Let's review Tracy Chapman's 2023 year.
Quite a few things happened this year!
The year 2023 has been eventful regarding Tracy Chapman's news, although there hasn't really been any news as such. No new album. No tour nor any concert. No TV appearance. And yet this year we celebrated the 35th anniversary of the release of her Debut Album in one of the most beautiful ways possible: with Tracy Chapman returning to the media spotlight, being reminded her long-time fans of her talent and discovered by an entirely new generation of listeners.
Let's go through Tracy Chapman’s 2023 timeline
March 24, 2023: Luke Combs, an American country music singer, released his ‘Fast Car’ cover as part of his March album ‘Gettin’ Old’. The song was an immediate success, joining the playlists of numerous American and Canadian radio stations, and not just country music stations!
If you missed it, you can listen to the official Live version on YouTube: Luke Combs - Fast Car. For some reason, the studio version isn’t officially available.
In the weeks and months following the release of this cover, there were debates from all sides, and I don’t want to revisit the many controversies it stirred up. It's a shame that the article which generated the most (bad) buzz is also the only one in which I was extensively interviewed, but the journalist only used one sentence of everything I said! But at least my name is mentioned in The Washington Post 😊 If you haven’t yet, I let you read it and form your own opinion.
April 26, 2023: In South Africa, the Order of the Companions of OR Tambo recognizes eminent foreign nationals for friendship shown to the country. It is an Order of peace, cooperation and active expression of solidarity and support. It was bestowed in silver on Tracy Chapman "for her contribution to the fight for freedom by participating in efforts to free Nelson Mandela and raising awareness of human rights violations globally” said Director general in the Presidency Phindile Baleni. Tracy didn't attend the ceremony.
July 6, 2023: Tracy told Billboard in an exclusive statement:
I never expected to find myself on the country charts, but I’m honored to be there. I’m happy for Luke and his success and grateful that new fans have found and embraced ‘Fast Car’.
July 18, 2023: Luke Combs ‘Fast Car’ cover has been certified platinum by the RIAA. It reached N°1 on the Country Airplay chart and N°2 on the Hot 100 chart.
The media were quick to headline their articles about the extraordinary fact that she was the first black woman to reach the top of the country charts.
September 25, 2023: Combs’s cover climbed to No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, after 19 weeks in the No. 2 spot.
November 8, 2023: ‘Fast Car’ won its 2 first CMA Awards as Single of the Year (for Luke) and Song of the Year (for Tracy). Tracy didn’t attend the ceremony but had a statement read:
It’s truly an honor for my song to be newly recognized after 35 years of its debut. Thank you to the C.M.A.s and a special thanks to Luke and all of the fans of ‘Fast Car.’
While accepting his award, Luke Combs said: “First and foremost, I want to thank Tracy Chapman for writing one of the best songs of all time, I never intended. I just recorded it because I love this song so much, it’s meant so much to me throughout my entire life. It’s the first favorite song that I ever had, since I was 4 years old.”
November 13, 2023: Luke Combs' cover of ‘Fast Car’ is nominated for the Best Country Solo Performance at the 2024 Grammys. However, the song is not eligible for Song of the Year since it had already been nominated for that award (but didn’t win it) in the 1989.
November 21, 2023: Tracy Chapman is among the nominees for the 2024 class of the Songwriters Hall of Fame. It’s the second time she’s nominated as she already was on the 2018 nominees list.
As a reminder, a songwriter with a notable catalog of songs qualifies for induction 20 years after the first significant commercial release of a song. The Songwriter Hall of Fame is used to list 5 songs considered merely a representative sample of the nominees extensive catalog. They listed those following songs for Tracy: * Fast Car * Talkin’ ‘Bout a Revolution * Give Me One Reason * Baby Can I Hold You * Sing For You *
🗣Talkin’Bout Tracy Chapman on Social Media
So, Tracy Chapman was talked about a lot on social media in 2023. There were 885 posts on Instagram with 3.5M interactions, 7820 posts on Facebook, and 7.7M interactions (source CrowdTangle). That's huge!
Just on our own social media, our posts reached 30M users on Facebook and 6.7M on Instagram. Our Facebook page gained 125.5K followers while our Instagram account also gained 144K followers. If you're not following us there yet, feel free to do so!
🎧Recommended Podcast episodes about Tracy Chapman
Hundreds and hundreds of articles were published this year about Tracy Chapman and her incredible return to the spotlight. But I've mostly chosen to highlight a selection of the best podcast episodes that have been released. If you like podcasts, you're in for a treat!
