There’s a few reasons my 2020 albums list is about a month later than everyone elses, the only viable ones are 1) I’ve become even more of a procrastination queen this year and 2) I was giving TSwifty a chance to drop another surprise album on us & save me an edit job, but, with just over twenty four hours to go, I think I’m safe (‘think’ lol, who knows).
I was gonna try and keep this to a ‘Top 20 of 2020′ list but the gods of instagram polls have spoken, so I’m adding every album that made me smile/escape/cry/run/sleep better/dance around my room/forget about the madness in case there’s one in here that you’ve missed out on the joy of. Congrats if you make it to the bottom without giving up on me, but i SWEAR I’m only adding albums that I’ve loved this year – there’s a lot more than usual too, because we’ve had an unbelievable amount of listening time. Don’t get me started on my Spotify Top Tracks. (0.01% of Taylor Swift fans – and I’m wearin’ it like a badge of honour.)
So, here’s how its going to work – you click the Spotify link to have a boogie/cry while you read, I’ll ramble a bit about my absolute fav albums that you have to listen to, and then leave you in peace with the rest of the pretty list to work your way through (and don’t tell me you don’t have time; unless you’re in Australia or New Zealand or some other fun country that we all want to escape to, you’ve LITERALLY got nothing better to do for the next three weeks.)
PS Obviously Taylor’s number one and two – shock horror, but the three after that are joined third cos I CANNOT possibly pick.
TAYLOR SWIFT // FOLKLORE and EVERMORE
At the start of this year we were all buzzin for Loverfest and booking busses and flights and trains. When that was all cancelled, we bundled up with the newly released Miss Americana documentary and gave up all hope on anything else Swift related for the year. Couldn’t have been more wrong. Teaming up with everyone’s fav, Jack Antonoff, Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon and The National’s Aaron Dessner, Taylor released not one, but two surprise albums this year. Both seventeen tracks long, and both exactly what 2020 needed. They fit together like ‘sisters’ and I’ve definitely gone on enough about them in various blog posts/tweets/insta captions/radio broadcasts for you all to know how much I’m IN LOVE with these absolute works of art. She finally released her ‘indie album thats much cooler…’ except she did it twice. Enjoy this wee merger playlist of both; FOLKLORE~EVERMORE
TOP TRACKS:
from Folklore – mirrorball, the 1, august, illicit affairs
from Evermore – long story short, tis the damn season, gold rush, ivy.
HAYLEY WILLIAMS // PETALS FOR ARMOR
It feels like a lifetime ago that Hayley Williams dropped her debut solo album, but it was May of this year that Petals for Armor started its rein at the top of my ‘on repeat’ playlist. I’m sure there’s a blog post floating around here about how much I adore it, and even though we were in lockdown at the time (the first round), it makes me nostalgic for those sunny almost-summer days and staying up all night chatting to pals on various zoom/facetime/skype calls. It was released in three parts, as three EPs and each time I fell in love with the idea of this a wee bit more. I also obsessed so much over this LP that I fully spent an entire afternoon trying to recreate the album cover on my face. Turns out I still dont look like her. Shock.
This album is absolutley a saviour of 2020.
TOP TRACKS:
leave it alone, crystal clear, watch me while i bloom.
MACHINE GUN KELLY // TICKETS TO MY DOWNFALL
If you’d told me at the start of the year that MGK would be making it into the top of my top albums list I’d have told you to lay off the tequila however stranger things have happened and here we are. At the end of September the controversial rapper/actor dropped this pop punk dream of an album with features from Halsey, blackbear and Yungblud. The whole thing is a collaboration with Travis Barker and I genuinely don’t think a day’s gone by since its release that I’ve not listened to ‘Forget Me Too’ with Halsey. Apologies to anyone that was in the car with me for any point of that first couple of weeks; soz not soz, had to learn ALL THE WORDS. There’s also a crackinnnnn cover of ‘Misery Business’ on there too!
