best of Suilen's Best of 2024 (Top Albums, #1-#6) | Finished

[Mezik]

15-Minutes and Good Luck Babe.  

 

Both terrific songs. 

 

Gonna have to listen to your number one.

[Mezik]

15-Minutes and Good Luck Babe.  

 

Both terrific songs. 

 

Gonna have to listen to your number one.

[Mr. Blue_Shirt]

The way Been Thinking is also the first time that I discovered Tyla, but when Water became a hit, I forgot that she also sang BT and thought that it was from 2 different artists

 

Virtual Angel and WILDFLOWER almost made it into the top 10

 

The way Madison kind of cleared all these young MPG music in 2024, like, she knows to make pop music fun and very European dance music again ddd

 

Good Torture, mute, Good Luck, Babe! in the top 10

[TalkThatRihanna]

GLB yup

[rvx]

Good Luck, Babe! 

[Suilen]

 

 

SMERZ - Allina
While it was firmly in the main album list at first, I've decided that putting 4 proper songs above full albums isn't entirely fair. Allina (all-in-a) is a pop parody where both the proper song and the interludes contribute to the narrative, but just because it's a parody doesn't mean that the songs aren't full-fledges bangers. If anything, real pop needs more tunes like that. 'New Shoes' is also an obvious reference to this Shoes, and I believe that they sampled some parts from there. Given the rest of their releases this year, it appears to be one-off, but I'll take what I can get.

 

 

ionnalee - CLOSE YOUR EYES

Jonna Lee is back with another album, and everyone wanted her to serve another BLUE. I'm not that attached to that album - I'm actually rather fond of ionnalee's first album, and NOT HUMAN was probably my SOTY of whatever year it was released in. BLUE 2 or not, it's a pretty nice record. I like most of the songs here, but I didn't spend enough time with it, so it's only an HM.

 

 

Kali Uchis - Orquideas
Now, this album was out for a while, so theoretically I had all the time in the world to get familiar with it, but I was late to the party. I wasn't that impressed with Red Moon, so I took my time before getting into Orquideas. Fortunately, the album proved to be great, and I'm starting to suspect that Spanish Kali > English Kali. 'Solita' also replaced 'Dead to Me' as my favorite song. Once again, I needed more time with the album, but she did her thing here.

 

 

Bonnie McKee - Hot City
Bonnie needed to drop an album in 2024 for two reasons: 1) it was about damn time; 2) it created a perfect contrast with 143 and confirmed that Bonnie was the most instrumental part of the Katy Perry project at its peak. We got Katy with Luke but without Bonnie, and it's trash. Even Katy on her own was better. And Bonnie still knows how to craft a pop classic. There are some decisions on this album I disagree with (like putting ancient songs here, though American Girl is that song or the ballad-y songs at the end), but it was a decent record. I'm surprised we didn't get more 143 vs Hot City threads, is the winner that clear?

 

 

Coco & Clair Clair - Girl
I feel like 'My Girl' isn't the only Crystal Castle-influenced song here - the album is laced with that sound. Maybe they got a bit too serious for their brand here (I'm yet to explore their previous albums fully), but that doesn't seem like a bad thing to me. I won't say no to ironic pop, and I won't say to CC-pop, either.

 

 

Poppy - Negative Spaces
Although I appreciated Poppy leaning into her pop side with 'Motorbike,' the metal Poppy is the best Poppy these days. It just comes naturally to her, and at this point even the 'real metal fans' should be convinced that what she's doing is genuine. I like the album for the most part, it just came rather late for me to consider a higher position.

 

 

Mannequin P\/ssy - I Got Heaven
I usually check out albums like this after their placements on year-end lists, but I didn't wait this time - Mannequin P*ssy is too iconic of a name to pass them by. While the album is definitely the music version of an Oscar bait (not that it's a bad thing), I enjoyed pretty much every song on it. The record isn't something I'd listen to regularly, hence the HM position, but it's still a treat.

 

 

Pom Pom Squad - Mirror Starts Moving Without Me
Practically every review of this album mentions that it's much poppier than their previous stuff, and it got my attention. I can't say I was a big fan of their previous efforts, so I took a bite... and it was worth it. Yes, it's poppy in the best way possible. The cover is amazing, too. If I hadn't listened to it in the last minute, it would be in the main list for sure.

 

[Mezik]

Kali and Bonnie both released great albums this year.  

 

I have had listened to a few tracks on Poppy's album, and have been impressed. A lot of my peers have told me it's a must listen.

