some music i liked this year

honestly i have to admit - writing about albums is fun but also kinda difficult when you're kinda just covering one artist with a lot of similar things. so i thought i'd just throw in some love for some artists/bands and albums that i've discovered recently. thank you to apple music, it's now really easy for me to find new songs and just download full albums, so it's made exploring music far easier as well. 

i realized i tend to have a few 'go to' types of music i like, but i think you can decide for yourself what type of things i gravitate towards. 

summer walker - over it (2020) 

i listened to her music for a month straight - i just love it. her voice is gorgeous. and her songs just have this beautiful self love, heart break, feeling myself kinda vibe. over it is probably my favorite albu, and its also the most complete one. i like off of you, body, session 32, come thru - although all of the songs in the album just have ~ a vibe~ which i love. this was a real breakup album for me - i needed this energy. 

teyana taylor - the album (deluxe) (2020) 

teyana taylor is sorely underrated - her vibes in this album are honestly the best and i really love the energy of this album. my personal favorites are HYWI (how you want it), which is just a fun raunchy sexy song, try again and let's build, with that rich, dark soulful, smooth flow on all of the tracks. this is classified under r&b/soul. I think this is my favorite out of her albums and all of the songs in it are really a vibe. 

Ama Lou - DDD (2021) 

a single album with 3 songs and a combined MV narrative movie. this is such a vibe, it has that sort of soulful narrative spin on the english r&b, and ama lou has this wonderful smokiness to her voice. tried up and wrong lesson have these strong beats and a great bassline, and her voice just glides beautifully over the songs. i really like her stuff and i can't wait to see more. 

jorja smith - be right back (2021) 

i've been a pretty big fan of jorja smith since i found on my mind (2017), she has this lovely deep soulful voice on top of songs that feel like they speak emotional volumes. this EP has 3 songs, addicted, bussdown and gone, and my personal favorite is addicted - when she sings you can really hear the meaning of the lyrics behind them, and i like the emotional weight and the quality of her voice. she always makes great stuff, but i don't think i have a favorite album yet. 

ari lennox - shea butter baby (2019) 

i found ari lennox through kiana lede's music and this album is really just such a sassy millenial girl kinda album. i fucking love i been and BMO, they have this real sassy, independent lady vibe, it just kinda makes me feel a way - like confident and in love with myself, and i like that about her music. 

doja cat - planet her (2021) 

my first full album listen from doja cat - i do think that out of all the albums she has, this is probably my favorite. i really like naked, payday and i don't do drugs - although a lot of the other songs in this albu, are bops. its a bit more experimental and electronic than her other albums which are a bit more poppy - i'd say this is a solid album and one i find really fun. 

inayah - S.O.L.A.R (2019) 

i love her energy ugh. it's amazing. there's some real bops here and SOLAR is the album i like the most songs from - chunky bytchez win'n is such a fucking bop hahaha but my absolute favorite is best thing. let me vibe to my breakup fuck you songs. this is the energy i'm carrying into 2021. i'm not smashing car windows but like, /i dreamed that i married you/then i woke up happy it never came true/. 

nao - for all we know (2016) 

there is actually a most recent album called then life was beautiful - but it's not actually officially all out yet as it wont be released until september, so until then, you get to have this album (although nao's music in general is fantastic across the board, gabriel, nostalgia and drive and disconnect are so good). the best one from this album is bad blood, but adore you, inhale exhale and girlfriend are all fantastic. she has this sort of funky soulful edge to her music, and her voice is very distinct. i initially found her through her collab with mura masa (firefly) and i'm honestly mad i didn't get into her stuff earlier, she has the same earnest energy and gorgeous lyrical poetry through her music, and her voice just mmm. yeah. she's so underrated, but her songs have this amazing energy to them.  also

kiana lede - kiki (2020) 

she is honestly coming out with BOPS and we are not giving her enough attention or energy!!! this album is so good and she is a great singer. i probably love every song from this album, crazy, ladylike, must be mine, they're all great. they also have some break up energy and some self love, but theyre also just fucking catchy. that said, all her albums have really great songs. i'd recommend shawty, it's been stuck in my mind forever - and she has great live performances too. 

