\tAbsolutely, \u2018Paracosm\u2019 (Epic)<\/p>\n
\t\t\t![\"Absolutely\"](\"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/themes\/pmc-variety-2020\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\")
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\n\tThis second set from British singer Abby-Lynn Keen, released in March, faced two challenges out of the gate: A virtually un-Google-able artist name (a major issue in the 21 st century) and the fact that her big sister, Rachel \u2014 a.k.a. Raye \u2014 released her hotly anticipated second album just a month later. That\u2019s a pity, as \u201cParacosm\u201d deserves a big moment all its own: It\u2019s an ambitious, cinematic, elaborately produced and fully realized album from an artist whose vision is every bit as defined and singular as her sibling\u2019s. Comparisons are inevitable, and while Absolutely\u2019s voice has a similar timbre to her sister\u2019s, her style is completely different \u2014 sweeter, more straightforward and less jazz-inflected and showy, although she has a powerful belt \u2014 and although her vision is just as ambitious, it\u2019s totally different as well: Acoustic piano, orchestras and electronics trade the spotlight, with baroque flourishes that recall Danny Elfman\u2019s early soundtracks for \u201cBatman\u201d and \u201cEdward Scissorhands.\u201d While she worked with a raft of different collaborators \u00a0\u2014 including Timabaland prot\u00e9g\u00e9 Danja, who helmed Britney Spears\u2019 \u201cBlackout,\u201d and early Kehlani collaborators M-Phazes and Jahaan Sweet \u2014 this album sounds nothing like those artists: It\u2019s entirely Absolutely\u2019s lush, lavish vision, which plays out like a musical. \u2014 Jem Aswad<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
\tRyan Beatty, \u2018Sweet Fortune\u2019 (Atlantic)<\/p>\n
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\n\tOn \u201cCalico,\u201d his 2023 album, Ryan Beatty narrowed the scope of his songwriting by poring over the details of a breakup, trying to make sense of them against a lush, resplendent Americana palette. But he finds sturdier ground with his fourth album \u201cSweet Fortune,\u201d a record inspired by a long-distance relationship and both the joy and strain it puts on his well-being. Beatty is at times pained \u2014\u00a0on \u201cDelancey,\u201d he sings of being \u201cout of breath, on all fours, felt good in the moment, nothin\u2019 more\u201d \u2014\u00a0yet he finds his way back to his lover on the horn-kissed lead single \u201cSecret Language\u201d and \u201cToo Many Ways.\u201d Above all, Beatty sounds content in a way that he never quite has, using joy as a springboard to create some of the best music of his career. \u2014Steven J. Horowitz<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
\tJames Blake, \u2018Trying Times\u2019 (Good Boy)<\/p>\n
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\n\tOver eight albums and heaven knows how many singles, EPs collaborations and stray tracks, James Blake\u2019s haunting, mostly electronic sound and skyscraping voice are so well established that it\u2019s fair to wonder what horizons remain unexplored beyond the experimental work he\u2019s always pursued as alongside his \u201cpop\u201d work. While \u201cTrying Times\u201d doesn\u2019t sound radically different from his past work, its creation coincided with a tectonic shift in Blake\u2019s career \u2014 he severed ties with his label and most other associates and took his business career into his own hands \u2014 and, although elements of stress and anxiety are present in the album, it\u2019s also his most free; counterintuitively, several songs have a looseness and relaxed vibe that certainly wasn\u2019t a hallmark of his past work. \u201cDeath of Love\u201d finds him altering his voice almost beyond recognition and rides on a Leonard Cohen sample; \u201cI Had a Dream\u201d has an oddly \u201850s vibe; the closing \u201cJust a Little Higher\u201d is bedecked with a gorgeous orchestral arrangement; the title track, a lovely ballad, may be the most beautiful song he\u2019s released. It\u2019s a fusion of all of his musical moods that is his most fully realized album to date. \u2014Jem Aswad<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
\tCharli xcx, \u2018Wuthering Heights\u2019 (Atlantic)<\/p>\n
