A Poptimist’s Top 10 Albums of 2023 — Part 1: Pink Pantheress & 5 Seconds of Summer
It’s December. If you’re thinking about annual resolutions for the new year, I propose:
Hitting the gym? Eating more greens? OUT!
Finding ways to further indulge in your hobbies? IN!
I assume most music connoisseurs like me have a shared goal of listening to more music — perhaps widening their scope of artists and genres. While I have long fulfilled my personal goal to not listen through a single artist’s discography on loop for years, folding in a newcomer every blue moon, as I grew up doing — I have taken note of the collection of hues my musical palate has tended to manifest as to reach further to the edges of my musical realm this year. While I will always blatantly savor my beloved pure pop (and it does show), this year was nevertheless pivotal for me in terms of loving music even more.
As you might be able to figure out soon, hand over some rocking electric or picked acoustic guitars, dancing or smooth synths, visionary lyrics, affectionate vocals, and sticky melodies and I’m pleased. Bonus points for streams of classical strings or glossy brass.
10. Heaven Knows — PinkPantheress
Released: November 10th, 2023
Genre: Alt-pop, UK Garage
Heaven Knows by PinkPantheress is the English artist’s official debut album. Known for her signature bite-sized brisk and catchy pop tracks that satiate with the balance of a nostalgic 2010s and contemporary electronic sound, this full album is a cohesive body of work that shows off her self-written and self-producing prowess. In this project, told through her stylistic electronic dainty vocals over dynamic 2-step beats and scattering of synths is a relationship rooted in fanatical obsession and loyalty wearing down in its all-consumption.
Highlights: Capable of Love, Ophelia, Another Life (feat. Rema), True Romance, Mosquito, The Aisle, Nice to Meet You (feat. Central Cee).
Before getting through the first half of the album, I realized I had sorely underestimated PinkPantheress and her artistry. The quality of the composition of the production and lyrical storytelling for each individual track are all reasons I enjoyed this album, but I am wholly impressed with how thorough the project’s narrative is. The production of each track has its own set of flourishes and alternative dynamics yet seamlessly blends in succession to a sonic cohesion of her own exclusive sound heavily focused on shuffled rhythm with ornaments of various staccato synth and atmospheric samples. The world of the album is comprehensively carved by the instrumentals and is fleshed out through the competent imagery in the lyrics.
I must say, I was definitely most surprised at how sufficient her songwriting skill is. Each individual song in its own right is well written, holding great details of imagery that paints out a scene of both the reality and emotional delusions while showcasing an outright emotional journey through all stages of the relationship — from the fun infatuation to the stark demise. The running lyrical motif regarding the act of dying exhibits the dark intensity of the relationship.
My favorite tracks Capable of Love and Ophelia nail both vulnerability through the fascinating lyrics and atmospheric production that plunges you into that mindset.
Capable of Love acts as a quality unofficial closer (with the hit Boy’s a Liar Pt. 2 with Ice Spice as the final track). From the top to bottom of this project, there’s a clear emotional journey from impassioned to depleted… then this track swoops in as a final denial of the love now rotten. The narrator dips into the delusion that the bond with their lover is sweet and strong, while a lovely plucked guitar and spare sparkling dings pair nicely with the naivety. The best aspect of the song is the creeping build up to a sense of doom that feels extra devastating against the desperate lovesome clinging — it plays in the lyrics as well as through interjections of ominous pads, deep pounds of drums, and the crunch of the distorted guitar line. It ends with a quiet breakdown that fades out to chirping birds, as the narrator fully slips into an oddly serene psychosis of love.
Ophelia shares some similarities to the aforementioned track, in the sense of the sweet staccato picked strings (now a harp) and the dark lyrics. Besides the knocking drums and the odd sound effects of the sirens and muffled underwater waves, the rest of the instrumental is rather angelic with the harp, deepening strings, and ringing synth droplets. However, I will say the lyrics are much more blatantly dark this time, as she paints a clear image of a murder scenario to directly convey how much the other person destroyed them. It’s surely unsettling to listen to this story of agony, but that’s when you know it’s well written imagery. I especially love how it even goes the extra mile for the outro when her vocals skip out and fall underneath to the chilling muffled underwater sound effect.