tinashe - 333 (2021), songs for you (2019) 

tinashe has great songs, super underrated. great performer too. i don't always love every song she puts out but every so often i come across one, or i'll rediscover one and think, yeah man that's fucking good. cash race, hopscotch, let me down slowly, and bouncin are on my replay lists right now. 

tink - heat of the moment (2021) 

although i've never actually sat down and properly listened to this album (weirdly enough), these songs fucking stick in my mind for some reason. whole world against me, i ain't got time today, fuck around, have you ever, they're all weirdly songs i can sing the chorus too even without having really sought them out to replay. they're not my favorites, but this is a nice album. 

jhene aiko - chilombo (2020) 

yeah that sort of blend of like, self love mysticism with the r&b edge, but a sort of tantric spiritual touch to the calmness of the music, definitely the best album from jhene aiko yet. speak is a favorite, and down again, but her live performances of the songs are really meditative and grounding in a sort of transcendent way (i know it sounds whack) but the energy of these songs are kinda uplifting and soothing and her voice is just so calm and serene. i really like this album.

umi - introspection reimagined (2021) 

umi has great music - this album specifically does some more acoustic renditions of her previous songs but hse has really great original songs and a really great voice. i love all the songs on this album in its sort of jazzy presentations, especially with the genre shifts that she's capable of. i think it's a fun album, although her other stuff is great too.  

femme it forward - big femme energy (2021)

this is actually some sort of collective project that was created to uplift female artists, and this is a pretty great album, featuring some great artists. i don't love all the songs but i'm really not sure who exactly is composing and performing the songs since theyre sort of all credited, so i'm not really sure if someone is creating the songs and they're just performing it, or if this is just a compilation of individual efforts so ??? but i do enjoy if there really is a god with say grace and cut 'em off with kiana lede. definitely worth checking out. 

ariana grande - positions (2020) 

this album is a bit of a hit and miss for me, i can't deny that i find ariana's music really fucking catchy and she's a really talented singer as well but half of the songs in this album are not exactly great. that said, most times i hear a live performance, it can be enough to make me change my mind, and her vevo lives of some of these songs really changed my mind about this. i only really like, half of the songs in this album, but the live versions and studio versions of my hair, positions, obvious, pov and 34+35 are bops. 

bo burnham - inside (the songs) (2021) 

it counts. i mean bo burnham has really made like, actual songs but with comedic lyrics and themes now - they used to be jokes set to songs, but now all his songs are like, actual songs with comedic themes threaded through them. most of the songs in his special are bops and so fucking relatable, shit, all time low, any day now, shit, look who's inside again, comedy and how the world works are all legitimate bops in their own right - although i'd recommend watching the special to maximize the experience. 

choro club - trilogia (2007), musica bonita (2017) 

look i wanted to put all the albums on this list but thats a lot and i can't be fucked. what i want to say is, choro club makes all the music i want to live my life by. i have a fantasy for myself, which is just that i get to live in a beige, wooden aesthetic house in my beige smocks and aprons and make my own jam and bread and tend to my plants and listen to this as BGM for my life while i hang up dried flowers and live my life. i sleep and live to this music. i cannot tell you enough how much i love choro club's music. 

ko-ko-ya - travelogue (2013), antique (2008) 

this was actually a little music project created by one of the members of choro club, so this is literally like, everything i've said about choro club but like, there's MORE. yes. s o good. 

shigeharu sasago - onaka-ippai (2010), plataforma (2021) 

look, its another one of the members of choro club. you know the drill. 

gontiti - humble music (2011) 

gontiti is another one of those acoustic guitar duos who do a sort of, SOL BGM kinda relaxing music. theyre a bit more simple because of the acoustic guitar focus, and sometimes they dabble with other instruments as well, but i think this album is a great representative of what i love about their music. real farmers market in hokkaido vibes for me. 

moeka giga - corner of the garden (2021), no match for you (2021) 

she has that calm, i am an acoustic guitar and singer songwriter at an organic cafe vibe - it's not quite the ideal choro feeling, but this makes me feel like i'm peeking into the life of someone who's living the aesthetic vibes i want in my life. love her voice and her music - it's so tranquil. it's like if organic bread and coffee cafes in japan were songs. 