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\n\tThe avant-pop\u00a0star\u2019s\u00a0soundtrack for Emerald Fennell\u2019s \u201cWuthering Heights\u201d\u00a0soundtrack\u00a0delivered a sonic side of Charli\u00a0never before\u00a0heard,\u00a0exemplified in\u00a0opener \u201cHouse\u201d:\u00a0a darker, haunting orchestral sound paired with wailing vocals\u00a0and an epic spoken-word feature from John Cale. But Charli also keeps her pop sensibility\u00a0with\u00a0soaring ballads like \u201cWall of Sound\u201d and\u00a0upbeat bangers\u00a0including\u00a0\u201cDying for You\u201d\u00a0and \u201cOut of Myself,\u201d which\u00a0poignantly express the yearning and desperation behind Emily Bronte\u2019s classic novel\u00a0while still making you want to dance.\u00a0Months\u00a0after the \u201cWuthering Heights\u201d hype died down,\u00a0Charli\u2019s contribution\u00a0has\u00a0remained\u00a0on repeat.\u00a0\u00a0\u2014Ellise Shafer<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
\tDrake, \u2018Maid of Honour\u2019 (Ovo\/Republic)<\/p>\n
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\n\tDrake\u00a0really said<\/a>\u00a0<\/a>he wanted something fun, something for the summertime, something for the girls to get ready and party to with \u201cMaid of Honour,\u201d which tugs at the dance floor thread of 2022\u2019s \u201cHonestly, Nevermind.\u201d Among the trio of albums he concurrently released in early May, \u201cMaid of Honour\u201d scratches at the rapper\u2019s appreciation for club rap, a pressure valve release from the bitter revenge fantasy of \u201cIceman.\u201d There are dashes of Miami Bass and Kraftwerk across the record, from the Afro-Rican sample on opener \u201cHoe Phase\u201d to the \u201cCha Cha Slide\u201d interpolation on \u201cCheetah Print.\u201d The latter is a tidy summation of what works best about \u201cMaid of Honour\u201d: When Drake lets down his tough-guy exterior, something he meticulously curates across social media and his harder-nosed rap records, he functions best as a fun-loving guy who isn\u2019t afraid to have a good time. Party on, Drake. \u2014Steven J. Horowitz<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tHilary Duff, \u2018Luck\u2026 or Something\u2019 (Sugarmouse\/Atlantic)<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tAging gracefully in pop music doesn\u2019t always come across as graceful, yet Hilary Duff hit the sweet spot with her sixth studio album \u201cLuck\u2026 or Something.\u201d The project arrived nearly a decade after 2015\u2019s \u201cBreathe In. Breathe Out.\u201d that featured the (sorely underrated) single \u201cSparks,\u201d a slick dance-pop banger ripe for the moment but perhaps wrong for the artist. \u201cLuck\u2026 or Something\u201d reframes Duff as a pensive, introspective pop artisan who trades bombast for perspective, whether its singing to her younger self on \u201cMature\u201d or talking shit with a friend over orange wine on \u201cGrowing Up.\u201d Duff worked with husband Matthew Koma for the entirety of the record, a synergy that plays to Duff\u2019s strengths \u2014 vocals that land like fists on a pillow \u2014 while giving them the space to flourish. With \u201cLuck,\u201d Duff has fully shaken off the Disney cobwebs, free to show the world who she\u2019s become. \u2014Steven J. Horowitz<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tDry Cleaning, \u2018Secret Love\u2019 (4AD)<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tBrit post-punk band Dry Cleaning has been bubbling under\u00a0for years, but hit a critical peak with their third album, \u201cSecret Love,\u201d released in January.\u00a0Drawn-out guitar\u00a0lines,\u00a0thumping rhythms and Florence Shaw\u2019s lackadaisical spoken-word delivery create several earworms that you\u2019d be hard-pressed to shake after a couple listens, especially on lead single \u201cHit My Head All Day\u201d and the album\u2019s title track\u00a0\u201cSecret Love (Concealed in a Drawing of a Boy).\u201d\u00a0Dry Cleaning\u2019s secret weapon is producer Cate Le Bon, who\u00a0makes every note ring\u00a0crystal-clear\u00a0while\u00a0retaining\u00a0a vintage quality reminiscent of genre greats like Television\u00a0or Life Without Buildings.