BEST ALBUMS OF 2017

11. More Life - Drake 

Referred to more as a "playlist" than a proper album, More Life is a 22-track escapade that reminds of us Drake's versatility as an artist and unlike Views, he is more than happy to share audio time with the several guests on his album. Some British flare is added by UK rapper Giggs ("No Long Talk", "KMT"), the necessary PARTYNEXTDOOR collab gives you that late-night longing ("Since Way Back"), Black Coffee and Jorja Smith are the leading forces on "Get It Together," and of course, a track made to be revered comes from his song with Kanye ("Glow"). While proving he still has radio presence with "Passionfruit" and "Fake Love," it doesn't deter from his spot as one of the best in the rap game ("Gyalchester," "Sacrifices") and his versatility as a singer ("Madiba Riddim", "Blem"). Even if it's not to be truly considered an album, there is no denying that Drake has graced us with one of the best releases of the year. 

Standout tracks: "Madiba Riddim," "Teenage Fever," "Glow (feat. Kanye West)"

10. Reputation - Taylor Swift 

Back on the scene with her sixth studio album, Taylor Swift proves that she hasn't lost the songwriting mojo that propelled her to superstar status in the first place. Following the less-than-mediocre lead single "Look What You Made Me Do," I think we were all slightly fearing what Swift's album had in store. Whether it was just a marketing ploy or matter of poor taste, the rest of the album doesn't follow in the single's footsteps for the most part (thank God!). Rather than the revenge album most expected it to be, it is actually a string of love songs, many tinged with fear of what Swift's reputation might mean for her relationships. It is a sonically cohesive embrace of bass and synth, giving her a darker pop sound than she's had in the past, but it works. I actually kind of like the slightly bizarre collaboration with Future and Ed Sheeran, "End Game"--it could've gone south if Swift took herself too seriously in it, but it's clear with all the tongue-in-cheek humour she doesn't. But the hip-hop angle doesn't suit Swift all that much, so it's a relief the album doesn't linger on it. Her songwriting takes the front seat here, with inner-monologue types like "Delicate" and "Gorgeous" and stealthily-crafted narratives like "Getaway Car." But the album's peak is it's grand finale: the simple, stripped-down "New Year's Day" that features only Swift's voice and a piano. It's the moment you wait the entire album for--the raw, authentic sound and honest lyrics that toss out the idea of reputation altogether and recalls what really matters at the end of the day: the people we love.

Standout tracks: "Delicate," "Getaway Car," "New Year's Day"

9. hopeless fountain kingdom - Halsey 

With hopeless fountain kingdom, Halsey proves once again that she is a driving force in alt-pop. With notably more hip-hop influence than her previous effort Badlands, this album follows a narrative of love that fails time and time again to work itself out, set in the alternate universe which Halsey continually expands throughout her discography and is filled with recurring symbolism that goes all the way back to Badlands. But what distinguishes this album from its precursor most is the more sophisticated and developed exploration of R&B, evident from lead single "Now or Never," The Weeknd's co-write "Eyes Closed," Quavo collab "Lie," and the nostalgia-invoked "Walls Could Talk." She battles with poor ex-lovers ("100 Letters") and herself ("Devil in Me"), but concludes by the end of album that maybe things will not always be as hopeless as they seem. 

Standout tracks: "Walls Could Talk," "Bad at Love," "Hopeless (feat. Cashmere Cat)"

8. Flower Boy - Tyler, The Creator

In his latest release, Tyler, the Creator is more vulnerable and revealing than ever before in an exploration of youth and the pains of navigating it. "I'm the loneliest man alive/ But I keep dancing to throw them off," he reveals on Frank Ocean and Steve Lacy collaboration "911 / Mr. Lonely." Through seamless transitions from one song to the next, the album consistently follows a narrative of internal struggle and what it means to find yourself if you're afraid of what you'll discover. Tyler bridges personal and collective on "November" where he starts to contemplate every one of his fears and wants to return to better times, and towards the end, vocal snippets are woven in almost on top of one another of people sharing what their 'November' is. He comes to a revelation about love in "Garden Shed," and "Glitter" is about the feeling that this kind of authentic love brings. While the album sifts through conflict throughout, it concludes on an optimistic note. At its core, Flower Boy is about accepting all of who you are, even the parts you might fear.

