Albums Around The Fireplace 2024

 

Albums Around The Fireplace 2024

So I did this last year and I had a ton of fun with it, so we’re back for round 2 (this time with a much better title lol)!! In this article, I’ll be briefly reviewing every single 2024 album I listened to (some of the albums will have longer reviews than others), with a few minor caveats; any deluxe version of an album from a previous year will not be covered here (I know I didn’t follow this rule last year when I covered emails i can’t send fwd: by Sabrina Carpenter but in my defense I had no clue that was a deluxe version of a 2022 album lmao). Any deluxe versions of albums released this year will be covered in the same review. And no albums from prior years here, even if I only listened to them for the first time in 2024. Overall, 2024 was a year where I think I really broadened my musical horizons and really stepped out of my comfort zone. I think this year might be the most albums I’ve listened to in one year. With that, get your marshmallows ready to roast at the fireplace because we’re starting this very long journey (seriously, I just finished writing every review and I’m fairly certain this is my longest ever article lol) in alphabetical order with...

1. 21 Savage - american dream - 8/10

Genres: Trap, Southern Hip Hop, Chipmunk Soul, Gangsta Rap, Pop Rap

21 Savage falls into a category probably similar to Lil Durk circa 2021; both are rappers with a very good ability to effectively convey intensity in their deliveries. And while I was admittedly pretty disappointed by Lil Durk with Almost Healed last year, 21 Savage’s american dream is a great album. It’s likely gonna get overlooked in the broader context of hip hop in 2024 - and not without good reason, mainstream rap this year was legit fantastic - but I do still think this album is really good. There are two areas where I think this album really works - when it’s trying to convey intimidation and the strong guest features. Doja Cat is great on “n.h.i.e.” and I really liked Travis Scott’s contributions on “nee-nah”. But honestly I think the guest artist who impressed me the most here was Mariah The Scientist, whose gentle vocals fit the aspirational theme of the lyrics really well. But to me, the big star of the show here has always been “redrum”, an effective and murderous banger where 21 sounds super intimidating. And I think there’s enough variance across this album for 21’s bars to not feel samey and run together like Lil Durk’s did on Almost Healed. The big weakness for me here though is “see the real”, which is still decent but the production just doesn’t stick with me that much. And it might be because of how the sample in the song doesn’t effectively convey a mood, making 21’s delivery sound pretty bored and checked out. But yeah, this is a great album, it’s probably gonna get forgotten after this year, but it’s pretty underrated. Check it out!

Best track: redrum

HM: dark days

DM: see the real

Worst track: american dream (I mean, I kinda have to put the spoken word opener as the “worst” lol)

2. Ariana Grande - eternal sunshine - 8/10

Genres: Contemporary R&B, Pop, Dance-Pop, Trap Soul

It feels like Ariana Grande’s public image has taken a massive hit ever since 2019’s “7 rings” - a song I still think blows ass - but eternal sunshine is definitely an album where Ariana is trying to pick up the pieces and repair what’s left of her image. To me, the album’s centerpiece is “we can’t be friends (wait for your love)”, a song that sounds really incredible and is enhanced by the lyrics for reasons I detailed in my best list already. And the themes in that song are, if anything, enhanced by the album, there’s literally a song on here called “don’t wanna break up again”, if that song doesn’t show that Ariana is being earnest here, I don’t know what does. Overall, this is a great album. And if this is what Ariana needed to do to process her messy public image, then I hope it works.

Best track: we can’t be friends (wait for your love)

HM (tie): supernatural, i wish i hated you

DM: ordinary things (this is still a good song but I had to choose something lol)

Worst track: Saturn Returns Interlude

3. BANNERS - All Back To Mine - 7/10

Genres: Pop Rock, Pop Punk

Time to admit something really embarrassing; in 2020, I considered BANNERS’ “Someone To You” one of my top 20 all-time favorite songs (probably because I knew and loved the song before it got popular so I felt I had hipster cred lmao). It’s cooled on me significantly over the years because it is, in the end, very commercial-core to a tiny fault and definitely very lame, but I do still love the song. All Back To Mine very much feels like it’s BANNERS doubling down on that commercial-core rock music pivot, for better, like the infectious and energetic “There Goes My Girl”, or for worse, like the obnoxiously chipper “C’est La Vie”. And honestly, even for the songs in that vein that work for me, I’m just not sure BANNERS’ vocals can carry the energy of tracks like “There Goes My Girl”. And the songs that aren’t commercial-core rock music are really tedious ballads where BANNERS just sounds anonymous. So no, I don’t think this album is bad; there’s enough quality here for me to call this good, but I can’t go beyond that unfortunately.

Best track: There Goes My Girl

HM: Name In Lights

DM: All That You Made Me

Worst track: C’est La Vie

4. Becky Hill - Believe Me Now? - 8/10

Genres: Dance-Pop, Progressive House, Future Rave, Tech House, Deep House, Euro-Trance

Believe Me Now? Is an album that basically lives and dies on its bombastic and energetic production and is most certainly gonna go off in a club. Becky Hill has a really good command of the tracks with some powerhouse vocals and that’s very apparent in my favorite track here, “Linger”, where Hill’s vocals sound really ethereal and enchanting and the production intensifies that aura.  So yeah, overall, I think this album is a ton of fun and if you like this sound, you’ll probably love this album even more than I do.

Best track: Linger

HM (tie): Back Around, Right Here

DM: Never Be Alone

Worst track: Man Of My Dreams

5. Benson Boone - Fireworks & Rollerblades - 5/10

Genres: Pop Rock, Adult Contemporary, Pop Soul, Big Music, Alternative Rock

I’ll be honest, going into this album, I was really expecting to be extremely disappointed. I still think “Beautiful Things” and “Slow It Down” are terrible songs and among the worst hits of this year and Benson Boone tacking on “In The Stars”, which I still adore to this day, to boost up streaming numbers didn’t exactly give me a good feeling about this. So...while I can’t say this album is good, it also wasn’t nearly as bad as I was expecting. The main problem with songs like “Beautiful Things” and “Slow It Down” is that Boone pushes himself outside of his vocal comfort zone and sounds like a drunk bat. But a song like “Be Someone”, where Boone stays in his comfort zone vocally, is actually pretty great. And hell, I know that even when Boone just starts caterwauling in his songs, it can work with the right combination of effects piled onto his voice. “Pretty Slowly”, a standalone single that really deserved to be on this album, just piles a bunch of compression onto Boone’s voice while still giving his voice enough room to shine through and actually serves as a satisfying climax to the stomp clap production. I still think a song like “Cry” is an atrocity and “Drunk In My Mind” sounds like a bad hangover in song form, but overall, this album, while not good per se, isn’t necessarily bad either. I don’t think I can reasonably recommend this, but there is enough here that works well that I see the potential this album had to be good.

BEST TRACK: In The Stars

HM: Be Someone

DM: Drunk In My Mind

Worst track: Cry

6. Beyonce - COWBOY CARTER - 8/10

Genres: Country Pop, Contemporary Country, Country Soul, Americana, Contemporary R&B, Contemporary Folk, Singer-Songwriter

Am I the only one who feels like after the first month or so when this dropped, this album kinda vanished from the charts and cultural conversation? It only produced one real hit with “Texas Hold ‘Em” and the second single, “II MOST WANTED” with Miley Cyrus, failed to really do much of anything. Now, I’m not that stupid, at this stage in her career, Beyonce doesn’t really need to play the chart game; she can just coast on her legacy status. But for as much as it felt like COWBOY CARTER dominated discourse in the spring of this year, it feels like it didn’t really last beyond that. I guess to a certain degree this makes a bit of sense. This is an album that promised to make bold statements about the country music industry and landscape. And to an extent, it did certainly accomplish this. I appreciate Beyonce’s fusion of country with other genres to push against the arbitrary lines of what is considered country music. But I guess my issue is that we don’t really get those moments too often here and when we do get them, they feel a bit...undercooked. I think “YA YA” and “SWEET ★ HONEY ★ BUCKIIN” pull this off pretty well and I appreciate the moments when Beyonce platforms black country artists who’ve been marginalized by the country music industry - the biggest example being Shaboozey, who used his new platform to propel himself to getting a #1 smash with “A Bar Song (Tipsy)”. I think “II MOST WANTED” with Miley Cyrus is a gorgeous classic country ballad - and probably my favorite song on the album - but I do feel like the choice to include Miley Cyrus of all artists is a bit of a waste, even if I can’t deny that Miley absolutely slays the song here with terrific chemistry with Beyonce. I feel like you could’ve gotten any black female country singer here to strengthen the message of this album, that’s the most minor of nitpicks, though; the song is gorgeous. The one real big misfire for me here though is “TYRANT” with Dolly Parton, where the trap percussion just doesn’t sound good at all and Dolly Parton has shockingly little chemistry with Beyonce. That said, this is absolutely a great album, and even if it’s unlikely to drive any real systemic change, it’s a really nice listen.

Best track: II MOST WANTED

HM: SPAGHETTII

DM: OH LOUISIANA

Worst track: TYRANT

7. Billie Eilish - HIT ME HARD AND SOFT - 8/10

Genres: Alt-Pop, Singer-Songwriter, Indie Folk, Pop Rock, Indietronica, Art Pop

Not gonna lie, this was my first time ever listening to a Billie Eilish album. “bad guy” and “all the good girls go to hell” were enough to scare me from listening to WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? And I’ve just been too lazy to listen to Happier Than Ever despite me really growing to love the title track. And so...HIT ME HARD AND SOFT...I really like it. The only song I don’t like all that much is “THE DINER”, which reminds me too much of “bad guy” and is the side of Billie’s sound I still have struggled to get into much. It’s still a decent song, though. I really appreciate the moments where Billie opens up to belt or sing louder, like on “BIRDS OF A FEATHER” or a track like “THE GREATEST”, which really works thanks to Billie’s fractured and fragile delivery making the chorus really cut through, building up to her belting in the last minute. It’s diet “Happier Than Ever”, sure, but it’s still incredible. Yeah, a great album that makes me think I really need to finally get around to checking out Billie’s other albums.

Best track: BIRDS OF A FEATHER

HM: THE GREATEST

DM: BITTERSUITE (not really tbh)

Worst track: THE DINER

8. Camila Cabello - C,XOXO - 4/10

Genres: Alt-Pop, Contemporary R&B, Alternative R&B, Pop Rap

I remember seeing YouTube critic Spectrum Pulse say that this album might be worthy of a Trainwreckords episode. And quite frankly, it’s not hard to see why because this album is like the musical equivalent of an identity crisis. The rollout started off with “I LUV IT” with Playboi Carti, a lead single that seemed to promise that this album would see Camila Cabello lean into a hyperpop direction. But when that single bricked early - and rightfully so, that song is terrible - the rest of the album felt like a quick panic move into something more “mainstream” to salvage Cabello’s popular momentum. The only other song on this album that’s even remotely hyperpop-adjacent is “Chanel No.5”, which sounds musically broken. And that’s not to mention the, not one but TWO, Drake features (technically, one of them isn’t even a feature - Drake just gets an entire interlude to himself!!) at the worst possible time to be affiliated with Drake. It feels like those songs were supposed to be Drake getting Cabello back on the charts but with how bad 2024 has been for Drake, it probably ended up feeling like the other way around. But let me go back to my original point: this album is like the musical equivalent of an identity crisis. After the pureed “hyperpop” goop of “I LUV IT” and “Chanel No.5”, we get a borderline afrobeat pivot with “HE KNOWS” and then a ballad with annoying and weird “valley girl”-esque inflections in the form of “Twentysomethings”. “Dade County Dreaming” is probably the closest we get to a song on this album being good, but even then, JT and Yung Miami aren’t really contributing any solid verses, or at least nothing solid enough to make up for Cabello’s lackluster delivery that is trying to sound ethereal and failing. And then there’s “pretty when i cry”, which at first I liked because of the solid afrobeat groove but repeated listens only made it feel more hollow. Look, this album is only barely better than Shawn Mendes’s 2024 album - we’ll get there eventually - but honestly with this album, I feel like I’m punching down.

“Best” track: Dade County Dreaming

“H”M: Twentysomethings

DM: I LUV IT

Worst track: Uuugly

9. Charli XCX - brat - 8/10 for standard edition and edition with 3 bonus tracks; 7/10 for remix edition

Genres: Electropop, Electronic Dance Music, Bubblegum Bass, Electro House, Dance-Pop, Electroclash

Ah yes, Arguably the biggest album of the summer, and for pretty damn good reason too. After seeing brief commercial success in the early to mid 2010s with songs like “I Love It”, “Boom Clap”, and “Fancy”, Charli XCX became an underground critical darling, entrenching herself firmly into a hyperpop sound that won her tons of critical acclaim. Full disclosure, I’ve never actually listened to a complete album of hers before this, I’ve only heard scattered singles from her hyperpop albums that I mostly liked, but didn’t really incentivize me to come back to them, and then in 2024, brat saw Charli see the biggest success she’s seen in a decade. It’s an album that feels like it’s calling back to the early 2010s club boom in a lot of places. “Hello goodbye” in particular feels like it could’ve been an album track on Katy Perry's Teenage Dream, with the more melodic synths and Charli’s vocals sounding pretty reminiscent of Katy Perry. I also can’t help but appreciate how on “Everything Is Romantic”, Charli sampled the worst song of the year and somehow made it work. I also love “365”’s melodic opening until it goes into full abrasive club noise about 1.5 minutes in, which also goes really hard. The lowest point with this album for me though was the choice to have Bon Iver on the remix of “I Think About It All The Time”, his falsetto is really grating and I don’t think the remix works even remotely well. But yeah, you’ve probably heard this album already so there’s no point in me recommending it, but if you somehow still haven’t, highly recommended. It was the biggest album of the summer for a reason.

