7/3/20
5:20 AM
I started this particular project about compiling a best of 2019 list a few times and a while ago, but it took me a long time and a couple of road trips to fully listen to and decide on which artists and their albums would make this list. Yes, I do realize I’m a half a year late but I figured better late than never- am I right my fellow procrastinators?!
So without a lengthy foreword or introduction, here are my personal analyses on albums I thought were some of the finer records from the year 2019.
Hollywood’s Bleeding: Post Malone
Starting off the list with one of the more digestible and perhaps the most mainstream album on this list, Post Malone’s third project, Hollywood’s Bleeding is a product of alternative rock and hip-hop coming together to make a record which effectively caters to the majority.
Hollywood’s Bleeding is the first Post album that I’ve listened to in its entirety repeatedly, and I felt like it was a really pleasant place to start in the Dallas native’s discography in a way. Of course, when people mention Post Malone, the blockbuster singles such as "White Iverson” and “Congratulations” are instant reminders of Post’s success within the last few years, but Post Malone is really cooking with fire on this project.
Paired with some respectable levels in production, the whole concept of making an Emo rap project with a whole lot of alternative rock influence seems pretty keen to the times— aiming not only to his current audiences, but additionally to fans to both aforementioned genres as well. The lyricism of the record reflects the 24-year-old rapper’s nature as an emotive, yet goofy character and the vocal elements in his songs are well put together. Few years into his rise to stardom, Post Malone is really using fame and success to his advantage, which in turn may be a slight irony for the album’s title: Hollywood’s Bleeding.
Listen to Hollywood’s Bleeding
Cuz I Love You: Lizzo
This album is big— big personality, big attitude, big vocals, and just one big blast in summary.
What a year for Lizzo, as 2019 proved to be a huge breakout period in the singer/ flutist’s career and landed her a great deal of fame and recognition as a musician. Cuz I Love You is such a fun and liberating album where Lizzo breaks out all the big guns— “A pop album with a message?” Yeah, this is it.
Putting her personal physical, emotional, and sexual experiences and attributes into a grand, lively, and charming album isn’t always easy, but the sheer boldness of the boisterous artist makes it work (and fairly well!). With the growing lack of expectation from the pop genre, Lizzo’s take on it is pretty refreshing and cheerful, turning some not great aspects of social components and disdains into things we can laugh about.
Cuz I Love You isn’t simply a fun album with nothing else, but it’s also musically sound. Lizzo’s huge vocal capacity and her background and education in classical music is a couple more layers to be added on to the album. The culmination of everything Melissa Jefferson—also known as Lizzo, is showcased in all of its glory in her third album: Cuz I Love You
GINGER: BROCKHAMPTON
BROCKHAMPTON’s 5th studio album is met with a great deal of mixed reviews, GINGER is probably the most emotive album that the eccentric new age boy band has released in their discography, becoming a work that seems to stand out from their other projects.
GINGER comes through in an easy, yet captivating tone that blurs the lines between genres and portrays a lot of the band’s old distinct sound while incorporating new faces of its members and characteristics. The more emotive nature of the album is blatant, but not overbearing; in a manner that was described as “making music about anxiety and depression that people could dance to” by Kevin Abstract.
As expected from a collective with more than ten individuals, GINGER continues to deliver a number of different flavors unique to BROCKHAMPTON— from whimsical dance tracks to solemn ballads, hopping back and forth the two moods doesn’t seem to be a problem throughout the album, or even within tracks for that matter. Perhaps the most complete BROCKHAMPTON Album in a sense, with more than just funky production and alternating vocals, GINGER is a collection of perspectives from a few young minds expressing what they’re going through in today’s world.
Good At Falling: The Japanese House / Heard It In A Past Life: Maggie Rogers
These two albums kind of share a place together on this list, I usually am not one to compare albums’ similarities as much rather than to evaluate the individual aspects… but these two are really similar, and I thought it’d be unfair to leave one out over the other.