\u00a0\u2014Ellise Shafer<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tBrent Faiyaz, \u2018Icon\u2019 (ISO Supremacy\/United Masters)<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tIn many ways, R&B music is like reggae or other highly specialized genres of music that are ultimately more about feeling than technique, which is why novices and dilletantes fall so hard when they try and fail. That\u2019s also a reason why an album by an artist like Brent Faiyaz, hailed by many as a leading light for R&B, crushes so many of the other hopeful entries into the genre: The man is such a gifted singer and songwriter that he could probably sneeze and it would sound soulful. The sound of \u201cIcon,\u201d his second and latest full-length (amid multiple EPs, a mixtape, singles and features with Drake, Alicia Keys, 21 Savage and more), is fully forward looking while acknowledging and building on the foundation of multiple influences and forebears: Prince, Lauryn Hill, D\u2019Angelo and the old-school R&B that\u2019s a foundation for them, with a flair for vocal arrangements that recalls Mary J. Blige. \u201cIcon\u201d is barely a half-hour long \u2014 the deluxe edition bumps it up to 39 minutes \u2014 but covers sultry R&B grooves, ballads, pop songs and even a semi-acoustic track. \u2014Jem Aswad<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tGeese, \u2018Live at Coachella 2026\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\t(unofficial download)\u00a0\u2014 I will admit that at first I did not get Geese. They\u2019re from my Brooklyn neighborhood so they\u2019ve been on my radar for a long time. I listened closely to the band\u2019s albums, singer Cameron Winter\u2019s feted solo outing and even went to see them at Brooklyn Paramount for a triumphant homecoming show last fall \u2014 although I thought they were very interesting and talented musically, if I don\u2019t like the singer, I don\u2019t like the band. Well, like coffee, whisky and other potent things that don\u2019t go down easily at first, singers can be an acquired taste (see: Young, Neil), and for whatever reason, during the Coachella livestream in April, I got it \u2014 so much that I suddenly love them. In fact, there hasn\u2019t been a rock band this exciting in many years \u2014 the annals of Pitchfork have many cool alternative bands, but Geese have old-school rock in their DNA, even as drummer Max Bassin peels off complicated rhythms and jazz fills and Emily Green wreaks futurist shrieks out of her guitar along with towering, angular riffs. Winter\u2019s bellowing vocals careen over the rebellious but deceptively intricate music, providing a totally unpredictable counterpoint that\u2019s often as hilarious as it is distinctive. (I included the Coachella download on this list because I\u2019ve played it more than any other album this year, and let\u2019s face it: these days the definition of an album is in the ears of the beholder.) I\u2019d long despaired that rock music was becoming a museum piece like the blues \u2014 iconic and foundational, but basically a dead art form, or at least one that wasn\u2019t moving forward. Geese are the first major band in a long time to refute that notion. \u2014Jem Aswad<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tDanny L. Harle, \u2018Cerulean\u2019 (XL)<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tSolo albums from non-singing producers are a hit-or-miss proposition. While there might be a signature sound, the multiple different vocalists can make the album lack a distinct identity and feel more like a various-artists compilation or mixtape. But sometimes the producer has enough of an artist\u2019s sensibility to make it work: Mark Ronson\u2019s \u201cLate Night Feelings\u201d and Rusowsky\u2019s \u201cDaisy,\u201d for example, both have well-defined moods and identities that the guest singers contribute to, rather than dominate. That is also the case with the second solo album from British producer Harle, whose sound will be familiar to fans of his past collaborators Caroline Polachek, Dua Lipa and Charli xcx. He worked his contacts hard for this one, bringing in Polachek (for two songs), Dua, PinkPantheress, Clairo, Julia Michaels and more to create a set that is split between instrumentals and vocal tracks, all of them featuring his celestial electronic textures \u2014 which would make a killer soundtrack for