Standout tracks: "Boredom (feat. Rex Orange County and Anna of the North)," "911 / Mr. Lonely (feat. Frank Ocean and Steve Lacy)," "November"

7. Lust for Life - Lana Del Rey 

In her fourth studio effort, Lana Del Rey gives a smile on her album cover for the first time in her career. And this release might just also be my favourite of hers. At a peak in her musical career, Del Rey experiments with elements of various genres while doing what she does best--crooning in her soothing contralto voice about glory days past and the beauty of life itself, as suggested in the album's title. The album opens with the glorious "Love," describing all the hope and possibilities that life presents when consumed with infatuation. The title track features frequent collaborator The Weeknd, together delivering one of the album's most memorable songs. Del Rey dabbles with trap-influenced beats in "Summer Bummer" and "Groupie Love," both featuring A$AP Rocky and the prior has Playboi Carti in the mix, too. There are also worthy collaborations with Stevie Nicks ("Beautiful People Beautiful Problems") and Sean Ono Lennon ("Tomorrow Never Came"), and it's the most feature-ladden album Del Rey has ever released. And while not quite a political statement album by any means, interwoven in many of the tracks are themes of Americana that subtly compare past to present and remind us that perhaps we have not  progressed forward quite as much as we like to think. 

Standout tracks: "Lust for Life (feat. The Weeknd)," "Groupie Love (feat. A$AP Rocky)," "Tomorrow Never Came (feat. Sean Ono Lennon)" 

6. Harry Styles - Harry Styles 

Hey, don't come at me for this one. Demonstrating an array of classic rock and urban folk influences, Harry Styles skipped the awkward post-boyband phase that some of the other ex-1D members are facing and released what is genuinely one of the year's best albums. But don't be fooled--Styles' fanbase is still majorly young and female. But the quality of the work he puts out leaps right over this fact, and secures himself a position as an artist to be reckoned with. Being merely a 10-track album, there is a sense of organic quality that makes the album feel very contained and not overdone. He opens with the mellow and insightful "Meet Me in the Hallway," introducing themes that are subtlety revisited throughout the course of the album. He takes a stab at the more folksy angle with tunes like "Two Ghosts" and "Sweet Creature," delivers some true odes to rock 'n' roll with headbangers like "Kiwi" and slow jams like "Woman," and of course, there is the Bowie-esque radio hit "Sign of the Times." The album closes with the quiet whispers that make "From the Dining Table," and you get the feeling that you have just witnessed Styles at his most vulnerable yet. 

Standout tracks: "Meet Me in the Hallway," "Kiwi," "From the Dining Table"

5. Dua Lipa - Dua Lipa 

DUAAAA. Out of 2017 has emerged a new queen of pop reigning from the UK. Despite being a presence lingering on the outskirts of breakthrough status for the past two years, her international hit "New Rules" was an earworm that found its way into everyone's heads. With a stunning self-titled debut, Lipa has affirmed herself as a musical force to be reckoned with. With an album loaded full of glittering love songs like the Miguel collaboration "Lost in Your Light" and "Be the One," as well as blunt anthems of independence like "IDGAF" and "Blow Your Mind (Mwah)," Dua Lipa proves herself to be a new pop presence whose success is only just beginning.

Standout tracks: "Be the One," "Blow Your Mind (Mwah)," "Begging" 

4. Gone Now - Bleachers 

With Gone Now, Jack Antonoff has successfully created another warm wall of sound that invokes nostalgic remnants of a past life of adolescence and self-discovery. The album's liberating lead single "Don't Take the Money" is arguably the album's most effective use of these themes and sonically represents the album's overall essence. The mastermind producer that he is (and who played a large role in creating some of the decade's best pop albums, working with the likes of Lorde, Carly Rae Jepsen, and Taylor Swift), Antonoff weaves in melodic themes from early album tracks throughout, particularly "Dream of Mickey Mantle" and "Goodmorning," which carry well  enough as standalone tracks, being as buoyant and uplifting as they are. With a penchant for creating albums that look so affectionately at the past, maybe his next will attempt facing the daunting questions of the future--and if anyone can capture these anxieties with sonic cohesion and precision, it's Antonoff.

