[AlexisNeiers]

Myślałem, że i For All We Know i Nightride będą nieco lepsze, ale i tak mi się całkiem podobały

People are always complaining about how manufactured and "made only for money!!!11one" pop nowadays is but to be fair, this may just as well apply to modern rock. It's an extremely boring, devoid of any emotion and passion genre right now, just look at all those poorly executed ~stadium-anthems-wannabe tracks becoming hits.

This tea

Paradise było bardziej dopracowane niż Deep Fantasy, ale chyba jednak wolę to drugie. Z resztą oba są świetne, więc nie będę narzekać

[Ewan Chaos]

Awesome write up for NAO's album, and I actually really really love pretty much every song you talked about in it too.

Cute write up for that White Lung album too, but it didn't do much for me!

[TheWayWeWere]

I don't really like anything from this set but Nightride has some good songs on it

[madonnas]

My fave from this set is Nao. It's samey but I couldn't call it boring or anything. She at least has a unique sound to it.

[AshleeSimpsonFan]

Need to check out the last entries

[Tom Vercetti]

Like these three. Glad you really enjoyed Nightride cuz I'm a fan of it myself.

[MP2K]

Nao + Tinash?

In late 2016 ~alternative R&B is a bit of a redundant genre. We have all these random girls trying with minimalistic beats and electronic productions trying way too hard to be edgy to mediocre results...

Name names

[K$Ellie]

Girlfriend is cute but I find her vocals a biT annoying
Nightride had some great songs like Company and Ghetto Boy but it's nowhere near as good as Aquarius

[Kingie]

For All We Know was one of the few western albums I listened to this year (and liked!), but I didn't come back to it much because it was just a bit too cohesive to have standouts, and I'm not one for listening to full albums in one playthrough.

I consider myself a Tinashe stan but I've still only heard half of Nightride, Aquarius seemed better to me

[thecptz]

haven't heard these albums but i'm sure that it's good!

[bluth]

nao + tinashe <3 love seeing sunburn as your pick from nightride too.

[August]

Yas, Tinashe! I loved a lot of NAO's other stuff that I should probably check out here 2016 stuff, not sure how I haven't gotten to it yet.

[Eeveelution]

In late 2016 ~alternative R&B is a bit of a redundant genre. We have all these random girls trying with minimalistic beats and electronic productions trying way too hard to be edgy to mediocre results...

You, better lash those Weaker Girls, sis!

Obvs love NAO, Nightride wasn't great but it was another solid project from Tanisha. White Lung was strangely boring for me but then again I still haven't given it that second listen dd.

[Vilppu]

fff I need to finally get my ass to finish this, I'm dreading writing the alberns descriptions. Anyway, how were y'all's Christmases, I hope everyone was enjoying themselves



12. Alicia Keys - Here

From pregnancy with her second child to the Black Lives Matter, Alicia Keys couldn't complain about a lack of inspiration while creating Here. No wonder it's the album she finished the most quickly and, well, easily her most mature and strongest body of work in over a decade.

It's the first but certainly not the last album addressing black life in America (what's more, black woman's life in America) in this countdown and I honestly find it hard to write about those. It's not a situation I can relate to and I do not want to come off as insensitive. With that in mind, Alicia's lyrics may sometimes feel a bit awkward (e.g. Holy War is a nice idea but could have been executed in a less obvious, more touching way) but they're definitely authentic. After a few years of singing cliched love songs almost exclusively, it feels great to see Alicia trying to make a more significant, stronger statement. On Here we see her at her most vulnerable and, surprisingly, most restrained which only gives her music more power.

Even if we forgot all about the lyrical side of the record though, sonically it's fantastic as well. At its best, it almost feels like a slightly modernized version of The Diary of Alicia Keys, arguably her best (or maybe now her second-best?) album to date, at its worst, it's still a fairly enjoyable record providing decent melodies. There is a lot of variety and from the excellent, New York-ish She Don't Really Care / 1 Luv, through the subtly electronic slow burner Where Do We Begin Now and the emotional centrepiece Illusion of Bliss to the stripped down acoustic ballad Kill Your Mama, Alicia seems to excel at every type of sound.



nice cover tbh but are there any yt vids with official audio for Blonde sings?

11. Frank Ocean - Blonde

Hm, a bit low to think of it, Vilppu from a few months ago is disappointed. I do admit that I wanted to like it a bit more than I actually do, you know, the hype of Frank Ocean finally releasing after such a drought, the long-awaited follow-up to one of the best albums of the 2010s, channel ORANGE, was finally out. While I dropped Endless almost instantly, I spent a lot of hours with Blonde. So yeah, in December I can admit, it's not the masterpiece I thought it'd be but it's still damn great.