Best track: Hello Goodbye

HM (tie): 365 (original), Sympathy is a knife featuring Ariana Grande

DM: I Might Say Something Stupid featuring The 1975 & Jon Hopkins

Worst track: I Think About It All The Time featuring Bon Iver

10. Childish Gambino - Bando Stone & The New World - 7/10

Genres: Film Soundtrack, Experimental Hip Hop, Art Pop, Neo-Soul, Alternative R&B, Industrial Hip Hop, Neo-Psychedelia, Pop Rock

So follow me on this; from what I can tell, this is a concept soundtrack album written for the movie of the same name, with the album’s concept being Donald Glover trying to find a purpose for his work, and Glover likens his questioning to the role he’s playing in the movie; a singer trying to survive in the world amidst global calamity. So you got all that? Now for my thoughts on this album...look; for concept albums to work for me, as someone who primarily goes into albums for the individual songs, the songs need to stand on their own and the concept needs to be pretty clear. And with this album, the former certainly is true, but I’m not sure I think the latter is completely true. I will say that I particularly loved the more rock-leaning cuts on this album, like the energetic pop punk “Running Around” with Foushee or the art rock and borderline symphonic rock-leaning “Lithonia”. The biggest weak point on this album for me, though, is “Talk My Shit” with the embarrassing lyric “I'ma make a billi' like I'm Eilish” and the song isn’t fun enough to excuse those embarrassing lyrics. On some cuts here, the Kanye West influence feels very apparent, like on “Cruisin’” with Yeat (and on that song Glover might be the weakest part of it, Yeat was surprisingly solid there) and “We Are God”, and honestly I can’t complain, both those tracks clear everything I heard from Kanye this year (trust me, we’ll get to him later). So, this is a good album, but I just feel like it could’ve been great.

Best track: Running Around

HM: Lithonia

DM: No Excuses

Worst track: Talk My Shit

11. Dua Lipa - Radical Optimism - 8/10

Genres: Dance-Pop, Europop, Disco, House

I feel like this album is getting a bit overhated by some people. I wouldn’t call it better than Future Nostalgia, but I feel like this album has the best songs between those two. Radical Optimism, outside of having the title of an album that Spanish Love Songs would create, shows Dua evolving her sound from nu disco into more synthpop. I have to give a huge shoutout to “Falling Forever”, which is now my favorite Dua Lipa song courtesy of the driving momentum of that explosive percussion and possibly Dua’s most impressive ever vocal delivery. So...I get why some people might be underwhelmed by this, but I do think this is pretty great for what it is.

Best track: Falling Forever

HM (tie): Training Season, End Of An Era

“D”M: Illusion

“Worst” track: French Exit

12. Eminem - The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce) - 4/10

Genres: Hardcore Hip Hop, Comedy Rap, Trap, Horrorcore, Conscious Hip Hop, Pop Rap

I said with Bando Stone & The New World that for concept albums to work for me, the songs need to stand on their own and the concept needs to be clearly communicated in the album. The Death Of Slim Shady doesn’t do either of these successfully. For the most part, the songs themselves are crap regardless of whether they fit within the context of the album or not. I said in my worst list that despite a somewhat catchy hook, “Houdini”’s production sounds weirdly canned with Eminem’s flow feeling super jerky, and yeah, Eminem’s delivery is where this album just falls apart. The album’s concept is Eminem trying to kill off his Slim Shady persona, but Em doesn’t do a great job at distinguishing himself from that persona so this album just comes across as Eminem ranting about trans people for an hour, and that’s what makes a song like “Habits” utterly insufferable (it’s probably his worst song since “Fack”). But this album has two legitimately great songs; “Temporary” is a heartfelt letter from Eminem to his daughter for when he leaves this world where Skylar Grey delivers a really pretty hook. And “Tobey” is an actual banger where BabyTron has a really solid and sticky hook and Big Sean has some real intensity in his delivery that really lands, they really wash Eminem on that song. Look, I do think this album is pretty bad, but I at least see the vision Eminem had when making this album so I can’t call this terrible. But I can’t recommend this in good faith. Guys, there is better rap than Eminem in 2024. I think it’s time to move on. And as for you Eminem, I think your time in the spotlight has ended, I’d suggest you retire while you still have your 2000s hits to coast a legacy off of.

Best track: Tobey

HM: Temporary

DM (tie): Road Rage, Antichrist, Brand New Dance, Evil, Lucifer

Worst track: Habits

13. Future - MIXTAPE PLUTO - 6/10

Genres: Trap, Southern Hip Hop, Gangsta Rap

Future released 3 albums this year - yes, the other two albums will come later in this article - and MIXTAPE PLUTO is pretty decent for what it is. There are several songs I find legitimately great; I think Future’s flow sounds really sharp and engaged on “TEFLON DON”, the lonely angst of “OCEAN” feels really tangible and the cinematic production of “SURFING A TSUNAMI” sounds really nice. But if you want a song that I really feel I should like way more than I do, “LOST MY DOG”, while a good song serving as a pretty heartfelt tribute to a lost friend of Future’s, kinda feels like the emotion is undercut by the ghostly sample. Rather than intensifying the lonely atmosphere, it conversely feels like it undercuts any atmosphere. It’s like he was trying to crib notes from Rod Wave and missed the mark. And then the cuts that just don’t work even remotely well; “PLUTOSKI” has this really grating mumbling gimmick that wears out its welcome in record time and is the sort of song that serves to excuse racist whites dismissing trap music altogether by calling it “mumble rap”. And then there’s “MJ”, where Future sounds like he recorded his take the morning after he had a bad hangover. So this album is decent, I’m sure this will work for the right audience, it’s just not fully there for me, that’s all.

Best track: SURFING A TSUNAMI

HM: OCEAN

DM: MJ

Worst track: PLUTOSKI

14. Gunna - One Of Wun - 6/10

Genres: Trap, Southern Hip Hop, Pop Rap, Cloud Rap

I was pleasantly surprised by A Gift & A Curse last year, so I actually came into this album with some expectations, and...this feels like a tiny bit of a backslide. It’s still decent, but it’s just not very special. That’s not to say there aren’t great songs here, because there are quite a few; I think Offset steals the show on “prada dem”, “collage” has pretty strong vibey production, and “conscience” is a pretty damn great banger. But even my favorite song on this album, “$$$” with Normani, feels a bit undercooked and is really carried into great territory because of Normani finally coming out of the basement she’s been trapped in for 5 years to deliver some really pretty and ethereal vocals. If you want to get to where this album doesn’t work for me, I guess we could start with “treesh”, which aside from sounding like a terrible word, Gunna has no personality to effectively carry the song, especially with how grating the production sounds. And that lack of personality underscores why this album just doesn’t click as much as I want it to. When Gunna doesn’t have any guest stars with him on the track, he’s expected to carry it and make it interesting and on this album, that very rarely happens and as a result you’re left with a pretty monotonous album. Even on “life’s changing”, which is supposed to be a celebratory track at how Gunna’s life is changing for the better, Gunna just lists off the lyrics as if he’s reading them while recording his take. So this album is fine, but even then, I’m probably being charitable.

Best track: $$$

HM: conscience

DM: life’s changing

Worst track: treesh

15. Halsey - The Great Impersonator - 9/10

Genres: Singer-Songwriter, Pop, Alternative Rock, Alt-Pop, Pop Rock, Contemporary Folk

This album got a ton of critical backlash and then a ton of backlash to that backlash ensued saying that the reviewers didn’t grasp the concept of The Great Impersonator, and I really didn’t wanna fuck this up, so I did as much research into this album’s concept and backstory as I possibly could. And...this album, from what I can understand, sees Halsey imitate or “impersonate” different sounds from various legends and icons in music ranging from Kate Bush to Bruce Springsteen to symbolize how she’s questioning how she can be true to herself if she feels disconnected from her body. And the album’s title is in reference to Halsey having lupus, which is medically nicknamed as “the great imitator”. And look, knowing all this context and learning everything Halsey has been dealing with - her dog dying, battling lupus and cancer, her record label dropping her, and on top of all that going through a divorce and being left as a single mother to raise her child, and possibly countless more that I’m forgetting - this was an album Halsey wrote about her confrontation of her own mortality and she made this because she thought it would be the last album she'd ever record. And with all of that, this album really hits with the weight of a freight train. The songs stand well on their own but hit even harder in the context of the album. And with all of that, I really wanted to give this album a 10/10. There are a few tracks that are holding me back from doing that, though. The title track has this pretty jarring and frankly irritating “ah-ah” inflection that really turns me off, “Letter To God (1974)” is just really underwhelming musically with no real satisfying climax, and “Darwinism” feels like all build-up but no resolve; there are a few moments in the song that feel like it’s about to cut loose like “Happier Than Ever” by Billie Eilish but that just...never happens. But okay, those are why this album isn’t perfect, but what makes this album incredible? Well, the songwriting is just nearly immaculate. And I think the interpolation of Britney Spears’ “Lucky” (which has grown to be my favorite Britney song) on “Lucky” is quite inspired. Halsey clearly found resonance in Britney’s song and does it justice with her rendition. It really hits in the context of the album. That said, my favorite song on this album, “Ego”, really hits in and out of the context of the album; hearing “I think that I should try and kill my ego, because if I don’t, my ego might kill me” and “I’m really not as happy as I seem” knowing everything Halsey has went through just hits hard and when you pair it with that fun as hell power pop production, it becomes easily returnable and a strong contender for my favorite Halsey song. So overall, fuck you Anthony Fantano (it’s not main character syndrome to have cancer you doofus), this album is incredible and easily my favorite Halsey album. And to Halsey, in the 0.001% chance she sees this review somehow, everything you went through sounds terrifying and if this album is helping you heal, then I hope for the best for you.

Best track: Ego

HM (tie): The End, I Believe In Magic

“D”M: Darwinism

“Worst” track: The Great Impersonator

16. Hozier - Unheard - 5/10

Genres: Pop Rock, Singer-Songwriter, Stomp and Holler, Pop Soul

Honestly, maybe I’m the wrong person to review this. The inexplicable success of David Kushner in 2023 made me realize that I don’t like Hozier’s music very much. I don’t think “Take Me To Church” has aged very well at all because of the miserably dark production and Hozier’s incredibly overwrought vocals. That said, “Too Sweet” wound up as one of the biggest hits of 2024 and I still like that one despite all the overplay. So I really didn’t know what to expect with Unheard. And again...I feel like I’m the wrong person to review this. I do like the bluesier production on “Too Sweet”, and “Fare Well” picks up some surprising groove with the light stomp clap percussion (or maybe it’s more like stomp “snap”?). But “Empire Now” is just a straight up disaster with Hozier’s really grating falsetto and the ugly-sounding effect that sounds like the song is swallowing Hozier whole and it feels awfully like something David Kushner might make. So no, I don’t like this EP very much, but given the fact I just don’t think Hozier is for me, take my opinion with a grain of salt.

Best track (tie): Too Sweet, Fare Well

HM: N/A

DM: N/A

Worst track: Empire Now

17. Ice Spice - Y2K! - 4/10

Genres: New York Drill, East Coast Hip Hop, Jersey Club Rap, Hardcore Hip Hop, Chicago Drill

A part of me feels bad for Ice Spice because of this album. Y2K! screams “flop era” and Ice Spice has only been a big mainstream star for a year. This album feels so unfinished and short, seriously, this album is shorter than the deluxe edition of her EP! There are two songs here I do like, but even then, they aren’t great. I like Ice Spice’s flow on “Phat Butt”, but her delivery on that song is so monotone and it doesn’t make her seem like a cool, laid back person, it just highlights how disinterested she seems to be. And “Think U The Shit (Fart)” may have a somewhat clever punchline as a titular lyric, but the production sounds like an outtake from an old bad video game. “Did It First” with Central Cee might have some legitimately really good drill production, but Central Cee remains a talentless hack and the song relies on you caring about useless celeb drama between the two. And then there’s “Gimmie A Light”, where Ice Spice spends the entire song yelling and it doesn’t convey any intensity. I'm more reminded of the musical equivalent to a baby animal flailing in the water to stop itself from drowning. And “Popa” has one of the most pathetic attempts at imitating Playboi Carti’s formula I’ve heard in some time. And yet that’s not the only song here where Ice Spice tries to do that formula!! “Bitch I’m Packin’” with Gunna is also bad and somehow elevated out of being terrible thanks to Gunna!! My main issue with Y2K! is that it’s an album where Ice Spice is trying to prove she isn’t a one trick pony, so she tries other tricks and yet fails at all of them. Ice Spice’s core appeal is that she’s a laid back goofball who doesn’t need to rely on intensity to be good, and yet here, she’s seen at multiple points trying to convey intensity and failing!! So in the end, maybe this album would’ve been better off suffering the fear people had with Y2K. I can’t recommend this.

Best track: Think U The Shit (Fart)

HM: Phat Butt

DM: Did It First

Worst track: Popa

18. Imagine Dragons - Loom - 5/10

Genres: Alt-Pop, Pop Rock, Electropop, Alternative Dance, Dance-Pop, Indie Pop

I’m not very proud to admit that when I was 13, I was a huge Imagine Dragons stan and I was still a pretty strong defender of their work for a few years after that. They’ve shrunk on me really badly as of late, though, to the point where I don’t know if even their older material holds up. I still adore “It’s Time”, but I had the realization that “Demons” has some awful percussion work that’s really aged badly. I do still like some of their songs, don’t get that twisted, but not nearly as much as I used to. All of this meant that I came into Loom with pretty low expectations, and yeah...while I don’t hate this, I don’t think it’s very good. I might really like “Don’t Forget Me”, but it might be because it feels like a retread of “Demons” with more competent percussion. “Fire In These Hills” is another one I really like but it feels like an unfinished Kygo track. This album doesn’t manage to get away from the side of Imagine Dragons that I’ve grown to really not like either; when Dan Reynolds just starts screaming in an obnoxious register in an attempt to appeal to teenage boys with his “intensity”. And that aspect is most apparent in “Wake Up” and “Eyes Closed”. The fact that J Balvin on the remix actually improves “Eyes Closed” should say it all (only by a bit, the foundation of the song is bad imo already so it’d be like trying to clean a clogged toilet with a toothpick to try making that mess of a song good)!! This album may not have any songs as atrocious as “Machine” or “Cutthroat” (both of which I consider to be the worst songs they’ve ever made), but it’s still mid as fuck. Yeah, I think I’m confident in saying that I’ve moved on from my ID stan days, I think it's time for the rest of us to move on from these guys as well. I can’t recommend this at all.

