The 50 Best Albums Of 2020
At certain moments, 2020 felt like a year that might not ever come to an end. Now that it's mostly in our rear view, can a retrospective give a shape to that swarm of weeks and months? Can we make sense of layer upon layer of fear, anger, frustration, confusion, exhilaration and exhaustion that piled up like soil falling over our heads? Sometimes art breaks through. Better to think of the best music of 2020 as an urgent cacophony of distinct voices rather than a chorus with a single melody. Many voices, with many stories to tell. Here are the 50 best albums of a year unlike any we can remember.
The 50 Best Albums Of 2020:
50-41 / 40-31 / 30-21 / 20-11 / 10-1
20.
Victoria Monét
Jaguar
Even though her words have soundtracked the lives of pop fans for years, Victoria Monét is just now getting her due. The 27-year-old with a platinum-selling laundry list of songwriting credits — she's best known for with buttery funk and disco while Monét keeps time with cheeky choruses and soaring breaks. Pulling in production pro D'Mile and dropping nonchalant hints to past lovers male and female, Monét hits all the bases of lust, love and longing, all while keeping her point of view and dirty thoughts filter-free. The album standout "Touch Me" is the epitome of Monét's songwriting signature: intimate inside jokes and tantalizing double entendres curled up in off-kilter melody. This is a safe space.
