Taylor Swift - Folklore/Evermore: Taylor Swift is done pandering to an older version of herself. The chart-topping sensation is now 31 — almost double the age she had been when she released her first album at 16. So naturally her two surprise albums, ‘folklore’ and ‘evermore’, lean heavily into a subtler, more mature sound (including the first f-bombs of her career, which she said felt “[expletive] fantastic”), as Swift dabbles in a poetic exploration of pop, folk and indie rock, underpinned by her country roots. Swift sticks to her minimalist ways of recounting her great loves and worst heartbreaks. These 31 tracks (not counting bonus tracks) also feature beautifully fitting appearances from Bon Iver, The National and HAIM. A perfect winter listen.
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Shawn Mendes - Wonder: Shawn Mendes has a beautiful mind a fantastic voice to go with it, resulting in emotionally provocative pop music in the past. That being said, ‘Wonder’ is all over the place, and Mendes’ vulnerability feels more performative than instinctual. Experimenting with different styles, from gospel to EDM, it’s clear that the Canadian crooner has a lot he’d like to express as an artist. But, while there are several stand-out tracks, ‘Wonder’ would have benefited from a more cohesive vision.
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Ariana Grande - Positions: Her most risqué album yet, Ariana Grande cleanses herself from haters to embrace her truest energy on ‘Positions’, shunning the public image of her as a young Disney artist once and for all, and embracing her newfound position as a siren of pop music. Grande’s music is joyful and self-loving, as she sings about her own purified aura on ‘Just Like Magic’. More importantly, this album sounds like it was written by Grande for Grande — an ode to her ability to overcome great grief only to reclaim her carefree happiness and sensuality in the glare of the public eye.
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Yungblud - Weird!: Yungblud is the face of youthful pop punk in 2020: a movement onto himself. The Yorkshire rocker’s swashbuckling rebelliousness, his unapologetically frank lyricism and his in-your-face fashion aesthetic appeals to a portion of restless listeners at a time when everything can tend to sound — and look — pretty much the same. weird! is a loud, audacious and brash ode to the misfit who would rather shoot off to Mars than spend another groundhog day on Earth — at the same time, the titular track offers solace in the the idea that, maybe, things will turn out okay right where you are.
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Juice WRLD - Legends Never Die: Juice WRLD’s posthumous album ‘Legends Never Die’ is tough to listen to but impossible to turn away from. The late, young rapper, who died this year, pours his heart out about love, heartbreak, confusion and addiction, moulding a new space for emo rappers in the contemporary music scene. Many of the songs sound like cries for help, and while it’s heart-wrenching in the aftermath of his death, one has to be grateful for Juice WRLD’s artistic courage while he was alive.
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DaBaby - Blame it on Baby: The charts didn’t know what hit them when DaBaby came on the scene, bringing a fresh voice, catchy hooks and the kind of songs we had on repeat before we even realised it. His third album ‘Blame it on Baby’ is a mixed bag, with some bangers and some snoozers. But it shows that DaBaby is not the kind of artist to take a backseat in a year like 2020, keeping himself in the spotlight even in quarantine.
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Paul McCartney - McCartney III: Written by, played by, recorded by, and produced by Macca — in the tradition of all other ‘McCartney’ albums before it — ‘McCartney III’ is testament to the living legend that is McCartney. There’s something so irresistible about the opening notes ‘Long Tailed Winter Bird’, leading us into the incredible musical mind of a man who has been playing around in this art form for nearly 60 years. With an abundance of uptempo pop tracks and raw, delicate vocals, McCartney clearly doesn’t think slowing down is for grown-ups, showing us Maya Angelou was right when she said: “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.”
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Pop Smoke - Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon: Pop Smoke’s posthumous album is tragically his debut record. It went to No 1 on the Billboard 200 on its opening week, and showcased Smoke’s capabilities as an innovative, versatile artist, his smoky vocals underpinning his sweltering trap stylings. Packed with features — from Quavo and Da Baby to Roddy Ricch, Swae Lee and Future — it was clear that there was an entire industry that believed in Smoke’s talent, for good reason.
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Machine Gun Kelly - Tickets to My Downfall: Where has this MGK been hiding all along? The rapper drops all pretences of being a hip hop artist on ‘Tickets to My Downfall’, his first full pop punk album, giving into the guitar-driven, pop rock influences that helped shape his sonic style. And it’s gloriously fun. For all those yearning for the early 2000s rock scene, this (and Yungblud’s ‘Weird!’) is your best bet. MGK does indulge in a lot of gratuitous repetition, which can get irritating by song 12, but with Travis Barker writing/producing — and an unmistakable taste of Blink-182 in these angsty tracks — ‘Tickets to My Downfall’ is a boisterous, hugely listenable affair.