Best track: Don’t Forget Me

HM: Fire In These Hills

DM: Eyes Closed (original)

Worst track: Wake Up

19. Jamie Miller - Long Way Home - 5/10

Genres: Pop, Singer-Songwriter, Adult Contemporary, Stomp & Holler

I wouldn’t know who Jamie Miller is if it weren’t for a user in Pulse’s Discord server who happens to be a big fan of his. He introduced me to one of the songs on the album, “Guidebook To Healing”, which I instantly loved and only keeps growing on me. That was enough for me to have expectations for this album...which were slightly dampened when I found out that even said Pulse user hates this album. And...yeah, that reaction wasn’t all that unwarranted, because after “Guidebook To Healing”, this album becomes adult contemporary goop mixed with stomp clap tracks. “Better By Myself” just straight up sounds like it was stolen from American Authors and “Maybe Next Time” is a dreadfully boring ballad that sounds like a ripoff of “In The Stars” by Benson Boone. “Nothing To Miss” might have decent production, but the lyrics feel really pissy, petty, and petulant. There are two legitimately great songs on this album, though. “Best Seat In The House” might be a diet “In The Stars”, but it’s a pretty well-written tribute to a lost loved one and I still love “Guidebook To Healing”, which feels like if Shawn Mendes sung BANNERS’s “Someone To You” with an insane adrenaline rush of a bridge. So yeah, if you’re gonna check this album out, I’d just listen to “Guidebook To Healing” and then dip.

Best track: Guidebook To Healing

HM: Best Seat In The House

DM: Better By Myself

Worst track (tie): Nothing To Miss, Maybe Next Time

20. Jax - Dear Joe, - 3/10

Genres: Pop, Novelty, Alt-Pop, Singer-Songwriter

I mean...do I have to? Do you guys really want me to review an album that if I recall correctly was supposed to be called “Joe Mama”? Fine, I'll try to do this. I have a couple of ways to describe this album in a nutshell: it’s an album made by a babysitter and it sounds like it. Jax is Gen Alpha’s Meghan Trainor with an AJR sound palette. I don’t like Jax’s music at all, from the first song I heard from her, “90s Kids”. I still think “Victoria's Secret”, despite its good intentions, is bad because of that horrendously overblown pop punk production and Jax’s shrill vocals. Now, what do I mean when I say that Jax is Gen Alpha’s Meghan Trainor? Both are/were fairly young female singers at their peak trying desperately to pander to the younger generation. Meghan Trainor did it by playing into the retro craze at the time while making “self-empowerment” anthems with revealingly backwards looking societal roles, Jax just does this by using Gen Alpha memes and jokes. Fuck, one of the songs on this album is literally called “Epstein didn’t kill himself” for crying out loud!! The album is so cutesy in presentation to an excruciating degree. Hell, Jax got fucking HARDY on this album for “zombieland” and HARDY sounds genuinely embarrassed to be here. His shtick is guns, why is he singing about a kid named Walker shoving him into a locker in 5th grade? And then there’s the outright atrocious “neurospicy (interlude)”, which is possibly the most misguided artistic attempt to represent autistic people since Sia’s Music movie. But even without how misguided that song is, the song starts off as overly cutesy before we get into a whiplash-inducing transition to more abrasive rock which sounds like shit. And look, that song isn’t worse than Sia’s horrendous movie (because at least the song isn’t telling you to nearly kill autistic kids to calm them down; the bar is on the floor y’all) The cutesy song that comes closest to working is “the babysitter song”, which is almost endearing as Jax and the girl she babysits talk about everything they do that they aren’t supposed to do, like watching rated R movies or staying up past bedtime. But Jax’s voice sounds so nasal on that song that it kills any endearing vibes I get from it. Yeah, this album is terrible, but honestly, that’s as much of a surprise as the sky being blue is.

“Best” track: the babysitter song (interlude) (the fact that an interlude is my “favorite” here should say it all tbh)

“H”M: stupid cupid

DM: Epstein didn’t kill himself (interlude)

Worst track: neurospicy (interlude)

21. J. Cole - Might Delete Later - 5/10

Genres: Trap, Southern Hip Hop, Jazz Rap, Hardcore Hip Hop

I mean, the common joke for this mixtape is that it lived up to its title in spades. I came into this album with really low expectations because, quite honestly, J. Cole has always felt like a wannabe Kendrick Lamar to me, and...while this album isn’t good, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I was expecting. And honestly I feel it’s a shame that the track that J. Cole deleted from streaming is what’s legitimately my favorite song on this album. Yes, I’m saying it; I think “7 Minute Drill” is a great song, not close to the best diss track that dropped this year, but I like the oily synth complimenting J. Cole’s menacing delivery. At the same time, though, I can recognize that the song is a bit embarrassing with how he immediately chickened out of the beef. The other song here that I like is “Fever”, which has a pretty solid and lowkey afrobeat groove. But then there’s the moment I’ll probably have to address, considering how aggressively I’m gonna rip into another album later on in this article; the transphobic bars on “Pi”, it should’ve made me knock every song on this album half a star down like another album from this year, but if I can defend myself here, the song is trash, but hearing J. Cole dropping those lines didn’t so much offend me rather than just leave me baffled. With the album later on in this article, I heard the line knowing the controversies surrounding the artist in question so to me it felt like they were doubling down on their actions without any remorse. So no, I don’t think this album is bad, but for me it’s more because it's too boring to be bad. J. Cole, if you delete this mixtape altogether, I don’t think much will be lost, just saying.

Best track: 7 Minute Drill

HM: Fever

DM: Ready ‘24

Worst track: Pi

22. Justin Timberlake - Everything I Thought It Was - 4/10

Genres: Contemporary R&B, Pop, Trap Soul, Dance-Pop, Nu-Disco, Adult Contemporary

I mean, if you’ve read my lists for the 2000s, you already know how I feel about JT generally. But you know what? I’ve warmed up to him a bit more as of late, so I gave this album a fair listen and...okay, this album made me go back to FutureSex/LoveSounds and Man Of The Woods to see if there was talent I hadn’t previously seen. And I may find both of those albums mid, but I can at least appreciate the fact that they had character. Man Of The Woods is arguably one of the most infamous bombs of the 2010s, where the Trainwreckords story to its creation overshadows the album itself, but at least the attempt at a country sound stood out! “Supplies” might be atrocious and would easily be the worst song on this album if it were here, but at least it’s not boring!! I might still think “SexyBack” is an overrated, unlistenable piece of shit song, but at least JT brought some swagger to the track. And that’s the biggest problem with Everything I Thought It Was. It’s just so gutless, bland, and boring. There may be a few songs I like, but none of them come close to great. “Liar” is good, but even then it feels like if you took the afrobeats sound and watered it down aggressively. “Imagine” is heavily reliant on its beat, JT sounds so anonymous here, as well as across the rest of this album. And once I had that realization, I really turned on “Selfish”. And while I will freely admit to really liking “My Favorite Drug” the first time I heard the album, the stiff funk beat wore on me with every listen. “Paradise” is a pretty good track to serve as a final goodbye from *NSYNC and JT, but honestly, it feels like a track that’d probably appeal more to those who were diehard *NSYNC fans in the 90s because otherwise, it’s a bit too uninteresting to be truly great. So...JT...you’ve been in the mainstream pop scene for nearly 20 years now...I think your time is over, because this album is boring and bad. Can’t recommend this.

Best track: Paradise

HM: Imagination

DM: Play

Worst track: Sanctified

23. Kacey Musgraves - Deeper Well - 10/10 (for both standard and deluxe editions)

Genres: Folk Pop, Singer-Songwriter, Soft Rock, Indie Folk, Americana, Country Pop

If you’ve read my blog at any point in 2024, you already know I’m a big Kacey Musgraves stan. I’ve adored (or whatever is a stronger verb than adore lol) Golden Hour from the instant I heard it and to this day I still consider it my favorite album of all time. But I’m not that blind of a stan, I can recognize when a Kacey song and album aren’t good. I still think star-crossed is underwhelming as fuck and only decent at best even separated from the disappointment of it following up the transcendent Golden Hour. So I came into Deeper Well with some expectations, but not as high as you might think. And...damn, this is the closest that Kacey has come to recapturing the magic of Golden Hour. I already touched upon in my 2024 best list when I talked about “The Architect” that I wasn’t in the best mental space when I first heard the album the night it dropped and how that song felt like it was directly addressing my anxieties, concerns, and fears and made my world light up with hope, but that’s not the only reason I adore this album or the only reason I think this is the closest she’s gotten to recapturing the magic of Golden Hour. Let me start with the instrumentation. The guitars and percussion work give this an aesthetic that feels grounded in nature - which gives a serene and calming vibe - and Kacey's angelic and soothing vocals allow for your worries to melt away like butter in the hot sun. And the songwriting...this album’s songwriting is mostly either about Kacey’s current situation and her being in a good headspace with her delivery urging you to reach that good headspace too or posing more philosophical questions. Like “The Architect” which questions how much of our lives are written in the stars and if there’s any hope for the stars and planets to line up in our favor one day. Or even “Heaven Is” which questions the existence of heaven and where we ultimately go when we die (before swinging around to appreciating the present moment and being grateful for what we have in our lives). But speaking of which, “Dinner With Friends” is a song that starts with Kacey listing everything she loves and is grateful for before saying that these are all things she’ll miss when she leaves this world. The one “weakness” is “Giver / Taker”, which left me confused as to what the subject matter is for a while. And while I eventually came to realize that the contradictory chorus is meant to highlight how relationships aren’t always black and white where we just give the other what they wanted and just take what we needed from the other, it’s still something that took me a while to grasp. There is almost a pitfall on the title track, where if you read it a bit too closely, it might seem like Kacey is sympathizing with flat Earthers, but I interpret it as her distancing herself from toxic people, leaving them to discover their own truths. There are several albums in this article that I returned to more than once, and this was one of them, but it’s different, the other albums I revisited in this article were purely from a critical lens. Deeper Well was an album I constantly returned to this year as a source of comfort. I can’t say it’s better than Golden Hour, which has personal significance for me as a whole album, but it’s certainly the closest she’ll probably get to topping it for me. As such, it’s as close to a 10/10 as one could get. If it’s not clear by now, Kacey is my artist of the year and Deeper Well is my album of the year.

BEST TRACK: The Architect

HM: the rest

DM: N/A

“Worst” track: Giver / Taker

24. Kali Uchis - ORQUIDEAS - 8/10

Genres: Contemporary R&B, Latin Pop, Reggaetón, Dance-Pop, Afropiano

I’ve always generally tended to like Kali Uchis, and if you read my 2021 best list redux, you know that I think “Telepatia” has aged really well. And I think her contributions to Tyler, The Creator’s “See You Again” elevate the song to being incredible. She’s already set the bar pretty high, so what did we get? Well, it’s a great album, about as great as I expected. I really like Kali’s dreamy vocals melting in the tracks’ equally dreamy productions. I’m still a bit amazed by how much I love “Munekita”, but the reggaeton percussion actually has some color to it and Kali has a surprising amount of flair to ride the beat really well. I’m also pleasantly surprised by how much chemistry Kali Uchis and Peso Pluma have on “Igual Que Un Angel” and how Peso Pluma feels like a natural fit for the track. So overall, yeah, this is a great album, highly recommended!!

Best track: Munekita

HM: Igual Que Un Angel

DM: Pensamientos Intrusivos

Worst track: Young Rich & Love

25. Katy Perry - 143 - 5/10

Genres: Dance-Pop, Pop Rap, House, Trap, Contemporary R&B

You know, it feels pretty telling that when me and my IRL friend were talking about Katy Perry’s rollout for this album this summer, she asked “Is it possible for an artist to have two Trainwreckords episodes?” (this was how I found out that friend also watched Todd In The Shadows lol). Because ever since Witness, which, to quote Todd In The Shadows, “was the original flop era”, Katy Perry has become the poster child for faded popstars attempting to revive their careers. And this album actually made me go back to both Witness and Teenage Dream just to have a baseline to compare 143 to. I’ve heard for a few years now that Katy Perry has never been an album artist and that her career lived and died on strong singles, and yeah, the album tracks really prevent Teenage Dream from being truly great. And let me just say this: this album is marginally better than Witness - it doesn’t hit the same lows as that album did while arguably hitting higher highs - but 143 still isn’t good. But it’s not like I had any expectations going into this. Katy Perry is nearly 20 years into her career, this album was likely always gonna look pretty flailing as Katy tries and mostly fails to revive the era of pop music that she was big in. Most of the songs are stiff vaguely aspirational “anthems” that don’t feel nearly as huge as they should be because Katy Perry decided to work with Dr. Luke on this album and his budget has plummeted off a cliff. “I’M HIS, HE’S MINE” has no discernable melody and Katy’s vocals sound really irritating on the track. Plus, we get a feature from Doechii that matches with nothing here. Speaking of bad use of guest features, 21 Savage doesn’t remotely match anything on “GIMME GIMME” and Katy sounds weirdly stilted against the blocky grooveless mess of a production. “GORGEOUS” with Kim Petras might have the single worst case of anti-synergy on this album where Katy Perry is trying to sing like Kim Petras and fails catastrophically and creates the single worst hook on this album. That's not to say that there are no instances where she accomplishes her throwback to the club boom. The one song I find truly great here, “WONDER” is a vaguely aspirational track with a huge anthemic hook that actually shows why Katy Perry was a huge star in the club boom. There are a couple other good tracks here, too. “LIFETIMES” is a diva house throwback that might feel a bit more limp than it should be, but for what it is, I think it’s a cute little bop. “ALL THE LOVE” has a pretty damn solid melody, but it feels like it’s missing a drop to push it into great territory. So overall, look, a part of me feels like all the backlash to 143 is just because Katy Perry is an easy target. Because this isn’t particularly special enough to get angry at, it’s just mediocre, no more, no less.

Best track: WONDER

HM (tie): LIFETIMES, ALL THE LOVE

DM: GIMME GIMME

Worst track: GORGEOUS

26. KAYTRANADA - TIMELESS - 8/10

Genres: Alternative R&B, Deep House, Neo-Soul, Funky House, Nu-Disco

I came into this album almost completely blindly. I knew of KAYTRANADA, but had only actually heard one song from him prior to this. And damn, this was a pretty great first impression (it was practically a first impression for me because it’s been years since I heard the song I heard from him prior to this and I literally remember nothing about it), it’s a pretty damn solid blend of R&B and funky house. I love the darker synths giving this album a lot of club energy and the R&B influences give this some real sexual energy. Not to mention, KAYTRANADA brings out an all-star cast of guest features and they’re all on their A-game (except for Don Toliver, something about his delivery just doesn’t fit “Feel A Way”’s production at all). I love Tinashe’s expressive vocals on “More Than A Little Bit” and Anderson .Paak is as loose and playful as ever on “Do 2 Me”. Childish Gambino proves that he’s able to carry the tenser beat of “Witchy” and KAYTRANADA himself proved that he can hold his own on a track without any guest stars on “Stepped On”. But honestly, I feel the biggest star of the show for me on this album is PinkPantharess on “Snap My Finger”, I love her cooing subtle vocals complementing the sexual tension of the production. But yeah, great album, I highly recommend it. If you’re into R&B or funky house, there’s definitely at least something for you to enjoy here.

