Young Thug is out of jail and unapologetic. Despite being one of the conditions of his release being not making gang-related music, it opens with a court recording of the District Attorney making an argument against Williams' bail. In the first song, it seems that incarceration has not changed his perspective much, as he laments how he hates being sober.I have not been impressed with anything he has released since "Beautiful Thugger Girls," and he raised the bar high for himself despite it just being a commercially released mixtape. The first two songs on this album kind of run together, but there is a darker, more serious atmosphere,
"On the News" finds Cardi B dropping by to do what she does, and it works well enough. I feel there is more honesty on "Catch Me I'm Falling". The more laid-back track works well. It allows him to employ his more melodic sensibilities that set him apart from the other trap mumblers. "Fucking Told U" and "Whoopty Doo" groove on the kind of non-sense that sometimes is the backbone of Future albums. It transitions into a pretty absurd final section..It's almsot so bizarre that it makes it awesome. You gotta be pretty stoned for it to click, I guess.
"Blaming Jesus" is another turn toward the more melodic side that works best for him. He flirts with rapping about things that might violate his probation. You would think his lawyer would have to listen to everything first. "Sad Slime" also blurs the line between hip-hop and pop/ r7b balladry with a pretty decent beat, keeping it moving. "RIP Big & Mack" finds TI joining him. The song bullshits around the beat and wanders around, never getting to the point.
"Invest Into You," another hip-hop ballad, but it works better than the previous song. But at this point in the album, the songs begin to run together until the bpm increases for "Pardon My Back". The backing track for "Mami" is interesting, and the song features Sexy Red, though her verse makes it clear that Cardi B is the superior rapper. "Whaddup, Jesus?" flows well enough to work. A strong beat helps "Walk Down" 21 Savage really does not do much to help him out on this track, but Williams is carrying all of these songs. There is a darker vibe to the Travis Scott collab, "Pipe Down". This darker trap feel continues on "Revenge". Though this song feels woozier and has less focused lyrics. Future delivers with the 808 Mafia for "Money on Money". Though Future's verse feels like it is a different song.
"Dreams Rarely Do Come True" is a highly atmospheric hip-hop ballad. It is hard to fathom that any level of sobriety was held to capture this kind of mood. Midway into the song, it kicks into something that more clowely resembles modern hip-hop. "Miss My Dogs" is another hip-hop ballad. He sings more than raps on it. Granted, there is plenty of auto-tune to help his efforts. I will give this album a 9 as it might not be as good as "Beautiful Thugger Girls." but it's better than everything he has done since that album.
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Pop speaks for itself. This list once included hip hop, but sadly there was really only one hip hop album, worth making it, and nothing the quality of what we got from Run the Jewels last year. Instead, it seems producers are just recycling sounds from other artists. Much like in years past sort through the genre lists before making the overall top ten of the year list. The fact these artists made it on the list speaks to how great these albums are, so it's not a slight that the number 8 album is above the 9th album, there is something that just gives it an edge that makes me want to listen to it more. After all we can try to look cool and pick the hippest bands for a list, but at the end of the day what makes an album the best is that it makes you want more, you look forward to listening to it again. Perhaps you can find your next favorite on this list and have included links to reviews of these albums if you want to check out audio on these guys. Anyways here are the top 10 Pop albums of 2021.
10-Young Thug -"Punk"
This is more of an honorable mention as the album falls way short of what he did back on "Beautiful Thugger Girls" which is something he has yet to recapture, but on this album he seems aware of that fact. It has been a pretty dismal year for new hip-hop, sure maybe there have been a few singles here and there, but not much in the way of an album that is both solid from start to finish and breaks away from just following the back and defaulting to color by numbers. The next closest was the new Gucci Mane, which was well produced, but falls back on safe sounds that are what we have heard 1000 times over from other artists he had already proved himself more creative than. So, Jeffery Williams here should make the SWATS proud for taking more chances than most and experimenting once again rather than just settle for the same old same old.
Formed as an acoustic duo it has evolved into an atmospheric pop band. The dream like qualities are balanced out with grooves and vocals layered into choirs on the choruses. It can be a fairly large sound with guitars heavily effected, sonically closer to things like dream pop and post-rock in the sweeping manner dynamics are used in their songs.
A great album for the summer, as it has more brains to it than what is typically on the radio. He will always beat out the likes of Maroon 5 and Bruno Mars when it comes to not loading you down with too many empty calories. It might not live up to what he did on "Eclipse' but is better than what the mainstream is being offered
his collaboration with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is supposed to be a concept album about motherhood. Not in your face as the lyrical content does not tell a story as much as present a unified theme.; Not her most common form of pop music which she has shown an adventurous streak within the past. Imogen Heap emerges as an influence when it comes to her vocal style.