[Mr. Blue_Shirt]

I really enjoy Orquideas, Hot City, and also Negative Spaces a lot this year, which is kind of shocking because Poppy's music is kind of hit or miss lately.

 

I've seen Pom Pom Squad albums on a lot of year-end lists, so I'm interested to see what's up. Also, Allina's album cover is kind of iconic to me because I have oomf on Twitter that use it as their pfp nnn

[Renzo_]

Poppy + Mannquin P*ssy  

[AMIT]

Listening to Chelsea Wolfe because of your list and oh wow these INSTANT bangers 

 

 

 

[AMIT]

On 12/21/2024 at 12:15 AM, Suilen said:

 

The top songs will be resumed tomorrow, for now let's have a look at some songs from other years that made my 2024.

 

Татьяна Буланова - Мой сон

Ayumi Hamasaki's Loveppears at home.

Татьяна Буланова - Стая

Linda, you will always be famous.

Elle Teresa - LOVE (with Choppa Capone)

Elle Teresa - Bubble

Another daughter of Chanmina's, except she knows what she's doing.

Света - Может да, может нет

The fact that she wrote and produced it automatically makes her one of the most talented pop stars of all time.

Света - Загорелые

Света - Прости, моя любовь!

More Sveta because she's a queen.

Baby Jane - Owen Gray

She gave a bit of Ethel Cain here.

Chase Icon - Like Me

Exactly and I told her and I said ma'am.

Оля Полякова - Люли

Gaga is the American Olya Polyakova basically.

Оля Полякова - Звонила

The songwriting, whew.

Mai Kuraki - ZEROからハジメテ

J-pop gays always overlook her when she's out there serving bigger bops than the big four three or whatever.

Mai Kuraki - Unraveling Love ～少しの勇気～

These Detective Conan songs have no business sounding good.

Selena Gomez & The Scene - My Dilemma

Wait, Selener... 

LAYAH - Мастер

This song is too good to be real.

Lolahol - Spelling

Maybe Madonna should put her daughter (and Eartheater) in charge of her music idk.

Mylène Farmer - À tout jamais

Probably the best song released by a female artist that far into their career?

Yseult - NÉON ROUGE

It's so demure compared to what she released this year.

Pierre de Maere - Bel-Ami

Okay, let me put a token twink here.

Tyla - Been Thinking

Please explain to me why this isn't her Umbrella yet.

Lexie Liu - MAGICIAN

She did some magic on this song, for sure.

Елена Темникова - 2020

Is this song responsible for COVID?

Mieko Hirota - 人形の家

Japanese music vocally peaked here.

Yuki Kimura - LOVE & JOY
Yuki Kimura - Pinky Doll

These songs are like the opposites, such talent.

Shy Smith - Soaked

The song was revitalized by the video but technically released years ago.

UZA - MADA

When you name yourself after one of AKB48's few bops it surely must mean something (she changed her name earlier this year).

Душа - Моя боль

I have a soul, and it's painful, yes.

Марина Журавлева - Я не та

Making bops like this under the Soviet Union was probably considered a crime.

Astro Bunny - 深夜情歌

Crying at how good it is.

Lexxe - Greedy

Poor Tate.

DOROFEEVA - Хай пишуть

So true.

Ангина - Кому какое дело

It takes some guts to admit that you can't sing.

Maude Latour - 001

Baby, let's run...

Maude Latour - Twin Flame

'Twin Flames Universe (TFU) is an American cult run by Jeff and Shaleia Divine.' It's ok to be in a cult if you serve bops.

Lolo Zouai - pl4yg1rl

How do we unkhia her?

D&D - Love Is a Melody

TK was so pressed at her for actually having pipes unlike his other projects.

Kim Bo Hyung - FLASH ME

SPICA in general deserved better, and she deserved more budget.

Satomi Shiremori - FRIEND (feat. tomodachi)

The name of the featured artist means 'friend.' Genius.

DEAD BLONDE - Voulez-vous coucher

It's a bop if you ignore the subject matter.

Tina Moon - 虎視眈々

The most interesting Japanese artist currently.

The Deep - BAPPI

The most interesting Korean solo artist currently.

Elyanna - Sokkar

Definitely one of the best artists I discovered this year.

 

The playlist:

 

 

stan for icon Lexie Liu 

[Suilen]

12 minutes ago, AMIT said:

Listening to Chelsea Wolfe because of your list and oh wow these INSTANT bangers 

 

 

 

The propaganda finally worked.

