Drake’s Certified Lover Boy is a distended confessional wherein the rapper attempts to reaffirm his image as a sweet-talking power player.
Kanye West’s Donda is about human fallibility and the desire for salvation even when we may not deserve it.
Still Woozy’s If This Isn’t Nice, I Don’t Know What Is conveys even its confessions of distress with triumphant confidence.
While Nicolas Jaar and Dave Harrington assemble an array of mesmerizing sounds on Darkside’s Spiral, a larger vision eludes them.
Vince Staples’s eponymous album keenly draws contrasts between the rapper’s upbringing and the life he now enjoys.
There’s as much lazy delivery of the goods on the album as there is engaging interplay.
The album conceives of the exuberant possibilities of life and love.
No matter how maddening and challenging the album can be, the songwriting and musicianship is impressive.
The album is at its best when it leans into the DJ/producer’s dexterous instrumental tinkering.
The band’s willingness to harness the latest sonic trends is hit and (mostly) miss.
The artist scales back the divine aspirations and melodramatic tendencies, resulting in his most secular work to date.
The album is a compelling, if minor, chapter in the artist’s ongoing saga of fatalistic romanticism.
Though the album will always be remembered for its rousing pop peaks, its best-kept secrets are some of its most indelible moments.
The album provides a cathartic outlet with which to confront the pains of self-definition in an ever-amorphous world.
The 21-minute set of songs is both fleet in its dynamics and booming in its impact.
The album uses its glam-rock aspirations to underscore another blast of ne’er-do-well energy from the singer.
The collection is a satisfying showcase for the group’s range while making plain their core appeal with refreshing directness.
The album highlights the artist’s shortcomings as much as it does his sly appeal.
The band’s uniquely existential and observational approach to rock is, for the first time, beginning to wear thin.
The album is a ratification of “bigger and better,” an example of steady improvement through impeccable craft.