Just like to say thanks again to everybody that checked out my list of favorite songs. It means a lot and it's been a lot of fun. The OP has been updated with up to date links and everything.
Also, I will resume my albums list. I'll try not to go too slowly, but I've been getting 522'd a lot lately, and class is back in full force.
________________________________
10. Janet Jackson - Unbreakable
| Comeback of the year! I was never a huge Janet fan before this album. I had taken a couple listens to her discography, but was never really blow away, probably because I never really gave her older albums the time and attention they deserved. Anyway, I decided to check out No Sleeep when it came out and... didn't think too much of it. I thought it was a little boring I guess. One day though, I was listening to a playlist, No Sleeep came on again, and it clicked. The song was more about the groove than anything, it just felt so carefully textured and thought out, and just brilliant overall. I decided I would have to check the album when it dropped, half expecting it to be filled with tired attempts at dance-pop that was more beat than song.
Instead, I was really impressed with what I had heard (bar the blander dance-pop songs like Shoulda Known Better and Take Me Away). The album felt like her classic sound, just given a couple modern production flourishes and that was incredibly refreshing to hear.
Not only did the album feeel like an update of her classic sound, it just felt labored over, like she made the most of her seven year hiatus from music planning out all the little intricate details of the album: there's thunder ushering in the quiet storm of No Sleeep, delicate Spanish instrumentation through Promise, a spot-on tribute to her late brother on The Great Forever.
The album's theme is its strength though. Where some of Janet's albums of the 2000s were a little too focused on sex, to the point that they became uncomfortable, Unbreakable focuses on themes that are less Rated M for Mature and more mature. The album just feels very much the work of someone that has lived life, learned, grown as a person, and realizes that she continues to grow, and seems excited to do so. It's an album that acknowledges the things that have shaped the person she is and kept her going, an assessment of the things that really matter in life, and a celebration of life as she moves forward. The final closing stretch of the album is especially celebratory as everything ends with one huge party on Gon' B Alright. It's the penultimate track, the world music accented Well Traveled, that offers the albums best lyrics though: "I've come a long way / Got a long way to go / And I'm so well traveled / The only place in my life that I'll miss / It's on my bucket list / It's a place I don't know." It's just refreshing to hear a veteran artist that has already conquered the world and left her impact, still looking forward.
|
__________________________________________________ _______
9. Tinashe - Amethyst
| Not too long after dropping her debut album and one of the strongest debuts in recent memory, Tinashe released Amethyst, a free download, and her most focused project yet.
She seemingly took what little rough edges were on her debut, Aquarius, and smoothed them out (and Aquarius didn't even really seem to have any rough edges) further on Amethyst. Amethyst opens with a gently strummed harp and a declaration that "the future is mine!" on Dreams Are Real, and it's definitely believable as Amethyst progresses. The watery tracks of Aquarius feel stagnant when compared to the lush and verdant backdrop of Amethyst: rippling piano, playful synths, luxurious saxophones, harps even water drops flow in and out of the production.
There's more to the project than the production though. Tinashe herself uses the project to play around with her style and delivery (telling a story about an unsatisfying relationship on Worth It, and meandering through rapping and singing on Wanderer as she sings about the road calling), but she also uses it to play around. The whole project sounds serious with all it's lush production, but there are some funny moments. Worth It bounces along as Tinashe talks about playing NBA 2K, Tinashe talks about looking for love in all the wrong places on Looking 4 It as her voice echoes "l'm looking, where'd you go" and calling out a fake with a "you ain't 2Pac bitch!" and even pops some corn while doing her looking, but she also shows concern she's focusing too much on her work and not her love life.
Amethyst is a project of someone figuring out her style, and it's bursting with ideas and personality, of course it's one of the most enjoyable listens of the year.
|
__________________________________________________ _______