Jeffrey Davies
While 1989‘s vault tracks aren’t quite as attention-grabbing as those from other LPs, they still pack an emotional punch like only Taylor Swift can deliver.
Troye Sivan’s new album falls short of its own standards, set high by the success of its predecessor and is lost in its ecstasy and provocative imagination.
Revamped feels less like Lovato trying to contribute to the current popularity of re-records and more like an attempt to rewrite her history, which is her right.
Olivia Rodrigo sings of fame, pain, heartbreak, and growing up on Guts. There’s rage, yearning, and reckless behavior here that transcends generations.
Maisie Peters knows the power of being the one who has it, of being the one who controls the narrative, as she shows on her new album, The Good Witch.
Pop singer Bebe Rexha’s Bebe sounds like she has thrown some caution to the wind and made music that she genuinely enjoys. It’s also fun to listen to.
Jessie Ware has continued her disco success with That! Feels Good!, which is somehow even more potent than its predecessor.
What makes Miley Cyrus’ Endless Summer Vacation a full-circle experience is her newfound sense of self and accepting the more chaotic parts of herself.
Queen of Me is not as dominating as Shania Twain’s existing body of work, but it highlights a beloved household name getting to know herself better.
Carly Rae Jepsen’s The Loneliest Time is not without the glittery, carefree pop she’s famous for, but the singer gets personal in ways she hasn’t before.
Empowering and cathartic, Demi Lovato has created a refined and sophisticated collection of songs with Holy Fvck that is their best work lyrically to date.
Nothing on About Last Night… sounds particularly fresh or original, even for a record that supposedly draws inspiration from a previous era of pop.
Synthpop trio MUNA craft an LP boldly exploring how being queer is composed of both joys and traumas, and that there’s no shame in messily embracing both.
Harry Styles demonstrates his genuine affinity for modern pop with Harry’s House, as he stands out amidst a collection of pandemic-influenced bedroom offerings.
What should be her most authentic music yet is Camila Cabello’s most sonically boring work to date. The English songs sound like they belong on a different album.
Capitalizing on early 2000s pop-punk nostalgia, Love Sux is an algorithm-appeasing record that feels like the most impersonal Avril Lavigne has ever been.
In re-recording some of her most emotionally fraught offerings, she somehow delivers even more powerful versions from a different phase of life.
On Star-Crossed, Kacey Musgraves continues to make use of her signature wounded wit to expose the hypocrisy that often lies within heteronormative gender roles.
She manages to create something uniquely and unabashedly her own ... However, Rodrigo's lo-fi deep cuts made in the shadow of "Drivers License" can sound a bit repetitive.
The album could have benefited from taking a page out of Expectations’ book, one that more easily balanced deep cuts with confident pop.
While reminding us that he has always been more sonically interesting on his own, Nick Jonas' attempts at deeper emotion and thought fall flat on his new solo LP, Spaceman.
The lack of cohesion here could have perhaps been remedied by allowing a bit more time for the music to grow.
In a Dream is Sivan’s escape from the past that can still haunt us in our dreams.
Swift’s first “alternative” record doesn’t pretend to be anything more than a gentle, spontaneous collection of lyric poetry.
Along with respectful nods to the past, Dua Lipa blasts forward into the future by proclaiming that girls will not only be women everywhere, but most certainly in pop music and most certainly on an album that is only the beginning of what this woman can do.