Posted December 17, 20159 yr sponsored by artist of the year Selena Gomez ~ (not a spoiler for countdowns) ----- We've almost reached the end of another year, and that means it's time to reflect on the music of the year. We'll go through 40 albums and 200 songs to find the best of 2015, starting imminently with albums 21-40, before the top 20 with proper commentary.
December 17, 20159 yr Anticipating some real shyte but some gems too tbh. Slay me LiLi http://i.imgur.com/YKBZ3xF.gif Edited December 17, 20159 yr by Regina
December 17, 20159 yr Author 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 Samsaya – Bombay Calling 38 39 40 Missing out on the top 20 are these 20 releases. Amongst them are UK #1 albums from Meghan Trainor, Jess Glynne and Years & Years, two of 2015's biggest breakout acts, as well top 5 albums from Madonna, Ellie Goulding and Ella Eyre. Also present is Miley Cyrus' surprise free album, which served as a disappointment compared to her other material as she continues her descent into lunacy, but was still enjoyable enough to scrape into this top 40! From the lesser known albums here, I'd urge pop fans to check out indie darling Grimes' latest album as a top pick from this section. It's a decent way to venture into some weird and wonderful alternative flecked pop, especially the single Flesh Without Blood!
December 17, 20159 yr Massive hype for this Liam, expecting many fantastic songs :heart: (not including Nyssa if she's made it here!) Love most those albums, especially Title and Feline :wub:
December 18, 20159 yr Rae Morris :heart: OMG Shamir :heart: Ella :heart: Grimes :heart: Ellie :heart: :heart: Miley Cyrus :heart: Years and Years :heart:
December 18, 20159 yr Author Massive hype for this Liam, expecting many fantastic songs :heart: (not including Nyssa if she's made it here!) U WOT M9
December 18, 20159 yr Author 20 Tove Styrke – Kiddo UK peak: N/A (Sweden #14) My peak: #2 Highlights: 01 Borderline 02 Ego 03 Brag 04 Burn 05 Snaren Kicking off the top 20 is a prime example of top Swedish pop. Tove's pop gems White Light Moment and Call My Name are two of the absolute best Scandipop tracks of this decade, and whilst this doesn't peak quite as high it's still a pretty damn good effort. Her melodies are uplifting and fresh; her sound is exciting. If any Swedish songstress was going to break out, you could place a beat on Tove but it's not happened as of yet with this failing to make a dent commercially outside of Sweden. 19 Cam – Untamed (Burning House, Untamed, My Mistake, Village, Hungover On Heartache) UK peak: N/A (US TBA) My peak: TBA Highlights: 01 Burning House 02 Untamed 03 My Mistake 04 Village 05 Hungover On Heartache This is the newest album on the list, having only been released on the 11th December, so it doesn't even have placings on the chart to report! Its inclusion may be seen as a tad hasty, but it's a very very impressive country debut. Throughout the album’s 11 tracks, Cam proves herself as one of the sincerest and most emotive country voices to emerge in a long while, guiding us through a range of stories. The lead single Burning House is a must listen even if you’re not a country fan, if it doesn’t break your heart you obviously don’t possess one.
December 19, 20159 yr Author 18 Florence & The Machine – How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful UK peak: #1 My peak: #1 (2wks) Highlights: 01 Ship To Wreck 02 What Kind Of Man? 03 Delilah 04 Queen Of Peace 05 Which Witch? The first UK hit album in the top 20 comes from the critically acclaimed Florence & The Machine. Coming four years after Ceremonials, this became her 3rd straight UK #1 album. As ever, the end result is splendidly cinematic and grand, carried by Florence’s impressive set of lungs. The pinnacle is single Ship To Wreck, a juxtaposition of cheery indie-pop instrumentation and self-destructive lyrics, which ends up as classic Florence with a fresher feel. 17 Halsey – Badlands UK peak: #9 My peak: #2 Highlights: 01 New Americana 02 Ghost 03 Hold Me Down 04 Colours 05 Hurricane One of the most exciting new artists of 2015 is Halsey, a “tri-bi” American with a very “Tumblr” image. A fair bit of hype was generated from EPs but she set blogs alight especially with New Americana, a melodically incredible commentary on contemporary pop culture. Lyrically, Halsey is often intriguing and relatable, and whilst her image might seem tired or overdone from the outside, when you get to her core she’s a very exciting prospect for 2016 and beyond who I’m interested to more from.
