My Top 10 Albums of 2024
Let's fight about it in the comments.
My personal taste in music formed during the late 2000s and 2010s - a time where the mainstream and “good” boundary-pushing artistry seemed diametrically opposed. For years, breakout artists moving the musical conversation took online abuse for “selling out” by working on major pop releases: James Blake and Tame Impala working with Travis Scott, Josh Homme and Beck working with Lady Gaga, Bon Iver working with Taylor Swift. Slowly but surely, that hard line between them and us has turned into 2024: a year where pop music glared, blared, and dared. Mainstream pop music shown brightly in terms of cultural relevance, stadium tour ticket sales, and musical experimentation. Following popular music didn’t feel surface level, or like a guilty pleasure, it felt like where a significant portion of the joyous, challenging art was happening. Genres were challenged, dismantled, and blended in the pursuit of something new. Here, in no particular order, are the ten albums I feel did it best this year. If you haven’t listened to them all yet, you still have a few days before the ball drops - Don’t drop the ball.
(P.S. This goes both ways: if there’s something you think I missed, let me know, and I’ll make every effort to listen to it before 2025.)
Kendrick Lamar - GNX
Any round-up of music’s top headlines this year must include the Kendrick-Drake beef. While it brought out some inspired output from both artists, I think most people were particularly enamored with what the battle brought out of Kendrick Lamar. It wasn’t just because it was so uniquely savage from an otherwise erudite linguist - it was just so damn fun. GNX stands out in Kendrick’s body of work because even when he’s not being “important”, he still can run circles around most other rappers out there. Jack Antonoff’s shocking execution of West Coast production styles - beats, samples, and atmosphere - are also a highlight. Kendrick even manages to sneak in a few philosophical debates about his legacy, rage, and love of writing. A seminal bit of Southern California storytelling.
Beyoncé - COWBOY CARTER
Beyoncé’s reclamation of country music is the icon’s most cerebral work to date, and a standout in her storied discography. Cowboy Carter is densely packed with ideas, both musical and intellectual, and seems to site its sources with the glee of a provocative scholar begging you to check their bona fides. Knowles turns the country genre around and around, examining it’s history, components, philosophy, and legacy from every angle. The album features legends like Willie Nelson and Dolly Parton, to today’s young guard in the country world, to Miley Cyrus, in a gentle reminder that she bucked against country stardom herself. The album is dense and sprawling, but also fun and raucous, never too heady or academic to get in the way of a great beat or groove. Beyoncé has long established herself as one of pop’s greatest performers, but has been steadily distinguishing herself as a singular, thoughtful, and dedicated artist. If this is the second installment of a trilogy that RENAISSANCE started, I simply can’t wait to hear chapter three.
Tyler, the Creator - CHROMAKOPIA
CHROMAKOPIA was dramatic from the onset - a sudden announcement, the breakneck-pace rollout of ominous promo videos and teaser clips of songs, speculation about features, the shipping containers… While Tyler is certainly no stranger to drumming up frenzied anticipation amongst his fanbase, creating this kind of a fervor in just two weeks requires something else. Tyler, the Creator has gone from alt-rap disruptor to multi-hyphenate star, and he knows it. If Igor was the high-concept comedown from the sentimentality and desire for love on Flower Boy, CHROMAKOPIA is the natural follow-up to the swaggering victory lap of Call Me If You Get Lost. Tyler knows he’s made it, and that comes with repercussions. Paranoia, concerns about legacy, and family, all take center stage on this album. It’s also the culmination of the narrative arc about Tyler’s relationship with his father that has been a centerpiece of his work since the beginning. Throughout, the production is lush and layered, Tyler’s songwriting is streamlined, mature, and electric. Years of creative restlessness are solidifying into Tyler, the Creator’s singular vision.
Clairo - Charm
One of the most rewarding narratives in music is when an already established artist tries something new and hits pay dirt. Claire Cottrill had built a strong following and garnered massive critical acclaim putting out vulnerable, wistful material. Her third album, Charm, trades delicate pain for earnest wit, bedroom pop for blue-eyed soul. The songs explore the discovery of a new romance with humor, tenderness, and, well… charm. The album is immediately likable and listenable, but repeat listens reveal the sharpness of Cottrill’s turn of phrase as a lyricist, the organic warmth of Leon Michels’ production, and sleeper hits like “Glory of the Snow” and “Terrapin”. An instant classic that feels at home at a dinner party, Sunday morning coffee, or an errands trip - Charm is nearly irresistible.
Mk.gee - Two Star & the Dream Machine
A star is born, people. Months before Mk.gee formally exploded on his Saturday Night Live appearance playing Rockman, he dropped this. Michael Gordon’s collaboration with Dijon has relaxed and refined the talent he displayed on the sprawling, somewhat overstuffed A Museum of Contradiction. Gordon’s official debut, Two Star & the Dream Machine, carries the ephemeral feeling of jamming with your friends when you’re all suddenly filled with the urgency of knowing that what you’re playing is incredible. The songs are laid-back grooves filled with longing and musical texture. RnB styles blend with Bon Iver’s intimacy and Sting’s knack for a huge soundstage and a good groove. Gordon’s signature crunchy, lo-fi guitar effects package creates natural tension with the crystalline, expansive production. Throughout, it becomes clear that Mk.gee is the first artist in decades that I would truly say is questioning what the electric guitar is still capable of. The instrument cracks and bends, it’s tone warbled and muddied to lead melodies, lay down percussion, build background texture, and more. A creative breakthrough that rewards multiple listens, and portends the arrival of a stellar young artist.
