News Posted December 27, 2018 Share Posted December 27, 2018 It’s that time of year! From pop to rock to country to r&b, here are my top 10 albums this year: 10. S. Carey, Hundred Acres Stop to notice this album. Hundred Acres is a collection of songs that puts the nuances of life into simple statements. His instrumentation and vocals are atmospheric, and every song feels like a sung poem. It’s beautifully delicate. Best Tracks: Rose Petals, Hideout, More I See, Have You Stopped to Notice 9. The New Respects, Before The Sun Goes Down The New Respects Ain’t Going Nowhere. This Tennessee-native sibling throwback group is one to watch. They combine their rock, blues, funk and soul influences and create something fresh, fun, and needed. They’re like the modern Sly and the Family Stone — but grittier. I can’t get enough of them and you should for sure check out this album if you haven’t yet. Best Tracks: Before The Sun Goes Down, Hands Up, Something to Believe In, Come As You Are, Future 8. Troye Sivan, Bloom Oh My My My! I love Troye and this album. The smoothest pop songs out there. “My My My!” was one of my top 5 most streamed songs on Spotify this year and that makes total sense to me. These songs just feel so good and I think Troye represents modern pop so well. His lyrics are carefree but emotional, and his songs are (mostly) uptempo but chill and dare I say…vibey. Best Tracks: My My My!, Bloom, Postcard, Dance to This, Lucky Strike, Animal 7. Florence + The Machine, High As Hope Florence Welch is by far one of the most impressive performers I’ve ever seen live. I saw her at Bonnaroo in 2015 and her performance was electrifying. She ran threw the crowd bare foot singing at full voice. It was insane! In addition to her commanding presence and haunting vocals are her powerful thematic lyrics. This album touches on spirituality, childhood, and addiction. The opening lines of “Hunger” are amazing: At seventeen, I started to starve myself I thought that love was a kind of emptiness And at least I understood then the hunger I felt And I didn’t have to call it loneliness Damn. I also love how she talks about happiness not being an interesting emotion in “No Choir.” Ceremonials is still my favorite record, but this one really resonated with me more than her 2015 release did. Best Tracks: Hunger, South London Forever, Sky Full of Song, Grace, No Choir 6. The 1975, A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships The kings of the lengthy album title. This eclectic album combines so many different eras of music that it feels innovative and nostalgic all at once. The opening track is so dynamic with deafening spaces of silence in between the vocoder a cappella that leads so well into the uptempo “Give Yourself A Try” and the sonically huge, hard-hitting “Love It If We Made It.” The stripped down “Be My Mistake” was so unexpected that it was my favorite my first listen through. The 1975 do the MOST and it works so well. This record is amazing. Best Tracks: Give Yourself A Try, Love It If We Made It, Be My Mistake, Sincerity is Scary, I Always Wanna Die (Sometimes) 5. Lauren Daigle, Look Up Child Praise. Hands. Lauren Daigle’s sophomore effort is a triumphant. To see her break mainstream records, perform on Ellen, and reach people far outside the CCM world (she’s performing at Hangout next year!) has been so cool to see. Her gritty vocals are so powerful and impassioned, and her lyrics are relatable to both believers and non. Every song is emotional and beautiful. This album is important, and I feel like if they haven’t yet, everyone will know the name Lauren Daigle very soon. Best Tracks: Still Rolling Stones, This Girl, You Say, Love Like This, Look Up Child 4. Janelle Monae, Dirty Computer Janelle Monae is this intriguing combo of unbelievably adorable and intimidatingly bad ass. This album is so fun, anthemic, and empowering. The record starts out with the title track which is an unexpected, dreamy collab with Brian Wilson and it grows in energy from there to certified bops like “Make Me Feel” and “I Got The Juice.” Monae is an infectious, inclusive performer and this whole album is such a good representation of her overall message and image. Best Tracks: Dirty Computer, Pynk, Make Me Feel, I Got The Juice, I Like That 3. Kacey Musgraves, Golden Hour From “mind your own biscuits and life will be gravy” to everyone’s favorite album. My friends had dragged me to a Josh Abbot concert in high school. Saying I’m not the biggest country fan is a bit of an understatement, and the thought of listening to some TX country while avoiding stepping on a sea of empty beer cans did not thrill me. But in the middle of his set, something magical happened. He brought out this artist I had never heard of to sing a duet with him called “Oh, Tonight.” I left saying that country dude was alright, but that girl he brought out was for sure the highlight. That highlight was of course Miss Spacey Kacey. This was 2011, two years before she’d release the brilliant Same Trailer Different Park. Her follow up Pageant Queen felt like a bit of a sophomore slump — over-branded and too kitschy for me. And then she released Golden Hour this year, and it felt like the perfect, pinnacle Kacey album. It feels fresh yet nostalgic, it crossed over genres reaching so many new listeners for her, and was released at the perfect