Enjoy the March 2023 edition of “Behind the Wedding Music,” a resource to help build wedding playlists for DJs. Each month we will highlight new songs and include a line of song lyrics, a description of the song’s emotional profile, and a few fun facts — designed to help you advise a wedding couple if they’re looking for something fresh in their playlist.
A few newly released wedding songs from February 2023:
Wings
Jonas Brothers
February 24, 2023
A mid-temo song to play for pop fans as guests arrive at the reception.
Notable Lyrics: “No, my life, it never had a meanin’, a meanin’, a meanin’ / You gave me a reason, you got me believin’, you’re makin’ me say / You are the wings I need to fly away”
Fun Facts: Actress Haley Lu Richardson stars in the music video. The song will be featured on the group’s sixth studio album “The Album” set for release on March 12. The Brothers has a residency in Las Vegas in February and has a residency in New York in mid-March.
Lottery
Latto, LU KALA
February 16, 2023
A new dance hit with disco vibes.
Notable Lyrics: “I’m the girl of your dreams / Boy, you know you hit the lottery / Cha-ching, cha-ching”
Fun Facts: The song debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 and is the first on the list for LU KALA. Latto was honored in early March at Billboard’s 2023 Women in Music Powerhouse.
Winslow Gardens
Ben Folds
February 15, 2023
An upbeat song about time passing by as a couple that seems like a band’s jam session.
Notable Lyrics: “Oh, some trips just go one way / Oh, just when plans are made / You find you’ve started all over again”
Fun Facts: The song will be featured on Fold’s new album “What Matters Most” set for release on June 2 and his first since 2015. In 2017, Folds became the first artistic advisor to the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center. In 2019, he released his memoir, A Dream About Lightning Bugs. He also launched his podcast, Lightning Bugs, in 2021.
I Feel Like Dancing
Jason Mraz
February 15, 2023
An upbeat song to set the mood for fun.
Notable Lyrics: “My kind of magic is automatic / I feel like dancing, I feel like dancing / Even if it’s rainin’, I’m not complainin’”
Fun Facts: The song will be features on Mraz’s eighth studio album titled “Mystical Magical Rhythmical Radical Ride” set for release on June 23. Mraz is currently on tour throughout the U.S. with dates until mid-August.
Love You Anyway
Luke Combs
February 10, 2023
A love song about loving someone so much that even if it was for a short while you would do it.
Notable Lyrics: “Even if I knew, the day we met, you’d be the reason this heart breaks / Oh, I’d love you anyway”
Fun Facts: The song will be featured on Combs’ new album titled “Gettin’ Old” set for release on March 24, 2023. The idea of the song happened when Combs spoke at a concert that if his wife was in earshot that he loved her, but if not, she knew he loved her anyway. A friend saved the quote for the song’s inspiration.
Good Morning
PJ Morton, Susan Carol
February 9, 2023
A soulful duet about being happy that you get to wake up together.
Notable Lyrics: “Sometimes I can’t wait to fall asleep / So I can wake up to you again / It’s hard for me to believe it’s real, so I must be dreamin’”
Fun Facts: The song was not going to come to fruitin but fans discovered a groove transformed from his song “The Better Benediction” and they wanted a complete song. At the recent Grammy Awards, Mortons was nominated three times for R&B Song, R&B Album, and Gospel Song.
As a matter of fact
Babyface
February 9, 2023
A song about falling in love at first sight with the girl of his dreams.
Notable Lyrics: “I just met the craziest girl in the whole wide world / And I just felt a sunrise, in the moonlight / And it shines on my heart”
Fun Facts: The song is the first solo release by Babyface in eight years. Babyface recently had a performance at Super Bowl LVII singing “America the Beautiful”. Babyface’s song with Ella Mai “Keeps On Fallin‘” was nominated for Best Traditional R&B Performance at last month’s 65th Grammy Awards.
This Is
Ella Mai
February 3, 2023
A song that sends soulful love feelings into the air.
Notable Lyrics: “This is the kinda love that keeps me up all night / This is what I wanna do for the rest of my life”
Fun Facts: Mai is currently touring on her Heart On My Sleeve Tour with dates throughout the U.S. Ella Mai got noticed by DJ Mustard after she uploaded a video singing Fetty Wap’s hit single “679” on Instagram.
Shelter
MOD SUN, Avril Lavigne
February 3, 2023
A pop punk love song not only for fans of the “Punk Princess”.
Notable Lyrics: “When I hate my own skin, you take care of me / You let me in, you’re my shelter from everything”
Fun Facts: MOD SUN and Lavigne got engaged in Paris last year. Lavigne was married twice before to the lead singer of Sum 41, Deryck Whibley, and the lead singer of Nickelback, Chad Kroeger.
La Fórmula
Maluma, Marc Anthony
February 1, 2023
Two Latin superstars collaborate for a new dance hit.
Notable Lyrics: “There is no formula to forget your kisses / not an equation that the result leads to that”
Fun Facts: The song describes how there is no formula for capturing love and devotion with a certain someone – but hope exists. At the recent Lo Nuestro Awards (aka Premios Lo Nuestro), Maluma won Banda Song of the Year with Grupo Firme for the song “Cada Quien” and Marc Anthony won Album of the Year for “Pa’lla Voy”.
Las Vegas-based Matthew Campbell is the founder of My Wedding Songs.
Featured photo courtesy of Jonas Brothers Facebook