K$Ellie Posted December 17, 2019 Author Posted December 17, 2019 (edited) Top 50 Albums 20. FKA twigs - MAGDALENE Quote Standouts: home with you, fallen alien, mirrored heart Made the top three on my Best of 2019 Love it but lowkey holy terrain and sad day being back to back makes me wanna switch to something else once I finish the flawless home with you As for now, I don't think it topped LP1 for me but I love both a lot The worst song (sad day) is on par with LP1's worst song (Hours) but Pendulum > home with you so LP1 wins for now maybe with time I'll grow to like it more but it was better than I expected anyway, the singles all sound better as part of the album, especially cellophane 19. M.I.A. - /\/\ /\ Y /\ Quote Standouts: Steppin' Up, Born Free, Meds and Feds, Teqkilla This one took a while to grow on me for sure When I first heard Steppin' Up, I was genuinely wondering how anyone could enjoy listening to it but now it's one of my faves Critics can rot for dragging M.I.A. while praising Kanye when he does experimental noise like this XXXO is the only song I don't use (it's a bit annoying) but I can tolerate it in the context of the album. I'm listening to Teqkilla rn and like... how did critics not eat this up? The production is so intricate and interesting. This album is basically noise done right 18. Billie Eilish - WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? Quote Standouts: when the party's over, bury a friend, ilomilo, listen before i go, i love you This album will stand the test of time It's funny how when it first came out, I saw a lot of people complaining about it sounding same-y and saying her EP was better when in fact, the production and her vocals are far more interesting on this Even songs I don't use as much have grown on me and are bops. The second half is a lot stronger overall, especially bury a friend -> i love you which is one of the best 1-2-3-4 punches on any album ever the new MPG is here, Gags and Lana found dead x 17. FKA twigs - LP1 Quote Standouts: Pendulum, Lights On, Video Girl I can't explain why I prefer this over Magdalene, I think it comes down to the fact that this is a bit more cohesive? But pretty much every song she has released is excellent so it doesn't really matter Pendulum is truly one of the best songs of the decade, I used to find the production really annoying but it hit me one day and I don't know if she'll ever top it, I mean the vocals towards the end... 16. Mitski - Puberty 2 Quote Standouts: Your Best American Girl, Fireworks, Dan the Dancer, Crack Baby The first five songs left me in shambles I feel like I'm the only one who stans Fireworks, it's soooooo good Your Best American Girl SOTD but wbk that I Bet On Losing Dogs is a biT overrated (the Nobody of this album) and I could have done without My Album's Made Of Crushed Little Fillers (the Horse Named Cold Air of this album) but everything else is perfect her best album but the last 3 are all fantastic 15. Lana Del Rey - Born To Die Quote Standouts: Born To Die, Video Games, National Anthem, Off to the Races Love how this was panned upon release but is now getting the acclaim it deserves I might be basic but this is my favorite Lana album by far. Sonically, I find it far more interesting than anything else's she's done. I can see why people might like Ultraviolence more but I still don't get the NFR hype I'm sure I'm overpraising this because of nostalgia tho x 14. Let's Eat Grandma - I'm All Ears Quote Standouts: Donnie Darko, Hot Pink, Snakes & Ladders, Cool & Collected ahhhhh what a masterpiece I'm so mad it didn't get mentioned in more year-end/decade-end lists Love how it's a mix of alternative and electronic but somehow it's really cohesive at the same time. Oddly enough, one of the Sophie produced songs is among my faves while the other is my least favorite It's Not Just Me lowkey killed the hype and the release date was still quite far away at that point but whew they really redeemed themselves. The two long songs just work, not a lot of artists could pull off 10m songs this well. Hot Pink is Sophie's best song, the outro is sooooo cute This was miles better than their debut too which I don't use at all So yeah, possibly the most underrated album of the decade x 13. SOPHIE - OIL OF EVERY PEARL'S UN-INSIDES Quote Standouts: Ponyboy, Immaterial, Faceshopping, Is It Cold In The Water?, Whole New World / Pretend World My AOTY last year 12 months later, we still haven't got the four albums we were promised and I'm still fuming over Not Okay only being 1:43 when it should have been a full length song We need more neck snapping bops like Faceshopping from Miss Sophie but It's Okay To Cry shockingly works on the album and has grown