Lucky Daye - Algorithm
David Brown’s third album as Lucky Daye is a sexy, genre-bending feast for the senses. Daye’s third album explores modern dating with impressive but never belabored ambition, seamlessly blending Price’s angular grooves, neo-soul’s jazzy complexity, pop-punk, and smooth RnB slow jams. It’s a dazzling and unpredictable album, with Lucky Daye’s chameleon-like voice taking on different properties throughout. Tracks like “Soft” are anything but, churning with jerky tempo-changes reminiscent of King Crimson, while closer “Diamonds in Teal” evokes Frank Ocean’s spacious, glossy production. Algorithm is a delicious feat from a musical journeyman.
Sabrina Carpenter - Short n’ Sweet
I’ve added this album to the list kicking and screaming. The truth is, when I started putting together my list of honorable mention tracks below, I knew Short n’ Sweet would live on there. The album was undoubtedly a breakthrough moment for Sabrina Carpenter, cementing her as a popstar with chops to be reckoned with. When I went to select the track I’d choose to represent the album, I was stuck. Would it be either of the summer’s mega-hits in “Espresso” or “Please, Please, Please”? What about the TikTok breaking “Bed Chem” and “Juno”? What about other hits, like “Taste” or the Dolly-esque “Slim Pickins”? Truth is, Short n’ Sweet manages to be stuffed to the gills with hits, while clocking in at a short, sweet, 36 minutes. Even some of the greatest pop albums ever made include tracks that aren’t irreplaceable, but having 6-7 chart smashing hits? Filled with memorable melodies, quotable humor, sparkling production, and vocal chops? Supported by a smash, sold-out, stadium tour? Who am I kidding… this album is a delight. I’ll reclaim my indie cred in just a minute - let me enjoy this. And admit it - you liked it too.
Cindy Lee - Diamond Jubilee
I told you I’d come back for that indie cred. The mystique surrounding Patrick Flagel’s decision to release their seventh (potentially final) album as Cindy Lee solely on a Youtube link and Geocities page, with no promotion or physical form of any kind, created a gravitational vortex. Similar Radiohead’s In Rainbows release, the sheer audacity of the choice was enough to cut through today’s digital noise economy and grab the attention of reviewers, as well as casual listeners like me who were unfamiliar with Patrick’s work. This sprawling, two-hour long psychedelic lo-fi album is a sun-drenched, dusty dream. Nostalgic elements of The Beta Band, The Velvet Underground, and The Kinks blend together to create grooves that are harmonious and quirky, filled with wonder and mildly eerie. I’m generally no fan of the lo-fi style; the harsh production and imperfections feel a little forced, since today’s garage bands and Soundcloud rappers can release crisp, clean recordings. Diamond Jubilee is creative enough and accessible enough to draw me in, and make me fall in love with songs where the band organically slide in and out of tempo, where instruments squeak and singers discover harmonies rather than plan them. Put this album on during a long drive, or just take the time to sit and listen, and let it wash over you and take you away.
Jamie xx - In Waves
Despite building a reputation for a paragon of unaffected cool as part of The xx, since going solo, Jamie xx has proven himself to be a champion of organic humanity in electronic music. Born of the yearning to dance at a club again during pandemic lockdowns, Jamie xx’s sophomore album revels not just in the ecstasy of dancing, but of the energy of being surrounded by a human crowd. The album pairs vocal samples with live vocals, live instruments with altered sounds, and all produced and mixed with organic warmth rather than slick cool. Features from Robyn and Panda Bear highlight and underline this philosophy of blending the organic and synthetic. The result is an exuberant, energetic album that is both melodic and technically impressive. It’s optimistic and pulse-pounding, and exactly the kind of energy I want to bring into 2025.
Charli XCX - brat
brat, and it’s subsequent spin-offs and DLCs, owned this year. The album transcended pop music and spilled over into pop culture, politics - Hell, it seemed to have its own gravitational pull. Aside from being a dazzling feat of glitchy, energetic production and stuffed to gills with great licks, brat’s coup de grâce was its big beating heart. The album took the time to be shockingly vulnerable and tender, ruminating on Charli’s extremely relatable fears of isolation, purposelessness, and the tearing conflict between wanting to start and family and grow your career. That’s not to mention the emotional catharsis Charli XCX and Lorde helped everyone achieve on their remix track. Achieving this degree of emotional resonance on what is essentially a dance album is an artistic feat. It is also arguably the best example of the millennial voice in pop music.
Honorables Mentions:
These standout tracks from other incredible albums rounded out the soundtrack to my year. Enjoy, and Happy New Year!