interstellar action films, should he ever choose that path. \u2014Jem Aswad<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tGrace Ives, \u2018Girlfriend\u2019 (True Panther\/Capitol)<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tGrace Ives\u2019 music doesn\u2019t hit you over the head, but you get the feeling she would if you crossed her. Ives has been releasing music since 2016 and although she broke big in the indiesphere with 2022\u2019s \u201cJanky Star,\u201d her albums were more bedroom pop in sound and nature. While that intimacy remains on this, her third album \u2014 one song sounds like the vocal was recorded in a closet \u2014 there\u2019s been a significant upgrade thanks to collaborators John DeBold and Ariel Rechtshaid, the latter an ace who helmed albums by Haim, Vampire Weekend, Sky Ferreira and Charli xcx (although Lorde is probably the clearest reference point \u2014 not influence \u2014 here). \u201cGirlfriend\u201d is filled with pulsating, atmospheric keyboards, skittering beats and her soft voice and unusual phrasing \u2014 it\u2019s a deceptively soft-focus sound that has a lot going on beneath the surface, both musically and lyrically. The album was written in the months after she got sober: \u201cI want, want, want, and I take, take, take\/ Feeling sorry not sorry for the mess that I make,\u201d she sings on \u201cAvalanche.\u201d Most of the album is a sort of impressionist pop, a collage of sounds over the gauzy keyboards and her prettily pirouetting melodies. But most of that goes out the window on the album\u2019s 11 th and final song, \u201cStupid Bitches,\u201d which is as straightforward as its title \u2014 a song about resilience (\u201cStupid bitches can\u2019t hurt me\/ I\u2019ve been through the needle, I can see\u201d) with a hard beat, dive-bombing \u201cPokerface\u201d-ish synthesizers and melody that\u2019s much more straightforward than the rest of the album; sudden drop-outs in the sound emphasize the hooks and Ives\u2019 incisive chorus: \u201cDoesn\u2019t hurt me\u2026 anymore\u201d she sings three times, and apparently has made her point because the fourth line is wordless descending humming. All music, especially ultra-personal albums like this, is inevitably a reflection of its creator, and \u201cGirlfriend\u201d is the sound of someone coming in at zero and trying to rebuild their life into one they will like better, with all the frustration and elation that comes with it.\u00a0\u2014Jem Aswad<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tKehlani, \u2018Kehlani\u2019 (Atlantic)<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tAfter exploring a variety of sounds and textures for her 2024 album \u201cCrash,\u201d Kehlani went back to basics \u2014\u00a0well, her basics, at least \u2014\u00a0on her self-titled fifth album. The singer looked back at the foundation of her musical influences, corralling her muses (Missy Elliott, Usher, T-Pain) to stand beside her as she traipsed back in time to turn-of-the-millennium R&B, right when it teetered on the razor\u2019s edge of pop. What she landed on was a sound that feels nostalgic without hewing too close to the source material \u2014\u00a0there\u2019s a loose callback to the Pharcyde\u2019s \u201cRunnin\u201d on \u201cNo Such Thing\u201d featuring Clipse, for instance, or the faint whiff of Amerie\u2019s \u201cWhy Don\u2019t We Fall in Love?\u201d on \u201cAnotha Luva\u201d featuring Lil Wayne. All of her influences feel just in reach, but to her credit, Kehlani suits them to her style without losing herself along the way. To that end, \u201cKehlani\u201d is a triumph for an artist who is as full of artistic vitality as ever. \u2014Steven J. Horowitz<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tElla Langley, \u2018Dandelion\u2019 (Sawgod\/Columbia)<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tWas it the bangs? No, it wasn\u2019t the bangs. OK, maybe just a little bit the bangs. But the main reason we were choosin\u2019 Ella Langley was because of her easygoing vocal warble and because of a keen song sense that would seem to bely a performer a lot further into her years than this 27-year-old Alabaman. She has had the year\u2019s biggest single to date, by any measure, by far, in \u201cChoosin\u2019 Texas,\u201d the song that caused seemingly every