December 19, 20159 yr Author 16 Namie Amuro - _genic UK peak: N/A (#1 in Japan) My peak: #1 (1wk) Highlights: 01 B Who I Want 2 B (ft. Hatsune Miku) 02 Golden Touch 03 Stranger 04 What I Did For Love 05 Photogenic The highest album to not have charted in the UK comes from the Japanese Britney Spears (except she’s still relevant). On her third bilingual album, Amuro collaborated with more Western producers than ever before, including David Guetta, SOPHIE, Zedd and Erik Lidborn. The result of this is hardly the most unique or exciting set of tracks ever, but there’s plenty of melodic goodness, catchy hooks and great beats. The downside is Namie’s English still isn’t the best, as is evident from her version of David Guetta’s What I Did For Love, so the album would probably benefit from being all in Japanese, but we can’t have it all. 15 Demi Lovato – Confident UK peak: #6 My peak: #1 (1wk) Highlights: 01 Cool For The Summer 02 For You 03 Confident 04 Stone Cold 05 Father Yes, Demi is only #15! Following her year end #1 Demi (2013) and top 5 Unbroken (2011), this is perhaps the most disappointing release of the year alongside Ellie Goulding’s Delirium. That might be silly to say about the 15th best album of the yar though, so I’ll go onto explain what IS good about this… As always, Demi knows who she is and stays true to that despite experimenting with new sounds on this album – more poppy, electronic and contemporary than ever before. Cool For The Summer could easily be a Katy Perry million seller; For You is a huge electro power ballad; Confident is a sassy brass led stomper. Tracks such as Waiting For You, Kingdom Come (complete with utterly embarrassing Iggy rap) and Old Ways really blend into one though, and whilst as a whole it is of course a strong effort, it lacks the feeling that every track is a highlight in some way, which was the strong point of her last two albums.
December 19, 20159 yr Cam as in Modern Family's best character? *.* http://49.media.tumblr.com/ccd94746e8c2600f628a24de65c0642e/tumblr_mvceehNT9T1s3pd2mo1_250.gif
December 19, 20159 yr Cam >> Luke >>> Gloria >>> Claire >>> Mitchell >>> Lily >>> the others. Phil shade :(
December 19, 20159 yr Author 14 Tori Kelly – Unbreakable Smile UK peak: #36 My peak: #1 (1wk) Highlights: 01 Should’ve Been Us 02 I Was Made For Lovin’ You (ft. Ed Sheeran) 03 Nobody Love 04 First Heartbreak 05 City Dove A case could easily be made for Tori Kelly being possibly the most underrated voice in pop today, and it follows that the album was pretty overlooked (at least outside of the US) too Her tone, power and control could rival and probably smash most artists at the top of the chart, but she just isn’t getting smashes! The single Should’ve Been Us is a brilliant 90s throwback, and Ed Sheeran feature (surefire smash in waiting right???) I Was Made For Lovin’ You is an incredibly sweet love ballad that radio would eat up. Hopefully an Ariana Grande trajectory is coming up for Tori and we’ll be hearing lots from her in the next couple of years because she’s too talented to stay under the radar! 13 Ciara – Jackie UK peak: #46 My peak: #1 (2wks) Highlights: 01 I Bet 02 Give Me Love 03 One Woman Army 04 That’s How I’m Feeling 05 Dance Like We’re Making Love From one underrated newbie to a perennially underrated pop princess… Ciara has achieved little more than a couple of top 75 singles this decade, despite releasing two great albums full of potential hits. Proving her versatility yet again, CiCI hops effortless between R&B slow jams (I Bet; Dance Like We’re Making Love) and huge pop anthems (That’s How I’m Feeling; Give Me Love), with immense competence either way. With proper handling, she could one of the big pop girls but I guess she’ll have to settle for scraping top 75 every few years </3
December 20, 20159 yr Favourites from the top 20 so far are Halsey and Demi; definitely agree with the highlights you've chosen from the former and as much as I love Confident, also agree the album definitely isn't as strong as Demi :(
December 21, 20159 yr Author 12 Justin Bieber – Purpose UK peak: #1 My peak: #1 (1wk) Highlights: 01 Love Yourself 02 Sorry 03 What Do You Mean? 04 The Feeling (ft. Halsey) 05 Been You Pop’s biggest turnaround of 2015? One thing’s for sure, if the year in music has belonged to anybody, it’s Biebs. Even 4 years ago, it would be embarrassing to admit to liking any of his music and his appeal was largely restricted to “tweeny” fans who’d buy anything he put out. But this year, it’s embarrassing NOT to like Bieber, as even those who spent their teenage years mocking and despising Baby and One Time are bopping to Sorry and belting out Love Yourself. From finely produced dance bangers, to tropical house jams, to chilled R&B, via an Ed Sheeran penned acoustic monster, Purpose has something for everybody and there’s enough potential hits here for Justin to make a claim for 2016 as well. 11 Janet Jackson – Unbreakable UK peak: #11 My peak: #1 (1wk) Highlights: 01 BURNITUP 02 The Great Forever 03 Unbreakable 04 Take Me Away 05 No Sleeep The legend that is Janet Jackson has been gone for 7 years now, so it was long overdue that 2015 brought us another one of her albums! Whilst No Sleeep was a lowkey return, the funky fresh BURNITUP brought Janet back with a bang, with a production to rival some of her biggest jams and a fierce Missy Elliot rap. On this album, Janet is more versatile than she’s been since The Velvet Rope, and she’s all the better for it. The ease with which Ms Jackson moves between funky R&B, dance, rock and soul influences while being adept is just another thing to prove that she’s one of the best female popstars of all time, and this album just adds to her extensive legacy.
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