“Dreamer” by Laufey + Top 10 albums of 2023 (10-3), Thursday, March 7, 2024

As promised, here is my Top 10 list for albums of the year. It’s a bit late and I’m sure that in time, the importance of this list will change and that albums I hadn’t listened to would chart. I decided to give preference to the albums I blogged about most but I also slipped in a few that I thought would be culturally significant. There were a few cuts that I thought hurt a little, Olivia Rodrigo’s GUTS, the Barbie: The Album soundtrack, and boygenius’s The Record.  I wanted to include some albums that didn’t make the critics’ picks lists to give light to some underrated artists. I hope you enjoy these albums as much as I did—and am doing now.

10. The Show by Niall Horan. It’s funny how the other One Direction members have been totally eclipsed by Harry Styles. While Styles is certainly talented, and his production team has incorporated some of the most interesting elements into mainstream pop, former bandmate Niall Horan has been sadly overlooked. The Show is an album by an artist who seems to enjoy music from the folk, campfire-ready “You Could Start a Cult” to the tempo-shifting “Meltdown” to The Beach Boys-sounding “Heaven.” A deluxe edition has a beautiful duet of “You Could Start a Cult” with Lizzy McAlpine.

9. Tension by Kylie Minogue. This album may not be a “10 Out of 10,” but it certainly got me into Minogue’s back catalog. It’s a dance record that you can kind of turn your mind off for, with perhaps the exception of “Hold on to Now.” Tension feels like a party that’s been going on for a long time but not getting old. There’s something about the lead single “Padam Padam” that feels like a Disney villain song.  The title track is also an album highlight. I’d listened to Kylie a little before this album. I liked “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” as a kid, but wasn’t obsessed with it. I listened to 2018’s Golden a few times. But Tension made me a fan.

8. Gloria by Sam Smith. Pop music looks good on you, Sam. While “Unholy” was the biggest hit of their career and “I’m Not Here to Make Friends” was also a considerable hit, Gloria was pretty underrated. It’s interesting that Smith has started their career with critical acclaim—music for adult contemporary stations—but now the singer has stepped into the 2020s version of shock pop reminiscent of the ‘10s. The album Gloria, though, is tame compared to the scandalous music videos accompanying the singles. I thought Gloria was an experimental album. Smith worked with Calvin Harris and Jessie Reyes on several songs. Pop, R&B, Disco, EDM,  and even the Gregorian-Chant-inspired title track make the album an interesting ride. I can’t wait to see what comes next from Smith.

7. Bewitched by Laufey. Last year I listened to Spotify’s Crushed Velvet playlist and heard Laufey’s “Dreamer.” The playlist consists of new songs that, from production or composition, sound like they could have been from the ‘50s. Laufey had begun making waves last year with her single “From the Start.” The acoustic lounge song gained attention on social media and raised hype in the young singer’s album Bewitched, which topped Billboard’s Jazz albums. The album displays a truly talented artist who I hope we see collaborating and making incredible music in the future.

6. Something to Give Each Other by Troye Sivan. We needed this album after the nightlife drought of the pandemic years. After the subdued sounds in the break-up EP In a Dream in 2020 and the love songs in non-album singles after the EP, Something to Give Each Other takes a tonal divergence with singles “RushRush” and “Got Me Started.” In the third single, the ballad “One of Your Girls,” Sivan shows vulnerability confessing a situation when men who identify as straight propose hooking up with the young gay icon. It’s a more sexually mature Sivan album, but it feels vital, young, and free.

5. The Album by Jonas Brothers. One of the things that made a good album of 2023 was flaws. I haven’t seen this one make a critic’s list, but I think that Kevin, Joe, and Nick leaned into the cheesiness that a Jonas Brothers’ album that fans expected but achieved a musicality we listeners weren’t expecting. It’s yacht rock, gospel, pop, and hints of disco, funk, and country. Jon Bellion’s production team crafts some interesting arrangements, though several of the songs could benefit from an instrumental breakdown. It’s a very short album. I didn’t think that I would enjoy a Jonas Brothers album as I enjoy this one. It was a great album to enjoy last summer. It was the idea of summer even when summer wasn’t a “Summer in the Hamptons.” Maybe it will mean something next summer.

4. In the End It Always Does by The Japanese House. The sophomore record by Amber Bain’s ethereal musical project is beautiful. “Boyhood” ranked in my top ten songs of the year, but also “Touching Yourself” is a beautiful song about a long distance relationship that is delivered in a way that you could play in any cafe despite the song’s lyrical content that is breezed over with Bain’s lush instrumentation and vocals. Collaborations with MUNA, Charli XCX, The 1975’s Matty Healy, Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon are all welcome guests, but the chief resident of The Japanese House, Amber Bain, is an excellent host on a great record. 

3. Javelin by Sufjan Stevens. The pathologically private singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens has been given more than a lifetime’s worth of sadness and tragedy. It was a tough year for Stevens who was suffering from Guillain-Barré Syndrome when he announced the album’s release, having to relearn to walk. Then he announced that his partner Evan Richardson had died last April, apparently coming out. Javelin may be a grief tribute similar to his magnum opus Carrie & Lowell. I would rank the album higher, but Javelin feels like a sequel. I think that it’s lyrically refined but it doesn’t have the raw details we come to expect from a Sufjan album. “So You Are Tired,” “Goodbye Evergreen,” and “Shit Talk” are my favorites so far. More analysis of this record coming soon!

I'll post the rest soon!