time of the year — right as spring began flirting with summer. The songs are so conversational and relatable and very much reminded me of late 90’s/early 00’s Sheryl Crow. I don’t say this to imply that Kacey won’t ever beat this album, but Golden Hour is Kacey’s Golden Era. At least for now. Best Tracks: Slow Burn, Lonely Weekend, Oh, What A World, High Horse, Golden Hour 2. Leon Bridges, Good Thing Hometown boiiiii. I believe I first discovered Leon Bridges when I was a Lightning 100 (Nashville’s Independent Radio Station) intern and they had put “Coming Home” on regular rotation. I immediately dug his throwback sound and voice, and also loved the fact he was a native of Fort Worth, Texas, where I grew up. I was a bit wary of a follow up album from him, and boy was I proven wrong. I sometimes get nervous when an artist’s branding is too good, afraid that they will get trapped in a certain image and sound that won’t feel authentic. But as his debut Coming Home was more mid 50’s to early 60’s inspired, this sophomore album was more mid 60’s to early 70’s – mixing some more Wonder in with the Cooke. And it doesn’t just sound and feel good – the lyrics are clever and deep. It didn’t feel like a new direction for Bridges, just the natural next direction for him. I genuinely dig every song and it’s an album that spans multiple generations. Best Tracks: Bet Ain’t Worth the Hand, Beyond, Forgive You, If It Feels Good (Then It Must Be), You Don’t Know 1. Ariana Grande, sweetener Ariana had a pretty good year, ay? Ariana Grande was by far the most interesting pop artist this year, and her album was diverse, unpredictable, and so sonically dynamic and vocally impressive. “no tears left to cry” was reminiscent of Lorde’s first single from her album last year in that it took such a different turn arrangement and overall feel wise, and that seemed to capture melancholy and empowerment all at once. “God is a woman” — song of the year? Won’t expand on that. That GOSPEL choir at the end. The bouncy “R.E.M” (which was, fun fact, a reworked unreleased song originally written for Beyonce) and fun “sweetener” provide variance and a lighter tone. “breathin” is maybe my favorite, I love the melodies and production, and it’s just so cool to hear artists write open and honest songs about their experiences with paralyzing anxiety (similar to Shawn Mendes’s “In My Blood.”) From this album, to her Wicked performance, to the “thank u, next” (song and video) takeover, to releasing “Imagine” and delivering a FLAWLESS performance of it on Fallon, I gotta give my top slot to miss Ariana. Best Tracks: R.E.M, God is a woman, everytime, breathin, no tears left to cry Close Calls: Gregory Alan Isakov, Evening Machines Emily Warren, Quiet Your Mind Fleurie, Portals Shawn Mendes, Shawn Mendes Charlie Puth, Voicenotes Rayland Baxter, Casanova LANY, Malibu Nights Ella Mai, Ella Mai Donovan Woods, Both Ways Jon Bellion, Glory Sound Prep Lake Street Dive, Free Yourself Up Anderson .Paak, Oxnard Nao, Saturn Dawes, Passwords Brandi Carlile, By the Way, I Forgive You Death Cab for Cutie, Thank You for Today Matt Corby, Rainbow Valley Cardi B, Invasion of Privacy Wet, Still Run Cory Asbury, Reckless Love Honorable Mentions: Alessia Cara, The Pains of Growing H.E.R., I Used to Know Her Katie Herzig, Moment of Bliss Hush Kids, Hush Kids Caitlyn Smith, Starfire The Carters, EVERYTHING IS LOVE Lykke Li, so sad so sexy Tove Stryke, Sway Middle Kids, Lost Friends Houston Kendrick, PINK Birdtalker, One Anderson East, Encore J. Cole, KOD Bishop Briggs, Church of Scars Dashboard Confessional, Crooked Shadows Jesse Marchant, Illusion of Love Camila Cabello, Camila Travis Scott, ASTROWORLD Moon Taxi, Let the Record Play Shakey Graves, Can’t Wake Up Amy Stroup, Helen of Memphis Fenne Lily, On Hold Jorja Smith, Lost & Found Ben Howard, Noonday Dream Glen Hansard, Between Two Shores Phil Wickham, Living Hope Ben Rector, Magic Drake, Scorpion Robyn, Honey Bahamas, Earthtones Lucius, NUDES Mumford & Sons, Delta Alec Benjamin, Narrated for You Wild Child, Expectations Matthew Thiessen & The Earthquakes, Wind Up Bird Imagine Dragons, Origins Haley Heynderickx, I Need to Start a Garden Father John Misty, God’s Favorite Customer Courtney Barrett, Tell Me How You Really Feel The Paper Kites, On the Corner Where You Live Devin Dawson, Dark Horse Post Malone, beerbongs & bentleys Lauv, I met you when I was 18. (the playlist) Lucy Dacus, Historian VHS Collection, Retrofuturism Scott Mulhavill, Himalayas Lucie Silvas, E.G.O. Rita Ora, Phoenix Saint Sister, Shape of Silence &&& the best short projects this year! EPs: Noah Kahan, Hurt Somebody slenderbodies, fabulist: extended JOY., Six – EP Dermot Kennedy, Mike Dean Presents: Dermot Kennedy Banfi, The Jack Powell Project Ellie Schmidly, Blossom and Bone Tory Ruperto, Ruined Haux, Something to Remember Patrick Droney, Patrick Droney Yoke Lore, Absolutes Arlie, Wait Trella, Everything At Once Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus, boygenius Lennon Stella, Love, Me Lake Street Dive, Freak Yourself Out Betty Who, Betty Who Pt. 1 Katie Ruvane, Part III Best of 2018 playlist: My Top 100 of 2018: The post The Best in Music for 2018: albums, EPs, & songs appeared first on Verge Campus. Source Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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