Best track: Snap My Finger

HM (tie): Stepped On, More Than A Little Bit, Do 2 Me, Witchy, Weird, Drip Sweat

DM (tie): Pressure, Please Babe

Worst track: Feel A Way

27. Kehlani - CRASH - 7/10

Genres: Contemporary R&B, Pop, Alternative R&B, Dance-Pop, Pop Soul

The first opinion I saw of Kehlani was many years ago at this point on Pulse Music Board in the pop thread for “Done For Me” with Charlie Puth and that was that “Kehlani is chart poison”, which in hindsight is pretty unfair, I think Kehlani is certainly talented enough to deserve some real chart penetration. But this was the first time I listened to an album of theirs and...it’s good for what it is, it’s pretty varied, dabbling in afrobeats, R&B, and even dance pop. But the main problem I have is that the album feels weirdly like a mess, like it’s trying to cram all of these genres into one album with different songs. My two favorite songs on this album are “Better Not” and “Tears”, but I don’t think they flow into each other very well. Again, this is very far from bad; I love the borderline 90s europop throwback synths on “Tears” and “Better Not” is a really pretty ballad that really sells the hurt that Kehlani is eliciting after finding their partner in another person’s car. And I really like the dance pop energy on “After Hours”. That said, the worst song here is “What I Want” where I don’t know why, but Kehlani sounds like Coi Leray on that song with a really butchered sample of Christina Aguilera’s “What A Girl Wants” and “Sucia” is fine but it really plods on for too long and never really gets going. So...this album isn’t great, but there are quite a few gems here worth checking out.

Best track: Tears

HM: Better Not

DM: Sucia

Worst track: What I Want

28. Kendrick Lamar - GNX - 8/10

Genres: West Coast Hip Hop, Conscious Hip Hop, Ratchet Music, Nervous Music, Hardcore Hip Hop, Hyphy, Trap

Well, this dropped out of nowhere (not lying, I was getting a headstart on this article in November and then the day this dropped I literally was writing one of the earlier reviews and when I saw Kendrick had a surprise drop I immediately stopped what I was doing to listen). It’s clear to me in GNX that Kendrick saw the success of “Not Like Us” and realized he could easily play the mainstream chart game and make West Coast bangers. Todd In The Shadows already pointed this out but in the “Not Like Us” music video, Kendrick looked so happy being among the people and it looked like he saw being the fun rapper as a breath of fresh air compared to the more serious conscious rapper he was on his prior albums. And honestly, if Kendrick wants to go in this direction going forward, I think he might be game for it, because all across this album, Kendrick just goes all in on these Mustard beats and he has legit talent. I really love how he hops across so many different voices and flows from track to track. His intimidating deep voice on “hey now”, him channeling Lil Jon’s energy in his ridiculous screaming on “tv off” that works way better than it has any right to, and the tight as hell flow and beat paired with the sample on “squabble up” (the song Kendrick teased at the beginning of the “Not Like Us” music video). Kendrick’s sense of humor makes every line pop off the page. I was pretty surprised when he collaborated with SZA twice on this album for R&B slow jams and sounded better than I expected. I don’t quite think the same thing applies to “dodger blue”, which I may like, but reminds me too much of when Ja Rule collaborated with Ashanti in the 2000s. The title track is also good, but the beat sounds weirdly broken, the piano keys feel offbeat and the percussion doesn’t stick to a consistent rhythm. So overall, this album may not have any songs that are on the level of “Meet The Grahams” or even “Not Like Us”, but it’s a great album from one of, if not the, greatest rappers of our generation. Definitely recommended!!

Best track: tv off

HM (tie): squabble up, hey now

“D”M: dodger blue

“Worst” track: gnx

29. Kenya Grace - The After Taste - 9/10

Genres: Alt-Pop, Liquid Drum and Bass, Atmospheric Drum and Bass, Future Garage, Dance-Pop, Breakbeat

I was really intrigued to check out Kenya Grace’s music; “Strangers” remains one of my favorite songs of last year, for as much as it is blatantly biting PinkPantharess’s sound. And...The After Taste is an album that’s certainly locked into a specific style, with its drum and bass grooves and chilly synths and it executes that formula really well. And this is a formula that doesn’t really get tiring or samey for me. I love the sticky hooks on “Strangers”, “Stay”, and “Only In My Mind”, the more ethereal production on “It’s not fair”, and the subtle swell on “Someone Else”. So, I love this album quite a lot, but if you’re looking for more variety in the after taste, I’d skip this.

Best track: Strangers

HM (tie): Stay, It’s Not Fair, Someone Else, Only In My Mind

“D”M (tie): Hey, Hi, How are you?, My Baby Loves To Dance, The After Taste (Intro)

Worst track: The After Taste (Outro)

30. Kim Petras - Slut Pop Miami  - 4/10

Genres: Dance-Pop, Electropop, House, Brazilian Bass, Electro House, Hip House

Again...do I really have to? Did anyone ask for a sequel EP to one of the worst EPs I heard this decade? And at that too, an EP where it doesn’t even seem like Kim Petras fans like? It’s the sort of EP where the only person I think who’d like this is, I don’t know, a banned Pulse Music Board member who happens to be annoying and named after a music genre that was big in the 70s? (I’m looking right at you, Progressive Rock /j). Now this EP isn’t nearly as bad as the original Slut Pop, courtesy of there being actual melodies this time, but it’s just way too boring and stiff to make sex with Kim Petras sound fun. But that’s no surprise, Dr. Luke produced this and it’s 2024, of course the beats are gonna sound boring and stiff. On an objective level, this album is the worst thing I've heard all year musically. But honestly, I can’t even get too angry at this, it’s too stiff and boring to do so. Still, this is bad.

“Best” track: Head Head Honcho

“H”M (tie): Fuckin’ This Fuckin’ That, Banana Boat, Get Fucked, Rim Job, Butt Slutt, Whale Cock, Can We Fuck? (none of these are good this album literally just gave me nothing)

DM: who even cares

Worst track (tie): everything I didn’t mention I can’t pick

31. Kygo - KYGO - 6/10

Genres: Dance-Pop, Tropical House, Festival Progressive House, Melodic House

Look, people who know me well enough know that I like Kygo more than I should. I really liked his album Golden Hour (though nothing will ever come close to touching the Kacey Musgraves album of the same name for me), and hell, I really liked his Ava Max collab “Whatever”, even if it relied on a pretty lazy interpolation of Shakira’s “Wherever, Whenever”, so this meant that I came into this album with expectations. And...I’m sorry, I’m really underwhelmed. Kygo did try to evolve his sound slightly on this album by fusing his tropical house drop with festival progressive house influences and when the songs that do this work, they really work. Take “For Life”, it’s a great example of Kygo fusing his signature drop with festival progressive house and it makes for an incredibly melodic sounding drop. And tacking on Zak Abel’s really potent vocals, it’s handedly my favorite song on this album. But when that fusion doesn’t work...oh lord, some of the songs here feel like unfinished rush jobs, like Kygo ran out of time to create finished songs before the album dropped and just took a preset vocal sample in his production software and looped it while making a few miniscule changes for the drop. “Found Another Love” is easily the biggest culprit of this; it’s basically a 4-minute interlude of the same sample of “I'll find another love like yours” just chopped up and lazily reinserted to pretend that there is a semblance of variety. Maybe this’d work if the song was like a minute long and served more as an interlude, but at 4:22, it’s literally longer than some of the actual songs here!! “You Can Feel” is another culprit of this, but at least there the melodic production makes me slightly more forgiving to it. There’s a couple of other tracks here that also don’t work. “Fade Away” doesn’t sound like Kygo did any actual production work on it and it’s just Sandro Cavazza doing a 5-minute piano ballad and it gets tedious really quickly, especially when he sounds like a wannabe Benson Boone. On the other hand, “Hold On” has got solid production but Emmit Fenn sounds like...actually, he doesn’t sound like anything. He’s singing so quietly that I can’t hear him. There is enough here that I do like, though. I already mentioned Zak Abel on “For Life” and Ava Max on “Whatever”, but I think Sasha Alex Sloan sounds great on “Let Go”, even if that song doesn’t quite match the quality of their last collab, “I’ll Wait”. And HAYLA might really be channeling Becky Hill’s energy on “Without You”, but I think she sounds amazing on that song. Maybe if I heard this album played in the context of a festival, I’d appreciate it more, but I don’t know. So...final thoughts...it’s passable, but I can’t go beyond that sadly. And it’s a shame, I really wanted to like this.

Best track: For Life

HM: Without You

DM: Fade Away

Worst track: Found Another Love

32. Lizzy McAlpine - Older - 7/10

Genres: Indie Folk, Singer-Songwriter, Chamber Pop

My introduction to Lizzy McAlpine was at the beginning of this year when I sat down to listen to 2022’s five seconds flat, which I found incredible. And to this day, “orange show speedway” is still in my regular rotation, so this set expectations pretty high and…I’m more underwhelmed than I want to be. Don’t get me wrong, this album is very good, but it’s still a massive step down from five seconds flat. And most of that reason is with the production. This album is very much marinating in its dark chamber pop sound as opposed to five seconds flat, which was much more in a folk pop lane. Now, when this sound is executed well on this album it’s often great, in particular I’m talking about the tracks that feel like there’s way more going on, like the build-ups in the aching loneliness of “I Guess” or the cinematic “Broken Glass”. But when the arrangements are so spare, you need a performer who can carry the compositions. And McAlpine is certainly trying to do that. And on some tracks she absolutely knocks it out of the park; “Vortex” is a really sad ballad where the piano actually has some direction in its melody and McAlpine really ramps up her delivery to sell it. It’s a similar case with “Older”, which I think has the best melody on the album and really allows McAlpine to soak in the angst of the track. However, when McAlpine isn’t able to carry the compositions, the album can fall flat. “Like It Tends To” is a track where McAlpine sings way too quietly and the track is only decent at best for me as a result. “Movie Star”, I don’t know if it’s supposed to be an interlude or what, but it feels like as soon as the song gets going, it just stops. “Staying”’s melody feels endless to me, and that underscores what I think of this album. When the songs aren’t boring, they’re beautiful. But when they’re not beautiful, they’re boring, almost dreadfully so. I’m not saying this album isn’t good, there’s enough here that works well that I can reasonably call it a good album, but if you’re expecting something like five seconds flat, lower your expectations, all I’m saying.

Best track: Older

HM (tie): Vortex, I Guess, Broken Glass

DM (tie): Movie Star, Staying

Worst track: Like It Tends To

33. Luke Combs - Fathers & Sons - 9/10

Genres: Contemporary Country

Luke Combs has proven that he’s probably one of the best male country singers in the mainstream right now (not very high bar), with a really good voice and an underrated ability to write songs from another perspective and adding enough detail and singing with enough sincerity to make the experiences feel lived in. So, for a side project examining the relationship between a father and his son, either with Combs and his two sons or between Combs and his own father. Full disclosure, before I listened to this album, I saw the title and thought this would just be “Even Though I’m Leaving” stretched into an entire album, and that can run the risk of the album feeling one-dimensional even if I think “Even Though I’m Leaving” is one of Combs’s best songs, and thankfully it’s not exactly that we got. Instead, this album focuses on multiple aspects of a relationship between a father and his son with some excellent neotraditional production. From the first track, “Front Door Famous”, which is about a father and his son sharing wholesome greetings at the front door which is referred to as being “front door famous” all the way to the closing track, “Take Me Out To The Ballgame”, which is about a kid’s parents getting divorced and the kid sharing a memory of seeing a ballgame with his father (and I think the flip of the baseball song for this message is really inspired, honestly I think this song is one of Combs’s best), this album is just so wholesome and sweet. There were only two songs here that I don’t think are quite excellent; “Little Country Boys” is a pretty good song about how even despite how much they can be a handful, you still love your kids. But I can’t help but feel that the song should’ve been in another key to make the song hit harder. And “All I Ever Do Is Leave” is about Combs saying that he thought as a kid that the only thing his father ever did was leave but now that he’s older, he understands why he was leaving and hopes his son doesn’t feel the same way about him. And I don’t know, it feels like the song is missing a bit of detail to really work for me. The track is still great courtesy of the sweet neotraditional country production, but I’ll be blunt - without the extra bit of detail, you could probably think Combs was singing about a deadbeat father. For example, you could probably have taken a few lines to say where the father is going every day. So, overall, this album is absolutely incredible and really has me thinking I need to get around to doing a discog dive of Luke Combs eventually.

Best track: Take Me Out To The Ballgame

HM (tie): Huntin’ By Yourself, The Man He Sees In Me, Ride Around Heaven, My Old Man Was Right

“D”M: All I Ever Do Is Leave

“Worst” track: Little Country Boys

34. Magdalena Bay - Imaginal Disk - 8/10

Genres: Neo-Psychedelia, Synthpop, Chillwave, Dance-Pop, Progressive Pop, Alternative Dance, Indietronica, Pop Rock

So I remember really liking Magdalena Bay’s debut album Mercurial World back in late 2021/early 2022. But admittedly, it was an album that while I could reasonably recognize was great, I wasn’t ever incentivized to revisit any of the songs on it. Imaginal Disk is just about as good, maybe even a bit better because I definitely returned to my favorite song here a lot. “Image” just immerses itself into neo-psychedelia and the experience feels so cool. I really love that percussion, the spacey synth, and Mica Tennenbaum’s cooing ethereal vocals really giving it the sort of trippy atmosphere that you’d probably feel when you’re high. The album as a whole feels euphoric and hazy, and that’s what really makes this work. Pretty much every song on this album that’s not an interlude is at least great. “Fear, Sex” might be a great song, but it’s lower tier on this album because I don’t quite think it pulls off its psychedelic atmosphere quite as well as tracks like “Image”, and before it gets the opportunity to evolve into something better it kinda ends. “The Ballad Of Matt & Mica” is also great but feels like it’s missing the strong percussion to make it feel really trippy like this album can be at its best. So overall, yeah, this album is great and is absolutely worth all the hype. Check it out if you haven’t already!!

Best track: Image

HM (tie): She Looked Like Me!, Killing Time, Death & Romance, Vampire In The Corner, Watching T.V., Tunnel Vision, Love Is Everywhere, That’s My Floor, Cry For Me, Angel On A Satellite

“D”M (tie): The Ballad Of Matt & Mica, Fear, Sex

Worst track: Feeling DiskInserted?

