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Celeb News: Pitchfork's 50 Best Albums of 2014
ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 9/2/2011
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Pitchfork's 50 Best Albums of 2014
Full List
Some of ATRL's faves:
46. Ariana Grande - My Everything
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Ariana Grande was unstoppable this year. The former Nickelodeon star conquered the radio, the charts, the tabloids, the TV circuit, and the meme factories, ascending from Victoria Justice/Miranda Cosgrove purgatory to the Katy/Miley/Gaga A-list on the strength of a powerhouse voice and a charmingly goofy off-mic persona. In a single week this fall, she duetted with Little Big Town on the CMA Awards, partnered with Major Lazer on Lorde’s Hunger Games soundtrack, and gyrated with the Weeknd in the "Love Me Harder" video. Girl was everywhere. But what a delight it was having this pint-sized, big-haired, dimple-cheeked, cat-eared, not-a-girl-not-yet-a-woman in our lives. My Everything was a time capsule of the year in chart pop: the Max Martin-fueled saxobeat riot of "Problem" (with ubiquitous Iggy Azalea feature), the Zedd-fueled arena-EDM rocket blast of "Break Free", the Ryan Tedder-fueled power ballad "Why Try". There’s even a DJ Mustard nod in the "Hands on Me" breakdown, for maximum 2014-ness. Holding it all together were those octave-leaping pipes, as Ariana carried on the vintage Mariah/Xtina tradition of sharp, streetwise divadom.
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36. Tinashe - Aquarius
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The sort of slow, churning R&B popularized by Drake and adopted by scores of underground singers and producers around the globe finally delivers its first front-to-back great album with Tinashe’s Aquarius. How did she get it so right? By taking cues from that aesthetic but not letting it define her. The record is submerged in beats that slur and slosh, with Tinashe’s breathy vocals never sinking too deep. This is a decidedly of-the-moment LP, but it succeeds the same way any good R&B album does: with generous songwriting and strong singing. "2 On", one of the finest singles of the year, is instructive in this sense—every part of the song is sung so distinctly that it feels like the choruses of a bunch of tracks were ripped away and fused together.
It’s easy to let your head swim through Aquarius, but Tinashe announces herself as its centerpiece throughout, from her slight falsetto on the slippery "Feels Like Vegas" to the '90s throwback belter "Thug Cry". And on an album this consistent, it’s fitting that she saves the best for track 16, the flickering piano ballad "Bated Breath", where she unleashes a series of runs on the phrase "all alone" that are as boldly emotional as any other diva’s. Aquarius is the muted thump of Soundcloud dreams, but so much more.
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31. Taylor Swift - 1989
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Even in its self-contradictions, 1989 is generous: is there anything more riveting than a Type A person’s "**** it" phase? Of course the grand acts of big city rebellion on Taylor Swift’s fifth album are hilariously PG: "Oh yeah? You think I’m demure? Well how ‘bout I cut up this shirt?" The entire premise—that 1989 is Swift’s "first official, documented pop album"—rests on a similarly crafty fallacy, that her catalog hasn’t been shaped by whip-smart pop instincts all along. It’s that patented humblebrag pantomime again: "Little ol’ me? A pop star?"
It’s so perfect, though—that Swift’s big-deal stylistic pivot is, in fact, utterly un-transgressive. In reality, 1989 isn’t such a departure from the glossier moments of Red: conversational but crisp, informed but not steered by Max Martin, yuppie in spite of a preoccupation with social hierarchy. Still, if Swift insists she is now a pop star, let it be known that she does "pop star" better than any of her peers, with the knowing passive-aggression of a student who’d rather quietly carry a group project than tell her classmates they’re doing it all wrong. This strategic coyness can be Swift’s most maddening quality, but on 1989, she owns it unlike ever before, popping the Chandon with a big ol’ wink for all the Crazy Bitches to clink to the douchebags’ toasts. She’s harnessed the power of her all-consuming self-awareness, investing in the meme economy with quivering poker-face, her returns matched only by Drake’s: if they hate, then let ‘em hate, and watch the "basic bitch" think pieces pile up. Is there any doubt she knew full well, on "Blank Space", how uncannily "long list of ex-lovers" sounded like "lonely Starbucks lovers"?
Those who accuse Swift of ironing out her narratives on 1989 aren’t wrong: those efficiently personal details once stitched into her songwriting have been democratized. But it’s unrealistic to frame this as selling out. (Taylor Swift does not sell out. She sells more.) Maybe, instead, it’s the realization that obsessive mythologizing of past and future is way less fun than having tons of sex and carting your cat around New York City. To be clear: "Global Welcome Ambassador" Swift’s New York is not the city where you buy loosies from the corner bodega, and it is certainly not the city where police murdered Eric Garner in cold blood for allegedly selling them. Swift’s New York involves some tricky camera angles: a close-up of the festive Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, the surrounding protest signs conveniently just out of frame. It would be silly to consider her penthouse view as anything other than what it is: a commercial. But, whoopsy daisy! Wouldn’t you know it? She’s better than everybody at those, too. —Meaghan Garvey