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Amber Bain, who is the mastermind behind The Japanese house showcases her talent in all of her production and writing. The debut album for the artist is somewhat akin to an irony due to the cacophony between the driving elements of the melodic instrumentation derived from thumping basslines over synths and waves, while drenched in sobering vocals and cognitive lyrics. The conflict between these two elements doesn’t take away from the work in any way, but rather creates a unique narrative that can be traced back to individualism within the modern youth.
Good At Falling, is at its core, a very modern indie pop album with a lot to show for. Moody, yet punchy in a way that makes the project interesting enough to keep listening the entire time. The instrumentation and lyricism of this album come together to shine an artistic element to each track, while maintaining a semi-lively atmosphere throughout, Good At Falling captures a scope somewhere between dreams and reality, finding the delicate balance in the two.
Let’s list the similarities: Both albums represent indie pop in its current standards extremely well, they’re both inclusive of the usage in both electronic and organic parts, they’re both debut albums to very promising young artists and were met with much positive review.
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And yet there are still quite a few differences to list. Maggie Roger’s Heard It In A Past Life is generally inclined to a brighter and a more positive overtone. Comparatively, Roger’s vocals are more radiant than not, while both albums are incredibly melodic in their own ways, Heard It In A Past Life is inherently much more upbeat and outgoing when compared to Good At Falling— maybe portraying a slight disparity within American and British indie pop.
As Maggie was discovered by an industry colossus known as Pharrell, some doubts regarding artistry and finesse has been voiced towards her music; and while some may argue that the album could be deemed as being overproduced or muddied by too much, the argument for overproduction is actually quite valid in today’s music scene as the pop genre itself sees much of its popularity to the growing appreciation on electronic and trap influences. Maggie Roger’s first body of work shows room for improvement in future projects while providing a decent headway for the genre; one in which the potentiality for pop music and its boundaries are continually enabled to be pushed and imagined.
Listen to Heard It In A Past Life
Bandana: Freddie Gibbs & Madlib
Put two of underground hip-hop’s best within one album, mix their talents and what you end up with is Bandana.
Every single track produced by legendary DJ/ Producer Madlib, combined with one of the realest lyricists in hip-hop, Freddie Gibbs, and you know something’s bound to blow. Violent imagery, real life predicaments, social philosophies, and years of progress in rap are delivered by Gibbs’ dark and deep voice; his proficiency for rapping and wordplay disproves any doubt that the man isn’t hard. On the other hand, Madlib’s utilization of samples and a sense of nostalgia stemming from old school type beats is unparalleled, creating an infinite playground of hip-hop greatness.
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Honestly, I wanted to write more about this album… but it’s really hard, bars are hard, beats are hard…
They just don’t make ‘em like this anymore…
Easily one of the best gangster rap albums out there, just go listen to it.
Jaime: Brittany Howard
Brittany Howard’s solo debut, Jaime, is titled after her sister, who passed when they were both youths, Howard put aside her other prominent projects such as Alabama Shakes and Thunderbitch to pursue this solo album.
Having been able to focus solely on her work as the creative director of her music, Jaime draws from many forms of historically African-American rooted genres of music and bases those influences into a rock-driven album. Howard is fluid and strong in this album— saying what she wants to, regardless of the message, racism and sexualism are open range and Brittany doesn’t hesitate to lie in the green pastures.
The album seems to revolve around reminiscence; experiences of love and hate in many of their forms— past relations, family, prejudice, and inability to fit in are just few themes in Howard’s narrative. The lyrics are firmly sung over an experiment in which rock, jazz, funk, blues, and other genres come together to make for an easy and lasting harmony in the ears of the listener. Brittany Howard’s vocals are deliberate, yet gentle, which are adjectives that can be used to detail the entire record as well, the warmness of this album wraps around the attitude in the story of this woman’s life.
i,i: Bon Iver
The sage of harmonies, the mad genius, the celestial bard, Bon Iver’s 2019 release of his fourth studio album i,i was magical as it was mysterious and I’m still not understanding everything that’s going on in this record.
