2016 Music Roundup: My Favorite Albums Of The Year

I realized that I didn't talk about music at all this year considering that is an aspect of entertainment I want to speak about on this blog. So I decided to compile this list. I never realized exactly how much music came out this year until I found the list on Wikipedia. We all know that albums are dropped on a weekly basis, but unless it's your job to keep up with all of those drops, the list I saw would've surprised you as well.

Below are the albums that I enjoyed this year along with my top 10* in the order of when they were released.

Albums

Anti: Rihanna

This Is Acting: Sia

Nine Track Mind: Charlie Puth

Begin: Lion Babe

The Life of Pablo: Kanye West

This Is What The Truth Feels Like: Gwen Stefani

Mind of Mine: Zayn

Lemonade: Beyonce

Views: Drake

The Colour in Anything: James Blake

99.9%: Kaytranada

Thank You: Meghan Trainor

Dangerous Woman: Ariana Grande

Chapters: Yuna

Last Year Was Complicated: Nick Jonas

Conscious: Broods

For All We Know: Nao

Generationwhy: ZHU

Glory: Britney Spears

The Divine Feminine: Mac Miller

Illuminate: Shawn Mendes

The Alter: BANKS

Mad Love: Jojo

Long Live The Angels: Emeli Sande

24k Magic: Bruno Mars

DNCE: DNCE

Starboy: The Weeknd

"Awaken, My Love!": Childish Gambino

Stoney: Post Malone

Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin': Kid Cudi

*bold titles denote favorite albums which were chosen based off of me liking more than half of the songs included on the deluxe version if applicable.

Are CD's A Thing Of The Past?

Image via Billboard

Services like Pandora, Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, etc. are used by millions of people around the world. How is that use affecting the artists and labels that they represent as well as us as consumers? That idea is what’s being discussed in the following article. Universal Music Group is aiming to become the first major label to forbid artists from making deals to provide exclusives to Apple Music and Tidal. This idea came about when Frank Ocean dropped his long awaited albums exclusively on Apple Music. According to the article, many believe that exclusive distribution deals ultimately harm the consumer and the artist. Honestly, I don’t think it’ll be long before streaming completely takes over and the production of CD’s comes to an end. What do you think? How do you feel about streaming services?

Read more about this budding issue here

And After All This Time, You're Still The Dutchess

For everyone that is a fan of Fergie's music, the wait for something new is OVER! Fergie released her single M.I.L.F. $ on Friday and the music video for it as well. The song is going to be the lead single on her next album titled Double Dutchess.

The video came with a lot of surprises, the main one being how start studded it was. The famous moms that were featured in the video included Ciara, Alessandra Ambrosio, Kim Kardashian, and new mom Chrissy Teigen. The video and song itself are very reminiscent of 2009s 'Fergalicious' except more luxurious in a way.

The song and video don't really do anything for me, but I have to admit the song is catchy. Is it something everyone will love just like 'Fergalicious' was? I can't say. You'll just have to watch the video and take a listen for yourself!

The Freshman Have Arrived

Image via XXL

Monday, June 13 was the day that all hip-hop fans had been waiting for, the release of the new XXL Freshman Class list.  For those who aren't familiar with the list, it's basically a list of the new up and coming rappers.

Fan favorites like Desiigner and Lil Dicky have made the list. Did your favorite new rapper make it as well?

Take a look at XXL's article to find out!

New Music Friday: 'Last Year Was Complicated'

Image via Genius

It's been about two years since we've had an album from Nick Jonas, and I'd say that the wait was worth it. His self-titled Nick Jonas was a great album and his breakout of the genre of teenage boyband type music and into the grown up sensual side of himself. There were a few standout songs on that album like Numb which featured rapper Angel Haze, Take Over, I Want You and Chains. The others were the same crooning that we could expect from someone who enjoys creating R&B type songs like Jonas. This album is reminiscent of Justin Timberlake's The 20/20 Experience: Part 1, in that it almost seemed like a love letter to his then girlfriend Olivia Culpo as the 20/20 Experience was written for Jessica Biel.

Getting into Last Year Was Complicated, we can see that he's talking about just that. Olivia and Nick had broken up and although Jonas took some time to compose the album, I'm sure that experience played a part in the content of the songs. The title track Voodoo was a good start to the album. The sound was different and it drew you in and let you know that this album was going to be different from the last. It also happens to be one of my favorites. The single Close featuring Tove Lo was one of the lead singles off  the album, the song was popular and got a lot of radio play, but id I had to base my decision of liking the album on that song alone I wouldn't have listened. I actually don't like it that much. The next single Bacon actually made me want to hear it and think that it had potential instead of being the usual sequel flop.

The second half of the album features more of the slow emotional songs like Under You, in which actress Shay Mitchell of Pretty Little Liars  plays the love interest. This is similar to how Jonas's first album was set up as well. Overall, I'd give the album 4/5. Nick Jonas delivers with this album just like he did with the last one. So if you're a fan of his or a new listener, you won't be disappointed.

Take a listen and let me know what you think!