This one is formatted the same way as the top songs post, in alphabetical order by project name. There’s no ranking here, only the sharing of some great projects from 2020. Hopefully you can find at least one project here that you’ll end up enjoying that you didn’t know before!
The Weeknd has always had some amazing singles, but he comes through with his best studio album yet with After Hours! There are some of his gigantic pop singles that he’s had on each of his albums, there are the darker songs that his oldest fans love, and he’s got loads of the 80s pop influence that we’re all loving right now. For each “Blinding Lights” that are on this project, there’s also a six minute long title track that goes through multiple phases of R&B greatness. There’s something for everyone on here, but he still somehow makes it a cohesive project. There’s still some of The Weeknd’s traditional brand of dark and druggy R&B, but this time he’s depressed about losing his longtime girlfriend and using drugs as an escape, instead of just wanting to party to feel something. While this isn’t quite his masterpiece that everyone knows he has in him, it’s definitely a step in the right direction.
Freddie and Alchemist come through with arguably the most bar heavy project of 2020. Freddie blazes through more flows on one album than most of these rappers have in their entire careers. Alchemist provides these lushful, slow, sample based beats for Freddie to rock over. The features all bring their A game as well. Benny the Butcher has arguably the meanest line on the album when he says, “I sold lines to abusers, now I abuse y’all with lines.” Tyler, the Creator provides a long, personal verse that proves he can still hold his own against the best rappers. Conway the Machine also provides the most heartfelt verse I’ve ever heard from him on the track “Babies & Fools”. Hopefully Freddie and Alchemist continue to make music on this level, and I don’t see any reason why they can’t.
This has been the biggest surprise of 2020 for me. After hearing his song “Hit” last year, I assumed he was just a great up and coming rapper, but this project proves he’s so much more. He can still rap better than most rappers with songs like “Chevron” and “PTSD”, but he can also make some great rock inspired songs. “Handles” is basically an interlude, but the chords and melodies he’s singing just hit home. “Lean” is a bit more heavy rock oriented, and it shows off his ability once again to make his lyrics meaningful and have catchy melodies. “Pretty Thoughts” shows how he can bring together the trap drums of Atlanta and mash them with these fuzzed out rock chords at the same time. You only find so many unknown artists with projects this creative and unique, so it’s nice to cherish the ones you can find.
Thank you Jon Brion for finishing this project. Mac had started this album with Jon as a companion album to his 2018 opus, Swimming. Unfortunately, he passed away before he could finish the project, and Jon was asked to step in and put together the project. What comes out is a beautiful, heartbreaking piece of work. The album feels like Mac was at peace while recording it, which is the most heartbreaking thing of all knowing that he’s passed now. He weaves in and out of these synth lead instrumentals and ear grabbing melodies with him now singing on here instead of rapping like he had his entire career. Songs like “Good News” and “Complicated” have these powerful choruses, while “Circles” and “Once a Day” provide an insanely powerful beginning and ending the project with these minimal ballads. I honestly hope that his family doesn’t release any more albums from him, because this is a special album to end his legacy on.
Terrace has been on a tear this year; putting out five projects where he’s the lead artist, another where he produced the entire thing, and a single that’s already more popular than all those other projects by itself. This project contains many of his more traditionally put together songs, but he still brings his jazz influence and fusion to the table on many tracks. “Dead Man Walking” features a great chorus and rap verse from Rose Gold and Nick Grant respectively, but his saxophone is really what brings the song together. “Intimated" featuring Lalah Hathaway and Rapsody is one of the most groovy and bouncy songs in a long time. The project ends with a calming instrumental entirely written and performed by Terrace that leaves the listener at a state of peace. Hopefully he continues to put out these holdover projects leading up to his official next studio album, Drones.
It’s weird to see a collection of lossies and demos from one of the most middling project artists in my top 20 projects of the year, but it is. It’s nice to see Drake finally put out a smaller project opposed to a 70+ minute project full of misses. Even with the smaller runtime, he’s able to cover all different styles of his music over this project. The darkness of “Not Too You” is reminiscent of Drake’s older music, especially with Drake’s surprisingly good singing vocals. “When to Say When” and “Chicago Freestyle” show him flowing over these great sample flipped beats and homages to legendary rappers like Jay Z and Eminem. “D4L” with Future and Young Thug show that Drake can still do the trap sound really well. Overall, he’s still not saying very much lyrically, but his versatility and ability to make all the styles work makes up for it. If this is truly his “Demo Tape,” hopefully the album scheduled for later this year blows this out of the water.
Græ will end the year as one of the most adventurous projects of the year. There was so many different styles and genres on here that he chose to release it in two parts to help fans digest the entire project. At 20 songs, over an hour, and especially with the gumbo of different genres he throws in here, it’s a monstrous listen to attempt, but it can be extremely rewarding. There are highlights all throughout the album; from the jazz inspired opener “Cut Me”, the aggressive “Virile”, the bare minimalism that is “Polly”, his incredible falsetto on the chorus of “Keeps Me Alive”, and so many more. There’s no one else that sounds like this, and I’m sure he’ll continue into this unique lane he’s paving.
Grip proves once again that he’s one of the most talented up and coming rappers out right now. While this project isn’t conceptual like his past two studio albums have been, this project isn’t supposed to be that. It’s whole purpose is to give his fans something to listen to during these times. He’s just flexing his pen, creative bars, and storytelling on here. The opener, “Cassius”, provides a cinematic stage for Grip’s long verse that opens the album on a high note. “Memories is 4eva” is a great ending, with Grip getting more personal than ever before talking about his friend and grandmothers’ deaths, as well as losing his first child. At only six songs, five on streaming services, Grip came through with another project that’s ready for whenever you need bars to listen to.
The best quarantine-made project so far. The production mainly consists of some forward thinking electro pop, with genre pushing names like A.G. Cook and Dylan Brady on the production of many songs. She uses a lot more vocal effects on this album than her previous projects, and it helps her tremendously in my opinion. It does make her kind of come across as a poppier version of what 100 gecs were doing on their last album, but that doesn’t mean that these aren’t still great songs. The quarantine helped her not over think this project, and it worked to her benefit after the maximalism of her last album, Charli. This album will always be tied and a reminder of what we went through and are still going through, and I wouldn’t want it any other way.
Even if he wasn’t from Wisconsin, this would still be one of the more unique indie projects I’ve heard this year. He’s got the poppier and anthemic tracks like the title track and “plastic door?//”, which was recently added by Elton John to his radio show's playlist. “The world is flat and this is the edge?//” has almost an experimental electronic feeling to it with it’s insane beat after the chorus. While Kenny doesn’t have a traditionally great voice, you can easily feel the emotion that comes out of it at any point. He’s another artist that I think people really need to pay attention to, because I wouldn’t be surprised if he blew up soon with projects of this quality.
This album is not going to be for everyone. Her Wikipedia bio even defines her as a, “singer, songwriter, Youtuber, and religious leader.” After becoming popular on Youtube in the earlier part of the 2010s, she’s become a musician who’s sound has even changed drastically when she started. Her extreme bubblegum pop is far from the nu-metal fusion that is I Disagree. She still has many of the pop inspired vocals, which makes her a lot more unique than many other nu-metal acts. Whether it’s the almost industrial song that is “Bloodmoney”, the screamed chorus of “Anything Like Me”, or everything about the song “Concrete”, there’s not much out there that sounds like this project. “Concrete” especially shows her diversity and quirkiness. It goes from a combination of nu-metal and pop, to full metal, then full pop, then back to the combination, and finally into a country tinged stadium pop ending. Even though the album came out in early January when we thought 2020 was going to be a good year, this album sounds like the 2020 that we’re currently having.
Thundercat’s brand of accessible jazz fusion is back again on this album. He weaves between songs that sound like they could be on the radio, to full out jazz songs, and slow, meditative moments about life and death. The album’s first two thirds are closer to what we’ve known Thundercat to do. He’s making lighthearted and humorous songs like “Dragonball Durag” and “I Love Louis Cole”, which features Louis Cole himself. But the last third turns darker because one of Thundercat’s best friends, Mac Miller, passed away. It’s really heartbreaking to hear the lighthearted guy that was in the first couple thirds suddenly turn depressed and talking about mortality. But all of the reasons above make this Thundercat’s best and most realized album yet.
Run The Jewels never disappoints, and this album doesn’t either. Killer Mike and El-P provide the soundtrack to a revolution once again with their political and activism bars that they've become well known for. El-P’s production is somehow even more futuristic and forward thinking than the previous albums. His rapping also just getting better and better, even after 20+ years of making projects that are considered classics. Killer Mike’s aggression is still there, and helps paint these vivid pictures of injustices currently happening in our country. Hopefully they just continue to put out projects on this level and with this subject matter, because we need all need to listen to music like this sometimes.
After having to delay his official studio album due to COVID, Smino made a mixtape in quarantine to give his fans something to listen to, and he comes through with flying colors. Smino’s never been one to paint pictures with his words, and that still stands on here, but the way he flows and sounds on the beat is what’s important. His music is something that deserves the description of a vibe. His original songs on here show him using a bit more trap inspired production than normal, which is cool to hear him rock over a different style. There’s quite a few covers and freestyles on here where he covers everything from a 1975 Isley Brothers song to Megan Thee Stallion’s newest hit, “Savage”. While we’re still waiting for his newest studio album, this project definitely gives fans something to listen to in the meantime.
Jahmed packs quite a bit into these 13 minutes. It’s full of lyrical bangers that are reminiscent of IDK and a bit of Earthgang. His energy stays extremely high throughout, and makes this a great project to put on when you need a short burst of energy. He carries the project with a myriad of flows and voices that help make the project not feel like one long song. His producer makes some of the most simple, but somehow some of the most hard hitting beats of 2020 so far. Considering Jahmed is still unknown, I’m surprised a lot of these songs haven’t taken off more. But after now being on a G Easy song and now having a remix with more popular artists like D Smoke and Mozzy, it’s only a matter of time until he’s gained his following.
Almost 20 years after their debut album that’s still one of the most influential rock albums of the 21st century, they prove they can still put out great material on The New Abnormal. After a middling 2010s with a couple albums and an EP that all garnered mixed reviews, The New Abnormal shows that they can make different types of songs and still put out one of the best rock albums of 2020. Instead of the short three to three and a half minute long songs they gained popularity on, these songs average out to be five minutes a piece. They use lots of synths and even some autotune on some of these songs. Some of The Strokes best songs are on this project, like the cinematic ballad that is “At The Door” or the drum machine and panned guitars in the opener, “The Adults are Talking”. At a concise nine tracks, The New Abnormal shows that The Strokes are progressing better than almost every rock group that’s been making music for 20 years.
I really didn’t expect to like this as much as I did. And even from just a couple weeks ago when I originally talked about it, it’s only grown on me from then. The more I looked into the project and them as a whole, the more I enjoyed it. It’s still not anything new to R&B and pop, but they do the sound really well. They provide sugar sweet choruses over instrumentals that range from the current, trappier R&B sound to the older 60s and 70s style R&B, many of which are produced by Chloe and Halle themselves. To do all of this at 20 and 22 is extremely impressive and bodes well for their future, especially with their previous album being nominated for multiple Grammys too. And considering that they’re now actors, with them being regulars in the tv show Grown-ish and Halle’s casting as Ariel in the upcoming live action remake of The Little Mermaid, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were a household name in a few years.
For a project that was made in three days, this came out great! After Denzel and Kenny made their episode of Kenny’s Youtube show, The Cave, they were talking about Wu-Tang Clan and Madlib and decided then to just make as much as they could in the next few days, and out came UNLOCKED. Kenny Beats provides a much different sound than he normally does, with many of the songs having an updated boom bap sound. Even though this is a different sound for Denzel as well, he rocks over these beats just as well as he does anything else. And the whole theme of it being a leaked project, as well as all the animated videos that go along with it just adds to the project as a whole. Hopefully they continue to work together, because this is some of their best work.
Even after being widely panned by most fans, I still think there’s a lot to love on here. His vocals are still all over the place, and with more Prince influence on here than ever before. “19.10” is an extremely Prince inspired tune, especially in the groove of the song. As usual with Gambino, the lyrics stay existential and powerful, like the chorus for the aforementioned song where he says, “To be beautiful is to be hunted. I can’t change the truth, I can’t get you used to this.” There are a couple moments where the crazy experimentations that he does don’t quite have great results, but most of the wildness he tries succeeds. It still doesn’t feel like a final album, so hopefully he still continues to make music after this, even though the moniker of Childish Gambino is most likely over.
In a little over a year, Audrey has gone from a high schooler on Youtube who gained her subscribers from doing covers, to a signed artist with a viral song, high budget videos, and 3.5 million monthly listeners on Spotify! Seeing her journey has been awesome and inspiring, because it was easy to tell from her covers that she has a really great voice, especially for an 18 year old. You can still hear her influences pretty easily on most of these songs. "Y U Gotta B Like That" sounds a lot like an Ariana Grande track. "4712" has a prominent Jorja Smith feel that permeates throughout the track. But the fact that she’s making and releasing music that’s not that much worse than these big artists, and she’s only 19 years old is something to take note of. Give her a couple more years, and I think she can be on a similar level of someone like Jorja Smith, so hopefully she continues to work and perfect her songwriting.
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