost this year?

Melissa Ruggieri:

We kind of say this every year because so many of the artists that we have a certain generation grew up with are now at the age where they are getting older, getting sick, dying, no longer performing. And when you look at a Tina, a Sinéad, a Jimmy Buffett, just some of the big names that we lost, it's saddening. But then you also do have to look back at what they brought us and Tina in particular, when you look at the influence that she's also had. You look at Beyonce, she's the first person to tell you what Tina Turner did for her. You look at someone, even like Billy Joel and people in his band will talk about the influence of Tina Turner. So it's a very vast range of people that she influenced. And when you saw her Broadway musical that came out a couple of years ago, I think that also really helped show people what she dealt with because again, you heard about Tina's story.

You may have read her book, you may have seen some of the interviews over the years where she talked about the abuse and escaping Ike in the middle of the night to run across the highway in Dallas with $5 in her pocket basically and to get out of that relationship and the resilience that she showed was something that it doesn't matter if you're a musician or a teacher or an architect, you can look at that and go, wow, if someone can overcome that and become what she became, then you really have no excuse to try a little bit harder in your own.

Dana Taylor:

Well, best of lists for 2023 have been all over the map. SZA's has been a most of the lists that I've checked out. Did you have an earworm song of the year and what's been your top musical moment of 2023 overall, Melissa?

Melissa Ruggieri:

Olivia Rodrigo had another outstanding year. You dig back to the Beatles releasing what is likely, I'm sure their last song that you'll hear the four of them on. There were lots of things that popped up. I mean, from a musical standpoint, I do have to keep going back to that U2 concert though, just because it really was almost life altering as far as a live music experience. And even though it's a band that has been doing this for a very long time, it still felt like you were seeing something fresh and raw and different.

Dana Taylor:

Okay. And then finally, what's on tap for 2024?

Melissa Ruggieri:

Well, we've got some rock things coming out in 2024. Green Day has a new album coming out in January, and then they're doing a big stadium tour in the summer that it's the anniversary of two of their albums of American Idiot and Dookie, which is hard to believe that those are 20, 30 years old now, but they are.

Summer before last that one of the biggest shows of the summer that year was Def Leppard, Mötley Crüe, Poison, and Joan Jett. Well, Def Leppard and Journey are going out on tour this summer for another stadium run that is going to just sell out immediately as it did. There's a huge market for nostalgia, and there's a huge market for people in their forties and fifties who might have more disposable income and are happy to shell out for these shows. Of course, you've got Usher with the Super Bowl and he's talking with new music he's going to be performing.

And the thing with the music industry now is before you always sort of knew when things were being released on a Tuesday, when an album was coming out, when a tour was starting. These days, Beyonce might decide that Thursday at midnight that she's dropping the successor to Renaissance, and you really are surprised. I'm always looking at my email at 2:00 in the morning because I'm just making sure that I didn't miss something, because that's just how things work now.

Dana Taylor:

Well, I'm sure that we're going to have a lot to talk about next year, but I do appreciate you being on The Excerpt to wrap up music for this year. Thank you, Melissa.

Melissa Ruggieri:

Thank you.

Dana Taylor:

Thanks to our senior producer Shannon Rae Green for production assistance. Our executive producer is Laura Beatty. Let us know what you think of this episode by sending a note to [email protected]. Thanks for listening. I'm Dana Taylor. Taylor Wilson will be back tomorrow morning with another episode of The Excerpt.