 mrs green apple - attitude (2018) 

man i am so late to this party but yeah look, i really like mrs green apple. this album has inferno - the song i learnt about them from, but honestly i am obsessed with viking right now, this lovely narrative dark, yearning, pressing insistency of the song with a fuckin mad catchy melodic theme all through it, yeah this is fantastic. they have a lot of other catchy songs, and compared to the rest of the albums, i'd say this is probs my favorite so far. also their lead singer is fantastic, i love his falsetto operatic performances. so good. 

queen bee - BL (2020), ten (2019) 

look, i have a post about how much i love their music and i'll say it again, i love their fucking music - to the point where im literally paying real money to buy their DVDs to support them. i'd buy their fucking merch. idk. their music just strikes this perfect balance between like soulful ballads with introspective lyrics, and like, upbeat catchy ass pop hits, but the extra touches of Avu's gorgeous vocals and flexibility across the falsettos and natural voice just.... honestly adds another level of just raw beautiful earnest singing. even when i haven't heard their songs in a while, every time i come back I'm hooked to the feelings i have when i hear their music. looking up the lyrics sometimes makes the songs better, but honestly they're great even without them. 

Ryokuoushoku Shakai - nice to meet you?? (2017) 

i've put this album specifically because it has the fuckin hit OUTSIDER which is my favorite fucking song from the band, but like, all of their other shit is pretty good too. i like their jpop energy and their live performances, they've got some catchy songs and good energy, all of their albums are pretty good but like, yeah honestly my absolute favorite is outsider, although mela, koitte, hajimari no uta, theyre all pretty good (although they do sound pretty similar and i haven't quite figured out which song is which yet by title - even though hearing bits of it will lead me to singing it with no words). anyway, great band. very good.  

kiro akiyama - fizzy pop syndrome (2021) 

i really like kiro akiyama's songs - he's not the best live performer but his songs are always such a bop. i love his past albums (from drop out and hello my shoes), and it was so cool to see that he was dropping an album this year. very keen. i really like this, it's a good addition to his previous works and i really liked all of them, gomi station glues, hot vanilla hot cake, PAINKILLER, tsukitotaiyodake are some of my faves, although all of his songs across albums are all great. 

soushi sakiyama - find fuse in youth (2021) 

although his songs aren't always hits for me, his voice is super distinct - with this nasal whingy feeling, with this sort of. teenagey angsty kinda mood? i don't know how else to describe it haha. his voice feels like its always the background track to some sort of teen drama show, but occasionally i'll come back to his music and really enjoy it (although i have to say, my favorite of his will always be ___). from this album, undulation and hanabi are my personal favorites. 

sumika - AMUSIC (2021) 

since their hit from wotakoi (fiction), i decided to give them a go. i like the upbeat energy they have in all their music, it's all very much the type of song i'd think of as the montage in a japanese live action movie, but it's a mood when you need it. i like Late Show and Shukusai. 

necry talkie - freak (2021) 

not my favorite album from them but i LOVE the lead singer's voice, its so cute ahh. frog quest 2 and Orenitoccha zenbu ga KUSO ni omoeruyo are great - i just love the sort of bright, happy energy from most of their songs. 

howl be quiet - rekidai no nakamairi (2021) 

meikyuu black company introduced me to SHIMI and honestly, best decision ever. the guitar twangs! the sassy melodies!! this is the pinnacle of like, slightly funky j-pop and i'm living for it. 

rita payes and elisabeth roma - imagina (2019) 

to me, this is the perfect jazz album. like you cannot top this. i know theres like a million ways to do jazz, but this sort of quiet spanish guitar with soft singing, this is the pinnacle of what i want my jazz to be - sort of bending into the softer relaxed beige vibes of choro club, but it's got that european acoustic guitar over the edge of a gorgeous sea view on a balcony with a prosecco, or like, the idyllic background music of a trip to spain. I listened to this obsessively during my trip to Barcelona as a way to both calm myself down, but also a way to just add to my feelings of being there, but there is something inherently just beautiful and perfect about this album. i have never found another jazz album like this before or since, but if anyone can point me in the direction of an album with similar vibes i will thank you profusely, as this just .... yeah i love it a lot.