BTS in Best Songs of 2023 Lists

Paste Magazine ranks Agust D's Snooze (feat. Ryuichi Sakamoto and WOOSUNG) as #1 in the 20 Best Songs of 2023.

1. Agust D ft. Ryuichi Sakamoto and Woosung: “Snooze”
   The third album/mixtape released under the BTS rapper-producer Suga’s Agust D moniker, D-Day offered listeners closure on the trilogy, which explored (among other subjects) Suga’s struggles with trauma and mental illness. Nowhere was the album’s cathartic might more visceral than in “Snooze.” The track is offered up as comfort for and encouragement to young artists entering the notoriously harsh K-pop industry, but—like other songs that fall somewhere under the BTS umbrella—it has much broader relatability under late-stage capitalism: “Cry out loud, when you become to hate the world … It’s okay to let out a big sigh and yell out ‘this shit is fucked up’ / Because you too are just a human, just like everyone else.”

“Snooze” features a stirring vocal performance from The Rose’s Woosung and a piano melody from the great Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto—one of his final collaborations, released shortly after his death in March. The song is a bridge between generations of East Asian musical artists, working mostly outside of the U.S. system. When Suga became overcome with emotion while performing “Snooze” on stage during the final show on his world tour, it was one of the year’s most powerful moments in pop music—the culmination of an arduous journey of self-knowledge and healing, and a testament to one musician’s deep connection to his art.