Diandra Reviews: My Top 12 Fave Albums of 2017
OMG! There have been some AMAZING albums this year, and I had a hard time boiling it down to my faves. So I decided to define favoritism by some of the albums that have worn my iPod from repetition. These artists made records that wear the “play button” like a crown.
Khalid’s American Teen has turned Millennial angst into a music genre. His album infuses electro with R&B futurism to then sing to the brokenness/ brokenness of youth. It is not easy to be young, dumb, and broke, but his music shows that love and fun CAN be added to these youthful descriptions.
2. Gabriel Garzón-Montano- Jardin
Jardin was 100% a funkadelic fest of an album. Listening to Gabriel waterfall his vocals as if they were surrounded by the plushest forest of sound makes you want literally run into that soundscape. He appeals to lust of romance, and how carnal desires can become virtuous when you physically want the one you spiritual love.
Wash & Set is pure exhilaration. This album is about literally feeling like you are on fire. Every track begs for you to work you body, and imagine yourself as the center of the universe. With the rise of artist like, UNIIQU3 offering dance music that promotes fun, this “raptress” takes such vibes and adds a sense of bravado you will relish.
Jhené Aiko’s Trip was MY FAVE album of the year. I cannot deny the beauty and insightfulness of Trip as intimate detail of a woman’s loss and regain of love. The irony is that Trip may be Aiko’s rawest, most perusal album, but it also is her most universal. You will find in like that the more personal you became in detail, the more you span and grow to encompass the stories of everyone.
I cry when I hear Twain’s voice, and his newest album, Rare Feeling, was so unbelievably gorgeous. He know how to capture the raw feeling of self-loathing, but the magical rise to hope, self-awareness, and even self-love that people undergo when they realize “rock-bottom” is not an end; it is a starting point.
Ásgeir’s album, Afterglow, is filled with romantic lullabies. His vocals glisten like the Northern Lights, and make you want to look up to his songs, as if they were above you; guiding you to the sweet calm of a relationship.
With how crazy 2017 was, you may forget that 2016 was like a pre-game for insanity. As the world and ethics had the slowest funeral, thanks to an ugly American election, Sylvan Esso decided to create a dance record, called What Now?, that absorbed, analyzed, and, ultimately, moved you through all that happened. It might be one of the best things to have come from that election.
Sampha’s Process was released after his mother’s death, and the whole album feels like a sonic program on how to transfer pain into creativity. The notion is quite healing because pain is based in los. Yet, Sampha, instead of “losing” love, you can transform it into art.
Phases may have been a compilation of Angel Olsen’s B-Sides and Rarities, but it is that truth that makes it so good. If her “throwaways” are literal, music gems then she has a long, prosperous career ahead of her.
Kelela’s Take Me Apart shows love can leave you vulnerable, but self-love can make you bare. She echoes the days of Aaliyah where the charm of a soft-singing lyricist came from the truthfulness of her words. Each song is a poem to bettering self-esteem.
War & Leisure is one of THE BEST, sexiest albums of the year. Miguel has had a second coming with they record that fully displays the charm and creativity of this artist.
Late Show is a femme-rock fest of 100% women’s power. Each song makes you want to run around your life in circles, and amp it up with an unstoppable energy. This quartet sings to ladies not letting men define them, as much as using love, in general, as their definition.