urbanite, everywhere, to firmly declare: Yes, I am madly in love with traditional country music, and proud of it\u2026 and I\u2019m not sure what spirit is possessing my body right now. (Don\u2019t worry, it\u2019s a benign one.) If a song that massive struck anybody as the recipe for a one-smash\/two-step wonder on the pop side of things, she quickly got over that hump with an almost equally Spotify-dominating followup, \u201cBe Her,\u201d that proved she can captivate just as easily with a tune firmly in the realm of R&B-influenced country forebears like Ronnie Milsap. You have to love an album that can include a song brilliantly questioning the existence, or at least nature, of God (\u201cSpeaking Terms\u201d), and then follow it up with a cover of one of the great country spirituals, \u201cIt Wasn\u2019t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels.\u201d Welcome to the celestial pantheon of modern country masters, Ella. \u2014Chris Willman<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tPaul McCartney, \u2018The Boys of Dungeon Lane\u2019 (Capitol)<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\t\u201cDays We Left Behind,\u201d the teaser single that heralded McCartney\u2019s first album in almost six years, was about as unapologetically backward-looking as it gets, and in a gentle mode that made it seem as if the former Beatles might be settling in to a subdued set of winsome reveries. Well, there was a half-truth in that promise. On roughly half of these 14 songs, McCartney is taking an unapologetically nostalgic look at his ever-present past. But he\u2019s doing it mostly in the flagrantly commercial, engaging, oft-rocking style of\u00a0a 1970s Wings record. McCartney is acting his age and defying it too, which is kind of the best of both worlds. Superlatives are meant to be quibbled over, but here\u2019s one that will be met with a lot of agreement: \u201cThe Boys of Dungeon Lane\u201d is absolutely the best album ever recorded and released by a rock star in his 80s\u2026 and the fact that there hasn\u2019t been much competition for that title yet doesn\u2019t diminish the achievement. There are other commendations that could be thrown on, like how this might be McCartney\u2019s best album of the 21st century. Macca-heads all have their favorites from his later work; mine up until now has been 2007\u2019s \u201cMemory Almost Full,\u201d partly because it was similar to this one in the way it mixed ruminative thoughts with crunchy sounds. But this album is even more a celebration of memory, with plenty of current happiness thrown in too \u2014 as if his recollections about his Liverpool boyhood and contemporary mash notes to his wife, Nancy Shevell, occupy adjacent spots on his personal timeline of time being a flat circle. He seems to get a kick out of leaping between the 1950s and the 2020s in these lyrics, with neither era luring him any closer to melancholia than the other.\u00a0He found a great partner in co-producer Andrew Watt: There may be a couple of generation gaps between them, but as partners in willful agelessness, they couldn\u2019t be better matched. \u2014Chris Willman<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tTift Merritt, \u2018Sugar\u2019 (One Riot)<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tThe title well sums up the voice, and the spirit that animates it, with the longtime Americana favorite going easy on the tongue and on the ear with her first album in nine years. She took time off not just to be a mother but to be an academic in her native North Carolina, and returns to making new music none the worse for the time away. Her wisened-up lyrical voice revels in for the joy found in a growing daughter and a strong community of female friends, but still makes room for the possibility of new romantic horizons, as in the song where she wishes for \u201cSomeone to Watch the Band With Me.