I really liked his previous album as well, though to me these songs often feel like he is giving it to pressure from what the current radio status quo. At times the producer might have stuck his head and said can we make it sound more 80s pr more 80s but like the Weeknd..However he played the cards he was dealt in order to make the suits happy well and these songs are still better than most of the current radio artists.
5-Justin Bieber- "Justice"
The other album I did not review for this blog. His best song writing yet, further blurring the lines where his sound differs from the Post Malones of the world. There is more of a retro 80s feel and he is frequently more soulful.
4-St. Vincent- "Daddy's Home"
The angular Bowie like guitar has been replaced for a more soulful Prince This organic 70s vibe even invokes Joni Mitchells more jazz influenced work . There is a folkier strum to the title track that also has blues-based slink to it. With trippy atmospherics continuing to drip from the corners of every sound. While she has created quite an elaborate sound for herself here, she has not let it take precedence over the song writing.
You would expect him to be on the rock list, but instead he opted for slick production and dumbed things down to the lowest common denominator because he is aware of where music is these days and a professional who wants to sell albums, that just does stop him from writing smart songs. This voice sounds better than any 70 year old in pop music.
I still listen to their last album "My Mind Makes Noises" , and have been looking forward to this one. From the singles leading up to this album release I was beginning to hear some 90s radio influence. W There is less of an 80s Cure vibe. The album is still dark just in other ways There is more of a HAIM vibe instead of the 1975 feel of the first album/. Her voice is stronger on this album. She sticks to what she does though the moodier accents are smoothed out. This album was in a tight race for the number spot but got edged out for a band with more hooks.
The Scottish pop band's 4th album. The title come from how they made this album remotely during the pandemic. It picks up where they left off at first and then goes in more interesting places as the album progresses. Mayberry may not employ a great deal of new tools in her arsenal, apart from production tricks, but continues to sharpen what she has been doing. Her growth comes more in the form of her lyrics.
I loved his album "Beautiful Thugger Girls" but have been disappointed by the less than impressive work he released since. This album could be a step in the more out of the box song writing that marked "Thugger Girls". Hip hop seems to conform to factory setting more often than not these days. When things like guitars are introduced then he is a step ahead of the game, but at the top of his when he combines this with strong grooves and his quirkier lyrically delivery. He often falls somewhere between singing and rapping. Granted he is a better rapper than a singer. When he tries to sing without the aid of auto-tune he is pitchy to say the least. The stripped-down intro, is not really much of a song so we will write it off as just an intro. "Stressed" is a little better but stays too close to what the rest of mainstream hip is doing. 'Stupid / Asking" is stupid lyrically with an almost childish slant, but it does so in a way that at least allows his personality to shine through. "Recognize Real" doesn't allow me to recognize it as a song that stands on its own as it is forgotten as soon as it's heard.
"Contagious" is more minimal in its instrumentation but plays by its own rules as he gets into his feelings. I think he hits the balance of all the elements he is playing with best on "Peepin in Window" . Future's appearance on this song helps him as well. There distorted beat on " Rich Nigga Shit" sounds like a robot fart. I am not sure it was the best thing to anchor the song on, but it is a step closer in the direction of " Thugger Girls" so I am on board for it. Juice WRLD , appear on the song as well, but he sounds just like everyone else. Post Malone saves the day on " Livin it Up" which is the strongest hook so far, as he fares better than the other guests so far. ASAP Rocky is also on this track. His contribution just blends into everything else. By the time I get to "Yea Yea Yeah" I am beginning to get the feeling that he would replicate "Thugger Girls' but does not want to commit to it.
"Yea, Yea, Yea" shows that all the smoke and mirrors that keeps hip hop propped up is the sword it is going to die by since it is the sword it trying to live by. This song is not awful, but it is a clear snapshot of the writing on the wall. "Insure My Wrist" is weaker than "Scoliosis" with "Bubbly" stronger than both, even with Drake who I hate on the track, so the good news is the album gets better as it progresses. There is a poppier r&b feel to "Faces", it has a marginally better chorus, but as a whole is unfocused. While his off-kilter phrasing is his strength as a rapper, this minimal track behind him does not work as well to keep the songs strong. The production is more experimental which is some ways takes cues from Travis Scott. This helps things to improve on "Fifth Day Dead". Overall though his lyrical themes are not a fresh as they once were.
The question becomes can Doja Cat save "Icy Hot". The track they are rapping over is better than the bulk of the album, so she had a great deal to work with. Nate Ruess from FUN drops a vocal on the ballad "Love You More". Which seems like it would be a surefire bet for radio if it was censored. So as long as he has sufficient help, he seems to be ok, but left along Young Thug is kinda weak on this one. Maybe "Hate the Game" will prove this theory wrong has it does have a more unique quirk to it. The last song lacks hook and Mac Miller proves himself pretty worthless. I will give this album an 8.5, as it is fun at times it just falls short of what I know he is capable of but that is better than most idiots making hip hop these days.