The other highlights aforementioned are just the rundown of the first five tracks, but each of them are excellent pop songs that have the ear wormy choruses with the neurotic narrator atop the disconcerting, lively beats — what this album does best in a nutshell.
9. The Feeling of Falling Upwards (Live from The Royal Albert Hall) — 5 Seconds of Summer
Released: April 14th, 2023
The Feeling of Falling Upwards (Live from The Royal Albert Hall) by 5 Seconds of Summer is a very special live album from the pop-rock band. This is a recording of their one-night-only show of the same name from September 22nd 2022, showcasing the four-piece band’s new songs from their latest studio album 5SOS5, and some re-imaginings of their hit songs, all featuring a live orchestra and gospel choir. After over a decade of the band’s existence, this is a gorgeous and extravagant celebration of their past and present that devoted fans or anyone looking for a slice of sonic heaven can happily melt into.
Highlights: Outer Space / Carry On, She Looks So Perfect, Caramel, Teeth, Lie To Me, Bad Omens.
Whether you know all the fan favorites, can only recognize the radio hits, or just have barely heard of them, all I know is anyone who comes out the other side after listening to this project won’t recognize it as anything less than an absolute pleasure. As someone who recently had their 14 year old fangirl self revived from the grave due to how outstanding their most recent album 5SOS5 (2022) is, it’s such a shame that incredible pieces of work like this live album are barely peeking up from under wet sand.
(I’ll be completely honest, this album pick is also doubling as my own promotion for their most recent studio album, 5SOS5, which came out last year. It smacked me clean in the face as I listened down the album’s tracklist, blown away by the quality of production, carefully crafted mature lyrics, and the new sound. It’s another highly underappreciated project that makes me want to shove it in everybody’s faces.)
This album is meant to be one of those where you put on quality headphones, close your eyes, lay in bed, and listen smoothly and uninterrupted all the way through. Therefore, it’s hard to necessarily pick out songs from the tracklist that are so-called ‘better’ than the others. With that being said, I think the most profound ones are the upgraded older tracks Outer Space / Carry On and She Looks So Perfect.
Outer Space / Carry On is originally the two-in-one closer for their second album, Sounds Good Feels Good (2015). The front part of Outer Space (and my favorite part of the two) is a big bang of lost love complete with ravenous desperation in the guitars, heart pounding drums, and large echoey crowd background vocals. A parting of the sea takes us to the back part of Carry On that takes the hurt, acknowledges it, and declares to move on to better things; it keeps it somewhat bare with the clean pad, march-like drums, and resounding harmonies. The ‘Live from The Royal Albert Hall’ version takes the already breathtaking, climactic song and fully sends the dramatics — taking the mere whisper of strings in the original and delivering the full orchestra it deserves. There’s also a special fondness for performing an old song not played in years for such a special version of it, sung by the artist and listened to by fans who have grown in maturity together for this honestly wise song for the teenage artists’ that helped write it.
She Looks So Perfect was the band’s breakout hit, and ultimately a trademark of 2014. I personally believe that despite the teen-boy riddled lyrics, it’s an earnestly great pop-rock song that’s catchy hooks galore from all the vocal melodies, the iconic ‘hey’s, to the spunky guitars — and most people would probably agree! The ‘Live from The Royal Albert Hall’ version unexpectedly turns the cheesy teenage love confession into what feels like an old couple’s love letter, reminiscing on the fond memories shared when they first started dating. There’s nothing showy about it — just stripped with a calm acoustic guitar, matured vocals with a sense of assurance, and the velvety draping of strings. It’s its own song now, and just stunning.
The other tracks are just really well done performances. The edgy electronic single Teeth keeps a similar intensity, but the main riff switched up with the strings instead makes for a really fascinating different type of tension. For Lie To Me, I thoroughly enjoy this version that brings out the legato elements more than the original (which I honestly find only okay). All aspects of Caramel sound great in this first live performance, but the bass in particular here is a notable standout. Bad Omens is plainly one of the best songs on its album and an excellent song whether it’s a studio recording or live.
Stay tuned for the rest of this list on Musical Mayhem!