\u201d Did music lovers anywhere ever have their romantic longing better and more bluntly stated? \u2014Chris Willman<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tMitski, \u2018Nothing\u2019s About to Happen to Me\u2019 (Dead Oceans)<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tNo album this year will have a better double entendre for a title than \u201cNothing\u2019s About to Happen to Me,\u201d which could either refer to a sense of the everyday doldrums or an awareness of impending death. Mitski doesn\u2019t come up with a subject-to-interpretation name like that by accident, and indeed, this album is marked, as always, by her ability to get caught up in the drollery of mortal circumstance and to look at a far bigger picture. This is a less overtly Americana-flavored album than her previous one; it started out with the intention of going back to a bare-bones, indie-rock sound, before she decided to turn tail (as cats and cat lovers will) and add orchestration to a lot of the tunes. In the end, it sort of splits the difference between songs emphasizing a lean trio sound and numbers where the strings take fuller effect, which is a pretty cool combo. Uniting it all is Mitski, half-mysterious, half-mundane, always fully mesmerizing. \u2014Chris Willman<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tKacey Musgraves, \u2018Middle of Nowhere\u2019 (Lost Highway)<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tFor people that primarily wanted to hear Kacey Musgraves do just serious country music, it really had been kind of a dry spell\u2026 although the monsoon moisture of her folk-pop-leaning triumphs of the past decade were more than consolation enough for those of us who would follow her anywhere she goes. Anyway, where she has gone is back to Texas, which she views as not just the Lone Star state but a sort of happy liminal state, in its glorious, sprawling semi-emptiness. Musgraves embraces the lonesomeness of the flat spaces of her upbringing, but also delights in the Tex-Mex flavor that is increasingly seeping into her music now that she keeps homes on both sides of the border. No one does a slow burn better than Musgraves, and there are plenty of those here, but it\u2019s sure a delight to hear her burning up into a frustrated crisp as she takes the bull by the horniness in \u201cDry Spell.\u201d This album brings just about everything she learned and perfected during her \u201cGolden Hour\u201d era but lets her return to regionally specific flavors in a best-of-all-worlds way. \u2014Chris Willman <\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tKim Petras, \u2018Detour\u2019 (BunHead\/Amigo)<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tIt\u2019s tough to keep count of how many debut albums Kim Petras has released, but \u201cDetour\u201d is perhaps the most convincing first entry into her nearly decade-old discography. With her 2023 album \u201cFeed the Beast,\u201d Petras seemed to be chasing the glorious high of \u201cUnholy,\u201d her Grammy-winning duet with Sam Smith, by kowtowing to sounds that met the moment, not her style. (Keep resting in peace, \u201cAlone.\u201d) \u201cDetour\u201d course-corrects in all the right ways, embracing the hallmarks of hyper- and electro-pop in a way that feels the most\u00a0her. There\u2019s the sprightly \u201cI Like Ur Look,\u201d which could have easily slotted on the underrated \u201cProbl\u00e9matique,\u201d or the thumping \u201cBrutalist,\u201d a garage-pop song about buildings but is, in fact, an allegory to her transition at a young age. \u201cThis is the beginning of the end,\u201d she declares on the title track, and she means it: \u201cEverything before is just pretend.\u201d \u2014Steven J. Horowitz<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tCharlie Puth, \u2018Whatever\u2019s Clever!\u2019 (Atlantic)<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tIt makes sense that Charlie Puth closes \u201cWhatever\u2019s Clever!\u201d with \u201cI Used to Be Cringe,\u201d a bemoaning of the missteps he once took to fit in (i.e. dyeing his hair blonde, tossing around the word \u201cballer\u201d). That\u2019s because \u201cWhatever\u2019s Clever!