A new year deserves a new playlist

Hello, 2024 (almost). Let’s go for a walk

Since the dawn of time — or at least the 2020s — I’ve started each year with an hourlong walk and a fresh playlist, trying to throw in a look back with a whole lotta looking forward. This year’s has two songs from each decade since the 1950s, wrapped inside two extra songs from 2023.

Before we get to the list, though, here’s the person who owned 2023, Taylor Swift, singing about moments that endure. And, even more, about relationships that do.

A meditative start

If it takes you awhile to get going or an hour’s walk feels intimidating, take heart: These first four songs are more for your soul than your pulse: childhood inspiration from Nas, an anthem from “La Cage aux Folles,” a paean to self-confidence from The Script.

Did I mention Barbie?

She certainly owned the fictional entertainment division for 2023, and her existential crisis in 4K is about as 2020s as you can get. Take a minute to take in her words, which sound an awful lot like they came from Billie Eilish.

Think I forgot how to be happy
Something I’m not, but something I can be
Something I wait for
Something I’m made for

Out with the old …

Time to get moving faster, even if it makes you feel a bit ancient. I doubt you still refer to that city in Turkey as Constantinople, but it’s easy as we age to cling to old ideas, ideals and idols. It’s fine to think of Memphis when you’re walking like an Egyptian, but having your feet 10 feet off of Beale isn’t bad, either.

In 2024 and in every year, our fantasies of reigning over Egypt or Graceland will run smack into the realities of having weather gods rain over us. But if you have love and laughter, it’s great to be the king or queen of nothing at all.

Are you ready, boots?

The theme for the next five songs is simple: Move. Your. Ass. And if you feel like dancing, we’ve got you covered.

Testing your endurance

This year’s playlist doesn’t repeat any songs from previous years, so here’s a video nod to the song that got it all started, as well as to the importance of loved ones.

We’ll wind down with the other pop-culture icon who couldn’t be ignored this year — Beyoncé — singing with Destiny’s Child about relationships that evolve and often end instead of endure. They kick off a bittersweet quartet that includes Haim trying to recapture an old relationship and the Rembrandts reminding us that even the cheeriest of songs can touch us in fresh and painful ways.

And then there’s Sam Ryder, wrapping things up with an eternal truth: Each year can challenge us and reward us, even when we fail.

And everybody falls
And life will tear you down to show you what’s worth fighting for

What is worth fighting for? Taylor Swift told us at the start: relationships that endure. They can be love, they can be friendships, they can be the kinds of friendly rivalries that Ryder sings about. They stir our passions. They help us feel alive. They make us look forward to what 2024 has to offer.

Oh, we will see you here
Same time, same place, next year

Murphy Slaw

Something old: There’s a big TV special on “MASH” next week, and it’s bringing out the geezer in me. I loved the show and was also a young journalist, meaning I worked a lot of nights when it was on. In 1978, there was this newfangled invention called a VCR, which let you record one show at a time — decades before TiVo, eons before streaming.

It was the only game in town, and priced like it. A cost-of-living calculator says I spent about 3,300 of today’s dollars on it. Ouch. Still worth it.

Financial suicide is painless, I guess.

Something new: Always give 100%, right? Here’s a theory worth listening to: Maybe you should give 85% instead.

Something borrowed: Stealing once more from “Barbie,” this might have been the scene that captured the most moviegoers’ hearts and minds in 2023. Added bonus: It’s pretty much spoiler-free.

Something blue: Sometimes life gets decided by the narrowest of margins, even when it comes to suicide attempts. In this essay, a young woman describes how close she came, until a stranger intervened, purely by coincidence. Probably.