The 5 Best Worst Albums of 2012
5 awful albums, ranked from worst to best.
5. Unapologetic
Most Played: Diamonds
Album Play Rank: -- | # of Songs With >100 Plays: 0
When I first heard "Diamonds" I found myself thinking that Rihanna was finally returning to form, but I couldn't have been more wrong.
Unapologetic is not just my least favorite Rihanna album and my least favorite album of 2012, but it's also the only album I've ever listened to that felt like
a complete waste of time. In my opinion, the album has two- maybe three- songs actually worthy of spending 4 minutes listening to. Three years ago, it was Rihanna who got me into pop music with her amazing "Disturbia." Now, it's Rihanna's TRASH that's driving me further away from mainstream pop music.
4. Take Me Home
Most Played: Live While We're Young
Album Play Rank: -- | # of Songs With >100 Plays: 0
The obnoxious boyband's sophomore effort is a slight improvement over
Up All Night, if that's saying anything.
Take Me Home doesn't have anything particularly noteworthy, aside from "They Don't Know About Us." Mostly, the album consists of disposable teen pop songs that have no substance to them whatsoever. One can only hope the days are numbered for One Hit Wondirection- I mean, even Bieber is more talented and has produced more "quality" material.
3. Believe
Most Played: As Long As You Love Me
Album Play Rank: -- | # of Songs With >100 Plays: 0
Speaking of Bieber, he comes in next on the list with
Believe. I don't actually think the album is that bad, but Bieber's voice and habit of featuring D-list rappers bring this album down a few levels. That said,
Believe was said to be a transitional album for Bieber, and it serves that purpose. There's no song on the album I can truly say that I hate, but there also aren't really any that I love.
2. Born & Raised
Most Played: Shadow Days
Album Play Rank: -- | # of Songs With >100 Plays: 0
Have you seen that credit card commercial with Alicia Keys singing "Girl On Fire" in it? You know, the one where the guy is "boring, boring... boring" at the start? Well, John Mayer's
Born & Raised is boring, boring...
Boring & Repellent. Sure, the album is artsy and Dear John obviously has a following out there somewhere considering the album didn't exactly flop. Admittedly, I've never really been a Mayer fan myself- although his previous album had three or four songs I really enjoy. On this album, though, only lead single "Shadow Days" received many repeat plays.
1. Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded
Most Played: Automatic
Album Play Rank: 13 | # of Songs With >100 Plays: 1
By now, we all know that half of
Roman Reloaded is rap and half of it is pop. The first thing that needs to be said regarding the rap half is that a few of the tracks are decent. In fact, my problem with the first half of the album isn't the fact that I hate rap... It's that I hate the overwhelming number of featured artists. I can handle Nicki rapping on her own, but when one or more other rappers are also being brought in, I lose interest. Additionally, none of the pop songs on the album's second half are truly great and few of them stopped getting played within a month of the album's release. Sure, I like the choruses in "Pound The Alarm" and "Automatic," but all-in-all,
Roman Reloaded is a bad album... But in a good way.