At the same time Blonde is both more and less experimental and adventurous than channel ORANGE. The songs are less instant, a lot of them are pretty slow, low-key and blend into one another. In spite of Ocean covering lots of ground and various genres, it also seems much less varied, in favour of consistency and coherence. It's moody and introverted, as if Frank released the record not for us but for himself. And while I admire his ambition, as well as the professional execution, it just feels a bit overbearing in parts, at least for me.

But enough about the drawbacks, the album does have quite a lot of advantages, hence why it's here. First of all: I love Frank's delivery. Some may say his voice is monotonous and one-dimensional but it fits the musical background perfectly, giving it additional depth. Secondly: I'm not often touched by songs' lyrics but some of the more romantic parts here did get to me. They're just so beautiful and... pure. Finally, some of these melodies, my God. Pink + White is easily one of the most soothing and pleasing songs I've heard this year, Nights with all its changes flows seamlessly, the Beatles sample in White Ferrari is perfectly placed and well, nobody else could create something as breath-takingly stunning as Self Control's second half. Nobody.

[Tom Vercetti]

Your paragraphs makes me feel so lazy

Anyway, I tried with Here and that's where it counts for me. Like your description of Blonde. It truly isn't instant but it's a worthwhile experience.

[Navyofbadgals]

HERE

[Ivan]

Alicia is amazing

[Ewan Chaos]

Good write-up of Blonde, and I'm similar in not really caring much for it (at least in comparison of Channel Orange). Pink + White & Self Control are great picks - AND NO you will only find covers on YT

Didn't listen to Alicia's album

[Vilppu]

speeding up just a lil bit

Originally posted by Superpower

Yes loved Nao's album very much

yas, stan for TAOLENT

Originally posted by AlexisNeiers

Myślałem, że i For All We Know i Nightride będą nieco lepsze, ale i tak mi się całkiem podobały

This tea

Paradise było bardziej dopracowane niż Deep Fantasy, ale chyba jednak wolę to drugie. Z resztą oba są świetne, więc nie będę narzekać

Well, idealne nie były, dlatego są tu, a nie w top 10
I tak, kiedy oba albumy są tak dobre, że nie umie się wybrać lepszego >>>

Originally posted by Ewan Chaos

Awesome write up for NAO's album, and I actually really really love pretty much every song you talked about in it too.

Cute write up for that White Lung album too, but it didn't do much for me!

Thanx, good taste too

Originally posted by TheWayWeWere

I don't really like anything from this set but Nightride has some good songs on it

m eye hope the good songs on Nightride at least include Soul Glitch and Touch Pass bc I wouldn't count on Sunburn

Originally posted by madonnas

My fave from this set is Nao. It's samey but I couldn't call it boring or anything. She at least has a unique sound to it.

Right? She does her thing perfectly.

Originally posted by AshleeSimpsonFan

Need to check out the last entries

do it, maybe you'll find sth for youself

Originally posted by Tom Vercetti

Like these three. Glad you really enjoyed Nightride cuz I'm a fan of it myself.

I feel like too few people mentioned Tinashe on their best-offs, she can't find commercial success so at least let her have this nn

Originally posted by MP2K

Nao + Tinash?



Name names

I was mostly thinking about Banks (and low-key also twigs) and made it plural to make it sound like a more of a general statement but no other debuting girl impressed me nearly as much as Nao!

Originally posted by Wicked

Songs 1-4

I didn't know The Pretty Reckless released...

Neither did most other people dd their new music is very good though.

Originally posted by K$Ellie

Girlfriend is cute but I find her vocals a biT annoying
Nightride had some great songs like Company and Ghetto Boy but it's nowhere near as good as Aquarius

Yeah, her voice is very specific, I can see why it'd put someone off.

Originally posted by Kingie

For All We Know was one of the few western albums I listened to this year (and liked!), but I didn't come back to it much because it was just a bit too cohesive to have standouts, and I'm not one for listening to full albums in one playthrough.

I consider myself a Tinashe stan but I've still only heard half of Nightride, Aquarius seemed better to me

Oh I see. For me it's kind of a "every song is so good that it's a standout so in the end everything is more or less on the same level and cohesive" deal so I'm not complaining bc I like the sings both separately and as an album but I def understand your point.

Originally posted by thecptz

haven't heard these albums but i'm sure that it's good!

Yes, they are

Originally posted by bluth

nao + tinashe <3 love seeing sunburn as your pick from nightride too.

Underrated queen

Originally posted by August

Yas, Tinashe! I loved a lot of NAO's other stuff that I should probably check out here 2016 stuff, not sure how I haven't gotten to it yet.

Well now's the time to catch up with her

Originally posted by Eeveelution

You, better lash those Weaker Girls, sis!

