Peter's Top Five Albums Of The Year
It was a tight race.
With the year wrapping up here in about a week, it's time to wrap up the year with my top five favorite albums that were released this year.
Since this is my first time doing this, I need to lay some ground rules. For one, the album needed to come out this year and must not be an extended (deluxe, extended, live, remix, etc.) version of an album. It also can't be a re-record (sorry swifties). And of course, the album must've actually been released this year.
I think the main thing for me this year is that I was absent from all the mainstream music streaming services (Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Amazon Music). I mostly relied on Qobuz and Roon for my music discovery, with a little bit of Tidal here and there. The main takeaway here is that I had an interesting music discovery journey this year.
Rather than being beholden to an algorithm that mostly kept me in my comfort genres, I was forced to discover new music on my own. Qobuz has curated playlists and album suggestions, but they're not personalized. Primarily using Qobuz this year meant that I discovered artists and albums I likely would've never when using Apple Music or Spotify.
Let's dive into my top five albums of the year.
Honorable Mentions
But before I give you my top five, I have a few honorable mentions. It was a great year for music all around, and while these didn’t make my top five, they’re still worth mentioning as they were still incredible albums.
Laufey - Bewitched
Laufey was not an artist I had heard of until this year. And if I’m being completely honest, I’m a jazz noob. No hate towards the genre, it’s just not an album that I actively explored.
However, Bewitched I think, is an excellent introductory album to the genre. Some of my favorite tracks are Haunted, From The Start, and Serendipity.
My favorite thing about this album is the fact that everything was recorded analog, with orchestras and a real band. No synths, digital drums, or anything like that. In that way, it feels very real and intimate.
If you are like me and never explored the wonderful jazz genre, I can’t recommend Bewitched enough. It’s a fantastic album all around. It also makes for a great album to play during the holiday season.
Olivia Rodrigo - GUTS
I know, I know, it should’ve been in my top five. But here’s my hot take: I never really liked SOUR as an album, it wasn’t for me personally. But GUTS is a much better album. It’s still not quite top five tier, but it’s a very good album.
GUTS is the epitome of modern rock-punk/pop-punk. While it has a good amount of upbeat bops, GUTS also includes very emotional ballads that make me sob every time.
With the release of GUTS, I am excited for whatever Olivia Rodrigo cooks up next.
Some of my favorites on this album include lacy, all-american bitch, and get him back!.
Paramore - This Is Why
I was fortunate enough to see Paramore in concert this past year and I think it rekindled my love for the band. It’s one of my wife’s favorite bands and despite that, I was a passive fan for a while. However, I think seeing Paramore in concert and seeing Hayley Williams’ stage presence changed that all for me.
With that said, I think This Is Why is a pretty good album overall. I’m still not the biggest Paramore fan, but I can spot greatness when I see it and this album is just that.
The title track is a great place to start. From there, I’d say Big Man, Little Dignity and C’est Comme Ça are my next two favorite tracks on the album.
The List
Here we go. The elusive list. It turns out, this was very difficult! There were lots of albums to choose from. It turns out, 2023 was a really great year for music with a lot of artists releasing new music.
If anything, I’m kind of sad that this is my first year doing this because there were so many albums I wanted to highlight that came out last year. But on the flip side, I’m really looking forward to the upcoming year and what that may hold for the world of music.
5. Melanie Martinez - PORTALS
As an open autistic who also has ADHD (auDHD), Melanie Martinez's music affects my brain in a very different way. Her music tends to be very hyper-realistic and almost plays out like a movie sometimes with the amount of sound effects she uses. PORTALS fulfills the sensory speaking part of my brain but also can be a bit of sensory overload at times.
Before PORTALS, I had maybe half a dozen songs from her scattered across her other various albums. But after, I went ahead and listened to most of her back catalog (at least the big albums) and they're all wonderful.
The best way to describe her music is that every album has its own theme and tells its own story. Her songwriting is exceptional and her lyrics are very deep, even if the instrumentation comes off as playful. It’s a good ying and yang situation.
PORTALS, and the rest of Melanie Martinez's albums are best listened to from top to bottom.
4. Sabrina Carpenter - Fruitcake
Okay, this one shouldn't surprise anyone. I can't stop talking about this album on Threads. Sabrina Carpenter is quite the songwriter and comedian. Fruitcake is easily one of my favorite holiday albums that have come out in quite a while thanks to its sense of humor.
It's a fantastic listen with strong songwriting with hints of innuendos sprinkled throughout. Fruitcake may only be a 16 minute EP, but it's an album I'll be playing constantly throughout this holiday season.
If you somehow haven't given this album a listen yet, I'd recommend doing so. You can also find my reaction to the EP I did a few weeks back.
3. Kimbra - A Reckoning
A Reckoning is probably the curveball from this entire list. It’s a break from my usual pop music coverage. Yet, I’m in love with this album.
Similar to the artwork, this album has a dark vibe to it. Most of the songs are also fairly basic in composition, yet have a sense of atmosphere and space.
A Reckoning is an emotionally fantastic album. It’s a very melodramatic, sad album that has heavy hip-hop and rap influences.
A Reckoning came out early in the year, and in doing this list I had to double check and make sure it came out this year. There were so many great albums that came out this year and A Reckoning is definitely one of them.
A few of my favorites off the album include replay, la type, and personal space.
2. Caroline Polachek - Desire, I Want To Turn Into You
Almost. This album almost was my number one pick. I love both of her albums greatly. The only reason this album is number two is because Fly To You feels out of place in the track for me.
Mark my words, I strongly believe Caroline Polachek is pioneering the next generation of pop music. Her sound is unique and she has a wide and very strong vocal range.
You’ll love Caroline if you think pop, electronic, and a bit of opera and hip-hop sounds like a good time (or, if you’re into any of those genres, really). I guess a better word for it would be experimental pop.
Favorites off of this album would be Pretty In Possible, Bunny Is a Rider, I Believe, Butterfly Net, and Billions. Though, I’d argue a full album listen is in order. And as a friendly reminder, I did react to the album earlier this year.
1. Maisie Peters - The Good Witch
I can’t get over how good of a sophomore album The Good Witch is. This album has no skips. Admittedly, I’m not a huge fan of her first album, You Signed Up For This. It has a few bangers such as Boy, Psycho, and John Hughes Movie.
But when I say The Good Witch is a no skips album, I mean it. I could listen to this album top to bottom over and over... and over again. It’s has both a modern pop/rock and a retro 80s rock vibe to it at the same time.
Like seriously, I don’t think I could pick favorites off of this album. (I tried, but I ended up effectively doing an album ranking instead. If that sounds interesting, let me know!)
If you haven’t given it a listen, I’d highly recommend putting The Good Witch on your list.
Conclusion
Most years are great years for music. But this year specifically was a great year for discovery for me. Three out of five of the albums on my list are from artists I've discovered this year. There were a lot of great albums that came out this year, many of which didn't make the list (despite being great albums). If I were to list every album I loved this year, this would be a 15,000 word post. But at least one thing's for sure, my music tastes have expanded quite a bit this year.
Part of that may be because I'm slowly starting to ease away from being a full library shuffler, and part of that may be because of me trying various music streaming services over the last two years or so. I think I'm becoming an album listener.
Either way, I look forward to reacting to, revisiting, and breaking down even more albums in the coming year. This post was a lot of fun to write and I'm definitely going to make this a recurring series on my blog.