🔗Fast Car (Soul Music BBC Radio 4)
'Fast Car' is one of Tracy Chapman's biggest hits, with listeners from around the world finding striking connections with their own lives in the song's story. The episode features the personal stories of people from Jamaica, the USA and the UK. We also hear from the lead singer of the Australian band Vlossom which covered Fast Car and Nigel Williamson, music journalist who has met and interviewed Tracy Chapman many times.
> Producer Eliza Lomas contacted me to give her contact details of some people who had wrote their stories in the book i had published Their stories with the Debut Album. The episode is quite good and greatly produced. The stories shared are very original.
🔗 Being Black in the '80s Podcast > Tracy Chapman x Affirmative Action
"Tracy Chapman became one of the biggest musicians in the world thanks to two critical 80s concepts—affirmative action and the diasporic mindset. Because of the diasporic mindset, many Americans thought of Africa as part of their world, as if Africa’s problems are our own, and we are not truly free until South Africans suffering under Apartheid are free. And affirmative action did nothing less than change Chapman’s life. We explore how those ideas helped Chapman and how they relate to "Fast Car." We also look at what Chapman’s life might have been like if she’d never been helped by affirmative action."
> As a white European, I must admit I was particularly intrigued by this episode. It gave me a particular framework for interpreting Tracy Chapman's work. A certain way of approaching it, even though I didn't exactly have these codes. Nevertheless, I still consider Tracy Chapman to be universal and the themes she addresses in her songs are simply human, regardless of the gender, race, or religion we belong to.
🔗The 500 with Josh Adam Meyers podcast > Episode #263 - Tracy Chapman - Tracy Chapman (Debut Album)
This podcast counts down Rolling Stone Magazine's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Music writer and critic David Wild thinks back fondly on Tracy Chapman's 1988 self-titled release with Matt Mahurin, the artist who designed the album cover.
> A long conversation that sometimes extensively talks about other artists than Tracy (Van Morrison, Sheryl Crow...) but I still wanted to link it because the discussion is really interesting. I particularly liked when they talked about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Let’s hope Tracy will make it to the nominations list for 2024 🤞
And last but not least, 2 episodes of the great Talkin'Bout Tracy Chapman podcast by Stefan Evans:
🔗 Talkin'Bout Tracy Chapman podcast > 35 years of Tracy Chapman's debut album with Drummer Denny Fongheiser
To celebrate the 35th Anniversary of Tracy Chapman's debut album, Stefan had a great conversation with drummer Denny Fongheiser who performed on that album and toured with Tracy Chapman at various points in her career. They talked about how the record was made and Denny shared some touring anecdotes.
🔗 Talkin'Bout Tracy Chapman podcast > Jay Blakesberg on the B.B King - 'The Thrill Is Gone' music video shoot
Stefan had the opportunity to chat with photographer Jay Blakesberg about his early career, which involved photographing Tracy Chapman in San Francisco during the early eighties. He also shared his experiences, including shooting B.B. King's 'The Thrill Is Gone' music video and creating the artwork for the 'Let It Rain' album.
That’s it for today and obviously this year. Let’s say farewell to 2023 and welcome 2024 ✨
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Written by AURÉLIE M:
My name is Aurélie, I'm French. I created the website about-tracy-chapman.net because I love Tracy’s music and back in 2001, I found that the Internet was missing an exhaustive website with latest news and the largest archive possible. Now i co-manage the Tracy Chapman Online community and edit this newsletter.
Tracy Chapman Online! The Washington Post article raised/feasted on some poignant issues about equity but fell short.
Personally made me nauseous by seemingly outing her when she has according to the article expressly chosen to be private about her personal life. Maybe I am late in the game but that is how I felt. Would have been okay with it and celebrated if it had came from her words though, but I respect her choice not to even if the article didn't.
Overall I am in awe of Tracy Chapmans graciousness, poise and tact even while being firm in the face of slights, indignities and fickle crowds and late recognition. Her character speaks volumes.
There are several house/dance/electronic/reggae remixes and edits by Djs of Tracy Chapman's "Fast Car" that I really like on Youtube Music including DJs Chriswell, Manic Focus, Tailors, Lev Tatarov, GK, Martin Appez, Gus Monzon, Giuse, and Alexy.
Im really grateful for your writings in these articles, the instagram page online and this welcoming substack space. Thank you for curating this. Peace and respect