TOP TRACKS:
forget me too, kiss kiss, nothing inside, split a pill
ALL TIME LOW // WAKE UP, SUNSHINE
I vividly remember the first time listening to this album as a whole, in lockdown, in April and craving the moment I could jump in the car, turn it up loud and just driveeee. It’s a ‘scrape you off the floor, everything’s going to be okay’ album that skips through ideas and genres and I can’t wait for their shows in the Barrowlands next year to scream along to the lyrics live.
TOP TRACKS:
melancholy kaledoscope, glitter & crimson, sleeping in, favourite place
HAIM // WOMEN IN MUSIC PT III
This album release was pushed back at the start of the end of the world, and was eventually released at the end of June but it was definitely worth the wait! It’s a massive album from three massive personalities, that fits in with the previous two releases from the band perfectly. After ‘rehearsing’ a dance to ‘I Know Alone’ for Lindsey’s birthday in my room for hours on end I never thought I’d be able to listen to the track ever again, HOWEVER, a wee hour break and we were back in love with it. A true sign of a v good track.
TOP TRACKS: i know alone, 3am, gasoline, i’ve been down
HALSEY // MANIC
TOP TRACKS: you should be sad, 3am, finally//beautiful stranger
BRING ME THE HORIZON // POST HUMAN: SURVIVAL HORROR
TOP TRACKS: teardrops, 1×1 (ft nova twins), obey (ft yungblud), parasite eve
TWIN ATLANTIC // POWER
TOP TRACKS: novocane, volcano, ultraviolet truth
DREAM WIFE // SO WHEN YOU GONNA…
TOP TRACKS: u do u, hold on me, after the rain, so when you gonna…
VUKOVI // FALL BETTER
TOP TRACKS: play with me cos i can take it, C.L.A.U.D.I.A, aura
And in no particular order, the rest of the list….
The Strokes – The New Normal
Yungblud – Weird
Soccer Mommy – Color Theory
Neon Trees – I Can Feel You Forgetting Me
Rina Sawayama – Sawayama
Biffy Clyro – A Celebration of Endings
LANY – Mama’s Boy
Easy Life – Junk Food
Mura Masa – RYC
Sports Team – Deep Down Happy
The Hunna – I’d Rather Die Than Let You In
Knuckle Puck – 20/20
Pvris – Use Me
Saint PHNX – DDMN
Beabadoobea – Fake It Flowers
Nothing But Thieves – Moral Panic
Kelsea Ballerini – KELSEA
Phoebe Bridgers – Punisher
Enter Shikari – Nothing Is True & Everything Is Possible
Two Feet – Pink
Grimes – Miss Anthropocene
the 1975 – Notes on a Conditional Form
Yours Truly – Self Care
Palaye Royale – The Bastards
COIN – Dreamland
Stand Atlantic – Pink Elephant
Sea Girls – Open Up Your Head
Conan Grey – Kid Krow
Mystery Jets – A Billion Heartbeats
Jessie Ware – What’s Your Pleasure?
Sam Hunt – Southside
Jack Garratt – Love, Death & Dancing
Neck Deep – All Distortions Are Intentional
Glass Animals – Dreamland
Circa Waves – Sad Happy
Katy Perry – Smile
Sasha Sloan – Only Child
Little Mix – Confetti
The Killers – Imploding the Mirage
Ariana Grande – Positions
Annnnd last but not least, a wee Top 10 of EPs that have included some of my favourite songs of the year;
Lucia & The Best Boys – Eternity
Lucia & The Best Boys – The State of Things
The Roly Mo – TRM
Lauren Aquilina – Ghostworld
Vansleep – You Should Have Said Something
Zoe Graham – Gradual Move
Walt Disco – Young Hard and Handsome EP
Be Charlotte – Dreaming With the Lights Off
Stephanie Cheape – Ok Without You
The Snuts – Mixtape
gigs & glitter. 