Well, it might have been a god awful year for pretty much everyone around the world but my goodness has it been a fantastic one for music!
Hi everyone how are you all doing? It's time for my favourite blog of the year the music review and this year it's a corker (in my humble opinion). I always love writing about music (as you may have noticed) and the music reviews are a great way to round off every year no matter how good or bad it's been, you can read previous year's blogs for 2019, 2018, 2017 and 2016 .
This is a really tricky blog as there has been so much music that I've loved this year. In fact for the first time I'm having to award 'Album Of The Year' to multiple recipients as I simply can't chose between them, possibly the best problem I've ever had!
Album(s) of the year (click on the song titles to check out the videos on YouTube) -
What a return to form! 2016's Joanne was by no means a bad album but it was a real departure from anything GaGa had done before but I feel it was the the album that GaGa needed to make to move onto Chromatica so to speak. Chromatica is GaGa back to her traditional dance pop best but it's by no means a happy,clappy vapid pop record. There are some really raw lyrics about GaGa's experiences with mental illness that particularly hit home to me, however it's not a depressing album. When promoting the album GaGa expressed her desire for us to "dance through our pain" and the album helps us do just that, there is positivity to be found such as Rain On Me's "I'll never be dry but at least I'm alive". I cannot wait to hear the songs live when the Chromatica Ball lands in London.
Best songs on the album -
Rain On Me ft Ariana Grande my favourite song on the album!
Bring Me The Horizon - Post Survival Horror
This is BMTH's second consecutive year as album of the year *round of applause* and I love it even more than last year's Amo. I think what I particularly love about Post Survival are the collaborations with Yungblud, Amy Lee, Babymetal and Nova Twins. In my opinion really good collaborations are hard to come by, you can put artists together but the results aren't always great (for example as much as I love 30 Seconds To Mars the addition of Kanye West on Hurricane or A$AP Rocky on Rescue Me add absolutely nothing to two songs that are perfect on their own) but on here they are awesome. The album is nice and heavy with just the right amount of 'scream'. I got into BMTH way back in 2011 after seeing them at Reading and I'm finally going to be seeing them again at the O2 in September.
Best songs on the album -
Obey ft Yungblud I can't stress how much I adore this song!
I've spent a large amount of 2020 getting into Yungblud and his back catalogue (more of that down below) and feeling pretty down with the cool kids if I saw so myself. Yungblud's music is a real melting pot of different musical influences - you can hear elements of Emo, Rap and Brit Pop but importantly he still sounds completely original. Weird! is a great album with really smart, witty lyrics but with an undercurrent of darker reflections of mental illness and isolation. Those lyrics rather than just being depressing also help his fans feel less alone which is something that Yungblud is keen to express in interviews along with his campaigning for the LGBTQ+ community. Another gig I can't wait for next year!
Best songs on the album -
God Save Me, But Don’t Drown Me Out
Honourable Mentions -
The Killers - Imploding The Mirage - The most Killers sounding Killers album in years. Best song My Own Soul's Warning
Green Day - Father Of All Motherfuckers - Short, sharp and great. Best song Oh Yeah
Songs of the year -
We've also had some absolute tunes this year-
Billie Eilish - Therefore I Am
Royal Blood - Trouble's Coming
I also want to mention some older music I've only heard for the first time time this year that I've really enjoyed -
Motionless In White - Another Life
Yungblud ft Dan Reynolds - Original Me
Yungblud - Hope For The Underrated Youth
I'd really love to know what's soundtracked your guy's 2020 and helped you through the year, comment below or drop me a tweet @jenraefrances on Twitter.
Take care and stay safe.
Love Jen
XxxX
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