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So, not all but quite a few "radio pop" artists actually have excellent studio albums, from which the radio singles are basically the worst songs. Like ariana g
by giraffe_lady 2y ago
So, not all but quite a few "radio pop" artists actually have excellent studio albums, from which the radio singles are basically the worst songs. Like ariana grande had an incredible three-album run with dangerous woman, sweetener, thank u next. Dua Lipa's future nostalgia is another one of these, full of popified funk and dancehall grooves. Bass players love that album. So don't write off bad radio pop without giving the album a listen, there's quite a lot of good music hidden in plain sight.
Other than that some of my favorites from the last approximate decade in no particular order (in format: album - artist) are froot - marina and the diamonds; I feel alive - TOPS; shabrang - sevdaliza; unfortunately, terror jr - terror jr; take me apart - kelela; somewhere in between - verite; dogviolet - laurel; empathogen - willow; expectations - hayley kiyoko; once twice melody - beach house; the fool - ryn weaver.
Pop is hard to define as a genre, particularly it tends to blend into r&b and indie rock so some people might categorize some these differently. And most are "indie pop" but afaict that's just pop by non-famous musicians. That ryn weaver album is probably the best in the list, it's a monster masterpiece that deserves to be more widely known.
- agumonkey 2y agoI'll take a peek, but i'm surprised, I stopped caring (pun slightly intended) about dua liap around future nostalgia. There's some nice bass in it but it's crude. The recent willow single was interesting that's true. Only people that manage to give me a sense of depth were thundercat/knower, benny sings But I still miss some of the subtle harmonics from edits like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVhl896h2NI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVhl896h2NI . There are other studio sessions with isolated vocals which afaik are not made this way anymore ps: ryn makes good pop, colorful, but i don't know, maybe a different approach to voicings, it's missing something psedit: fixed link
- giraffe_lady 2y agoYeah ryn's raw musicality is unreal but that album is underproduced and doesn't do her justice. I still think it's a masterpiece but the criticism is legit. I was really hoping to hear another from her but I'm not sure what it would be like now, the sound has changed a lot and I'm not sure what she's been up to. If you like knower and thundercat there is a ton of great music that in that intersection of funk, pop, contemporary jazz. I was trying to stick to more "straight pop." Anyway with those guys I don't think the musicianship or sophistication is remotely in dispute.
- agumonkey 2y agoBut is it wrong to say that Jackson's solo album were also pop ?
- giraffe_lady 2y agoNo who's saying it is?
- agumonkey 2y agoWell afaik it seemed to be at least half pop
- chocolatkey 2y agoI think you posted the wrong youtube link
- agumonkey 2y agooh god thanks, different kind of music but not what i intended indeed
- bigiain 2y agoSevdaliza is _so_ good.
- giraffe_lady 2y agoyes!