Obvs love NAO, Nightride wasn't great but it was another solid project from Tanisha. White Lung was strangely boring for me but then again I still haven't given it that second listen dd.

all those weaker girls and other trainwrecks, no bueno
The sings on White Lung albern kinda all sound a bit too similar but idc, I love it all n

Originally posted by Tom Vercetti

Your paragraphs makes me feel so lazy

Anyway, I tried with Here and that's where it counts for me. Like your description of Blonde. It truly isn't instant but it's a worthwhile experience.

Well, I'm only doing fifteen albums so I can go into more detail, if I were doing 50, I'd probably try to make them as short as possible

Originally posted by Navyofbadgals

HERE

Originally posted by Ivan

Alicia is amazing

Stan for my girl

Originally posted by Ewan Chaos

Good write-up of Blonde, and I'm similar in not really caring much for it (at least in comparison of Channel Orange). Pink + White & Self Control are great picks - AND NO you will only find covers on YT

Didn't listen to Alicia's album

Wow Ocean Nation needs to chill

[Vilppu]

10. Gojira - Magma

The thing with me and metal is that I admittedly listen to it rarely but when I do, I get really addicted to certain stuff and can replay it over and over again. In 2016 there were two bands which in particular caught my attention. One is yet to be revealed (though that came as no surprise to me personally) while I didn't expect to enjoy Magma as much as I actually did.

So yeah, it is quite possibly Gojira's most accessible work to date, in comparison to their earlier albums it seems more melodic and immediate. Among heavy, fast-paced tracks with, em, grunting rather than growling really, there are also lighter moments with clearer vocals which still remain powerful in spite of being more subtle. That is, of course, if we can really call anything here subtle. It does provide a breath of fresh air and variety, things I always appreciate in death metal, yet hardly ever find. What bought me even more is the emotion content. In the past Gojira focused mostly on creating epic, complex, technically perfect compositions. Now they at least partially abandoned it in favour of providing a sense of depression and resignation to the material. I dig it.

It's hard to choose standouts on such a consistent and cohesive record but there are always songs which get me more than others. Here I'd definitely recommend the monumental opener, the title track which is one of the least instant but easily the most rewarding in a longer run... and the little, borderline-interlude Yellow Stone, a mezmerizing instrumental composition.


9. Chance the Rapper - Coloring Book

Outside of music this year was kind of an absolute trainwreck. With all the terrorist attacks, the unbelievably poor political decisions I do not want to elaborate on, deaths of many legends/stars, deaths of non-famous people which hurt just as bad along with probably a dozen of other tragedies, I think we all needed something which would cheer us up and give us hope for the better future. For me, it was Chance the Rapper.

If I were to describe Coloring Book in one word, I'd without any hesitation say positivity. Each and every single track is just so colorful, uplifting and never fails to make me smile. It's a quality many artists with better vocals, more complex lyrics or more adventurous production could never do - Chance achieves this effortlessly. It reminds of me of, like, an endless rollercoaster which regardless of how many times I've been on, I will still enjoy as if it were my first time.

Going into more detail, some people describe the music here as gospel rap which I guess does make sense (e.g. All We Got is a slightly disabled Ultralight Beam version) but for me, it's more of Chance's own take on rap. Sure, the lyrics have a number of God references but there are just so many different styles and genres blending here that labelling it as "gospel rap" would simply be an understatement. And even if we some tracks seem weird placed next to each other (see the slow, laid-back Juke Jam transitioning to the upbeat dance anthem All Night), it all comes really well together, mostly due to Bennett's great flow and personality. You can tell he poured his entire heart into this record, I think it's the biggest compliment I could give it.


8. Mamamoo - Melting

And the k-AOTY goes to Mamamoo! As I've mentioned earlier, I'm only getting into k-pop and at this point I'm more into certain singles rather than full albums really. However, I did try a few of the latter, most of which turned out nice but ultimately pretty forgettable. The exceptions included bodies of work by groups such as SHINee or BTS (they're a mess but enjoyably so) but these four girls just blew everything out of the water.

Except for the language barrier, the main complains about k-pop coming from English pop fans are that it's manufactured and generic. Ridiculous and hypocritical, yes, but Mamamoo seems like a group created especially for such malcontents. Not only is their R&B, heavily retro-influenced music as far as it could get from a stereotypical k-pop track but also the girls are all engaded in creating their songs. Shocking? When you're as talented as them, not in the slightest.

Much like any other good k-pop track though, it's just so much unabashed and addictive fun. Having elements of genres such as jazz, soul or hip hop, Melting seems like one of those albums everyone could find something for themselves on but at the same time, it's not a thoughtless collection of tracks having no connection. It's all crafted with care and love having genuine emotion and subtlety (My Hometown, Just, Words Don't Come Easy) next to upbeat, dance-inducting tracks (Funky Boy, You're the Best). Regardless of the tempo or mood, the girls always serve powerful and confident vocal performances. As a whole, it's a truly fascinating travel in time which will never get old.