dancefreakworld - Tumblr blog

dancefreakworld · 7 years ago

Text

My favorite albums of 2017

Merry Christmas, angels!

Looking back on 2017, it’s not been the best year musically. It has been a nightmare for pop music lovers, but I really enjoyed the return to acoustic music, the reconstruction of what’s “pop” and “mainstream” and the total snub of EDM. Not many amazing albums were released, so i decided to only write about my favorite 4, which I adore. Take a look and tell me your thoughts.

4. ARCADE FIRE - EVERYTHING NOW

I live for the sound of this one! The band totally experimented and obviously had a lot of fun recording this. They successsfully mixed many different genres, sounds and styles and the result gives justice. From the ABBA-esque “Put Your Money On Me” to the euphoric “Everything Now”, the sick “Chemistry”, the soulful “Good God Damn” and the touching “We Don’t Deserve Love”, this record takes you on a journey that does not bore you (not even for half a minute), but brightens your day (despite the melancholy of the lyrics) and widens your musical horizons.

Favorite song: Creature Comfort

3. HARRY STYLES - HARRY STYLES

I never ever expected I would stan a ex-member of One Direction. I never expected a band of the most successful current boyband would ditch the pop sound while always maintining dignity and proving both of his eras were totally authentic. I love the fact that on this album I can hear a young artist paying tribute to his favorite artists and styles and at the same time doing something inspiringly fresh and real. “Sign of the Times” is by far the best song of the year in my opinion and it’s criminally underrated. If you like this one -I bet you do!- check the rest of the songs. There are beautiful ballads (”Ever Since New York”, “Two Ghosts”), vintage pop gold (”Carolina”, “Woman”), sexy wild rock (”Kiwi”, “Only Angel”) and experimental sentimentality (”Meet Me In The Hallway”, “From The Dining Table”).

Favorite song: Sign of the Times

2. KESHA - RAINBOW

I was extremely inspired when I saw Kesha leave her old persona which was associated with robotic basic pop music created by Dr. Luke and create something so powerful and beautiful. This album follows her struggle with anorexia, depression, legal battle with her sexual abuser, loss and complete abandonment. Kesha openly spoke on how the music industry treated her (manipulating her body and spirit) and on how her longtime collaborator raped her, but nobody cared back then, one year before the sexual harassment cases. Instead of giving up (commercially she was doomed according to most people’s sayings) she chose to get back in the studio and start over new with no autotune, no crazy dance-pop beats and no songs crafted for the radio. And she won! The lead single, “Praying”, is the proof of her victory: unbelievable vocal delivery, beautiful lyrics, strong composition and production. There are plenty of very sensitive moments like that on the album, but there is also pop/rock perfection (”Let ‘Em Talk”, “Boogie Feet”), country magic with Dolly Parton (”Old Flames”) and highlights destined to make you sing along (”Bastards”, “Woman”, “Hunt You Down”).

Favorite song: Spaceship

1. LOREEN - RIDE

In all honesty, words are very poor to describe this album, which happens to also be one of my favorites of all time. You’ve all heard Loreen’s “Euphoria”, but this is nothing alike. You can hear her fucking soul on this! I like to say it belongs to no genre, ‘cause it’s very special and something unique, nothing like what you’ve heard before. It’s dreamy, captivating, hypnotising, ecstatic, magical, atmospheric, dark. Her voice -which is one of the best in the world in case you’re not familiar with her- blends perfectly with the heavy drums, the guitars, the violins, the synths, the piano etc. The melodies are out of this world and make you fall in love instantly. I’m pretty sure this is what heaven sounds like, what angels sing in the sky. I swear, listening to this record is the closest to getting high you can be without being on drugs. I don’t know what else to say to make you check this out, JUST DO IT! She is easily the most underrated artist on this planet and deserves all the success in the world. Show her some love and dive into the biggest masterpiece in recent memory.

Favorite song: there is not just one. listen to the whole thing you bitch!

1 note · View note

dancefreakworld · 8 years ago

Text

My favorite albums of 2016

First of all, I would like to say that 2016 generated incredible music. Actually, musically it was the best year I can remember. This is a list of my favorite albums released in 2016. The order is not 100% sure and I have excluded from the top 10 albums that I love, maybe even more than some on the list, but those 10 felt right at this moment.

10. Gwen Stefani - This Is What The Truth Feels Like

To be totally honest, I’ve never really been a fan of Gwen, cause I haven’t had the chance to hear much of her discography in the past. This album was my first entire journey to her music and unexpectedly it was in my playlists for quite a long time. The uplifiting “Make Me Like You”, the summerish “Where Would I Be”, the sexy “Send Me A Picture”, the badass “Asking 4 It” and the sweet “Rare” are all standouts. My trinity, though, is “Naughty”, “Obsessed” and “Getting Warmer”. All of them sexy, feel-good, sing-along jams.

