Best Music of 2020

NathanRicaud said:
Mmmmmm it is a great album but I think like @Rip_City says, towards the end, it feels weaker than the start. After Dynasty, all the 7 tracks that come after - XS, STFU, Comme des Garçons, Akaska Sad, Paradisin, Love Me 4 Me & Bad Friend are all just incredible! Then the last 5 tracks is a really mixed bag! Only Tokyo Love Hotel is the real standout in my opinion. Chosen Family is great, especially vocal and lyrically, but doesn’t have the same emotional impact the ending does with the choir/background vocals/clap-along aesthetic in comparison to “Bad Friend”. Snakeskin is a pretty great song, and the ending in particular is stunning, but the track is a bit too messy overall. The track is a bit overproduced in parts, and the sentiment gets a bit lost I feel. Still, the ending to Snakeskin is impeccable!

This is the same issue I have with Charli XCX’s “how I’m feeling now”. It’s a great album like “SAWAYAMA”, but the first half is so much stronger than the second half. As soon as “I Finally Understand” starts, the album gets a bit bland at times and is nowhere near as good as those other 6 tracks. c2.0 is good but you can’t help think about how much better “Click” is. Party 4 U overstays it’s welcome and her vocals are really thin in some spots and “visions” is cool, but is a tiring listen as the last song as I dunno - it sounds a bit like 100 gecs and I feel just sounds really different to everything. “Anthems” is the only truly great track on those last 5 tracks to me, just like “Tokyo Love Hotel” is for SAWAYAMA.
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I think Sawayama flows really well and to me the quality is kept up throughout, but I can see why others would disagree. I just struggle to think of a song I dislike tbh

Also wow we couldn't disagree more on how i'm feeling now... "anthems" is the only song on the album I dont love 😂
 
@gaporter - you’re gonna kill me but when you listed Dua Lipa, Rina Sawayama & Charli XCX, I thought to myself “I like all those albums but wish they didn’t have weak endings”. I must say though that with Dua Lipa, the second half of the album starts off tremendously with “Hallucinate”, “Love Again” & “Break My Heart”! Like those three songs together are 🎯💎💎💎

But then.....”Good In Bed” comes afterwards and it’s just like 😓🙄 when the vinyl is spinning 😂😂🤦‍♂️
 
NathanRicaud said:
@gaporter - you’re gonna kill me but when you listed Dua Lipa, Rina Sawayama & Charli XCX, I thought to myself “I like all those albums but wish they didn’t have weak endings”. I must say though that with Dua Lipa, the second half of the album starts off tremendously with “Hallucinate”, “Love Again” & “Break My Heart”! Like those three songs together are 🎯💎💎💎

But then.....”Good In Bed” comes afterwards and it’s just like 😓🙄 when the vinyl is spinning 😂😂🤦‍♂️
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To quote another great album of this year... "I disagree" 😂
 
gaporter said:
I think Sawayama flows really well and to me the quality is kept up throughout, but I can see why others would disagree. I just struggle to think of a song I dislike tbh

Also wow we couldn't disagree more on how i'm feeling now... "anthems" is the only song on the album I dont love 😂
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I love Visions probably more, but it just feels so out of place, like from a more futuristic album! “Anthems” is 🔥🔥🔥 though! I love how aggressive it is and love her whaling vocals on the hook! I feel like it really encapsulates the whole “losing your mind/I feel numb” concept really well!
 
gaporter said:
To quote another great album of this year... "I disagree" 😂
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That’s another thing that popped into my mind! “How come Gap didn’t list Poppy’s “I Disagree”? Wonder if she totally forgot about that album”! BUT OMG GIRL, SO TRUE THAT THAT ALBUM’s STRONGEST MOMENTS TOO ARE ALL IN THE FIRST HALF 😂😂😂👏
 