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Bruce Springsteen - Letter to You: A storyteller through and through, Bruce Springsteen still knows how to tug at your heartstrings. Starting with the understated, quietly heartbreaking ‘One Minute You’re Here’, his voice barely backed up by a tinkling of finger-picked guitar, Springsteen sets the mood for a poignant and heartfelt, if short album (12 tracks). Of course the Boss gives us an abundance of big, uptempo anthems, too — but some of our favourite moments are when he lets his full voice take centre-stage.
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Post Malone - Hollywood is Bleeding: Love him or hate him, Post Malone had one of the strongest records this year. Mixing hip hop, pop and suggestions of rock, ‘Hollywood is Bleeding’ is exactly the kind of polished, emotive, cross-genre album that listeners seem to be hungry for in 2020. I mean, who else could pull off a track featuring Ozzy Osbourne and Travis Scott?
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Jhene Aiko - Chilombo: Jhene Aiko delivers a largely satisfying break-up album, juxtaposing explicit and frank lyricism against sugared melodies and her own dreamy vocals. Chilombo also features appearances from Big Sean, Future, Miguel and more.
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Lauv - How I’m Feeling: Lauv is our go-to contemporary emo pop star, mastering the art of fashionably sad songwriting while retaining a strong identity as an artist. This vulnerable, tongue-in-cheek album is a relatable, refreshingly conversational and sonically fulfilling affair that’s right on time in the age of oversharing on your Finsta account.
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Riz Ahmed - The Long Goodbye: Riz Ahmed breaks himself open on this brutally forthright break-up album; but, he isn’t grieving the loss of a woman here. Far more profound and scarring, he’s splitting up with post-Brexit Britain. On tracks like ‘Any Day’, ‘Fast Lava’ and ‘Can I Live’, the British poet and rapper of Pakistani origin paints with furious strokes a disgraced racist landscape that has chewed him up, spit him out and left him for dead. Voicemails from celebrity friends, including Mindy Kaling, Mahershala Ali, and Hasan Minhaj (even Ahmed’s mum) will give you a chance to breathe.
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Selena Gomez - Rare: While Selena Gomez promised that ‘Rare’ would dive into her personal ups and downs over the past few years, ‘Rare’ leaves something to be desired as far as ‘baring it all’ goes. You get the feeling Gomez’s experiences have gone through several filters only to be wrapped up in gleaming production. Gomez undoubtedly delivers solid pop tracks, but they make for easy background listening, rather than the kind of gripping catharsis Gomez is no doubt capable of.
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Halsey - Manic: Halsey’s ‘Manic’ is an ode to the singer’s 2000 pop-rock influences, taking those chaotic, daring, ultra-personal, and sometimes self-pitying lyrical cues from contemporary pop-punk bands — think Fall Out Boy or My Chemical Romance — and delivering her own take. Some pop stars will offer a window into their lives, but Halsey breaks in the door. Managing to be both imaginative and stripped back, serious and fun, Halsey is a rare breed of pop-rocker in today’s carefully curated and over-produced radio feed.
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Mac Miller - Circles: From the first note of Miller’s muddled delivery on opening track ‘Circles’, the pain of his loss lights up, like salt in a wound. The singer-songwriter’s sixth album, released posthumously, sees Miller reiterate his ability to hypnotise and mesmerise and bewitch with his heavy and unhurried vocal delivery, taking us on a meaningful journey that is as effortlessly vulnerable as it is sonically inventive. “I ain’t politicking, I ain’t kissing no babies,” Miller proclaims, making clear his position — not a public figure, but a private artist with a public platform.
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Justin Bieber - Changes: There was so much potential for Justin Bieber to give us something memorable; this is his first album in five (pretty eventful) years. But, while 2015’s ‘Purpose’ altered the route of pop music and set the bar for Bieber’s peers, the bar drops right back down with ‘Changes’, a watery, mediocre offering that sounds more like a collection of B-sides than it does a new phase of a formidable pop star.
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BTS - Map of the Soul: 7: BTS’ fourth consecutive album to go to No 1 in America, ‘Map of the Soul: 7’ is irrevocably fun and masterfully curated. BTS have proven themselves kings of fresh and catchy pop, hitting the genre from every angle. Here, the South Korean group foray into a variety of sonic soundscapes from doors that are no doubt familiar, yet somehow, feel like they’d never been opened before.
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Megan Thee Stallion - Suga (EP): At nine songs long, Suga seems long for an EP, short for an album. But really ‘Suga’ says exactly what it needs to say in under 30 minutes — Thee Stallion is a law unto herself here, unbothered, unfiltered, unstoppable. Her flow is cold and hard, her lyricism forthright and unambiguous as she explores her sensuality. Plus, she delivers gems that even her detractors can learn from, like: “Another [expletive] shining ain’t gonna dim my light.”
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The Weeknd - After Hours: Abel Tesfaye takes his usual brand of overindulgence and excess dressed up in a mould of alternative R’n’B and sprinkles it with electro-pop musings. While the mild reinvention of his sound swept in much praise at first, ‘After Hours’ leaves a lacklustre aftertaste and may not enjoy the memorability and longevity of some of The Weeknd’s previous efforts.