\u201d is an exercise in letting go of what constitutes cool in favor of exploring music\u2019s schlockier yet often more compelling corners. Far more than any of his previous records, Puth goes full dad mode on his fourth studio album, diving headfirst into yacht rock (\u201cLove in Exile\u201d featuring Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins), Japanese city pop (\u201cHome\u201d with Hikaru Utada) and slaphappy doo-wop (\u201cUntil It Happens to You\u201d rides out on a true-to-form monologue from Jeff Goldblum). All of this could come off as earnest if it weren\u2019t for the fact that Puth is undeniably sincere, not to mention spot-on, so much so that when the gospel chorus pipes in at the end of lead single \u201cChanges\u201d \u2014 a risky move \u2014 it plays like a musical epiphany. \u2014Steven J. Horowitz<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tRaiNao, \u2018Marcri\u00e1\u2019 (Rimas)<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tThis talented Puerto Rican artist\u2019s previous albums offered a promising reggaeton-pop fusion, but \u201cMarcri\u00e1\u201d \u2014 a play on malcriada, basically meaning Having An Attitude, and \u201craised by the sea\u201d \u2014 is something else entirely. A sprawling and ambitious album, a reference point may be Rosalia\u2019s \u201cMotomami,\u201d a similar fusion of multiple genres (although here its Caribbean styles like reggaeton, bomba, salsa and more) and cutting-edge electronics that was primarily written and produced by the artist herself, although it\u2019s much less jarring and confrontational, more like an urban garden of styles. The influences aren\u2019t just skin deep: veteran Cuban singer Omara Portuondo, reggae band Cultura Prof\u00e9tica, salsa singer Andy Monta\u00f1ez and others all contribute to this wide-ranging trek of an album, which fuses traditional sounds with contemporary electronic ones \u2014 it\u2019s just 45 minutes long but contains proverbial multitudes. \u2014 Jem Aswad<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tRaye, \u2018This Album May Contain Hope\u2019 (Human Re Sources)<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tRaye\u2019s sophomore album is so ambitious in its scope, it\u2019s as if she jumped straight ahead to make her \u201cSgt. Pepper\u201d when she should have just been getting to her \u201cHelp!\u201d And you have to love a woman who bites off all that she can chew, and possibly then some, in an album that has wild flourishes like the Hans Zimmer-assisted opus that is \u201cClick-Clack Symphony\u201d and six-and-a-half minutes\u2019 worth of spoken end credits. But at the core of this far-flung variety show of an album is a fairly simple story of a woman in fierce recovery from a bad relationship\u2026 and not so burned that she isn\u2019t ready for a better one, as the album\u2019s signature hit, \u201cWhere Is My Husband?,\u201d certainly showed. Speaking of questions\u2026 Where the hell has she been all our lives? A diva who has conceptual conceits as broad and delightful as the \u201cfour seasons\u201d concept behind this LP, but who can dive into a scorcher as basic in its pleasures as \u201cNightingale Lane,\u201d is a talent we need around for the next 50 years or so. \u2014Chris Willman<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tOlivia Rodrigo, \u2018You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love\u2019 (Geffen)<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tRemember how everyone said the monoculture was dead\u2026 something that got left behind in the 20th century, as tastes became hopelessly fractured? That seemed true enough, but then how do we explain the fact that everyone in the world loves Olivia Rodrigo\u2019s third album. No one is fighting over whether she\u2019s too much, whether she\u2019s overexposed, whether she\u2019s the product of a machine or a superproducer, whether she\u2019s repeating herself, or any of the other questions that dog just about all of our divas every time out. Somehow, there is the closest thing to unanimity that we\u2019re about to get in this pop lifetime, as to just how thrillingly engaging and, yes, pop-tastic this record is from first note to last. It\u2019s a spooky feeling, experiencing all that agreement, like being in the eye of a hurricane; let\u2019s just enjoy it for the minute it lasts., In concept, \u201cYou Seem Pretty Sad\u2026\u201d stays true to its playfully bifurcated title, with a Side 1 that is about the rise of a promising relationship \u2014 \u201cHere\u2019s to hoping,\u201d indeed! \u2014 and a Side 2 that is about the fall. But it all feels of a many-splendored piece, with co-producer\/writer Dan Nigro helping make the heartbreaking ballads land and the distinctly New Wave-flavored bops turn into the \u201980s-redolent earworms of your 2020s dreams. Perfection is elusive, but this Album