And so it begins the roll out of the end of the year lists. Here is the first of many. This year I defaulted to ranking by them in according to how much I actually listened to them as the scores in reviews are my initial impressions and as I often write in the reviews I have to see how they grow on me. So I used my Lastfm page to look at the actual numbers...Yes, I synched it with my iPod every morning to gather the data through out the year. There were a few occasions with rankings on this list when I am making an executive decision to let one album trump another , but typically speaking I am letting LastFm make these decisions for me to spare me the obsessive head aches. If these are albums I reviewed the click on the review link in order to check out the actual music.
10- Gucci Mane -"Mr. Davis
Yes, I did not review this album. But it's more mature than most of his previous releases and feels like he has perfected his songwriting process. Take that and combine it with the fact this might be the best produced hip-hop album of the year and it deserves it place here.
9- Tricky : "Ununiform"
Despite the fact that Jay-Z helped produce this album taking away the dark edge, it still managed to grow on me. This is more radio friendly , but the songs are pretty strong. The last song embraces his classic sound perhaps the most as it features Martina Topley-Bird, but when you put it on shuffle mode the songs stand on their own perhaps better than they did upon my initial listen.
Why it beat out Gucci...more dynamic range, fits a broader scope of emotions outside of ego stroking.
This album is not on the goth/ industrial list because even though Reznor has more of an edge here, it's more atmospheric than it is dark or aggressive. It might not be "Broken" but it is solid and I am glad he has gotten his edge back . It will sit nicely against the rest of their catalog and is better than everything since "the Fragile" . So if you are a long time fan , you should be pleased that you are getting what we have wanted.
Why it beat out Tricky? ... is this even a fair fight? more sonic depth is the short answer.
7-Fever Ray- "Plunge"
Things got weird for this Swedish singer. I was not wowed by the first single from this album and though it was going to become another case of her riding a wave of hype from her previous work. This album took some warming up to, but after repeat listens I can hear how all the elements that worked before are in play just coming from a different angle.
Why did it beat out Nine Inch Nails? On paper N.i.N was better this album was not as dense and just made for easier listening.
After her last album I really needed her to get back to darker places. That is what happens after a weird atmospheric introduction. She combines sweeping strings with tracks that sound like they came from one of Bjork's nightmares.it is a welcome addition to her legacy and finds her voice continuing to live up to it's potential. I think it's a good compromise in terms of darker electronic music and pop. I don't see this propelling her into Katy Perry or even Sia status in terms of radio play, but that is not what she is going for or she would be there.
Why it beat out Fever Ray? ...Darker and more powerful, yet still catchy enough to demand repeat listens.
This came out of nowhere and it was the leather dress in one of her promo pictures that made me more curious. The vocals are beautifully layered against slick piano driven pop beat that focuses on being steamier than it does trying to make you dance along. This Toronto native's back is classical music and film scoring. I can hear the cinematic quality, but it's not rigid like classical music can be. Her harmonies are pretty amazing.This earned heavy rotation through out the year.
Why ist beat out Zola Jesus?... Better vocal production and the vocals took me more places.
Ash Costello from New Years Day is embracing her inner Mortica Addams . I fully support this is a good look for her, but as a sound it has interesting results that works in varying degrees. This album is fun in many of the same ways the more disco moments or My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult can be. It gets stuck in your head and thus this heavy rotation is what put it in the top 5.
Why it beat out Lydia Ainsworth? ... More fun, after all it is party time
What I wanted Taylor to do was give me something bigger and better than "1989", instead she went into a more streamlined version of pop. I have grown to accept this. This album has grown on me in fact according to Last Fm I listened to it more than Halsey, but I feel Halsey's album is better. Now I would round this up to a 9ish.
Why did it trump the Haxans? Better songwriting when Taylor is on point with songs like "Are You Ready For It?"
Another album like Gucci that I did not review for the blog, but got a ton of play on the ole iPod. I did write up something for it on Treblezine, in their top 50 songs of the year for the song "Eyes Closed" and I did reference the fact when I reviewed Taylor Swift. So that answers why this out ranked Taylor Swift, it has more going on and Taylor went to minimal. I think the grooves on this album are more on point and she has some interesting perspectives lyrically.
1- Young Thug - Beautiful Thugger Girls
I never actually reviewed this album for this blog. It's not only a lot of fun with great declarations like how he is Bill Gates step-son or that he is the black Christian Gray and has 50 shades of Bae, but it is musical. There is real guitar on this. Does he mumble? yes. He also sings.Not the greatest voice ever and it's aided by auto tune, but he makes an effort to write songs that stand out from his peers. He made fools of Future, Gucci and 2Chainz who re-heated the same old same old.
Why did it beat out Halsey? The songs were catchier. Isn't that the point of pop?
