The People’s Choices for Album of the Year: 2018
The 2018 edition of everyone’s two cents on what they believe to be the album of the year.
Care For Me by Saba
Release date: April 5, 2018
Reviewed by Johan DeNora, actor, improvisor, music enthusiast and old friend of The Intern’s
Saba has had a year: that much is clear from the moment BUSY/SIRENS, CARE FOR ME’s opening track, begins. The Chicago rapper is at his most introspective, reflective, and — bluntly — sad on this album. After suffering the loss of his cousin and fellow Pivot Gang member John Walt in a senseless murder, Saba devotes CARE FOR ME to unpacking grief, nostalgia, and critically reflecting on his own success.
I’ve loved Saba ever since I heard Bucket List Project a couple of years ago. To me, that album drips with the excitement of a young, hungry artist, ready to make his grand debut. Its chock-full of Chicago-centric features, and runs through a variety of tones and topics.
CARE FOR ME is a definite shift from BLP; it feels more focused, more tonally consistent. Saba’s gifts for finding interesting flows, vocal play, and spinning evocative narratives are at their best on CARE FOR ME. Coming in at just under 42 minutes, and 10 tracks, this project feels lean and to the point: a showcase of Saba’s best writing and most powerful performances. Saba is clear in his message; things are harder than ever, but he’s getting through it.
I’ll admit that I have a deeper personal connection to this album, outside of just being a fan of Saba’s. A year ago, my family suffered a terrible loss when my cousin Myles passed away. The feelings that Saba reflects on in songs like CALLIGRAPHY, FIGHTER and the front half of BUSY/SIRENS hit close to home for me. I have returned to this album often while processing my own grief.
No song on the album hits harder than the penultimate track, PROM/KING. In a word, masterpiece. Seriously, this seven and a half minute track is easily the best storytelling I’ve heard all year, and it’s no doubt Saba’s best song. Everything from his tone and cadence, to the production lends to delivering one of the most gripping narratives I’ve ever heard in music. Its the cherry on top of this album.
For fear of spoiling anything, I won’t say more about the track, but you owe it to yourself to give it a listen. Frankly, you owe it to yourself to give the whole album a listen; it truly is a wonderful project by an artist who more than deserves his shine.
Kamikaze by Eminem
Release date: August 31, 2018
Reviewed by: Akeem Hoyte-Charles, comedian, actor
Kamikaze was definitely the album of the year.
Eminem coming back after how long getting back to what he does and just going at everyone in the industry and including media. Brought everyone back to that old school Eminem.
You know you’ve reached a level where you can just drop a surprise album like that and people go wild about it. I think Kamikaze was the top album with an honourary mention to Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter V.
Black Panther: The Album by Kendrick Lamar & Various Artists
Release date: February 9, 2018
Reviewed by: Tristan Geddes, rapper, writer
Some would say that choosing a soundtrack as your favorite album of the year is cheating. It’s usually an album where every single song has a veritable grab bag of different artists all while trying not to sound too repetitive and/or unoriginal. If we really valued constant repetition for album of the year, DJ Khaled would have the best album every year.
The thing that his albums are missing, though, is a through line. They are missing a unifying artist that can float across all of each project’s various sounds and bring a sense of cohesion to the mix. Black Panther: The Album has Kendrick Lamar.
Be it a hook (which he uses to set up SOB X RBE on “Paramedic”), a commanding outro verse (on “King’s Dead”) or adding presence to the album’s anthemic singles “All The Stars” and “Pray For Me, Kendrick adds the right ingredients to each song to ensure that the entire album feels polished and together. Adding to that, there isn’t a single skip on the whole project. You know a song is fire when an artist recycles their own verse’s bars for a hook, like Kendrick did on Big Shot (featuring Travis Scott) and both songs come out flames. The album is filled with “you know a song is fire when” moments.
It’s only fitting that one of the year’s best pictures produces a soundtrack that is on par with that level of quality. If Marvel and TDE can strike lightning again for the second Black Panther film’s soundtrack, it might really be Wakanda forever.
Africa To The World by Sun-El Musician
Release date: April 20, 2018
Reviewed by: Erik Leijon, freelance writer for the Montreal Gazette & Cult MTL
It’s a big old world out there, and in 2018, my eyes and ears tended to gravitate away from whatever pop culture trends were percolating in the US and UK. Most of it felt tired to me, like some sad attempt at recapturing past glories.
South African producer Sun-El Musician isn’t reinventing the wheel on Africa to the World, but from my easy chair in Montreal, it’s a window into a sound I wanted to hear more of. The guest vocalists sing in languages I don’t understand, but it didn’t matter. The productions rarely go beyond an infectious rhythm and bittersweet melody, but that didn’t matter, either. I could engage with it on a superficial or deep level as needed. It felt good to listen to it, but not in some blissfully ignorant, permanent vacation sort of way. It feels lived-in in ways I couldn’t have predicted when I casually played it for the first time.
At this point in my life, I’m worried about getting lost in my own idea of what a good album is, as if it has to rank among my personal favourites or carry on some sort of lineage. Africa to the World doesn’t do any of that. It’s just an album, that when the dust settled, I wanted to put back on.
I wanted to know more about it. I was bummed out that it doesn’t — as far as I can tell — exist in physical form, so there are no liner notes to pour over. It didn’t feel tired. It didn’t feel American.
