- Jump Rope Gazers, The Beths (6.3 on Pitchfork)
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Starting off with some sad quarantine music: a deeply sad breakup album that somehow is mostly just jams. This album is a perfect mix of bops to spiral to (I’m Not Getting Excited & Don’t Go Away) and sad songs to an ex (You Are a Beam of Light & Just Shy of Sure). Okay, yes, the breakup album is a standard, but this consistently hits the mark.
- Dedicated Side B, Carly Rae Jepsen (6.9 on Pitchfork)
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Look at that! Even Carly Rae Jepsen’s B-sides are on an unmatched level of quality. The 80s love of This Love Isn’t Crazy is a perfect intro to this album, but there are more hidden gems. The two songs with the same lyrics (Felt This Way & Stay Away) are a delightful combo, and I can never decide which one I vibe with more. There’s the entertaining and seductive Summer Love, and the Bleachers-featuring Comeback. By the time the album ends on the calming, gentle love of Now I Don’t Hate California After All, Dedicated Side B completely wins you over.
- Bad Vacation, Liza Anne (not reviewed)
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An album containing the actual song title I Shouldn’t Ghost My Therapist, this album focuses on almost over-confession, but in such a sardonic tone it never feels overwhelming. Introducing itself with Bad Vacation, a strangely happy kiss-off that equates an ex to sand in ice cream, this album never ceases to be a fun listen. For such a sad summer, the confused sadness of Bummer Days and maybe-unrequited love of I Wanna Be There feel perfectly appropriate. The offbeat delivery of lines like “desire feels like too much tequila” from Desire sticks in my head on replay. Every song perfectly conveys a sense of chaos, until the contrasting calm of final track Too Soon.
- SAWAYAMA, Rina Sawayama (7.7 on Pitchfork)
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I know everyone knows XS from TikTok, but I have unironically listened to it hundreds of times in the last three months. This album is absolutely chock-full of bops, but also brilliant commentary on politics of excess. It’s in the music itself; it’s purposefully over-the-top, fluffy but never unlistenable. Starting out with the strong anger of STFU, the gender commentary of Comme Des Garcons, and satirized wealth of XS, and transitioning to the badassery of Who’s Gonna Save U Now?, emotional realness of Bad Friend, and vulnerability of Chosen Family. So much music is trying to have the power of Marina’s Electra Heart, and yet only the song XS is succeeding.
- La Vita Nuova EP, Christine & the Queens (7.8 on Pitchfork)
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Perhaps this is an EP, but it’s some of my favorite music of the year. The casual depression of People, I’ve been sad perfectly fits the vibe of this year, but the real hits come in the uncritical one-sided love of I disappear in your arms, and of La vita nuova’s crowning lyric of “I don’t give a damn / until you don’t give a hand.” The excellent MVs, featuring Caroline Polachek, are just a bonus.
- Future Nostalgia, Dua Lipa (7.5 on Pitchfork)
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This year produced a lot of good… (checks notes) 80s-inspired pop? No, seriously. This album is so tight, with every song keeping your entertainment and interest. While the album starts with unabashed confidence of the title track and Don’t Start Now, songs like Love Again and Break My Heart bring in a sense of vulnerability and emotional realness. Her falsetto perfectly completes Cool; her sultry low voice hits perfectly on songs like Good In Bed.
- Ungodly Hour, Chloe x Halle (7.7 on Pitchfork)
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I just listened to this and I am deeply obsessed with it. This album perfects the art of kiss-offs (Forgive Me) and girl power anthems (Baby Girl), but the highlights are the storytelling songs: songs about killing your exes (Tipsy) and being the other woman (Wonder What She Thinks of Me). Even in all of this, songs like Lonely feel like a warm hug. Every song feels distinct, but the vibe is 100% cohesive. The repeated holy imagery, excellent production, and the god-tier (ha) singing all top off one of the best albums of the year.
- Women in Music Pt. III, HAIM (8.6 on Pitchfork)
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This album has a song for every one of my moods. Some tracks are a sense of empowered dancing off my sadness (The Steps). Most tracks, though, work in an odd blend of happy sounds and sad lyrics. I Know Alone attempts to find joy in solitude; Don’t Wanna begs a lover not to make her give up; intro track Los Angeles is both an ode to a city and a diss to it. Up From a Dream, one of my personal favorites, talks about the liminal space between sleep and wake, made far more effective by the end-of-the-song alarm’s revelation that this is, in fact, still a dream. And highlight track Man from the Magazine goes over the experience of a man asking sexual questions. “You expect me to deal with it till I’m perfectly numb” sticks in my head every day, as does the track’s excellent last line (listen). All in all, it’s a pitch perfect album with so many hits absolute bops I can barely go through them all.
- folklore, Taylor Swift (8.0 on Pitchfork)
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Highlights: Okay, everyone is going to kill me for not putting this higher, and yes I love it. Maybe I just don’t want to put it first because everyone else will and I’m pretentious. From sad goodbyes (august), to final kiss offs (my tears ricochet), to romantic anthems (betty). She unpacks her own role as the one who tries (this is me trying, mirrorball) and the one who stays longer than she should (hoax). It’s primarily a breakup album in lyrics, but plays with the structure so much that it’s easy to forget. This album truly doesn’t have skips, and I’m so glad I can once again say that I listen to Taylor Swift without anyone making fun of me for it.
- Punisher, Phoebe Bridgers (8.7 on Pitchfork)
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What is there to say about this absolute masterpiece, besides that I find the concept of saltines romantic now? This is a gorgeous album, varying between intense breakup songs (ICU) and gorgeously understated love songs (Graceland Too). The first time I heard the song Savior Complex, I honestly felt like someone had peered into my soul and just wrote down my feelings. The album starts on an eerie bop (Garden Song) and ends on a literal scream (I Know the End), but keeps the sound between the capstones diverse. Phoebe Bridgers has always been So Good, but I adored this.
Honorable Mentions:
color theory, Soccer Mommy
Use Me, PVRIS
Under My Influence, The Aces
kelsea, Kelsea Ballerini
A State of Living in Objective Reality EP, Eliza & the Delusionals