She offsets a sanguine outlook on love ("Snooze") with odes to bloody revenge ("Kill Bill"), indie-pop angst ("Ghost in the Machine"), acoustic toxicity ("Nobody Gets Me") and bad bitch mood boosting ("Smoking on my Ex Pack") - every track is another jewel to her crown. Solána Rowe herself is no longer the second-guessing 20-something of Ctrl days, and her sophomore release, SOS, proves it by pulling no punches. In an industry that runs on facades of perfection, Gen Z fawners have dubbed SZA "mother" for her blunt, sometimes-contradictory but always-gnawingly-honest lyrics set to lilting harmonies. Six years ago, SZA completely changed the trajectory of R&B and a generation. (You'll notice that the first came out in the closing weeks of 2022, though it lingered in our ears - and lodged in our hearts - far into 2023.) In case you need a bit more guidance and like to scroll, we have bestowed a special honor on a dozen of them: crowns to designate those we recommend to anyone looking for a spark, or a slow burn. For the first time since 2015, our 50 best albums of the year aren't ranked, but listed in chronological order by release date. In keeping with that vibe, we're offering this list of our favorite albums in a different wrapping this year. Every single one of them is loved intensely by a member of NPR Music's team. In the following list, you'll find albums that have been celebrated widely, and others that we're pretty sure you won't see on any other year-end offering. (And at a moment when recordings lacking a critical mass of listeners have been deemed ineligible for royalties by a certain streaming service, that thought might be worth lingering on.) In a year short on albums that draw a mob, it's easier to see what might have otherwise been ignored for the treasure it is. And while it might be tempting, as many have argued at many points in the format's history, to take this lack of consensus as proof of its diminished value as a popular art form, we look at things a different way. 2023 may have been short on flashes and booms, but it was rich with smaller fires: no less intensely gorgeous, more approachable and built for heat, not spectacle. In certain Decembers, a list of the year's best albums feels like a fireworks display.
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