If you've read my posts about my favorite albums of the year in years past, please excuse me because I am about to repeat myself. If you haven't read my posts about my favorite albums of the year in years past, please note before reading this that I base my favorites off of how much I have listened to them. This is not a list of the best of the best albums from the last 12 months. Rather, this is simply some albums that were released this year that I have personally enjoyed listening to loudly, on repeat.
Despite the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic put an abrupt halt on all live music everywhere, stabbing a hole directly through the middle of my already dead heart, music itself did not die in 2020.
My #1 album of 2020 is still as shocking to me as it was the first day I heard it. I was shocked that I actually gave it a chance and listened to it because I have never been a fan of Halsey, not a fan of her music anyway. I am a fan of her style & her sass but her music was never been my cup of tea. That is of course until January 17th, 2020, the day that Manic was released. I couldn't tell ya exactly why I listened to it the very day it came out.
New music?
Curiosity?
Lured by the image of a glitter encrusted black-eye inspired, pouting Halsey on the cover?
 |
| Halsey, Manic album cover |
Whatever it was that got me to take a chance and press play that day, I am happy that I did.
In 2018 the single "Without Me" off of her then un-known upcoming third album dropped after her split from G-Eazy but time would prove that this is way more than a break up album. What I hear when I listen to Manic is an album of growth, self discovery and self recovery. It flourishes with a robust mix of painstaking emotions pumping through piano key melodies swimming in dreamy beats of high and low tempos across 16 tracks with sparkly synths and ballad worthy affirmations on most. Interludes of acoustic guitar cords spring up on some tracks including "You should be sad" Graveyard" and "929" evoking a folky juxtaposition while other songs songs like "wipe your tears" have heavy hip-hop undertones. All of the sound clip samples throughout it keep things fun and interesting, like the one before "killing boys".
It's Halsey's keen sense of lyrical poetry transcending the raw delicacy of navigating feelings that really does it for me though. It might be formulaic and over produced and just another pop album from a pretty face and I accept that.
I've smiled and danced, cried, sang, reflected and had an overwhelming sense of glee while listening to this album. The first time I heard the chorus of "Clementine", " I don't need anyone, I don't need anyone, I just need everyone and then some" I thought, hey! That's me! Then when I heard "Finally//Beautiful Stranger" it cemented a revelation I had had at the end of 2019 and that's when I knew that I liked this album.
What's more surprising to me is not only did I listen to and fully enjoy this album but that it makes me feel my own uncomfortable vulnerability and I keep listening to it.
While "Clementine" and "Finally//Beautiful Stranger" are two of my top favorite songs from the album, "Ashley", "I HATE EVERYBODY" and "929" are also on the top of my list. There are lyrics in every one of these songs that make me say to myself, "hey, that's me!" and I'm willing to bet there are a lot of people who feel the same way. That's the beauty of music.
 |
| Run The Jewels, RTJ4 album cover |
I had known about the June 5th release date of RTJ4 a few weeks ahead of time but there was no way of knowing what would unfold around the country leading up to that day. Our country's deeply rooted racist injustices boiled over on the heels of the murders of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd by the hands of police officers. While people around the country sheltered in place we could no longer deny topics inherently pushed below the surface.
Racism.
White Supremacy.
Privilege.
We saw protests. We saw riots. We saw division as people witnessing the same moments in history continued to deny it's prevalence, afraid to let go of their own perceived power for the greater good of all while people like me could not turn a blind eye or deaf ear any longer.
As people rose up and spoke up, one of those people was Killer Mike. On June 1st he spoke at a press conference in his native Atlanta and two days later Run the Jewels dropped RTJ4 ahead of it's original June 5th release date. The first two singles "Yankee and the brave" and "Ooh la la" have catchy beats so it's no surprise that they're the first two songs on the album which starts with the line "back at it like a crack addict". Like their albums that came before it, Killer Mike and El-P rap about hard truths: police brutality, racial profiling, the ignorance of the history of slavery and racism in the U.S, segregation and the "war on drugs" just to name a few but this one hit different for obvious reasons.
All of the beats are different and unique from one song to the next on RTJ4. Some are more up beat than others, some are more heavy, some have more hooks than others, some are more rhythmic and they're all innovative in their own way.
Run The Jewels has always told it like it is but I think more people were really tuned in and listening this time, I know I did. RTJ4 is the soundtrack of the Summer 2020 BLM movement.
As different as all of the songs sound on RTJ4, they all come together and flow from one to the next seamlessly. My favorite transition comes right in the middle of the album from the funky fresh "holy calamafuck" into the one of my favorite tracks , "goonies vs. ET".
My #1 favorite track off of my second favorite album from 2020 is "JU$T" featuring Pharrell Williams and Zack De La Rocha.
 |
| Sylvan Essso, Free Love album cover |
Free Love from Sylvan Esso came as a surprise. I didn't know they were working on new music until they teased us with a video clip from what would be the opening track "What If".
Unlike my first two favorite albums to come out this year, I believe that Free Love was created during quarantine, at least some of it.
It's Sylvan Esso's third album and it was released on September 25th, about 6 months into the pandemic and it couldn't have come at a better time. It has a gentle innocence that wraps around you like a hug from a friend that we all desperately want but can't have. Their ability to layer and loop without anything getting lost is ever abundant on their third album. With it's drops and switches and wind pipes (?) "Ferris Wheel" is a fun one that will make you want to get up and dance like so many Sylvan Esso songs do. I love "Rooftop Dancing", it is one of the best, if not the best song of 2020. It's slow but upbeat. It encompasses happiness and sadness in the same breath with the help of some what I think are xylophones and the loveliness that is Amelia's timeless voice. If you close your eyes while listening to it, can you see yourself dancing on a rooftop surrounded by your friends dancing on rooftops? Can you see people down below doing their best to survive this?
Can you see
babies double dutching,
singing their names,
counting off time,
doing their thing?
It makes you slow down and learn to appreciate everything around you just like this year has.
2020 has been a really tough year, thankfully there were new albums to help us through it and help to pass the time.