Favorite song: Obsessed

9. Sia - This Is Acting

I was one of the many who got obsessed with Sia after hearing “Chandelier” and “Elastic Heart”. I kept falling in love as she released new singles: first, “Alive” (O. HER. M. VOICE. G), then “Bird Set Free”, “Unstoppable” (THE anthem) and the everybody-knows-it-and-has-danced-to-it “Cheap Thrills”. I was slighty disappointed when the full album came out, but “Move Your Body” kind of made up for the underwhelming rest. (It needs to be a single, duh?) She also released a deluxe version with more new songs in October, including “The Greatest” and “Confetti”. The thing with this album is, I know it’s not really that good, but it has some of my favorite songs on it and Sia never fails to makes you feel good and serve anthems, so it just couldn’t not be in this list.

Favorite song: Cheap Thrills

8. Banks - The Altar

There is something about Banks you can’t ignore: her music is captivating. “Fuck With Myself” was fun, but then came “Gemini Feed”, one of the best pop songs this year, and I was officially turned into a stan. Thankfully, these were not the only good songs on the album (HA!). “To The Hilt” is one of the “press play, shut up, dive into every piano note and feel it” songs. “Trainwreck” is out of this world. I mean, I’m not even sure what genre it fits in, but its energy is unreal and it feels... badass. Yeah, that’s the word, even though I never expected to use it for a Banks song. The album is perfectly made, intense throughout and her voice does wonders.

Favorite song: Trainwreck

7. Pet Shop Boys - Super

Another case where I was not very familiar with the artist (very embarrassing to say that, cause they are EPIC and sooooo me now that I’ve found them out). This is one of the records that gets played all at once, as one piece and gets you in a very specific mood: to get lost in the beats and dance. “The Pop Kids”, since the first time, felt like the anthem of my best friendship (the convenience is unreal), “Twenty Something” also sounds very fitting in describing my age and state, but “Inner Sanctum” is something else. Perfectly blending their classic sound with the new-age-electronica, this is what a dance freak needs.

Favorite song: Inner Sanctum

6. Beyonce - Lemonade

First of all, I NEED to say that this album is terribly overrated. Yes, it’s very good, but NOT “one of the best albums of all time”, NOT “the best album of the year”, NOT “excellent”. This doesn’t mean, of course, that it includes some real, doubtful masterpieces. We all know “Formation”, which kind of feels like a pop culture movement. Beyonce kept working in her well-known rnb routes, providing mediocre songs (sans “6 Inch”, which is epic - THAT BRIDGE! -), but also experimented in rock with the epic Jack White collab “Don’t Hurt Yourself”, country (”Daddy Lessons”) and soul (”Freedom’). Nobody can say a thing about her voice, her performance skills etc, but I’m still anticipating the moment she lets herself completely free, stops trying to outdo herself and serves an album that feels 100% real and touching.

Favorite song: All Night

5. DNCE - DNCE

This one has offered so many moments of euphoria to me. It’s pop, but very crazy, guitar-driven and with just a bit heavier drums/production than what you hear at the radio. It sounds like dance (obviously), sweat, sex, youth, joy, heartbreak and so much more. There are disco-funk moments (the title track), moments of ay-ay-ay-ay-ay (”Cake By The Ocean”), moments of dirty sex (”Be Mean”), moments of pop heaven (”Doctor You”) and moments of laid-back, guitar ballads (”Truthfully”). It’s perfect and almost filler-free!!!

Favorite song: Naked

4. Ariana Grande - Dangerous Woman

I never enjoyed Ariana Grande (except “Problem”). To see her drop bop after bop leading to the album release was crazily unexpected and I couldn’t help but fall in love with this era. Confirming the title, the record is sexy, simple, straight-forward and successful as to what it aims to do. I love pretty much every song on it, from the strip anthem “Dangerous Woman” to the heartfelt “Moonlight” and “Leave Me Lonely”, to the electronic heaven “Touch It”, to the deservedly famous “Side To Side”. Growing up as a slave to the pop culture and music, “Into You” ‘s pop perfection was orgasmic to my ears and the key change in “Greedy” made me fall on the floor, scream and ask for more. Ariana did that!

Favorite song: Greedy

3. Phantogram - Three

I know that if anyone is reading this, they probably don’t know this band, this album or any of their songs. So, my main goal right now is to make you go check them out. If you like intense music that takes you to places, makes you shake your head (and more) back and forth and scream, if you prefer it hot, if you need your portion of electronic elements, this is the album. Go listen to to “You Don’t Get Me High Anymore”, “Destroyer”, “You’re Mine” and “Run Run Blood”. Phantogram know how to make real, badass, edgy music and I’m really really glad I discovered it.