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27. YG - My Crazy Life
25. Azealia Banks - Broke With Expensive Taste
23. Lykke Li - I Never Learn
22. Future Islands - Singles
17. Flying Lotus - You're Dead!
16. St. Vincent - St. Vincent
14. Real Estate - Atlas
11. Perfume Genius - Too Bright
5. Grouper - Ruins
4. Aphex Twin - Syro
3. The War On Drugs - Lost In The Dream
2. FKA Twigs - LP1
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FKA twigs’ LP1 reflected the mood of its times. While there’s nothing explicitly about The World here—the centers of action on LP1 are almost entirely corporeal—the themes of this myopically personal album echo social and cultural dramas that ran through the whole of 2014. The emotional morass, the fixed misery, the desperation for recognition, the dignifying power of love and respect, a quest for pleasure that never ebbs—twigs is pleading the modern condition, as well as her own.
Nevertheless, the quiet, sensual revelations came cooing like they were dispatched in a post-coital haze, doling directions, requests, and a map of her fantasies in percussive coos that are 85% sigh. The album orbits from bed to head and back again, though she’s often alone, giving light to the topography of her needs, nasty or otherwise. Even when she sings of being together, as on “Two Weeks”, it’s only in her brain, distilling a freaky tableau vivant she is trying to put into someone else’s head; it’s certainly the slinkiest zipless **** 2014 offered. But it’s not some baby-making you-and-me all night long love, it’s very much individuals working towards a connection that they know is doomed.
And ultimately, at its sinewy, sub-bass-laced heart, LP1 writhes in its doom. The lo-bpm R&B futurism of the production matches the album’s fixed circuit of feeling, it’s airless and without anchor, leaving space for twigs voice between dense clouds of synthetic boom. It is a testament to her vulnerability and vision that a listen to LP1 puts us into another world—down in the fetid depths of her depression and desire. —Jessica Hopper
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1. Run The Jewels - Run The Jewels 2
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Member Since: 1/2/2014
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2. LP1
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Member Since: 6/5/2012
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Tinashe 
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Member Since: 9/13/2012
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I will never understand Pitchfork's hard-on for Ariana. Like, it's just them. None of the other big sites stan for her like they seem to
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Member Since: 1/3/2014
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1989 was the only album I truly enjoyed. Thank God its on the list.
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ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 9/2/2011
Posts: 21,728
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I'm ecstatic and surprised at the 1989 mention!
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Member Since: 5/9/2012
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Taylor. 
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Still, if Swift insists she is now a pop star, let it be known that she does "pop star" better than any of her peers
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What kind of hot tea? 
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Member Since: 3/2/2014
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From a Billboard writer:
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Jason Lipshutz @jasonlipshutz 8 minutes ago
Huh. Well! Pitchfork put "1989" at No. 31 on its album list, without ever reviewing it or anything else Taylor Swift has ever put out.
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slay ha
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Member Since: 1/8/2012
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Azealia, Queen of critical acclaim 
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Member Since: 1/3/2014
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43.Freddie Gibbs & Madlib - Pinata
35. Shabazz Palaces - Lese Majesty
29. How to Dress Well - What is This Heart?
27. YG - My Krazy Life
25. Azealia Banks - Broke With Expensive Taste
23. Lykke Li - I Never Learn
22. Future Islands - Singles
20. Vince Staples - Hell Can Wait
19. Sharon Van Etten - Are We There
17. Flying Lotus - You're Dead
16. St. Vincent - St. Vincent
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Nice.
And I'm feeling the whole top 10, especially Ariel Pink, twigs and Run the Jewels (#1).
Lmao @ Rich Gang tho
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Member Since: 8/17/2013
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The ATRL critics choice awards were pretty close to this.
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Member Since: 9/13/2012
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let it be known that she does "pop star" better than any of her peers, with the knowing passive-aggression of a student who’d rather quietly carry a group project than tell her classmates they’re doing it all wrong.
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So perfectly put.
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Member Since: 8/19/2013
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crying @ pitchfork stanning 1989. great list!
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Member Since: 8/19/2013
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Quote:
Originally posted by dangerouslush
From a Billboard writer:
slay ha |
They put YBWM on their 2009 year-end, WANEGBT on their best of decade list, Style/OOTW on their 2014 year-end, and now 1989 on their 2014 album year-end. Yet they refuse to review any of her singles or albums. What kind of ********? At least they rightfully give it a high spot on their ranking.
Love this though:
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Still, if Swift insists she is now a pop star, let it be known that she does "pop star" better than any of her peers, with the knowing passive-aggression of a student who’d rather quietly carry a group project than tell her classmates they’re doing it all wrong.
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Congrats to Tinashe and Lykke as well! Well deserved.
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Member Since: 12/3/2010
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Mariah getting snubbed even after they gave her a 7.7 like that other girl. 
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Member Since: 6/19/2012
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Not them placing it that high after paying it dust
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The Beyoncé snub! 
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