 

 

 

 

[Alldeezy]

Poppy + Bonnie

[Suilen]

 

 

#12. Seiko Oomori - THIS IS JAPANESE GIRL
Seiko is a curious artist. She was quickly hailed as the next Ringo Sheena, and it was a self-fulling prophecy, since Sheena's decline in quality coincided with Seiko's gradual rise. I was quite fond of her early efforts, but once she signed to avex, something shifted. Not immediately, as TOKYO BLACK HOLE was a terrific album, but I really struggled with what came next. In a way, her collab with T*tsuya K*muro signaled the end of the line for me. And the her collab with another prominent producer, MONDO GROSSO, brought me back. I didn't expect much from THIS IS JAPANESE GIRL, but it was the first album of hers in a while that stroke a chord. She also collaborated with tsunku, her personal icon and another titan of a producer. Still, you wouldn't know they produced those songs as she knows how to own her music, her style. For once, I'm going to agree with deadgrandma's excessive praise of her. As for the title, I'm not going to be mad at her for making like 1.5 of the songs sound traditionally Japanese. After all, the times of Yamato Nadeshikos are gone. A Japanese girl these days could be anything, and this is something the album articulates well.

 

 

#11. Allie X - Girl with No Face
I feel like Allie X has always been an artist people demanded more than she could give from. Ever since Collxtion I, there's always been this air of dissatisfaction around her. As for me, she consistently delivers a bunch of bops on her projects, and that was enough. GWNF is probably when she finally satisfied everyone, even if she was dragging the audience in the process. I'm also of the mind that it could be her best project. The mood is right, everything clicked, she's in the zone. It only took one hapless dog.

 

 

#10. Elyanna - WOLEDTO
I almost left this album for the next year, and it would've been stupid. There's nothing wrong with discovering music later, but it's a special case. No, it's not politically charged and somber. On the contrary, it's rather escapist. It's influenced by both Arabic and Latin music, it's pretty... hype, I'd say. Every song (except for the intro, and even that one is fine) here is a standout, and she wields this amalgamation of cultures masterfully. Why is it important to get acquainted with the record now? Who knows, maybe her next project will have a completely different mood and supersede this one, given the events of her native Palestine. It's practically about being able to appreciate life in the moment.

 

 

#9. Erika de Casier - Still
Erika isn't an instant artist for me, at least when it comes to her first two albums. I can respect them in theory, but they would need to take time to grow on me, which hasn't happened yet. Still, though, was a different matter. It just clicked, there was a spark. Maybe I was finally ready for her, maybe she was ready for me. Either way, it was a marvelous experience.

 

 

#8. charli xcx - brat
Sigh. How do you even start unpacking Brat? It was a moment, no doubt. But as it often happens with long-term underdogs like her, a lot of things went into the mix, and I can't say the era was particularly enjoyable. Honestly, I started to separate Charli as a person from Charli as an artist. The latter is always superb, the former... has had some questionable moments lately. It was rather difficult to do so with Brat, as her vulnerability as a person is shining though. It's not a bad thing, though. The album is an artistic achievement. But I did check out after a couple of remixes as I have no desire to listen to Ratty Healy on anything. Yeah, out of all artists, he probably fits the label the most. I'd say I like Brat in spite of its brattiness. 

 

 

#7. Hana Vu - Romanticism
Every Asian-American singer-songwriter is inevitably going to be compared to Mitski (likely unfavorably), and it's extremely unfair. It's like everyone is in her shadow, and you can only escape it when you do something unorthodox, like Sasami with Squeeze, and even she's doing Mitski-like music now. I suppose Romanticism is also a Mitski-like record, except it resonated with me more than anything Mitski's done. Mitski's a great artist, mind you, but some of her stuff simply doesn't click with me. I first listened to this album while playing a pretty loud video game, which isn't an ideal time to make a good impression, but it managed to grip me regardless, and the record stayed me. After revisiting it for the list, yep, still great. The highlight is probably 'Care', a cutting break-up anthem.

[JGibson]

Charli XCX 

[Alldeezy]

BRAT

[Suilen]

 

 

#6. Julia-Sophie - forgive too slow
When both Pitchfork and The Quietus review your album, it must mean something, right? It must, at least, be interesting? Well, that it was. forgive too slow is a lo-fi electronic record that sounds pretty amateurish at times, but it also has some intricate moments. It may appeal to one's pop sensibilities as the lyrics and the melodies are accessible. Ironically, the only song I dislike is the most popular one, 'telephone'. It just feels out of place here.

 

 

#5. Shygirl - Club Shy
I was afraid that Club Shy would lose some of its steam due to half of the songs being released practically last year, but the mini held up, and those extra remixes and extended versions helped. To me, Shygirl is one of the best artists of today, not exactly the next Bjork, but maybe the next Peaches? She makes raunchiness sound almost palatable. The next project might be even better, and I'm a bit obsessed with F*Me already. She's really great at choosing her collaborators.

