First time the AOTY goes back to back:
1. JPEGMafia I LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR YOU:
producer and rapper JPEGMAFIA makes hyperactive songs that jitter and rumble like an overloaded washing machine. Beat switches are common, samples get sourced from anywhere, and the rapping is variously smooth, abrasive, and stoned. He slows down a bit on his fifth album, which finds him processing the recoil of working with his controversial idol, Ye (f.k.a Kanye West), on the album Vultures 1. The songs are muscular and syncretic as ever, but the normally peevish rapper doesn’t maintain his trolling energy for the full record, settling into a questioning and pensive pace. This in turn opens up the music, changing it from a bludgeon to a balm. JPEG doesn’t reconcile these two modes, but with repeat listens they feel less polar, facets of a single mind. (TIME)
2. Kendrick Lamar GNX:
when you’re already one of the biggest rappers in the game, it’s quite a feat to storm even further ahead of the herd, to ascend to an entirely new plain where you stand alone. That’s what Kendrick Lamar did with GNX, an album less conceptual and thematic than what we’re used to. Instead, Lamar chose to double-down on the West Coast pride he’s been peddling ever since wiping the floor with Drake during their beef earlier this year. This period culminated in The Pop Out: Ken & Friends, a one-off concert that unified an array of LA factions, and GNX is the version of that we can all partake in – a way to be privy to the future of hip hop, the one that Lamar is stealing from generics and the apathetic masses that have diluted his beloved lifestyle. (THE LINE OF BEST FIT)
3. Beyonce COWBOY CARTER:
Cowboy Carter spotlights the deep connections between soul, pop, rock, and country. Sounds of Americana, folk, and even dance find their way into these songs. On the powerful opener, “Ameriican Requiem”, the pop diva proudly claims her space, anticipating the hostility Cowboy Carter would face from country audiences. She sings of her profound attachment to the South and Southern culture – a complex and complicated history of pain and beauty. On the excellent “Riiverdance”, Beyoncé brings some of her club sensibilities to the string-laden confection (courtesy of super producer The-Dream). The hit single, “Texas Hold ‘Em” (which also became a social media sensation), is a fun high point. (POPMATTERS)
4. Charli XCX BRAT:
what if a pop record were constructed like a MySpace page? That’s the simple but genius premise of Charli XCX’s BRAT, a kaleidoscopic dance album that revels in the freedoms of living messily. The British singer doesn’t have a golden voice, killer choreography, or a Grammy, but she’s indelibly cool. And her coolness isn’t just a pose; it’s true taste—a hankering for the very specific melodies, phrases, and beats that rouse her. In brattiness, Charli unlocks her inner paranoiac, mean girl, and so much more, a palette that further enlivens the restless electronic music she’s long championed. The richness of the brat persona and the immediacy of the songwriting turned the album into a zeitgeist event, but that massive success is secondary to the record’s idiosyncratic purview. BRAT offers a 360 view of the scenes and sounds Charli holds dear. So stylish. (TIME)
5. Magdalena Bay IMAGINAL DISK:
Imaginal Disk is an entry in the greater canon that befits the escapism we all desperately need. Exploring every nook and cranny of their creative minds, from the saccharine (“Death & Romance”) to the weird and wonderful (“That’s My Floor”), Magdalena Bay achieve all of this while pulling apart and reassembling a conveyor belt of epic pop cuts over the course of Imaginal's runtime. The album is a reminder of how fun, shiny, and brash music can be without sacrificing artistry, all the while allowing a burgeoning duo to stake their claim within the hierarchy of alt-pop upstarts. (THE LINE OF BEST FIT)
6. Remi Wolf BIG IDEAS:
works to humanize Wolf’s music without sacrificing its theatricality. Closing disco fever dream “Slay Bitch,” allegedly a bonus track, is the pick-me-up to counteract all the album’s nerves and insecurities. Wolf sounds like she’s commanding you to vogue through your own dress-up montage, somersaulting through the melody with the whimsical attitude of a young Cyndi Lauper. She’s a little bit scattered, and she sounds right at home. (PITCHFORK)
7. Willow EMPATHOGEN:
much of empathogen’s music, all of which is self-produced, is gorgeous and well arranged, jumping between proggy pop fusion and potent bursts of free jazz. Even when the words feel disposable, the textures of the backing tracks are rich and inviting. “no words 1 & 2,” a co-production with Eddie Benjamin, runs its bass and drums at the same pace as Willow’s scatting, giving Bobby McFerrin vibes with the brevity of a Destroy Lonely leak. Amalgams like this are leagues more interesting than the handful of occasions where homage slips into pantomime. “pain for fun,” a collaboration with St. Vincent—one of Willow’s favorite artists—is too keen to emulate Actor and Masseduction-era Vincent instead of bringing Annie Clark into Willow’s world. (PITCHFORK)
8. Tyler, the Creator CHROMAKOPIA:
reaches the conclusion of what feels like a career-long narrative arc, except even with Tyler as the director, real life doesn’t play out like in the movies. Throughout Chromakopia, we find Tyler dealing with aging in a world very much of his own creation. As with other superstars of his generation, faced with the shelf life of their own brands, the Tyler of Chromakopia finds him making an effort to deconstruct some of his own narratives. For longtime fans, it’s an exciting proposition, one that opens up a new world of possibilities. (ROLLING STONE)
9. The Smile WALL OF EYES:
Wall of Eyes is made from the same base matter as Radiohead–epic guitar rock, knotty prog, mind-bending kosmische music, and modern classical music, all used to reflect, refract, and critique politics and our modern paranoid technocratic society. They weave them together in less apparent ways. (POPMATTERS)
10. Ravyn Lenae BIRD’S EYE:
experimental, smooth, and lightweight, Bird’s Eye expands on Ravyn Lenae’s futuristic vision of R&B she mastered on 2022’s Hypnos. Her command of the genre allows her to truly explore, infusing the electrically diverse album with notes of indie rock, neo-psychedelia, and trip-hop alongside its more familiar terrain. (THE LINE OF BEST FIT)