Favorite song: You’re Mine

2. Rihanna - ANTI

I had been anticipating the notorious R8 the most, since 2014 or what? When it came out (all out of the blue), it didn’t take much to a. figure out that it was unlike anything Rihanna had done in the past and b. fall in love with it. The biggest part of the album is rnb, a genre I’m usually not very fond of, but it is done in a fresh, different way. It is quite trippy, ecstatic and intergalactic. It is also very atmospheric, heart-breaking, heart-warming, anthemic and touching. I think Rihanna was given full control over this and that’s why it feels like a piece of her soul, real and raw. I need to say that it includes my two favorite songs of the year: “Love On The Brain”, which is my all-time favorite ballad and screams “I’m about to be the biggest Rihanna classic, just watch” and the delicate “Kiss It Better” that was done terribly wrong as a single. I’m very happy I got a little closer to the real “bad gal Riri” with ANTI. She might not be a songwriter, but it’s not really needed when she is one of the biggest vocalists of our generation.

Favorite song: Love On The Brain

1. Lady Gaga - Joanne

Lady Gaga is my most beloved human being on Earth, so it comes as no surprise that this is my favorite album, but believe me: I’m being objective. Excuse the length of this text, but I feel that this album is misunderstood and not as appreciated as it should be, so most of you reading this will not agree with me on this one and I need to explain what I feel about it.

A huge part of what has to do with this record is the expectations. It was something like a comeback, the first pop album she released after the 2013 under-rated and misunderstood ARTPOP, the jazz covers Tony Bennett album Cheek To Cheek and many A-list performances throughout the year. The media, the general public, the fans, the monsters had already set their expectations: this would be her huge comeback, controversial, full of hits (well, she needed them, she had commercially downgraded). Gaga dared to do something nobody expected (very Gaga of her in a way), release something authentic, autobiographical and real to herself. At a time when pop music was at its lows (again), the rnb or tropical trends were rulling and “Lady GaGa was not relevant, she needed something very special to be loved again”. That was a bold statement and a conscious choice: she did not care for charts, success, critics, label and fandom pressure, she just wanted to release what felt right to her at the moment. Some may consider this wrong, but I strongly believe authenticity produces masterpieces. One should feel and stay real to their feelings to make others feel intensely, there’s no other way.

After cancelling everyone’s expectations marketing-wise, image-wise, era-administration-wise, there was only one thing left: the music. I can still precisely recall the first time I heard this album in full. Running around the house, having just transfered the freshly leaked files to my mobile device, searching for my headphones. Pressing play. Hearing the opening piano chords in “Diamond Heart”. “Young wild American”. Chills. Power. Passion. “A-YO” was not instantly loved. But now, the carelessness, the crazy guitar solo, the craziness (GAGAness)... “Joanne” is captivating, beautiful, warm. “John Wayne” is wild, it sounds like something Born This Way era could have generated. “Dancin’ In Circles” is fresh, crazy, makes you dance and touch yourself obviously. “Perfect Illusion” was the perfect lead single: influences from disco, vintage pop, rock. Dynamic, magnetizing, unfiltered. “Million Reasons” was not one of the songs that I liked at the beginning. At first, it sounded quite basic and foreign at the same time. Now, after having heard her perform it many times, it’s one of my favorite Gaga ballads. Simply and straight-forwardly beautiful. “Sinner’s Prayer” is daring, experimental and reminiscent of older ages and distant places. “Come To Mama” is.... everything. “Come To Mama” is everything. If love, peace and freedom were sounds, they would be that. A song made by an artist and musicians unafraid to make it raw, vintage and unprocessed. “Hey Girl” is simple. And beautiful. That bridge! “Angel Down” is the most heart-warming, colorful (even though very dark) and haunting ballad Gaga has ever recorded. The work tape is more raw, I prefer the vocals there to be honest, make you feel things. “Just Another Day” is the sound of joy, carefreeness, nature, love. Amazing song. “Grigio Girls” is the only song I don’t fully enjoy on this album, but still good.

As a full piece of work, this album is magical. It has the ability to transfer you to long gone ages, beautiful places and desired states of mind. It feels like it’s taken from the 70s or from the future, it feels like a moment inside Gaga’s mind, like a glimpse of eternal euphoria or just like a dream. In the age of social media fakeness and vain shalowness, this is a daring move, a huge step forward and a reminder that Lady Gaga doesn’t belong to anyone, is free, doesn’t compromise and unlike most people’s judgements, she is a insanely talented and kind creature that never disappoints, never ceases to involve, always shocks one way or another and always attracts interest.

Favorite song: Come To Mama

3 notes · View notes