35. Megan Moroney - Am I Okay? - 7/10

Genres: Contemporary Country, Country Pop, Pop Rock

I liked “Tennessee Orange” in 2023 and it’s only grown on me with time. I didn’t know what to expect with this album because, well, I only heard one song from Megan Moroney prior to this and that was the big hit. So...Am I Okay?...is it okay? Yeah...this album is certainly good, but it isn’t quite great. And honestly, the biggest problem with this album is sadly Moroney as a singer. Her voice isn’t bad per se, it works for the more haggard and sad tracks on this album like the mature yet sad “Hope You’re Happy” or the straight up devastating “Heaven By Noon” or even the exasperation of “No Caller ID”. But I’m not sure Moroney is the entire problem with this album at times. “Third Time’s The Charm” is decent, but I feel I should like it way more; Moroney’s voice is certainly good but the production feels a bit too generic. And Moroney’s vocals are just a mess on “Indifferent”, where she tries to strike a balance between potent vocals to match the abrasive production (which I already don’t like) and being indifferent and I’m sorry, her vocals are too frail to pull this off. So overall...this album is good, but there are a few glaring flaws preventing this from being fully great.

Best track: Hope You’re Happy

HM: Heaven By Noon

DM: Third Time’s The Charm

Worst track: Indifferent

36. Megan Thee Stallion - MEGAN - 8/10

Genres: Southern Hip Hop, Trap, Hardcore Hip Hop, Dirty South

Megan Thee Stallion really kicked off the beef in mainstream rap this year thanks to “HISS”, which I still think might be my favorite Megan song, so with MEGAN, I had expectations for this to be really good. The album’s rollout seemed to lean a lot on the snake imagery - I mean, look at the titles of the singles: “HISS”, “Cobra”, “Mamushi” - and then the album title is...MEGAN, that’s a species of snake I haven’t heard before. Okay, all half-jokes aside, this album didn’t disappoint. Megan’s flow is consistently on point and she sells the tracks with a lot of intensity. Especially on “Cobra”, where the intensity in Megan’s flow feels like it’s letting you know that Megan means the heartbreaking lyrics. I still love “HISS” for Megan selling the track with a lot of bruising intimidation. And I love “Mamushi” way more than I frankly should haha. What can I say? The rattling piano is intense and I can’t help but find Megan geeking out over anime charming, even as someone who isn’t into anime at all. Also Yuki Chiba somehow makes his admittedly sloppy flow on the song work really well. The one weakness here is “Where Them Girls At”, where the sample gets grating in record time, even if the rest of the crunk production is actually quite solid. So, overall, this album doesn’t disappoint at all. Highly recommended for you Z-list hoes, you know, in case you forgot who that bitch is.

Best track: HISS

HM (tie): Cobra, Mamushi, Down Stairs DJ, B.A.S., Worthy

DM: N/A

Worst track: Where Them Girls At

37. Meghan Trainor - Timeless - 5/10 for both standard and deluxe editions

Genres: Pop, Dance-Pop, Contemporary R&B, Doo-Wop, Pop Soul, Bubblegum

Meghan Trainor had a very brief career revival in 2023 with “Made You Look” inexplicably becoming a hit. She immediately squandered her resurgence with “Mother” brickwalling immediately - and deservedly, that’s the worst song she’s ever made - this is all to say that especially with how she was responsible for some of the most regressive hits of the mid-2010s, going into Timeless, I had no expectations that it’d be any good, let alone ever remotely timeless (especially since we already covered a much better Timeless from KAYTRANADA earlier in this article). And...okay, this album isn’t very good, but it also wasn’t nearly as bad as I was expecting. For starters, I don’t know why there are not one, but TWO, T-Pain collabs on this album. He sounds so out of place here and quite frankly he sounds embarrassed to be here. “I Wanna Thank Me” is a self-empowerment anthem that might avoid insulting the audience like 2016’s “Me Too” was, but it sounds like a Christmas song in the verses and the chorus tries to ramp up into a Jersey Club-type banger that Trainor’s flat delivery can’t back up. “I Don’t Do Maybe” has this really grating “I know I know” adlib and there’s no sense of groove, making Trainor’s delivery sound awful. However, there are, to my surprise, some genuinely great songs here; “Criminals” is a dance-pop track that sounds stolen from Dua Lipa but Trainor kinda serves on that song. “To The Moon” is a fusion of doo-wop and Jersey Club that works way better than it really should (it certainly works better than doo-wop with trap at least), even if it can get a bit tiresome with repeated listens. “Make A Move” is cute to the point it kinda swings back around to being good camp. I also really like “Bestie” against all my expectations considering the title and artist, though there’s a non-zero chance that my enjoyment is primarily off my nostalgia for the mid-2010s. The title track is a retread of “Like I’m Gonna Lose You” that Trainor actually sells quite well. And “Crowded Room” is actually pretty endearing as a simple love song. So...this album is far from bad. Meghan Trainor has certainly made far worse songs than anything on this album, but it’s not that good either. Guys, it’s 2024, I think we’ve outgrown the need for Meghan Trainor.

Best track: Criminals

HM (tie): To The Moon, Make A Move, Bestie, Crowded Room

DM (tie): I Wanna Thank Me, I Don’t Do Maybe

Worst track (tie): Been Like This, Love On Hold

38. Metro Boomin & Future - WE DON’T TRUST YOU - 7/10

Genres: Trap, Southern Hip Hop, Pop Rap, Gangsta Rap

I mean, this was one of the biggest rap albums of the entire year. And the reason why is really just off of one track where the guest star stole the show - “Like That”, where Kendrick Lamar just used the song to springboard himself into the spotlight when it came to music discourse in 2024. And yeah, “Like That” is easily my favorite song on this album (fun fact, it was literally the last cut from my best list). This album is produced really well and when Future’s really invested and his flow is sharp in addition to the great production, that’s where this album has some real highlights, like on “Ice Attack”. But on the other hand, you get a song like “Type Shit”, which might be decent, but has this weird gong sound in the background that really sours me on the track. Future also is quite versatile in being able to fit into different production styles for different artists and still being distinct, like on “Cinderella”, which is just a really nice Travis Scott bop. But when the songs are just Metro Boomin on production with Future rapping with no guest stars, with the right formula that I mentioned earlier, the songs are generally really good!! “GTA” is a really strong darker song where Future sounds imposing. And the conflict of having to stay in the streets just to survive and eat feels tangible. And “WTFYM” has a surprisingly sticky hook. But when Future doesn't sound all that interesting on this album, the songs just fade into the background for me, like “Don Juan (Princess Diana)”. Honestly though, most of the songs here just slap with not much commentary for me to add. It’s a good album with plenty of highlights. If you like Future and Metro’s work together, you’ll probably enjoy this even more than I did.

Best track: Like That

HM (tie): Young Metro, Ice Attack, Cinderella, GTA, Seen It All, WTFYM

DM (tie): We Don’t Trust You, Type Shit, Runnin Outta Time, Everyday Hustle

“Worst” track: Magic Don Juan (Princess Diana)

39. Metro Boomin & Future - WE STILL DON’T TRUST YOU - 7/10

Genres: Trap, Alternative R&B, Southern Hip Hop, Trap Soul, Synthpop, Pop Rap

Metro Boomin and Future team up twice in the same year to release a pair of sister albums and while I did like WE DON’T TRUST YOU, I think I ever so slightly prefer this album. As opposed to WE DON’T TRUST YOU, which was more straight hip hop, this album is more R&B-leaning with some synthpop and club influences. And let me tell you, the synthpop influences absolutely make this album for me. I love the darker synths complementing the percussion and The Weeknd’s very ethereal backing vocals on the title track giving it a dark club night vibe.  I really like the driving force of the kick evolving into the quicker trap percussion on “Drink N Dance”. The darker synths and that faint horn in the background make “Right 4 You” feel like an absolute vibe. Future’s flow sounds sharp on “Overload”. “Always Be My Fault”’s distorted production reminds me a little of why I used to like “The Hills” by The Weeknd (a song I used to like a decent bit but I’ve found has aged pretty poorly) and Abel’s vocals really run away with the song. And as a fun trap banger, I think “Nobody Knows My Struggle” is a great hype anthem. Now, the only song here I actively dislike is “Red Leather”, where the guitar sounds really sour and the production doesn’t flatter Future’s delivery at all and J. Cole just sounds...awful here, the elongating syllables thing he does gets grating in record time and I really don’t like his jerky flow there. The angst he raps about in the track doesn’t feel tangible to me. So overall, I do think this is ever so slightly better than WE DON’T TRUST YOU, but both albums have plenty of highlights. So, I definitely recommend this sister album.

Best track: We Still Don’t Trust You

HM (tie): Drink N Dance, Right 4 You, Overload, Always Be My Fault, Nobody Knows My Struggle

DM (tie): Jealous, Amazing (Interlude), All To Myself, Mile High Memories, Gracious, One Big Family, #1 (Intro), All My Life, Crossed Out, Crazy Clientele (but really, these are all decent tbh)

Worst track: Red Leather

40. Normani - DOPAMINE - 7/10

Genres: Contemporary R&B, Pop, Pop Rap, Trap Soul, Alternative R&B

Well, Normani finally poked her head out of her basement for the first time in 5 years to release her debut album. And...I’m more underwhelmed than I feel I should be. For as much as Normani is the biggest member of Fifth Harmony not named Camila Cabello, I’ve usually found her material pretty good without ever being great outside of that Sam Smith collab from 2019. That’s not to say this album isn’t good, but I can’t help but have this feeling of “we waited 5 years for this?”. I love “Take My Time” thanks to the looser dance pop production making the song feel really sensual and Normani certainly sells the song really well. And Normani being a really strong performer is what elevates this album into being pretty good. But some of the songs feel so undercooked, like “Grip” where the gimmick of repeating words ending with an “ee” syllable gets really grating in record time and it’s not even remotely sensual. And then there’s cuts like “1:59” with Gunna where Normani and Gunna are both giving their all into the song but the production’s just giving them nothing  in terms of sensual atmosphere and it comes off as if they have no chemistry. And that undercooked feeling even extends to the songs I really like on this album; “Big Boy” sounds like it was made back in 2019 and “Still” also sounds really dated and I don’t think Normani can carry the beat that well. “All Yours” just sounds unfinished lyrically and “Lights On” sounds really claustrophobic and doesn’t allow Normani to fully utilize her expressive range. And then there’s “Wild Side”, the 2020 single that was tacked on at the very end of the album to boost streaming numbers. I can’t lie, I’ve never really loved the song the way a lot of people seem to. I have warmed up to it considerably over the past 4 years, but the sensual production still makes Cardi B’s harsher delivery feel really jarring. Yeah, I know this review is probably coming off as more negative than I want it to, but I don’t think this album is bad - there’s enough here that works well for me to reasonably call this good. I still think Normani is a really expressive singer, but again...5 years for this? I know you can do better.

Best track: Take My Time

HM (tie): All Yours, Lights On, Insomnia, Candy Paint, Tantrums, Little Secret

DM: 1:59

Worst track: Grip

41. Porter Robinson - SMILE! :D - 9/10

Genres: Indietronica, Electropop, Pop Rock, Bitpop, Indie Rock

I come into the Porter Robinson story a bit later than I really should. I was first introduced to him around mid to late 2021, hearing scattered songs of his in various Pulse Music Board games. Back then, I was introduced to him as an EDM artist, and, me being pandemic-era me, expected his music to be the sort of cheesy and generic EDM I ate up during lockdown. As such, I heard his song “Unfold” with the Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs and my expectations were...subverted. I did really like it, but I really felt I should’ve liked it more (and going back to the song now, I still think it’s great, but it feels too much like a hazy mess for me to fully love). That said, fast forward to 2024, and with the benefit of my music taste growing more open-minded, I wanted to give this a fair shot. So, what did we get? Okay, the nutshell way I describe this album to people who ask me IRL is “Imagine ‘Fireflies’ by Owl City, but more polished”. And for the record, as someone who considers “Fireflies” one of their top 10, if not top 5, favorite songs ever, that’s a very good thing. This album feels like it keeps the central emotional charm of the Owl City song while being much less nerdy and uncool. I really love the more euphoric synths on “Knock Yourself Out XD”, “Is There Really No Happiness?”, and “Russian Roulette”. But granted, my comparison to the Owl City song falls apart when we get to “Cheerleader”, which reminds me of a Boys Like Girls cut from 2009 with a bunch of 8 bit charm. “Perfect Pinterest Garden” feels like a funky throwback to Katy Perry’s “Last Friday Night” musically, but I don’t quite think it works as well as it should because the 8-bit distortion feels mixed a bit poorly. It’s still a great song, though. The weakest song here, though, is easily “Kitsune Maison Freestyle” which might have a solid guitar loop and I do like the synths, but Porter’s performance just feels off, especially his falsetto, which doesn’t help the undercooked lyrics. And then there’s “Mona Lisa”, which might sound melodically phenomenal, but the emotion gets really undercut by the guitars just getting bitcrushed in the mix. I’m not trying to insinuate this album is even remotely bad; I love the euphoric moments on this album and there are really strong hooks here, like on “Is There Really No Happiness?”, which I still think has the most euphoric chorus I’ve heard in any song all year with some really strong songwriting to boot. A part of me wants to see Porter Robinson explore the complex relationships between our emotions more (does he do this on his other albums? I’m not familiar enough with his work to know); “Is There Really No Happiness?” proves he can do that really well! So overall, this is an incredible album, maybe I should listen to more from Porter Robinson. Highly recommended!!

Best track: Is There Really No Happiness?