on me a lot since the first time I heard it. The endless buildup in IICITW? is just I can only like a 6m atmospheric instrumental so much but Pretending really fits the album somehow 12. Susanne Sundfør - Ten Love Songs Quote Standouts: Accelerate, Fade Away, Kamikaze, Darlings Her best album but lbr, all of them are good Accelerate is the song that got me into her and it's still my fave I mean, that transition into Fade Away is The bops have amazing buildups and production overall with explosive choruses. The slower songs are really beautiful, especially Darlings when she starts belting towards the end. I don't use Trust Me but it's cute. I spread my Susanne propaganda in a Discord a few months ago and it actually worked on a few people Still mad at Bitchfork for not reviewing her and giving her exposure, this would have been an 8.5 at least another contender for most underrated album of the decade x 11. Ellie Goulding - (Bright) Lights Quote Standouts: Starry Eyed, Under the Sheets, Wish I Stayed, Lights, Animal, Your Song I miss this Tumblr indie girl sound, it was really unique to her unlike the music she's releasing now There are some songs I like less than others but I wouldn't change anything about the original album or the re-release. I remember hating I'll Hold My Breathe a biT but it randomly hit me while hosting her discography rate, the verses especially Starry Eyed was the first song I heard from her back in 2010 and I've been a huge fan since. Weird how that became a huge UK hit but her debut, Under The Sheets, did nothing chart-wise and they're both equally as good, even if it took a while for UTS to grow on me. I stanned Starry Eyed + Guns and Horses hard back then, they've aged so well a full decade later Your Song is so beautiful and I've always found Wish I Stayed really underrated. The Writer is very overhyped tho Lights is great and all but why did the US pick that of all songs to stan for when it bombed in the UK Edited December 17, 2019 by K$Ellie
ATRL Moderator Legend E Posted December 17, 2019 ATRL Moderator Posted December 17, 2019 Drag Ellie UTS is such a good track. Nice to see Lana
Remmy Posted December 18, 2019 Posted December 18, 2019 Hmmm at how most of this set are more recent releases WWAFA,WDWG? + Born to Die Both sets of standouts are great yup yup. "I might be basic but this is my favorite Lana album by far. [...] I still don't get the NFR hype" PERIOD!
popstar Posted December 18, 2019 Posted December 18, 2019 Born To Die is Legendary Billie's and FKA's LP1 are also My faves
Jet Posted December 19, 2019 Posted December 19, 2019 Born To Die is a classic, the only great album Lana has ever released and deserves all the acclaim
TheWayWeWere Posted December 19, 2019 Posted December 19, 2019 I see taste Magdalene > LP1 tho Puberty 2 I'm so glad I discover her, YAG is one of my all-time favorite classics Bright Lights yeah, her best project to date, even tho she still gives us with some good bops
potent Posted December 21, 2019 Posted December 21, 2019 BTD and WWAFA I haven't listened to Lana's full discography, but BTD is definitely better than LFL and NFR. Sophie and Lets Eat Grandma are not really the type of music I like, but I can appreciate them, but wouldn't listen to a full album
ATRL Moderator Tsareena Posted December 22, 2019 ATRL Moderator Posted December 22, 2019 all stan worthy albums whew MAYA omg, lp1 talent an album , puberty 2 emotional breakdown, born to die classic debut yes mama, I'm all ears whew, oil a debut. sophie SNAPPED, love 10 love songs, lights whew
K$Ellie Posted December 25, 2019 Author Posted December 25, 2019 Top 50 Albums 10. Ke$ha - Warrior Quote Standouts: C'Mon, Last Goodbye, Supernatural, Thinking of You, Die Young I feel like this is a bit high on the list but just a few years ago, this was my favorite album of all time so it's fallen quite far. It's the album that really got me into stanning, I never kept up with an artist like I did Kesha when this era was happening. It was all I listened to for months and was by far my most played album of all time until my #1 come along. I don't go back to it much these days, and that comes down to a couple of things: the songs aging quite a bit, the album being very incohesive and me pretty much unstanning Kesha/not listening to her anymore. If I listened to it again I'm sure I'd still enjoy all the songs but I have no incentive to do so as of now I think half the album would sound awful if released today but I still love my dated 10s bops. I used to be an All That Matters hater (I always forget this song exists) but it's lowkey a banger. C'Mon is her BEST song btw, deserved #1 x 9. Beyoncé - BEYONCÉ Quote Standouts: Drunk In Love, Haunted, XO, Partition, Blow A work of art. Even the songs towards the end that I don't use as much are still really good. For some reason this took ages to grow on me, literally one song would grow on me at a time but towards the end of the year I loved the whole album and it was #1 on my Best of 2014 Lemonade stans can rot, this is so much more cohesive and the videos were much better too. The re-release was pointless, we didn't even get the original Standing on the Sun and while 7/11 was a bop, it could have been a standalone single. 