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Dua Lipa - Future Nostalgia: Compared to her inoffensive but forgettable debut, Dua Lipa’s sophomore effort ‘Future Nostalgia’ is a bold reawakening. Lipa is more confident and self-assured than ever. Her vocals are smoky rich but liable to breaking like a wafer at any moment in a bizarrely satisfying way. A cohesive, pulsating, disco-tinged dance-pop album that marks a second coming of a pop star who’s not afraid to broaden her horizons.
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Fiona Apple - Fetch the Bolt Cutters: Fiona Apple’s diary-like musings, pliable vocals and love of over-the-top theatrics give shape to humour and heartbreak on ‘Fetch the Bolt Cutters’. Using GarageBand and leaving in unedited, sprawling takes, the singer-songwriter wades through the good and bad. Bursting with first-hand accounts and everyday percussive sounds, ‘Fetch…’ is vivid enough to warrant an off-Broadway dramedy.
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Hayley Williams - Petal for Armor: Split into three sections of five songs each, ‘Petal For Armor’ is Hayley Williams’ first solo album, away from the pop-punk Paramore. Williams bares herself at her quietest, most restrained, possibly most vulnerable; the album is a spacious canvas for Williams to travel across, flicking a speck of calm blue paint in one corner and smearing a handful of angry red in another. A bravely stripped back yet rich effort from one of the generations most energetic songstresses.
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Kehlani - It Was Good Until It Wasn’t: Cohesive and with a strong point of view, Kehlani is at her most compelling on her alt-R‘n’B offering ‘It Was Good Until It Wasn’t’. Using candour and her smoggy vocals to track the gritty breakdown of a relationship, Kehlani dives right in and holds back nothing with album-opener ‘Toxic’, then traverses the dips and peaks of a lost love.
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Charli XCX - How I’m Feeling Now: In case you missed it, Charli XCX made ‘quarantine album’ a thing. The singer-songwriter decided to put out an 11-track pop album tracking her lockdown feelings; but, don’t let that fool you. There’s nothing quiet or subtle about ‘How I’m Feeling Now’; if anything, it uses distortion, electronic chaos and blaring melodic declarations to pulls us right out of the monotony we’re stuck in.
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KSI - Dissimulation: Sonically diverse and lyrically tight, KSI’s debut album ‘Dissimulation’ is a massive step forward for the UK rapper’s credibility. A member of the comedic YouTube crew ‘Sidemen’, KSI first gained celeb status as a vlogger. He’s become known as the guy who boxed Logan Paul. But the rapper has always had his head in the rap game and has now evolved his antagonising flow to a new degree on ‘Dissimulation’, showcasing his own growth and confidence. With features from heavy-hitters such as Offset, Rick Ross, Jeremih and Lil Pump, it’s no wonder ‘Dissimulation’ debuted at No 2 on the UK album charts.
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Lady Gaga - Chromatica: If there was any doubt that disco-pop is making a comeback, Lady Gaga puts it to rest with ‘Chromatica’ — a fully nostalgic, yet totally inventive synth-infused album that lyrically encompasses Gaga’s search for freedom, and melodically, her desire to always reinvent her sound. The album is cohesive, fun and danceable, which for Gaga, tends to be a killer combo.
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Chloe x Halle - Ungodly Hour: The 28-second intro sets the mood for the rest of the album, featuring the opening lyrics: “Don’t ever ask for permission, ask for forgiveness,” against an angelic chorus of oohs. The R‘n’B album explores spirituality and sin and marks a new phase for sisters Chloe and Halle (it’s their second album) as they explore a more mature sound and subject matter. One thing remains: their voices are as chillingly captivating as ever.
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Lil Uzi Vert - Eternal Atake: ‘Eternal Atake’ is an 18-track galactic adventure grounded in Uzi’s eclectic brain. The 25-year-old artist comes in strong on his second album, energetic and impatient in one breath, before momentarily slowing down to soak in his own emotion on the next. One of the best-selling albums of the year in America, ‘Eternal Atake’ is ambitious, assertive and personal, as Uzi shows he’s unafraid to drop by different planets on his journey home.
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Bob Dylan - Rough and Rowdy Ways: Bob Dylan’s croaky, fragile and delightfully matured voice is a salve for the soul at a time when very little feels solid and absolutely nothing feels whimsical. There’s a transportive quality to Dylan’s blues and folk offerings — whether you’re a diehard or casual admirer, maybe even a nonbeliever, the 79-year-old singer-songwriter finds a way to anchor you to him. Releasing his first album in eight years, Dylan makes up for lost time with single track runtimes as long as 17 minutes.
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John Legend - Bigger Love: ‘Bigger Love’ is exactly what it says — an all-encompassing album where Legend’s versatile vocal performance is backed with upbeat and uplifting sonics that spell out love without having to say it out loud.
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