Five Albums From December That Totally Would Have Made Our Year-End Lists
It happens almost every year: We work tirelessly to craft year-end lists that capture the full breadth and range of music released from January til early December, choosing the very best albums and songs we heard. We make our lists and check them twice. We hit “publish.” And then, a few days or weeks after our list closes, someone releases an incredibly great project that’s too late to make the cut.
It’s not fair, but deadlines are deadlines, and time only flows one way. Past Hall of Famers in this category include D’Angelo’s Black Messiah (released Dec. 15, 2014) and Playboi Carti’s Whole Lotta Red (released Dec. 25, 2020) — both of which, as it happens, ended up ranking highly on the lists we published the next year.
This year, those final December weeks have seen a particularly excellent crop of new LPs, and we feel especially regretful that we weren’t able to hear some of them back in, say, late November. Here, in no particular order, are the albums that would definitely have made our list of the Best Albums of 2022 if only they’d come out a little earlier.
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SZA, ‘SOS’
SOS., SZA’s long-awaited sophomore album, is even more enjoyable than her 2017 debut, CTRL. The songs are looser and more confident. And the worthy themes—retribution, nostalgia, ego—amount to the most intimate and juicy self-revelations since the Real World confessional booth. “That ass so fat, it look natural — it’s not!” sneers the artist born Solána Imani Rowe on the title track. Her outburst is, at heart, self-deprecating. But she makes it sound like a flex over humid gospel wails invoking a salon full of mirthful women fanning themselves (from the hair dryers or some scandalous anecdote). It’s the most assured SZA has ever sounded. And when she compares herself to Della Reese while solidifying her steeliness, it’s clear she’s cementing her status—“in case all you hoes forgot.”
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Little Simz, ‘No Thank You’
like a hood BBC anchor. Her songs come off like quiet but spicy broadcasts, as if she checked in for a soothing afternoon chat if that somehow involves a soul-scorching read. Emotion is Simz’s secret weapon. She has a knack for sharing heartfelt tales with marked conviction that settles deep in your sternum. She’s a bona fide technician, no doubt. But the sheer technicality of her rhymes is not at odds with her natural ability to craft poignant songs that make you laugh, cry, and silently rage. On No Thank You, the follow-up to her excellent 2021 breakthrough Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, Simz gives us 10 choice cuts (showcasing her brilliance and breadth) that convey the whole emoji board of riveting emotions.”
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Adeem the Artist, ‘White Trash Revelry’
The Thirty Tigers debut from Adeem Bingham is a mix of whip-smart wordplay, empathetic character sketches, and whimsical philosophizing reminiscent of Todd Snider. “Books & Records” chronicles hard times with gut-punch narrative details that conjure Merle Haggard, while “Going to Hell” casts a witty interventionist glance at Delta blues mythology (“White folk would rather give the devil praise/than acknowledge a Black man’s worth”). But Adeem the Artist delivers the biggest knockout with “Middle of a Heart,” a masterclass in economic folk storytelling that shows why their latest LP is the most thrilling introduction in roots music this year.
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RM, ‘Indigo’
On his debut solo album Indigo, the BTS leader reclaims his pen, finally unrestricted from the obligation to be anything but himself. Though he compares his life to a painting “on constant display” on the upbeat hip-hop track “Still Life,” he raps of dashing forward on his own terms, liberated from the regrets of yesterday and expectations of tomorrow. “Ya can’t lock me in the frame, I’m moving,” collaborator Anderson .Paak sings in the hook, accompanied by jazzy horn blasts. Created with this reinstated self-commitment, Indigo is an adventurous sonic portrait of RM’s inner world, the work of an artist who finds his voice by bringing together the influences that resonate with his soul.
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Metro Boomin‘, ’Heroes & Villains’
Heroes & Villains is the second solo showcase from Metro Boomin — third if you count his impressive 2013 mixtape, 19 & Boomin.As a helpmate to Atlanta stars like Future (“Mask Off”), 21 Savage (“X”), and Migos (“Bad & Boujee”), Metro Boomin earned a reputation for glossy synths and skittering percussion programmed into inhumanly complicated effects. His use of crazy “drums” distinguishes his work from the vibe-y, computerized washes that define so much of contemporary mainstream rap. Heroes & Villains is entertaining enough as a man’s, man’s, man’s world. It’s better conceptualized and executed than his 2018 album Only Heroes Wear Capes, even if 21 Savage can’t quite match the ASMR pleasures of that album’s “Don’t Come Out the House.” Instead, he grumbles on “Niagara Falls,” “Mike Vick, number 7, I’m a dog,” a funny reference to the NFL star’s calamitous Atlanta playing days.