Immigrant by Belly
Release date: October 12, 2018
Reviewed by: Markings, rapper/producer, polymath for Artbeat Montreal/Loop Sessions, co-host of Lasers On The Ride
2018 is the year music reached a point of mind-numbing saturation. I’ve been overwhelmed by the sheer volume of quality projects that if I’m gonna pick a hill to stand on, I have to factor in more than just artistic or technical merit. There’s plenty of awe-inspiring material out there but who’s really saying anything, and who are they speaking to?
I used to think Belly was a cornball in the late aughts but even a notorious hater such as myself is allowed to change his tune. By the time last year’s “Mumble Rap” dropped, I was in there like swimwear. “Immigrant” balances an ambitious message with a healthy dose of ignorance (Numbers, Maintain) and a touch of introspection (Another Note, Who Hurt You). Belly’s style of lyrical street rap is becoming increasingly scarce in the mainstream discussion and while “Immigrant” isn’t without its missteps or the occasional cringe, for bringing the topic of immigration reform to the pop rap audience I believe it to be a worthy contender for the title.
Camila by Camila Cabello
Release date: January 12, 2018
Reviewed by: Max Tenenbaum aka Mr. Wavvy, writer for Cult MTL
There is something to be said about crafting great pop music. After leaving Cookie-cutter girl group Fifth Harmony at the end of 2016, it was time for Camila Cabello to create her own truth. Originally titled The Hurting. The Healing. The Loving, her debut album was originally set to be far more melancholy, with Cabello releasing a slew of promotional singles that ultimately did not resonate with fans.
Then came “Havana”, a track produced by Canada’s own Frank Dukes that made us all stop and sing-along. On her debut album, Cabello pleads her case for why she is pop’s next superstar. Its 10-song tracklist leaves no space for filler. Executive Producer Duke (now her musical muse) keeps the soundscape sparse and breezy, allowing the singer to showcase her vibrant personality to the world.
November by SiR
Release date: January 19, 2018
Reviewed by: Matthew Reveira, co-host of the Don’t Be Mad Podcast
When an album that is only thirty-two minutes long comes out on January 19, 2018, it is easy to assume that it will come and go like damn near all music does today. Fortunately for a R&B lover like myself, SiR’s album November has stood the test of time (or year), and is easily my favourite album of 2018.
For the record, I listen to a lot of music, I’m positive I spent more time on spotify than I did on Netflix by a landslide. My music tastes touch everything from the aforementioned R&B, Hip-Hop, Metal, and EDM. SiR just found the perfect formula of mixing harmonious melodies, sprinkles of raps, jazzy undertones for a style of 21st century R&B that works.
What I love most about this album is that it does not feel like it is trying to be anything more than what it is. To clarify, sometimes an artist will break away from their style to appease a radio audience, or make a single that is clearly meant to be a song that gets an EDM remix in the future. SiR sits in his jazzy R&B pocket throughout the project and just gives you him in his rawest form; and I can not get enough of the project as a result. To the effect that I wish it were longer, but at the same time, it’s length seems perfect.
Standout tracks to me are “Something New” featuring Etta Bond, a beautiful duet that will make you want to hold the one you love tightly and reassure them that you will never want another; and “Summer in November” which is a song I feel was made for walking through the streets of your neighbourhood during the sunset, simply calming.
Sex & Food by Unknown Mortal Orchestra
Release date: April 6, 2018
Reviewed by: Tshizimba, rapper, beatmaker
My favorite release this year has to be Sex & Food by Unknown Mortal Orchestra. I stumbled on their video for “Hunnybee” this summer and was blown away by the animation, a colorful, soothing train ride that reminded me of my own daily commute, but most importantly, the music. Unknown Mortal Orchestra is a Portland-based rock band from New Zealand. Their sound doesn’t just encompass rock music though, with Prog Rock, Psychedelic Rock and Pop as clear influences on this opus.
Their previous releases range from folk to more experimental electronic music and musical ideas, but this body of work borrows a lot more from pop, creating something that can be colorful and synthy (“Everyone Acts Crazy Nowadays), but also darker and cavernous (“Chronos Feasts On His Children”). Every stylistic and technical aspect of the music seems to be well calculated and thought out, creating a mosaic that’s complex, but still accessible, unique and enjoyable, without feeling pretentious or edgy for the sake of edginess.
It feels like discovering tomorrow’s musical greats, and it sounds good too.
Ella Mai by Ella Mai
Release date: October 12, 2018
Reviewed by: Jameel Raeburn, podcaster, freelance writer
There are a slew of other albums that I could’ve chosen this year. Travis Scott’s ASTROWORLD was insane. The Black Panther soundtrack felt culturally connecting. Even Drake’s Scorpion felt like the language of 2018. But for 2018, probably the most heartwarming aspect was the renaissance of R&B. I’ve loved R&B since I was too young to understand all the innuendos from Next or what Aaliyah meant by “rock the boat, work the middle, chaaaaange positions.” So this year, when Ella Mai’s “Boo’d Up” became a smash hit — my heart couldn’t stand still. Beyond the idea of love, the feeling that the song was in line with classics. The feeling of losing yourself in a love song without any strings attached.
Ella Mai’s self-titled debut dropped and I was happy it wasn’t just “Boo’d Up”. “Trip” follows the same vein of heart-fluttering R&B, and more songs like “Gut Feeling” featuring H.E.R, “Shot Clock”, “Own It” returned me back to the years when the majority of my iPod Touch was R&B. There’s a conviction to her songwriting and overall genuineness that makes you wish loving was as easy as she sings it. Ella Mai likely won’t be on many top 10 lists, and I understand because it’s not as dynamic or groundbreaking as other albums. But sometimes it’s the simplest, easy listen that’s the solution.