Having said that, I can appreciate a lot about this album still. i,i came a long way from Vernon’s first record, and while his discography seemed to push his ensuing albums further and further away from the confines of the norm, the latest project took a step backward towards a more serene and orderly approach. This seemingly backwards step toward inflection doesn’t mean that Bon Iver isn’t being innovative as ever; his music still brings a lot of theoretical and physical advances in an unheard fashion.
In a sense, i,i may quite possibly be the most complete and mature of Justin Vernon’s works. The reclusive nature hidden in cryptic lyrics and vocals are surrounded by a subtle grandiosity; as opposed to the chaotic tone heard in 22, A Million, this album is more tranquil and peaceful. In the midst of all the secrecy, there is a sense of calm that can be found. The usage of modulated instruments and vocals, and the overall aesthetic of the record can be seen as lifeless or full of joy, and in that perspective, the album is increasingly possessive of replay value and packs much detail.
And even after all this analysis, I still really have no idea what a lot of this album means, typical Bon Iver music.
KIRK: DaBaby
Jonathan Lyndale Kirk quickly became the biggest breakout artist of 2019—starting the year with Baby on Baby, then dropping KIRK after six months’ time, it’s not often that we see back to back albums blow up like DaBaby’s did, but here we are in 2020, and Mr. Kirk is one of the hottest rappers in the game.
Unlike your traditional pop-rapper from back in the day, DaBaby is adept at putting in some proficiency in his ability to flow. Maintaining high levels of energy in his tracks while delivering solid lyricism, and his sense of rhythm is pretty impressive too. Most of the tracks on KIRK are viable to be club bangers, and yet Dababy’s smooth and commanding timbre along his southern drawl clashes with his quick and animated flow to make for a stimulating listening experience. Although the record itself disguises as a mainstream money grab before closer inspection, it has an actual depth to it and is accompanied by some interesting sounds as well as features—it’s a whole lot of bops.
DaBaby not only places himself as a pop star with this record, but also proves to be quite the rapper as well; in many cases of breakout artists, especially of the hip-hop genre, a growing number of individuals decline in their work just as swiftly as they ride the comeuppance, as for the Charlotte native, he has continued to build his portfolio as a reputable MC irregardless. Keeping up with DaBaby’s journey thus far and seeing the artist formerly known as Baby Jesus find success with his take on Southern rap, signing with big time labels, and becoming a household name in rap in the year 2019 seems unlikely of a tale, is but a glimpse into the life and the narrative of the man himself, as told on KIRK.
Fever: Megan Thee Stallion
There have been a lot of female rappers in the game within the last few decades, and while the exploitation of sex, drugs, and money have been more than common by women in the hip-hop scene, Megan Thee Stallion’s debut mixtape Fever is purely all of those things; in a way that isn’t pretentious or obnoxious, but rather confident and engaging.
Fever is 14 tracks long at 40 minutes, charged with sexuality and I quote, “Hood rat shit.” In all seriousness though, Megan’s ability to rap is no joke— she’s fierce, vicious, and so, so bold. We’ve all been hit with those come-and-go artists who utilize their sex as the main attraction to their music, and it’s overplayed, I know. Fever is legitimately so much of that deliverance…that it just makes the sale. If somebody has accepted the fact that the character they are playing is fully immersive and embraces the obvious, the audience can’t help but to be drawn to such fidelity, which is exactly what happens as Megan Thee Stallion drops ratchet bars and provocative content.
Perhaps the glue that holds all of these explicit and even raunchy material is the young rapper’s ability to spit. Megan Thee Stallion holds up to any of her peers regardless of gender and even surpasses them when it comes to technically being able to deliver verse after verse. Fever is in its core feels like years and years of rap history bearing fruit—drawing from her predecessors in Houston as well as feminine voices in the rap game— giving Megan a whole lot of power in an industry dominated by male voice by challenging that authority with status, sex, and rap greatness. A sensory overload for sure, but in a ridiculously appropriate context.