Standout tracks: "Dream of Mickey Mantle," "Don't Take the Money," "I Miss Those Days"

3. DAMN. - Kendrick Lamar 

Our generation's leading voice in conscious hip-hop is back on the scene again with perhaps his best work yet. Featuring support ranging from the likes of Rihanna to U2, Lamar proves himself to be at the top of his game and his craft as a storyteller is fully realized here. The album constantly returns to the narrative of Lamar's upbringing, something inseparable from who he is today, as shown in "DNA.," "FEAR.," and of course, "DUCKWORTH." The album is made all the more alluring by its unique moments of creativity, such as the inverted instrumentation of Bruno Mars' "24K Magic" used in "LOYALTY.," or the standout sister tracks "LUST." and "LOVE.," each battling the other to be the stronger force (and Lamar making them both equally appealing). DAMN. is just one of those albums that you can listen to again and again, and never truly get tired of because there is a new layer of understanding to be gained every time.

Standout tracks: "DNA.," "LUST.," "LOVE. (FEAT. ZACARI.)"

2. Ctrl - SZA 

With her long-awaited debut album, SZA became one of the most critically-acclaimed artists of the year, became the most nominated female artist at the 60th Grammy Awards, and proved that she is here to stay. Ctrl really is about just that--what it means both to have it and to let it go. With her sultry voice and an often live instrumentation backing, she brings layers of vulnerability and honesty that serve as the ultimate drive in what makes her album so compelling. In songs like "Drew Barrymore" and "Supermodel," SZA opens up with questions of self-worth and her insecurities about love. "Love Galore" (with some help from Travis Scott) and "The Weekend" give depictions of the less glamorous side of casual relationships yet never dispels the desire for them. The album closes out with the all-encompassing "20 Something," which meditates on the fear of the unknown future that lurks so closely during this period, but it is one that all the more enhances the beauty of it. We have been lucky to find a voice as refreshing and poignant as SZA's, and Ctrl reminds us just why that is.

Standout tracks: "Drew Barrymore," "The Weekend," "20 Something"

1. Melodrama - Lorde 

When I listened to this album for the first time, I was sitting on the balcony of an apartment my family was renting near the coast in Portugal. I put my headphones in and stared out at the night sea, sitting in solitary and miles away from all of my friends. As I listened to this album, I experienced all the emotion that came with it. I almost wish I could go back and listen to it for the first time to experience it that way again. 

With her sophomore effort, Lorde has managed to create an artpop album that perfectly captures the essence of the human experience, from love to heartbreak and everything in between. While embracing the spontaneity and feeling of liberty that comes with a night of partying (particularly in the first three tracks), there also comes fear of the morning's consequences ("Sober") and the question of "Why am I even doing this?"--a question that remains unanswered by the album's grand finale that is "Perfect Places." She falls in love, she falls in lust, and she gets her heart broken. She comes to the conclusion that the only one she count on at the end of the day is herself. 

There are so many special individual moments in Melodrama that it's hard to not talk about them all. From the tear-rendering chorus of "Writer in the Dark" where Lorde recalls self-sacrifice and her will to give all she has in love, to the tenderness that comes with falling in love as captured in "The Louvre," to the brilliant and snarky "Loveless" that acts as a cap-off to a soul-bearing 6-minute track, to reflecting on the lovely disillusionment that comes with the memories we dwell on in our heads in "Supercut."

But what makes Melodrama so successful as an album is that it truly works as a whole--together, the songs reiterate the spectrum of human emotion in all its glorious, exaggerated grandeur.

Standout tracks: "Homemade Dynamite," "The Louvre," "Supercut," "Perfect Places" 

(This one was a little hard to narrow down since all the songs are so great, but I think I managed pretty well if I do say so myself.)