Photo: Malthe Ivarsson / Gonzales Photo / Profimedia
30 music journalists writing for the British newspaper The Guardian voted for the top 50 albums of the year. Here are the top 5 in reverse order.
5th place – Lady Gaga – Mayhem
In contrast to the smooth tech-house style of her previous album, Chromatica, and in stark contrast to the evening jazz of her albums with Tony Bennett, on Mayhem, Gaga returned to the operatic electroclash that characterized her first two albums.
4th Place – Addison Rae – Addison
Once ridiculed as a former TikTok dancer who made ill-fated attempts to quit the platform, Addison Rae's fortunes changed last summer when Charli xcx invited her to collaborate on a remix, washing away the tacky juvenile image of her social media fame. Her debut album offered a dreamy synthpop (pop music that heavily uses a synthesizer), weirder and more interesting than expected.
Dev Hynes' fifth album Blood Orange seems to focus uniquely on the fragmented and distracted state of mind that follows the death of a loved one, in his case his mother. The restless nature of Essex Honey is summed up in the aching opening lyrics, which can be interpreted as the dying's acceptance of death, in stark contrast to the ability of the living to accept it: “In your grace, I searched for meaning,” sings Hynes on Look at You. “But I haven't found any, and I'm still looking for the truth.”
2nd place – CMAT – Euro-Country
CMAT's third album is by turns emotional, moving, angry, hilarious and full of incredible songs. He confidently departs from the country style he created on his 2022 debut album, If My Wife New I'd Be Dead, and ventures into territory that variously touches on jazz, furious alternative rock, or soul-influenced pop.
1st place – Rosalia – Luxury
With lyrics in 13 languages and references to dozens of historical saints, the fact that Lux manages to transcend academic analysis and in-depth Wikipedia research is almost miraculous, and the credit goes entirely to Rosalía. While this isn't her first album to blend past and present—see 2018's sophomore El Mal Querer and its heady mix of flamenco and R&B—the stakes are much higher on Lux and the balance is more pronounced. What elevates it beyond its layered melodies, rich songwriting and deep-rooted drama is the playfulness at its core. Like Björk in her 90s heyday, Rosalía's voice has an amazing character that sweeps through you like a tornado. Even when she tears your heart in two, as in the blooming ballad La Yugular or in the ascent to the sky in the closing track Magnolias, you want to be there, with her, write the British journalists.
See the full list on The Guardian.