Real hot girl shit.
Grey Area: Little Simz
Representing the spaces between the blacks and whites in her life in the early 20’s, Little Simz’ Grey Area is an organic depiction of the questions and answers of a young woman figuring out things in her life.
The British MC’s third and most mature work to date, Grey Area is thorough, yet hollow, in a sense where the aesthetic of the album takes a few steps back from the current meta of music. Little Simz commented that the entirety of the album was recorded entirely without any samples and that may seem like a rare occurrence in today’s hip-hop; the composition of the album looks to be a combination of instruments and vocals, leading to a rudimentary, but slightly intoxicating sound where the listener can focus on the individual instruments and the voice of the now 26 year-old rapper.
Grey Area shows a… grey area in the life of Simbi Ajikawo. The album features no two alike songs, and most likely on purpose— the project was born out of the “if” and “what" of the English rapper’s step into adulthood, reflecting the confusion and the hypotheticals in the journey to growth.
Possibly one of the best hip-hop albums of 2019, and while British Grime albums such as slowthai’s Nothing Great About Britain and Psychodrama by Dave are very recognizable works (and I would recommend those as well), I personally thought Little Simz’ augmentation in her storytelling and rapping prowess earns her a spot among the top for the last year. Grey Area is bold— it’s lethal, concise, and striking, reminiscent of old school greats like Nas or Jay-Z. A surprising rise to greatness and definitely an underrated body of work, Little Simz’ Grey Area contains an air of relativity for artists and young adults living in today’s uncertainties.
This Is How You Smile: Helado Negro
Roberto Carlos Lange’s telltale perspective into his heritage, and his youth, This Is How You Smile is an ode to a culture, and its stories often overlooked.
The 6th album under the moniker Helado Negro and perhaps his most recognized record gets its title from a short story named Girl, along the lines “ this is how you smile to someone you don’t like too much; this is how you smile to someone you don’t like at all”, providing insight into the livelihood under immigrant parents and the joys and hardships that come with.
This Is How You Smile combines the stylings of Latin Folk with the usage of pianos, synths, and a number of tropical instrumentations to achieve a unique path of sound that carries a certain disposition towards a more island-based tone. Helado Negro’s album is lofty at its nature— seeming sacral at times through its duration, yet also contains more eerie and faint attitudes simultaneously. At 40 minutes of playtime, the gradual descent into a moodier and stagnant inflection creates a contrast through the dynamics of the album, This Is How You Smile is by no means exciting or dramatic, but the comparison between the first half of the album and the latter provides the listener with substantial change throughout the record.
While Helado Negro’s This Is How You Smile is not flashy or exhilarating, its unlikeness beckons an intrigue that swells to fascination.
Listen to This Is How You Smile
thank u, next: Arianna Grande
From Nickelodeon actress to revealing some of her most intimate moments and her vulnerabilities, Arianna Grande is an artist who’s had more growth than most, both personally and musically.
Her earlier works, while holding a great deal of potential, felt a little juvenile and underdeveloped at times; the topical themes of her music and the sometimes-crude vocal demonstrations left a lot of room for improvements. thank u, next seems to show the evolution of Arianna in a way that gives her a clear-cut distinction from just a modern day Mariah Carey imitation— Her music is darker, more personal, and is seeping with callousness whilst being incredibly emotive. While my primary response to this album was impersonal at best, with more listens over time, Arianna Grande’s fifth studio album definitely registers as her best yet; high production values, significant improvements in pronunciation and vocality, and stability in genre as she taps into a trap based R&B realm feels appropriate for the mood of the entire album.
The attitude that the singer-actress takes in thank u, next takes is cavalier, yet delicate. Speaking out about her past experiences then finding a confidant in herself and bracing in herself, in her own egotistic mannerisms, Arianna abides in her maturity and growth over the year as she looks to the next page in her life.
