An assurance from When you navigate the vast social media, the discourse never stops. It’s about death, taxes and endless discourse. Mass consensus is all but extinct. More than anything, fandoms dictate much of the conversation today.
Still, spring was a particularly fertile time for music drops: Drake released a diss record with an AI 2Pac (it’s terrible), Taylor Swift released her eleventh studio album, The Tortured Poets Department (also not that great), and Pharrell, the ultimate polymath, quietly released an album available exclusively through a promotional website, forgoing the route of major streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music (which is probably why you’re just now hear about it). It). Oh! Song lyrics also seem to be getting dumber and dumber.
Discussions about all of these things – and much more – have only increased in recent weeks. There are days when finding common ground feels like a concept from a bygone analog world. Of course, there is good music all around us, despite what a study says. Maybe even more than ever before that I can imagine. I find it difficult to keep up myself. What can’t be denied is the uncanny originality of the following seven albums on our spring music list. Each project is a showcase of different artistic developments. Think of them as small leaps of invention.
This is what the future should sound like – full of potential and unlimited imagination.
When Kendrick Lamar left TDE to form pgLang, a creative agency, with his manager Dave Free, there was speculation that TDE’s best days were over. Even with an impressive roster – ScHoolboy Q, SZA, Isaiah Rashad, Ab-Soul and Jay Rock – there was no guarantee that the LA record label could maintain its dominance and reputation, thanks in large part to Lamar’s skill : five albums, 17 Grammys and a Pulitzer Prize (the first for a rapper). With Blue lips“Schoolboy Q,” an essayistic mix of black history and brutal reality, confirms what we’ve all been wondering: He’s the future of TDE, and it’s in good hands.
The second part of a trilogy of musical reclamation, Cowboy Carter are all highlights. Inspired by confrontation and rooted in the lore of Southern tradition, the album unfolds like the best Beyoncé records: pure sensation, utter astonishment. (Did you hear the operatic accent on “Daughter”? Chills.) Only this time it’s personal. Years ago, country music’s offspring said it had no place in their walled garden. So she blazed a trail of her own, becoming the first black woman to top the country album charts. What’s not to love?
Maggie Rogers will probably never make a better song than “Say It” – from 2019’s Cosmic Heard it in a past life– but her latest, do not forget me, is a Nirvana-inducing project full of transporting catchy tunes. The rush of “It Was Coming All Along.” The serene contemplation of “All the Same.” The blissful regret of “On & On & On.” do not forget me is the high priestess of indie pop at the peak of her powers.
Canadian experimenter BADBADNOTGOOD never plays it safe. Their music is full of big ideas, almost impossible swings and masterful imagination that sometimes leaves the listener dizzy with joy. (Go and listen Talk about memory Add in Baby Rose – one of R&B’s most promising young acts who sounds like Nina Simone (yes, that Nina Simone) – and the result is Slow burninga six-track opus full of unforgettable feelings.
None of that mattered. The historic placement on the Billboard Hot 100 list. The first Grammy winner for Best African Music Performance. The fact that “Water” was on almost every list of the best songs of 2023. Or the whispers that she could be the second coming of Rihanna. There was no album, and because there was no album, many wondered if she was just another one-hit wonder. But we can put an end to this chatter now. Sun-kissed and sensual, the South African singer’s self-titled debut is a slow-paced blend of Amapiano, R&B and pop that explores themes of love, loss and longing (not to mention the impressive guest list: Tems, Gunna, Becky). G and Travis Scott). Make yourself comfortable because Tyla isn’t going anywhere.
“Earth Sign” is a rocket ship taking off What now, Brittany Howard’s second album, and luckily for us it continues to soar, rising higher and bolder into a cosmos of astrological tenderness. As the frontwoman of the Alabama Shakes, Howard was an unwavering force with a trembling and transcendent voice. As a soloist, she has opened up a new dimension of musicality – one that seems more elemental than artistic. Vulnerable and supernaturally advancing, What now might as well be a question, because it doesn’t get much better than that.
Hip-hop’s resident trickster debut album is a blend of sound, color and sensation. There’s a reason Tierra Whack songs seem so alive: she wants to build a theater in your mind. A place where you can walk around, play or rest as you wish. World Wide Whack is exactly that, a funhouse full of imagination and swirling originality. “Accessible,” “Imaginary Friends,” and “Two Night” are my current favorites, but there are no wrong answers. Go ahead and click play.
And because good music abounds, there are seven more albums worth your time: