30. Alison Moyet – Key (Cooking Vinyl)
Instead of abandoning the synthpop of her previous work, Alison Moyet simply revisits the sounds on Key. So much of current dance-pop is influenced by New Wave, so she doesn’t have to stretch too far when re-recording the tunes. There is an elegant sleekness to the remakes. “When Hide Sleeps” feels streamlined, eschewing some of the excesses of the original and transforming the song into a dark, lean synth-torch ballad. “All Cried Out” benefits similarly with its similar tighter arrangement. Moyet’s voice – free from the gauze of the 1980s production from the previous incarnations of the songs – is far more in focus.
What a voice! It remains remarkably powerful and supple. The husk in Moyet’s singing gave it a slightly androgynous tone, which is still there. Aging has given her a vibrato and a slight tremble that adds poignance. In “Such Small Ale”, one of the new songs recorded for this set, Moyet’s slight vocal wear adds a gorgeous vulnerability. – Peter Piatkowski
29. Vanessa Williams – Survivor (Mellian Music)
After listening to Survivor, one thing that remains clear is that Vanessa Williams thrives on being an old-school Entertainer with a capital E. She’s the kind of triple-threat who excels in many different styles of music, and when returning to recording music after such a lengthy hiatus, she cements her wide-ranging skill set. It’s a record that emphasizes what a hard-working pro she is. Williams may not necessarily be remembered as the most innovative artist, but she’s supremely talented and wildly gifted, and it’s a great privilege to hear her make music again. – Peter Piatkowski
28. Soccer Mommy – Evergreen (Loma Vista)
On Evergreen, Soccer Mommy remains earnest, but listeners will find a mature artist opting for a more organic sound. She wrestles with profound loss but does so in a way that is grander than anything she’s previously released.
The album, produced by Ben H. Allen III (Washed Out, Bombay Bicycle Club, Deerhunter), doesn’t stray far from the largely recognizable influences of 1990s folk and acoustic artists. That was apparently a quality that appealed to the producer in the first place. Evergreen grapples with some complex themes that stem from the period during her last record, Sometimes, Forever (2022). However, this release trades in the brooding, experimental, and occasionally cacophonous excursions for vulnerable melodies adorned with orchestral arrangements. – Patrick Gill
27. JW Francis – SUNSHINE (Born Losers)
JW Francis has always embodied the spirit of a nomad. His 2021 album, WANDERKID, was based on a character seeking refuge from modern life’s complexities. Francis did just that shortly after its release—embarking on a 2,000-mile hike through the Appalachian Mountains. On his fourth and latest album, SUNSHINE, he reflects on the journey: “I had to get up; I had to get out of my mind. Changes always get me aligned, and I always wanna shake it up.” The lo-fi legend emerges from the wilderness with a new batch of songs that serve as a high watermark in his growing oeuvre.
Francis layers guitar motifs and builds colorful harmonies that give his songs their trademark brightness. On SUNSHINE, he executes the instrumentals with more intention and sophistication. The sound quality has improved markedly but is still anchored in the lo-fi charm with a compressed and warbly guitar tone that sounds like it’s playing on a worn cassette. His vocal delivery, slacker-like and kissed with distortion, has also remained steady, emulating the dopey drawl of rock poets Lou Reed and Kurt Vile. – Brandon Miller
26. Rosie Tucker – Utopia Now! (Sentimental)
Recorded at home and self-produced with their creative partner, Wolfy, Rosie Tucker’s Utopia Now! is an alchemistic mix of post-pandemic mall punk and dream pop. Like “Barbara Ann”, it possesses a genuine, charming genre elusiveness.
From the start, “Lightbulb” displays Tucker’s incredible ability to render songs from thought experiments. Fiona Apple’s brand of melancholia is all over this one (“I get jealous when someone I know’s on TV”), and Tucker questions the worthiness of pursuing music and art making anymore. “How many songwriters does it take to screw a tune?” they ask. By the end, Tucker finds themselves alone with a piano, singing seemingly in the next room over.
Utopia Now! effortlessly counterbalances its pop tendencies with broader cultural critique, wry intellectualism, and lots of melancholic humor. It’s a utopia they are demanding, and Rosie Tucker has filled theirs with some smart and truly incredible pop songs. – Avery Gregurich
25. Alex Winston – Bingo! (Rat Rizzo)
After an almost 20-year odyssey in the music industry, it would be a terrific move to make a big, outspoken, hour-long conceptual album about all the triumphs and setbacks I’ve written about above. However, Alex Winston chose to go with a more compact and intimate record focused on her growth and past relationships, which puts her on par with the best folk albums of this year, like those by Madi Diaz, Marina Allen, Waxahatchee, and Maya Hawke. Apart from her love for the game Bingo, the album’s name signifies her sense of an upcoming breakthrough in her life, and I believe she scored a bingo by managing to bounce back after failing from the pop Olympus. Given the gigantic period since her last release, we can easily consider her follow-up full-length a second debut; for that, it’s a tremendous start. – Igor Bannikov
24. Alec Benjamin – 12 Notes (Elektra)
Alec Benjamin writes anthologies, and his fourth full-length release, 12 Notes, is no different. This style of album writing suits Benjamin’s propensity for parables. Writing is an act that preserves one’s younger emotional self, or “inner child”, as wellness culture calls it. Because writing requires objectivity when evaluating subjective emotions, by its nature, it strips away adult compromises that stifle instinct and lends itself to child-like thinking, which honors impulsivity. Through his nature as a writer, Alec Benjamin preserves this aspect of himself and presents it to the world in bite-sized pop packages. He doesn’t market these thoughts as an overarching storyline but as 12 little ones. However, the through line between them is that they were probably therapeutic to write. – Matthew Dwyer
23. Kylie Minogue – Tension II (Darenote / BMG)
With Tension II, pop diva Kylie Minogue extends her startingly long run of great-to-brilliant studio albums that started with 2018’s country-flecked Golden. Last year’s Tension is arguably one of the singer’s best efforts, and even if its sequel doesn’t match up, it’s still a fabulous collection of high-energy electropop tunes. It fails to reach the emotional highs of its predecessor, but Tension II still offers listeners frothy, catchy tunes. It’s a credit to Minogue’s knack for pop ebullience (as well as the skills of her collaborators of songwriters, musicians, and producers) that even if Tension II can sometimes feel like outtakes, the record still sounds fresh and exciting. – Peter Piatkowski
22. Yemi Alade – Rebel Queen (Effyzzie Music Group / IDOL)
Terms like Afropop and Afrobeats deserve the critique they often get; at best, they’re nonspecific and dismissive of the enormity of the African continent and diaspora. There is, though, a strong contingent of creators who know how to make such categories meaningful. Yemi Alade is one such performer, a capable and talented Nigerian artist whose body of work draws on a broad spectrum of styles to celebrate her identity as an African woman. Rebel Queen exemplifies this.
Over the course of her new album, she hops from genre to genre, exploring creative flows across the continent, state borders notwithstanding. “Welcome to my Africa,” sings Alade in the short introductory track “Karibu”, and it’s hard to imagine a warmer or more well-polished welcome than Rebel Queen. – Adriane Pontecorvo
21. Kali Uchis – Orquisideas (Geffen)
On Orquisideas, Kali Uchis again proves she is the Queen of Concept, delivering a clever, thoughtful album inspired by the “timeless, eerie, mystic, striking, graceful, and sensual allure of the orchid”. If there’s one thing that becomes clear on Orquisideas, it’s that there’s no such thing as Latin music. More specifically, there are many kinds of music made by Latinas. The orchid is the national flower of Columbia, where Uchis spent a lot of time growing up. It’s a poignant image, in all its vibrant fragility, begging the question: what’s possible in a supportive environment? Orchids are some of the most beautiful, striking organisms on Earth.
The question Kali Uchis implies seems explicit – what would the world be like if Latinas were supported? She uses the sweet, fragrant delicacy of the orchid as a launchpad to explore her roots and, more broadly, the massive influence and impact Latinas have had on music. Orquisideas is a highlight in a career with zero misses. Uchis is clearly an artist on the ascent, coming in hot with two nearly-perfect pop records in less than a year. To see such a young artist – emerging from the underground, no less – couldn’t be more exciting. – J. Simpson