HM (tie): Knock Yourself Out XD, Cheerleader, Russian Roulette

“D”M (tie): Perfect Pinterest Garden, Mona Lisa

“Worst” track: Kitsune Maison Freestyle

42. Post Malone - F-1 Trillion - 7/10 for both standard and Long Bed editions

Genres: Country Pop, Contemporary Country, Country Rock, Bro-Country

One of the biggest stories of mainstream music in 2024 was Post Malone finally making the country album that he always wanted to make. Unlike Beyonce with COWBOY CARTER, Post Malone didn’t make this album to make any sort of statement, he just really wanted to make a country album, and what we got is an album where Posty pulled in a star-studded cast of country music veterans and A-listers randing from Luke Combs and Chris Stapleton and even Dolly Parton to...HARDY and Morgan Wallen. And really, if Posty was ever gonna make this album, this would probably be the best time to do so, with country music undergoing a big commercial boom period. I guess the choice of guest stars is a good place for me to start in terms of how this album could’ve been way better. This album’s choice of guest stars feel like label concessions, like Posty and/or his label chose these artists to get this album some play on Nashville radio. You have so many country artists on this, and yet you couldn’t get Kacey Musgraves? Yes, I’m clearly biased here, shut up. Or even Zach Bryan? He gets legitimately great streaming with his singles to bypass the country music industry. But my point is that this album doesn’t really take a lot of risks. Did we need the Dolly Parton collab, where Posty and Dolly have no chemistry? Or the pleasant but largely forgettable filler track “Pour Me A Drink” with Blake Shelton? Or especially “Hide My Gun” with HARDY, where I really realized I was getting tired of HARDY’s shtick of shooting people and fantasizing about what would happen if he were to actually do that. The darkness of that song isn’t sold well. But make no mistake, there are songs here that work really well. “M-E-X-I-C-O” with Billy Strings made me realize that one of Posty’s strengths as an artist is painting himself in a pathetic situation and selling the situation with a “wink and a smile” attitude that makes the song wind up pretty hilarious. It happened on the remix of Noah Kahan’s “Dial Drunk” in 2023, and it works almost as well here. “M-E-X-I-C-O” is a song where I can practically picture the Cartoon Network screwball comedy play out as I’m listening haha (it sounds like it’d soundtrack an episode of Tom & Jerry and I mean that in a good way lol). “Yours” is a shockingly effective and kinda beautiful song where the narrator has to face the fact that his daughter is getting married. Even if the lyrics on that song have a weirdly possessive feel to them, Posty sells the sentiment in a heartfelt enough manner for me to excuse. “Never Love You Again” with Sierra Ferrell is another track I love; Posty and Ferrell have really strong chemistry. And “Nosedive” with Lainey Wilson is a really nice classic lighters-in-the-air ballad that, to crib a point from Spectrum Pulse, could easily be a staple at Posty’s shows that he could play for the rest of his life. And for the most part, I think Posty handles the country aesthetic really well; he’s a pretty good singer and you can tell that he really wanted to make this album. I feel that passion in songs like “Two Hearts”, a pretty sincere and sad breakup track, or even “Hey Mercedes”, which has a really damn great driving groove. And, while not one of my favorites on this album, I’ve always thought “I Had Some Help” with Morgan Wallen was a pretty great commiseration song. So, final thoughts, this album is certainly good and if Posty wants to make another country album, I certainly wouldn’t complain all that much, I just hope that potential second country album takes more risks - that’s all.

Best track: M-E-X-I-C-O

HM (tie): Nosedive, Never Love You Again, Yours, Hey Mercedes, Two Hearts

DM (tie): Pour Me A Drink, Killed A Man, Go To Hell, Who Needs You (but tbh these are all decent)

“Worst” track: Hide My Gun

43. Rauw Alejandro - Cosa Nuestra - 6/10

Genres: Latin Pop, Reggaetón, Salsa, Trap latino, Contemporary R&B, Dance-Pop, Bolero

Rauw Alejandro proved with his 2021 hit song “Todo De Ti” that he’s a very versatile performer, often able to rise up above the basics of reggaeton and create interesting blends of genres. On this album...well, Alejandro certainly acquits himself well with different sounds and even on some of the more basic reggaeton cuts like “Que Pasaria…” the reggaeton percussion doesn’t really feel all that stock, it feels a lot more colorful. But where does this album kinda underwhelm me a bit? The album is at its weakest when Alejandro just defaults to the basics. I’ll fully admit that after Cris Mj and FloyyMenor’s atrocious hit song this year, I knew that when evaluating foreign music I had to at least give the lyrics a cursory look. I didn’t really weigh them too heavily, because I know there are cultural signifiers that I’m gonna miss, but I also really counted the lyrics against the song if they just stuck out in a poor way. Take “Revolu”, easily the worst song on this album thanks to the tediously stock reggaeton percussion and Feid’s obnoxiously nasal vocals. And Alejandro’s caterwauling on that track doesn’t make the creepy lyrics about wanting to eat this girl sexy. And Alexis y Fido just create sharp antichemistry with Alejandro on “Baja Pa’ Aca”. Again though, when Alejandro dabbles in other genres, his versatility really shines through, like the more synth rock-leaning “Se Fue” with Laura Pausini or even “Touching The Sky”, which might kinda feel like a “Todo De Ti” retread, but it executes its formula really well. So overall, I don’t think this album is bad; it’s actually pretty decent, but I do feel it could’ve afforded to showcase Alejandro’s versatility more, just saying.

Best track: Se Fue

HM (tie): Dejame Entrar, Que Pesara, Mil Mujeres, Khe?, Pasaporte, Touching The Sky

DM: Baja Pa’ Aca

Worst track: Revolu

44. Rod Wave - Last Lap - 6/10

Genres: Trap, Pop Rap, Alternative R&B

So last year I really liked Rod Wave’s Nostalgia and thought it was an album that executed Rod Wave’s signature formula of making soulful R&B really well. So I was pretty interested to see what Last Lap would give us, but seeing the album getting more mixed to negative reviews discouraged me a bit...and yeah, those reviews kinda have a point, because Last Lap is a complete disappointment. In Pulse’s Discord server, someone said that once you’ve heard one Rod Wave song, you’ve heard them all. And that underscores the biggest problem with this album; it largely feels like Rod Wave running in place. I mean, the basic template of a Rod Wave song is to get some solemn R&B-trap production, add a sample from some random indie pop girl, and lyrics about some tough aspect/event of Rod Wave’s life that’s really lacking in detail to fully resonate. It gets pretty stale in record time, even if it is a formula I like for the most part. It’s to the point where “Federal Nightmares”, swerving into abrasive borderline Rage music synths, despite it being musically a mess, it’s probably one of my favorites on this album, because at least Rod Wave tried something new!! “The Best” is supposed to be a triumphant track about Rod Wave finally seeing success but Rod Wave’s delivery feels like it’s trying to emphasize the loneliness he’s feeling, which isn’t reflected at all in the lyrics but I feel like Rod Wave is doing it because it’s the only thing he knows how to do at this point. And when you repeat the same problems that you’ve sung about in every song, it loses its pathos, especially when the song structure feels so abortive. And “Never Mind” feels like Rod Wave is trying to guilt trip a girl into coming back to him; his angst on the track doesn’t feel sincere to me, especially with how thin his falsetto sounds. That all being said, there are two songs I genuinely think are incredible on this album; “The Mess They Made” isn’t really all that out of the ordinary from Rod Wave’s formula, but it’s a song that at least feels like it executes on that formula really well. But that’s in comparison to by far the best song on this album; “25”, where the quicker piano keys give the song a more optimistic and hopeful atmosphere which really helps the lyrics; which allow Rod Wave to feel frustrated at the materialistic life he’s living while ultimately deciding to try for something more real as he gets older. So, this album is passable, but that’s only because I usually like this formula, and when even me, who's more tolerant of an artist recycling their formulas than most, is tired of you not evolving...that’s a bad sign. Hopefully this album is really the last lap before Rod Wave evolves his sound.

Best track: 25

HM: The Mess They Made

DM (tie): The Best, Even Love, Wanted 2 Late, Passport Junkie, IRan

Worst track: Never Mind

45. SABAI - North Star - 6/10

Genres: Future Bass, Melodic Dubstep, Electropop

“Okay, who’s this Khia?”, a lot of you are probably asking right now. So here’s a bit of context, SABAI is an EDM DJ based out of Vancouver, BC, Canada whose music I was really into during the COVID-19 lockdowns. Since then, he’s kinda fallen off my radar, since he has a tendency to recycle the same chipmunked future bass drop in every one of his songs. I do still check in on his music every once in a while, but I haven’t really vibed with a lot of his music as strongly. But fast forward to around 5 years into his career in 2024, he finally released his debut album and...well, like Rod Wave’s Last Lap, SABAI is largely just running in place on this album. It’s so much so that this paragraph in his Spotify bio might as well be the punchline to his entire sound:

“The meaning of SABAI is ‘comfortable’ which signifies who he is as an artist. He strives to give fans a feeling of acceptance and familiarity, to be a shoulder to lean on when anyone needs inspiration. More than anything, he wants fans to be comfortable with who they are, to realize that through his music, there is someone who knows what they are going through.”

Again, this is a formula that I usually do like. And I do hear moments where SABAI tries to evolve his sound slightly, but when he tries to do that the song usually ends up rarely being good or he doesn’t do it enough. Take “Heart Don’t Work Like That” with Afinity and Casey Cook, where Casey Cook’s vocals might sound really nice, but the drops feel like they’re trying to fuse together the styles of SABAI and Afinity and ironically affinity is the furthest thing from what they have on the track, seriously, the drop is so stuttery with the guitars devolving into chipmunked goop. Or take “The Call” with if found and Linney, where Linney’s vocals sound great but the drop is an utter mess that sounds like it’s trying to rip off Flume and somehow even failing at that!! This is all to the point where “Daydream” with Hoang and Olivia Ridgely, a blatant retread on the three’s first collab together, 2020’s “Million Days”, is my favorite song on the album!! And you know what, speaking of Hoang, I get the recycling of his formula from him, the one time he tried to experiment the song wound up as...a complete disaster (the song in question is “Don’t Want To Be Lonely” with VCLN and skye silansky from 2022 if you want to hear a terrible throwback to 2014 EDM). But SABAI? His pivot to slap house for 2021’s “Scared” with Olivia Ridgely is to this day my favorite song from him and it really worked!! What’s his excuse for not being able to evolve his sound? And the fact that it seems like he doesn’t know what an EP or single are is really quite revealing (there are two listings for his release “Daydream” on Spotify, one is an EP and one is a single with the track listings completely unaltered. I decided it’s not an EP since the only new song was the title track and the other songs were pre-released songs and I’ve often seen artists do that with singles so I won’t be reviewing it in this article). I also think it’s pretty telling that this summer when I checked SABAI’s Spotify profile, his bio said something like “My goal is to show the world there is more to Thai food than pad thai. I need my music to become popular for that to happen, though” (this has since been removed from his bio before I could get a screenshot but you’ll just have to trust me here lol). SABAI...I might still like your music generally, but if you aren’t gonna switch up your style, maybe just stick to making Thai food, just saying. This is passable, mainly on the basis that I like this sound, but I can’t go beyond that.

Best track: Daydream

HM (tie): Harder To Breathe, My Heaven, North Star, Somebody To Love Me, messy_2019, dream_2014

DM (tie): The Call, Say It Like You Mean It, spark_2018

Worst track: Heart Don’t Work Like That

46. Sabrina Carpenter - Short n’ Sweet - 8/10

Genres: Pop, Dance-Pop, Contemporary R&B, Pop Rock, Country Pop

So last year I was really pleasantly surprised by emails i can’t send fwd: by Sabrina Carpenter and that set up some massive expectations for her followup album. And...yeah, Carpenter absolutely delivered, and overall improved even further on emails i can’t send fwd:!! This album isn’t really trying to be more than what it is; bubblegum. And for what it is, it succeeds really well!! I already said in my best list this year that every time Carpenter released what I thought was her best song, she topped that with an even better track a few weeks or months later; it started with “Espresso”, the summery dance-pop earworm it is, then it was “Please Please Please” with its understated pop production, and now it’s “Juno”, which I think is the best song on this album and the best song I've heard from Carpenter thus far. “Juno” is loose and playful and Carpenter is clearly having a ton of fun on the track and leaning into her horniness - she literally wants you to have sex with her to the point of impregnating her - and the new wave guitars add a ton of playful energy to the track. However, this album doesn’t really avoid the issues I took with Carpenter when I first heard of her in 2018. The ballads on this album sans “Don’t Smile” just have Carpenter sound so anonymous and she isn’t able to escape the “interchangeable C-list pop girl circa 2018” label that I’d initially given her. I do think those songs are good, but they’re easily the two weakest songs on this album. “Dumb & Poetic” has a really clunky lyric about “jacking off to lyrics by Leonard Cohen” and on that song there are weird lines where she compares an ex to this archetype of a man, she says that he’s so empathetic that he’d make a great wife...? Or that just because he leaves like a man, it doesn’t make him a man...?  And “Lie To Girls” is a song where Carpenter just sounds super frail and says that you don't have to lie to girls because if girls like you, they’ll just lie to themselves. Were these lyrics intended for Meghan Trainor circa 2015? Now, what separates those ballads from the best ballad on this album, “Don’t Smile”, is that “Don’t Smile” has this really smoky dark production that really makes it feel distinct, whereas those other two songs feel like anyone could’ve sung them and it would’ve sounded the exact same. Now a song like “Bed Chem”, which looks like it’s the next single from this album, is incredible; Carpenter sounds really expressive here even as she’s borrowing vocal inflections from Ariana Grande and Camila Cabello (if it becomes a hit in 2025 it’s an early contender for my best list). And then there’s “Coincidence”, which feels borrowed from a Disney Channel original movie, and given I’m usually more forgiving to songs that have that vibe, I feel I should like it way more, but it feels like it’s missing a proper crescendo or climax; it’s building up to it on the verses, but the chorus feels so underweight and doesn’t feel like it pays off the build-up fully. So, overall, great album, and if Carpenter is gonna be one of the biggest stars of the decade while continuing to pump out bops like she has this year, then I’d be thrilled. This album is absolutely a ton of fun.