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NathanRicaud said:
I love Visions probably more, but it just feels so out of place, like from a more futuristic album! “Anthems” is 🔥🔥🔥 though! I love how aggressive it is and love her whaling vocals on the hook! I feel like it really encapsulates the whole “losing your mind/I feel numb” concept really well!
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I love the hook in "visions" and the frantic electro ending is a perfect closer to the album imo. I like "anthems" too, it's just probs the one I return to the least, which is more a testament to the album as a whole when even the weakest song is still a banger!
NathanRicaud said:
That’s another thing that popped into my mind! “How dome Gap didn’t list Poppy’s “I Disagree”? Wonder if she totally forgot about that album”! BUT OMG GIRL, SO TRUE THAT THAT ALBUM’s STRONGEST MOMENTS TOO ARE ALL IN THE FIRST HALF 😂😂😂👏
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Ironically I kind of agree on this one 😂 the album is great but unfortunately it is a bit front-loaded, and I can't pretend it doesn't hinder my enjoyment of the album as a whole. It still has a good chance of sneaking onto my year-end list however, it depends on what kind of competition arises in the next few months!
 
NathanRicaud said:
Mmmmm fair enough! Future Nostalgia is a great album, and I can understand why it would be one of your favourite albums of the 2010’s if it was released last year! 🙂

What are the tracks in the second half of What’s Your Pleasure? that you aren’t feeling as much?!? 🤔
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It's less that there are songs I'm not feeling and more that everything starts to feel a little same-sy by the end of the album's runtime. But again, I'm still absorbing and like it a lot on the whole.

Hollywood said:
You guys all talk about Dua Lipa, Charli XCX, and Jessie Ware's albums like they are the second coming of Christ or something, but no one is praising the likes of Rina Sawayama's debut album. Sawayama is the best thing to happen to pop music 🎶 🙌 ❤ 👌 👏 since FKA Twigs.
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I really like songs off that album (STFU especially) but there are also a lot that I don't care for. I think the term overproduced that people are tossing around is apt. But I do really like the nu-metal flourishes.

Also, Grimes: Art Angels was 2015 ;)
 
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DownIsTheNewUp said:
It's less that there are songs I'm not feeling and more that everything starts to feel a little same-sy by the end of the album's runtime. But again, I'm still absorbing and like it a lot on the whole.



I really like songs off that album (STFU especially) but there are also a lot that I don't care for. I think the term overproduced that people are tossing around is apt. But I do really like the nu-metal flourishes.

Also, Grimes: Art Angels was 2015 ;)
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But I love 💘 Grimes🧚‍♀️🗡 soooo much!!!!
 
Hollywood said:
I'm definitely more of an indie rock 🎸 boy 👦 for sure but yes I do enjoy some pop on occasion so as long as it's not the mass produced bubble gum pop.
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I was a classic and alt rock kid as a teen who became a full on indie rock (the process started with The Moon and Antarctica junior year of HS) and hip-hop junkie in college who has had a deep appreciation of (non-EDM) electronica throughout the years. The only genres that have been historically off limits are country (i.e. anything too twangy) and pop.

Point being, my close friend from HS and the 2 years I spent in CO post-college (before moving back to LA) recently moved to San Luis Obispo as a travel nurse. She's a jam band girl at heart and basically a sister and who knows me better than maybe even my own brother....

When I put Dua Lipa on in front of her she had two reactions A) "I fucking hate this" B) I'm re-accessing everything I thought I knew about your taste in music.

Which led me to a) tracing the evolution of my music over the past decade- how Grimes led to Sky Ferreria led to FKA Twigs led to Jai Paul led to Tei Shi led to Let's Eat Grandma... (and that's without mentioning Brockhampton who some would call pop) and b) pointing out that I've realized what I'm actually averse to is anything that sounds like it was designed in a top-40 lab (regardless of genre).

To which she said-- "but this sounds like top 40 pop" and I replied "maybe so. But if so, that just cements it's brilliance to me".
 
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