Kiwanuka: Michael Kiwanuka
English musician Michael Kiwanuka has had one of the quieter presences while maintaining a prolific status as a musician in the industry; the album Kiwanuka highlights the years of the artist’s growth and hardships into one body of work all the while paying respects to his inspirations. Evocative of the past and now, Michael Kiwanuka takes various pieces from 1960’s to present forms of music and creates a contemporary ballad to hear and feel.
Working with esteemed producers like Danger Mouse and Inflo, Kiwanuka tampers with the balance of both seemingly dated sounds and current elements of music. The drowned-out vocals and guitars, the quiet lone piano, the rhythmic and steady drums definitely add to the portrayal of passing years, Michael Kiwanuka also takes a plethora of thematic songwriting components and presents a timelessness in his musical poetry.
In what could be noted to be the height of Michael Kiwanuka’s career, the third studio album pretends to be an easy listen at first, but promptly dives into a heavy and despondent cry for mercy and helplessness fills the entirety of the album’s aesthetic. Sounding as if the music was recorded in an empty concert hall, the audible loneliness is perhaps accurately echoing the possible state of his mental.
Norman Fucking Rockwell!: Lana Del Rey
I barely found LDR like, last year. I know.
Having said that, I feel like it was actually somewhat helpful and interesting in hindsight that I was so late in finding all of Lana’s work so late— seeing all the artists that she’s influenced and the gradual evolution in her early works to Norman Fucking Rockwell! made for an expedited listening experience which enabled me to compare and evaluate her discography in a non-temporal manner.
Norman Fucking Rockwell! is Lana’s best work.
A bold statement, however, in the 7 year span between Born to Die to NFR!, the American singer-songwriter Elizabeth Woolridge Grant really honed the edges of her blades and the elements in her music that was known as her best traits have become even more sharpened in her latest project. The dramatic wordplay, the grand nature of her thematic focus, and the cinematic sounds of her sounds are all arguably the most refined they have been in a Lana Del Rey album. The album is still filled with the good old LDR familiarities— the vain and cynical style of lyricism and the somewhat-helplessness of being a woman in love still persists. This idea was critically centralized upon, hence making for what reads to be Lana’s finest songwriting to date.
Noteworthy as all of the improvements and merits are, the argument against Lana Del Rey’s music still stands. While storytelling and emotional evocation is an obvious strength in Lana’s works, many critics claim that her music is rather drab or pitiable at worst. It probably is to be fair, but honestly by this point that should be an apparent part of her music, and even past such conjectures NFR! does have a decent range of dynamics in the album so…
In saying all of this, Norman Fucking Rockwell! is a beautifully ironic album that possibly contends for the title of the year’s best album.
Listen to Norman Fucking Rockwell
Charli: Charli XCX
Pop music may not be as mainstream as it once was, and a plausible explanation behind the digression of the once dominant genre is probably explained best by the rise of the sub-genres and delineations of specific forms of music.
With the elevated incorporation of technology in music, it was inevitable that more electronic ingredients would be supplemented into all types of music. In Charli, pop music was remodeled and transmuted into something categorized as hyper pop— containing heavy EDM and electronic influences, and increasing tempo, focusing less on individual melodies and overloading all of them at once.
The realm of hyper pop and electro pop, being infantile in the comprehensive view of music as a whole, is shaped by the trajectories of a collective of artists, and Charli XCX is a tremendous contribution in part. Charli takes preformed views of music and clashes an abundance of sounds to forge a unique product. While the outcomes may feel a little crude or unfamiliar, the process is one to respect. The balance between songwriting and production is undeniably commendable, and the evolution of Charli XCX’s works are absurdly energetic. All of Charli’s output is invitingly paired with a diverse array of features, making Charli’s Charli a Next Level Charli project.