 

 

#4. Chelsea Wolfe - She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She
Miss Wofle has always been the artist who could satisfy my cravings for darker music. If I was an artist myself, I'd probably make music like that, too. Unfortunately, her return to the folk roots in 2019 was a bit of a blunder. I couldn't connect to that, so she was absent during some important years of my life. Well, I did occasionally listen to her older music, but it's not the same. Her work on the X OST was a small consolation, and that side project she did was eyebrow-raising. With this album, she's back into my world. Trip-hop influences? I'm down for that. Some of the lyrics were more relatable than ever. I'm not sure if I'd call it her best, but it's definitely ambitious. 

 

 

#3. Billie Eilish - HIT ME HARD AND SOFT
As I said before, Billie is my favorite 'successful' artist nowadays. Her music resonates with me the most out of those MPGs and brings some things that have been sorely missed back into pop. HTE was an interesting record, but there are certain parts I don't particularly care for. HMHAS remedied all of that. While there are a bunch of songs that don't hit as hard as the rest, the record is pretty solid overall, and Billie's renewed domination is a nice bonus to all that. I appreciate the fact that she addressed her queer experiences on some songs and made the unapologetic 'Lunch' the lead single, even though there were much better choices, as the streaming numbers have shown. She needed to make her point loud and clear. Honestly, it's a phenomenal album, and Billie deserves all the Shammies for it. I can't even fathom what she has in store for us next but I'm sure she's find a way to surpass herself.

 

 

#2. AURORA - What Happened to the Heart?
Aurora is an artist that I should love. In theory. One may say that she's a proto Billie, and their aesthetics used to be similar. But sometimes things just don't work out, and her debut album did nothing to me. I didn't bother with whatever came next, except for that song from Frozen 2, which was nice, I suppose. We all make mistakes, though. Anyway, I was intent on making my Best of list for this year, and I needed some material. I saw that she'd dropped an album and thought, why the hell not, maybe the things had improved since 2016. And they did. The album absolutely floored me. It was exactly what I needed. Maybe the magic has been here all along, and I wasn't in the right mindset while listening to her debut. Even if this album has a unique place among her music, I'm still going to give her entire discography a try. I think that she posseses the right amount of witchery. Favorite songs? The Blade, Your Blood, Starvation. Everything's great, though, whcih is why she was absent in the song list - it was impossible to choose.

 

 

#1. Baby Jane - Otherworld
With the amount of promo I've done for this khia, it was obvious. One may even suspect that I'm Baby Jane herself, which would be extremely flattering. Still, Otherwold is an album I'd kill to record myself. Not word for word, obviously, but the atsmophere is just impeccable. Witches, demons, fairies, ghosts? This is everything. And it's pretty easy to screw up topics like that, make them either too serious or laughable. There's a balance here. And great music. Again, to some, it may sound cheap, undermixed, um, silly? I don't know. It's my element regardless. She seems very committed to her (witch)craft, too. Her persona and her music are convincing, and this is what music should be about. Fiction, fantasy, supernatural. I don't need an audiobook version of your personal diary. I need a full account of you figuring out how to **** a ghost boy. 

[Lee!!]

HMHAS

[JGibson]

Billie's album

[Renzo_]

Billie 

[Mezik]

Hit Me Hard and Soft is a fantastic album. It's incredibly impressive she was able to improve from Happier than Ever.  

[Brandon]

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚒 𝚡𝚌𝚡 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[rvx]

Brat 

[Curaga]

ionnalee mention!!  I loved the new album, but, like you, I didn't spend much time with it despite her being my fav (oops...). I think it's great, but it's a little subdued and it's not an album I got addicted to listening to like her ionnalee debut in 2018, or Brat and LOVEppears this year. 

 

Orquídeas basically defined the first quarter of 2024 for me and finally got me into Kali 

 

Girl With No Face, my AOTY!! I agree it's her best project 

 

Aurora really did that with her new album omg. I agree her debut did nothing for me; I remember every song having almost the exact same lush, wall-of-sound instrumental and it got pretty boring after a while nnn. The variety on WHTTH is great, as well as the songs themselves. I'm listening to Dreams writing this and it's really hitting right now 

 

Not you foreshadowing your AOTY with all that Baby Jane promo  I should have known LOL. I love an underdog winner though  Very interesting pick that I obviously need to listen to ASAP! 

 

Great list + visuals 

[Alldeezy]

 HIT ME HARD AND SOFT