Best track: Juno

HM (tie): Please Please Please, Espresso, Bed Chem, Don’t Smile, Taste, Good Graces, Sharpest Tool

“D”M: Coincidence

“Worst” track (tie): Dumb & Poetic, Lie To Girls

47. Sasha Alex Sloan - Me Again - 8/10

Genres: Folk Pop, Singer-Songwriter, Soft Rock

Okay, like Sabai, Sasha Alex Sloan, then just Sasha Sloan, was an artist I was really into during the COVID-19 lockdowns. But she kinda lost me in late 2020 with the song “Is It Just Me?” (I did like the song at first but when I paid attention to the lyrics it really soured on me). But this year, for whatever reason, I was curious to see what she’s been up to and I do still think “Smiling When I Die” is an incredible song, and...Me Again feels like an apt title because this really feels like a return to form after the awful “Is It Just Me?”. It feels a bit like Lizzy McAlpine at home in places, but Sloan provides her own strengths, her voice, while admittedly a bit frailer than I’d like, still has a really intimate tone that makes these songs work. Take “Kids”, a song about how parents become the kids as they grow up and how time just passes us by. The electric guitars make it feel really dreamy and remind me a bit of Speak Now-era Taylor Swift. And the opener, the title track, feels optimistic and like a response to people turned off by “Is It Just Me?” at points, let’s compare and contrast a few lyrics of the two in a mini-table below:

Is It Just Me?	Me Again:
I don't think love lasts forever	I can't wait to wanna be in love
Am I just high Or am I kinda right?	I can't wait to wanna not get high I can't wait to wanna go outside

“Oxygen Mask” is another one of my favorites - the electric guitars mixed with the slower percussion remind me a bit of the adult alternative of the 90s and 2000s in a great way. “Falling Out Of Like” with Ruston Kelly is my absolute favorite song on this album; it doesn’t do anything all that extraordinary other than being a breakup song conveying the message of “I still love you, but I’m not in love with you anymore” but Sloan and Kelly just have terrific chemistry and sell the sentiment really well. The only song I don’t like as much as I want to is “Deep”, which is a track that starts with Sloan talking to a partner who went to get food during his favorite band’s concert and not only did they get his order wrong, but he missed the band playing his favorite song and Sloan tells the partner that it’s not that deep and that it could always be worse. Then the song evolves to convey that message to the audience. I really like the sentiment, but I’m not sure Sloan can sell it very well; her voice sounds really fragile but not very comforting. Give the track to someone like Kacey Musgraves, this could fit really well on Deeper Well and would've worked much better!! So overall, great album and I’d definitely recommend it, even if parts of it could’ve worked better with different artists.

Best track: Falling Out Of Like

HM (tie): Me Again, Kids, Oxygen Mask

“D”M (tie): Tiny’s Song (Demo), Picked First

Worst track: Deep

48. Shaboozey - Where I've Been, Isn't Where I'm Going - 8/10

Genres: Country Pop, Country Rap, Stomp and Holler, Folk Pop

Well, “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” ended up being one of the biggest songs of the year and of all time (as of me writing this it’s currently tied with “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X for the most weeks at #1 on the Hot 100 of all time and has a non-zero chance of breaking the record entirely) and I still really love that song, so going into his album where for some reason “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” was the only song from the album to receive a proper single push, what did we get? Well, this is an album that is pretty firmly locked into that pop folk stomp clap sound that’s been seeing a nostalgia wave as of late (side note, but the fact that a sound that was big when I was 7 or 8 is seeing a nostalgia wave makes me feel so old, it’s really uncanny) and Shaboozey is pretty suitable for this sound. His voice sounds really rich and is able to anchor the momentum of the stomp clap percussion in songs like “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” or “Finally Over”. And even when the album deviates a bit from its stomp clap sound, like on “Let It Burn”, at its best, Shaboozey mostly pulls it off, even if I’m not all that wild about his delivery on the verses where his twang feels really forced. Honestly, with “Let It Burn”, I’m not really reminded of any stomp clap song, but more a country music version of Tiesto’s “Red Lights”. But then we get the biggest weakness on this album, “Drink Don’t Need No Mix” with BigXThaPlug, which might be...fine, I certainly like it more than a lot of bro-country that falls in this lane, but as a whole it reminds me of if Rae Sremmurd tried to make a Sam Hunt song where BigXThaPlug sounds so out of place on the track and the percussion sounds too leaden. As a whole, this album is great and a wonderful blend of rap and country that most bro country artists aspire to do but often fail at doing. I know you’re probably sick of “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” by this point, but give yourself a few years, then listen to this fun as hell album.

Best track: A Bar Song (Tipsy)

HM: Finally Over

“D”M: Horses & Hellcats, Vegas

Worst track: Drink Don’t Need No Mix

49. Shawn Mendes - Shawn - 4/10

Genres: Folk Pop, Singer-Songwriter, Country Pop

I’ll be honest, I only listened to this album because I listened to Camila Cabello’s identity crisis of an album and I wanted to compare the two albums. As Sean Fay-Wolfe said, after Shawmila broke up in 2021, Shawn became the Selena Gomez of the two writing song after song about the breakup for years while Camila Cabello immediately became the Justin Bieber of the two living her best life (at least until the album I reviewed earlier in this article that seemed to imply she was on a downward spiral herself). And look, Shawn’s biggest sin is that Mendes isn’t evolving as an artist, it largely feels like he’s been writing the same songs about his breakup for the past 3 years, and that’s when it all clicked for me: this is just John Mayer...Shawn Mayer. It’s all there: the acoustic guitar production, Mendes’s really weak and willowy delivery, and the cringeworthy moments where it feels like he’s trying to win Cabello back. “Nobody Knows”’s melody is so aimless and feels like it’s launching itself into the air and thudding on the ground again without any clear direction, especially with how Shawn is trying to sell the song so sincerely as the production tries and fails to add weight to his performance. “Isn’t That Enough” may be the most I’ve ever wanted to scream “GET OVER YOURSELF” at a song and “That’ll Be The Day” makes me want to punch Mendes in the face for his delusions of him saying that he’ll be with this girl until he dies, and when you insert Camila as the girl in the song, knowing that they broke up, it’s fucking creepy and gross. “The Mountain” seems to be a song where Mendes is hinting at being queer with these lines:

“You can say I like girls or boys

Whatever fits your mold[...]

But I've nеver been better

So call it what you want”

But Mendes sounds so hollow and anonymous on the song, like he himself doesn’t buy it and the song just ends up boring as a result. Still probably the best song on this album, though, because it’s the only one that feels like Mendes isn’t crying over a relationship that’s been done for 3 years now. Oh yeah, and “Why Why Why” is possibly the weakest attempt to rip off Noah Kahan’s sound that I’ve heard in months. The upbeat stomp clap percussion clashes really awkwardly with Mendes’s “not over it” angst and Mendes’s willowy delivery once again can’t carry the song with any degree of impact. And the album ends with a cover of “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen that sounds pathetically weak as Mendes can’t even muster up a fraction of Leonard Cohen’s rich voice. I don’t even like the original “Hallelujah” that much but Mendes doesn’t do it justice whatsoever. So overall, there’s a reason Shawn Mendes hasn’t had a proper hit song in half a decade. He’s just not evolving as an artist. When this album isn’t guilt-trippy, it’s just really boring and Mendes’s willowy delivery can’t elevate the songs. I can’t recommend this at all.

“Best” track: The Mountain

“H”M (tie): Heavy, In Between

DM: Why Why Why

Worst track (tie): Nobody Knows, Isn’t That Enough, That'll Be The Day

50. Taylor Swift - THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT - 5/10 for standard edition, 6/10 for the Anthology

Genres: Alt-Pop, Singer-Songwriter, Synthpop, Pop Rock

Taylor Swift was my artist of 2023. I was so hooked on her music last year in the build-up to me going to the Eras Tour last summer. But this year, Swift threw so much of my admiration for her music out the window with her overexposure being pushed to the limit thanks to this album. And I’ll say it again, THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT is by a considerable margin her worst album to date. I went back to Reputation (what I used to consider her worst album) because of this album and at least with Reputation, Swift’s attempts to look edgier and take on a darker image and falling flat on her face were compelling in a way I could somewhat respect. I still don’t like that album, but I’d argue it’s actually gotten better over the years. THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT is an album that by its nature is more diaristic and as a result is clunkier lyrically. But I can tolerate Swift’s clunkier lyrics if the compositions are strong enough. “ME!” might have her worst bridge to date, but I kinda find it cute in the complete absurdity of “HEY KIDS, SPELLING IS FUN!!”. It’s clearly trying to be bubblegum. But this album just has so many unnecessary details. Swift’s songwriting at its best uses the little details intentionally to paint an intricate picture of a scene in the listener’s mind. But take the title track on this album; did we really need to know that Swift and this partner declared that Charlie Puth should be a bigger artist? And these tracks aren't trying to be bubblegum. The compositions are so nothing so you know that you are supposed to pay attention to the lyrics. And when the lyrics aren’t cringeworthy or clunky, the tracks are just unbearably boring. “Fortnight” with Post Malone tries to pick up some darker edge with Swift making the sudden pivot to her wanting to kill her ex’s new partner, but it pushes all the buttons that really bother me about Swift. I’ve never liked when she brings on guests just to have them sing backup vocals, it’s like she knows the guest stars don’t work artistically but she just wants that extra #1 to her name. Because being the biggest fucking artist in the world isn’t enough. I also said in my worst list this year that “Down Bad” is a nothing of a song musically and that the use of the phrase “down bad” in the song feels painfully forced, which the production only seems to highlight. It’s pretty emblematic of this album, really. But then we get “Who’s Afraid Of Little Old Me?”, which sounds like a Reputation reject with its darker production and Swift’s excruciating screaming that’s trying to sound camp and theatrical but really makes me wanna die. I stand by that song probably being up there as among the worst songs in her entire discography. Literally the only song on this album with a real pulse is “I Can Do It With A Broken Heart”, but even then it feels overwritten and clunky in some places. I’ve never liked the forced fake smile you can practically hear on the line “I’m so depressed I act like it’s my birthday everyday”...but in the end I can appreciate the tempo being analogous to running on the treadmill and even some of the inflections remind me of running on the treadmill, pushing through the exhaustion to reach your goal. But fine, there are other really good songs on this album. “loml” might be a diet “champagne problems” but I really like the fractured atmosphere on that song and the flip from “love of my life” to “loss of my life” at the end is pretty clever. “But Daddy I Love Him” is like a more adult, less fantasy version of “Love Story” where there’s a tangible sense of stakes and excitement as Swift just says to her parents that she’s having her partner’s baby just to see their faces. And we have to discuss the Anthology edition of this album. Yes, it does elevate this album to being decent but honestly, that’s more a factor of quantity over quality. “So High School” is the best track on this album because it’s one of the only songs on the album where Swift takes the tiny details to paint an intricate setting and it feels natural. The references to playing Grand Theft Auto with the partner’s friends, is the guy gonna marry, kiss, or kill her? These are all conventions associated with high school. They effectively paint the scene. Same thing with “I Hate It Here”, the details feel deliberately chosen and natural and it doesn't feel clunky. You can clearly imagine the scene Swift is describing. “Cassandra” feels like it wouldn't sound out of place on folklore, which is high praise because I consider it one of Swift’s best albums. “I Look In People’s Windows” is another one where the writing feels natural to paint the scene effectively. But overall, this album is largely a whole blob of nothing musically with tons of overwritten and clunky lyrics. It’s comfortably Swift’s worst album and its only good contribution to the world is that it got me an A on my college paper of me speculating about her potential downfall. This is far from the worst album I’ve heard in 2024, but it’s easily the most disappointing. Skip this.

Best track: So High School

HM (tie): I Can Do It With A Broken Heart, But Daddy I Love Him, loml, I Hate It Here, I Look In People’s Windows, Cassandra, Robin

DM (tie): Down Bad, The Tortured Poets Department

Worst track: Who’s Afraid Of Little Old Me?

51. Tinashe - Quantum Baby - 7/10

Genres: Alternative R&B, Trap Soul, Pop Rap, UK Bass, Post-Dubstep

I’ve generally liked Tinashe’s music, or at least what little of it I’m familiar with. “2 On”, “All Hands On Deck”, “Pasadena”, and “Bouncin’” are all good to great songs. And before I heard this album, I was already familiar with the viral track from the album “Nasty”, which I’ve loved from first listen. So...Quantum Baby...I have to hope this is just a weaker album because even though I like it, I’m stuck thinking “this can’t be her ceiling, right?”. Make no mistake, I really like her expressiveness on tracks like “Thirsty”, ”When I Get You Alone”, or even the UK bass-influenced “Getting No Sleep”. And I still love Tinashe’s confident attitude on “Nasty”, but the production just doesn't flatter Tinashe on “No Broke Boys”. Tinashe’s attitude is nice, but the piano in the beat just sounds so ugly to me, and I really don’t know why. Maybe I need to hear another album from Tinashe to get a grasp of her at her best. Because while this is a good album, I have this feeling that she is so much better than this.

Best track: Nasty

HM (tie): Getting No Sleep, Thirsty, When I Get You Alone

DM: if I gave this, every one of the songs would be in this breakdown so no lol

Worst track: Nasty

52. Twenty One Pilots - Clancy - 8/10

Genres: Alt-Pop, Indie Rock, Pop Rap, Pop Rock, Indie Pop, Trip Hop

Twenty One Pilots were a huge part of my elementary school days. I was obsessed with all three of their big hits in 6th grade. But I’ll admit that after 2016, I kinda lost interest in keeping up with them as my music taste expanded. I still really adored “Stressed Out”, “Heathens”, and “Ride”, but I wasn’t dying to see them reach smash heights again. This wasn’t helped by the fact that when I revisited Blurryface in high school during lockdown, I found that outside of the singles and a few songs here and there, the album hadn’t really aged that well for me. I may have really liked Trench, but when it came to the singles from Scaled & Icy, I really liked them but none of them had the same magic that hooked me onto TOP back in 6th grade so I never checked out the album. But fast forward to 2024, we got Clancy, an album where apparently a lot of TOP stans were really mad that they ruined the lore in their music...what did I think of this album? Well, speaking as someone who, even in his TOP stan days, was never all that invested in the band’s lore, damn, this album fucking slaps. TOP make a pivot into something more punk, and the result is really fucking great!! Tyler Joseph just hollers on some of these songs and his voice is incredibly potent. The album starts with the admittedly tired lyrical miracle shtick on “Overcompensate”, but Tyler Joseph pulls off this shtick way better than someone like NF or Logic. But then we swerve into the energetic punk “Next Semester” where Joseph starts hollering with impressive potency. But that’s nothing compared to the absolute monster of “Navigating”, which might just be the most I’ve enjoyed a Twenty One Pilots song since 2016, with Tyler Joseph’s most impressive vocal delivery in a while and the ridiculously energetic punk production. Even some of the songs on this album that aren’t very punk are quite solid. “Midwest Indigo” is another one of my favorite songs on this album. It feels like a bit of a throwback to “Tear In My Heart” from Blurryface - one of the few songs from Blurryface that I still think holds up - where as soon as the guitars and percussion start picking up a bit more momentum, it becomes really melodic indie rock. And “Oldies Station” is a pretty damn excellent slow burn-ish track that really shines when the guitars start to rev up. Okay, but where could this album go wrong? Is this album just great because of my personal nostalgia? Well, I do think every song here is at least good, but if you want to look at some of the good but not great songs, I guess let’s start with “Backslide”, where Tyler Joseph’s delivery isn’t flattered by the grooveless production, even if I think the melody is solid enough. Then there’s “Vignette”, where Tyler Joseph’s flow is actually quite solid but the instrumental feels repetitive and when Joseph goes into his falsetto it gets pretty grating. Then there’s “The Craving (Jenna’s Version)”, which for some reason is the version of “The Craving” on this album instead of the single version!! This version might be good, but making the arrangement so stripped back instead of the forceful indie rock of the single version honestly undercuts the emotion to me. So overall, yeah - this album is great, maybe a bit of a nostalgia trip to my 6th grade days, but it’s really good for it.

