The musical comebacks of 2023

The Rolling Stones and more - The musical comebacks of 2023

They didn't perform on stage for years, didn't release any new music or recently focused on other projects: These music stars stepped back into the limelight in 2023, causing great excitement among their fans.

Rihanna

After a break of around six years, Rihanna (35) returned in mid-February with a live performance at the Super Bowl half-time show and caused a surprise. The superstar virtually dropped the bombshell live on stage at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale and proudly presented her baby bump.

A spokesperson for the singer confirmed to People magazine shortly after her performance at the final of the US professional football league NFL: Rihanna is indeed expecting her second child with partner A$AP Rocky (35). Their son Riot Rose Mayers was born at the beginning of August. Their first son together, RZA Athelston Mayers, was born in May 2022. Rumors of a comeback tour for the coming year were revised last October by a high-ranking source at the request of "Billboard".

U2

Irish rock band U2 also made a big announcement during this year's Super Bowl. During the NFL final, the musicians released a commercial in which they informed their fans about a series of concerts in Las Vegas. In September, they then opened the new venue The Sphere at The Venetian Resort in the gambling city in the US state of Nevada. These are the band's first live performances in around four years.

The concert series, which has been extended until February 2024, will feature the seventh studio album "Achtung Baby" from 1991, which includes the mega-hit "One". The band had thought about the Las Vegas engagement for a long time, but came to the conclusion that "we would be crazy not to accept the invitation", according to a statement from the band.

The Rolling Stones

Released on October 20, "Hackney Diamonds" is the Rolling Stones ' first studio album with new songs since "A Bigger Bang", which was released around 18 years ago. At the beginning of September, singer Mick Jagger (80) revealed the following about the creation of the new album: "We were very lazy. Maybe we were a bit too lazy. So we said: Come on, we'll set ourselves a deadline and make an album." After initial recordings in Keith Richards' (80) studio in Jamaica, they went to New York for further work. "We got ourselves a producer," explained Jagger, "Andy Watt. He kicked our asses".

Two songs on the band's 24th studio album stand out in an emotional way: they were recorded with their drummer Charlie Watts (1941-2021), who died in 2021. Former member Bill Wyman (87) even played on one of these songs, as Jagger proudly announced - a line-up that had not existed since 1993. At the end of October, the Stones once again topped the German album charts, as determined by GfK Entertainment. This not only makes the Stones the highest newcomer of the week, the British cult band also made the best start of the year with the album.

Beatles

The two Beatles members Ringo Starr (83) and Paul McCartney (81), who are still alive, delivered both a comeback and a farewell. The song "Now and Then", which was released at the beginning of November, is the last of the legendary British band that made music history in the 1960s. More than 50 years after the Beatles disbanded, more than 40 years after the death of John Lennon (1940-1980) and more than 20 years after the death of George Harrison (1943-2001), the two worked on what was actually an old song. In an interview with AARP magazine, Ringo Starr explained: "Last year Paul called and said: 'Do you remember John's unfinished song 'Now and Then'? Why don't we work on it?" he explained. "He sent it to me and I played drums and sang. We had a great piece with John singing and playing piano and George playing rhythm guitar."

But the surviving music was incomplete. The song was originally composed by Lennon in the late 1970s. In 1979, the legendary musician recorded an unfinished version on his grand piano in his New York apartment. Large parts of the verses were missing and the quality of the original track on a music cassette was also poor. Now it was possible to eliminate the loud humming with the help of AI. The song immediately stormed to the top of the charts and has since delighted millions of Beatles fans around the world.

Agnetha Fältskog

After a ten-year wait, fans were able to enjoy new music from ABBA star Agnetha Fältskog (73). The singer of the Swedish cult band released her new solo album "A+" in mid-October. It is a revised version of her celebrated solo album "A" from 2013. In addition to the reissued songs, the album also includes a new song, "Where Do We Go From Here".

Although the singer celebrated great musical success and a fantastic career with ABBA from 1972 to 1982, she completely neglected her work as a songwriter during these years, as she explained to the British Guardian on the release of her new solo album. "When we had some free time, I wanted to be with my children. I hadn't forgotten about the music, I was just busy with other things."

Cloudless

Vanessa Mai (30) released her new album "Hotel Tropicana" at the end of May, making her return as Wolkenfrei. "When we started to think more about bringing Wolkenfrei back to life, we realized that 2023 is the tenth anniversary and it just fits perfectly," explained the singer on the comeback of the music project.

In 2013, the initially multi-member band with frontwoman Vanessa Mai released their debut single "Jeans, T-Shirt und Freiheit", followed by the debut album "Endlos verliebt" in 2014. Just one year later, Stefan Kinski and Marc Fischer announced their departure and Mai continued the project alone. In 2016, she also said goodbye to her beginnings and from then on only performed under her stage name. Wolkenfrei is "an absolute heart project" for her. However, she doesn't want to commit herself solely to Schlager, "because I never wanted to do that. Now with both brands, which they actually are, it's very special. I really enjoy it and it's really unique."

Blink-182

The Blink-182 album, which was released in mid-October, is the first that the band has released since they celebrated their reunion with member Tom DeLonge (48) in 2022. He had left the band almost ten years earlier. The new album was created in 2022 and 2023 during the reunion tour, which took the three band members to concert venues around the world, according to an announcement. Travis Barker (48), Tom DeLonge and Mark Hoppus (51) also made their tour comeback and presented their new album "One More Time..." on a world tour that has been running since March 2023 and is scheduled to continue until February 2024.

The fact that Blink-182 can perform with their original line-up from 1998 is something special, and not just because of DeLonge. In the summer of 2022, bassist Hoppus announced on social media that he was suffering from an aggressive form of cancer and was already in stage four. Around three months later, he also announced on social media that he had beaten the disease for the time being and was cancer-free.

*NSYNC

In 2023, the boy group *NSYNC released a new, completely original song for the first time since 2002. "Better Place" was released on all common platforms, including YouTube on the official channel of the band led by Justin Timberlake (42). "Better Place" is part of the soundtrack for the animated adventure "Trolls 3 - Strong Together". It is the first new musical release since The Neptunes remixed the song "Girlfriend" alongside rapper Nelly (49) around eleven years ago.

The announcement of the new single came just a few days after *NSYNC's joint performance at this year's MTV Video Music Awards. Justin Timberlake, JC Chasez (47), Lance Bass (44), Joey Fatone (46) and Chris Kirkpatrick (52) presented the award for Best Pop Song to their colleague Taylor Swift (34). It was their first time in the spotlight together since 2013.

Nelly Furtado

Nelly Furtado (45), Timbaland (51) and Justin Timberlake celebrated a musical reunion in 2023. "We're back," Timbaland wrote in an Instagram post in August. "The time has come," began a clip published with it, showing clips from past performances. The three were successful in 2007 with the song "Give It to Me", which reached number one in the charts in the USA and the UK. In September, fans were then able to enjoy the new joint single "Keep Going Up!".