All My Heroes Are Cornballs
And pop music is obviously not the only genre being put through the experimental stages, and JPEGMAFIA is one of the most successful experimental rappers at the moment. All My Heroes Are Cornballs is filled with avant-garde approaches that combines a riot of sounds and creates an amicable wall of sound, and the most impressive part of it all might be how seemingly contained the entire album is.
JPEGMAFIA is one interesting dude, the irony of his music is unmistakable, with the project seeping with memes and internet slang, one would probably wonder how an individual puts an album like this together. Which is a really valid question because within the whole mess under this album, there is so much minute detail embedded in All My Heroes Are Cornballs. Sampled and recorded vocals, the underlying synths, abrupt eruptions of adlibs and inserts, the musically sound progressions of chords and harmonies, and the adhesion of all the aforementioned pieces come together in a nearly accidental degree; which is really the genius behind this album. it’s crazy.
All My Heroes Are Cornballs is largely comprised of hip-hop, R&B, pop, punk, and a bunch of other things in between. The intricate balance of the genres and the individual production qualities make listening particularly animated and almost requires a meditative level of active listening if the listener really wants to observe the immensity of the intricate design in which JPEGMAFIA’s very own Frankenstein’s monster is brought to life. Filled with moments that come across as unsolicited shouting to declining into lyrics that might warrant social contemplation, all of this is just a game of musical hopscotch without any boxes.
Listen to All My Heroes Are Cornballs
1000 gecs: 100 gecs
The musical equivalent to the film The Room or Sharknado?
At this point I’ve listened to 1000 gecs about 4 or 5 times, and I still can’t tell if it’s good or bad.
It may be so bad that it’s good? or the vice versa?
No album has made me reflect about my existence more than this album.
This is the evolution of music boiiis.
But in all honesty, it’s actually a really fun listen, past all the third-rate humor and bursts of vulgarity, there’s an air of straightforwardness and solidarity(?) throughout the album. I really can’t explain this album without having you listen to it first, lol message me or something afterwards, we can all contemplate this album together.
Other Albums that are either some of my personal favorites or ones that I’ve already written about:
ZUU: Denzel Curry- South Florida’s own lyrical heavyweight, Denzel Curry probably has one of the most slept on rap recognition and one of the most slept on albums of 2019.
Hot Pink: Doja Cat
This album makes this list purely because of the viral rise of Doja Cat. Thanks Tik Tok.
The Lost Boy: YBN Cordae
YBN Cordae maybe a rookie in the game, but his lyrics and style are definitely a cut above the rest. The Lost Boy is simple— a balance between adhering to the old school swagger with a touch of modern vigor and spirit.
When I Get Home: Solange
How is this family this gifted musically? Solange and Beyoncé obviously have different styles when it comes to music, but the younger sister isn’t running behind in any manner.
Fine Line: Harry Styles
Yes, yes, a Harry Styles album. It’s actually probably one of the better pop albums of the year and also has some really solid moments throughout the album.
LEGACY! LEGACY!: Jamila Woods
Probably my personal favorite album from 2019. Jamila’s vocals prowess and the artistry that goes into this album is immaculate.
Link to my post about LEGACY! LEGACY!
IGOR: Tyler, The Creator
Tyler’s latest and possibly the most polarizing album, it’s still technically and thematically sound. There were fan-made posters and street art of this album everywhere in Europe around the time of its release, such a loyal fanbase.
When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?: Billie Eilish
Billie is a surprisingly good writer, and the production by FINNEAS is above passing. An immense follow-up to Billie’s early rise to stardom, the debut album is deeper and better than most had imagined it would be.
Link to my post about When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?
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If you made it this far and took the time to read all my thoughts and opinions, I want to say thank you.
It’s been pretty hard to stay motivated and dedicated sometimes, but it has been really fun (and really hard) listening to and writing about all these wonderful projects and I hope you do too, I will be back soon with more content in the near future. See you soon.
Thank you,
Always.
Erik K.