8. Tove Lo - Blue Lips Quote Standouts: Disco Tïts, Hey You Got Drugs?, Cycles, shedontknowbutsheknows, Don't Ask Don't Tell Halsey, Tove and Ellie delivered some of my favorite releases of the decade, and then followed them up with albums just as good when I thought it would be impossible for them to do so can't believe I was disappointed by this at first, I listen to it more than Lady Wood these days guess I have a weakness for dark electropop but yeah, this album is pretty much perfect it flows so well too, I would say her most cohesive album I found Stranger really overrated at first but I love it now Shivering Gold is my least fave but it's fine, 9th of October also could have been better but I got used to it, cute sing she poured her heart out in Hey You Got Drugs tho 7. Crystal Castles - (III) Quote Standouts: Plague, Kerosene, Transgender, Insulin This album is such an experience like I can't even describe it, every song fits so well idk what Alice is singing cause the vocals are so drowned out but kdjdsjkdjs THE PRODUCTION I'm so mad it's getting ignored an all these decade end lists the opener is one of the best songs of the decade and really sets the tone for the whole album. Sad Eyes is a bit generic and one of my least faves but still a bop Insulin is a major bop and it's the perfect length, any longer and it would have gotten annoying - it's basically a good version of Doe Deer. Their first two albums are a bit of a mixed bag, I would stan (II) if they deleted 3 or 4 songs and it all sounded more like Violent Dreams but yeah, this is far better and I'm glad they went the dark route This is definitely one of the old albums I go back to most from my indie phase 6. LOOΠΔ - [X X] Quote Standouts: Butterfly, Satellite, Colors, Hi High, Perfect Love This was already #1 on my Best of 2019 so I mostly said when I had to say there but yeah, perfect album even though it's actually two separate EPs but I'm cheating to get it on the list I also wanna make an EP list just to have Max & Match at #1 but I might be too lazy for that 5. Janelle Monáe - The ArchAndroid Quote Standouts: Dance Or Die, Faster, Tightrope, 57821, BaBopBye Ya whew this is a journey she created a whole world within this album, like it could genuinely be made into a full length movie. Every track flows so well into the next and the transitions on the first few are so seamless One of the few 1h+ albums that I don't mind sitting through. The Suites are so cool too, usually interludes don't add anything to the album (see: Dirty Computer x) but she snapped with these 57821 underrated, Cold War overrated, Tightrope deserved #1 and Grammys 4. Tove Lo - Lady Wood Quote Standouts: Cool Girl, Vibes, Don't Talk About It, Lady Wood, Imaginary Friend Welp I listed half the album as my standouts that's all I have to say pretty much, every song (except Flashes x) is flawless - Don't Talk about It goes off towards the end but whew... Cool Girl SOTD 3. Ellie Goulding - Halcyon Quote Standouts: Anything Could Happen, Only You, Halcyon, Figure 8, Explosions Warrior may have been the album that got me to stan but this one started it all. As far as I remember, it was the first album that I listened to repeatedly day in and day out, whereas before I used to only listen to music on my phone if I was walking somewhere. It always reminds me of Resident Evil 6 as well cause I used to listen to the album while playing it Like, I know she's such a regular pop girl but this album is soooo unique and experimental for pop girl standards. Name one song that sounds like Only You or Anything Could Happen I can't believe Dead In the Water only hit me when I was hosting her rate, I used to always ignore it but it's so beautiful Love the deluxe songs but I don't claim I Need You Love as part of the album, she really had the NERVE to put it right after DITW it's sad to listen to the album now and compare it to her current material. Halcyon Days and Delirium were pop done right... her singles since are downright trash 2. Halsey - hopeless fountain kingdom Quote Standouts: 100 Letters, Alone, Now or Never, Bad at Love, Don't Play, Hopeless My most played album of all time by far I used to have a chart