2023

A return to form

There's a very important distinction between the best music and the music for you when you're at your best. I've been through so much change this year that I had to clear out sources of conflict just to make headroom for growth.

The music changes with the priorities.

10

Larger Than Life

Brent Faiyaz

I'm copping out. I still don't know how I feel about this album. I know I keep listening to a lot of the songs. I know the skits are in the way and half of the features are trash. I know I like Brent's voice but not what he uses it say. I know it's a vibe. But I don't know how I feel about it. I'm sure you'll hear it on a yogurt commercial or something soon enough so whatever.

9

Scarlet

Doja Cat

Please remember that this is not the best 10 albums of the year, but rather, my favorite 10. So.

This will be a top 10 album of the decade. Most Top 40 listeners ignore lyrics - if that's you, enjoy the beats. Everything from instrumentation to sample selection to harmonies to drum breaks to vocal delivery essentially cannot get any better. Similarly, this is lyrically one of the best albums since Stankonia. Neither the verbiage nor rhyme schemes are especially complex, but they are extremely potent.

It was a struggle to listen to this album long enough to give it a fair shake. We've come a long way since "Return of the Snack".

8

Snow Angel

Reneé Rapp

Funnily, I think most people know her as Regina George now, but Reneé Rapp has been a singer way longer than she's been an actor. This album is an interesting mix; she's not quite in the Rodgrigo/Eilish camp, not quite in the Adele or Jazmine veins, and if I had to pick a genre it's just pop (I think her broadway background would agree with me). But I also get the same feeling about her that I do about LeBron - that her voice is so versatile that she can play and succeed in this game, but that this isn't actually her sport. I think, maybe, we're seeing the emergence of a new Beyonce. Maybe.

7

BB/ANG3L

Tinashe

2013, the first year I wrote album reviews, Tinashe's "Black Water" was #9. That year happened to be absolutely stacked with powerhouse albums, so making the list with a self-released EP was a true accomplishment. However, over the next decade, I watched her go the way of Cassie - occasionally making some hits, but mostly getting stuffed into beats that didn't suit her.

Well, I think this is the year she's consistently found her sound. She's shifted from Common conscious into FKA Twigs sexy weird territory, and that's a discussion for another day, but this soundscape really meshes with her voice.

6

Wyoming (Piano Works)

Elijah Fox

Thanks to a Drake sample (isn't it always), Elijah Fox went from a great pianist to a famous musician in the last year. Fear not, this album is devoid of any Drake, but instead features 30 short, intimate piano pieces whose names are inspired by a collection of photographs from his late grandfather. It's definitely for a smaller audience, but in those moments when this is what you reach for, it heals you as it should.

5

How Do You Sleep At Night?

Teezo Touchdown

Teezo Touchdown is a true weirdo - if this is your first time hearing that name, just do a quick google image search. Aaron's explosion onto the big stage this year feels how Steve Lacy felt last year. As a matter of fact, their music is similar, but whereas Lacy is from the Stevie Wonder lineage, Touchdown is a child of Prince. I guess Baytown is the new Minneapolis.

(Btw, the deluxe album (which came out 2024) is actually worth the second disc.)

4

tori

Tori Kelly

I've been a Tori fan from a distance for the better part of a decade; she seems like the kinda person to work a Veggie Tales reference into a Euphoria discussion.

Despite that affinity, there's always been an air of disappointment when she comes up in conversation because, although I like here as a person, and I like her voice, her music (not the music she's featured on) has always leaned a little Disney for me. Well, similar to Tinashe, I think this might have been the one to turn it around. This EP is only 6 songs long, and honestly 2 of them are just okay, but this really isn't an intellectual decision, I just really like this music.

3

GUTS

Olivia Rodrigo

SOUR barely missed 2021's Top 10. My justification was that I thought Olivia's appeal was mostly novelty. Well, she's doubled down on girl grunge and you know what, it works for me.

Go head Liv.

2

Special Occasion

Emily King

Every Emily King album has made my Top 10. Ironically, if you asked me my favorite artist, she wouldn't be in the running, but what she is, is the artist I can most count on to make music that I can listen to and recommend to basically anyone. That's a feat in and of itself, and this album only strengthens that position.

1

Desire, I Want to Turn Into You

Caroline Polachek

From seemingly out of nowhere, this whaling, early-aughts-adjacent, alt-pop oddity of an album climbed into my head and will not leave. Caroline Polachek certainly could've gone to your high school, but instead she trained with an opera, learned polyphony, and came out with this... thing. I did not choose this, it just happened.

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