Best track: Navigating

HM (tie): Next Semester, Midwest Indigo, Oldies Station

“D”M: Backslide

“Worst” track: The Craving (Jenna’s Version)

53. Tyla - TYLA - 8/10

Genres: Contemporary R&B, Afropiano

So after Tyla really broke through this year with “Water” (a great song that in a weaker year for pop music would’ve likely been high on my best list), I was interested to see what her self-titled debut album delivered. And...yeah, this album is great. Tyla is incredibly expressive and the afropiano production throughout flatters her so well. It’s really lowkey and the shuffling patter of the percussion creates a sense of intimacy when paired with Tyla, who makes it very clear that she loves spending time with you. The best case of this on this album for me though, is “Breathe Me”, where Tyla just rides the pattering percussion that creates a relaxing vibe to make you feel at ease and it’s quite frankly a really hot song. This inviting intimate vibe is felt for the entire album, at least up until the Travis Scott remix of “Water” tacked on at the very end, which I do like just because the original song’s foundation is already really strong, but Travis Scott just doesn’t fit the vibe...like at all. But overall, this is a great album, it’s hot as hell. Give Tyla another hit!!

Best track: Breathe Me

HM (tie): No.1, Priorities

“D”M: Water - Remix

Worst track: Intro

54. Tyler, The Creator - CHROMAKOPIA - 8/10

Genres: West Coast Hip Hop, Neo-Soul, Hardcore Hip Hop, Neo-Psychedelia, Progressive Soul, Conscious Hip Hop, Synth Funk, Experimental Hip Hop

I gotta be honest, I didn’t know what to expect listening to a Tyler, The Creator album. I like “EARFQUAKE” a lot more than I did a few years ago, but I never really got why everyone loved it. Then “See You Again” with Kali Uchis went viral last year and I loved that. So I’d say overall, the trajectory in my opinion on Tyler, The Creator’s music is positive. So, what did CHROMAKOPIA give us? I’ll start by saying that this album feels pretty sonically diverse, from the psychedelic rock-leaning “Noid” to the more R&B leaning “Like Him” with Lola Young. And I feel that this album has a solid balance of heavy conscious hip hop with just straight bangers. We get a pregnancy scare told from the perspective of both partners on “Hey Jane”, which is immaculately written but maybe could’ve benefitted from another rapper or singer being on the track to better distinguish the perspectives. And on the same album we get “Sticky” with Glorilla, Sexxyy Red, and Lil Wayne where everyone sounds really sharp!! And “Thought I Was Dead” with Santigold and ScHoolboy Q is probably the hardest banger on the album thanks to every rapper putting their all into the song. Now, I do like every song on this album at least a bit, but “Judge Judy” has Tyler elongate the titular lyric and that can get a bit grating fast and “Like Him” with Lola Young feels a bit too sleepy for me, I don’t think Tyler’s strong suit is R&B honestly. But overall, this album is absolutely great - highly recommended!!

Best track: Hey Jane

HM (tie): Sticky, Thought I Was Dead, St. Chroma, Noid (but if I can only choose one I think I’d gravitate a bit more to “Thought I Was Dead”)

“D”M: Like Him

“Worst” track: Judge Judy

55. USHER - COMING HOME - 6/10

Genres: Contemporary R&B, Pop, Trap Soul

So...the album USHER dropped for his Super Bowl halftime show performance. I thought USHER’s performance was quite good at the time, but in hindsight, it doesn’t feel all that memorable. USHER’s show was far from the worst Super Bowl halftime show, he isn’t Maroon 5. So, COMING HOME, what did this R&B veteran give us? Okay, this album is decent, but I feel like you can hear Usher’s age throughout this album in a sense. This very much feels like an album made by a legend in the music industry that’s not close to his best but one where the singer brings just enough class and personality to make it a solid listen. I love the dancefloor synths and percussion on “Keep On Dancin’”, but admittedly USHER’s falsetto has somewhat taken a beating. But then we get a song like “A-Town Girl” with Latto, which I honestly am not sure if it’s supposed to intentionally sound bad or not, but USHER just doesn’t have the class to carry the blocky and stiff mess of a production, he just doesn’t sound all that loose or goofy on the song to make it fall into “so bad it’s good” territory and Latto’s flow feels too jerky. And then there’s just weird artistic decisions on “Cold Blooded” with The-Dream where the bass sounds like it was mic’d from a jet engine and The-Dream just sounds awful with all the distortion on his voice. And “BIG” feels like a bad retread of Timbaland and Justin Timberlake’s 2010 hit “Carry Out” with all the fast food sex imagery, and it somehow ends up worse than “Carry Out” because the production sounds so repetitive. But that’s all the stuff I don’t like about this album, what do I like? Well, I already said I love the dancefloor energy on “Keep On Dancin’”, but “On The Side” is a cheating song that USHER actually sells really well. He seems to at least be self-aware that this isn’t a good idea. And I think USHER sounds pretty damn great on “Room In A Room” and “One Of Them Ones” is a really pretty-sounding slow jam thanks to the melody as Usher rides the piano to create a really sensual atmosphere. And I think his remix of Jung Kook’s “Standing Next To You” is great as well; USHER proves that he can really sell nu disco, possibly even better than his club boom pivot in the early 2010s (sans “DJ Got Us Fallin’ In Love” - that song is a classic and you won’t change my mind). And I’ve always thought “Good Good” with Summer Walker and 21 Savage was a really mature song in a great way (the fact that it missed my best list this year is insane). So overall, my favorite USHER songs are the ones where he goes all in with full charisma and personality to make the track really go off at a club and this album doesn’t really have much of that. It’s decent, but none of the songs here are close to my favorites from him, though for what it is, it isn’t too shabby.

Best track: Keep On Dancin’

HM (tie): Good Good, On The Side, Room In A Room, One Of Them Ones, Standing Next To You - USHER Remix

DM: BIG

Worst track: A-Town Girl

56. Various Artists - Wicked: The Soundtrack - 7/10

Genres: Show Tunes, Film Soundtrack, Cinematic Classical, Pop Rock, Adult Contemporary

I mean, it technically counts for this article haha. I’ll try and keep this pretty brief because this really doesn’t give me much to say. It’s a soundtrack album for a great musical/movie and by nature the songs largely work better in the context of Wicked. Cynthia Elviro shows some impressive vocal range and Ariana Grande has pretty endearing theater girl energy (that really shouldn’t have surprised me so much when I first saw the movie considering she learned to sing as a theater kid lol). That’s really it, if you haven’t seen Wicked, you probably won’t have much for this album outside of “Defying Gravity”. But if you have seen the movie, you probably love this album as much as you loved the movie, if you did love it at all.

Best track: Defying Gravity (duh lol)

HM: Popular (I could’ve done a tie here but honestly “Popular” is the only other song here that could work well out of the context of the movie so it gets the sole position as my HM)

DM: Dear Old Shiz

Worst track: Ozdust Duet

57. ¥$: Kanye West & Ty Dolla $ign - Vultures 1 - 3/10

Genres: Pop Rap, Trap, Alternative R&B, Experimental Hip Hop, Hateful Garbage

You know, when this album dropped, I saw so many critics on YouTube outright refuse to review it. And I see their point and I really did ponder whether I should even be reviewing this shit at all. It’s not like Kanye, the antisemitic douche he is, is entitled to my (nonexistent) platform, especially on this album. But you know what, if I ignored this, it probably wouldn’t be as satisfying to any sane viewer of this blog. Let’s put the elephant in the room off to the side for now; this album is produced like absolute fucking shit. For a man who produced gems like “Find Your Love” by Drake and “All Of The Lights”, some of the songs on this album sound no exaggeration like Kanye was the monkey in this gif with two garbage can lids:

Especially on “Hoodrat” which might be the worst produced song on the entire album. Even some of the songs that aren’t like that, like “Burn” or “Good (Don’t Die)”, just never evolve or build up to anything. “Burn” just reminds me that there are way better songs called “Burn” I could listen to and “Good (Don’t Die)” is heavily built on a sample of Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love” but it doesn’t do anything WITH that sample!! This isn’t Daft Punk’s “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” being sampled in “Stronger” - Kanye literally does nothing with his Donna Summer interpolation!! It should be a testament to how terrible this album is that “Carnival” is probably one of the better songs on it! Then we get Kanye and Ty Dolla $ign. Ty Dolla $ign sounds like he couldn’t do anything here that another rapper couldn’t do better. And Kanye might blow Dolla $ign out of the water here in terms of engagement, but even then, this is a very far cry from his best performance, especially on “Paid”, where he quite frankly sounds like Young Thug from Temu. Then the content, and while I could highlight on “Paid” the titular lyric writes every joke possible, the truth is one singular lyric on the title track, “Vultures”, completely made me knock every song on this album half a star down, the line where he asks how he’s antisemitic if he fucked a Jewish bitch. I shouldn’t have to point out why this lyric is so very revealing of the lack of remorse Kanye has for being antisemitic, but I’ll just leave it at that’s basically the antisemitic version of “I’m not racist I have black friends”. All from a man who’s so full of himself that his profile picture on Spotify is a picture of a goat. And if you wanna make the argument of “oh, he’s just saying this to get attention”, sure, I guess you could make that argument. Never mind that during the most infamous antisemitic atrocity in history hundreds of thousands of “Jewish bitches” were fucked by antisemitic figures, nah fuck all that noise, Kanye is clearly a GOAT of hip hop! Obviously, a GOAT in hip hop knows how to choose their words intentionally and expertly to paint a poetic picture. Yes, Kanye is such a true hip hop GOAT that the biggest hit from this album had him compare himself to Puff Daddy, Bill Cosby, and R Kelly, you know, 3 figures whose careers were destroyed from SEX CRIMES. And I’m sorry, but it stops being about separating the art from the artist when in the art, the artist brings up the very thing they are considered problematic for and is plainly unremorseful for those actions. That lyric on “Vultures”, more than anything, is what made me realize that this is an album only meant for three groups of people - A) the edgy teenage whiteboys, B) the edgy teenage wannabe whiteboys, and C) the bigoted adults that have scarily not outgrown their edgy teenage whiteboy phase. If even now, after everything Kanye has done and said, you believe Kanye is the paradigm of what a GOAT should be, I hope you’re having a great life living on your lonely mountain of privilege where nothing and no one, not even the smallest sliver of empathy, can climb to the top of. Keep living in your delusional echo chambers thinking that this man who has lost all goodwill because of this terrible album is the only reason Taylor Swift is famous. Keep trying to placate anyone who dares step on your sacred ground of bigotry to question your consumption of bigoted material with “it’s just for the memes lol” and “lol ur triggered bro”. I hope you’re happy knowing that your bar for validation is so low that even if a clueless person like Oliver Anthony put antisemitic videos in a YouTube playlist, you still feel validated. And as for you, Kanye, good luck trying to defend the legacy you’ve built for yourself. Because with the trajectory you’re on, when the vultures inevitably swoop in to feast on the remains of that legacy, I think even they’d be disappointed by what they find. And in case you couldn’t tell, this is the worst album I’ve heard in years, fucking TERRIBLE. Skip this!!!!!!

“Best” track: Burn (ig?)

“H”M: Good (Don’t Die) (again, ig)

DM: Hoodrat

WORST TRACK: Vultures

58. Zach Bryan - The Great American Bar Scene  - 8/10

Genres: Singer-Songwriter, Americana, Red Dirt, Contemporary Folk, Heartland Rock, Alt-Country, Country Rock

So I liked Zach Bryan’s self-titled album last year but admittedly, it was held back from being truly great by a few lackluster compositions that put more focus on the songwriting, and as I said, to me, the music is more important than lyrics when evaluating a song. The Great American Bar Scene is an album that definitely has even better compositions while never straying too far away from that Americana sound. That said, there are a few surprising swerves, like getting Bruce Springsteen for a straight up Heartland Rock song on “Sandpaper” and Bryan proving to be a really potent rock singer. I honestly hope Bryan makes more songs like that, because “Sandpaper” is easily my favorite song on this album. So, it’s a great album, highly recommended!!

Best track: Sandpaper

HM (tie): Oak Island, The Way Back, Memphis; The Blues

“D”M: Lucky Enough (Poem)

Worst track: Like Ida

59. Zedd - Telos - 7/10

Genres: Dance-Pop, Electropop, House, Electro House, Nu-Disco

After 2017, Zedd has basically been trying to recapture the success of “Stay” by recycling his ticking clock sound in his music and even though I still love “Stay”, that ticking clock REALLY wore out its welcome in record time. Ergo, going into Telos, I wasn’t expecting it to be great or special. So...color me surprised that this album is actually pretty damn good!! Zedd mostly axed his ticking clock sound, or at least made it not sound as obvious. And there are a few surprises here, for better, like how Bea Miller actually sounded great on “Tangerine Rays” and “Shanti” being built off of an Indian chant and pulling it off way better than it really should, or for worse, like John fucking Mayer being featured on “Automatic Yes” and his voice sounding incredibly weak and not being able to pull off the repetition of the word “yes”. “1685” with Muse is another real head scratcher for me as Matt Bellamy’s voice is trying to sound ethereal but it just sounds like it’s out of a horror movie. But the real standout on this album is “Descensus” with Mesto and Dora Jar, where the dark synths really go off and I know that if that song gets thrown on at a Halloween party it’ll really slap. So overall, yeah, this is a pleasant surprise of an album. I like it quite a bit.

Best track: Descensus

HM (tie): Tangerine Rays, Dream Brother

DM: 1685

Worst track: Automatic Yes

And that’s about it! I know this went really long, but if you somehow read this article all the way through, good job and thank you haha. Other than that, my next article will probably be my roasting article, but then the door is wide open for next year!! Until then, remember to keep It Fire and Merry Christmas, Happy holidays, and happy new year to you all!! See you in 2025!!