in the YTT section back then so it was quite a mess, the album got 550+ plays in the first week and by the end of the month, my chart was looking like this Now or Never is in my top 10 most played and Bad at Love is #13 - Alone, 100 Letters, Don't Play and Walls Could Talk are all around the top 50 too, she really did that I expected to be underwhelmed cause I knew she wasn't topping Badlands but she actually did (for a while, I switched since x) Can y'all believe Walls Could Talk isn't even 2m long and it's one of her best songs ever Now or Never outsold Rihanna's career and Hopeless ended Imogen x 1. Halsey - BADLANDS Quote Standouts: Drive, Hurricane, Roman Holiday, Colors, Young God I had hfk at #1 until yesterday but I'm fairly certain I made the right decision by switching them While hfk might be my most played album of all time, this is only two spots behind and about to overtake Warrior. The gap between this and hfk is still 1k+ so there's no chance of this ever becoming my most played album but I think this will get more recurrent plays. I'm going to see her in March and Manic is gonna suck so I'll just be listening to her old music in preparation The entire album is so atmospheric and cohesive, the other Tumblr girls could never New Americana may have cringe lyrics but it's such a bop idc. Roman Holiday, Drive and Colors are easily some of my favorite songs of the decade. Hold Me Down is the worst song here but she's a cute girl x I'm glad I can appreciate Coming Down after all this time, it was always my least fave but it's v cute I'm listening to the album now and even the songs I consider some of my "least favorite" like Control are 10/10s
ATRL Moderator Legend E Posted December 25, 2019 ATRL Moderator Posted December 25, 2019 QOTC remains Tove's best album tho As for Halsey, I also prefer Badlands. Halcyon Self-Titled is also cute. I love Warrior.
SLIME Posted December 26, 2019 Posted December 26, 2019 Ok I'm sensing that our tastes diverge a little bit at the top end, but I see a lot of essential 2010s alt-girl stuff compiled here so good job. And Haus of Balloons is a stellar pick if you were only gonna highlight a few males. Love to see MAYA so high
Rider Posted December 26, 2019 Posted December 26, 2019 Billie, BTD and I may add that hfk is better than Badlands
TheWayWeWere Posted December 26, 2019 Posted December 26, 2019 omg, HFK and Badlands slaying back to back I feel like Manic going to be a mess, but at least she served with her first two HFK tho >>> 100 Letters ends careers Halcyon is amazing, but it aged kinda bad for me ACH still slays tho Lady Wood and Blue Lips are ALBUMS like, never really expected to hear such masterpieces from her Beyonce I think I prefer '4' more, but it's my 2nd favorite album by her Warrior is great, but I can't stand the cover
Remmy Posted December 27, 2019 Posted December 27, 2019 ArchAndroid and Halcyon have good moments BLUE LIPS is nice, a tad overhyped though. For some reason I wasn't expecting Halsey to take over your whole top 2 even though I experienced your obsession? Both albums are cool for the most part. Lady Wood Your #10+9 being #2+1 instead would've been a serve, honestly That Warrior writeup has a bit of a stench attached to it! So glad I'm someone that doesn't really care about music "aging." Lemonade > BEY but it's a pretty close fight, I remember feeling so weird when the album dropped because I wasn't expecting her sound to change so drastically and at first I wasn't really a fan. All Warrior standouts, Drunk In Love, Haunted, XO, Partition, Disco Tots, HYGD?, sdkbsk, BaBopBye Ya, Cool Girl, Vibes, Lady Wood, Anything Could Happen, Figure 8, Explosions, Now or Never, Don't Play, Drive, Colors
Eeveelution Posted December 27, 2019 Posted December 27, 2019 ArchAndroid the way it still blows me away after all these years. Cold War talent btw x Beyonce and Halcyon are great too!
potent Posted December 27, 2019 Posted December 27, 2019 Janelle, Beyonce, Kesha I did prefer Lemonade but both eras were great. Not a fan of Tove or Halsey but they were expected
jose168 Posted December 28, 2019 Posted December 28, 2019 Love love love your albums list. So many awesome albums i snubbed personally. Though NGL, i dont see it for our good sis Halsey!
Jet Posted December 28, 2019 Posted December 28, 2019 Oh wow Halsey slaying I prefer Blue Lips over Lady Wood but both are great and wow yonce did her thing, so glad she made the top 10
MP2K Posted December 29, 2019 Posted December 29, 2019 MAGDALENE already being a classic huh. Didn’t know you stanned Halsey that hard. It’s crazy how I never got around to Crystal Castles, but I love a good production so I think I’ll finally get in.
Recommended Posts