of the Year frontrunner sure comes damned close \u2014 100% heartfelt, 100% crafty, 1000% irresistible. \u2014Chris Willman<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tSlayyyter, \u2018Wor$t Girl in America\u2019 (Records\/Columbia)<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tThree albums in, the career of the Missouri-reared singer named Catherine Grace Garner had not quite caught fire \u2014 her music had veered between lite hyperpop reminiscent of Charli xcx (who was an early collaborator and supporter) and Gaga-esque pop, but nothing really stuck. A reboot was in order, with an emphasis on the boot \u2014 \u201cWor$t Girl in America\u201d is a bruising mix of hard beats, throbbing bass, apocalyptic synthesizers and a bad-bitch persona that fits Slayyyter\u2019s unexpectedly versatile voice like a rubber glove: Her natural tone is honey-sweet, but the contrast between her strong melodies and the violent musical backing gives the sense that at any second she could whip out a butcher knife and start shrieking \u2014 which she does a few times here, along with talk-singing, mock-seductive patter and a powerful, soaring belt. The titles (rendered in all-caps) say as much as the sound: \u201cCrank,\u201d \u201cCannibalism!,\u201d \u201cGas Station,\u201d \u201cBrittany Murphy\u201d (which includes the lyric \u201cTell them I was such a funny girl \/ Annoying\u2019s probably a better word\u201d), you get the idea. This album takes on a whole other dimension in a live setting, where she\u2019s accompanied by a brawny rock band and proves herself to be a straight-up rock star, stomping across the stage in cut-off shorts and big boots and at one point, unleashing a total death-metal roar. As her sets at Coachella and Governors Ball prove, she can light up a festival and looks set to be one of the breakout artists of the year. \u2014Jem Aswad<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \tUnderscores, \u2018U\u2019 (Mom + Pop)<\/p>\n \t\t\t \n\tIn the realm of Next Big Thing possibilities, 26-year-old\u00a0artist and producer April Harper Grey\u00a0\u2014 aka Underscores \u2014 has been releasing music for\u00a0half a decade, but completely leveled up with \u201cU,\u201d\u00a0her\u00a0third full-length album.\u00a0Grey started out\u00a0making\u00a0dubstep, and there\u2019s traces of that here, but also\u00a0sassy-sweet\u00a0pop\u00a0hooks\u00a0that evoke\u00a0early\u00a02000s Britney Spears and\u00a0make \u201cU\u201d completely accessible.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0a\u00a0no-skips\u00a0body of work woven\u00a0by\u00a0a true lover and consumer of music, so\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0only fitting that one of the best tracks, aptly titled \u201cMusic,\u201d compares falling in love\u00a0to\u00a0the craft\u00a0itself. \u201cWhen I\u2019m with you it feels like music \/ It\u2019s happening again, I feel the BPM,\u201d Grey sings over\u00a0drilling, layered drumbeats.\u00a0With an opening slot for Charli\u00a0xcx\u00a0on her fall tour,\u00a0it may be only a matter of time before Underscores is playing arenas herself. \u2014Ellise Shafer<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dear 2026: You seem pretty rad, for a year so potentially in malaise. At least, that\u2019s the way…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":901100,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[29],"tags":[4662,115623,171,975,22854,53324,364913,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-901099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-drake","tag-ella-langley","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-olivia-rodrigo","tag-paul-mccartney","tag-the-best-of-2026","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116834243258537482","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=901099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901099\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/901100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=901099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=901099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=901099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Capitol\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Interscope Geffen A&M\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n